John slowly approached the monkey-looking creature, hoping it wouldn’t attack as he approached. He felt confident in being able to defend himself, but he had a slight hope that he wouldn’t have to.

He tried carefully jumping to the closest tree in the direction of the mimicking monkey, checking its reaction as soon as he landed.

It only reacted by tilting its head in the other direction, still staring back at him.

John decided to jump again, landing on the tree closest to the monkey now. It finally reacted, turning around and jumping in the opposite direction. But it stopped after one jump and turned to look at John again.

‘Is it trying to make me follow it? Should I?’

John took a second to decide if following an unknown beast in a foreign world was a good idea, and he figured that it wasn’t. Trusting anything in this unknown world could get him killed, and if the monkey was clever enough to make him follow, it was clever enough to make an ambush.

Instead of following, John jumped back to the tree he had come from, keeping an eye on the monkey. The monkey reacted by quietly holding its face in its hands, looking frustrated. Then it started hitting the tree in a strange rhythm, rapidly knocking its knuckles on the surface.

Almost like a woodpecker, the sound traveled between the trees, making John nervous.

‘Was that a signal for his friends to come here? Damn, do I attack before I’m outnumbered?’

He felt his nerves tensing as he was forced to make a decision. The possibility of peaceful cooperation seemed to have disappeared, so he decided to act before it was too late.

Without attracting any attention he put his hands behind his back, mentally planning how he would start the fight. He had to train his ability to summon weapons, trying to figure out how to use them efficiently.

The wind rustling the large leaves paused as if the forest was holding its breath in anticipation.

‘Okay, let’s do this before it’s too late!’

With a double air burst from his hands, he shot forward, rapidly skipping the tree between them. His speed was hard to control since he was used to holding a heavy sword while using the air blast, but he made it work.

‘I really hope the sword is summoned with the same momentum I have!’

With a hum, the sword appeared in his hands, held to his right and trailing behind him. Thankfully it followed his trajectory and momentum as it appeared.

By the time he was in front of it, the monkey had barely reacted. But it did react, using its hands to push itself backward as much as it could.

‘Too late!’

Larang was infused with essence and swirled through the air, singing as it pierced the wind. The blade caught the sparse sunlight filtering through the leaves, flashing brilliantly as it arced through the air.

It slashed with all the force John was capable of unleashing, cutting through the fur and carving a deep gash in the creature's stomach. Blue blood sprayed in a fine mist, dotting the nearby leaves and bark with alien color.

John was relieved. The monkey had gotten further away than he expected, nearly escaping Larang's range in the short time it had to react.

The battle was already decided. Deep blue blood and guts were spilling out of the wound, but the monster still sat upright. It made strange noises with its throat as it twisted its face in pain, trying to call out.

John sighed, wanting to end the battle right away, but took a moment to listen for any sounds approaching nearby before doing anything else.

Nothing could be heard, so he assumed it was still okay. He looked at the creature in thought.

‘I really want to use the shortsword to kill it so I can get a new enchantment, but I don’t want to get too close. It’s still able to attack. Maybe I can throw it?’

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He put Larang back in his core, thanking it for a job well done, and summoned the shortsword in his right hand. It had decent weight and should be fine to throw, but he wasn’t sure how far away the sword could be from him. Perhaps it returned to his core if it was too far away.

There was nothing to do but try. The monster seemed to be on the verge of death, looking back at John and weakly showing its teeth.

‘Let’s hope I can throw it well…’

The blade flew, spinning through the air and hitting the monkey in the chest. Unfortunately, it was the handle that hit it, doing little to no damage. The monkey let out a weak sound of rage but didn’t have the energy to retaliate.

‘Ah, damn. I’m gonna have to practice that. Can I shoot the sword using a spell? The air blast should work, right?’

He tried returning the blade to his core, and it went smoothly, before returning it to his hand. This time he held it pointing against the beast, cupping his fingers around the handle. He infused it with essence before using his usual air blast. It sent the sword flying at a surprising speed, piercing straight into the face of the monster, killing it instantly.

‘Yes!’ He pumped his fist, happy to have found a new way to use the sword. The speed could probably be improved if he focused the blast more, but for a first try, it was excellent.

“... Good fight,” he said, looking at the dead beast. He approached it slowly, still listening for sounds, and summoned the sword back again. Blood seeped out of the monster’s face once the wound was left open, giving it a grotesque look.

“Well, it wasn't really a good fight, I guess. I really hope you were tricking me,” he whispered, putting his hand on the creature's head. He could feel the essence inside it follow back into his own core, giving him back all of the essence he used in the fight. The monster hadn’t been able to use it at all, so it was nice and full.

His core also grew slightly. Less than against the wargs, but way more than the bargs. A bright green light also entered his core, making him cheer internally.

‘Yes! This enchantment is fucking gold! Already a green enchantment on my first try!’

But the celebration was cut short as knocking sounds could be heard all around him—the same sound the monkey had made earlier, knocking his fingers into the tree. The sound came from at least four different directions, immediately making him sweat.

‘... Can I take on four of these creatures at once? In their home turf, without knowing where they are?’

He had to decide between attacking one of the four directions right away or trying to escape. Since the monkeys were on their home turf he didn’t dare to assume he would be able to lose them, but he didn’t like the thought of fighting either.

He decided to gamble, putting the new enchantment into his armor and hoping it would help him survive. He didn’t have time to figure out what the enchantment did, but the armor at least could be used in any situation.

‘Ah, fuck, I have to remove it first!’

He quickly removed it, leaving only his outer clothes as protection, before sending the green enchantment inside it. The information rapidly entered his mind, telling him exactly what it did.

‘It can remove forty percent of my weight at will? Okay, escaping should be much easier then, at least. And I can move faster in combat. Yeah, this is actually great! But it doesn’t help me much in deciding.’

Either way, he would be equipping his armor again, so he did that first. Instantly, he could feel his body turn much lighter, and he felt like he could jump twenty meters in the air with ease.

The knocking stopped, and John moved. He went in the direction of the faintest knocking, hoping it would leave him more time to execute it before the others arrived.

Instead of traveling on top of the tree branches, he jumped on their sides, bouncing from tree to tree with light feet.

The monkey became visible very soon, hanging on a branch and about to swing to the next tree. To John's eyes, it looked exactly the same as the last one, with thick green fur and large three-fingered hands.

Wasting no time once it spotted him, John sprang into action from the tree’s side. His speed surprised even him, so it was no wonder the monkey seemed startled. Still, it managed to ready its hand, ready to punch John once he was close enough.

‘Okay, let’s see if this works!’

Once he was only two meters from the monkey, he summoned his greatshield. Since it appeared with the same speed as him, it was approaching the monkey with an incredible force.

The monster was not prepared for a giant metal plate to suddenly come flying towards it through the air, but it still gave it a good punch. It barely budged the shield, though, before it crashed into its body, knocking it hard into the tree.

John held the shield in his arms until it hit, stopping himself before hitting the monkey. Then he dismissed the shield, summoning the short blade instead.

But the monkey was no longer around. It had lost its grip on the tree and was now dropping helplessly toward the distant ground. It tried its best to grasp anything, but the surface of the tree was too smooth, giving it no purchase.

John stabbed the sword into the tree, getting a firm grip to watch. He didn’t waste any time looking at the falling monkey and instead listened for the sound of other monkeys approaching.

And sure enough, three sets of footsteps could be heard from the nearby trees, approaching rapidly.

‘Let’s hope you guys can wait for my blade to kill you instead of falling.’