So, I have a staring contest with the eyes as they try to make me enter the water. While I want the crab to come on shore so I can kill it, I also want to get as much mental resistance as I can. So, the longer it sits in the water trying to command me the better.

Mental Resistance +1%!

The plan is to sit here building resistance until the thing gets frustrated enough to come after me. However, as usually happens with most of my plans, that isn't what ends up happening. When the crab gets frustrated, instead of coming after me, it sends minions to get me.

The first I know of it is when two piles of sand rise up and take on a humanoid form. Once they are formed they start walking towards me and the eyes of the crab are trying to make me stand still. As the golems approach me I draw Blitz and swing at the one on the left.

Unfortunately, while Blitz cuts right through it, the slash just closes up instantly. Then I turn and cut the golem completely in half, but it turns into a pile of sand and just reforms. I easily cut them both down, but they just keep reforming every time.

Mental Resistance +1%!

My mental resistance went up because while I am fighting the golems the eyes keep attacking. They are doing everything they can to make me give up, but I am ignoring them. Since I can't do anything to the golems I start backing away, towards the jungle.

The golems follow me closely and as I had hoped, the crab gets nervous and finally comes on land. Dodging around the golems I head straight for the crab as soon as it is fully on the beach. I put Blitz away as I dodge through the pincers coming after me and move underneath the crab.

Once I am beneath the crab I put both hands on its shell and start absorbing its life force. Instead of leaving it to the skill, I concentrate and pull the life force as quickly as possible. I intentionally pull the life force faster than my body can absorb it so I can put the extra into my mana pool.

Mana Pool +10!

Once I have taken all the crab's life force it dies and the golems return to being just piles of sand. Since it isn't edible I just leave the corpse on the beach and climb a tree to rest. While I didn't get as much mental resistance as I hoped, it was still worth fighting the crab.

1 Eight-Eyed Crab defeated! 100,000 Exp gained!

Those golems came as a surprise, it is a good thing they are slow or it could have gotten messy. If I encounter another crab with eight or more eyes I will have to be careful. That is not to say that I will avoid fighting them, I will just do so more carefully.

It does make me wonder what other kind of beasts I am going to find on this island. It is almost enough to make me give up my plan of following the beach. However, the beach is probably the fastest way, and I have people waiting for me.

So I eat some dinner and then meditate until dawn, then after a light breakfast I resume my trek. Shortly after I have lunch the beach curves again and it is now heading north. I am a little disappointed at my rate of travel, having Lizzy has spoiled me.

However, my senses are not as good as hers, if I speed up I could run right into an ambush. Although, right now I would just want her ability to make the sand provide firm footing. I can do something similar using mana, but only to a small area and I can't do it while moving.

If I move into the jungle I will have better footing, but dodging trees will slow me down. Also, the thick foliage makes it much harder to spot enemies before they attack. Basically, what I am doing now is the best option available to me, but it is still frustrating.

Then, as the sun starts setting, I notice a change in the terrain in the distance. The land is rising, possibly hills or something, but it is the first major change I have found. I should reach it tomorrow, and if it isn't jungle anymore it will probably be worth exploring.

When the sun comes up the next morning I eat a quick breakfast and then get moving. Since I am excited I walk a bit faster than is safe, but I am fairly sure I only have to watch out for the crabs. The closer I get the more excited I get, it is definitely an area of hills and the jungle ends at them.

As soon as I reach the first hill I leave the beach and start climbing it, it is mostly rock. From the top I am able to see that the hills continue along the beach, but inland they turn into mountains. The hills along the beach are mostly barren, but the ones heading inland are forested.

Since that looks more like the type of area the elves would be found in I start heading inland. Going up and down the hills slows me down, but I need to be more careful after leaving the beach anyway. As I am climbing the third forested hill I start to feel like I am being watched.

The feeling gets stronger as I continue, I can now tell there are multiple watchers. Hopefully, they are elves, now I just need to make peaceful contact. Just as I am thinking of how to make contact I hear four arrows being fired at me.

As soon as I see them I can tell they are aimed at the ground in front of my feet. It is meant to be a warning, but that is too simple for my taste, so I catch all four while they are still in the air. Once I am holding two arrows in each hand I can hear sounds of surprise and amazement.

Shortly after five elves reveal themselves, they are bulkier than Core and their ears are not as long. Either they are a different type of elf from Core, or they have changed over time. I try greeting them in elven, but all five just give me confused looks.

Swiftleaf says "What language is that? Do you understand me?"

"Yes, I do. That was the elven language, but you don't know it?"

Swiftleaf says "No, we speak the common tongue that we learned from the humans. Now, what are you doing in our territory and what are you?"

First I explain to Swiftleaf what a beastman is and then I start explaining how I ended up here. When I talk about the gate I came through I am worried when he doesn't seem to recognize it. What is worse is the five of them not only don't understand elven but they don't know anything about their history.

"Are there any elders that might know more about your history that I could talk to?"

Swiftleaf says "There are, but they are in our village and we are not about to let someone we don't trust enter it."