Chapter 21: The Off-Road Beast!
The sun rose from the east, or maybe it was the north… Lu Cheng couldn’t tell in this world.
In the early morning, Lu Cheng took out his compass to see how the magnetic field of this world operated. But the compass immediately went haywire, spinning at light speed.
Simply put, the compass was malfunctioning.
The magnetic field of this world was far more bizarre than Lu Cheng had imagined, or there might be something interfering with the compass’s ability to detect true north.
“You want us to ride this?”
After putting away the compass, Lu Cheng walked outside the ruins and found that all the “horse-like” creatures that had run off during last night’s battle had returned.
These creatures were called “Angturushi” in the local language, which roughly translated to “Walking Beast” — a general term for these quadrupedal mounts.
To help them reach Skarre’s capital faster, Princess Elena generously gifted three Walking Beasts to Lu Cheng and his team.
“Our nation’s cavalry suffered heavy losses, but the Walking Beasts survived. These three were once the mounts of the finest knights in our First Cavalry Regiment,” General Hubert explained as he rode one of the Walking Beasts and approached Lu Cheng.
Great… more of the best horses in the kingdom.
“Does anyone here know how to ride?” Lu Cheng turned and asked his team members.
This creature, which looked like a cross between a sloth, a horse, and a bit of an otter, seemed to share some similarities with Earth horses.
But whether it was Kite, Poster, or Iron Ring, all of them shook their heads.
Except for some horseback enthusiasts, most people on Earth did not possess the skill to ride.
However, Lu Cheng, due to his professional background, did have horseback riding skills, but…
“How long will it take to reach your capital if we ride these things?”
Lu Cheng patted the back of the Walking Beast, feeling its long mane and the soft layer of fur underneath. The texture was quite pleasant.
“It took us seventeen days to get from the capital to Crescent Moon Town,” General Hubert replied.
“Almost half a month… and who knows if this world even measures time in 24-hour cycles.”
Lu Cheng hadn’t been in this world for more than a day, but he already felt that the lengths of day and night differed from those on Earth.
“We’ll probably encounter more Blood Crystal Beasts along the way, won’t we?”
Lu Cheng voiced what everyone present was concerned about, whether it was the refugees who decided to follow or the soldiers from Skarre’s capital.
The possibility of encountering Blood Crystal Beasts on the journey haunted everyone’s minds. Some refugees even looked at the forest outside the church and found their legs weakening.
“Yes, it will be a difficult journey, Lord Lu Cheng,” General Hubert responded. “The Blood Crystal Beasts could appear in the forest at any moment.”
“They only consider humans as prey?” Lu Cheng glanced at the Walking Beast whose chin he was currently scratching.
The Walking Beast’s eyes had narrowed, and it let out soft, contented purring sounds, clearly enjoying the way Lu Cheng scratched its chin.
During last night’s Blood Crystal Beast attack, this particular Walking Beast had been so frightened that it ran into the forest. If the Blood Crystal Beasts saw it as prey, it would probably have become a pile of bones by now.
The fact that it had returned to the ruins and was now enjoying a chin scratch suggested that Blood Crystal Beasts weren’t interested in animals.
“Blood Crystal Beasts are essentially mutated creatures transformed by Blood Taint; they only attack humans,” General Hubert said with certainty.
“They even have a recognition system? You sure this is a natural disaster?” Lu Cheng was stunned to learn that Blood Crystal Beasts only attacked humans.
“There have been Blood Crystal Beast attacks all over the world, recorded throughout history… It’s a catastrophe far more dangerous than the wrath of the earth itself.”
The well-read Princess Elena chimed in to share some more knowledge about the Blood Crystal Beasts.
“Uh… whatever makes you happy.”
Based on what Lu Cheng had observed from the skeletal remains of a Blood Crystal Beast, these creatures were more like fossils buried in the ground rather than beasts tainted by Blood.
But that was just a theory. To truly understand what they were, he’d need to capture a live Blood Crystal Beast for dissection and study.
“Lord Lu Cheng, we should get going soon. If we’re lucky on the road… we could reach an abandoned outpost before nightfall. The buildings there can provide us with some basic shelter,” General Hubert suggested anxiously.
“Forget about that outpost. Where’s the next resting point after it?”
Lu Cheng opened a portal and tossed a sheet of paper inside, then turned back to question General Hubert.
“The second rest stop is Glory Sun City. It used to be one of our nation’s renowned mining cities, but after the Blood Crystal Beasts broke through, many residents fled to the capital,” General Hubert explained, quickly adding, “Princess Elena doesn’t want to abandon these refugees. If we take them along, we’ll have to travel on foot. Reaching the outpost today is already pushing it.”
“What if we didn’t go on foot?”
Lu Cheng glanced at his watch. It had been ten minutes since he’d tossed the sheet of paper into the portal.
“There’s no way the Walking Beasts can carry so many people. Even with just two people per beast, that’s already pushing their limit,” General Hubert pointed out, counting the people present.
Including them, the refugees, and Lu Cheng’s squad, there were a total of nineteen people. Transporting that many with just seven Walking Beasts was out of the question.
“We won’t need to rely on your mounts; we have our own means of transportation.”
Lu Cheng moved to one of the church’s still-standing walls, where he summoned his portal onto the wall’s flat surface.
Last night, Lu Cheng had carefully calculated how much magical energy the Sacred Crystal in his hand could store and how much could be transferred.
His calculations were based on weight measured in kilograms. However, the magical energy required to transport living beings was several hundred times higher.
For example, the magical energy needed to transport a 70-kilogram man could actually transport up to seven or even ten tons of material.
Lu Cheng suspected this discrepancy was due to the “soul weight” factor — but it seemed far too costly for a soul’s weight.
Expensive or not, this meant that bringing people to this world for development would require elite personnel.
Since modern society was already using machines to replace much of the workforce, this restriction wouldn’t have too much impact on resource development in the other world.
So, Lu Cheng’s next set of calculations continued to use a human being as the basic unit of measure.
A human’s physical weight is 70 kilograms, but the “soul weight” needed for transfer brought the total up to around ten tons.
One human equals ten tons of magical energy.
With Noyes’ help, the Earth Vein Crystal Lu Cheng found had recovered enough magical energy for ten round trips, which, multiplied by two, amounted to twenty human units.
The Earth Vein Crystal shard that Princess Elena had gifted contained enough energy for one human.
Therefore, the total magical energy Lu Cheng had available was sufficient to transport up to 210 tons.
That was enough to bring over a small platoon of tanks — without their drivers.
After confirming these numbers, Lu Cheng had contacted the research base on Earth last night to send over a multi-purpose off-road vehicle.
Having a vehicle would significantly improve the efficiency of their operations and provide Lu Cheng’s squad with more options for retreat.
“Your mount?” Princess Elena, driven by curiosity, rode her Walking Beast closer to the portal on the wall.
She was very curious about the kind of creature Lu Cheng’s nation used as a mount. She remembered hearing the word “horse” from him — maybe that was the name of their mounts.
“Get back!”
Lu Cheng had always found this princess to be a bit clueless, but it turned out that when driven by curiosity, many people would do something they knew was wrong but couldn’t help themselves.
“What—”
Before Elena could finish her sentence, a monstrous creature of steel suddenly “leapt” out of the portal.
The moment it appeared, Elena’s Walking Beast panicked and tried to flee, but she quickly regained control of it.
However, when the beast made contact with the ground, the earth beneath trembled slightly, and Elena nearly fell off the back of her Walking Beast.
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