It was quiet.
Too quiet.
No forest was meant to be like this in Jake’s opinion. There was no wind to rustle the leaves, no movements whatsoever anywhere to cause even the slightest song. No sign of any small wildlife hiding in the bushes or on top of the trees either, or the occasional sound of a bird chirping. It was just silence and stillness as if the forest was frozen over.
Jake walked through the blue forest as he took in the environment and felt just how corrupted the mana was all around him. No D-grade would be able to exist within the forest, and even weaker C-grades would find themselves negatively affected as the energy seeped into their bodies, corrupting them. Perhaps one would even turn into some kind of Lunewood creature if one spent too long there. He would almost compare it to an area hit by nuclear fallout, and he could only begin to imagine the devastation a Wood Meteor could cause if it ever struck down on Earth and remained unattended.
Then again, Jake wasn’t even sure a Wood Meteor would be able to enter Earth due to the powerful atmosphere. It definitely wouldn’t if they also added some additional barriers to empower the planet’s natural defenses, something he would need to talk to Miranda about doing when she was back from Nevermore. The thought that random objects from space like Wood Meteors existed that could fuck up a planet was definitely a newly unlocked fear for Jake.
Anyway, back to Jake, even without defending himself from the environment, he managed to remain unaffected as he made his way deeper and deeper into the forest under the cover of Unseen Hunter. He kept a lookout for any odd herbs or natural treasures born in the environment of the Lunewood Forest, but nothing really caught his eye, and what he did spot wasn’t anything he had any interest in using. The entire place really was a shithole, and Jake got the feeling that this particular Wood Meteorite was uniquely horrible.
At the very least, the brief time he had spent inside the forest only further strengthened his desire to get rid of the Wood Meteorite for good. Also, wouldn’t the moon just look too weird if it was filled with a blue forest? Yeah, it definitely would, so best to get rid of it before the forest could spread too far.
Getting deeper than ever, he spotted many more Lunewood Stalkers, all just doing… nothing. They looked like beasts but didn’t at all act like them. They were lying down but not even doing the beast-version of meditation, nor did they move to hunt anything. It felt more like their movements were robotic and pre-programmed to set patrol patterns. Entirely unnatural. A lot of them also just stood still like statues, with the only movement visible their pulsating vines filled with life energy.
Luckily, this did help with Jake not getting detected even if he walked right up to one. He did consider trying to give a Stalker a poke but reckoned that wouldn’t go well for him. Unless his definition of things going well was to fight another horde of Lunewood Stalkers, that is.
Maybe later, Jake told himself, as he kept running forward into the forest. Soon, he finally spotted something noteworthy: another creature.It was a large monster standing on four legs, but not like a horse or dog would, but more like a spider. Its upper body was vaguely humanoid, as it had four arms, each holding wooden staves. It definitely gave off stronger vibes than the Stalkers, even if it was still a very low-tier creature.
Using Identify, he also confirmed its level was higher than most Stalkers, at least by a little.
[Lunewood Keeper– lvl 322]
There was also one other difference between these creatures and the Stalkers. These Keepers actually moved around and did stuff, casting some form of magic on the ground all the time and tending to the trees and other plants. The name Keeper was very apt, but seeing that a part of their skillset was clearly reserved for tending to the Lunewood Forest, Jake guessed these would only be on the level of the Stalkers when it came to combat, even if they did feel overall stronger.
Ignoring the creatures and continuing, Jake only now seemed to realize what kind of exploration trip he had dedicated himself to. If his guess was right, and the Lunewood Forest covered a massive part of the far side of the moon, it wouldn’t be fast to reach the center. It would take a few days, even if Jake hurried. Considering he also wanted to check out anything interesting he found on the way, it would likely end up taking an entire week.
Considering the long time he would just spend traveling…
“Is this inferior version of a walkie-talkie working?” Jake asked as he reached out to a certain snake god, who he was pretty sure had time. Despite Jake not reaching out as much, he knew Villy had an avatar or something watching at all times. Or, at the very least, he was aware of what Jake was doing, which should also mean he was free to take a call.
“Oh, so he does still want to talk to me from time to time,” Villy said in a mock-offended tone. “I thought you had forgotten all about the snake god on your shoulder with how little you’ve reached out recently.”
“In my defense, I blame this all on Nevermore. I spent fifty years being unable to contact you outside of a few city floors, and it takes a bit to get used to it again,” Jake answered. “Besides, I got another limbless, long-bodied companion I could ask about fun system trivia. It’s just unlucky for you. Sandy knew about Wood Meteorites.”
“I can’t believe I’ve been replaced by a worm,” the Viper sighed deeply. “At least it’s a unique and interesting worm who got quite a few things wrong during their little info dump.”
“Such as?”
“Now, where would the fun be in telling you that?” the Viper joked. “Not going to spoil the fun for you. That would be rude of me, wouldn’t it?”
Jake didn’t really want to argue that point, as it would indeed suck to just have everything told to him. It would be a lot more exciting to explore the Lunewood Forest and find interesting things himself. He did have one question, though.
“What are the chances of a Wood Meteor – objects I’m going to assume aren’t just flying everywhere all the time – crashing into the moon like this? As in, what are the chances the system planted it here directly? And if so, wouldn’t it be a massive risk to Earth if a B-grade is just chilling this close to the planet? A B-grade should be able to reach the Earth pretty damn quickly and effortlessly, so have we just gotten lucky it hasn't decided to make the trip yet?” Jake asked about some of the things that had been bothering him with this entire Lunewood situation.
“Oh, it’s undoubtedly by design that the moon turned out like this. A natural Wood Meteor wouldn’t have had any chance to mature in the brief time the ninety-third universe has existed. They tend to float around in space for at minimum a few hundred thousand years before they crash into anything or burn up in an atmosphere,” the Viper responded, making Jake nod along as he jumped from branch to branch.
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“As for the threat this B-grade may pose to your little planet, I wouldn’t worry. It’s more than likely bound to the moon and unable to leave the celestial object until sometime in the future. This isn’t rare at all, and if you went further into space, I reckon you would encounter even god-level creatures who currently find themselves sealed to certain areas – a confinement that may be permanent, but that’s beside the point. My actual point is that while a B-grade this close to a planet could be a problem, it would only be one if the planet was too weak to give birth to its own B-grades. And I would personally be very disappointed if that was the case in your situation.”
“I see… that’s good to know,” Jake said with a bit of relief at hearing that the B-grade was likely restricted to being on the moon. Not only because he was afraid of the possibility of it deciding to attack Earth any day, but because it gave him more confidence to see if he could potentially make it prey.
Jake had considered what would happen if he tried to fight it and failed. Sure, maybe he and Sandy could escape, but what if it decided to chase them? Or it had some way to track them down after the fact, which would lead it straight to Earth?
Now, Jake wasn’t worried about that anymore, at least. So, a test-fight at minimum was definitely on the table.
“I should also inform you that the little Demon Prince you helped become a big boy Demon Lord has been making some waves back in the Fourth Hell. The King of the Fourth Hell has made him his new Chosen, and the other hells have also begun to show some interest, not just in the newly born Cerulean Demon Lord, but the one capable of pulling off a ritual to give birth to one,” the Malefic Viper continued, shifting the topic quite a bit.
“Can we use another term than giving birth? Feels hella weird when you say it like that,” Jake muttered. “But, hey, happy to hear he is doing well for himself. Will the fact that more demons are now also looking curiously at me change anything?”
“No, not really. Your prior actions already gave birth to a lot of interest in your abilities, and all the ritual did was confirm some of the possibilities behind your ability. There was doubt if you could only birth new creatures like with the Vespernat Hive Queen, but now you’ve birthed the idea that you can also assist pre-existing beings in experiencing a rebirth of sorts. The only thing I could realistically see happening was them throwing more succubi at you, who no doubt would be more than happy to take the job of giving birth off your hands if you catch my drift,” Villy said, clearly teasing his poor Chosen.
“This is bullying, and I will have you reported to the Humanoid Resource department,” Jake shot back.
“Then I’ll begin to release recordings of your most embarrassing moments,” the god said in an evil voice. “Remember, perfect memory. So good that anything I’ve seen I can perfectly recreate a recording of to share with all.”
“So now you’ve switched to blackmail and intimidating witnesses…”
“Some would argue I am not the most moral of snakes,” Villy continued in a sinister tone.
The two of them kept chatting, Jake gladly using the god to help pass the time. It was a bit like making a phone call in the car on your way home from work. It just made it feel like the trip wasn’t as long as it actually was.
They covered a lot of topics, and the Viper helped get him caught up on some multiversal politics and stuff. Jake also learned that a few of the people who placed well in Nevermore who didn’t belong to any large factions had begun to find new homes. One example was the weird sloth-like creature that had been sleeping under a table during the entire get-together and had ended up joining the United Tribes. It was not really a big shocker that one.
What was surprising was that the elemental called Wintermaul, that placed right after Jake and Ell’Hakan, had ended up going to the Altmar Empire. Why an ice elemental wanted to join the largest elven empire, Jake really couldn’t figure out, and Villy refused to offer his own theories.
There were a few other notable bits of information, but honestly, most of Jake and Villy’s talk was just shooting the shit. They even ended up discussing the controversial ending of a certain movie Jake had watched shortly before the system arrived, Villy having seen it through his divine Wikipedia skill.
On the way through the forest, Jake also ended up encountering two new types of Lunewood creatures. One was a floating vine-wrapped stone elemental known as a Lunewood Elemental. The stones were covered in glowing blue runes, and on the power scale, they ranked above anything else he had seen before. Not by much, though, and the “job” of this particular elemental seemed to be similar to what the Keeper did in that it helped maintain the forest.
Finally, there was a creature that made Jake chuckle. It was a large snake-like creature made up entirely of pulsating blue vines, and the reason Jake chuckled wasn’t because of its appearance but its name.
[Lunewood Viper – lvl 326]
“Look, Villy, I found your brother!” Jake joked while chuckling. “Or did you also give birth to something without telling me about it?”
“You do know I don’t have a monopoly on the name viper, right? It’s a type of snake. Plenty of vipers out there entirely unrelated to me, outside of how my Records may have affected them. Also, this isn’t even a real snake but just an overgrown vine,” Villy said defensively.
“The lengths one will go to to hide their shame,” Jake shook his head. “Maybe this is what a real viper is, and you’re the fake kind? Ever thought of that?”
“Wow… you’re right,” the Viper said in a mocking tone. “How could I have been so blind all along? Or, perhaps, have you just failed to realize I have just been a random long vine all along?”
“Truly, the plot twist that will shake the multiverse,” Jake grinned as he continued his journey.
It felt good talking to Villy again like this, and Jake had genuinely missed it during his time in Nevermore. True, he had been able to talk to his four party members then, but it just wasn’t the same. While he was rather open with them, he still had to keep a lot of secrets from them, while with Villy, the snake god already knew most of Jake’s bigger secrets about his Bloodline. That just made everything far more relaxed.
Days passed with Jake getting closer and closer to the center of the forest. One of the reasons he was running through the forest and not flying above it was to keep his feet on the ground to feel for natural treasures, but it also helped him be aware of the exact location of what he assumed was the Wood Meteorite.
And, sure enough, when he used a Pulse of Perception, he finally saw it. The meteorite was more than ten stories tall and had an almost entirely spherical form with spikes all over it. Around it were thousands of Lunewood creatures, including four of a kind he hadn’t seen before.
He didn’t need to closely inspect these ones at the meteorite, though, as he saw another one not that far away from him. Getting closer to it, he soon got a clear line of sight to inspect the creature. It was a tall, lanky, humanoid creature with two arms and two legs, along with a head that was eighty percent eyeball. As in, it looked like a cyclops with an eye that was way too big. It had to be said that the eye looked like it was made of stone, though, so Jake wasn’t even sure if it was a weak spot. In its arms, it wielded what appeared to be a sling of vines, giving Jake the impression it specialized in ranged attacks.
Using Identify, the name of the creature surprised Jake, as Villy couldn’t hold himself back.
[Lunewood Hunter – lvl 334]
“Well, well, well. What do we have here? The true form of what a hunter is supposed to be? Oh, isn’t that a sling? How perfect for a hunter, way better than some silly little bow!” the Viper teased Jake back for his own teasing earlier.
“At least this hunter is way better than that stupid viper before,” Jake shot back, with the Viper not answering again, as if he had seen coming what would happen next.
Because, hey, at least there was one good thing about this Lunewood Hunter… compared to all the other Lunewood creatures he had seen, it was far more impressive. More than that, it was clearly specialized in hunting down those who managed to reach this deep into the forest, making it a purely combat-oriented creature.
As a hunter, it naturally also showed one other impressive trait that Jake soon learned as he felt the eye of the hunter land upon him:
High Perception.