Si Sheng, now having evolved and acquired excellent skills, looked into the distance from the mountainside.
"The forest really does seem to go on forever."
He gazed in every direction, but all he could see was lush green foliage and rocky crags jutting out of the ground in the distance. The goddess that revived him told him he'd be far away from human civilization, and he really was. Nowhere around him could be seen having been touched by humans, except his little cave, which was his doing in the first place.
To be honest, Si Sheng wasn't too bothered, he'd always liked keeping to himself—an introvert. However, no contact was certainly not a good thing for anyone's health, no matter who you are. When Si Sheng thought about his situation, he could only sigh and think that he was unfortunate.
He'd been killed by a bitchy goddess and forcefully shoved into a human-less place all because he wasn't tactful. But, he was fine for the time being, he had resistance to isolation to an extent. Him being away from humans for a year wouldn't be too hard for him. He still found some people interesting, though, which could alleviate hours of boredom, thus making Si Sheng feel excitement from another source.
When he thought about this, he had a desire to go past the forest and find civilization. However, that was an impossibility for the current self. Yes, he was a fairly strong creature when it came to the mountainside, but when it came to the forest, he was barely on the food chain. Superior races proliferated the forest and would be a constant threat to Si Sheng, not to mention whatever reptilian creature inhabited the peak of this mountain. If he didn't continue to get stronger, he wouldn't be able to leave, let alone secure his own life.
***
It had been around two months since Si Sheng had arrived in the forest, he had evolved once and gained a number of skills, but it wasn't enough.
Si Sheng needed to grow stronger, as the forest was filled with creatures far stronger than him. If he ever wanted to escape the forest and head to civilization, then he had to be strong enough to kill just about anything the forest threw his way. Whether it be that owl or the wolf.
Si Sheng decided to practice his skills in the meantime. Although he had gotten a number of skills, none had increased a tier thus far, even though he would use most of the skills every day. It showed him how truly hard it was to raise one's skill's tier.
Since Si Sheng received the Blink, he'd been using it quite often. He loved the feeling of teleporting around. It made him feel like he could leap across the world. Additionally, the Sixth Sense skill was incredible, in Si Sheng's eyes that is. No longer would he have to actively think about the position of the enemies as the skill allowed him to sense them at all times while he was fighting them. He relied on his other senses besides sight to locate them as well. It was like having a 360° vision for him, although, slightly blurred.
While testing out his skills, Si Sheng had still kept with his routine of killing creatures nearby, as well as at the edge of the forest. He found that the forest edge monsters weren't that difficult anymore. He was faster, stronger, and more skilled than all of them. He would need to go deeper in to find a challenge. Additionally, he never encountered a creature at the edge as strong or intelligent as the Killer Horned Rabbit, so it was virtually the same as killing rabbits on the mountainside.
Another thing Si Sheng noted, he found that the rarer the creature the more experience it gave. Just like the rabbit and pig, he had received a lot of experience from a rare creature that was a mix between a lizard and a gopher.
[Hairy Large-Toothed Lizard]
[A hybrid lizard between a Hairy Lizard and a Large-Toothed Lizard. It is a rare species as the chance of birthing a live Hairy Large-Toothed Lizard is low due to low genetic compatibility between the two species.]
Additionally, the information given when inspecting something had become more detailed and informed him about things he hadn't come across yet, like the Hairy Lizard and the Large-Toothed Lizard.
***
Today, Si Sheng decided he was going to head deeper into the forest. He had to push himself if he wanted to escape.
Just like Si Sheng had done before, he was equipped with a spear and a pair of knives. He also had his armor crafted from bug leather.
It was early morning and the dew was still glistening on the leaves of the plants at the forest's edge. The smell of rain lingered in the air and the sight of green prevailed. Si Sheng was walking into the forest on high alert the whole time.
As Si Sheng walked through the forest he constantly scanned his surroundings using his Sixth Sense and concealed his presence using Sneak. He was wary of the terrifying creatures that lurked in the shadows of the undergrowth that would suddenly pounce and tear him limb from limb.
***
Si Sheng had been walking in the forest for around 20 minutes and hadn't run across any creatures, which made him even more unnerved. If he had found at least one he wouldn't be as tense, but since he hadn't even caught a glimpse of a creature, he was incredibly alert.
Just as Si Sheng was pondering why he hadn't stumbled upon any creatures, he heard something up ahead. Quickly concealing his presence and blending in with the shrubbery, he waited and watched. He didn't want to blindly rush into a fight without intel, thus he waited.
What seemed like an hour passed. All the while, the sound was getting closer and closer to Si Sheng. As he continued to wait, he finally clearly heard the noise, it sounded like language to him, but no language he had ever heard before. From all the languages Si Sheng knew and all the structure for languages he knew, this was unlike anything he'd heard before. If he had to liken it to something, it would be like a poorly-spliced mix between Latin and Japanese, which made his ears feel funny.
Despite the odd-sounding language, Si Sheng was excited. It was the first time he had encountered something with human intelligence the whole time he'd been there—other than maybe the 'pig'. So, this moment was especially exciting for him; it was also a nerve-wracking one since he didn't know if whatever had the capability to converse in a spoken language would be hostile or friendly to him.
Si Sheng, with a rapid heart, waited to see what was speaking, completely forgetting the tension from before.
Then, from around the corner, three beings that look like humans walked out. The thing that caught Si Sheng's attention, however, was their ears. They were long and pointed! They looked like elves from Northern European folklore!
They looked exactly like the ones he had read about in fantasy novels or seen in games. They were beautiful, with pale white skin, hair ranging from blonde to silver, and eyes that were beautiful colors of the rainbow. One had blue eyes, one purple, and the silver-haired one had red eyes. Also, the signature long pointed ears that stuck out from their long hair. They were elegant and regal in every sense of the words.
This excited Si Sheng even more. More so then anything in the past, it was the first time he had met another intelligent species, if you disregard the goddess or the 'pig', and they were elves!
Si Sheng was excited and wanted to yell out to them, but he couldn't. For one, they might become hostile to him, given the place they were in. Secondly, he didn't speak their language, thus it might've been impossible to talk to them, apart from hand gestures and pictures.
To this, Si Sheng let out a sigh. He really wanted to interact with someone, especially from a different species. For him, someone who came from a world that only had one highly intelligent species, meeting another highly intelligent species was an exciting yet terrifying moment. Not only was there the language barrier, but there was also the cultural and more importantly species barrier. Even if he was able to communicate with him, he didn't know if the way they lived was similar to how humans lived on Earth or what their views were on other species. From Si Sheng's common sense, elves were arrogant and racist in general, meaning they viewed other species as less than themselves and would confront other races with extreme prejudice.
Despite the risks, Si Sheng wanted to interact with them. The opportunity to interact with another intelligent species was more than enough motivation for the knowledge-hungry Si Sheng. They would definitely have a lot of information that he could learn from. With that in mind, he steeled himself. Even if they decided to be hostile, he felt like he could get away from them using his Blink and Sprint skills.
So, pumping himself up, Si Sheng popped out of the bushes raising his hands so the elves would understand he meant no harm.
He hoped they would be friendly.