Chapter 121 - Swampy Harvest

Day 39

‘How much longer?’

I cried out to Sylvie, but she simply ignored me, doing whatever it was that she was doing. While moving we encountered a huge black bear that was engaged in combat with a giant basilisk. I was surprised to even see such creatures in the west. The black bear had obsidian black claws and horns, its eyes were a beady red and its yellow fangs were sunk in deep into the giant basilisk, which had constricted the bear with its body. The bear was called a Black Ursula.

‘Master, what should we do?’

Amethyst’s voice rang in my head as we observed the creatures. They were tearing up the trees and creating a lot of noise. I felt like I should have gotten angry since it was technically a part of my territory.

“Lady Hinotori, maybe we should out wait them?”

Sylvie suggested.

‘Good idea. Hey! Here’s a better idea. How about you go on your merry way now before anything bad happens.’

A familiar voice rang out in my head. The image of myself from my previous life sitting on a throne of bones, wearing a black robe and a red sash with the kanji for ‘Best’ written on it, came into my head.

‘Ah! You again?’

I instinctively realized that this was my second mind.

‘Unfortunately.’

He… I cruelly responded.

‘I completely forgot about you. You done with my memories already?’

‘Yep. You don’t even have a lot of those’

He rested her head on her palm and sighed.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Hmm, I want to explain now, but that would be kind of hard. Focus on the beast for now.’

“Big sis, can I handle this for you?”

Ulva called out to me.

“Hmmm?”

“Lady Hinotori, I also want to fight! I want to fight and show you how much stronger I’ve gotten.”

‘Let them do it!’

Second me said.

‘Shut it, you… me, aaahhhh!’

‘Hahaha! Make me, lesser me!’

‘Don’t call me lesser me, you fraud!’

“Lady Hinotori?”

‘Oh, erhm, sorry about that. Sure. You guys have a go at it.’

The fight was quite quick. Ulva froze the ground, stopping those two in their tracks. Sylvie who had I had instinctively put as a Production-type was actually a pretty dangerous fighter. Her light orbs that acted like high projection bullets kept bombarding the two beasts. Ulva came in quickly and beheaded the basilisk, where as Sylvie pulled out a weirdly shaped blade from some sub-space of sorts and cut off the Black Ursula’s head.

The fight was so easy the experience points weren’t even enough for a level up.

|DAILY ACHIEVEMENTS|

[Due to the unique skill [Evolver], Hinotori’s [Heat Resistance] became [Great Heat Resistance]]

[Hinotori acquired the ability [Basilisk’s Sharp Fangs]]

[Hinotori acquired the skill [Constriction]]

[Hintori acquired the skill [Matter Ingestion]]

[Hinotori acquired the skill [Black Ursula’s Obsidian Claws]]

[Hinotori acquired the skill [Black Ursula’s Deafening Roar]]

[Hinotori acquired the skill [Crush]]

[Hinotori acquired the skill [Star Gazer]]

Day 40

Early morning, we got attacked by a Giant Larm Mushroo, making me remember the brothers back home. I burnt it quickly and sent a message to the brothers to confirm if they were still kicking it. They were a wild lot so the response came quickly.

I then took the opportunity to ask about the brothers. Gorm filled me in and apparently, they were being as noisy as ever and causing quite a bit of a ruckus back home. I was far so I wouldn’t be able to tell them to pipe down, but I could at least rest easy knowing that they weren’t busy fighting a life-threatening monster.

At least that was what I thought till Gorm told me that they were currently planning a sort of expedition to wipe out the Silver Back Pumas in the forest.

I sort of understood him since Larm wasn’t even the original home of that species. They should’ve been up in the mountains or even if they would be in a forest, the hilly areas should’ve been their zone. Unfortunately for them Shiroi and the other Timber Wolves controlled that area. So unless there was a peace treaty between the wolves and the pumas, they would be getting the boot. Especially after Kuro killed their leader.

I still wondered how he did that. I understood that he could control his “aura”, but being able to beat the King of an entire species was something else. It was simply abnormal. It would take something of a whole other caliber to do that, even if it was the king of a weak species – which the pumas are not.

I would lose if I thought about it, so I ignored. The only thing on my mind after that was what Puma might have tasted like. It could have been something really good.

After some walking, we approached a weird area that was surrounded by mist. Sylvie said we had arrived at the border separating the West from the South. Apparently, it was created by the Naga Tyrant to protect the South. I believed that to be quite impressive. That just showed the amount of power one would need to be considered a Tyrant. Being able to create a barrier that that surrounded a fourth of a forest as big as Larm? She could literally protect at the very least two countries back on Earth. I was impressed.

Yes, Larm was simply that big. That was one of the reasons I doubted I’d be able to explore the West quickly. Also made me wonder how Krull’s forces reached the West’s borders so quickly. There was also the question of how we reached in barely 3 days.

When I asked, Shiroi smirked and proceeded to boast about her speed. Sylvie also boasted about her knowledge of the West. Any way I looked at it, they were fast. Stupidly fast.

That night we decided to just rest and figure out a way to bypass the barrier in the morning.

|DAILY ACHIEVEMENTS|

[The Forbidden Dungeon produced 10 Mana Crystals]

Day 41

When we woke up, the mist had been cleared allowing for us to pass through no problem. I theorized that the Tyrant opened it up for us to pass through quickly.

First thing we were faced with was a giant frog monster. It was called a Larm Jumper. Fortunately for me, the south was covered with thick fog, allowing for me to be acting at full power. I easily killed it with a ball of fire and ate it whole. For some weird reason, the others didn’t want to eat with me. I decided to ignore them and continue with what I was doing.

We kept on traveling through the fog, but we were eventually missing. Not surprisingly, Sylvie didn’t know her way through the South and neither did Shiroi. I wouldn’t even talk about Ulva who kept playing with her ice powers and refusing to share with me.

To attempt to solve the problem, I summoned a shadow soldier to go do some quick scouting. While he was off on his mission, I was also checking out my abilities. I remembered seeing some nonsense about a [Sacred]. When I looked at it, this was what I saw.

[Skill Name: [Sacred] (Unactivated)

[Skill Type: Story

[Skill Class: Unique

[Skill Description: Please activate the sacred to determine its description]

I wondered what a Story Type meant. It was a bit confusing to see. At first, I’d assumed there was only attack, defense and healing or something along the lines. It was a bit frustrating and exciting to see that there were still tons more I was yet to know. I needed to simply sit down one day or week and look through the system’s functions. Maybe I would find a way to out grow Amethyst in a short period in there.

I was currently B rank and Amethyst was F rank. But if she were to somehow catchup and surpass me in a month, I would have to deal with another soul bond issue.

Later, I checked out the [Demon Light Manipulation] skill I had acquired in secret on some weird plant I saw. A blackness radiated from my hand. I wasn’t sure whether to call it black light. However, it was barely a visible dot that came from my finger tip. When I deactivated it, I noticed that part of the plant was pitch black. Annoyed that I had only managed to scorch the plant and on such a tiny level, I turned off the ability and tried [Twilight Light Manipulation].

That one too had absolutely no effect on the plant. Angrily, I ignored these two skills in particular and looked at my [Daily Quests]. I hadn’t paid any attention to this specific function and that was probably stupid of me.

|DAILY QUESTS|

1. Kill 10 Larm Jumpers [1/10] (Incomplete)

2. Fight 1 Mud Fang [0/1] (Incomplete)

3. Gather 5 Desert Ice [0/5] (Incomplete)

The first quest looked easy enough and if anything, I might actually have been able to level up after doing that. The others on the other hand, I couldn’t really agree. A Mud Fang was something like an Alligator, but with 5 pairs of legs, shark fins, sets of eyes, fangs that could crush boulders and attitudes to match.

The others also didn’t know what a Desert Ice was. In fact, they all asked the exact same question I did. Why would ice named Desert Ice be in a swampy area?

We decided not to think much about it and instead forge on.

|DAILY ACHIEVEMENTS|

[Hinotori acquired the skill [Leap]]

[Hinotori acquired the ability [Sticky Tongue]]

[Hinotori acquired the skill [Paralysing Vomit]]

[Hinotori acquired the skill [Fluid Armor]]

Hinotori’s Status

STATUS

[Name: Hyakkiyako Hinotori

[Species: Arc Arcane Demonic Twilight Shadow Bird 21/70

[Status: [Full]

[Age: 40 days

[Rank: B-

[Race Rank: Tier 2

[Titles: |Newborn in a New World|, |Rare Species|, |Survivor|, |Named Beast|, |Bug Slayer|, |Sturdy Body|, |Lucky One|, |Saint|, |Strategist|, |Trickster|, |Persistent|, |One Loved by the Nature Spirits|, |Compassionate One|, |Family Head|, |Goblin Lord|, |Rat Man Lord|, |Wolf Lord|, |Dungeon Brave|, |Chimera Slayer|, |Dungeon Conqueror|, ||

[Blessings: |Blessings of the Ancient Goddess ****|, |Blessings of the System Master, Alpha|, |Blessings of the Demi-goddess of Wisdom, Mekala|, |Blessings of the Divinity of Mischief, Loki|, |Blessings of the Demi-god of War|, |Blessings of the 8 Nature Spirits|

[Level: 65 Exp: 54,399/ 375,300

[Health: 3100/3100 Stamina: 10,000/10,000 Mana: 1,240/1,240 Strength: 1654 (+700) Speed: 5980 (-200) Defense: 2940 (+1000) Dexterity: 3881 Intelligence: 90 Magic: 150 Luck: 65

|SKILLS|

[Unique Skills: [Evolver], [God's Wisdom], [Hunter], [Remorse], [Sacred](Unawakened)

[Passive Skills: [Auto Mapping Level 4], [Acrobatics Level 6], [Magic Perception Level 1], [Dark Vision Level 7], [King’s Charisma Level 1], [Mana Regeneration Level 2], [Twilight Generation Level 1], [Chimera’s Enhanced Durability Level 1], [Chimera’s Enhanced Stealth Level 1], [Climbing Level 1], [Chimera’s Flexibility Level 1], [Basilisk’s Enhanced Flexibility Level 1], [Chimera’s Enhanced Lung Capacity Level 1], [Chimera’s Quick Regeneration Level 1], [Rock Hard Level 1], [Relentless Level 1], [Unfazed Level 1], [Superior Survival Instinct Level 1]

[Active Skills: [Lustful Gaze Level 1], [Imprint Level 5], [Golden Wayne Screech Level 1], [Aquatic Form Level 1], [Peck Level 4], [Poison Generation Level 3], [Flash Boost Level 1], [Blood Sucking Level 1], [Soul Consumption Level 1], [Terror Level 1], [Fire Breath Level 1], [Black Thread Creation Level 3], [Thread Control Level 2], [Stealth Level 1], [Flight Level 6], [Spore Generation Level 3], [Sap spores Level 3], [Poison Gas Creation Level 2], [Spawn spores Level 3], [Co-ordination Level 4], [Goggles Level 3], [Feelers Level 1], [Auto Regeneration Level 2], [Timber Wolf King’s Howl Level 1], [Size Manipulation Level 3], [Predator Level 5], [Slime body Level 4], [Assimilation Level 3], [Horn Protrusion Level 1], [Stomp Level 1], [Telepathy Level 5], [Fiery Kick Level 1], [Devil Miasma Level 2], [Anguix Bug Armor Level 1], [Acid Spit Level 1], [Compound Eyes Level 1], [Stinger Level 1], [Fusion Level 2], [Taunt Level 1], [Shoot Level 1], [Devil Form Level 1], [Elemental Barrier Level 1], [Good Mana Control Level 2], [Dark Arts Level 1], [Dark Element Manipulation Level 2], [Fire Force Level 1], [Throttle Level 1], [Twilight Energy Manipulation Level 1], [Demonic Twilight Manipulation Level 1], [Demonic Light Manipulation Level 1], [Synthesis Level 1], [Void Stomach Level 2], [Bat Wings Level 1], [Snake Tail Head Level 1], [Multiple Minds Level 1], [Fire Jaws Level 1], [Poison Fangs Level 1], [Lion Head Roar Level 1], [Chimera’s Deadly Claw Attack Level 1], [Monstrous Bite Level 1], [Goat Horns Level 1], [Seismic Sense Level 1], [Petrifying Poison Level 1], [De-Petrification Tear Level 1], [Destroy Level 2], [Basilisk Hard Scales Level 1], [Black Miasma Level 1], [Soul Orb Level 1], [Intimidating Aura Level 1], [Aura Absorption Level 1], [Illusory Horn Level 1], [Gallop Level 1], [Horse Power Level 1], [Spiky Claw Level 1], [Constriction Level 1], [Matter Ingestion Level 1], [Black Ursula’s Obsidian Claws Level 1], [Black Ursula’s Deafening Roar Level 1], [Crush Level 1], [Star Gazer Level 1], [Leap Level 1], [Sticky Tongue Level 1], [Paralyzing Vomit Level 1], [Fluid Armor Level 1]

[Techniques: [Martial Arts Level 1]

[Affinities: [Fire Magic Affinity], [Light Magic Affinity], [Water Magic Affinity], [Earth Magic Affinity], [Wind Magic Affinity], [Lightning Magic Affinity], [Ice Magic Affinity], [Space Magic Affinity], [Dark Magic Affinity], [Twilight Magic Affinity]

[Magic: [Basic Fire Magic Level 1], [Basic Light Magic Level 1], [Basic Water Magic Level 1], [Basic Earth Magic Level 1], [Basic Wind Magic Level 1], [Basic Lightning Magic Level 1], [Basic Ice Magic Level 1], [Basic Space Magic Level 1], [Basic Dark Magic Level 1], [Basic Holy Fire Magic Level 1], [Baisc Hell Fire Magic Level 1], [Basic Twilight Magic Level 1]

[Magic Skills: [Fire Ball Level 5], [Fire Sphere Level 5], [Water Shot Level 4], [Water Sphere Level 3], [Lightning Bolt Level 5], [Lightning Dagger Level 2], [Rock Shot Level 3], [Rock Blaster Level 4], [Wind Blade Level 2], [Breeze Level 1], [Light Shot Level 2], [Shadow Travel Level 6], [Air Steps Level 1], [Void Shot Level 1], [Ice Soldier Level 1], [Ice Berg Level 1], [Black Mass Level 1], [Ice Field Level 1]

[Resistances: [Low Poison Resistance Level 6], [Low Pain Resistance Level 4], [Low Cold Resistance Level 3], [Mental Damage Resistance Level 5], [Mental Pain Resistance Level 5], [Pain Nullification Level MAX], [Low Heat Resistance Level 4], [Low Aura Resistance Level 2], [Low Murderous Aura Resistance Level 3], [Low Petrification Resistance Level 1]