The abode of the Medusaes was more primitive than I thought, they didn't even have buildings but instead, little patches of clearings where they did their day to day activities.
Ferelith, their leader, was located in a larger clearing deeper within the forest. It was quite a sight to see.
"Why are there no buildings?" Faris asked. At moments like this, I was thankful that he couldn't pick up on hints.
"We've only ever heard of buildings and the only way to get them is either by building or by purchasing them from the Lotus."
"You can even buy buildings?" Faris asked in surprise. I was surprised too.
"You can buy anything in the lotus, it's a world that supposedly connects all the planets in a quadrant. That's in the millions."
As we approached where Ferelith was, Noemie slowed down and stepped behind me, using my body as a shield. For some reason, I felt like my life was suddenly in danger.
"Ferelith, we have guests." Vaku spoke before we pushed through a large leaf, revealing a large clearing with a single Medusae sitting at the center.
She was radiant and just from a glance, I could tell she was different. She was more like…..
Noemie.
'It seems there are three kinds, matching the three major types of Medusaes. This is interesting…'
Even though I haven't met a lot of Medusae, I could tell that this lady was extremely beautiful, even by human standards.
And there was something else too…
"How much do they know?" Was the first question she asked. Vaku visibly flinched and Noemie slipped even further behind me, completely covering himself.
"A lot." Vaku replied after a short pause. He was looking everywhere except from the center of the clearing where Ferelith sat in meditation.
Suddenly, her eyes opened, black and beady like the rest of them but with a much darker hue, one that made it seem like she had orbs of obsidian in her eye sockets.
They locked on me and she seemed to look through me.
"I'm guessing this brat has something to do with it." She said,
"Everything!" Vaku replied. He didn't even hesitate a single second to throw Noemie under the bus.
"Hey! You snitch! Shameless brute!" Noemie cursed out in anger but Ferelith's reaction was still bland. This time, I could tell she wasn't looking through me anymore.
"What do you want?" She asked.
"I want to return, but to do that, I have to survive first."
"But you are way too weak to think of survival."
If it was anyone else that has said such words to me, I would have ignored it. But this lady, she was different. The moment I stepped into this clearing, I could feel it clearly.
She was miles apart from Vaku. If I went against her, I would die before I knew what happened. In a fight like this, my skill wouldn't matter when the opponent has overwhelming strength.
'I guess things never come easy…'
If the Medusae had someone of her caliber and they were still weak and unable to unite this planet,.... What chance do I stand on trying to help the situation?
"I know." I nodded my head before glancing behind me at Noemie, "I guess my team and I were lucky to run into the Medusae first."
Ferelith stood up, well, it was more like she suddenly levitated until she was standing, her tentacle-like legs, all of them, gently hovering in the air.
Then she moved and in a blink, she was right before me. There was no wind pressure effect, or the resounding boom of her breaking the sound barrier, nothing at all.
It was like she had always been there.
"We don't carry on dead weights. What do you have to offer?"
"Ferelith, they are skilled. He managed to take down a Mors Papilio Larvae." Vaku stood up for me, or at least I thought that.
But looking at him, I saw that he was just trying to show that we were already useful.
"Your weapons," I began, there were other ways to prove our worth, "who made them?"
"We have someone with a blacksmith occupation but he lacks blueprints."
"Because of the access to lotus and the pillars…"
I looked at Nerissa and Faris, the moment they saw my look, the former smirked and the latter made an expression like he wanted to cry.
They knew what I meant with just a look, we were about to work ourselves to death.
"Nerissa is a close combat specialist and a scout, but she is also a master of traps and guerilla tactics." I gestured towards Nerissa,
"Faris is a specialist but also an amazing artist. He can help your blacksmith create better weapons, way better weapons."
"And I, I will train Vaku and Noemie, who will in turn train the rest of the Medusae."
Ferelith continued looking at me like she didn't even acknowledge all I had just said. I suddenly realised that maybe my words had been too complicated and I wasn't direct enough.
So I rephrased myself.
"My team and I come from another world. Your race is stagnating because of lack of knowledge and materials. We can cover up the lack of knowledge and improvise."
"I see. So you are promising to help us defeat more monsters?" Ferelith asked.
Her idea wasn't wrong, I really was planning to help them get stronger so my team and I could also get stronger, but that wasn't the full scope of the plan.
Although I was sure that our knowledge from our dimension would be very useful to them, I also had a feeling that to better use that knowledge efficiently, we still need access to the Lotus.
Which is why I had a bigger and better plan.
"I'm not going to be assisting you in killing more animals, at least not directly." I smirked as Vaku and Ferelith furrowed their brows,
"Instead, we'll be conquering a pillar and claiming it for ourselves."