BXBX NOVEL Chapter 166: Working Together (2).
\'Deep breaths...\' Cain took a deep breath to calm his slightly out-of-place heart. After all, if his concentration was affected, he could theoretically lose control of the spell and be torn apart by the warping space if he wasn\'t careful.
The space before him rolled over and collapsed in on itself, dragging him and Susan into the tunnel the bent space had created.
In the blink of an eye, they had been transported to the other side of the Island where David, Blaze, Hunter, and Dan were gathered, talking with one another as they sat staring at the ocean.
\'I should probably get more mana shards...\'
Cain had plans to increase the proficiency of his magic skills and spells but decided to it on hold as he didn\'t know if he would need his system points in the future for urgent matters.
"What a skill... It utilizes spatial attribute mana to create a temporary lapse in a limited space and collapse it to form a spatial tunnel of some sort.
Stars appeared in Susan\'s eyes as she analyzed Cakn\'s {Spatial Jump}...
"How can you tell all that just by looking?!" Cain asked in surprise.
"Light elemental magic allows users to see things that should normally be hidden, almost like the power of your devil eye..." Susan explained.
"Yeah, I guess... Wait! How do you know about my devil eye?!" Cain\'s eyes widened all of a sudden as he stared at Susan with shock, a bit of his killing intent leaking out as he hadn\'t expected a guarded secret of his to be laid so bare before someone else. After all, he hadn\'t told anyone else the secret.
For it to be revealed to someone easily meant he needed tone extremely cautious and on his guard at all times.
"Relax... The {Devil Eye} power isn\'t as rare or special as you think. For your information, I have one as well." Susan had a smile tug at the corners of her lips as she ignored Cain\'s bloodlust and revealed a portion of her powers.
Her right eye suddenly took on a golden sheen as a complicated runic array assembled within it, the runes bouncing all around her irises...
Surprise washed all over Cain\'s face, "What power does yours have?"
"Grants me the ability to see into the future..."
A deep sense of shock came over Cain at that moment...
"While it isn\'t as powerful as you think and comes with its own set of restrictions, I do have the power to see into a limited part of the future depending on several factors and variables..."
Cain was shocked at this new piece of information...
\'If the devil eye skill isn\'t all that rare, that means we aren\'t possibly the only one that could have it. There has to be a trigger for acquiring such an overpowered skill, or is it just luck and fate?\' Cain thought to himself...
Letting go of Susan\'s hand, Cain recalled his weapons from his inventory and strapped them. to his sides...
"So what exactly can your devil eye do, and what is its name?" Cain asked.
"Hmph! Since you can\'t ask nicely, I\'m not telling..." A fake angry expression surfaced on Susan\'s face as she walked past Cain towards the man and boys looking towards the ocean with oddly calm and relaxed gazes.
\'Damn it! I\'ve probably upset her...\' Cain let out a sigh as he walked towards the group.
Dim light spewed down from the heavens, illuminating his handsome face and defined body stature. With the action of both mana and Ki on his body, he had become not only mentally developed, but his physical appearance had also undergone a high change.
His muscles had become even more well-defined, and the runes, as well as the {Scales of Antiquity} engraved unto his skin, created a charming, yet dangerous aura around him...
"What is the status quo?" Cain asked as he sat down beside Hunter.
"As you can see, asides from taking turns watching for changes, we have all endured a burning hunger in our stomachs," Hunter said with a dark expression
Cain suddenly remembered his plight...
The reason he had been woken up from his sleep was the terrible hunger that was burning within his loins...
"Seems like I am not the only one enduring this. Are there any mutant beasts left on the Island?" Cain asked.
"Only a few small critters which I am sure that fat bastard has already crammed down his fat throat..." Hunter said with spite.
"That means to find food that will sustain all of us, we need to move to the other Islands and rummage through them... Guess there\'s no point in delaying any longer." Cain said to himself before standing up...
"We leave today then... Once we have everything organized, we will decide what means we will use to ferry off this place." Cain said.
"Do you have any ideas?" Blaze asked.
A small smile appeared on Cain\'s face as he shrugged his shoulders...
"Maybe..."
***
"Hehehe..."
Vincent stood behind a tree, staring at a patch of forest and a huge mutant rabbit that stood there, unaware of its fate.
His sniper rifle was placed delicately on his right shoulder, while his left hand gently held onto the barrel of the gun with a gentle touch. His index finger hovered just slightly above the trigger, and his breathing was nearly none existent...
The unsuspecting creature was nibbling at the corpse of an even smaller mutant creature. Although rabbits were inherently herbivorous, the mutation of the entire planet brought about all sorts of changes, including biological and anatomical mutations of certain creatures.
Some of the smaller herbivorous lifeforms and a majority of those that were bigger had developed special organs that enabled them to digest meat, blood, and bones, turning them into omnivores.
However, all of this made no difference to Vincent as he slightly squeezed down on the trigger...
The ear of the rabbit twitched even before the bang sounded. The legs of the rabbit moved like a spring-loaded lever causing it to jump high into the sky. In a split second, it had jumped to a height of over a hundred meters.
Yet, the smile on Vincent\'s face wasn\'t a bit affected as he fired his shot...
BANG!
A bolt of concentrated water mana flew out of the muzzle of the gun.
"Rain Burst, Scattershot..." The bolt of concentrated energy split into numerous tiny shards, flying all over the place. Despite their smaller sizes, the fragmented bolts weren\'t reduced in speed or power. Instead, the area of effect of the skill was increased by many folds.
The rabbit wasn\'t able to make it far when the bullets caught up to it. In an instant, it was pierced through by numerous bullets, and its hide was turned into a bloody sieve.
Jumping out of his hiding place, Vincent, now sporting a huge grin on his face stretched his hand at the falling corpse in an attempt to pluck it from the air before it could hit the ground.
Suddenly, there was a slight disturbance in the space above him...
"Eh?" Vincent\'s eyes widened as he watched how the space above him was ripped open in real-time, producing a group of persons he was familiar with.
However, his face immediately fell when he realized that since they had appeared above him, they would most likely use him as a cushion on their way to the ground...
\'Sigh... This life sucks...\'
BANG!
Surely enough, Vincent let out a shrill yell as he was sent tumbling to the ground by the combined weights of Cain, Susan, Blaze, Hunter, Dan, and David...
"Long time no see. Oops... Didn\'t see you there." Cain greeted Vincent who has stars rolling around in his eyes.
\'Bastard...\' Vincent nearly vomited blood as he cursed Cain in his mind.
"With such a spatial skill, we can certainly get to the other Islands conveniently, right?" Blaze asked.
"Not really... The range doesn\'t reach that far, and the carrying capacity is limited as well. That might change if I upgrade the skill, but it might evolve the skill in a different direction. Might as well save my system points for something more important..." Cain said.
Turning to Vincent who had gotten up from the ground and had begun to search for the mutant beast he had taken out.
"Where is Old Man Ling?"
Vincent paused before answering, "Eh? He should be somewhere around with the rest of those guys with Ruby and Steve helping them..."
"Come to think of it, I did see Steve getting assistance from the others to gather the medicinal herbs that we harvested..." Dan said without much thought.
"Alright then. Let\'s go meet them." Cain said as he checked down the timer for his {Spatial Jump}. Seeing that the cooldown wasn\'t over yet, he decided to ask Hunter a few questions he was curious about,
"Ehem... How long did I sleep for?"
"Huh? Three days... Why do you ask?" Hunter answered as though sleeping for three days straight wasn\'t something abnormal.
"That long?!" Cain asked with a hint of surprise in his voice.
"Don\'t be surprised... After your fight with the {Flame Devil}, I expected you to be knocked out for a whole week straight." Susan said in a surprised voice.
"Yeah... You are some monster. I could never dream of going against such a fiend, especially with how empty my belly is..." Vincent said with a sad smile on his face as he rubbed his stomach.
"You bastard! You single-handedly drove all the remaining mutant beasts on this Island to near extinction, and you have the guts to say you are tired?!" Hunter exploded into a fit of righteous rage
"These mutant beasts are all low-leveled, low-tiered creatures. Their bodily essence lacks the nutrients and energy necessary to keep us going. That\'s why I had to eat them all..." Vincent said with his eyes wide open and bloodshot, saliva dripping from the corner of his lips.
Cain\'s eyelid twitched a bit when he saw this...
"Well, what are the rest of us going to do?"
"I dunno... Go eat some grass or something..." Vincent said dismissively as he continued looking around for his freshly killed prey.
Seeing Vincent looking all around for the carcass of the mutant rabbit, Hunter had a cruel smile on his face as he retrieved the dangling corpse from his inventory.
"Looking for this?" Hunter said with a smile that revealed his dangerously white pearly canines.
Vincent swiveled around with the force of a moving truck but was immediately stuck in place when he saw what Hunter was holding in his hand.
"I\'m sorry... Please spare me. I\'m the one that should be grazing in the pastures... Have mercy..." Vincent immediately abandoned all pride and morals and bowed before Hunter to grovel.
"Hmph! Why are you so eager? It\'s not like this is the last piece of meat on the Island, right?" Hunter said with an arrogant smirk that played on his mouth.
Silence...
Vincent turned the other way with beads of sweat pouring down his face as he murmured a few words...
"It\'s... It\'s not like I did it intentionally... I was just so hungry... I\'m still so hungry... So I l-lost track of h-how much I ate and forgot to save some for you guys. Besides, t-these s-small guys are not packed with nutrients and energy, s-so eating them w-would be a waste of time.
Y-you\'d only get h-hungrier..." Vincent said shakily...
\'What sort of appetite can a person have to be able to eat so much and have no noticeable physical changes?"
Cain knew there had to have been thousands of smaller animals left over from the devil\'s onslaught. For Vincent to have eaten every single one of them in such a short amount of time could only be considered a testament to both his hunting and eating skills...
Hunter: "..."
"How about I eat you instead?" The smile on Hunter\'s face turned extremely ominous as he took a step closer to Vincent.
A look of dread appeared on Vincent\'s pudgy cheeks as he recoil in fear,
"Nooooooooooo!"