Ethan looked down, his feet sinking into green, mushy grass.
Before him lay an endless forest, and behind him was the fathomless ocean, ruled by the leviathan.
He unbuckled his parachute and looked at the ocean once again.
One single encounter and his plan was completely broken. He had planned to train here and slowly advance further after developing his skills more.
But now?
He neither had enough time to prepare nor did he have any means to survive.
Even the swords he had brought was lost.
A mana-less guy in a forbidden zone infested with monsters far stronger, far bigger than him, add on the fact that he doesn’t have a single weapon to protect himself.
His eyes turned cold as ice when he looked in the direction where the leviathan attacked his aircraft.
Insurmountable hatred was developing in his heart the more he thought of that.
"Fucking lizards and a worm... I swear to kill you both if I survive here. I will rip you apart piece by piece, and pluck out every single one of your eyes. Just you wait."
His hatred remained, but right now, he couldn’t do anything about it.
Exhaling deeply, he looked at the sky and spoke, "Well, at least I survived that."
<Yes, you did.>
Out of nowhere, he heard a voice coming from his back.
He immediately alerted himself, looking around him, but he didn’t see anyone.
’Was that a human? No, it’s not possible. Then a monster? A monster who can talk?’
Speaking the language of a different race wasn’t possible for low-level monsters.
Throughout his life, he had only met a few who can speak human language. The last one he met was the demon king himself.
<You surprised me, human. I didn’t think you would survive. What was that thing you used to fly?>
The voice appeared again, this time clearer with a hint of amusement.
Ethan narrowed his eyes, using his senses to locate where this voice was coming from.
"Who are you?" He asked.
He was now sure that he wasn’t talking to a human. No human will talk that way.
He kept looking around him cautiously, but the one who was talking to him was standing just before him.
A small beast who looked like a cat, it’s fur dense and black. It had an unusual pair of eyes; one of its pupils was purple while the other one was golden. They seemed to carry the vastness of the entire universe in them.
Even when it was looking at Ethan, its eyes seemed to look at something else deep inside him.
It also carried a blue gem on its forehead.
Even when it was sitting without moving before Ethan, he was able to look at its way at all.
It got up from there and walked around Ethan, observing him with growing curiosity.
<Strange... there exists someone who was forsaken by mana?>
It continued to speak without answering Ethan’s question. This was making him more and more mad.
’He must be somewhere near me, but where?’
After looking for this long, he gave up searching for him with his senses. He never expected that he will encounter such anamoly where he wouldn’t even sense a beast.
Still, he didn’t panic. He knew there were far stronger beings in this world, and right now he was encountering one here.
’If he had wanted to attack, he would have done it already. Even if he decides to attack now, I cannot win. Let’s not take action for now.’
He stopped looking around him and stayed there, still vigilant but he didn’t show it externally.
"I didn’t awaken any mana; that’s why." Ethan answered and raised a question of himself, "Who are you?"
The cat stopped moving. It’s eyes focused on Ethan’s hand.
<You didn’t awaken? What’s that?>
It tilted its head and seemed genuinely confused. Ethan was the same as well.
’Is there a difference in awakening for monsters and humans?’
He asked himself the question and, at the same time, used his skill to locate the beast.
[YOU HAVE USED THE PERSONAL SKILL ’SEVERANCE (Lv.1)]
The moment he used his skill, a single red thread appeared in his hand, which was linked to the beast who was sitting upright before him.
Ethan instinctively moved back; he didn’t expect the beast to be so close to him.
He only used it on a hunch, but his skill severance really worked even on a monster that wasn’t visible to the naked eye.
It was a really useful skill; the only issue here was that it cannot be used to locate monsters that are too far.
<Impressive.>
The beast applauded him.
<You can see me despite being so weak.>
After it finished speaking, it undid its camouflage and appeared before Ethan.
’A cat?’
Ethan frowned when he looked at the cat-like monster before him.
Before Ethan could say anything, it asked,
<What kind of skill is that? I have never heard of it before.>
He had lived two lives, more than 6 decades of age, and even then, a speaking cat wasn’t something he had expected to see in his life.