Chapter 6 Present Circumstances

Currently I was wandering through the forest.

Now that I only needed one more beast to level up I was actively searching for them.

But even after wandering for half an hour, I didn't even come across a single beast.

"The forest is thinning." Realizing that the canopy was declining, I sped up.

After running for a few more minutes, I reached an expanse in the middle of the forest.

As I reached the clearing, I slowed down and began walking toward the center.

"That's a nine-tail fox statue?"

Proudly standing on a platform at the center of the clearing was a 25 feet tall statue.

With its pitch-black color and silky texture, it looked almost alive.

"It's similar to that."

Circling the statue, I began probing it in several places.

But after a few minutes of arduous search, I stood up while disappointingly shaking my head.

"Hmm?" As I was looking around I noticed the trees at the edges of the clearing had something dangling high on them.

Briskly walking towards the nearest tree, I looked at the berries.

"These might be eatable."

My total ration were snacks that wouldn't last me two days even if I ate them frugally.

So I was happy at the prospect of finding something edible.

As I was about to start climbing I noticed that the tree trunk was scraped a little. Thinking of something I started walking around the area and also looked at the other trees.

Finally, I stopped and again looked up at the purple berries.

"It was definitely these berries that the rabbit."

Since it was sleepy enough to fall asleep in the middle of a battle, it meant that whatever it ate was near.

Every tree here had scratches on its trunks. This meant that the Greenhorn rabbits should be regularly eating these berries. So it shouldn't be poisonous but….

"I might get intoxicated or fall asleep after eating them." I grumbled as I remembered the weird behavior of the rabbit.

Why didn't I find something edible rather than this?

Earlier, I had thought of using whatever that Greenhorn rabbit ate to use as a trap. But after thinking for a while, I realized a major flaw in my thinking.

I needed to go to the cliff where the snake guardian resided. This cliff was one of the four cliffs surrounding the volcano.

"Even if I landed on the adjacent cliff, which I didn't want as then I would have to somehow climb down then travel through the forest and then climb again, I will have to travel constantly in these five days."

I wasn't going to get too much time to use these traps. On top of that, even setting up a trap would be difficult for an amateur like me.

I sighed and went back to the center of the clearing.

Lying down on the grass next to the statue, I decided to relax for half an hour while also wait in case a Greenhorn rabbit comes here for the berries.

But even after lying for a few minutes, I couldn't relax and continued to feel unsettled.

"Might as well try a few things and practice."

I stood up and brought circulated my Aura to use the ring. I wanted to clear the worries plaguing my mind by moving my body.

After all, I was making a gamble by even trying to get through this forest and taking those manuals.

***

The sun smeared the world with a golden tinge, as it was getting ready to hide behind the horizon. The rivers, the sky, and the forest mixed into various shades of green, blue and red, giving the world a beautiful contrast.

Birds dotted the sky while rivers continued to rest on the ground.

Away from any civilization, the scene was a captivating display of nature that none could resist.

CRUNCH-! CRUNCH-!

I was looking at such a sight with gloomy eyes.

"I should have just kept my mouth shut."

Eating the last piece for today, I wiped the crumbs around my mouth and looked below.

"How come I really landed on this damn cliff?!"

My voice automatically came an octave higher at the end as I looked at the chains that extended from the edge of the cliff to the ground.

Each metal ring of the chain was almost as large as me and looked archaic.

Earlier, even after waiting for an hour at the clearing, no Greenhorn rabbits ever came.

I walked away from there with a disappointed gait while I hoped that I would find something later.

As much as I was disappointed at that time, it was nothing compared to what I was feeling now.

Walking around, I recalled what I had found as I looked ahead with complicated eyes.

"Looking at the height of this cliff and the closeness to the volcano. This cliff is one of the four cliffs surrounding the volcano."

I shouldn't have joked about landing here.

"The sides of the cliff are too steep. So climbing down as it is, is a straight no-go."

I wasn't spiderman nor was I a professional climber. I didn't have an ounce of doubt of the end result if I tried rock climbing today.

"The only way down appears to be these chains, which regularly appear at every 100 feet along the border of the cliff. From among all the chains, two chains don't go down but connect to the adjacent two cliffs."

And this was the source of my headache.

"I don't need to go down and only need to use one of these two chains. But I still don't know which cliff is the one I need to go, not only that….."

I looked at the chain, which seemed to continue forever.

"The cliffs are too far away, making traveling on the chain extremely dangerous due to high winds. If I fell...."

As much as I like games, I don't want a leap of faith in reality.

I stopped in front of the chain as I tried to find its end.

"Now I either try to go down and walk towards the other cliffs through this beast-infested island. Or, use the chain connected to the cliff and risk falling from 150 feet to my demise."

Sighing for the umpteenth time today, I turned and walked back into the forest.

"And where are all the fricking rabbits when I'm about to level up? Just one more beast would do."

In a few hours, I was going to wish I would have just kept my mouth shut.

***

Crossing the forest, I walked for another few hours.

Now the forest was fully enveloped in the gentle embrace of a pearly luminescence.

Even with the aid of moonlight, the visibility was still low. As such, I was moving at a slower pace.

GRUMBLE-!

"I need to find something to eat, too. My food will end by tomorrow." By now, my to-do list was only increasing with no solutions.

As I was wandering through the thicket, I abruptly halted.

"Where was it from?"

I was sure I just heard something.

Standing still, I tried to focus on my hearing to locate the source of the sound.

"There." Turning to my right, I began hurrying with hushed steps.

"I finally found a Greenhorn rabbit."

After covering a few dozen feet, the sounds turned more discernable.

Crouching behind a cover of a tree, I snooped at the scene.

There a Greenhorn rabbit was hopping between trees with considerable intensity.

It was the same size as the last rabbit I had fought earlier.

As I was thinking of how to proceed from now something unexpected happened.

CRASH-!

Suddenly, the rabbit which was jumping from one tree to another was blown away and smashed to the ground.

Jumping to its feet, it again began to hop between trees.

'Wait, it's not hopping, but it's trying to..... attack something?' I noticed that the Greenhorn rabbit was always jumping with its horn facing forward.

'Where is the other beast?' I looked around as a drop of cold sweat trickled down my back.

It was clear that the other beast was stronger than the Greenhorn rabbit.

CRASH-!

The rabbit again crashed against the ground, but this time it was having difficulty standing.

Noticing that the beast was attacking while hiding in the shadows, I gulped.

'I hope it's not what I think it is.'

Just as these words passed through my head, the rabbit jumped again.

But surprisingly, it didn't land on the tree nor was it again blown to the ground. It simply froze in the air.

Looking closely, I noticed that it was impaled from behind and held in the air by the same thing that impaled it.

Following the thing that impaled it, I looked at the shadows.

Leisurely exiting the shadows, a pitch black fox came in front of the dying rabbit.

It quietly stared at the rabbit with its yellow eyes that looked bored, even as the rabbit kept trying to claw at it.

I was no longer paying any attention to the rabbit. The moment the fox came into view, all my attention was focused on it.

With its skin as dark as the shadows themselves, it looked exactly similar to the statue I had seen earlier.

The difference was this fox was a lot smaller and had only a single tail.

'Why is a shadow fox here?!'

Without wasting any time, I turned and ran back into the forest.

Shadow foxes were very famous among the newbie adventurers. The reason behind this was the extreme risk that came when dealing with them.

They were regarded as one of the most fatal beasts a solo awakener could encounter.

Their ability to hide perfectly under the veil of darkness and to wield their tails like a limb makes them extremely hard to deal with.

In a game analogy, if Greenhorn rabbits were the first mobs you encounter on novice difficulty, then shadow foxes would be the first mobs you will encounter on expert difficulty.

The jump in difficulty was too high for me!

I was cursing my luck as I hastily ran.