Artificial Fantasy

Chapter 36: Into the Wilds

As we passed through the entrance, I could already feel the familiarity of the sights around us: the large trees towering over us, the leaves enveloping the blue sky, and the ominous growls and moans of creatures hiding behind the bushes and rocks, signs that this was different the plains outside <Initio>. We had already traversed into the wilds once before, but we had barely reached the deeper parts of it before we got ambushed and almost killed that time. I had always figured that, after that traumatizing encounter, I would never go back there again. But Kazu quickly convinced me to try again after we had gotten new stronger equipment to combat the stronger monsters with, which made sense to me. We had been using beginner weapons at that time, so their stats were too weak to go up against the monsters in the <Tested Wilds>. I just hoped these new gear and weapons would be enough to avoid a repeat of the previous disaster.

After a few minutes, we managed to walk a few meters away from the entrance, and we clutched our weapons while looking around for any signs of monsters in the area. While I felt it was strange that there were no signs of life around us, we still couldn't let our guard down considering where we were at the time. But just in case, I activated my [Eagle Eye] ability to double-check our current surroundings.

"Find anything, Wind?" Kazu said in a quiet tone.

"None so far. But this is good news for us. The last time we were here, we got ambushed so quickly, and no sooner than after we stepped through the entrance." I muttered as I looked around the area. "But still, it's too quiet here. As much as I want to gather some of the items growing around the area, I don't want to stop and let my guard down."

I hear Kazu hummed and said, "Now that you've mentioned it, I don't hear any monster growls around here. Think they're hibernating?"

"It would be possible in this current season, but I highly doubt that." Sure, the world seemed a bit realistic despite its fantasy aesthetics, but I doubt those monsters would act like bears and sleep for so long. "In any case, I have a bad feeling about this."

While I was usually 50% wrong most of the time, I knew that this sudden silence and the lack of life were too suspicious to ignore. With that, I switched my [Eagle Eye] with [Investigate] to scan for any signs of hidden enemies. Of course, I had to look around more slowly in case I missed anything from my first viewpoint. But to my surprise, after a few minutes, there was still nothing, as no signs of life came into view.

"Something's not right. I can't find anything with my [Investigate] as well."

"Of course you can't. That skill is only for scanning stats and limited details on monsters," Kazu explained. "It's not a skill for detecting monsters like your E-"

Before he could finish, I suddenly felt some kind of a shocking sensation in my body. I wondered if someone had attacked me, but when I checked my [HP], I saw that it hadn't changed. I wondered where that sensation had come from until a window suddenly pops in front of me.

[NOTICE]

[The [Hunting] skill, [Minor Danger Sense] has activated for the first time. You will be experiencing a minor shocking sensation whenever it is active.]

[Minor Danger Sense]? Of course! The ability that those with the [Hunting] skill would obtain when said skill level was at Level 10.

Wait a second... Learning that I had such an ability sent up a few red flags.

As I turned around, a black blur suddenly jumped out of the bushed and charged towards Kazu's direction. Knowing what would happen next, I quickly turned off my ability and tackled my brother to the ground as the blur zipped by, barely missing us."Wind, what th- What was that all about?!" Kazu shouted, at which I pointed to where the blur had landed.