As I frantically flew from tree to tree away from the river, I couldn't help but feel some amount of anger
The Mantis side of my brain was yelling at me for running which was a little unfair considering that was like a normal mantis fighting a house cat and we all know how that ends
But that wasn't the only part of me that was angry I was genuinely angry at myself for not being stronger or smarter. If I had been stronger, I could have left out of logic instead of fleeing out of fear or if I was smarter I might have stuck around to try and scavenge the remains of the fight
But no I was a coward, no amount of hilarious puns or cheesy grins was going to change that, when I was afraid or felt powerless I ran, this was how it always was…
I can't change that
This was something I had accepted years ago and because of that I had my own little saying
"I you don't run away you can't come back, turn cowardice into caution and return stronger"
And that was what I was damn well going to do!
Looking down at the core stuck to my arm I new there was no way this would be enough to make any substantial change to my strength on its own but I did have an idea or two to help me get more
But first I need a place to live, somewhere close to the prey
Flying to the top of the nearest tree a looked around until I found something that stuck out in the landscape
A Dead tree, one of the few I have seen in the entire area. Perfect for a base as it was hard to miss and therefor easy to find as well as likely uninhabited by the looks of it
Making my way there I noticed the reason it was dead. Or rather I smelt it, surrounding the base of the dead tree's trunk was a field of flowers that looked remarkably like Nerium oleander one of the most toxic flowers back on earth and considering how this world seemed to amplify how lethal things were, my guess is that simply touching those flowers would kill me.
Thankfully I can fly kekeke
Landing on one of the higher branches walked towards the truck of the tree and began to slowly carve into the tree like a woodpecker except I was a giant Black Praying Mantis
It took some time but eventually I had carved a space within the tree around the same size as the burrow and looked out to the view
I must admit it was rather beautiful just one dead tree surrounded by a field of sweet smelling and fatally toxic pink flowers.
I crawled back into my new home and went to bed
*****
After waking up I ate the hind leg I had taken and got to thinking
As it stands, I have a lot of factors and ideas but no plans concerning leaving the forest so lets start simple
I want to leave the forest how can I do so?
If I find out how the demonic cultivation sects get in and out of the death lands I can use them to leave but how do find out how?
I follow one of their apprentices that that they are known to send in to the forest, keep them alive during their "survival training" and then follow them to whatever transport they are using and sneak aboard.
How will you do that without dying a horrible death?
This is where things get technical, I'd say that in order to be able to escort and protect the Cultivator apprentice I need to be at least a Class 3 to have any amount of reasonable risk but in order to reach that level I would need either one class 3 or higher core or I would need a lot of class two and class 1 cores like the one I harvested last night.
Now how do I gather these carefully without large risk of death I have an idea
Chi, I know I have chi and I know how to reach it I just need to learn to manipulate it effectively in order to strengthen myself and even create a few techniques of my own
But the second issue of the plan is how to both escort the cultivator and sneak through the transport their using without being caught and squished like a…. well a bug
And that I have a theory, we saw a giant sparking hellhound hide himself with nothing but the light around him so why can't I?
After thinking about it for a portion of the night I think I know how the basterd did it
Intent!
As I previously mentioned Intent is simply the spiritual manifestation of an object or concept created through the user's willpower and understanding. This applies to more than just weapons, it allows for things such as mere ideas creating things like Killing intent, Malicious Intent and most importantly
Hidden Intent
Normally Hidden Intent only hides a person's emotions or spiritual pressure and power but given enough willpower and training it can even hide a person or physical object as shown by our dear friend the hellhound.
This is the key to my escape from the Blood Forest!
If I can learn hidden intent, I should be able to make myself invisible to most people at and below my level so provided the no powerful Cultivator appears to ruin my plans this should be fool proof
Time for a training montage!
(Urp! I just threw up in my mouth)