Chapter 5 Travel to The Demonic Forest

I woke up with cheeks wet from crying all night. I immediately began to check my belongings to make sure I had everything. Even though I say belongings it is only 4 things along with the clothes on my back. Luckily I had everything, my pendant, my flint and steel, my dagger, and my sheath. Once I made sure I had all my items I once again began my journey. I was going to the demonic forest so that I could live by myself without the other races. I was going to live and survive with the demonic beasts in the forbidden zone; the only place without the other races.

Demonic forests are spread all over the world, but the closest one to where I am is due north. It's not a journey that can be traveled in a day. Since the sun rises in the East, I have to walk left of the sunrise to head North. I am also going to have to avoid settlements and find all of my food from the forest. Speaking of food, I am quite hungry since I haven't really had anything to eat.

Almost as if on cue a bush nearby rustles and a rabbit hops out from it. Once it sees me it immediately tries to run away. Unsheathing my dagger, I throw it at the fleeing rabbit and it hits it. The rabbit that was injured got away, but I'm not worried. All I have to do is follow the trail of blood that is going to be flowing out of its wound and wait for it to die from blood loss. Following the trail for a little bit I find the rabbit, breathing weakly. Taking my dagger out of it I cleanly cut its head off ending its suffering.

I then skin it with my dagger. It was a basic skill that was taught by my dad early. I would even help him from time to time when he hunted really big game. As these memories came back to me tears once again started to flow. Trying to distract myself I focus my effort on my dismantling. Once I was done I realized I had made a big mistake. I didn't make a fire so I couldn't cook the dismantled rabbit meat.

Hanging the meat in a tree, while burying the organs, some leather, and bones I head out to find kindling. I couldn't find any good kindling so I got some small sticks. Using my knife I peeled off some of the bark from the sticks. I kept doing this until I had wood that was as thin as my hair. I then weaved that wood into a ball to use as my kindling. Using my flint and steel I lighted the kindling before softly blowing on it to cause a fire, also another skill learned from my dad. Then I used the other sticks to keep the fire going.

Once the fire was burning stably I took the rabbit meat of the tree. I then put the meat on a stick and roasted it over the fire. I would have cooked the intestines too, but that would take longer than just simple roasted meat. Besides the time I don't even have the pot or water to boil the intestines with. Anyways a simple meal like this would be fine and I can think about cooking better food once I have gotten my life in order. Speaking of getting my life in order I have a journey ahead of me.

I then began to head to the closest demonic forest. This demonic forest was known as the Forest of Calamity. If I remember correctly it was called this because it was one of the biggest demonic forests in the world. Well either way I headed north through the forest. Occasionally looking at the sun to confirm I was heading in the right direction. I walked for a while. The sun climbed higher in the sky as I walked, and I eventually came across a road. The road also headed north, but I didn't walk on it. If anybody else used it I would be in trouble so I continued walking through the forest.

Soon the sun was raised high in the sky. I decided to stop and rest now because I was tired and because I wouldn't be able to tell my position with the sun directly straight in the sky. I still had some leftover rabbit meat that was cooked for breakfast so I decided to eat that. Even though I ate slowly I still wasn't able to use the sun to tell the direction. I decided to use this time to clean my dagger. It would rust if it wasn't properly maintained and it still had blood on it. I didn't have water with me as I was drinking from streams I passed so I used some wet leaves to take off the blood stains. I then used some of the leather I kept from the rabbit to finish cleaning the dagger.

I was very meticulous with this since the dagger was the only blade I had and the memento of my parents. Once I was satisfied with my maintenance I looked up at the sky again. I could now tell which direction was west thanks to the sun. Using that I continued on my journey north to the Forest of Calamity. I decided that to go faster I would use magic to reinforce my body and hopefully speed up my journey. This would also count as magic training and mental strength training, effectively killing 3 birds with one stone.

"O spell of wind flow through my body to reinforce myself."

I chanted and wind began to flow through my body. I also started to run so I could head to the Forest of Calamity faster. My speed had obviously increased. I think that I was at least 5 times faster than when I was walking. I had to be careful with the terrain and make sure that I didn't run into anything, but other than that the journey was smoother. I continued to run while occasionally looking at the sky to confirm my position. I would also stop whenever I heard running water so I could get a drink. Soon the sky began to turn orange signifying night was coming. When the sky turned a shade of purple I was able to see another village.

I could see some kids playing inside the village and it reminded me of my friends. I began wondering how they were doing. I hope they were okay. They shouldn't know that I was an elf. I wonder how they will react when they find me gone. I would hope that Danny and Sylvia's relationship would progress. I know how much Danny likes Sylvia. As I thought about my friends I began to feel sad. I wouldn't be able to see them again and even if I did they would probably hate me for being an elf.

Shaking these thoughts from my head I got out of the vicinity of the village. I wouldn't want to be discovered and chased out again. Once I got out of sight I then climbed up a sturdy looking tree again and began to sleep for the night. I woke up with a grumbling stomach so I immediately began looking for food. I was able to find a young deer or a fawn. Killing it in a similar way to the rabbit I decided to cook the intestines this time. I didn't have any pots or clay so I cooked it in a similar fashion to the meat. It took twice as long as just roasting the meat, but the salty taste was worth it in my opinion. I can't wait until I have proper cookware made of clay.

Burying the non edible parts and taking some of the fur to clean my dagger during noon I once again headed on my journey. This time I chanted my spell first and headed out. Running north for a while, stopping occasionally to confirm my position and drink water I continued. The journey so far has been a pretty peaceful one, it today is where that ended. I had ended up walking through a wolf's territory. Because of this I was attacked by a pack of wolves. They were fast and knew how to coordinate well with each other. It was a pretty tough fight, but wasn't as tough as that bear type demonic beast. It just goes to show how much stronger demonic beasts are.

Even though it wasn't that hard to fight them and drive the wolves away, I made a careless mistake and got injured. I also used more mana than intended. I didn't wish to use my dagger and risk it getting broken when fighting these wolves so I used my other spell. Since the fight got dragged out I had lost more mana than I wished. I decided to first clean my wound with water. Luckily there was a stream nearby so I washed my wounds in there. I then rested to recover my mana.

Once my mana had gone back up I continued on my journey. Still running through the forest with wind reinforcing my body. The road that had also been going north began to split. I still headed northwards though since I was heading to the Forest of Calamity. After a little more running the trees started to change. Their bark was darker and they grew closer together. This showed that they were growing in a place filled with nutrients and mana. I could even tell that the mana in the air had much better quality and was more abundant than what I was used to.

I could already tell that I had made it to my destination, however I didn't just want to live on the outskirts. I wanted to live in the forbidden zone so I would have to explore more. The demonic beasts here would definitely be stronger than the bear I fought. Most demonic beasts would choose to live in demonic forests and if they can't that means that they weren't strong enough to keep their place. If that strong bear didn't have the strength to keep his place on the outskirts of the Forest of Calamity, then I wouldn't have much of a better time.

Even though I had decided to live here I didn't even think of how I would get in. Maybe magic could help me here. It has helped me with creating weapons and reinforcing myself so why not hiding. I would need to create a chant though. I would want the spell to hide myself so that is my action. It's shape would be my body since it is going to cover me.

"O spell of wind flow around my body to hide myself."

After I chanted this spell wind began to flow around me. My mana was also being constantly drained, but thankfully my recovery was enough to offset the drainage. Other than this I couldn't tell if the spell had the desired effect. I decided to test it by going into the forest. Once inside the forest my natural mana recovery rate increased and the mana within me was being replaced with better quality mana. This is going to be a great boon for me if I use it correctly. I then began walking through the forest and no demonic beasts came for me. I was even able to get close to some demonic beasts without them noticing. Others were able to feel something off though.

However there were really a lot of demonic beasts in the Forest of Calamity. Even though I had only just entered it was almost as if every 10 paces I take there would be a new demonic beast. I would need to keep this hiding spell up at all times to make sure that I am safe here. I then continued walking, trying to head to the beast men zone to see if I would be able to live there. I was able to tell I was in the beast men zone thanks to the trees. Their bark was an even darker color, and they were even more tightly packed together. The light from the sun was barely able to get through the leaves.

The good thing though was that there were less demonic beasts here. The bad news is that they were all very strong. Once I was able to see one of them they would almost immediately notice something was off. My instincts told me that if I got closer to them they would probably be able to see through my spell. This is where I'll live for now since the demonic beasts in the forbidden zone will probably notice me when I enter. With that being decided I needed to find a place to stay. I continued walking through the demonic forest until I found the perfect spot. It was a little cave opening under a tree. The cave opening was small that the demonic beasts here wouldn't be able to enter, but big enough for me to enter. It also had the protection of the trees.

I checked it out and found that the underground was much bigger than the opening implied. It was perfect for me and as if to further entice me there was even an underwater river flowing at one corner of the cave. This would help me with clay for pots and water for drinking and cooking. For my food I would just hunt demonic beasts in the human zone. With my hiding spell, and reinforcement spell I would be able to quickly kill them and bring them back here. With that decided I was starting to get tired so I went to sleep.

Once I started to nod off though a loud howl was echoed throughout the cave and I could hear the sound of something digging. I realized that without my hiding spell the demonic beasts would notice me and try to kill me.

"O spell of wind flow around my body to hide myself," I muttered as quickly as possible.

Luckily the earth was reinforced with the immense quantity and quality of mana making it hard for the demonic beasts to continue digging. Even though I knew this I still held my breath afraid that any small movement from me would alert it of my presence. After what felt like an hour which was probably only 5 seconds the beast left. I let out the breath that I had been holding in and my body relaxed.

I then realized that I would have to keep up this spell 24/7 if I wished to survive here. I would even have to do it in my sleep. I would need to have the skill to channel mana while I sleep. I could probably get away with using a magic circle, but I would need to actually have the spell on forever to ensure my safety. I then drew the magic circle quickly and channeled it with enough mana to last 2 hours before getting some sleep.

Exactly 2 hours later the circle wore off and the demonic beast once again howled waking me up from my slumber. Chanting my spell again I realized how much of a pain this would be until I learned how to channel mana in my sleep. I was a little hungry so I got out of my cave and headed to the human zone. I had to be extra careful as the demonic beasts were on alert for some reason. Once in the human zone I found a wolf type demonic beast that was all alone. Sneaking up on it I quickly cut its neck. I wasn't able to kill it in one shot, yet that cut prevented it from howling. I kept on applying pressure until I was sure it was dead. After it was dead I felt something flow into me, but I didn't take note of it

I then chanted a hiding spell on the wolf to make sure I wouldn't get caught and made my way back to the cave. Gathering some fallen sticks and twigs along the way I reentered the cave. I decided to cook while keeping my spell active so I could practice multitasking and be able to channel mana in my sleep. I skinned the wolf with my dagger. I was able to take off the skin and the meat. I kept the meat and brought the remaining parts far away from my home, just dumping them on the ground. Heading back to my cave I created a fire and just roasted the meat. I made sure the smoke left through the cave opening. I also made sure to disperse it in the wind to make me harder to find.

I was basically doing 3 things at once and it was very tiring, but I knew I had to do it. If I didn't I would be discovered and most likely killed. Well once the meat was done I began to eat it with some water from the river. I saved some of it to eat at lunch time and began training inside my cave. Even though I call it training it can't really be called training. It would be more accurate to say I was furnishing. The plan is to multitask until channeling mana becomes second nature to me and can be done while unconscious. And since I am going to be multitasking it would be better to do something productive.

There were three main goals that I wanted to do today. The first is to use the clay to make pots, pans, and other items. The second is to create furniture from wood; such as a bed to sleep in, a desk to dismantle, and a chest to store items. The third is to expand the cave to create an area to store food. Even though we are in the summer months, the winter months will come and when it does getting food will be a problem. To combat this I would need to store food for winter, and to do that I would need some space.

With this decided I began to gather clay from the river bank. I gathered a big amount and then started to work. I had heard how to do this, but I was never really taught so this would be mostly trial and error. I decided to start with something easy, bowls. I molded the clay into the shape of a bowl. Even though I say that it was very lopsided and when I tried to move it, it broke. This was going to take a very long time.