As if moving at night wasn't bad enough, the beast had unlimited stamina and no qualms about using it. Not to fight of course. No, that would be far too easy. Instead of displaying the absolute power he had used to knock out a chosen of heaven without obliterating the mountain, the absolute monster had told her she was too soft and simply ran straight past the more literal monsters, expecting her to do the same.

That was fine, if terrifying, the first time she had to run through a pack of wargs to avoid being left behind. It was fine when she had to dodge through the legs of a stone golem that had formed out of a defensive tower. It was even fine when she needed to completely ignore a treasure chest on the side of the road to keep up.

It was not fine that they had been going for hours. Every time she couldn’t run anymore, they stopped for a few minutes until the helmet said her stamina was full, then started again. The first time, she managed to sprint for almost four minutes, though falling behind due to exhaustion after about two and a half. After that, she was allowed to rest ten minutes. The next, she managed less, and rested the same amount of time. Breaks were definitely happening, but that was no consolation whatsoever.

At least after the second hour, she had noticed that her maximum stamina had gone up after the break, then the next time it did so again. That had been motivating her this whole time. What she hadn’t suspected was the fact that every time her stamina increased, so did the amount of time she’d have to be running, alongside the amount of time it took to take a break. They had been going for almost the entire night at this point.

Running a self-scan while she continued running, Pu-Kepa Ying was dismayed to note that the statistic screen showed her as still having two points of stamina. She was already miserable, and that meant she was still in for worse before she finally collapsed in exhaustion and was able to rest in the sweet embrace of death.

Self Scan

Strength

9

Stamina

2/20

Dexterity

10

Health

9/9

Intelligence

11

Special

?/?

No special qualities detected

At least the beast had managed to make it back from… Far beyond the point where death was assured for any mortal creature.

Experiment 31

Strength

4

Stamina

∞/∞

Dexterity

7

Health

7/7

Intelligence

18

Special

3/3

WARNING: STATISTICS HAVE BEEN RESET TO BASE VALUES. SEEK 45 ATTENTION.

His health had steadily been going up the whole time, only to suddenly revert back to a perfect appearance a few minutes after the scan said he was at seven of seven. Kepa Ying had modified the image the helmet showed her to float the box with information next to the thing she had scanned. After quite a bit of yelling, she had also managed to make it soundproof whenever she wasn’t specifically trying to be heard, and set up an updating library of everything she makes the helmet investigate. It was fortunate that the beast was allowing her the use of the arm as well, because it didn’t seem that the ‘push to talk’ feature would work without another part to give commands with.

The moon was setting, which meant the sun was about to rise over the horizon. She was sure that as soon as light covered the area, whatever town the beast was taking them toward would be visible as well. It would be a relief to be able to stop running for a while and rest.

Rays of light blast down like spears. Monsters, stabbed by the beams, burst into a purple cloud of miasma. Not one to miss an opportunity to make her even more uncomfortable, the beast takes a slight detour to rip the life from the dying monsters and store it inside her helmet. It didn’t have any effect on her, to be sure, but breathing in the yin force was cold and disturbing.

Shimmering in the distance, water surrounded a port town across the gulf. If Kepa Ying remembered basic geography, that made its main notable feature the ability to go across to the Grandmist Primordial Sect. It might be a bit more difficult to get around than in the village, being much bigger and probably more important. There would definitely be more powerful consumables and equipment for sale, but she didn’t have any money. Even if she did, they had left too quickly to have grabbed it.

“Okay, what the exexex is that over there?”