The Traveler: Martial Druid

Chapter 6

"Hey, Granny Scarlet! How are you today?"

Katsuo said as he dropped the basket of fruits he had just gathered.

"It's... okay..."

Granny Scarlet answered Katsuo slowly as she usually did.

It had been more than three months since Katsuo set foot in this jungle and started his life in the wilderness. At first, it was hard, there was that grey blur that kept stealing his food, and then his arms kept getting scratched whenever he tried to climb a tree. Every night he would pray to Aeternitas, to help him, to guide him out of this jungle and show him the way towards civilization.

She never answered his prayers.

However, it was okay. He knew that she was a goddess and she couldn't return every prayer. He didn't blame her. He wanted to blame her but he couldn't as she had already granted him a second chance at life, how could he be hostile to her? But in gaming terms, he still felt salty about being thrown in here.

His first week was the worst, he was constantly hungry and didn't know where to go or what to do. It was at the end of the first week that he finally got an idea about how to survive. He just needed to ask.

Did that sound crazy?

Well, it was! Back then he literally went crazy from hunger. Water from the river was the only thing he could fill his stomach with. He had even started to chew on barks from hunger.

That was when he remembered a certain article he had read in the past.

It was an article about how mushrooms could speak to each other and they had developed their own language.

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[Polyglot(Max)]: You can speak and understand every language in existence.

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Once he remembered that he started to speak with trees. If they had a language to communicate with, Katsuo should be able to speak it. At first, they didn't answer him. Still, he kept whispering to them because that was the only thing he could do back then. At the back of his mind, he was hoping that the trees refused to speak to him because he ate their bark so he kept apologizing to them. He complimented their leaves and branches and eventually, one of the trees spoke to him.

Remembering that Katsuo couldn't help but chuckle.

When they first spoke to him, he had thought he finally went nuts completely but they had actually spoken to him! It wasn't his imagination. So he asked them how to leave the jungle but they couldn't answer him since they didn't know the way.

Still, they helped him by giving him fruits! He didn't need to be hungry anymore!

Afterwards, they pointed towards him Granny Scarlet, one of the rulers of this jungle.

She was a sentient tree and eventually, she had become a treant. Her name was Scarlet because her leaves were red all year round. According to Granny one of her friends suggested the name and she liked it.

After hearing the recommendations from other trees Granny Scarlet took him under her wing. She taught him how to survive in the forest, how to hunt, how to weave baskets, and how to make fire. She taught him everything Katsuo needed.

"Oh... it's here... again"

Katsuo immediately got up and picked up his spear.

It was the grey blur, the fish thief!

He didn't know what kind of an animal it was but it always aimed for Katsuo's food.

*Woosh*

"Nooo!!!"

Katsuo cried in despair as his hard-earned food for the day went missing again.

"Don't... be sad... it's also... a child... of this... jungle"

"I know granny, I know. But I swear when I can get strong enough I will catch it and give it a good smack in the bum. If it's that fast it doesn't need to steal my food now does it?"

Katsuo wore his empty basket behind his back.

He needed to talk to trees and beg for food... again.

Well, at least the other trees in the jungle knew of grey blur as well so they understood his predicament. Still, this should help his body train a little.

After finding food and a stable environment to live in Katsuo finally started training his martial arts. It had also turned into a skill after a week of training and that was when he confirmed his speculation that skills had levels.

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[Martial Arts: Seiryuu Style Karate (Elementary lv.2)]: You have mastered the basics of your martial arts Strength +20  Agility +20 Vitality +20

---

It started off as basic and for every level, Katsuo would gain +1 to Strength, Agility and Vitality but after level 9 it upgraded to the Elementary stage and each level started to give +10 to the stats but it was way harder to level up in the Elementary stage. 

But seeing this he was kinda disappointed. All three of his skills were at max level but they didn't grant him any stats. If they did his stats could have been in the thousands... or at least Katsuo assumed as such.

He also didn't know how many stages there were for his skill to upgrade. Most importantly if it would have another ten times jump in the amount of stats granted but at least it was better than nothing.

He didn't want to say it himself because it felt weird but he started to like this kind of lifestyle. He would get up every morning, train, forage for food, and take survival lessons from Granny Scarlet then rinse and repeat. 

However, one question still bothered his mind. His starting stats were 1 so he could accept being unable to catch a sight of grey blur back then but now that his stats were in the 20s how could he still not see it? Just how absurd were its stats?

At times like this, he wished he had mana because then he would be able to use his appraisal skill to identify its stats and finally learn the difference. He was actually scared that grey blur had stats to rival the beast from back then. If so, he would never be able to get his revenge on it.

Still, he couldn't blame grey blur either. It was only making his life harder, despite its fast speed it never attempted to take his life. According to Granny Scarlet, she was just a prankster and liked messing with other creatures in the forest. It didn't hold any ill will against any being and that was why the jungle protected it. 

'Grey blur is the child of everyone in this jungle'

That was what Granny said back then.

Those words made Katsuo think of the meaning behind them. Why was it the child of everyone? Because it didn't have any parents. Why did everyone tolerate it? Because it only wanted attention and this was the only way it knew how.

In a way, they were similar. Katsuo was also all alone in this world and he could also be considered a child of this jungle.

"So granny, how long till your friend comes?"

Katsuo asked before leaving even though he knew the answer.

"Three... months"

Granny Scarlet was a treant but she hated moving so she would generally stay planted like a normal tree. But she had druid friends who would come to visit her from time to time. That was why the beast spared him back then. It had thought Katsuo was related to them.

So despite the fact that she refused to move, Granny still offered him a way out. She told him how to get out of the jungle but Katsuo couldn't leave alone. 

The way out actually passed through Relsai's territory (the black beast) and it had specifically said it would kill Katsuo if he ever set foot in its territory. So the only thing he could do right now was to wait for Granny's friends and go out with them. If he was lucky, he could even take one of them as his master.

"Okay, then granny. I am leaving now"

"See... you... later"

For a minute there Katsuo thought if he should actually hunt something for the night but he gave up the idea. Whenever he catches something it would be taken by the grey blur but if he foraged for food sometimes it would be merciful and let him keep it. There was also another more ethical question but Katsuo was intentionally ignoring it because his love of meat had transcended this ethical dilemma. It was whether eating talking animals could be considered as cannibalism or was it just restricted to eating humans rather than beings that could think and talk? Well he didn't even need to consider this ethical dilemma as whatever food he got would be stolen by grey blur anyway.

He was sick of fruits but he had no choice. If he wanted to eat meat, he needed to have a bigger fist than grey blur.