“Haah…haah…I am hungry…” (Hikaru)
Most likely because I am in the territory of the giant monkey, the Flame Orangutan, I have been walking for several hours now, but I haven’t met any dangerous creatures.
I have seen animals and birds, but I hid myself with my Dark Spirit Abilities to deal with it.
I tried using Shadow Runner a number of times too, but normal animals get surprised and run away, so I could tell whether they were dangerous or not.
I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday, so I am pretty exhausted here. But I want to walk while there’s still no danger.
The types of plants growing in the forest were changing bit by bit as I advanced.
There were a few fruits here and there that were in low places and looked edible.
Especially the variety of trees that I see often had cherry-like red fruits growing from them. If I can eat that, I could obtain calories without using Crystals, and depending on what it is, I could even get moisture.
There were a whole lot of fruits in that giant monkey’s nest too, so they are most likely edible… It is not like a human can eat them just because a monster can eat them after all…
“It smells sweet…” (Hikaru)
I walk towards it with unsteady steps, attracted by it, and pluck one fruit.
It is a dangerous irresistible scent.
I have Poison Resistance. I could gamble it here and try eating it.
I open my Status Board and choose the [Item Appraisal].
Using a Crystal is painful, but if I can eat this, I won’t be troubled with food for a while.
[Coral Currant: It is a plant that commonly grows in the wild on the eastern part of the Ringpill Continent. The fruit is edible, but eating too many will strain your stomach. It is widely cultivated, and it can be eaten as is, or be processed into jam. The appraised target is ripe for eating.]
After I read that, I immediately took a bite from the fruit.
A bittersweet taste spread through my whole mouth. Now that I think about it, how long has it been since I ate something sweet?
“Tasty…! I didn’t know fruits in the wild could be this tasty…!” (Hikaru)
Sweetness and a hint of bitterness. There’s plenty of fruit juice and I could feel my body being hydrated.
I see this Coral Currant every now and then while walking, so I won’t be troubled with food for a while. It strains the stomach if you eat too many of them, but I have Disease Resistance and Poison Resistance, so I should be okay. I want to believe I will be.
I get at least 1 Crystal every day.
I can’t tell how hard it is to get a hundred million daily viewers. I think I was taught that the world population is around 7 billion, but only a certain percent actually watches the broadcast -most likely half. In that case, 3.5 billion.
So, 1 out of 35 people are watching?
But the current situation isn’t as lukewarm as that. Actually, it has settled at around 6 hundred million for a few days already.
Why am I gathering this much attention?
It must be because I am having an adventure with my life at stake from the sudden Random Transfer.
Maybe there are many other Chosen who are passing steady lives, or have started with normal jobs instead of adventuring.
But…there’s 1,000 Chosen.
There must be a lot of people who are watching from several screens, but you could say it is abnormal for 6 hundred million to be watching me.
There should be a good amount of people aside from me who have chosen Random Transfer, and there’s no doubt there’s Chosen who are adventuring to the very limit with the intention of increasing their viewers.
When thinking of it like that, this even feels creepy.
Maybe it really is because I am a new Chosen that suddenly showed up?
“…Won’t reach an answer even if I think about it, huh.” (Hikaru)
What I have to do right now is get out of this forest without dying. Everything else is secondary.
It does bother me why there’s a strangely high amount of viewers, but it in essence has nothing to do with me aside from getting Crystals.
I have reached this point without caring about being seen.
For now, I ate around 4 tufts of Coral Currant, cut the remaining sleeve of my shirt, tied up the opening, and put as many fruits in there as I could.
My right hand has the Spirit Stones of the monkeys, and my left has the fruits.
“It really makes me understand the importance of a bag…” (Hikaru)
I could use 1 Point to exchange for a backpack, but I can’t go using a Point on something like that.
I can’t fight anything right now anyways, so this is fine for now. It is tiring on my arms though.
I used both Darkness Fog and Shadow Runner as I walked, and it was finally sunset.
I managed to walk 30km in one day. This is quite the good number.
If I continue at this pace, I will be able to get out of the forest in 10 days.
“…But the problem is what to do from here on.” (Hikaru)
This is an obvious thing, but a human must sleep.
I can’t just continue walking forever.
For the food, I will somehow manage by eating Coral Currant. This is not a situation where I have the luxury to worry about a balanced nutrition. As long as I have the power to walk…
But sleeping is something I can’t just remove.
Until now, I have been breaking Barrier Stones, so I could sleep without worries, but…
“There’s also the chance that that Great Dark Spirit will be showing up when night comes…” (Hikaru)
If that shows up, I have no choice but to break a Barrier Stone.
But there’s a chance it won’t.
There’s no clouds today, so I think there will be enough illumination with the moonlight.
That sticky darkness must be an omen of its appearance, and I am sure that what created that situation was me using Spirit Abilities.
Whichever the case, I want to save my Barrier Stone till the moment danger is right in proximity.
I only have 6 Points. You could even say I only have 6 lives remaining.
I decide to look for a suitable tree to sleep at while I walk.
Honestly speaking, if it is just walking, night feels safer, so I will adjust my sleeping time bit by bit, to a point where I sleep in the day and walk at night.
Right now it is 7:00pm, so I want to sleep from 8:00pm to 2:00am in the night, and…
I made a decent sounding plan, climbed a suitable tree, sat on a branch, and entrusted my body to the trunk. There’s the chance to die from falling down while I am asleep, so I splurge here. I used 2 Crystals to exchange for a rope. It is a thin hemp rope, and it looks decently sturdy.
I tie up my body with that. There should be no worries of me falling with this.
Just in case, I conceal my surroundings with Darkness Fog before closing my eyes. The effective time of the ability is around 10 minutes, but it should be better than not doing it.
*****************
DCFM – Chapter 015: Full Moon and Shining Flower
“…I can’t sleep.” (Hikaru)
Conclusion: I couldn’t sleep.
My body is tired, and yet, I only doze off a bit and wake up soon after.
Sleeping on top of a tree really wasn’t realistic.
It is currently 11:00pm, but I have at least rested for about 4 hours.
The moon is shining in the sky, the moonlight peeking through the trees of the forest created a wondrous sight.
The Avatar of Darkness shouldn’t be showing with this…probably.
“Let’s walk.” (Hikaru)
I confirm with the map and there’s 320km.
I have walked 43km. A full marathon.
“[Darkness Fog].” (Hikaru)
I cover myself in darkness and walk.
I don’t know where and what danger there will be, so I am trying to use my ability as much as possible.
I haven’t met dangerous creatures for a while, so I am aware it is lacking in tension, but that flashy giant monkey isn’t the only danger.
I might get shot by an arrow somewhere.
I could encounter a pack of monsters.
I might get caught in a bottomless swamp.
Have my skin rot from a poisonous plant.
A cliff might show up and I won’t be able to continue forward.
There’s endless possibilities.
An unknown land in an unknown world.
There really is no knowing what may wait ahead.
“…I say that, but no monsters are showing…huh.” (Hikaru)
None showing is better, but not a single one showing up is instead making me uneasy.
The fear that maybe I will encounter another giant monster like that monkey.
Can’t stop moving forward though.
“Full moon… Are the phases of the moon the same as Earth?” (Hikaru)
God said this world is similar to Earth. At the very least, it should be similar enough that we Chosen can exist in it.
The temperature, atmosphere density, composition, and gravity goes without saying, but even the moon (and most likely the sun) there is almost the same size. The similarities are so many that you could call it a second Earth.
Of course, there’s the possibility the bodies of the Chosen have been ‘tuned’ in some form.
That goes for the Skill, Gifts, and the Status Board, but they are all benefits that would have been unthinkable on Earth, so it is honestly doubtful whether our Earth Self and This World’s Self are the same person.
“[Darkness Fog].” (Hikaru)
With just one word, the deep darkness is covered in even deeper darkness.
Can I do this because of the ‘world’ or because of ‘myself’, or both? Whichever the case, it should be natural for me to think that I have been recreated as a being that can use Spirit Energy.
I walk in the darkness. Inside this fog of darkness that can block even sound, I felt as if I were walking inside a dream. A reality where I could get eaten by a monster the next instant really does feel like nothing but a dream.
(I am beginning to grow numb…towards this abnormal situation…) (Hikaru)
Even so, I am still alive.
That hint was truly a door for survival. Most likely because God wouldn’t find it amusing if we were to die right after the transfer.
This forest certainly doesn’t have many monsters that act at night, and by just using dark magic as defense, I have been able to walk with almost no danger excluding the time with the giant monkey.
Of course, it might be because of luck…
While I was thinking that as I walked, there was a place that was releasing faint light within this illusory sight of the moonlight peeking into the forest. It isn’t the moonlight, but something that was emitting light on its own. It was sparkling like a firework stick.
“What is it…? A firefly?” (Hikaru)
I tried getting close to it and saw that wasn’t it.
“Flower…?” (Hikaru)
At the side of a big tree, there was a single set of two flowers. Lovely blue and white flowers had bloomed there.
And those flowers were releasing a mysterious light.
“…Were there flowers like this in the daytime?” (Hikaru)
I have been pretty careful about my surroundings from the tension of not knowing where a monster might jump out on me, but I don’t remember seeing flowers like this.
Are they the type of flowers that don’t stand out during the daytime but bloom at night?
“A shining flower, huh… If I pluck them, could I sell them later?” (Hikaru)
I can only imagine a dark future in my livelihood even if I manage to get out of the forest safely. I am almost certain I will be using all of my points in Barrier Stones, I am penniless, and have no weapon.
When considering that, it would be better to get things that will help me in my livelihood outside of this forest even if a little bit. Maybe I could sell Barrier Stones, but I can’t even begin to imagine how much they would go for.
…It might be a luxury to think about these kinds of things in a life or death situation, but nothing to lose in picking up what I can.
“…So I say, but is it poisonous? I may have the resistance, but I am in a situation where just getting a little bit sick can screw me over, so I have to be careful here.” (Hikaru)
Fortunately, the soil around the flower is soft, so I managed to dig it out with roots and all using the branches around.
Even when I dug it out, the flowers were strangely still releasing light.
The next instant I fearfully grabbed the flowers…
[Congratulations! You are the first Chosen to have obtained a super rare material. You will be granted 3 points as a bonus for being first.]
A voice resonated in my head suddenly.
“! That gave me a scare… My heart was close to stopping…” (Hikaru)
Speaking all of a sudden is bad for my heart. Moreover, in the dead of the night inside a forest.
When I open the Status Board, I certainly do have 3 points more. Looks like this flower is a super rare material, and a special bonus was given because of it.
They didn’t tell us about there being bonuses like this beforehand, so is this something like a hidden mechanic?
“3 points… Points…?! Not Crystals?!” (Hikaru)
I didn’t expect I could increase my points like this.
That’s 90 Crystals. It is massive.
Anyways, 3 points will be unbelievably helpful. Those are my livestocks itself.
Getting 3 unexpected points is good and all, but the details of this flower are unknown. They are going as far as calling it a super rare material, so it must have some sort of effect. It would be nice if it is a good effect, but there’s also the chance it is a bad one (just thinking about it gives me the chills, but maybe like attracting monsters?).
I decided to use 1 Crystal to cast [Item Appraisal] on it.
It is also to test how much information I can get from the item appraisal. This investment is absolutely necessary.
I choose the Item Appraisal from the Status Board. 1 Crystal used.
[Mallow Moon Silver Flower: A two flowered plant that only appears in full moon nights deep in a forest. It shines on its own in the darkness, but because it appears in localized purified areas of Spirit Energy, finding one is incredibly difficult. It doesn’t wilt even when taken out from the ground, and it is bought at a high price by superstitious people as the symbol of immortality. It has the effect of stabilizing disarrayed Spirit Energy, and you can concoct medicine for spirit bone connection paralysis with the roots. A super rare material.]
So a rare plant that can serve as medicine.
Not only does it not wilt, there’s no doubt it has quite the high effect.
I placed the flowers into the makeshift bag.
I have already eaten all the Coral Currant, so I gotta gather some more.
Remaining Points: 9.
Crystals: 11.
