I Hate Systems

Compass Carburettor noticed the figures of Chenger and Warktor landing on the shore before dashing deeper into the island.

Even if he wanted to, he couldn't interfere, for the distance between the two was too much. 'No matter, I'll catch up to them soon enough.'

A chase wasn't appropriate as if they wished to run, no matter what he did, they wouldn't be trapped. It was the same as what happened to Velcorn. A large group of experts and even two powerhouses failed to capture him.

Luck wasn't an all-powerful factor, but it was damn powerful.

Anyone that underestimated it wouldn't even know how they died. As for Compass Carburettor, he was aware of that. So, his goal was the same as before: To continue moving while reducing the number of variables around him as much as possible.

Compass Carburettor landed on the shores of the island soon after, gazing up as he observed the place, continuing to look up until his neck hurt.

The island was covered with rocky cliffs that each spanned at least two to three kilometres. The peaks of some were covered by snow.

The terrain was dangerous all over as fierce winds blew throughout the island, with the temperature varying from hot, cold, humid, and dry randomly, forming discrete patterns.

Not only was the terrain precipitous, but the environment further made it worse. That wasn't all, there was one more factor here that for a moment caused all the cultivators that had landed on the shore to get cold feet.

Dolba!

The Origin Beast race exclusive to this island, a species that couldn't be brought out of the island, for a natural formation prevents them from getting out.

They were hunched bipedal monsters, rocky grey in colour with a skin texture resembling radish. Spanning a height between four and six metres, they possessed nimble hands and legs, allowing them to move like monkeys, wield weapons, and even set up traps.

They had claws that could dig through hardened rocks and a mouth capable of grinding even the toughest of materials.

The Dolba had an interesting way of living. After birth, the material it first eats becomes the sole material that it ever consumes in its life. If there is no more material of the same kind, it would happily accept its death.

But that hardly happened as a Dolba had exceptional senses to accurately locate everywhere where the ores of its desired material were buried, allowing it to harvest them through a series of mining.

A Dolba didn't just eat the materials. Once eaten, the ore would be processed as only the material of its desire would be digested while everything else would be excreted. This digested material would be refined and purified in its body, improved in quality and gradually accumulated on its back.

This was the material the cultivators were gunning for, fusion materials of the highest quality. And the longer a Dolba had lived, the greater the quality of the fusion material accumulated on its back.

That wasn't all. The Dolba was also able to use the fusion material's attribute, making it all the more dangerous. It would lose the attribute once the fusion material is extracted, but here is where the danger arose.

All the Dolba living on this island were at the Martial Origin Stage, with those at the core reaching the Martial Providence Stage.

So, the better the material they were looking for, the stronger the Dolba they had to face.

And, standing close to the shore was a Dolba at the peak of the Martial Origin Stage. This was the cause that made the cultivators hesitate, for the level of difficulty right at the entrance itself was already life-threatening.

But, most of those that managed to arrive here had an Earth Martial Spirit. And among those with a Human Martial Spirit, they were pretty exceptional, having powerful Human Martial Spirits that almost wouldn't lose to Earth Martial Spirits.

The Kirin Martial Spirit of the Opposition Clan was one such Human Martial Spirit, for it gave too many advantages to the cultivator.

"Let's go." Grisha appeared beside him, saying, "The both of us would chase after Chenger."

"We'll search for a suitable material for you to fuse with along the way." Compass Carburettor replied as he used his Origin Art of Mind Connect on both Grisha and the nearby Dolba.

Origin Art—Gloss Over!

Through Mind Connect, he also made Grisha's existence be glossed over as the two of them ran right past the Dolba without alerting it.

"We'll take flight. It'll be safer this way." Xuer said to Ranze, turning around to stare at Bunuela, "What about you? Will you join us?"

"It seems to be safer than wandering alone." Bunuela nodded, accepting the offer.

Xuer brought out three large Ice Crane Puppets as the three of them were carried into the air. She brought out three more Ice Crane Puppets that flew a tad lower, acting as their shields and attacking any Dolba that targeted them.

Indeed, the moment they took off to the air, some of the Dolba high up in the rocky mountains peeked out, grabbing onto nearby rocks to throw at them.

"Incoming!" Xuer shouted as the three Ice Crane Puppets shot ice spikes at the rocks, shattering them, or at least reducing their momentum enough to prevent them from reaching them.

Grrr!

The sounds alerted the Dolbas as they began to walk out of the caves or tunnels they were digging within, targeting the cultivators immediately.

"Run!" A cultivator shouted, creating a large wall that defended against a hail of rocks, quickly evading to the side before the wall collapsed.

"Thanks." Another cultivator spoke, having taken the chance to hide behind the wall, "I couldn't have survived without your wall. In return, I'll inform their positions. I'm good at sensory means."

"Great! Let's team up then." The cultivator that had condensed a wall nodded as the two immediately began to run deeper into the island while defending against the attacks from the Dolbas.

The island that had only been filled with the sounds of rocks being scraped by claws was now filled with the sounds of battles.