He had many reasons for not thinking that would be a good idea.
Firstly, he wasn't sure he had seen all the types of brutenecks that lived in the bruteneck region. When the lunatic carapace brutenecks had howled for help, where the other brutenecks had sprouted from remained a mystery to him.
The place had been blank, a wide expanse of land with no boulders in sight. Literally dry, parched, and empty except for him and the lunatic monster.
But the howling, chest-hitting, and foot-stomping had brought the others to where they were.
Now, where they came from was what he would keep asking himself.
Secondly, when he was asleep on the ground, he might be stabbed with a weapon or sword so sharp it would kill him instantly, or cause an injury so severe he wouldn't survive long enough for regeneration to save him.
Thirdly, it was... a life-taking risk.
Of course, he could wear the armor while sleeping to prevent all this (he had thought of that before listing all these dangers).
But then, he wouldn't be comfortable in it. Even now, it felt a bit heavy, and he was already longing to take it off.
How would he sleep in it? Sleep was supposed to relieve him of the day's stress and make him sane and whole for whatever horrors he was to face at the canyon.
He crouched on the ground, scooping dirt in his hands and then releasing it to the wind so it danced in the air and drifted away. Tatehan scratched the chin side of the helmet with his other hand, repeatedly doing the act of gathering Martian sand in his hands and releasing it to the wind.
He was deep in thought. Intense, deep thought.
After a minute, with a deep sigh, he decided he would sleep with the armor and the visor on. He didn't have any other choice. With the armor capable of absorbing hits so they could be redirected at almost the same impact, he decided it was worth the risk since he was sure he wouldn't lose his life.
But then, what bothered him was that the ability only absorbed seventy percent of the hit or attack, which meant if it was an attack sure to kill him, he might be saved but left in bad condition, allowing the attacker to finish him off.
It was only a thought, though. If he was to get stabbed with a sword, it would do nothing since the armor had a strong surface.
But then, the thought also posed a risk. Squinting his eyes, Tatehan realized that even though the knight brutenecks were majestic, fought with precision, and did fancy stuff with their swords, they were still vulnerable—and that was because they had a weakness.
As normal brutenecks, they ought to have the 'neck' weakness, but due to their armor, it wasn't evident, and they had seemed like godlike creatures.
Tatehan was wearing their armor and was certain it had to have a weak point. Perhaps the side of the belly? Perhaps the back of his head?
Tatehan sighed.
He wasn't safe, but he was on the safer side, so he would take the risk.
Now, where to sleep?
He decided he would sleep behind one of the boulders. The ones on the left, the very first ones he had seen, sort of formed a circle.
He walked over to it, his sword clenched tight in his hands, his stance ready for reaction. The closer he got to it, the more he wondered if creatures resided there.
It looked like it, like certain creatures had built it as a place to sleep. It was unlikely that a group of boulders had arranged themselves in this manner on their own. Almost forming a circle…
He didn't bother to tiptoe. He walked perfectly normal, expecting whatever creature that resided there to come at him before he even got close.
But nothing happened. Nothing came at him.
He finally arrived at the boulders, peered around them, and saw no one.
'Well, it's empty. What had I been thinking, that some new bruteneck species would be living here?'
He looked at the other row of boulders. There was a possibility that something would be living there rather than here.
Of course the possibility would be high! There was nothing in this one, and normally, as expected, there was a possibility it would be in the other.
He decided to check.
He sprinted over to it, lighter in the way he hit his feet on the ground but faster in speed. As Gavin, Tatehan had been a good runner, and with this new body, he was an even better runner.
He also knew certain techniques to make himself faster when running, and that was what he was doing, a technique for running faster without stressing the body so much.
It was working, and soon he was near the boulders, faster than he should have been considering he was still healing.
Though partial regeneration was at level four, Tatehan didn't quite see the difference between how it was before and how it was now. The only difference was in how it worked initially.
Without partial regeneration at level four, he would be in a lot of pain right now while healing slowly. But with it at this level, the intense pain and everything that would have prevented him from walking and running was gone to an extent.
Now he wasn't feeling much pain, but it was still there. It still hurt a bit as he ran.
Arriving at the boulders on the right, he saw nothing.
He wanted to facepalm because he now realized he should have just saved his energy by staying on the other side instead of wasting it running here.
But it was worth it eventually, prevention was better than cure. Knowing it was safe was better than not being rest assured.
He was even tempted to just sleep here, but this place looked like somewhere a devious creature would come to first before checking the others.
That was until he saw a short hammer beside the last of the boulders.