Over the next four days Valerian and I continued hunting the Grootslang offspring in the cavern system under Lake Lyenas. Sometimes I would use my Snake King Aura to wipe out large groups, but other times I wouldn't activate it so we could get a chance to experience each others combat style.

Valerian was definitely the stab first and ask questions later type. It took a lot of patience and repeated instructions to drill some tactics into his head. He was also reluctant to use his deadliest weapon, his poison vines. It was as if hiding them was a reflex he had developed, only using them in moments of anger or desperation.

One time a Grootslang offspring surprised him and used its fangs to rip open the vines in his leg causing him to fall down. Out of shame and anger he used four poison vines to pierce through it. Within about 30 seconds the offspring was reduced to nothing but scales, fangs, and a skeleton. All of the meat had been completely melted off.

I wanted to give a name to his poison vine ability and we eventually agreed on referring to it as Nightshade, partly because it was his last name and partly because Nightshades on earth were a type of flower that could be highly toxic. We may not be very creative but I thought it was fitting.

The more we hunted the less kills we would get. For one we had to travel further into the cave to find them, and the more we killed off the less were left. After all, the Grootslang wasn't there to produce anymore and we didn't find another Grootslang in the cavern. On the last day we only managed to kill 54 and at this point we didn't even need the Snake King Aura to help us. Our teamwork was flawless and we could hit the offspring's critical point in our sleep.

Over the course of the four days we collected 521 pairs of fangs. 307 came from Adult Grootslang offsprings and 214 came from the young ones. We were able to earn 41 gold coins and 40 silver coins and I gained 2,177 essence. Together with the first days earnings we had a little over 50 gold, since we had spent some on food and necessities. I had exactly 3,408 essence saved up after including the last five days and the leftover amount from my last level up.

Naturally my first stop after getting our rewards at the elders compound was the origin stone. As I placed my hand on the blue crystal my information popped up in my vision.

Name: Troy Williams

Level: 5 (0/1100)

Essence: 3408

Stat Points: 0

STATS

Strength: 8

Constitution: 9

Willpower: 12

Dexterity : 10

SKILLS

Snake King Aura: (Active)

I poured essence into the levels. I was a little disappointed that I didn't gain a chance to learn another ability. I was hoping for something like Snake Eliminator or Butcher of Snakes, but nothing came up.

Level: 5 (1100/1100)

Level: 6 (1500/1500)

Level: 7 (0/1900)

After assigning the stats I looked over my information again.

Name: Troy Williams

Level: 7 (0/1900)

Essence: 808

Stat Points: 0

STATS

Strength: 8 + 1

Constitution: 9

Willpower: 12 + 2

Dexterity : 10 + 1

SKILLS

Snake King Aura: (Active)

Again a cooling sensation shot up my hand followed by a rush of intoxicating power coursing through my body. It is really such an amazing feeling and I love every second of it. I stretched my muscles adjusting to my new level of fitness quickly.

Today is the day Corytheius said the gifts from the Grootslang would be prepared and when we went to the elder compound earlier we asked about it. However, his assistant Abelia let us know that the gifts needed a little longer than expected so they would be ready in the morning.

Since the day was almost over Valerian and I decided to go eat some of the fruits and nuts from the stalls in the market and then head to our rooms to rest.

The next morning I woke up early, Valerian and I agreed to meet in front of the elder compound before meeting with Corytheius to accept the gifts. We also planned on this being the last day we stayed in the G'eth village.

Two days ago I purchased a map and found out that the human settlement I found after escaping the cave in the last timeline was about a day's travel around Lake Lyenas to the North East. Luckily it wasn't too far away and considering it took me a week to escape from the Grootslang Den in my past life, I'll be getting there about the same time as I did before, however, this time I'll be significantly more powerful.

I gathered my things and put my clothes on, which by now had a couple more cuts from close calls with Grootslang offspring. I also strapped on my kodachi and knapsack. My kodachi had numerous nicks and was in a state of disrepair from killing so many offspring.

After descending the tree I went through the village towards the elder compound. I was greeted by many G'eth along the way. Even a few of the younger G'eth approached, giving me pieces of fruit. It seems after killing the Grootslang and so many of it's offspring I have became somewhat popular in this village.

The weak always revered the strong and this is especially true in Agartha were danger is everywhere. The weak are either used as tools or killed, few in this world will view the weak as anything more than ants. I wish I could say humanity would overcome this and protect the weak, but I knew from personal experience that it wouldn't happen. I had to become strong.

I arrived in front of the elder compound, Valerian already waiting for me, a sack strapped around his shoulder.

"You ready to go?" I said to him.

"Naturally," he responded.

We walked into the elder compound together. Grand Elder Corytheius was sitting in a stone chair. A few items laid out on a stone table next to him.

"We have, prepared the, gifts from, the Grootslang, for you, young warrior," He slowly said in his normal gravelly voice.

"You have my sincere gratitude," I responded bowing.

He nodded a smile spreading on his face.

He looked at Valerian, "And for, my son, I have, prepared a, parting gift."

Valerian was beaming. I wondered if it was because the Grand Elder looked proud of him or if it was because he was getting a gift.

Corytheius extended one of the vines on his arm to one of the items on the table and brought it in front of me.

"First, an inner armor, made from, Grootslang scales, and bound together, using a, living plant, called, Dragon's Twine. When the armor, is attacked, the Dragon's Twine, will bring, the scales, towards the, point of attack, increasing defense, and reducing, the penetrating, force of the, attack."

I held the armor in my hands, the scales light but dense, a red plant interwoven through the scales like fabric.

I focused my eyes on the armor. Another function of ALIC was to identify equipment. Since the vast majority of items in Agartha are unknown the government developed this function to allow humans to identify the properties and effects of items. The reason this function was not mentioned in the briefing is because, overuse of this function can cause damage to the human brain if your willpower is not high enough. In about two years time, after most of humanity has used essence to become stronger, this will be common knowledge.

As I focused my eyes on the armor it's information appeared.

Name: (Unknown)

STATS

Defense: 30

EFFECTS

Reduce piercing: 40%

Self Repairing

Overall these stats were pretty amazing. A defense stat of 30 means it can disperse a blow from a human with a strength of 30. That is already really high but the reduce piercing 40% stat is insane. Just because something has a defense of 30 doesn't mean you are invincible as long as the opponent strength is under 30. When using a weapon the sharpness of a blade magnifies the strength, however, this will be greatly mitigated because of the reduce piercing effect.

I figured I should come up with a name for it since it was unnamed. Hmm, how about Grootslang Armor? No too wordy. Living Scales? That sounds creepy. Oh I know Dragon Cuirass. Since it was made with Dragon Twine I thought it was appropriate. The instant I settled on the name it appeared in it's information.

Corytheius began to reach for the next item on the table.