There are two dominant creatures in the Amaromi Forest, namely the Butterfly-Patterned Python and the Hand-Hand Bear.
Law's target was the Hand-Hand Bear. According to intelligence, the Hand-Hand Bear often moves around near lakes. While the exact number of Hand-Hand Bears in the Amaromi Forest remained unknown, they were confirmed to be rare.
The paws of the Hand-Hand Bear, which is capable of easily turning a person into paste, were classified as B-level ingredients. Similarly, it is not an exaggeration to regard the Hand-Hand Bear as a creature with a capture difficulty of B-level.
As Law continued his journey, the sky gradually darkened.
The forest becomes more dangerous at night, as the limited vision enhanced the threat posed by creatures adept at stealth and ambush.
Since entering the forest, Law had encountered over a dozen rare beasts, not counting venomous insects and snakes. All had attacked him and been swiftly countered and killed.
Law had attempted to scare off the creatures using his Aura, but the results were less than ideal. Out of the dozen or so attackers, only two or three had been scared away.
It could be that the Aura he could currently exert was not strong enough, or it could also be that the creatures in Amaromi Forest were simply too aggressive by nature.
Since he has a full stomach, Law had little demand for food and could only discard the corpses of rare animals he killed along the way.
While feeling regretful, an idea came to my mind.
Is it possible to improve the ability of the book and develop the ability to store corpses, or develop a Nen Ability similar to that of a portable refrigerator?
In this way, he could store and retrieve ingredients anytime, anywhere.
The thought was tempting, but implementing it would be a significant challenge. While his God Hand could already store fresh ingredients in the book, the process was cumbersome and full of unexpected things.
At night, there was a constant rustling sound in the forest, and slivers of moonlight filtered through the canopy, casting beams like stage lights across the forest floor.
Using his ability, Law easily constructed a small treehouse atop the canopy. Before settling in, he crushed the red stones he had collected into powder and scattered it around the treehouse perimeter.
From his experiments, Law had found that poisonous insects and snakes disliked the stone's properties. Though the effect wasn't strong enough to repel them entirely, it was better than nothing.
With the preparations complete, Law lay inside the treehouse, gazing lazily at the moonlight streaming through the entrance.
Perched atop a tall tree above the dense foliage, the treehouse provided a scenic yet precarious vantage point.
Without God Hand, building such a structure in this location would have been a Herculean task. Collecting materials alone would have been exhausting and inefficient. But with God Hand, creating the treehouse was effortless for Law, completed with a flick of his hand.
Turning onto his side, Law reached out and gestured toward the wooden wall. Instantly, a circular window appeared.
Through the window, he could see the Red Pudding Mountain in the distance.
At this time, most of the examinees on the summit have already boarded the airship to the next test's location.
"Once I find the ingredients, I'll go back to Marvando, then go straight back to Meteor City to get the sword."
Law muttered to himself softly, resting his left hand on the back of his head. He raised his right hand, and with a faint fluctuation of his Nen, a black and white book conjured in his right hand.
The cover remained the same, featuring an image of Jesus nailed to the cross within a black-bordered rectangle. However, other parts of the book had subtly changed.
Below the image was a string of white digits: 1068.
In addition to the changing numbers, countless thin white veins appeared on the black cover of the book, flickering like breathing lights, and looked a lot like... breathing capillaries, giving people a sense of déjà vu as if something was gestating.
The book's obsidian-like sheen made the glowing veins stand out even more, making it looked like an enhanced and enchanted item in the game.
Staring quietly at the changing book, after a moment, Law flipped his hand and dismissed the book without paying too much attention to it.
Having saved many people that day, the book's pages had surpassed a thousand, but it also consumed a lot of his Aura.
This was why Law abandoned the idea of traveling through the night and chose to rest instead.
He slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep in a short while.
At this moment, no matter how many humans there are in the forest, there is probably no one more comfortable than Law.
The next morning, a thin mist swallowed up the Amaromi Forest.
Law stood up and looked at the endless misty fog below, feeling as if he was standing above the clouds.
"If I remember correctly, it's in this direction."
The fog obscured Law's vision, making him unable to see the location of the lake. He could only rely on his memory to confirm the direction.
After walking out of the tree house, Law leapt to the ground with ease, and headed in the direction he had identified.
The moist air carried a faint stench of decaying roots and leaves, wrapping around him as he advanced.
During his journey, Law found a tree full of purple berries.
The berries grow in clusters, resembling grapes, but each berry is the size of a chestnut.
Law plucked a large bunch of them from the tree, held them in his hand and ate them as he walked.
The berries had a balanced sweetness and tartness, with a refreshing texture reminiscent of blueberries, though the sweetness was more pronounced, and they were juicier.
Treating them as breakfast, Law finished off the fruit and continued toward the lake.
Perhaps the creatures in the forest were more aggressive, Law encountered many attacks along the way, all of which were resolved one by one.
At noon, he stopped to roast a rabbit leg nearly as large as himself for lunch. Once finished, he resumed his journey.
With the mist dissipating, he periodically climbed to the treetops to confirm his direction, steadily closing in on the lake.
When Law was about to reach the lake in the center of the Amaromi Forest, suddenly, a series of human screams pierced the air. The cries were filled with despair.
Immediately afterwards, a deafening roar erupted, drowning out the screams. The sound was so loud that it startled the birds and animals, and even the leaves were trembling slightly.
"Up ahead, huh..."
Hearing this powerful roar, Law remained unfazed and rushed towards the direction where the sound came from.
Soon, white light appeared in the woods ahead, indicating that there was an open space not far away.
Picking up speed, he burst through the treeline onto a clearing by the lakeside. Before he could see the situation clearly, he felt a slight vibration under his feet.
"Roar!"
A huge black beast stood by the lake, roaring with its huge mouth full of sharp teeth. The sound it made even created ripples on the surface of the lake.
Law looked at the huge beast, which was a bear-like creature about twelve meters tall. Its body is covered in thick black fur, and on its chest was a prominent, hairless, inverted triangular marking.
The creature's long arms resembled those of an ape, capable of reaching the ground with a slight bend of its body. Its massive hands, reminiscent of human palms, had five fingers, but its palms and the backs of its hands were padded with large, protruding lumps of flesh.
"Hand-Hand Bear!"
Seeing the long arms and the hairless inverted triangle mark on the chest, Law recognized the identity of the black bear directly.
At this time, a group of eight people ran towards him, both men and women, and most of them were not very old.
The bear chased the group of people, and every step it took caused the ground to shake.
As it ran, the bear swung one massive paw forward and caught a man lagging behind.
The man let out a bloodcurdling scream as the beast grabbed him.
The bear ignored the shrill screams and opened its mouth to bite off the man's upper body. The screams were abruptly silenced, replaced by the grotesque sound of crunching as blood and entrails splattered onto the ground.
Like stuffing a snack, the bear stuffed the man's lower body into its mouth and chewed it. Then, the bear continued to chase the human in front.
Among the fleeing group, Law noticed a familiar figure, which is the woman who had sought to team up with him in Amaromi Village. After all, the dirt-colored safety helmet is too conspicuous.
When Law saw those people, they also noticed him.
The woman whose name she didn't know also recognized Law, and immediately burst into a curse, sighing: "Great, another one to share the grave."