Chapter 10: Battles Won

The wake of the danger had passed as Florence's mind began to collect once again. He knew that though the ground was peppered in arrows from his onslaught of attacks, wolf corpses littering the ground and pinned with arrows making them seem more like porcupines than the wild beasts that kept attacking him from every corner. It was a pain in the ass to be on the shit list of these creatures but Florence knew there must have been a reason for it whether it was to be explained or not was the question but as of now there were much more pressing issues as his shoulder throbbed in searing pain as if someone had taken a set of molten spikes and driven them into his shoulder. He groaned a bit as he took a deep breath and began to stand, leaving the sword that kept the alpha impaled. He took a deep breath as he stopped his panting, his hand slowly moving to the wound to find a rather blood-soaked mess that it was making. His best bet was to close the wound up with something or... Quickly he fetched the dark green and light grey spotted mushroom, the one that had provided him with the nice little buff of regen. As the mushroom slipped from the inventory space appraisal had thrown up another window to give him a little insight into the fungus.

"Regenatoray Expatronus, the mushroom of regeneration. This mushroom is an uncommon sight within the forest of the world tree as its healing prowess offered to those who ingest it allows for wounds to heal up faster. This fungus forces the bodies of those who eat it to accelerate healing processes. Bonuses: Enhanced Regeneration for two minutes"

This certainly was a handy little plant but what struck him as odd was the name of the forest, the forest of the world tree, indeed it had an interesting name to it, and even more, was the thought of what world tree. He was never the kid to engross himself in the mythos of civilizations that had passed so it looked like that had been a dead-end for now as he took the mushroom and began to eat the revolting fungi. As he ignored the taste and pain of ingesting it he was given the enhanced regeneration buff. The pain in his shoulder slowly resided as he took a deep breath and let the buff work its magic, now it was time to get butchering as he pulled his knife back out and looked over each body. Florence knew it would be best to pick up the scattered arrows that lay on the ground to refill his quiver. It took him half an hour to get all his belongings back in order but he knew that his tedious tasks were only to expand as he looked at each wolf. He knew he could take this time to better learn how to harvest an animal for its fur, organs, and meat. He decided to leave the alpha for last as he began to harvest the beasts for what he could though unfortunately due to the events his hands were shakey and he was unable to correctly skin his first few prey due to his hands, cursing himself at the damaged goods. With a deep breath, he began to start on the fourth wolf when he realized this had gotten a little easier like he was being guided. Finally, he finished the other seven when he looked at the wolf, the short sword still stuck in the wolf's neck from where he plunged the blade. He pulled the blade to the side and cleaved the wolf's head off, truly it was his first true personal achievement. A proud smile beamed from ear to ear on his as he yawned and harvested the alpha rather quickly as he collected the materials, shoving them in his inventory as he began to try to figure what way he might go as of now. It was another random direction for him as he quietly began to walk around slowly, skulking around the forest as to not draw too much attention after the fight with the wolves. He couldn't get over the damn battle that had taken place not even five minutes ago as he was suddenly bombarded with a series of notifications.

"Congratulations IllFang on defeating the alpha of the forest! You have been accelerated to level seven and unlocked several new skills. Blink Step, allows you to move instantaneously in a chosen direction as long as you have solid ground under your feet. Back Step and Blink Step have combined to make Step of the Wolven Path! Elven bow Arts has gained nearly 100% though there is something blocking the ability to excel the skill to its next form! Elven Sword Arts is now at twenty-five percent. Quickdraw has been unlocked! A new quest has been added, defeat 100 wolves to complete this and unlock more skills! Path of the Wolven Step has increased by five percent and a new title has been added! Alpha of the World Tree forest has been added!"

Florence was rather excited as this game grew on him more and more, the fun of gaining more skills excited him quite a bit as he curiously rubbed his jawline in curiosity. A smile crossed his face as he continued to walk further into the forest when another notification popped up.

"The stealth skill has been acquired! two percent has been added!"

Damn another one added to his ever-growing list of skills kept growing though it made a lot of sense as he had been skulking around the forest for the las day. Florence took note of the fact that repeating a certain action would grant him an action such as climbing, swimming, etc as he looked around, still stranded in the middle of the forest all alone. A light sigh slipping from him as he continues to walk through the gloomy forest, rain still on the cusp of the wind as he kept walking farther and farther. Three hours of boring walking lead him to nowhere as the forest began to grow denser and denser with trees as if they were hiding something inside them from the outside world. In the distance, he could hear the clanking of chains and the snarls of an angry creature bound to something they didn't want to be. He took a deep breath and held it as he pushed his way into the foliage and observed just what the creature could be to only be met with the sight of a giant wolf chained to an obscenely large tree. What in the hell was his bad luck and wolves? The wolf didn't look anything like the ones he has encountered before, its fur a midnight black as if it was a void of never-ending darkness of fur. The beast snarled and growled, eyes like smoldering coals as they pierced Florence's soul. He couldn't move as the beast spoke,

"You have welcomed yourself as a meal, as measly as you are I will enjoy you happily!"