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Feng sighed as the unpleasant reminder of his impending quest deadline disrupted his enjoyment of his newfound freedom in Athal.

‘Time to focus on getting back to Tyward again… How to navigate back though, there’s no convenient world map with player location or anything similar…’

Wandering around aimlessly, Feng eventually circled back and found his way back to the cave entrance only because he marked some trees else he would have been hopelessly lost as the dense vegetation looked similar in all directions.

After striking out a few more times and wasting an hour or two, Feng finally decided this was way too inefficient and took note of any landmarks he could find. Unfortunately, the tall trees blocked his view of any sort of mountains or significant landmark and there was only a small pond within the radius Feng explored.

Forced to improvise, he instead looked out for the different types of trees and shrubs, taking advantage of the [Observe] skills ability to discover their names such as [Black Oak], [Creeping Ivy], [Apple Tree] among many others. Next, Feng carefully examined the area for signs of animals, and found the tracks of [Black Wolf], [Grey Squirrel], [Black Boar] and a bevy of other small animals, though most of the smaller creatures fled at his approach and he only managed to observe a [Black Boar] directly.

Black Boar

Type: Porcine

Level: 32

Attacks/Weapons: Tusks, Body Blow

Traits: Poisonous, Camouflage, *Skill Level Too Low*

Stats: Constitution-Focused

Weak Spots: Legs, Underside, Eyes

Description: A large black boar found only in the [??? Forest], its impressive tusks and girth make a good deterrence for any hunters seeking easy meat.

‘Tsk, not much chance for experience gains here if this is representative of the levels of the creatures here. Hopefully it also means I’m not too far away from civilization.’

Returning back to the cave entrance, Feng logs out and trawls through the Ascension forums hoping to find relevant information on his current location.

Topic: Amazing Outdoor Environments!

You won’t believe the detail of the environments in Ascension! It is comparable to real life in every way! I left the town I was in and immediately went exploring and saw amazingly realistic and majestic scenes. While I haven’t managed to get far from the town, so far I have walked through rolling plains and dense oak forests.

~ Walker Topic: Looking for party members for quest hunting Black Wolves!

Looking for a healer and a tank for quest killing Black Wolves, only those above level 30 will be considered. Meeting spot at Tyward’s Town Square, no need for camping equipment, quest grounds within a day’s journey.

~ Elestrin Topic: Buying Creeping Ivy Extracts

Will pay one silver for every five extracts.

~ Grass Dealer

After an hour of trawling through threads containing any of the plants or animals he found in the locale on the forums, James managed to discover that he is actually in the Black Forest, based on the very limited user descriptions so far… and thankfully it was only a day’s travel away from Tyward which was the only reason why he managed to find the sparse amount of information as sufficient players had quests or hunted in the woods considering the creatures are fairly low leveled and easy experience for nearby players.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t help him at the moment as Feng is stuck in the depths of it without direction and a fast approaching deadline about two and a half days left till he fails his quest. Based on the limited information on the forums, Feng decided to head eastwards as it was mentioned in one of the threads that heading west was going deeper into the woods where more powerful creatures roamed.

Feng ran almost without stopping and avoids the creatures who surprisingly also veered away from him, probably sensing he was more dangerous than the [Black Wolves], the highest leveled creatures he caught a glimpse of while loping through the forest was only level 34 though they ran in packs and seemed well-coordinated. However, even the pack of these top predators also avoided Feng sensing that he was probably more trouble than it was worth and moved on to seek out easier prey.

Finally after a few hours of running or more accurately jogging due to the uneven forested ground, Feng slowed down as his keen eyes noted some unnatural marks in the dirt ground. The ground was oddly tossed up as though there was some combat in the area, however there was no signs of claw or hoof marks around the region and even the tossed up ground seemed to be oddly smoothened.

‘Looks like someone passed by here… but why would they go to the trouble of hiding their tracks? Odd, but this is likely my only chance of getting some directions back to Tyward, I can’t afford to miss it.’

Breaking into a smooth loping run enabled by his recent [Running] skill rank up, Feng quickly moved in the direction of the oddly smoothened ground and soon encountered small signs of people moving through the area. Buoyed by the hope of making his way back to town soon, Feng increased his pace, crunching dead leaves and twigs beneath his feet with quick strides.

*TWANG*

The abrupt sound in the previously quiet woods and the tingling sense on the back of his neck was Feng’s only warning as an arrow brushed past his face, drawing a thin line of blood in its wake… Hissing in pain, Feng completed his dive to the right which saved him from being impaled through the head and quickly rolled again as another arrow buried itself in the ground next to him.

“YAAAHHHHHH!”

Two fighters dressed in a haphazard complement of leather armor charged out from the bushes screaming as they ran towards Feng to compound his troubles as he was still struggling to dodge the oncoming arrows. The closer man had stringy black hair and held a slim sword in his arms and ran graciously as compared to the the other who was built like a block and brandishing a large axe.

Lacking the time to check out their information windows, Feng made a snap decision that that his chances are better in melee combat than dodging arrows and surprised the two charging men by charging at them himself despite the obvious numerical disadvantage…

As they closed in on each other, with the archer still peppering the ground around Feng as he zig-zagged to avoid the projectiles, Feng surprised them all by leaping sideways towards a tree as they heaved their respective weapons to take a swing at him.

The large axe crashed into the ground as its wielder failed to abort his swing in time and the excess force drove the heavy weapon deep in the dirt… and quickly dropped from the burly man’s hands as Feng’s flying kick crashed into his temple with the extra force from Feng rebounding off the thick tree trunk.

Unfortunately, Feng’s plan did not work as perfectly as he intended as the large man only staggered and collapsed under Feng’s feet instead of flying into his slimmer companion as he anticipated.

This gave the other man opportunity to retaliate as Feng was recovering his footing from the exaggerated flying kick.

*SWOOSHHH*

The slim man’s sword slashed at Feng and sliced his robes and dug into his leather armor which thankfully stopped the sharp edge from slicing Feng but did little to prevent the brunt of the force driving him backwards.

Not giving him a chance to recover, the man continued with a flurry of sword swipes at Feng which he barely avoided, his heart pumping double-time as the blade once narrowly missed his eyes and cut off some strands of his hair.

Deciding that he cannot afford to go easy and engage the swift blade of the man barehanded with his current skill level, Feng quickly pulled out his knives and parried the downward slash of the enemy’s blade with both his knives crossed upwards catching the blow… and immediately snapped out a straight thrusting kick with all his strength into the man’s groin.

*DING* *CRITICAL HIT*

His assailant’s eyes crossed almost comically and he toppled over curling up into a fetal position, and did not budge after… apparently fainting from the intense pain and shock.

*TWANG*

Unfortunately, this meant that the archer was free to fire on Feng once more without having to fear hitting his allies and this arrow skimmed past his knee, slicing his leg open to bleed profusely.

Enraged by the attack, Feng tossed one of his knives at the man and got a yelp of pain.

Gulping down a quick healing potion and pouring another directly onto the wound; an application Feng discovered while exploring the tunnels, the wound soon closed as Feng approached the position of the archer only to glimpse his fleeing form between the trees.

‘… I almost took an arrow to the knee. That might have ruined my mobility and my chances of accomplishing the quest and establishing me as a failed adventurers… Like one of those guards… '

'Like hell I would let you run away after trying something like that!’

Simultaneously horrified and furious at that realization, Feng started to run towards the fleeing man only to suddenly remember what the lack of caution did to him… and decided that it was better to grab the weapons from the fallen enemies before rushing blindly after the archer.

Returning to two unconscious men, Feng quickly observed and frisked them for loot, grabbing their money pouches (amounting to about thirty-two silvers) and the weapons but abandoned the low quality armor as they were poorer quality than his current armor.

Black Forest Bandit

Type: Human

Level: 39

Attacks/Weapons: Axe

Traits: Strong

Stats: *Skill Level Too Low*

Weak Spots: Head, * Skill Level Too Low *

Description: A large burly bandit who used to wield a big axe. Black Forest Bandit

Type: Human

Level: 42

Attacks/Weapons: Sword

Traits: Fast

Stats: *Skill Level Too Low*

Weak Spots: Head, * Skill Level Too Low *

Description: A slender bandit who is a skilled swordsman. Steel Sword

Type: Sword

Damage: 20 - 25

Durability: 83/100

Requirements:

60 Dexterity

40 Strength

Description: An unremarkable steel sword, it is of decent make and looks decently cared for. Heavy Iron Axe

Type: Two-Handed Axe

Damage: 20 - 30

Durability: 53/80

Requirements:

85 Strength

Description: A heavy iron axe with a solid oak shaft, it is somewhat battered from usage.

Hefting the heavy axe in his hand to test it out, Feng looked at the two unconscious bandits and wondered what he should do with them with no way to secure them.

Feng grimaced as he realized he cannot afford to allow the possibility of them awakening and attacking him while he is chasing down the archer…

*THUNK* *THUNK*

With two heavy blows, Feng parted the heads of the bandits, quickly turning away and swallowing down his urge to throw up as blood spurted freely and the heads fell free and rolled on the mossy ground.

‘They are bandits. They probably attacked and killed lots of innocents. It’s for the good of everyone…’

*DING*

New Title Obtained: Cold-Blooded Executioner

You mercilessly killed helpless enemies by beheading them…

+100 Infamy

+10% Chance to inspire fear in enemies if an enemy is decapitated New Skill Obtained: Decapitating Blow

Congratulations! You have learnt how to behead your foes, all you need to do is to mount them up on pointy sticks and you will be a complete savage.

(Passive)

+1% of decapitation (instant kill) when attacking enemies’ neck

+3 Strength

Feng’s face tensed as he read the notifications and simply could not find it in him to appreciate the obvious benefits of title and skill and grimly turned away to sprint after the offending archer only stopping to retrieve his thrown knife and noting the splatter of blood trailing away.

Running after the archer by following the blood trail, Feng realized he might have made a mistake as the dense forest suddenly cleared up and revealed a wooden stake wall surrounding what looks to be a full bandit camp… and a large group of more than twenty bandits bristling with weapons and bearing vicious grins as they advanced towards him.