1-4 [Wilderness]

Without a second thought, Vidar left the stag behind and spent the rest of the day searching for a place to pass the night. Although he hadn't managed to get enough souls, it was a decent haul considering it was just his first day of hunting.

Alone with his thoughts again, he meditated on the question he'd asked himself earlier that day.

Was it a mistake to not attack the stag? He inhaled and exhaled slowly, letting the question echo in his thoughts. No… no, it wasn't.

In the end, Vidar ultimately concluded that the cons of attacking the stag far outweighed the pros. There were just too many unknowns and even more known details indicating a negative outcome.

For starters, the only two reasons he could justify attacking it were born of greed. Both reasons could be summed up as 'This is the best chance I'll get right and now I really want a Lesser Soul.'

A stupid little voice bubbling with whiny avarice that he deemed his 'gut'.

And since when has listening to his gut ever been the right choice? Never, that's when.

On the other hand? There were a ton of issues.

The stag, at the moment, was calm despite the dark energy flowing through its body. This meant that it was stronger than the normal wildlife and was surprisingly putting up a decent fight with the infliction. At any moment, it could go into a blind rage if he disturbed it enough.

If he hadn't come and helped it kill the patchy hyenas, it still would've won the battle. The only reason it looked as if it was losing was likely to conserve its energy.

But the moment he arrived; it didn't hold back.

This meant that the stag expected him to attack it as well and wasn't going to risk fighting another enemy on top of the hyaenidae.

Therefore, at the moment, it was simply watching him cautiously. Since he wasn't being aggressive towards it, the stag didn't see a point in wasting energy. For a wild animal, it was quite intelligent in that regard.

Because he was sure that the moment it purged itself of the dark energy, it would simply run away without looking back. It wasn't a sentimental animal that was thankful it had been saved, but a pragmatic beast that used any advantage that presented itself.

Finally, though, there was the biggest reason he didn't see the point in attacking it.

If the stag even injured him a little bit, he was through. And seeing as how it just threw a ki blast at a beast much smaller than it, it wouldn't hold back. Without any access to methods of healing, even being grazed by such an attack would give him a slow death.

In the wild, he couldn't take unnecessary chances.

That's enough contemplation for today. Vidar thought. He had another day of hunting tomorrow.

With a tranquil expression, he fell asleep as a light rainfall began over the forest.

***

Initially, Vidar had been slightly nervous that the stag would follow him for some reason or another, but as the days passed he realized his conclusion about the stag was true. The deer truly didn't want anything to do with him, it seemed.

Either that, it died, or it became fully infected by the dark energy.

And then it probably died after that.

Each day was as boring as the last, and Vidar began to fear that his search for suitable souls would be impossible. Despite his years of experience, not once did he ever have a job where he tracked animals through an unfamiliar forest.

His skill set wasn't built for it, and the only way to get Ki Sense was to get a higher rank of [Ki Control]. And the path to doing that? It wasn't exactly viable at the moment.

=[Quest: Ki Control D]

-Objective: Increase the rank of skill [Meditation] to [C].

-Reward: [Ki Control - Rank D]

It didn't seem too difficult at first, but trying to increase [Meditation] at the moment would mean he had to sit in a spot without moving for exactly one hundred hours.

For some reason, time-based skill objectives required that he do all of it without stopping. Trying to meditate for one hundred hours in a few days was already difficult, but doing so without stopping? Trying not to eat, drink, or move for more than four days straight while his body was this unhealthy?

Attempting something like that was just asking for an early death.

And even if he miraculously managed to do so, he was fairly sure he only acquired Ki Sense at Rank C of [Ki Control], not Rank D.

While he didn't remember the requirement for that one, he knew that if it was just meditating again, he literally couldn't meditate for 1,000 hours straight.

That one was straight-up impossible.

So, without a quick solution, he decided to take his time considering he only needed a single Petty Soul. Rushing all over the forest was not only boring but also tiring. Besides, something would surely attack him soon since he was starting to smell.

As he was strolling through the forest at a sedate pace, a strikingly blue-colored bird caught his eye, landing on the thin branches of a bush. Tilting its head left and right, he watched it pluck a berry from the bush before gobbling it down its beak.

Vidar watched it eat for a bit before tilting his head as well. As he walked toward the bush the bird quickly flew away, not wanting to be anywhere near him. When he finally reached the reddish, pink-colored berries, he plucked one for himself and held it up to the sky.

Squinting at it, he tried to discern anything about it but quickly realized he was just wasting his time. He didn't know a single thing about botany and he knew even less about an unknown planet's agriculture.

Staring at it for a long moment, he eventually shrugged. "Whatever," He muttered to himself, popping it into his mouth.

He paused, letting the treat settle before he contentedly plucked another one.

After a minute, a stinging sensation started from his tongue and spread to his throat, but it wasn't suffocating or excessively painful, so he tried to remain calm. Just to be safe he coaxed his ki to flow through his body at an even pace, combating any damage toxins might've tried to inflict him with.

Another minute later the small pain was gone.

=[Hidden Quest Complete: Poison Resistance F]

=[Category: Skill]

=[Name: Poison Resistance]

=[Grade: F]

-F: Desensitized - This perk optimizes the user's immune system, causing the user's body to quickly become numb to minor non-lethal toxins.

"Huh," Vidar's eyes slightly widened as he stopped flowing his ki in surprise at the skill. He threw another berry into his mouth, only feeling a slight tickling sensation now. "This could be useful later."

Grabbing as much of the berries as physically possible, he walked off with a small smile on his face.

After eating another of the sweet berries, his somber mood became much better. The berries weren't filling in the slightest, and he wasn't eating them for the skill. Even he didn't know about all the skills his system seemed to possess.

Honestly? He just missed the taste of anything other than plain water.

***

Of course, the days that went by weren't always as boringly peaceful.

It dawned on him on one of those days that if he ran into another beast with the same power as the stag but not the same peacefulness, he'd be done for.

So, for the time being, he decided to bully the wolves that had been following and glaring at him for the past few days.

He knew they had been watching him, but some instinct probably told them he was much stronger than them, as they hadn't once approached. It was only when he killed one of them and provoked them that they finally attacked.

As the wolves lunged and snapped at him from odd angles, he held in his ki and thus fought without bloodlust. Smoothly, he dodged and weaved between the wolves, retaliating only when they gave him a clear opening.

Why was he doing this?

Well, to equalize the gap between himself and a beast on the same level as the stag.

Yet, after a few hours of doing this the wolves were starting to visibly tire, panting and swaying even while growling at him.

His plan wasn't exactly working, as the skill quest didn't so much as flicker in completion.

=[Quest: Martial Arts F]

-Objective: In a duel, overwhelm [0/1] combatants with weaponless fighting techniques not derived through spiritually active energies.

-Reward: [Martial Arts - Rank F]

He wasn't exactly sure why the skill wasn't completed despite dominating the wolves with his superior fighting ability. But he was starting to suspect it was due to the word 'duel', which had a definition that indicated two people were fighting, not wolves.

Sighing, he rolled his eyes as he let his ki run wild within his body.

Grabbing a lunging wolf by its fur, he lifted it off the ground with a single arm, intending to throw it at its brethren and leave.

"–!"

His eyes snapped up as he heard a sudden scream off in the far distance. It was shrill and unquestionably female, belonging to what was a person. That fact made his heart skip a beat as he dropped the wolf without further notice.

Bored out of his mind, Vidar didn't even wait for a second before rushing toward the sound of the voice, his ki boosting his speeds to superhuman levels.

With each passing second the sound only became more pronounced as he realized he was hearing the sound of battle.

As he was running a snake lunged from the treetops and latched onto his arms, its fangs deep into his shoulder, but he simply shrugged it off.

Something interesting was finally happening and he wouldn't be stopped from seeing it through!

Rushing through the forest at top speeds, it only took a few seconds for him to reach the small clearing.

Two men, a boy, and a girl! Like most of the intelligent races in the universe, they had humanoid bodies and normal black hair. However, that was where the similarities stopped between them and the rest of humanity.

With their green skin, pointed ear-tips, and bright red eyes, Vidar internally compared them to goblins or half-orcs.

The two men surrounded a foxlike creature as large as a horse, its fur covered in feathers. The boy stood in front of the behemoth, glaring it down as he settled into a combat stance. Unlike the men who held spears, he only had large metal gauntlets.

The girl watched the fight far away from the fight, a bow lying on the ground in front of her.

Vidar ignored the way her eyes flickered to him near instantaneously, the sound of his heart pumping drowning out any caution he might've felt.

Despite his danger sense telling him he wasn't much stronger than the fox, he didn't care. Without a moment's notice, he charged forward, his ki sending him into a flurry of uncontrollable bloodlust.

He couldn't hold back any longer. He had to get in there!

***

Dahlia was on the verge of hyperventilating from the moment they walked into the Forsaken Forest. Yet, persuaded by her brother, she soldiered on in hopes of the better future he promised they'd have.

As Floradel, the only way they'd attend Dawn Academy was through proving themselves worthy of being nurtured.

So… fine, she understood the rationality behind hunting down one of the Corrupted for the sake of credibility, but–

Dahlia's eyes ignited with a surge of mana, the world slowing down around her. As a snake lunged from the trees, she moved with uncanny quickness, smoothly drawing her bow from her back and priming it for action.

Without a second to waste, she released the tension held within her muscles and let the arrow fly true. Slicing through the air like a whisper, the arrow found its mark with deadly precision.

"Nice one! See, all you have to do is…"

Taking a shuddering breath, she ignored the words of encouragement from her brother's friends as she tried to calm herself down. Despite knowing what they had to do, it didn't make trekking the Forsaken Forest any less nerve-wracking.

They continued stalking the forest for hours, only coming across the common animal here or there.

Contrary to all the stories about the forest, they hadn't come across a single Corrupted in all her time of being here. Maybe the rumors about the place were exaggerated? If it was really as infested with Corrupted as people said they'd already be overwhelmed, wouldn't they?

Yeah, that made sense. If she just kept a positive mindset maybe it wouldn't be so bad–

In a single second, her slowly building confidence shattered like glass.

The creature was too fast for her magic to activate, the largest spirit beast she'd ever seen pouncing onto one of her brother's friends. Unable to fight back, the beast instantly ripped him apart and used its energy to obliterate the remains.

It was too fast. Too strong. There was no hope in fighting something like that.

She couldn't help it. She let go of her bow and screamed.

"Do not falter! Get into the formation we practiced!" Her brother, however, didn't hesitate for an instant. "It's only a spirit beast, there's no need to panic!"

Dahlia could only stand and watch as her brother bravely fought against the large beast, his friends stabbing at the beast from odd angles to keep it off guard. She didn't know how long they fought, her heart hammering in her chest as she felt unable to move.

As she watched her brother's spear get incinerated just as his friend had, she couldn't help but lament her weakness.

She listened to her fool of a brother searching for glory, and now she was going to pay the consequences. Why hadn't she trained a little harder? Why hadn't she refused to follow him to this place? Was her life even that bad in comparison with death?

She was a slave in all but name, but was she really that desperate to be free? It's not as if they'd mistreated her beyond making her work…

A lifetime of horror stories about a forest of monsters and she'd walked right into it in the hopes of a freedom she didn't care for.

What an idiotic way to die.

"Dynamic Entry!"

Her eyes suddenly burst to life with an outpouring stream of mana, the world slowing down around her. Yet even with her heightened perception, the boy who'd just appeared out of nowhere was still moving at high speeds.

Where had he come from? Was he just watching the whole time? How was he going so fast despite her magic activating? Why did he just scream 'Dynamic Entry'?

Squinting her eyes caused the world to slow even further, his form visible enough for her to get a good look at him.

And more importantly, is he what I think he is? Dark skin, golden eyes, long black hair… Why would a Faunilith be out here?

It didn't matter. She wanted to scream at him to run away, as he didn't look trained in the slightest, his body gaunt and sickly, but she could only stare open-mouthed in horror. No matter how fast she could see, her body couldn't keep up.

Reluctantly, she let go of her mana, watching as the boy flew to his impending–

-Boom!-

The Faunilith's foot crashed into the spirit beast, a resounding explosion of sound and dust as they impacted the ground with great force. Her eyes widened considerably at the amount of damage he'd managed to do, her brother and his friends paused as they too waited with bated breath for the dust to fade.

The boy's voice rang out from the dust cloud, tinged with disappointment.

"Aw, man. Was that it? How boring…"

Dahlia's eyes felt like they were going to pop out with how wide her eyes had gotten. As the dust finally settled, she stared at the downed spirit beast, the side of its head brutally caved in.

As the adrenaline rush she felt wore down, all her questions seemed to dwindle in favor of a single one.

What the fuck just happened?

----------

Author's Note:

Vidar isn't usually so... hammy in his approach. But extreme boredom, his unrestrained ki egging him on, and his naturally destructive ways being amplified by teenager brain, makes him do stuff he'll regret later.

Like, uh, jumping into fights yelling his attacks like an anime character...

Yeah...

Oh, by the way! I had to miss 2 chapters of last week for personal reasons, so I'll be doing a daily upload from Monday to Friday this week to make up for it. Hope you enjoy :)

[Query]: Now that we've established where you think he should go, is there any place in DBZ you'd rather he avoid?