Chapter 6: Welcome to the jungle

Deep in the woods. Where monster, human or beast alike, took shelter in to. A lone ashen tree stands. It was bigger than the trees around it and its roots which span out in its radius prevents other trees in growing near, giving it a huge space where it can absorb light and water as long as it desire.

The tree's bark was ashen white, while its leaves as black as a coal. Multiple birds with different species could be seen perch on its branches, singing harmoniously. Some even have taken a spot in one of its branch and created a nest. And on its leaves multiple ripe fruits could be seen. It looked like a white apple and some birds are even eating one of them.

And under this great tree a boy lay seated on its root with his back leaning on the trunk of the tree. His eyes slowly flutter open as he hears the birds singing. He sigh and slowly looked down on his hand. Before looking up once again with a smile, then he proceed to climb the tree and took one of its fruit and ate it.

Its been 4 days since he ran away from the town of Astavan and he have long come in term with the fact that he just killed someone.. Well the first few days was hard. Especially in a forest because whenever he remembers the scene of his sword piercing the heart of that bastard he couldn't help but throw up, which makes him really hungry afterwards. And as a person in the middle of a jungle being hungry was hard as it results in him needing to hunt or forage for more food.

He have also realized that he needs to get used in killing. Because he knew that the moment he got transferred in this world with a cheat skill he knew that his fate have been sealed and he's destined to fight for his life at least once. And so he accepted that he's not a good person. And he also accepted the fact that he need to kill to survive.

He even started training his mind and at the same time getting some food by hunting animals. And as of now he have taken the life of 4 animals. One of a bear's and two of dears'. And the bear was the most recent. And he also discovered something very surprising.. He could also mimic and adapt the bear's movement onto his own. Now he could walk like a bear, attack like a bear and act like a bear.

Well this was only possible after observing the bear for quite a while before attacking. He remember that he have spent an entire day stalking the bear from a far before finally deciding to attack. And now... He have a hooded coat made up of the bear's fur and skin.

After butchering the bear with the sword he stole from Gideon he now have a large chunk of bear meat on storage. Where does he keep all this you asked?

Well.. He have spent 2 days making a tree house large enough to fit all his stuff... But unfortunately he couldn't fit in after placing all those meat up there. And before you ask 'wouldn't the meat spoil?' hes it will. But he have smoked them so now it could last a bit longer in storage without spoiling. And now ots the fourth day... He's living quite comfortably.. Atleast that's before the beast came.

...

While patrolling the surrounding woodland around the Ashen tree Lukeas spots a huge silhouette from afar. Which made him curious so he carefully approached it and investigate the source. And once he was near enough to see it his heart turned cold. It's the same species of bear that massacre the village of the previous owner of this body. It's hulking body riddled with boney shell, a razoe sharp claws and fangs, a blue hide, and a shell covered forearm.

Currently the blue monstrous bear was eating a bee's nest. It was chomping on the bee hive not caring about the bee's that keep trying to sting him and just eat the entire bee hive.

Suddenly it started sniffing the air and quickly turned around.

'Is it just me or its looking straight at me?' Lukeas wonders before the bear stands up on it hind leg, let go of the honey, and spread its arm and roared.

'Holy shit! it found me!' he screamed inwardly and hang the sword on his back before he started running for his life. He even made use of the bear crawl to run and went on all fours to go faster. Because from what he thinks, more leg is equal faster speed. He isn't wrong though and he did went faster but it isn't enough because the bear was slowly catching up to him.

It roars at him when it was close and this caused Lukeas to scream in fear which the blue bear took as a challenge and roar once again. This repeated a few times before Lukeas was greeted by a huge tree trunk that have fallen over. From his estimation he would need 7 more people of his size to stack each other up just to reach the top of this gigantic tree.

With this he stopped and so does the bear behind him. It growled at him while he took the sword that he hang on his back and prepared himself to fight. And noticeably the stance he have taken was the stance of Gideon when he went serious.

And while standing still both of them assess their opponents, Lukeas looking at the gaps of the bears boney shell. Only a fool would attack those protected parts. And he noticed there seems to be less shell on the bears nape and neck. And the rest, it's either covered in carapace or those boney shell specially its back and shoulders.

And before long, the beast decided to break the silence and lunge forward with a swift slash of its claw aiming to slice him in half from the waist. Which Lukeas avoided by rolling backwards then quickly standing up to follow up a faint. And surprisingly the bear responded and raised it arm up to sheild its face.

And instead Lukeas aimed for its belly which was open for attack. But his sword just bounced off its skin. Looking at it now carefully, the bears belly was covered in scale..

'So, its completely covered in protection, its intelligent, its big, and its fucking fast too! How is this fair!' he curse in his mind. As he jump back and distance himself from the bear after that faint.

'Now.. Using a faint will now be less effective.... Fuck...' he sigh and took his stance again.

"Well... Welcome to the jungle.. I guess" he spoke to the bear. And it growled back in return.