The next few days were less of a chore for Jack as he fought the ants when he felt like it, keeping the head nice and tucked away in his spatial storage and allowing for the ants to come charging at him, providing him with plenty of experience and exercise, keeping him nice and fit and always ready for some greater challenge that might just pop up at a moments notice while at the same time always maintaining himself in a perfect condition- not too stiff or too rested and sluggish. He had plenty of memories of both the former and the latter. He had been forced to form barricades of slaughtered monsters only to get barely an hours rest while the remaining ones tried to chew and tear through said barricades to get at him. He had also spent weeks indulging all manner of pleasures in the divine realm, sensing his edge slipping as he did so. Neither felt good, so he had been keeping himself in check and ready ever since he had come back- either through actual combat or just training in his downtime all by his lonesome.

  With the now less strained- but still plenty stacked- schedule, Jack at least could appreciate the jungle he had found himself in a bit more. The enormous trees that kept the sunlight limited in the underbrush, allowing for all manner of plants and animal species that love dark to thrive, all while providing plenty of space for the ones loving light. Jack had noticed that there was only a certain height to which the ants would rise normally, leaving a lot of space for the less aggressive creatures to thrive. That 'territory' rule did fail when the colony was on a chase though as no matter how high Jack had climbed, the near endless army of ants had followed.

  Now however, Jack could appreciate the beauty of the canopies and near endless number of different bird species that nested up here. Used to the presence of the ants, most birds would ignore Jack almost completely- so long as he kept a certain distance of course- resulting in quite the sights to behold. Birds the size of roosters in every colour of the rainbow fluttered around like some overgrown colibris, dipping their extended beaks in adult human head sized flowers.

  Every now and again, the sound of an object falling at high speed would draw his attention, only to catch the sight of a bird of prey connecting with some unlucky or unattentive Giant rainbow colibri, quetzal or a subspecies of some trogon- or so the appraisal had classified them- ending the life of one bird to sustain another entirely. The cycle of life in jungle seemed to be in full swing, once again proving to anyone willing to look and listen the undeniable law of the primitive world- the weak will be killed and eaten.

  Similar encounters happened with Jack as the supposed prey as well, when some individual birds from larger species of the predatory bird type decided that Jack seemed the perfect snack and swooped down to deliver the kill, only to find themselves in the role of prey. Jack would not refuse to taste test, or at the very least inspect the viability of these birds as gourmet food. While it was true that in theory Jack could make almost anything tasty, it was also true that the amount of effort varied greatly with each ingredient. After all, given enough spices and other 'auxiliary' entreas, one could make a dish with shit if need be and the ones eating would be none the wiser. Of course, at that point the dish could surely no longer be considered made with said ingredient as the main focus.

  The colibri- despite their size and several similarities to chickens- were a horrible choice. Their meat stiff and bland. It felt as though the bird was burning through whatever flavour it earned from the nectar the instant it fed, making Jack cross it off of any potential menus. The quetzals and trogons were a bit better, though Jack noticed that plenty of their subspecies were highly toxic, their diets consisting of just as toxic bugs and the like. And the birds of prey were too few in numbers to consider a reliable game to hunt, though the large one that had decided Jack was a viable meal did seem promising.

  With the birds mostly deemed a no go as a reliable and easily accessible source of food, Jack turned his attention towards other types of animals inhabiting the upper levels of the canopy. All sorts of monkeys, some smaller felines and whatever else that was around in large enough numbers while at the same time not too much of a hustle to take care of. What good was a creature that demanded more energy to capture and deal with than its flesh was worth in turn.

  So, while still moving ahead and searching for traces of civilised society, Jack picked up another task to take care of. Now, besides looking for a way back home, training and contacting his group of friends- his guild, Ramia and Anastiela, he was also making meticulous notes on each and every creature- their species, subspecies and even rare variants- he encountered on this journey, amassing quite the collection of knowledge.

  Monkeys, for all their vaunted familial connection to humans, did taste better than one would expect, their omnivore lifestyle and relative lack of fear when it came to humanoids served as quite the helping hand- not that the monkeys would classify the situation with the same enthusiasm. The cats were harder to deal with- would be for anyone without Jack's particular set of skills to be precise- both due to their nature as a stealth ambusher as well as their overall distrust of humanoids, or so Jack could only assume. Also due to the fact they were predators eating anything they could get their paws on- including carion at times- parasites infesting their meat could also be a problem. Luckily, Jack had not seen a single trace of parasitic creatures of the microscopic type, with only fungal zombies of sorts taking over bodies their current hosts hunted down being present, and those too were of little danger to anyone paying attention. Funny how a world so hell bent on personal might makes right was better and safer in regards to the lack of unseen microscopic dangers that could wipe out populations.

  Another week passed by, with Jack forming a sort of a routine in regards of his daily actions. He would spend the first part of a day with his personal ant deterrent hidden away, slowly- relatively speaking- tearing through a nigh endless supply of very angry and determined ocean of ants, deconstructing as many with the help of his energy wings as possible, using them as a sort of extra arms while he kept culling the ever incoming swarm, earning plenty of matter as a result.

  The other half of the day, along with the better part of the night he would spend heading further in a single direction while searching traces of civilisation, as well as crafting new pieces of gear for the kids that were accessed through one small shared spatial storage, used by both Jack and Kaede who held the shared spatial storage ring- something he had made after his class advancement. He had felt in his gut he would need to have an item of such nature, and what a good thing he had immediately trusted in his gut feeling.

  His status also reflected both his own personal actions as well as the actions of both the kids and Anastiela's newbies, all grinding away and hunting monsters. As a result of a three pronged action, his level had grown considerably as well, to the point that if anyone learned if his progress, a new war might just begin with him as the desired trophy. Good thing then that Jack was both gods knew where, as well as hidden from any attempts to inspect him. Only fake stats he himself chose would be seen should someone appraised him. Still, as his gaze hovered over his status panel, the level in particular that displayed a nice and round number- thirty- he couldn't help but grin the smallest of smiles as his mind nevertheless got ever so excited at the though of his next class advancement.

  'There is no way I can play nobody once I return. Not only would word spread fast, but also undesirable entities would come knocking. Both due to the knowledge of me using spatial skills as well because I should have more understanding and knowledge about the reason Valkia disappeared from the face of the world.' Jack mused while his body brought him ever forward. He had not explained anything about Rankazarr void spider, partially because he had deemed the little shit his to kill, but also because there was nothing mere mortals could hope to do against it, and there was no point in creating extra panic regarding a monster that was- for all intent and purposes- both unreachable and unkillable. Better leave it as some sort of an anomaly or the like.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  Eventually, Jack reached an obstacle of sorts. A border if you will, as he decided to classify the large body of water that he had found himself at. A river, deep and slow, with dark and ominous water , separated him from his planned direction. The sun was slowly setting down at this point, his ant repeller out in the open, but even with the absence of ants rushing him, Jack immediately noticed a change in the surroundings the moment his feet touched the sand that filled the enormous riverbank.

  Not a single ant was visible in a similar position as him, marking the river itself or more likely the territory that it was on as a sort of a forbidden land. For anyone less sensitive that Jack, no differences between the place he had just left and the riverbank he was now at could be felt, but with his insanely high spirit and near perfect memory, he could instantly detect a disparity between the two. The jungle- the ant colony habitat- had more dense mana within, dominated by earth and water element charged mana, with both somewhat equal in proportions, where as the river had plenty of wind mixed in as well, carried along its path to wherever it went.

  This disparity seemed to be the thing that ants had a problem with, draining their vitality and power with noticeable speed, making the place Jack stood on as a sort of an execution block, ending the lives of the creature at incredible speed should they linger.

  "That's an interesting phenomenon." Jack hummed as he realized the implications, coming to the rather obvious conclusion that the ants he had been hunting all this time originated from a dungeon, left unattended for far too long, resulting in it growing and growing, and growing until it overflowed. The result- a ginormous land mass being taken over by said ants, becoming the de-facto apex predator and ruler of said land mass. Jack also made a hypothesis that a similar phenomena would likely actualize around other, similar dungeons that experience break and take over a huge land mass in their vicinity. It seemed like a defensive mechanism inbuilt in the laws of the world to prevent the oldest of such dungeons spreading infinitely, destroying any chance for the place to grow through conflict and adversity. He would, however, need to wait a lot of time to confirm, or disprove, his theory as the preparation necessary for such a thing would be colossal, both in terms of manpower and resources needed. Good thing he had plenty of time then.

  With one mystery at least temporarily solved, he focused his attention on the large body of water- river in his particular case- and started to feel it out with his spirit, searching for its depth, expected size and probable complications should he try and cross it. His wings, as useful as they were, did not provide exceptional 3d mobility, and were quite honestly rather bad at aerial transportation. They did make up for it in their utility, having served particularly well when Jack was cleaving through swathes of ants, but he could do little to change their type. Technically, he could change them, using matter as intended, but the cost-benefit ratio was so poor Jack dismissed the idea outright.

  Thankfully, as lively as the near kilometer deep river- if it could even be called that at this point- was, Jack sensed little to no actual aquatic predators that could deem his flying form a suitable snack, with those few that could do so currently busy with either already caught meals or too far to be of note at the current time. Still, with the rather inefficient flight tool at his disposal, pure flight did not seem as the best of ideas, even for Jack, forcing him to consider alternative options, quickly forming and crystalizing. He sensed in his gut that some sort of a civilization could be found on the other side, causing his excitement and anticipation to rise.

  "Soon." he murmured through his large smile, his mind already running through different course of actions and plans for when he would eventually encounter said strangers even as he worked to actualize his currently already developed and deployed ones.

  With a few sets of extra hands(in the form of his aforementioned wings) he felled large trees, using his large weapon to create logs of similar size, melding them together with a custom made glue of sorts, formed with the express purpose to fuse tree logs together. In no time at all, Jack had created a rather simple, yet well made raft, with a sail of its own and plenty of space for a single person. He did not immediately set sail across though, spending another day at the shore. He meticulously tracked the movement patterns of the larger predators inhabiting the river near his planned crossing point, reducing the likelihood of encountering one to near nothing. Accidents could still happen of course- Jack was no will of the world after all- but he had done well enough to reduce the probability of such accidents from happening.

  With his final preparations complete, he set out a bit after midnight the coming day, having found the window with the least amount of activity on the sphere of his spiritual perception. He glanced back at the slowly shrinking giant of a rainforest as his raft was carried further and further away from the shore, leaving the ant infested territory behind. He had killed countless ants in the short- if a couple of weeks could be called that- time period he had spent there, even landing a kill on what was clearly a rare spawn. He had earned plenty of matter and even more experience still, no doubt pushing him further ahead of the kids in his guild. Not that he would flaunt his level in their faces of course. If anything, it would be the other way around, with Jack keeping his gains well hidden and out of anyone's knowledge. It was near always better to be perceived as weaker than one actually was, doubly so in a place where might made right.

  'I wonder, just who might have settled so close to an overflown dungeon.' he mused, searching for races that usually fit the bill. Humans almost instantly fell off, not making the list of 'finalists', though he was rather sure of himself that while not the majority, there would still be plenty of humans living and thriving. Adaptability and desire for profit was in human blood and that alone would have no doubt dragged numerous individuals over. Ones that were more than willing to not only risk their own hides, but also the lives of those traveling with them.

  "Indeed, how many of the local scum lords would be human? Sixty to seventy percent? More?" he quietly questioned himself, already preparing for the inevitable disappointment in his own kind. After all, if one thing was true about humans no matter where you went, it was that there was always a human scum with his own group to follow the lead.

  As his eyes remained on the ever shrinking silhouettes of the gigantic trees, he noticed another thing about the place he was departing from. Unlike the vibrant colours and all the different life one could find in the canopies of said forest, looking at from outside, it felt dark and ominous, as though the dungeon that had taken over the land was covering it in some sort of a negative miasma, almost like warning anyone not from inside that danger and death was the most common commodity to be found and purchased there, making the more instinctive and perceptive potential visitors to stay away.

  Dungeons were supposedly at least partially sentient, if extremely devious and carnivorous entities, serving as both the birthplace of monsters and treasures alike, luring daring men and women inside for a chance to either die or get rich. Was it such a stretch of imagination to assume that eventually dungeons could reach a level where they can sustain themselves without the need of outside source to bring back energy and whatever else it is that dungeons gain from devouring humanoid bodies? Was it wrong to assume that should that be the case, the dungeon would try and seem as dangerous and uninviting to such possible explorers? If dungeons were sentient, even if just a little bit, should they too not fear death? Who else but adventurers and dungeon divers could then be the one thing dungeons would fear just as much as they desired them once upon a time?

  "Well then, jungle of the dark lands." Jack smiled as his raft moved further and further away "T'was a fun, if a little annoying at times- vacation we spent together. Do hope I do not deem it necessary to come back again in the future. Things will be different then."

  Jack Raja(?)

  Age- 27

  Species- human(?)

  Level- 30

  Class- Awakened twin aspect of Creation and Destruction(Ex)

  Stats unassigned: +4

  Attributes:

  Strength- 24 (14+7+3)

  Vitality- 23 (12+8+3)

  Dexterity- 21 (15+6)

  Intelligence-15

  Spirit- Spirit- 30 (20+10)

  Skills- Wisdom of Creation and destruction(EX), Choice of the creator(EX), Eyes of procurer(EX), Matter storage(EX), Arukain language(C), Spark of inspiration(EX), Origin of matter(EX), Unbound by laws of the lessers(EX), The end made manifest(EX).

  Spells- none.

  Titles(unlocked): The real Monster, Big Game Hunter, The brilliant rookie, The insane Solo. Monster debugger.The actor. Executioner. Survivor. Pioneer, Record breaker.The new champion supreme.

  Gear: amulet +2 vit: weapon- Gundao+3 str. Rings- spatial storage,