A while later, Li sat cross-legged in the center of his resting place and started meditating. There were a lot of things he needed to think about.
First and most important was that he got a memory out of the vision last night. Second was the vision itself. Where did it come from? He didn't know.
Third was the fire entity man or whatever it was. He bowed to Li, and he felt… familiar. Maybe it's already starting?
There was a long stretch of silence. No one spoke.
Suddenly, Li blurred out.
"What is starting?" Li had finally opened his eyes and was looking forward with a deadpan expression.
…
Oh, I didn't think you could hear me.
"…"
"And…?"
"…"
"Well, it seems like you're not going to answer. Whatever." Li wasn't even mad about it, strange.
"But I can get actual memories from the visions… fascinating."
He summoned the memory in his left hand.
"—What? No, I wanted to summon it in my right hand. At least do your job properly." He face palmed.
With a sigh, he looked at the necklace that had appeared in his right hand. It was a locket necklace.
But instead of photos, they were two strange liquid metals that reflected the user back. It was hazy and unreadable.
"Hmm… I can see my reflection clearly despite it moving around so much. Cool…"
"burning my Memories to gain power… it's just my own or all the ones I've gathered?"
He looked at it with a strange expression.
"…"
Then he tossed the necklace away and dismissed it. Curious.
For a few seconds, there was only silence. Then he spoke.
"I won't be using it anyways, these memories… I don't want to discard them for some minuscule chance of gaining power." He said, "These are… there's no chance. Ever."
He was looking at the ground, his face unreadable.
'I almost wanted to try it…' You should have, think about the strength you'll gain.
Suddenly, a burst of pain ran through his head. Li grabbed his head and groaned in pain.
"Who was that man? Huh— what man?" he said, "the one that… was…"
Don't you mean the man on fire?
"Yeah probably, what was I thinking about? Yeah, the man on fire."
"He felt familiar… like seeing an old friend, with a strange sense of deja vu."
"and he bowed to me. He called me by my True Name. How would a lost Echo know my True Name?" Li said before he got distracted by something.
"…"
"Where was I? Yeah, the vision. Now that I think about it, the world seemed a bit weird when I went to sleep last night."
"So it was the memory of the lost people of the forgotten shore? I don't have enough information to be certain." With a sigh, he rubbed his head in frustration and laid down.
"I'm tired." He needed food, probably something sweet.
"I would kill for a chocolate cake right now." Li was suddenly very hungry.
***
In the end, he did nothing for the day and just rested and slept. He was exhausted.
The next morning, Li stretched and summoned his armor. It's hunting time.
He climbed one of the coral pillars and went to the top. Once there, he crouched down and scanned his surroundings.
There was no wounded or alone Scavenger in sight.
"There!" Li seemed to have found his target, or targets.
Far ahead—around three kilometers to the north—he sensed two Scavengers fighting over a corpse for the right to eat it.
Li smiled and stood up, he took in a deep breath and went to work.
He jumped down and plummeted to the ground. Before he could crash into it, he suddenly changed direction in an instant and shot to the north like a bullet.
He hissed through the air, dodging and jumping from coral to coral and passing the surrounding Scavengers like a blur.
Before long—about five minutes—he reached his destination.
Hiding behind a jagged piece of coral, he observed the two. They were still fighting. He had all day, so there was no rush. He could do this all day.
Sometimes, he needed to move elsewhere to avoid the two Scavengers coming his way. He watched them, eyeing them with hunger.
He was focused on the two and nothing else; he didn't seem to mind the narrator either, which was a relief.
He was in the zone, and nothing could distract him from his prey.
Finally one of the Scavengers fell with a satisfying THUD, the other didn't waste a single moment and struck its head with one of its massive pincers.
The poor beast's head exploded into a dozen shards of chitin and brain matter. The victor let out an ear-piercing screech, looking over the dead beast with hunger.
But Li waited. There was still time.
The Scavenger, now free of its rival, began to feast on the fallen Scavenger. Pulling and crushing its body under its strong pincers.
Li watched it eat as hours passed, nothing came this way to disturb them all.
Finally being done with the corpse, the Scavenger turned around and looked at its prize. It bent down to tear apart the body. That's when Li decided to move.
Li summoned his claymore and jumped over his hiding place, disappearing in a blur. He dashed forward and leaped over the beast's head.
The Scavenger turned around, distracted by a sudden noise, and saw Li suspended in the air. Before it could do anything, the sword plummeted down, crushed its head, and almost cleaved it in two.
Exhaling slowly, Li landed on the ground in a slow motion. That's when the spell whispered into his ears.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast: Carapace Scavenger.]
The sound of it was so euphoric and melodic, unlike the voice of the narr—HEY.
"Pfft—That's what you get for prying into my thoughts." He said, quite pleased with himself.
Li shook his head and bent down. He tore the protecting chitin of the beast and began to carve through it with his nails.
"Ughh…Disgusting. God, the smell!" no matter what, he couldn't get used to that salty scent of their bodies.
When he carved an opening, he plunged his hand into it while making a sphere of air around his nose.
Sending air throughout the body, he searched for the soul shard.
Finally something attracted his attention, focusing on it he grabbed the thing and pulled it towards himself.
"Aha. Found it!" he said to himself as he held the clean and smooth shard in his palm.
Summoning the [Nights Comfort], he threw the shard in it and promptly dismissed the memory.
With a smile, he patted himself on the shoulder and turned around to return to his shelter. He stopped as he remembered that he hadn't carved out any meat yet.
He would have face-palmed if his hands weren't covered in slimy gut matter.
With a dejected sigh, he began to carve the meat with his bare hands.
Why he isn't using either of his swords is beyond me.
Clicking his tongue, Li spoke.
"It's about control. I don't have enough wiggle room with a sword."
"Why would I even be this persistent on doing it like this?" he said with a gag as another nasty smell assaulted his nose.
After a while, he finished carving all the meat and tied them with a seaweed rope. Putting it over his shoulder, Li started to walk.
He had a lot of time—around two hours—still, so there was no rush.
He smiled and started humming to himself. He stopped suddenly.
Why are you stopping?
"I sense something… No, someone."
"It's two people, actually. And they are around five kilometers west of here."
He said, wondering who they might be.
"But they seem familiar… somehow."
Li's eyes widened as he let go of the meat, letting it fall to the ground.
"They are…"
"That's them."
"…"
"Gael and Iseul."