Life Drain System

Chapter 69 - Into The Forest

    "..." Yueliang said seeing that he had no bad intentions, and then continued after a few seconds while walking away. "By the way, a little advice, until you are proficient in juggling, you should probably avoid doing it blind."

    James just stood there dumbfounded after realizing what Yueliang said, thinking. 'I cannot believe I actually accidently nearly killed my king. This is terrible, at least I did not get killed for that mistake. This cannot happen again, clearly juggling cannot be practiced until my vision comes back again.'

---- Meanwhile ----

    "So roughly how far are we from that small town filled with those exercise enthusiasts?" Yue asks jokingly.

    "Mmm, probably a day or two if we go at a walking pace, however if we run, then probably just a number of hours. Are you in a hurry to get there?" Shen Hu replies.

    "Definitely not after our physical training. What about you?" 

    "Nope. It has been a while since I really explored my territory anyway, so why not take our time, and have some fun." 

      "I agree, however I am curious. Why is it you never really explored your territory much?"

      While walking out of the town gate Shen Hu replies. "You do not really know much about tigers do you? Hehehe, alright, the females tend to take care of the territories, whilst the males tend to leave to hunt and look for mates. Although we often time do not stick around, I guess I am different in that aspect."

      "Clearly, if I remember correctly, the males do not even stick around for the birth of the cubs right?" 

      "Normally that is the case, however like most I prefer the peaceful lifestyle. Thus to avoid fighting as we prefer, I have decided to just collect mates while I travel, and keep them with me. Pretty smart right?" Shen Hu said looking proud of his intelligence. 

      "Haha, Yes. You are right, pretty ingenious. Plus now you do not have to wander to look for your partners, as you will always have at least one with you." Yueliang praised him.

    "Thank you, I certainly thought so." Shen Hu said happily accepting the praise.

    "This forest definitely seems more beautiful every time I enter it. This beautiful forest has all sorts of trees, like rubber trees, chinese cherry blossoms, and even pine trees as well as many other types. It smells beautiful and is extremely aesthetically appealing, to me at least. I love the fresh air in this world compared to my last one." Yue explains while still riding Shen Hu.

      "I must admit, hearing you talk about that place, and looking at the past memories, does make me curious what more your world has ... sorry, had to offer."

      Clearly seeing what Shen Hu was trying to say, Yueliang just says one more thing. "Sorry if I bring up my old world a lot, it just feels natural to think about it sometimes. Anyways, how long have you been here in this forest?"

      "That I cannot really answer, as unlike humans we do not focus on time all that much. Oh, right, I have been here for one winter. If that works as a frame of time for you, however if you are trying to get an age for me, I am of 4 winters. I guess you humans would call 4 years old, however I only met Huoli about a little over 2 months ago which means the baby should be here in 1 month." 

      "That is wonderful, I look forward to seeing your little ones running around. Which reminds me I thought that tiger have litters or in other words multiple cubs at a time. So would that not mean there should be a few? Why did you only have me name one?" Yueliang asked.

      "That is true, however naming is extremely life threatening as I am sure you know from your recent experience. Thus just having one named was enough for us. Although that is not to say we would not gladly accept you naming our other cubs, but as our friend we would rather not lose you."

      "Awe, thank you. By the way are we going the right way?" Yueliang spoke up as he noticed the forest getting more dense the farther they walk.

      "Haha, ahhh. You know, I kind of forgot while we were talking. This is the short cut to the nearest mage town. We need to go more this way, and now we are back on track." Shen Hu says while turning his body to the left a bit, before continuing to speak. "So I have been meaning to ask, what did you do with those soldiers you were training?"

      "I kind of had other things to do thus I forgot about them until now that you reminded me. Either way to answer your question, before I left them, I had some of the Sky Orcs go and refill the empty pens, that do not have rabbits. So right now they should be fighting the wolves unless they are long dead." Yueliang brought up in reply.

      "I see, then basically self training. I guess this will turn out in one of two ways." Shen Hu responds.

      "There are a few out comes in my mind, although them succeeding is the outcome I desire. Which ones do you foresee happening."

      "Well, either they live and end up much stronger, or two they die, and we end up with having to either give an explanation or a war. What do you think is more likely?"

        "Probably the war, unless they decided to work properly and fight properly." 

      "Right you are. So then how do you think we should prepare?" He asks Yueliang.

      "Hmm, I see, well, we can begin once we return from our destination. In the mean time hopefully all is going well back at the house."

      Shen Hu then gets ready to speak when... 

      "Back at the house." "Back at the house." "Back at the house." The duo heard echoing all around them.

      Shen Hu then says. "While I feel this is slightly odd while it is dark out, it is just birds. They like to mimic sounds they hear. That is probably why many humans hate coming to these woods."

    "True, however to me, I think it is kind of pretty sounding. I mean how the birds sort of give more ... life ... to the forest. While some may find it creepy, personally it represents the intelligence of what is around me, in my mind at least. What do you think?"

    "Now that you mention it, I agree, it does sound kind of nice when one thinks of it in that way. However will you be able to say the same when you see spiders larger than you?" Shen Hu exclaimed while going through Yueliangs' memories to find something that makes him uncomfortable to tease him a little.

    "Really, you had to go there? I like spiders, just so long as they do not touch me. Although I guess I have to get over this sometime or another." Yueliang mumbles to himself.

    *Chi *Chi

      "Just great, Shen Hu, please run, unless you want us to die today." Yueliang says calmly as he looks at a spider with legs as big as small trees, and a body to match to their right side.

      "Why would we ... Never mind." Shen Hu replies and starts sprinting full speed as he notices more and more spiders getting closer. Some coming from high up in the trees, and others crawling out of holes in the ground moving really quickly towards them.

      Racing through the dense woods towards their destination, Yue occasionally look back seeing the spiders gradually gaining on them. Yueliang then says. "I see light, maybe if we hurry and make it into a brighter area they might stop following us."

      "I am exhausted, I do not think we are going to make it." Shen Hu exclaimed panting a bit between his long strides.

      "Do not worry about it, I will help out, just focus on running." Yueliang replied then thought to himself. 'Yang, are you able to activate my abilities on Shen Hu, as well as restore his stamina?'

      "I can do the first, as it would be similar to how I spoke to them before. However to restore his stamina is an iffy one. You could buy a stamina potion?" Yang replies with a question.

      'Do you have a pill for stamina?'

      "Yes, however I make no guarantees as it was meant for humans just like the potion."

      'Perfect, I will take two pills of stamina, and I need you to activate both sprint and dash on Shen Hu immediately.'

      "Got it, that will be 100 Shop Credits and 2 Years. The pills can be found in your inventory." Yang replied as Shen Hu seems to have sped up by a lot.

      'Thank you Yang.' Yueliang thought as while saying. "Shen Hu, please open your mouth." Without even questioning Yue, he opens his mouth, and Yueliang drops one of the cultivation pills of stamina into Shen Hus' mouth. He swallows it, and over the next few seconds he could feel the energy flood into his body while running.