Chapter 192: Something Is Out There

Where did it go? What was that invisible place she kept putting things in? And how did a female with no claws know exactly where to dig?

His questions were piling up faster than he could process them, and every answer she gave only created three more.

Tera dusted off her hands and stood, her knees caked in mud and her face bright with satisfaction.

"Good haul," she murmured, checking her system space inventory.

While these were nice, Tera was let down as she still hadn’t found suitable building materials, and it was starting to get on her nerves.

Calis had already been eyeing the darkening sky. He shifted fully into his wolf form for the umpteenth time that day and padded closer to Tera, his body language clearly communicating that they had been out long enough.

"I know, I know," Tera sighed, reading him. "One more hop. Then we go back. I promise."

Calis’ ears flattened briefly, but he followed her through the next portal.

The ninth region was even more dense.

Calis quickly shifted to his human form, darting confused looks around.

"My pack has never passed this place before."

Tera wasn’t sure what to say. There was something slightly oppressive about the air, and the ground was far softer than before, like they were on serious marshland.

She glanced at the sky. It was getting noticeably darker now, and the temperature was dropping.

Calis’ eyes were sharp with concern.

"We need to go back. It is getting dark."

Tera nodded. He was right. She was tired, her legs ached from the constant walking and hopping, and she hadn’t eaten since that morning.

She was about to open the portal when she realised she hadn’t carried out a quick scan.

[(⊙_⊙)!!]

[Host!]

[This system has detected something at the extreme edge of its scan range!]

Tera froze.

’What?’

[There is a swamp-like area approximately 1,800 meters northeast of Host’s current position]

[It contains dense clusters of fast-growing pipe shoots!]

[These specimens match characteristics that would make them highly suitable as construction material!]

Tera’s pulse jumped. ’Let me see!’

The system projected a rough layout of the area onto her screen. Tall, segmented shoots growing in thick clusters along the edges of a murky wetland. The stalks were straight, uniform in diameter, and grew in such dense patches that they formed near-solid walls of vegetation.

Tera’s eyes went wide.

She was looking at bamboo!

And there was a shit ton of it!

Her architect brain was already calculating applications. Strong, lightweight, flexible, fast-growing, and hollow. Perfect for scaffolding, framework, flooring, fencing, water pipes, and a hundred other uses she could list without even trying.

This would literally take her construction tasks to a whole new level!

"Oh my god," Tera whispered.

[Host has identified a potentially transformative construction resource!]

[ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ]

’That is bamboo. That is actual, usable bamboo. Do you understand what I can BUILD with all that?!’

Her eyes ran over the properties the system gave her.

[This system understands Host’s excitement!]

[However...]

[(◞‸◟)]

[This system has detected a corrupted beast within the swamp]

[It is stationary, likely nesting in the densest section of the bamboo growth]

[Host cannot safely access the bamboo with the beast present]

Tera’s excitement crashed into a wall.

’What?’ When she remembered how large the last one was, a new concern came to mind. ’How big?’

[This system cannot determine exact size from this range]

[But the signature suggests something significantly larger than the one Host’s pack encountered previously]

Tera stared at the system layout, her jaw tight. The bamboo was right there. Everything she needed for the wolf pack shelters, for upgraded construction, for tools and frameworks and infrastructure was growing in abundance kilometres away!

WHY DID THESE THINGS HAVE TO HAPPEN TO HER?!

Now a corrupted beast was sitting in the way like some guard dog from hell.

’Can’t I get to the bamboo without going near the beast?’

[Negative]

[The densest and most mature clusters are concentrated around the beast’s nesting area]

’FUCK!’

"Tera."

Calis’ voice cut through her thoughts, sharp and urgent. She turned to find him right beside her, and the look on his face made her blood chill.

He gripped her upper arm firmly. His crimson eyes were wide, and beneath the usual intensity, Tera saw the hint of fear.

"We need to leave," he snapped. His voice was low but strained, as if he was fighting to keep it steady. "Now."

’Had he sensed the corrupted beast?’

"Calis, what—"

"I can feel it." His grip tightened on her arm with the desperate firmness of someone holding onto something they were afraid would be taken. "Something is out there. We need to go."

She slowly nodded.

The portal shimmered open to a place near the field.

When both of them stepped through, they were immediately hit by a wall of water.

The rain slammed into them like a physical force, so heavy and sudden that Tera gasped and nearly stumbled. Within seconds, she was drenched. Her clothes clung to her skin, her hair plastered across her face, and the cold bit through her body with vicious speed.

She couldn’t see more than a few paces in any direction. The rain turned the air into a grey, roaring curtain that swallowed everything.

’WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!’

"WE NEED TO GO TO THE PACK!" Calis shouted over the downpour, water already streaming down his face. He pointed in a direction. "THE OTHERS WILL BE UNDER THE TREES! WE CAN HUDDLE TOGETHER FOR—"

"HUDDLE?!"

Tera stared at him through the rain, water pouring off her chin.

She suddenly had a vivid image of the entire wolf pack crammed together under a cluster of trees, soaking wet, shivering, with rain hammering through the canopy onto their heads.

That was their plan? That was how they rode out storms?!

"YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!"

Calis looked confused by her horror. "It is only rain, and it passes."

Tera’s mouth opened and rammed it close immediately when water gushed inside.

These wolves had no shelters. They had nothing to protect them from storms except trees and each other. Sixty-seven wolves, including pregnant females and cubs, huddled under branches while rain pounded them into the mud.

The horror of it nearly knocked the air out of her, but the rain was getting worse, and she was already shivering violently.

She grabbed Calis’ wrist and ran.