Forest

The other side of the portal that Krez entered was situated about six feet in the air. Upon exiting the portal, Krez found himself falling and landed right on his backside.

"Ow, ow, ow," Krez said while standing up and rubbing his backside. Looking around, he saw the most beautiful forest. The plants, birds, and a pond right in front of him seemed to be in perfect harmony, and the trees were the tallest, widest trees Krez had ever seen. At first view, it truly seemed like a paradise.

The beauty of the forest distracted Krez from the fact that he was completely naked. He looked down and was completely shocked; his body was young, far from the age of 126, and Krez was used to wrinkles and sagging. He ran to the pond directly in front of him and looked into the crystal-clear water. His reflection staring back showed supple skin with not a single wrinkle.

"Hahaha," Krez laughed hysterically, switching positions and flexing to admire his completely rejuvenated figure in the water. He did this for a solid 10 minutes before a blush flashed across his face. Krez thought, "I'm a distinguished old man. How embarrassing would it have been if someone caught me admiring myself? They would think I'm a self-absorbed narcissist!"

Krez took one last look at his body and thought, "My body seems to be back at its state when I was 16 years old—a good figure, about 6 feet tall. Not too much muscle, not too skinny, just a small amount of fat so i don't look veiny, but you could still see all the outlines of my muscles." Krez walked away from the pond, looking around, setting his sights on a tree that soared into the sky. It was the largest tree near him, standing about 400 feet tall!

Krez walked up to the tree, placing his hand on it. He thought, "I should climb up and get a lay of the land. Maybe there are some settlements in the area. I would hate to sleep in the forest after dark. No matter how peaceful something is during the day, the night time is a different story; it's when all the nocturnal predators come out."

Krez started his climb, lifting himself up, jumping from tree limbs and grabbing others, making his way to the top of the tree. It almost took him a full hour to reach the summit. Once he did, he was quite distressed; there was not a single settlement in the area. In fact, the forest he was in was completely enclosed by a huge circular mountain range with snow-capped tops. It was as if this amazing forest was growing at the bottom of a colossal bowl. The forest stretched so far he couldn't see the end and the beginning of the mountains in any direction he looked. Krez thought the trees around him were big, but the mountains were so astronomically massive he didn't have anything to compare them to.

"Krez sighed and started making his way back down, thinking to himself, 'While the view is amazing, staying at the top of the tree won't help me.' Numerous thoughts crossed his mind about how to find a settlement, but they were all seemingly infeasible. He didn't even know where he was.After all, he didn't have a map or any idea which way to head.

Once Krez reached the bottom of the tree, he looked around and saw a deer drinking from the pond where he had his flex-off, against his reflection. It was the first large animal he saw; it noticed him and ran away. After taking a closer look around, he spotted bushes with berries, mushrooms on fallen tree limbs, and rabbits. He thought to himself, ''The portal seems to have dropped me off in quite a prime place. I could probably live here for a bit and survive off the land.''

Krez was still worried about potential predators in the area. Even though he hadn't seen any, he was alone, naked, and weaponless. Krez sat down, reflecting on memories from the games he played and the books he read. He recalled a survival book and realized he could sharpen a stick on a rock, creating a spear. With vines, he fashioned a rope to tie himself to a tree at night, ensuring he could sleep without worrying about falling. This makeshift solution would also protect him from ground-dwelling predators.

Most importantly, he remembered how to make fire from his survival book, using a few sticks and dry grass. The technique for making fire might be the most crucial skill in the long run, thought Krez.

He went to work, collecting vines for his rope, sticks, and dry grass for his fire, along with a sturdy branch to sharpen into a spear. Krez completed all his tasks just as night was starting to set in. The fire was burning, his rope was ready to secure him in the tree for the night, and his spear sat next to him as he gazed into the flames, contemplating the challenges of survival.

Krez contemplated, "I need to unlock my talents. I must embark on the path of cultivation in a world where strength can be continually increased. If there's anything I've learned from the novels I've read, it's that just as humans can get stronger, so can other entities, including plants and animals."

A light bulb lit up in Krez's mind as he had an idea on how to initiate his journey to strength. He mused to himself, "I don't have a cultivation manual to learn how to sense qi or bring it into my dantian, but I have a body. I can start body cultivation—just a bunch of exercises, pushing my body to its limit, letting it heal, only to do it all again until my strength surpasses human limits."

Krez had a plan; he would start his training tomorrow. It was already dark, so he put out his fire, climbed into the tree with his vine rope and makeshift spear, tied himself to the branch that was far enough from the ground to be safe, rested his back against the trunk, and drifted off to sleep.