At this point, Dustin had spent almost three days searching for any sign that people had being around, and after so much effort, he finally found the group he was looking for. The entire thing was a bit difficult as he couldn't make use of his tamed beasts. The environment wasn't really convenient for his furry beasts, and the sea serpent, because of the skill water loving, it was severely weakened in such a region where the heat was above the roof.
The group he had been in search for hid themselves in a cave, and they went pretty deep inside it to escape the heat. Miraculously, the place they found was a little better than the outside. It was still hot and humid somewhat, but when compared to the outside, it was way better. Inside, the heat was only enough to make them uncomfortable, not kill them.
Dustin would have never found them if he didn't think to search every cave he came across, and just like he thought, they were in one of the earlier caves close to what would be considered the edge of the volcanic region. They weren't exactly right next to it, but that was the closest cave Dustin had found, and it was within one kilometre so-
When he met them, they seemed to be a little surprised at first, which was expected, but their happy expressions, especially three of them, was a bit off. They were simply too happy to see someone who might have just come to join them in their suffering.
What Dustin expected from them at first was a bit of sympathy, and then what he expected to follow was hostility as he basically was an extra mouth to eat at their resources and all that, but no-
Dustin couldn't help but think to himself how things had changed since the first trial.
Apparently, the people inside the cave, well three of them to be exact knew him. He was a little surprised at that, as he was sure that he hadn't done anything since his return, but the story they told clarified everything for Dustin. The three of them turned out to be the three he saved long ago. He thought they were four of them that he saved that day, but whatever. Unimportant information really.
Dustin discussed with them about bringing them out of the volcanic region, and honestly they were very grateful to him. The think however was how he was going to do it. Dustin also left the part where he was asked by the messenger to do this task, and just let them think it was a coincidence. Of course, this people are Benny, Kane, and Kane's sister. They were also the ones leading the whole group, so it made things even easier and more straight forward for Dustin.
Unlike what Dustin experienced, he was told that the monsters and beasts outside were roaming around quite often, and no doubt were every ferocious. The only part Dustin agreed on was the part where they were very ferocious, as for the roaming around part, he didn't experience it himself, but he also didn't really discredit their claims.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt'Maybe they are having a meeting or something?' Dustin joked to himself. No matter what way his emotions are suppressed or how much his attitude is to be changed, the jokes will never stop.
After speaking with them for some more time, it turned out that the weak people he saved long ago had gone on to become strong and even formed their own guild with Benny as the guild master and Kane as the assistant. The name of their guild was Lotus. Not a bad name by any means.
After that Dustin took some food from his inventory and handed it to the entire team of about sixteen people and asked them to eat well. He really didn't need anybody to be weak when they attempt to escape from the volcanic region. Supposedly, the people who came from the guild on this outing were all the top and strongest amongst them, so Dustin could only trust their capabilities. Ultimately, if they end up dead it wasn't any of his problem, as the ones that were important were the three who knew him, the rest are just additives.
While they ate and got their strength back up, Dustin decided to go out and scout for a bit. He wasn't quite ok with the knowledge that there were strong monsters and beasts 'roaming' around the cave, so he wanted to see for himself. Also, if he could encounter any, that would be very good as it would help him in his goals.
..
<Status>
Level: 19 (1,190/12,130) >> 19 (6,190/12,130)
Name: Dustin
Title: Progenitor, Slaughterer
Class:
Nature: Cold-Blooded, Demonic
Hp: 3,500
Mp: 2,350
[Stat]
Strength: 78
Agility: 82
Sense: 52
Vitality: 75
Constitution: 92
Intelligence: 55
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmUnallocated stat point: 34
[Skill tab]
Passive: Bloodlust (A), Sixth Sense (S)
Active: Taming Master (A), Illusion Master (A)
..
These strong monsters are really a blessing to Dustin.
He starts off first by going around the cave scouting for the presence of any monster, but even after an hour of scouting the nearby terrain, he finds nothing, not even a single bug. Of course it would be impossible to find a bug in such a place, but Dustin couldn't really see any monster around. This was with the activation of his skill that would allow him to sense all the nearby monsters, and still nothing. It was as though the monsters and beasts had ran away for some reason.
If he could find something that was below A rank, that would be very good, as it would mean that he could easily kill the monster and get the experience points.
Dustin returned back to the cave as there was nothing to kill. When he got back, he could tell that it was night time already by his calculations, an even if it wasn't, it was time for them to sleep and rest for the next day. They really needed all the rest they could get. He did good to provide the team with enough water, as they were severely dehydrated, so all they needed now was some rest.
'Good thing they're strong enough to handle the heat.' Dustin said in his mind. Seeing them tank the heat, Dustin was sure that he would fare better, but still didn't care to test it out to see. He was no masochist.
Dustin also urged the leaders to get some rest, and was quite surprised at how trusting they were of him. Only the one called Benny showed some form of caution, but not enough. Dustin didn't really need sleep that much, so he just stayed awake with his taming skill activated throughout trying to find monsters or beasts.