Born in apocalypse

After entering the portal, Before Dhruv could even fully see the sight in front of him, he felt something different within himself.

The feeling he was experiencing wasn’t something bad or dangerous. The thing he was feeling at the moment was almost too good...

’It feels like I’ve returned to where I am always supposed to be... like home. But why is that?’ Dhruv thought as he looked at the tree in front of him.

The tree in front of him had completely blocked his view from the front, and because of that, there was nothing but brown bark in front of him right now. Curious to know the height of the tree, Dhruv looked up.

’Shit, its height is even more absurd,’ Dhruv thought as he realized that the height of the tree in front of him was about 100 meters. Its leaves were so dense that there was little to no light coming from the so-called sun.

While he was admiring the tree, he suddenly realized something.

’Why am I getting distracted by these things all the time? Now, let’s get back to the topic.’ With this thought in his mind, Dhruv began to think about the emotion he was feeling with great focus. After a while, he finally realized what it was.

’Now I get it, it’s because the mana level here is higher compared to the overworld. So, the feeling of something familiar coming from this. But where I had felt like this another time... Ahhh! Yes in that weird realm when I was evolving.’

Dhruv was happy that he wasn’t feeling like that because someone had attacked him through mind magic or something like that.

’If I remember correctly, there was always this awkwardness in the mana on the island as well as on the outside. But why is that?’ It didn’t take long, and Dhruv was forced to ponder over another question.

While he was pondering over the question, the duo kept an eye on every corner of the jungle, in case an enemy attacked their lord. Alaric had only searched around ten meters of the area, and that’s why they had to do this.

After pondering over this matter for about a minute he finally came to a conclusion that seemed reasonable, the reason for the mana level being on the planet so low so that monsters of Tier 4 or higher can’t survive?’

’I mean, that makes sense as a security protocol. Who wants a Tier 5 monster emerging after killing and eating all the humans and monsters alike? If that were to happen, there would be no way for humans to survive. Or maybe they can survive if they use hydrogen bombs or something like that. Then again the planet could become inhabitable at that point,’ Dhruv thought as he began to imagine how powerful a Tier 5 monster would be.

’But even if that were to be the case, why am I feeling the difference already when I’m only at the starting levels of Tier 3?’ Another question popped up as he began to search for an answer.

This time he didn’t just remain standing there and instead began to walk around to hit two birds with one stone. He could survey the jungle while also finding the answer quickly. After all, he had read somewhere that walking helps clear one’s thoughts.

Dhruv quickly walked around the tree to get the full picture of the jungle he was in. After walking for a few minutes, he almost forgot about the question and was just admiring the beauty of the forest.

The very first thing he noticed was that he had once again spawned in the middle of the jungle. Everywhere his eyes could wander, the only thing he found was greenery.

While wandering around Dhruv also checked his map, and once again, everything on his map had been cleared out. There was nothing but a green screen present on it, and he had to manually fill it while covering the area of the jungle.

He wasn’t afraid of doing that all over again either after all the jungle in front of him was a beauty, every sight of this splendid forest was filled with nature’s grandeur.

Towering trees, their immense trunks reaching for the probably artificial sky, loomed overhead, their branches forming a colossal canopy that blanketed the sky. Hundreds of vines hung from them while tens of birds sat on them singing.

The more he ventured into this realm of greenery, the more and more peculiar creatures began to emerge from the shadows. Green foxes ventured from one place to another. A beast similar to a cat tried to chase what appeared to be a snake. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Even more diverse than the beasts were the insects. On the first floor, there were types of insects that hadn’t had exoskeletons on their backs, but here... here, almost all of them had jeweled bodies of almost every color. They were begging to get captured.

The ground wasn’t littered with soil; no, it was filled with moss and ferns that carpeted the ground, creating a soft, emerald carpet underfoot. Just a few minutes of travel from the portal, he found a crystal-clear stream of water.

’If this is artificial, then the one who designed these things must be at least legendary,’ Dhruv thought as he continued to walk in the north direction.

While observing a unique bird sitting on the hanging vines, Dhruv once again realized the cruelty of this place. A snake with very potent camouflage skin had just caught the bird and devoured it in one bite.

’Fuck!’ Dhruv cursed as he realized his mistake and quickly changed his stance. Now he was in complete battle mode.

He had realized that the beauty of this forest was nothing but a mere illusion that helped it hide the cruelty.

Satisfied with sightseeing, Dhruv began to ponder over the question once again. After a while, he recalled the snake eating the bird and realized something.

’Unique Bird!? Unique Bird!?... Yes! Why didn’t I have thought of this before? I’m a unique specimen after all, and maybe I’m already at the level of Tier 4 beast while being in Tier 3,’ Dhruv thought as a smile appeared on his face.

Just a moment after the smile appeared, it faded as a frown replaced it.

’Maybe it isn’t something to get happy about. If I were to level up rapidly, then how would I survive on the planet?...’

’...No, there is a way. I just have to constantly crush a mana stone and get mana from it directly, or maybe increase my mana regeneration,’ Dhruv began to think of different solutions to the problem.

One such solution was to entrust the crafters to build a device that could efficiently harvest mana from the core and provide it to anyone when necessary. Taking note to discuss this machine with the crafters, Dhruv continued his journey to the north.

He had only walked for another five minutes when suddenly something attacked. Due to him being in battle mode, he had caught where the attack had come from.

There was someone hidden behind one of the trees to the left of him.

Before Dhruv could create a wall of metal, a protective barrier of a pure glass-like material had already formed in front of him. Due to the barrier being transparent, he was able to see the thrown object.

Dhruv hadn’t seen it clearly but he was able to know what it was. The object was some type of primitive form of dart,

"Good job, Alaric" Dhruv praised him as blinked twice.

With the help of mana sense, Dhruv looked at the tree from where the dart had come. Unfortunately, the tree the attacker was hiding behind was a mana-rich tree, so Dhruv couldn’t see behind it clearly. The only thing he was seeing was a tree formed of mana and nothing else.

Dhruv didn’t waste any time and turned around to signal Alaric to take action. He was surprised to find that Alaric wasn’t in his intended location. He had already gone to catch the culprit.

Just a moment later, a figure began to emerge from the shadow of the tree. It was none other than Alaric. There was another passenger with him, a goblin to be specific.

Even after staring at it for ten seconds, he was unable to find which type of goblin it was.

’Which evolution line is this goblin from? He doesn’t seem like he’s from the normal adult path, nor does he seem like he’s from the warrior path. It doesn’t seem like the magician’s path either,’ Dhruv thought as he looked at the monster in front of him curiously.

The monster in front of him was wearing a torn dress made out of animal skin, which wasn’t the surprising part. The surprising part was that he was holding a hollow pipe-like object in his hand, and there were many darts hanging around his waist.

He was physically unique as well. First of all, he was the most accurate version of a goblin Dhruv had seen in anime and manga. He was only 1.3 meters tall, hunched, and had many bumps on his face.

After carefully inspecting the goblin in front of him, he noticed that there was even a small bottle of something hanging from his waist. In the bottle, there was a liquid that was slightly lime in color.

Dhruv quickly brought forth his trusty goggles from the ring, but surprisingly, even after attempting five times, he couldn’t see any information about the bottle.

’Hmmm! Interesting.’