ALL NOVEL Chapter 5: Exploring
Chapter 5: Exploring
A deer is drinking on river bank. Suddenly, something fast flew in the air. And pieces through the deer's head. The deer's body wobbles and collapses to the ground. A brunet haired man with an average face comes out of the bushes.
Levi begins skinning the deer. This is one of the skills he created by combining wind magic and physical strength. To flicking or throwing the rock that cover with wind spell. He tries to combined wind and earth magic circles at the same time. But the magic circle failed and collapse.
Although the attack looks strong, he knows an apprentice rank with proper preparation can block or evade this attack.
After finishing removing the deer organ, Levi carries the wrapped meat in the deerskin and returns to the cave with Ben. The horn bear also manages to catch some fish.
When they return to the cave, the sky is already dark. Levi like usual begin cooking. While cooking, he has been thinking about what to do about his training. From his progression, it will take him several years or decades to break through to Adept rank. The only way is to do the mission and get the reward.
The problem is that not all creatures can be converted to death points. The options he has are to hunt the monster or find the monster's carcass. The other way is to kill a human. He has been greedy to learn both the warrior and mage paths. But for him, after dying so many times, he found out that none of the skills that he learned are useless.
The quote that he learned in his past life is: A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one. Even if he can’t become the leader, nothing even matters as long as he survives.
The meat is almost done, and Ben is sleeping near him. Levi smiles. Living like this is peaceful. But he knows everything can change at any time. To survive, he needs to become stronger.
As time passed, the tree leaves changed color to red and orange. Autumn has arrived. Levi's appearance has not changed. However, Ben has grown larger than him. A man with slightly long hair wearing fur clothes and a large horned bear are walking in the forest.
Today Levi and Ben are traveling deeper into the forest. Their target is a small gnat's nest. He found this out the deeper he went into Pondover Forest. The larger the monster's nest, fortunately, he has Ben to detect any danger. Before getting surrounded by monsters. Since then, he has only targeted small monster nests.
Several humanoid hyenas, called Gnolls, leave their nest and enter the woods. And their faces are full of vigilance. Because once a week a group of goblins will disappear. They can’t even find any dead bodies.
"Over there, human!"
"Human!"
"Chase him!"
The gnolls see a human running away from them. Like a hound chasing a fox, they sprint toward the human. However, that is the biggest mistake that they will make in their lives.
"What!"
"Ahhh!"
While chasing the human, suddenly the ground that they step on tilts. And they fall into a spike booby trap. The gnolls' bodies get pierced by the sharp pole. Their blood covers the pole; if no one comes to save them, they will die from blood loss.
Besides the trap, Levi also takes several spears made from wood. And throw it at the immobilized Gnolls. The spear pierces through their vital organs, and they die. The carcass turns into an invisible particle of light that only he can see and disappears.
[Death Point: 698 DP]
"Still not enough to use the ability." Levi has been hunting several small monster nests in Pondover Forest. He has been hunting them in moderation to prevent them from asking for help. However, if he is not careful, His activity will soon be noticed by high-rank monsters.
Behind Levi, a large creature is approaching, and in his mouth is a dead Gnoll. Levi has ordered Ben to kill the scout that follows this group of Gnolls. Just like the other carcasses, the gnolls in the horn bear's mouth turn into an invisible light particle and disappear.
"Let’s leave this place."
"Food." Ben still acted like an adolescent horn bear. For him, the most important thing is food.
"Wait until we find a safe place to cook."
-
A group of caravans enters the Pondover Forest for the last time before winter arrives. To make their journey safe, several merchant groups joined together.
In one of the carriages, a blonde-haired man with feminine features is talking to a bald, burly man.
"Miss, no, sir, it’s not safe in this forest." The burly man has dark circles under his eyes. Because of this young blonde-haired woman disguised as a man.
"I am bored." The blonde-haired man ignored the burly man concerned.
"But if anything happens to you, my life will be in danger." Although the burly man knew it was already too late to turn back, He still said it to calm himself down.
"Don’t worry, we have two veteran Adepts protecting us." Like usual, the blonde woman reassured the burly man that everything would be fine.
The carriage slowly comes to a stop. The burly man and the blonde-haired woman find it odd because the day is still bright enough to set up camp. Someone runs toward them as they emerge from the carriage. The merchants have taken note of the number where their caravan will be positioned. They are lucky because they are in the middle of the procession.
"Sir, we spotted a man with a horned bear."
"Sir Austin, what do you think?" The blonde-haired man asked the chubby man
"Let’s go in front to look; the other merchants should already be notified."
"Miss Ember. I mean. Sir Kevin, you better stay inside the carriage while I go to the front to check." Ember ignored Austin and had already walked to the front. Austin can only sigh.
Just like their follower told her, in front of the caravan was a brunet haired man wearing fur clothes. With a large horned bear beside him. The weaker mercenaries and bodyguards shiver. And the experience, one takes out their weapon and prepares to fight. Adolescent horn bears can already fight several peak apprentice ranks. Fighting an adult horn bear is harder. And most people here are ordinary humans, except for the mercenaries and bodyguards.
The reason they are nervous is that this place is called Pondover Forest. Many people tried to establish a kingdom here but failed. And this place is also considered a place of exile, where criminals escaped from death. Although people can survive here, Because of monster tides, most humans and other races will die if they are not prepared.
-
Levi looks at the human's tense reaction with confusion. He thought of asking them for this world map. Then he notices their gaze is not at him but at Ben. Realizing that he has begun retreating if they suddenly attack, he has no choice but to cast a spell to escape.
"Wait!" A blonde-haired man with feminine features comes out of the crowd. Behind him are a burly man and several other people. The blonde-haired man doesn’t show any fear and begins asking Levi several questions. Levi answered half-truths and half-lies about who he is and why he is here.
"It’s rare for a human to live here; don’t worry, I will not ask you any personal questions. How about I hired you as an escort?"
"Okay, but I want this world map." Levi agreed. Since they want to hire him, it's better if he asks for something that he can’t find in this forest.
Kevin agreed; Austin wanted to say something but remained quiet.
inside the carriage.
"Miss Amber, why do you think he might be a criminal?"
"Do you know how my grandfather made Gryphon Merchant one of the top merchants?"
"By hiring strong people."
"Wrong, by making a friend. Because of that, when he is in trouble, the people that feel grateful to him will come to help willingly. Of course, not all of them are loyal. But thanks to that Gryphon Merchant, it grew until it spread throughout the kingdoms."
"Why is the Gryphon Merchant involved in illegal goods?" Austin is considered one of the subsidiary merchants that handle illegal goods. For Gryphon Merchant. He grows up on the street without knowing his parents. After doing this job for decades, he found it weird why the most powerful merchants on this continent engage in illegal activities in secret.
"To gain a connection with influential people and keep a façade to make Gryphon merchants look clean."
Austin understands that if anything happens, the Gryphon Merchant's name will not be affected. Instead, his merchant group will take the blame. But he doesn’t feel any anger toward or hatred for the Gryphon Merchant. Because he is indebted to Miss Amber's father.