Chapter 41: The Forest Of Ten Thousand Beasts

"So this is the entrance to the forest?" Jacob asked with his hands locked behind him.

He stood elegantly beside Xenia, before them was a very wide pathway separated by two huge trees. Inscribed on these trees were runic patterns, one had two circles, one drawn around the other. The other pattern was squares.

On the outside the sun shone bright on them, reflecting off the pristine carriage and onto the weeds growing on the floor; but past the trees, the forest was dark, it was like the entrance led to another world.

Jacob moved a hand to his chin, "doesn’t look very scary to me." He added.

Xenia remained silent, she only just stared ahead alongside him.

<Ding!>

<Quest added>

<Survive the Ten Thousand Beast Forest>

<Time duration: 30 days>

<Reward: ???>

<Complete all objectives and secure your reward>

<Penalty for failure: Death>

Jacob stared at his screen for the umpteenth time, his expression unfazed by the quest that was written on it.

’Where do these quests even come from? Also I don’t recall receiving any exp points at all—this system might be broken.’ He mused inwardly.

’I’ll have to contact the Regulator soon, even though he’s been vague so far, there’s a lot I still don’t understand.’

He turned back to face the elegant carriage, the horses snorted and whinnied as Leon(the coachman) rubbed against their manes.

"Are you gonna be alright on your own?" Jacob asked him.

Leon responded with a thumbs up and a nervous smile before turning back to the horses.

"Well that settles it... it’s just you and I now, Xenia."

Xenia nodded in response and waited patiently for him to to make the first move.

Leon watched as the pair walked slowly into the forest, leaving him behind.

He stood there for a few moments and rubbed his right arm slowly.

’Phew! All that whipping has made my triceps sore!’ He thought.

He caressed the horses for a bit longer and then picked up their leashes, and setting off on his own little journey.

_ _ _

They had been walking in darkness for what felt like an hour when all of a sudden they were hit with a bright light.

Suddenly surrounded by trees and wind, Jacob let out a sigh of relief, followed by a breath of fresh air.

"See! I knew it wasn’t as bad as people make it seem—"

Just as he was talking, three creatures jumped out out from hiding.

There were smaller than the wolves that had attacked previously.

Small foxes with fiery red-orange fur and multiple flame-shaped tails, sparks dancing around its paws.

They glared at Jacob with absolute killing intent, they looked young, but hungry.

<Low-level beasts detected>

<Fire fox>

<First objective: Defeat the fire foxes>

’Whoa! Already?’ His thoughts were loud, but not louder than the beasts growling before him.

Xenia put a hand on his chest in an attempt to block him off and handle the creatures on her own.

But Jacob placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I’ll handle this one, Xenia." He told her in a calm, reassuring voice that made her take a step back.

In a flash, balls of flame began to form on the snouts of all the foxes, each the size of a football, then...

ZOOM!

They sent the blasts towards Jacob remorselessly, their eyes lit up when they saw that the blasts had connected, thinking they had finally found their prey/dinner.

Being low level young beasts, they were unable to properly access the power level of their opponents.

This was the reason why their expression fell back into gloom as they realized Jacob had tanked every single one of the fireballs easily.

"Sorry guys, but fire doesn’t work on me." Jacob said, dusting some of the ash off of his Royal clothes.

The foxes looked at each other, then looked back at him.

He raised a hand to his shoulder level and instantly created three fireballs, twice the size of each of the foxes.

All three beasts whined and cowered in fear, their tails between their legs, they slowly backed off and ran back into the bushes, back from whence they came.

Jacob dusted ash off his shirt for the last time and let out a breath.

He wondered if he would still pass the objective, seeing as he didn’t actually kill the beasts, just then the message appeared.

<First objective complete!>

<You have defeated the fire foxes>

"Okay! That’s good," he sighed.

Jacob turned to Xenia, who seemed lost in thought.

"From now on, just leave everything to me," he told her reassuringly.

"What do you mean? I’m here to support you, I can handle some of the beasts to take the load off you." She responded, confused.

"You know why I took on this challenge, don’t you?"

"Y—Yes I know, but if I’m not going to do anything, then what is the point of me being here?"

"Who said you won’t do anything? You seem to have forgotten your primary duties." He asked, smiling at her, but she could tell somehow that he wasn’t joking.

"I was just saying—there’s no point in me being here if I’m unable to support with things like this."

He turned around, facing the deeper parts of the forest.

"You will support in other ways, don’t you worry."

She watched silently as he walked ahead of her, going deeper in the forest.

’I’m starting to be sick of this boy.’ She thought.

She shook ahead and followed, the both of them venturing deeper into the forest.

_ _ _

Somewhere in the Ten Thousand Beast Forest.

A young man sat in the lotus position, he wore a pair of shorts and his long red hair was tied neatly in a bun, flowing all the way down to his chest.

His breath was slow and rhythmic, not a thing could be heard except the sound of leaves rustling in the wind.

His name was Light, the fourth born son of the Wutherhorn dynasty.

He flexed his chiseled body lightly as he sat still, cultivating slowly but surely.

Energy swirled all around him.

The Wutherhorn dynasty was a bloodline second only to the Ironfells in power and influence, they were a strong family of cultivators, their Primarch a seasoned veteran and an upstanding member of the council of Daven.

Being the black sheep of his family was a tough burden to carry for Light, he was the only one of his brothers who was yet to awaken any particular rank.

He had failed his awakening ceremony two times in two years, nothing short of a disappointment to his family.

He couldn’t bear the thought of banishment after a third failure, so he ran off on his own, into the world; without the knowledge of any of his family members.

He had wandered for what seemed like ages, picking up pieces of information here and there on the workings of the world he lived in.

On a particular day he stumbled upon the Ten Thousand Beast Forest.

He went in with only one plan in mind, prove to his family that he wasn’t useless.

After a few scrapes and near death experiences, he finally had his awakening. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

During a bout with a white tiger, he finally awakened as a Radiant shadow cultivator, with affinities of darkness and light.

He discovered he was able to formulate attacks using light and darkness; and also draw power from the boundary between light and dark.

Since then he tore through every beast that dared to challenge him, although he hadn’t gone too deep into the forest yet.

So he spent his time cultivating, going as high as the Divine rank.

As he sat there cultivating, he started to hear a sound creeping up from behind him, being in the forest so long had helped him hone his survival skill, one of which was his hearing.

An Azure Wolf crept up slowly and as quietly as possible.

It was wolf larger than a horse with blue fur, sapphire eyes, and wind energy swirling around its limbs.

But it wasn’t quiet enough.

One foot accidentally planted on a dead leaf, a light crackling sound, the beast looked down.

By the time it raised his head Light had vanished from his spot, a puff of dust left in his absence.

Before the wolf could turn around it was struck one time with a dull blade.

A single slicing motion from a worn out weapon that drew a significant amount of blood from it.

The beast yelped from the pain, instantly leaping backwards and licking its wound.

Light looked at his blade, turning it around slowly.

"I guess it’s too dull now to even chop your head off in one motion. That’s too bad." He said out loud, not caring if the beast could understand him or not.

He held the blade firmly by his side and walked towards the Azure wolf, a bloodthirsty glint in his eyes.

"You interrupted my session, it’s only right that I have my revenge for that. Don’t you think?"