The Adversities

Han Feng went deeper into the forest in search of his first prey. He was pretty excited to hunt a Magical Beast for the first time. At the same time, he was a little stressed, and scared of facing the same. He ate a few Magical Beasts but he never hunted one by himself.

Last time, he was able to secure a magical beast due to luck alone. But this time, he wanted to experience the process of hunting a beast, that he always imagined being invincible and ferocious.

It was early morning, and all the creatures living inside the Chaotic Forest were coming out of their caves. The forest was becoming more and more alive with each passing second while breaking the ever-present silence and replacing it with the buzzing of insects, chirping of birds, roars of a multitude of beasts, and also the rustling of trees either due to the wind or due to the creatures that lived on them.

Han Feng was slowly moving deeper into the forest, while constantly looking for any clues that could lead him to a Magical Beast. He was always curious regarding the creatures of the Chaotic Forest. So he liked to read about them on every chance he got, whether through books he could buy or through the conversations he could hear in the city. Thus he was fairly well at identifying the tracks left by the magical beasts.

Like the shallow marks on trunks left by the Pythons and big but deep paw prints of Bear, shallow paw prints of cats, etc. This Knowledge was very helpful regarding a weak person like him. If he had greater strength, he would just rush in by following any one track. As he would be confident enough to kill any monster he encounters.

"Strength. Everything comes down to individual strength... Only if I concentrated more on cultivation since the start rather than cramming all the knowledge, I would be much stronger than I am now."

Han Feng was getting more and more addicted to the Idea of becoming strong. Since he was a kid, he always neglected his cultivation because he had a sense of safety while living with his father. His father was there to shelter him from the wind and rain. He was the shade under which Han Feng felt anything but unsafe. So, he never felt the need of becoming strong himself.

Another important reason was the need for resources to support a cultivator. Although his father earned enough to support both of them, the sheer amount of resources needed for a cultivator were just too great. They were not a part of a big clan not they had had any backing behind them. They only had each other.

*Rustle*

Han Feng froze. Just as he was lost in his thoughts he heard something behind him. Although he was mentally ready to face a Magical Beast, the reality was harsher than his mental picture of the situation.

He slowly turned around and noticed that the bush of his height was shaking like something was about to come out of it.

Han Feng almost turned around to run. He was clearly shaken by the sudden situation and the possibility of facing his first... and probably the biggest adversary.

"Come on, Isn't this what I came here to do? What's the point of running away now?... I have to face it someday... better now than later."

Han Feng clenched his fist tightly and tried to calm his panicked heart. He took a deep breath and took a fighting stance. He was now somewhat ready to face the oncoming danger. If he could fight it then he would give it his all, but if he thought he couldn't face it then it's not late to run away.

As Han Feng was making all the plans in his mind about the possible situations, a small creature jumped out of the bush. It had golden fur all over its body, had small-round red eyes just like two small dots, and two teeth peering from the corner of its mouth. It had a long nose and four-small legs.

"Snow Crest! Shit. This little thing almost made me run away." Han Feng made a sigh of relief, and he was also a little embarrassed thinking that he was going to run away without even confirming what was inside the bushes.

The little creature that jumped out was called Snow Crest. It was a small beast that was very popular among women due to its cute looks and high intelligence. It could be very easily trained to perform various tricks and small tasks. On top of that, it also has a very soft voice which is very pleasant to hear.

Han Feng got his first lesson, i.e. he should never decide anything prior to looking at the actual situation. Because that is how our minds worked... Without knowing anything about a problem we tend to overthink it and create a worst possible situation for ourselves. A situation that even the best version of us couldn't deal with, much less the panicked and less efficient version of us.

There is a huge difference between the version of us in our mind- always calm, confident, and ready to face everything thrown at us. And the real version- that has to be trained and polished to become the Ideal one in our mind because we change according to the situation we are in. In the same way, Han Feng was confident of dealing with even death itself but got scared from just a tiny beast.

"This Snow Crest is not bad, it could sell for up to 5000 spirit stones." Han Feng rubbed his chin and thought about catching the Snow Crest. He could sell it for a good deal of spirit stones.

Then the face a girl flashed across his mind, giggling while holding the snow crest in her hands... "Forget it. I will find something else to sell, I will just give this to Xia Lan. She would definitely like it." Han Feng smiled while thinking about her.

He quickly calmed his emotions and readied himself.

He slowly approached Snow Crest while trying to look as harmless as possible. He behaved as if it was not his target at all but he was just accidentally moving in its direction. This was the technique of catching a Snow Crest that he read in a book.

But the Snow Crest was far more intelligent than he imagined. It suddenly became alert upon Han Feng's arrival and jumped inside the bush.

"Stop." Han Feng shouted.

But even if it could somehow understand the human tongue, it wouldn't stop.

Han Feng quickly followed the Snow Crest and jumped inside the bush. The previous humiliation was still fresh in his mind. He wanted nothing more than to just catch the little thing.

Snow Crest was very agile and due to its small size, it was very hard to keep track of it in the dense leaves.

Still, Han Feng tried his best to follow it.

"Huff. Huff."

After chasing it for a long time It finally disappeared from his sight and Han Feng lost track of where he was. He was completely breathless and tired. Even if he tried his best but he couldn't catch the Snow Crest.

He sat down and took a few deep breaths. Then he took out water from his space ring and started gulping it madly.

"Who thought that little thing was this fast! Or maybe I am really weak."

Han Feng again lamented on his weakness.

He quickly got up and tried to get to higher ground so that he could see where he was. So he climbed the nearby tree and looked around.

"I am not lost, am I? I should check that map..."

Han Feng took out a map of the forest. He tried comparing the various marks with his surroundings.

"It looks like I have entered a little too deep. I should go back to the outer area."

He put the map inside his space ring and moved towards the outer area of the forest. There were weaker Magical beasts in the outer area while the strong ones lived deeper into the forest.

In this way, he made his way in the forest while looking for any signs of appropriate prey.

Soon time passed and it was noon.

Han Feng was still searching for a Magical Beast but for some reason, he couldn't find even a single one today. He was currently near a lake. It was a good position to have some food and keep a lookout for any other creatures.

"There is something weird going on today... I couldn't find even a single beast apart from the Snow Crest."

He washed his face in the lake and then started preparing to cook the Flaming Rabbit that he retrieved from the trap before.

After some time, everything was ready. There was a small bonfire burning in front of him while the Flaming Rabbit was being cooked over it.