Something is watching me, but I'm unable to pinpoint its location.

Before Dalis had taken the opportunity to crop the herbs, he checked his surroundings to ensure that the situation was safe. 

However the reality was, it was anything but. 

Did I make an oversight? Perhaps I should've double-checked. In any case there's no point crying over spilt milk. I need to first locate where it is watching me from. I have no skills to track its general location. So I will have to rely on my instincts. Unfortunately, my instincts are exercised to its extent in regards to this predicament. Where have I not checked . . . ?

The distant foliage and rocks were only given a cursory glance, as those were possible locations. But it would be unlikely for him to not notice percuilities or subtle movements if something was present. 

Or perhaps I should reverse that? Where have I been unable to check?

Two probable locations had sprung to Dalis's mind: underground and above.

I felt no vibrations or movements other than myself whether it was on the land or under it. Henceforth it must be . . . abo—

KOAAAA

Dalis thoughts were cut short as a large shadow loomed overhead, following a pitched cry. Unhesitantly, without even looking at the attacker, he immediately twisted his body and activated his skill ‘Sudden Spin’.

His twisting body-motion zoomed in manoeuvre and speed, rotating a full 360 spin while his right leg kicked off. He sprung himself away to the side. 

When Dalis had turned to look at where he stood two seconds ago, he saw the large mossy rock sliced into two pieces, perfectly. 

And alighted on one of the pieces of sliced rock was a green avian beast. It waddled on its monument with its dark green, coarse talons. On its plumage, where its green wings tucked in and unopened, he saw a bit of fresh red. 

That fresh red of blood came from the skin of his left arm. 

The pair of knife-like wings had barely grazed him, yet it was sufficient to cause a sharp tear through his sleeve and a trail of blood to start seeping out. 

You're kidding me right? Why have I already encountered such a beast now? This is a freaking Green Razor Wing. The other beasts I've come across don't even compare to this raptor. At least let me obtain a weapon first!

He took a glance at his wound and subtly shook his body. It appeared lady luck had bestowed some grace upon him. The wound was minor, only stinging, and there was no backlash for his use of his skill despite the suddenness. 

I have a cooldown of 70 seconds for this skill. I must make sure to not agitate it in this time window. 

The two figures stared at each other. 

Dalis then noticed with his watchful eyes that the beast had turned its attention away from him, vaguely downcast. Dalis promptly knew that the beast was interested in the two remaining herbs that had been unfortunately crushed underneath . . . 

Oh. So that's why . . . It makes sense now.

The herb known as the ‘calpufer herb’ was a herb that was quite well known throughout the continent. It was one of the few herbs that held resistant properties towards elements that were considered demonic. While its quality was considered ‘average’, it had great utility and was a substantial herb for the Church.

Due to its lack of abundance, difficulty to vegetate, and high demand, the Church had plotted a fair number of farms dedicated in the harvesting of these herbs. There were even formations and a few people stationed on these calpufer farms as the herbs were recognised to be one of the favourite treats of many beasts. 

Perhaps most importantly, these herbs were said to possess ‘Caleyar’s blessing’, causing its value to be deemed higher than expected. 

In Dalis’s eyes, besides their practicality, they were worth crap all. There was some kind of aversion he had towards it. If he had to describe it in a way, he did not want to associate with it. 

The beast was mortified at the loss of the herbs beneath its feet. Stamping and scarring the surface of the monument, it locked its belligerent gaze onto Dalis. It’s low pitched cries accompanied with the scraping sounds from its talons pinpointed to Dalis the inevitable—

KOAAAA

With an angry cry, it opened its wings and glided towards Dalis, penetrating through the air. At the same time instead of turning tail, Dalis made a striving dash towards that particularly dense thicket he found nearby in hopes to thwart the beast.  

When he had scouted the area previously, he did this quietly without attracting attention and had managed to not disturb the beasts that were minding there own business.  

If he were to turn tail, there was no way with such a clamorous beast shadowing him that there wouldn’t be any disturbance from the other beasts. He heeded seriously to the General’s words that they were ‘quite fierce’. 

The perfect example was right there too!

Scuttling within the thicket, he searched for a spot to quickly hide himself in. 

I shall hide there. Camouflage! 

The throbbing scuttle had ceased to an end, he snuck behind an old, dead log, buried himself into the crunchy fallen pile of leaves, and activated his skill ‘Camouflage’. 

In the background, the noisy cries and movements of the Green Razor Wing had soon suddenly changed. The sounds were now rather discordant as though it was confused to where its target was. 

Sometimes, Dalis could hear it screech nearby. 

Other times, he could hear it was somewhat distant. 

Amidst the game of hide and seek, Dalis had also stacked his skill with another skill to augment his concealment with the skill ‘Lurk’.

While the skills were only at the lowest skill level of being Lv1, through effective usage and combining their effects, it made Dalis’s concealment ability to be at a formidable level. 

As testament, though Dalis could not see, the beast was in fact hovering around in circles above the thicket, irritatedly slicing parts of the thicket in a fit of anger.   

Should I wait it out? Or should I find another way? 

Dalis believed that if he waited it out he would be able to force the beast to reluctantly leave and escape the crisis. But the problem was that he could tell that the beast was razing up the thicket. If he was unlucky, then he may possibly be found and struck.

Unlike his skill Camouflage that helped him blend in with his surroundings, Lurk concealed his actual presence, but he was unable to move during this process. Otherwise, the skill will be cancelled and go under a 2 minute cooldown. 

He could move during Camouflage, but it was risky to rely on Camouflage as its effects were drastically reduced when moving. 

Dalis found it fortunate that there were no beasts living in this thicket besides a few critters that have been scared off from the thicket or deeper into their dwellings. 

Yet, he could only curse. 

Why??!! 

Dangerously close to where he was hiding was, you guessed it, the Green Razor Wing. 

The part of the thicket he hid in was now no more; light shone down, erasing the darkness and surfacing the treasures within. 

Dalis held his breath. Furtively, he peeked through the tiny open gaps left through the layers of stacked leaves.

He saw the back of the beast’s lower body. It appeared to be laying rest on top of the dead log. And just barely through the very corner of his eye, he managed to take a glimpse of what the beast was doing.

It was using its pointy beak to peck at something, bobbing its head up and down in a gusto manner. He took a look again and found out that it was actually feasting upon some weeds? 

No they weren’t weeds! 

They were in fact calpufer herbs! 

The herbs remained rooted right at the edge of the log. From a glance, it gave the impression that it was pecking its head stupidly at the wood as though it was trying to peck out a worm. 

Really?!

Dalis was a little flabbergasted. 

This is my opportunity . . . That’s what I would like to say! 

It was damn impossible. 

The beast was barely a metre next to him. There was simply no way he could tiptoe his way out without detection.

Hence, Dalis decided to do something crazy. 

First, he waited patiently, letting the beast happily finish its meal. 

Then.

He did nothing fancy.

Dalis just casually stood up from his hiding spot, revealing to the world of where he hid. 

Dead leaves were shaken off, falling to the ground. Some leaves clumsily remained set and stuck to his body. 

The beast turned its tail away and shifted its body towards the odd sound. It let out a brief cry of surprise as it had suddenly seen the target it was looking for right before its eyes. In a second, its face had returned to be besmirched with hostility. 

Dalis was calm. 

He smiled.

Continuing to maintain eye contact, Dalis sauntered away from the beast. The beast menacingly followed him with its eyes and looked ready to charge at him, but was abruptly stopped in its tracks, not without a terrifying pitched screech. 

It had witnessed the most horrifying action it had ever seen in its ten years of living.

Before the beast was a puny human who clutched its treasured herbs with both hands; one grasping the feeble, fragile leaves and the other gripped onto the stalk. Tension could be seen building up in the herb stalk as the human threatened to tear it apart.

"KOUWAA" [stop it u bastard]

With a sinister smile, Dalis began to increase the pressure in his arms as the pitiful beast began to writhe in agony as if it were it instead who was being torn asunder. Noticing that the beast's mournful cries would very likely attract other predators, Dalis decidedly threw two of the herbs he held towards the beast before running out of the open thicket and seeking cover. 

If the examiners were to see what just happened, they would be astonished, speechless. 

 

***

 

Dalis proceeded with care, his senses stretched tautly. It was exhausting, to say the least, but this degree of caution was necessary to avoid incidents like the earlier encounter. 

From his experience, he realised that the calpufer herbs were valuable to bargain with the beasts, especially the majority of the intellectual beasts. For those who could not be bargained against, they were either dangerous muscle heads or beasts too weak to mention. 

Therefore, the herb was an important safeguard. 

While Dalis was silently harvesting more herbs on the move, a curtain of darkness enveloped the forest. Upon looking up, roiling clouds could be seen forming above. It seemed like rain was on its way down.

. . .

. . .

Among the many towering trees, perched up on an unusually thick branch, sat Dalis. He was sheltered by a leafy roof, he had made on the spot, to protect himself from the rain. On the trunk he leaned against were vines, spiralling down towards the ground and carrying fresh rainwater through its canals. 

Dalis had made use of this to gather water and drink. While the rain brought many disadvantages such as muddier terrain, slippery roots, and obscured vision, this was true for the beasts too. So as long as someone kept stationary, rain would become the safest natural cover a survivor could ask for. 

Is this a forest? Or a jungle? Dalis complained in his mind. 

And so a day passed.

By now, Dalis's tongue was numb to the flavour of calpufer herbs. It really wasn't that great, in fact, he thought it was disgusting. Unfortunately, it was all he had. Perhaps after eating them for long enough, he too would begin to see them as a delicacy like the beasts.

To think all I could find yesterday was calpufer herbs . . . My luck is really high on the other end.

By the amount Dalis had gathered to this point, he would be considered to have struck gold. Three weeks worth of living costs!

Once the rain cleared, Dalis surveyed his surroundings to find the forest covered in a moist gleam. A solid foothold was hard to see and even more so were any signs of surrounding beasts. 

As he was reluctantly prepared to spend another day chewing on calpufer herbs, a glint caught his eye in the distance. Squinting to see further through the clearing mist, a metallic surface revealed itself. 

It was a silver chest nestled deep within the shrubbery! It would have been hard to notice if it wasn't for the glimmering dew coating it.

With nimble steps, Dalis slid down the spiralling vines and planted his feet onto the moist soil. Being careful to keep silent and lay low, he soundlessly trod in the direction of the silver chest.

When he was a scant few meters away from the shrub containing the silver chest, Dalis stopped his movements and slowed his breathing. He could just make out a rocky silhouette subtly moving up and down behind the shrub. 

It seemed to be breathing. 

Dalis then took note of his surroundings. This was the clearing he had been looking for earlier but unknowingly for him, it seemed to be occupied.

Luckily, however, it didn't seem to have noticed him as he slowly approached the chest. Dalis prayed to himself that the examiners wouldn't play a cruel joke and play fanfare like certain Z*lda games when opening a chest, and he carefully lifted the silver lid.

Phew. Looks like I didn't draw aggro.

Surprisingly, the metallic lid was light and easily unclasped without a sound before opening up. To Dalis, it was like witnessing the blooming of a beautiful flower. And instead of finding nectar, it was his sweet sweet staff he had dreamt of last night.

Like a child receiving a gift from Santa Claus, Dalis grasped the sheeny steel rod in his hands and lifted it up from the chest. He admired the simplicity of the staff and appreciated its design. One of his arms clasped the top half while the other held close to the bottom. 

"Yes, this surface . . . this feel . . . It fits right into my hands."

Click.

Klang!

Dalis's pupils shrunk to a pin prick as sweat threatened to cascade down his forehead. His beloved staff fell apart in his hands, splitting into three sections. From its dismantle, a glowing blue, translucent chain emerged from the gaps. 

This wasn't a bo staff: it was a tri-section staff!

Caught off-guard, the blue mana chains continued to lengthen until the middle section of the staff thudded against the moist soil, and the rattling of the chains created a dreadful sound much louder than the feared Z*lda fanfare.

Dalis slowly looked up to see the breathing rock split down the middle and rise.