Leo was sitting on the tree branch with his back against the trunk and a sour expression on his face.
He had been sitting there for nearly twelve hours waiting for the wolves to leave.
'For fuck's sake, don't these things have anything better to do?'He thought frustrated.
"Can't you guys leave me alone? I'm too skinny to feed you all."Leo shouted at the wolves.
The wolves were lying down, some even sleeping. But none moved an inch when Leo shouted.
At this point, they had gotten used to the weird creature making weird sounds after he kept shouting at them for nearly an hour.
"You know what, fuck you bastards," Leo shouted angrily.
After calming down, reality hit.
'Why am I shouting at a bunch of animals? I might have gone mad at this point from all the stress.' He thought while chuckling slightly.
He then turned to look at the rock he had been holding. It was the same rock he used to pick a direction, and he had decided to name it Rio.
"At least I have you, buddy," He muttered dryly.
Suddenly, his stomach growled, interrupting his thoughts.
'Well, it's time to put my plan into motion. I can't wait any longer.'He thought as he looked up.
Leo had been planning to climb higher up the tree for a better view of his location, but had decided to wait for a while to see if the wolves left.
"Okay, let's see. If I climb here l should be able to reach the next branch up."
Leo had made a mental map of the upward path so that he wouldn't fall while climbing up or get stuck mid-way.
Leo pulled himself up using some thick vines he had found. He continued going up until he reached the next branch and pulled himself onto it.
'Okay, one down and a few more to go.'Leo thought, looking up at the tree, which was easily 140 meters high, with multiple branches.
~sigh~
And so Leo climbed up the tree. He would sometimes slide and fall off a branch, but he always caught himself before he fell too far. Sometimes his balls were almost crushed, and his bones were almost broken. But eventually, he got to the top.
'That was exhausting.'
Leo was lying on top of a branch that was thinner than the ones below, but still strong enough to support him. He was panting heavily, seemingly sucking up all the air around him. He had some wounds on him that were healing at an astonishing pace.
After catching his breath, Leo stood up and looked out into the horizon. With no trees blocking his view, he had a clear view.
For a second, Leo was speechless. He was mesmerized by the view. There were trees all around him, with distant mountains in view. He saw some bird-like creatures flying in the distance, painting a magnificent view that Leo had never seen in his life.
"Beautiful."Leo couldn't help but comment.
After taking in the view for a while, Leo started looking around to see where exactly he was.
"There's no sign of civilization anywhere, so I would assume this is deep inside an unclaimed forest, or there may not be any advanced civilizations at all," Leo muttered to himself as he continued looking around.
Although Leo wasn't an expert on wilderness survival, he had watched a few videos and had gone camping with his dad when he was a kid, so he knew some basics.
After looking for a while, Leo was able to get a general map of the area.
For one, he used Rion's shadow to determine his approximate direction. He didn't know if the same conditions on the weather and temperature were the same in this world as they were on Earth, but he just assumed they were.
In conclusion, he determined that he was West. The distant mountains were in the south. As for East and North, he couldn't see any unique features other than trees.
'The land also seems to be sloping to the West, so unless water flows upwards here, there's a high chance I can find a river that way.'
Leo was lost in thought, trying to map out the area and getting a sense of direction. He didn't even realize when night fell.
"Phew, finally done," Leo muttered while stretching.
"Hm, it's already nighttime. I didn't even notice ."Leo said, looking up.
His night vision made night and day seem similar to him.
'Anyway l'm pretty tired,' Leo thought as he yawned.'Tomorrow I'll leave this place and head west, if the wolves are still there l can wait. I have all the time in the world after all.'
With that, Leo drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, he got up pretty early and started his climb back down. This time, he made sure he was careful; he retraced his steps to prevent any accident.
After a while, he finally got back to his original branch. He looked down but didn't see the wolves.
'Are they hiding or did they actually leave?'Leo wondered.
He wasn't stupid enough to assume that just because he couldn't see them, they weren't there. He circled the trunk, which was pretty huge, to check all the surrounding areas and even climbed up a bit higher to have a larger field of view.
After finding nothing, Leo finally calmed down. He took another round around the whole trunk just to be sure, then started climbing down toward the ground.
'I have a bit of a head start, but I'm sure it won't take long before they track me. If anything, their sense of smell should be greater than the wolves' back on earth.'
Leo finally reached the ground. His bare feet reaffirmed him as his toes curled up with soil between them.
Leo didn't waste any time thinking about anything and just started sprinting westwards.
The reason he decided to go towards the West was the possibility of finding a water source. Where there's water, there is life. That is what nature dictates.
'It will be easier to acquire food in that area. Though the number of predators will also increase.'Leo thought with a smile as he continued running.
The journey through the forest was never easy. Leo had to take multiple detours due to fallen trunks and steep elevations. It would have been even harder if he were an ordinary human. His reaction time and high endurance are what made this all possible.
Leo had been running for three hours straight, and fatigue was starting to accumulate. With his enhanced endurance, he could keep pushing forward, but he stopped.
Leo didn't know much about animals, but he knew enough. The wolves would catch up no matter what. He may have been fast, but he wasn't fast enough to outpace wolves. When they caught up and found him exhausted, he would practically be eaten alive since he couldn't die.
He already left a scent trail, so it was only a matter of time. Without wasting time, Leo climbed up the nearest tree until he was approximately twenty-five meters high.
'Better to be cautious,'
At the same time, he heard wolf howls from a distance away.
This was what Leo had come up with. He was going to keep moving when the wolves left and climb up a tree when they neared until the wolves either got bored and stopped chasing or he found a source of water.
The wolves arrived after a while and looked around. After a few moments of sniffing, they looked up and saw the weird creature they were following with a smug look on his face. Although the wolves didn't understand what it meant, they still grew agitated.
"Hey, aren't you chasing me? Come on, I'm right here."Leo was practically shouting at this point.
After venting his frustration at the wolves, Leo finally calmed down and sat down on the branch.
'That felt refreshing.'
Leo sat there for a while until he grew bored.
'Oh, right l haven't checked my stats. I remember getting a notification while climbing up the first tree.'
'Status'
[Name: Leo Redwood]
[Age:25]
[Strength:16]
[Agility:16]
[Intelligence:15]
[Endurance:18]
(Average human 10)
SKILLS:
[Immortality(Tier 1): You can't die from natural causes like death from old age or diseases, and all wounds heal over time, but only if a piece of you remains; if not, then death awaits you. ]
[Adaptability(Tier 1): You adapt to any condition as long as you are alive]
"So strength and endurance increased during the climb," Leo muttered while looking at his stats.
He then looked at intelligence. It hadn't increased one bit, and Leo wasn't really surprised. From the moment he saw the giant wolves, he knew he was in a fantasy world, and putting two and two together, intelligence was probably tied to this world's power system, which is usually mana or something similar to it.
'And my skills are still in tier 1. I wonder how long it will take to rank them up.'
Leo continued looking at his stats while daydreaming about how powerful he would become with a goofy smile on his face.
The wolves at the bottom just kept staring at the creature they were hunting, which was grinning and making weird chuckling noises.