《I alone live it up - HIATUS》 Chapter 1 I ran as fast as I could with a pile of branches tightly secured in my hands, I hugged it to my chest and jumped into the river while laughing like crazy, no way I¡¯m going to die now, no matter how long they chase after me, I will definitely run away. Let me take the chance while I¡¯m drifting with the current to tell you what is happening, and tell you a little about myself so you can understand me better. First of all, my name is Ash Gray, I¡¯m almost forty or should I say I was almost forty, my last work was in an office as a secretary for a tiny company, answering the phone, arranging some paperwork, typing some letters here and there, it was a comfortable work, but boring at the same time, and as I¡¯m single I lived alone in a small apartment, I traveled aboard when I was eighteen years old, during these twenty-two years I lived in five different countries and tried everything there is to try in this world. Since I was a child I always liked the supernatural and fantasy beings, I always had this secret hope that one day the world would discover that they are real, or at least some of them are. I remember watching many movies about this, one of the movies is talking about vampires and that the vampires showed themselves to the humans in the twenty-first century, and after all these years of living in secret, the vampire race became known and lived side by side with the humans or so said the story of the movie. What I really like about supernatural and fantasy beings is the magic and superpowers that they supposed to possess. I don¡¯t care about a vampire who just drinks blood, in fact, I may feel disgusted with him/her, but if they have super strength and some other abilities, they definitely will amaze and fascinate me. What I love even more is magic, and all the possibilities that it can offer, whether it is elemental magic or even some weirder kinds of magic like summoning magic or imagination magic, just thinking about it is driving me crazy. So, during my forty years of living, I always waited for the big change to happen in this world, but nothing ever happened as you can guess. I even wished for some deadly virus to leak from some odd lab and turn people into zombies and mutate who managed to survive into beings with abilities or superpowers like what usually happens in the novels. Sometimes I even looked at the sky hoping that a meteorite with some alien virus will hit the earth and change the DNA of the living beings on it, so we can evolve like in X-Men, just to change this boring world I used to live in.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Since I¡¯m not stupid and I know that the possibility for something like this to actually happen is far from reality, therefore, my last hope was for somebody to invent a full-dive virtual reality game, so I can live in that fantasy world and try my best to forget the real world, but even this hope is far-fetched, I died and the world kept going in the same boring routine the people live in. During the last two years of my boring life, I quit my job and holed myself in my small apartment, I go out once or maximum twice a month to buy everything I may need then spend all my time reading fantasy and fictional novels or watching some live series, anime or movies, even comics didn¡¯t escape from my radar to live in these magnificent worlds by reading or watching. I even tried to play some MMORPG games, I really liked the worlds in them and how I could move my avatar almost as I pleased in there, unfortunately for me, I was a really bad player, I can¡¯t fight at all using the keyboard, if the monster is a little strong my hands start to press in every button in the keyboard and I mess everything up, especially in PvP, I felt miserable, so I decided to hold to whatever dignity I still had and settle for reading or watching anime about them. So, when I opened my eyes this morning and all my old memories came rushing back to me, of course, I would laugh like crazy, maybe the old world didn¡¯t change, but I left it behind me and moved to another world, the world of my dreams. I can¡¯t remember how I died, my best guess would be that I died a peaceful death while I was sleeping, sorry Truck-kun, somebody stole your work this time, anyhow, today is my first birthday in this world, like every other individual of the demon race, I had my first evolution when I became one year old, which evolved me from a baby imp to a youth imp. During the past year, I was just like every other baby imp, almost fifty centimeters tall, with red skin, pointy ears with black hair and eyes; I stayed in the house with my new parents, in the village we live in. As I evolved today, I was supposed to be almost one hundred and twenty centimeters tall, with brown skin, pointy ears and small horns on the front area of the head with black hair and eyes, and here is where my problem lie. I evolved into almost one hundred and thirty centimeters tall youth imp with snow-white skin, pointy ears, my horns are not visible at all - you can sense them under the skin only if you put your hand on the skin of the front area of my head - silver hair, gray eyes and a strange golden tattoo similar to a wildflower under my left eye. So when my mother entered the room to put a new change of clothes and shoes for me, I woke up on a high pitched scream, and footsteps running away from my room. Just as I opened my eyes all the memories of my past life came back to me with a banging headache, I raised my hand to rub my temples only to notice my skin color and knew the reason for my mother¡¯s scream, thankfully, I still have the memories of the year I spent in this world. Chapter 2 I jumped out of the bed and grabbed the new pants and shirt from the floor, I removed my ripped clothes and quickly wore the new one, I put on the shoes and took a look at my reflection in the mirror, I stared at myself for a moment as I mumbled ¡°Shit, I¡¯m totally white, if I jumped into the snow without clothes, no way in hell anybody can see me.¡± I smirked at my reflection and sneaked out of my room. I walked slowly in the corridor making sure that nobody noticed me and headed to where I can hear voices coming from; I put my ear at the door and eavesdropped on them. ¡°He is cursed; he is going to curse us all¡± Shouted my mother. ¡°As I said, I already sent somebody to tell the chief, keep your voice down, we don¡¯t want that cursed creature to hear us, we need to follow the ritual and kill him at the altar so we can keep the curse away from us.¡± My father said soothing my terrified mother. ¡°I know that, why are they taking so long?¡± My mother retorted. ¡°They are collecting some demons so he can¡¯t escape and as you know ¡­¡± I didn¡¯t continue to hear what my father was saying and went back quickly to my room; I took the sheet from my bed and a small dagger, I hang the dagger on my waist and put the bedsheet over my head to cover my hair and upper half of my face, I took an old scarf and put it around my neck and over the bedsheet, I made sure to cover the remaining part of my face with the scarf and fixed the bedsheet over my shoulders as if wearing a cape. I peeked through the window to make sure that nobody can see me before opening it slowly and as quietly as possible, I sneaked half of my head out and peeked at both sides, when I made sure that I can sneak out without being noticed, I jumped from the window and walked toward the forest. I chose the roads with the least demons; I especially avoided the direction of the chief¡¯s house, since I¡¯m guessing most of the demons will be there to arrange for capturing me and preparing the altar. I walked at a normal pace at first to avoid drawing attention to myself until I reached the outskirt of the village then I ran like the wind to the river. The river is only about two kilometers away from the village, I came with my supposed mother a few times before, but even though I have seen the view, now that I regained my memories, it feels like I¡¯m seeing it for the first time. The way some trees have leaves with multiple colors, or how the fungus is hanging on the trees¡¯ trunks, I really want to stop and touch everything, taste these strange fruits, feel this green and white moss, smell this wonderful air without panting from running, but I reluctantly kept running because I know that I can do everything I always wished for when I¡¯m safe.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. At the first sign of the river, I started to collect broken branches from the ground, I collected an armful of sticks and put them near a big tree and hid behind it, I removed the bedsheet and used my dagger to cut from it three tall and thin lines, first, I rubbed each one of them in between my palms to make it cylindrical which will make it stronger, then I entwined them together and created a rope. I tied the remaining of the bedsheet around my waist, and then used the rope to tie the pile of sticks together; I passed the scarf between the sticks and the rope before tying it around my waist. I secured the pile of sticks in my arms next to my chest and ran to the river as fast as I could while laughing like crazy from happiness. I jumped into the river and drifted with the current, I made sure to keep my grip on the wood tight since I hardly know how to swim, if I had known that my wish would come true I would have learned a lot of things, alas, I had no idea that I could be this lucky. The water depth most of the time was around a meter but sometimes it was a little deeper or a little shallower, nevertheless, I managed to keep floating over the water with the help of the wood in between my arms. I could see some bright red fishes jumping from the water from time to time trying to catch some flying bugs near the riverbank and between some tall water plants. I stretched my hand toward the fishes with a longing look. The fishes¡¯ scales were shining under the sunlight and few drops of water splashed whenever the fishes jumped or fell back to the water and created small rainbows from time to time which drew the best picture of nature. I drifted for about an hour while making sure to watch every scenery around me, until my arms and neck were hurting like a bitch, if you are wondering why my neck is hurting, the answer is really simple, it¡¯s because I kept moving my head all around me to make sure that I didn¡¯t miss anything. When I couldn¡¯t hang on much longer I flapped my legs and swam toward the riverbank, though I stayed in the water until I reached some rocky shore and I grabbed the rocks and climbed on them. I made sure to keep the pile of sticks with me as I sat on the rocks; I untied the rope and threw the sticks into the water again. I couldn''t leave them tied together otherwise they may get stuck near the place where I got out of the river and gave my position away. I removed my clothes and the bedsheet and squeezed out the water as much as I could with my hands then put my clothes back on. I looked at the trees around me until I found some strange big purple mushroom with a strong smell coming from it -I bet it is poisonous - I made sure to keep my feet on rocks and hid behind a tree near the mushroom. I cut a piece from the bedsheet and divided it into two squares, I collected some thick leaves from a nearby tree and arranged them above the cloth before putting my foot over them and tied them under my shoes to camouflage my footsteps. I grabbed the dangerous-looking mushroom with a tree leaf and rubbed it over what remained of the bedsheet and laid it over my shoulder while making sure to keep the side with the mushroom remnants away from my skin. Since my footsteps and smell were taken care of, I walked away from the river and ventured into the forest while making sure to keep away from any voices. Chapter 3 I turned my head and looked back at the river one last time before entering the thick forest, I tried my best to avoid leaving any tracks, I laughed at myself for focusing this much on covering my footsteps as if the only way to track me is through my footsteps. If I remember correctly, I once heard my mother talking about some tracking magic that the hunters usually use to track and locate their prey, but thankfully, we don¡¯t have any at the moment who knows how to use it in the village. All this running and hiding make me feel like some criminal in some mystery movie, I hope they can¡¯t find someone as clever as ¡®Detective Conan¡¯ though, or I will be doomed. As I was walking and thinking about these stupid things, I heard a noise a few meters away from me, I halted my steps and ducked down and hid behind a tree with only the top of my head until my eyes sticking out from behind the tree and looking at the direction of the noise, my heart was beating faster and faster with every second of waiting. I gulped harshly and grabbed my small dagger tightly when the bushes nearby started to shake. Fear, excitement and anticipation were all mixed emotions fighting inside me, what if it was a dangerous monster of some sort? This area beyond the river is out of our village¡¯s territory so it is totally expected to find some really fearsome creatures here. I could feel my body covered in cold sweat, I crouched to make my body as small as possible and widen my eyes as much as I could to make sure that I could see any sudden movement, after a while, my eyes started to burn which made me remember that I forgot to blink. ¡®Holy shit, this waiting is killing me more than this creature¡¯ I thought as I blinked a few times to damp my dried eyes. I waited for one minute, two minutes, five minutes. The bushes kept moving from time to time with some strange noises mixed with the sound of sticks getting broken. I looked at my dagger and decided to creep slowly and see what creature was that, from the looks of it, it can¡¯t be big, otherwise I would have seen it from behind the bushes. I steeled my heart and moved slowly from behind the tree, my dagger was secured tightly in my right hand while my left hand was holding a big leaf to use as a shield. Oh, come on, don¡¯t laugh at me, I know it can¡¯t shield anything at all, the best thing it can do is buy me a second if I suddenly throw it at the creature to make my run.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. I moved my feet slowly one step at a time while scanning the area around me for the best route if I needed to flee, or which tree was the best to climb if escaping was not an option. Finally, I reached the bushes and sneaked my head over them to see the creature who gave me all this thrill. It has a black tall fur with glowing red eyes and a sharp and long golden horn, its claws are short and its ears are hanging long on both sides of its head. ¡®You fucking rabbit, you almost gave me a heart attack for nothing¡¯ I shouted angrily in my head, I was angry and relieved at the same time, don¡¯t get me wrong, I¡¯m not a coward, but I still had no idea what this body of mine was capable of. When I was a baby imp, I was like any other normal baby who hardly can walk and speak and with no strength at all. After I evolved, I had to run away before I could check anything, you can call me cautious, I need to know myself before I can throw myself into fights. Seeing this black rabbit-like creature made me remember how hungry I was, so without delay, I pounced at it from behind the bush. The rabbit raised his ears suddenly and ran like the wind. I tried to follow it with my fastest running speed, but of course, it was futile. In only a few seconds the rabbit disappeared between the trees. I stood there with twisted lips as I realized that I have a big problem, I have no idea how to hunt or make traps, I never hunted anything before, not even a chicken in a farm. I walked for about two hours until I found a tree with some fruits similar to apples, I swallowed my saliva and climbed the tree, I positioned myself over a thick branch and decided to take some rest while eating. I ate three of them without worry because I remembered seeing some of them in my parents¡¯ house, I hummed in content pleased with the sweet taste. I stayed over the tree for about half an hour enjoying the cool breeze and the strange nature around me, I picked another three fruits and wrapped my scarf around them as much as possible, unfortunately, I can¡¯t use the bedsheet because of the mushroom I smashed on it earlier, otherwise, I could have brought some more. I climbed down the lovely tree and started to walk again. For the past a few hours I didn¡¯t stop walking, though I didn¡¯t cover a long distance because I kept my guard up all the time, I also was searching for a safe place to spend the night. When the sun was about to set, I managed to find a big hole in an old tree which I can fit myself in, I collected a few branches and big leaves and arranged them to cover the hole¡¯s entrance, in the hope of protecting myself from any searching eyes for their next prey. The hole was relatively small, I could hardly stretch my legs but it was better than staying in the open, so I was just happy that I found it. After I settled in the hole and covered the entrance, I ate two of the apple-like fruit while remembering what my mother told me yesterday. Every demon can see their stats after their first evolution which will happen automatically when they become one year old, and to see your stats you must say the magical word ¡®status¡¯, so I mumbled ¡°Status.¡± Chapter 4 Just as the word ¡®Status¡¯ left my lips a transparent screen appeared in front of me containing all my information: -- Name: Ash Gray -- Race: Youth imp (Special species) -- Age: 1 Year -- Level: 1 ------ -- Titles: (Given to individuals because of special circumstances or actions) * Reincarnated from another world: Given to beings from another world. This title grants the skills (Quick learner, Fake status and All languages) to increase the possibility of survival in a foreign world. * Earth¡¯s outcast: A special title had been given by God for casting this particular being out of Earth to grant this being¡¯s wish in the safest way possible. As an extra help, this title grants some game-like features (Gamer¡¯s eyes and Inventory). * Cursed demon: Given to individuals from the demon race who were born with special features which can free them from any racial restrictions or weaknesses. This title grants the resistance (Mind manipulation). ------------ -- Attributes: (Can be increased by leveling up or training) * Health Points (HP): 100/100 * Magic Points (MP): 100/100 * Strength: 40 * Constitution: 30 * Dexterity: 35 * Physical Defense: 30 * Magical Defense: 25 ------------ -- Unique magic: (Granted by a title or special circumstances. Can be used by manipulating and transforming the mana into the desired magic. The level can be increased by training) * Dimensional magic (Level: Max) ------ -- Special Magic: (Granted for the special species in each race. Can be used by manipulating and transforming the mana into the desired magic. The level can be increased by training) * Barrier magic (Level: 1/10) ------ -- Normal magic: (Granted for each race or learned. Can be used by manipulating and transforming the mana into the desired magic. The level can be increased by training) * Dark magic (Level: 1/10) * Fire magic (Level: 1/10)Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ------------ -- Unique skills: (Granted by a title or special circumstances. The level can be increased by training) * All languages (Passive) ¨C (Level: Max): Allows you to speak, read and comprehend all the languages in this world. * Quick learner (Passive) ¨C (Level: Max): Makes learning new skills, magic and increase their level quicker and easier. * Fake status (Passive) ¨C (Level: Max): Enables you to conceal and change the displayed values of your status according to your will. * Gamer¡¯s eyes (Passive) ¨C (Level: Max): Allows you to see the world as a game. includes a Map and an Appraisal features. It can be switch on or off. ------ -- Special skills: (Granted for the special species in each race. The level can be increased by training) * Spoils taker (Passive) ¨C (Level: 1/10): Gives a 10% chance of taking a skill or stats points by killing another creature. ------ -- Normal skills: (Granted for each race or learned. The level can be increased by training) * Status (Active) ¨C (Level: Max): Enables you to see information about yourself by using the magical word ¡®Status¡¯. * Sharp senses (Passive) ¨C (Level: 1/10): Heightens your sense of sight, hear and smell. * Danger sensor (Passive) ¨C (Level: 1/10): Alerts you about approaching dangers. * Stealth (Active) ¨C (Level: 1/10): Camouflages your body and makes it harder to be seen. * Swift movements (Active) ¨C (Level: 1/10): Enables you to move from one spot to another quickly. ------------ -- Unique resistances: (Granted by a title or special circumstances. The level can be increased by training) * Mind manipulation (Passive) ¨C (Level: Max): Ensures the safety of your mind of any type of manipulation. ------ -- Special resistances: (Granted for the special species in each race. The level can be increased by training) * Intimidation (Passive) ¨C (Level: 1/10): Increases your resistance against other creatures¡¯ auras. ------ -- Normal resistances: (Granted for each race or learned. The level can be increased by training) * Fire magic (Passive) ¨C (Level: 1/10) * Dark magic (Passive) ¨C (Level: 1/10) * Heat (Passive) ¨C (Level: 1/10) ------ The first words that came out of my mouth when the screen appeared in front of me were ¡®Holy shit, it really appeared.¡¯ Then a big smile decorated my face as I started to check everything carefully. The first thing that caught my attention was the titles I have, especially the title ¡®Earth¡¯s outcast¡¯, the name really doesn¡¯t match the description, it is more like god got bored of all my complaints and threw me here. Anyhow, whatever the real reason was, I¡¯m truly grateful for reincarnating here, and to show my sincere gratitude I closed my eyes and put my palms facing each other in front of my chest and mumbled ¡°Thank you, God.¡± As the title granted me an inventory, I tried to open it and said ¡°Inventory¡± aloud but nothing happened, so I scratched the back of my head and decided to continue reading. Though the third title ¡®Cursed demon¡¯ sounds bad, it is actually a blessing in disguise, I¡¯m now thankful for being labeled as a cursed demon even more. First of all, I got the chance to leave the village and see this wonderful world on my own accord, without being tied with the village. Secondly, I have all the advantages of being a demon without any disadvantages, what more can I ask for? When I reached to the magic section, I stared at it like a fool, so, to actually use magic I need to learn how to manipulate and transform my mana, not like in the games, just say the spell and BAM fire will shoot from your hands, and I¡¯m guessing that the dimensional magic is the inventory, therefore, to be able to use the inventory I need to comprehend how to use magic first. I rubbed my hands in excitement when I saw the unique skills, they are awesome, I tried the skill ¡®Fake status¡¯ and another transparent screen appeared with the words ¡®Fake status¡¯ above it. I tried to hide all my titles and it worked perfectly, so I hid (Special species) next to my race, and everything unique or special. Now my status looks exactly like any other imp in my age, I kept it like that and then concealed it all for more precautions. I looked at the last unique skill and blinked a few times before activating it, and suddenly my field of vision turned into something like a game screen, I could see my ¡®HP¡¯ and ¡®MP¡¯ at the top left corner, my skills were listed at the bottom, a map at the right top corner occupying a quarter of my field of vision. I frowned at all this and wished that the map was smaller and at the right bottom corner, and just like the magical world I live in, the map magically got smaller and repositioned itself at the right bottom corner, I grinned and understood how this thing works, I removed the skills and just kept the small map and repositioned my ¡®HP¡¯ and ¡®MP¡¯ at the left bottom corner. Chapter 5 I played a little with the map and discovered that I can change the area it can cover, from a kilometer to hundreds of kilometers while showing the basic features of each area, and I also discovered that I¡¯m in the middle of a great forest, I think it will take about three months of walking just to reach the nearest city. I mused for a few moments while checking the map before deciding to take the route which leads to the city, and during my journey, I can decide whether to enter the city or not. It could be suicidal to enter a demons¡¯ city with my appearance. At the same time, I can¡¯t live my whole life in the forest, and more importantly, I definitely want to see and explore a fantasy city, I wonder if there is an actual adventurers¡¯ guild with different types of quests, I can¡¯t wait to find out. I snapped out of my daydreaming about the adventurers¡¯ guild and back to reality when I accidentally saw the next skill ¡®Spoils taker¡¯. My eyes popped out of their sockets while I exclaimed ¡°Holy mother of all skills, it is a weak version of the legendary ¡®skills stealing¡¯ skill.¡± I read the description of the skill one more time, focusing all my attention on what I was reading just to be sure. Although the possibility of success is low, it is the steal skill I always read about in novels, even if it can¡¯t steal everything. I yawned even though my mind was still overwhelmed from all the excitement, but my body was complaining and begging for some rest, so I reluctantly decided to sleep. Just as I closed my eyes, I remembered that I didn¡¯t try the last feature of the ¡®Gamer¡¯s eyes¡¯, or checked the normal skills and resistances, I had the urge to continue but I managed to suppress it by convincing myself that it can wait until morning. My mind finally calmed down and drifted into dreamland, a smile could still be seen on my face, what a wonderful day it was. I woke up in the morning with a body stiff like a rock from all the running and walking during yesterday, and curling up like a ball in a small space the whole night didn¡¯t help either, I crawled out of the hole slowly and stretched one limb after the other until my muscles loosed a bit and I managed to climb back to my feet. The sunlight was peeking through the small openings in between the leaves of the trees, speckling the ground in a few places and highlighting some shrubs and fallen old leaves. Due to the intensity of the trees and the poor illumination in the early morning, the dewdrops in the highlighted spots sparkled brightly like little stars in the night sky.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. I inhaled and exhaled deeply a few times taking in all the scents carried by the soft cool breeze, everything was perfect until my stomach growled loudly, I licked my lips and grabbed the last apple-like fruit I still had, rubbed it with my hands to clean it as much as possible and took a bite. While I was eating, I took a quick look at the remaining skills and resistances, I reached to the conclusion that I¡¯m totally fucked because I don¡¯t have any offensive skills at all, all my skills can do is helping me sense the danger and hide or run away from it. My only hope at the moment is using fire magic to attack, I can use something like a fireball or fire arrow though I have no idea how strong it can be at level one. The dark magic is a little confusing for me at the moment, I¡¯m pretty sure it can be used to attack, but all I could think of was using it to blind whoever or whatever I¡¯m fighting with. If the dark magic in this world is concentrated on curses and debuffs which as far as I know is called black magic, it will make more sense, after all, it is a type of magic given to demons, even though in this world demons are not in a war with other races they are still hated. I finished the fruit and started to walk in a slightly different direction than the one I was taking yesterday; this route will eventually lead to the city. While I was walking and keeping an eye and an ear open for any possible danger, my thoughts were wandering all over the place, so I took a deep breath and focused on the important things. My main goal in this fantasy world is to enjoy everything this world can offer, and see everything in it, whether they are cities or forests, dungeons or some ancient ruins, demi-humans or monsters, animals or plants, on land or in the sea even in the sky, in short, I¡¯m going to live it up to the fullest. To reach my goal, the most important thing is to stay alive, and to stay alive, at the moment I need to quickly make as much distance as possible between me and the village while securing food and water and of course, avoid any monsters. The food problem can be solved by eating fruits and I can carry some with me for later. As for monsters, fortunately, until now I didn¡¯t see any real monsters, all I saw were small creatures similar to animals, like that fucking rabbit. As for the village, I¡¯m doing my best at walking as fast as I can. The real problem is water, I don¡¯t have anything to carry water in it, and drinking a few drops of dew every morning is not enough. The best solution for the water problem is to use the inventory to store some water, which led me back to using magic. In the magic section it said ¡°Can be used by manipulating and transforming the mana into the desired magic¡±, the main problem is manipulating and transforming the mana, to be able to do that I need first to be able to fucking sense the mana, which I have no idea how to do. Chapter 6 It has already been ten days since I ran away from the village, during these days I woke up early every morning, walked all day long, slept in a hole of some sort or over a thick branch on top of a tree. I had a few unpleasant experiences with fruits, some fruits were extremely sour, some were salty, pungent or spicy which is a weird taste on fruits. But the worst fruit was a wonderful looking red and shiny little berry-like one, with a tasty smell that made my saliva drip like a rabid animal. The second my teeth scratched the outer skin of the fruit, a ¡®pop¡¯ sound could be heard accompanying explosions of disgusting smell and even more disgusting taste. I spluttered and gagged at the aggressively sickening flavor that assaulted my taste buds to the point my tears filled my eyes and streamed down to my cheeks. That fucking fruit can be used as a deadly weapon; I swore under the sun and moon that I will never touch that damn thing again unless I want to get revenge on someone and put it in his/her mouth and force him/her to swallow it. While walking I also tried to use magic, I tried many methods, like stretching my hands in front of me and imagining some fireballs shooting out of them, or closing my eyes in an attempt to focus on my mana, but the result was that I bumped into a tree trunk which knocked some sense into me, that walking in the middle of the forest with closed eyes was a big mistake. As a last resort, I decided to meditate like what martial arts cultivators do in other types of fantasy worlds and tried to locate and sense the mana that is supposedly flowing inside my body, but since I can¡¯t do that during walking, I specified an hour every night before sleeping for meditation, and the results were disappointing, I couldn¡¯t sense shit. Until now the forest is still relatively safe, all the animals are still small in size and mostly herbivores. There are some dangerous rat-sized animals with big sharp fangs. They hunt in groups in which they surround their prey secretly before pouncing on it all of a sudden from all directions, biting and eating while the prey is still alive, and I think that they have some kind of paralyzing substance on their fangs because the prey couldn¡¯t move at all after a few seconds, all it could do was screeching from the pain. A shiver crawled up my spine as I watched this scene unfold in front of me while sitting on top of a tree. The biggest animal I saw was about a fox¡¯s size but it was standing on its two hind legs whilst his front legs were shorter like a kangaroo¡¯s, I tried to approach it to have a good look at it, and if I was lucky and managed to hunt it down, I could secure some meat.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. When this fluffy and cute little animal saw me, it straightened its back and raised its head with its mouth pointing toward the sky and screamed, a very high pitched, ear-piercing scream, I flinched and uncontrollably covered my ears with my hands, the scream kept going and my head started to feel dizzy, so I dragged my feet and ran away from this siren. In a way, I¡¯m disappointed but relieved at the same time, I¡¯m disappointed because I really want to see some monsters and fantasy-like creatures, but relieved because I will definitely die if I encounter any real monsters with my strength as it is now. I have the qualifications to be strong with time and some effort, and I¡¯m planning to do that so I can go on more adventures and explore different places, but sometimes I can¡¯t stop the urge of wanting to see all these things right now. All in all, everything went well during the last ten days except for the lack of water; I can feel my body drying slowly every day more than the last, and that is why I took a little detour yesterday which will lead me toward a river. I started to run when the flowing water¡¯s voice tickled my ears. There is a clearing covered with grass and small bushes all around the riverbanks which made the clear water reflect the color of the sky perfectly, I took a quick look around me while still running towards the water and jumped into it. The water level hardly reached my waist, I crouched in the water and cupped my hands and guided the cool water toward my mouth and gulped at it like there is no tomorrow. After what felt like hours, my thirst finally subsided and my mind started to work again, so I scanned the area around the river carefully with my eyes to make sure that it was safe before I made my way to the riverbank. I took my clothes off and washed them by scrubbing the fabrics against each other, and took extra care while cleaning the bedsheet so I can use it as a bag. When they looked clean enough, I squeezed the water out then laid them over a bush and took a bath to wash away all the dirt, grime and tiredness which accumulated over the past ten days. After I finished my bath, I laid my back against a smooth rock and relaxed for an hour or two; I was far enough from the village hence I could afford the luxury to rest for a while. My stomach growled to announce the arrival of lunchtime; I reluctantly obliged to my stomach¡¯s order and climbed out of the river, I used the bedsheet as a towel to dry my body and hair before putting on my still damp clothes. I laughed at myself as I put the bedsheet around my neck and over my shoulders as if it was a real towel, before focusing my attention at the small bushes near the river in the hope of finding some kind of fruits. A flapping voice entered my ears and something in the back of my mind was screaming at me to run, I straightened my back and looked towards the forest trying to figure out what was happing, but before I could see anything, two strong feet full of talons grabbed me tightly from my shoulders and lifted me above the ground. I snapped my head up only to see a big green bird with three meters long wings and black legs with big talons clenched at my both shoulders and flying at full speed to god knows where. I looked down at the ground which was becoming smaller every second and mumbled ¡°Thank god I was already dressed, otherwise it will be really awkward.¡± Chapter 7 Before I could comprehend what was happening, we were already flying in the sky over the trees¡¯ tops, I looked in awe at the fascinating scenery while the wind was caressing my face and blowing my hair. I turned my head all around me trying to digest all my surroundings, unfortunately, the bird¡¯s flying speed increased rapidly, adding to that the strong wind hitting my eyes made it impossible to see the details in a forest full of trees, though I could still see the main changes in the natural surroundings. I squinted my eyes and put my hand in front of them to shield them from the strong wind and tilted my head down a little in an attempt to reduce the wind¡¯s effect, how I wished I had a goggle with me so I could enjoy that rare opportunity. The banging pain in my shoulders snapped me out of the dazed state I had been in, only to notice that the bird¡¯s talons were shoved in my flesh and that I was bleeding, I glanced at my health and it was dropping slowly but steadily. I closed my eyes and crossed my hands in front of my chest trying to figure out what I should do, I had only around seventy-four health points left, so the success rate of my original plan on waiting until we reach the bird¡¯s nest before making my big escape became slim. After contemplating for a few minutes, the best plan I could come up with was to remove the talons from my shoulders in hope that the bleeding will stop or at least be weakened, then grab the bird¡¯s foot and wait until we are near the ground to jump and run away or hide. With a plan ready in mind, I raised my hand and tried to remove the talons out. I tried with one hand, then added the other one and used all the strength I could muster to no avail, it was as if I was giving the bloody bird some nice massage treatment to soothe its muscles, the bird tilted its head a little and I could swear that it would have mocked me if it could talk. With no other option, I grabbed my dagger and aimed at its foot above my shoulder, to my unpleasant surprise, its feet were covered with some kind of hard scales that neither my poor quality dagger nor my poor strength has any hope to cut through. I kept trying though until my grip on the dagger started to get loose. Afraid that I might lose my only weapon, I sheathed the dagger in its scabbard while trying to think of other solutions.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I tried to pull a feather from its wings whenever it¡¯s flapped them hoping to annoy the bird to release me, but my hand couldn¡¯t reach anywhere near its feathers, neither its wings nor its body. I glanced again at my fast dropping health and a sense of fear crept itself inside of me, my body was shaking and shivering violently, it seemed that I was going to die before seeing anything in this fantasy world except for the forest and the damn bird. My tears flew with the wind as I cried from the unbearable pain in my body but mostly from the pain in my heart, I never felt alive before coming to this world, even though at that moment I was dying I never felt that much alive. It was the first time in my life that I really wanted to stay alive, when I was still on Earth I never really cared that much if I lived or died, because to truly be alive you must first feel alive. I shook my head angrily and looked at the bird with hatred for being the reason of shattering all my dreams; it automatically rose to the top of things I don¡¯t want to see again, even more than that berry-like fruit, I was boiling from anger and hatred and all I could think of was to take the bird to hell with me. I grabbed its talons with shaking hands trying to pull them away from my shoulders while wishing from the bottom of my heart for the fucking bird to lose the ability to fly and fall from the sky to its demise. Suddenly, a sensation similar to warm air flowed from my heart toward my hands, the bird¡¯s movements became unsteady and had a hard time moving its wings, the bird shrieked as we started to descend. I looked in confusion at the bird only to notice something similar to a thin layer of black smoke covering my hands, but before I could understand what was happening, the bird¡¯s grip on me loosened and I was about to fall down, I hurriedly grabbed at one of its fingers tightly and stared on horror at the quickly approaching ground. The bird glided the wind poorly but nevertheless, it reduced our falling speed until we were a few meters away from the trees¡¯ tops, the bird tried to fly again and flapped its wings only to lose what little balance it had and the gravity played its role and we fell directly toward the trees, my grip on the bird got loose and I got separated from it. As I was falling, I saw the bird crashing into the top of a tree, the branches were thin to withstand the bird¡¯s weight and the force from the fall, they snapped under its feet and big wings, the more they snapped the more terrified the bird became and struggled more. I could feel the branches crashing against my body while my health dropped with each crash, my eyes started to feel heavy and my vision became unclear as I started to lose consciousness, I heard a last loud screech from the bird so I looked at it dizzily and the last thing I saw before I drifted to darkness was the fucking bird¡¯s head covered in blood. Chapter 8 The burning sensation on my skin woke me up; I blinked my eyes a few times while wondering in my hazy mind about this pain that I was feeling. My skin was burning like if it was on fire, my shoulders were hurting so much and I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if I had broken bones in a few places. When my eyes were finally opened I could hardly see anything because of the dim light. I closed my eyes for a few seconds before reopening them but with more focus this time. I moved my head all around me and discovered that I was lying inside something like a cocoon of some sort made of blue fragile-looking vines, with thin tentacles attached to my skin and I was covered with some sort of liquid which I guessed was the reason of the burning sensation I was feeling. Every time I moved my head, the tentacles¡¯ tips would dis-attached from my skin before reattaching themselves again whenever my movements subtitled. I winced from the pain as I raised my hands next to my head and with some difficulty managed to twist the vines and open a small hole. I shoved my hands through the hole and stretched the hole wider. When the hole was big enough I pushed myself with my legs and crawled out of the cocoon. The sun was about to set and the forest looked really creepy with some plants and vines moving unnaturally all around me. I glanced at my remaining twenty-three health points as I crawled slowly away from these plants. I examined the map in searching for a place to spend the night and recover, but I couldn¡¯t find anything except for trees, so I scanned the area with my eyes until I found an old trunk lying on the ground about twenty meters away from my location. I crawled slowly but steadily until I reached the trunk, it was about two meters thick and ten meters tall with so many small and big holes in it, I chose a hole big enough for me to fit in and curled up inside it, I was too much tired to even think any more so I closed my eyes and drifted into sleep. When I woke up in the next morning, the hole¡¯s entrance was covered yet again with these blue vines, I cursed and shoved them out of my way. Even though they increased my safety by hiding my body from any dangerous animals, the liquid they produced was dissolving my clothes and skin. I stood on my feet outside of the hole and stretched my muscles before making my way to a big tree and climbed it up, I settled on a high thick branch away from all these dangerous vines and looked around me examining the place from above. The forest here is similar to the forest I was in before, the only apparent difference is that, it¡¯s a little thicker with moving plants, though, I still have no idea about what kind of animals or monsters live around here. While I was looking around me I jumped in surprise and almost fell down of the tree as my eyes landed on that fucking big green bird, it was hanging on a tree nearby in between some broken branches and covered in blood, the most noticeable thing though, was a broken branch piercing through the bird¡¯s eye all the way inside its head. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down as I mumbled ¡°This damn bird is going to kill me with a heart attack even after its death, I wonder what type of bird it was.¡± Just as the question left my lips a few white-colored words appeared above the bird''s head, I read them with my jaw wide open. *** Youth Dava (Rank 1) ¨C Level 5 *** Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Fuck, I totally forgot that I have the appraisal skill, it could have saved me from a lot of troubles, how stupid can I be?¡± I shouted at myself in frustration, I almost died because of a merely level five youth creature. I looked again at the words above the bird¡¯s head and wondered if I can appraise myself, or if I opened my status and appraised some of its content, maybe it could show me more information about magic, for example. My thoughts were interrupted when a beep sound echoed in my ears and a transparent text appeared in front of my eyes, I looked at it and frowned. < The interaction between your unique skill Gamer¡¯s eyes¡¯ feature ¡®Appraisal¡¯ and your normal skill ¡®Status¡¯ has met the special circumstances required to create the new skill ¡®Log¡¯. > I blinked a few times and sighed, I didn¡¯t have the chance yet to go through what happened yesterday, and now appraisal got suddenly activated and I got a new skill. I decided to check my status first and see what changes have happened, so I mumbled ¡°Status.¡± -- Name: Ash Gray -- Race: Youth imp (Special species) -- Rank: 1 -- Age: 1 Year -- Level: 2 (EXP. 50 /100) ------ -- Titles: * Reincarnated from another world * Earth¡¯s outcast * Cursed demon ------------ -- Attributes: * Health Points (HP): 84/130 (+30 points per level) * Magic Points (MP): 125/125 (+25 points per level) * Strength: 60 (+20 points per level) * Constitution: 50 (+20 points per level) * Dexterity: 55 (+20 points per level) * Physical Defense: 45 (+15 points per level) * Magical Defense: 40 (+15 points per level) * HP regeneration: 10% per hour (+5% per Rank) * MP regeneration: 10% per hour (+5% per Rank) ------------ -- Unique magic: * Dimensional magic (Level: Max) ------ -- Special Magic: * Barrier magic (Level: 1/10) ------ -- Normal magic: * Dark magic (Level: 1/10): - Restriction: Restricts the mobility of the target during contact, can last up to 30 seconds upon disconnection. The effect may vary depending on the difference in levels and resistances between the caster and the target. * Fire magic (Level: 1/10) ------------ -- Unique skills: * All languages (Passive) ¨C (Level: Max) * Quick learner (Passive) ¨C (Level: Max): Makes learning new skills, magic and increase their level quicker and easier by 100%. * Fake status (Passive) ¨C (Level: Max) * Gamer¡¯s eyes (Passive) ¨C (Level: Max) * Log (Passive) ¨C (Level: Max): Shows live notifications about any activity related to the user¡¯s status before storing them in a log. Improves some of the details given in the skill ¡®Status¡¯. ------ -- Special skills: * Spoils taker (Passive) ¨C (Level: 1/10) ------ -- Normal skills: * Status (Active) ¨C (Level: Max) * Sharp senses (Passive) ¨C (Level: 1/10): Heightens your sense of sight, hear and smell by 10%. * Danger sensor (Passive) ¨C (Level: 1/10): Alerts you about approaching dangers within a 100-meter radius. * Stealth (Active) ¨C (Level: 1/10): Camouflages your body and makes it harder to be seen by 10%. * Swift movements (Active) ¨C (Level: 1/10): Enables you to move from one spot to another quickly by increasing your speed by 10%. * Rapid health regeneration (Passive) ¨C (Level: 1/10): Increases your health regeneration speed by 5%. ------------ -- Unique resistances: * Mind manipulation (Passive) ¨C (Level: Max) ------ -- Special resistances: * Intimidation (Passive) ¨C (Level: 1/10): Increases your resistance against other creatures¡¯ auras by 10%. ------ -- Normal resistances: * Fire magic (Passive) ¨C (Level: 1/10): increases your resistance against fire magic by 10%. * Dark magic (Passive) ¨C (Level: 1/10): increases your resistance against dark magic by 10%. * Heat (Passive) ¨C (Level: 1/10): increases your resistance against heat by 10%. * Pain (Passive) ¨C (Level: 1/10): increases your resistance against pain by 10%. * Fear (Passive) ¨C (Level: 1/10): increases your resistance against fear by 10%. * Bleed (Passive) ¨C (Level: 1/10): increases your resistance against bleed by 10%. * Corrosion (Passive) ¨C (Level: 1/10): increases your resistance against corrosion by 10%. ------ ¡°What the hell.¡± Was the first thing I said after seeing the changes in my status. Chapter 9 I rubbed my temple and crossed my arms while I was still sitting over a branch on top of the tree and entered into thinking mode. First of all, my level increased which means one of four speculations: First, the tree and I were considered as a party and when the tree killed the bird, I also got Exp., but as far as I know, it¡¯s most likely not. If the tree wasn¡¯t normal and can level and get Exp., then the Exp. should have gone to the tree, unless parties are formed automatically, which I highly doubt. Second, when the bird died, it was still under the effect of my magic, so it was considered as my kill even though the tree was the real killer, maybe if it wasn¡¯t a tree but another creature then the Exp. would have gone to it. Third, when I attacked the bird then the bird died after some time, I was considered the killer and got the Exp. because I led the bird into its death. For example, if I made a trap and someone or something got caught by it and died or if I stabbed someone or something then they died because of the wound. Fourth, it¡¯s a mixer of all the above and there are thin lines connect them all together except of the party with the tree of course. Or maybe, it just depends on the mood of whoever is giving the Exp. I¡¯m planning to do some experiments in this matter, but I¡¯m betting my money on speculation number four. But whatever the real reason was, I¡¯m glad that my level increased, though I never imagined that it would in such a strange way. The second thing that caught my attention was the new resistances that I got, I was surprised at how easy I got them, which made me wonder if increasing the levels would be this easy, though I doubt that, if it was easy then my constitution or dexterity would have increased from all the walking during the past ten days. And now for the main event, which would be that I finally managed to use magic, and I think I now understand - to some point - how it works. It starts by transforming the mana then manipulate it, not the opposite, which was what I tried to do before. The best way to explain it would be by comparing it to cooking, the first step would be to have the ingredients (For example, dark magic) because without the ingredients you don¡¯t have essentials to use for cooking, if you don¡¯t have the ingredients (For example, light magic) then you first need to find them somehow.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. The second step would be to know the recipe of the meal you are trying to cook (For example, the spell ¡®restriction¡¯) if you don¡¯t know the recipe, then you need to invent one, of course, it must be edible otherwise the ingredients will go to waste. After that is the most important part and it¡¯s your knowledge of how to cook, which would be how to ignite the fire (transforming the mana into magic) under the pot (manipulating the mana into the desired destination) and arranging the ingredients according to the recipe in the pot. When the meal is ready, you can use the pot to take the cooked meal wherever you want. So, to use magic, you will start by transforming the mana into dark magic then form the spell ¡®restriction¡¯ and by manipulating it you can send it to the target. The downside of it is that even if you know the spell you may mess up and it may not work, because it will take time to learn how to cook, I mean, how to correctly transform the mana, and how to manipulate it and send it out of your body to the target. To transform the mana into the desired magic you have to start from the heart and mind, they should be united into a strong image and desire. To manipulate the mana, you must guide the spell out of your body and keep control over it until it reaches its target. I guess I was lucky that I was grabbing the bird at that time, otherwise, the spell would be useless only inside my body because I doubt that I would have known how to send it onto the bird. I stared at the bird and laughed mischievously then shouted at it ¡°The roles had changed; I will be the one eating you.¡± I licked my lips in anticipation and climbed down the tree and started to walk toward the tree which the bird was hanging on, with every step I took I could see the creepy vines crawl slowly toward me, which made me glance at my damaged clothes and cursed. My shirt was a total mess, the upper part was cut into shreds from the bird¡¯s talons and soaked with dry blood, my pants and the remainder of the shirt were tattered with small holes all over them and I think they would tear apart at any pressure, which meant that I needed new clothes urgently. I avoided all the vines and climbed the tree slowly while looking in awe at the scene in front of me. The bird was lying on its side and its wings were Interlaced with the branches and twisted, one of its legs was still catching a branch while the other was hanging in the air, some of its green feathers were full of dried blood and dyed with red, but the most disturbing thing was its head, a branch pierced from its right eye and made its way into the bird¡¯s brain. I shuddered at the thought that we both have fallen from the same place and that just as easily could have been me, I shook the thought quickly and strengthen my heart and climbed on a branch next to the bird. I grabbed my dagger and looked at the bird and said with a smirk ¡°Payback is a bitch.¡± Chapter 10 I looked at the bird carefully and examined its body. The softest and weakest place is its chest, the feathers are small and soft. I crawled on the branch and positioned myself near its chest and grabbed the dagger backward with both hands, I raised my hands above my head then down with a fast movement and stabbed the bird¡¯s chest. The dagger pierced through the skin and flesh with little resistance, I kept my grip firm on the dagger and moved it in a straight line for about forty centimeters before turning to the left and continued until I made a square. I grabbed the skin in one corner then started to cut the skin with the dagger until I managed to remove all the skin from the square area which I cut beforehand. When all the skin was gone, red meat was revealed. While I was trying to cut a piece of meat to take down with me, an idea popped into my head, why take only a piece of meat if I can take the whole bird with me. So, I immediately switched from trying to cut a piece of meat to store the whole bird in my inventory. I returned my dagger into its scabbard and put my hand on the bird and started to focus all my mind on imagining an inventory. After a minute or so, I managed to have a clear picture of an inventory. After that, I focused on my desire to put the bird inside the inventory. I kept on trying and failing for what seemed like ages until finally the bird suddenly disappeared and a beep sound echoed in my mind. < The spell ¡®Inventory¡¯ had been added into the ¡®Dimensional magic¡¯ section. > < Inventory: Creates a special space in another dimension where time is frozen. Objects can be stored and restored directly or by using the inventory¡¯s interface screen. The interface screen can be summoned by using the magical word ¡®Inventory¡¯. > I breathed a sigh of relief then turned my hand into a fist and shot it over my head while shouting ¡°Yes.¡± I laughed happily and proudly at my achievement and the benefits of having an inventory, especially in the middle of the forest. I mumbled ¡°Inventory¡± and a transparent screen appeared in front of me, it contained many squares like icons with the bird inside the first one of them, and the last one has a plus mark written on it. After checking for a few minutes, I discovered that I can create many pages and name them and arrange the things inside according to my well, which is convenient in the long run when I have many things stored inside.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. I closed the inventory¡¯s interface screen and enlarged the map and located the nearest stream then checked my new location, thankfully, I was still in the same direction and even closer to the city that I was planning to go to. I climbed down the tree and started to walk, it wasn¡¯t safe to stay on the ground near the vines so it was better to find a safer place before taking the bird out and prepare a fulfilling meal for the first time since I left the village. While I was walking, I collected some fruits and ate a few too, even though I was dying for a proper meal, the area was still full of crazy plants all around me, so I couldn¡¯t stop. In the late afternoon, I reached a cave in a relatively small hill, the entrance was about a meter high and half a meter wide with some roots from a tree covering half of the entrance. It was perfect as a shelter if it was empty. I tried to check it out from the entrance but it was dark and impossible to see the inside. I contemplated for a while whether to enter it or not and finally, I gathered my courage and decided to enter it but not before I make some preparations. I looked around me and chose a long and strong stick then carved its top with my dagger and made it sharp as much as I could, while making sure that it¡¯s not very thin otherwise it would break easily, I swung it around and thrust for a few times to make sure that I can control it without difficulty. After I tested out my handiwork, the makeshift spear, I proceeded to stage two of my plan, to make a fire. I needed fire to see inside the cave and to cook the meat, so, I collected some old and dried branches from the ground and arranged some of them near the cave¡¯s entrance and stored the rest. I grabbed a piece of wood and tried to focus on using fire magic to lite it. I tried for about an hour but it was futile and I could guess the reason for my failure. Deep down inside me, I was afraid that, if I started the fire, I would end up burning myself because I still couldn¡¯t manipulate the mana, so I couldn¡¯t muster a strong desire to initiate the magic. I moved my hand through my hair in frustration and decided to try another way instead of wasting time on magic because the night was approaching fast, so, I gathered some dried grass and put them in a hole in the ground and grabbed a smooth stick and put one of its ends over the grass then started to roll it in between my palms as I saw once in a TV show. I scrubbed, rolled, blew and cursed for a while until I finally saw smoke rising from the grass, so I quickly and carefully added some more grass and some very thin sticks. When the fire was burning brightly, I added some thick pieces of wood and waited for them to burn. While I was waiting, I collected some more wood and grass and started to make some experiments on the types of grass and wood until I found one that the fire last longer before it turns into an ember. I collected and put a few in my inventory to be used as torches until I can find a better option. I added a few more branches into the fire to make sure that it was going to stay burning and made sure that the fire will not spread into the forest, then I grabbed the burning piece of wood as a torch with one hand and the spear in the other and entered the cave carefully. Chapter 11 I carefully and slowly entered the cave and stayed near the entrance then stretched the hand with the torch all around me, trying to have a clear look at my surroundings before walking away from the safety of being near the entrance. I took two steps forward on what seems like rocky floor and then looked at the wall behind me to make sure that there was nothing lurking in the dark waiting to ambush me from behind, and that¡¯s when I noticed that, the wall was fully covered with plants, they looked like a green carpet decorated with a fist-size closed roses, some of the roses were white and some were dark-colored which I assumed is red while some were shades of pink. I moved the torch around and from what I could see in the dim light, the whole wall and roof were covered completely with these plants, which was strange, because as far as I know, roses don¡¯t grow up in such a dark environment, but I guess in a fantasy world, everything is possible. From my position, just a few steps away from the entrance, I could see the whole passage around me, the entrance seems to be nearly in the middle of the passage, which is almost four meters wide and the roof is about three meters high, but it was not possible to know how long the passage goes, it could be only a few meters or it could be a long passage leading to god knows where. I looked outside and the sun was almost gone, with the last a few rays dyeing the sky with a nice bright red color, and the light entering from the entrance was fading quickly, so I had to move also quickly and explore the length of the cave before the sun goes completely down. I decided on a plan, if the cave is only a few meters long, then I will spend the night inside, but if it is long and may contain dangerous creatures, it¡¯s best to explore it in the morning with full energy and maybe better preparations. I gathered my courage and started to walk slowly forward while making sure that my eyes covered everything, and my hand was grabbing firmly on my supposed spear in case of any surprises, I walked for what looked like ages, but in reality, I think they were hardly a few minutes when I saw the end of the passage and the cave. I released a breath I didn¡¯t know I was holding and my nerves relaxed, it turned out the cave is consisted of only the passage which gets narrower the more you walk in and is about only twenty meters long. The only thing I could see was the plants which are covering almost all the walls with the beautiful roses, it was a perfect cave. I walked back near to the entrance and decided to light up a fire inside the cave there, so the smoke from the fire will not suffocate me. I exited the cave and put some wood on the side of the fire to ignite them, and went to collect a few rocks to make a fireplace of some sort to cook on it.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. I gathered a few big rocks which made me feel grateful to have my inventory, otherwise carrying them would be tiresome and time-consuming, I also chose strong but thin sticks to use as skewers for grilling the bird¡¯s meat. I wished I have some spices or at least salt, but nevertheless, I was happy to have meat and I could always burn it a little which will give it a little salty taste, according to one of my past life experiences when I forget to bring salt on a camping trip and accidentally burned the beef. It was getting really dark, so I ran back quickly toward the cave and arranged the rocks to create a rectangle, then I arranged some wood and thin sticks inside it before I went to the fire outside and collected the few sticks I left earlier, I added them to the ready fireplace inside the cave and mixed them between the other sticks. When the fire was brightly burning I took the bird out of my inventory and started to cut pieces of meat, I decided to grill as many as possible and store them in my inventory to eat them later; because it is not guaranteed that I can always find such a safe place to grill and cut the meat without any fear. When the burning fire became nice bright embers, I arranged some meat at the sticks I chose as skewers and arranged them above the fire then continued my work on skinning the bird and storing its meat in my inventory, though it became hard to see clearly after the fire calmed down. While I was working and concentrating on trying to see what I was cutting, I could hear some swish and rustling sounds from time to time, but every time I looked around me I couldn¡¯t see anything, so I kept ignoring it until something touched my leg, I jumped in surprise and moved a step back and tried to see what was the thing that touched me, but all I could see was a thin shadow before it disappeared. Now that I became sure that something was moving, I couldn¡¯t ignore it anymore and convince myself that it was the sound of the burning wood. Before, I tolerated the bad lighting in an attempt to avoid more smoke and conceal my whereabouts from any creatures, but at that moment, it became a must in that situation. I retreated toward the fireplace carefully with the spear in one hand and the dagger in the other, I looked hungrily at the cooked pieces of meat and stored them quickly, then threw a few thin sticks over the fire to ignite it as fast as possible. I cursed in my mind when my eyes landed on the remains of the bird and made my way toward it to store it too, although I already took a big chunk of it, it was still full of meat and I couldn¡¯t just leave it there out of fear of something I didn¡¯t even see yet. I gathered my courage for the second time and walked the few steps between me and the bird and put my hand on it and stored it. I wiped my cold sweat from my forehead with my arm and prepared to head toward the fire; when something circled around my leg and I felt a stinging pain not long after on my calf. My hand instinctively slapped whatever it was and I jumped back near the fire. I grabbed a burning stick and threw it at where I was, only to see a quickly retreating open pink rose with two sets of teeth. Chapter 12 My mind froze for a few seconds trying to comprehend what my eyes have just seen, it definitely was one of the roses from the walls, but this one was open and has teeth, how come a fucking rose has teeth? No, it¡¯s more like, the rose itself is a mouth full of teeth which looks like a normal closed rose when it¡¯s shut. I harshly swallowed nonexistent saliva when I remembered that the cave was full of roses, which by the way, I previously thought were beautiful and relaxing to look at, but after they showed teeth, my opinion dramatically changed. I grabbed another burning stick and pointed it toward the wall, only to see that the closed roses were now open and of course, full of teeth. I decided that the best option at the moment was to run away from the cave and spend the night on top of a tree, but that was when the harsh reality smacked me on the face. What used to be the entrance of the cave, was enclosed with those plants, and full of open mouths waiting for me to approach. I cursed and quickly added more wood to the fire to ensure it stays on; and stood near it for a better chance at seeing any oncoming mouths. Suddenly, I remembered the appraisal feature, so I looked at one of the roses and focused on it with the intention of appraising it. A second later, pink letters appeared above the rose. *** Baby Bloody Veen (Rank 1) ¨C Level 3 *** I appraised a few other roses and found out that each rose is a separate creature and their levels range between one and five. It was hard to distinguish each one alone, but from what I could see, each rose is connected to about two meters long vine and the vine is connected to the wall or the roof. I was grateful for the appraisal feature for giving me the name, stage, rank and level of the roses, but this information didn¡¯t help much, I wanted more detailed information. While I was focusing on a dark red rose and wishing for more information, a transparent screen appeared in front of me, I looked at it with my eyebrows frowned and started to read. *** Baby Bloody Veen (Rank 1) ¨C Level 4 *** *** Bloody Veen is a nocturnal monster type plant, during the baby stage of the first rank, this plant is highly sensitive against light. It sucks blood to Make up for the lack of nutrition from photosynthesis ***Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. My body trembled as I twisted my lips and started to swear left and right, first of all, what is wrong with this appraisal feature? If it can offer information like this, why it never did before? Why don¡¯t I have a clear guide about what these skills can and can¡¯t do? Why do I always have to find myself in shitty situations for the skills to appear? Secondly, what the hell are those roses? A vampire roses? Will they suck my blood dry? Don¡¯t tell me the red ones are red from blood, what should I do now? I crouched near the fire and took short and quick breaths which made me inhale the smoke from the fire and started to cough. After a while, my cheeks were full of tears from coughing and my breathing became regular again, only then, I noticed that I almost had some kind of panic attack. I cleared my throat and mind at the same time and tried to think of a plan; if I played my cards correctly, this cave can be the best place to gain exp., the vampire roses, I mean, the bloody veen are all in the baby stage of rank one, which means killing them should be easy, the only problem will be if they attack together. By the way, let me explain to you what I know about the leveling and evolution system in this world. There are levels, stages and ranks; every ten levels can be considered a stage, and every three stages make a rank. The most noticeable rank is the first rank, which can be considered the immature and growth period of each creature¡¯s life. It consisted of the baby, youth and adult stages; after each stage, some kind of evolution occurred, and after each evolution, the levels restart from one. The conditions to evolve from one stage to another in the first rank varied depending on each race, for example, demons evolve from baby imp to youth imp after a year, even if the baby imp didn¡¯t do anything or killed hundreds of monsters, the level will remain ten and under until he/she reaches one year old. From the second rank and upwards, the stages are almost non- existent in most races, the only apparent trace of the stages is the increase in the exp. required to level up or gained from killing another creature after each stage (Ten levels). Each rank has thirty levels, and the levels start from one until thirty. After each rank, an evolution occurred, which varied according to the race. Evolution can happen to the shape and size of the body, stats, skills, resistances and/or magical abilities. Back to the topic, it seemed that the roses were afraid of the fire; because none of them approached me near the fire, which made the area around the fire a safe zone. I arranged a few nice thick sticks at the edge of the fire to use as torches. I licked my lips nervously and grabbed my dagger firmly in my right hand, while my left hand grabbed a new burning torch. I walked slowly around the fire and made my way to the entrance, even though I decided to kill the bloody veen to gain exp., I needed to clear the ones at the entrance first to set my mind at ease. I stretched the hand with the torch in front of me; and made the burning fire touch the vines closing the entrance, screeches and shrieks echoed within the cave when I swung my hand with the dagger and cut through a few vines.