Under a clear blue sky, filled with pure white clouds, a great green jungle was standing unfathomably.
In a small open area of this great forest, a large basket-like thing weaved with smooth and flexible branches of trees was attached to a big green cloth-like thing that seemed to be made out of leaves.
These leaves were as big as a normal human height and each one of them was dark green as if they were still on the tree.
A stand-like feature was set up on the basket and there was a strange container on it.
The area was clear and there was only a boy standing in the middle of it.
With long blond hair that was finely tied at his back, long eyelashes, and clear red eyes that were more beautiful than ruby smiled brightly.
“Looks like everything will work out properly,” I smiled more brightly as I looked at my hot air balloon.
The balloon looked good and the basket was the only thing that seemed just fine.
It was difficult at the start but I got the hang of the basket as time passed.
The branches and vines from the forest were not soft enough for a child like me to bend.
It was difficult to turn those tough tree branches into soft ones and it was no joke.
I had to spend two whole weeks just to finish the base of the basket.
The balloon part was much easier as I knew about sewing from my previous life.
From the fallen leaves of the great Banya tree, I finally managed to finish this balloon after a month.
I also found most of the things required and even discovered the location of a pink mushroom.
But… that thing will be more difficult than I thought.
“Let’s finish the work on hand faster. It will be a problem if I encountered some unknown factor and have to spend the night outside,’ I thought and walked forward.
I wasn’t ready to spend the nights outside of my cave yet.
I was weak.
I was so weak that I might not even be able to hide or run from the dangerous beasts.
Shaking my head, I reached the balloon part.
The principle behind this balloon was simple.
Just from the name, you could tell it was based on the air temperature difference between the air inside the balloon and the air atmosphere.
I had already run some tests to see if everything was alright and the results were good.
There wasn’t any problem so I decided to give it my all this time.
Lifting the balloon on the ground with (Lifting wind), I placed the end of it on the burner.
It was a container made from ant armor and an owl-like bird I killed.
It had solid feathers with low melting temperature so melting and molding them was somewhat easy.
The fuel inside it was something I collected from a tree.
It was something that burned just like gasoline so, after working on it and doing some hot experiments, I came up with this.
I was still amazed by myself about how I was doing everything so normally.
It was strange but… I was getting used to this feeling.
Starting the fire on the burner, I filled the air in the balloon slowly.
Maintaining a (tier-1) spell like this was hard but I wasn’t worried about it much.
Hot air filled the balloon and it slowly started to go up.
The forest was big and green, almost the same color as the balloon which was good for camouflage.
The balloon filled up and started going upwards.
‘Let’s hope everything goes safely…’ and with that, I jumped inside the basket.
Cutting the rope that bound the basket and ground, I flew up in the sky.
The ride was slow and sturdy.
As I reached a good enough height I changed the fire to low.
There were large trees under me and as far as I could see, only green remained in my vision.
There were some Taller, larger, and greater trees scattered here and there and I knew many of them.
Some of them were even believed to be (lost trees) and <Ancient trees>.
But, my goal right now was the closest one before me.
I had already calculated and created a map with distance and directions.
Just ahead of me was a large tree with a broad upper part.
The area it covered was large and the top of the tree was shining like a diamond.
I knew it was the tip because trees and great trees like these gathered the Mana and life force over there during the years of their survival.
It was a pure and crystallized form of this and it was used in the creation of the highest quality magic weapons.
It was also called [Essence of tree].
The essence of this great Banya tree was… amazing.
It was as big as the boar I saw the first day.
It was also very clear when I checked it closely with my [Mystic Eyes], which meant its quality was superb.
‘This forest is a treasure trove. If I was strong enough to go against a small ecosystem, I might have tried taking that.
But… there is no way I could do that any time soon.
So, let’s just be content with the nectar it has to offer.’
There were small golden drops of liquid coming out of the tree and as I looked down, there were many weird insects around it.
They looked like beetles but they were almost as big as this hot air balloon. 𝙚𝙙𝙤𝒗𝒆𝒍．𝒄𝙤𝙢
I had to collect it from the upper part of the tree which was a good thing.
It meant they can’t go higher than their place and I would be safe as long as I collect it from the upper part of the tree.
I nodded and surveyed the whole upper area for half-hour.
‘Looks like everything is clear…’
Creating some wind, I pushed the balloon in the tree’s direction.
I was already at almost top of the tree and there were no sky predators in the area for now.
The balloon slowly reached the tree and stopped.
I touched the tree and it was quite warm for being at such high place.
The temperature in the surroundings was much cooler than this.
Just above me, there was the shining essence of the tree.
A dust-like powder was dancing inside the huge crystal.
It was like stars dancing on a gry-white canvas.
I was almost mesmerized by the magnificence of nature-.
“No! Not now. Let’s finish the work first,” I reminded myself while slapping my right cheek.
Taking out some glass bottles of the potions and some that I made, I started gathering the golden liquid.
-Buzzzzzzzz.
I could hear the angry voices of insects down there, it looked like they were angry I was stealing something from them.
“Sorry but, I have to do this,” I was not actually sorry for them but what was wrong in saying that.
Slowly, I filled the bottles and stored some inside my storage device.
Some were left with me as I can’t put everything inside.
And than…
I spotted a strange drop on the part of the essence.
It was a strange fluid, thicker and stranger than the star powder inside the essence.
I moved the balloon a bit up to take a closer look.
The fluid was thicker and silver in color.
Shining like the same stars inside the essence.
‘What is this?’ I asked myself again as my eyes couldn’t part from it.
It was my first time seeing something like this.
There was nothing in the books that I read saying a silver fluid flowing out of the essence of the tree.
‘Should I take this?’ I asked as I took out a glass bottle.
This drop felt totally normal and I couldn’t even sense Mana or life-force from this.
Was I so weak that I couldn’t even sense it?
I was thinking deeply when… my heart started beating wildly.
-Skyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
I heard a ferocious and enraged voice from above and my hands moved on their own.
Now wasn’t the time to think about anything else.
I quickly collected the silver, shining fluid in a glass vail and stored it inside my storage device.
There wasn’t even a need to look above to tell some sky predator has spotted me.
Without hesitation, I gathered a large number of wind particles and blasted them behind me.
The balloon shot back towards where we came from without any control.
I lowered the flames and the balloon started going downwards.
-Skyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
The enraged voice rang in the sky again as it came closer.
‘No. I’m not going to be caught this time!’ shouting inside my head, I took out some black balls from my storage device.
Gathering some fire Mana particles, I burned the rope-like thing coming out of them.
When it lit up and started to go in, I turned around and threw them all behind my back.
For a quick second, I glanced at the figure of the creature.
A huge crystal-like body and feathers in green color and yellow colored eyes.
My mind was working faster so I didn’t have the time to think too deeply about this creature.
Ignoring the fact that I was being chased by a (Blue) ranked [Jade Sky Eagle], I crashed the balloon on one of the trees at a lower height.
-Skyyyyyyy.
The bird stopped and looked down for a moment.
I was inside the basket, tangled up in the wines of the tree.
The bird first came down from the sky for a bit but… as if lost all interest, it flew back.
I knew it would do something like this rather than go after some lowly ant who might have touched its belongings.
This was my first encounter with a beast of such a high level and I could clearly feel the difference in level.
It… was unfathomable.
I knew from the moment my heart almost jumped out of my chest that the strangest thing until now has approached me.
It was so strong that I couldn’t even feel the pressure or the presence of it at all.
If not for my [Dynamic Heart] my life was done at this moment!
But…
‘Let’s not think about this. I’m alive and this is… enough.’
Tears were already falling from my eyes.
I encountered a high-ranking beast and managed to survive.
This… was my achievement.
One encounter with a (Blue) ranked beast was already over and all that was left was… going into the nest of a (Green) ranked snake.