Author's Note: Sorry for the late chapter. Comicon was good, going to post another chapter soon

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The Forest

A few hours had passed after the carriage returned. Sara helped in moving the carriage back to the house. Gina and Guez had both returned to house. Targ had gone back to his house to inform the news. At the end it was just me who was the near the gate still trying to understand the situation.

What was hard for me to understand was why I was feeling this way? I knew going through the forest to the city had its trouble. I also had lost enough friends in my previous life as well. But I was feeling dull over this, even though something like this was treated like an everyday situation in the village. This wasn’t the first time such a situation had occurred. But it had gotten quite peaceful for the last two years, so I had assumed something like this happening was a rare case.

From what I heard from those who returned, it seems there was no problem travelling to the village. But while returning, there were attacked by a large monster which shouldn’t have been in the vicinity. This monster’s lair was quite far from the actual path they took to the city, since the path was created in order to never encounter it in the first place. They didn’t have any idea as to why such a thing occurred.

The monster which attacked them was called a Orthoros. I remember reading it from the picture book, instead of three heads this dog had two heads. Compared to all the monsters in the forest, the Orthoros was the most dangerous. Even if all the hunters had gone to fight it, they would probably die was what they had told us. Targ’s Father Garrem Livigt had attracted its attention as a bait so the rest could escape.

They said that was the only monster which hunted alone but it was something that all the other monsters in the forest feared. It was a monster which could kill 20 hunters and still be able to go away unscathed. Maybe they  previously tried killing it with so many people and had failed. Two years before, they hadn’t seen its appearance on that path. It probably only met them today by coincidence, since they would travel at irregular intervals they wouldn’t have met it on the path.

Now I have even stronger urge to see what the monsters in the forests are like. I wonder how Targ is handling himself, he’s one year old right now so I don’t think he’ll be able to get over it too quickly. If it was Dari instead who hadn’t returned then I’d be sad, very sad. I probably would rush into the forest even if there was a small minute chance of him being alive. Yeah, but then the hunters would stop me.

Targ hasn’t trained like me, but if it was such a dangerous beast then  I’ll have to take many precautions ahead. I would have to know its movements, its weakness and its adaptability. Targ is my friend and knowing how he currently is, he wouldn’t even think of going against any of the monsters. He was scared enough when I simply told him made up stories about the forest. But if there’s something , any chance that his father may be alive then I want to be of use.

Since the hunters have returned, by looking at their wounds I don’t think they can come for guard duty for a few number of days. So there’ll be a less number  who keep watch. If I can, I’ll see if Targ can come back and play with Gina and me like usual.

After that I headed back to the house to help Sara. She probably went alone, so I could console my friend but I was useless. Targ hardly spoke and Gina was still shocked at the injury on Guez. Targ had a painful look on his face and I could almost see tears. I can check on him tomorrow.

I went to help with unloading the goods and taking care of the Griffons, but it looks like Sara had already completed it. I had dinner with Dari who looked troubled about losing someone on his trip. Olivia and Sara didn’t speak. Looks like this sort of thing always did happen in the village.

I went to sleep while I still hadn’t understood why I felt like this. Was it because I got back my emotions after so long? Or were these emotions I developed when I was reborn like this? When I become 10 years old, will they send a group of hunters to help me reach the city so I could adventure?

I don’t want to risk someone else’s life for my own sake. Dari was probably also thinking that, but what he does also helps the village. The funds needed for the village, the trade between the city and here and information from the outside. These are all the things we would get for safely returning from such a trip. The hunters who go along with him to protect him also have the resolve to face death. If these trips aren’t taken then the village would be in more danger.

I went to sleep, thinking of deciding what I needed to do tomorrow.

-------After the return, the next day, Day 1-------

I went and met Gina, but it looks like she’s staying at home tending to Guez’s injuries. They’ll probably heal in a few days time. Then I went to check on Targ, his mother told me he didn’t want to meet anyone today. His mother also had a sullen expression, but she tried to smile despite that. This is probably going to continue like this for a while.

Since Sara had finished the work yesterday, she didn’t call for me. I was alone after such a long time. I guess it’s time to get to work. I carried my book today. The village didn’t have any more information for me to gather.

I knew who were the ones that were assigned to watch the outposts today. Since the number of guards are less at the wall, I can sneak past today. I had been planning on getting outside, when they took a break.

Just like how I had recorded in my book, they left the post. I had 10 minutes and before they returned I had to somehow land on the other side safely. I had brought with me a dagger I had received from Guez as a gift. Though Olivia was against it, it was a sign of good luck for the child within the village. So she conceded to me holding onto it. She also gave me an earful to be extremely careful with it. Besides whoever made the tradition giving a sharp object to a one year old was good luck must have something wrong with his head.

I think it was just in case when even his parents couldn’t protect him, so he could protect himself.

But now I was using it to get into a dangerous spot. Once I quickly jumped off to the top of the wooden wall, I used the knife as a support for holding me as I slowly descended the wall. I hope the marks on it don’t reveal how I managed to get out. Finally I was outside, it was time to learn about this forest.

I had to memorize whatever I could, since it’s outside the village and quite dangerous, I shouldn’t try to about write the book here. Ever since I had obtained [ Mana Mastery ] , I had explored in other ways it could be used. I could copy all the details about the village I had written about the village onto the [ Status ]. Since the [ Status ] contained information, I thought it could store as well if someone could write on it. I had to focus writing on the slab with mana. It was harder at first, but now I had stored all the information I needed onto another tab on it called [ Info ].

I’m sorry for calling you useless so much [ Status ].

Today’s aim is to gather all the information I can within only a few hours, since I have to return before I’m suspected. I plan to cover the entire forest within a one mile radius. Instead of going deeper, I’ll survey the surroundings completely and slowly advance each day.

If it takes too much time for me go back then I’ll have to enter during the night. Since wearing [ Enhanced Defense ] now gives a dark color around my skin, I’m sure people can’t see me if I climb up the wall at night.

I activate [ Mana Sight ], I have to keep it active for the whole time since I don’t have much information to go on. I’ll check on my [ Mana ] every hour and if it gets lower than half I’ll return and if I can’t return then I’ll find a spot with dense mana to rest and recover.

……..

…….

It’s been over an hour and after surveying this part of the forest, I’ve found bushes which contain the fruits that Sara forages from. Although Griffons tend to like them, I tasted one and found them to be quite bitter. I’ve also found a few herbs described in that book. I make a picture map along with all the vegetation I found in [ Info ].

In order to climb the trees, I’ve disabled [ Gravity Magic ] which was applied on me. My body feels really light and I can easily climb the trees. After observing the mana in the forest, I can see it’s more dense than in the village. Is it because humans absorb the surrounding mana everyday? Looks like I won’t need to worry about running out of mana in the forest.

Considering the amount of area I wanted to survey, I’ve almost completed fifty percent. It’s not that fast since I only planned on searching a radius of one mile surrounding the village. It took one hour to do so since I had to make note which plants were found where in detail.

I haven’t seen any monsters. Luckily the guards haven’t spotted me even if I am in their range, hiding in trees and bushes perhaps they thought I was a monster. Let’s hope they don’t plan on firing their arrows. I’ll activate [ Enhanced Defense ] just in case. I don’t think even a bullet can pierce this dark armor covering my body and since it’s perfectly attached on my skin, it’s easy to move. Although I call it armor, it just feels like my skin has hardened to that level.

…….

One more hour has passed. I’ve checked everything I planned to check today. My [ Mana ] hasn’t reduced much even though I’ve kept [ Mana Sight ] active continuously. There’s still a few more hours left before I actually planned on returning. Should I move forward and check the area further?

I decided to move forward since I still had time. But my main reason was because if I advanced a little more the earliest, I could probably find something about Targ’s father, since much time hadn’t passed. I didn’t want to assume he was dead yet.

……..

I drew symbols on the tree to mark the place I had already searched. If I could survey an extra mile today, that would help me more, because the previous area was already something I knew about from Sara. Beyond that was completely unknown territory. Deciding to advance further was the right idea.

Another hour passed and since the area I needed to search had increased, I only finished about twenty percent. I managed to find some nuts and other herbs, since I couldn’t carry much I stored a few in a small pouch I had sown together. I tied the pouch to my arm so I could carry it easily. Still no sign of monsters, it was probably because this area was part of the path the villagers used. I went here first in case to check if I could find where they were attacked.

After not finding anything of use, I went ahead to check the rest of the area. Looks like they probably encountered the Orthoros further ahead along the path.

…………

Finally …..

I found one. There was some creature which looked like a boar, although it was much smaller. Maybe it was still an infant. I observed it from a tree, which was a little near to its location. I was able to notice it because of [ Mana Sight ]. The mana which I observed was different from the surrounding. It was as though a small concentrated ball of mana was moving around.

With this I could confirm that even monsters had mana within them. It’ll be easier for me locate them this way. Even they hid behind bushes or in trees I could spot them. [ Mana Sight ] turned out be very useful in detecting for living things.

As I watched the little boar, I understood it was probably the infant of an Iron Boar. Ah….. O little pig, please grow for me. But then again, the smaller its size the tender its meat.

The thought of consuming it welled up in me, but I controlled it since other creatures were also detected in the vicinity. I could see dense mana moving around near in the bushes opposite to the little boar. There was also one moving behind trees. From the bushes came out a bigger boar, looking at its size I think it’s body could weigh more than 50kgs.

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I understood now why it was called an Iron Boar. It had tusks which seemed to shine in the sun, they looked like iron but I couldn’t confirm from my location. It’s back also had a strong hide which shone like it’s tusk. Could it use mana to create [ Enhanced Defense ]? But it was unlikely since the rest of the body wasn’t protected. The hunters probably aimed for the vulnerable parts after capturing it.

From the other side, there was another one. It looked like a wolf but it was standing on its two hind legs. I remember reading it from the picture book, that book really was useful after all. Although the picture and the monster here are a little different. In the picture, the monster had claws and it was a called a claw wolf. But this one didn’t have claws large as the book described. All it had were somewhat large paws. The scene here looked to me as though the claw wolf was trying to hunt the little boar and its parent had shown in the nick of time.

The wolf still looked to ready to attack them at any given moment. I’d be happier if a fight occurred now, since I could analyze how they fought.

……what?

I can see a change in the wolf’s mana. It’s gathering at the tip of the paws. Claws that seemed to made of iron emerged from the paws.

Ah…..I see now.

It was called a claw wolf but it didn’t have the claws by default. Rather I believe it’s similar to the skills shown on [ Status ]. I observed how the mana gathered at the tip and became like claws. It was similar to my [ Enhanced Defense ] but instead of protecting, this was used for offense.

I wonder ….. could I also be able use my mana like that? Using [ Chamber ], I concentrated on how my mana could be used as such. Imagining the claw wolf using it and desiring for similar claws which could harm.

I used [ Enhanced Defense ] as a base. Since the material seemed harder than the wolf’s claws. I saw the tip of my hands becoming claws. I saw that the defensive armor itself had protruded from sharper edges from the tip of my fingers. My hands themselves looked  like claws. I stopped supplying mana and my hands returned to normal.

I checked my [ Status ].

[ Weapon Create learned ]

[  Weapons created from Mana to attack your enemies. Such weapons will consume mana to maintain them and are low class. ]

I check my [ Mana ] and see that this skill consumes 50 mana. It looks like I can create more than just claws. But the larger the weapon is more mana is consumed to build it and then maintain it. If mana isn’t supplied correctly the weapon will disappear in the end. It looks harder to use in battles easily, if my mind wanders off then I’ll lose track of the battle and the weapon as well. I should use this only when I plan on attacking at the right time. I should try and find an easier method to help me with weapons. All I have is one dagger to use. But that would mean I’ll have to fight close.

Even if I do have [ Enhanced Defense ], I don’t want to risk fighting in close combat since I can’t fully determine the opponent’s strength quickly. If the enemy is stronger then I’m done for. I wonder if I could make a wooden pole from the trees. Out of all the weapons I was most comfortable fighting with a pole in my previous life and I still remember the techniques. For now I’ll observe this fight.

It looks like neither side had started yet and both were staring at each other waiting for the other to move first. The claw wolf made the first move, rushed at the iron boar and quickly closed in the distance between them. It slashed on to the boar’s face. So the claw wolf has higher agility, I should be careful not to let it surprise me like that.

The boar stood there without moving, taking the attack head on it was bleeding but not much. It looks like the attack can’t go through the boar’s tough hide. What happened next was….beyond shocking.

The boar simply grunted and screamed, the wolf was still standing waiting to get another blow. But it was just in a few seconds, I saw the boar was also using its mana. But the mana was being sent to its legs. In the next instant the boar had run over the claw wolf, it was at a speed I couldn’t completely see. But in just a few seconds, the place where the claw wolf stood had become deep red and its body was dangling on the boar’s tusks.

Despite appearances that boar could move incredibly fast. It was only an instant, but it had tackled the wolf at a speed where even someone watching closely couldn’t comprehend. But I could guess what had happened. The Iron Boar had used a skill.

By sending mana into its legs and using that to force its body at that speed. Its body must be capable of enduring the recoil. I almost thought for a moment the boar was a large bullet. How did the hunters in the village catch something like that? Was the forest that dangerous? If only the boar was capable of something like this, then what about the Orthoros which is terror to the rest of the monsters.

If I planned on going through the forest when I reached the right age for my journey, would I able to handle it if something like the Orthoros showed up. I felt anxious , I understood why the villagers were scared. The beings called monsters, why people couldn’t go against them. Why we were powerless?

I simply stared at the bloody scene, the boars had vacated the area.

…….

………..

……….snap out of it. I slapped myself. It hurt….

I should really have removed [ Enhanced Defense ] before doing that….

There was a city right. They built such a strong settlement, right. Humans were capable of evolving and building a community. They were able to survive here, just like in the previous universe. If I can’t beat it, I can make traps to ensnare it. If I couldn’t kill it myself, I would kill it in a group. This was what had been done, the same has previous and the same which was followed here as well. If I had to kill an Iron Boar, I would have to aim its skin where the iron hide wouldn’t cover. That claw wolf was overconfident in its claw, even someone like me could see it was weak.

What’s more? The skill that boar used. Shouldn’t I be able to use it? I got down from the tree and imitated it.

Once, twice, thrice…..it failed. Once more remember how it reading its legs, how it braced for impact. How the mana had acted like a booster to its entire body. Carefully think and try, I even used [ Backtrack ] to see how many times I would fail. The next try I changed the method to suit my body.

I activated [ Enhanced Defense ] and used as much mana on my feet and legs. I remembered something while doing this, it was something from the past I had read. Why did the human body react with strong reflexes when it felt shock? There was a study on how the muscles would contract at a high rate when there was shock of several high voltage experienced by the body.

I imagined a shock happening on my body and focused on my leg muscles contracting and my own body moving.

It felt like a slingshot and my body shot forward at an incredible speed. I assumed it to be the same speed as the boar but it felt higher. Will my body survive something like this? I didn’t have time to think, I had gone so fast I hadn’t noticed the tree in front of me. I had to stop myself, I used my right hand to place a punch on the tree so the impact would cancel out.

It was fast and I could feel it, there wasn’t a tree anymore in front of me. I just kept the pose and I was still flying straight without slowing down much. I closed my eyes and when I opened them again. I saw it…..

…….

………..

All the trees had which had were in my way had fallen down when I looked back. I checked my body to see if I was hurt, luckily there wasn’t any damage because of [ Enhanced Defense ]. Just in case, I checked [ Status ].

My [ Mana ] had depleted by 58. And I had obtained a skill.

[ Force Rush learned ]

[ Force Rush improved to +1]

[ Force Rush improved to +2]

[ Force Rush improved to +3]

[ An attack which is a double edged sword. If successful, it decimates your enemies in a flash. Its recoil is tremendous and will inflict high damage on the users body if their endurance is not enough. The third level Force Rush is a force strong enough to destroy even stone walls. ]

……..

So does that [ Enhanced Defense ] is stronger than the boar’s hide. The boar’s force never reached this speed. I’ll have to improve this skill. It consumes a lot of mana and I can barely control it once I use it.

……..but before that. I should head back before someone or something is attracted to this place. There’s too much destruction here. About seven trees have fallen here. I’ll go check the rest of the area quickly. It’ll get dark soon and I can make it up the wall before the ones with night shift take over.

I was a little unsatisfied since I could only explore fifty percent of the extra area I had planned. But I had already stored the map details in [ Info ] and I could use it later to survey faster. What’s better is I have two more skills. Both have their uses, but if I can master them then I have a chance to survive in this forest.

I entered the one mile radius area of the village. I was planning to use the trees to jump from one to another and reach the village. But, something was blocking me………

It was a Claw Wolf. Just like the one before. Although slightly different color, it looked same like the one before. Its face looked like it was smiling finding a easy prey. Remembering the previous battle, I activated [ Enhanced Defense ] and made sure it covered my face this time as well.

The wolf’s expression changed. It looked a little shocked but it quickly regained its composure. It took a stance, although I had learned few martial arts over the years I didn’t recognize it. It activated its claws and readied itself. The next second it moved, but not coming directly for me instead it jumped from tree to tree. I immediately understood that this was a distraction. If I had to compare this wolf to the previous one which attacked head on, then this wolf would probably aim for my back.

I used [ Backtrack ] and learnt I was indeed right, I used it again 3 times to for the next one minute to learn its movements and predict its attacks. [ Backtrack ] consumed a lot of mana and depending on the amount of time and the number of times you used it, the mana it consumed varied. If it was 1 to 4 seconds it took about 30 mana and since I was using for one whole minute it would consume somewhere along 500 mana. I used it three times so I was consuming 1500 mana. Even if I did use so much, I would still have fifty percent left. Even with [ Mana Mastery ], the amount this ability consumed didn’t lessen.

The main reason I used it here was because I wanted to learn how well I could use it against single and multiple enemies against in the future. But why I wanted to use it right now was because it was my first fight and if I didn’t use everything I had to fight there was a chance of me dying.

The wolf began its attack, I already had memorized its patterns after seeing it 3 times. An attack came from the left, I blocked with my left hand. Same with how it would attack from its right, I parried with my arm. Just as all the predictions, if it failed both from these attacks it would feint attacking from the front and then go directly to the back.

I blocked from my front and when it finally attacked my back with all its strength I caught its claws. The claws on its left hand were caught by my right and I quickly aimed with the dagger in my left hand to its throat. It also tried with its right hand to completely kill me off. As the claws that fell on my face with great force, I saw them breaking apart. The claws were in pieces, just by attacking my bare but defended skin. The wolf had a shock on its face, before it recover the dagger had already pierced its neck.