Chương 7: Wood Shrine

Time until next Elemental Storm: 6 Days and 10 Hours Ethan toiled over the question in his mind. If I head towards Uninexus, I could probably team up with some other Trial Goers. They'd have different skills than mine, so I'd be less likely to end up dying to something I couldn't expect. On the other hand… Teaming up with people would mean hiding my own abilities. I won't be able to show off too much or they'd start getting suspicious about what my Talent is and where it comes from.

Not to mention I'd lose out on two whole days I could be using to clear the shrine. Could he clear the shrine by himself? Ethan wondered if it was possible. He looked down at his hand, and at the mass of life force molded around it. It's not about if I can. If I play my cards right, don't get in over my head, I can heal from just about anything, can't I? I just need… time. The one thing I'll be throwing away if I go search for a team. He decided right then and there.

It might've been a harder road alone, but he was willing to brave it. Ethan turned to where Oakwil had pointed before, at the heart of the forest. It was the border between where the trees were normal sized, and where they turned into the size of skyscrapers. And Ethan walked towards it, spear on his shoulder and bag by his side.

The footing was soggy in the forest, but it wasn't so bad that Ethan was slipping. Mostly, he was trying to keep away from any weird trees that he found in his bestiary. His bestiary helped in that regard, pointing out the differences between a normal tree and how the treants looked. He could've done the same with his Talent, but that required getting in close. Whenever he noticed the sign of a treant, Ethan moved around it slowly.

That was, until he came upon one odd looking treant and a thought popped into his head. It takes those monsters a few seconds to pick themselves off of the dirt, right? What if I just…. Hit them before that? He gathered together death energy converted from his life force, and covered the tip of his spear with a thick spread. Ethan waited behind one of the trees so that the treant he'd spotted wouldn't see him, and only rushed in once his technique was complete.

Ethan ran fleetfooted towards the monster, spear bared. But somehow the treant saw him coming, and started rising out of the ground. It swung a branched hand, and Ethan was forced back without even landing a blow. Shit! He dismissed the DE Overlay on his spear, reabsorbed the death energy after converting it, and then started running from the treant. That was a waste of essence. How the hell did it spot me so quickly? After a few minutes of running, he lost the monster.

A few more minutes, and he found another one hiding amongst the forest. The last one spotted me, but…. Ethan moved in front of a tree in the monster's line of sight, and yet it didn't rise. Curious, he raised his spear towards it, and still it lay dormant. Then, one last thing. DE Overlay. As soon as the mass of death energy congealed, the treant rose from its roots and green orbs flared to life. Ethan booked it away from the monster, dodging a shower of sprinkles in the process. The death essence.

They can sense it! Which meant he had to be careful to use it only when he meant to engage an enemy. Maybe it's just the one monster, but I'm not risking turning into a lighthouse for everything around me. He stowed the spear in his back and walked ahead, and after about ten minutes, he arrived at a familiar location.

The goblin village was somehow still standing after the flood. Ethan was sure it would've been wiped off the face of the realm, but somehow it had made it through. He slowly made it closer and closer to the centre of the village, keeping himself aware the entire time in case he sensed the life force of a goblin. But although the village had survived, none of the monsters had made it. Did they…. Kill themselves trying to chase me? Ethan wondered. Or were they just scattered from the flood and making their way back.

He opened the bestiary once more, hoping he could gleam some information about their behaviour. [Monster: Goblin Credits Dropped: 10 Description: Low on the food chain, goblins prefer to work in packs and groups to gain an advantage over other, stronger monsters that live around them. Despite their appearance, goblins are easily trainable and are smarter than most other races.] Smart, huh? I bet, but any trap they'd set up would've been triggered by the flood, or triggered by some other Trial Goers.

Either way, looting time, Ethan rubbed his hands together, and made his way to the nearest house. After about fifteen minutes of searching an admittedly small village, Ethan came back empty-handed. Stone tools, and barely anything else besides. Their food's soggy and… doesn't look edible. Guess I shouldn't have expected any better, they're the lowest of the low monsters there are. Ethan turned to leave the village from the north exit, when he saw something hanging in the tree. A body.

Wait a minute, is that one of the corpses? Ethan walked over to the tree, keeping his eye out for any monsters besides. When he reached the hanging body, he pulled it down and dropped it to the ground. The corpse was waterlogged and puffy. The face was barely recognizable, but at least it looked human. Other than that, the man wore clothes that weren't much better than Ethan's, and had no weapons on him. Must've washed away in the flood. Sorry, buddy, but I'll have to search you for any gear.

It wasn't as if the man would be needing it any longer, and if Ethan figured out who he was from his belongings, he could send his regards back to his family. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Or maybe I won't. The GPA probably has a system in place for informing loved ones of a Trial Goers death. And I'm not some messenger of death anyway. Raphael might've admonished him for that, but thankfully he wasn't here.

Ethan stripped the man of his belongings, but they didn't amount to much. Just a few keepsakes and some plain jewelry. Tsk, a waste of time. But before he got up, Ethan at least did the man the favour of closing his eyes and folding his hands over his body. If his body's here, then the other corpses must have washed up somewhere nearby too. But searching for them might eat up an hour or two. He weighed the chances in his head. The Trial Goers were most likely headed towards the wood shrine, just like him.

That meant they might've brought along specialty items specifically for that shrine. Good chance they knew the Realm Trial ahead of time too. Either by luck or just paying for the info. That dead guy looked like he was well off. He breathed out a sigh. Didn't save them in the end, though, did it? Still, the prospect was enough to make Ethan decide to scout the area. He circled the village and looked outwards for more corpses, and thankfully his search brought him results soon.

Three more bodies popped up one after the other. The first was another human man with blonde hair and bronze skin. He didn't have anything on him, so Ethan set him on the ground, closed his eyes and folded his arms over himself. The next two were much more useful. They were a pair of Worin. Raphael had told him of the other races in the Realm Trial, but this was the first he was seeing them in person. The Worin looked like rabbit people with strong digitigrade legs and sharp teeth.

Both of the bodies Ethan found matched the description, and in their pockets they held the prizes he'd been longing for. The first was a map that had somehow survived the flood. It wasn't even wet, being made of some kind of plastic material that was infused with the touch of an enchanting Talent. Ethan looked inside, and it seemed to show a network of trees and bridges to him. It was hard to read and confusing, but Ethan assumed it must be for the wood shrine coming up. The second item was easier to recognize.

It was a Skill Stone. It had rainbow veins going through it though, and felt warm to the touch. Ethan wanted desperately to use it, but something in the back of his mind stopped him. He didn't know what rank this Skill Stone was, and if it turned out to be one above his own… Raphael had told him why Designers needed to progress linearly. You only took Skill and Talent Stones when the progress bar was filled, and only of a rank directly above yours.

If you skipped a rank, the sheer amount of energy unleashed from the Stones would kill you. It was a dangerous game using an unidentified Stone, and one that Ethan wasn't going to play. Raphael said there were identification items you can buy. Maybe I can use my credits to do that? But he'd have to find a shop for that first. Before then, he was stuck placing both items in his duffel bag. Once the corpses were laid to rest, he finally left the goblin village.

Ethan wondered what time it was, but the binary suns of the first realm were hidden behind thick clouds, so he couldn't tell. He jogged over to the skyscraper trees, making good time and arriving only an hour later. A visible line divided the small trees from the tall, and Ethan saw a squirrel approach it. As soon as the squirrel hit the boundary between the trees, it vanished. Huh? That made Ethan hesitate too, and he picked up a rock to throw at the boundary.

The rock sunk in just like the squirrel and disappeared. It's taking them somewhere, isn't it? He wondered. He brought out his spear and tested that too, and the tip went through, but not the rest of the spear. There was even ground on the other side, when he tapped his spear to find it. Okay, so it's not just sucking it in. Ethan braced his spear and took slow steps towards the boundary, finally entering himself. [Dungeon Quest Added.] When he came through, his eyes feasted on a new and exotic site.

A second ago he'd been on the ground, and now he was high up in giant trees, no bigger than an ant compared to his surroundings. Large networks of branches intertwined between the huge trees, turning into highways and platforms on which animals were running. Behind him, he could see an arch of wood with swirling leaves inside. That's how I got in here? It didn't look like it could teleport him, but he supposed looks could be deceiving.

Ethan looked up, and he saw more platforms, ramps and bridges between trees hung by vines and leaves. He also saw oranges and apples that looked normally sized, before realizing that they were much further than he thought. They're the size of goddamn boulders! He could've been crushed under a single one of those fruits, easily. And then he'd be sent plummeting downwards, which when Ethan looked at it, looked like a pit of spikes surrounding the trees for miles on end. So this is what a dungeon looks like.

He'd heard of them in passing from celebrity Trial Goers and even Raphael, but seeing one was much more harrowing. Everything looked like it could kill him. Which meant he needed to be extremely careful. Ethan took a step forward, and a monster took the choice of his death away from him. He saw the shape of a wolf try to rip out his throat and he ducked under it. When he turned to face the wolf, he scowled in confusion. Because he wasn't just fighting a normal wolf. He was fighting a wolf treant.

The wolf treant looked like a normal wolf, if every patch of fur and skin was replaced by bark and twisting wood instead. And all of it was covering a frame of stark white bone. The muscles of its arms and legs were all wood too, and in its eyes were the same green orbs full of hate that the normal treants had. Ethan held his spear in both hands and began converting death energy as fast as possible. The wolf treant took another lunge at him, and he parried it away.

He lost control of the death energy for a second, taking a moment to gather it back again. The wolf was savage, coming at Ethan constantly and keeping him from fully using DE Overlay. It bit, clawed and kicked at Ethan with its boney extremities, confusing him further. Agh, I can't focus with it attacking! Ethan grunted as he took a rake of claws over his forearm. He backhanded the wolf, but the monster pulled its head away and almost bit off a finger.

Ethan had to use the spear to keep it at bay, and started focusing on a different technique entirely. Life Reinforcement. Life force flooded his muscles and bolstered his speed, helping Ethan to stay out of the wolf's way. With his newfound speed, he dodged around the uneven wooden platform they were on, trying not to trip over a branch. He began focusing on his DE Overlay again, while keeping an eye on the wolf and the pulsing life force through its body.

It might come in a different shape, but the structure's the same. Its heart is the source of its life force, and if I destroy it, it dies! Slowly, he applied the death energy to his spear, anchoring it there for the next strike. The wolf must have noticed too, because it started chomping wilder and wilder. Its jaws snapped over air as Ethan pulled away, but that also took him out of range to pierce the monster's back.

He tried a few more times to close the distance without getting mauled, but the wolf was just too fast. Eventually, Ethan had to concede. He gave the wolf an opening to bite his leg, hoping that it wouldn't dig in too deep. And when it bit down, Ethan stabbed his spear through the monster's back. Death energy exploded and shredded its wooden skin, reaching the heart within and burning it out instantly. The wolf's jaw loosened and its green orbs winked out, as Ethan sighed from the pain. [Bestiary Updated!] [+10 Credits] He removed the monster's jaws from his leg, looking at its state with his Talent. At least it's just a flesh wound. Bones are fine and it didn't poke a hole in my arteries… Still, the battle left a bad taste in his mouth. Taking hits to win would build some bad habits for him in the middle of a fight. But isn't that what my Talent's for? I'm the only one who can afford to make those mistakes. But if I make too many… there goes my life.

He'd have to find a better way to fight against monsters like the wolf treant, but for now, he was content to steal its life force and use it to heal himself. After that, he sent the remaining death energy into his Talent, stood up on a newly fixed leg, and opened his duffel bag. He thought the map might come in handy, but he'd made one mistake. He hadn't realized just how useful his new item was. [Marking all Holy Seeds and Pedestals…] The screen appeared as soon as he opened the map.

A second later, ten new dots popped up around every corner of the shrine's layout, and Ethan smiled.