3 Chapter 3

,,It would be a stupid idea to enter the jungle unprepared... Fuck... I would be calmer if my biggest problem was a Creeper. And here... (Looks at the jellyfish spiders) I can expect anything... And why the fuck does it excite me... Hahaha..."

Nero was currently experiencing one of those moments when extremely different emotions collide within him. Fear of the unknown was mixed with a completely new feeling that had no chance of arising as a result of living in a boring world. The feeling of 'wanting' sounded unusual, but nothing in the old world gave him much joy.

Motoring, bodybuilding and many other topics seemed to attract his friends, but in Nero's case these topics, despite momentary admiration for individual cases, did not arouse such passion.

Only fictional works that allowed him to identify with the hero evoked similar intense emotions in him.

But now the situation was completely different. He hadn't read the book, but he seemed to be its hero himself. He was facing unknown danger, but something deep inside him was enjoying every second of it.

Faced with such emotional turmoil, Nero decided to focus on one goal: to survive his first day on the mysterious island.

Nero, with his practice in survival games in mind, decided to start by acquiring basic equipment and finding a place to stay. He remembered the game Minecraft and noticed many similarities between the current situation and those that he had previously only experienced in the game.

He decided to avoid hiking in the jungle at night due to limited visibility and unknown threats from the local fauna.

The beach he was on was huge. No matter which direction he looked, he couldn't see the end of it. It seemed to stretch for miles, and even if it didn't, he still couldn't see the end of said beach due to the distance.

There were a lot of washed-up items on the beach, several tree trunks that had somehow fallen from the jungle onto the shore, and a lot of shells and stones.

Nero collected some harder branches, many fist-sized stones, some smaller stones, some vines and decided to stop at the foot of one of the giant tree trunks, which was wrapped in fresher and therefore more durable vines, and the location was almost in the middle beach, so it was still in an area where danger could be easily seen.

Nero decided to start testing his skills by hiding in the shadow of a large tree trunk. This trunk had an impressive diameter of about 2 meters, making it truly gigantic, but providing enough shade for Nero to shelter from the blazing sun. After all, he was only wearing boxers, and the sun was shining really brightly, despite the nice, cool breeze off the ocean.

,,Fuck... fuck... how many it..."

Nero, after obtaining such simple and currently easiest items to obtain, had unlocked hundreds of blueprints, which seemed truly overwhelming. The gray panel didn't indicate the exact number of plans available, but the slider on the right side of the panel to scroll faster through the diagram list struggled to move down. There were plenty of patterns.

However, while slowly scrolling through the list of diagrams using the slider, Nero noticed a small arrow, or rather a triangle. After clicking on it, a small gray panel appeared with several useful filters, such as categories (e.g. gloves, breastplates, crossbows) and, above all, the ability to hide items for which he currently did not have all the required crafting ingredients to produce. This option alone shortened the list by a really large margin.

Crafting with his skills was not much different from Minecraft, apart from more windows for creating more complex items and a much larger pool of possible crafts.

Nero, having very few vines and no ability to use a bow, decided to create a simple stone one-handed ax and a wooden shield.

Nero decided that creating a stone shield and a one-handed ax would be more suited to his skill and physical condition than creating a sword. He didn't feel strong enough to carry a heavy stone sword like Steve in Minecraft. However, the small one-handed ax could be used not only as a weapon, but also as a tool to obtain more resources.

As for the shield, it was the obvious choice. Small, light and used for defense.

The creation process was almost no different from that in Minecraft. Nero dragged the appropriate items from his inventory to the appropriate locations on the gray panel, and the final result appeared in his inventory.

"Theoretical knowledge is unnecessary, important materials.... good, scary Junglo, I'm coming..."

From a third-person perspective, the sight of Nero entering the jungle might seem funny. A slim, ugly 23-year-old in boxer shorts, holding a shield and a stone ax, he could put a smile on the faces of onlookers. However, for Nero himself this moment was full of emotions. After the first few steps, he saw things that shouldn't be in the jungle.

The sight he saw was not only strange, but also a bit terrifying. Some of the plants seemed to have reptile-like eyes, giving them a slightly sinister look. But it is not everything. In the distance he saw a herd of monkey-like creatures. Their fur was green, and if it weren't for that, Nero could have compared them to one of the species of aliens from the popular series. They had spider eyes, four arms, but their size was really small, no longer than a meter. However, before Nero arrived, these creatures ate the corpse of an animal that resembled a two-headed deer with crystal horns. However, as soon as they noticed Nero, they quickly fled into the treetops. Leaving the carcass of the animal behind and disappearing from Nero's sight in less than a few seconds, all he could hear was the roars of the said creatures as they receded.

Nero thought as he watched the scene before him. "If those monkeys actually killed that... deer." Either they only attack by surprise, or I'm that scary. This one or that one. Never mind. But these corpses are perfect for testing this feature..."

Determined to seize the opportunity, Nero took action.

The process of placing an item in your inventory was really easy to do. All you had to do was hold the item in your hands and produce a simple thought guided by your intention, and the item would magically disappear from your hand, surrounded by a blue visual effect, as if it were surrounded by a force field made of smoke. This process took less than a second, so it was difficult to see anything more than a minimal light effect.

However, in the case of the deer carcass, he found the process of placing it in his inventory minimal trouble. While grabbing the carcass, or rather grabbing just its head to meet the minimum requirements to begin the process of moving the object to your inventory, some of the blood flowed from the wound on the deer creature's neck and almost smeared its feet. However, after a while, the carcass of a two-headed deer with red crystal antlers was placed in the inventory.

The process of dismantling the carcass of a two-headed deer with red crystal antlers was really simple. Two clicks were enough, the first to show the blue screen a list of options and the second to click the "take apart" option. As a result, Nero received two sets of crystal antlers, scraps of skin, bones, two deer skulls, the heart of a two-headed deer, the blood of a two-headed deer and something his equipment called 'waste'.

Nero speculated that these were all organs that were unusable. Maybe these little guys had ground up most of the innards before he got here. He didn't really know anything about spider monkeys or even two-headed deer. So the theory that these ape creatures feed on entrails is not that bad or wrong.

After all, Nero was sure that the creature's organs contained more useful materials than those he received.

However, ignoring this, Nero decided to move on, he wasn't sure what time it was currently. However, the two suns were really high in the sky, so it wasn't morning. So, not wanting to be out in the open as darkness fell, Nero moved on.

,,Fuck....Fuck....Fuck..''

Nero was currently running, terrified, not even daring to look back.

Less than fifteen minutes from where he had discovered a group of spider monkeys eating a two-headed deer with crystal red antlers, he sensed... heard a growl coming from behind him. And the sight he saw for a split second, looking back, froze his blood.

For that split second, Nero saw the face of a lion staring at him with predatory eyes. And if that wasn't terrifying enough, just above the lion's head was another creature, a snake's head. Remembering the scrap of wings seen for a brief moment, only one monster matched those bits of information.

Chimera, a monster from Greek mythology. A creature with the body and head of a lion, eagle wings and a tail ending with a snake's head. A truly dangerous monster that Nero currently had no chance against.

The animal was massive, and with this in mind, Nero headed for the densest forest, where the space between the trees was really small.

But even that didn't stop the monster. Nero heard the sounds of impacts and trees falling. Apparently the Chimera wasn't giving up easily, and judging by the fact that he could still hear her clearly, the trees were only slowing her down slightly.

The only upside to this situation, although the prospect of being eaten by a chimera was absolutely terrifying.

While running through the forest, Nero came across many more monsters, ranging from goblins, kobolds, truly gigantic wolves, and even dryads. Which, although seen for a second, initially intrigued Nero. Really beautiful and sexy women with slightly greenish skin and dark green hair. However, when they initially wanted to attract Nero, they performed quite eye-pleasing poses. In a split second, they spotted the chimera charging at Nero. Their faces literally opened in half, revealing a monstrous mouth covering the entire face. Worst of all, and something Nero decided to remember, the Dryads literally entered the tree, and all that was left of them on said tree was a glowing bright green symbol.

Nero didn't have time to remember the symbol on the tree, so he decided to focus on remembering this key information for the future.

However, ignoring the completely new monsters Jake managed to see for a while. Nero was looking for a way to get rid of the Chimera chasing him. He knew that such a dense forest could soon end, and then nothing would stop the Chimera from eating him. However, he currently had no idea how to get rid of the monster.

An interesting fact is that the terrain seems to be rising, Nero feels that he is running uphill, so even though he is already tired, his pace seems to slow down due to the difficult terrain.

Nero, with the chase on his back, had no intention of stopping, especially since judging by the sounds, he had no chance of returning to the jungle. However, after running a dozen or so meters, he realized something very important.

The chimera was no longer chasing him, he could barely hear its growl, which seemed to be getting quieter with each step.

Gathering his courage, Nero turned around for the first time. And what he saw made him happy at first, but then the feeling was replaced by even greater anxiety.

The chimera stopped at the edge of the jungle, not even taking a step on the rocky floor of the mountain.

On the one hand, it was a blessing for Nero, because if the Chimera hadn't stopped now, he probably would have been dead by now.

But why did the Chimera stop? This question made him more anxious. Now he decided to go to one of the caves, but he also considered getting as far away from the place where he met the Chimera as possible.