The Forest, The Flat Bioma and some Grizzly Lions

By the next day, everything was ready for me to move on. There wasn't a lot to put unto the wagon so it was easy to take note of what I should bring.

First off was the Hail-Mary plants that was placed inside the barrels. The barrels themselves were filled with dirt so that the plants wouldn't die so easily. With the fifteen plants I had in the garden, I only brought five to sell to the dragon empire. Two barrels contained the five Hail-Mary plants.

Next was the sword handle which I simply hid somewhere under the wagon. Knowing its value, I don't want to take any chances with having to lose it by some encounter with some thief in the high-way.

I also carried with me the rations that I needed like the smoked deer meat and a few jolly mangoes to feed the Iron-lung stead. And with the rations I also brought weapons that I needed to protect myself on this journey. The rusty iron sword, a single axe, the two daggers and the other materials like the elemental crystals.

"...Looks like everything is finally ready." I said as I looked at the wagon with mostly everything that I had. It wasn't much but it was enough that it made me survive through this forest.

Without hesitation, I got in the wagon and took the rope that was handling the Iron-Lung.

It has been so long since I had controlled a horse in my past life…I only ever had the time to experience riding one when I was just a kid…right before I abandoned everything.

"..."

It'll take me a few minutes, but I'm confident that I can ride a horse again…just like the old days.

As I held on the reins, with a simple gentle motion, I clucked my voice and commanded the horse to move forward.

*Tst Tst* "Lets go."

As I said this, the horse began to move without any sort of issue.

At first we were moving out to towards the lake but soon, I changed course to the west. The forest itself was thick but with the help of the All-Known book, I was able to direct ourselves through the forest without any issue.

The book helped me avoid a lot of dangerous places and animals. From the wolves to bears and even some rough terrain. I was quite surprised by the quantity of dangerous animals that were in this forest, it made me quite surprised to know that I survived even until now. And the terrain was no joke as well, from a variety of trees which was very coloring and endearing, to plants that I felt like it could kill me by its touch, and even a few trenches and cliffs for every mountain I come upon…this forest was more likely somewhere I wouldn't want to settle in.

It made me wonder if I should settle in this forest at all…the danger it brought was something I could not believe to survive if it wasn't for the All-Known book.

"Hmm…Maybe I should rethink the location."

After a few hours of riding through the forest, I could finally see an open area out from the forest.

"...Whoa." before me was an open field that spread so wide, I could not tell how long and open this place was. And out far about 500 meters away from me, I could see a cleared path that seems to resemble a road.

"...five hours…hahaha." I laughed at the time I spent riding on the wagon. But after all the effort I made, I was finally out. And the view before made it feel worth something.

I didn't stop and continued on…

And since there were no longer any trees or rough terrain in our way, the Iron-lung didn't hesitate from moving forward a bit faster than usual.

It neighed in excitement as the open field welcomed the horse…and I couldn't blame it from being happy about this.

It ran very fast despite having the wagon attached to it and the barrels in the back was struggling to stand because of the shaking done. The wagon itself however was holding on quite well, so I wouldn't worry about the wagon breaking down after a while. The barrel however was needed to be fixed in by some rope, but judging by how the barrel was holding on for a bit, I continued on.

The book said that with me riding the horse, I can make it to the Dragon Empire in just a day and a half of continuous riding…but with the wagon by the back, the Book acknowledged the fact that it'll take two and a half days of travelling.

Which I think was fair in all cases of my situation.

After a while of riding, I came to a stop by the shades to rest and eat lunch. During my ride in this flat road, I noticed that I have not meet a single person once ever…and even If look far from the road ahead, I could not see a village or a town. It was just me on my own by this flat green savanna and the road to keep me company. The animals I found by the bushes and trees from afar however could be seen simply relaxing under the blue skies and strong winds.

"...Hmm, AK, can you tell me where I am right now?."

[YOU ARE LOCATED IN A PLACE CALLED "THE FLAT BIOMA." A PLACE KNOWN FOR ITS INCRIDEBLY LONG AND FLAT LOCATION THAT IS INHABITED BY A VARIETY OF WILD AND DANGEROUS ANIMALS. NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD GO TO TRAVEL IN THIS PLACE WITHOUT PREPARATION FOR TRAVELLING FOR A DAY OF CONTINUOUS FLAT LANDS IN SIGHT.]

"I see, but why isn't there a single person by the road? I've been travelling for hours now and I still haven't found a person yet."

[THE FLAT BIOMA IS CONSIDERED BY MOST PEOPLE TO BE A PLACE NOT TO TRAVEL INTO BECAUSE OF THE DANGERS IT BRINGS IN THE NIGHT.]

"...In the Night?"

[AS THE SUN BEGINS TO SET, AN ANIMAL KNOWN AS THE GRIZZLY LION COMES TO HUNT IN GROUPS TOWARDS ANY TRAVELERS THAT SETTLES BY A FIRE. IT IS KNOWN TOWARDS THE COMMON FOLK THAT IN THE FLAT BIOMA, THE COLD TEMPERATURE OF THIS LOCATION DROPS QUITE CONSIDERABLY LOW TO A POINT THAT SOME PEOPLE DON'T SURVIVE THE NIGHT IF THEY DO NOT PRODUCE FIRE BY THEIR SIDES AS THEY SLEEP OR REST. BUT THE GRIZZLY LIONS HOWEVER HAVE THE NATURAL CAPABILITY TO SURVIVE THE NIGHT, AND BECAUSE OF IT, THEY USUALLY HUNT PEOPLE WHO SET UP FIRES AS THEY REST IN THE NIGHT.]

"That's messed up."

"Hmm, so how do I survive the night if I can't produce a fire by my side? How do I protect myself from the Grizzly Lions?"

[ANALYZING…ANALYSIS COMPLETE…WITH YOUR CURRENT EQUIPMENT, YOU CAN ONLY EVER SURVIVE THE NIGHT FROM THE COLD BY CREATING A FIRE…AND TO SURVIVE THE GRIZZLY LIONS, YOU MUST CRAFT A BARRIER.]

"...A barrier?"

[BARRIERS ARE PRODUCED BY EITHER MANA OR A MAGIC ITEM. WITH YOUR CURRENT SKILLS, YOU DON'T HAVE THE CAPACITY TO LAST A NIGHT WITH SIMPLY CREATING A BARRIER WITH JUST YOUR MANA, INSTEAD YOU MUST CRAFT A MAGIC ITEM THAT PRODUCES A LAYER OF MAGIC TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM ANY SORT OF HARM.]

"How do I craft a magic item then?"

[SIMPLY FOLLOW THE BLUEPRINTS WRITTEN BY THE PAGES.]

As the book said so, it showed me in the screen a single paged instruction that showed a long piece of wood that had weird markings embedded on them. It told me to craft four pieces of these wooden sticks so that I could create a 6x6 sized barrier enough to fit me and the horse.

To find the materials or wood, I had to chop down a few trees that were by the road. Aftr thirty minutes of riding, I was able to find four sticks long enough to create the magic item. After that, I had to stop by some shade of a tree to start carving down the sticks.

"I guess I'll start." I said as I started carving down on the sticks while following the instructions on the book.

Looking at the instructions, it felt very weird to carve some symbols on the sticks. It felt like I was doing carpentry in an artistic way.

After an hour, I was able to finish two sticks…and after forty-five minutes, I completed in making all the four magic items needed to create a barrier. I trusted myself and the book that this item would work.

"...It should work." I said as I began to travel again across the Flat Bioma. I didn't want to waste any time at all.

After a couple of hours later…the sun was finally starting to set. I made quite a distance in this journey and now, I had to settle in the night.

I quickly placed the magic items at a square distance of 6x6 from each other around me and the horse and then had to carve a special sign on the middle, on the dirt.

The sign was something that I did not understand, but since I followed the instructions of the book, after writing the sign in the dirt, it reacted to the four magic stick items and began to glow a weird neon color of light blue.

"Hmm. I guess this works." I said.

Not long after, I began to feel the cold in the night, and knowing so…I began to create the fire using my elemental crystals.

After making the fire, I began to ready my guard as to prepare for any sort of encounter with the lions. As the sun finally sets, it took no time at all for the Grizzly lions to come out from the dark.

It was no joke to say that these animals were terrifying. They were just about the same as what a lion would look like except for the fact that their eyes were blood red, they were about three meters tall and had a black and white striped pattern by their manes and fur And by their numbers, about seven were surrounding me and the horse.

"Jesus Christ…these guys are pretty scary." I said as I nervously smiled by their killing eventful gazes.

The horse however, remained calm and collected.

As I observed the lions, it made me feel like I was in those typical tourist places where the tourist was placed inside the cage while the animals were found circling the group. But the scary factor of this tourist idea was a hundred times more scary then that of a regular lion.

*Thud* the claws were going against the barrier.

The Grizzly Lions tried to attack the barrier, but luckily it did not work. So I can safely say that I can survive this night.

*Sigh* "Lets just go and eat." I said as I began to go to the wagon and pulled out some meat.

I ate my deer meat and simply sat by the fire after eating. It was no joke to see that the Flat Bioma was really cold during the night. I could only ever survive because of the campfire by my side.

After four hours, all of the lions finally left the area, seeing as how it was pointless to breaking through the barrier. It was said by the book that by morning, all of the Grizzly Lions would return to their cave since their were quite sensitive to the heat and morning sun. It makes me wonder that the Grizzly Lions were probably nocturnal.

And having seen that the lions were gone, I could finally rest easy to this night.

With my past life as I thief, I learned to always be alert of anything even when I sleep in the night. My sense would always go crazy in an attempt to protect myself…and as I was starting to fall asleep, with my eyes starting to snooze into the night, I suddenly felt like someone was near me…like someone was watching me…

"!?"

In a quick clash of a reaction, I pulled out my sword near me and pointed it to where the danger was…only to find that two people were found standing outside the barrier, shivering in the cold with no fire in their hands.

"...What the."

I could tell that they were tired and desperate to come inside my barrier…

One was a woman who carried a sword and was fully protected with a highly designed armor…despite her looks, she was struggling to hold on to her sword as her arms were shaking and her armor was beaten by some indications of a fight.

The other person was simply someone who wore a cloak that hid every inch of their body. It made it impossible for me to see who it was.

"Who are you!?"

"P-Please let us in." she said as her breath could be seen in this could night.

"I won't let you in if you don't tell me who you people are!" I was cautious of their arrival. It made me wonder how they were able to come here without even me noticing them in this flat field. Maybe they were bandits…criminals…I can't really take any chances here in the wild.

"..." the woman with the sword remained quiet and hesitant to answer.

But the person in the cloak however was not.

"...I am Serena Modelva, daughter of Duke Darnell Modelva of the Dragon Empire." said the person as she pulls of her hood and reveals herself to be a woman of around mid-age. She had red hair, blue eyes, and a tall height…quite comparable to mine.

"...Shit, is what she saying true?" I asked the AK in a whisper.

[YES]

'..Fuck."

Being a duke is no simple position to have…its an important political position in the kingdom, o meaning that this person is part of someone who is important in the Dragon Empire. I don't want to mess with someone like that, so in a quick attempt to get them inside, I asked the book.

"...How do I break the barrier temporarily?"

[TO OPEN THE BARRIER, YOU SIMPLY HAVE TO DISRUPT THE SYMBOL WRITTEN IN THE GROUND.]

"...I see."

I quickly made my way to the symbol and broke off a bit of its connection. And as soon as I did, the barrier was instantly removed and the two people quickly went inside the barrier.

As soon as they entered, I quickly fixed the symbol again. Making the barrier return to its state. As I fixed it, I could see four Grizzly lions from afar, simply watching us in envy.

After that, I turned to the two and saw that they were quite relieved to find a safe point.

I don't want to ask some questions, but seeing as how they were quite badly injured, it piqued my interest.

"...Can I ask why you people are in this place?"

"..." but the lady in armor, simply stayed quiet.

"Can that wait? We have to treat her first, she's gravely injured." said Lady Serena as she looked very concern.

"..." looking at the Armored lady, she seemed to have taken quite a damage.

So in response to her plea, I made my way to the wagon and pulled out my source of income. The Hail-Mary plant.

Even inside the barrel, it still continued to glow its beautiful light. As I pulled out three leaves from it, I handed it over to the lady since I didn't really know how to use this medicine.

"Here, you can use this." I said as I handed her the leaves.

"!?" but she reacted quite a bit surprised by this.

"W-what is that!?" she asked.

"...uhh, it's a Hail-Mary plant."

"A HAIL-MARY PLANT!" but in return, all she did was scream in front of my face.

"...Geez, I'm just trying to help. No need to be so loud." I said.

"Ah! I'm very sorry…yes, I'll take this to heal her." said the lady as she took the leaves from me and began to apply it to the armored lady who seemed quite hesitant in having been healed using the leaves themselves. She tried to push away to leaves from her face as sweat began to drip off.

"What are you doing!? Let her heal you." I said as I began to hold her hands down.

"S-stop!!" but she tried to resist even more.

Her strength was no joke, so I had to use Mana Body Reinforcement to strengthen myself in holding her in place. Not long after, we were finally able to finish the healing…and I used quite a lot of my strength in holding her down for it.

As everything was finally starting to calm down, I wanted to ask some questions.