Shiga opened his eyes to the sounds of the thriving forest. He stared at the roots that made up his temporary home while listening to the bird calls. Not much later he rolled over and crawled out and into the world outside. As he stretched in the dappled shade, Shiga thought about what to do now that he had food, shelter, and water.

The test was meant to prepare people for the Dao test by putting them in a dangerous situation where they had no one but themselves to rely on. Shiga hadn’t been in any dangerous situations yet, but there was still plenty of time for things to go wrong. While he was thinking Shiga began to clean up his campsite. Since there wasn’t anything pressing for him to do, he would spend his time cultivating and reflecting. After clearing out the small amount of meat that hadn’t been smoked, Shiga took some time to care for the tree that was providing him shelter. Shiga removed some of the vines that were hugging the tree and he did his best to care for the roots.

After Shiga finished caring for the tree it was noon, so he had a meal of wild berries and smoked meat. After Shiga finished eating he wrapped everything up in the deer skin and put it in his shelter. With the camp cleared, Shiga began to make use of the space to cultivate Storm Horse’s Kick. With all martial arts, the further you progressed, the slower progress became slower. Shiga had managed to cultivate the kick to the end of the second level, but with the rest of the afternoon Shiga was only able to make it to near the end of the third level

As the sun began to end its descent, Shiga stopped training and had another meal of berries and deer meat. Satisfied with his training, Shiga put everything back away and sat down to meditate. As Shiga slipped into a meditative state, the sun began to set below the top of the forest, casting shadows all across the clearing. Shiga’s shadow stretched out behind him and onto the tree. The forest seemed to still and then settled into its nightly rhythm. Shiga contemplated his life. After his experience of waiting for 13 days, Shiga knew that he had developed a patience that was above many senior cultivators. The exams were going well, even if Shiga wasn't producing shocking results he was still consistently above average. For now though, he needed to focus on the survival exam. He had enough food, could easily get water, and had a shelter. From now on, Shiga just had to react to any changes and fight off boredom.

After meditating for a while longer, Shiga went over to his shelter and went to sleep. The next morning as Shiga got out of his shelter, he had a prickling sense of unease. Knowing that something was up, Shiga carefully went back into his shelter and grabbed everything. With everything in hand, Shiga sat down to meditate and wait for whatever was coming.

*snap*

A twig snapped, and Shiga immediately bolted up, looking around and getting into a defensive position. Under his cautious gaze, coyotes began to come out of the underbrush. The coyotes approached with their hackles raised and they growled at Shiga, as they began to encircle him. There were probably 2 or maybe even 3 coyote families gathered. Coyotes normally live in nuclear families and will sometimes form temporary groups with other coyotes. Shiga was definitely stronger and more adept than a normal person, but he had not reached a level where he could easily take on 10 to 1 odds, even if he was stronger.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Deciding that this fight was not one worth fighting, Shiga unhesitatingly turned and began to climb the tree’s roots. The coyotes charged as soon as they saw Shiga trying to escape, but by the time they reached the tree, Shiga was already several meters above the ground. A bit further, and Shiga sat on a branch that was twice as wide as he was. As he settled down onto the branch, he watched the coyotes circling the tree. Most of them circled the tree, but 3 of them sat back behind, and watched Shiga. These were the female alphas that the families were based on. Shiga opened his bundle and grabbed a piece of meat. With as much might as he could muster, he threw it away from the tree. The piece of meat crashed through branches, disturbing several birds on its path. Some of the coyotes looked like they were about to go after the meat, but the alphas growled at them and they went back to circling the tree. Shiga decided to sit down and cultivate while he waited for them to leave.

Soon the sun reached its peak, before beginning to fall back down to the earth. The coyotes were no longer circling the tree, but instead lying down under it. A couple of coyotes had gone off to hunt and brought back a few rabbits. The coyotes weren’t going to leave soon, but as things were they couldn’t reach Shiga. Shiga was still calmly meditating on his branch. He had decided that he was going to stay up the night in case the situation changed again. These coyotes had come out of nowhere, so who knows what else might show up.

The next morning was barely any lighter than they night had been as rain poured onto the forest. The thick canopy of the tree protected Shiga and the coyotes from the worst of the storm, but the coyotes still paced around nervously as the thunder crashed through the skies. Shiga watched the lightning, looking to see if any of it was going to hit the tree, but all of the lightning was a decent distance away. He had always known that storms could be awe-inspiring, but Shiga hadn’t truly grasped that concept until, he stood in a tree as wind and rain whirled around him. The lightning was booming and lighting everything up at odd intervals. The storm was incredibly powerful, and for the first time Shiga felt that he was truly weaker than something. The storm carried on through the day, and only began to break after the sun had long since set. Shiga began to meditate once again, the coyotes had yet to leave, and things seemed to be going from bad to worse. Luckily there was only 1 day left.

~~Author Note~~

Sorry about missing the weekend chapter. I was only partly done with this when I had to work on a big presentation that I ended up cutting parts out of because it took too long. I am already working on chapter 5 and it WILL be out this weekend.