Inside the magnificent bioluminescent forest, more than 20 people were on the ground, all sleeping within the small, poorly functional walls of their camp.
Night was present in that place. The hunter, Adriel, was standing, watching all the people who were so poor they couldn't afford a house, or rather, couldn't build one in the first place.
He counted everyone: 10 elderly, 5 minors counting himself, and 20 people whose ages were unclear. 'Right now, there are few people with houses. Too bad there isn't one for sale yet; I'd buy it if there were,' thought the boy as he walked among the people, trying to exit the crowd.
Adriel managed to reach an area without sleeping people, where he began to check what he had. 'It's cold today, so I'll put on my trench coat. Too bad the leather vest was destroyed. I'll try not to get near fire from now on... At least not too much.' At the end of his train of thought, the hunter turned to look south, where a goblin camp was almost immediately visible.
A dry, graceless sound echoed in the dark night, where silence offered peace and discomfort. The boy sat down. 'Lately, I've been exploring the east a lot; the south is an almost totally unexplored place, but going there isn't an option. The north has been little explored and is a pretty good option, and the west has already been too much.'
The boy's hand rested on his chin as he thought. After a while, he felt a small tingling there, so he hurried his decision. He stood up and pointed north, where a mountain of considerable size stood.
He approached the exit and left through the unfinished part of the wall. His hands quickly went into his pockets, while he hid half of his face with the high collar of his black trench coat. 'I think I look something like a drug dealer,' he thought uncomfortably as he walked.
The landscape was nice, even beautiful on certain occasions, but nothing was truly safe. The small light sources that were the mushrooms around him terrified him; each had a different color, mostly pink and purple, and you could only see well when their accumulation exceeded 10.
Along the way, there were only 3 accumulations of more than 10 mushrooms. Because of this, the hunter drew his katana and pointed it at the meaningless shadows created by the strange light from the plants.
From his time in this world, Adriel felt that behind every tree there was an enemy; his growing stress prevented him from walking properly, causing him to bump into several rocks along the way.
One step. Adriel thought he heard a single step; it had broken some nearby leaves. Thanks to his enhanced senses, he could recognize it; the weight exerted was similar to that of a human. The hunter dismissed his katana, waiting for his enemy to become overconfident.
"Hey." Those words came out as a whisper. Small and too silent. Barely audible to Adriel's sensitive ear, but he caught it.
The hunter summoned his katana in his right hand and made a cut at neck height. Going from right to left.
A guttural cry of pain resonated through the forest. Several scavenger birds arrived, while the normal ones flew away like crazy.
Because he cut before asking, he saw a dead body. A person's face was lying on the ground, but their body remained standing in front of the boy. He took out his lighter and used the warm flame to see the body.
On it were mushrooms, mold, dried blood, and fresh blood. Hundreds of worms were eating the flesh, while its feet were green, covered in all kinds of filth.
Adriel was surprised, but not agitated by the disgusting scene. Then he pointed the flame at the head. The cut from his katana was clean on the part that was severed; he kicked the head to see the face. The creature's eyes were out of their sockets; bugs were slowly eating them.
"Help me!" exclaimed the strange body.
"First, tell me what you are," said the hunter calmly.
"Do you know Yuste?"
"Let's say yes."
"He's the creator of a nearby camp. I used to have a girlfriend; she was charming and..."
"I don't care about your life. I asked you who or what you are." The hunter's tone became very serious; his angry face made the stranger get serious.
"I'm the ex-boyfriend of Suma, a half-bear girl with orange hair who is Yuste's servant in every sense."
"So he not only uses her as a bodyguard but also as a sex toy." Adriel crouched down and grabbed the stranger's head.
"How is it that you're not dead?" he asked while examining the corpse's face in depth.
"I have the zombie class. I'm almost immortal; I just don't have good regeneration powers, so it takes me a while to recover. But if you put my head on my body and tie it with something, I'll be able to move."
"Alright..." The hunter held the head alone. "Give me something to make me decide to do it."
"Haven't I told you enough things!?" The face shouted in surprise.
"Remember, I have your head; if I kick it, you'll take a while to find yourself. So give me something good."
"I know the location of a special plant. By eating it, you'll obtain 2 skills that will count as only one. Does that sound good?"
"Hmmm." Adriel grabbed a vine that was nearby and summoned a belt from a clothing set he had, then put it on the body's hip and hung the head. Then he grabbed another vine and tied the head to the thigh so it wouldn't move.
"You can see, I'll attach your head when you give me the plant."
"Fine," said the zombie.
Adriel walked behind the zombie, his katana being firmly held by him. Both continued along the path the hunter was taking.
As they walked, the zombie lifted its leg, turning it side to side while moving it, and then continued walking.
'Yuste is an interesting name, and Suma isn't far behind. I'd keep calling him trash, but it might scare him that I found out his name out of nowhere.' Adriel's thoughts consumed him as he walked.
Minutes passed while both remained silent. As time went on, the zombie stopped in its place. "Here," it said.
A brilliant crimson-red flower was dancing to the soft rhythm set by the wind.
"Once you pick something from the flower, the rest will rot. You only need the top part. The stem does nothing; you'll have to eat it."
Adriel crouched down and looked at the beautiful plant. A system status window appeared before him. 'Congratulations. You have found a Yamithimb flower.' The hunter was surprised by the window; after all, there are few occasions when it appears. 'It seems it really is important...'
The boy stared at the flower; his expression didn't change for a minute. 'Screw it!' he thought before grabbing it from the lowest part and tearing out the entire root. He opened his mouth wide and stuffed the whole plant in, chewing it a bit before forcefully swallowing it.
Adriel felt safe for only two seconds. A shock passed through his entire body, one so strong that it made the boy fall to his knees. Then he felt how every organ in his body worked while his muscles tensed.
Crack! Something inside the boy broke. His entire body began to have non-stop cramps; his muscles twisted in pain as he assumed the fetal position, one of his hands digging a hole to his left in an attempt to relax.
Drool began to flow uncontrollably; the boy couldn't try to swallow it. His hands retracted. The cramps ended, but a new pain arose in his head. He put his face against the ground, his hands digging two holes at the same time. Blood began to gush from his fingers as he screamed like crazy.
Suddenly, he felt nauseous, was about to vomit, but resisted, swallowing everything that wanted to come out, although this very act made the nausea grow larger and larger.
Finally, 5 uninterrupted spasms hit him; his mind couldn't think of anything, but the system appeared before him. Since he couldn't read, the ethereal voice of the system told him everything. "Congratulations. You have obtained a small skill kit. 1: Passive. Enhanced Depth Perception: You will be able to understand much faster than others when measuring things, where objects will fall, and you will better understand distance in general."
"2: Passive. The Night is Beautiful, Don't You Think?: Your night vision notably improves."
Adriel panted as he put his hand on his cheek, trying to calm down. "Wow. Apparently, my class gives me more pain resistance than I thought," said the zombie while watching Adriel with arms crossed.
He stood up. His legs were trembling like crazy. "I'll keep my promise." He grabbed the head and placed it on the severed neck, then grabbed both vines and made a strange knot that joined the head to the body.
Adriel's hand brushed his hair aside, trying to relax in any possible way.
"Incredible. Your eyes are now a bright yellow color." The zombie's surprise at the change was clear.
"I... I don't care. I need to go to sleep. Stay around here. We can be partners," said the hunter as he hugged himself and walked toward the camp. Before leaving, he vomited a little.