CHAPTER 53: THE CHOICE AHEAD

Tatehan decided to go to the spaceship. At least to think before he made his decision. Maybe ask the Spaceship’s AI for advice. And even if he made his choice here, he wouldn’t just embark on another quest immediately.

Not after how many days (almost two months) he’d spent away from the spaceship. The Spaceship probably thought he’d died while facing the mauler.

Sure, the AI was likely fine waiting for a few days, maybe a week at max, but after that? It had every right to be worried.

Even when Tatehan was unconscious, if not for his strong will and resilience to stay alive, and the Partial Regeneration doing its work rapidly, he would have died in that situation. Or worse, slipped into the unknown.

He went through the river bed first. He had to pass through all the regions he’d crossed before to arrive back at the spaceship.

The river bed, just as when he’d first passed through, was silent and littered with numerous skulls and bones of dead creatures on the ground. The skeletal remains made the place look haunted. The distant scraping of stone against stone also heightened the eerie atmosphere, and if Tatehan hadn’t gone through the place before, he’d probably be scared.

But he didn’t see that happening. Not in the state he was currently in. He was broken inside and wouldn’t be bothered by monsters.

In fact, he almost hoped he’d encounter one. He’d severely rip the creature to pieces in a way that would be startling to witness.

So any monster or beast should just avoid him.

While passing through the river bed, Tatehan didn’t activate his armor. He was just bare and vulnerable. He held no sharp sword, no chakrams, nothing, just himself.

He didn’t mind, though. Neither did he think it should cause concern considering how silent this place was, except for the scraping of something against rock, that is.

Tatehan dismissed it as perhaps a sly, weak monster that couldn’t come out and fight whoever was passing through the river bed, so all it did was make these sounds to scare people.

He wasn’t sure, though. It was just some theory he’d come up with. It might be true. He didn’t know.

But if there was one thing his enhanced body seemed to provide, it was the ability not to be afraid unnecessarily.

Humans were prone to irrational fear, sure. Like walking alone and being afraid that some random ghost was watching you or following you from behind, lurking to attack.

This enhanced body seemed to cut that off. Why would one be scared of something like that when they literally lived on a planet filled with so many nightmarish creatures?

Tatehan continued walking and soon, he was out of the river bed area. Using his system, he scanned for a safer route through the canyon. The route appeared on his interface, and when he arrived at the canyon’s edge, he followed it, now activating his armor.

His reason for activating the armor was so he could pass through the narrow spaces of the canyon without fear of rocks falling on his head and killing him without warning.

He checked the status of his Kinetic Absorption. Words appeared across his retina:

[Still recharging. Can only absorb one impact at current capacity.]

Tatehan nodded as the words cleared. He was satisfied with this. All he needed was protection from being hit without knowing. Something that would severely weaken or damage him.

The Partial Regeneration was still working. The pain he’d been feeling was slowly fading. The pains Kael had caused, the pain inflicted on him only to be rewarded with Kael’s life as the price.

Tatehan got out of the canyon much quicker than he’d expected. Seemed he’d gotten the hang of this path.

At the pace he was going, he was basically speedrunning at this point. Speedrunning so he would reach the spaceship faster.

It might take him two hours. Maybe three at most.

Out from the canyon, Tatehan was met with a large expanse of barren land, flat, empty, with nothing and no one in sight. Not even a boulder was visible on the horizon.

’Well, that was quick. Almost at the spaceship,’ Tatehan thought, giving a slight smile as he walked forward.

He was finally starting to forgive himself. Just like Kael had told him to. The man had said he would have done the same if he’d been in Tatehan’s situation. Because during that fight, they’d both needed the core desperately.

As Tatehan drew closer to the bruteneck territory, he realized something. If Kael had told him upfront that he needed the core to treat his dying daughter, Tatehan would have simply walked away rather than engage in a fight with him.

So in a way, it was actually Kael’s fault for not being honest.

Tatehan couldn’t imagine how powerful the core actually was. Something that a whole spaceship needed, and even a dying human too, although in the girl’s case, the core was meant to power up a machine that would treat her illness.

Now Tatehan could see boulders of different shapes and sizes scattered ahead of him. More distinctly, he noticed two lines of them, one to the left and one to the right, marking the edge of bruteneck territory.

He summoned the sharp sword and held it in his hands, his eyes equally sharp, expecting a bruteneck to charge at him so he could unleash his blade on the beast and take its head off.

But Tatehan saw nothing. Absolutely nothing.

The place was empty.

As he approached even closer to the spaceship’s location, he decided to occupy his mind with thoughts to keep himself alert before he arrived. If he’d had a phone, he’d be playing music and vibing, but without one, the journey seemed like a bore.

He thought about Kael’s daughter’s age. Since Kael had been in his mid-forties before he died, she’d probably be in her early twenties? Or maybe she was eighteen or nineteen?

Tatehan didn’t exactly know.

Thinking about the age of the girl seemed to make time pass faster. He still saw no brutenecks. His theory for seeing none was that it was afternoon and the sun was scorching hot.

So scorching he had to stop and drink water twice during the walk. His armor also helped in keeping him cool, in a weird magic-tech kind of way.

Now, finally, he could see the spaceship in the distance.