Fenrir's Journey : I Shall Devour The Heavens!

After killing the monkey, Fenrir noticed that there weren't many other strong monsters within the forest. Everything she hunted down only gave the most minimal of challenges, causing Fenrir to feel like she had returned to the upper floors of the Dungeon. Even when she found a strange rhino-like creature, nearly 10m tall, Fenrir felt like there was much difference between it and a Level 1 Goblin. One hard hit to the neck had been all it took for Fenrir to completely chop off its head, almost as if its thick hide was nonexistent...Deciding she wouldn't be able to grow any stronger within the forest, Fenrir decided to just pick a direction and follow it until she either found more monsters or people. She had noticed there were some scents of humans within the forest while she was hunting so Fenrir decided to follow one of them to see where it led to. If she could find people, it was also possible she would be able to collect information about this world and any strong enemies that were present. This would be a lot more efficient than just trying to hunt down monsters on her own, as people had a tendency to collect information on dangerous areas in mass.After running for around eight hours, crossing nearly 10,000km, Fenrir finally came to the edge of the forest. She looked back, giving the place she had called home for the last two months one last glance before following the scent trail she had been tracking. The fact that it had been a strong scent, that covered such a vast distance, made Fenrir feel like the person she was tracking should be somewhat strong.Fenrir didn't know how powerful the people in this world were but, after hearing her Master talk about Cultivation in the past, she knew there would undoubtedly be people stronger than she was. One of her immediate goals was to find out how the people in this world graded their strengths and, if possible, pick up the methods they used to train. Her Master hadn't been able to give her a Cultivation method so Fenrir wanted to try and find a suitable one after reaching civilization.By the end of the day, Fenrir hadn't found any sign of civilization at all, not even a small village. One thing she knew for certain was that this world was much larger than where she came from as, if her memory was accurate, the entire Continent had only been around 25,000km wide. Now, she had traveled nearly that same distance and hadn't even found a single living person. This told Fenrir that the population density of this world likely wasn't that high, or that they congregated within large cities. Having such vast wastelands was very abnormal, as Fenrir could tell that the land was arable. This meant that it was probably the monsters that prevented people from establishing farmland in these areas, hinting that the 'average' strength might actually be very low...?(Fenrir's Commentary: 'This world is so vast...')

Since she had no need for sleep, and could easily see in the dark, Fenrir continued forward along the path without stopping for the night. There were a lot of other scent trails that had started to congregate together and the path through the wilderness had become flattened from the passage of many people. It wasn't like the roads from her previous world, but Fenrir felt like this was likely a route that was used by a lot of people over the years. The strange thing was that, even though she had continued along the path for a while, there had yet to be any signs of people...Just as she had started to wonder if her assumptions were incorrect, Fenrir smelled a foul stench, like burning flesh and hair. She scrunched up her nose before leaping up into a tree to get a better vantage. In the distance, Fenrir saw smoke rising out of a section of the forest and decided to investigate. There were plenty of scents for her to follow now, and finding her way back to the road wouldn't be difficult. Fenrir had always had a good sense of direction, never getting lost even within the complex arrangement of her Master's home.As Fenrir neared the source of the smoke, she smelled several other foul scents and could hear the sounds of ongoing combat. Then, breaking through all other sounds, Fenrir heard the scream of a woman, crying out for help. Followed by the scream, Fenrir heard the sound of harsh laughter, causing her ears to twitch as she leaped through the canopy to see what was going on.It didn't take long for her to come across a young woman, possessing long black hair and a strange white outfit with one of the sleeves torn. There was blood staining the white cloth as the woman ran away from a man that smelled like he often bathed in blood and never washed it away.Fenrir watched as the woman twisted her body like a willow, striking out with a straight longsword that didn't seem practical for combat. At the same time, the woman cried out, "Ding Zan, you disreputable cur! How dare you attack disciples of the Flowing River Sect!? The Elders will destroy your entire family for this slight!" The man, Ding Zan, parried the sword with a strange hand ax, sneering as he said, "Lang Yahui, I warned you the last time we met that you shouldn't have been so prideful. Don't blame me for a fate you brought upon yourself. You should have stayed holed up in the Sect like those other snot-nosed brats. Don't worry though, I'll at least allow you to experience what it means to be a woman before sending you off to drink your soup!"After parrying Lang Yahui's blade, Ding Zan used strange zig-zag footwork that caused his body to distort as he attempted to sever the tendons of her arm. With a fretful and panicky expression, Lang Yahui swiped downwards while trying to open up a distance with Ding Zan. She knew that, if he managed to disarm her, the only options left to her were to take her own life, or suffer a tragedy as Ding Zan took much more than just her life...(Fenrir's Commentary: 'The first time I meet people in this world and they are trying to kill each other...')

After burying all the bones, Fenrir noticed that there were numerous strange plants within the cave. She had seen some of the herbs and materials that were grown in Terra's Garden in the past so Fenrir wasn't too surprised to find elemental energy radiating off some of them. The thing that did surprise her, however, was when she found a tiny flower whose petals were actually made out of flames. It radiated a lot of heat and was in a very protected area of the cave, shielded by large boulders that had likely been put there by the monkey monster.Though it's elemental affinity was the complete opposite of her's, it wouldn't make any difference once Fenrir got the tiny flower into her mouth. She could sense a large amount of energy contained within each of its petals and couldn't let it go to waste. Trying to pick it up, Fenrir discovered that there was a strange 'intent' around the flower that actually tried to scorch her paw. Raising her brow, Fenrir lightly asked, "Little flower, are you trying to avoid being eaten?"Fenrir waited for a few minutes, trying to see if the flower was actually able to communicate. If it was sentient, she would leave it within the cave and move on to a different location. After all, the flower had never wronged her and it wasn't as if she needed to eat it in order to grow stronger. However, even after waiting for a while, the flower showed no reaction to her words at all. The only time it showed any signs of 'life' was when she tried to pick it up. Understanding this was probably just a defensive mechanism, Fenrir decided to stop caring.Since it wouldn't let her pick it up, Fenrir decided to move directly to the next step and, without hesitation, leaned forward and chomped down on the flower. The strange intent tried to react but, from the moment it entered into her mouth, any energy it resistance it could muster was completely useless. Fenrir's saliva instantly melted down the flower into an energy-rich liquid that she swallowed into her gullet, converting it into energy that her body could use. Since she could even ingest poisons, magma, and acid, Fenrir had no reason to fear the tiny flames coming from the flower at all.The flower had contained a lot more energy than anything else Fenrir had ever eaten before. She realized why the monkey had been protecting it, likely to consume the flower itself whenever it had matured. Fenrir, however, didn't really have time to wait around for a flower to grow so she just ate it immediately. She didn't know enough about plants to determine when it would be ready, anyway, so there were no regrets in her mind as she started to eat all the other plants present within the cave. When she was finished, Fenrir gave a satisfied burp and patted her stomach, even though it hadn't inflated a single millimeter. Then, without sparing the cave another glance, Fenrir jumped down the mountain and follow the next scent trail, wondering what prey she would encounter next...(Fenrir's Commentary: 'It is important to eat your vegetables...')

Chapter 22: Glance