"Nice. Good to see it works here too."

  Roy was mostly certain that the next time he encountered a message like that, he'd either reach the next town or some other area between there and Inicia Town. It was a shame the notification didn't come with experience points, unlike the online game he was used to playing.

  "The name's a bit too eery for what it looks like."

  Close enough to inspect the trees Roy saw that the Wadsley trees' bark was so dark in color they could be mistaken for black.

  It was weird. Both the name and the bark didn't fit with the rest of the forest.

  A forest named "Darkwood" should bring to mind ghosts and ghouls, but not this one. It looked much too pleasant for that kind of imagery. The leaves were green and full of life, having left their purple cycle and entered the green cycle, indicating the change of seasons. Sunlight poked between the leafed branches to put spotlights on the dancing grass guided by the gentle breeze. Roy also heard the chirps of small birds perched on the tallest trees overhead, some of them jumping or flying to meet another of their kind.

  It was a peaceful place. So far.

  Roy knew better; the secretary lady from the town office mentioned this was the location of the Killingjays, and there wouldn't be a request for their materials if they were that easy to hunt. He only wished he'd have asked her what they looked like. He resigned himself to a small sigh of hindsight, reassuring himself that it would be fine in the end. He knew it was a kind of bird, and by the mere fact its talons were requested, it must've been a bird of prey. Perhaps it was a relative of the hawk or eagle.

  "Woah, that's a fat mouse." He spotted a mouse easily matching the size of a Chinchilla scampering about between the trees, nibbling at plants and sniffing around the dirt for something to eat.

  Not a second later, it died without knowing what hit it.

  "I mean, I had to know." Roy felt a little bad but he appreciated the creature’s sacrifice.

  At least he would leave the forest with more knowledge than came with: seemingly weak creatures still gave him experience, and these in particular were slime-adjacent in threat. The creatures were flighty ones for their size though; if he somehow missed, it would be a tremendous waste of MP or SP. They weren't worth further attempts to farm for experience. Not when the Killingjoys would surely given him several times more per kill.

  "I guess I'll keep walking then."

  He walked further into the forest while keeping mental notes about the way from which he came.

  "Man, I'm not seeing anything. It's just all...trees!" He didn't know what he expected out of this forest, but something more interesting than what he passed by. He guessed to have walked a mile's worth in a straight line and the scenery didn't change. It didn't loop as the other forest had before, but no matter what direction he looked he saw the same species of tree. It was like sailing out in the middle of an ocean out of sight of any piece of land.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Tree tree everywhere...nor any rock...to sit on and think.

  Giggle, giggle.

  "What was that?" Roy heard noises further ahead. They sounded like echoes of laughter, pure and light. In the distance, he noticed faintly shimmering green lights. They probably had no relation to the Killingjays he sought out, but they piqued his interest.

  The closer he came to the lights the easier and clearer he could hear the laughter. The sources of the lights remained vague until he was close enough to reach out and hold one.

  They were fairies. Beautifully radiant emerald fairies.

  At least, that's what he thought they were. He supposed that he could try slaying one of them and find a definite answer. The moment he thought that the fairies ceased all movement as if frozen in time. And then they stared at Roy. It was so sudden Roy was taken aback and lost his train of thought. The fairies were liberated from their stasis and continued on as before.

  "There's no way..."

  Either the fairies could sense his thoughts or he telegraphed some type of killing intent like a car's headlights flashing a deer.

  [Lost?]

  "What?"

  [Lost?]

  Roy swiveled his head, looking for the owner of the petite voice which spoke to him. He looked down and saw one of the fairies floating in front of him. Smoothly it elevated itself to the level of his face, about four feet away.

  [Lost?]

  'Uh, kinda? Do you live here?"

  Gah, what a stupid question, of course they live here, why else would they be here?"

  [Home.]

  "Have you seen any Killingjays? I'm looking for them."

  [River.]

  "They're by a river? Where's the river?"

  [There.]

  The fairy Roy spoke with dashed away from him into a direction that he couldn't place on a compass without actually knowing where north was. The fairy flew through the air a distance of several yards before returning to Roy's side.

  [Dangerous.]

  "Oh are you worried for me?"

  The fairy bobbed up and down like it was floating on water to indicate a "yes."

  "That's very considerate of you. I'll probably be fine though. I've got this sword after all, and magic too."

  [Yes...]

  Roy waved at the fairy as he took his first steps toward the river cutting through the forest. In response, the fairy moved from side to side in the path of an arc, mimicking the movements of his hand to give its own form of farewell.

  "Cute. I hope this river isn't too far."

  The river wasn't far. It took Roy another ten minutes of hiking before the sounds of rushing water.

  "Oh right, I forgot I was looking for these too." He remembered the other request that was posted on the board. He spotted Whitethorn bushes on the opposite side of the river just beyond the bank's edge. True to their name they grew on a bush of dark green leaves and in clear contrast he saw the white thorns erupting from the stems. The thorns were small but bright and easily seen.

  Carefully he hopped from large rock to large rock across the river, not wanting to soak his pants.

  "Let's see..." Roy avoided poking himself on the thorns while pushing aside the leaves. Then remembering that the Valia flowers were not actually part of the Whitethorn bush, he looked at the ground underneath it. In the shadow of the bushes, almost like they were taking shelter, he found the Valia flowers. They were flowers at least six inches tall with six green leaves, beautiful in color.

  Roy plucked the flowers one after another and placed them in his open inventory. A digital picture of a Valia flower populated one of the squares which represented the items his bangle stored. After adding a second flower to his inventory, a stack was begun instead of organizing them as separate items. Roy thought it was neat and wondered if there was a maximum amount of storage in the bangle. When all the flowers were removed, his stack had a "five" in the corner.

  "Cool." Roy sighed, "I still need to get those birds. This is taking more time than I realized." Roy contemplated whether or not he should abandon his other request and focus on finding more of the Valia flowers. If his haul was any indication, he could probably obtain more of them further along the river. On the other hand, foraging for flowers didn't earn him any experience.

  He persisted with finding the Killingjays. Walking away from the riverbank he heard a hefty tenor bird call, distinct from the chirps and birdsong he first heard.

  He raced to the origin of the sound, holding back the use of the SP just in case he needed it.

  And need it he did. He found a Killingjay.

  It was a large, winged bird with dark brown feathers and a white underbelly. Roy found the creature in the middle of meals, raking with its talons and tucking its beak into the carcass of a dead Burrow Mouse. As Roy came closer and slowed down within sight of the monster, it turned away from its meal and started at Roy with its red eyes.

  Roy didn't move and neither did the Killingjay. He became acutely aware of the danger the Killingjay posed to him. Until now the most dangerous creature he faced was the boar, if only because of its ability to skewer him. The Living Stump was a bit creepy but weaker still.

  But this! This creature had a real sense of danger around it. The creature was certainly not one to be taken lightly, even if it was a level four.

  With a step forward, Roy tugged at his sword and freed it from its holder. The Killingjay lowered its head slightly and narrowed its eyes just as much. Roy kept his eyes on the bird and fully unsheathed his weapon. At the sound of his blade scraping the edge of the scabbard, the bird stood fully and stretched its wings to the side to increase its size. It croaked out a loud sound to show its aggression before attacking Roy.

  Roy lifted his sword to protect himself, waiting for the bird to lunge at him. Or whatever a bird would do. This one wasn't a runner. Instead, it flew quickly around Roy in a spiral traveling upwards to a good height above him. It turned smoothly while in flight into a dive. It shifted its body to crash into Roy talons first and open, ready to dig into him. Roy activated Blink to escape its path.

  He hoped that it would crash into the ground but it was not so. At the last moment the Killigjay changed course, narrowly missing the ground and gliding just inches above until it came to a stop. It flew up into the sky once again to take another shot at wounding Roy. Roy again Blinked into a different spot. He swung his sword quickly to slash away at the monster's back and missed.

  On the third go-around, he didn't wait for the Kilingjay to close in. It was too fast to make a close-range attack. He activated Power Slash which the monster noticed; Roy's sword glowed with anticipation and the Killingjay banked to avoid Roy's attack.

  On the fourth try, Roy grew desperate. He burned through his SP quickly within a minute. He needed what was left for safety precautions at this point. As his enemy was about to turn around he readied a Fireball behind his back. When he saw the Killingjay's beak he whipped his arm around and thrust out his palm toward it. He released his magic and it raced toward its highly mobile target.

  But Roy wasn't stupid. He knew that the monster would avoid his magic just like it did with his sword skill. He conjured four Fireballs in succession, slightly moving his palm to give them less precision when normally he would want more. He wanted an effect like a magical shotgun.

  Roy's magic flew in staggered formation, the point of which the Killingjay dodged first. The second was a miss too, and the fourth would surely catch nothing but air.

  But the third was a lucky one. It slammed full force square into the monster's face. Its form broke, robbing it of its ability to maintain control while flying. Guided purely by gravity instead, the Killingjay tumbled through the air straight for the ground. It flapped its wings vigorously failing to change anything until the last moment before it would crash into the earth, when it decelerated enough to prevent that.

  But before it could escape into the sky again, Roy closed the gap between him and the monster with Blink. He brought his iron sword down quickly, finding his efforts successful. The blade raked through the outer feathers and skin, leaving a long tear in its body that sprayed blood. The wound extended from just above where the left wing connected to its torso to where Roy would guess its "hips" to be. The attack caused it to drop onto the ground with an audible "thump."

  Roy did not hesitate to deal more damage in the creature's vulnerable state.

  "Are you serious, all of that, for just forty???"

  Roy needed a break.