Chapter 10 – Am I fucked?

(…)

(So, how do I use this thing? Mana, I mean?)

(Do I need to imagine a spell?)

(…)

(FIRE BALL!)

(…)

(Nothing.)

(Is there specific way I need to use mana or do I have to know some sort of chant to cast spells?)

(Hm… Then can I even use the mana for anything….!)

(Right! The leaves attack! When I was using a lot that one time, I felt weird exhaustion feeling.)

(It wasn't like physical exhaustion nor it was like mental exhaustion.)

(Was that feeling I felt something like "Running low on mana"? Mana exhaustion?)

(Well, that would explain some things.)

(I mean, this attack is still useless, but its able to cover the enemy view for brief moment. If I could just shot it non stop without the care in the world, it would be somewhat strong. So, I guess this skill runs on mana.)

(However, the limb extend skill uses stamina instead and the flesh taster uses a food I devoured for recovering.)

(So, it's not all skills run on mana and there are also skills that does not use mana, stamina and other stuff at all, for example my passive skill or plant root skill.)

(Anyway, speaking of the skills, is there way to learn them?)

(I mean, so far, I was only able to get skills by evolving, but maybe there are different ways?)

(For example: Meet condition or do specific action X amount of times?)

(Fuck me. It would have been great if I had something like tutorial or something on how things works.)

(Or give me the legendary isekai protagonist skill appraisal so I can see information about things.)

(For fuck's sake….)

(Well, I'm all on my own. I have to find any answer I want with my own strength.)

(But it would be nice if could find it before I fuking die or encounter something that is beyond my current level.)

(Anyway, right now I need to focus on hunting like usual. I don't know when I will run into the human or a strong monster, so I have to keep getting stronger.)

Pretty much, the rest of the day I spend hunting around and that was it.

However, the next day I kind of run into something shocking.

"…"

(Human tracks. New one at that.)

(Fuck me! Humans are in this part of the forest?!)

(Fuck. What do I do?)

(Should I try to flee again?)

(…)

(No. I don't know where I can flee.)

(If I run back, there is a high chance that I would run into humans there as well.)

(Nor I can go deeper into the forest since there is a good chance that I will encounter monsters that are beyond my level.)

(If I can't flee, then should I hide?)

(…)

(No.)

(What is the point in hiding right now anyway?)

(I need to grow stronger by any means necessary right now.)

(If I hide, I can't hunt and grow stronger.)

(On top of that, what would happened if I were hiding but end up being discovered? I literally have ability to sense mana, a radar like skill. What if humans have something like that as well?)

(It would not be a problem, if I could hide my mana like that thing that attacked me back then, but even if I was able to do that, how can I be sure that there are no other form of detections out there? Heat detection. Movement detection. Echolocation. Or maybe a skill that just straight up can spot an enemy.)

(Hiding like a coward right now is a dead sentence for me. I have to act now.)

(But… What do I do?)

(Do I have no choice but to kill a human when I spot one? But I will obviously leave the corpse after I kill it.)

(I can't eat the whole human nor I think dragging the corpse around would be a good idea, considering that this place is filled with monsters.)

(A dead human corpse will obviously put the other humans on guard and if more were to appear, won't they dispatch something like high ranking adventures to deal with me?)

(There is also a question if I can even beat a human.)

(Even after evolving, I'm still small compare to the human and their limbs are longer than mine and if they use a weapon like a sword, then I will be in huge disadvantage.)

(There is an also a question if they would be using an armor or not. I saw my self that skin of some of these monster are tough, so it wouldn't surprise me if they used materials, they got from the monsters to create equipment.)

(On top of that, my strength and agility is below that of the average human in my previous world. So, head on confrontation with the humans from this world will probably end up with me getting killed.)

(The conclusion: I will 100% lose if I try to fight a human head on.)

(The only method I can think of that will give me any chance of winning would be an ambush where I would bit into a spot of their body and rip off their flesh, leaving a wound that would cause the human to lose a blood at rapid rate.)

(However, would I be able to leave that kind of wound? If they are wearing an defensive gear, then I may end up having hard time.)

(On top of that, if I want to do an ambush, I would need to hide and sneak around until I get close enough to them.)

(But here is a question: What happened if I either get discover before I have a chance to strike or my surprise attack would fail?)

(I think I would probably have no choice but to escape, however would I be able to do that?)

(…)

(Fuck. No matter how I look at this, encountering any humans would be way too dangerous to the point that even thinking of trying to fight one would be completely stupid.)

(However, as the things stands, I will be forced to fight humans soon and if I don't grow strong enough now, it's game over.)

(…)

I've began walking around the forest, hunting down anything I could spot in order to feed myself and level up.

Thanks to the monsters being stronger if not stronger that me in terms of power, I'm able to level up a lot. However, there was a lot of close calls and I got even badly wounded after fighting a group of vine snakes.

Getting hit multiple times by their tail whip attack ended up not only hurting a lot but also leaving some proper damage on me.

I had no choice but to rest up and heal, however while I was resting, I sense a 2 new mana sources that I didn't recognized.

Humans.

I saw a pair of humans walking in the forest.

Two girls to be exactly and pretty young ones at that.

The first girl seemed to be using a short bow while the other one was using the daggers.

I got curios and observed them without getting to close.

These girls were dealing way better with the monster than me, even though they made a lot of mistakes and even got injured by monsters few times.

However, even though those girls are weak, I can definitely say I will 100% lose in head on fight.

They are inexperience in fighting and weak, but not weak enough.

If I were to go at the girl with the bow, I would get shot and killed.

If I would go after the girl with the daggers, I could end up being stabbed to death by one of her daggers.

Even if I somehow manage to get one of them, the other one will 100% kill me.

Wow. I'm really a weakling. And I mean like a very big weakling.

If I want to kill human, it need not to be wearing a too good armor, not have detection ability and be alone.

…

Yea…. I guess killing humans in my current state may really be impossible.

Not only that, but I walked towards the foot mark left behind by those girls and would you FUKING look at that. Both of their tracks are different from foot print I saw back then, meaning that there are more than two of these girls in this part of the forest.

Fuck me. The situation is even way more dire than I though.

Not only I cannot leave the forest or even this part of the forest, but now I have to avoid humans or I will end up getting killed by them, however its not like I have ability to avoid them forever.

I need to grow strong enough not only to be able to kill humans but also to be able to leave this part of the forest and relocate.

As of right now, there are two ways for me to get stronger.

The first one is to train and strengthen my skills, but that will take too long.

So that leaves the second option, evolution.

Fortunately, this place allowed me to level up shit tons of times, so should be able to evolve easily.

That is what I like to say.

Considering my current situation, I cannot hunt nonstop and have to watch out for my surrounding if I were to spot any suspicious mana sources near me.

If I find a human, I will have to hide or run away like a coward.

That means I don't have ability to hunt freely like I could before.

So, with that all said, I'm fucked.

It will probably take me more than a week if not two or three to evolve if I'm unlucky and the number humans present in this part of the forest would keep increasing, then my chances of the survivor or any hopes of evolving would end up dropping to 0.

…

Fuck me.

The only way I can see myself surviving this is to kill the human.

Considering how strong those girl were, I can maybe say that humans are stronger than monsters in here?

And if so, then killing them would hasten my growth by a lot.

It's no longer question if I want to or not. I have to do it before I get found out and killed by humans.