It was as if time stopped moving during the brief moment where the monkey's eyes locked with Barandir's. Several escape plans drew themselves in his mind, but essentially it boiled down to two simple options, either he would attempt to try and get past the monkey and make his way back to his riverside camp and potentially cross the river and or try his luck with the waterfall, or he would turn around and try to escape into the unknown, both options had less than optimistic odds at succeeding. He might be able to get more of a head-start if he turned around and ran, but he didn't know the terrain there very well, and after seeing the enormous unknown creature earlier he found that he would have a better chance of loosing the monkey in known territory rather than blindly flailing around.
It was a risk, but he knew he had to release his bloodlust and battleaura! Although they couldn't gain 'tangibility' without natural energy, they could still achieve certain effects, to some degree at least. When he had been escaping the beasts on his first day he hadn't bothered, beasts weren't stupid, they could see if a person was weakened, and the aftermath of releasing either battle aura or bloodlust could be disastrous in wilderness areas where it might provoke some creatures rather than scare them off. However right now he didn't have a convenient river to jump into, and he needed to buy just a couple of moments, which would allow him to break past the creature in front of him.
…..
The world around the monkey wooshed past it as its powerful legs carried it from branch to branch, tree to tree, occasionally it would grab a bird or some other small animal and crunch it whole. It liked the crunching, but it was nothing more than a snack, it had to find itself something more, something larger, however there was a limit to the amount of large animals in the treetops and the ones on the ground had been cleared out by the monkey over the years, these days there were much less deer type animals and other beasts in its territory.
Furthermore with old age it wasn't as fast and strong any more. The risk of claiming some other territory was huge. Still the area along the accursed river was safer, even if it had less food. Over time several spots alongside the river had been claimed by other beasts like itself, who couldn't survive well in the regular parts of the forest.
A loud thump clapped out underneath the monkey as it was jumping past bushy area. It had seen something and quickly caught onto a tree-branch to stop its momentum. Below it had seen a large hare that had fallen into a hole of some sort, and its leg had been crushed by large rock. Hares bunnies and other dirt critters were hard to catch. Aside from squirrels the other critters didn't crawl the trees, much to the monkey's dismay, and to make matters worse, the critters also had secret underground pathways to hide in. Yet here a hare was, ready for the taking, it would sustain the monkey for at least half a day.
With practised agility the monkey slid down the tree trunk, its nails making a line in the tree the entire way down. Its large eyes were staring intensely at the struggling hare trying to understand what had led to its predicament, not that it cared too much, it was simply slightly curious.
A slight noise awoke the monkey from its concentration, and what it saw was a creature it had never seen before, green and brown, some sort of earthen animal, it thought curiously, probably didn't taste good... well no harm in trying something new.
It was stunned for no more than a moment, when its legs tensed up, the monkey preparing itself to pounce and fell this earth animal in one fell swoop!
…..
Barandir released his bloodlust and battle-aura the moment he made his decision, and like a carpet of violence and thumping will of battle and slaughter, it rolled over the Red Bark monkey stunning it to the point where its pounce turned into a staggered roll, making it crash heavily into a nearby tree. Leaf's and branches fell down in a multitude of creaking clicks and clacks. Without wasting any time Barandir withdrew his bloodlust and battle-aura, and having already initiated the Bull's Stance breath he also began operating the movement technique that he had used earlier. It was called the Fifth Step to Overcome, and it allowed a person to twist and turn in short bursts of power.
In this way Barandir quickly dodged into a bush, and past a tree, around a boulder and up onto a branch. Using any type of movement technique was dangerous for the uninitiated, it lay down a huge burden on him, however he kept going! He didn't have a choice because not long after he heard the thrashing of the monkey when it realised that it had been tricked, the lack of attack from Barandir had led to the monkey drawing its own conclusions, and so it quickly began trying to track him.
Unfortunately for the monkey Barandir's smell had been masked and his movements were obscure leaving his path distorted and confusing. Its hearing allowed it to follow the fleeing Barandir, but he had already made it past the spot the monkey had been at.
Barandir kept dodging in-between trees and bushes, but suddenly the tree behind him exploded in splinters of wood, the monkey had decided to barge right through the smaller trees breaking them upon impact. Barandir jumped stumbled and rolled as the tree fell and the monkey emerged. The monkey however did nothing as it stared angrily at Barandir, its chest heaving in heavy powerful puffs, its large body leaned closer to Barandir, its eyes bloodshot, but nothing. The monkey's breath slowed as it slowly, and full of regret turned around.
Barandir saw the monkey jump up into a tree, and soon it was long gone. He lay there on the ground and saw the path of destruction the monkey had left behind in its pursuit. He had but one question, why had the monkey stopped?
…..
The floating embers glistened in the reflection of Barandir's eyes as he sat by the bonfire at camp. His meal consisted of some type of short beaked plump bird that had been caught in one of his many traps. His mind wandered to the day's occurrences, and he slowly began to connect some dots. The river had nothing living in it, on his entire drift there had been no wild river beasts or other beast or animal that had attacked him. Similarly by the waterfall there was a long distance to the nearest nests. These facts coupled with the only animals in the vicinity being of low intelligence showed that the river must somehow frighten the more intelligent beasts, but why? He had been living off of the water for weeks now, and he had felt neither ill nor uncomfortable from drinking the water. However it was clear that the river was exactly what had kept him safe! Yet on the first day when he had been hunted the beasts had had no qualms about following him to the river. So rather it wasn't all of the rivers or streams that frightened the beasts, but only one, or some of them?
Exhaustion washed over Barandir as he finally finished up clearing the bonfire. The night was as usual dark and full of hidden sounds and mysteries. His leg muscles were not as badly hurt as previously, he contributed this to the Hibernating Bear's breath, its ability certainly had more lasting effects than he had anticipated.
The trees did not grow as densely near the riverside, and on the nights where the moon or stars were out they would shimmer in the water, bringing some life to the dark nights. This night however, was completely black, whether Barandir had his eyes open or not, he wouldn't know. He was operating his breathing, while his thoughts were wandering further, should he stay by the river? It obviously provided him with a layer of protection, but at what cost? Was the water dangerous? Did the river belong to someone or something dangerous? Or was it a coincidence? Would the monkey return in the dead of night to finish what it had not earlier.
One thing was clear he needed strength, in order to survive the ordeals of the forest, otherwise he would have to live in the forest with the constant threat of death looming over him. His current camp was seemingly okay, he had yet to investigate much of the other side of the river, so he surely wouldn't run out of food any time soon. His number one priority however was to break through as a warrior.
The process itself was actually quite simple, anyone could do it really, the requirements weren't too high. For one, you needed to have a body that was fully developed, for women this meant around 18, so for safety reasons they would break through at the age of 19. Whereas men had a longer period of developing, so this meant that 22 was the earliest that they could break through. The other requirement was for the person to reach a certain level of physical fitness, and have mastered a breathing technique that allowed the body's blood and organs to be enhanced. Lastly a person had to understand the key acupoints and meridians, which weren't too many. Upon reaching these requirements the initiate would have to feel the natural energy, and simply guide it through the heart meridian the lung meridian, the conception vessel and the governing vessel. This would automatically allow anyone to break through as a warrior.
Barandir had of course earlier considered this course of action, but thought that it would take too long, as he feared staying in one place for too long, now it seemed that the opposite was true. He was fairly certain that he was older than 22, but not by much, however his physical condition was his biggest weakness, he had no flexibility, no strength, his stamina had increased slightly by eating, hunting and living in the wild, but not by much. First, he needed to regain his martial skills, many forms would allow his body to be strengthened and also increase his flexibility and dexterity in one go. He took a deep sigh as foresaw himself staying in the same location for at least a year.
…..
The rain was cascading from the tree tops splattering in large droplets of mud deafening out the majority of the sounds in the verdant forest, but once in a while, almost rhythmically a hollow sound would echo out vaguely in the surroundings. It was Barandir's hand carved heavy wood spear slamming into a sturdy boulder. His physique was unrecognizable from a year and a half ago, his legs and arms were sturdy and subtle all at the same time, his hair was wild and unkempt much like his beard, whatever colour it had had originally been, was now impossible to tell. His eyes however were a deep set violet shimmering dangerously in the rain.
When his training finished he went on top of the rock to operate the Hibernating Bear's breath once more. Amid all of the anguish he had suffered through during the last year and a half this was his only reprieve. The breath was truly magnificent, even without natural energy its effect still slowly but surely provided his body with benefits, his strength was almost as high as a warrior that had just broken through. As the year had passed he had come to the realisation that his experience in breathing techniques allowed him to master the Hibernating Bear's breath exceptionally well, although its mark on his physical body was slowing down, its healing effects still remained top-notch, if not more so, now that he had gotten even more familiar with it.
The water splattered from his body aggressively as he contemplated his spear form. His spear and staff skills had almost reached his previous skill levels, and his unarmed skills had been polished up to a great degree as well. He had also been able to downgrade some of his movement techniques so that he could execute them without breaking down. This was all very good Barandir thought with a bitter smile painted across his face.
Then why was it that he couldn't gather any natural energy! Six months ago he had broken through, but his body had rejected all of the natural energy that was supposed to begin storing in his meridians, and subsequently nourish his flesh, blood, bones and organs. Originally he had passed this off as him having a special constitution, for example the Old Man's Body was famous for rejecting natural energy until one reached the physical limits of ordinary men, the benefit was that one would have extraordinary strength within the first stages of unlocking meridians. He had even been excited about this possibility, and five months later he had reached what he considered the physical limits of ordinary men... Nothing! He could feel the energy just fine, but it was as if his body was incompatible with it, and so he had continued training, and yet he still didn't make any headway.
After recovering his stamina he jumped down from the boulder and began practising his Goose's Flight downgraded light body technique, although differently from movement techniques which relied on dexterity and short bursts, light body skills relied largely on natural energy. However having never been the most talented warrior at externalising energy techniques he had used his knowledge of physical training and skill to create a simplified version of the Goose's Flight. In straight stretches it could increase his speed by two, although his body would be severely spent afterwards.
In this way he continued his arduous training day after day, month after month.
…..
Approximately three years was the period since he had reincarnated, and the entire time he had stayed at the same camping spot, although now there were a few new trophies. Utilizing guerrilla tactics and traps he had heavily injured the Red Bark Monkey and faced it in a death match, although he had never been the most talented man, he had always had a natural instinct for battle, and eventually he defeated this nemesis. He had long since overcome his previous unease with hunting animals or beasts, and had also begun venturing further away from the river, but unfortunately he had quickly come across a pack of large wolves, and he had barely survived not to mention escaped the encounter.
Once more he had returned to his training, although his physical ability had crawled to a stand-still, he still kept going, essentially surpassing his previous self in terms of pure spearmanship skill, but he could still not retain the natural energy. He came to the conclusion that he could stay at this river for years and never find the reason as to why he couldn't retain the natural energy, and if that was the case, then it really was time for him to find a way out of the forest.