Surviving

Ethan felt someone trying to shake him awake, he instinctively pushed their hand away, "Not now Maria, tell my father that I'll train with him later."

Suddenly a smell that he could never begin to describe hit his nostrils and he instinctively tried to move away but he felt his body start to fall and he hit something hard. Ethan opened his eyes and found himself in the forest, for a moment he was confused but it all started coming back to him.

"That's right it wasn't a dream, everything really did happen."

"(Pie…. Pie)"

He looked down to where the sound was coming from and he found a little green caterpillar looking at him angrily. He instinctively tensed his body ready to dodge if he was attacked. During his father's training, he had learned the painful way that even if beasts look cute they could be very dangerous.

The caterpillar seemed to squeal a few things before its red antenna began glowing and the horrible smell came back. It then turned around and squirmed away.

"Ugh, that's one nasty defense. I've never seen a beast like that but since I'm in a new world I guess it's a given."

He began trying to find his way through the forest, there were several times that he had to hide from beasts. It was more common to come across the green caterpillar's which seemed to be pretty easy-going and not that dangerous. At least that's what he thought until he came across one who shot a web-like substance at a brown bird who was eating another caterpillar.

Ethan could see how hard the bird was struggling to get free and he couldn't help but give himself a mental note. 'Don't mess with them.'

After the caterpillar circled around the bird as if mocking it, it finally turned around and began crawling away. When Ethan looked at the struggling bird his stomach began growling, he hadn't eaten since breakfast yesterday. He reached for the dagger on his waist and he used his body strengthening skill. The brown bird barely had enough time to turn around before the blade struck its head.

Now that he had meat, he needed to find water to wash the blood away. The skill that the caterpillar had also made his armor stink so he had to wash it.

After some searching and running away from bee-like creatures he finally reached a river. He let out a deep breath and began washing the blood away from the bird. As a bonus, the web also washed off.

He started working on a fire for about half an hour, since he lacked the fire magic that his father had he had no choice but to use the primitive methods his father had showed him.

Now that he had a fire he didn't have to worry about drying his armor which was made using the scales of a black lindworm dragon. Not only was it light and flexible but the scales also absorb fire and they slowly release it over time. His father had gotten it so that he wouldn't have to worry about accidentally hurting him if he ever had to use his flame skills. Sadly he had dropped the helmet while they were being chased but it was still very effective.

The fire that his father had produced last night had kept him warm last night, that was probably the reason that the caterpillar had snuggled with him.

Once the armor was washed he put it on the fire and began to take a bath, he then put the armor on and waited for his shirt and pants to dry out while he cooked the bird. Once he had eaten and his clothes had pretty much dried out he began following the river. All towns and cities needed water so he figured that sooner or later he would run into one if he followed the river.

As he followed the river he made sure that he had enough cover to hide if he needed to, since the river was a source of drinking water for the forest beasts it meant that he was highly likely to meet a dangerous one. After walking for a few hours he felt hungry and he began eating some of the berries that he had found along the way. He had made sure that they weren't dangerous by squishing them and laying them on the ground. Not much time passed before the beasts began eating them.

Since he had to be vigilant and learning from his surroundings he didn't get far before the day was gone and it was time to sleep again.

Unfortunately, the fire that he made wasn't comparable to his father's magic and the warming effect had already disappeared. He looked at the sky and smiled, "It looks exactly the same as back in my world, if it wasn't for these odd creatures then I could swear that it was all a dream."

He raised his hand and closed his fist, making it seem like he had gotten ahold of the moon, "Don't worry father, even if our enemy takes over our world I will make sure to end each one of them."