Chapter 2 The colorful stone
…
Han Jin suddenly felt confused while looking at the scene before him. Then he felt that something is wrong when he suddenly noticed that he could feel no pain in his body.
His eyes then landed on the colorful stone that he subconsciously caught while falling from within the giant rat's stomach.
Then from the colorful stone, there appear some words floating in front of him.
At first, the words is something that he could not understand. But soon, his mind seems to have suddenly adjusted and his knowledge of the language used by these words became clear in his brain.
"The language of the Immortals…" he could not help but mutter in shock.
"I am Fan Xinling… an Immortal Artificer… Your luck brought our fates to collide. However, it seems that you have no spiritual roots…" he reads as the words appear before him.
"Since that is the case, I can only give you my immortal artificer technique… although you cannot be an immortal, you can still become the greatest mortal in this world…" when he reads up to this point, Han Jin has already shown a deep frown on his face as he could not understand what this Fan Xinling guy means.
But he has no time to think as another set of words began to appear.
"Now, open up your mind and receive the knowledge of the immortals… please do not resist…" when he reads these words, Han Jin once again frowns.
But before he knew it something seems to be entering his brain like a heat wave which made his frown deepens and then his expression changed as he grimaces in pain.
Then it stopped.
"Stupid! Stupid!" he reads.
"I told you to not resist… Are you an idiot? Open your mind and accept the gift!" Han Jin was stunned that the words seem to be scolding him.
He heaved a deep sigh, then decided not to resist this time.
When he was about to close his eyes, he suddenly feel the warm flow coming back. When he felt it this time, he just let the flow enter his mind.
Soon, he noticed a lot of information cramming inside his brain which made him feel weird. As more information enters his brain, his heart could not help but beat faster.
He began to engross himself in the matter that he did not know what is happening in his surroundings. What he only cares about is the knowledge he is now having an understanding of and is being fed directly into his brain, which made him become excited as he could not wait to try it all out.
An unknown amount of time later…
Han Jin opens his eyes and then found himself in a weird place.
His head feels a bit weird and he seems to be forgetting something. Then he recalled the knowledge he has gotten and became elated once again. But then… he realizes that he seems to be unable to remember a lot of those things.
Then a phrase enters his subconscious thinking.
"Walk before you run…"
"What the hell?! That b*stard gave me a gift and now you wanted to restrict me? What kind of immortal are you?" he murmured in annoyance.
He could not help but shake his head as he slowly stands up from the ground. He then looks around but found that something is wrong with the place he is in. He carefully returns the bloody knife in its holster behind him and then the colorful stone, he put in his pocket.
He suddenly realized something from his body.
To his surprise, Han Jin discovered that his wounds are already gone. Although his uniform sleeve was still torn apart, the wound on his arm is already gone.
Even the pain in his body is also gone.
"What has happened? Is… is this all a dream?... No… I still saw those words in my mind…" he muttered but he knew that everything is not a dream because of the traces of his own blood on his army uniform.
"This… this might not be a dream… but it is not the same place I was in a while ago…" he muttered as he noticed the place is truly different.
A slight panic enters his heart, but then he forcefully calms himself down.
According to his training, going deeper into the forest area is the most dangerous activity that a mere Class-C person like him would do.
On the planet of Avengale, people are divided into 4 classes. Well, this is what he had known from the lessons he got in History Class.
A Class-C person is considered the normal person on the planet.
The next is a Class-B person… they are those that have the strength or speed that is way above a normal person. According to research, they are about 3 to 5 times stronger or faster than normal people.
The 3rd is the Class-A person… they are those that have both strength and speed that has reached 10x or above a normal person. They can be considered as someone in the level of the immortals. They are those that shape the stories and history of the countries, kingdoms, and empires of this world.
And the last class which is considered as those that belong to myths and legends is the Class-S which are already considered as superhuman or gods by the people. Nothing is truly known about the Class-S as they are not normally seen in this world.
So, as a Class-A person in a dangerous forest, Han Jin's life could now be considered in deep danger.
So how can he not panic after realizing this?
Suddenly, he recalled a skill bestowed upon him by Immortal Fan Xinling… and that skill is called the Nim's Eye.
As he recalled the skill, he quickly followed a certain pattern in his mind and chanted unknown mysterious words, which he still could not fully understand, and then thinks about gathering the warm current in the air and letting it flow towards his eyes.
As he did this, something in his eyesight slowly changes.
Although everything still looks the same, the chance is that… he could now see some strange circles that are pointing at the things he is looking at.
It's like some guide that points him to the materials around him that can be of use.
Then as he focuses on those circles, he became elated as he could actually see some information about those materials. But of course, it could only display the basic information about the material.
However, he knew that as long as he is able to touch or use the material, the information will automatically complete itself.
So he immediately wanted to try it out. He approaches a tree and carefully touches it and felt its surface.
As soon as he did, complete information about the tree was immediately displayed in his mind.
He was truly elated when he saw this. Well, he knew that this is only possible because of the strange spiritual element in the air which is triggered by the chant he did in activating the skill for the first time.
"Let's try to harvest this…" he muttered as he takes out the knife from his back and then uses the knife to slice the tree bark.
This is considered as a crafting material as indicated by his sight, so of course, he wanted to test it out.
He carefully removes a part of the tree bark, but as soon as he did, he noticed strange energy entering his body.
Then in his mind, he could see some words appearing.
'Gained a minute amount of Chi energy…'
He was a bit confused at first but soon another piece of knowledge kicks in, making him realize what he is experiencing.
His heart skipped a beat as he quickly made his move and did not stop until he was able to remove a meter-size part of the tree bark.
When he did this, he saw some information in his mind that almost drowned him in elation.
Unknown to Han Jin, a creature has already noticed the commotion he is doing while taking out that part of the tree.
Its red eyes slowly approach from behind and then observed him while looking at his neck.
At this time, Han Jin suddenly stopped moving as he woke from his stupor.
He recalled something and almost banged his head on the tree in front of him. He was too excited and scolded himself for being too stupid. He actually became too engrossed in harvesting and receiving that minute Chi that he forgets where he really is.
He has already felt that killing intent from behind him and he also received a warning in his mind.
He did not hesitate and quickly turns around.
As soon as he did, from the bushes, a shadow came out pouncing right at him.
His heart skipped a beat… but for some unknown reason, his concentration suddenly heightened. As this happened everything around him suddenly slowed down.
Then his eyes landed on that thing lunging at him and saw that it was actually a giant rat.
Although everything is slowed down, it did not mean that everything has stopped. By reflex through his training in the military, he quickly made his move.
But as soon as he did, he could actually feel a strange sensation in his body. For some reason, he could feel his body become lighter and nimbler.
Remembering his training, Han Jin shifted the knife from his back to his hand, and then without hesitation stabs it right at the rat's lower neck.
He did this while he ducks down and uses the momentum of the rat to slice its stomach open with ease.
Giant rats are not demon beasts but just regular beasts in the wilderness so his knife could easily penetrate its skin. If this is a demon beast, even with his sharp metal knife, he would only be only tickling them.
The battle is already over in that instant and everything returns to normal.
But then he quickly noticed a circle pointing at the corpse of the giant rat.
'Material: Giant Rat… Type: Animal Hide… Class: F… Report: A low-quality beast fur.'
Seeing the information, he was a bit surprised and at the same time a bit elated.
But then, he suddenly saw a small amount of misty light flowing out of the corpse and transforming into a small ball of the wisp.
When he saw the wisp ball, he was suddenly stupefied. This is because according to his memory, this is called Chi-energy, just like the one he got from scraping a part of the tree bark.
And according to what he has learned, once he is able to gather a fist-size lump and absorb them then it could add to his strength or agility.
One lump is equivalent to 0.1 kg of muscle mass or a 0.1 addition to his muscle reflex or agility.
So the more of such energy he absorbs the stronger or faster he would become.
With that in mind, Han Jin suddenly feels a bit excited rather become worried while in this place.
"Should I try chopping woods, mining, or hunting… in this place?" he muttered with a hint of excitement in his tone.
But then he shakes his head as he knew that everything is just his wishful thinking. With his current strength that would be equal to suicide. If a true demon beast appears, then his lucky streak would be over.
"Yeah, let's not be stupid… let's just find our way back…"
He began to check his equipment and saw that he still has his revolver on the side. But he dares not use such a thing because it is too loud and that would cause him to reveal himself to those powerful creatures and that would mean certain death.
"Hmm… But still, I need to create something that I can use to protect myself other than this knife and gun…" he thought as he quickly roams his sight around.
Nim's eye is a skill that could last for 1 day once activated. According to what he has learned, this skill is from a female immortal that loves hoarding materials. She created such a skill to help her find what she considered as usable material according to the amount of Chi in them.
Hence, using such a skill, she became well-known in the immortal land to have the rarest and most valuable resources in all the land making her one of the richest immortals.
But that is not what Han Jin wanted right now. He just wanted to make something to protect himself, in case an emergency happen.
After walking for some time, his eyes suddenly found a material that could be used for crafting.
He squatted down and picks up the lump of stone which seems to be a metal ore or something.
"Should I spend Chi-energy to craft a blade?" he thought.
But then froze when he looks at his handgun. It might not be powerful enough to hurt Demon Beast, but if he could fashion a pike, then he could use the force from the handgun to propel the pike, right?
However, right now, he has two problems. One is the lack of Chi, and the second one is the kiln to forge. If he could not use Chi, then he could use a forge.
Although he has the knowledge on how to use pure Chi in crafting, he could not apply that because of the meager amount of Chi has gathered so far. That amount could not even give him enough to supplement a 0.1 kg of strength.
While musing, Han Jin slowly looks up. And when he did, he suddenly froze on the spot.
This is because… a large head of a giant snake is currently looking straight at him from above the trees.
"Damn… What a big snake." He subconsciously muttered.