Zhao observed his surroundings with new eyes. The clearing, the dicinal grass, the Carrion Sprouts waiting patiently beneath the surface, the claw tree guarding its secrets in an almost closed "hand".
"What would you do here, boy?" Zhao asked aloud, studying the landscape with a new perspective.
The answer ca gradually, like pieces of a puzzle fitting into place. It wasn’t about brute force or perfect stealth. It was about understanding the ecosystem well enough to beco part of it.
Zhao thought about his options
The underground route was even worse than the sky.
He had considered entering the tunnels in previous rings for barely a few minutes before completely discarding the idea. There were 200 ters in Silver, 350 ters depth from Gold rank, and 500 ters in Platinum from which 50 ters would be dominated by beasts of the sa rank as those on the surface.
The underground had so residual mana from the surface before reducing the mana level to 0 for around 100 ters and recovering it again doubled every 25 ters in depth...
All those beasts before resurging to the surface would be specialized in vibrations. Without earth beasts of his own, every step he took would be like ringing a giant bell announcing his presence. The Gold sprouts had already been dangerous, and dealing with the platinum version for the last 150 ters to the surface in Platinum 3 would be suicide.
"The Gold sprouts will detect even before I reach 300 ters," he murmured, discarding the underground route. "Worse than the sky..."
He found himself sitting in the clearing next to the claw tree, observing the dicinal grass growing on the giant corpse. His mind spun, searching for options that simply didn’t exist.
"What would Ren do?" he asked aloud.
The boy always found solutions that, after analyzing them, were simple and based on the natural characteristics of beasts. Like the Cat Bear scent to confuse the Golden Noses. Like using knowledge of attack patterns to defeat stronger opponents...
The flying cats attacked moths because moths threatened the trees. But if sothing didn’t sll like a moth, if sothing slled like sothing the cats instinctively avoided...
"When you can’t find the solution to the problem," he murmured, "the problem is in how you’re seeing things..."
Zhao looked at the dicinal grass with new eyes.
The sll had repelled the Playful Cat in the golden ring. But would it work against the Flying Cats of the platinum ring? There was only one way to find out.
"Completely crazy," he murmured as he began harvesting much more grass than he already carried in his backpack. "But all the best ideas seem like that first... Right?"
♢♢♢♢
Covering himself completely with dicinal grass was a sowhat uncomfortable experience for flying.
Zhao even crushed leaves until he created a thick paste that he applied to every centiter of his exposed skin. The sll was overwhelming, dicinal, but with a bitter undertone that made his eyes water. His Mist Owl, fused with him, protested with nausea sensations he had to forcibly suppress.
The process was thorough and disgusting. He worked the paste into his hair, under his fingernails, even inside his mouth to ensure the scent perated every part of his being. By the ti he finished, he looked like he had been dipped in green mud and slled like a walking pharmacy.
"If this doesn’t work," he murmured while applying the last layer, "I’m going to be the worst-slling scout who was ever devoured by giant cats."
The flight back to the platinum ring was an exercise in blind faith.
Zhao forced himself to maintain a direct flight pattern toward the massive trees, resisting every instinct that scread at him to hide or flee. The Flying Cats detected him imdiately... he had counted on that.
Three felines approached from different directions, their forms cutting through the air with deadly grace. Zhao maintained his course, his heart hamring against his ribs.
The first cat was a magnificent specin, its mbrane wings spanning at least twenty ters each, its muscular fra radiating power. Its eyes locked onto Zhao with the focused intensity of a creature that had never failed to catch its prey.
The cat closed the distance, its flight path planned to intercept Zhao’s trajectory perfectly. Zhao could see the intelligence in its movents, the way it anticipated his possible evasive maneuvers.
Fifty ters. Forty. Thirty.
Zhao’s hands trembled as he fought the urge to dive away from the approaching predator. Every fiber of his being scread warnings about the claws he could now see gleaming in the platinum light, the powerful jaw that could snap him in half without effort.
Twenty ters.
The cat’s nostrils flared as it caught his scent.
The change was instantaneous and dramatic. The predator’s confident approach transford into recoiling revulsion. Its wings beat frantically as it pulled back, its face contorting into an expression of such profound disgust that it was almost comical.
The cat let out a sound that was part hiss, part gag, and wheeled away so abruptly that it nearly collided with the second approaching feline.
The second cat, seeing its companion’s reaction, slowed its approach but continued forward with cautious curiosity. It got within fifteen ters before the sll hit it fully, and its reaction was even more violent. The creature perford what could only be described as an aerial retch, spinning away while making distressed sounds that echoed through the air.
The third cat, witnessing the fate of its companions, perford a wide circle around Zhao, testing the air currents. When a downdraft carried his scent upward, the cat imdiately climbed higher, clearly determined to avoid whatever had caused such revulsion in the others.
"It works," Zhao whispered, barely able to believe his success. "It really works."
He flew through the cats’ surveillance network as if he were untouchable, protected by nothing more than dicinal grass and the understanding that sotis the simplest solutions were the most effective.
The passage through their territory beca almost surreal. Cats that had seed determined to intercept him now actively avoided his flight path, creating gaps in their formation that allowed him to pass unchallenged. So even fled to higher altitudes, abandoning their patrol routes entirely rather than risk exposure to his overwhelming stench.
As he approached the boundary to the second platinum ring, Zhao couldn’t help but smile despite his exhaustion and the aweso sll surrounding him.
"Ren," he murmured with genuine appreciation, "I’m definitely going to brag about this when I get back."
User Comments
0 comments from readers