Alchemies

Chapter 6: Forest Hunt

Alex walks out of the eastern gate of Scarlet City and soon realizes that he came to the wrong place by accident.

It was the last night when he entered the city and went straight to a tavern to look for lodging to log out, and did not care to remember the interior view of the city.

Now that he had walked out randomly from the east gate, he realized that he had actually entered the city through the west gate. But that shouldn't be too much of a problem for him.

'Anything. I just need to hunt monsters, that's all,’ thought. The eastern side of the city was also covered in forest, just like the western side, so he should have no trouble finding monsters.

He walked into the forest and started looking for signs of monsters. Suddenly, he saw something.

It was not a monster, but a small tree. For some reason, the tree is not special. It was easily overlooked in this huge forest, but he could not do it. Something about this tree called him.

So, he did as his heart commanded and slowly walked towards the tree. The tree itself was roughly as tall as Alex, making it seem like a small growing tree. But the leaves are big and the fruit has grown a little.

Alex sees a name appear on top of a tree as he approaches her.

[Dwarf Berry Tree

The 'Dwarf Berry']

“Dwarf berries?” Alex looked at the only fruit growing on the tree. He stretched his hand forward and touched the berries.

[Berry Dwarves]

He didn't get any more information than that. This felt the same as when he touched all the materials in the entrance examination of Hong Wu sect.

'Is this an alchemy ingredient? Is that why I know the name of the fruit?' he thinks. He was sure his guess was right. So, he picked the fruit and kept it in his inventory.

He did not know how good this material was, or whether it was useful, but he still decided to keep it.

He found some more alchemy ingredients along the way. So he took whatever he could and kept it in his inventory. After walking for a long time, he finally found a monster.

It was a deer with blood-red fur. It had dark black eyes and sharp horns like thorns on it. Alex was a little scared when he saw her. Then he took a closer look to check at what level.

[Carmine Layer Deer: Nature 6th Skin Tempering]

The deer was 4 levels higher than the fox he fought in the western forest. But it doesn't matter to him anymore. After all, he was 16 levels higher than when he fought the fox.

He quickly raised his weapon panel and equipped his sword. The steel sword shone brightly under the sunlight scattered in the forest.

The deer saw him, and turned towards him, preparing to attack. Alex prepared his weapon.

The deer suddenly started running towards him, pointing its horns at him. This monster was much faster than the monster he fought yesterday.

But, for some reason, it felt like the monster was not too fast. In fact, he almost thought the deer was running in slow motion.

Alex realized at that moment all his senses were strengthened. He could hear the trees and leaves in the forest rustling in the wind. He could smell various plants and even the soil in the forest.

He could feel subtle changes in air pressure and temperature that he normally could not feel. He could see the colors in the forest much more clearly than a minute before.

Similarly, his awareness of time was also strengthened. The deer that was attacking intensely, felt very slow to him.

He slowly raised his sword. It was just slow for him. In fact, this action is very fast.

As soon as the deer reached him, he swung his sword down.

Whirr

The left half of the deer split, and fell from its right part. It was cut right in the middle in one punch. Alex was used to seeing livestock slaughtered so he did not feel disgusted to see the contents of the monster's stomach.

He proceeded to open his inventory and check his horns. He took them out but did not see their names appear.

'Is this not an alchemy ingredient?' he thinks. That's why there's no name for it. He put it back in his inventory and kept the deer carcass with him as well.

After there was nothing else to do, he began to wonder, 'what happened to me during that fight? Is it because I am now a cultivator?'

Along the way, he found some alchemy ingredients and some other monsters. He managed to kill every single person he fought in a single attack.

None of the monsters he fought were above the Skin Forging realm, and every time he fought, he began to experience this strange experience where his six senses were strengthened. So, he easily killed those monsters.

The sun began to set, and the moon began to rise. It was time for him to leave the forest, and return to his inn. But on the way, he saw something. In a small land that looked like a field of natural flowers, there was an unusual flower, growing amidst a bunch of other normal flowers.

She simply thought the flower was unusual because she felt something unusual on the flower. 'Is that an alchemy ingredient? Is that why I know this flower is different from other flowers?' he thinks.

He decided to take it, so he approached. Suddenly he heard something moving on the ground. He immediately turned to look back, but there was nothing there.

He slowly looked to his left and began to observe the land with his eyes. But, other than the plants and trees, he could not see anything in the forest.

Swished. Swished.

The sound is still there. He looked towards the ground and saw a small brown snake crawling among the fallen leaves. He immediately flinched back.

Having worked on a farm does not mean he is no longer afraid of snakes. A game is no exception. Especially realistic ones like this.

But he couldn't back down. There was something on the flower that made him think the flower was too important to miss. So, he prepared his sword.

The creeping snake finally revealed itself completely and was now staring straight at him. Alex looked at the name floating on the snake and frowned. His own name is not the problem, but his cultivation.

[Earth Snake: The Third Realm That Forges Muscles]

It was only 3 levels lower than him. He did not know how big of a difference each level produced, so he started to worry. Still, the flower was too charming for her.

So, he took a deep breath and focused. Suddenly, he felt time slow down once again. All his senses were working excessively.

The snake did not seem to slow down. It was hurtling towards him at an almost normal speed. 'Was the snake too close to my level, so he was just as fast as me?' he thinks.

He swung his sword down once more, but the snake easily went out of its path of attack.

The snake leaped towards him, exposing his two fangs, but he was also quite quick and easily evasive.

Once again he tried to attack the snake, but once again the snake managed to dodge it. The snake was too fast on the ground. He could not hope to touch it as long as it was still creeping on the ground.

'Hmm. if this snake is impossible to catch while it is crawling, then what if it is not on the ground, ' he thought. He felt he had made the perfect plan.

He once again attacked the snake to aggravate it to attack himself. The snake did as expected, and lunged at him after a short distance.

Alex immediately dodged and swung his sword towards the snake in the air. He could not dodge the jump, so he drew the sword right into his neck.

Thud.

The snake struck the ground with a huge thud, scattering many trees and dust. Alex was not satisfied. He struck the snake with a sword, but there was resistance to his swing, unlike before.

Swished. Swished.

The snake crept out from its delivery place, with only a small wound on its neck. It seemed that the nature monsters of Muscle Tempering were not easy to deal with.