Chapter 44 Xuna’s Journey (Part 3)

Rhizen's goal wasn't just to strengthen Xuna, but also to find beneficial means to strengthen the rest of the Horned Humans. This way, the overall strength of the Lerni Empire would trump the Fornol Empire, allowing them to achieve victory faster.

As even the smallest of things were able to affect the current Xuna, she might stumble upon a lot of interesting things thanks to the effect of her Coincidental Luck that Rhizen was keeping filled to the brim constantly.

With that thought in mind, Rhizen continued to observe her, watching her use the teeth of a fish to skin the bodies of the rest.

"Never thought it took this much time without proper tools." Xuna sighed, having spent the past three hours just removing the unnecessary things from the fish. She formed a pile of the unnecessary parts, thinking for a moment as she crushed them into a paste using a couple of flat roots that she cut out.

Putting them into a basket, she placed it before the scorpion, watching it hesitate for a moment before consuming them, 'Thankfully, it seems to like it.'

Even though she didn't like to eat raw fish, she didn't have much of a choice, especially since she was in a humid environment where starting a fire was simply impossible.

Thankfully for her, her physique had improved after becoming a Horned Human, allowing her to digest all organic matter. Thanks to that, she didn't fall sick from eating raw, untreated fish.

As she was eating, Xuna noticed the place darkening as it was already evening time, causing her to worry about spending the night in the open. It definitely wouldn't be comfortable enough.

'Wait, I remember seeing a banyan tree…' She thought, slowly making her way into the deeper sections of the forest as she soon came across the banyan tree, making her way up its branches before she began to tie up their secondary roots, creating a hammock of sorts.

She overlaid some banana leaves to cushion herself before tying her haul of fishes and the fully fed scorpion onto nearby secondary roots.

She then climbed aboard her hammock and closed her eyes, falling asleep immediately. Mosquitoes buzzed soon after as they approached Xuna, intending to drink her blood when a gentle wind blew past, causing the secondary roots tying the scorpion to dangle past the hammock.

The scorpion generally consumed insects too, and it seemed the mosquitoes were one of its snacks, for its mandibles clamped, eating up a mosquito with each try.

And surprisingly, the winds allowed the scorpion to move beside the hammock from time to time, allowing the scorpion to have a feast as a dense stream of mosquitoes congregated there.

Its five eyes blinked as the pupils dilated, allowing it to stare at the legion of mosquitoes that buzzed around before coincidentally rushing into its mouth.

Soon after, the muscle walls of its mouth shivered, emanating a subtle sound wave that lured the mosquitoes towards it, resulting in a feast.

Xuna noticed her Coincidental Luck taking effect, shooting her eyes open as she was surprised, watching the scorpion having the time of its life as it swung around, using its tail to balance its movements to eat up the mosquitoes.

She observed its actions until it was nighttime, making it too dark for her to spot anything. Soon after, she fell asleep, only waking up when the rays of the morning sun were incident on her face.

Due to the angle of its rise, the rays of the sun were reflected closer to the ground by the lake, allowing the sunlight to reach deeper into the forest.

"Why…are you fatter than yesterday?" Xuna was shocked the moment she woke up, watching the scorpion sleeping soundly, seemingly having put on more weight as compared to the previous night.

"Wait…something's different." Xuna touched her horn, feeling that it was warmer than usual as she closed her eyes, sensing her Origin Space to see the Klock swimming within the Nacre there.

Its four heads were the same as usual, swinging around from time to time before remaining still, as if they were dead.

But strangely, a fifth head had budded from the body, startling her, 'Didn't the Klock only have four heads? What's up with the fifth?'

Even Rhizen was surprised at this discovery, noticing the changes based on her luck, observing a fifth head budding there, 'Is this a mutation due to this world's essence seeping into her Origin Space?'

There was a possibility of that, for this was a property of the Horned Humans.

After all, the Beast Fruits were created by the Tower of Purification by absorbing part of the world's essence into itself. This was why when a Horned Human reached Stage 10, their External Fragment was created by the world itself.

But until now, Rhizen hadn't seen any mutations happening among the powers of the Horned Humans. Normally, they might surprise him by inheriting a Mutated Beast that was either really strong or rare even in the Beast Armoury.

The mutation was a first though. Still, as he continued to think about it, Rhizen obtained a fair enough answer to this puzzle. 'The first three worlds were all consumed by Apocalypse to a certain extent. So, the essence of the world wasn't whole there and was mostly geared towards countering Apocalypse. Since the Horned Human abilities were already perfect in this case, there was no need for a mutation.'

'But here,' He nodded in thought, 'This world's essence is still pure. Therefore, it's able to affect the Horned Humans better since there are a variety of reasons to mutate.'

After all, whether it was the Horned Humans or the Blight Humans, both formed powers that didn't affect the world. Or rather, they weren't capable of taking over the world itself, as Apocalypse or any other Grade 3 System did.

Therefore, its essence flowed into both the Blight and Horned Humans. The Blight Humans obtained the powers of exotic plants that grew in their world.

As for the Horned Humans, their Mutated Beasts originated from another world. Due to that, the essence of the world might be trying to mutate these Mutated Beasts further to convert them into forms suitable for this world.

Though, this should have been a slow process, the effects only becoming apparent as the Stage of the Horned or Blight Humans increases over time.

But as she was supported by an enormous amount of Coincidental Luck, too many coincidences ended up becoming a reality, causing her Mutated Beast to change after a single day itself.

It seemed Xuna too was able to notice the changes, staring at the scorpion as she grinned, aware that it was the one that had contributed the most to this change.

With that, she descended from her hammock, gazing at the sleeping scorpion as she gently touched the tip of its stinger with her hand, flinching as its venom was injected into her bloodstream.

Immediately, her head began to spin as a fiery sensation pervaded her body, causing her to become light-headed immediately.

Xuna rushed towards the shrub from before and ate the leaves until the effect subsided. Sighing, she repeated the same a couple more times until all the venom in the scorpion had been used up.

'Too bad.' She thought, sensing that a fifth head had fully budded in her Mutated Beast, learning that she would be able to see the fifth head grow fully in a couple of days, planning to feed the scorpion until the limit.

For the next two days, Xuna didn't do much other than following a routine of capturing fish and injecting the scorpion venom into her body before rushing to consume the shrub's leaves. Moreover, she was alert against any insects and reptiles that ambushed her from time to time, not to mention the fishes of the lake that jumped at her whenever she tried to draw water from it.

All these experiences weren't something she was ready for like in a training session. They happened abruptly, without any rhyme or reason. But, they ensured to be the best teachers, allowing her to perceive Coincidental Luck better.

And by sticking to this strict survival regime, Xuna attained her initial success, watching the fifth head finish growing fully as a stream of information flowed into her head, allowing her to understand what this ability did.

She summoned her gun, watching it elongate into a shorter shaft as compared to her rocket form, aiming it at a tree when an arrowhead slammed out at terrifying speeds.

It was similar to a grappling hook as it pierced the tree trunk, lodging within as tension in the rope connecting it to the shaft pulled her towards the tree trunk, allowing her to land on the trunk.

With a thought, the grappling hook changed shapes, allowing it to come out of the trunk as Xuna fell to the ground, losing her balance. "Hahaha!"

"This is fun!"

The grappling hook was a lot more interesting than her other weapon states precisely because she could control its movements through her mind, allowing it to curve in the air in the same way the scorpion's tail moved.

This meant that she would be able to use it in a variety of places, especially since it hardly consumed Nacre upon use.

Xuna shot the grappling hook to the top of a large tree far away, feeling her body being pulled towards the tree by the strong tension as she almost crash landed into the top of the tree trunk. Somehow, she coincidentally managed to avoid a crash, gaining balance while standing on the side of the trunk, using the rope extending from the grappling hook to steady herself.

"Phew!" Taking in a deep breath, she made the grappling hook let go of the tree trunk, falling vertically as she shot forth the hook once again, curving it in the air according to her wishes, watching it pierce a tree trunk farther away as it reeled her in, avoiding a fate of her crashing into the ground.

Moreover, as she was able to control the grappling hook, including the rope attached to it, she was able to use it to move her body mid-air, allowing her to evade the branches, brightening up in surprise as soon…

"Wheee!" Three hours later, she was swinging from one tree to another, her laughter echoing throughout the forest region surrounding the lake. The five eyes of the scorpion shot open in response, staring at her antics before it closed its eyes, resuming its sleep, fatter than before.