Hmmm.

It was a massive hunk of sandstone, several chunks having broken off and formed into a pile that surrounded it. A warm breeze blew through the area as Brock surveyed the monument before him, carrying with it a light dusting of sand that irritated his eyes and clung to his sweat-laden skin. He groaned in annoyance.

The area was populated by a sparse selection of yellowed boulders and the smattering of shrubbery that grew out from beneath. Small vermin chittered from in between their dry stalks, watching Brock as he in turn watched the sandstone mound. He glanced at them, and they skittered off.

As he ran his eyes over the earthen structure and took in the thick strands of aura wafting off of it, he found himself rather confused. It was clear to him, as it would have been to anyone, that he was looking at a rock, yet it still possessed aura. He supposed, as he thought back, that the water also had the same phenomenon, but that was due to being controlled. And he couldn’t see the controller anywhere.

Which meant he had been walking for over a day just to find an exceptionally large rock.

His eyes bore into its grainy surface, “I don’t think dying would be so bad anymore.”

There were other things in the area, traces of aura similar to that of the rock, gouges in the sand that spoke of something heavy passing through, even small craters, though they were rather rare. Brock felt his stress climbing once more, and for the first time since he’d escaped the jungle city, he genuinely wanted to cry.

A headache was beginning to throb in his skull, and he gritted his teeth in frustration. Brock took a deep breath, feeling it stretch his lungs and fill his chest, though it did little to help. What did help, however, was taking in another deep breath and screaming out to the empty deserts. His hoarse cry echoed through the expanse, and a few beastly calls resounded in response.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fucking Fuck!” A hand rubbed the back of his neck, attempting to ease the tension from his muscles. He still had places to explore and search for the Alpha, but… he just couldn’t take it anymore. His anxiety about the entire situation had reached its precipice.

And now it was bubbling over.

Growling through clenched teeth, Brock leaned down and snatched a yellowed stone from the sands. It felt warm in his palm, rough against his skin. He gripped it tightly, but it didn’t yield and remained whole. He cursed again and whipped it against the sandstone mountain. It blurred through the air and shattered against the larger object, creating a small cloud of dust.

Brock’s angered eyes settled on his target, and they shook for a moment. The wafting aura twitched. It was slight, but it had reacted to the impact. Rocks… don’t react… as far as I’m aware, at least…

Licking his lips, Brock glanced at the sands and found another piece of sandstone a small distance away. Oppressive Might reached out and picked it up, before depositing it into his hands. His arm whipped it through the air again.

A crack resounded as stone smacked against stone, and another dust cloud populated the crash site. The strands of aura wriggled and increased in intensity. A creature Brock had seen in one of the games he’d played when he was younger flashed in the forefront of his mind.

An… Elemental…?

He threw another rock, and the monument trembled. Physically, this time. Brock reached out with his aura and brushed his against its own. It recoiled, and the trembling redoubled. The sand around it seemed to shift and move, and Brock watched as the strands of aura were suddenly given life, snaking out and grasping onto the chunks of stone surrounding it. They wobbled.

Brock was forced to clasp his hands over his ears as a grating sound reverberated through the air and cut at his eardrums. The stones began to shift about and move, rolling to form what appeared to be limbs and the sands took to the air, swirling and travelling to orbit the main stone formation. An aura presence roared outward, and its strength continued to climb.

Past 70. Past 80. Past 90. Brock took a step back and swore. This… might’ve been a bad idea.

As stones tumbled and formed a pair of thick, powerful legs, and the Elemental’s height rose, Brock was thankful that the canopy blocked out the sun, otherwise the monster would have cast a horrifying shadow. It loomed high above him, even as stone continued to burst free from deep below the sandy expanse and fly up to join its main body.

Four massive arms bent down and smashed into the earth, steadying the monster as its body finished forming, all ridged edges and raw menace. A yellow glow illuminated each crack and crevice of the beast from within, and a craggy, horned, animalistic head glared at him with four luminous eyes. They pulsed in recognition.

Brock was forced to jump back as the tornado of sand spun through the air and coalesced upon the creature’s body, giving it an ever moving, ever shifting, skin. The grains slashed at Brock’s skin and scored small cuts across his body. His blood too, was swept away by the winds to join the Elemental’s mass.

“You…” its entire body shifted as the Elemental rose up to its full height, towering over Brock by a thirty meters or so. Its arms came down and cratered the sands around Brock as it loomed over him. Four eyes met his own, “…are the one who woke me?”

Brock felt a cold sweat drip down his forehead, and he took another step backward, “It… uh… it was an accident?”

“It was not human,” sand rose up beside Brock and coalesced into three solid sandstones, identical to the ones Brock had thrown. He recognised that the monster knew, and his mouth straightened into a line, “I am no fool. Do not treat me as such.”

“S… sorry.”

A silence prevailed over the area, interspersed only by the idle sounds of the Elemental’s grinding body. Brock felt an aura at the beginning of E Grade radiate from the monster, though it refrained from pressing down on him, instead being as passive as the breeze that wafted through the area.

Its eyes flashed and its voice rumbled out once more. It was deep and grating, and reminded Brock of the sound of two stones grinding against each other, “…You seek knowledge?”

It sounded almost surprised. Brock nodded and glanced at its craggy fists, “And… you don’t want to smash me to mush?”

“Not yet.” Brock’s mouth remained a straight line. Well that’s comforting. The beast continued, “What is it you seek, human?”

While he was leery, no nameplate had appeared above the Elemental, meaning it didn’t yet consider him an enemy. He felt a raging tsunami of joy threatening to overwhelm him as he had actually found the kind of being he was searching for answer from, but he shoved it deep down and remained level-headed.

The entire scenario did beg the question of why it wasn’t smushing him to paste and instead aiding his quest for survival, even if it had no idea about that. When he thought back, Ur’Kahn had been rather talkative at first, then it had devolved into a desperate battle to the death. Maybe this was going to turn out the same?

If it does… Brock felt at the E Grade aura in the air. It was strong, like steel. Then I’m royally fucked.

Forget fighting the beast in his weakened state, Brock wasn’t even sure he’d be able to beat it in his prime. He gulped, “I’m… dying, I guess. From a lack of ‘lifeforce’ according to some doctor. I was wondering… if you have a way to fix it? To prolong my lifespan?”

The Elemental slowly lowered its head until it was level with Brock’s own. The glow from its eyes hurt his own, but he refused to close them. His survival instincts wouldn’t let him. A deep rumble resounded from within the beast, resembling a curious hum, “You would choose to ask a creation of the Brood-Mother despite being a native of this planet?”

So, monsters are created by the System? Brock felt that wasn’t the entire truth. Gor’eth had seemed to have known Ur’Kahn before Earth was even integrated into the System. They had history. Created, but living elsewhere? At least before Earth was System-ized. But then what about Little Shit?

Brock narrowed his mental eyes. Does it mutate whatever’s on the planet and then summon others? Hmmm.

Shaking his head and decided to place that matter aside for the moment, Brock shielded his eyes and nodded, “Yeah. Not the best idea in hindsight, but it was all I had.”

“Interesting. There are not many like you.” The man didn’t know whether to feel concerned or grateful for the praise. He chose neutrality. The Elemental returned to its full height, and appeared to crack its neck, sending a small shower of stones falling atop Brock’s head, “as for the knowledge you seek, did you not learn the answer in your Tutorial? Or are they not disclosing such information this Echelon?”

Brock scratched the back of his stubbled head sheepishly. If anyone knew a way to prolong lifespan, then they hadn’t fucking told him, “Uh… yeah, it’s complicated.”

“Truly?” it seemed to laugh, a deep rumble echoing outward and shaking Brock’s brain in his skull, “well, no matter. The answer you seek is simply to undergo evolution.”

“Evolution?”

“To upgrade one’s race to the next Grade,” its hands pulled themselves from the sand and the Elemental slowly returned to its full, bipedal height on its short legs, “Evolution.”

Brock watched the monster’s movement with extreme caution as he considered what had been said. Was it truly that simple? Eat some Treasures and level his race up to 100, and he’d live? Brock licked his lips. They were getting dry again.

From what he’d seen, it wasn’t uncertain that people seemed to be looking healthier and younger as their race level grew. But he supposed he had never even considered the option. The effect he’d seen seemed so… minimal, like small touch ups and improvements. But if one’s race was to evolve as the Elemental had said…

The change should logically be far more drastic.

“That…” Brock glanced up at the monster as it looked down upon him. It was… really fucking imposing, “Thank you. A lot.”

“The gratitude should be mine, human,” it rumbled, “it is… rather lonely out here.”

Brock eyebrows rose, and he felt a little bit of hope bubbling within. It seemed he’d found a kindred spirit, “So… you’re not going to kill me now?”

A silence befell them once more, and Brock felt his back becoming drenched in sweat as the Elemental’s quartet of eyes seemed to pierce past the veil of flesh and into his very soul. Rumbling laugher resounded, and Brock shook where he stood, “I am not bound by The Instincts, human. I am merely a product of the earth, without desire to kill.”

It seemed to rise in height several meters, but Brock knew it was just his eyes playing tricks on him as its E Grade aura tightened around him, “That is to say, I’m not adverse to slaughtering those that threaten me.”

Brock nodded profusely, “Understandable, understandable.”

The aura loosened around him until it was barely more noticeable than the warmth on his- he froze. Where’d the warmth go…?

“Good.” It said.

A silence befell them, and Brock realised something. The heated breeze had ceased blowing. It hadn’t done so in the days Brock had ventured the deserts, yet now it had just simply… disappeared. The air was several Celsius cooler now without its warmth, the canopy shielding the landscape from both the UV and the heat emitted by the sun.

Deep inside of him, something was telling him to run. Screaming for him to flee. His honed survival instincts were blaring in his mind. His Ascendancy throbbed with urgency, clearly agreeing with those notions. But it was too late.

“I think something’s wro-” Brock spoke, but a sudden presence made the words die in his throat. An aura washed over him – both of them, from the way the glowing cracks dimmed in the Elemental – and Brock collapsed to his knees. It was stronger than Gor’eth’s. Far stronger.

A mechanical beeping resounded behind him, and a curious hum followed. Brock shuddered, feeling a pair of eyes boring into every section of his body with razor precision, like he was simply a creature to be studied. Dissected. He tried to move - to run - but he was frozen stiff. A blast of force travelled over his shoulder and slammed into the Elemental.

It was sent careening backwards in chunks that scattered across the sands, abruptly inert. An E Grade Alpha, slain with a single blow. He struggled against his paralysis again. It only seemed to grow stronger as his fear grew.

Sweat was positively drenching Brock’s body, and he felt oh so feeble, like he was nothing more than prey under the scrutiny of a predator. Goosebumps ran up along his arms and his hairs stood on end. Behind him, the sound of sand crunching underfoot faded into earshot.

“Well,” A voice resounded. Confident. Snarling. “Took me long enough.”