--After the "Safety Camp" split up--
The Journey to the forest is going to be hard. We'll have to ration our food or else we would starve and lose our immortality. Besides that, everything was peachy!
I liked the warm sunlight on my skin, and the smell of nature drifting into my nose. Living hasn't been more wonderful! I've also seen so many new and exotic creatures. What could go wrong? Though, I do miss home.
Maybe this is what being homesick means? Ah, who cares! I'll enjoy myself, in anyway I can. The caretakers never allowed us to have fun. Although I am sad that they are gone, maybe it was for the best. Who knows?
Sadly, my friend Jared departed and left for the Coast. What's so good about that place anyways? Does it have fruits? No. I think. The forest was plentiful with fruits. Also, there is a large river nearby.
The forest was called "Greywood Forest" by the caretakers. Or at least what we found in the maps. The maps had detailed some locations near the mountains. This whole region is called Antheria or something like that. In Antheria there were cities and beaches, and forests!
"Pssst. H-02. Can you show me those ants again?"
Somebody whispered to me on my left. It was Randy. I didn't see a reason for Randy to whisper to me, however, I must follow the customs of my guest.
"Sure...Give me a second," I whispered back with a teasing look. I had a skill called [Ant Nest] which allowed me to spawn ants from the palm of my hand. It was really cool. I kept doing it constantly and it even reached Level 4! Most people here only have there skill to Level 2. Also, a really cool thing happened when I reached Level 3. I could spawn in extra strong ants which had names. These named ants were like connected to me or something. I could see how much health they had, and could measure what there combat power was.
The measuring was a bit weird. It didn't give me it in the form of a number. It was a percent? This happened with there HP as well.
Name: Anty
HP: 0.2%
Combat Power: 1.1%
(Soul-bound to user [H-02].)
It wasn't anything special. It was different from our status menu where we could see our species and stuff. Anty only seemed to respond to me, and he just seemed like a slightly bigger ant. For now, I could only summon 3 named ants. Two of them I have already summoned and well... I kind of lost them. My fault.
This is why I've kept Anty safe and close to me. Plus, he's just an ant. My skill isn't very useful. I summon ants, wow, great. I could only summon a few hundred ants at best. It was a little bit of a trash skill. However, on the bright side, I can summon ants! How cool is that?
I wonder if I can still see the statuses of my other two named ants. Sigh. They're probably wandering the world, scared and afraid.
Name: What is this skill?
HP: 11%
Combat Power: 14.102%
Skills: Resilience, Pincher Stab
(Soul-bound to user [H-02].)
Name: Mark, did it register as a name yet-
HP: 9.1%
Combat Power: 16.2%
Skills: Hardened Shell, Venom Splatter, Survival Instinct
(Soul-bound to user [H-02].)
Huh!? Wait, I can still access there menus from here? This... this is great! I can-
Wait. They're alive? I mean, I was actually thinking in the back of my mind that there is no way for them to be still alive. Also, they gained skills? Why haven't I gained a skill yet? Is it that [The Solution] blocked me from getting other skills? Well, it didn't say anything like that in the description. Maybe I need to do something great. Like swinging a sword 500 million times and getting the skill [Stab] and such.
Hah. How did they even survive.
"H-02? Um, your ant is running away."
"H-huh? Sorry, where am I? Oh, ANTY!"
Luckily I caught him before bad things could occur. However, maybe if I sent him into the wild he would be able to come back super strong! Or just strong! Or decently non-weak!
Or he may just die. Eh, I shouldn't dwell on bad things. I hope I can find my other two ants, and hopefully change there names. This dumb system wasn't being very clear and cooperative with me, hmph.
Some time has passed. All 35,000 of us are in a sort of snake-like crowd. Like some sort of moving line. It was to ensure that we don't get lost in the forest. Greywood Forest is big, and I mean big. I think. The map said it hadn't ever been fully explored or mapped out. There were some points where people had built settlements, but they never lasted long. The forest was a hostile environment filled with dangerous monsters. However, a force of 35,000 immortals with very weak skills, could probably survive in the forest. We just need to avoid getting lost.
Alas, life simply didn't go the way we want.
A large landslide, I think it was a landslide, took us out. It came from nowhere. It wasn't really a landslide, there were no mountains nearby, and it seemed the rocks moved on there own. It wasn't like it was sliding, it was just moving forward. Rolling endlessly.
The piles of moving rocks cut through our snake-like crowd in half. Or maybe more of a 70:30 ratio. With 70 being the back. I saw at least about 50 people being swept away by the moving rocks and dirt. The moving objects just kept going. A steady stream of rocks and dirt continued to move splitting our group into two.
At first we waited for this "landslide" to end, but it just simply did not. It refused. So we waited. And waited. After a few hours we decided to take action.
Sometimes, on the rocks, purple bunnies could be seen hopping from rolling rock to rolling rock. It was like it knew the terrain like the back of it's ears. No wait, hand. Yeah. Hold on, Paw! Yes! Paw! Oh right, bunnies.
We wanted to attract the bunnies and ride on them to get to the other side. Mind you, these bunnies are large. At least 4-5 of us could fit in one bunny. The problem was, how we would ever attract these bunnies and convince them to let us on, AND, ride us over the landslide. Not with it. What if it just took us and continued hopping down the landslide.
Nonetheless, we continued with the plan. The group who was in the front just sat down and waited for us in the back to come over. So, luckily someone had a skill called [Fresh Scent] which made an attractive smell and would lure animals to the scent. This was used for hunting those boar creatures.
Only problem, we didn't know if it would even attract the bunnies. The bunnies seemed to be of a high-level and seemed different from normal animals. We still tried.
Spoiler, it failed.
Alright fine. This time our plan to use a skill can [Slight Float] to slowly float us one by one to the other side of the landslide.
It failed. Some of us even got washed away by the landslide,
Next, we have [Chaotic Concentrate Point] which launched an incredibly powerful spell full of chaotic powers. Even better, it was concentrated at one singular point.
It failed, it even angered of one the bunnies and it ate the person with the skill. He'll be back. Once he get's digested. Hopefully.
Alright, we have like 12 more plans, here's the next. We're gonna-
"HOLY FUCK!"
"He-help!"
From the other side of the landslide, the people who were in the front and were just patiently waiting for us to somehow come over, started screaming. Through the cracks of this massive landslide, we saw green little things attacking them.
We couldn't do anything to help. The screams continued but eventually died down. Well, we're immortal so what could really threaten us.
Then, the 2nd thing to threaten an Immortal in a forest was introduced. A subtle silence spread throughout the crowd. Usually, we could only hear the rocks colliding and a soft but distinct sound of talking on the other side. This time, the rocks were still colliding, but the sound of talking from the other side has ceased.
Then an awful thing happened. It wasn't actually awful, it was just the bad timing. The landslide had ceased. The last few pebbles hopping around soon passed. It revealed corpses of various green monsters. A goblin according to the bestiaries of the caretakers.
Not only that, some immortals were left with spears and swords still inside of them. We took it out and had them explain the situation. Goblins, many of them, had attacked the front group. They fought but eventually some strange goblin had appeared. A goblin with four arms and a narrow head. It was much taller than the imp-ish looking goblins. This special goblin had brought reinforcements with him.
Cages upon cages with other more stronger-looking goblins. They took the immortals inside these cages and imprisoned them. The goblins packed up there stuff and left. Leaving only a trail, a trail of mockery to taunt us. Leaving behind such a visible trail as if it was a challenge issued to us to go save our buddies. Or maybe the goblins really are stupid. They aren't really known for there smarts.
We huddled up, err, tried to. There is now about 25,000 of us trying to huddle in on one point. However, the leaders soon took command and make a plan together. The leader of the forest team was called Roots. It was because he could summon roots from the ground to attack enemies.
He was apparently the founder of the Safety Camp. He must surely have a high level right? I'm only level 3 since I didn't really attempt to kill any of the caretakers.
Someone approached me. "You, I heard your skill is level 4. Come join the talk." The person then led me towards where all the bigshots were meeting. It was a group of around 500.
Someone yelled with veins seemingly about to pop out of his body. "That's why I said leave then! They are perfectly capable on there own!"
Another nodded. "Bennylicious has a point. We are immortals almost nothing can kill us. Some of them may stay dead for a long time but eventually they'll come back."
A extremely tall man smacked a nearby tree. "No! Remember what happened to Gentle? That kid is dead!"
"So your just saying to go rescue them from an onslaught of vicious goblins?!"
"Yes!"
"But they're immortal!"
"Exactly! We're all immortal, almost nothing could kill us. Saving them will be easy!"
"No, look there were 10,000 strong and yet still failed to fight the goblins. We'll lose."
"They were 10,000 strong. We are 25,000 strong. That's 2.5x stronger."
The crowd of "strong" people continued to bicker. I was leaning more on the rescue party. They're one of us, why would we abandon them, right?
Eventually, the debate was settled with heading to rescue everyone. It seemed Roots had the final say. Nice to know he's a goodhearted man. So, we followed. We followed the trail deep into the forest. In actuality we had no idea where we were going. There was no certain spot we wanted to settle in. We're already in Greywood Forest but now where else would we go?
Anyways, at the end of the trail was a small camp. Green goblins half the height of us were working and tying things together. Then there were these goblins with a dark green tint on there skin. They had much sharper teeth and seemed to radiate an aura of death.
However, in the middle, was a tall goblin with four arms. It's head was like... a banana.
Yeah, it was like a banana. It had very sharp teeth and in each hand was a dagger that shined with a purple glow. Magic perhaps? Maybe we could also replicate that.
While we were still observing this camp, a goblin spotted us and started screaming loudly. Before we knew it, our element of surprise had disintegrated and the goblins started rushing towards us. Unfortunately, I don't have a combat skill. I have ants, but uh, they're ants.
So I simply stayed in the back. I occasionally spewed some ants at a goblins face to momentarily distract them, it worked for a second but a second was all we really needed. We outnumbered the goblins at a pretty high amount. I don't understand how the front group lost to them.
"Spark, cover me."
I looked to the vanguards of this battle. Bright's crew. They became the official vanguard warriors of the Safety Camp. Bright had the ability to summon strings of light which not only blinded foes but cut through there flesh.
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Ares had this amazing skill where he became stronger as he killed more people. Grimly could literally turn his hands into a sword. Like for real. I have no idea about Wilder though. It seemed he was using his bare fists, but the enemies were so weak. Maybe he can secretly curse them?
Just as I was still pondering, a goblin tried to leap onto my head. I dodged it. I looked around. There were a few people around me, but they were too busy trying to fight off other groups of goblins. I started to panic.
The goblin again lunged forward this time on my leg. I spewed a bunch of ants onto his face. It didn't work. He just spat and wiped off the ants and continued trying to stab me.
He jumped again and dived for my neck. So I just spammed more ants. My fist hit its skull making it faceplant onto the dirty ground. It tried to get up but this time I threw Anty into the goblins mouth. I mean, it was to distract the goblin with a huge ant, but I realized my mistake and regretted it the moment I threw him.
The goblin swallowed Anty. Alas, my named ant had fallen.
Two seconds later an ant had burst out of the goblins chest and crawled back to me. I quickly unsummoned him and looked at the goblin. It seemed it was in a lot of pain. I didn't know Anty was that strong. Good job Anty!
Name: Anty
HP: 1.3%
Combat Power: 3.9%
(Soul-bound to user [H-02]
And it even seemed that Anty had gotten stronger. So can they level up from killing? Ah, but wait, the goblin isn't dead yet. I wonder how Anty gets stronger than.
I swiftly kicked the goblin in the skull and it died.
Immortalian has leveled up to Level 4!
You have obtained 2 Blank Attributes.
Glad to see I gained levels. I'll take my reward now.
[Attributes]
[Level]
Agility
15
Strength
12
Intelligence
21
Dexterity
17
Vitality
15
Endurance
17
Luck
[LOCKED]
9
Blank Attributes: 2
Blank Attributes allowed me to add 1 to any of my stats. Except for luck. After it reached 5 in luck the stat was locked and I was no longer able to input Blank Attributes into it.
You get 2 Blank Attributes every level. However, some of the books that our caretakers owned seemed to differ. I think once you reach something called an Evolution Point, you can gain more than 2 Blank Attributes every level.
I inputted attributes into Vitality. It seemed to give me more energy and... life power. Or something like that.
I finally decided to look up from my [Attribute List] and was glad to see that most of the goblins had been slaughtered. However, a dark ominous aura seemed to radiate from Ares. I knew that he grew stronger by killing, but how much stronger? And how much has he killed?
I spewed some ants here and there and I saw an epic battle between the vanguards of ours and the strong goblins from the enemy. Bright seemed to cut everything in his path. All the goblins would be forced to stop or risk falling face first into the ground due to his bright attacks.
There was this weak-looking girl beside him. However, she keep making flashy sparks and didn't do any real damage. I saw her cast fire and ice, but it was at such a weak level that it was negligible. It was like the spells were at level -1.
It was strange. She was so weak, she didn't belong in the vanguard. At least, that's what I thought before she engaged a goblin in close-combat. She seemed like a veteran in a war field. Her movements were refined, like she had done this a thousand times.
Then, I saw the leader of the goblins. The bestiary said there were different ranks of goblins. Goblin Heroes, Goblin Champions, even a Goblin King. I wondered what rank of goblin was this one? It's four arms moved fast, it was just a blur to me.
Bright had many strings wrapped around the special goblin. However, it did something unbelievable that nobody had done till now. The goblin had cut through Bright's strings. A shocking feat, proving the combat prowess of this goblin. As for me, I stood in the back. I casually watched as the battle ensued.
The dark green goblins had all been wiped out. Only leaving this injured special goblin. The special goblin had gone into a frenzy and with all of it's power had cut off Ares head. However, this was anticlimactic. We were immortal. Unless someone could do these "ego wipes" or "soul-death" us, we'll eventually come back.
However, as I was feeling confident about our victory, the special goblin seemed to grow even stronger after killing Ares. It grew stronger and stronger as it killed more immortals. It looked as if it had copied Ares ability. Maybe it did. That seemed unfair didn't it? We're immortal so we always come back but this goblin will always be a little bit more stronger each time we come back. Huh.
"Back! Back out!" Bright furiously yelled at the other weaker immortals.
Grimly charged at the goblin, "You will fall!" Then Grimly fell and was sliced into pieces.
"What do we do? It'll continue to get stronger and stronger until we can no longer overwhelm it!"
I had a small idea. It probably wouldn't help much. But I still did it. I ran towards the special goblin.
"Stop! You idiot!" Bright and the rest of the vanguards yelled at me but who was really going to stop me? I continued running and right when the special goblin had swung all four of it's blades, I threw a small ant into it's nose. The blades cut into me like butter and I soon revived again 2 seconds late. I quickly retreated.
Moment of truth. I waited as my ant continued to attack from the inside.
Name: Anty
HP: 2.4%
Combat Power: 5.1%
(Soul-bound to user [H-02]
It had risen.
Name: Anty
HP: 4.77%
Combat Power: 6.9%
(Soul-bound to user [H-02]
And it rose again.
Name: Anty
HP: 6.1%
Combat Power: 8.3%
(Soul-bound to user [H-02]
I knew my ant must've been dealing damage. I noticed the special goblin grunt a few times in pain for no apparent reason. I also could've imagined that, or it could've been one of our skills. Who knows really.
Anty continued to get stronger and stronger until the special goblin tripped, allowing everyone to dogpile skills onto it. Ares was now in the back with me. He had his power reset after he died.
I continued staring at the special goblin, who was now trying to fight the crowd of people piling on top of him. Finally, it seemed as if it would fall. But with one last stand, it started spinning really fast. It's arms I mean. With four arms it covered the whole area. Hundreds of us had died. Soon, a red cloud had appeared around him. His killing intent had materialized into the real world. Just when it seemed it was about to be over, the goblin fell to the ground twitching.
Then, with an endless mountain of blood which suddenly started spraying out of every pore in it's body, it died.
Immortalian has leveled up to Level 5!
You have obtained 2 Blank Attributes.
Immortalian has leveled up to Level 6!
You have obtained 2 Blank Attributes.
Skill [Ant Nest] had leveled up!
Skill [Ant Nest] had leveled up!
[Anty] has died
2x Inferior Soul Fragments obtained
What. Why did Anty die!? What the hell! No my child! Why!? He even killed the special goblin! Why the fuck is he dead?!
With a huff I sat down exhausted. Mentally exhausted. I didn't really do anything physically. I wasn't really paying attention to what the other immortals were talking about. They said something about a cave, and a really strong spider, but I was zoned out. My Anty had died.
Then, something hit me. What was an [Inferior Soul Fragment]? That was all I got from the death of Anty. However, before I could really look for it's use, I was told to start packing and move out. I tearfully said goodbye to Anty. His body must've still been inside the special goblin but we burned it's body for safety measures.
An Ant colony has been established. What would you like to name it?
Sorry what? An ant colony? Before we left I quickly looked around the battlefield. Then my [Ant Nest] skill seemed to resonate with me and I felt a sudden urge to go to a certain spot. In this spot, a small ant hill appeared. Ants, who were bunch bigger than the normal ants, had started a colony. Who was the queen? How are they going to survive? However, I didn't care anymore. This colony probably wouldn't last long due to the terrain in here.
Ant Colony [Anty] has been established.
I named it after my most favorite ant in the whole wide world. I hoped maybe one day I would cross path with Anty again. Probably not. I wonder how my other two ants are doing.
Inferior Soul Fragment detected. Would you like to consume 1 Inferior Soul Fragment to help Ant Colony [Anty]?
[Y/N]
Huh. So I can help them. Sure, why not. Also what was this Y/N thing? It never used to do that before. Whenever faced with a yes or no question, I usually just had to say yes or no out loud. It's like the system is evolving.
Inferior Soul Fragment consumed.
Ant Colony [Anty] is ranking up! Ant Colony [Anty] is now a 'Rank 2' colony!
Nice. But uh, what did that do?
"Hey! You there! Water! Come here! We're leaving now."
"Coming."
They called me 'Water' simply because a certain caretaker used to call me that. When I asked about it he said it was due to my name H-02. I still didn't get it. Apparently it was a "Earth thing" or something like that. Sigh, he was always a bit eccentric. Well, I'm assuming he's dead by now.
I quickly caught up with the group and we marched on forwards to find a decent patch of land. The goblins had a nice one, but it got ruined from the battle.
New Skill Obtained!
[Ant Bestiary]
New Ant Type discovered!
[Stone Ant]
New Ant Type discovered!
[Soldier Ant]
New Ant Type discovered!
[Grass Ant]
New Ant Type discovered!
[Chomper Ant]
New Ant Type discovered!
[Constructer Ant]
I was in a small daze. I was in mid-sentence talking to someone about my cool ability summon ants when 6 notifications popped up in an instant. New Ant types? What is it talking about? [Ant Bestiary]?
[Ant Bestiary]: A skill related to [Ant Nest], it records the information about different types of ants and helps research new types. It can also research better attributes for every ants.
What a fun skill. Maybe I can become some harbinger of ants or Ant Emperor and rule the world with my ants. All of a sudden, the notion of ants became a whole lot exciting. One thing, how much do I need to research before my ants actually become useful? Hmmm... Ah, I won't think of it.
How did I even get new ant types anyways? Was it from the colony? Maybe.
Maybe if I spawn a bunch of ants and let them wander around the woods they'll eventually form a colony. Hah, as if. That won't work. The system is smarter than that.
----------------------------------------
Ant Colony [Forest 1] has been established.
Ant Colony [Forest 2] has been established.
Ant Colony [Forest 3] has been established.
Ant Colony [Rocks 1] has been established.
Ant Colony [Rocks 2] has been established.
Ant Colony [Rocks 3] has been established.
That was all the colonies I managed to establish before I ran out of creativity and I somehow fainted. I didn't feel any mana exhaustion at all. Maybe it was being linked to so many colonies. I now have seven colonies including the Anty colony. I made sure for the Forest colonies I named them forest and I placed some ants on rocky areas and at one point on a mountain. That's how the Rock Ant Colonies started.
I was super hyped for my ant colonies. It turns out the system really can be cheesed. I wonder why my previous ants I summoned never made a colony. Maybe it's because [Ant Nest] was too low-leveled back then?
I continued to think of different theories but my thinking was eventually interrupted by our whole group stopping. I looked up ahead and there was a nice patch of land. A cool nice stream was close. However, there was a dark spooky cave right up beside the patch of land. It was only then that I realized that they had taken stuff from the goblin camp. A map. That's why we started to move erratically and that's why they started talking about a cave and a spider.
We immediately set up a camp. The leaders were all discussing something. I should've listened back then. There must be some sort of foe like a spider in the cave. However, I'm sure everything will turn out okay.
I kind of just sat down by the river and dipped my feet into the water. I was feeling lethargic after a long day. Surprises after surprises. I just want to lay down and relax. Hopefully no more surprises. I might have a heart attack.
Alert! [What is this skill?] has reached it's first Evolution Point. Please decide it's evolution path.
Name: What is this skill?
HP: 51.1%
Combat Power: 62%
Skills: Resilience, Pincher Stab, Curse Orb, Mana Channeling, Thorn Shell, Berserk Rush
[Evolution Point Impending]
(Soul-bound to user [H-02].)
Pick an Evolution Point Ant Decimator [?] Gigantic Ant [?] Ant Royal [?] Mana Ant [?] Greater Ant [?] Queen Ant [?] Ant Tree [?] Spider [?] Ant Revenger [?] Invigorator Ant [?] [Load More] Pressing [?] will give an explanation on what this evolution will do to your ant.