7 Daily Accommodations

{Wait a minute, when was the last time I drank some water? Or when have I properly exercised my body?}

[You have yet to consume water or exercise since transmigrating into this reality}

{See, I got carried away with training my abilities, that I forgot to take proper care of myself, this is truly pitiful behavior. I must proceed to the nearest lake and indulge in the liberating feeling of fresh water; as soon as I figure out where the nearest lake is}

Leaving his reclusive cave, Shadow inspected his surroundings, searching for any potential threats he could spot before they spotted him.

Failing to spot anything dangerous, Shadow immediately noticed the immediate vicinity around the renovated rabbit hole was on an incline.

{Looks like we found our water}

He immediately began making his way downhill toward where he knew the water would be, praising his genius along the way.

After around 5 minutes of careful creeping, ceasing upon sensing any captivating sensations, he arrived amongst a flowing river.

Careful to not be spotted by some overly strong creature stopping by to grab a quick drink.

{This water is completely safe to drink, correct?}

[Your superior Dragon intestinal tract allows you to bypass most harmful bacteria for more extreme food consumption}

{Alright, thanks}

Shadow decided to just start drinking, not wanting to spend too much time near this river.

{This is way too out in the open and easy for an ambush, I should irrigate water to a more disclosed location for safer drinking}

As Shadow continued to sip water from the stream, his eyes darted around to watch the shadows for any subtle movement that a predator might make.

{This stream is a little quiet for an active source of water, there is no traffic by large or small animals}

[Perhaps there is a larger and more secure source of water in a different location, making this area unused]

{Splendid theory, keep a lookout for any ambushes anyway, it's never bad to be cautious}

[Understood]

As if to prove him right, Shadow heard a stick break just off to his left, making him jerk his head up and narrow his eyes in that direction.

Seeing nothing, he lowered his body and began to sneak his way back toward his cave, careful to keep a close eye on what could have possibly made such a careless mistake.

Once Shadow was well away from the lake, hundreds of critters and creatures filed out of the woods to get their well-needed drink of water.

"Damn it, you almost got us all killed!" said a random Dire-Wolf with a pitch-black pelt and streaks of red flowing through it's head.

Many animals nodded with enthusiasm, obviously still frightened over their encounter just now, evident by their uncontrollable shaking.

"I'm sorry! Its aura paralyzed my thoughts, I had to fight off the urge to run as fast as I could, and I almost did!" exclaimed a shivering Unicorn

Every entity that heard that had to calm their anger, for they were mere seconds from bolting themselves, however, they were more scared of being chased down than escaping the horrid feeling creeping upon their hearts.

"She's right, I felt like a great demon was breathing down my neck, threatening to consume me if my heart were to beat too fast, it was very disconcerting." added a tortoise whose shell seemed to be giving off faint bits of light through the cracks.

"Do you think it was the culprit of the Forest Massacre?"

"It had to have been. A surge of energy resembling a treasure appears in a rabbit cave, and dozens of animals head inside to try and obtain it, only to never come out. The next day, a creature we've never seen before appears with a frightening aura. The picture was painted for us, we must stay away from that thing, no matter what."

"Normally I wouldn't make this offer, but these quite obviously aren't normal circumstances, I propose an alliance until we can assess the threat level of this demon, and whether or not we need to band together and kill it." declared the Dire-Wolf

"What if it wants to live peacefully with us and we just startled the creature while it was being cautious in a new area?" an optimistic rabbit remarked.

"He wouldn't have been flaunting his aura if that was the case, he's simply a tyrant in the making, we have to know if he's with or against us" The Dire-Wolf affirmed

"This could be the end of us all" the turtle melancholically replied.

"Yea..."

------------

Meanwhile, Shadow was lazing around within his cave, scoping out features of the system, attempting to find anything useful to him right now.

{Hey Aariv}

[Yes?]

{How much do you know about the Forest of Misfortune?}

[Quite frankly, not a lot. I have the memories of the Shadow Monarch, so I'm knowledgeable upon many matters regarding this world, present and past; the Forest of Misfortune illudes me however.]

{Interesting, can you tell me about the Shadow Monarch}

Shadow was just going to assume the Monarch was too strong to ever visit a place like this, he hoped...

[The Monarch was... the symbol of destruction and the peak of power. Few were stronger and those monsters had long gone to sleep due to boredom with their horrendously long lifespans.]

{So how was the Monarch beaten?}

[Her egg, was about to hatch and she went to grab food, unaware that some dirty, disgusting humans would ever dare plot against her and her baby.]

Shadow noticed that last sentence was vehemently spit out like venom, but decided to ignore it, seemed like a tragic story and was most likely Aariv influenced by the Monarch's memories.

[Once she returned, overjoyed to finally meet her child, dragon eggs are incredibly hard to fertilize, especially since the Monarch had no mate. The baby had to be created from her own energy, weakening her significantly if she wanted the baby to be of adequate power upon being born. She returned to humans holding the egg hostage, threatening to cut it open should the Monarch retaliate.]

Shadow was thoroughly invested now, hoping to learn from the downfall of a peak existence.

[They had one demand, go under a slave-companion contract with them and she would get her egg back safe and sound}

{I'm going to go off a whim and say, due to her pride as a peak existence, she said no and ended up getting herself and the baby killed}

[Yes, she said no and got herself killed, but not the baby]

{Oh? I'm interested how and where the baby is and how do I come into being}

[It's simple really, they underestimated just how powerful the Monarch was. She easily teleported the baby away, and with the baby, a large portion of her power, while using the remaining whiffs of energy to take out most of the horde of humans sent to subjugate her]

{Valiant effort indeed, the Monarch was 100x worthy of the power within her disposal, but why save the baby when she could've just wiped the army out?}

[Parental love, nothing takes precedence over my, er, her child's life, absolutely nothing]

{The Shadow Monarch was an admirable entity, I see why they were in the position they were in, truly a person to strive to go beyond}

Shadow hadn't missed Aariv's slip up, however he was completely aware that she could read his thoughts and sought to keep his mind clear.

Twas' a simple matter really, he had to learn how to bypass mind readers and lie detectors as an assassin, who knew the training would come in handy?

Now the question was why. Why the slip up?

He would find out, he always found out