The Rise of the Black Plain

When everyone turned their eyes in that man's direction, they saw him pointing straight ahead, where they soon noticed a creature standing there looking at them all.

This creature looked like a giant ant but stood like a human being. Its head was small, smaller than its 'shoulders,' where two wings, almost as big as its own body, were ready to fly. It had two huge black eyes that contrasted with its tan exoskeleton.

Gulp!

"What's that?" One of the group muttered as they felt a relatively strong aura coming from the creature's body.

At first, they hadn't paid any attention to this creature's aura, but the more they looked at it, the more they realized the strange sensation of a level 97 creature from this world.

As they looked at the creature, the creature looked at them, its big eyes moving as it tried to understand who these terrible creatures were in its path.

'Which group is this?' It asked itself as it hesitated to take a step back.

'My group is a bit far away, but I can't risk going home while these creatures are watching.' It thought to itself. 'There is a Sovereign among them.' It looked at Maximillian, aware that it couldn't offend someone like that, or it and its tribe could end up badly.

Minos narrowed his eyes as he looked closer at the creature, sensing that his companions were becoming tense.

He raised both arms and called for calm.

"Don't move." He said to his people. "Let's try to communicate with it."

Maximillian watched in silence as the group looked nervously at the creature.

Minos tried to approach, making peace signs without weapons in his hands. "Can you understand me? My name is Minos. M-I-N-O-S." He said as he walked as slowly as a snail.

The ant-like creature looked at Minos with fear at first, but he was intelligent enough to recognize a non-belligerent sign.

You might think that peace signs could be different in every world, and there were indeed different customs. But the most important thing about a peace sign was not the gesture but the feeling behind it.

There were gestures that could mean war or peace in different places, but there was no way an intelligent being could confuse them, given the feelings the other side would have if they wanted war or peace.

'What is that monster talking about?' The creature tried to understand, but since they spoke different languages, it would not be easy for one to understand the other.

Thinking it should speak, it opened its mouth to reveal large, menacing structures attached to its exoskeleton.

Then, a strange sound came from the creature's mouth, making some of Minos' men think it was an attack and prepare to fight.

"Calm down!" Minos told his people as he picked up a stick from the ground.

Then he drew his name on it, slowly saying that this was his name.

The creature couldn't understand Minos' language. Still, it could repeat sounds, and what's more, it was intelligent enough to know that the strange creature before it was trying to tell it his name.

"Minos?" It asked as it pointed with one of its legs in Minos' direction.

Minos smiled and nodded. "Yes, Minos. I'm Minos. And you?" He asked, pointing at the strange 'ant' in front of him.

"Strin." The creature said, understanding that this being wanted to know its name.

With both sides understanding that the other side wanted to talk first, the tempers there cooled, and Strin and Minos became more relaxed about this meeting of theirs.

Then Strin took a stick and began to draw pictures on the ground together with Minos, without using words or symbols, just things that both sides could understand.

Through this primitive communication method, Minos could tell the being that he had fallen into this world. On the other hand, Strin understood that this group only wanted information, something it didn't mind giving them as long as they didn't go to its tribe.

Through this exchange of information, which would take 30 minutes for both sides to understand each other, both sides came to understand each other's language a little better.

Learning new languages was not as difficult as one might think. Cultivators' minds were very efficient at making analogies and storing information.

From the moment one side could relate something that the other side knew differently, they could learn new ways of referring to the same things and thus learn the other side's language.

Using a stick and pointing to the trees, the sky, and the ground, Minos managed to get that being to understand what he wanted and to speak in its own language the same things he had pointed out.

In this exchange of words, both sides learned a little of each other's language, quickly improving their communication.

"So you want to know where you are and what's on my planet?" Strin asked while the people in Minos' group grimaced, understanding only parts of its speech.

But Strin understood the Minos group's doubt after five minutes of trying to talk about it.

"What did it ask?" Someone asked one of the robots.

The robots there were some of the most adaptive beings in the group, and they helped both sides in this conversation to understand each other.

The level 99 robot said. "I think it understood our question." The 'ant' saw this robot nod positively to his question and said, gesturing. "We are on Zocarro. That's the name of our world."

"Zocarro?"

"Zocarro? It's the name of this place? What a strange name." The people in the group understood as they commented.

"Zocarro is the name of this place? Can you tell us more?" Minos asked.

"Yes, that's the planet's name," Strin said firmly. "I am a native, a member of one of the many tribes of Zocarro. As for where we are, this is the Contaminated Forest. You shouldn't travel here. It's dangerous."

After 10 minutes of trying to talk about this area and how they should move around, Strin managed to get Minos' group to understand it.

"This is the home of a race of parasitic creatures. They will try to take over your body whenever possible. It's not safe to travel through this area for long. There is a special path you must take if you want to reach a safe area."

After the group understood why they had encountered problems upon arriving at this place, Minos asked. "Can you show us the way? We just want to find our way out of this world."

"Out?" The 'ant' liked what it heard because this group didn't seem malicious, like other space explorers who came and went from Zocarro.

"Come with me. I'll show you something."