Chapter 181: The Stoneman Tribe

The sunless crimson sky stretched endlessly above the gray, ashen lands, illuminating everything beneath it.

With no wind to blow and no trees to provide shade or a cool place to rest, Magna kept walking, feeling the hot, dry air rapidly drying out his entire body.

A drop of sweat formed on his forehead beneath his long, messy black hair, slipping between his furrowed brows before running down the bridge of his nose and falling to the ground.

"Man... I’m thirsty." He muttered while dragging his tired legs forward, his eyes fixed on the 3 mountains that were his destination, though they were still quite far away.

He was quite sure he could endure going without water for days, yet he had barely been there for half a day and had already started to feel like his body was slowly drying out.

For some reason, this place was strange. It was hot like a summer day, but the heat itself was the strange part, as it wasn’t like any kind of heat he had experienced before.

It was like a debuff that was rapidly draining the fluids from his entire body and making him weaker.

From time to time, he put his hands into his pockets and took out the 2 artifacts Titus had given him.

Since they were made from frost, they were quite cold, so holding them in his hands or placing them on his head at least helped him cool down a little.

Unfortunately, he had no artifact that could solve his problem with water. He really wished he had one.

’Wait... I can use spells.’ He suddenly remembered that he actually had a way to create a source of water.

He then began chanting the honorable names of the Matriarch of Life.

"O Vein of the Living World, River that has flowed since before the First Dawn, Silent Mother of Rain and Sea."

As always, he added the words of the spell as a series of murmured sounds.

The mana inside his channels quickly formed a pattern, and a pure sphere of water began forming above his hand.

Looking at it, he instinctively gulped, his dry throat barely able to produce enough moisture for him to swallow.

He pursed his lips and brought them toward the sphere of water, taking a small sip to taste it.

The water was neither cold nor hot, just room temperature. It quickly moistened his lips before sliding across his tongue and down his throat, leaving him with an incredibly satisfying feeling.

"I never knew water was this delicious."

He wasn’t sure whether it was because the water had been created by a spell or because he was so thirsty, but it was the best water he had ever tasted.

He quickly gulped down the entire sphere, filling his stomach with water.

Just like that, with only a spell, he had found a solution to his biggest problem, almost like a cheat.

The most incredible part was that the spell consumed so little mana that his 100% mana didn’t drop in the slightest.

He immediately cast a second one, this time pouring it over his head to cool down his heated body.

With a splash, the sphere of water poured over his head, giving him incredible relief.

’If only I had a spell that could create food as well.’ He thought bitterly, not even sure whether something like that was possible.

He then continued walking with more energy after rehydrating himself.

For a while now, he had been following the footprints in the ground belonging to that lone, 3-toed overweight being.

As he got closer to the 3 mountains, more footprints began appearing across the ashen ground. They came from different directions before eventually merging into a single path.

All of the footprints belonged to heavy beings with 3 toes, making Magna think that whatever this place was, it was probably inhabited by a single race.

There were no wagon tracks or anything similar, which made him analyze the place more carefully. It was probably not a very developed civilization. They might not have even discovered the wheel yet.

Keeping in mind that whoever he encountered would probably be part of a secluded tribe, far removed from modern civilization and possibly aggressive, he became more cautious.

He even left the path where the footprints were most concentrated and took a wider route, continuing forward while keeping himself hidden with the plan of observing the area from a distance first.

He had to extend his journey by about an hour, but it was worth it to avoid being noticed.

Soon, he got close enough to the place that he finally began seeing signs of a settlement.

Hiding behind a huge rock a little farther away, he carefully observed the area.

As he had guessed, there really was a rather large village built between the 3 mountains.

It wasn’t like a human village surrounded by walls or fences, nor were there any farms around it.

There were only crudely built stone structures that probably served as homes for the locals, around 50 or 60 of them as far as he could see.

As for the inhabitants, they also looked quite strange, making it obvious that they were a completely different race.

They were humanoid, walking on 2 legs, but their feet had 3 toes and their entire bodies were gray, looking as though they were made completely of stone.

They were also quite tall compared to an ordinary human and had heavily built bodies, with large bellies that protruded as they walked.

Their heads were also quite unusual, neither round nor square, with skin that looked exactly like rock. They had only 1 large eye in the center of their heads and huge mouths filled with sharp teeth. They didn’t even have noses or ears.

’They look like they’re still living in the Stone Age.’

Seeing their clothes, or rather their lack of clothes, Magna realized they hadn’t invented tailoring or even leatherworking yet.

They only wore something resembling a skirt around their waists, seemingly made of some kind of metal.

Their choice of weapons looked just as crude and far from modern. They only had stone spears, he couldn’t see a single bow or arrow anywhere.

’Great. After all that walking, I ended up finding a Stoneman tribe living in the Stone Age.’

He let out a disappointed sigh, realizing that he probably wouldn’t find anything useful here, let alone food he could eat.

Still, not wanting to turn back and try to find another settlement, he decided to observe the area a little longer in hopes of finding something more interesting.

Keeping himself hidden, he continued walking along the foot of the mountain, moving behind the rocks and changing his position to find a better view of the settlement.

Soon, he really did find something that caught his attention.

A little farther ahead, he saw a group of Stonemen digging into the rocks at the foot of one of the mountains.

They weren’t holding pickaxes or using any kind of equipment. They were breaking apart the huge rocks with their bare fists.

Their bodies looked even more durable than the finest metal. With every punch, booming sounds echoed between the 3 mountains as the rocks shattered beneath their fists.

Apart from the incredible strength of their bodies and punches, something else caught Magna’s attention. After breaking the rocks apart, they lifted the huge pieces onto their shoulders and carried them somewhere else.

So far, the tribe had not looked like much of a civilization capable of building anything, as this made Magna curious. He began walking again, following the Stonemen with his eyes to see where they were taking the rocks.

A little farther ahead, he saw the entrance to a cave opening into one of the 3 mountains, with the Stonemen carrying the huge rocks on their shoulders inside.

Wanting to see deeper into the cave more clearly, he decided to approach a little closer, as his curiosity had really gotten the better of him.

The Stonemen had incredibly strong bodies, with punches that were surprisingly even stronger than Titus’s, but their senses were terrible.

They couldn’t even detect Magna hiding behind a rock nearby.

Using this discovery about their weakness, he kept approaching until he reached a good angle from which he could see deeper into the cave.

And when he finally looked through the darkness stretching toward the depths of the cave, he saw something that made him glad he had taken the risk to look inside.