Chapter 23: Book 1: Chapter 17 – “Level Up!”

The Bloody Mountain Wolf was an Apex predator. Though their pack size compared to other wolf type spirit beast was on the small size, they made up for it in power, speed, and above all else, cunning. It was said that many adventurers would rather fight a pack of a hundred beasts than even a dozen Bloody Mountain Wolves. Their name didn't just come from the mountain range they called home, but from the mountain of corpses they were said to leave behind any time they descended into mortal lands.

However, this particular day, this particular pack of eight decided to go hunting in their familiar valley. It should have been just a typical day. They were the King of the Valley, after all. Its subjects, nothing more than food and fodder for their pack. Or, at least, that's how it should have been.

How did things turn out like this?

Panting heavily, the Alpha Wolf dodged another stone spear that shot out of the ground from under it and then turned to bite down on the one aiming for his fallen pack-mate. The spear shattered, giving the wounded youngest wolf the precious few seconds it needed to escape into the safety of the woods. The Alpha Wolf's danger senses, finely honed through decades of battle, screamed. Just as he leaped into the air, a gaping chasm, filled with vicious spikes, opened up beneath him. A swirl of air formed beneath his paws, and he stepped on the wind and made it over solid ground, just in time to dodge a shotgun blast of small stone pellets.

The youngest was the last to escape the small glade where they had been ambushed, though three of his pack would never leave again. The Alpha Wolf turned to the strange creature that attacked his pack, as it sat leisurely on a boulder on the other side of the glade. Well, strange might have been an overstatement. Other than the odd, glowing red lines covering its body, to the Alpha Wolf's nose and eyes, It appeared to just be a...

Root Gopher?

The Alpha Wolf had hunted Root Gophers before. They were simple, weak creatures that made perfect practice for pups. So, when they had first found it, he'd sent the youngest and a slightly older male to hunt the small creature. It would have been the youngster's first hunt. That's why the shock and confusion that played through his mind felt almost human-like. As they approached the boulder the Gopher slept on, a pulse of spiritual energy erupted from it. The Alpha Wolf had barked a warning, but it was too late. A stone spear immediately materialized under the youngest. The older male tried to push the young pup out of the way, only to be gored through the chest for his actions.

The spear must have hit something important, as the older male died instantly, the young pup staring up at its savior in horror. An old Female who'd been with the pack since even before the Alpha Wolf was born, moved in the next instant. She was the fastest of the pack, and she nimbly dodged the spears and strikes aimed at her. Her target wasn't the strange Gopher, however, but the pup. As the Gopher yawned and stood up, a sharp glint flashed in its eyes, and its target changed from the charging old Female to the pup.

With a burst of wind-aided speed, the old Female barely made it in time to shield the pup from the shotgun blast of stone pellets that stuck her. With a visible limp and newly ruined eye, the old Female grabbed the pup and made a hasty retreat, as the rest of the pack growled and slowly circled the boulder.

The following fight was one of the worst in the Alpha Wolf's memory. A constant stream of stone pebbles and spears slowly chipped away at the pack's stamina and preventing them from getting close, while large earth walls blocked any ranged attacks they threw at it. It only two a small misstep to find two others skewed on stone spikes, just like the younger male, before the Alpha Wolf barked out an order for retreat.

As furious the Alpha was, it knew when to cut its losses. The pack had lost too many already, but he would remember the creature's scent; Bloody Mountain Wolves never forgot... or forgave.

As the pack made its retreat, the Alpha Wolf covered as best as possible, though gaining several new wounds for its trouble. Soon, all that was left in the glade was the Alpha Wolf and the Root Gopher. The Alpha Wolf stared down at the Gopher with anger and hatred, as the Root Gopher stared back with what could only be called a smirk as if to say, "I'll take you on any day." The Alpha Wolf simply backed out of the glade, eyes never leaving the creature.

It was then that the sound of a massive explosion suddenly erupted from the nearby mountain. Both creatures' heads snapped towards that direction, just in time to see a giant plume of smoke and a large, shiny, orange object shooting into the air. The object whistled as it arched through the air... straight towards the glade. The Alpha Wolf's eyes went wide as it dashed into the safety of the trees for cover. The Root Gopher, however, did not.

It merely stared at the object, eyes wide and mouth open, as if frozen in place, as the object drew closer. With a mighty crash, the orange object crashed into the glade... right on top of the boulder the Gopher was sitting on. There was a flash of red and a bang as both the boulder and the Root Gopher was squished under the orange object's immense force and weight.

The Alpha Wolf stared in shock and awe at the strange turn of events but silently cheered in his heart. After a moment more, the Alpha Wolf was surprised to see a peculiar Metal Spider creature it had never seen or smelt before entering the glade. The creature poked around a bit before marching up to the crater and quickly lifting the sizeable orange object with large claws of the same color. It shook off the Root Gopher bits, then promptly escaped with its prize.

The Alpha Wolf, still confused about this entire day, silently thanked his silvery savior and snuck back into the woods. He had a pack to find and wounds to heal.

Several Hours Later

A soft, red glow emanated from a newly formed crater in the middle of a particular glade, giving the dark night an eerie red hue. It pulsed slightly, like the beating of a heart, as it slowly gained in frequency and power, before suddenly flashing with a bright, red light. The glow vanished, throwing the glade back into darkness. Then, in the morning's dim light, a single figure rose from the crater, swirling red lines and runes dancing on its brown fur. Slowly, the lines condensed themselves into the form of a fiery bird on the figure's back, screeching to the sky, before fading away.

The Root Gopher pulled itself up and looked into the dark sky before giving a sad sigh.

So close. It had been so close to the next Step. Now it would have to start back over at Low Level. Ever since it had eaten that strange fruit from that strange tree, this particular Root Gopher knew it had changed, somehow. Not only had its control over the Earth increased by an unimaginable degree, but so had its intelligence... and its hunger. It took less than a week to entirely consume that strange tree the fruit had come from, and the Gopher was left without a home. With its newfound power and confidence, the Gopher had moved from the mountain down into the much more lush valley below.

Soon it found that everyday Roots could no longer sustain it, however. It had already cleared out all of the plants around its new home, creating the small glade. Worrying if it would end up eating through the entire forest, if given time, the Root Gopher soon discovered a much more... stable food source.

Spirit Cores.

Specifically, those from powerful Spirit or Demon Beasts. Not only could a decently sized core sustain it for several days, but it even helped to improve the Root Gopher's own Cultivation. Not only that, but the fruit seemed to have changed it in other ways as well. After one incredibly difficult battle, the Root Gopher discovered that its wounds healed much quicker than before. He could even accelerate the process by burning a bit of his own Cultivation. In fact, the effect was so great, the Root Gopher found it had become virtually Immortal. If it was ever "killed," its spirit would remain attached to its remains. From there, the Root Gopher could burn a large amount of its Cultivation to rebuild and rejuvenate its body.

It had even managed to do so from within the stomach of a much more powerful creature. THAT Core had sustained it for nearly two weeks.

This was costly, however, and even if used at the peak of Peak, it was enough to drain its Cultivation all the way back down to the barest minimum of Low level. But Honestly, compared to dying, that didn't bother it much.

Why should it? It was no longer the weak little Root Gopher, always running away, always scared of being something's next meal.

No, it was no longer Prey to be hunted.

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It was the Hunter.

 

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Several Hours Earlier

Once he'd managed to pry off a sliver of the strange alloy, the next part had been much more straightforward. It was just a matter of fashioning a simple cutting tool using the metal, and cutting off a larger piece. Then, using THAT, he created a much more sophisticated and reliable means to start shaping the metal.

His first project had been to create a proper frame. As much as he wanted his TAWP back, neither the quantity or quality of resources he had was enough to recreate his preferred form. Instead, he settled for a smaller frame, the "Construction and Repair Automated modular Base" or CRAB for short. The CRABs were Automated Drones used in the building and repairing of structures in space and aquatic environments. It consisted of a broad, round foundation, surrounded by several long limbs with two long manipulating arms.

All in all, it gave the drone frame the appearance of a Spider Crab, though one that had ballooned to 3-4 times its standard size. Ironically, no one knew if the design or the name came first, and it was a popular question used to troll new recruits.

The legs, arms, and base could all be interchanged with various tools and equipment, making it a popular choice on both Civilian and Military markets. The best part was that it was lightweight, and could be easily folded and compressed, meaning he didn't have to worry about leaving the frame behind if he wanted to shift to his flight mode; he simply had to fold it up and store it away.

As it was designed for low gravity and high-pressure environments, the CRAB frame was versatile, flexible, and agile. Unfortunately, as a Drone frame, its defense and offensive options were limited. The modular nature of the frame gave him some options, but it was far from ideal. It would work for now, though, and that's all that mattered. Though it did help that the strange alloy he'd crafted the frame from was much more robust and resilient than the standard armor-grade Aluminum alloy typically used in CRAB manufacturing, but not by much.

For now, he simply added two extra, smaller manipulator arms under his primary arms for more refined movement and fashioned a large number of iron tools for the primary ones. At this moment, He was using a large metal clamp and a pair of sheers that used the Armadillo Alloy as blades.

A generous application of nanobots ensured that Alpha was armored and armed well enough to not merely run away from everything that approached. While the frame wasn't really designed to handle the stress or recoil of arms fire, its reach and versatility gave him some quality of close combat effectiveness. At least he'd be able to hold his own against a few Soldier Ants, though he would still hesitate to take a Bait Ant to the face at the moment. Alpha even upgraded his Dummy Ant, using the Armadillo Alloy to reinforce the Ant's structure, allowing it to both holds and carry much more than it previously could. The freed up nanobots were even enough to craft a second Dummy Ant.

Maybe with time, he could even slowly replace the Ants of the Colony, taking it over one Dummy at a time. But that would be a story for another day.

Next on the list was upgrading his containment Silos. That's when he hit a little...snag.

It seemed Alpha's initial theory of the Nitropots using Spiritual Energy in their biological weapons hadn't been entirely off the mark. The Bug Juice seemed to react violently to contact with the Armadillo Alloy, bubbling and seething like a raging storm. Thankfully, there was no explosion, but Alpha soon found that Bug Juice reacting this way quickly lost all of its explosive properties. In their place, the substance became extremely Basic, almost like a natural, concentrated bleach.

While that gave Alpha some ideas for the future, it wasn't want he needed at the moment.

After some experimenting, Alpha developed a new Silo that could store a much larger amount of Bug Juice without degrading it by first crafting a silo of Mundane Iron and reinforcing it with the Armadillo Alloy instead. There was still some spiritual "leakage" through the iron, but with the amount of Bug Juice he was going through, along with the second Dummy Ant, the slight reduction in self-life was negligible.

The Bug Juice's reaction to the alloy did give Alpha some ideas, though, and next week was spent developing a new Nitropot recipe. Today had finally borne fruit. The AI had discovered that by introducing a small amount of powered Armadillo Alloy to the Mushroom oil before the Bug Juice, the mixtures explosive power increased by an entire magnitude. While still not exactly the same, the new recipe reminded Alpha of the Bait Ant's own method, and he suspected they did something similar.

Now, it was time for some field tests. If the first recipe had been enough to cause such injuries to the Armadillos, Alpha was eager to see what his improved version could do.

Quickly building a few more landmines with the new recipe, Alpha made his way to the Mountainside and laid his traps. A few weeks of observation had provided Alpha with the Armadillo's typical feeding times, so this time around, it was only an hour or some before the first of the creatures rolled into the Battlefield.

Alpha cling to the nearby cliff-face, using his Nanobots to camouflage himself against the rocky surface, as he watched a lone Armadillo, slightly bigger than his first, approach his trap.

The next moment, there was a massive explosion, and the Battlefield shook.

Alpha watched the Armadillo shoot into the sky with far more force than he was anticipating. It quickly reached a frightening speed and fell into a nearby valley.

[Alpha] - "Crap, crap, crap!"

The AI quickly rushed off after his prey, his targeting systems tracking and marking its location the whole while.

It was going to be a long day.