Chapter 57: Chapter 56 – Not Going in There

“I was not expecting to get that skill… Maybe I should try my hands at doing more with farming later. At the least I need to check into the sub-skills for it at the next town. Though I do wonder if any spatial farms exist. Bags of holding become common enough once you break through level 100 but that is quite a distance away for me. Besides those can’t hold living things in them. Meh, there is a reason farmers tend to be stuck in one place. Best way to level the skill is with a giant plot of land. Though I can benefit from any harvesting skill even out picking wild herbs.”

With that taken care of Jason settles down to meditate for the night. With him once again out of it, Adolescent rabbits gather and rank up. Nubbed, Fledgling, and Spiky rabbits abound as the night wears on. Then as the sun is about to rise as if on command they all flee further into the plains.

A bit after dawn Jason gets up and putters with his plants. While a little hard to tell the plants grew more overnight compared to before. Satisfied with the results he packs everything away and moves out. With the gap in monsters from yesterday something new should be ahead. Being careful he goes at a steady pace however the nothing seems to show up. He isn’t near the end of this wasteland so something should be here. Though Jason fears he knows what it is. An ambush predator is waiting in the spires. Not only that, but either whatever in there is dangerous or there is a lot of them. After all, the Rock wolves haven’t taken the area. In fact, not only haven’t they taken the area but the lack of any fights means they have given up on doing so.

Jason spends a bit of time considering if he should head in to check it out when another option comes to mind. “Yep, not going to head in there. So far it seems like all the dangers are from creatures. However, to assume that is the case everywhere in the wasteland is foolish. What might be happening is a giant cloud of poison gas. Then again, to be honest with myself I am totally looking for any reason to not fight an ambush predator.” Shrugging Jason decides to skip whatever is going on in. The risk is not worth it.

A couple days go by and Jason become more assured of his choice. This might be a magical wasteland in a video game but there has always been sense to it. While he hadn’t been paying attention to them until now while the main monster ruled the roost there was always small life forms. Weird birds, scurrying rodents, and the ever present buzzing bugs. That natural background noise had always been around even if the bird tweeting had two heads. This area though was silent. No predator is that efficient. Though Jason admits to himself that if there was one he didn’t want to fight the thing.

Finally, midway through the third day life returns to the wasteland. At first just a few bugs but soon numerous small critters are once again infesting the area. After a few moments of this Jason spots an actual monster and what a monster it was. With the body of a goblin the head of an elephant and instead of hands it had tiger claws. Not the best mix up but this was the first potential herbivore. “Though I can’t assume an elephant head means plant eater. Maybe the elephant head has a nice set of shark teeth in there. Then again, I also can’t assume this elephant goblin will be hostile like the rest. First because of the goblin body so it might be sentient. Secondly, because I notice the critters aren’t avoiding like they did with the other monsters.”

Jason starts to shrug when he catches himself. “I have been shrugging at things way too much recently. Then again, I have had a lot to shrug about.” A shake of his head to wake from his wool gathering and he approaches the creature while making sure not to walk silently. Even then the sand does a good job at muffling his approach. Though those ears seem to work just fine as the creature perks them up. Slowly it turns to face Jason who is eminently thankful that the elephant goblin seems to have been provided a loincloth at some point. They both stand there frozen in place.

Finally, the elephant goblin reacts. Slowly and while being careful not to make any noise it backs up. Then once past one of the spires the elephant goblin ducks behind it. Jason stands still for a bit more listening to the sound of it retreating. He can’t help but shrug at this, “Welp, they aren’t aggressive when alone at least. Though I have to wonder if there is a full tribe to worry about. Even the meekest of creatures tends to be a bit miffed when children are involved. Thinking about it that loincloth could be a problem. Tiger claws aren’t known for their opposable thumbs. So not only did it not produce said loincloth, but it is completely unable to even put it on. The System isn’t kind enough to bother with spawning monsters like that pre-clothed. In the end all I can assume is something is helping that elephant goblin and either the creature itself or its keeper knows to hide the dangly bits.”

Not having anything better to do Jason heads into the plains again and watches the area. After a while and the complete lack of a tribe of elephant goblins coming to attack he calls it a night. Retreating into the plains even further he sets up camp before once again meditating the night away. As always, the rabbits crowd around him but something different from usual is happening. Over at the wasteland a small monster hides behind the farthest spire. With the head of an elephant and claws of a tiger this little goblinoid spies on this going on. Eventually though it retreats back into the wasteland.