Jim woke up in a dark forest. He was in a new body, it was the body of a grown man. The man had orange hair and orange eyes. He wore light steel armor and had a sword and bag by his side.

Jim tried to get up but his stomach screamed pain. He gritted his teeth in pain and calmed down his breathing. He saw that he had a wound in his stomach. Memories of the man flooded Jim and he realized the man came to this forest to rescue lost children. He was a lone adventurer hired by the nearby village after the disappearance of the kids.

On his way to the forest, the man named Vuhen was attacked by Wocritor. Wocritor are small tree creatures that like to shoot sleepy poisonous tree darts towards creatures and feast on them. They hunt in groups and can overwhelm giant creatures. Jim could tell that the poison would kill him soon. He searched through Vuhen’s bag and found a liquid pink antidote in a small vile.

The antidote was expensive and it made Jim feel pain to lose it. For an antidote, Vuhen had been willing to pay almost any price. Seeing that he was still injured, Jim took out a brown cookie. The cookie was made from recovery plants and it boosted Jim’s recovery.

While he was healing, Jim held his sword up and looked around the dark forest carefully. The trees were high and their leaves blocked out the sunlight. There was no sound in the forest, if there was, it’d soon be killed. Jim wondered whether he should save the lost kids or abandon the quest.

If he abandon the quest, his reputation wouldn't take much of a hit since he had none. If it did take a hit, he could always become a farmer or a mercenary. Thinking back to that time he got swallowed and died, Jim realized he might be undying. He decided to keep going through with the quest.

His wound healed after a few more minutes since it wasn't that deep. Jim slowly got up and looked around the forest. Many adventurers weren't willing to search an entire forest filled with dangerous creatures, this included Vuhen. He took the quest because the rewards were generous and he wanted to try his luck.

Around Jim, every direction of the forest seemed dangerous. A small sound almost unnoticeable came into Jim’s ear. It was the Wocritor and they had tracked down his bloody scent. Strange knowledge came into Jim’s mind and he knew what he had to do.

He smeared his hand that was in a leather glove on the blood outside his body. There wasn't much blood but it would have to do. He waved his hand and droplets of blood flew into the tall flora all around him. The flora here could grow in the darkness because they had adapted to getting their energy from decaying matter. Jim crouched under the flora with his sword ready and waited silently.

“Cri cri,” came a sound.

A tiny humanoid wood creature with many branches and leaves on its body came out of the surrounding fauna. It was a foot tall and seemed cute. Another four came by its side and they started absorbing Jim’s blood. They came closer and closer to Jim’s hiding spot where there was blood.

Jim held his breath, Wocritor could sense a human's breath from five feet away. They took their sweet time to get to Jim and Jim was running out of oxygen. When they got within the striking range of his sword, Jim slashed with all his might.

The danger came and the Wocritor tried to instinctively avoid it. The sharp edge cleaved through their small body and they screeched in pain. Jim had killed four of them and managed to injure one.

“Criiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!” it screeched loudly throughout the forest.

Jim realized the trouble and killed it. But it was too late, many screech and low sounds came from throughout the forest.

“Ghnnnnnnnnnn,” a loud low rumbling came from deep within the forest.

All the sound stopped as if the lord of the forest had spoken. Jim looked towards a direction and took it, it was a direction that would him lead towards the children's trail. After a while of careful stealth, he reached the trail. Jim was happy, he might be able to complete the quest.

An arm made of wood and claws made of leafy branches came down from the tall trees. It swiftly swung towards Jim and he was flung into a tree. Jim blacked out instantly.

“You shouldn't have come here,” said a sweet low feminine old voice from the top of the tree leaves.

“This place does not take kindly to your kind,” it said gently.

The wood arm fell and a giant body dropped to the ground. The body was covered in leaves it had had a long hind branchy limb with hooves that bent. The face revealed itself to be a long wooden flat skull with antlers. It had two eyes and dots of blue light that shined in them. The creature crouched at seven meters tall and had a width of three meters. It stood up at a height of thirty meters tall.

Jim's body started moving and the creature was surprised. It had swung fiercely and it was sure the human was dead for sure. Maybe the human was becoming an undead. Its eyes flashed with intensity and it brought its right leg up to stomp on Jim.

“You seem like something flammable,” said JJ as he got up and put his sword in its sheath.

The creature paused for a moment and brought its leg down.

“You are still alive?” it said with surprise.

“Yeah, and I'm going to break you like a stick.”

The creature sensed JJ's hostility and it brought its right leg up again. It stomped and JJ jumped up towards the trees. The ground under JJ shattered with its stomp.

JJ grabbed a tree branch and climbed higher up.

“Hahahahaha,” his laugh echoed throughout the forest.

JJ shot from the tree canopy and his fist slammed into the creature's face. The creature’s neck cranked and JJ climbed back up into the tree canopy. The creature seemed unfazed by JJ’s attack and it looked up towards the tree canopy.

It bent its legs and shot towards JJ. It swung its claws and shredded the branches and leaves. JJ dodged its claw and moved away.

“You are fast, like a rat,” it said in a calm voice.

The creature scuttled towards a tree and climbed up. JJ jumped down with his sword pointed towards its eyes and it shifted its head. The sword pierced into the creature's shoulder and JJ let go and jumped away. The creature seemed to have pain immunity and didn't scream.

It grabbed the sword in its shoulder and pulled it out like a needle. It threw it far away into the forest and JJ frowned, that was a cool sword.

“Hurry and finish this,” Jill said calmly inside his consciousness.

“Alright,” replied JJ.

Immense strength grew from within JJ and the creature became fearful. It turned around and tried to run. JJ came in front of its face and shattered its face with his fist. The two blue lights in its eye seemed to dim and it slapped JJ away.

It then looked towards JJ with its shattered face that seemed to be filled with only darkness. It took a direction and quickly scuttled away. JJ got up and became sad, he couldn't kill the creature, maybe next time.

JJ dashed to where the sword was thrown and took it. He went back to the children’s trail and followed it.

“What do you think we'll find?” asked Jack.

“Hopefully no horrifying sight,” Jill replied.

The forest was dangerous, and the four of them didn't think the children had a high of still being alive. Whatever was waiting for them at the end of the trail would probably end up with a horrible death by their hands.

Far from them, the creature that attacked them scuttled up to a tree and mended its face with wood. The human it had fought today was strong, very strong. Thinking back to the hundreds of years it had lived, it had met very few strong humans. Whenever it met strong humans, it would avoid them for more than often the humans would win.

“What happened?” a sweet delicate voice came from the surrounding trees.

“An encounter with a dangerous human, he seems to be tracking his kinlings trail,” replied the creature.

“Who took his kinlings,” asked the voice.

“That old earth dweller,” replied the creature.

“Should we save him?” asked the voice.

“No,” replied the creature, “it would be best if he was rid from this forest. His presence and actions always bring humans.”

“I meant the human,” said the voice.

“I don't think the human will die,” said the creature.

“If old earth dweller keeps his kinlings hostage, he will most likely die,” said the voice.