Zac’s eyes turned back toward the edge and then farther away , to the storm of Life that assaulted him for the past hour . Within , Zac could vaguely make out another floating island currently under assault . A deadly hail of rocks raked its surface , each projectile containing the strength of a Hegemon’s all-out attack .
The squall of Life had picked up in force while moving between islands , and Zac watched as a chunk over a hundred meters tall was snapped off the island . It was dragged across the surface , leaving a nasty gash in its wake before being flung out of sight .
In the face of something like that , there was only one reprieve : to run for your life . Better yet , figure out the weather patterns to avoid facing such a squall head-on . If you failed , you’d get turned into meat paste if unlucky . And just getting swept off wasn’t much better .
Apparently , the Perennial Vastness had cordoned off the Red Zone as a safety precaution , and the Chaos-attuned storm had formed a self-contained subsystem . There was no risk of being dragged into the more dangerous regions of the Chaos Storm , but the Calamity alone was lethal enough to grind even Hegemons to dust .
Zac wasn’t confident in enduring the unpredictable energy eruptions until he was dragged close enough to another floating island to latch on . And Null was no help . Apart from the barrier at the edge of the Red Zone , there were no safety nets . He couldn’t just tap out and be brought back to Vastness City if he couldn’t hack it .
Zac had already scanned the skyline for his target , but it wasn’t there . He’d have to keep moving for a while . Already prepared for this , he took out what looked like a hang glider with five-meter-wide wings . It could be considered a Flying Treasure , yet not . Flying Treasures were banned in almost all the zones of the Perennial Vastness , with a few notable exceptions like the nimbus . But there were half-measures allowed , such as the item in his hands .
It was made from local materials and didn’t have any flight or propulsion arrays . Instead , it contained a simple wind-controlling array that would allow him to gather and , to a certain degree , redirect the momentum of the winds in the Calamity .
As long as you were careful , it could take you shorter distances between the floating islands and meteors , using the low gravity and upward draft . You risked getting snatched up by powerful winds , but with some movement skills and other treasures , you could often stop yourself from getting pulled away .
Of course , being a zone with a hint of Primordial Chaos , there was always a risk that a storm would erupt out of nowhere .
Zac observed the surroundings for another minute , but he couldn’t dally . The information on the Calamity wasn’t endless , but quite a few had visited because the islands ultimately held treasures of Life and Death . Some lucky cultivators even found items containing echoes of Creation and Oblivion . Even if not directly useful for their cultivation , such items were incredibly valuable on the outside .
A series of roars echoed out , and Zac looked on with interest as a swarm of beasts leaped out from the very same platform as the one he stood on . His eyes lit up , knowing this was a good sign . Zac started running , steeling his heart as he jumped off the edge of the floating island , landing atop the glider while holding onto a set of reins to control the wings .
A powerful katabatic wind tried to drag him down , but the arrays activated on the wings . Zac redirected the force and felt himself pull out from the downdraft , soaring toward the island the storm had just assaulted .
The most important lesson in the missive was that while storms and eruptions could happen at any time , the safest place was generally to follow in the wake of a larger squall . Furthermore , the beasts living on the various islands had just withstood a powerful storm , often many weakened and unwilling to emerge from their burrows .
That way , you could island hop with relative safety , looking for treasure or beasts to hunt . Or , in Zac’s case , a suitable cultivation ground . The migration of the beasts proved the timing was good as well .
After his experience in the Twilight Chasm , flying between islands like this was a bit nerve-wracking . It felt like a current could appear and suck him into the depths at any moment . It remained relatively calm , as far as traveling inside hurricanes went . Even the beasts played nice . Those who needed to move islands wouldn’t fight with each other over the chasm . They’d need to reserve their strength .
Zac glanced to his sides , marveling at the scene of dozens of Beast Kings and their E-grade underlings who had appeared out of nowhere . He felt like the vanguard of a mottled army as they all flew toward the closest island . The mix was almost even between undead and living creatures , and most seemed to have adapted to a life without solid ground beneath their feet .
More than half were birds or various forms of gliders like the mantas he’d encountered . One undead creature looked a lot like a twenty-meter puffer fish . A spiked zeppelin gliding through the air . Similarly , there was a den of golden snakes where even the E-grade snakes effortlessly floated in the air , seemingly thanks to a high buoyancy . Only a few seemed a bit out of their element , like a huge toad and a rocklike creature .
Each group had at least one Beast King leading , yet none targeted Zac . They only gave him wary looks before refocusing on the island ahead . They even kept their more feral descendants in line , preventing them from targeting Zac or the other groups .
The creatures of the Calamity could be divided into three groups , and he’d already met the first : the skyborne . The Stormgliders were part of this group of beasts that never touched land . They could live within the energy-dense storms , getting all the nourishment they needed from the environment and the attuned stars . Corporeal skyborne were relatively rare , with most being energy creatures .
The second group was the nomads , also called the storm chasers . The beasts currently surrounding Zac belonged to this group . They were predators moving from island to island in search of Natural Treasures and prey to devour . They rarely stayed in one place too long , moving on when the resources were expended . Some had real dens somewhere in the Calamity they eventually returned to , while others were true nomads . Some were beasts who had been pushed away from their previous homes and forced to look for a new place to live .
No matter their origin , these beasts had long learned to stay out of the way of other nomads and visiting cultivators , who could be considered part of the same group . They already had their hands full dealing with the other two groups , and they couldn’t fall to infighting . If too few nomads gathered , moving between islands would become too dangerous . After all , there was safety in numbers .
The crossing only took fifteen minutes , though that didn’t mean the distance was short . The raging storm had already passed , but its movement had created a powerful pull in its wake . Zac’s Flying Treasures wouldn’t have been able to keep up with his current pace , even if the glider didn’t have any means of propulsion .
Suddenly , a twelve-winged centipede screeched as dense streams of noxious plumes of Miasma started to leak from its maw . Zac frowned as he looked over , his eyes widening when a deep gash appeared on its body . The hidden blade had been launched from too far away , and black ichor quickly mended the wound before the centipede unleased a wave of putrefaction toward the shores .
Where a welcoming party had already gathered .
Apart from the skyborne and the nomads , there were also the territorial beasts—those who had found a place to call home in this chaotic environment . They differed greatly in origin and strength , but they had one thing in common : they fiercely guarded their dens against the other two groups .