It's only been an hour and Akio has experimented with his lightning control a but. Learning that it can be used as a stun. making it more of a support skill than a damage ability until he gets a better source of lightning. Claiming the lives of many small animals like rabbits and boars.
'I'm not getting any meat out of these rabbits, yet ive eaten rabbit before.' Looking towards the dead body of the rabbit he had just killed.
looking at his own dagger he crouched over it and lifted its head, he found that common animals like rabbits, birds and boars don't disappear as lower grade monsters do. Maybe du ego their natural birth. Akio messily skinned the rabbit making many bad cuts where he cut off the rabbits arm.
[Skill acquired! (Passive) Butchery: increases efficiency and outcome of butchered animals.]
'Huh, this might come in handy someday.' After finishing the poor rabbit, he put it in his storage.
[I recommend getting a separate bag for meat and other materials as the storage limit is 10x10x10 meters. While it's a rather large area, by no means should it be wasted on other materials. I recommend build the habit of doing that now while it's easy. It might also cause suspicion if you have an absurd amount of parts in your storage compared to others. After all they normally get a 3 meter cube.]
'I see.... I'll buy that next.' He said looking at his afternoons hunt.
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Wolfs Last Fang x1
Boar tusk x7
Boar pelt x4
Bird feather x17
Rabbit meat x3
Rabbit pelt x7
Common orb x 8
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Akio spent most of the hour looking for small animals and now he was quite bored. He hasn't leveled up and hasn't had a challenge. So he turned towards the middle of the forest and sped up as he ran forwards. The trees get noticeably thicker as he ran at a speed unthinkable to him before. Practically warping the air around him leaving leaves shacking around. The air around him dropped In temperature quickly and his hair suddenly stood on its end
Stopping in his tracks pulling his dagger out and crouching he saw... nothing. Looking up and down,left to right nothing was found. The trees were noticeably more dim compared to before as their leaves covered the sky leaving the suns rays poke through them individually. The wind blew like a whistle as it turned around the trees. Dispite the temperature drop nothing else changed.
[this isn't a safe place to be, you need to get out of here]
The glow of the forest dimmed slowly, as if absorbing the light from the bottom up. It's nearly 200 foot tall trees looked as if the were inhaling all the colors from the ground as the trees slowly lost color.
'W-hat t-the fuck' Akio looked horrified, this wasn't something he should've seen. The feeling the process in front of him gave him the most unexplainable fear ever. In front of him the light from the trees were now gone as the trees were now all grey and black, no colors visible. His breathing accelerated, ears started to bleed as the newfound silence rang so loudly in his ears.
Akio looked forward while walking backwards, his eyes locked on what was there.
A figure nearly white as snow walked forward, a black dress covered their body revealing curves that would normally cause someone to lose focus.
"Interesting" the voice giggled as Akio felt his mind numb. Falling backwards on the ground, akio moved his eyes forward. His head throbbed with adrenaline as his eyes pulsed in his head. The surrounding wasn't getting any better, it was just getting darker.
"It's been a while since any of you wanderers entered here." Looking down at him, a pair of nighttime blue eyes squinted with interest.
"As well as the fact that you're still conscious, something that no has done before. Who are you exactly?" The pressure only grew as she drew closer making his nose bleed. Staring him down a golden ring slowly appeared around the middle of her eyes. It made him feel invisible as she seemingly looked through him.
Her eyes were beautiful, Begging him to look closer. All other color has disappeared, even his new shirt was now a dull grey. But her eyes remained a beautiful blue.
"Ho?" She stopped moving towards him. Her eyes grew slightly as her nonchalant expression remained the same.
Akios slammed his head down, his heads throbbing eventually got to much for him as he slowly lost himself in the pain. Causing him to lose most of his reason.
AAAAAAAAAARGGGHH
Letting out an inhuman scream he clawed the ground at his sides. The woman was now standing over him, now with an inhuman grin. She started chuckling as she stared at him, causing the surrounding temperature to drop further.
"How interesting! I finally meet someone who is able to remain sane in my presence!" She yelled to herself like an insane person talks to ghosts. Leaning over him she crouched and looked into his eyes with a dazed expression.
'I gotta move, I gotta run.' Akio screamed inside his head wanting to move. But his pain only got worse as he tried to to move. Causing him to almost lose consciousness.
"It's fate, you'll be mine and we can talk, cook and more." She seemed to read my mind as her eyes became unfocused
"It doesn't matter if we just met, we can learn about each other. It doesn't matter. Well learn." She pants. She terrified me, feeling the blood draining from my already vacant face. My vision blurs, the pain has only gotten stronger, the throbbing in my head made it feel like an over filled balloon. I would scream, but I cant,it hurts. I feel myself slip from consciousness as I close my eyes on the giggling girl.
Akio threw himself of the ground, looking around frantically. His sweat covered his new clothes causing its color to darken.
He was back on the road.
As though it never happened
Did it?
Was he going insane?
'No, it was real.' He pondered looking around and feeling the gardens blood around his ear.
'But I probably should try and head back to Milda instead of worrying over it. Not only do I not want to investigate and run, but getting to them was what I planned originally.' Akio looked up at the sky, the sun drifting slowly past.
Walking back with what he had acquired from the small beasts he looked at his current stats and saw no change. With a sigh he continued walking, the beast parts he go will sure help a little bit with his money situation. But the orbs are practically useless, it's worth more to sell them. Akio remembered about his inventory and scrambled to check that all of his belongings were on him.
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Wolfs Last Fang x1
Boar tusk x7
Boar pelt x4
Bird feather x17
Rabbit meat x3
Rabbit pelt x7
Common orb x 8
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With a sigh of relief he looked back to the road where the guards stood ahead.
Walking towards the small cafe Milda suggested, I saw her waiting outside for me. Milda was now wearing tight blue jeans with a cute sip up black jacket. Nell was wearing a nice sun green dress that blends in with her vibrant attitude.
"Looks great!" I told her as I stopped in front of them. My clothes were a lot more basic compared to them, a large blue shirt and loose sweat pants to run in. With short durable boots as shoes, his chest plate which was stain with blood was put in his system storage for now.
Looking into the cafe it wasn't anything special, just a regular looking restaurant with booths and tables. Nell seemed to like it, as she looked around the lightly decorated room with interest. A woman sitting at a small booth with a disinterested smile turned away, telling us to follow her.
Seating us down at a regular booth with small lanterns hanging above for lighting. Handing us two menus, rather clean ones too.
"I'll be with you soon" with a small bow the woman left to her other businesses.
"You guys can order whatever you want, I've got enough for most on this menu."
After finding what he wanted in the menu, he started to talk to Milda about the debt situation and what they should do afterwards. The situation here was better than in the woods but it doesn't seem great. After all, we are right next to 'her'. A small flash back to the black void made him shudder. The faster we get away from this corrupt place the better.
"I really don't think you need to pay it off for us, let me help a little" Milda was quite worried about the fact that I would pay for all three of us, seemingly worried about being a free loader.
"Seriously, if it really bothers you that much just pay me later. The longer we wait the more it will cost." Saying this Milda stopped and thought.
"I guess I can do that" saying after about a minute. She gave him a small smile which gave him the most genuine kindness he's felt in weeks.
But that also brought up the bitterness that he had. Making him want to protect them from the bastards that raided them.
'I will find them and make them pay for what they've done to us'