The contingent traveling to the Jungle is far larger than the one I went north with.

After all, this contingent will not be returning home.

At least not for a long while.

We were 500 strong,

With the majority of the group being Core Formation, and a paltry few being Qi Refinement and Nascent Soul.

Vrusha and one other were of the Nascent Soul Realm, while another 400 were Core Formation, and Qi Refinement Infernals brought up the rest of the number.

We were currently sprinting across the continent as we made our way to the jungle, and honestly, it was nice to see all of this.

I've been on another continent already, but I didn't travel there on foot over the land and water, and even while I was there I didn't get to sightsee or anything like that.

This was different.

Feeling the wind in my face as I ran, seeing the beautiful river that ran north to south that we jumped across, and passing an array of animals as we made it to our destination.

I recognized most of the animals, or I could at least identify what they perhaps evolved from, but there were a couple I had no clue what I was looking at.

One of the animals I knew for sure were a herd of horses I saw galloping and grazing in the south.

I would've wanted to have Richard send a group here who could potentially tame them, but there was at least one aura in the group that rivaled Core Formation.

Between the feline in the north, and the horse just now, there was no need to second guess the fact that the animals on this planet—or at minimum, this continent—were growing stronger than their human counterparts.

Which I suppose made sense in a way.

They didn't have to sit down for hours, days, weeks, etc., to absorb Qi and breathe it in a certain manner to advance.

There was no need for them to learn techniques, or even to maintain civilities with their neighbors.

In fact, it was likely because of the law of nature that they are growing as fast as they did. The wild was, and always will be, a free-for-all kill-or-be-killed place, and now that killing other things had the direct reward of not only surviving, but also growing stronger, things will be different.

If humankind isn't careful, Earth could easily be lost—not to an invading force, but to nature instead.

And even though I said that, it's not like I suddenly want to go on a killing spree across the planet to ensure that we never get overrun by beasts, but at the same time, it's important to ensure that the territories we control remain just that—in our control.

Get stronger and stay stronger. Let the wildlife be wild, as it's a part of nature and our planet's ecosystem.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Of course, if a few of them get bold enough to enter cities, then an appropriate response will be dealt out.

All within relative reason.

Anyway.

The Jungle.

We finally arrived, and the sounds I heard and the beings I could sense far and wide reminded me of every single depiction of a jungle that we ever saw on TV.

It was wet, humid, and the amount of concentrated wildlife would put any zoo to shame.

The songs and cries of birds, the screeches of monkeys, the roars of... well, something—perhaps leopards? Not sure. Either way, there was a lot going on here.

If I came here before reaching Qi Refinement, then there was a good chance my level of annoyance for the place would've skyrocketed due to the many bugs that constantly flew around us.

But none of them could enter within a meter of the entire group with all the practically passive Qi we used to block them.

It took a few minutes of traveling, but we eventually made our way to the two points of interest here.

They were remarkably near each other.

Which is not surprising considering the massive amounts of Qi required to be able to not only generate a Dungeon but sustain it as well.

Thus flooding the area around it with Qi, and that level of concentration only went up when the level of the Dungeon rises.

And this wasn't a low-level Dungeon.

In front of us was an old-looking fountain in the middle of a small clearing of trees. In fact, this was the only clearing of trees that I could sense for miles.

The fountain still had water in it, and it was still circulating somehow. Though it was very slow, and it looked as if it's been there for thousands of years already.

As I approached the fountain, I turned my head to the left and right as I watched the surrounding trees filling up with silent guests.

Monkeys.

A large amount of them now filled the trees around us, and they just watched.

Silently.

It was eerie in a way.

Ignoring them for now, I neared the fountain.

Welcome to Monkey Reign

(C) Class Dungeon

Five Core Formation Cultivators Recommended

Enter? Yes/No

I grinned.

There was definitely a monkey king in there. I almost refused to believe otherwise. Five Core Formation recommended? That's practically screaming of the need for people in the Nascent Soul Realm to enter.

Dungeons were big liars when it came to requirements.

It's alright, monkey king.

I'll be back soon.

Of course, I could summon all the Nascent Soul Infernals in my Clan and enter, but where's the fun in that? I want to be able to fight it on my two feet.

Soon.

Well, maybe a few years down the road, but soon.

For now, we made our way to the next site—just a hundred feet or so away from the Dungeon to the west.

And instead of being taken to a hole in the ground, I found myself standing before a special grove of trees that were clearly different from the trees around them.

"They are called Velosun Barktrees, Patriarch. Named after the fruit they produce that looks like a small sun, and the ability of the lumber from the tree to not only withstand extremely high temperatures but also serve as an amazing conductor of heat."

It seems I've found the handle of my spear.

But… based on what we can all sense coming from deeper in the grove, this isn't the time to collect.

Don't worry, potential monkey king number 2, I'll be back. Before the year is up.

"Alright, good job on finding this. Let's go conquer some Cities."

After putting eyes on everything I needed to, it was time to head in the direction of a City.

One that was scouted during the month-long scouting mission.

It wasn't on this continent though—instead, it was to the west.

In a continent that was apparently mostly covered in sand.

This is probably the City of the sand people.

Surely they have a bigger library than the one in my own City, right? I wonder if they left any cool books behind.

We continued westward across the continent until we left the jungle and reached a vast coastline.

Wasting no time, we all leapt off the small ledge and entered into the water.

Those of the Qi Refinement Realm were carried, while the two Nascent Soul Infernals flew just above the water.

Meanwhile, myself and all the other Core Formation Infernals simply covered our feet in Qi and sprinted across the surface of the water.

Ah.

I'm having fun.

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