Nyx’Sol had passed the threshold that marked the farthest he had ever been from home an hour ago and was gnawing on a piece of hard sausage in one hand and studying a far-too-large map with his other.

  So far, his adventure had been rather uneventful. Green trees and forest. Green boring trees and forest. And more green trees and… boring forests.

  They smelled the same as at home, the resinous smell of pine needles and moss. He heard the occasional bird and had seen a few smaller critters cross the road, mostly ants, beetles, and a forest turtle. All normal animals; otherwise, the wards against spirit beasts that were bound to the road would have denied them access.

  The road was in a terrible state as well. Grass, dirt, and gravel had long since overgrown the pristine white stone slabs that his stories had mentioned. But such was life for those who lived in the faraway wilderness that had not seen expansion efforts in centuries. His parents enjoyed the isolated region, but Sol felt like the sects could at least maintain the road.

  Studying his map, he realized another curiosity: the roads did not seem to follow a straight line. They often took unnecessary curves, twists, and long-winded paths or curved up hills, where it would have been much simpler to just build a road straight as an arrow.

  Whoever had drawn the construction plans for these roads had clearly been drunk. Sol sighed. It would take him hours, if not an entire day, just to progress four kilometers towards the sect as the bird flies.

  In fact, the road just took long detours that seemed entirely unnecessary. Did powerful cultivators just not care about the convenience of younger demons that were just starting out?

  Nyx’Sol talked himself into a bad mood internally as he approached the fateful crossing that would send him, from what he had calculated, sixteen hours of travel southwest on the left path and about seven days of travel to his destination towards the east on his right. And he only made this calculation because the eastern road could save him several days' worth of walking down the line, which the southwestern path would waste later.

  Or he could shortcut four kilometers through the woods and save himself a few days of traveltime. Sixteen hours or seven days worth of time saved, depending on which direction he would walk after taking the shortcut:

  The road that would save him seven days of travel time but was safe.

  Or the long winding road that saved him sixteen hours and where he could take more shortcuts down the line to be even faster.

  Sol really wanted to arrive at the sect as soon as possible, and this would save him valuable time. But the unrestricted sections of the forest that lay before him were dangerous for someone who was not a cultivator yet.

  Sol had read stories about mushroom drakes, silverfang wolves, and cinder bears that came to mind when he thought about forest adventures. But those were stories of great demon cultivators; surely such an enormous threat would not even notice a young demon stealthily skipping through a forest section.

  And these were just stories. They over-exaggerated constantly. If they were accurate, Sol would have been married twice already since he left his home, with chance encounters of beautiful girls marking his every step.

  He finished his breakfast sausage, which left a delicious, salty aftertaste, and hurried into the woods before him.

  His decisions rewarded him greatly. Not only had he not encountered any danger for the past twenty minutes, Sol also came across a large thicket of plukar berries, which just innocently sat there, in a light green, almost white coloration.

  Just how he loved them. Green and sour. His mother had told him that they were usually only used for making wine once they turned a deep purple color. Finding green berries was more difficult since they only stayed green for a few days and ripened rapidly.

  Nyx’Sol hurried to gather a few handfuls of berries before moving on.

  Whoever had come up with the saying that leaving during daytime was bad luck clearly did not have his. After the deliciously sour berries, just fifteen minutes later, he stumbled onto a cornucopia of mushrooms! He then quickly stuffed them in his already full backpack. A crystal-clear water stream to refill his water bottle, as well as an old ruin that was half-buried under moss, followed shortly thereafter.

  This was less practical but roused his sense of adventure. There were clearly deep cuts along the stone and what he guessed were impact craters where the moss formed a suspiciously round hole.

  A large stone sword penetrated a section of what seemed to have been a watchtower. It must have been formed by a cultivator's ability.

  Nothing useful seemed to remain in these ruins, so after marveling at the sight for a few minutes, Sol carried on. He was reasonably sure that he had passed the halfway point just before reaching the ruin.

  Twenty minutes later, he stumbled into another lucky encounter.

  A really fat squirrel. The chonky fellow sat on top of a large boulder, gnawing away at a pine cone. The surrounding area was full of them. Sol knew from experience how quick squirrels could be, but this tank of a guy might be too slow to escape.

  Nyx’Sol grabbed a few berries and a tiny piece of bread and approached carefully, avoiding sudden movements. While the fat squirrel did not approach to take Sol’s bait, it also did not move. It just sat there, eyeing his approach while cracking open pine cones and retrieving the seeds within.

  Cheeky fellow. Nyx’Sol readied his footing to dash towards it and grab it with his claws. If it ran away, he gave himself an optimistic one-in-five chance to catch it. It was worth trying. He could already smell the grilling meat above a bonfire in the evening while eating his newfound berries. A mushroom stew could also be a good option, but he did not have a large pot to cook them with.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  The chunky rodent turned away from Sol, and he took that opportunity to commit.

  His muscles flexed, a short dash carried him forward, and his claws dug into the fur victoriously.

  But that was all they did. The squirrel stared at him with eyes that were uncaring. Nyx’Sol realized his mistake too late. This was no ordinary squirrel. It was a spirit animal.

  Its fur turned a light blue color, and a burst of energy made Sol slide backwards several meters, furrowing the mossy forest floor. Then the squirrel readied a jump and dashed at him with disturbing speed. The stone cracked below its tiny feet audibly.

  A disturbing squeak of death announced that the hunter had now become the hunted.

  Nyx’Sol barely dodged the dash and charged past the boulder, hastily fleeing from the spirit animal's territory. He tightened his backpack as much as possible to center his body weight more consistently and made a mad dash through the forest, which slowly began to turn downhill.

  The squirrel gave chase, angrily squeaking and shooting like a cannonball from tree to tree, its fur a shiny light blue color. It clearly wanted Sol to leave its territory; otherwise, it would have likely dashed directly at him.

  Sol quickly found himself in a dead end of tight trees and boulders. With nowhere to run, he could only hope to fight or pray that the chunky rodent would be satisfied with chasing him here.

  Sol withdrew his sword as the squirrel approached.

  The weapon seemed to make it hesitate. Then the light blue fur lost its luster, and the critter hurried back up a tree. For a moment, he had thought it would seriously try to kill and eat him. Now he felt a little bit silly.

  It was just a squirrel, after all.

  Then a drop of warm liquid fell onto Sol’s shoulder. Glancing at it, it looked like blood.

  His eyes darted upward at the towering brown wolf that was now casually standing on top of a boulder. Its mouth was bright crimson with blood.

  Nyx’Sol took a slow step forward while turning towards the predator. Then he sheathed his sword very slowly. He prayed that the scrolls of the Eternal Sword Demon had been an accurate accounting of the pride of spirit animals. They tended to recognize aggression and weapons, and backing off was smarter than running away in a panic.

  That was better suited for a squirrel that was just violently asking him to leave.

  The wolf was clearly a spirit animal, its eyes shining in a beautiful green color. A brown jade wolf? Or an emerald woodstalker? There were a thousand different permutations of wolves across the continent. And the knowledge would not help either way.

  Sol slowly and carefully walked backwards, paying close attention not to make any rapid movements and keeping his eyes peeled on his new predator, without staring into its eyes.

  The animal licked its bloody snout and took a few lazy steps off the boulder in his direction. Was it still hungry? Would it attack him after all?

  Nyx’Sol almost cursed at that and continued his slow walk backwards and then, back turned to the wolf, downhill. The wolf still towered above his own height, even on even ground. It was nerve-wracking to have such a giant animal follow him. But it had not dashed at him yet; neither did it seem too intelligent, otherwise, it would have long since attacked him.

  A young spirit beast, then. Still way too strong for him. Sol would have bet his newly found berries on the fact that his sword would likely not even penetrate its skin with a full-force attack.

  Sol’s heartbeat made him feel like it would give away how scared he was under his calm demeanor. It was pounding in his head, making him fear that he would not hear the wolf if it attacked.

  Then the forest cleared up ahead of him. Through a few bushes, fallen tree trunks, and a multitude of boulders and smaller trees, he could spot the road. Safety.

  Then the predator behind him growled. Its gait turned hostile, ready to pounce.

  Sol saw the muscles flex below the fur, preparing for an easy meal. He did not have to be warned twice. In a mad dash downhill, he made sure to bring every possible obstacle between himself and the animal. Even if he wanted to stop and halt his movement, the soft forest floor and gravity downhill would not have allowed him to.

  The best he could do was to ignore the howl behind him, the sound of claws shredding tree roots, and pivot his rapid descent into a direction that brought semi-safe obstacles between him and the predator.

  It worked. The giant predator tried to follow his zigzagging motion downhill, lost footing, and slid downwards uncontrollably.

  Downwards. Like Sol. The predator realized the inevitable destination and dashed ahead, repositioning itself on a fallen tree trunk just a few meters away from the road, where the downhill slope came to an end.

  Sol did not have time to think as he was descending downhill. His only focus was to not trip and fall right in front of the deadly beast.

  His heartbeat had accelerated to a point where he could feel it in his fingertips, rapidly pounding away, his body trying its hardest to get him to safety.

  Inevitably, unable to even pivot anymore, the speed carried him straight to the waiting predator. Sol decided to bet on the last available resource he had: his voice.

  With a booming war cry, he reached the fallen tree, his suddenly increasing voice making the wolf unsure and hesitate for a second, his wildly swinging arms an indicator of violence.

  But it did not back off.

  Using his momentum, Sol slid under the tree trunk, the speed rapidly decreasing, allowing him to shoot to his feet right after and make a mad dash towards safety.

  The wolf had taken the bait of him sliding under the tree and was now staring at Sol darting away on the other side. It quickly gave chase.

  He recalled his fight with the mimic. This time, he would make sure that he was absolutely safe when he reached the road, not let that overgrown puppy drag him back into the woods by his ankles.

  He heard claws on wood behind him and could almost feel a warm breath on his neck when he stepped onto the road, continuing his run right into the forest on the other side.

  Here, he slowed and walked back onto the road carefully.

  The giant emerald-eyed dog showed a confused face, patting the invisible beast barrier with its paw in frustration.

  In safety, the spirit beast looked kind of cute with how disappointed it was.

  Sol put down his backpack, gulped down the fresh spring water he had found earlier, and grabbed a handful of sour berries as his heartbeat calmed down.

  The dog stood there menacingly, watching as Sol patted down his clothes, freeing himself from pine needles and remnants of moss.

  Satisfied with the result of his shortcut, Nyx’Sol stretched. The excitement made him feel alive. A very similar feeling to how he had felt after defeating the mimic. It had not been the drunkenness of power, rather the thrill of life and death.

  Then a cold gust of wind ran a shiver down his neck. The oversized dog whimpered audibly and scrambled to retreat below a nearby bush, its face covered by its paws, its fur standing up straight, and its body shaking in terror.

  Nyx’Sol could not help but feel satisfied at the sight of its retreat in fear. Maybe he would inspire something similar in the future?

  Sol could spot the origin of this aura immediately.

  The pressure it emanated felt like cold, hardened steel.

  A lone demon had appeared on the road's horizon, walking towards him.