Chapter Fourteen

Arden’s eyes fluttered open to meet the blurry crystal ceiling as they focused. His mind snapped into action a moment later as he realized he had dozed off.

Worry evident, he opened his Ortus menu and checked the time left on his quest.

An era long past (Legacy).

Survive the ancient forest below a forgotten civilization and uncover its secrets.

Time limit: 4 days, 20 hours.

In a flash, he was on his feet, scrambling to grab his gear, only to freeze. It would be stupid to rush into the forest. Besides, how would be carry his arrows?

Instead of rushing into the forest, he grabbed his spear and approached the nearest tree with reachable branches. When he stepped into striking distance, movement near his feet right at the edge of the forest caused him to jump back.

Spear point leveled, he took a step forward, only to find nothing was there. Though a small section of the grass had an indent, proving he wasn’t seeing things. Something was watching him, and he had a pretty good idea what.

Another good reason not to rush into the forest. He would have been a sitting duck for a certain pesky snake.

His ears twitched as he scanned the grass just inside the forest for several seconds, but nothing jumped out to him, so he returned to his original plan. With a heavy downward chop, he broke off several small branches around as large as the ones he used to create his arrows.

Still on alert in case the snake ambushed him, he bent down while keeping his eyes on the grass. With fast swipes, he tossed the sticks toward his other gear, then retreated.

While sitting cross-legged, he grabbed a stick, then glanced at his arrows. A quiver would be easy, but maybe an arrow holder would be better. He activated his Wood Manipulation card, which was becoming second nature to use.

Like the wood was putty, he formed the stick into a rectangle. While holding it with his left hand, he grabbed an arrow, then stabbed said arrow into the wood, skewering the wood rectangle. Theory proven he pulled the arrow out then reformed it into a stick. Now to make his most complex creation yet.

Arden grabbed two more sticks of a similar size. Then, like how he created his bow, he turned them to putty. While gripping the three sticks together, he twisted them together until they fused to give him more wood to work with.

What he was trying would probably be easier with a drill and some nails, but he had neither. He loved the arrow holders his parents let him use while practicing with their compound bows. Now he would try to replicate them with wood.

With his knife, he formed two rectangles connected by two more rectangles at the ends. He then grabbed his bow, hoping to attach it to the bow somehow, but after a bit of observation, he discarded that idea. Even if he connected it without impeding the bow, he could dump his arrows if he flipped the bow the wrong way. He didn’t have a way to latch the arrows in, so he needed to rely on gravity.

On that thought, he stared down at the robe he was still wearing. His knife itched to modify it, but first he needed to finish his arrow holder. Fortunately, as long as he didn’t make any changes to the wood, the mana draw was minimal. Though a glance at his bracelets told him they were nearing their cool down by their dimness.

On the back of the top rectangle, he formed a clip made of wood that would fit on his belt. Next, he grabbed an arrow and stabbed it into the rectangles down to the fletching to make a dozen equally spaced holes to hold arrows.

Finally done, he released his connection, allowing the wood to solidify. As a test, he slid the arrow into the holder. It fit though a bit snuggly, tempting him to modify it again. After a moment of thought, he decided not to as it would hold the arrows better even if it made storing the arrows a little harder.

He slid the rest of his arrows, finding he had a little over a dozen. With nowhere to store them, he chose the best dozen, then left the rest on the grass. Arrow holder or quiver if he wanted to call it that done, he flipped open his robe and clipped it onto his belt.

Then, to assure he could grab an arrow quick he reached in and slid an arrow out, then back into the holder. While the robe got in the way, he didn’t have a way to modify it and it would come in handy once he left the cavern to protect him from the sun. Even if it would cook him with its thickness.

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If only his parents gave him time to prepare, but he supposed his lack of gear was part of the point. He wouldn’t have used his Wood Manipulation card to create his weapons if he had proper gear. Which meant he wouldn’t have leveled his cards. Even his Accelerated Growth card wouldn’t have been as useful if he had a proper adventuring kit with a rope.

Arden turned his attention to his bow, bending down to grab it, then hang it across his chest from right shoulder to left hip. It wasn’t the best way to carry a bow, but he needed to keep his hands free for his spear.

After picking up said spear, he took off in a jog, putting some distance on his impromptu nap spot. Though he knew the snake would find him, eventually. In fact, he counted on it. This time, he would be prepared when he had to stop to cultivate.

Wanting to be in good shape when he ventured into the forest, he stopped a few minutes later, barely winded, then turned toward the forest.

As was habit, he focused his senses on the forest, eyes scanning while his ears twitched. Even his nose worked to parse the many scents. All senses came back negative, but that didn’t mean he lowered his guard. He was entering unknown territory, potentially filled with many deadly creatures.

In hindsight, he was incredibly stupid to cultivate without a defense plan. Just because nothing showed itself, that didn’t mean there wasn’t something watching like the snake.

He did one last check of his gear, then stepped forward. Unlike before, when he entered the forest, he didn’t feel a near overwhelming surge of mana. His bracelets shone a little brighter, forcing him to pull down the robe sleeves to hide them, but other than that, it almost felt comfortable. Like a blanket of warmth wrapped around him. A glance inside his body told him a trickle of mana absorbed into his body, likely the source of the feeling.

His attention snapped back to the outside, eyes on a swivel, expecting an ambush at any moment as he walked deeper. Nothing jumped out at him as he ventured further, the warmth growing slightly warmer with each step, but still not to the point it was uncomfortable.

He soon found himself in a clearing, feeling as though it was a sauna despite the actual temperature being rather comfortable.

At the center of the clearing was a tree slightly different from the rest, causing his eyes to narrow. Paranoia at the extreme, he circled along the edge while keeping one eye on the tree.

About halfway, he spotted a few branches move. If it weren’t for the fact there was no wind, he wouldn’t have thought twice about it, but that wasn’t the case in the cavern.

Arden took off in a sprint, clearing the rest of the clearing just as a tree branch slammed down where he was previously.

A shiver ran through him as he dove through the tree line back into the forest, knowing he was no match for the tree.

In fact, it was probably a counter to him. How was he supposed to kill a tree with wood weapons? He stopped at a rock near another tree only for said rock to move when he leaned against it, sending him running once more.

Just as he curved around a tree, he caught sight of a scaled head of a tortoise poking out from what he thought was a rock but was really a shell.

He was wrong. The forest wasn’t empty near the border, everything was just hidden in plain sight.

Now expecting everything to jump out at him, his head spun on a swivel, ears listening for the slightest of sounds.

Of course, the forest was just as silent as it was before, only ratcheting up his paranoia. To make it worse, the foliage grew denser, forcing him down narrow paths. Sometimes he even had to shuffle sideways just to avoid touching anything unfamiliar. So everything.

Ever piling on, the mana grew denser, to the point it was becoming hard to focus. Sweat pooled on his brow as his eyes dilated from the lava pumping through his body.

Still, he kept walking, terrified to turn back in case he ran into either the tree or the turtle. About the only thing going for him, at least for the moment, was nothing else moved that shouldn’t have.

Time passed as he marched forward, trying his best to keep alert, but every few seconds he found his mind wandering, forcing him to shake his head. He gave up on trying to avoid every plant, simply letting them brush against his robe.

At some point, something greenish smeared on his sleeve, but aside from the stain, it didn’t cause harm, so he ignored it.

Suddenly, just as he stepped into another clearing, this time with a small pond, the all-encompassing heat vanished. The inrush of mana stabilizing with his body. As if doused by a cold shower, his mind snapped into focus, eyes immediately drawn to the pond.

Lily pads covered most of the pond. In fact, he could barely see the surface of the water through the dense Lily pad covering. Thirst manifested, but knowing better than to approach a seemingly harmless feature of nature, he kept his distance.

Just in case, he leveled his spear at the pond as he circled around. A sudden ripple through the water sent him running, but before he made it out of the clearing, something wet wrapped around his ankle.

The next thing he knew, his face was centimeters from the ground. His hands snapped out to catch his fall, trying to convert his momentum into a roll, only for something to pull on his ankle again.

Mana rushed through his body as he pushed himself up, spitting out grass. He kicked out his right leg, snapping whatever wrapped around his ankle.

Faster than he ever moved before, he shot to his feet, eyes locking on to the culprit, causing him to freeze for a moment.

The Lily pads weren’t Lily pads after all. Well, not normal Lily pads at least. Dozens of Lily pads attached to thick stems waved through the air. Whatever controlled them remained underwater.

A glance to the ground revealed one of the Lily pads tripped him. Another Lily pad shot into motion, followed by a second one a moment later, but now aware of them Arden dove into a roll toward his spear.

He sprang up, spear in hand, and leveled at the fully extended Lily pads. Before they could retract, he swung his spear downward, snapping one at an awkward angle while cutting the other one with the tip of the spear.

With a spin of his spear, he swung it back down, cleaving off the second Lily pad before returning his attention to the pond just as several more Lily pads shot in his direction. He skewered two, but he had to jump back as five more struck far faster than the previous attacks.

Adrenaline and mana flooded his system, a smile forming as his eyes followed the Lily pad’s movements.

With his spear at the ready, he waited for its next move.