The Confused Explorer

Checking everything was together with them that they'd need for the journey, including being full and well rested, Mike was prepared for the hike towards the mountain.

The reason Mike was going was for one, he was now an explorer, over the course of the past days of combat, surviving, and finding amazing things Mike had come to love this life slightly. With a past that was about as boring as watching grass grow, Mike was really excited to see what was around the corner when there was something new to discover and had come to enjoy finding rare materials and animals immensely.

Obviously without Turul, he would not enjoy this life at all, but since he'd gained such a valuable asset and companion Mike was more than happy to explore dangerous areas with Turul there for protection since he'd be able to thwart most threats unless it was something frighteningly bad.

Second off with Mike's new life, he'd come to really enjoy sceneries like this, ones where it was nothing more than breathtaking to look at and wonder how it all blended together so well. So being able to take in a scenery like a mountain in a beautiful place like this, well he couldn't miss the chance to do so.

Mike had always been like this, even if he himself didn't know that, he'd always had dreams of exploring and finding beautiful sceneries and amazing legendary and rare items. Most people when young had the same dreams and aspirations, however Mike was particular, most had given up on such childish notions when reaching a.d.u.l.thood, however Mike didn't, he always kept it close to him and never gave up on them, even when he was over 40 years old, he always dreamed of it everyday and everynight.

Loving a life like this was something that came naturally to Mike because he'd always had the idea of doing something similar, or writing down his dreams, and to live out your dream was something mesmerizing, and that's exactly how Mike felt, that's how he got used to this life so quickly and how he was able to shed away his old one like dropping heavy luggage.

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Pulling himself up with a medium sized gray bag with some things from camp and a canteen on the side full of water Mike admired his last couple hours of practice and hard effort, and how easy it was to be able to get used to the powers he'd gotten randomly.

Getting Turul ready as well by nudging him slightly to continue the walk, Mike was fully prepared for the this awesome adventure ahead of them with a goal of reaching and climbing the mountain.

Walking loosely towards the mountain, Mike realized that instead of bolting towards the mountain with the sole idea of getting there was dumb, and instead exploring the scenery around as they walked in the general direction was better with a lot more options and rewards to get.

Heading forward slowly across the river and on to the next location. Mike had wanted to create this as his home base, but exploring was of more importance than settling down so onward they'd go.

The journey itself would be a long one, Mikes estimate was 3-4 days but it could very well be weeks to months if he is doing as he is now what with going loosely in the direction.

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The adventure was exciting since Mike got to see new surroundings with every couple of steps, everything changed when you looked at it through a different angle, whether that be the lighting or it be the plants and colors of them or the chirping of bugs and other strange critters lurking in the shadows that were of no obvious danger due to Turul's expression of boredom.

Nothing became really boring for either of them with something new to always look at notice, or hear along the way forward.

As the walking progressed for hours, Mike noticed something. It started out very small but it paced rapidly with droplets every so often until it finally started going to small raining into full blown storm with very high winds and droplets the size of coins falling rapidly.

Seeking shelter under trees wouldn't be able to fix their problem, and if Mike couldn't keep focus on his recently created items, which had already dissipated a couple times over the last couple hours, they'd disappear again, and it'd be a real problem to have to find all the valuables and clean all of it up.

Watching as the lighting crashed and the thunder rumbled even though there didn't seem to be a cloud in the sky which was strange, it was like looking at someone do a magic trick, you have no idea how it works yet you enjoy it.

As Mike and Turul sat under a tree that offered barely any protection, Mike couldn't help thinking maybe his power may be of use here, that is if he could even use it properly.

Pulling himself in and out quickly, Mike made an umbrella to the best of his abilities, however it seemed like he wasn't able to with all that he's created as it puffed away into oblivion as soon as he looked down at it.

Sighing, Mike put away that idea for the moment and tried to think of anything that could be of use to their current situation.

Screeching softly, Turul unfurled his wings once more bringing the air around them to expand and twist, almost like it was a dome of sorts to protect them from rain.

Mike started to laugh as he forgot that Turul really was that useful for almost any situation, and had instead thought that he couldn't rely on him for this one. Both getting up dripping wet, but with a protection against the rain, they'd be able to walk without much of a problem now.

Mike wanted to search for a place to rest for a while and try to build a temporary campfire for them too dry beside. Walking forward on wet moss, puddles, and mud Mike and Turul continued to hike forward to reach something new.

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Trudging along fruitlessly, Mike and Turul couldn't find a single place in which they could find shelter for the time being. The worst part about this, or a lesson, was that Mike's creations constantly kept disappearing due to his attention being on the surroundings and being unable to focus on them, so they'd have to constantly repack it once he created the backpack again, which was proving to be more and more difficult along the journey since this was the 100th time this had happened already, or at least it felt like it.

Luckily they didn't have to worry about water, what with so much surrounding them. Sighing once more, Mike was beginning to regret making this trip, but they couldn't remain stagnant forever, and it was best that they do this now rather than later.

As the lightning around them became more and more frequent, Mike started to worry about them being struck, but that faded away since he thought of the chances of them getting hit which was about 1 in a million.

The warnings could never be clearer though, it felt like the lightning struck all around them constantly, and for some reason it only hit trees from what Mike saw or could tell. This lightning was serious too it felt like everytime it struck, it vibrated the ground like a wobbly table stuck by a hammer. It felt like getting shocked directly by the lightning rather than it being a mile away or closer.

With Mike and Turul still searching, Mike slowly lost focus again, making his backpack disappear and all the valuable get dumped to the floor behind him. Sighing for the thousandth time today, Mike quickly remade it in order to put the stuff back inside.

When Mike bent over to pick up the bear blanket, the world suddenly went quiet, and got very bright, before a large pearl of sound washed over Turul and Mike pushing them away with the wind dome being shattered like glass. Once Mike rolled a little he stopped, while Turul managed to stay rooted in place, albeit looking the other way from the bright light.

Pushing himself up slowly, in pain, and wet with a whole slew of items still around him, Mike looked at what just happened. The tree right beside them had gotten struck by lightning, however it was weird. The tree looked about as black as charcoal with a few occasional arcs of electricity going all around it, from top to bottom.

Staring in amazement at how close that actually was, Mike felt a huge sensation of relief from just not being hit directly, since they had only came out of that skirmish with some bruising and pain.

Mike heard something weird though, with his improved senses, albeit only of a young person, he could hear faint buzzing over the horrible rain. It must have been very loud in order to even hear it over this huge amount of constant rain and thunder noises.

Pulling himself up even farther, Mike disregarded the scattered items for now in order to get closer to the charred tree. Getting about 5 feet close was all it took, with a single step after that, Mike felt a small burning sensation pass though his body as he was pushed back very hard.

Staggering back and wincing in pain, Mike looked at the area where the pain first hit. Staring at the black dot on his arm, Mike realized that something was wrong with this tree. Lightning doesn't just make a electric fence around things it hits after the strike.

Rubbing his arm, and pushing himself as close as he could get, Mike stared intensely at the tree, studying for any sort of movement. Lo and behold, he saw it, there were bugs moving so fast it looked like arcing electricity.

Walking around the tree, Mike tried studying them in order to get prepared for scanning one, however after minutes of studying he had gained nothing what with them moving so fast. Sighing Mike could only catch a glimpse of golden before they moved again, so he decided to just scan one real quick before something happened again.

Willing out The Explorers Log, Mike tapped the tab button to 'Fauna' and proceeded to scan the bug.

Turul now putting back up the wind dome at a safe location, and Mike picking back up all the items scattered across the ground into a newly created backpack stared at the arcing electricity of movement and the buzzing of bugs as they moved all about doing something.

Waiting for almost an hour, the scanning was complete. During this time, Mike and Turul searched the area for anything else, and tried to set up shop slightly for a place to rest in this horrible rain.

--Lightning Bug: The simplistic name does not show the ferocity of these little bugs. These eusocial insects live with the most brutal and violent storms in order to find food and places to stay. These critters are a very light golden with a body of hard carapace, making their ability to move very hard, however they make up for this with rapid speeds, amazing maneuverability in the air and solid defense. The King and Queen live in the most violent of the storm clouds and the workers move about around finding food and materials in whatever way possible. They have the ability to control lightning and direct it in any direction from within their body, they use this power control lightning strikes to either strike enemies or to reach potential food or building material very fast. These plants mostly thrive on a mix between charred trees and chareed animals not having a personal preference of one over the other.

Environment: Storm Clouds

Effects: N/A

Danger Level: Extreme

Rarity: Rare

Reading this over and looking at the insect itself, it looked very similar to a very armored bee without the antennas, which looked slightly more deadly.

Mike wasn't that afraid of being attacked by these workers here now since they'd already found the food that they're going to eat, so they shouldn't have a hankering for him, however he hoped they would stop directing the lightning, now that they have all the food they'd hopefully need.

Sighing again for the millionth time in a row, with another blunder of losing his backpack again and having to rearrange and make it again, Mike and Turul set off again in a dome of wind and wet feet with the rumble of thunder surrounding them.