Second Task

Daniel's only real break was when he had logged off earlier for a quick bio before reappearing to continue his non-stop task, he knew that if he wanted to complete a task like this he couldn't take to many breaks if he wanted to be done quickly. He was surprised at how much time had passed. He checked his system to notice that it was nearly 3 AM, in reality, he has spent a lot of non-stop hours working on removing this blockage. If it wasn't for the fruits being able to replenish his stamina and reset his condition he would have had to stop for breaks and eventually suffer from fatigue buildup.

He could see that he was getting closer and closer to getting it done, the area didn't look very pretty with all the dirt and rocks being thrown around and all over the shores. The area was a complete mess. he hasn't even stopped to look at his character notifications, there was no point really since he wasn't gaining much of any character experience besides what was gaining passively. He was just gaining skill experience, which will level and increase as he practices and performs. He did plan to check his skill progression after completing the task at hand.

Suddenly a new message notification popped up, Daniel noticed it was from Joseph.

"Hey bro what's up? hows it coming along over there man?" Joseph said

Daniel decided to take a quick picture of the disaster that was around him. Dirt and rocks were everywhere covering what was once nice green grass. There was a completely destroyed hill beside him and he was completely covered in dirt. It was on his face and in his hair, his pants completely changed color from tan to brown. The more he dug into the hill the more he ran into mud which was the worst. He made sure to try not to damage the surrounding wildlife too much, but he simply had nowhere to put the dirt. He didn't really bother angling the picture he just wanted to give Joseph a full view of the actual situation.

"Not much man it is coming along pretty well, currently busy excavating this blockade," Daniel replied as he sent the picture to Joseph

"Damn bro you did all that? You are covered in mud and grime haha, make sure you bathe before you come to Shalee bro we don't need you scaring off ladies," Joseph replied.

"Yeah, it has been a lot of work but, I'm almost done though. Don't worry I'll make sure to clean myself up, do you think I enjoy being covered in mud and I'll try to get to Shalee definitely as soon as possible, so what have you been up to?" he replied.

"We are currently hunting in the Laeroth forest, I'm currently level 3 almost level 4," Joseph replied.

"Damn bro I am only level 2, I am gonna have to catch up, I am gonna get back to work I need to finish these tasks sooner," Daniel replied. He returned to removing the mud and stone, "I'm just so close," he thought as he pulled out wet mud from the wall. The problem would be to then remove the sides of the hill since it had become a pretty large wall. He had been tackling it by going back and forth between the side completely cutting back and reducing the hill. As he swiped his claws into the mud he felt it pull away, water began to come through as the surrounding mud fell in to replace what he pulled out. With excitement, he began to rapidly pull and remove the surrounding mud. "Finally," he shouted as the water began to flow down towards his chest. It was a pretty large and deep creek that he was in, he didn't care. He continued his mad clawing. The force of the built up water was helping to remove and dislodge small stones. It was at a pretty important moment, he needed to remove as much before the water settled behind him. Once it settled removing any mud or dirt by hand would be too difficult. Beside him, he could see other areas beginning to open up.

"Daniel, you better get out of there before it completely collapses and you get washed away," Atia called out.

He looked around and realized that it was collapsing pretty quickly around him the more he disrupted the remaining mud and stone. Water was already pushing against him and it was beginning to be difficult to stand firmly. If all that water on the other side hit him while it was rushing out. He quickly turned around and began trying to run up the small slope to get out of the way. Water was constantly rushing in it was quickly getting worse, was it his racial that caused him not to fear that situation, he knew logically there was no way he would have been able to withstand the rushing waters that proceeded. Atia already brought all the young animals away from the dried up creek.

"Thanks, Atia, but how are we gonna get back across in the future?" he asked.

"Swim? Or jump over, when the water settles it will be fine, as for the little ones they can just use the bridge that is further up the creek," she said. As she pointed to the direction the water was rushing from.

"I didn't think there would be a bridge here," he said.

"It's more of a tree that is hollowed out and laying on its side, but it is big and sturdy enough for the children. I'll give you a moment to rest, but it won't be long I have another task for you that will require us to go immediately, that is unless you wish to go to Shalee instead. If you wish to leave I will send you away now," she said.

"Let me rest real quick before we go to the next area, I want to really go to Shalee, there is a friend waiting for me there, but I get the feeling that if I leave now I will regret it, especially since your tasks seem to be helping everyone here," he said while peeling a tangerine to eat.

Atia stopped to think then looked at him as he ate, "It is good that you are thinking of the life of others, by the way, is this friend you speak of your lover?" Atia said.

"hrrrk waa! " Daniel coughed out his the slice of the tangerine, he had to hit his chest. He almost choked, he didn't even know he could in Evotania until now. He noticed Atia waiting for his response as he tried to calm himself. What is worse was that all the little animals were now expecting a response from him. They constantly talked over one another asking, "what's her name," "what does she look like," "does she smell nice," "is she strong." He tried to settle himself, "No no no, he is more like my little brother no I don't swing that way," Daniel quickly replied embarrassed by the situation. He could hear the animals talking about his brother and trying to ask him more questions.

"Oh is that so? Family is important," Atia said while nodding passively.

"Your absolutely right," Daniel nodded.

"It is good that you cherish those close to you. Open your hand, this is a reward for completing the first task," Atia said as she held her out hand out.

He held his palm out, he watched as Atia gave him a single berry, he knew exactly what the berry was. "Thank you," he said as he accepted it, he immediately stuck it in his inventory so that it was safe. A complete recovery like that usually did not exist, from playing so many single-player role-playing games he treated it with care.

"I'm afraid time is up, we must be going we don't have much time, Uara currently is maintaining the situation, I will have you deal with it, come," Atia said.

Daniel began to follow her when he noticed Bentia had gotten on the ground and Atia had gotten on her back. "Wait what about the children?" he asked as he looked around at all the young animals.

"Sheni will watch them, it is dangerous so they will stay here where it is safe, come you will be riding along," Atia said.

He turned to look at Sheni who had been sleeping this entire time and shook his head. He didn't know what to say as he got closer to Bentia, "I don't know about getting on her back, I'm really dirty right now" he said. After seeing what Hojun could do he was nervous when he thought of the large wolf that towered over him.

"It is fine, come we don't have time for games," Atia said as she gestured for him to climb onto Bentia by patting her fur.

"Thank you Bentia for giving me this opportunity, If I do anything bad, I am sorry in advance," he said as he got closer, he could see the glint of her razor-sharp teeth as she smirked at him. He didn't know how he felt about that dashing smile that he knew could probably end him before he even knew it happened. He reached out and touched her soft pure white fur, he never felt anything like it, "how exactly do I climb up I don't want to pull on her beautiful hair," he said.

"Daniel, no matter how hard you pulled you wouldn't even be able to remove a single hair," Atia said while motioning for him to come.

"I'm sorry Bentia, your fur is really too nice if I'm too heavy just throw me off," he said as he began to climb up the side of her. Even while she was laying down she was still way taller than him. When he finally pulled himself up to the top he just looked around at her white fur. He was so focused on how comfortable her thick fur was he didn't even realize Bentia stand up.

"You better hold on Daniel, lest you fall to your death," Atia said as she spun around to face him.

He grabbed some of Bentia's fur to hold on, he didn't know what to expect. He looked at Atia and was confused as to why she wasn't even holding on. Suddenly without warning, they took off. He felt the wind rush into his face, He instinctively closed his eyes for the first moment. He immediately opened them when he never felt Bentia land when he first opened his eyes he could only see red. Atia's crimson hair was blowing all over the place crazily in the wind, he looked around and could see the forest and trees far below them. He couldn't help but take in the sight as he saw all the different creatures and birds roaming the forest below.

"We will be there in just a moment," Atia said.

He broke his focus and looked back towards Atia, "This is amazing, Bentia you are amazing," he called out. He didn't know what to say, she was running on air streaking across the sky towards what looked like a mountain. He remembered Hojun wasn't able to run across the sky like Bentia, he kept having to land on the ground. He didn't have much time to take in the sights he could see an extremely large crimson tiger it had a mix of black and gold stripes. As they began landing he jolted slightly forward almost doing a complete roll. Atia dodged him and had already leaped off Bentia, he noticed she was walking towards the crimson tiger.

"Come, Daniel, Thank you Uara for controlling the situation," Atia said as she walked towards the tiger.

"Thanks, Bentia, please don't tell Hojun but you are definitely more amazing," He said as he got off her back. He saw the same smirking grin again as she raised her cheeks revealing he sharp white teeth. He was used to hearing the voices of the other animals, but he could not hear Hojun or Bentia and now Uara's voices. He quickly decided to catch up to Atia he did not want to leave her waiting.

Daniel could see a cave up ahead, and a massive crimson red tiger who was flicking its tail it was covered with beautiful bold golden stripes. Uara was facing the entrance to the cave, her eyes never moved away from the cave and the shadow inside. He could barely make out the shadow of something moving in the cave it was pacing back and forth.

"Daniel, inside that cave, is something that does not belong I want you to deal with it, Bentia will assist you however ultimately you will be making the decisions," Atia said as she stopped beside the large tiger

"What's in there?" Daniel asked curiously as he stepped closer towards the cave, he could tell that it opened up as he got closer, it was actually quite spacious and was built onto the side of the mountains cliff.

"You will find out when you go inside," Atia said as she waited behind him watching his every movement.

"Well, thank you Bentia for the help," Daniel said as he began to creep closing to get inside the cave. As he got closer and closer he could see clearer and further with his night vision, what was pacing in the back was a blue-furred panther covered in strange purple runic markings pacing back and forth. He noticed something seemed off with its eyes, they were bloodshot and it seemed crazy. Looking closely he tried to inspect it and only got question marks, which was the same as usual. "What's the matter," he tried calling out as he slowly moved closer, a smaller Bentia was calmly standing behind him. He hadn't notice Bentia had stopped following him completely and was just standing in the middle of the small cavern. No response was coming from the strange panther he could only hear the low hostile growl coming from it.

Suddenly without warning the panther pounced towards him, he could react to it but his body could not, he was simply to slow. He now realized how important those two attributes he had been neglecting actually were. He was trying to dash backward and to the side of it as he raised his guard to defend himself, "Bentia," He tried to call out. Before the words could escape him a gust of wind came crashing down onto the panther knocking and pinning it to the ground.

He was surprised to see Bentia still standing where she was as the panther quickly got back up and jumped away from him now cautious. "What is wrong with it?" Daniel asked as he looked back to Bentia who just continued to look at him. He sighed, he had no idea how he was going to deal with this, something was clearly wrong with the creature.

He stood there confused and wavering he wasn't sure whether this was a corrupted creature or a regular beast affected by a status effect. Either way, he was supposed to decide it's fate through his actions, it felt more like a test rather than a task. He recalled Sheni once mentioning the previous task simply as a trial, all of these tasks were probably the same. He was starting to believe that his help was actually unnecessary and he was just being tested. He sighed, it became obvious what he was supposed to do the moment he thought of it as a test. "Bentia, can you keep her pinned down, I will be unable to stop her otherwise," Daniel said.

Without warning, he could feel the wind around him pulling him closer to the panther as it began to form a vortex directly on the panther, he never imagined magic could be used like that in this game as he watched the panther slowly giving in to the pressure as it crashed to the ground, Not waiting for a chance he quickly opened his inventory as he ran towards the panther, he pulled out the berry he only had one, and it was just given to him almost as if it was for this purpose and was planned. The foaming and snapping jaws of the panther definitely bothered him due to him not knowing its level and strength especially when he had to feed it a berry.

Without further hesitation as he arrived before the panther he quickly just shoved his hand with the berry into its snapping jaws, "This is gonna suck," he thought as he watched the jaws come crashing down on his hand. Thankfully the pain setting is only at ten percent, but it was still an extremely painful feeling as he winced it was not the first time however that he has felt something like this though. He watched as his health bar just plummeted down to 30% and was steadily declining, and he was affected by two status's major crippled and major bleeding. Quickly pulling back his arm he could see that he had just lost his hand temporarily and only had a bleeding stub of a forearm. but the moment that he lost his hand he noticed the eyes of the panther completely changed to clear purple irises and the vortex of wind had immediately stopped. It all happened so quickly because within the same breath without warning he felt a sudden soothing warmth and his hand was now back. Looking towards his health he noticed it was now back to full.

Health Restored 181(8091) ~ Status Conditions Removed

"That was foolish and unexpected, however, what you did was ultimately right, you have dealt with this task," Atia said she was already standing beside Bentia, Daniel wasn't even aware when she entered the cave.

Daniel looked back towards the panther who had it's head down apologetically.

"I am sorry," the panther said, Daniel could still see his blood on its muzzle and jaw, the game was simply too realistic.

"It is alright, everything is fine now and no one got hurt, what happened?" Daniel asked. He was really curious as to what happened to cause such a crazed state.

The panther looked at him quizzically, "I am afraid I had broken a taboo, I thought I was strong enough to resist, but I've failed," the panther said.

Daniel was confused, "What do you mean?" he tried to ask before he was interrupted.

"Liy had broken a law of Heelune, she had lost her self in consuming mana crystals for a selfish reason and had become crazed by the mana, there are punishments for such actions. but, it is decided that you will be allowed to decide her fate," Atia said from beside Bentia.

"I am to decide?" Daniel asked confused by the situation.

"I am truly sorry," Liy said while in front of Daniel, she still had her head down.

"Well was anyone actually hurt... besides me?" Daniel asked as he looked back towards Atia.

"No, Uara had made sure of such things already," Atia responded passively.

Daniel shrugged as he stood back up straight, he could feel how terrified Liy was just from her quivering and holding her tail between her legs. "Then it is fine then, I don't really know the laws here work but, I am sure she has learned her lesson and wouldn't be doing something like this again so let's just forget about it and move on," Daniel said as he patted Liy on the head.

"Then it is decided, you will not be banished from the forest for ten years Liy, you are forgiven. Thank Daniel for his mercy and thank Uara who prevented the situation from getting worse. come, Daniel, there is yet more that needs to be done," Atia said as she turned to leave while smiling.

Daniel was confused, "That was it? just like that?" he thought.

"What is your name young one?" Liy asked.

Daniel was confused for a moment before he realized that Liy was looking at him, "Daniel, what happened, why did you do something like that anyway" he asked.

"It was for selfish reasons, I wanted to become stronger so that I could attract the attention of a strong mate, I am really glad no one got hurt but it doesn't make me feel any better after what happened," Liy said dejectedly.

"It's alright it will take time, everyone has forgiven you, and from what I see everyone is already like family here so don't worry about it," Daniel said.

"Daniel, let us not dally," Atia said from the entrance of the cave Bentia was standing beside her once again.

"Okay, well I'll possibly see you around Liy, take care of yourself," Daniel said as he turned to leave with Atia. He noticed Liy was following him out of the cave, he realized what he said was kind of dumb there was only one way out of it.

"Thank you for everything Daniel, if you ever require my assistance child do not be afraid to ask," Liy said.

"Your welcome, I am glad you weren't a corrupted creature, I had actually no idea what was wrong with you and took a gamble," he said. He could hear the snickering of Liy from beside him.

"Beast child to have not met a corrupted creature yet, you sure are young, you will know when you meet one, their mana is completely different, they are also one of the ways to acquire mana crystals, though you lesser races do not consume them, I have heard they are used by some skilled craftsmen of the lesser races," Liy said from beside him.

"Really, hmmm, well thanks for the information, I'll try to keep that all in mind," Daniel said he noticed Bentia was already lying flat on her stomach waiting for him to climb on to her back, she had already reverted back to her former size. Atia was already sitting on her back waiting patiently for him.

"Sorry for the wait, and thanks for everything Bentia," Daniel said as he got closer. Climbing back up onto her back he held on tight to her soft white fur, just as he expected there was no warning before they took off soaring into the air. Looking around he could see the wide open forest, there were hills and small mountains all around. The strangest thing was how diverse the area was, it was almost like the forest was split up into different regions, he could see wetlands further to the east. He noticed they were getting closer and closer to the wetlands with each passing moment.