A young boy was traversing through the green lush forest cautiously, taking each step carefully and turning his head left and right.

The boy was covered in mud and dirt, wore an old dirty rabbit fur coat and held a makeshift spear. A roughly knife-shaped bone was tied to the top of the bamboo shaft with thick vine.

The boy was naturally Mu Cheng. As he walked forward, he would occasionally use the spear to carve a mark on a tree. It was a lesson he learned after getting lost in the forest. The marks would help him figure out his location, and areas he had visited before.

"It's been a week, and I'm still stuck here..." Mu Cheng shook his head and mumbled "At least I'm moving toward new grounds. Soon I'll get out of this place... Yes, soon... Soon...." His muttering turned indistinct.

"Should I fly...? But it's pretty dangerous being a small bird. If only I could become a hawk I'd be reassured." Mu Cheng glanced at the race in character customization.

In the droplist of races. Mu Cheng saw Human, Elf, Dwarf, Titan, Giant, Dragon and even Bird.

And only Human and Bird were selectable, the rest were greyed out. As Mu Cheng had been testing out the race function during these days, he found out that it was possible to unlock races by having the Re-Allocator tool scan various races and paying a certain amount of AP.

As for why the Elf, Dwarf and other fantasy races were greyed out? Most likely the information contained was either false or due to losing connection to the game server, thus the golden finger had no way to fetch the information contained concerning the various races.

Mu Cheng had especially climbed up a tree and found a baby in a bird nest, then touching it slightly, he had the Re-Allocator tool scan it and saved the race after paying 10 AP.

"Although I also scanned an egg, so I can also choose to turn into a bird egg. But most likely I'll lose consciousness and end up as food for someone else instead of hatching." Mu Check mocked as he saw the option of turning into a bird egg was available.

"But seriously, why couldn't it be a heron instead." Mu Cheng had a wry smile as he complained.

The bird species he had collected in his golden finger was just a Grey-backed Shrike, normally grows to 25 cm and weight about 50 gram. Meanwhile, a Grey Heron grows to 2 m and weighs up to 2 kg. But unfortunately, Mu Cheng did not have any luck in finding a larger bird species' nest. Any all the larger birds he found, they escaped up to the sky before he even had the chance to get close to them.

Without any hunting skills, Mu Cheng had tried and tried to hunt a bird to no avail. The Grey-backed Shrike was just too small and weak, if not for the body's limit, Mu Cheng could have simply increased his attributes and turned the tiny bird into a giant predator bird.

Of course, Mu Cheng had tried out maxing his attributes as a Grey-backed Shrike, but he did not turn much stronger and his size only grew from 25 cm to 41 cm. Still a tasty snack in the eyes of the big roaming birds in the sky.

"Hm.. Still haven't leveled up my new skill." Mu Cheng continued complaining about one thing after another.

After wielding the makeshift bone knife spear, Mu Cheng had finally gotten two new skills called Spear Proficiency and Pole Proficiency. After gaining the skills, Mu Cheng had only felt a bit more familiar holding the spear in his hand.

Mu Cheng had tried putting some AP into it and after a while, the spear in his hand felt like a 2nd hand to him, he could wield the spear with great familiarity as if he had held it since his birth.

But since Mu Cheng did not know how to attack with a spear, he couldn't effectively use it either way, no matter how familiar he was with the spear.

It's just like how a man who knows no martial arts, but he is still familiar with his body as he had grown up with it. But that does not make him good at fighting. Mu Cheng had the same feeling when he held the spear.

The only martial art Mu Cheng knew, was Shape Will Fist, but that was a fist technique and not a spear technique. And in the forest, who in their right mind would fight beasts with their bare fists?

After lamenting about how he did not know any useful martial arts, withdrew the AP from Spear Proficiency and decided to slowly grind for xp the normal way instead. As it was a way for him to slowly accumulate AP.

Glancing at the skill frustrated Mu Cheng greatly.

Spear Proficiency Lv1(41/100)

Pole Proficiency Lv2(11/200)

"One week of holding this spear day and night, I only got 41 xp? That's not even 1 AP. But could the problem could be that the spear is just too... Shitty. I only noticed it when I mastered spear proficiency earlier. This spear's balance is making it hard to wield, not only is the mass of the bone dagger to inconsistent, even the left and right sides of the blade is unsymmetric. I would probably have an easier time just holding a bamboo pole instead." Mu Cheng could have just removed the crappy bone knife/spearhead. Then it would be much easier for him if he simply wanted to grind for Pole proficiency. But the problem was the use of the spear was mainly to protect himself.

"At least I'm gaining some xp from Pole Proficiency." Mu Cheng consoled himself. He didn't know if it was because he had both the skills, or because there were many similarities with a pole and a spear. But he also gained some xp in Pole Proficiency while wielding the spear.

The reason Pole Proficiency was a higher level was not because wielding the spear gave him more xp in pole proficiency, instead. It was because he had held the bamboo pole a whole day before he finished making the bone spearhead and turned his bamboo pole into a crappy spear.

The bamboo pole was naturally balanced and was comfortable to wield at ease. Which lead to a great increase in xp in pole proficiency during the first day Mu Cheng wielded it.

As usual, Mu Cheng was munching on some berries and mushrooms without a care whether they were poisonous or not. His right hand still held the spear tightly as he picked up another mushroom from his rabbit pouch with his left hand.

Just as he was about to put the mushroom in his mouth, he froze. The mushroom that was just about to enter his mouth fell from his mouth.

A tiger was sleeping, with its body leaning on the side of a big boulder. Due to the size of the boulder completely hiding the tiger's body. Coupled with the tiger sleeping in tranquil, Mu Cheng didn't hear or notice the tiger at all, before he just managed to walk up to the side of the boulder.

Staring dumbly at the tiger, which was just within arms reach, cold sweat dripped down his back.

"F*ck! How can a tiger sleep soundly leaning onto a boulder?! Don't they say tigers live in the mountain? Why the hell is it here in the forest?!" Mu Cheng was crying tears as he cursed loudly in his head. But didn't dare make the slightest sound, fearful of waking the sleeping tiger.

*Rustle* The mushroom finally landed on the ground, and stirred up some fallen leaves on the ground.

"Oh my god! Why you stupid mushroom! Please don't wake up!" Mu Cheng's eyes popped out, still red-eyed, cursed a thousand times in his mind before praying for the tiger to still be sound asleep.

Unfortunately, the young boy's prayers were unanswered. The tiger suddenly opened its eyes and stared calmly at Mu Cheng.

Both Mu Cheng and the tiger stared at each other's eyes. Mu Cheng did not dare to move nor blink his eyes as he continued staring into the tiger's eyes. Sweat slowly dripped down his tiny forehead, a few drops even entered his eyes, stinging his eyes, yet he dared not blink them.

The tiger was still lying down on its legs, it's aura was clearly restrained. Yet sensing the slight hint of majesty, Mu Cheng felt like he was being crushed by a mountain. Although the tiger was smaller than the dark brown bear that chased Mu Cheng from before. After encountering the tiger, Mu Cheng no longer felt the bear was anywhere close to scary anymore. In comparison, the bear felt big, heavy and clumsy. But the tiger was like a king looking down on everyone from above, it's claw seemed to contain infinite might like that of a mountain.

Unknown to Mu Cheng, the Re-Allocator had suddenly added a new skill to his list of skills

Shape Will Fist(2)> Tiger Fist Lv1(30/100)

Bear Fist Lv1(20/100) 

A thin stream of energy flowed up to Mu Cheng's head, slightly cooling down and eased his stress. The stream continued to spread into tiny snakes as they flowed down from his head and spread across his body.

This tiger was unlike the tigers Mu Cheng had seen in the zoos that had lost its wild nature. And neither the wild tigers Mu Cheng had seen in the Safaris, although wild, they were restrained and lost their true nature and true freedom. What makes one a king? A golden crown and a golden scepter? No, a real king has faith in their own power, they control their country with a single wave of their hand. A king was uncontested, no one had the right to restrain them.

This tiger was completely unrestrained, completely inheriting the true nature of a tiger. This was a true king of the mountain.

"What is a tiger doing here!" Mu Cheng complained internally, tears flowed down his eyes, his eyes stung from keeping them open so long they were completely dry.

Just as what felt like an eternity, Mu Cheng heard a voice that sounded like an angel's at this moment.

"A'Hu! Where are you, A'Hu?" An old and warm sounding male's voice came from afar.

"Is that old man looking for someone or is he calling for the tiger?" Mu Cheng was confused, the Hu meant tiger, but it wasn't uncommon for a person to be nicknamed A'Hu. But would a man in their right mind shout like that in the wild and dangerous forest?

As if to respond to the old man's voice, the tiger stopped the staring contest between it and Mu Cheng and slowly got up.

*Howl* And howled in a low tone.

After a while, an old man with a wrinkly face dressed in a light grey robe, long white hair tied up into a bun, neatly combed white beard, carried a bamboo basket on his back, came up to the tiger and said in a jovial voice "There you are, I've finished gathering the herbs. Come, let's go back home." 

Under Mu Cheng's shocked eyes, the old man calmly caressed the tiger's back. Unlike what Mu Cheng had imagined, the tiger did not get angry and chew up the old man. It instead let out a few low growls in response to the old man before turning its head back to stare at Mu Cheng.

"What the hell! Don't tell me I'm in the middle of a film shooting?!" Mu Cheng cursed in his mind. But the tiger did not like the slightest tame, its aura was completely uninhibited, unlike a tame tiger. And maybe due to being a wild tiger, it was much bigger than the tigers Mu Cheng had ever seen in his life.

"Hohoho. Young child, what are you doing here? It's very dangerous here in this wild forest. There are uncountable ferocious predator beasts here." The old man said with a small smile as he slowly combed his white beard with his hand.

"You don't say, while actually caressing a tiger?" Mu Cheng ridiculed the old man in his mind.

"What's wrong, young child? Oh, did A'Hu scare you? Don't worry, A'Hu don't eat humans." The old man seemed to have misunderstood Mu Cheng's silence, he smiled gently and explained, then put his other free hand on the tiger's back and slowly caressed it.

"Grandpa, isn't that tiger, wild? How come you call it A'Hu?" Mu Cheng was very curious about the tiger which seemed so wild and untamed, being friendly to the old man. It was normal in China to call an old man as grandpa and a middle-aged man as uncle if you were much younger than them to show friendliness and closeness. And Mu Cheng was currently just a little 6-year-old boy, so it was only natural for him to call this old man grandpa.

"Ah, you're curious about this aren't you?" The old man smiled and continued, "Yes, I met A'Hu 5 years ago, at the base of the mountain, he was bleeding badly and almost dying when I came across him. I concocted some medicinal paste and treated his injuries over a few months until his wounds had all healed up. After that, I let A'Hu go back to the mountain. But I would occasionally come across A'Hu as I collected herbs. A'Hu is very smart and would often escort me when I go out, with him scaring away all the dangerous beasts, collecting herbs in the mountain and forest is no longer dangerous for me. Maybe this is his way of repaying me for healing him." The old man smiled.

"Gratitude of an animal..." Mu Cheng muttered. It wasn't something he was unfamiliar with. On Earth, he did come across a few newspaper articles about a few men treating injured wild animals and earning their friendship. But it was his first time seeing such a thing with his own real eyes.