"What are you guys waiting for? We got a job to do," Jack asked, stepping into the Jungle and turning back to his comrades with a smile on his face.
Stepping into the Jungle past the treeline, Jack Bright and his men were faced with the thick foliage that made exploring it so...difficult. That's partially why Bright and a few of the others had machetes as their backup weapon, as their main use was mostly to clear a path through the damn Jungle.
As they made their way through the Jungle, taking a route that they were all familiar with, Bright and his group soon came across a clearing that hosted a small cave under a mound. Typically, something decides to make the cave home every day. Still, the main reason they stopped by, other than the fact that it was a natural landmark they could navigate, was because, inside the cave, a certain medicinal flower grew, named [Vermilion Lily] by the System.
A woman named, funny enough, Lily was a woman some of the IKEA scavengers picked up a few days ago, and she ended up choosing to become an [Aspiring Alchemist]. One of the skills she unlocked was called [Identify Ingredient], a relatively simple skill that allowed her to scan flora and get a short and usually cryptic description from the System. It was due to her efforts that we learned more about the flora found in the Jungle, the same flora we started bringing back so that Lily could make medicine, something that was a rarity in the IKEA and something that the settlement completely lacked.
However, the medicine she created was labeled as [Potions] by the System, and the potion's effects were determined by the ingredient, quality of the ingredient, and, according to Lily, a myriad of other factors. So far, she had managed to make a few potions, though many other attempts ended in failure.
So far, Lily has managed to make [Weak Antidotes], [Petty Mana Potion], [Petty Mana Potion], [Petty Stamina Potion], and [Weak Sleep Aid] from an assortment of berries, flowers, plants, and other flora that they routinely gather up in their scouting trips, though the potions don't surpass a dozen each in number, so they were valuable.
Even Bright had a set of potions stashed away in his coat in case of emergency, though due to their limited number, he had at most a single potion of each type that Lily had made so far. Speaking of the potions, it seems the 'Petty' prefix was a way to tell the quality of the potions. In this case, petty was probably the lowest grade of quality, as Lily has yet to make anything worse, and at its base, a Petty potion restores 25 points of a stat like HP, MP, or SP, something Bright and the others in the Council found would without a doubt be useful in emergency situations and so, everyone was doing what they could to help Lily make more potions and hopefully improve her skill. That's why everyone who came to the Jungle, whether they be the Lumberjacks, Foragers, or Bright and the others, gathered whatever ingredients they found.
"You guys ready?" Bright asked, gesturing towards the cave.
Getting nods and affirmations, Bright made a plan.
"Jerry, you're the fastest of us. Can you try and draw them out? We'll cover your retreat," Bright asked the party's Hunter. Jerry was a level 19 [Aspiring Hunter], and of everyone on the team, his class made him the most suited to the Jungle, especially when it came to navigating and traveling through it.
"Sure thing, boss," Jerry answered without hesitation. Bright and the other squads commonly implemented this tactic, as going into the cave and attacking whatever called it home would not only leave them at a disadvantage but also may harm the ingredients inside.
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Taking a deep breath, Jerry activated one of his skills, [Primal Hunt], a skill almost every hunter gets just for its sheer versatility. At its lower levels, it was a sort of aura concealment skill. Ever get that feeling that someone is watching you? Many animals, including humans, have this primal instinct, and this skill essentially conceals the hunter from this instinct, at least until a higher skill level.
Jerry and a good number of the other [Aspiring Hunters] who have reached and surpassed level 25 in the skill found that the skill unlocked another effect to the skill, a Danger Sense. Such a skill has become crucial to the survivor of everyone that has become [Aspiring Hunters] because not only would it make the Hunter harder to detect by the local animals and monsters, but it also proved to be a lifesaver, which, when concerning the Jungle that had far too many ambush predators, literally, saved lives.
Seeing Jerry creep into the cave, throwing knives ready, the group spread out, with everyone forming a circle around the entrance of the cave and preparing to either throw spells, shoot arrows, or charge whatever Jerry would draw out.
Tensing and readying themselves, they soon saw Jerry sprinting out of the cave, "Here it comes!" Jerry shouted, drawing his bow when he reached everyone before abruptly turning around.
Tensing, the others soon heard a menacing hiss come from within the cave.
"Shit," Bright cursed.
Then, it revealed itself.
White scales, piercing red eyes, and a long body that made the creature appear like it could wrap around a car and crush it.
[Pale Death - Level 52]
"Throw everything you got!" Bright shouted, summoning a dozen [Mana Bolts] that he launched at the creature without hesitation, costing him hundreds of mana in seconds.
A literal tidal wave of magic, skills, bolts, and arrows slammed into the snake in an attempt to kill the thing instantly.
A cloud of dust and ash covered the entrance of the cave, hiding the monster, but the group did not let up their attacks, with the mages switching to their ranged weapons while the Warriors continued throwing whatever form of long-ranged weapons and skills they had.
They only stopped when they finally got the notification that the snake had died. By then, what was left was a carcass so damaged that wounds, burns, and bolts littered across its entire body.
"Phew...thank god it wasn't like the last one that ambushed us," Someone breathed out a sigh of relief.
Bright grimaced. He was certainly not expecting that they'd run into such a strong monster on the outskirts of the Jungle. The last time they came across a [Pale Death] was a few weeks ago. That monster was actually a few levels higher than the one they just found. As for its...creative name, it was due to its venom and unnatural vitality.
Just one bight was all it took to guarantee death...and they learned this the hard way. After that, they spent nearly an hour fighting the damned thing as it slithered and hid within the foliage, trees, and underground tunnels; it was a miracle. Only one person died the last time they fought a [Pale Death].
Taking what little meat and scales they could extract from the carcass, some entered the cave and soon came back with a few pouches filled with [Vermilion Lilies] and even a few [Neptune's Flowers], a weird magical flower that Bright and the others found throughout the Jungle that produced water seemingly magically, creating a small puddle around its stalk.
Bright and the other council members have been gathering as many flowers as possible and planting them in a field outside ARK. Of course, the flowers still won't be able to produce enough water to cover the settlement's needs, but they'll at least help. Right now, most of the water brought into the settlement came from a few ponds in the Jungle and the IKEA itself, though mostly from the Jungle, as most people were hesitant to go back into the IKEA.
After grabbing and harvesting what they could, they moved on, passing through the trees, only to soon hear one of their members cry out in pain.
Cursing, they turned to find one of their men being impaled by a spike coming from a...tree.
Rushing forward, some of them hacked off the spike, impaling the man and pulling him away, while multiple others rushed forward to begin...fighting...a literal tree.
[Young Blood Drinker - Level 39]
As people rushed to fight the tree, roots, and bark ripped off from the tree and attacked those who ran to help. Jumping out of the way from a root that was about to pierce through his chest, Bright couldn't help but curse and shout, "Fuck! Do we seriously have to worry about the fucking trees now?!"