Chapter 1 – Spirit Friends (1)
A companion suddenly appeared out of nowhere, but the baffling feeling quickly disappeared.
The most important thing right now was survival, so Jade focused his attention to that.
Leaving the house, he plucked some of the Gideon gra.s.s that was growing around the house like weed.
Any Hunter living in the Great Forest knew that the Gideon gra.s.s helped erase a human"s scent.
"It won"t be perfect, but it"s better than not applying any."
Jade quickly applied the Gideon gra.s.s onto his body and moved forward.
Watching all of this, the spirit named Sylph appeared with a smiling face.
Jade named the spirit as such because she reminded him of the lower level wind spirit.
She herself even nodded her head as if she liked the name.
"I heard lower level spirits didn"t have much of a conscious, yet they were abundant with emotions."
Woossh! Woosh!!
If Sylph was able to make a sound, she would probably be laughing in an elegant manner.
That"s how violently she was flying around Jade.
The strange thing was, even with the appearance of a spirit, his body didn"t feel any burden.
He remembered it took mana to summon a spirit.
"Even from the get-go this was ridiculous. We didn"t even form a contract or anything."
Spirits didn"t HAVE to form a contract to appear into this world.
They were very close to nature itself, so if they met the minimum requirements, they would be able to appear.
Spirits and fairies born from this world also had to fulfill certain conditions to crossover to the Spirit Realm.
Yet, the strange thing was, he wasn"t in a situation where any of those requirements were met.
"Either way, I guess there"s nothing wrong with it. It could just be that my affinity to spirits is super high."
The original owner of Jade"s body had lived his whole life as a Hunter, yet he had never even seen a spirit in his whole life.
There were legends regarding the Great Forest and the evil spirits within, but that was just nonsense to Jade as he wasn"t from this world.
However, if his soul really was switched out, then it made sense.
Jade (original owner) himself didn"t have an affinity to the spirits, but it was different for someone who had crossed over from another world.
"I should stop thinking about this for now. I need to get as far away as I can from this house."
This place, the continent of Arpedia, was like his original world where strength was the number one key to survival.
Especially with how this world was very similar to civilization from the Middle Age.
And, in order to gain strength, one first had to survive.
"Firstly, I have some things that only I know of and have this spirit with me." Mumbled Jade, as he remembered the ability he had from his original world.
Although it was a burden to the body, it was quite a useful ability.
"Huh?"
As Jade was moving towards the rising sun, the smiling Sylph grabbed his hair and pulled. She also shook her head with a firm expression.
It was as if she was telling him not to go that way.
"Don"t go this way?"
Nod nod!
"Why?"
Rustle.
Sylph changed herself into the shape of a little wolf to answer Jade"s question.
"There"s a wolf over there?"
Nod!
"Then let"s avoid it. The wolf will most likely be with others."
Just like in his original world, wolves from this world moved as a group. Additionally, they couldn"t be looked down on just because they were wolves.
Even if this was on the outskirts of the Great Forest, it was still part of the Great Forest.
If one builds their own territory within that territory, it"s because they have their own reasons for doing so.
"Although this body is well trained, it"s still a normal Hunter"s body. It hasn"t learned to use mana yet."
Jade could feel how hard the original owner trained as he could feel the muscle and strength coursing through his body. However, although he would be able to fight against one or two wolves, it was a different case with bigger groups.
Things may be different if traps were in place, but it was impossible to fight head on.
The only way to survive was to avoid them.
"My life is priority. I need to be alive to do what I need to do."
He needed to find out how he came into this world, and if there was a way to go back, he wanted to.
Even if he didn"t have great memories of his previous world.
"I don"t have any family there, but I do have friends who are like family."
The most depressing thing for Jade was the fact that he just got discharged from the military less than 6 months ago.
That"s why he wanted to go back to his original world.
Although life was hard in his original world, one didn"t have to live their life fighting monsters.
"There"s also Baron Leon."
Jade naturally followed the path Sylph led him towards.
He was very familiar with the road because the original owner of the body lived most of his life near the Great Forest.
However, being familiar with the road and finding the safer route were two completely different things.
That"s why the only option he had was to trust and follow Sylph.
"Just believe in you?"
Ting ting!
As if noticing the uncertainty in Jade, Sylph loudly hit her adorable chest with her hand. She wanted to tell him that he could trust her. However, the more she acted this way, the more bizarre Jade felt.
Even though it was just a fragment within his memory, there was nothing in there that showed lower level spirits as being this expressive.
"There"s still a lot of things I don"t know, and it"s not like Jade knows everything either."
Just because he could read another person"s memory didn"t make the memories perfect.
Only, the biggest difference is that the memories were very much vivid compared to most people.
"Tail storms are unexpectedly smaller here. I wonder if it"s because the body is stronger in this world."
In his original world, Tail storms blew as they liked and were considerably bigger.
Every time he looked through his memories, it felt like his head was going to split apart. But now it wasn"t as bad.
This was his way of pulling out data that he needed.
He needed to learn of his current abilities to raise his chances of survival.
Creek!
Following Sylph"s lead, Jade continued an endless cycle of walking and stopping. However, they didn"t rest for long periods of time.
He knew he had to get as far away from his house as possible, so he frequently crossed stream after stream.
Jade had to jump far to crossover each stream, but it was all for the sake of erasing his scent.
"I need to slowly start finding a hideout."
His meal consisted of a quick bite of jerky that he prepared beforehand, and he continued to move forward by cutting down on his rest time.
As noon quickly pa.s.sed, Jade opened his mouth to speak.
Nighttime comes very quickly in a forest, just as it does in mountains, so it was very important to quickly find a hideout.
Tang tang!
Sylph hit her chest once again as if telling Jade to believe in her.
She looked as if she knew of just the place to go.
Watching her, Jade did not brood anymore.
They hadn"t run into a single monster, let alone animals, since they started this trip. This made Jade trust in Sylph more than when they first started the journey.
"It"s a cave."
As if satisfied with the location she found, she continued to lead Jade with a happy face.
It was a cave that a bear would love to call home, so Jade quickly scanned the inner parts of it.
Yet, there wasn"t a single lifeform within this cave that was hidden behind lush, well-grown trees.
"There isn"t even a single trace of monsters or animals outside the cave."
Jade had quickly scanned the outer parts of the cave with his special eyes before he walked in.
He was but a poor, single guy in his original world, but the Jade in this world was a competent Hunter.
If one didn"t have the ability, they wouldn"t even be able to survive the outer parts of the Great Forest. Yet, considering how long the original Jade had lived here, it could be said that he had considerable skills.
Boop boop.
"Good job finding this place. Thanks, Sylph."
Flap flap flap flap!
Using her small and adorable wings, Sylph flew around ecstatically. She was very excited to hear Jade"s compliment.
Watching this scene for a moment, Jade placed his backpack on the ground and made his way back outside.
He needed to find some firewood and he also wanted to check and see if there were any game for him. (Game = hunting = food)
"Hmm."
Although he still had plenty of jerky left, it wasn"t bad to have more food available. Jade knew that until he found a more permanent shelter, he would have to continue going to many different places so being self-sufficient was very important.
He slowly looked at his surroundings once again.
Both monsters and animals were very territorial, so Jade explored the area with caution. The only thing in his hand was a small bow and arrow.
"The common monsters found on the outskirts of the Forest were smaller sized creatures such as Kobolds, Goblins, and Knolls. There were a diverse number of animals as well."
One couldn"t look down on animals either, because Shabel Tigers and Black Bears had similar fighting strength as Ogres. This is the reason why one must never be relaxed when they enter the Great Forest.
Tuk.
As Jade nervously navigated around the outside of the cave, Sylph tapped him on his shoulder and pointed him towards a certain direction.
As Jade turned his head towards the direction, he saw a rabbit carefully eating gra.s.s. A bright, white rabbit that did not match the notoriousness of the forest.
"Thanks."
The chubby rabbit c.o.c.ked its ears back as it continued to eat the gra.s.s.
Staring at the rabbit, Jade knocked the arrow into his small bow. Of course, he wasn"t expecting to make the kill shot with the first arrow, because although the body knew how to use the bow, Jade himself didn"t.
Completed - Spirit Friends (1)