‘Alright! Rule number five – Never ever piss off anyone stronger than you!’ Was Leo’s first thought the moment he woke up.
It was an early morning and that meant this was already his third day on the new island. Of course, it took a while for him to register what transpired, but during the past months he was used to the dizziness and slight headache after loosing consciousness so often. He did feel insulted though looking at the huge cat comfortably sleeping over on the small island in the middle of the lake, but for now there was no way he could kick the cat’s ass, thus shouting curses in his mind was the only thing he could do.
Of course, Leo was surprised the cat didn’t eat him yesterday, but after a bit of pondering he realized it must have been because of the disgusting substance he was covered in. Surely no one would like to eat something like that even though inside was fresh and tender meat. Still, there was no need to tempt the fate and provoking strong entities like the one on the island was surely very foolish … thus the rule number five came into existence.
Leo shook his head in disappointment remembering his reaction towards the oversized monster last night, but then focused on inspecting his surroundings and immediately felt like smacking himself, just like the big cat did.
Why in the world did he have to jump in the water that was constantly flashing with the hateful purple lightning? And the leaf-less tree on the island was exactly the same! But on the other hand, he was incredibly thirsty! Just like now …
After pondering for a bit, Leo decided to do a quick experiment. He would wait until the lightning flash passed and then quickly scoop a handful of water. There had to be a brief safe period afterwards, right? In the worst case scenario he would be slightly electrocuted, but he was on the bank so there was no risk of falling in the lake. And he really wanted to drink ...
The theory about the lightning current having breaks in between flashes turned out to be completely wrong, but after the first failure Leo actually managed to draw a bit of water. In addition, either because he was so thirsty or it actually was so, the water turned out to be incredibly sweet! Of course, putting hand in the water, even if it was for a brief moment, stung quite painfully, but at least it was a way to quench the thirst.
“Ouch … ouch … ouch … mmm … ouch … ouch … ouch … mmm …” The goldenglow tiger woke up to the child’s voice again and just like the last time the view let the beast stupefied.
The damned kid not only didn’t learn from his mistakes and thank the Heavens for the survival – he continued to provoke fate by attempting to drink from the waters of the Divine tribulation tree!
Luckily this time the tiger didn’t intend to check if the tree was actually dead – the paw still stung from yesterday indicating that idiotic experiments were better left to foolish humans. With a quick glance it verified that the lightning charges jumped from branch to branch, just like always, and, after letting out a short snort, jumped off the island, and then with another jump disappeared somewhere behind the trees.
Leo got slightly startled by the beast waking up, but since it ran away, he continued to drink to his fullest while ‘ouch-ing’ and ‘mmm-ing’ from time to time.
A short while later he made a discovery that completely changed his perception of this place.
A couple dozen yards to the side he saw something floating in the water that resembled a black rock, but there was smoke coming from it. After taking a closer look at it, he realized it was some kind of a bird covered in a layer of coal – it was cooked!
Leo didn’t need to think twice. He dashed towards the nearby jungle, grabbed a longer branch and using it fished the coal-covered bird out of the water. Then he used the tip of the branch to break the thing open and with a bit of struggle partially got the coal layer off. A brief moment later, after half a year of living on a fruit diet, Leo sampled a tender, freshly cooked chicken leg.
“Oh, Heavens!” A shout full of joy, relief and satisfaction reverberated across the still waters of the Divine tribulation tree.
‘I guess it’s not all bad here.’ Leo thought with a smile while slowly chewing.
Yes, the place was dangerous and had some huge monsters residing. Yes, it was extremely humid and the sun barely fought its way through the thick clouds. But there was plenty of water, albeit painfully acquirable, cooked food and a personal bodyguard.
Surely apart from that oversized chicken Leo saw on the first day, no one would dare to come and make trouble for the gigantic cat. And that meant he was safe as long as he hung around here.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
This time Leo’s deductions were spot on. For the next several days he strolled around the lake fishing out the cooked birds and eating almost non stop. Of course, at first the sudden change in diet caused a light diarrhea and there was an incident of him falling in the lake while trying to wash his butt, but other than that his life was great.
With days passing by Leo slowly began to explore the vicinity. Remembering the encounter with the snake, he avoided going too deep in the jungle, but after he scaled the tallest tree that slightly towered above all others, he noticed two round empty spots located in a line from one another that could signify existence of either more lakes or large meadows.
Thrilled with the perspective of not having to be electrocuted every time he wanted to drink, Leo made his way towards the closest spot. He did have to fight through the jungle a bit and climb few trees to verify the direction, but even though he didn’t find a source of water upon arrival he almost began to scream with joy.
While most of the field was covered in tall grass and bushes, in the very center there was an elevated platform and pretty runic inscriptions on it just like on the eight pillars surrounding it and it clearly signified those were man made! It clearly signified that at some point there have been people here!
The next discovery was even more exhilarating. Right next to the platform, almost completely hidden in bushes there was a small cabin. Well, it was more like a shed, but Leo didn’t care. Inside there were neatly stored tools, repair materials, clothing and even few books.
Leo was long fed up with running around butt naked, this he immediately began to try on one clothing peace after another. Unfortunately he soon had to give up since the only thing that didn’t directly fall off him was one of the shirts he found, but even then he had to cut off its sleeves and make it two feet shorter. On the other hand, after he used a piece of rope as a belt, he now had a kind of short robe that allowed him to freely move around while still feeling decent.
He also would’ve gladly found a weapon around here, but there were no bows or spears, to not speak of swords. The best thing Leo could get was a large chisel that he carefully secured behind his new ‘belt’.
Satisfied with the gains, he reminded himself of the rule number three – ‘in under no circumstances it is allowed to take too much of the other people’s stuff’ and left with a wide smile across his face grabbing along a tool that resembled a rake with extremely long handle.
For the next days Leo lived like a king – at least that’s how he defined it. The new tools allowed him to easily fish out the food from the lake as well as cut it open, finally making the eating process more comfortable. He still lacked a bottle or at least a kettle or a bucket, but he kind of was getting used to drinking from the lake by swooping the water by hand. Sometimes he even went a couple steps inside to be able to reach his next meal, but the whole process was still very unpleasant so he did that only when he was really hungry.
Obviously because of the security reasons he continued to spend every night near the lake even though the cabin would’ve felt more like a home. Not having uninvited guests in the jungle environment was a boon.
There was one downside though. Compared to the island of apes, here was a complete lack of entertainment. Leo even began to miss the ape baby harassment he was so used to, but more than anything he missed the Firepaste.
With this thought he suddenly realized that since his arrival here he had completely neglected cultivation. Yes, he did lack the ‘cultivation resources’, but there were some books back in the cabin and maybe owners among the other things had left some cultivation manuals. Of course, he didn’t know how to read, but that didn’t prevent him from trying to find something useful.
Armed with the idea Leo rushed to the cabin and began to study the three books that were there. The first one turned out to contain only of endless rows of words. Nevertheless he spent a whole afternoon carefully examining every page hopelessly trying to find a familiar symbol or a drawing.
The next morning Leo had a sumptuous breakfast consisting of a particularly large chicken. Of course, most likely it was a different kind of a bird, but after a good roast to him they all became chickens.
Full of energy he went back to the cabin and began to study the second book. This one was filled with drawings consisting of lines, circles and multitude of strange figures. Every page had some kind of schematic, but no matter how hard he tried, the only result Leo got was a headache.
Slightly desperate he picked up the third book and immediately felt like slapping himself on the back of the head. Either the author was an artist or just had an artistic soul, but right on the second page there was a drawing of a small island in the middle of the lake. On it grew a leafless tree and right next to it was a circle with four pillars surrounding it. In that circle sat a man in a meditative position, just the way Leo’s father taught him and apparently cultivated.
‘So that’s why! That’s how a common cat became a huge monster!’ Leo had a revelation, ‘It obviously sleeps all day and night at the magic place where one should cultivate! No wonder it almost never leaves!’
This was a groundbreaking discovery, but it had one big downside – there was no way to drive away that humongous beast!
Sighing with regret Leo continued to go through the book and few pages later found another picture, similar to the first, except in this one the person was cultivating in some kind of a pavilion. Recognizing the similarity between pictures, to his own amusement Leo tried to play the ‘find seven differences’ game, but soon got bored. The only difference turned out to be the pavilion.
Fortunately the next picture made his heart race once again. At first he thought it was some kind of schematic, but then realized that the depicted circles on both sides were most likely lakes since in the middle of each of them was a leafless tree, but in between those lakes was a circle full of strange rune drawings with eight columns surrounding it.
‘Right! That’s why there was the second drawing with the pavilion!’ Surprisingly quickly Leo understood the meaning, ‘That mother tucking chicken also sleeps in a magic place similar to the cat, except it has its own lake and island!’
After this thought he dropped the book and ran out to scale the tallest tree in the vicinity. It turned out to be just as he guessed – there were actually two lakes. One he spent every night at and the other he hadn’t visited yet! But in the middle was the weird platform by the cabin with the eight pillars covered in runes!
Happy with the discovery Leo climbed back down only to realize a problem – what in the world was he supposed to do with this information?