Morning comes and Arthur immediately sets off on his pursuit of strength, this time planning to go even deeper into the forest.
"Today's gonna be different," He mutters, as he walks, pushing through tree branches.
[You've gotten a lot stronger since yesterday. Goblins shouldn't be an issues from here on out.] Rex affirms, informing Arthur about his current capabilities.
"I know, but yesterday's close call made me realize that I can't just keep fighting without planning for unforeseen circumstances," He says, coming to a stop. "Oh and by the way, I don't know what happened to me overnight, but it seems I can now tell where the monsters are before even seeing them."
[That's because your overall senses have gotten sharper and you can clearly sense aether in the surroundings now.]
Arthur focuses, trying to pinpoint where the monsters are.
"I can sense three goblins a couple meters away," He says, dashing towards their direction and without a hint of hesitation. "I'm starting to get sick of them. Why're there so many around here in the first place? I better end it quickly."
He reaches their location and jumps straight into battle, decapitating the first two closest to him at the same time with a single sword stroke and stabbing the last one in the heart.
"That was easy enough," He claims, crouching in front of the corpses. "A few days ago I would've been stabbed a couple of times. I'll absorb them and move to the next target."
He absorbs the aether from all three corpse and stands, before speaking. "Status window," The screen popping up in front of him.
Race: Human Level: 5 (100) Strength: 20 / Agility: 21 Stamina: 23 / Health: 30 Magic: 67 / Perception: 19 ???> "Oh, I've unlocked a new stat," He says, checking out the other stats. "Hmm, I thought they'd be a lot higher than this, considering how many goblins I've killed and absorbed." [Well goblins do have the lowest aether capacity compared to other creatures, so it seems you've grown to a level where absorbing them won't make much of a difference.] "Ah I see," He replies, placing his hand on his chin and rubbing it. "It's just like getting low exp when you continuously hunt weak mobs. I guess it's time to go after stronger ones." He continues on his march, going even deeper into the forest and sweeping through groups of goblins as he advances. "I am so fed up with these goblins!" He yells, placing his palm on his face. "When will a stronger monster appe-." He gets cut off by a chill shivering down his spine, followed by a loud thud that causes the ground to shake. He snaps out of his daze and hides behind the nearest tree. After making sure he'd properly hidden himself, he carefully peeks to see what was making the ground shake, but nothing was there. "That's weird, what was that just now?" He questions, coming out from behind the tree. "I better keep moving." Just as he got on his way, rain started falling. From little droplets to heavy rain. He decides to look for a place to wait it out. He looks for a while and stumbles upon a cave. "I'll just wait here," He says, carefully walking into the cave, trying not to slip as the rain clouds made it dark. "I hope it clears up soon." He waits for a while, and the shaking started again. The cave trembles as he peeks, hoping to finally see the cause of it. He squints his eyes in an attempt to see what it was but it was too dark. Lightening strikes, and its light flashes, illuminating the area and enabling him to catch a glimpse of it. It was a monster with large beady eyes, legs so long its body could barely be seen, covered in hairs all the way up to its head. "Is that a giant spider?" He exclaims, his jaw dropping and eyes widening. [Hide before it notices you!] Rex alerts, with urgency in his tone. He quickly draws back into the cave, before speaking. "On second thought, maybe I'll stick to goblins..." Hours pass as he waits for the rain to seize, but it just kept getting stronger. He continues to sit in the cave, back against the wall as he stares blankly into space, letting out sigh after sigh. More time passes and the rain finally stops, rain clouds disperse and beams of light start shining through, creating silver linings. He pushes off the ground and stands up halfway, walking towards the entrance as he tries to avoid hitting his head. He makes it out of the cave, stretching his body exhausted from sitting for so long. He slightly lifts his head, looking at the sky while using his hand to shield his eyes from the sunlight. "I can finally continue," He says, averting his gaze from the sky and onto the path ahead of him. "Let's just hope I don't run into that giant spider again." He advances, relying on his senses to locate the monsters. A few kilometers into his advance, he picks up a powerful, nauseating stench lingering in the air. He places his hand over his nose, refusing to stop but the stench just kept growing stronger the further he walked, forcing him to come to a stop. Looking around, he realizes the grass around him is overgrown and longer than what he was used to seeing as it was past his knees. The trees denser than usual as he continues moving, but with more caution this time, looking around for any monster that could be lurking. He stumbles, carefully picking himself up onto his elbows to see what it was. He traces back to his feet where he felt an unsettling sensation, similar to stepping on a squishy mass and sees the carcass of a reindeer, the source of the stench, completely mutilated. Traces of bites and claw marks riddled all over the body. He quickly draws back, his brows furrowing and nose scrunching in a mix disgust and shock. Finally he lifts himself, struggling to regain his footing. Meanwhile as he does that, he notices movements in the grass from multiple directions, as if trying to surround him. "There's something here," he claims, getting on guard and trying to see what it was. Growls grow louder as whatever is in the grass approaches him. A beam of light shines through the trees, revealing a silver pelt. Arthur takes a step backwards, trying to figure out what this creature is. Its eyes glisten a bright mesmerizing red as the grass parts, further revealing its ferocious teeth. It was a creature said to have been extinct for thousands of years, a Dire Wolf. "Weren't they supposed to be extinct?" Arthur asks, shocked by these presumably extinct creatures. "There's so many of them too. This is gonna be a hassle." [END] To be continued…