章 3: The Forest of Fire Creatures
Kane arrived at 12 Eternal Dawn Street in the Antiqua district an hour and a half later.
As he stepped out of the cab after paying the driver, he was greeted by the pungent smell of sewage and garbage. The condition of the place was deplorable.
The houses looked like ruins, with windows, if they still existed, covered with precariously nailed wooden planks or simply empty, revealing dark and gloomy interiors.
The narrow, winding streets are mostly plunged in darkness, with just a few flickering streetlights struggling to stay lit. Here, sunlight seems forgotten, replaced by the cold, dim artificial light that barely dispels the darkness.
Kane, who had seen this place many times through his computer screen, could not help but be surprised; he had not expected the conditions to be so deplorable.
He started walking towards his destination: the Forest of the Mist, close to where he had gotten out of the cab. The stench of sewage and garbage was unbearable.
As he made his way through the narrow, dingy streets of Eternal Dawn, he felt looks of distrust and hostility upon him. Kane glanced to the right momentarily and saw older men with tired eyes watching from their doorways while young men with rugged looks and scars on their faces surveyed their surroundings.
Children with dirty faces and torn clothes play in the corners, although their games have a disturbing seriousness that reflects the reality around them.
'The more I look at this place, the more miserable it seems to me...' Kane sighed in his heart, quickening his pace.
...
After a few minutes, Kane left the Antiqua district, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath of the clean air, which was very different from where he had been a few moments ago.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw the forest stretching out under the sun. However, the light barely made it through the thick grayish-white fog that enveloped everything, creating an unreal and disconcerting landscape.
Kane stopped watching the mist-shrouded forest and stepped into it with a serious expression. As he crossed the misty barrier, a sepulchral silence enveloped him. Each step echoed on the damp ground covered with withered leaves while the dense and almost tangible fog embraced the place with its cold and mystery, hiding whatever might lurk beyond the visible.
After traversing much of the forest, Kane reached the center, where all was still silent. Sighing, he muttered, "Fortunately, no one has found this place, and the dungeon has not yet disappeared."
The dungeon in front of him gave off a dense, almost tangible, grayish-white mist, which is why the forest has received the name Forest of Mist. Moreover, these dungeons were formed from fragments of the "Historical Void," remnants of civilizations that met their end and were lost to history.
Taking a deep breath and calming his nerves, he entered the fraternity of the historical void.
...
[You have entered the fragment of the Historical Void: 'The Forest of Fire Creatures'].
[Current number of participants: 1]
A window of messages appeared before Kane, and more kept appearing.
[Assessing the participants' strengths and assigning a mission with the appropriate difficulty].
[The quest in the Historical Void begins!]
[Quest Topic: Hunter].
[Defeat monsters wandering through 'The Forest of Fire Creatures' and then climb to the top of the hill beyond the forest].
[The forest is divided into two sectors, each inhabited by different monsters].
Kane quickly darted into the woods when the message windows stopped popping up.
...
"This body is a real mess," Kane muttered, frowning as he ran. The muddy ground, sinking beneath his feet, was an obstacle. But the bigger problem arose when he was already out of breath after just a few minutes of running.
Hiss!
Kane stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted a snake as wide as a dog's body among the dense branches above his head. The creature stared at him before opening its mouth and letting out a thin thread.
Quickly, Kane pulled a dagger from his belt, purchased along the way before arriving in the Antiqua district, and cut the thread with a clean motion as he backed up a few steps.
Seeing its first attack had failed, the snake redoubled its offensive, launching threads now wrapped in red flames. None of the attacks reached Kane, who dodged and took cover behind nearby trees.
While dodging the flaming threads, Kane activated his unique ability, intending to replicate the snake's ability.
After activating the ability, Kane began to see symbols and patterns related to the snake threads. 'I see... That's how this ability works...' he thought as he looked at the symbols and patterns that revealed the structure of the threads.
The more he studied the threads, the more he understood their function: they could restrict movement, form a cocoon that helped the user to recover, and, at the same time, offer some protection against attacks.
Upon contact with the threads, they could weaken the target, as they were impregnated with poison, causing the victim to lose control over their body.
After a few minutes, Kane fully understood the skill.
Ding!
[You have perfectly understood the "Threads" skill of the fire-threaded snake monster]
Ding!
[Conditions met: the unique skill "Replicate" has been activated].
[You have successfully replicated the "Threads" skill of the target].
[By improving the "Threads" skill 10 times, the "Threads" skill has become "Puppeteer"]
[You have obtained the skill "Puppeteer"]
Looking at the sales, a big smile appeared on Kane's lips, and he stopped hiding behind the tree, and the instead irritated fire-threaded snake pounced on him.
Without showing any nervousness, Kane swiftly brandished the dagger. The dagger in his hand pierced deep into the snake's jaws and tore its body apart quickly, and all it took was one clean strike.
The snake was cut in two, spewing a fountain of blood and other fluids into the air.
Ding!
[You successfully killed 'Snake of Fire Threads'!]
[Level up!]
[Strength increased by 2.]
[Agility increased by 1.]
[Resistance increased by 1.]
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