I looked at the new screen in front of me.
Many unexpected things were happening right now which left me with many questions.
Why would the screen which is a natural phenomenon get a different form after increasing the mastery of an Origin skill?
Is it really because of the increase in mastery or is there some other reason?
Why did my mastery of skill increase so suddenly?
Was it because of encountering a demon?
What are these Origin skills anyway?
There were many questions but right now, the most important one was…
“Why the hell ants are so big here!”
I was running with all my strength.
When I was checking my screen, three ants appeared out of nowhere.
Trying to fight them in a head-on fight was not possible right now.
They were strong and I knew that.
I had recovered from the fight with the demon but I was still inexperienced in real fights.
And, my opponents were neither weak nor few.
Fighting these [Giant steel ants] in a disadvantageous fight was the last thing I wanted to do.
Though I was in a disadvantageous situation, I wasn’t worried at all.
The new Origin skill I unlocked a while ago was something very helpful.
[Dynamic Heart] increased the control over my mind, increasing the decision-making easy.
It calmed my mind like it was the same in every situation.
My mind was clear right now and I knew what I had to do.
This was an amazing skill and probably the most important one to survive in a place like this.
Getting it in such a situation was also very mysterious.
This forest wasn’t some normal forest that anyone could visit or should visit.
Just from the humongous trees and the sheer number of rare herbs, I passed through and most noticeably, the demon blood that didn’t pollute the place… I could tell.
I was in a worst-case scenario.
[Great forest of Kamut]
One of the nine forbidden domains in this world.
A forest with the most (Energy beasts).
‘That damn demon was so unlucky that he had to send himself to one of the worst places for himself.’
Demons despised nature nad their only objective was to destroy it at all costs.
They would do anything to harm nature and beings living inside nature would try to stop them every time.
All beings residing in this nature were part of it.
And this forest held a great deal in this nature, just like other forbidden domains.
The power of nature was the strongest in these forbidden domains, which was the reason demons despised these places.
And even if they despised it, demons can’t separate themselves from it.
They created [Hell planes] but those were also somewhat part of this nature. ．𝗻𝐞𝘁
The ultimate objective of all the demonic creatures and ‘people’ related to them was the destruction of nature and everything in it.
There were many other races in this world but everyone hated demons and the same went for demons.
Even some of the [Divine Beasts] that were one of the closest beings in this nature, went after them willingly.
Divine beings loathed the sheer existence of demons but strangely, they couldn’t exterminate them.
And the reason behind this was [The great balance].
Nature decided a great dividing line between the existence of all creations.
Demons, though unnecessary, were required in order to maintain this great balance.
Some books say that everything happening inside this world is by the will of this world.
[Will of the world]
Very few is known about it but, this will is the highest existence in this world.
The will is not actually being someone else but the world itself.
‘I don’t know much about that so, before I encounter something more dangerous, let’s kill these ‘ants’ first…’
There was a large tree just ahead of me.
I had used [Mystic Eyes] to find this place while running for the last three minutes.
Now, I was ready to take them down.
I already know many things about the normal, common, and rare energy beasts from the books.
Thanks to my gifted memory, I remembered reading about this ents.
They had the body of steel.
Their physical strength was also much higher than that of normal humans.
But, they weren’t ranked beasts.
Meaning, that they neither had any fatal magical skills nor more than 30 M.P. to at least be ranked (Red).
I was lucky to have some (fire) enchantment arrows with me, which were strong against their metallic bodies.
Confusing and losing them was the first thing to do right now.
They were exceptionally good at teamwork.
Together, they were more than some (Red) ranked beasts.
That’s why I chose this place.
I climbed up the closest branch of this large tree which divided the path into two different ways.
As I was way ahead of them, I was successful in confusing them.
If they were solder-ranked ants with detection skills, I might be dead by now.
Fortunately, they were the lowest-ranked workers who collected the food for the colony.
I would really hate to even go close to them.
Luckily I was safe for the time.
Taking out three arrows with close to (tier-2) enchantments, I aimed them one by one at their weak spot.
They had already gone different ways to find the food that had escaped their grasp and had their guards lowered.
-Swiiiiiiiish.
-Swiiiiiiiish.
-Swiiiiiiiish.
Three arrows flew at the joints of their body and pierced their head.
-KWKWKWKW!
Their claws like mouths vibrated as the fire from the arrow entered their bodies, burning them internally.
The arrow had gone deep inside them so the effect was more amazing.
It was all thanks to the magic bow and my newly increased stats.
It definitely wasn’t a miracle to increase the mastery of my Origin skill the moment I entered this place.
‘Were places like this beneficial to increase the origin skill as well?’ I thought and looked down.
They definitely were great for a mage as the Mana density was superb here.
At the risk of possibly losing your life, you can come and train here.
Yes, you will get lost and eternally trapped in here but, what can we say?
There actually were some people like them.
Very few have been able to escape from these forbidden domains and those people were either extremely strong or unbelievably lucky.
Now, all I had to do was… became one of them.
And since luck is not reliable in my case right now, I have to get strong enough to escape.
I knew my idea was laughable and foolish but, there was a possibility that I could go home.
Go back to my family and I wasn’t going to miss this.
I had to survive this great hell.
I had to walk ahead to find a path to go back.
I had to return to them… at all costs.
I made a promise to my dear mom.
With tears in my eyes and a still calm mind, I jumped down.
Dad had told me about his old days as an adventurer and what they did.
He even taught me how to find the core and skill stones after the hunt.
Dad literally taught me how to dissect the body of different beasts.
Yes, it was just some stories and theoretical knowledge, but he forgot to consider me as a 5-year-old when teaching it.
He talked in a language that no 5 year old would want to hear or understand but for me, that was bliss.
It was pure fun to hear those gross and gruesome stories from him.
Though he never got into much detail, reading his emotions and thoughts was no big deal for mom and me.
So, as his teachings, I ripped the tough shell of the ent after dragging their bodies into a corner.
Under the tough armor, there was a tender part like skin in red.
Using an arrow, I sliced the body open and checked their bodies.
Though the chances of finding a core were something around 1/10,000 and finding a skill stone was 1/100,000; luck worked here.
Strangely, the luck of the person who did the final blow to kill the beast applied to this possibility.
It was just like the games from my previous life.
This was simple and easy to understand.
Just finding a lucky person and making them deal a final blow was enough to strick rich sometimes.
But just like [Taming] and [Authority], luck was natural power.
There was no way to increase it by external means permanently.
And, just having high luck wasn’t enough to find these skills or cores every time.
The reason strong adventurers like dad hunted demons was that there was a higher chance to get the cores.
Though corrupted, they can be purified and used normally.
The one I took out of that baren demon was still inside my pocket, wrapped in a small cloth.
I can’t risk and put it inside my storage device.
My storage device was one of the most important things for my survival right now.
As I checked the bodies of the ents and found nothing, I started butchering them.
Though I couldn’t eat them their body parts were useful.
I realized another thing just now.
[Dynamic Heart] was crazy useful.
I can feel the blood, organs, and insides of these beasts but I didn’t feel disgusted at all.
I was still calm, thinking about the best course of action.
And the conclusion I came up with after all the time of thinking was…
‘Finding a safe place.’