[NR] Keeping An Eye Out Above - Chapter 434 (Patreon)

Worse from Jason’s perspective, there was no way that the rich and powerful wouldn’t instantly fall into heart devil nonsense. In his new life, many things had been improved about the standard of living. All of it, however, was the result of normal people banding together. Corporations and politicians still needed to be kept on a tight leash because those positions attracted a certain type of person.

Jason can just imagine it, some Ceo or Mayor succumbing to a heart devil and turning everything on its head. After all, the thing that keeps them in line isn’t their own moral compass, but rather the penalties and social hit from being seen as a bad actor. Even after regular people banded together, they still weren’t entirely able to fix how positions of power worked.

So all it would take is one powerful person losing it to a heart devil and they can do a hideous amount of damage. More than that though, while Jason trusted Rosha and Courtney, Rosha’s family was not something he could trust. At least not yet.

That, however, was something to worry about in the future. Courtney wasn’t the type to pass it onto others in Rosha’s family so it should be fine. Besides, no matter what Jason did, the fact that he did start cultivating and it was very clearly noticed meant it was only a matter of time. After all, it isn’t like people in his new life are stupid. They’ll eventually have enough clues to piece it together and he would much rather they have a more complete framework to build off of.

Jason shakes his head and puts that potential horror story to the side and considers his current location. The plants are varied, there are a good number of prey type animals, and the few predators seem to fit their niche. In other words, not a good place to grind levels. Much better would be one of the monster nests he had dealt with earlier in the trip. Nests that if he was still following the original path would have likely popped up by now.

Not that Jason assumed he was too far from one right now. Rather, the path likely threaded the needle to send him against monsters that were stronger, but not too strong. Without that, the next nest he finds might end up being full of incredibly weak monsters or he might not even notice it because the overpowered monsters that live there casually one shots him without him even noticing.

That meant no more bumbling from one encounter to the next. With that thought, Jason stopped walking and took a moment to realign himself. This act wasn’t some mystical ritual or what not. He was simply stating back to himself what his current goals are, however this caused quite the change.

Whereas before someone looking at Jason would get the feeling of him being happy go lucky, now that feeling had completely vanished. Instead someone around his level would have a hard time pointing him out even on an empty road.

Jason didn't vanish or anything, mind you. Instead he blended in with the background. Every move shifted just a bit so as to make people ignore his presence. Sure, this wasn't going to help in the case of a monster strong enough to one shot him, but that wasn't the point. He wasn't even purposefully doing this.

Instead, this was simply Jason with his head in the game, as it were. This change also wasn't some kind of cure all for monster attacks. After all, some hunt by senses other than color vision. It doesn't matter how well hidden you are if the enemy can sniff you out or if you stand out like a sore thumb because of all the heat your body outputs.

What was more important was that Jason started to dig up old habits from his last life. Once again, this wasn't anything mystical. Rather, it was simple things like keeping your head moving to increase the area you can see. Oh, and looking upward more often than not.

The locals are better at this, but his fellow players are horrible at remembering to look up despite it being a long running meme. Jason can only guess that not growing up with the potential that a Roc could swoop down and snatch you up means there was a lack of pressure on his fellow players to look up. Though it certainly doesn’t help that even in NeoRealm, the System tends not to put things above the players unless it is well telegraphed. Locals on the other hand, are not so lucky.

Of course in theory, since Jason is also a player, he shouldn’t have to worry too much about death from above. However, that sort of assumption is exactly how you turn “death from above” from being a pithy attack name and into a statement of fact. Nevermind the fact that the System likely isn’t too fond of him in the first place, so overall it is safer to keep his head on a swivel.

And after a couple days of travel, he wasn't certain if it did anything, but there certainly was a lack of overhead attacks. He would likely never know. Maybe there just wasn't anything in the area or maybe the System purposefully held back to try and get him to drop his guard. Whatever it was, Jason kept up his vigilance.

Then finally on the third day, Jason came across a monster nest. Compared to the others he had been through, it was much smaller. The nest only took up about a sports field's worth of area and was really easy to notice as all the trees had fallen over. As for what kind of monster would cause this mess?

Jason didn't get a good view of whatever was there, but the other defining feature of the nest and area around it raised sections of dirt. So the safe bet was some kind of burrowing mammal. The trees having fallen over from the monsters overeating on the tree roots.

In fact, the only plants that seemed to be doing alright were the stuff like grass. Plants that connected to one another and so could make up for the supercharged nibbling of the monsters. Though admittedly the grass both did not look normal and certainly was not healthy. So chances were the stuff was also special and yet still on the edge of dying.