After a few days of being inside this forest…

Wait, has it been a few weeks?

Ah, I don’t really know; my sense of time has gone whack.

I barely sleep since I don’t have anyone to keep watch while I take a nap.

I do sleep but I don’t sleep just anywhere.

I establish my “hotel’’ at… monster colonies.

Well it seems that the forest has its rules among monsters.

Monsters don’t go attacking each other’s bases.

Once I see a weak monster’s base, I get near then take a nap there. When I sleep they attack me but since they’re weak, I don’t really get fatally injured.

If I randomly sleep anywhere, I’d be dead meat the next day.

I’ve only noticed lately but my injuries heal faster than it used to. It’s probably one of the effects of the environment?

Well, it doesn’t matter for now. I’ve come pretty far since I’ve arrived. I also got so many crazy encounters of different crazy strong opponents.

Arcana charges overtime as it fills the arc naturally however, inside purgatory there are arcana pools that disrupt the flow of arcana.

Now I get why a purge usually only takes a week since the arcana here makes the arc go overload.

My arcana has been pretty dense since the beginning so now that it changed, there’s plenty of room for it. Ever since my arrival, it continued to expand as to adapt to the environment.

I can probably keep using arcana for a whole week without going empty! This situation is probably a blessing in disguise but…

I WANT TO GO HOME!

I miss my bed, I miss the home cooked meals, I miss my sister, my family, Vinyl, Ellie-

Ellie… she probably got news that I disappeared since she was still near purgatory when I was about to take the tria purge. She’s always been a worrywart so I hope she’s not freaking out right now along with Ember.

I really do have to get home soon…

I can’t leave them behind can I?

Let’s get this over with so that I can get home and take a week-long rest!

“Hm?”

Hoooo this is new. There’s a cave! I could use this as my base. It doesn’t look shallow so I guess I’ll check it out.

As I entered, I bought a torch with me. It’s awfully humid; probably a home for semi-aquatics but I haven’t encountered any monsters yet.

I’ve been walking for a while but there are no signs of an exit or a dead end. I can’t just lay camp in this mysterious place without fully scoping it out, can I?

“Shaa!”

“Ouch!” [Lan]

I barely reacted at all, it’s fast!

I finally encountered a monster and its hostile right off the bat.

Well, I can’t really blame him since this is probably his territory.

It’s as tall as my knee and about 4 feet in length. It has a face like a frog, claws long as knives and a flail at the end of his tail. Two words-

He looks freaky awesome! I’m not really a monster enthusiast but they all really look unique and it’s interesting! Those thoughts aside, I have to deal with him.

Lately, I’ve only been fighting bare handed as to utilize my arcana but with his turf’s advantage I’ll need to counter those claws!

“Eh” [Lan]

I unsheathed my old rusty dagger… well, it doesn’t look old anymore and the rust is gone!

It’s shiningly sharp! I don’t know the reason why but I’ll figure that out later!

The creature… I’ll call it Cavecrawler.

The cavecrawler lunged at me with its claws, I can’t see in the dark clearly but as I was about to defend, I wrapped arcana unto my dagger and it lit up!

CLANG!

“Shhhhhha!” [CC]

I managed to counter the attack but that wasn’t the end of it. I now have light from my weapon so I’m not entirely helpless, and my dagger looks damn cool!

When I loosened up, the light in my dagger wavered and the creature attacked again.

“Fueh!” [Lan]

CLANG!

I parried the cavecrawler’s claws…

It seems that I have to regulate my arcana to make my dagger keep on shining.

“Woah!” [Lan]

WOOOOSH!

It then swung its tail toward me, I managed to dodge by a millimeter’s width …so close… I forgot that it had more weapons up its arsenal. Then the creature flung a few feet away then ran to me even faster than before!

“Go easy on me man, we just met!” [Lan]

I jumped backwards as the creature was nearing my feet then it followed suit. The creature then opened its mouth then a vile liquid came out that came straight towards me!

I swung my dagger as I was still in the air to build up rotation. I spun and managed to not get directly hit, some of the venom it shot out hit my shirt and it left a hole.

“Tsk… I can’t be half-assed here”

I reinforced arcana on my legs then changed the weight of arcana shifting to my dagger. The crackle of electricity echoed through the caves as I cut the creature lengthwise.

“Fuah…hah…hah… it was way smaller than the creatures outside but it fights like an assassin!” [Lan]

Once I encounter one of these, I better run.

“Time to take the spoils” [Lan]

As I was taking the drops from the corpse of the cavecrawler, I heard a hissing sound getting louder and louder. To my curiosity, I made a ball of electricity then shot it in the dark then-

I froze-

“That many?! That’s… I gotta run!”

I imbued arcana to my legs and ran as fast as I could.

Over fifty cave crawlers were coming towards me. Maybe the sound of our battle or the blood of their brethren attracted them but nevertheless, if I stop, I die. After a few minutes of running at full speed, I managed to lose sight of them but that doesn’t mean that I should relax. This place is probably a nest rather than an ordinary cave.

Then-

“Ha….Ha…. I finally got out. My legs feel like they’re about to fall off… huff…huff…” [Lan]

After a minute’s break, I then moved toward the forest. If I stay in the area those creatures may still track me down. I have to create come distance.

“Hah~, it feels good to be alive”