Chapter 3

Befrending the Forest--ish

Leo yanked at the vine and ripped it clean, pulling it down into the bulk to the side. He had been collecting the materials for the monkey’s tree house for quite a few hours now and was only halfway done. Furthermore, that did not include the last of the ingredients--ca-something flower, a name, even if it did exist on Earth, he wouldn’t have recognized because his knowledge of flowers began and ended with varying colors of roses.

Just then, he heard a rustling of the leaves to his left, prompting him to stop and slowly glide over to take a peek; he’d noticed quite a few strange things happen, a number of which were sex-related which further fueled his idea that this nameless forest was a hedonistic hellhole where the sexually-charged offenders of the animal kingdom were imprisoned, though this one didn’t appear to be that.

There was a boulder of a boar--good four feet long--currently ribbing away like a taunting villain, looming over a pair of young deer whose legs were shaking with fear.

[You have spotted the wild boar that had been causing trouble for the forest natives.]

[Killing it will increase your favorability a decent amount.]

[Wild Boar: Peak of Qi Condensation Stage

Strengths: Great charge speed; durable

Weaknesses: Low agility; susceptible to sneak attacks]

[Wild Boar Meat is extremely delicious and its tendons ripe for bows and similar tools]

Leo’s entire repertoire about hunting came from a singular source--video games, which meant that it was about as useful as a condom to a eunuch. However, for some reason, there was a surging urge within him--urge to leap forth and strangle the beast. It wasn’t righteous anger to avenge the poor critters, or even yearning for the supposedly delicious meat of the beast, but something akin to fiery competitiveness over meeting a stranger that’s better at something than you.

From what Leo recalled, his cultivation had been downgraded all the way down to the first Stage while the boar was at the peak (though, admittedly, Leo had been at the peak for a little while, too). By all accounts, he should just turn heel and go back to collecting all the weird flowers and praying one of the is cecedela or something.

But, instead, he stilled his breathing and slowly moved toward the boar, crouching. The boar was still focused on taunting the scared deer and seemed entirely blind to its surroundings. It would ripple its hooves against the dirt here and there, but only to scare the feeble animals further. As such, Leo was easily able to approach its rear without being spotted.

He also recalled the brief flash of one of the bonuses that he got alongside not feeling hunger, fear, thirst and such--though he forgot the exact number, he did recall that his first attack out of stealth would deal bonus damage. He could now only pray that it was enough to one-shot the damn thing.

Yanking up the faint trace of Qi within him that he learned to move around roughly, he pushed it into his fist and, with as much momentum as he could muster in the foot and a half distance between the two, charged forth and slammed it into the two hanging bells easily visible.

He heard the crack--like that of a thunder--that was followed by such a painful roar that even his heart ached. The roar shook the forest and the boar’s hefty body grew weak and collapsed on the ground. He’d broken the two bells and blood sprayed out like mad. Not allowing the boar to recover, he kept shoving the strands of Qi into his fists and pounding away at the boar’s body, drilling it full of dents and even a few holes. It was ten seconds later that a window popped out, confirming that he’d killed the thing.

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[Congratulations on slaying the Wild Boar!]

[System XP increased by... 2! You are just 5 away from the System level up!]

[You have killed a beast with 8 Stages of difference! A monumental achievement!]

[You have reached Third Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm!]

[Your vitality has been increased!]

[Your strength has been increased!]

[Your attacks out of stealth will deal 20% more damage!]

[Your favorability with the critters of the Nameless Forest has been increased by 8. They now consider you a friend and will aid you if you ask them nicely!]

[--New Side Quest Triggered!]

[You have angered Wild Boar’s mate! Its cries resound deep in the forest and it has picked up on your scent!]

[It will reach you in 4 days!]

[Slay the Wild Boar’s Mate and end the cycle of revenge once and for all]

[Wild Boar’s Mate is at the Fourth Stage of Foundation Realm and has special Boar Bloodline!]

[Work hard and improve your strength to face your yet greatest challenge... or just die!... again!]

Leo rubbed his eyes and sighed; no good deed went unpunished, indeed. Here he was, trying to make the forest a safer place to live, only to be marked by some wild monster that he has no chance of killing.

As the boar toppled over, his body wholly ruined and unusable otherwise, the two deer appeared and slowly, quite warily, approached him. He’d sat down and pondered all-so-broodingly upon his cursed fate when he felt the two young critters lick him gently. Suddenly, his spent Qi was refreshed back to full, and the brooding sensation was swept away. Though it was likely because of the system and its insistence he felt nothing, he instead attributed it to the magic deer lick.

“You two fellas okay?” he smiled gingerly and petted the two animals that nestled their heads against his cheeks. “That’s good, then. Alright, I have to keep gathering crap for the monkey’s tree house. Right, you two wouldn’t know where I can find some, uh, cacela? Cecela? Cecilia? Ce-something-dammit flowers?”

The two animals seemed to glance at each other like people would before one of them bit his clothes and yanked him forward. They dragged him some half a mile south and stopped by a patch of flowers resting neatly in the shade of a remarkably thick tree. The flowers each had between six and nine petals, all colored either in sky-blue or bruise-purple. They were quite beautiful, indeed, and as he picked one, he got the notification he was looking for.

[You’ve collected 1x cadaea flower]

“Cadaea! Right! Goddamn whoever named this crap,” he mumbled as he plucked away. “Thank you,” he turned to the two deer. “Want one? Ah, right, what’d the deer do with the flowers. Maybe nibble away? I had a tortoise as a kid, y’know? That damned animal would nibble at everything. Grass, leaves, socks, toes, asparagus... everything. I still remember the day I thought it’d be great to walk him out like I saw other kids walk their pets. Never seen that Toyota comin’ till it... system, please let me feel something!”

Luckily, there were precisely 62 cadaea flowers in this particular patch, whole 2 over count, and by the time he was done plucking them, the sun had once again began to burn the sky. It must be summer here, he concluded as he hurriedly returned to his hut and to the sweet shade it provided.

There weren’t as many animals around his house as this morning, but there were still quite a few. Namely, there was a falcon-like bird perched on top of his mud hut, sunbathing. It opened its sharp eyes and gazed at him for a moment before ignoring him. Leo did the same, walking inside the hut where a set of surprises waited for him.

For starters, the hut was illuminated by a strange lizard with a tail aglow with color, like a certain character from a certain game from his childhood. It lied coolly at the center, not even opening up its eyes as Leo entered. It wasn’t alone, either; there was a wolf-like creature curled up in the corner, its head a seat to a small, palm-sized turtle. It peeked its head out of the shell for a moment before retreating it, ignoring Leo. There were a few other, small strays, but Leo ignored them as they ignored him.

Lying down, he closed his eyes and drifted; memories of his life back on Earth surged. It was some life, in many ways--he was born with a diamond spoon, the sole heir of a hotel chain tycoon. Private schools, tutors, vacations, cars, jets, women... he was never in want of anything. However, unlike his dad who simply gave him money and ignored him, his mom was a hawk--she forced him to get at least a Bachelor’s, and even to work for a while, not to mention punishing him whenever he did something stupid... like buying a horse for a girl he fancied. Four times. Twice for the same girl.

By the time he was in his late twenties, though, he got bored. Severely bored. And that boredom eventually turned into depression. By the time he was in his mid thirties, he hardly left his apartment; he spent his days in a drunken stupor or high off his mind on these or those prescribed narcotics. He didn’t want to die, not really--he simply wanted to feel once more. Alas, he never got a chance to recover.

He was here, now, wherever that was, bereft of all the privileges. And yet, monumentally, he ‘felt’ less drained than in years. Perhaps he was simply fooling himself and it was just the system, but there was more to it, he was certain.

A few hours later, he left the mud hut. The evening slowly came and he went to collect the rest of the materials for the tree house. This life, he swore, would be different. Much, much different. Better. Much better.