6 Black Bird Village

It was night, the forest was very calm except for the sound of bushes moving slighty now and then.

Michael was now used to these ''forest noises''. He sat in the middle of the glade where a bonfire illuminated the surroundings.

In his right hand he held a big roasted animal thigh, on his left hand he held a stick, drawing something on the floor.

He would take a bite at the thigh periodically while at it.

The meat was a little hard because of the muscles, however Michael had no complaints.

Being taught how to survive during his childhood, he somehow found this situation a little nostalgic.

Also, he was stuck in a forest where half of his nutrition was provided by edible insects and the other half by animals who were trying to kill him 90% of the time. Thus, no complaints.

''During the past 2 weeks i've explored most of this area.'' He said in low voice.

He took another bite at the thigh and thought while looking at the drawn map at the floor. His red eyes displayed a concerned expression.

''I'm no longer leveling up by killing anything smaller than an [ELITE] monster.''

''It's also painfully obvious that monsters are now avoiding me...''

''If this keeps up, given the fact that my apetite has been increasing at a steady pace, this forest will will become obsolete for me in a close the future''

''I guess that was it for the tutorial.''

''Time to move''

He then looked at his newly acquired short sword.

[Forest Wolf's Fang]: A short sword made using a Forest Wolf's canine, increasing it's sharpness.

Special effect²: The toxins on the fang increase bleed effects by 50%.

''Good stuff'' He said, pleased by the weapon's stats.

''Status!''

Michael Nightingale

Level: 8

Class: none

Race: Human

Status: 0 point left

STR: 16

AGI: 15

VIT: 16

INT: 13

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

After carefully deliberating, Michael decided to increase his agility as he was about to move out of this forest

''Well, i guess this is it. '' He said in low voice.

''The world map has completely changed, i have no idea where the hell i'm or even if ''countries'' still exist. The size of this shitty world increasing by five folds ain't helping either.'' He thought while frowning.

''Well, what the fuck..'' He shrugged, it was not worth getting angry over it.

*SFX for dog whines*

''Oh shut it...'' Michael said looking at the tied forest wolf at his left.

If he was going to leave, he obviously needed a mount and the scapee wolf matched his criteria perfectly.

He had spent the entire day looking for this one wolf and when he finally captured it, he spared no efforts into 'making it docile'.

However it was still a wild animal. Thus, he was tied by tough looking vines as he whined looking at Michael with a fearful and pitiable gaze.

''Well, Fido. Isn't it a great night ?'' He said, grinning.

The wolf whined louder at this remark as if saying ''Why me ? why!?''

''C'mon, it's gonna be funny. Me, you and thousants of kilometers.''

''Just like Butch and Sundance.''

*SFX for dog whines*

''Hah?'' Michael said as he furrowed his brows, leaking killing intent.

The wolf wanted to protest some more but was drowned into a choke point by the killing intent. Thus, silently consenting.

''That's what i thought.''

Putting his belongings on the space crack, he released the wolf from the vines.

''Now, crouch for me, Fido'' He said

The wolf could only begrudgingly obey.

Mounting the wolf, Michael started his journey, heading west.

Despite the fact it was carrying someone, the wolf demonstrated incredible agility and vigor, only stopping after 5 hours of running.

This routine continued for three more weeks.

Three more excruciating weeks of running for the poor wolf that was driven to the brink of death by exhaustion everyday.

However Michael wasn't much better off

As if trying to get revenge on Michael, the wolf would sometimes 'acidentaly' hurt Michael's groins and Michael would kick the wolf everytime it happened, until his rage was satiated.

Curiously, the wolf wouldn't protest during the ''trashing phases''. It would even grin satisfied as if thinking ''no freedom for me, no kids for ya, brat.''

Along the journey he heard three DING's from the system, the first two dings were the system rewarding him the [Mounting Skill] and [Animal Trainer] skills and the third...

[Iron Will]: Your body may be shook but your will is unmovable.

Grade: Passive Unique

Special effect: Increases your resistance to negative effects greatly.

Details: someone with balls of steel.

He was already very stressed to begin with and after those notifications sounded his left eye twitched for the next 30 minutes as he ended up deciding on doubling the wolf's trashing schedule.

Like a cartoon character, a vein could be seen throbbing on his neck.

Little did he know such a skill come very in handy in the future.

He only calmed down a little after convincing himself that this skill would indeed be very helpfull along his journey

More than a month had passed since he had first come to this unfamiliar world. He was now used to seeing animals a least five times bigger than usual.

Even insects had grown and evolved in such a way they could now easily eat humans.

Michael was worried now that his food stock was almost running out.

''Tsc, this damn dog eats too fuckin' much''

Making good use of his rage he decided to extend the wolf's running time from 5 hours to 7 hours, only leaving it with a few hours for sleeping, eating and any other biological necessities.

Luckily, Fido's stamina grew bigger and bigger as his muscles turned tougher due to the 'hell routine'.

And on a certain day, Michael noticed...

[Fido Lv. 8 (ELITE)]

''Hoh?~, so you became an ELITE monster?''

Fido raised his head high as if proudly stating ''Of course, who do you think i'm?''

''Then, it's okay to increase your trashing schedule, right ?'' He said with a light voice.

''You seem to be used to the running as well... what about another hour or two ?''

''Mhm, it's for your own good.'' Michael nodded as if trying to convince himself.

*SFX for dog whines*

''Of course! i'm sorry, how could you possibly be satisfied with so little!'' Michael stated as he looked innocently at the wolf

''How foolish of me, i should increase it by 5 more hours!''

''I should hit you harder during the trashing phase, too.''

''It's for your own good, afterall'' Michael said with eyes devoid of any evil. However his words betrayed their actual meaning.

A couple of days later, Fido really thought it was going to die, however... on this fateful day, while crossing a mountainous region, they found what seemed to be a city.

Michael thought it was really strange to find people living in a secluded area like this but he didn't think much of it as he was starving by now, his food supply was gone since yesterday and he could smell food in the air.

''It doesn't matter who you are, you can't think straight when you are hungry.'' He shrugged

''I'm going in, hide for now and wait for me to contact you'' Michael told Fido.

*growls*

The wolf seemed to be outraged by this statement as he growled at Michael.

''Stop complaining, i promise to call you in everyday and bring you food.'' Michael assured the wolf.

''You call too much unwanted attention''

The wolf could only resign to his fate.

Michael then stared at the city.

The city was still a little more than 100 meters away, looking attentively it was more of a village than a city, considering pretty much everything was made of wood and the village territory didn't exceed 1000m³.

The village was surrounded by a 3-4 meters tall wood fences with sharp edges.

They looked like giant pencils standing side by side with their edges pointing to the sky.

In the middle of the fence there was an equally as big gate.

In front of the gate there were two people standing on guard. They had spears as weapons. Only, they seemed like handmade and not monster dropped.

Michael noticed this because the edges of the spears were a pointy rocks that had been tied by roots.

He stood there, looking at the guards, thoughtful.

*sigh*

''It looks like we've been thrown back to the stone age...'' He thought while approaching the guards.

''HALT! WHO GOES THERE?!'' The guard on the right spoke while pointing his spear towards Michael's chest.

''I'm gonna call you guard A'' Michael thought while staring innocentely at the guard.

''Ah! I-I'm sorry, please don't hurt me!'' Michael said, at this moment it was like he became an entirely different person.

-What's your name ?- The guard on the right said, his voice was way more calm and rough than his fellow guard's.

''And you are Mr.Guard B..'' Michael thought while looking at the guard on the left, then replied.

''M-my name is Tony.''

''I-I'm sorry to bother you, i-i've been walking for 2 days straight on the forest down there. ''

''I was travelling with some companions, hunting some edible insects to feed my village b-but then...'' Michael didn't forget to stutter and feign a scared face while talking.

''We found a p-pack of wolves. 4 of my companions were k-killed on the spot and 3 of us managed to scape but... '' Michael made sure to look as fragile as possible.

The guards were listening attentively, Mr. Guard A had a pity face right on the spot while Mr. Guard B had a strange grin on his face.

-Say no more, my friend.- Guard B spoke.

-Get in, we have the responsability to aid a fellow from a neighbour village!

Mr. guard A then nodded and yelled ''OPEN THE GATES!''

Five seconds later the gate began to open upwards and Michael was slightly surprised at the sight ahead.

The village had dozens of people on the street. There were also a couple of stalls selling fruits, animal meat and even some basic handmade weapons like the spears he just saw on the gate guards.

But what caught his attention were a couple of shady stalls that had nothing on the shelves.

Those stalls however, had people tied by the arms and feet. Women, men, even children could be seen, sitting on the ground, wearing collars on their necks.

Not minding the view at all, he heard Mr. Guard B shouting behind him.

-Go to Blackbird Inn, talk to the manager there. Tell him Vincent sent you. He'll grant you a free room, meals and a change of clothes.-- Mr. Guard 2 said while grinning.

-Oh.. and.. Welcome to Blackbird village my friend!

Michael only nodded, maintaining his facade.

''Oh, Mr. Guard B. You could at least try to conceal the expression on your face. it's too damn obvious this way.'' He thought while walking towards the direction Vincent had instructed.