Chương 11

After his stunt, Ethan didn't want to linger in this place any longer. His connection to his talismans was reestablished, and the barrier around the pond disappeared. Taking his flask out of the ring, he rushed to the pond and gently dipped it in the water. Alas, the moment he touched the water, his surroundings changed in a blink, and he found himself in a lush forest. On high alert, he checked out everywhere for a sign of danger, but to his immense relief, he seemed to be alone.

The flora was also different from the nightmare village, with dark and tall trees covering everything without a definite path. The sun was shining brilliantly like before, but the temperature was slightly cooler. Once he relaxed, he looked at his flask and found it dry as a bone, not a single drop. His grip on the flask tightened as he swallowed a curse. Bullshit Cultus strikes again. Why make a pond with water if it's not meant to be drunk? Why not a damn teleportation gate, instead?

Shaking his head, he sent the flask back to his ring and started investigating his surroundings for anything to lead him to a water source. As he decided on a route, he hit the road with a smile tugging at his lips, his stride turning cheerful without intending. He did it. He survived not only the hellscape town but also the magical deathtrap, even profiting from doing so. And it felt damn good. His lucky star must have been shining on him. Only an hour into his walk, he heard the faint sound of flowing water.

As he closed in, he realized this wasn't even the only good news, because his dinner was waiting for him near the glassy stream. A small white rabbit with two curled horns was nibbling grass. Ethan crouched down and tried to call his blowgun and darts onto the ground so they wouldn't drop. It worked for the bamboo tube, but the darts still somehow appeared a foot above the dirt before falling. Thankfully, they didn't alert his prey.

The first dart hit the target perfectly, but he had no time to load the second before the rabbit took off like a whirlwind. He chased it without hesitation and soon found its paralyzed body next to a bush; no doubt the sedative worked fast due to its small stature and low level. Half an hour later, Ethan was taking his long overdue bath in the stream as his roasted rabbit sizzled next to him on a simple spit.

Since the water was flowing at a decent pace and it looked clear enough, he took his first sip without boiling it, feeling as though the colors had become more vivid and the birds were singing for his triumph. His mood soared to the sky. Life was good. Scrubbing his body with dirt and rinsing himself with water, he stood up in waist-deep water from time to time and turned the rabbit to keep it from burning.

As he sat in the stream once again, he started to murmur a song, ''One pill makes you small, one pill makes you tall-. And– Oh shit!'' His eyes snapped open as he remembered something important.

'Ani, can you locate the ship or the other biochips now?'

'No signals from the ship, but in a 10, 000 mile radius, there are 37 biochip users.' His eyes lit up.

'Can you identify the users?'

'Negative. I can only spot their locations if they didn't block it.'

'How far is the closest one, and how many in our crew had biochips?'

'The closest one is 2, 000 miles away. 421 out of 500 had biochips.' He grimaced at the vast distance, but there was nothing he could do. The number of people without a biochip was also above his expectations. Even with all the benefits–like accessing VR during sleep anywhere on Earth–many people didn't trust Animus. They only reluctantly accepted living in settlements with the contribution system because of the prosperous lifestyle it offered.

It seemed Ani didn't mind bringing 79 of them on the expedition, despite the communication problems it would cause. Ethan ran his hands through his hair and tied it at the back. Two thousand miles… If I rush there, I'll be monster food in no time. And if everyone is that spread out, they won't bother trying to meet up. They'll just focus on surviving instead. I should do that as well. Take my time, get used to my new skills, and slowly march toward the closest one.

To be honest, he didn't particularly care about the other Earthlings beyond his friends. He did feel some comradeship towards them in this foreign world, but he wouldn't go out of his way to help them. Even after finding his friends, he wouldn't be staying with them for a long time. Once he made sure that they were okay and had a way to contact them, he would go on his way. That was always the plan since he'd decided to join the expedition.

If he'd wanted to settle and live a quiet life, he could've done that on Earth as well. This journey was all about understanding himself and finding a place where he finally felt at home. It wasn't like he disliked the company of his friends, he just wanted something more. His old buddy, Adrian, had donned the persona of a reliable right-hand long ago and did his best to help him with whatever he needed.

They'd been through a lot, and Ethan would trust him with his life, but the guy had thick walls around who he really was and preferred to be a stone-cold professional, all the time. Vince was the first friend he'd made from VR games and the one who introduced him to many others. They got along quite well, but Vince was friends with everyone. He had this carefree, confident attitude that drew people to him, and he enjoyed the attention very much.

Rather than striving for what he wanted, he tried to become the person everyone else expected him to be and make them proud. Perhaps that was why he ranked in the top 100 in many games, but always toward the bottom, jack of all trades and master of none, as they said. Again, Ethan loved him very much, but he sought something more, something special. As for Wu Qian, they hadn't been friends for long, but they had this chemistry where bantering came naturally to both of them.

It was Vince who introduced her, and they started treating each other like they had been childhood friends from the first day. Yet, after all that time, they knew next to nothing about each other. The mischievous girl was full of beans, but she had this faint yet persistent detachment. Everything was a game to her, and you could tell when she was bored and started looking for the next game.

Regardless, Ethan missed them all and would never stop searching for them, even if it was only to see if they needed anything from him and make sure they were safe and sound. Taking a sip of water from his cupped hand, he rose from the river and climbed to the shore. He really wanted to drink his fill but knew that would cause stomach problems. It had to be sips in the first hour, and even after that he had to rein himself in for the rest of the day. Still, every single drop felt like heaven.

After getting dressed, he grabbed the stick that was pierced into rabbit meat and waited for it to cool off before digging in. As he did, he thought about his new skills and what kind of build he could create with them. During his hour-long trek in search of water, he'd failed to resist the temptation and tried them all. Sadly, he could only try them once because he was out of mana before he knew it. First of all, [Void Wrap] was a scam. It consumed 50 mana per second. 50! He had only 120 mana right now.

Sure, his level was low, but even at higher levels he couldn't see himself using this skill in a feasible way. Despite that, witnessing his body disappear from sight, even for two seconds, made butterflies fly in his stomach. The only path forward he could see with this amazing ability was ranking the skill up and fixing this mana cost issue. Otherwise, it was on the back burner for now. In comparison, [Blink] consumed only 25 mana per usage.

It was still pretty high for him, but at least that would stop being the case at higher tiers. The 30 feet range was also decent enough, and when he tried to teleport in a solid object, he found himself in the nearest available space. There was more to look into for this skill, but he had to take his time and learn slowly. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. As for his last skill, it turned out even better than expected.

[Fabric Tear] allowed him to open two collinear, small portals that disregarded the distance between them. The visual effects of the skill were awe-inspiring. The portals were circle-shaped and a bit bigger than his fist. Their outer layers crackled with electric-blue energy that expanded outward before vanishing an inch from the portal. They indeed looked like tears in reality.

One downside, though: when he tried to poke a stick inside them, the stick entered one and exited from another as advertised, but when he touched the inner side of the portal with the stick, it sliced right through as easily as cutting butter with a hot knife, and the cut piece fell to the ground 150 feet away. Yeah… he was not going to put any part of his body inside ever. Even with his knives, he had to be extra careful not to wreck them. Those portals were no joke.

On the bright side, he could open as many portals as he wished as long as he had the mana. They only took 15 mana to activate and stayed like that for 5 seconds unless he wanted to close them earlier. Hmm, what happens if I deactivate them when there's something inside? He took another bite from the rabbit as he considered it. In the end, he decided to try and see. Standing up, he kept the rabbit in his left hand and looked for a twig.

Then, he opened the skill with one portal right in front of him, and the other 5 feet away. After poking the twig inside, he deactivated the skill. The far end of it simply disappeared and returned to its original place. There wasn't any damage on the wood either. Ethan's eyes widened. What the fuck!? The skill actually cost him 30 mana instead of 15 like before. Was it because the– No, no, hold on. He stored his food in his ring and called for his cloak. It emerged right above him and fell to his head.

Freeing himself in a hurry, he put on the cloak and used the [Fabric Tear], pulling the same trick again. His guess proved correct as the skill cost 15 mana this time.'' A 50% reduction in mana cost?! My God, I love my cloak!'' He laughed happily before narrowing his eyes.

''Wait… Does that mean [Void Wrap] actually consumes 100 mana per second? Jesus Christ! What is this, Bugatti Chiron?'' Noticing he was making too much noise, he shut his mouth, darted his eyes across the dark shadows, and shook his head. Then, he sat down in a lotus position. It was time to cultivate. Let's see whether the cloak has any effect on this. It turned out it did, but it was only marginal. In order to cultivate, he absorbed the raw mana around him and converted it into void-aspected mana.

From there, he could either refine and store it as pure mana or turn it into life essence, aka Exp. When he did this with the cloak on, manipulating the void-aspected mana felt much smoother, probably because his cultivation speed was a bit faster that way. He had no idea why he had to give it a void aspect first. Perhaps doing so made the transition from pure mana to void mana feel more effortless and familiar when using his skills. Of course, it was all speculation at this point.

After cultivating for half an hour with his cloak, he stopped and asked the most crucial question to Ani,'If I cultivate like that non-stop, how long would it take me to level up?'

'You are already very close to level 7, so it would take only 23 days.' Yeah… fuck that. I can't even cultivate non-stop. Even if I don't need to eat and sleep, which I do, what's the point of spending most of my life in seclusion? He sighed as his dreams of leveling up without risking his life were crushed thoroughly.

'Was there any other change in my body I didn't notice?'

'Mana, health, and stamina regeneration were doubled during the session.' His eyebrows shot up.

'Seriously? Why didn't you mention this before I asked?'

'There wasn't any command, and if my assumption is correct, meditation and sleep would also do this.' No wonder he had healed so much after long sleeps. Ethan chuckled wryly, still not used to communicating with Ani using commands.

'Alright, from now on notify me of any changes in my body when magic is involved. Tell me your assumptions if they have immediate uses for the current situation. Notify me if my health goes under 30%. In addition to that, put health, mana, and stamina bars on the upper left side of my vision without blocking my view. Also, show my skills and their rank in the status panel. Oh, oh! And give me a ping every time I level up.'

If it were the old Ani, it would have jeered and mocked him for the sheer overkill of the command. But the new Ani only said,'Understood.' That hurt. You never knew how much you relished, cherished, and appreciated others until you lost them. His own version of Ani had emotions, aspirations, and a unique perspective. It was both a part of the hive-mind and an individual. It had been a teacher, a trainer, a therapist, a friend, and so much more. He really wished he could somehow bring his friend back.

Yet, he was also aware that getting impatient or moping around wouldn't help. His grumbling belly interrupted his musings. A half-eaten rabbit was waiting for him, but he decided to leave it in the ring for now and see on a later date whether it was still hot and fresh. For now, he needed to find shelter. The afternoon sun was urging him to move, and so he did. Ethan followed the river and looked for a place to pass the night.

In about an hour, he found a decent-looking, spacious cavern at the bottom of a short cliff. There were some animal tracks inside but nothing recent. Its position wasn't too far from the river, the entrance was hard to discover, and there were a few spots around where he could [Blink] from the inside to escape in case of emergency. Satisfied, he decided to explore the surrounding areas before settling in. Not long after, he heard some faint noises.

Staying hidden as much as possible, he followed the sound and detected its source. Two goblins were dragging a half-dead white stag. Holding his breath, he crouched behind a large tree and watched them, biting his lip. Elves, dwarfs, and now goblins. They look exactly like the fictions of Earth. How can this be? It was a troublesome train of thought that had been bothering him for some time. The fictional beings of Earth were very much alive and real here.

He couldn't explain the bizarre fact no matter how he tried. The only thing that came to his mind was that this wasn't real at all, simply another simulation of Animus. But he didn't believe that even for a second. Ani would never do something like that. It was something contradictory to its very being since it chose to be in a somewhat symbiotic relationship with humans and never obstructed their free will. There had to be some other explanation.

As the green fellows drew closer, he wanted to see whether they were sapient or not. He didn't want to kill an enlightened being for Exp alone. Luckily, that didn't seem to be the case. The naked creatures both had shoddy swords in their hands, but they communicated mostly by snarling and hissing. They didn't even have the decency to kill the stag, torturing the beast as they pulled its huge body on the rocky road while leaving a red trail behind. Once he made up his mind to attack, he planned his opening.

They were too far for his darts to reach them. [Fabric Tear] could fix that problem, but he didn't trust himself to hit moving targets with the skill he'd barely used. If so, he would throw a stone near them from above first. When they stopped to check the source, he would attack and keep firing darts until they were upon him. Ethan looked down for a stone and spotted a few quickly, but what he didn't see was his own shadow.

Something resembling the shadow of a boulder was covering his own, even though there was supposed to be nothing but trees behind him. Alarm bells started ringing in his head as the hair on his neck rose. Without a second thought, he [Blink]ed away and turned around. There stood the horror incarnation. A giant spider with brown hairs, long pincers on its mouth, and eight legs with sharp enough tips that pierced the ground. It stood twice his height, its four yellow eyes locked with his.

If he didn't have arachnophobia before, he definitely had it now. Adrenaline flooded his veins as he sprinted away without looking back. His legs carried him at what felt like an impossible speed, yet he kept seeing the spider's shadow in his peripheral vision. When it got too close, he [Blink]ed behind a tree and kept running, but it caught up easily. This was no low-level beast, and even if it had been, he'd rather not fight this monstrosity.

The beast appeared right behind him and stabbed its front leg at him, forcing him to [Blink] again, and then again. Left with 20 mana, Ethan was at the end of his wits, until he remembered his talismans. Without hesitation, he sent his mana to the one on his back and activated it. Thick, black chains burst up from the dirt right under his feet. They brushed past his legs before wrapping around the spider. One after another, the chains locked the monster on the spot and pressed it to the ground.

Hearing its whimpers, Ethan turned to look at it before turning back and resuming his escape at full speed. Trying to kill this thing in one strike was a pipe dream. Soon, he reached another stretch of the river and crossed it. Just as he was about to keep going, he realized his health was dropping at an alarming rate. Health: 198/220 Mana: 65/120 Stamina: 166/180'Ani, what's going on? Did I get any hits?'

'You have been poisoned. -1HP/s for the next 5 minutes.' Ethan checked his body and found a sticky liquid on his nape. He removed his cloak in haste, only to find even more of the liquid clinging to his skin. His chest tightened as his face lost its color. It actually spat poison while chasing me. That's why it wasn't in a hurry. Within minutes, my health will be fully depleted, and I'll be dead.