Chapter 42: 43-Introspection

With three large gashes that ran from his upper right shoulder to his lower back as a souvenir for his first outing, Rowan was forced to rest. Every movement he made caused Rowan to wince in pain so he was unable to do anything until he was fully healed. Even sleeping was painful since he couldn’t lie down on his back. The only thing he could do with no problem was carry out the mana exchange with the Mother Tree.

Thankfully what should have taken a few weeks to heal was taken care of in a few days thanks to life mana. He had discovered over the years how it made his body more resilient, but he forgot how life mana increased the speed of his body's natural healing process.

Since Rowan couldn’t do much while he rested, he decided to do an introspection of this trip.

It could be said that his first trip was both a failure and a success.

It was a failure for the fact that he had let his guard down despite all the mental preparation he made before setting out. He had been too obsessed with the danger of the tree that he allowed the wolves to sneak up on him. It was only dumb luck that he had survived. The fact that he hadn’t made it far also contributed to what made this trip a failure. If Rowan had to estimate the distance, the amount that he walked wasn’t enough for a full circle around the camp. He had only traveled five minutes at most before he ran into trouble.

Another failure was that he had left the home wide open. So memorized with the outside that he forgot to close the  opening within the barrier. Once again it was only due to luck that nothing had snuck in while he was away. The Mother Tree was left completely vulnerable when Rowan went out. If another monster had snuck in while the wolves were chasing him, then Rowan would have pincered between the two threats.

Rowan had been far too lucky this time around that nothing unfortunate happened and he could not always rely on luck. Luck could only carry a person so far before they fail.

And failure meant the end for Rowan in the Forest of Death.

Rowan decided to move his thoughts to something more positive such as why this trip was not considered a total failure. 

One reason was the information that he gathered. He had met two possible threats almost immediately after he set out. The wolves and the tree. The wolves weren’t a new threat since he had known about them before he was stuck in the center of the forest, but now he knew they inhabited the inner depths of the forest. Before, Rowan did not know how deep inside the forest the wolves dwelled. He could use the monster’s habitats as a way to measure which layer he was in.

While it wasn't great news since the wolves were fast and strong monsters, at least he knew the identity of a monster he needed to prepare against.

Another monster he needed to prepare against was the tree. Rowan didn’t know if the tree was still considered a plant or was it a type of monster. The memory of the tree branch spearing through the wolf’s body was still fresh in his mind. Rowan shuddered at the thought as that could have been him instead. If Rowan was the one that had been speared through, then that would have made his trip a very short one. Once again it was only due to luck that the tree hadn’t attacked him at all.

Or was it completely due to luck that Rowan wasn’t attacked?

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The boy mulled over the whole situation and then came up with a possible answer. The reason why Rowan was safe was because he hadn’t harmed the tree. The wolf, when it attacked Rowan, had clawed off a part of the tree. It must have been considered self defense for the tree when it used its own tree branch to attack the wolf. When Rowan climbed the tree, the tree must have only considered the boy an annoyance and only shook him off. If he harmed the tree in any way then he would have ended up like the wolf.

That was the only reason why the tree hadn’t attacked that Rowan could think of. He would need to test out the theory to see if his idea was right, but that was playing with fire. Since he knew it was a possible danger then it would be best if he just stayed away from the tree. 

 Unfortunately the current situation just didn’t allow Rowan’s wish.

Since he was in a forest, he needed to learn how to differentiate between these kinds of possible threats. Otherwise he would  not be able to tell whether the tree next to him is just a plain old plant or something that could easily kill him. The forest was filled with trees as it is, Rowan could not just leave such an unknown danger alone. 

As much as he would like to test and gather information about the strange tree, there was something that he needed to do beforehand. If Rowan was going to brave danger, he needed some form of protection. Fortunately that wasn’t hard to find in the Forest of Death.

Any animal found in the Forest of Death should have tough skin right? The wolves were a prime example as his arrow had not been able to completely pierce through the first time. Rowan just needed to skin one and use the pelt as clothing and armor at the same time. It wouldn’t be able to compare to armor made of steel or other metals, but it should protect Rowan to some degree.

The biggest problem was killing the animal and dragging it back. 

The wolves hunted in packs as far as Rowan knew. The only time he saw a lone wolf was when Dolly hunted one down. That one may have been part of a pack that was either scared away by Dolly or just simply massacred. Trying to hunt a wolf on its own would be dangerous. That meant Rowan would either need to fight a whole pack of wolves or hunt another animal down.

After giving it some thought, Rowan decided that he’ll leave it to fate. Whatever shows up first that he could use for cloth, then he would do so. 

 Getting some form of protection was the utmost priority. Afterwards he can go study the strange plants. It was the first oddity he saw in the Forest of Death, but it certainly wouldn’t be the last. 

Rowan needed to gather as much information on all the plants and animals as he could. Only then would he be able to make plans that would increase his chance of survival and finally be able to leav

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