The next day, early in the morning, Ben left to scout out the are where he was going to explore. He went through the territories of the terra lupis pack, which was under a lord class lupis in the nearby area. He did not go near the den of the lord class trava lupis. He took many detours and tried to stay away from the sensory range of the lupis. Even with all his precautions some animals including trava lupis did detect him, but only for a short duration. When he understood that the other party sensed him, he would move further away, making these creatures unable to pin point him. Unknown to him, he was gradually acquiring one of the skills of the aether lupis- spatial sense. At the height of this ability, it could perceive the space time continuum itself. But at knight level, Ben was able to have a vague idea about his surroundings.
The territory of the trava lupis pack densely filled with plants. He carefully marked certain regions. He mapped out the area using his device which was fitted with another type of machine to map out an area. He marked what way he should go tomorrow and what way he should retreat. His idea was that, since he was familiar with the territory of the qon prosimians, he would retreat that way. He also used that way to come back and found that it was quite plausible.
His next target was the aquatic bodies. There was a large lake nearby, very close to the area assigned to them. A part of that lake was in this area. So he went there. Then there was a marshy area, but Ben was not really keen to go there. He dd not think there would be any resources there.
Soon he went to the lake. It was actually 2 kms wide at its widest part and had a total length of 4 kms. He went near it and hid in a thicket. He observed. His senses had picked up the auras of several predators. If anyone else heard that a beginner knight could pick the aura of peak knight class and beginner noble class creatures from such a distance, they would dissect him to understand how. Ben's spatial sense combined with the basic sixth sense that is the characteristic of meridian wielders, no creature below a certain threshold was invisible to him.
The lake was comprised of many fish and other aquatic animals. Although Ben liked to see them swim in the water, he did not like to eat them. He did not like to eat anything swimming in the water. Also, he had little knowledge about these aquatic animals. He was not expecting to be near a lake at all.
Another thing happened which surprised Ben. He sensed that all the predators that were hiding near by were retreating. He did not understand why. That is when he sensed the tremor in the ground. He heard a loud bellow like a trumpet. He looked in that direction. He was horrified to see what was nearing the lake. It was a single male loxodonta. It was black in color, and its height was at 15 feet. The problem was that it was in frenzied heat. A solitary male loxodonta in heat, which was at the peak of noble rank, was a menace. It came near the lake, go into it and muddied the waters for some time. Then in the same frenzy it ran into the forest. Ben could understand that, because the creature was in heat, its senses were not sharp and thus did not sense him. Still he waited for some time toc check if the loxodonta or the predators will come back. But none of them came back.
Then Ben took his compact underwater breathing device and a set of water proof clothes and goggles. Using the device, he could spend 30 minutes underwater. In an unknown environment, it was always right to be compact enough to run at the first sign of trouble: that was Ben's policy underwater. He entered the water. Ben did not go much towards the deep part of the lake. He lingered around the shallow parts. First, he went around the shallow parts for a bit. Then he went a bit deeper, where he found some common plants and fish, which were a bit uncommon. That's it. Ben could understand that only if he moved to the deeper part would he be able to get more resources. But unfortunately Ben did not have the skillset to perform the underwater exploration. So he could only stop his underwater adventure and come back.
So, he decided that he was not going to search for any resources underwater. He came up and changed into another set of clothes and moved towards the marshes in the nearby area. The marshes were the territory of 'Crocos', reptilian creatures, which had tough hide and were almost unbeatable in this environment. These creatures were masters of manipulating the marshes, marking it extremely problematic to fight them in that environment. These creatures were also good at swimming but still preferred to be live in the marshes.
Ben was not that hopeful regarding the resources in the marshy area. But regardless though of exploring the area.
The plants in the marshes were mostly the ones that grow in stagnated water. The trees there had elevated roots, outside the ground. The atmosphere was humid and combined with the sounds of small insects, the overall vibe of the marshy area was spooky.
Ben carefully moved through the banks of the marshy are, looking for any potential dangers and any foreign energy signatures. As he was moving, he found a rather large 'Crocos' outside of the water. It was alone and was quite large. One of the disadvantages these creatures had as a whole was their slow progress. It took these creatures 100 years, to just reach a noble rank. Then to reach the lord class, it took another 200-300 years. A very small population of crocos would grow into overlords. There has been no historical evidence of crocos growing into the overlord level. The crocos Ben was seeing was a late stage Knight level, despite its size. Since, it was out of water, and was alone, the only thing that was standing between him and some money was the tough hide of the creature.
He did not hesitate much. There was a part in the hide of the creature which was soft. It was located at the part where its neck and mouth met. Ben had read about this creature and had known this weakness. He expected a fierce battle and did not expect that his claw attack would kill it instantly. That is exactly what happened. Shocked could not fully explain what he was feeling right now. ' That was the most anti-climatic fight I ever had' Ben thought. He did not linger there much. He took the carcass of the beast. Before moving on he looked around the area.
In the immediate vicinity of the area, he found some nyxralph. There were a few stalks of this plant. It fetched a fair amount of money. It was expected that Silock would come tomorrow. So he collected these plants. As he was planning to move away, something at a distance caught his eye. It was a nyxralph plant. Only that it was more sturdier bigger. Its black and red leaves were brimming with what Ben could call 'darkness'. He did not know what else to call it. It was even affecting the air nearby it making it more damp and eerie. Ben understood what it was. This was a nyxralph which had survived for more than 100 years. This time frame has brought about immense changes to it, sky rocketing its value many times over. Ben could smell the money.