He swung it around a few times and added a grip for his hand. The weight of his mace was about 33 pounds and felt comfortable in his hands. While he could handle a few more pounds, he was running low on mana and needed to regenerate some before adding further changes.

Now armed and with his minion by his side, Elijah set off to explore the forest. He would return at night to invade the camp.

Chapter Begin

Unlike during the night, Elijah could see further through the forest. The size of the trees revealed itself during daylight much more clearly. They weren’t huge. They were humongous and made Elijah feel like an ant as he walked through the forest.

He wanted to get a feeling for the layout of the environment before he did anything regarding the camp. The mace in his hand gave Elijah some comfort while his eyes constantly scanned his surroundings.

It would take at least ten people with outstretched arms to hug them. The sight of the giant trees around him was awe-inspiring and Elijah could only hope that the inhabitants of the forest weren’t as huge in comparison.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting shadows on the forest floor. The ground was covered in a layer of soft, brown leaves that crunched beneath his feet with each step.

The gentle rustling of leaves and the occasional snap of a twig underfoot were the only sounds Elijah could hear. He glanced at his minion which simply walked by his side, its wooden body blending in perfectly with the trees and foliage around them. The minion didn’t care about the crunches it caused with each step, though.

As they walked, Elijah couldn’t help but feel a sense of peace and calm wash over him. The beauty of the forest was so overwhelming that it was hard to think of anything else. For a moment he forgot about the experiences of yesterday and just enjoyed the simple pleasure of being surrounded by nature as he always had done on earth.

He followed a broad path that wound its way through the trees, his minion keeping pace beside him. The path led them to a small clearing, where a small stream ran through the center.

Elijah took a moment to rest, placing his mace on the ground as he approached the stream and dipped his hands into it to drink from. The water was cool and refreshing.

After quenching his thirst, Elijah and his minion continued to move forward at a rapid pace. He wanted to explore as much as possible and moved in a circle around the camp to accustom himself to the parts of the forest around it.

Almost an hour later Elijah froze. His minion copied his movements and stood still. He waited for a few moments before he breathed out in relief. “I thought I heard some-” Leaves rustled behind Elijah as he heard something rapidly moving towards him. Without turning around he threw himself to the side.

His eyes landed on the minion which was impaled by horns and lifted by what looked like a deer. The beast started thrashing around as it let out high-pitched whines and tried to get rid of the wooden minion.

Elijah’s heart was pounding in his chest as he scrambled backward with wide eyes. He immediately reached for his mace but noticed that it was lying a few feet away from him. “Damn!” He had tossed it aside in a moment of panic.

His eyes shot back to the fight. The beast was still struggling against his minion, which was attacking back by now, and used his wooden fists to land one blow after another on the deer’s head. It only enraged the beast even more.

Elijah kept an eye on the struggle between the two as he hurried to grab his mace before he faced the deer with both hands gripping the shaft of his weapon. He took the opportunity to take a closer look at the monster. It was a mirror image of a normal deer but had some differences which made it a downright monster. The horns ended in sharp points and looked much more dangerous than those known from deer. The monster also had sharp teeth it used to try and destroy one of the minion's legs.

What made the monster so eerie was its resemblance to deer. It looked like someone had simply drawn a deadlier version of a deer and breathed life into it.

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The fight continued as his wooden minion gradually gained the upper hand. The deer could do nothing to truly hurt the wooden construct. It took in blow after blow, eventually succumbing to the pain before its legs gave in and it fell to the ground.

Elijah slowly approached the beast. His wooden minion was now standing next to it and he couldn’t believe what he had just seen. His minion had driven the beast to the ground. Part of its horns were still protruding from the minion’s chest, but it didn’t even try to pull it out which showed that it wasn’t hurt at all.

The beast was snorting and heaving and let out a weak growl as Elijah reached out to touch it. Its eyes were clouded over and unfocused, it's breathing shallow and labored.

He wanted to end its suffering and sharpened the end of the mace’s shaft before he used it to take the life of the beast only to hear another grunt from behind as soon as he killed it. He pulled his mace out and swiveled around just in time to dodge two other deers that were rushing at him.

The two monsters were enraged when they saw their dead comrade lying on the ground. Elijah used the opportunity to swing his weapon with all his might against the head of one of them. The beast stumbled and nearly received another blow before the second deer charged at Elijah. This one had no horns but still managed to send him flying as it smashed into and knocked the wind out of him.

The wooden minion made good use of the distraction and drew a spike into the other one, taking its life on the spot.

The deer was snorting and pawing at the ground before it charged the minion. They engaged in a fight as Elijah pushed himself up again. His whole body was hurting but he took his mace and ran forward, wanting to help his minion this time.

While the deer was still struggling against the minion, Elijah lunged forward and smashed his mace into the deer’s back. It immediately lost balance and fell to the ground, giving the minion enough time to kill this deer as well.

Elijah stood still, his mace held tightly in his hands as he watched the three monsters lay still on the ground before him with mixed feelings. His minion stood next to him, seemingly unfazed by the sudden fight. Only after the fight was over had Elijah enough time to process what happened. He had survived his first battle in this new world and felt relief as he looked down at his hands. Wooden hands. He always had been adaptive but all the things he had gone through since yesterday were too much for even him.

At the same time, he was glad for the changes which had happened to him. Without his new abilities, he wouldn’t survive long in this new world. They were necessary. But even then, he hadn’t asked for them.

A sad smile spread across his face. At least he was still alive.

Elijah stood there for a few minutes and thought about his situation before he eventually gripped his mace. He would survive and get stronger. And the way to do so was clear. Small amounts of what was probably essence had entered his body with the death of each beast and Elijah felt how this essence settled somewhere inside him.

He continued to explore the surroundings and paid even more attention to sudden noises this time. The next two hours of exploration led him to another part of the forest. Old ruins extended through large parts of the forest Northway from the camp.

Wary of other people being around, Elijah crept through the debris around him, though there was nothing of this effort seen inside his minion so Elijah soon gave up the sneakiness.

They passed several buildings before Elijah and his minion stumbled upon what seemed to be an altar of some kind. It must have been huge considering the debris it left behind but it was probably abandoned long ago.

Elijah marveled at the carvings on a few parts of the broken buildings before they continued forward. He didn’t stop scanning his surroundings and soon found what seemed like coins laying on the floor.

The local currency? He thought, picking them up and putting them into his pocket. After a few more steps, he stopped.

Something had moved. Elijah couldn’t believe his eyes as a ten feet tall pile of stone rose in front of him.

He felt the faint shaking of the ground below him as the monster took a single step. Elijah grabbed his wooden minion by its arm and pulled it behind a wall. “Don’t move!” He hushed as they hid. The ground was shaking a few more times as the earth monster continued forward, moving further away.

Elijah gathered the courage to peek around the corner only after the shaking was gone.

“Fuck.” He whispered. The monster was easily thrice his size and massive. Elijah was happy that it didn’t notice them and readied himself to sprint in the opposite direction. But as he wanted to pull his head in, another monster appeared in his field of vision.

Or rather, it had been there the whole time. It was so huge, Elijah assumed it to be a building before. It wasn’t but fortunately, it seemed to be sleeping.

With wide eyes and his breath held, Elijah turned to his minion. “Can you decrease in size?” As he asked, the minion turned even smaller than it already was, shrinking down to about half its size. It discarded both its legs to decrease its total mass before it started to rearrange its body anew. Half a minute later a smaller version of the same minion stood in front of Elijah. It didn’t even reach up to his knees in height.

"Great. Hold on tight.” Elijah grabbed the minion and put it on his head as he began to sneak away. Their escape was accompanied by Elijah’s constant pleas that they would not encounter any more stone giants.

He didn’t stop walking even after leaving the area behind. His every breath seemed too loud, his every step feeling like a signal for the monsters to tell them his position.

The minion continued to lay on Elijah’s head as its creator struggled to bring them both to safety.