Chapter 19: Eerie Forest
MC POV:
Climbing to the top of the giant tree was the right choice. All the other trees were at most half as tall, so I had a clear view as far as my eyes could reach. That allowed me to spot a river, flowing around five hundred meters away, with relative ease, thus securing a source of drinkable water.
I hope my immunity to poisons and illnesses is still active.
After climbing down the tree, I immediately went towards the river. Like before, the forest was silent, excluding the noises I made by moving through the bushes. The fact it was so devoid of life, combined with my lowered stats gave me creeps. For the first time in a long while, I felt fear.
Fortunately, that also increased my pace, allowing me to reach the river faster. Once there, I stayed for quite a while hoping to find fishes or animals trying to quench their thirst.
Unfortunately, I have seen none, once again suggesting that this forest is void of life other than plants and mushrooms.
Since it would be wrong to return empty-handed, I decided to make a container for water. I used the big leaves and tree bark to give it form and tree sap to make it stick together and then imbued some of my Origin energy, hoping for the best. Fortunately, that did the trick, as no water leaked, and it didn't seem like the container would break anytime soon.
I put it inside the inventory, thankful for the fact it wasn't restricted, excluding the fact it was empty and started heading back to the tree.
On my way back, I found a few fruit-bearing trees, including apple trees, so I gathered them all and put them inside the inventory.
At least for the time being, I don't have to worry about food. Though, I would love to eat some meat...
That thought left me as quickly as it came to me, for a very simple reason.
Unless my or someone else's life depends on it, I am not going to kill animals. There is nothing enjoyable in it, and if there were no butchers, I would probably become a vegetarian. Not to mention that I don't know how to gut or skin an animal.
Also, animals in my current world are much smarter than the ones from my past life.
How did I find out about this? Because I can fricking understand them! The Orb can even translate what animals are saying.
I got stupified after hearing two cats talking, or rather, complaining about their owners for the first time. At this point, I doubt they are much different from humans, and some may be smarter.
While thinking about such things, I returned to the big tree.
***
It has been a month, and I am still inside the forest. Not much has changed, excluding the weather becoming hotter and the improvements I made towards my base inside the tree.
I wish I had my own Senku with me.
I have been steadily making it more and more habitable over the past month by adding self-made furniture, such as chairs, bed, and whatever I could think of.
Since my stats are restricted, there is a good chance that any training will go to waste. That being the case, I decided to focus on craftsmanship and improving my energy control. I have already read a lot about the former, as it's an ability that appears in most isekais, be it blacksmithing or alchemy. As for the latter, I suspect it has something to do with the condition to awaken my body innate. There must be a reason I was left with some energy and the ability to use [Healing Magic].
However, I didn't focus only on these.
Believing it's better to know the surroundings of my base rather than not, and in hope of finding some clues, I have been scouting the area within the thousand-meter radius of the giant tree.
Other than some rather bizarre stone formations, caves, plants, and fruits, I found nothing.
***
It has been half a year since I appeared in this forest, or rather... Fucking hell!
The temperature still keeps rising, and if it keeps going like this, a wildfire will start any day from now. Everything would already be on fire if not for the high humidity, but that alone makes it hard to bear.
These days, excluding the times I eat and drink, I sit crosslegged while circulating the energy inside of me and using a small amount of healing magic. These two allowed me to somehow adapt to the environment, but a regular person would already die.
If not for the inventory, I would have already run out of food long ago. I can't go outside as even with my body somehow adapting to the temperature, any contact with the sun would result in heavy burns.
When will this be over...
***
Three more months have passed.
On the bright side, the temperature is gradually falling, and once again, I am capable of going outside and gathering food.
On the not-so-bright side, two and half a month ago, everything went up in flames and kept burning for a week.
I don't remember the last time I felt so much pain, and if not for the fact I kept using [Healing Magic] and coursing the energy, I would have died. My skin and hair kept burning while my insides boiled. I couldn't even scream as opening my mouth would let the fire inside.
As I writhed in agony while desperately healing and keeping myself alive, I felt a sudden change inside my body. Part of my energy started flowing, without my intervention, from my energy core to my back. Unline the rest of Origin inside my body, that part had a defined attribute, but it wasn't something I was familiar with. It wasn't an element like fire or water but something that seemed to carry a particular concept. I was in no state to properly focus on it, but it gave me a feeling of 'laziness' if that makes sense.
Then, it started to form a pattern on my back. It was a circle made up of runes with a seven-pointed star in the middle. As soon as its form became clear, I felt even more energy moving from my core and gathering on one of the points of the star. Once enough energy gathered there, it condensed in the form of a greenish flame before abruptly expanding and enveloping my body in seconds.
I felt most of my energy reserves were gone, but so was the pain. The sea of flames no longer affected me in any negative way. It just felt warm.
"Was this my body type innate...?" I muttered to myself. It was a side effect of living alone for an extended period.
However, there was one problem with that. If I truly awakened my innate, the test should have already ended, yet I am still here.
"I guess burning alive was nowhere near enough..."
***
Today, five years have passed since I started this test.
After the burning hell, there were a few months of respite before the shit hit the fan again. Or should I say it fucking nuked the fan out of existence? The temperature started dropping even more rapidly than it previously increased, covering the recovering greenery in ice.
Once again, I had to sit cross-legged while using [Healing Magic] and coursing the energy to stay alive. My skin kept cracking while the spilled blood froze, covering me with a layer of red ice. That went on for a week or so before my body reached its limit. At that time, the energy that previously saved me from burning alive kicked in again. The strange shape on my back formed, the energy condensed, and the greenish flame enveloped my body, turning the frigid cold into a light chill. Just like last time, the pattern on my back disappeared, but after checking out my back, using the ice as a mirror, I confirmed that some traces of it remained.
A week after that happened the forest entered another recovery period, which, as I found out, is the natural cycle here and likely the reason no animals live here. All the plants regenerated in days, making it seem like the sea of flames and the following ice age was a lie. They must have gone through countless disasters gaining a powerful regenerative ability.
I know that because as soon as the forest recovered, another abnormality in the weather followed. This time it was the turn of lightning. It started with small electrical currents appearing in the middle of the forest, like snakes waiting for their prey. They became stronger with each day, accompanied by lightning strikes from above. When it reached its climax, lightning struck everywhere, making the night as bright as day.
Of course, most of it focused on the tree I inhabited, and just like with the previous two disasters, I got saved by the mysterious energy and the outburst of greenish flames.
The cycle of these disasters, my body adapting to them, and the recovery of the forest repeated continuously. I have faced natural disasters such as earthquakes, changes in gravity, wind as sharp as blades, floods combined with hurricanes, and many more.
Each time the pattern on my back became more prominent, now resembling a tattoo. I instinctually know that the next time I use it, it will become complete.
Rather worryingly, I also feel like a disaster far greater than all I have faced so far is coming.
***
Proving me right, a mother of all disasters struck a few days later.
It was utter chaos, an amalgamation of every cataclysm so far and more. Wild currents of energy of various attributes flew everywhere, and the space itself seemed to bend and tear apart.
Amid all that, I sat cross-legged, engulfed in the greenish flames. With the pattern becoming more pronounced, I learned how to move my energy into it, converting it into the 'lazy' energy and later into the greenish flames. I no longer had to endure while healing and coursing the Origin as I did at the start, waiting for the energy to appear on its own.
With that came another change. A pair of bull-like horns and tiger ears sprouted on my head, and a tiger-like tail extended from my tailbone. A strange and powerful feeling of laziness pervaded my whole body. My hair grew longer, and its color changed from brown to black, with a light green luster. My arms and legs covered a tiger fur reaching the elbows and knees. Both my hands and feet developed black claws.
With these changes, my ability to maintain the flames and adapt rapidly increased, having no problem adapting to the chaotic space around me. At the same time, a feeling to 'fuck it all and take nap' also rapidly grew inside me, the effect of the 'lazy' energy on my mind.
I kept my inner struggle while the chaos kept increasing in magnitude.
And then, I felt it. The flames around me exploded outwards, calming down the chaos itself, 'putting it to sleep', while a primal roar came out of my throat. Following it, a feeling of sleepiness beyond anything I experienced so far overtook me, and I lost conscience.
***
"Ugh..." I groaned while waking up. I was inside the bedroom of the Living Quarters.
Next to me was Selen. She was asleep. It seems she had to bring me here and look after me since it's unlikely I appeared here after finishing the test.
I started inspecting my body while trying not to wake her up. It's good that the transformation isn't permanent. Having to explain to my parents why suddenly my body grew a tail, horns and fur would feel quite awkward. Not to mention that I don't think there are clothes for people like that.
"Status..." I muttered.
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///Status///
Name: Arthur Yuki
Race: Human
Title: Little Genius, Boss
Mental Age: ~35
Physical Age: ~25
Potential: Lvl: 3, Grade: EX
Existential Level: Lvl: 3, Grade: E
Affinity: All
State: Normal, Excited
///Attributes///
Vitality: Lvl: 3, Grade: S
Toughness: Lvl: 3, Grade: F
Endurance: Lvl: 3, Grade: E
Strength: Lvl: 3, Grade: E
Agility: Lvl: 3, Grade: D
Dexterity: Lvl: 3, Grade: E+
Energy Reserves: Lvl: 3, Grade: B
Energy Quality: EX
Luck: Lvl: 1, Grade: D
///Skills///
//Passive//
[Perfect Memory: Lvl: 7, Grade: EX], [Negative Status Effect Immunity: Lvl: 7, Grade: EX], [Drawing: Lvl: 2, Grade: S], [Information Processing: Lvl: 3, Grade: S], [Cooking: Lvl: 2, Grade: S], [Body Control: Lvl: 3, Grade: E], [Energy Perception: Lvl: 3, Grade: A], [Inner Energy Flow: Lvl: 3, Grade: SSS], [Outer Energy Flow: Lvl: 2, Grade: B], [Swordsmanship: Lvl: 2, Grade: EX], [CQC: Lvl: 2, Grade: EX], [Pain Tolerance: Lvl: 3, Grade: E], [Instinct: Lvl: 2, Grade: EX], [Healing Magic: Lvl: 2, Grade: B], [Curse Arts: Lvl: 2, Grade: A], [Craftsmenship: Lvl: 1, Grade: A], [Desire Perception: Lvl: 2, Grade: E]
//Active//
[Even Further Beyond: Lvl 3, Grade: B], [Domination: Lvl 3, Grade: S], [Telekinesis: Lvl 3, Grade: B], [Clean: Lvl: 1, Grade: S]
//Special//
[Breath of Heaven and Hell: Lvl 3, Grade: E], [Acedia; Lvl: 3, Grade: C]
///Innates///
Name: [Orb of Desires], Type: Gift, Lvl: 7, Grade: EX
Name: [Indomitable Will], Type: Spirit, Lvl: 3, Grade: A
Name: [Body of Seven Sins], Type: Body, Lvl: 3, Grade: C
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Seeing the various increases in Lvl and the addition of a new innate, a smile sprouted on my face. I have quite a bit to check and analyze. However...
"Let's take nap and check it out later," I muttered and snuggled closer to Selen. 'I worked hard so I can act lazy for a bit.' I thought and went to sleep.