They’re Just Experience

Unlike the trees around him, which were normal and rounded and didn’t grow too tall, the forest ahead was made of towering, straight giants. The kind usually tied to harder, creepier areas in games and stories.

With a thick layer of twigs, bark and leaves, the floor was devoid of greenery, the trees greedily absorbing any and all sunlight with their thick tops. Knocking against the tree, a deep thud came back showing the trees to be extremely dense.

The night was quiet, most things asleep, so it was quite an uneventful journey—but as he stood beneath the looming trees, unease instantly washed over him, like the forest only came alive at night.

He ignored the feeling but stayed cautious, climbing into the canopy. Just as he reached the top a faint howling entered his ears from deep within the forest, bouncing off the trees as it went. Swallowing a nervous breath his face smirked slightly, a tinge of excitement welling up within.

Activating his skill, Magic Echolocation, a circular wave of mana spread out, returning faint signals of moving objects. It was no clear image, but it pointed him in the right direction at least.

He shifted branch to branch, making use of the thick walkways and his recently gained proficiency to stay out of most harms reach.

A short meander later, following the faint ping, the image sharpened, fixing the location in his mind. Soon enough he found the source: a massive spider sprawled high in the treetops.

Matte black, easily two meters across, possibly more with its legs spread, its body clung to a lattice of silk strung between half a dozen trunks. Eight eyes glinted faintly, catching stray light like glass beads.

Four legs rested tense on the web, threads already spun to launch forward, while a thick anchor line coiled along its back, ready to reel in whatever it snared.

The sight made him shiver in anticipation, a fever to hunt rising up. Its ambush style also interested him. He thought of waiting to see it in action, but the forest was too still. No prey stirred nearby, and wasting time wasn’t worth it.

From a safe perch a few trees away, he raised his bow. Spirit energy and mana swirled into shape on the string, condensing into an arrow with a large, savage tail on the point. He guided the air around it, muffling the sound, and loosed.

The shot curved smoothly around the slight bend, streaking through the forest with its dim glow, like a shooting star with a destination. Its eight beady eyes snapped toward the light, but with no frame of reference for such a thing—and the instinct to trust in its inky stillness—it didn’t move.

To the spider, the glow wasn’t danger, just another flicker in the dark.

A needle-sharp scream tore through the trees, SKREEEEE!

It screeched, thrashing frantically as the arrow lodged deep in the narrow joint where the front and back of its body met. Each convulsion only drove the swallow-tail head deeper, tearing at the soft flesh and spilling its lifeblood.

Within moments its legs began to curl, grip on the web weakening until it dropped with a muffled boom. A few twitching spasms rippled through its limbs before stillness claimed it entirely.

Scanning with his senses, no other movement came close.

Dropping down he threw a few rocks first, to double check, before he harvested the fangs and jewel-like eyes, their surface hard and glinting red.

Throwing them in his newly gifted backpack from Han, he gathered the spider’s shadow fragments, and set it running in its own corpse, leaking blood as it went to hopefully attract new prey.

Eventually getting a new signal, he narrowed in on its location. A sturdy burrow dug under a towering tree. Echolocation only relayed that living creatures existed inside, not much beyond that, so even without much information, he could only press on.

The spider bait hadn’t even reached the entrance before an adult creature burst out, fur bristling with whisps of fire. A fox-like body, but with feline grace and features.

Fire curled along patches of its coat, coming together on its tail. It didn’t attack outright—it prowled forward, trying to intimidate, the intense flames on the tail flaring aggressively into the air.

Joseph noted the behavior. ‘Looks like it’s not confident against the spider. Trying to posture and scare it off instead.’

Having practiced sending signals of mana, so he could remotely control the shadow’s, he made the corpse move in a way to force the fox-like sight away from him. Drawing a deep arrow, with yet again a swallow tail like point it fired.

The shot struck the beast’s neck, lodging deep into the flesh, slicing and cutting away with each movement. It stood still, barely reacting, as blood rapidly drained away from its open cut.

“Did I not put enough power into it?” he muttered.

The fox’s cry brought two more—another adult, and what looked to be a slightly young one. With some intelligence in their eyes, they made light noises to each other before lunging at the spider, fangs and claws sinking into its legs.

The first, barely alive creature, twitched like it wanted to warn them, and all the while, the spider ignored their attacks, focusing on trapping them.

With a dead body it could no longer produce any sticky webbing, so instead, under his control, it waited and then curled up as they got underneath.

Trapping them within its legs as they savagely ripped away, fire spitting out of their breath with each bite. Joseph’s next two arrows speared through their vitals. Both fell. And a final shot ended the first’s suffering.

Satisfied, he boxed the area with concrete and descended.

The spider-shadow was collapsing, its head nearly severed and legs torn apart. He dismissed it, not wanting to waste mana, and turned to the new corpses. Skinning what was salvageable, and searching around for their vitals.

Then eyeing inside the shallow burrow, just about large enough for him to squeeze in. Two tiny creatures huddled inside—one trembling at the back, one braving the front to shield it as its tiny flames flared like a lighter.

Coming back out he looked at the hole with conflicted thoughts. ‘Why do I feel so neutral about this? Normally in films this is where I actually care but… I just look at them and don’t feel anything… except that they look like free experience.’

Leaning back, looking into the moonlight as a few streams hit his face he sighed. ‘Well, there’s not much I can do about that; they just look like experience to me now… but I can at least try something else as an alternative… if it doesn’t work, life moves on.’

Heading back in, the two baby fox-like creatures hissed and growled with a high pitch. Waving his hand, two small water barriers covered them, slowly forcing them apart. The desperate wails were horrific, but his eyes remained sadly plain.

He waited for feelings of guilt or sadness, but nothing came. Only a tinge of pity, that was it.

Placing his hands on their heads, through the barrier he pushed both mana and spirit into them. They hissed but remained relatively still, as they felt no pain only fear.

Exploring their inner structure, he found something strange: a small bead nestled in their minds. Mana passed through it, but spirit resonated. He pushed until its pale glow shifted to reddish-blue.

The link clicked. A bond formed—faint but real. He could feel their state, a line of control pulling at them. Removing his hands their eyes changed from fear to normality with a hint of hesitance. Opening up his stat page he wanted to check for any changes.

Name: Joseph

Class: Lesser Elemental Spirit Ranger [C+] (+3 Dexterity, +3 Agility, +4 Magic, +5 Spirit, +3 Wisdom)

Title: Survivor of the Unsurvivable, One Who Consumes Enemies Hearts

Level: 31

Vitality: 10
Strength: 20
Dexterity: 86
Agility: 86
Magic: 97
Spirit: 97
Wisdom: 42

Available Stat Points: 0

Active Skills: Channel Spirits(C), Spirit Sight(C), Magic-Spirit Communion(C), Condensed Fireball(C), Concrete Creation(C), Bursting Shot(D), Piercing Shot(D), Mana-Spirit Shockwave(E), Rippling Water Barrier(C), Electrostatic Discharge(D), Shadowmancy(C), Mana Thread(D), Magic Echolocation(C), Spirit Sense(C), Lesser Spirit Summon(C), Contract Spirit(C), Mana Sense(C), Adaptive Film(C), Magic-Spirit Arrow(D), Spirit Taming(E)

Passive Skills: Survivor(C), Spirit’s Affection(D > C), Exploit Weak Point(D), Mana Control(C > B), Concealed Presence(C), Silent Steps(C), Focused Hearing(C), Guardian(E), Structure Master(E), Sixth Sense(D), One with Nature(D), Analysis(D), Focus(D), Commune Spirits(C), Elemental Affinity(C), Control Elements(C)

Tames: Juvenile Flamefury ×2

Spirit Taming (E) – Establishes a binding link between user and a target through spiritual control. Provides a slight increase to the animal’s spiritual affinity. Invalid on targets lacking a pure spirit bead.

‘Man, leveling has really slowed down. I managed to get a level after the spider but even with these 3 foxes, nothing. At least the status is playing nice with me, a skill upgrade, entirely new skill and a new section.’

Surprised by the ease of gaining this new skill, something he has come to respect after so much trouble as of late.

‘And this skill… fuck, this is a big one. No limit listed, only restricted to targets with a ‘pure spirit bead’, whatever that is. While raising creatures takes time, if I could get some supply chains set up, maybe some staff… an army of reliable creatures is a possibility.

Also, Flamefury? I guess the system must use the most common name for them, or its own internal database.’

Not losing himself too much in his status given the vulnerable positioning, with a light thought and tug on the string, the two small Flamefury creatures emerged, cautiously.

Extending his hand for them to sniff he lightly stroked their soft, warm fur, both seemingly hesitant, unsure and slightly finding enjoyment from it.

Commanding them back inside the burrow, he cut away some meat from the spider and after confirming it was edible for them, covered the den over.

‘This should keep them safe for a time.’

Cleaning up the bodies to reduce the chances of anything finding the cubs, he left, hunting through the night. By dawn, dozens of kills later, his levels slowly climbed again. The night offered bats, owls, serpents, and centipedes, and more.

Another Flamefury pack confirmed the species wasn’t rare, an initial thought he had, but he kept the juveniles regardless, adding a baby owl and bear to the burrow as well, both tamed.

The daylight slowed him—camouflage drained him too fast—but caution paid off. No injuries, and steady kills.

By evening, he returned to the guild, backpack brimming, two Flamefury’s waddling by his side, a small owl on his shoulder and a larger dog sized bear cub slowly stomping behind with lazy eyes.

And for once, he felt almost smug about it as he smirked at Han’s expression.