Chapter 29: Searching for Materials (Pt. 1)
After strengthening my will to survive, I realized one thing: I have no idea where to go to get stronger.
So I asked our resident expert on a lot of things: Amidias. (Not Jacob this time)
"Hey Amidias, where can I find materials to make better armor?"
While I would recommend several materials that will be extremely useful, I can only assume that those materials have long since disappeared."
And then Amidias showed a solemn expression.
"The world has become the quietest I have ever seen."
I just gave a confused stare.
"What does that mean?"
"You will know eventually, for the world will never stay quiet for long. Some things do not fade with time, and they will appear once again."
I just felt even more confused.
"Again, what does that even mean?"
"The truth will show when you release the true dangers of the world."
"Ok that is foreshadowing something, and I don't like that. Can we just get back to figuring out where I can get better weapons and armor?"
"Of course. If you wish for improved armor then I recommend either the Corruption or the jungle. You will be able to obtain materials to craft better armor there."
I shuddered at the thought of going back to the Corruption.
"Jungle it is."
"So be it. I wish you well on your journeys, for the jungle seems much safer above, but you must be wary of what the depths hide. Always collect what the enemy leaves, for you may find a use for it in the future."
"Stop foreshadowing scary things! And I already do that!"
As soon as I spoke my mind, I hurried out of the room and prepared for a journey into the jungle.
-5 minutes later-
I was prepared, and there was no way I wasn't going to get what I need.
Too bad I had no idea what I needed. I guess I will find out along the way.
And so the jungle trip begins.
-another 5 minutes later-
"What do I even look for? Screw it, I'm grabbing everything. Can't miss a material if there aren't any materials to miss!"
And so I entered the jungle. And immediately ran into a jungle slime.
'Good thing it isn't hostile. I do not want to deal with slimes when I'm material hunting.'
I thought back to Amidias' words.
'"be wary of what the depths hide", huh. Well if the jungle was so dangerous he wouldn't have recommended it to me. No pain, no gain.
It took me a few minutes to find an opening for me to descend underground, but I was ready to brave the dangers of the jungle, and I wasn't going to give up now.
The opening was a very deep hole with no way to climb down. (Since I had forgotten the ropes after obtaining a hook)
So I decided to take a chance.
"Here goes nothing!"
And jumped down while holding my hook.
While I was falling, I waited until I reached the midpoint between the surface and the bottom of the hole, and then I threw my hook towards one of the sides of the hole.
It easily latched on, and I threw one of my other hooks at the ground in hopes of it reaching.
It almost reached it, but I was slightly too high.
So I decided to go down the tedious way, and started to grapple the opposite walls and slowly descend.
-1 minute later-
I had reached the bottom and all I saw was mud and grass, so I went even deeper into the underground jungle.
After several minutes of walking through the jungle, I finally noticed a difference.
There were plants glowing blue and green.
'These seem useful.'
I picked the plants, not expecting to be stabbed in the back with a giant stinger.
"Ow!"
I turned around to see the source of my troubles, and it turned out to be a hornet that was probably 5 feet tall.
I was surprised, so I threw my favorite spear at it and pierced its wing. It was a little less scary when it couldn't fly, so I was a little less scared of the hulking bug.
I took advantage of the fact that it was pretty much immobile and stabbed it as many times as I could.
As soon as it died, it started dissolving and only left behind a stinger to show my victory.
'I'm gonna bet this is useful too.
And so I began hunting the hornets. They came in so many different types and sizes, and some even had weird features, like being covered in vines or spikes.
I shuddered when thinking about the spiky hornets. The spiky ones are creepy as heck.
'At least they drop something useful.
And after killing my 20th hornet, I noticed something poking out of the mud. It looked like some sort of weird plant, so I went to pick it.
I was not expecting it to burst out of the ground trying to grab me.
I looked at the hostile plant.
[Man Eater
hp 165/165]
'Okay, I can guess what it does just based on the name of it. I don't like it at all.'
I decided that it needed to be killed since it was smart enough to try and sneak attack me.
This time, I decided that the ranged approach isn't the best choice due to the relatively small size of my opponent.
But then I noticed that it was holding itself up using a vine.
'If I can cut that vine, I might be able to disable it, like how I immobilized the hornets.'
I decided that it was the most efficient way of victory, but I still couldn't use my spear due to the fact that it would just bounce off of the vine, so I went with one of my usually bad ideas.
I used my hook to grab the 'mouth' of the Man Eater and pulled myself towards it. As I was pulling myself towards the carnivorous plant, I detached myself from it and slid under it. While I was sliding under it I pulled out my sword to slash at the stem of the problem.
It succeeded, and now I have a carnivorous plant writhing on the ground trying to bite me. Great.
I watched as it slowly lost strength, and noticed that it was starting to disintegrate.
'Well, that was easier than expected.'
And then I found something unexpected.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Cold_Housefire
Cold_Housefire The eye will probably appear in a few chapters, but Talon REALLY needs better gear. Ninja gear ain't gonna fix the gap in strength between him and the eye. (Also because the jungle has been left untouched for the entirety of the story so far)
Also, I can't believe I have been doing this for almost 3 weeks now. I expected to do a few chapters and then drop it, but I started to enjoy the writing.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone