Chapter 6: Chapter 6

A bonus chapter for the new synopsis!

The next morning Ethan woke up feeling unrealistically energetic. The pain in his legs and jaw was gone entirely, and even the small hole on his shoulder was closed, leaving him with a tiny scar. It was so absurd that he almost believed that the two near-death experiences of yesterday were merely dreams. As long as I can escape, all I need is a day’s rest, no matter how grave the injuries. That shows how important [Blink] and [Void Wrap] are. 

He got up and walked out of the cave before stretching himself. The day was young, and he had a lot of plans to survive in this freaky, Jurassic Park-like forest. Taking out the corpse of the spider from his ring, he drilled his new daggers to where the mana density was. The core was shiny blue and about the size of a chicken egg. After some more disgusting work, he managed to find its venom gland as well. It wasn’t much, but the poison was very potent. He expected it to accelerate his leveling speed by a wide margin when used with his new daggers.

There was nothing on the goblins, so he kept them stored along with what was left from the spider, only to dump them somewhere away from the cave later. He planned to make this cave his temporary abode and at least gain some practical abilities before hitting the road again.

The first part of the training was the use of the spatial ring. It didn’t need any mana to use, but precise control was necessary for the things he wanted to achieve. Getting his daggers to his hands was easy but getting them with a correct tilt and throwing them without wasting any time was anything but easy. So first, he trained with his clothes by getting dressed and undressed. 

Undressing was no problem; all he needed to was to touch the object and feel it with his mana. When he wished for it, it would reappear inside the ring. But when getting them out, if the destined space was already occupied, the object just appeared in the closest available area. That meant daggers were easy, the cloak was harder, and his t-shirt was damn impossible.

But the attempts were also mana-free. So, he tried again, again, and again. Once he got the gist of it, he changed the task to running and jumping while getting dressed and undressed. Only after he was proficient with it did he include the [Fabric Tear]. 

No monster bothered the naked nutcase who threw knives everywhere while laughing. Hitting the trees with fabric tear wasn’t that much of a problem, but doing so while running required a lot of skill honing. During that time, he noticed that it was much easier to do so within his perception, which was 15 yards. But anything more than that was about instincts, calculating, and luck. 

The sun was high up and burning brightly. In the quiet forest, two raven-like birds were dozing off on a tree under the shades of its leaves. One of them was still as a stone, while the other’s head was rocking back and forth, looking like it could drop from the tree at any moment. They both were closing to tier-1.

Suddenly, a pebble hit the middle of the tree trunk with a thud, removing some of its bark. The startled birds immediately took off and flew away. But a space tear appeared on their path, and a small, straight tree branch came inside, hitting the bird’s wing. It screeched and tried to regain its balance as another tree branch appeared and hit the belly of the other bird.

‘’That makes the sixth time!’’ Ethan yelled from the ground. ‘’If that was a dagger, you’d be dead for the sixth time, you hear me? Your lives are mine!’’

The birds screeched louder as they flew away faster, likely telling each other, ‘That’s enough, man. I’m fed up with his shit. We’re migrating!’’

Ethan walked to the shade of the same tree while giggling and sat down. Getting some water from his ring, he thought about his progress in the past three weeks and planned more for the short term. 

He kept his routine for 10 days until finally, he was good enough to try moving targets. He started by throwing wood branches at the bigger targets like bears. And changed his target to smaller and faster ones like birds. As the training continued, he didn’t encounter another monster like the spider but there were still a few that made him avoid some areas.

In the second week, he took notice that the monsters he killed with poisoned daggers didn’t give much essence, and even the ones he killed without it weren’t enough for speed leveling. Only the ones at tier-2 were good enough, but they were rather dangerous, and he had to select single targets which were also slow in case he needed to run. His focus was on the training, and the hunts were usually for trying out something new or just a type of beast that suited his style so much that he didn’t want to miss the essence.

After three weeks, even by killing many tier-2s, he barely got two levels. If his guess was correct, leveling would be much harder at the higher tiers. But it was still much better than cultivating with the void manual. This whole time he didn’t even get half of level worth essence by cultivating, although getting an extra essence in the process of regeneration was always welcome.

Another thing he detected was his cloak. He already noticed that it was able to self-repair itself with the mana it absorbed from the void. Which was damn useful when his black jeans and white shirt had holes everywhere. And even his comfortable basketball shoes were showing damage against his sudden dashes and jumps.

Ethan still had no idea about the light wisps his cloak absorbed. Nonetheless, he was shocked when a single portal took 30 mana to open rather than 15 without his cloak. After his discussion with Ani, he now knew that it was a miraculous item that not only reduced mana consumption for void-related skills by half but also gave a %100 boost to comprehension abilities for the void element. Which was strange because he didn’t feel like he got any comprehension from his skills.

I guess I am a complete moron when it comes to comprehension, Ethan thought with a yawn while considering if he should also get a little nap. I bet Wu Qian is feeling at home by now, creating her own skills at tier-1. The rules in her game and this realm must be much different, but someone who is good at comprehension should thrive in this environment as well. 

His body relaxed as his head slowly dropped to the left before his eyes shut opened without any drowsiness. He used [Mana Sense] with his ears and focused on the sound. As he reckoned, there was a fight going on, not much far away. He heard a low roar and some rustlings afterward.

Getting up, he followed the direction of the sounds, all the while keeping alert from his surroundings. A few hundred yards away, he found the responsible, a tiger and a deer.

As he got closer, he saw the scene more clearly. The deer was wounded and somehow got on top of a rock that was as big as a one-story house. The white tiger with blue straps was slowly getting closer with its eyes on the deer. One side of the rock was a cliff, while the other side was a mountain. Once the tiger was up upon the rock, the options of the deer were limited. 

He carefully closed the distance between them, the deer saw his coming, but the tiger either didn’t notice or didn’t care. It was at the early tier-2 and looked young, while the deer was an early tier-1 like Ethan. Once he was in the 50-yard reach, he positioned himself and waited.

The tiger made a run and jumped to the nearby tree branch before making another long jump to the rock. Ethan didn’t miss the opportunity and threw his dagger, stabbing the side of the tiger. With a cry, it loosed its footing and dropped to the ground. Its injury didn’t seem to bother it as it gave a loud roar and changed its target to Ethan.  

The tiger’s straight dash made it easier for him to throw another dagger; this one missed its head and stabbed into its shoulder. Rather than slowing, the beast looked only more furious, making Ethan doubt his choice of meddling in its business or not using any poisoned daggers.

He bided his time and used [Blink] at the last moment to the left before slashing his dagger to the uninjured side of the tiger, giving it a gory gash. The beast cried once again and turned to attack with its claw. This time Ethan messed up the timing and only blinked after the claw cut his arm.

Just one hit, and his left arm was good as useless, not to mention it hurt like a bitch. He gritted his teeth and stabbed the tiger with [Fabric Tear] without giving it a chance to doge. Once punctured, he immediately used [Blink], appearing 10 yards behind, and threw the same dagger with another [Fabric Tear] which this time pierced its skull, ending its life.

He gave a sigh of relief and looked at his arm. There were three bone-deep scars, making him wince at every little move. How nice would it be if Ani could reduce the pain like in the VR… 

Taking out a handmade ivy rope, which he prepared beforehand to use as a bandage, he tied it to his arm with the help of his mouth. That slowed the bleeding, but the arm needed more time to heal. 

He lifted his head to see that the deer was long gone. Not that he cared; this was not a rescue operation but a casual grinding. The tiger was hungry for deer’s meat, and Ethan was hungry for the tiger’s essence. In order to survive this forest, he needed to get strong, he wouldn’t pass a good chance when he saw it. Taking a step toward the carcass, he stopped and looked behind the tiger where a giant snake was watching him. The dark green creature was even taller than the trees. Getting a little tense, he checked his reserves.

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Health: 390/470

Mana: 362/500

Stamina: 325/350

Looking back at the snake, ‘’It’s the overpopulation, I tell you,’’ he murmured grimly. How do I even fight this? It’s at mid tier-2, but I bet that skin is much harder than the tigers’.

When the snake slithered its way toward him, Ethan sent his dagger to his ring and called for a poisoned one. He threw it with his aim on its eye, but it missed its head without making a scratch. The beast hastened its speed, and Ethan turned back to escape at full speed.

‘’Alright! Alright! It’s yours, take it. I had to try, don’t get offended now!’’ he yelled without turning back. It somehow worked as the snake turned back for the tiger's body. Damn thief, I’m coming back for you once this arm gets to heal.

His base was about three hours away. He took his time to return and hunt some small animals on the way for his dinner. In front of his cave, he started a fire and placed his game to cook before going to the river for a quick shower. 

He returned dripping, turned the food over, and sat near it. The cave had evolved into something entirely different by now. There was a bearskin carpet on the floor, a grass bed covered with animal hides, a worn-out dagger hanging on the wall, and even some exotic flowers in front of the cave’s entrance. 

Ethan was going to feel sad for leaving his peaceful life here but not so much. Back on Earth, he tried to live in a solitary way but after the third month, he was yearning for some human interactions. He even had Ani with him back then and could’ve played his games whenever or spoke with his friends. But it just didn’t feel right; drinking in a pub with close friends or making love with someone he cared about weren’t just things that could be replaced.

One more week, he thought as he stared at the meat. I would probably hit level 13 by then and could check out that goblin caves. Afterward, I’ll keep going towards the west, to my fellow Earthling, who is still around 2.000 miles away. I hope it wouldn’t turn out to be someone like that Hugh Roche.

 

The sun was setting as Ethan ate his meal. The predators of the night were ready to take their shifts. But there was a peaceful pause at this time of the day, like all the living were appreciating the chance they had been given. There was no hatred in the forest, no schemes, no hypocrisy, and no bullshit ideologies. Ethan respected that because life deserved at least some kind of honesty.

The following week, he increased the intensity of the training. His focus was still on knife throwing and [Fabric Tear] skill, but he also trained his footwork and [Blink] coordination. [Blink] put him anywhere in 10 yards, but it didn’t change his position. He had to change his position before or after the skill. Another discovery was that him being able to halt his momentum after the [Blink], there were some applications of it in the combat, but the best news was to not die even after jumping from a cliff, well, as long as he timed the skill before the crash. There were so many combinations; he knew this won’t be a work of a month or two but a lifetime of progress with countless battles. 

Still, he felt the difference in just one month. If he had to fight the spider again, he would’ve given it a head-on fight even while keeping his distance and relying on throwing knives more.

After he got to level 13, Ethan felt ready for the journey ahead.

Tier 1 - Level 13

Health: 470/470

Mana: 600/600

Stamina: 350/350

Vitality: 47

Strength: 35

Endurance: 35

Agility: 50

Intellect: 60

Perception: 15

*Available stats: 0

Skills(Rank 1): [Blink], [Fabric Tear], [Void Wrap], [Mana Sense]

His mana was enough for 24 blinks or 40 fabric tears. His newfound strength and agility made him all the more deadly. After confirming everything was ready, Ethan progressed toward the goblin caves he discovered by following the trail of the two goblins. 

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