“Dammit ! This jungle sucks ass !” Avo swore, his use of earthling slang a fitting way of expressing his discontent, he thought. On Earth, his skin tone would normally enable him to walk almost unnoticed in greenery. Here, he had to adjust it to the same brown and grey colors the flora had. Not only that, it was confusing navigating this landscape and his sense of distance was often messed up ! Ever since he noticed that, he'd taken to using his magic sight to progress to his destination.

The warriors had escorted, then left him in the middle of the wild lands, a few thousand kilometers away from their village with the task of returning safely. It had seemed simple enough... Until they warned him not to fly above the canopy. Apparently, there were pretty nasty predators residing on the trees, nesting. The joke of one warrior that he wouldn't bet on Avo in a race finished to assure him that this plan was ill-advised...

Three days later, the namekian was trudging through the undergrowth, trying his damndest to be stealthy. His shoulder bag didn't help with that ! It kept gripping low branches and rustling bushes. Too bad it was such a valuable item... Otherwise known as the infinite bag back at the village, it contained far more than it let on (or should be able to, for that matter). The key to it was an enchantment woven into its very fabric and the gems that sucked up the ambient mana around. Basically, inside the bag was a small pocket of space where the things put in would stay almost suspended in time. Given the capacity, he presumed his crappy hut and everything it contained could hold inside...

He collected every plants, flowers, nuts, fruits and mushrooms he could find using his sight. A consequence of his ability to see magic was that he also knew which ones would have interesting properties with their amount of mana and its nature. As for the others, he just left them. Anyway, it wasn't like he would eat any of it...

During those three days, he was attacked numerous times. Social carnivorous animals seeing in him easy pickings, herbivorous defending their territory, giant centipede-like snakes (or snake-like centipede, he wasn't sure...)... He even went through the burst of a giant ant hill ! The mound was way bigger than him (probably two or three times taller) and its residents were the size of his forearm... Damn aggressive to boot ! Oh, how he hated this world ! Everything was so... challenging, here.

To calm himself down, he once more conjured the vision Carnail gave him at the beginning of his training. Nowadays, it was one of the only thing that kept him going... The image of kid buu and what it reminded him, and his future-self standing proud and tall, a master of magic in his own right. A part of it was the past, while he hoped the other was the future. However, for it to become real, he had to continue his efforts. In this jungle and even beyond this world...

What he could kill, he harvested the useful parts and left the rest for the predators... Hopefully, it would buy him a little respite on this creepy battlefield. Despite his bravado and resolve, he had to admit to be getting fed up with this rock of a planet. It looked like the god had forgotten color on this world, the animals were weird and disgusting (not to mention crazy dangerous) and even the more advancedspecies were jerks with a domination fetishes or sadistic tendencies... He really hoped Sala would contact him soon !

He kicked a bush in annoyance and glimpsed the tree overhead kind of... shift. Paying closer attention, he exclaimed :

“Not that again !”

It was the snake-like centipede... A massive insect (?) with too numerous legs, scales and a snake's head. All in brown and grey camouflage... Thankfully, he wasn't really using his eyes much these days ! Realizing it had been spotted, it extended beyond the bark of the tree, opening its maw in three parts. He could see vicious looking teeth unlike any reptiles he'd seen before.

“That's not snake-like...” he reproached.

As it tried to drop itself on him, Avo used his telekinesis to trap the thing midair, then casually transformed his left arm in a pointy blade and pierced the base of its throat. It seemed effortless... The truth was, throughout his training, Carnail had ingrained upon him the value of conserving his strength. Maybe it was just an unintended consequence or his master's secret plan... Whichever it was, the young namekian took the swiftest and most economical way to deal with things in this jungle.

Avo harvested the fangs, gallbladder and the skin of the... thing to put it in his bag. Looking up from his gruesome work, he thought... If everything went as planned, the namekian should reach the village sometime tonight. Through the trees, he could see the mountain behind. He just had to cross it to find himself at the doors of the village. That's when he heard a bipping noise coming from his belt... It was Sala's communicator. He unbuckled it and activated it close to his lips. The young woman's voice sounded muffled, but otherwise understandable for his sensitive ears :

“Hey, Avo ! How's it going ? I was in the neighborhood and thought to give you a call... Everything alright ?”

The namekian sighed, inwardly very happy to hear from his friend. His tone, however, didn't show it :

“Everything's alright... At the moment, at least. I think my training is almost finished... What about you ?”

She was obviously excited that he asked (or just thinking about what she learned, maybe...); she told him with joy :

“It. Was. Awesome ! I'll tell you about it when we meet up. I should be there in a couple of days... How were your people ? Is it everything Bana told you about ?”

He shook his head before realizing she couldn't see him, so he said :

“Hardly ! These people are savages. Well... Maybe that's too strong a word. They're... harsh. I suspect they like to inflict pain. Tell me... How long have I been here ?”

“You don't know ? That must have been a hell of a training ! I left you there about eight months ago... I'm sorry your people aren't what you expected them to be...”

“Don't be ! I don't think the peace-loving race Bana described would have been able to teach me so much !” Looking up and through the jungle again, Avo told her : “I'll talk to you when you get there, Sala. I have a mountain to cross... On foot.”

“Why don't you fly ?”

“There'll probably be some kind of creepy bird out to eat me, that's why ! See ya later !” And he clicked the device shut.

Avo Cado focused on his environment, silently admonishing himself for losing his caution. Even if only for a little while ! This world wasn't Earth. It wasn't civilized or peaceful... It was cutthroat and would become his deathbed if he didn't pay more attention !

As he walked, he avoided a spike of mana from underneath the ground, a telltale sign of an upcoming anthill burst. He could almost see them crawl and dig to the surface. Although those ants had a paralytic his brethren used on their weapons, he'd rather avoid them... They just were too much of them for him to kill them ! Sure, he'd kill a few... then he'd get swarmed, paralyzed, brought back to their nest and eaten alive. This wasn't how he wanted to go ! Thinking of Sala's own death, he said to himself that he'd rather die swiftly like her...

Half an hour later, he was finally starting to climb the mountain. The place he arrived after emerging from the jungle was very steep, more like the face of the mountain than a road leading up to it. There were hand and footholds, of course ! But like every damn thing on this planet, the rocks covering the elevation were jagged and merciless. He hesitated for a while... Should he just go around it until he found a way ? Or risk flying ?

He shook his head as soon as he thought that last one. The act of flying required him to constantly channel his mana, an action the local wildlife seemed drawn to, he discovered a few days ago. Even if they weren't any flying predators around, they would come for him ! As for his idea of going around the mountain... He had no guarantees it would work and time was of the essence !

He channelled his mana into his body, using life magic to reinforce his skin and muscles. With added defense and strength, he should be able to climb this side without much troubles... He just hoped they weren't anything dangerous there !

Unfortunately, there was... He climbed for a few hours before reaching a plateau. A few meters from him was what could only be called a forest of rocks... Scattered on the flat terrain, stones and boulders of varying sizes blocked his field of view. With his sight, however, he could see hulking figures hidden behind some of those rocks. They seemed humanoid, albeit with arms reaching all the way to the ground and gigantic feet. Avo mirrored their action and used the rocks as cover, navigating through the rock forest and taking a wide berth from the prone bodies. Although they didn't move, the mana in their bodies told him they were very much alive ! Not to mention, the amount was frightening enough that he didn't know if any of his magic would be useful... With some monsters, although they couldn't use magic like he could, the amount of mana their bodies contained served as natural protection against the mystic arts. Given what he saw, he doubted his telekinesis would even slow them down...

Since the mana seemed less concentrated around their head, Avo tried something... Using mental magic, he created several illusory namekians and a magical fog. The sounds of their ghostly footsteps echoed among the stones as Avo hid his own in their cover. He advanced cautiously for a while until...

One of the hulking figures emerged from behind its hideout, roaring as it did. The very air trembled from the sound, making his illusions shimmer in and out, like static on a television. The other monsters followed suit soon after, filling the mountain air with their powerful challenge. Then, they charged...

“Dammit !” He swore under his breath. The oversized gorillas were strong and fast ! He could barely control the illusion to make the other namekians dodge their attacks. Even though he managed to do it a few times, he realized it was only a matter of time before they swatted his illusion and came for him. The other side of the plateau was still too far... He could try and rush there, sacrificing stealth for speed.

Instead he decided to go for the kill ! Hiding under the fog's cover, Avo armed himself and manipulated the illusion so the warriors would appear threatening... Spear in hand directed at a foe targeting them. Meanwhile, the only real namekian here was on the prowl, closing the distance on his first enemy...