'I guess that might result in a catastrophic kaboom.'
In his attempt to accumulate five purple orbs to get a red orb, Kivas stumbled upon a veiny, greenish large cocoon. The cocoon had this X-shaped hole on top, continuously secreting a very unpleasant smell.
The unpleasant smell of gasoline.
Kivas was trying to get across a narrow entry between two cliffs. In front of him, was the large and unsettling existence of the weird cocoon. There might be some variable that intimidated him to not move any closer, but he really wanted to know what was on the other side of the sandwiched route.
Although, the main reason why Kivas seemed to be afraid of that cocoon, was because that it was not the first cocoon that he stumbled upon. It was actually the third. The first and the second one ended up precisely on what he thought about this cocoon.
They exploded the moment Kivas approached.
'I threw a rock with my valiant effort to pick them up using two of my front sharp legs with no grabbing capability whatsoever, and the cocoon didn't explode like the other one.'
He could actually just send his spectral linked limb like a missile, but that won't do as there was a chance that he might get unnecessarily wounded from that. Gaining a wound from fighting for your life is one thing, but getting intentionally damaged by trying to clear up a protruded pulsating mine for no important reason is more or less idiotic and embarrassing for Kivas' record.
'Yeah, I'm just gonna explore another area, I guess. Now that I look into it, I haven't gone to the north as much.'
He had already acquired one purple orb from finding that cocoon thing. There was no clear indication of what that cocoon was biologically for or what kind of beast that made them into existence, so Kivas just going to refer to them as Dangerous Fleshbooth for now.
'That weird thing aside, I feel like I really need to get an upgrade for my digestive system or my inner body overall…'
Currently, Kivas had one of the most flexible constitutions yet, with how it was usable in early run. He also had four walking limbs that were also as flexible, it could even be launched like a guided missile!
From a game point of view, stats wie, Kivas had good strength, agility, and resistance. His stamina however, was smaller than a frog with how the only source of energy that he could get was from moisture.
If one would put these references into numbers, it would look like this.
Health: 6
Stamina: 2
Strength: 8
Agility: 10
'I'll just see if I can get any purple orbs that may be able to fix this stamina problem.' Kivas finally opened the first purple orb that he acquired in this session, hoping that he got what he needed. 'Tch, this one didn't have it.'
Seems like the journey to acquire the red orb shall be suspended for a while.
Thus, after he strode low and high to search for any potential discoveries, Kivas passed by a glimpse of a tall structure within the very edge of his torch's illumination. Just right after noticing it, he went back and walked sideways like a crab under low tide, before facing what seemed to be a white pillar from his point of view.
'A manmade object in the middle of a highly dangerous forest? Interesting…'
He approached the stone pillar closer. On the other corner of his peripheral vision, another pillar was sighted five meters away from the first pillar. He circled the pillars around like a crab doing their hunting ritual, creating a trail akin to number eight with the pillars on each circle.
He then tried to look up and noticed another hint of the same material being laid horizontally in between the two pillars. It took him a couple of seconds before realizing that it was some sort of a gate frame.
He acquired another purple orb.
'My mystery sense is tingling against things.'
Kivas tried to see if he could find anything in the surrounding area that was related to this gate. If such a mundane looking thing could give him a purple orb by just noticing the full form, then there should be some kind of hidden lore that was still unnoticed somewhere, cowering within plain sight.
Of course, there was a chance that this object was only there for the sake of it and it held no true purpose whatsoever aside from having gone through some important event in the past, or so Kivas thought. After all, there was no clear indication that every object that gives him a purple should need any hidden mechanism behind it.
Everything that Kivas did until now was built through theory and assumption. He was kept in the dark, and in it, he paved his own light to search through the darkness.
'Ah! I found it!'
Somewhere near the gate, there was a giant white stone mask with a missing crystal on its left eye. The stone mask faced the direction of the gate's location and its location was perfectly aligned with the position between the two pillars of the gate.
'What's with this thing in this location though?'
Seeing how he couldn't do anything to the mask, he decided to look around further, only to find another stone mask that was located in the direction of the opposite location of the first stone mask. Not to mention, it was located farther away than the length between the first mask and the gate.
Just like the first mask, it was missing a crystal on the eye, but this time, the missing crystal was on the right eye.
'Huh, they didn't give me any purple orb!'
Which means one thing, hypothetically.
The mask and gate were heavily related. Only by uncovering the mystery could give him another purple orb.
The afternoon had come to an end, eventually, and the world of the night had arrived to greet Kivas of his journey progress.