Chapter 76: Giants

From his years of exploration throughout the many planes, Cieba was familiar with this subtype of plane. Size-differentiated planes were actually quite common, and more often than not were harmless.

However, this was a largely subjective experience, since the denizens of the many planes differed as much in size as they did in shape and appearance.

Cieba slowly swung the Treasure Frond back and forth through the air, holding the image of the fugitive who had stolen the mage's artifact strong in his mind.

The Treasure Frond had been passed down from his family through the generations, each generation having prayed over the frond for the predecessor and ancestors to imbue it with their power.

And when Cieba had announced he was becoming a Freeman, the Frond had been passed to him, so that he would return with great treasures and fortune for his family.

The spatial treasures the mage had offered as reward were exactly what he needed to power his pebble enough to return home.

As he waved the large leaf through the air, it gave off a gentle golden glow, and Cieba suddenly felt compelled to head toward a faint haze he could see hanging in the horizon.

The whirring and hum of the Hoverbike echoed through the gully as Kothar sped by, a faint field of electricity all around him. Since he now had his electromagnetic field belt, having a low powered Lightning Field spell active around him as far as possible had become immensely useful to him, and his increased mana reserves allowed him to keep it active indefinitely.

Already on his short ride, he had detected many locations where only a short time mining would net him a ridiculous amount of resources, but he decided to explore further.

Thanks to his shoulder unit, he had more than enough mana to speed along at a ridiculous rate, and he continued upstream, following the path of the stream through the sparse woods.

[Hey! What the **** is that?] Silane called out, alerting Kothar to a vague movement in his peripheral vision.

[Oh *****!] Kothar braked hard, turning away from the enormous being striding through the woods.

Kothar could barely even see the top of the giant's head, which on this plane would technically be a normal-sized humanoid.

The giant was clad in roughly woven barkcloth and carried a heavy club slung over one shoulder.

Furthermore, its wasn't composed of flesh and blood. From this distance, the giant looked as if its flesh was made of living stone, and to Kothar looked like a roughly carved stature that had been brought to life and was now striding through the forest.

Long green tresses of foliage tangled their way down the giant's back, and Kothar felt a tremor shaking the air rhythmically.

The giant was humming and took a leisurely stroll through the woods, stepping over the stream like it was merely an afterthought, while it had been a monumental find for Kothar.

[Let's follow it!] Silane exclaimed, as the giant walked away into the trees.

[You've got to be kidding, it'd squish us like a bug. Actually, no. It'll probably sneeze and send us flying halfway to who knows where.] Kothar protested.

[Come on, Kothar. Don't be such a wuss. Let's learn more about this plane.] Silane chided Kothar.

[Wuss? Where did you learn that? I demand an update to this malfunctioning AI.] Kothar teaser her back.

[I'm afraid that this product is no longer supported.] Silane responded in her old, more robotic voice, before bursting into laughter.

The pair of them continued to bicker and tease each other, as the Kothar followed the giant at a distance, making sure to keep as low to the ground and behind some kind of cover as he could.

He didn't want their journey to end with being confused for some sort of annoying bug,

[Shouldn't we turn back soon?] Kothar asked Silane, they had been following the giant for a great distance now, and enroute had seen some absolutely ridiculous creatures that populate Atla alongside the giant.

[Just for a little while longer, Kothar.] Silane replied, her voice distant. She was busy cataloging the menagerie of odd creatures they had seen.

Of note was an enormous pink blob that had a row of pale white tentacles along its back, and slowly wriggled through the forest.

Upon seeing the creature, the giant had sprinkled a handful of a crumbly yellow substance, at the front of the creature, presumably where its mouth would be, then while it was distracted, had unsheathed a knife for its leather belt.

The giant had deftly sliced off a few of the tentacles at the rear of the creature, the nubs that remained oozing a pinkish goo before rapidly healing shut.

After muttering some words under its breath, the giant then stowed the tentacles away and continued on its walk through the forest.

The trees thinned, and the relatively flat ground of the forest began to slope upwards. The giant picked up its pace and Kothar had to strain a little to keep up, struggling to maintain the massive mana output that the Hoverbike needed to keep up the insane pace.

The trees cleared to reveal a wooden palisade at the peak of a large hill, and the giant continued up towards the wide open gates at the front of the p[palisade.

[Shall we follow it in?] Silane asked Kothar, now that there was a very real risk of being noticed by one of the giants, she was no longer as eager to investigate.

[I'm sure we can easel;y sneak through a gap in the palisade, but just to be safe, we'll wait till dark. Hopefully they also sleep at night.] Kothar replied, before riding the Hoverbike vertically up the side of one of the few trees near the giants' encampment and finding a branch to wait on.

Meanwhile, back at the willow that Kothar had made his home, Cieba had come across the dangling willow twig, and the many traces that Kothar had left. He almost stopped to investigate, but the Treasure Frond compelled him away, taking him directly to his target.