The Invincible Full-Moon System-Chapter 1202: Iron Hills
"Go and mark the border outside," Rex instructed with a commanding tone.
One Awakened nodded at this command.
He brought three other Awakened with him before making his way outside of the fog—to the Humming Damned Forest. One person could easily do this task, but considering the fact that the place is uncharted, it was best to send a team lest they meet trouble along the way.
Meeting a sounder like before, going on about alone would be suicide for whoever.
Rex is the only one who can go alone with confidence.
Averting his attention back to his front, Rex could see that the terrain had changed.
It was not a desolate plain anymore.
Before him right now was a terrain with spires of rocks and crystal emerging from the ground—making the place uneven, sloping upward. Trees could be seen filling the empty spot every few meters or so, and they were not shaped like normal trees.
Contrary to normal trees, the trees here looked like iron spikes.
Now that he noticed the trees, Rex realized that the place seemed to be made of iron.
However, the ground was extremely soft and plump.
Each step into the ground felt like sinking into a downy, grey ocean. Its powdery surface was swallowing boots, up to the ankles. With every stride—the crisp grey snow compressed, and made a delicate crunch that punctuated the winter-ish landscape.
"Adhara or Evelyn would've been great here," Gistella uttered, glancing at the others.
Upon stepping into this new landscape, the others were shivering.
It was the sudden shift in temperature, plummeting to an ice-cold level that pierced the skin.
Only Rex, Gistella, and Delta were not affected by the freezing temperature.
"Adhara is training, I don't want to disturb her," Rex replied, as he also agreed that Adhara or Evelyn would be very useful with their fires here. "As for Evelyn, well, you know... I'm not in a talking condition with her. Anyway, if I'm not mistaken, this place should be southeast of the city,"
Gistella nodded, there seemed to be multiple parts of Chrono Hollow.
Earlier, it was a desolate plain, and now it is a hilly place.
Just then, a shaved blonde hair man with claw scars on the right side of his head stepped forward and crouched down, casting a spell into the ground before his brows narrowed, "I can't see anything, but I could feel that there are more mutated animals here,"
"So we're expecting a fight then," the man with flawless bob-cut hair chimed.
He tied his hair which was smoother and better than any woman's hair in preparation.
Not minding the beautiful man, Liliya, who was a part of this group proposed, "Should we go and scout ahead, Your Majesty? We could cover more ground faster that way. If we move in a group, the mutated birds might notice our concentrated aura regardless of us suppressing it to mask our presence"
"Didn't you hear what he said, Liliya? There are more mutated animals here" Rex replied.
But as he said that, the man with a shaved head added, "We can scout ahead, Your Majesty"
"Leave it to us, Your Majesty, we can handle that much," the beautiful man joined.
Upon hearing them, Rex frowned in confusion.
Seeing the mutated boars earlier who have time affinity and are also all in the ninth-rank realm, all of them should be more wary of their safeties. Not to mention, they were white force users except for Liliya, who was a yellow force user.
None of them could be too far away from him that long, so this is reckless.
Gistella also seemed to be on the same page.
"Refuse them. We should stick and advance together," She went closer and whispered.
However, when Rex is about to do that, his eyes slightly widen.
Sweeping his gaze at the others—he could see a flicker of fire behind their eyes so he came to the conclusion to let them handle the scout ahead, "Okay—I will leave it to you guys. I will go in a straight line, handle the sides"
As soon as he said that, the others smiled a little before nodding in a union.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Swoosh!
Just like that, the rest of the group disappeared, leaving Gistella, Rex, and Delta behind.
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Only then that Gistella touch his pinky, "Why did you say that? They might get into danger"
"It's the right thing to do—Gistella," Rex said, he signaled to Delta to start advancing forward slowly. "All of them felt like they hadn't done much, especially with me taking care of a group of mutated animals myself, so their morale was low as they felt like they weren't any help"
"Besides, they wouldn't become stronger if they weren't exposed to dangers," He added.
Upon hearing this, Gistella was stunned.
She hadn't really realized that, she didn't realize that the others were having such thoughts.
Gazing ahead, Rex smiled, pleased by the others' reactions.
If none of them felt frustrated from not being able to do much with him around then they were not going to go far, their thirst for strength was too low for them to reach—a higher height. But it was not the case, they did feel frustrated.
Not to mention, when they were still in the Human territory, they were powerhouses.
All were respected and they have always been one of the strong.
So naturally, they all have egos inside of them which made them feel frustrated by this.
Anyone under me should be strong physically and mentally, and they are getting there.
Rex then glanced over his shoulder to Gistella and said, "Why don't you join them too?"
"I was about to ask for your permission," She uttered, eyes already gleaming, with her unique power. "Then I'll go on ahead. I'll try steering clear from the hills, the mutated birds should be somewhere there, so you don't have to worry"
"Alright," Rex nodded. "But if you feel like you're in trouble, call for me, okay?"
Giving an assuring nod, Gistella leaped off Delta's back and disappeared into the fog.
Since Gistella was still the number one Beta from defeating Adhara before the battle with the Fifthborn—she was still in possession of the Crying Howl skill. If she howled, in distress—Rex would be able to go to her or bring her to him instantly.
At that moment, Rex's eyes gleamed as he scanned Gistella's stats.
...
<Gistella (Gustava Xix Scteztic)>
Race: High Werewolf Fiend - Heart of Black
Occupation: Beta
Battle Prowess Rank: 1st
Potential: 50
Power: Psuedo-Ninth Rank - Custodian Enchanter (1)
Status: Feeling troubled.
Berserk: 21%
Sanity: 45%
Mental: 21,100 (+210)
Strength: 67,700 (+6,770)
Agility: 121,500 (+12,150)
Endurance: 79,230 (+7,923)
Intelligence: 14,500
...
Looking at Gistella's status tab, Rex was quite underwhelmed by her power.
Aside from her mental stat, her other stats were lackluster.
"She and Evelyn should be the weakest of the pack. But considering that Adhara, and Flunra were in possession of a Herald Mark from each of my King Marks—it's unfair to say that they are the weakest," He muttered inwardly. "Objectively, however, they are the weakest,"
Other than that, Rex saw that there were a couple of new sections.
Battle prowess and occupation were self-explanatory, but potential piqued his interest.
"System, what does the potential section state?"
<Notice: Potential represents the potential of the said pack member to become stronger>
<It is a numerical range encompassing all integers from 1 to 100, inclusive>
"How do you gauge Gistella's potential?"
<Both Gistella's race and gifts were taken into the equation to determine her potential>
<In this case, Gistella's race accounts for 40 points and her gifts 10 points>
"Quite straightforward, I guess..." Rex muttered—it didn't seem as complicated as he thought initially. "If Gistella's High-Werewolf Fiend race is 60 potential—with 40 being her race—what would my bloodline, the Grand Royal Black Prince amount to?"
<Calculating...>
<Grand Royal Black Prince would amount to 79 Points>
Upon seeing the answer, Rex couldn't help but smile, "Then I have room for improvement,"
Many already considered that his bloodline is God-like—being able to harness all of the Full Moons' blessings. He was expecting to see the potential around the nineties, but it seemed he was still short of reaching the ninety-point mark.
Regardless of that, if he evolved once more, he would definitely reach that realm.
At least, that is what he expected anyway.
Blinking his eyes to refocus back to the direction where Gistella disappeared into, he decided to not mind Gistella's stats right now, "She was in the middle of absorbing the Passues. If she finished them, she would definitely reach the ninth-rank realm"
"Even now, her stats were monstrous for a mere pseudo-ninth rank realm" He nodded.
Going forward, Rex and Delta met a road and decided to follow it.
It was weird to see a paved road in a terrain such as this, but Rex didn't put it in mind.
Of course, there was a thought that there might be a civilization here—another Supernatural race might be living around here, somehow, but chances were too slim. Since the terrain had changed recently, there shouldn't be any civilization here.
Along the way, Rex saw some mutated animals here and there, but they were too weak.
Some were only around the seventh-rank realm, which was weak for his standards.
But one mutated animal made him curious about the iron trees.
Baah!
Crack!
Grabbing a mutated goat by the horns, Rex kneed it and caved its face inward viciously.
He then threw the mutated goat to Delta before she began devouring it savoringly.
She seems to have an endless appetite, she has been eating all that he killed along the way.
Ignoring Delta who was eating, Rex inspected the iron tree curiously.
"An edible tree, or is it edible only for that mutated goat?" He mused in thought. He saw that the mutated goat was taking bites off the iron tree, and it seemed to favor the iron tree, as it kept on eating until Rex was already in attack range. "Let me check it,"
Putting his hand on the iron tree, Rex scanned it with the System.
...
<Passive Ferric Arbor Tree>
Race: Eudicots
Description: A mutated ironwood tree that has turned its entire essence iron-grey. Do not be mistaken by its appearance—the tree is not hard, but soft to the touch. It could be used as a supplement filled with calories and protein—having the effect of gradually strengthening the bones.
...
Before reading the description, Rex was already alert in case the tree was a mutated one.
He knew that mutated plants could be as dangerous as mutated animals.
However it didn't seem to be the case, the tree is a mutated tree, but a harmless one.
Reading the description of the mutated tree, he was quite interested as the description from the System stated that it could gradually strengthen the bones. He looked around and found that there were a lot of these trees, "These trees could supply the city's food production,"
Not only would it make the citizen stronger, but it also contains calories and protein.
It would not only be good for strong citizens but also the weak ones.
"System, is it safe to be eaten by those who don't have powers?" Rex decided to ask.
<Does the user want to purchase the information for 50,000 gold?>
"Yes, give me the answer"
<Affirmative. 50,000 gold has been deducted>
<It could be further processed to be safe to eat while still retaining its effects>
<The user could buy the Food Cleansing Book in the shop for further details>
Upon hearing this Rex nodded lightly, it seemed the Second Breath didn't only bring chaos.
Half an hour later.
"So this is why the ground was covered in grey snow..." Rex mused wryly.
As he got deeper into this snowy hill terrain of the Chrono Hollow, he was met with a blizzard that was followed, by strong wind. Delta was having a hard time going forward—as the snow, on the ground was becoming deeper.
Unlike the others, Rex and Delta climbed the hill to search for the mutated birds.
Both had climbed ten hills but there was still no luck.
Not even a trace of the mutated birds, it was almost as if they vanished into thin air.
Then again, there were countless hills, so Rex still had a long way to go before finding them.
