Chapter 39 An Odyssey Begins.

Archer followed the river as he kept using Aura-Detection constantly, but he was getting no pings.

Looking around all he could see was jungle, as the afternoon sun started to cool down.

Pulling out a bottle of Rune Shine, he took a swig as he walked along, that's when he noticed the river going into a dark and dingy cave.

''Did I float through that cave to get here.''

He didn't care but had to find another way north, the cave went straight into a sheer cliff so that was a no go, looking left and right but he didn't see anyway around it.

So he just chose right and continued walking, following the cliff until he could find a way up, looking at the skinny ass tree in front of him.

''Lucky I'm 13.''

He approached the tree and started climbing.

His hands and feet moved quickly and expertly, finding the right crevasses in the skinny tree as he climbed higher and higher up.

Eventually, he reached the top of the cliff, and the view that greeted him was nothing short of breathtaking.

Before him stretched a vast expanse of jungle, dense with vibrant green foliage and teeming with life.

Trees towered over one another, their branches intertwined in an intricate dance of life, while colorful birds flitted from branch to branch.

Extending far into the distance, the jungle disappeared into a soft haze, hinting at the vastness of the unspoiled wilderness that lay beyond.

Archer scanned the jungle, taking in all the sights, sounds, and smells that wafted up from the canopy below.

The air was thick with the scent of damp earth and rich vegetation, and the sounds of hidden creatures rustling about filled the air with life.

The cliff led to another long stretch of jungle, so he started walking as his Aura-Detector started pinging like crazy.

Arrows quickly flew towards him, he Thunder-Stepped out of the way.

Looking around he didn't see anything, but heard some whispering.

''Demi-human like the Northman, we must eat.''

''Meat.''

''Hungry.''

Archer pinpointed the voices with help of his senses and Aura-Detection, as he dodged more arrows he cast Fire Missiles in the direction of the voices.

Boom!~ Boom!~ Boom!~

Three bodies flew out from the bushes, they looked like the same cannibals from before.

Humans with weird looking sharp teeth, tribal tattoos and ritual scars.

Cutting their hearts out, Archer continued on with his trek.

He came to the top of a hill, looking north all he could see was green stretching into the distance, he sighed as he jumped down the hill.

Sliding down to the there, as he got to the bottom he came across a gruesome sight.

Human body parts stripped of most of their meat were at the bottom scattered about, he looked back up and realized they chucked the dead bodies down here.

What they've done here is sickening, he could see tribal clothing on most of the remaining bodies.

The clothing was once colorful before being covered in blood and filth, looking around he was back in the forest.

Ignoring the bodies he carried on walking further north by following the sun, he knew the sun sat north thanks to the old Archer's memories.

A hour passed as he was jumping over logs as he trekked through the jungle, it was very peaceful until more creepy screams were heard all around him.

Archer was getting annoyed by the creepy screams.

''Meat!''

''Food!''

''Eat!''

Summoning his Cosmic Sword and blocking the incoming arrows, but as he was deflecting the arrows coming in front.

More came from behind, he managed to dodge most but was hit just under his scales.

''Arghhh!''

Quickly turning around to see four more cannibals running towards him, casting Cosmic Sword twice as he parried a sword strike, and deflected another attack.

Stabbing one in the face as he blasted another one with a Plasma Shot, he could see more coming through the hole his magic caused.

Archer snapped the arrows head and pulled it out, he noticed more and more cannibals starting to appear around him.

Smiling like creeps, Archer got excited due to all the fighting but the pain was still there until Regeneration kicked in.

He weaved around the arrows the cannibals were firing at him, as he quickly Thunder Stepped behind the archers.

Plunging both black blades both in their necks.

They dropped hard to the floor under the shocked gazes of the others, Archer Thunder stepped to each cannibal killing them.

Archer killed another 17 before all the screaming stopped, looking around he saw limbs, blood and heads laying all over the place.

He looted all the hearts which in total was 15 due to the others being destroyed, Archer stored them and examined whatever intact bodies he could find.

They look like regular humans but with sharp nails, tribal tattoos, no hair and some weird scars all over their bodies.

After examining them he burnt everything with his Fire Missiles.

Looking at the smoke drifting up into the sky, he continued on with his journey, hoping not to run into the cannibals again.

After hours of walking the sun started to set as he got deeper into the jungle, the longer he travelled, the denser the foliage got.

As he walked past a massive tree his Aura-Detection went crazy with pings.

Casting Cosmic Sword as a pair of claws swung at him.

CHING!~

He managed to block the surprise attack, but because of the force of the strike he was pushed backwards.

'Oh shit.'

Archer saw a humanoid looking creature, grey skin, about 5 foot tall with long claws, it was hanging from a branch staring at him with it's pitch black eyes.

The beast gave him the shivers, it was skin and bones, it had long black hair with a mouth full off sharp yellow teeth.

''Kekekekeke.''

It let out a creepy laugh as it pounced towards Archer, he cast Cosmic Shield causing the beasts to slam into the purplish barrier.

As it tried to get back up after hitting the barrier, Archer charged at it after dismissing the shield, the beast tried swiping at him.

He leapt over its skinny arm as he swung his blade separating the beasts arm from its body.

It howled in pain as Archer landed on the ground, he spun around and plunged the blade into the beasts head.

The thing went still, and he examined it.

It had the same clothes that the dead bodies from earlier had, but this beast creeped him out, he quickly tore out its heart.

After he was done with the bloody business he cast Cleanse on himself while storing the body and heart.

He looked around and climbed the nearest tree and perching himself on a branch, Archer pulled out a heart alongside a Honey brew and started eating.

A little while he burped as he finished all 24 hearts, 20 from the cannibals, 3 from the dinosaurs and 1 from the creepy looking humanoid.

He checked his status as he was sitting there.

'Status.'

[Experience: 7600/9000]

[SP: 0>24]

Archer jumped off the branch and continued on with his walk.

Two months passed with him traveling through the jungle, he got attacked many times by beasts and cannibals.

During one of the cannibal attacks he got really injured and had to hide away for a while due to the amount of them that appeared.

He managed to kill over 100 cannibals and a dozen forest beasts, but he couldn't gather many hearts due to getting chased.

He was hiding up a tree like a scared cat and wondering how he can thin down the numbers of cannibals.

That's when he got an idea for a spell, one that allows him to target multiple targets.

[Spell Creation activated]

He waited for the spell to get to work.

[Element Bolts created]

[Spell Creation: On cooldown until next rank]

[Element Bolts: Allows user to target multiple enemies with different element bolts]

Before he checked his status he spent all 69 points he earned so far.

Archer spent 15 points on HP, 14 on mana, 10 on strength, constitution and charisma and 5 on stamina and intelligence.

He noticed loads of his spells and skills leveled up during the two months on the run, he could of hid in his Dragon's Domain but when he exited they would jump him.

So he avoided using it for now.

'Status.'

[Experience: 8600/9000]

[Level Up: 74>76]

[SP: 0]

[2nd Stage Evolution Available]

[Thunder-step: 3>4]

[Eldritch Blast: 3>4]

[Thunder Wave: 2>3]

[Call Lightning: 1>2]

[Aura-Detector: 2>3]

[Short Sword Mastery: 3>4]

[Dragon's Domain: 0>1]

[Element Bolts Learned]

[HP: 1410>1510]

[Mana: 4900>5320]

[Strength: 740>840]

[Constitution: 800>900]

[Stamina: 770>820]

[Charisma: 810>910]

[Intelligence: 670>720]

Archer got excited seeing his status. and that he has managed to reach the 2nd stage of his evolution.

He selected it.

[2nd evolution: inherit more of your draconic bloodline by evolving into the 2nd stage]

Getting excited he jumped off the branch while casting Element Bolts, he imagined Fire and Water bolts killing the cannibals roaming the area trying to capture him.

Seeing that he killed all seven cannibals that were close by, he opened his domain and entered it.

He made his way to the cottage, walking up the wooden bridge as he entered.

Archer made his way to one of the bedrooms and sat cross legged on the bed as he activated his evolution.

He settled in and selected the 2nd evolution option.

[Initiate 2nd stage of evolution?]

[Yes or No?]

He selected Yes.

After waiting for a short while that familiar heavy feeling spread throughout his body.

Archer blacked out as a storm began brewing over the Southlands.

[A/N - Leave some comments, power stones, and gifts. It all helps support the book. Artwork in the comments or discord]