World Evolution

Chapter 5: Dark Forest

After eating Ethan took a short break and started to arrange his things before entering the dark forest. Ethan took out a pouch of light blue powder from his storage ring and sprinkled it on himself. The powder that Ethan used is called concealment powder a powder that can erase the smell of the user it can also erase the presence of the user if not seen with your eyes people won't be able to detect you.

But there is a limit to this powder it can only conceal your presence and smell from the opponent whose level is below ten if your opponent's level is ten or above its effect will reduce greatly.

There are other things that can conceal your presence from the higher level magic beast but currently, Ethan only wanted to kill his first magic beast that is not too powerful nor too weak since he will get his skill depending on the beast he kills first he chose to use this powder so low-level beast won't be able to detect him and he will not have to kill a low-level beast before he acquires his first skill.

After using powder Ethan entered the dark forest with his dark slayer sword in his hand. The dark forest is divided into three zones first zone is the outer zone second zone is called the inner zone and the last one is called the center zone. The Center zone is the biggest and Ethan doesn't know how big it is. To enter the inner zone you have to go around 150 km deeper into the outer zone the deeper you go the higher the level of magic beast you have to face.

When Ethan enter the outer zone of the forest he walked carefully and headed deeper into the forest, the trees in the outer zone are around 15-25 meters in height and are quite thick not only humans and beasts but flora of the planet also evolved because of the mana. The deeper you go into the forest the thicker and bigger the trees become.

The forest is called dark forest because the trees from the inner zone become so big and thick that even in the daytime it looks like you are walking in the night because trees stop most of the sunlight.

For a long time, Ethan walked alone in the forest but he didn't see any magic beast he was now walking for two hours and was around 8 km deep inside the forest. Just when Ethan thought he have to walk deeper he saw something crawling on the ground about 50 meters away from him so he hid behind the nearest tree and carefully look at the creature on the ground, he used his passive skill level appraisal on the creature on the ground to see it's level.

---)Advance Level Appraisal(Passive skill) :- you can see anyone's level that is not 10 levels above you.

After using the skill Ethan was able to see the level of the beast but he was disappointed after seeing its level.

---) Green bamboo snake - Level 6

If Ethan hadn't learned how to coat his weapons with mana Ethan would have gladly killed this snake and acquired his first skill but now he wanted to kill at least a level 8 beast for his skill although it will be hard, he thought about a method that will help him kill higher level magic beasts.

'' Just wait here I will come to pick you up after I get my first skill you will be good to raise my level '' Ethan mumbled to himself while looking at the green snake with a friendly smile but his words were far from being friendly just as Ethan said those words, the poor snake suddenly felt a shiver run down in its body and it fled from the area like a mouse who was being chased by a cat seeing this Ethan couldn't help but laugh.

Ethan started to walk deeper into the forest and he started to see more and more magic beasts the average level of these magic beasts was six so Ethan ignored them and search for a magic beast whose level is at least eight but no more than level 10 he knows that if he faces a magic beast above level ten it will be very difficult for him to win with his current status and skill forget about above level ten he is not fully confident in facing a level ten beast, he is just praying to meet an ideal level 8 or 9 beast and get his first skill so he can raise his level first by killing low-level beasts. After walking for one more hour Ethan finally found what he was looking for.

----) Ratman:- Level 8

You could simply think of a ratman as a 1-meter tall rat walking around on its hind legs. It had long, sharp tails that swung around like whips and were difficult to attack due to its quick movements.Ratman usually ambushes their target in groups but this ratman was alone and its defense is also average Ethan was confident that he can kill this ratman in a single strike if he attacks carefully.

To Fight against ratman who always ambushed in groups, Ethan has to conceal his presence as much as possible so that the chances of his ambush attack beige successful will be much higher thanks to concealment powder enemies below level 10 can't feel his presence so the ratman who is level 8 is an ideal target for Ethan who is here to get his first active skill by killing the higher rank magic beast.

Ethan first checked his equipment he was wearing a leather jacket and pants with just a glance you can tell that both jacket and pants were magic items. Both jackets and pants had black color that match his sword color both Jackets and pants can take a full strike from any magic beast below level 10. Although Ethan can ask for more high-grade armor from his grandparents Ethan didn't ask for it because he wanted to train here and it's better to not use high-level equipment while training.

Ethan watched the ratman from behind the tree and waited for the right moment to attack it, after waiting for ten minutes the moment he was waiting for finally arrived when the ratman who was just looking here and there seemingly waiting for another ratman closed its eyes and after five more minutes it falls asleep.

Ethan who saw this tensed his legs mussels so that he could charge forward at his full speed, he then used mana coating on his sword and it became more sharp and powerful after coting his sword Ethan release tension from his legs and charged towards ratman as fast as he could and swung his sword at ratman neck but ratman who is also expert in ambush opens its eyes at last second and jump sideway to avoid the strike but it was still a step late so the sword cut it's left arm instead of its neck the ratman screamed in pain after it's arm was cut off and it lost its balance after jumping sideways to doge Ethan's sword strike.

Ethan who saw this didn't want to miss his chance so he again coated his sword with mana and was about to run towards ratman who was just five meters away from him but before he could move a roar resounded in the forest and something jumped from a tree not so far from Ethan, it landed right next to the ratman and a claw crushed the head of the ratman with a single strike.

Ethan who saw this quickly backed away from the magic beast that just crushed the ratman and looked at it to see what it was and when he saw what it was his heart almost stopped beating.

---) Forest Tiger-Level??