Dense wouldn't be a word adequate enough to describe this forest. The area was almost like a jungle, except its environment was a bit more dry.
That aside, all the vegetation around here made it tremendously difficult to travel! Vines were a common sight before, but now the varieties of plain bushes grew larger in number.
"Stupid flowers," William complained.
He could see how every shade of green had spread around this place, so it was no surprise how he grew sick of this color. It could eventually overwhelm a man.
One the plus side, all this moonlight helped him sort the way through this dense plant-life. The sharp light that shone a few meters above his head, helped follow a straight line as well!
The trees here were less of a problem, thankfully. Since this third mountain embraced a high altitude, it made sense how one part of the ecosystem was lesser.
However, it was still treacherous to travel, as it spiked the need for food especially. Irritation was an inevitable tag-along!
So fairly enough he complained, "My stomach probably doesn't have acid in it anymore, so empty..."
That expression was over-dramatic, but at the same time it made sense. Thankfully, the system spoke out and explained something in relation to this dilemma.
[It's the serpent skin spell, it drained a bunch of energy out of your body. This kind of magic tends to overwork every internal organ, just to heal your outsides. It's a sacrificial spell as much as it is helpful.] She deciphered.
"So you're saying I need to eat a bunch of stuff now?" The snakezoid caught up.
Punctually and shortly, the other assured. [Correct, your body needs to be replenished quickly, especially since you lost a bunch of blood as well.]
"Hmm... wonder if this world has bananas or something. I'm hungry, but I dunno what's poisonous here." He muttered.
That question was a bit off topic, so the system didn't plan to embrace it. So she brought the main issue back, with the aid of further information.
In an overly-casual way, she assured. [Your body will rapidly burn a bunch of calories, at least until it receives the quantities necessary to function normally. So feel free to eat more for a while, as the condition of your organs won't slow down your feasts.]
William took a moment to process that information, and eventually made sense out of it. A dried out body surely swallowed up more food.
With that considered, he cut the chatter and simply sought out food to munch on. The plant-life on this planet was far different, so it felt difficult to find safe meals. But yet the options had to be explored.
"Huh... what about this one?" He muttered.
What the young man referred to, was a ball-shaped vegetable on the ground. Most fruits seemed similar to one another, so such a shape felt universal.
"Hmm, let's see." William muttered.
This thing looked much like a melon, so likewise it had a hard shell-like skin. But that wasn't a big problem as he was equipped with not one, but three swords.
It was easy to slice this thing, and of course he used one of his katana-like weapons to get the job done. All it took was a dramatic slash downwards!
The green insides this melon had, didn't look quite attractive. A slim, vein-like structure was wide-spread in this unique meal, such a characteristic failed to appeal to hunger!
But of course beggars couldn't be picky. So he eventually sliced out a bite-sized portion, and hesitantly chewed through it.
"Aah, tastes like ass!" He instantly complained.
Once that dramatic reaction was considered, one would think that he got poisoned! But in actuality this food was safe, the only downside was its sour feature.
It mistreated the boy's tongue in a hellish manner, as if he ate through ten lemons all at once. Such a texture was surely rugged, but a few kilos of food could not be rejected either, especially under these circumstances!
So eventually he ate through every soft part of the meal. Its horrid taste eventually became durable, as every inch of his taste-buds got overwhelmed!
"Uuh... I feel like a balloon." William sighed.
The complaint was reasonable, and perhaps under-reactive. Even though he felt bloated, his body devoured all that food at grand speed! Stomach growls were constant as well, and he could feel how each organ greedily devoured vitamins!
"I'm probably gonna shit like a bear after this," He thought.
Once the pace of this speedy digestive system was considered, he sought for another meal. Hunger was inevitable and likely close by, so he had to be prepared!
So the boy walked upwards furthermore, and followed the sharp white-light across the sky, just to keep a proper orientation. In this case it was imperative to multitask.
"Aha!" He eventually celebrated.
Just after thirty meters he found yet another melon, it was partially hidden in the bush-like greenery. He didn't feel extremely hungry yet, but it was best to prepare this meal before time.
However, there was one different detail here that spiked suspicion. A finger-sized thorn laid on top of the melon, it made one think that the entire thing was poisonous.
William's first response was to poke it with the tip of his blade, but that wasn't quite useful. So after a few seconds he chose to reach down, and simply grab this thing.
"Ah!" The snakezoid screamed.
The thorn didn't poke him, no. Instead, the earth itself arose for half a foot somehow, and tossed the heavy melon a couple of meters up!
What was difficult to comprehend afterwards, was how some creature leaped upwards and latched right on to the boy's hands! This odd animal was black in color, and had an awfully long horn!
"Fuck's this?!" He shouted.
Through that same moment, the young man could feel how a bunch of claws sunk into his skin! The sharp pain that followed along was torturous, this mole-like creature surely had strong limbs!
But of course all this pain didn't necessarily have to be tolerated. So without much hesitation, William relied on his most brutal attack!
"Burn you bastard!" He shouted, and unleashed a neuro-shock.
Now regardless of how powerful this attack had become, it somehow proved useless against this two-foot long creature! Such a result staggered the boy, and brutally spiked up his anxiety!
However, once this counter-attack proved useless, he chose to rely on a desperate move instead. With panic as a tag-along, he thrusted backwards and lifted this fifteen-kilogram beast along!
Although this creature had latched on pretty well, the young man was under enough panic to fling the enemy a few meters away! After that point, fear was replaced by rage.
"I'll rip that horn and push it up your ass!" The snakezoid threatened.
One peek at his hands helped acknowledge the fresh wounds, and the blood which dribbled along couldn't be ignored either. So with that sight considered, the crave for vengeance grew stronger!
William's next idea was to stab this wretched creature to death, but yet he felt nervous to approach it! Thanks to that matter, the best option was to rely on another course of action.
Within a blink, the young one pulled out his rusty iron sword, and immediately flung it towards the angered enemy!
Unsurprisingly, the opposition had charged forward as soon as its big, mole-like claws landed on the ground!
Yet its swift pace was put to a halt, as the rusted weaponry which whistled across the air, crashed right against the enemy's one-foot-long horn! Such a shot was lucky yet terrible.
Although the target has been hit, damage itself was non-existent. The blade had narrowly crashed against that odd horn, and got stuck there.
It didn't even manage to break the enemy's one and only weapon, so of course it didn't cause any fatal damage either!
Now, William got charged at by a horned beast, who got a rusty sword stuck on its pointy weaponry! Surely such a scene wasn't favorable.
At that moment, the system spoke out the unexpected. [That's the first black rhino you found, and your first idea is to slaughter it? Great!]