Chapter 7 - Into the Forest I

Well, what the hell is a dungeon, and why the fuck does it matter in the first place?

That is what I was thinking and what I wanted to say, but doing so would result in another rather unpleasant hit on the stomach and I did not want to puke out the fox I had just eaten. I did my best to remain calm.

After trying to pick and choose my words, I decided that the best way to do that was to say the least amount of things possible.

"What is a dungeon?" I asked.

Guen gulped down the massive bite she had taken out of the fox before answering my question.

"Explaining everything about a dungeon to you, would be too much of a bother. All I'm going to say is that creatures inside a dungeon respawn once you leave the area. I would also say that dungeons can be dangerous, but I think you know that by now. I'll leave it at that, you can figure the rest out by yourself."

Great. More questions.

For the rest of the day, I fiddled around with my stat points, thinking how to best utilize them. I definitely should use them now, or at least before I entered the so-called dungeon again. I was a level 5 Anthir already, but without distributing the rest of my stats, I was still just as strong as a level 3.

What would happen if I put all my points in strength? A bad idea, probably, but it did sound fun. I could possibly become famous for defeating everyone with one strike.

Or what if I put all my points in wisdom? Would I immediately become old and get a pointy beard?

I had gained more points than I knew what to do with, so even after adding 2 stat points in every single category earlier, I was still left with plenty and I wasn't sure on how I should use them. I finally came to a conclusion after thinking about it way more than I probably should have.

I added +3 points to Agility. I felt that the speed I gained from this stat was crucial in that weird attack I did earlier, the [Gale Slash]. Increasing it should make this move even stronger. Plus, maybe I would evade an attack for once, and maybe even Guen's flying bowls, too.

I added an extra point in Perception, because I was able to detect general areas of weakness in my enemies, but I had trouble taking advantage of them consistently so far — maybe this would help me see something I was missing.

An additional point in both Strength and Endurance, because based on the size of the forest, I would probably have to fight long and hard to make it to the other end. Being fast was not enough. I needed to become a heavy hitter and be able to keep at it.

Finally, 1 extra point in Vitality so I could hopefully take a hit or two more before I needed a potion — I could not afford to be a glass canon.

After that, all my stats were finally allocated, so I checked my stat screen one last time for the day.

Name: Jinden

Race: [Anthir - Lvl. 5]

Class: None

Affinity: None

Stats:

[Available Stat Points: 0]

[Vitality]: 10

[Strength]: 12

[Endurance]: 13

[Wisdom]: 10

[Agility]: 16

[Perception]: 12

Skills:

[identify]

Abilities:

[Gale Slash]: Lvl. 1

I had just finished eating a whole bunch of fox meat, stuffing my face to my heart's content and yet, still, when I pressed the 'submit' button, the sudden, usual feeling of warm stew felt better than ever before — I savored every second of it, ephemeral as it was.

When I was finished, it had gotten dark already and Guen had fallen asleep.

I had to go to sleep too, regain as much energy as possible. Tomorrow we should get past this damn forest, dungeon, or whatever it was. It should not be too hard now that I was level 5, especially since I had Guen with me. Wow, she was a level 9! I wondered how long it took her to get to that level, how long it would take me and if I would be as strong as her once I reached that level. Actually, no, I would not be satisfied with being as strong as her. I wanted to be stronger.

I closed my eyes, thinking about what was hiding behind the forest. Of the possibilities. Of what could be waiting for me on the other side. I had already spent enough time here; I wanted to see the rest of the world.

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I woke up, surprisingly by the warm rays of the sun this time and not because of a bowl landing on my forehead. It felt nice, but odd.

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I got up, stretched to prime my body for the upcoming challenges of the day and then I turned to look at Guen, only to find out that she was missing; nowhere to be seen.

Instead, where Guen was sleeping yesterday, today were four health potions and two more of these weird violet balls. On top of them there was a small piece of paper that wrote, "Try not to die too quickly."

That damn elf. Mocking me even on her 'goodbye' messages.

So, I was left alone. This meant going through the forest would be much harder than I initially thought. At least she left me all this stuff. And I had leftovers of the fox meat in case I got hungry. Actually, no, I didn't — she took them with her, probably for a mid-trip snack.

I gladly accepted the extra stuff, although mildly irritated that she thought I would need all these to have a chance at surviving, and put it in my pouch where they would hopefully remain.

Looking at the pouch, I realized the items had ended up barely fitting. I could not even add an extra violet ball even if I wanted to. If I needed to keep anything else I found later on, I would need to make a trade.

I packed my stuff and started walking towards the forest's entrance for the third time. I picked up another branch to use a weapon — it felt pretty good last time and there was no reason to not use one again.

That being said, I did not know what was hiding inside the forest, so I picked up a few pebbles and put them in my pocket for ease of access, in case I needed to fight from a distance for some reason.

I seathed the branch, putting it in its scabbard on my left hip. Or so I thought for some reason. I did not really have a scabbard to sheathe anything and the stick ended up falling on the ground.

I did not pay much attention to it — I picked the branch back up and took my first steps inside this dungeon.

Guen's absence was definitely a big blow, which meant I had to be at least four times as careful, since no one had my back this time.

But at the same time, I felt a strange sense of relief. I was glad Guen was not here. I was glad she left and was probably somewhere safe and peaceful by now. She was not endangered by whatever was hiding here.

I was by myself. And it was better this way. I would solo beat this dungeon.

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The first few minutes were surprisingly peaceful. I walked straight ahead, as this would probably be the quickest way to the exit. I could have turned ninety degrees and see what was to the left or the right, but that would be too risky. Looking at these woods while I was outside, I could not see an end on the left or the right.

The ground was mostly muddy, with the occasional patch of grass where the trees were not as close to each other.

Lots of those trees, especially the bigger, thicker ones, had fungi developing at their roots, some of them all the way up to the height of my knee.

I wondered if they were edible, as they could prove useful in the future, but after using [Identify] on them, all I got was:

[Mushroom - Lvl. 1]

[Mushroom - Lvl. 2]

[Mushroom - Lvl. 1]

I could not risk it. If they ended up being poisonous, that would surely mean an early end for me and I was definitely not having it. I stayed away from them.

What struck me as odd was that the bigger, taller mushrooms were level 2 instead of level 1, like the rest of them. How did they get to level 2? Was there an actual difference between them and the smaller ones, other than their size?

After a certain point, there was a significant increase in the forest's creatures. I could see at least a couple, no matter where I looked. I had probably reached the heart of the forest by now. Maybe I needed a bit more time to reach exactly the center of the dungeon, judging from the level of the creatures I had seen so far — they were mostly pretty weak.

The majority of them were level 1, or level 2, with the occasional level 3 as the exception, but nothing higher than that.

I took advantage of it by practicing my moves with the wooden sword I was holding and gaining as much [Exp] as I could — you can never have enough [Exp].

Still, the amount of experience points was far from satisfying or enough to significantly affect my level-up progress, and I was able to defeat most of the creatures with one or two blows.

Slash to the left.

Defeated [Grey Hare - Lvl. 2]!

Slash to the right.

Defeated [Fanged Squirrel - Lvl. 1]!

Stab forwards, followed by another slash

Defeated [Hedgedeer - Lvl. 3]!

While each fight was nothing special by itself, the fact that they were consecutively coming one after another took its toll on me and tired me out. I needed to rest and I needed something to eat.

I wanted to refrain from using my own supplies as much as I could, because I did not know how much of it I was going to need and how long I was going to stay in the forest, so when I saw that some of the trees had fruit growing on their branches, I went for them instead of reaching into my pouch.

As I started climbing up one of those trees, a couple of [Horned Owls] took the chance and started attacking me in quick succession.

The first one sank its talons in my back, going as deep as it could, as if it was trying to grab and pull my liver out. I tried to make it go away with my hand while keeping myself from falling. It somehow worked and the bird left, leaving me with deep, bleeding wounds in the process.

Right after it left, as if they had practiced this before, the second owl head-butted me, sticking its horns on my back, deep in the wounds that the first one left.

I let out a cry of pain as I felt the horns dig deeper into my flesh, thankfully without reaching any of my organs.

I bit the pain and kept going all the way up to one of the tree's thickest branches, while the two owls were feasting on my back now, slicing and pecking every inch of it.

I finally reached the branch and got on top of it. I could now use my hands and, most importantly, my weapon. As I did, the owls created some distance between me and them, to evade any potential attacks from my side.

I held my wooden stick tightly, waiting for their next move. They probably took that as a sign of fear, because for their next attack, they charged even faster — more confident.

Instead of both coming at me head on, they decided to flank me, one coming from slightly to the left while the other slightly to the right.

It was a smart move considering they were just a couple of birds, still useless, nonetheless, as with a sweep of my weapon I hit the left owl and with the force behind my strike, I made it crush onto the other one, pinning them both on the tree's bark.

The left owl fell down. The right one did not have the time to do the same. I pointed the edge of my weapon towards it and pushed as hard as I could, piercing the owl's neck, coming out from the other side and nailing it on the tree's bark.

Defeated [Horned Owl - Lvl. 4]!

I pulled the branch back out of the tree, letting the owl fall dead to the ground. I wiped off the blood and searched for the only owl left, only to see it already flying far away.

Coward! First you attack me from behind, now you're running away!? Come back, that's valuable [Exp]!

At least the fight was finally over. I felt exhausted and the numerous wounds and scratches on my back did not help.

I could now sit down and enjoy the literal fruits of my labor. I picked up from the branch what seemed like an oversized, pink apple and dug my teeth into it straight away.

It tasted even better than I expected and I hungrily kept eating it, letting its juices flow from both sides of my mouth. My wounds started healing, too. Nothing compared to the effects of a potion, but I felt way better than I did a minute ago. I finished the fruit, eating every last part I could and threw away, to the ground, the core and the stem.

I wanted more.

I reached to get another one of these juicy, round fruits when I felt something hard hitting the back of my head.

Again!?

I turned around, as annoyed as one could be, tired of the repeated cowardice of the creatures of the forest and saw an ape-like creature sitting on another branch, not too far away, holding numerous pebbles in its hands and throwing them at me.

I used [Identify] on it and was surprised by the result

[Fanged Orangutan - Lvl. 7]

I grinned slightly when I saw the beast's level.

This will be my biggest challenge yet.

"Bring it!"