19: Back to the forest

The salty sea breeze, imbued with the scent of the ocean, swept through the forest along the coast.

When the rainbow light of the teleportation faded, my boot heels sank deep into the damp grass, and dew drops rolled down my dark green leather armor, refracting tiny rainbows in the morning sun.

My lungs greedily drew in the fresh forest air; the crispness of grass mingled with the sweet fragrance of various plants filled my nostrils.

My twin blades remained in a defensive stance, the residual teleportation energy on their edges tracing emerald trails in the air.

At the same time, I released all my packs and the ropes binding other supplies, gripping the weapons in my hands once more.

Only after confirming that the rustling seabirds flying up through the treetops were merely startled, and not a precursor to predators, did I plunge my weapons into the soil.

The faint thud of the blades sinking into the humus startled a few nearby voles.

“Host has completed System Task One. Reward has been issued,” the mechanical voice in my mind sounded again.

As I plunged the blades, I saw the rewarded The Complete Book of Mage Buildings lying quietly beside my feet, its copper-bound corners reflecting metallic iridescence.

It wasn’t time to read yet.

I quickly unslung my bow and arrows from my back, vigilantly turning in two circles on the spot, carefully observing whether any threats might exist in the distant range.

Aside from the small animals that had been trying to hide, no other fierce beasts or monsters appeared from deep within the forest.

The sound of waves from the distant coast was as regular as a Golem’s heartbeat, and flying seabirds traced intermittent white lines among the cliffs.

Finally, I felt a little relieved.

Looking at the supplies I had “brought” over, they were all still there.

Now, I slowly squatted down, half-kneeling on the damp grass, and opened the book, which was as thick as my thigh.

The moment I opened the pages, the unique musty smell of parchment mixed with the scent of ink wafted forth.

On the ivory-glossed pages, elegant Elven script, like twisting vines, entwined around illustrations:

An armillary sphere floated within the cross-section of a spiral tower, defensive magic arrays were marked in the corners of dungeon blueprints, and one page of a dome design even had a dried dragon scale bookmark tucked inside.

I struggled to decipher the words; those terms entwined with magic runes seemed to swim on the page, and whenever I tried to connect their meanings, they would always dissolve into a mist before some unfamiliar character.

Closing the book, I couldn’t help but lament that my literacy plan would have to be extended for a very long time.

After I had roughly browsed the entire book, the system issued a second task.

“Task Two: Build a Stronghold

Using the system anchor point as the center, construct any form of magical shelter around it.

Task Reward: One Familiar

Task Completion Time Limit: Within 12 hours”

The anchor point displayed in the system task was directly beneath this book, a small, grayish-white pebble.

For a moment, I seemed to see a swirling, brilliant nebula slowly rotating within the pebble.

In a blink, it reverted to its unremarkable appearance.

I refocused on the task: within 12 hours, build a house by hand around this stone?

Good heavens, wasn’t this like forcing a duck onto a perch?

Turning to the first few pages of the book, there were a few simple magical structures that could potentially be built in a short time.

I chose “Wizard Shack”:

A simple conical “building” constructed from wood and branches.

Wood and branches were all around, and I had axes and other tools among the supplies I brought.

I wiped my twin blades clean, then crossed them and inserted them into the crude leather sheath on my back.

I had made this myself a few days ago from lizard skin I found in the pile of supplies.

I then put the arrows back into the quiver and re-shouldered my short bow.

Then, while vigilantly observing my surroundings, I found the box containing the axe.

“Thunk… Thunk… Thunk…”

Soon after, the sound of woodcutting echoed through the forest.

The dull thud of the axe striking a fir tree startled a sky full of seabirds, their cloud-like wingspans obscuring the sun, casting moving, mottled shadows across the forest floor.

After observing the startled flock of seabirds for a while, and determining they wouldn’t attack me, I didn’t pay them any further attention.

However, the woodcutting process was not smooth.

The first to interrupt me were two Wild Dogs from the forest.

Recalling myself at that time, after several months of cave dwelling, I was covered in the strong stench of decaying flesh and death from the Meat Golem.

Most animals would shy away from such a terrifying smell, but for scavengers, it was a mix of attraction and fear.

When the two limping Wild Dogs appeared, I quickly dropped the axe, strung my bow, and fired arrows. It took seven or eight arrows, and finally, an arrowhead pierced a Wild Dog’s eye socket, trembling with brain matter. Today’s fresh meat was secured.

The midday sun pierced through the treetops, weaving a dance of light and shadow beneath the trees.

I dragged the wood I had cut in the morning back near the anchor point, and not far away, I cast the wizard cantrip “Create Bonfire” to light a bonfire, adding some freshly cut dry branches to it.

The Wild Dog meat gradually released its aroma under the high heat, sizzling as the fat dripped.

There were still plenty of seasonings left. After a delicious and hearty meal, I rubbed salt on the remaining dog meat, found a windy spot, and propped it up on branches under the sun, letting the sea breeze dry it while it aired out.

I hoped it wouldn’t rain much these days.

I continued woodcutting in the afternoon.

Perhaps it was the drying dog meat, or perhaps the stench of corpses on me, but new scavengers were attracted.

At first, I vaguely smelled a nauseating stench coming from behind me, a smell that was even somewhat familiar.

I promptly stopped chopping wood.

Turning around, I saw two unfamiliar monstrous insects rapidly crawling towards me a few dozen meters away.

They looked like a hybrid of two giant green silkworms and cephalopods.

Their heads were covered in tough skin, from which eight slender, writhing tentacles emerged, and their giant earthworm-like bodies were covered in slime.

They were Carrion Worms!

They had also been present during the ambush that the expedition team suffered previously.

My vision had gone black as I was about to faint then, so I hadn’t seen what they looked like, but I still remembered their foul stench.

In the days of teaching afterwards, Lavinia and Alton had both provided me with detailed information about this type of monster.

Carrion Worms usually had their fixed territories and lived in groups, so it was very strange for just two of them to come running from a distance to attack me.

Fortunately, there were only two, and I discovered them early, and the distance was sufficient.

I unslung my bow and arrows from my back, and once the two Carrion Worms entered range, I began to shoot at them.

My arrows avoided their hard head carapaces, accurately striking their soft underbellies one by one.

The Carrion Worms shrieked in pain, body fluid oozing from their wounds, leaving several long trails behind them.

The injured Carrion Worms, however, increased their speed instead of decreasing it.

I placed my bow and arrows at my feet and quickly took out a spell scroll from a leather case at my waist.

[Acid Splash

Spell Level: Zero (Cantrip)

Spell School: Conjuration

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 60 feet

Components: V, S

Duration: Instantaneous

You hurl a bubble of acid. Choose one creature within range, or choose two creatures within range that are within 5 feet of each other. A target must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 1d6 acid damage.

This spell’s damage increases as you gain levels.]

This was one of the dozen or so spell scrolls I had previously generated using “Lesser Arcane Cloak.”

I unrolled the scroll and chanted the incantation.

The spell scroll lit up with a green light from its edges, burning away like fire.

Then, the ashes of the scroll transformed into a ball of acid in my hand, which I hurled with force towards the Carrion Worms.