Alex kept looking around, on full alert.
But no matter what he saw, smelt or sensed, there wasn't a single living thing within his vicinity.
This place was clearly not Eldaris anymore.
Alex took it all in with no amount of satisfaction.
He had clearly spawned in another different location of the Primordial Expanse, but this time, the circumstances were even weirder than his first two dives into this odd dimension.
He looked at himself, and was glad to see that everything he had been wearing previously was still attached to his body.
It wasn't like his first entry into this place where he was placed in a completely unknown and weird scenario, where he had assumed some sort of role as a refugee.
According to his theories, he should either be spawned in a location near to Mira, or a location near to the Floodgate's entry point.
Whichever the case was, Mira should still theoretically be within his capabilities to find.
However, Alex started to move. He wanted to get a better lay of the land.
He was looking for anything to make note of — animal prints, signs of fires, feces, claw marks.
Whatever he could think of that wouldn't be possible to find without the presence of another living being, Alex was hoping to see.
But no matter how hard he looked, he found nothing.
He picked up the pace, and he ran and ran until he couldn't take it anymore.
Yet still, there was nothing in sight.
'What the fuck is this kind of scenario!?'
Alex was baffled, frankly.
There had to be some sort of mistake or something for him to be pulled into this odd place.
Was he even in the Primordial Expanse at all?
This question kept ringing through his mind, but it would remain unanswered no matter what.
It seemed like the System wasn't fond of playing any tricks on him for the time being, with it staying silent for quite a while now, other than to do its usual duties of telling him that he had ranked up to C- rank etc.
He walked around 300 metres or so, constantly thinking about how he could improve his plans of searching, but finding nothing useful every time.
However, when he arrived just 200 metres away from the river, his attitude took a complete 180.
His spatial perception found nothing at all within 20 kilometres, but what Alex was seeing with his eyes at the moment completely contradicted that.
'A... woman?'
He looked over at the river, only to see what looked like a woman swimming in it, quite happily at that.
His first instinct was to run over and check if it was Mira, but he stopped that thought instantly.
Mira wasn't known to act so joyously like this woman was, particularly in a situation where she was thrown into this place against her will.
Not to mention, Mira wasn't an exhibitionist, as this woman was clearly naked...
Alex felt a little awkward for staring, but he could care less for her privacy at the moment.
She was the first living person he had met since arriving in this freaky place, and he was very interested in asking her a few questions.
Especially on why he couldn't sense her at all, except for the ability to see her.
"Err, excuse me, miss. You don't happen to know where exactly I am, do you?"
He called out to her, somewhat awkwardly.
But he didn't receive an answer.
In fact, it was like the woman didn't even hear him at all.
She just kept swimming like she was having the time of her life.
'Maybe she's not that strong and can't hear or see me from this distance?'
This was Alex's first thought, since he was 200 metres away from the River, and blended in quite well with the scenery surrounding him.
He also knew she wouldn't be able to hear anything at all when she dove underwater, so maybe those were the reasons she didn't acknowledge his question?
Who knows, Alex just moved closer to the river, 10 metres away this time, to try and ask the same question again.
"Hey! D-"
But before he could even get his second word out, the woman's head snapped right around and stared him down.