It had now been a little over a month since Lowen had entered this world and the many strange things he'd both seen and learned of, had made him come to truly understand just how different his previous world and this one really was. For example, in Lowen's previous world, he considered the animals to be of pretty normal size but in this new world, most animals that people considered normal size, to Lowen, were in fact 3, 4, or even 5 times bigger.

Like right now, off into the distance, several hundred feet away from Lowen there stood a wild boar of incredible size and magnitude. But in no way shape or form could it be considered normal. Its name, Mammoth Boar, with its height it easily exceeding 12 feet tall and its length nearly 20 feet. Roland had taught Lowen that one of these beasts could easily weigh more than 16,000 pounds and as its name implies, its nose was more like that of a mammoth than a boar. With it, it could easily lift a full grown man and with one squeeze crush him to a pulp, even while wearing full armor.

With tusk, the length of about three grown men lying down, this beast was truly a monster to behold. The reason why a creature of this size hasn't already crushed any of the nearby villages was that they didn't contain its favorite food, snowberries. A Mammoth Boar could eat more than a thousand pounds worth of berries every day.

As Lowen lay completely still, the only thing to be heard within this forest was the impact of this beast steps, as each one broke through a few inches of the ground beneath its feet. After a long while, the Mammoth Boar finally finished eating nearly 70 bushels of berries and left, leaving behind a trail of broken and trampled trees in its wake, as well as some bristles from its back.

After a few more minutes, Lowen uncovered himself patting away all of the snow on his body. He had laid underneath a thin layer of snow for nearly an hour to conceal himself. Thanks to his ki as well as his fur clothes, he was able to withstand the frozen temperature for quite a while. Others without magic or better-insulated clothes would already have gotten frostbitten in several places. This was actually one of Lowen's purposes for coming into the forest. He needed more clothes as he was tired of wearing the exact same fur outfit day in and day out.

Besides food, The Chief had given Lowen many items due to their agreement, some of it cooking ware, some of it was candles and tools, some a few different spices and even 5 chickens. Because of that, Lowen, Nia, and Ben could have fresh eggs every day but that didn't solve all of the threes problems. The three were lacking both clothes as well as blankets. Living in that run down shack with holes bigger then fist, there was simply no way to keep the cold out. The Chief had many things to give but extra cloth, well, there was simply none to spare. The Chief had said that he would procure some from other villages but that it could take a few months. For Lowen, that was simply unacceptable. So with impatience, Lowen went into the forest. He had remembered that there were several bushes of berries and that some extremely huge rabbits would feed on them.

After traveling for more than an hour, Lowen had made his way back to these rabbits feeding ground.

Who would have thought, however, that he would witness such a huge creature feasting on these berries? A Mammoth Boar was a highly aggressive species so Lowen could only hide his presence or risk being attacked. Had he hid up in a tree, well, with the Mammoth Boars height it would clearly see him and possibly make a charge at the tree. With that creatures size, weight and strength, it could easily crush any tree in the forest. After that, Lowen would be all but defenseless, so with some quick thinking, he had hidden beneath the snow.

Even after Lowen had patted himself down he still didn't make a move, instead, he simply waited silently. At this point, he wasn't even sure if the rabbits would appear after the Mammoth Boar's destruction. Maybe it had already scared them all away but still, Lowen had nothing better to do so he waited. After about 30 minutes Lowen finally spotted a few rabbits quickly making there way over. Although he had already seen many of them within the first few days of him arriving in this world, he was still shocked at their size. Each one was nearly 4 to 6 feet in length.

(Wow, now with that size they'll make a nice set of clothes.)

After about five minutes, more then a dozen of these rabbits had made there way from who knows where. Now, each of them was enjoying the tasty snowberries. Right now during their meal was definitely the most opportune moment to attack. Lowen quickly circulated his ki, focusing his energy into his legs and feet, combining it with his Shadow Steps, Lowen launched himself almost 10 feet high, landing on a branch in a nearby tree. With a few more steps, Lowen was already 50 feet off the ground. Looking out in the distance, the rabbits were about 300 feet away. With them focused on their meal, Lowen began to jump from tree to tree. Just as he would land on a nearby branch, like a blurry shadow, he was already gone, off to the next tree.

After more than a month of practice, Lowen's strength had increased tremendously. If before when he fought the villager Greg he could leap over a small crowd of people, now he could easily cover a distance of more than 15 feet. With the combined effects of his ki and his earth energy, his body had continued to strengthen at a scary rate. Now his bones wouldn't necessarily break were he to be put in another bear hug from Greg.

After only a few seconds, Lowen had already arrived high above the feasting rabbits. Looking down, Lowen couldn't help but lick his lips, not for the rabbits but instead for the snowberries. He hadn't had any rabbit since he came to this world yet seeing this prey before him, he almost couldn't be bothered. After he promised Ben that he would get more snowberries for him and after Lowen tried them, he almost became addicted. He had now made several trips gathering these berries. Almost 2 times a week he would race here just to get them. He would stock up on jar after jar of these little treats only to run out within a few days, that's how delicious they were. After a moment of berry fantasies, Lowen remembered his mission and wiped the drool from his mouth, for now, he couldn't think about that.

Standing high up on a branch, Lowen pulled a bow from his back, its length almost as long as he was tall. With practiced movements, Lowen took an arrow from his quiver. He had been practicing with this bow for a few weeks now and had become pretty distinguished with it. Although he wasn't an expert, his Snake Fist technique was all about flexibility, dexterity, and speed. One of the requirements to master it required one to be extremely good with their hands and Lowen having already mastered it in his previous life was already quite good with it now. Because of that, learning the bow came quite natural to him.

With feet shoulder width apart, Lowen lined his body up perpendicular with his target and imagined a straight line going across his feet to the rabbit. Since his right eye was his dominant eye, he held the bow in his left hand and pointed at his target with his left shoulder. With his back straight he held his stance in a comfortable yet firm manner. Lowen placed three fingers from his right hand on the string and below the arrow and used his thumb to support the back of the arrow as well as keep it straight. Keeping his inner elbow parallel to the ground, Lowen looked straight down the spine of the arrow and saw his target. Although this was a normal size bow, it required at least a 70-pound draw. For a normal 6-year-old, it would be impossible to pull this bow to its maximum. Lowen filled his upper body with ki and with some strain, he managed to fully pull the drawstring all the way to his face. When you lift your elbow up during the pull it forces your body to use your shoulder muscles, taking much of the stress off of your arms. Aiming at a rabbit nearest him, Lowen took a calm breath and relaxed his fingers, releasing the arrow.

*Whoosh*

The arrow shot out like the wind and instantly pierced its target pinning the rabbit to the ground and before the rabbits new what hit them, two more arrows quickly flew out.

*Swoosh*

*Whoosh*

2 more rabbits were now dead.

The frightened rabbits scattered in four directions vanishing out of sight. A few seconds later not even the rustling of bushes could be heard, they were gone.

Slinging the bow back over his shoulder, Lowen quickly climbed down the tree and went to work. Pulling a dagger from his belt made from rope, he skillfully skinned each rabbit removing their fur in one go, he artfully stripped them bare. After he removed all of the organs even being extra careful while he removed the bladder, he then threw the organs away. With little time, he removed half of the meat from one rabbit and wrapped it in the fur. As for the rest of the meat, Lowen simply couldn't carry it all back with him. Each rabbit weighed almost 100 pounds and that was after he had already removed all of the organs. At the same time though he wasn't willing to waste.

Lowen grabbed handful after handful of snow and stuffed it inside each rabbit. He then dug shallow holes and buried them beneath the snow. He would quickly run to the village and then return to collect them. With a full load it would take him around 2 hours to get to the village but with nothing to carry on his return trip, it wouldn't even take an hour. In this way, Lowen calculated he would need around 10 hours total to transport everything.

Before he left though, he was slightly curious about something. Walking only a few feet, Lowen bent down and picked up a long bristle, it was one of the Mammoth Boar hairs that had fallen off its back. Littered on the ground were hundreds of them. Examining it closely, Lowen could feel its weight. Although each one was only around a foot in length, it weighed almost 10 pounds, this hair was truly strange. Grabbing it with both hands, Lowen tried to break it in half but to his surprise, it was almost as tough as metal and wouldn't budge an inch. Lowen was lost in thought for a moment.

(Strange, how can a hair be so inflexible and tough.)

Lowen wanted to test it some more but heard a howl in the distance, this had quickly snapped him out of it. Stuffing one of the hairs with the rest of his stuff, Lowen quickly packed his things. With 50 pounds of meat and about 40 pounds of fur, as well as one Mammoth Boar hair, Lowen was off, back to Nia's.

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Running inside, Lowen quickly dropped things off and was about to rush out when Nia stopped him.

"Wait for just a second, what am I suppose to do with all this meat?"

Lowen was confused.

"What do you mean, cant you cook some of it and turn the rest into jerky."

To this reply, Nia shook her head no.

"I can cook some of it but I have no clue how to make jerky, its something I've never made before.

"What, if I'd have known that...ugh, I still have more than 2 rabbits left, what am I suppose to do with all of that meat?"

The two grew quiet for a moment before Nia had a thought.

"Well, we could trade some of it to old man Sid who lives up the way. He can make the jerky."

"Who, I thought everyone in this village hated you, why would he do it?"

Nia thought for a moment causing her face to scrunch up ever so slightly.

"Hmm, well he doesn't actually live in the village, he's not a part of it. He lives about a mile away from here near the mountain by the river. He's always had the best jerky, it's just..."

"Its just what, is there a problem?"

Once more Nia's face scrunched up before she replied.

"He's..... well... he's really weird?"