Chapter 3.

"It seems that I got excited, this place is not as bad as I initially thought."

Rey had been walking through the forest for almost an hour, but his surroundings were not boring at all, the guy was filled with the enthusiasm. His nudity was not embarrassing him at all, the boy was smiling pretty, sometimes he jumped, sometimes he fell to the ground like a child, rolling on a grass carpet. Looking at him now, it would have been impossible to guess that this man had just recently despaired so much after he jumped from the tree upside down.

Time passed, and Rey never met a single living creature in his path. But he was faced with another problem - his thirst began to torment him. At first it was just a light dryness in the mouth, but after a couple of kilometers the desire to drink became virtually insurmountable. The guy did not see a single source of water along the way, and since he had nothing with him, he had just to go ahead.

In such way, the evening found a lonely traveler.

Hunger was added to the thirst, completely depriving the guy of such a short joy from being in this world. He was also very tired. Needless to say, on the way he did not even stumble upon a bush with berries, there were solid trees in the forest.

"Maybe there are only trees in this world?" - with such thoughts Rey tried to distract himself from the realization of his own inability to do anything. Hunger and thirst gradually turned into a pain in the stomach. The guy was already completely exhausted, and now he was just sitting under a small tree, trying to take a breath.

Rey planned to continue on his way at night, but noticed that he was also beginning to freeze. The sun had set, and under the cover of thick trees it became damn cold, and when you consider that the guy was without clothes...

Rey, like any resident of the metropolis, was not adapted to survival in the forest. The guy understood that he needed to do something, but he had no idea what it was. He clearly knew only that he would die again, if he had nothing to do. And again to feel that pain, the memories of which made him tremble even now...

It would seem that there is nowhere worse, but looking in front of him, Rey seriously thought about whether he was in the past life some slave trader or serial killer. There was no other reason why fate decided to look at him like that.

Almost seventy meters ahead, lit by a rather bright moonlight, a dim shadow walked. Due to the fact that the night was clear, the guy was able to see the unexpected guest before he was noticed. But he still could not consider it a success.

In the withers, the beast was undoubtedly taller than an adult, reaching almost two meters, and even more than three in length. The huge body was bulging with muscles, and clawed legs could not be deceived - the animal was carnivorous. Something the beast was like a lion, but it looked much more dangerous. His coat was gray in the lower body and became almost white closer to the head. The muzzle is flatter than that of a lion known to Rey, and the front of the body is slightly more massive when compared to the back. It had no tail, and the mane spread to the middle of the chest and back, covering an impressive part of the body.

It has not yet noticed Ray, but the guy was sure that it was clearly a predator. And the fact that he could not cope with it was silly to even doubt.

What the guy had already decided to do: having turned around, he slowly began to retreat to a tall, thick tree, which was relatively close to him.

There were many branches in the lower part of the plant, so it was not difficult to get on it. Stepping up about five meters, Rey felt an unnatural chill that went all over his spine. He forced himself not to turn and accelerated the pace of climbing even more.

Finally reaching a rather thick branch, he still looked down. The beast was already standing under a tree, watching with interest an unfamiliar creature who dared to enter its territory.

"So this is why I didn't meet a single animal on the way, it ate them all."

Rey watched as a strange monster, going a few meters back, jumped up to the trunk of a tree. His claws easily entered the bark, but the weight of the animal did not allow him to rise up. Mentally sighing with relief, the guy continued to climb, because for some reason he didn't feel himself safe at that height.

Climbing up on the next branch, Rey felt light vibrations going through the tree. Looking down a second time, he noticed a beast that, clinging to its branches with its front paws, was slowly but persistently climbing up. The boy's heart skipped a beat, but he forced himself to continue to rise.

When he was almost 15 meters high, he heard a crunch somewhere below. Immediately after it was followed by a loud thud, which caused Rey's sincere joy.

Having risen to the next thick branch, he looked down with some hope, - suddenly the predator was hurt, and even died at all, having fall from such a height. However, the beast, which has already managed to rise after the fall, still watched him menacingly. It looks like neither the leaves nor the night did not interfere with him at all, after all, Ray directly felt the hard look of a predator. But now the guy was more or less beyond the reach of the animal, because the weight did not allow him to climb so high, some branches simply could not withstand the force that the beast applied to them.

The guy sat and looked down at the true hunter, who waited patiently until his victim came down to him. The animal did not even try to pretend that it was gone, which led to the conclusion that it was either too stupid or intelligent, and understands that its prey would not go away, and seeing that after one fall, the beast did not even touch the tree, the guy easily guessed that the second assumption was true.

Thirst, hunger, cold, fear... All these feelings tormented Rey for several hours, but gradually he regained power over his thoughts.

"I even feel a little sorry for him. I will likely die from a fall, and if not, my body will still disappear during a rebirth. "

"And what if I am resurrected somewhere nearby?"

His thoughts were gloomy, but they led him to the only correct conclusion.

"I wonder how strong you need to be to defeat such a beast? If you think about it, then this is clearly not the creature that an unprepared player can handle. This could cut a small village. I think, some players were specially prepared before entering the game. "

Rey was right in his thoughts, because the heads of large corporations simply did not have the opportunity to dive into this world on their own, but the employed people did it with pleasure. But the key was his next conclusion.

"I have to get stronger."

The desire settled in the heart of the guy very tightly, although it came spontaneously. It is a pity, but there was no idea how to increase the strength enough to kill the current enemy. Even if he had a weapon, he was sure that he would not be able to defeat the beast, and even less so with his bare hands.