Chapter 32 – Forest of beasts

Phoenix and I didn't wait very long after having gone through a month and a half of seclusion to leave.

The food was bland and repetitive, the days were spent doing nothing but training magic and learning alchemy which was quite interesting but can become quite mundane when you don't get to even have a day off to have fun. 'Where are my otherworldly beauties to feed me grapes while wiping away my sweat?' I was excited to see the cities and different countries this new world had to offer especially because I was incredibly sick and goddamn tired of the wilderness being the only goddamn scenery AND place of residence I have had since coming here.

"I'm a man with desires too!" I mumble as I jog eastwards towards the decrepit cabin I found after coming to this world.

"Yes, yes. I notice some of those desires you have from your superficial brainwaves. Pervert!"

"…"

'What the flying fuck! She's reading my "superficial" brainwaves? Isn't that just eavesdropping and what the fuck I'm a guy! A perfectly healthy GUY!' My thoughts nearly burst into reality.

"Phoenix. I am a healthy and active male. These are perfectly normal and can you PLEASE not eavesdrop on my thoughts!" I nearly lost it as I tried as calmly as possible to utter those words.

"Haha, it's not eavesdropping if you think about it for so long that the electrical signals start creating a recognizable pattern, you know?" She retorts with attitude.

"Sigh… still! Can't you like turn on a privacy filter or something? It's weird knowing you can find out about that stuff…" Sigh, slime in your brain that can recognize your sexual thoughts and is a female just seems like psychological torture.

"Hehe, then you should promise me some good food! You know, you should really treat me better, hmpf."

"Yes, yes. Let's go to that forest and hopefully I can find us some good ingredients for better potions and maybe some rare beast cores."

Recently, it feels like having a little sister that is extremely clingy and nosey yet I can't do anything but just struggle through. 'Sigh, I can see why they most likely succeed in getting bodies made for them. Privacy becomes a fucking luxury later down the line.' We continued to chat about what we were expecting from the great new world while making our way eastwards, deeper into the forest.

The forest in the country of Aromt, according to the meager amounts of information, we managed to dig up on the country from the books. The forest to the east was quite a dangerous place. It held high ranked world-beasts and didn't have any cities or villages in it even though it covered close to half the damn country's area size.

Apparently, the forest was home to some a tribe of intelligent world-beast but all that made me think of was cute cat eared women with fluffy tales but I didn't have the heart to fantasize about those types of women appearing in my life since I, Jupiter, will obviously never get that kind of luck. Knowing my luck, the type of beasts I would meet are probably along the lines of lizard people with scales all over their bodies and the females just look slightly curvier or something.

"Sigh," After my umpteenth sigh, I finally catch sight of my old decrepit cabin as I stayed here longer than I even stayed in the village so it wasn't too hard to find it by memory. I tried not to remember the village too often as the massacre wasn't the prettiest sight though luckily I managed to get out before suffering any real trauma.

"Alright, let's rest here one night and head out deeper into the forest in the morning."

***

Just like that, with breaks at night to eat and rest, we spent the next four days travelling on foot eastwards towards the forest of beasts.

The trip itself was uneventful, which surprised me as I expected something but I guess you can't always be running into fantasy story bandits or weird plot progressing monsters. The world is sometimes just so real and boring like anywhere else, but I can't really complain at having a smooth travel towards the forest as I know that once I get there things will start to get a little tiring.

I mentally reviewed the checklist we came up with for the future or at least the short term goals.

-Set up some sort of base camp in the outer edge of the forest.

-Collect new plants and herbs for alchemy experiments.

-Beast cores for assimilating.

-Not think of porn.

'Sounds like a great plan indeed. That last one seems a little much, you say? Well how about you try being a perfectly healthy 23 year old that hasn't gotten laid in over 2 months. You get antsy!'

"Phoenix, could you show me my stats?" I ask to distract my thoughts.

"Aye aye, capt'n!" My first mate does as requested.

Status

-Jupiter

-Human

Abilities:

- Keen senses ( Slime symbiosis effect )

- Adept Energy Manipulation ( improved)

- Enhanced Mental Cognition

- Increased energy regeneration (Crystal core)

- Supreme energy conductors (Crystal core)

- Core assimilation (unique trait)

Physical:

Strength – 4

Defense –10 (100%)

Stamina – 3

Agility – 4

Vitality – 4.5

Energy – 15

"Wow, things look pretty good now." I felt pretty proud at my status screen compared to when I just got it.

"Yeah, Defense at 10, Stamina went up by 1, and best increase was your energy levels from 10.15 to 15!" Phoenix gave me the run down.

"Hehe, I wonder how good it will be when I become all badass and dominate cities in this world!" I boldly declared while drooling at the idea of just floating above a city and declaring it mine.

"Okay, there buddy. Baby steps." One the things I loved most about Phoenix was that out of all the little remarks she makes, she never tries to get me to put down my evil thoughts on world dominate yet just patiently tells me to wait and plan one step at a time. It is nice knowing god slime approves of my personal quest for ascension to godhood.

The march towards the actual forest of beasts wasn't too hard to navigate as the forest just seemed to get denser the more eastwards you headed. The plants and foliage started cropping up more frequently and after the whole four days, I could see trees everywhere, bushes, vines, plants, flowers, bugs of all sorts just crawling all over the place. If it wasn't for Phoenix having an amazing sense of direction, I would probably get lost just figuring out which direction to head in.

It was midday when I noticed that we were most likely in the forest of beasts as I finally saw the first other creature that wasn't a foxhorn or goblizard.

It was a little rabbit looking thing with short tiny ears, small beady eyes and an extremely long snout that just doesn't match its body. Imagine a rabbit, a squirrel and an anteater mated and you got this little brown furred ugly.

I didn't even bother trying to hunt it down because it just seemed so small and pointless. I shouldn't satisfy myself with such cannon fodder.

Scaring off the little critter, It dawned on me that I was clueless as to what sort of unique beast lay in this region as most who enter usually don't come out from what I read in the village but maybe people in Opirum the capital city have a differing opinion.

"Phoenix, compared to that guy we saw destroying the village, how strong would you say I am now?"

"Hmm, if we look at it from a purely technical standpoint, you would amount to maybe 5% of his strength on a good day?" A slightly unconfident answer came out of her. Clearly, she is being nice with that 5% estimate.

"Okay, maybe I am still young, how about a non-technical view?" At this point, my ego just wanted a boost.

"Maybe a sneak attack would give you a 2% chance of killing him if he was tired or poisoned maybe?" Phoenix is clearly spouting nonsense. Clearly.

"…"

'This brat!' Was all my mind could say.

"Forget it Phoenix, I'll just focus on what's ahead. Let's go find a small river or stream so I can get us a little cabin going."

"Oh you know how to build a cabin now?" Phoenix seemed curious about my sudden capabilities which made me feel a little better for some reason.

"Haha, of course. Watch me."

We headed further east, deeper in the thick jungle that is the beast forest. Eventually, after a few hours of walking, I managed to locate a stream from the residual water particles in the air having gotten denser. My sensitivity towards all these new energies made me ecstatic at what was possible as magic seemed so inherently simple to use as long as one mastered its manipulation.