First thing I did was to find a place to make a shelter. I found a place with alot of bushes and where the trees were closer together. There was also a nearby stream. I then made a temporary shelter in the bushes. I then spent the next few days between hunts building a shelter. 

I dug a hole into a small hill by a tree angled downwards. I then used mud lick clay from the stream mixed from the dirt I dug to expand it. Lastly I took branches to cover up the hill and shelter and tried to make it look as natural as possible. I then gathered up leaves or anything soft to make a bed inside. 

This will be where I sleep.

I then set traps around the bushes, the trees and a big area surrounding my shelter. These traps were mostly meant to kill animals about the size of deer and were not bait based. So, they were meant to defend my shelter. The area was probably about as big as a city block.

I then found places where small animals lived or ate and then set up bait traps. Mostly aiming for rabbits.

All this took days.

I investigated my immediate neighbors, actually I did this beforehand after setting up a temporary shelter. 

There was a pack of wolves and a T rex couple to the east. There was a chicken raptor pack to the west. There were no big predators to the north. To the south there was a group of four armed apes and a wasp nest. 

The wasps were big, about as big as my arm and I saw them actively rabbits and deer. 

The apes were about 7 feet tall and swung through the trees. They were aggressive and territorial. They seemed to mostly eat the high fruits of the big trees but they also did eat meat. They also used rocks and sticks and weapons to fight.

My area was not directly in conflict with any of these groups' territories and so unless I attracted attention I would be safe in my area. 

However, my plan was not to avoid these groups forever, but to hunt them and to gain skill in defending myself. To become the hunter, to not run anymore. I was tired of it. 

I knew this would be risky and I might die, but at the same time, if I was successful then I would be strong enough to be more free to do what I wanted and explore. This would allow me to leave this forest. 

Of course, the main reason why I can not leave this forest is because I have no idea where to go to leave it. However, the next reason is because I am limited by the dangerous monsters.

In short, it was time for my training arc! 

I also wanted to figure out these crystals, they must be some sort of magic or power. I assumed that this sword was so great because it had these crystals in it.

Anyways, let the training begin!!!

 

Months past and a lot had changed through many near death experiences. 

First, it turns out that almost every animal or creature can have those crystals and second hearts however not all of them do. I assume it is some age or growth thing or maybe evolution? I don’t know. All I know is that the ones with crystals tend to be bigger and look different in some way and can use magic-like abilities. 

For example, the deer. All male deer have antlers, but only the bigger ones that have a darker coat of fur and a purple tint added to their antlers can use lightning. 

Likewise, chickens that are bigger and have a purple comb can shoot a dark cloud of smoke out of their mouth. This move almost got me killed. I could not see thanks to it and the chicken clawed my face. I did end up winning in the end.

The apes have dark fur but the ones that have some red fur on their four arms can move faster in general but also seem to have strange bursts of speed and strength. 

The T rex can shoot fire out of its mouth like a drake if they have redder skin.

Most animals tend to have a similar ability to their species but some break the norm. One chicken I ran into, that was alone, had a green comb and it spat out acid like poison. I somehow avoided most of it, but my left foot was a little caught up in it. Not too bad though, I could still do things like normal.

Second, I have gained skills and knowledge. I understand the abilities and characteristics of most other animals nearby now. My traps have reached a level of sophistication to the point where I can trap and kill almost any creature with enough planning. The T rex, is the hardest to make traps work on because it is so big. My trap would have to be big too.

About my skills. I can now make an effective bow in a few hours, including the gathering time for the resources needed. My skill with the bow has also gone up. I can shoot up to 100 yards and hit something about the size of a deer most of the time.

 I can throw a spear to kill a chicken at about 40 yards, maybe 50. In other words, I have strength and accuracy. 

Lastly, I have unlocked an ability in the herb tree. I can create simple medicines, very simple, using plants and such to help healing. I can also create some basic poisons such as one that causes pain, another can cause blindness and one that weakens or makes one dizzy. Most of these are created by one main ingredient with a second helpful one. 

For example, I found a pepper like plant and that is the main ingredient for causing temporary blindness or pain. I can then add something like, venom from a wasp stinger or poison from a spider sack or even just water. I then smear it on a weapon or a trap or put it in the stomach of a rabbit to throw.  

Now, about me. I have changed. I have gotten stronger and more agile. I can climb pretty well now, run for a long time, walk forever, and fight a long fight.

 I once spent a whole day fighting a group of wolves that invaded my territory. 

However, I feel like something is strange with my changes. I feel like I am stronger than I should be and also there is a strange feeling every time I cut or stab any living animal with my magic sword. 

There is also a strange feeling when shortly after I kill something, like I am getting filled. 

I felt so strange that I thought maybe it was a level up system like thing and tried for a whole day to bring up the status screen but nothing happened.

To explain why I feel like I am stronger than I should be. First, I can see a little bit of pitch black darkness. I can make the outline of things. Second, I can jump almost double my height straight up. Third, I can lift a boulder about as big as my chest with only moderate difficulty and can throw it. Fourth, I have begun to identify things by smell when I can’t see them. I have to know the smell though. Lastly, I heal too fast, including my scars. My scars are still there and I still get new scars but the pain from the scars is almost gone and they are smaller than I thought they should be. One example is when I got sliced in the face nearly losing my eye. It only took two days for the pain to go away entirely.

I have no idea what caused these changes. Was it the sword? Was it me killing things? Was it the environment? I have no idea and decided to ignore it for now.

One other cool thing I discovered was a multi-colored stone. I don’t know why but somehow this stone has the ability to mess with the magic-like abilities of something nearby. They don't have to touch but it has to be within 5 yards. I discovered it by accident when running from a T rex that was breathing fire when all of a sudden the fire exploded in its mouth. It then promptly ran away. Took me a while to figure out that it was the stone and not the area.

I soon found that these multi-colored stones existed in other places and can be any size, but usually it is the size of my fist or head.

With the new knowledge I have and my new skills I will now actively hunt and kill my neighbors. 

 

I decided to start with the chicken raptors. They had the second biggest territory and other groups usually avoided them. In other words, I think they are the second biggest fish besides the apes. Now, why am I attacking one of the biggest fish? This is because they are stupid and highly aggressive. So, traps, baits and ambushes will work great against them.These chickens are great when fighting against other non-intelligent species but against me they will have a bad time.

Anyways, about this group of chickens. It is a big group of 50 chickens. There seems to be a lead couple in charge with the male as the supreme leader. These two and a few older ones are a bit smarter but the rest are stupid as normal. Also there seems to be a rising male that is somewhat beginning to challenge the leadership of the couple. A few of the pack are beginning to follow the upstart. Young vs the old. Each had their advantages. The old were wiser while the younger had more energy. I was pretty sure that the upstart was probably stronger than the couple in a one on one fight but I was not sure.

This is all I had noticed from my observations with my monocular from afar. I had learned that as long as I covered my scent well and didn’t get too close or make sudden loud movements that the chickens would not notice me.

I began to think up ideas of how to wipe out this chicken pack. First, I could wait until the fight broke out between the upstart and the couple. However, I was not sure how long it would take and I did not want to wait. After thinking a bit, I realized that I could force the conflict to escalate. How? By injuring or killing one of the couple, that would shake the balance of power for sure. 

There was a problem though, these guys were smarter. Earlier when I was learning skills and such I tested some traps on these chickens. After killing one chicken with a trap, the next trap was noticed by the female of the couple.

So in light of its intelligence, I decided to poison it. How? Should I try a un baited trap to avoid suspicion? Or should I shoot it with my bow? 

I decided to try the risk free option first, which was to set a trap.

I waited in sight of their nesting grounds until they eventually all went out to hunt. They typically hunted in two groups, the couple leaders would take one group and the upstart would take the smaller group.

By the way, there were no baby chickens at this point. Maybe mating season will come soon?

I had come prepared, I thoroughly covered my scent with mud, sap, leaves and other things.I had not cooked over a fire in days to prevent the smell of smoke lingering on me. I had come with a pile of small wooden spikes I had sharpened that were dipped in poison from a spider. 

 I then went to their nest and began to set small simple traps throughout and surrounding their nest. These traps were super simple, like a small fist sized hole with a single spike, a bent branch of a bush with a spike attached, or literally a spike under some leaves. 

I tried to not disturb and touch as much as possible. I was hoping that the chickens would not notice.

After a while, I was done. I then left to my hiding place which was in a tree. I climbed the tree to watch the result.

I then waited.

Hours later, in the evening, the chickens returned. I could tell they had completed a successful hunt since their beaks were red with blood. 

The couple led their group back to the nest. They seemed a bit relaxed but were still monitoring the surroundings and such.

They got close to the nest and were approaching some traps I had set.

All of a sudden, the couple both stopped almost at the same time. They began sniffing loudly and looking around.

Damn, I guess it was arrogant of me to think they would not notice.

However, I soon realized that it was fine.

The couple began to investigate the nest, they were looking around as they walked around and were sniffing close to the ground. 

I then realized that even though they noticed that something had disturbed their nest, they had not realized that unbaited traps could be present. They did not have enough experience with intelligent species.

The other chickens watched a bit before the couple turned to make a few clucking sounds and then the entire group began to investigate the nest. The couple was in the lead. 

After a few near hits finally the female leader tripped a branch trap that swung and stabbed her in the shoulder. She screamed, of course in chicken.

This noise caused the less experienced chickens to jump, some literally, which set off three more traps.

Soon a minor chaos broke loose before the male made a loud noise causing them to calm down.

The male checked out the female and sniffed her wound as they both moved away from the nest. 

After a few minutes the chickens began to make a new nest about 100 yards away. 

Then the poison started to take effect. It was a slow acting poison that paralyzes first and then causes suffocation. 

The female leader along with a few others fell to their knees and then eventually could not move and began gasping for breath.

At this point the male leader seemed to start to panic as it stomped the ground nervously and made some clucking noises at the female. 

It was too late. 

thirty minutes later, the female and three others had died gasping for breath.

The male pecked the body of the female a bit before stopping.

While the male leader seemed to be mourning the death of its mate, the upstart arrived with his nearly 10 followers. 

The upstart saw this situation and seemed to immediately understand that there was an opportunity. It clucked aggressively at the male leader.

The male leader clucked back and soon their followers from either side were forming a circle clucking.

To be honest, it sounded strange.

Then the upstart attacked the male and the fight started. The followers on either side began to cluck even more loudly but did not get involved in the fight.

I was a bit surprised. I thought with how aggressive these chickens were that they would fight for their leader.

The upstart had fire abilities and the male leader had smoke abilities. Both were used. The circle of chickens got bigger as they backed away from the smoke and fire.

I could not see. 

After a few minutes, the smoke cleared. The upstart had won, however it was seriously wounded but not to the point that it would be dying. It loudly proclaimed its victory and then began to lead the now unified group back to the nest.

Some of the followers of the now dead male began to cluck as if warning the new leader but it seemed that the new leader ignored them until one of his followers stepped in a trap.

The new leader seemed to cluck and the whole group began to spread out as if looking for the perpetrator which caused two more to hit traps. 

After a while and the three died, the new leader seemed confused and agitated since he could not find the attacker and did not seem to understand how traps worked.

Finally after some clucking  of the older ones and the new leader they went to the new nest.

That night, after the chickens had stopped moving and looked like they were sleeping. I approached slowly.

I found a spot in the bushes about 50 yards away. I then set more traps before taking the spot. 

I took out my bow and arrows that were dipped in poison. 

Tonight, I fight until one side dies.

I aimed first at the new leader of the pack. They were big targets, I was sure I would hit them. I remembered the saying “Aim small, miss small”, so, I aimed at where the heart would be.

Twang

The arrow flew and hit the chicken in the throat. So began the fight.

 

It was no morning and I woke up. It had been a long fight. I had some new scars.

The chicken pack quickly located me, but I still managed to shoot 5 of them. I then threw sticky sacks at some groups. 

Sticky sacks were the sacks inside spiders where the spider web was held after being made.

I then had pulled out my magic sword and fought the pack in the bushes where they could not surround me as easily. The plan worked well as I killed a few until the leader actually did something smart. 

It lit the bushes on fire.

I stayed in the bushes for a bit more until the fire was too much and so I left the bushes and then the fight got harder. 

Luckily the leader and a few others soon fell over and could not help in the fight anymore. The main thing was that now the group did not have leadership.

Still, it was about 30 vs 1. I nearly died a few times and gained some new scars but in the end I managed to wipe out the pack.

Now I will hunt the wolves and T rex.

I thought with a smile on my face.