Cultivating Plants

The red person advanced through the darkness of the night, he – Aloe guessed it was a he as the torso was naked and showed no breasts, only barely defined abdominals – was partially obscured by a dune that hid his lower body.

Many thoughts ran through Aloe's head at a speed comparable to acuity, but one thing was sure in her mind.

That being was not human.

"Hello the…" The monster announced with a honeyed voice and a raised hand with a wave, but Aloe didn't let him finish as she sprinted in the opposite direction of the creature. "Ah, so you want it the hard way." He added with confidence even if the human was already running away at a speed comparable to a dweller.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! Aloe indecorously cursed in the confines of her mind, putting all the strength she could muster into her legs. What do I do? Do I just run away? Can I even outrun him?

The sounds of many steps behind her told her otherwise.

No person, not even a group of people, would make as much sound as the steps she was hearing. Not even Aaliyah had poured this much fear into her heart, and she had only the feedback of sound.

What she was hearing wasn't pleasant.

Many steps followed her, but they weren't the sound of steps she was used to or like the ones she was making by running frenetically. No, there was a crunch to each movement, as if he was personally torturing each grain of sand with every step.

The screams of the sand sounded quite literally when the wind rose again.

"Come 'ere~" The voice of the monster still had a honeyed tone, but it sounded more inhuman than before. "Don't be bad, darling, and let me embrace you."

A shiver so strong that almost led Aloe straight to the ground traveled her spine at the mention of the word 'darling'. It was puke-inducing to hear that word from a voice that was sounding less and less human by the moment.

"Almost there, turn back~" The monster announced, and Aloe ignored his command.

But he wasn't being dishonest. The sounds of the myriad of steps were becoming louder by the second, alongside his voice.

I can't outrun him! Aloe realized in horror. What should I do? Fight? How? Her heart was beating harder than ever before, she felt as if it was going to give out at any moment now. What about…

Running away and planning weren't things that synergized, and that became lethally obvious as Aloe's concentration faltered for a fraction of a second, breaking the rhythm of her steps, and making her trip.

The cultivator didn't have even time to scream as the ground got closer, but she managed to switch to toughness in time.

The cacophony of sand-crunching ceased soon after.

"Oh my," the monster giggled. "Have you broken your neck, darling?"

As a matter of fact, she had not. But the creature had no way of knowing so. Nor she had the ability to know much else as her head was partially buried in the sand. The only saving grace was that the red man had yet to notice she had survived.

What should I do? She pondered in those short seconds of peace. I am out of the speed stance, and switching back will take a minute at best… Running is not an option. Aloe bit her lip at that. How pathetic it was that the most wanted fugitive in the sultanate couldn't even run away.

How about the Blossomflame? She almost tried to reach for the potted plant, no more than a sapling, but instantly remembered she was supposed to play dead. It's too far away and too green. She gritted her teeth as her backpack was tightly packed and even tighter closed. If I could make it bud at least, maybe there's a chance with it… The cultivator didn't bet on it.

It probably can't kill me swiftly with toughness, so I could try to outlast him by switching to potency back and forth. Aloe wasn't a fighter, she had never thrown a punch in her life, but she had the strength of six men with her. Maybe that would be deterrent enough.

Her time soon ran out, not because the monster approached her, but because she was without breath. The fall had pushed the air out of her lungs, and her nose was buried in sand so she couldn't breathe.

Nince-damned hells! She cursed, switched to the potency internal infusion, and jumped out of her hiding spot.

Then she saw it.

What a djinn really was.

Because of the dune that had been blocking her line of sight, Aloe had only seen the monster's upper body, that of a red human, but that was just a fraction of the djinn.

The lower body was a six-legged abomination with a red-as-blood carapace, a huge stinger waiting at the end of the body like some sort of tail. The reason why she had heard so many crunching steps was because at the end of those six legs there weren't any feet, paws, or whatever body part animals may have, but instead of feet, the djinn had needles thick as logs.

"Oh, so you are alive?" The djinn expressed with amusement that in those seconds Aloe had been paralyzed upon seeing his monstrous shape. "I prefer it that way, there's not much fun in eating dead game. Don't you think so, darling?"

If the djinn's appearance wasn't enough of a clue of his monstrous nature, his words certainly did the job.

The monster slightly knelt, lowering his insect-like lower body, and extended his human arms as if to embrace her.

"Come 'ere, I'll give you lots of love~" He said and Aloe almost peed herself at the surreal, nightmarish situation. She couldn't help to wonder if this was actually a product of her broken mind.

Instead, she gathered all her might in a fist and hit the closest needle-leg with all her strength.

"Aaaah!" They both shouted at the impact.

The djinn's front leg cracked after being hit, enough to have a hole the size of a fist inscribed on the surface. That had to hurt, but the human screamed as loudly if not more.

Tears filled Aloe's eyes and she looked at her hand.

Her thumb was completely shattered.

When Naila had trained her on the strength stance, she had only trained her on how to increase her strength and muscle mass, not how to use it. And it hadn't been an exaggeration that Aloe had never thrown a punch in her life.

Now she knew that there was technique and finesse even in the simplest of attacks.

But there was no time to cry.

"You little…" The djinn didn't even finish his sentence as she kicked Aloe with his other front leg.

The monster was pathetically slow compared to Naila, let alone Aaliyah, so she was able to switch to toughness in time. Having said so, the three-meter tall – and even longer – abomination was way stronger than the young sultanzade.

Aloe was sent flying. Literally.

For the briefest of instants, the cultivator lost her consciousness, but she recovered it when she was still airborne. Apparently, toughness also protected from loss of consciousness. Though what mattered more to her right now was landing correctly.

The kick had left her breathless, and if her head were to be covered in sand again, she may not have time again for another breath.

Curled like a ball, Aloe landed and continued rolling down a dune. It hurt, but she had experienced greater pain before. Nothing was cracked this time. She tried her best to protect her backpack with her own body as, paradoxically enough, she was way hardier than her leather backpack.

Once more, toughness proved to be the internal infusion she was best at.

Even with her dulled senses, she could clearly hear the djinn charging toward her. Her thumb didn't hurt now thanks to toughness, but it was so badly bruised that watching it made her nauseous. Aloe took a deep breath and started changing her inner flow of vitality for a more tumultuous one.

By the moment the djinn appeared over the crest of a dune, Aloe had already switched into potency.

Focus on the legs. She told herself and raised her fists. They hurt like the nine hells.

The djinn was slow, probably due to his big body and lack of actual feet. Still, Aloe didn't trust her chances as the cart-sized monster rushed to her. She bit her lip and switched back to toughness, not wanting to risk it.

She was almost blinded by the dust cloud the creature rose along his path but managed to sidestep the djinn without many difficulties. She hadn't accounted for momentum, but she didn't regret playing it safe.

An inhuman guttural scream left the djinn's jaws and he swayed his stinger around. Oh, dam- The long extremity hit her on the side, launching her a few meters away, though not as far as the leg had done.

"Heh…" Aloe let out a pained chuckle as she somehow landed on her feet a few moments later despite her reduced sense of balance.

It was amusing that she was light enough to be thrown around with each hit, yet her tenacity was great enough to shrug off such violent attacks. The red abomination charged at her again, though now that he was closer, the speed her gathered was significantly lesser.

Barely, just barely, the cultivator managed to squeeze her strength stance out.

And she decked one of the djinn's middle legs.

This time, though, she was careful enough to leave her thumb out of her fist. Whilst the punch felt a lot weaker, not having her thumb shattered even more was worth it.

Two down. She thought even if the djinn could still stand on those legs. But how many legs would it take for the abomination to limp? Aloe was being realistic; she couldn't kill the djinn. Not only she didn't have martial training, but the monster looked too human for her to murder it.

Not again. Aloe lost her concentration for a moment after thinking of the previous days' events and she almost paid the price as she was still donning potency. Leg!

Fortunately, she didn't even need a blink of time to activate toughness.

Unfortunately, this strike hit her right in the stomach and forcefully expelled all her air again.

"Uhk!" She grunted in the air, her eyes locking with the djinn's crimson ones for an instant. Only now she noticed that they were pure red orbs with no iris nor pupils, just sclera.

In a perfect world, she would have switched to acuity before landing to maximize her chances of landing upright, but this wasn't a perfect world and she would need more than two blinks to switch to that internal infusion.

The djinn screeched again, now more animalistic than ever. He had kicked her with the wounded leg and it had dealt some damage to him.

Aloe landed on her shoulder, which wasn't bad, but meant that it took her time to get up. Significantly more than before. I'm getting tired. She thought whilst recovering her breath. If only I had a moment to switch to recovery to rest…

The abomination charged back at her like a mindless critter. He was fast, but he lacked acceleration. That was the reason why she could avoid his attacks but not outrun him. Maybe one more leg… Her whole plan was to make him hurt enough so she could outrun him with haste. Not the best one, but it was the only one that was feasible for her.

She dodged the charge, but unfortunately, that put her below the monster's thorax. The djinn took the opportunity and brutally lowered his body to squash her, forcing Aloe to throw herself to the ground and roll away.

A cloud of dust blinded them both with the slam and even if she escaped unscathed, she was panting.

Ah, how many hours have I been running before this? Her eyelids felt impossibly heavy.

Even in her exhaustion, Aloe didn't let her chance go away and wielded potency. Instead of a fist, she kicked the other middle leg, and while the hit made a nasty crunch, it was intact. Her legs weren't as strong as her arms and they were the most tired part of her body after all.

Again! Protesting against her pain and tiredness, Aloe kicked again the same leg. This kick now produced some cracks in the carapace, but still less than any of the two punches.

The djinn grunted in pain, and she didn't know what overtook her, but she screamed back at him. She still was wielding potency which did make her a bit bolder. The monster only stood up, so she punched the same leg in a frenzy.

The stinger came back to her from a blind spot, hitting her before she had the chance to change to toughness. And whilst she did so once airborne, the damage was done.

Aloe gritted her teeth, ignoring the pain through raw willpower and toughness.

"I've had worse!" She shouted at the djinn in a fit of rage. "I've been trampled by mountains! You're nothing!"

Her head was spinning and her body was protesting, there was a limit to how much pain and mistreatment she could ignore with toughness. However, it truly enraged her the fact that she had indeed suffered more pain before.

"Come 'ere, you say? Come at me, you abomination!" For the first time, she felt the true magnitude of the bolstering effect of potency. There was a fire in her that refused to be put down.

Then, the unthinkable happened.

The djinn turned his back and started running away.

Aloe stood petrified for a few seconds, still donning toughness as she wondered if this was a trap, but after the djinn gathered his speed, he disappeared over the horizon.

"Hahaha…" The cultivator laughed. It was a dry and coarse laugh, lacking any strength behind it. It was more of a lament than a giggle.

The djinn was a monster – an animal with her knowledge – and animals didn't fight to the death like humans if there was nothing for them.

She collapsed a few seconds later.