Epic of Caterpillar

"Tournament?" I wondered.

"Well, you see… Us giants decide when a child becomes an adult after they win their first tournament, where the most promising younglings fight one another."

"Wait what?" I asked. "You make kids fight to earn the privilege of being called adults?!"

"Well, the sea of sand is a harsh world." Halberd said. "Only adults are allowed to walk outside and go hunt, we cannot trust those that have yet to grow strong enough."

"Hmm… I guess in your own perspective, it might make some sense." Luminous said. "Kireina, don\'t question their customs too much, it is rude, learn to be respectful."

"Hey I am super respectful." I sighed. "I was just wondering…"

"Anyways, do you need to ask any questions? It seems that you\'re travelers, do you have some goal coming here?" Wondered the chief.

"Well…"

Like this, we began asking questions about the giants and a bit of their origins here, and what they did in their daily lives, mostly.

"It has been thousands of years since our ancestors came here. The sands were too dangerous for us even as we were enormous, we hid in the mountains of here, where we found the magic crystal you all know as Blood crystals. We sell it in exchange for money, food, and other things that small people do. These magic weapons and magic tools we have were all made by small people." Said Halberd.

"We have simple lives. We giants pride ourselves in our sizes and strength. We built our town out of our very hands by shaping the bones of the ancient god that made these mountains, we mine the blood crystals for our own sustenance as well, as we use it as food substitute when we are in our direst moments, and it is also a precious resource we use to imbue Magic Runes into our bodies, reinforcing our physiques. My little Brunhild had recently received her own, perhaps she might win a tournament if she keeps training diligently."

"I see…" I said. "So that\'s why she had all those red tattoos over her body."

"Yeah, their color intensity goes away as time passes and the runes mix with our tan skin." Said Halberd. "Now, about the monsters… We had always been attacked by hordes of monsters, but since a few weeks ago that the monster attacks had intensified severely for some reason."

"Have they?" Asked Sol. "What happened?"

"Well, usually small packs of normal monsters are no problem for us, and the Desert King cannot climb the mountain so we had never been bothered by such a beast. However, these monsters were strange, they were all black and imbued with corrupted mana, something the small folk call miasma, right? We had lost a few through these last weeks, our warriors are dwindling. These monsters had been too strong for what we were taught and prepared for; their powers were also surprising…" Sighed Halberd. "However, barely, we had been able to fend them off until today when we were attacked by those flying undead monsters. They were frail but tricky, and some of us even died by having their souls pulled out of their bodies… Thankfully, in our most desperate moment you\'ve arrived."

"That must be the Genie\'s doing…" Sighed Ariant.

"Yeah, no doubt." Said Eriant.

"The Genie?" Asked Halberd.

"An ancient evil that was sealed by the gods long ago. He had awakened and has the power to manipulate miasma and use it to brainwash people and empower them with dark magic, it also extends into the ability to control monsters and enhance their strength several times." Said Luminous.

It seems that the bastard of that Genie had been pestering the giants for a long time now. Does he wants that mine of Blood Crystals? Well, he already managed to steal blood crystals today using Elfina\'s newly awakened Necromancy, but the bastard might want more and come back later… If only we could track him down- Wait, if he\'s with Elfina, then by just tracking he down we could find him!

"He has been a real pain in the ass." Eriant said.

"Yeah… our village almost got wiped out by him if it wasn\'t for Kireina-sama\'s aid." Said Ariant.

"I see… So it has been that bad…" Halberd said. "This bastard… Are you planning in doing something against him?"

"We are planning to chase him down and kill him, yeah." I said. "He had been causing too much chaos in this desert. It is already hard for the people here to live as they are."

"I see… Then let me give you my aid. I might lack an arm and an eye but I am still the strongest of my tribe. My level is high and so are my skill levels. I even have Axe Mastery at Level nine." Sad Halberd.

I looked at Halberd\'s stats, and indeed, he was pretty strong.

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[Name]: [Halberd]

[Race]: [High Desert Giant]

[Status]: [Missing Left Arm], [Missing Right Eye]

[Rank]: [B+]

[Job Class]: [Battle Axe Goliath]

[Level]: [55/80]

[HP]: [55000/55000]

[MP]: [35000/35000]

[Strength]: [33000]

[Agility]: [9600]

[Vitality]: [37000]

[Intelligence]: [13000]

[Dexterity]: [16000]

[Divinity]: [400]

[Passive Skills]

[Unique Skills]: [Ancient Giant Physique: Lv--] [Earth Element: Lv--] [Incapacitated (Missing Arm): Lv--] [Incapacitated (Missing Eye): Lv--] [Mithril Skin: Lv7] [Reinforced Giant Muscles: Lv8] [Aura of Bloodlust: Lv8]

[Body Skills]: [Reinforced Bones: Lv8] [Tough Skin: Lv10] [Blood Crystal Runes: Lv6] [Warrior\'s Aura: Lv7]

[Resistance Skills]: [Physical Damage Resistance: Lv6] [Magic Damage Resistance: Lv4] [Sunlight Resistance: Lv10] [Thirst Resistance: Lv8] [Hunger Resistance: Lv8]

[Active Skills]

[Physical Skills]: [Battle Axe Mastery: Lv9] [One Handed Combat: Lv5] [Endless Resiliency: Lv4] [Throwing Technique: Lv7]

[Magical Skills]: [Rock Spear: Lv6] [Earth Shield: Lv5] [Boulder Blast: Lv2]

[Title Skills]

[Unique Title Skills]: [Giant Village Chief: Lv7] [Battle Axe Expert: Lv6] [Guardian of the People: Lv9]

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Amazing, he was really a renewed warrior with all his rights. His stats were not bad at all, and his skills were pretty good, everything was rather high level.

However, just by giving a peek to his daughter, I was completely left speechless….