Moments after the light enveloped him, Rao Wu felt like he got punched in the gut. Following this, the child's vision blurred as he was struck by terrible vertigo. Rao Wu felt like throwing up, but even that seemed beyond his control as he felt himself pulled by a tyrannical force.

Fortunately, the feeling did not last long before Rao Wu suddenly came to a stop. This time, the child unceremoniously doubled over and then emptied the contents of his stomach. Beside him, although Ju Tu did not go as far as throwing up, the Steelback Ape’s unsteady steps proved that it too suffered side-effects from the transportation.

“Ugh. That did not feel good,” Rao Wu let out a wry chuckle as he wiped his mouth. He made a mental note to go alone next time. With Ju Tu also suffering, they would have been extremely vulnerable if they were attacked once the transportation finished.

After ensuring Ju Tu’s disorientation wasn’t severe, Rao Wu took in their environment. Surprisingly, they had somehow appeared in a similar room, like the one they were just in. Except, this room’s lights were flickering, and the walls were heavily damaged, making it seem like a huge battle took place here.

Whrrr…

Rao Wu’s eyes narrowed when a similar ‘metal pole’ to Becky rose from the ground and then scanned him. Just as he expected, a disembodied voice soon followed. Only, this one was deeper than Becky’s.

“Welcome to Independent World X-2906, Candidate. The goal of the first test is to survive in x-2906 for 30 days. Additional points will be awarded for every soul monster killed. Candidate does not own any points to purchase additional information, so please exit the facility within two minutes, or suffer the consequences.”

“Consequences?” Rao Wu had many questions, but the voice’s dismissive tone did not allow for any inquiries. So, since he had no desire to find out what these consequences were, he tapped Ju Tu’s shoulder and then quickly walked to the exit. The only door opened up to a small circular chamber that Ju Tu and Rao Wu barely squeezed into. Evidently, it was made to only house one person.

Whoosh!

“Whoa!” The chamber’s floor suddenly lurched, and then rose upward, stunning Rao Wu. “What is this!?” Rao Wu’s eyes shone with curiosity, but unfortunately, there was no one to answer him.

Eventually, the chamber stopped and then opened up to a large forest. Rao Wu and Ju Tu promptly exited the elevator and then watched with stunned eyes as it sunk back into the ground. A patch of grass then slid into place, blocking the chasm below from view.

“Alright, how do we wanna go about this?” Rao Wu muttered as he looked from the elevator to the jungle around him. Rather than dread, excitement, and familiarity filled his entire being. If a city child were in his position, they would have spent the first few days attempting to adjust to life in the jungle. For Rao Wu, however, the jungle his home. It did not matter that this was a jungle he was unfamiliar with. Certain rules applied across all jungles.

Through his vast experience, and Uncle Twilight’s teachings, Rao Wu had three main objectives:

1) Secure a freshwater source

2) Scout the local wildlife and plants.

3) Identify local tyrants.

Rao Wu decided to spend the first day searching for a watering hole or river. However, since he did not want to draw untoward attention, he recalled Ju Tu and then summoned Xian Da.

“Rraff!” Xian Da let out an excited call once it emerged from the summoning circle and then jumped onto Rao Wu’s shoulder.

Rao Wu chuckled as he tickled Xian Da’s chin. He glanced at the burning sun overhead and nodded, “Seems like it's still pretty early in the afternoon. There should be a few monsters looking to cool off near a river. Let’s go, partner.” With those words, he quickly scaled a tree and then started jumping across treetops. No matter what jungle it was, the treetops were always safer than the ground. Well, unless he inadvertently stumbled into monkey territory. finally

While traveling, Rao Wu marked his path by gently scratching the trees. He did not know if the exam’s success or failure would depend on him returning to the base when the 30 days were over.

During his search, Rao Wu discovered something odd. None of the trees bore fruit. In fact, he could not spot any familiar vegetables either. At first, it did not seem like a significant deal, but without fruit or vegetables, Rao Wu’s choice of food over the next 30 days would be severely limited.

There was also Ju Tu and Xian Da. Both soul monsters were in their growing phases and needed lots of food. The omnivorous Ju Tu was a bit luckier since it could eat leaves, but Rao Wu couldn’t exactly feed the carnivorous Xian Da plants.

“Hm?” Roughly two hours after Rao Wu began his search, he came across a small pond. Rao Wu perched on a nearby treetop and scanned the watering hole. Surprisingly, it was empty, with no signs of life. Rao Wu looked up at the sky to confirm, but it was still bright out.

This made no sense. Why would a watering hole in a jungle be void of life? Rao Wu frowned and was about to jump down to investigate when rustling sounds a few meters away, flittered into his ears.

Rao Wu immediately held his breath, and then flashed Xian Da a ‘keep quiet’ sign. He did not want to risk spooking whomever or whatever it was. Soon after, to the child’s amazement, a strange, dog-like creature slowly creeped out of the woods. Only this dog-like organism was a mixture of green leaves, moss, and tree bark. It looked, for all intents and purposes, like a plant that had evolved into an animal form.

Rao Wu had never seen a creature like this. Even the encyclopedias had no information on this strange soul monster. Since he had no information on the monster, Rao Wu decided to hang back and study it first.

The plant-dog creature tentatively approached the pond. Its overly cautious approach made Rao Wu look at the pond with a curious gaze. Could there be something in that pond? It had to be known that Rao Wu had not come across any other soul monster during his two-hour search. He had already begun to worry about food. Perhaps this would be his saving grace?

Ksh. Ksh.

The plant-dog’s leaves softly rustled as it stopped a meter away from the pond’s edge. Two branches then extended from its back and softly chopped the water’s surface, testing it for something unknown. When it received no response, the plant-dog finally dared to approach the pond.

It waded into the pond and then began to drink. Intriguingly, this plant-dog monster did not drink in the conventional sense. Rather than lapping up water, tiny, microscopic holes opened in its branches and began absorbing water. Most strikingly, as it absorbed water, its leaves became greener and even more vibrant.

Du-du-du…

While Rao Wu marveled at the sight, several similar plant-monsters shuffled out of the woods. The plant-monsters had varying different forms. Some resembled cats, some looked like the familiar Battle Trees, and some were tiny like rodents.

Rao Wu watched the strange plant-monsters soak in the pond with wide, appreciative eyes. Indeed, Uncle Twilight was right. The world was a large place. There would always be new and unique soul monsters to discover.

“Let’s watch for a little longer, yeah?” Rao Wu, filled with curiosity, decided to watch these strange lifeforms for a few more hours. After all, it was not like he had anything better to do. Plus, they might give him a clue to this forests’ ecosystem.

Rustle…

And so, two hours passed with one boy and a wolf cub watching as several more of these plant monsters approached the water to ‘drink.’

“Hmm… they don’t look scary. Should we go meet them?” Rao Wu was just about to jump down from the tree when a strange sight caused him to stop.

Gululu…

Strange bubbles began popping on the water’s surface, swiftly increasing in intensity over a short period of time. To Rao Wu’sshock, the plant monsters which had been idly lazing in the pond suddenly turned to flee, panic and fear evident in the frantic, careless retreat.

“What?”

Rao Wu’s curiosity was swiftly answered when a group of 4ft-tall furry, bi-pedal creatures burst out of the water’s surface and began attacking the plant creatures. The attackers resembled small bears, but had distinctive protruding canines and blue fur.

“Bugbears!” Rao Wu screamed, having recognized these locust-like creatures. The encyclopedia described the Bugbear species as beast/bug attribute monsters. Their bug type was a secondary attribute, but they gained the bug-type’s irritatingly excessive reproductive rate. As a result, although individual Bugbears were relatively weak, the quickly booming tribes were considered plagues by soul monsters and soul trainers.

A small group of Bugbears could easily become a terrifying empire that wiped out whole ecosystems. As a result, Bugbear extermination was one of the most requested jobs for hunters and soul trainers alike.

Rao Wu looked at the bugbears with a mixture of fear and excitement. Bugbears rarely crossed phase one. As a result, they were the perfect monsters to begin Xian Da’s training. However, Bugbears also had one scary defensive trait. Once a number of their tribesmen were hunted down, the Bugbears would begin moving in increasingly larger groups directly proportional to how many of their members were killed.

Kraaa~

Rao Wu’s attention was drawn to a strange mournful cry as the pack of Bugbears tore a plant monster to pieces. They then reached into the plant monster and withdrew handfuls of what looked like berries. The Bugbears quickly stuffed these berries into their mouths and then began chasing the rest.

As Rao Wu watched, several more Bugbears burst out of the surrounding forests, and then charged at the monsters, evidently doing their best to cut off all avenues of escape!

“Wow. They must have planned this for a long time.” Rao Wu was impressed as he watched their strategy. “There has to be a Bugbear Lord amongst them.” Bugbear Lords were a mutated form of Bugbears. Whilst Bugbears were stupid, instinctive creatures, Bugbear Lords possessed intelligence rivalling a teenage human. Only that kind of intellect could have laid such an evil, patient ambush.

“Kwaaa!” As if to confirm Rao Wu’s thoughts, a 5ft tall Bugbear burst out of the woods, and then let out a terrifying roar. Weilding a giant stone club, it chased one of the fleeing plant monsters and then struck it hard.

Brack!

Rao Wu’s eyes went wide when, with a single swing, the Bugbear Lord crushed the plant monster into pieces. This was the same monster which previously required several bugbears to beat!

“Its strength is no joke.” Rao Wu’s eyes narrowed as he studied the Bugbear Lord. “I’d say Second Phase, high stages? But it’s a servant rank, so Ju Tu should be able to take him if he levels to mid-stage.” The Bugbear Lord ignited Rao Wu’s fighting spirit. Although the test said he should ‘survive,’ Rao Wu had no intention of doing just that. If Infernal difficulty was anything like he imagined, then Rao Wu needed to constantly raise both his and his soul monsters’ strengths to the peak of each stage or they might perish quickly in the next.

“I can’t take him on right now, though.” Rao Wu was not stupid. Fighting the Bugbear Lord right now was nothing short of suicide. Not only was he weak, but the Bugbear Lord was surrounded by dozens of elite Bugbears who would sooner die than let Rao Wu lay a hand on their lord. “I’ll thin them out first. For now, I should leave this place before I get spotted.”

Although Rao Wu felt sorry for the plant monsters, he felt no obligation to aid them. Their deaths were a natural part of the cycle of life in the jungle. Besides, it was their fault for being such terrible fighters! Just look at the dumb way they flung their vines around. It was no wonder they died so quickly to the Bugbears.

Rao Wu was about to turn and leave, when a sudden shout froze him in his tracks.

“Run! Everyone, this way!”

Rao Wu turned to the voice’s source, and his eyes nearly bulged out in shock. A small child with green, leaf-like skin was frantically shouting at the plant monsters to run towards her. The girl would have seemed human were it not for the plant thistles growing out of her hair and a bunch of leaves that grew out of her waist, blocking her lower body like skirt. “A Dryad!”

Rao Wu could not hide his shock. Dryads were extremely rare support soul monsters that were blessed with an innate gift to control and mutate plant life. Dryads were often craved by soul alchemists because they more or less guaranteed the production of even the hardest to cultivate plants. Also, although they were not the strongest in combat, Dryads possessed certain skills that made them annoying to face on a battlefield.

“I want her!” Rao Wu’s eyes glowed with greed and ambition. He did not care about the Bugbears because they were a dime a dozen. Catching a Bugbear was essentially a waste of soul space. However, a Dryad was a completely different case. If he could capture a Dryad, then in future, any plant-type monster he caught would definitely benefit from her blessings. Also, a Dryad’s support ability could definitely come in handy in a tough fight.

“But how do I get her?” Rao Wu had two things working against him. First, he was only in the sixth stage. He needed to reach the ninth stage before he could gain one more soul monster. Secondly, he did not believe the Dryad would easily agree to come with him. Dryads preferred to remain in nature, and often refused to follow soul trainers.

Due to Uncle Twilight’s brainwashing—er teachings, Rao Wu was reluctant to force any soul monster to follow him. Of course, he was not adverse to beating a soul monster to establish his dominance. However, whether they agreed or not following the fight was not something Rao Wu would force.

Rao Wu’s first problem was not impossible to solve. Since he was still a Soul Apprentice, rising through stages in a quick manner was still possible. And as it happened, the fastest way for a soul trainer to rise through stages was none other than…

“Hope you’re ready for some crazy trainer.” Rao Wu grinned as he looked at Xian Da with a dangerous gaze.

That’s right. The fastest method to raise a soul trainer’s strength was to increase their soul monsters’ phases and stages. Right now, Xian Da was more likely to experience explosive growth compared to the Second Phase Ju Tu, so Rao Wu decided to rapidly raise Xian Da’s stages through extensive combat over the next few weeks.

As for the second problem…

Rao Wu looked at the Dryad who threw out a clump of seeds and then used Blessing. Her chant sent a myriad of life energy from her feet to the seeds, which then rapidly grew, growing into thick bristles that blocked the path to the fleeing plant monsters.

Bang! Creak!

Unfortunately, the Dryad’s efforts proved futile against the Bugbear Lord, as it shattered sections of the thorn wall with just a few swings.

“N-No.” The Dryad paled when she saw the Bugbear Lord’s savage attacks. She had hoped to delay the Bugbear Lord for a couple minutes to buy the plant monsters time to break through the Bugbear formation. However forget a couple of minutes, it didn’t seem like the Bugbear Lord would be delayed by a minute.

“Hey, let me help.”

Whilst in the depths of her despair, a strange voice suddenly drifted into the Dryad’s ‘ear sockets.’ She turned to see a strange hairless creature on a tree. Her gaze was drawn to the creature’s gray eyes that glittered with mischief and cunning. Somehow, even though she had never met this creature before, she instinctively felt both warmth and terror. It felt like she could trust this creature, but at the same time like it would swallow her whole if she did.

However, pushed to the brink, the Dryad felt no hesitation and willingly begged the gray fox. “Please, help us!”

Atop the tree, Rao Wu’s lips spread in a devilishly charming, but mischievous grin, “Just what I wanted to hear…”