"in the entirety of the outside world, this area has the most monsters and dens".
The words still echoed in my head. The outside world is everywhere outside the main cities gates and according to rem, the city itself was just about the size of a smaller continent. If no other place in the outside had as much monster population than this place then one can only imagine what sort of danger this place poses.
As we walked through the forest, I heard various howls and cries from different monsters. From the sound of the noises, it seemed that the creatures were close by. I held my weapon in my hand and kept my guard up, in the event that we were suddenly attacked by any monsters.
"There's no need to be so nervous. After all, this isn't the first time you've been here". He said, sensing my warriness.
"Huh?!" I unintentionally shouted out.
"Ssssh. We don't want to attract any of the stronger beasts with our noise now, do we". He said with his finger on his lips, gesturing me to be more quiet.
"Sorry. I was just a little....shocked by your earlier words. I would like to know more, so please tell me about it". I asked, my poor socialization skills not permitting me to do any better.
He looked at me and said, "it was somewhere in this area that I and the old man first discovered you during one of our practical training sessions, you turned out to be inside the stomach of an adult demonic serpentine".
"....!" I was silent.
'So that's the name of the creature that swallowed me whole'. Then, I couldn't put up any form of resistance against the beast but now, I couldn't help wondering how the current me would match up to the beast.
....
We had been walking for almost an hour now and albeit the current situation, my mind remained scarily calm. Why was I not even the least bit afraid during this time? I didn't know for sure, but I could definitely make some valid guesses.
A good portion of it was definitely due to my passive, Adapt. This hypothesis was confirmed as I heard a system message saying that the skill had leveled up. Another reason was probably thanks to my current strength. I had grown a lot stronger than the last time, to the point where no grade 8 monster or below could put up more than a little resistance against me and this boosted my confidence, one of the traits I lacked back on earth.
My sword was still in hand and guard up. But something unexpected happened, something that didn't quite make sense since we were treading in a territory that was supposed to be crawling with monsters. And that something was.....nothing. Throughout the time we had been walking, not a single monster crossed our path. We were never attacked by any beast of any sort. Not even once. Our walk was actually quite uneventful and dull as Lucas had apparently finished his 'suspenseful' explanation about dens, which I paid little to no attention to.
"Um...senior Lucas...." I was starting to get worried.
"Hmm~". He hummed as he turned back and looked at me with an expression that clearly said 'everything is under control'. This eased my worries a little bit but I still decided to ask and confirm. After all, one could never be too cautious.
"I noticed we have been walking for a while but not a single monster has attacked us.....not that I am against it but.... I just wanted to know why".
"I was expecting this. You see, normal monsters don't just attack someone indiscriminately. No, they only bare their fangs against you if you intrude their territory or pull their aggro by attacking them first. The forest is so large and the strongest monsters can only be found in the deeper parts of the area. The path we are treading on right now is neutral territory, so a single monster wouldn't dare attacking us, lest they run the risk of facing off against not just us but other beasts of equal or higher strength as well".Lucas explained.
"I see". It all made sense now. So thanks to the concept of territory, the monsters are not allowed the freedom of attacking and killing indiscriminately, unless you provoked them somehow. The only exception were the stronger monsters, but they existed in the deeper parts of the forest.
'now I understand why there were only a certain group of monsters were attacking us then. It was because we intruded their territory'.
The weak monsters fed on plants and other weaker monsters, while the strongest feasted on them whose habitat was located in their territory, and thus an ecosystem was formed in each territory.
"The den we are going to right now is around the same place where you spawned. If manage to survive it, you will undoubtedly get a lot stronger than you are now".
"I see. That's great". I began loving martial arts ever since I discovered my talent for it a few weeks ago, back on earth I wasn't allowed interaction with society until I entered college. Because of this, I didn't know what I was good at. Now that I knew of my talents as a martial practicioner, I couldn't help the desire to learn and improve it. In other words, getting stronger. And there was also that promise I made to Lucas, so why not.
"We're here". Lucas said as he stopped infront of a large cave. It's entrance was a few meters taller than me and it was wide enough for three people of grand masters size to enter comfortably.
I came to a stop right beside my senior and gazed in to the dark abyss that was the cave.
"Is this the den?" I already knew but still decided to ask.
"Yes". My senior said.
"...!" I said no more as I walked towards the entrance and stopped a single step away from inside it.
"What do I do now?" I asked, looking back at Lucas.
"Just go in first, you'll see".
I did what he asked and entered the cave and as soon as I did, a system message was heard.
*Ding*
[
You have triggered a
]
I watched a barrier appeared over the entrance of the cave and yet another system message was heard.
[
Hidden quest: horned demonic bear's den
Difficulty: C-
Clear conditions: kill the den's master. You won't be able to leave unless you do.
Time limit: none
Rewards: 7000 coins
Rewards ( attributes exclusive): +10 karma points
Penalty: death
]
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