It has been a year since I entered this dark forest…
Yes! That's it. A year has already passed, and I was still in this place unknown when I will be able to get out of here.
It has been a long time... almost two years and six months since I entered this forest.
Thinking about my family, they would most probably be better than what I left them in.
My dear sibling would already be two years old and, hopefully... far better than me.
A normal child would also be more difficult to take care of than me.
A normal child... a normal family, happiness, and warmth.
I had every one of these, and I was the happiest I had ever been with them.
But... what about now?
What did I do wrong to be separated from them like this?
Was I some fantasy novel protagonist or something?
I ask myself this silly question every once in a while and the only answer I can give to myself is... maybe I am.
All this difficulty, all these problems, all these monsters running after me every time I start with something like this...
Yes, monsters running after me just like right now.
"Ok, dude. I'm nowhere near your strength. Please spare me." I pleaded to this silver wolf of (Yellow) rank corrupted that suddenly started chasing after me.
Like... what did I do wrong for this puppy to chase after a little old me?
Is picking up a skill stone from its prey something to chase after?
And for the whole day on top of that?
For god's sake, it was already night and there was no Mana left in me to spare to you!
[[ Master, I can see the open area ahead of us! ]]
Celes shouted in her normal voice, which hadn't changed at all.
Still that childish and still cheerful, unscathed and indifferent as ever.
I was now nine and there were many things I had done all the time I had been in this dark forest.
From collecting herbs, killing some plausible targets, and making sure I survive no matter what.
That was all I did.
Many times here, I wanted to eat something nicely cooked, like the last feast we had, but... no.
All I got was some briefly cooked meat, fruits, and grass-herbs I had.
Though I had some cooked food from our party, I had to take everything slowly.
Saving them and eating in good, peaceful, and safe areas was the best action.
I increased my stats a lot, and now I had some new skills too.
'Status window.'
============
Name: Axion Kromet
Age: 9
Strength: 74
Dexterity: 78
Stamina: 81
Magic Power: 90
Intelligence: 93
Luck: 49
Charm: 46
[Skill: Energy Circulation, Quickstep, Appraisal, Shadow Dive, Mana Vision, Shadow curtain, Energy burst, Stark Triangle.]
[Origin Skill: Sun's Blessing: Intermediate Mastery
-Mystic Eyes (Stage-1)
-Dynamic Heart (Stage-1)
-White Crack (Stage-1) ]
============
The numbers were now high.
High enough that I knew I would reach (tier-3) by next year.
Though my situation right now wasn't that good as a corrupted (Yellow) ranked beast was chasing after me, what can I do?
This fellow had hunted a different (Yellow) ranked beast by himself easily in the best condition.
He was a predator, and I had already checked his buffed stats that seemed unreal to me, considering his Mana was still in the range of a (Yellow) ranked beast.
He was strong. Very strong that I had to use many spells just to stall time and steal the (Orange) skill stone that was clearly visible from the tree I was on.
I wouldn't have taken a risk like that, but that was a skill stone, you know?
Something so precious that even this wolf was happy to get it.
Normally, few beasts could absorb a skill stone but, this fella was so lucky that he got something that anyone can absorb and learn.
But he was a corrupted beast at the core and didn't need this thing.
Even if it could have it, there was no way a fully corrupted creature on the verge of demonization can use this.
So, it was best for me to have it.
I learned many things in my time in this place.
Though there were mostly corrupted, demonic beasts, there were many normal beasts too.
I had learned many things from them as they were corrupted or demonic beasts, and there was a higher chance that they could give cores.
When an energy beast corrupted by negative energy accepts these negative energies, they turn into a demonic beast.
And so, I now had four corrupted cores resting inside my dimensional white crack.
Two were red ranked, one was orange, and I didn't want to say it, but... one was green ranked.
A green ranked, corrupted Mana core.
Though I wasn't the one that hunted it, that enormous, dead body was something that I won't forget.
I can't forget it even if I wanted to.
It was a dead <Troll>.
A creature that is known for its superb regeneration abilities.
It was an already corrupted creature, and it was a fact that I understood after seeing that sight that... corruption is ultimately death, if not accepted.
A death that would not only drive you to the verge of loosing everything, but also something that would devastate a large part of forest.
That sight... that red, blue, and green sight of a living creature's insides... I cannot forget it.
It was a curse.
A powerful curse that could turn creature's into something unsightly or... something that was not a energy beast at all.
It would devour them from inside and your soul will become so unstable that at one point... you will lose all control over your body and then, run a rampage.
You will kill yourself without even knowing what happened to you but the death... would be painful that hell would pity them.
This was a small power burst, and the end result of it was the most painful and unsightly, gruesome death possible.
Soul was the most important in any living and some undead.
It would hurt worse than hell to just have your soul 'touched'.
But, the feeling of being cut infinitely, crushed, burned, poisoned, and every terrible pain possible was the end result of a fully corrupted creature.
From what I had seen in this forest concluded many of my answers.
[Corruption]
A natural phenomenon that can cause any energy beast with extreme negative emotions to turn <corrupted> or ultimately… demonic beasts.
It was the same as what I had read about the demonic beast in a little detail.
Those demonic creatures were not part of this nature at all as the destruction was their instinctual role in this world.
At first, they would be sane but, when going berserk... they are nothing more than catastrophe.
But, they all had even more painful ending.
That aside, I also saw something that was quite interesting.
<Soul Illness> happened when a powerful entity invested most of its energy into cursing someone like what happened with Fern.
I was sure that whatever thing did that to her was at least (Indigo) ranked demonic beast.
I had seen a bird monster do something like that to a small creature.
It was amazing to see and that bird, [Dead Mana Demon Owl], a (Green) ranked creature, was a creature I had never heard about.
I knew about it through appraisal, but it was my first time seeing something like that.
What it was doing was ominous... as if a demon was doing it.
But I was at least sure that there were no actual demons here.
But...
"Let's get away from this one first," I said and jumped on a tree with a metal arrow prepared in my hand.
I had gained new skills but there were rarely any chances to use them.
Well, I had many things I created in this free time I was here.
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