Lost Origins: SS Ranked Awakening-Chapter 63: Sixth sense

"We are supposed to camp here???" Kieran asked, his voice containing hints of anger and frustration that his face failed to show.

"What? It’s not that bad....is it?" Ruby laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of her head.

"At least it’s better than the open field. Come on, look at the big trees here, you can make something up with your knowledge from survival class!" Ruby winked.

Hearing her words, Kieran could feel his eyebrow twitch. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Not far away from him at the place Ruby had pointed to him was a whole different region, just like how the regions and surroundings on the planet were weirdly sectioned without any subtle transitions to show their arrival into a new environment.

And unlike his expectations from Ruby’s words, The place they were meant to complete their mission was a swamp.

How the hell were they supposed to make camp in a water logged place??!

’We are here already, so I’d better find a way!’ Kieran thought, observing the surroundings more carefully.

Just like she mentioned, the trees here rather big, especially their waterlogged roots. Each root was big enough for one of them to stand on it without fear of falling.

’Weird planet’ a thought flashed past his mind.

"Quit looking around, we have to go in before it gets dark" Ruby said with some urgency in her tone.

"Why?" Kieran asked with narrowed eyes.

She wasn’t telling him something again!

"Sigh! Why do you think we didn’t come across any beasts throughout the day?!" Ruby rolled her eyes and asked when she saw his ’What are you hiding?’ look.

"...."

Kieran remained silent waiting for her to answer the question.

He had obviously thought about it during the journey, but easily brushed it to the back of his mind. This planet was extremely weird and despite having been there for almost half a year, he had barely explored it, so he tagged it as one of the ’normal’ things that happened in the area.

"They get active at night, the monsters in the field! And some of them like to venture into the swamp a little, so we have to go as deep as we can to avoid too many encounters!" Ruby explained, jumping onto one of the tree roots.

"What about the swamp creatures?" Kieran asked, following behind her.

"Well, based on the information I bought, they are usually active during the day. Only a few like the snakes act during the night, but even then, it isn’t something we should be that worried about. We would only need to clear the area"

"Hmmm"

"You seem to know a lot about this mission..."

’Too much for someone who just picked it on a whim!’ Kieran thought the last part to himself, but he know she got his hint from the few words he spoke.

"We planned to take up this mission before when we were at your rank too, but somethings came up!"

"I see" Kieran muttered in a soft tone that Ruby couldn’t hear.

"You said ’we’?" Kieran questioned.

"Yeah. Me, Jake and Jordan. We had some level aspirations as newbies in the field"

Pausing at the front, Ruby turned back to look at him and let out a sigh

"Sigh! A lot of things have happened within the short time the second stage started, and with you suddenly going into seclusion after your loss against Richard, you naturally missed out!" Ruby said, no longer hiding the fact that she knew about his fight with Richard and about his defeat.

"I didn’t go into seclusion, besides you’re here. You can fill me up on the details I misssed." Kieran said, catching up to her.

"You were gone for a month Kieran!" Ruby said, rolling her eyes.

His words put a smile on Ruby’s face as she wondered how he could say things like that with the same cold, emotionless tone.

Shaking her head a few times, she continued running, leading them deeper into the dark swamp.

’I guess I lost track of time a little!’ Kieran thought, following behind her.

.......

After a few minutes of running, they finally came to a stop.

"This should be deep enough?!" Ruby said with a some uncertainty.

Kieran shook his head at her words while looking around. She hadn’t said a single sentence with certainty somce they stepped out of the camp. He was starting to wonder what she was thinking when she decided take him out on a mission.

Now that they had stopped running, he was finally able to observe his surroundings. It seemed like the trees only became larger as they got closer to the centre of the swamp.

Each root now had enough for the both of them to stand on without feeling cramped, the branches of the trees were equally huge and the sheer number blocked any light they could get from the four moons of the planet, leaving them in the dark.

Luckily, Kieran had no problem seeing in the dark, in fact he felt that his vision was more enhanced I’m the dark, something he noted as one of the boons of his ability. It was a physical enhancement ability accordubg to jake, but he hadn’t consodered that his other physical senses like sight would be enhanced too.

It seemed Ruby also had something that helped her to see clearly, judging from how she carried herself.

"The roots should be big enough for us to stay right?" Ruby asked

"Is that a question?" Kieran retorted.

That was the only viable solution to their problem. There was no way they would be able to climb up the huge trunk of the tall trees to its branches without the right equipment, and even if they did, they’d be wasting a substantial amount of energy in the process.

"No fun" Ruby muttered, ignoring the look he gave her.

"Should we search around for some monsters? I can’t sense any" She asked, taking a seat on one of the roots that stood above the dark swampy waters.

"No! We’ll deal with the beats if one happens to stumble here" Kieran said.

One of the things he noticed about awakened people was their increased sensitivity and spatial awareness, it was like a hidden 6th sense. It wasn’t just about feeling your body more, they could also feel things in their surroundings, like beasts. The range of this ability differed from awakened to awakened, but it was obviously stronger in stringer awakened, which was why he trusted Ruby when she said that she couldn’t sense any monsters close to them.

His range of perception was only a few meters outside his body. The awakened also used this sixth sense to conceal themselves and avoid detection. He got this explanation from the manual, lost origins and had yet to see it in action.

"Alright, you should rest tonight. Tomorrow is going to be long"

Kieran unstrapped his scythe and laid down on the root, taking her advice to heart. Looking at the dark sky, blocked by the branches of the surrounding trees, Kieran muttered out loud

"Just like last time"

"Yeah, it was pretty nice back then, especially with the stars showing up in the sky" Ruby commented startling Kieran who had thought out loud.

Just like she said, the time the three of them had spent on the mission in the forest was quite nice. If he was being honest, that was the most peaceful moment he had ever felt since his arrival on the planet, but he didn’t notice the stars she mentioned. She must have been looking in another direction.

"What happened exactly?" Kieran asked

"Nothing, it’s Noble family business. You shouldn’t get yourself involved in it!" Ruby said with closed eyes.

"I am going to get involved sooner or later" Kieran said, receiving no further reply from Ruby.

Turning to his side making, he noticed the rhythmic movement of her chest and figured that she had fallen asleep.

’Till you get involved, you’re better off not knowing’ Ruby who was thought to be asleep thought to herself

Their peaceful night didn’t last long though as Kierans eyes snapped open, revealing a barely noticeable golden tint within those ominously dark orbs.

Reaching out for his scythe, he slowly made to his feet, looking around cautiously.

Jumping over to root where Ruby was, he saw her still sleeping like a kid, a small smile hanging at the corner of her lips.

’What’s with her?’ Kieran thought seeing the smile

"Sigh!"

He let out a small sigh before leaving her to continue whatever sweet dream she was in.

’Now, what exactly is this itchy feeling’ Kieran thought, with narrowed eyes.

He felt like there was something watching him from within the darkness.

"???!!!"

Kieran’s expression became ferocious in an instant, sensing the sudden burst of murderous intent from a direction.

"Quit playing and come out"

"Grrrrr!"

As if understanding his words, something stepped out from the cover of darkness, the little rays of light that passed through the thick canopy illuminating a part of its figure.