Looking farther ahead, Tatehan saw words appeared across his retina:

[HOST STATUS]

Name: Tatehan

Level: 6

Species: Human (Enhanced)

Knowledge: 100/100 [+2]

Repair Points: 47/100 [+1]

[ABILITIES]

• Gravity Manipulation - Level 7

• Regeneration (Partial) - Level 5

• Enhanced Durability - Level 0.7

[INVENTORY:]

[Shadow Goblin Cores: 56 total]

[Tri-Edge Shadow chakrams]

[Map]

[Shadow-Forged Blade]

[Kinetic Absorption Armor]

[Devastator Hand Cannon]

[Mode restoration Cores: 3]

His eyes were glued on his knowledge points…

[Knowledge points has reached 100 and cannot increase further. Species limit has been reached. Increase Level to progress further]

'Limit has been reached?' Tatehan thought. He hoped this wasn't what Kael told him about there being a limit to his ability upgrade.

'Increase Level to progress further.'

He had been shown an option of upgrading his level to progress.

He was currently at level 6 and he definitely did not know how to upgrade. Or could he upgrade from doing extraordinary feats? Maybe from killing a creature as huge as the Hexapod mauler.

With his mind clouded in thoughts, Tatehan saw more words flash across his retina:

[Congratulations Host, you have upgraded!]

[HOST STATUS]

Name: Tatehan

Level: 7 [NEW!]

Species: Human (Enhanced)

Knowledge: 103/200 [+3]

Repair Points: 47/100

[ABILITIES]

• Gravity Manipulation - Level 7

• Regeneration (Partial) - Level 5

• Enhanced Durability - Level 0.9 [0.2]

[INVENTORY:]

[Shadow Goblin Cores: 56 total]

[Tri-Edge Shadow chakrams]

[Map]

[Shadow-Forged Blade]

[Kinetic Absorption Armor]

[Devastator Hand Cannon]

[Mode restoration Cores: 3]

'Nice' Tatehan thought.

Though he was surprised on why he had just upgraded like that, without doing anything.

But then, he thought about his previous achievements, like killing Mub with one punch and then his adventures with the iron jaw scavengers and the shadow goblins.

Thinking about it now, it seemed like he was being cheated by his system. Surely he should have gotten a level upgrade from killing Mub and killing sixty one goblins. The repairs too, that should have led to an upgrade in level.

'Uh.., weird power system.'

———

Tatehan headed upward, following the natural slope of the terrain as it gradually elevated toward a rocky ridge system he'd noticed in the distance.

He was moving further away from the spaceship now, deeper into unexplored territory. But he walked without fear, with confidence and charisma in every step. His armor gleamed in the Martian sunlight, his weapons were ready, and his abilities were sharp.

He felt good and much alive. Like himself again after too many days of sitting around doing repairs.

After about twenty minutes of walking, he encountered another group: five Carapace Brutenecks, larger and more dangerous than the one he'd just harvested a core from.

'Been long since I fought a carapace bruteneck' he thought.

This fights was surprisingly nostalgic. The one with the common brutenecks and the one he was about to get into with the carapace brutenecks.

This was because soon he'd be living this place for good. He would go to live in civilization, hopefully getting a large garage where he would summon the spaceship and make repairs on it (sounded risky though).

So every fight with the brutenecks, every kills was done with gratitude. Because soon, he would not be seeing them again.

The Carapace brutenecks were actively alert, not distracted by feeding. They spotted him immediately and began their aggressive advance, moving with surprising speed despite their heavy armor plating.

Tatehan didn't hesitate. He summoned his Devastator Hand Cannon.

The enhanced pistol materialized in his hand, and he took careful aim at the lead Bruteneck.

He fired.

The shot was deafening, echoing across the wasteland. The energy projectile struck the lead Carapace Bruteneck square in the chest, and the resulting explosion was catastrophic.

The creature simply disintegrated—armor, flesh, everything, in a sphere of destructive force. The blast was so powerful that the two Brutenecks closest to it were also caught in the explosion radius, their bodies torn apart by the secondary damage.

Three down from one shot.

The remaining two Carapace Brutenecks actually hesitated, clearly not expecting such overwhelming force.

They were exchanged glances and in their minds, Tatehan was sure they'd be like:

'What the fuck!'

That moment of hesitation was fatal.

Tatehan fired twice more in quick succession. Each shot found its target, and each explosion eliminated a Carapace Bruteneck completely.

Five kills in under ten seconds.

Tatehan holstered the pistol, unsummoning it back to his inventory. The weapon was devastatingly effective, but also extremely loud. He'd probably attracted attention from anything within a kilometer radius with those shots.

He approached the blast sites carefully, searching for intact cores among the debris. The explosions had been powerful enough to destroy most of the biological material, but cores were remarkably durable.

He managed to recover three intact cores from the wreckage. Two were damaged beyond use, their crystalline structure fractured by the explosion force, but three was still good.

He had thought cores were magical stuff which just came out of the bodies of creatures he killed. While that was true, of recently, with some of the cores being damaged anytime he killed, he was starting to think they were not magical at all.

This wasn't some fantasy Land, he was sure they'd be logical explanations for things.

[Mode restoration Cores acquired: 3]

His inventory was building nicely.

Tatehan stood at the site of the brief battle and looked to his right, toward terrain that seemed different from what he'd explored before.

Since first arriving at the spaceship months ago, he had encountered many types of Brutenecks in various locations throughout this general region. The creatures were common enough that he'd mapped out several of their territories mentally.

But he was certain there were more. Different variants, possibly. Different behaviors too. The lunatic brutenecks had seemed really shocking when he first discovered them, that was untill he met knight and dwarf brutenecks.

What other variants might exist that he hadn't encountered yet?

He decided to investigate. The direction to his right led toward more barren lands, different from the usual rocky, boulder-strewn terrain. This area looked flatter, with harder-packed ground and less cover. Strange mineral deposits created odd color patterns in the dirt, ranging from deep rust-red to pale orange.

Tatehan adjusted his course and began walking in that direction, his senses alert.

After about fifteen minutes of traversing the increasingly strange landscape, he heard something: loud noises echoing from somewhere ahead. Crashing sounds and aggressive roars. The unmistakable sounds of combat.

He immediately went into stealth mode, moving quietly and using whatever cover was available. Eventually, he reached a large boulder that provided good concealment and carefully peered around it.

What he saw made him stop and stare.

Two Brutenecks were fighting each other, but these were variants he'd never seen before.

They were roughly the same size as Carapace Brutenecks, but their body structure was radically different. Instead of heavy armor plating, these creatures had sleeker, more reptilian bodies covered in overlapping scales that shimmered with some sort of iridescent quality in the sunlight. Most strikingly and surprisingly, they each possessed long, thick tails (easily two meters in length) that resembled lizard tails but more muscular and clearly weaponized, ending in hardened spikes.

Their heads were elongated, almost serpentine, with long forked tongues that flicked out constantly, tasting the air. When they roared at each other, Tatehan could see multiple rows of sharp teeth designed for tearing flesh.

They were engaged in what appeared to be a territorial dispute or dominance battle, hitting each other with everything they had.

The first creature lunged forward, snapping its jaws at the second's throat. The second twisted away, using its powerful tail to slam into the first's side with a sound like a hammer striking meat. The first creature staggered but recovered quickly, slashing with clawed forearms that left deep gashes across the second's scaled hide.

They circled each other, tails whipping through the air, tongues tasting for weakness. Then they crashed together again, a tangle of scales and claws and snapping jaws.

The second creature managed to get its jaws around the first's forearm and bit down hard. There was a sickening crunch, and the first creature roared in pain, thrashing violently. It used its tail like a club, slamming it repeatedly into the second's head until the creature released its grip.

Blood (dark and thick) dripped from both of them now. But neither showed any signs of backing down.

They separated briefly, both breathing hard, both watching for an opening.

Then the first creature did something Tatehan hadn't expected: it opened its mouth impossibly wide, and its long serpent tongue shot out like a whip, wrapping around the second creature's neck.

The second Bruteneck choked, clawing at the tongue, trying to break free. The first began pulling, dragging its opponent closer while the tongue constricted tighter.

Tatehan watched, fascinated and slightly horrified, as the battle reached its conclusion.

Suddenly, text appeared across his retina, interrupting his observation:

[New Species Detected: Analyzing...]

[Species Identified: Serpent-Tail Bruteneck]

[Variant Classification: Uncommon]

[Threat Level: High]

[Primary Weapons: Prehensile tongue (10m range), spiked tail, venomous bite]

[Weakness: ???]

[Core Type: ???]

The system had detected them. Which meant these creatures were significant enough to warrant a profile entry.

But then, system profile's of creatures were actually quite common. Like how the shadow goblins and iron jaw scavengers had been identified.

Core type, repeated in Tatehan's mind. What could their cores do…

Tatehan continued watching the brutal fight, his mind already calculating. Two creatures, both now wounded and exhausted from fighting each other. If he waited until one killed the other, he'd have an easy target for the survivor. Like how he had for the knight brutenecks. How he had dashed at the last survivor in the batte, killed it and take the cores of its fellow species and that of the lunatic carapace brutenecks.

But the question was: should he risk it?

These things looked significantly more dangerous than any Bruteneck variant he'd faced before.

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