บท 6: Present Circumstances
Wandering through the forest, I was trying to find more beasts.
Reaching 450/450 exp I was on the verge of leveling up and only needed to kill one more beast.
I walked in a straight line so as not to get lost while searching for more prey. However, even half an hour later, I found nothing.
But I didn't give up and continued searching.
"The forest... it's thinning!"
At some point, I realized that the canopy was declining.
I sped up and ran ahead.
Few minutes passes by and I reached an empty path of land in the middle of the forest.
I squinted my eyes and stared at the center of the empty land. Well, it wasn't exactly empty per se.
"A nine-tail fox statue?"
Proudly standing on a platform of the land was a nine-tailed fox statue. The creature's body was wrapped up in black fur, and it had nine tails that were menacingly pointing in the air.
It almost looked alive due to its animated appearance. It could easily be mistaken for an actual animal by those who didn't know any better.
The statue stood at about three meters tall, but there was no way someone would mistake it as just a statue without getting too close.
"It's similar to that."
The place where I wanted to go also had a statue like this, although that was a statue of a nine-headed serpent.
I felt a bit skeptical.
"Maybe this statue also has..."
I circled the statue and probed in several places.
Maybe... just maybe...
A few minutes of arduous search later, I stood back.
"It's not here."
Beneath the serpent's statue, there would be a tunnel one could access if they could shift the platform. The tunnel would lead to the place I was aiming to get my cheat.
I thought there might be something similar to the fox statue.
However, I was wrong, or at least the method to open the tunnel wasn't the same.
Sighing, I looked around.
"Hmm?"
The trees at the edges of the clearing had fruits at their highest branches. I hadn't noticed them earlier as the canopy was too thick to find the fruits from the forest, but I could see them from here.
I briskly walked to the trees and observed the purple berries.
"These are edible... probably... hopefully"
My total ration resting inside the storage ring wouldn't last me more than two days. This was considering I ate them frugally, which was impossible, as I needed to maintain my stamina.
I was about to climb the tree when I noticed its scrapped trunk. Thinking of something, I decided to check other trees before climbing.
The other trees were also similarly scraped.
I slumped down on the ground and barely managed to hold back from cursing. Good job, me.
"That rabbit... it ate these berries."
The rabbit that ambushed me was acting strange. I had concluded it ate something intoxicating before chancing me upon its path.
The beast had a purple smidge across its face.
Besides remembering how it was jumping from tree to tree, I did not need to think why these tree barks were scraped.
"I can't eat these"
Falling asleep or getting intoxicated in the middle of the beast-infested forest was stupid. I could only give up on eating them and return.
"Why didn't I find something edible rather than this?"
Earlier, I had thought of using whatever that Greenhorn rabbit ate to use as a trap. But after thinking for a while, I realized a major flaw in my thinking.
The serpent statue was located on one of the four cliffs surrounding the volcano.
I did not even know where I was, and I had only 5 days to reach my destination. I could not stop at one place to set traps and wait for a beast to trigger it.
I wasn't going to get too much time to use these traps. On top of that, even setting up a trap would be difficult for an amateur like me.
This was the worst possible scenario.
"No, I guess this much is still fine. The worst possible scenario would be landing on the wrong cliff."
In case I randomly landed somewhere on the island, I would have to go to the cliff and climb it. However, if I landed on the wrong cliff, I will have to climb down first, then travel and finally again climb.
The cliffs were too steep, and I would have to waste a lot of climbing and going down.
Shaking my head, I went back to the center of the clearing.
Landing on the wrong cliff?
Hah, what were the chances of that happening? Even if I was unlucky, to land on the wrong cliff on this massive island would be unlucky on a whole other level.
Chuckling to myself, I lay down on the grass next to the statue.
I decided to relax for half an hour while also waiting in case a Greenhorn rabbit comes here for the berries.
But even after lying for a few minutes, I couldn't relax and continued to feel unsettled.
"Might as well try a few things and practice."
I stood up and brought circulated my Aura to use the ring. I wanted to clear the worries plaguing my mind by moving my body.
After all, even if I was joking, I knew my situation was anything but good. Even trying to get through this forest and taking those cheats was a gamble on my part.
*
The sun smeared the world with a golden tinge, as it was getting ready to hide behind the horizon. The rivers, the sky, and the forest mixed into various shades of green, blue, and red, giving the world a beautiful contrast.
Birds dotted the sky while rivers continued to rest on the ground.
Away from any civilization, the scene was a captivating display of nature that none could resist.
CRUNCH-! CRUNCH-!
I was looking at such a sight with gloomy eyes.
"I should have just kept my mouth shut."
Eating the last piece for today, I wiped the crumbs around my mouth and looked below.
"How come I actually landed on this damn cliff?!"
My voice automatically came an octave higher at the end as I looked at the chains that extended from the edge of the cliff to the ground.
Each metal ring of the chain was almost as large as me and looked archaic.
Earlier, even after waiting for an hour at the clearing, no Greenhorn rabbits ever came.
I walked away from there with a disappointed gait while hoping that I would find something later.
But not only were my hopes crushed...
They got buried 6 feet deep underground!
Walking around, I recalled what I found and looked ahead with complicated eyes.
"Looking at the height of this cliff and the closeness to the volcano. This cliff is one of the four cliffs surrounding the volcano."
I shouldn't have joked about landing here. Then again, the fox statue was a clear indication. I was only trying to ignore the truth and hoping for the best.
But of course, reality was a bitch that liked slapping the man at his lowest.
"The sides of the cliff are too steep. So climbing down as it is, is a straight no-go."
I wasn't spiderman nor was I a professional climber. I didn't have an ounce of doubt about the end result if I tried rock climbing today.
"I can use these chains to go down. Luckily for me, two chains don't go down but connect to the adjacent two cliffs."
These chains connected the edge of the cliff to the ground of the island. The distance between each chain was 30 meters.
However, this was only the case for chains connecting the ground and the cliff.
And this was the source of my headache.
"I can use one of the two chains going to the other two cliffs and hope that lady luck smiles on me and I reach the correct cliff. The problem is..."
I looked at the chain, which seemed to continue forever.
Fwosh-
"The cliffs are too far away, making traveling on the chain extremely dangerous due to high winds. If I fell...."
As much as I like games, I didn't want to try leap of faith in reality.
I stopped in front of the chain connecting to the next cliff. Even though I was squinting, I couldn't see its end. The cliff was too far away.
"I can either try to go down and walk towards the other cliffs through this beast-infested island. Or, use the chain connected to the cliff and risk falling from 150 feet to my demise."
Sighing for the umpteenth time today, I turned and walked back into the forest.
"And where are all the fricking rabbits when I'm about to level up? Come on... any beast will do, I only need one."
In a few hours, I was going to wish I had kept my mouth shut.
*
Crossing the forest, I walked for another few hours.
The sun had hidden behind the horizon. Leaving the forest fully enveloped in the gentle embrace of a pearly luminescence.
I was moving at a slow pace. Even with the aid of moonlight, the visibility was very poor.
GRUMBLE-!
"I need to find something to eat, too. My food will end by tomorrow."
By now, my to-do list was only increasing with no solutions.
Rustle-
As I was wandering through the thicket, my feet abruptly came to a halt.
"Where was it from?"
I was sure I just heard something.
Standing still, I tried to focus on my hearing to locate the source of the sound.
Rustle-
"There."
Turning to my right, I ran with hushed steps.
"I finally found another Greenhorn rabbit!"
After covering a few dozen feet, the sounds turned more discernable.
Crouching behind a cover of a tree, I snooped at the scene.
There, a Greenhorn rabbit was hopping between trees with considerable intensity.
It was the same size as the last rabbit I had fought earlier. Meaning it was Lvl.4.
I gulped.
The previous fight was dangerous. I only won because I got lucky. If possible, I didn't want to fight this rabbit.
Nevertheless, I couldn't stop here.
I only found this rabbit after half a day. When will I find a rabbit weaker than me? How long will it take?
If I kept hesitating, I would lose everything.
I had to move. And I had to move fast.
Reaffirming my resolution, I carefully scrutinized the rabbit's movement.
A head-on fight was a no-go. I needed to wait for a chance to ambush and kill in in one swoop.
While I was thinking of how to proceed, something unexpected happened.
CRASH-!
Suddenly, the rabbit which was jumping from one tree to another was blown away and smashed to the ground.
Jumping to its feet, it again began to hop between trees.
'Wait, it's not hopping, but it's trying to..... attack something?'
Only now did I notice that the Greenhorn rabbit was jumping with its horn facing forward.
'Where is the other beast?'
A drop of cold sweat trickled down my back and I looked around.
It was clear that the other beast was stronger than the Greenhorn rabbit.
CRASH-!
The rabbit again crashed against the ground, but this time it was having difficulty standing.
Noticing that the beast was attacking while hiding in the shadows, I gulped.
'I hope it's not what I think it is.'
Just as these words passed through my head, the rabbit jumped again.
But surprisingly, it didn't land on the tree, nor was it again blown to the ground. It simply froze in the air.
Looking closely, it was impaled from behind and held in the air by the same thing that impaled it.
Following the thing that impaled it with my eyes, I rested my gaze upon the shadows.
Leisurely exiting the shadows, a pitch-black fox came in front of the dying rabbit.
It silently stared at the rabbit with its yellow eyes that looked bored, even as the rabbit kept trying to claw at it.
I was no longer paying any attention to the rabbit. The moment the fox came into view, all my attention was focused on it.
With its skin as dark as the shadows themselves, it looked exceedingly similar to the statue I saw earlier today.
The difference was this fox was a lot smaller and had only a single tail.
'Why is a shadow fox here?!'
Without wasting any time, I turned around and ran back into the forest.
Shadow foxes were very famous among newbie adventurers. The reason behind this was the extreme risk that came when dealing with them.
They were regarded as one of the most fatal beasts a solo awakener could encounter.
Their ability to hide perfectly under the veil of darkness and to wield their tails like a limb makes them extremely lethal to deal with.
In a game analogy, if Greenhorn rabbits were the first mobs you encounter on novice difficulty, then shadow foxes would be the first mobs you will encounter on expert difficulty!
The jump in difficulty was too high for me!
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