A System That Beats Death 33 Gorging Gian

Returning to the desert, Nanling couldn't help but sigh. Literally, the only thing that the oasis had was the shallow lake. Besides the trees, there were no other lifeforms which confused her greatly. It was such a beautiful forest too, why were there no animals? Were they all blind or unable to appreciate beauty? Nature truly was too savage.

She at least wanted to roast a boar or two as she was starving for fresh meat or at least one to several fruits, after having subsisted on preserved fish and bread for months. However, none of the trees had any so she could only eat gra.s.s or leaves. f.u.c.k this desert, she thought as she angrily kicked the dune of sand. The particles then went along with the wind and some even got into her eyes which served to irritate her even more and sent her discontent to greater heights.

Grasping the uniquely gilded dwarven sword, he couldn't help but examine it. It was quite an exquisite blade as he had ascertained the strength to be comparable to swords exalted in legends and the very blade itself exuded an aura of danger. Of course, it was still trash compared to Dark Revelation but then again so were legendary weapons and even weapons wielded by G.o.ds could only contest.

Returning his focus to the embedded gem, he saw that the light pointed to the southwest. Turning to inform her of the direction, he stopped when he saw her caught in quicksand.

"..."

He looked away for less than a minute and she was already in mortal danger. How did she even survive in the desert for as long as she did?

Noticing his bewildered gaze, the complexion on her cheeks reddened slightly. She then waved her blade underneath the quicksand and caused a small explosion. Leaping out of the sand pit, she tried to appear composed by dusting off her blue robes which were slightly tattered from being worn too often. Seeing that Atlas remained bewildered, she grinned and proudly proclaimed, "Unlike other women, I am not helpless. Why wait for a male lead?"

"Even if you were a female lead, you shouldn't be in that situation to begin with. How could the average male lead fight nature, when they already have been beaten into hiding by their family's enemies?", Guren said while facepalming.

She then remained silent as she did not expect that he would understand what she was talking about. Weren't those novels exclusively for women? Why did a das.h.i.+ng man like him read such literature? Was he actually a female disguising as a highly attractive young master like in the novels?

As her thoughts became less and less irrational, Guren brought her back to reality with his smug remark, "I've read more novels than you've seen in your entire lifetime"

_____

This is not enough. Not enough! The thing screeched as it furiously and ravenously devoured its meal. No one would dare to call the thing a glutton as it was not merely eating a lot of food. There were those that ate half a bowl and felt full. Then there were those that ate twenty bowls and still felt that their nutrition was lacking. The most extreme were those that could deplete an entire year's supply of food in less than a week. This feast was on an entirely different dimension though.

Ten beached blue whales lay motionless as they all had a gaping hole on their sides. Four blue whales had already been turned into skeletons along with various marine life caught in the crossfire. However, the creature would not relent and even a hundred tons of meat could not satisfy its unquenchable hunger.

[Evolution Requirement (790000/1000000)

Category: Grand Beast-Behemoth

To: Fledgling Royal Dragon]

"To start, I will finally take down the Kingdom", the creature growled. Despite over a thousand years having pa.s.sed, it only evolved twice. However, the gap between before and after the two evolutions were quite significant. Currently, he was a behemoth which was a creature at 80 meters tall and capable of jogging, despite its hulking physique. When he first entered this world, he was less than 20 meters but still immensely powerful. However, he realized that he could no longer consume indiscriminately as only those of immense size or immense power could increase his experience bar.

When he was 40 meters tall, he was tempted but the golems impeded him. As they were all 55 meters and numbered in the tens, he was overwhelmed and had no choice but to leave. It was also wasteful to expend his energy on the golems as they had no flesh or soul for him to devour. He had figured out that he could devour souls when doing so to a certain somewhat talented man with a sword. Unlike the spirits of his realm, it seemed that this spirit was unique to him and kept him afloat. Now that he had devoured it, he wondered which sin the man would be aligned to.

As he pondered this, two figures then appeared beside him and reported hastily as in the presence of this monstrosity, anyone but Atlas would want to leave.

"He is still alive and somehow has become even stronger"

"Interesting", the Behemoth said before revealing rows of unbelievable sharp teeth through a sinister smile.

_____

"I can't understand the appeal of feeble and naive women. Why take her along with all her burdens?"

"From what I understand, it is due to innate l.u.s.t and the appeal of caring for things they find pleasing to their aesthetics. That and affirming the male hubris through control"

"The way you say it makes it seem as if you aren't a man", Nanling said and her suspicion of him being a cross-dresser increased. How could a man look as lean and handsome as he did? Many men in the Mystical Blade Sect had a problem with being too muscly and the bulkiness slightly revolted her.

"You say that but there are also those known as dominatrixes which implies it is just an aspect of being human. It is just more p.r.o.nounced when the dominant side is male"

"What is a dominatrix?"

"It is an overbearing female. Usually, it refers to being dominant in bed", Guren said before looking at her with a questioning gaze. The members of the Mystical Blade Sect knew the word but this woman did not. Was everyone in the Mystical Blade Sect more educated than the rest of the world?

As a person who was hesitant to discuss anything s.e.xual, Nanling attempted to change the subject, "I noticed you stopped reading. Was it too boring for you?"

"I have already finished.

"How could you finish reading all of them already!?", Nanling asked incredulously as it had been only 1 hour but he had finished the novels which contained over three thousand pages.

[Cognition B Upgraded to Cognition B+]

After engaging himself in a purely mental task, he had felt a change in his mentality. Before, his memory was not bad. It could even be compared to having a slideshow in his mind but after the advancement to Cognition B+, it was undeniably eidetic and information only became easier to digest. There was no need for him to use the method of loci anymore and due to the increased brain cognition, he could even fully concentrate on 3 tasks at the same time.

Due to this, he read the novel while discussing tropes with her and triangulating the location of the Kingdom. It might not seem like much but he remembered every single word in the story, crinkle on the pages, and could rewrite the story through memory alone. He definitely would not do so though as the quality of the story was a bit lacking compared to what he was used to reading.

He had guessed it wouldn't be easy to locate the Kingdom of Smiths and that it would likely be hidden. If not then there would be more than just this female trekking into the desert. If it was easy to find, then the entire Mystical Blade Sect would be rus.h.i.+ng to get a legendary blade to call their own.

Occasionally, he would find considerably large imprints on the side of t.i.tanic rock formations and even a few that were pulverized as if stomped on repeatedly by an enraged ent.i.ty. He could tell they were not naturally made though as they seemed to emit a form of energy which was barely perceptible even with his unique vision. The only reason he was able to pick up on it was that the concentration of the energy was immense and seemed to originate from the many rock formations that seemed to be placed in a calculated pattern.

"I have. However, I'd like to ask... why have you not realized that we have been walking in circles?", Guren asked after responding to her question.

There was the possibility that she was too engrossed in their discussion on white lotuses and black bellied characters but she would always pause to verify the distance. The glimmer on the embedded gem now encompa.s.sed the gem but it had stopped increasing in intensity which meant that they were very close. However, there was still no kingdom in sight nor any entrance to said kingdom.

"It's just the desert having an effect on us. Look backwards, there are no footprints in the sand...", Nanling began but then realized what she just said.

"There are no footprints?", she then said in a confused tone.

Before she could continue, a swift projectile appeared right before her. Guren immediately caught the knife. He then dropped it as it was coated with an odd substance.

"What an interesting poison", he muttered before turning to the source.

"Master, I have come to bring you home"