Second Story Online: Aiming To Become The World's Number 1. Ideal Witch Chapter 10 - The First Familiar Spirit (1)

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I've finished eating breakfast and I'm now logging back inside SSO. The in-game time now is an hour just before sunrise. I thought about returning to town to compound the ingredients I have gathered. But I guess that can wait—let's just hunt a little before that.

Since the sun isn't out yet, my dark magic should still be strengthened. I'm a bit pessimistic about going inside the [Twilight Forest], but maybe it's alright if I take a peek.

Indeed, if somehow I can't get out of a battle unscathed and die, it should be fine. After all, one advantage of the level being below 10 is that there are no penalties imposed on the character if it dies. Then there's actually no problem if I make a return to town by death.

I went through the entrance and deeper into the forest a little bit. Inside the forest, it was darker, gloomier; ashen trees stand side by side, their leaves a dark green color serving as a canopy covering the skies. Since it's before sunrise, light is scant and darkness is more prevalent in the covered forest.

I stepped inside the forest wary of my surroundings. I try to advance like this, the view unchanging as I walked—as if it was some rotating film and I was trudging down the same path all along. It was the feeling of being directionless.

I made sure to advance in a straight line, but it feels like the path is all twists and turns. Now I can definitely understand why it was called the forest of hesitation; it's hard to get around with trees densely packed and the darkness obscuring the vision. Some may think they are going straight ahead, but it actually doesn't seem to be that way.

Why was I aware of this? Probably because of my [Land Familiarity] skill once more to the rescue. Navigating inside the forest has been fully grasped by this handy unique skill, thus I was more perceptive of the way; I won't get lost easily.

"Ugh.. I have a hungry status at such a time?"

While opening the map, I was somehow able to see a hungry state while squinting at the status bar. Oh, since I just had breakfast in reality a while ago, eating inside the game didn't cross my mind.

Since I didn't have a choice in the matter, I scoured the area for a suitable place to sit and have a quick breakfast. Inside the item inventory were the meat skewers I bought in bulk before, naturally it would be the only food I have at the moment.

"It would be nice to learn cooking skills."

When thinking about future adventures, I felt this was a good idea. I bit a mouthful of the meat and I coincidentally heard a rustling sound from somewhere.

"An enemy at such a time?"

The moment I tried to put away the meat skewers and grab my staff, the meat skewers immediately disappeared from my hand. What the.. it seems like something had swooped in and stolen it. I looked around searching for the shadow of the culprit.

An owl on was perched on a nearby tree. Or was it really an owl? No, it wasn't any ordinary owl, it looked like a horned owl with very long ears. Somehow, it also exceeded the size of a real owl. It was currently eating the meat it had whisked away from my hand.

"Hey, that's my meal.. Please return it."

Upon closer check-up, it's definitely a horned owl. Should I make it my next meal? I think it owls can be eaten in this game. But I do not want to eat it until I've gotten back at it for the the meat it stole.

Somehow, I had this irrational feeling; it didn't feel good to be a victim of stealing from an animal.

I held the staff in my hand calmy. The horned owl seemed to have finished eating and would surely notice my bloodl.u.s.t from here—this place is about to become a battlefield!

What's the best strategy in fighting a big bird for an opponent? Although the opponent is flying like the bat from the plains, using weak wind magic to knock it out seems to be a futile method.

While thinking such, the other party has already begun to descend. It zooms towards me under the cover of the darkness, the sharp talons ready for a.s.sault.

I couldn't avoid it and instantly, 40% of my HP has already disappeared. This is quite a dangerous opponent.

I drank a beginner recovery potion. Ugh, what a bitter taste. Since my HP was low, I recovered significantly from the potion. However, the potion also has a recast time of 30 seconds—if I receive a fatal blow within that duration, it's my defeat.

It's also difficult to attack precisely with a flying opponent. Especially since the opponent tends to stay far away, beyond my reach,  after attacking.

Nevertheless, I started casting. But I won't immediately fire it afterwards. I let the casting time approach completion and placed the magic under a [Wait State].

Before then, I would immediately fire a skill after I finished chanting. For this time, I'm going to use a method of keeping it under a standby mode using a new skill, made possible thanks to [Magic Knowledge]. During the waiting time, MP is reasonably not consumed.

I braced myself and prepare for the incoming attack.