Chapter 7: Dark Moon Forest

Mira was jogging her way to the inner region of the Dark Moon Forest. It was getting dark outside and she was beginning to understand the name Dark Moon Forest. Even though the canopy blocked most of the light during the daytime, it seemed to be its brightest when the moon was out. Even when the moon is dark, it still seems to light up the forest. Yet it was neither light nor dark, more like a translucent silver refracted off of the leaves and ground that put the forest in a state between light and dark.

Mira was amazed by the beauty of the forest yet she was on guard as it was extremely quiet. Almost like the forest was devoid of any life. She knows nothing of the creatures in the forest other than they are quick and usually have an affinity for the darkness element. She slowed down and kept walking. The forest is thousands of kilometers long and she's jogged probably around 100 in the last hour or so. It was getting deeper into the night, she was getting sleepy, and this whole place made her on edge. So she started looking for a cave or something similar to sleep in.

She kept jogging for another half-hour and finally found a cave. As she was approaching the cave she heard a growl within it and knew that there was a beast within trying to drive her away. Mira has been dying to test out her scythe and this seemed like the perfect chance to see how well she can fight. She wasn't even close to the center where the rank 2 beast probably is so this has to be a rank 1 beast. Whether it's a peak rank 1 or a low-tier rank 1 she doesn't know, but who knows if she is safer running away rather than fighting for this cave.

Mira slowly approached the cave and yelled, "Get the fuck out here you beast! I'm taking over this cave!"

Soon she heard a loud roar and then saw a large 2-meter long black bear with a silver 'O' shape on its back.

"Ooooohhh, a Moon Bear, how cool! You don't seem like you're fully grown, I bet you're around a middle rank 1 magic beast. Alright, let's see how I fair against you."

Mira rushed towards the Moon Bear with her scythe in hand and slashed down with the blade. The bear knocked it away with its claws then went in to pound Mira with its other paw. Mira rotated the scythe as fast as she could to block, but still got hit due to the weight of the scythe. That hit from the bear almost fractured one of her arms, but she pushed through the pain and undercut the bear in the jaw with the other end of the scythe. That end hit the bear's jaw and dislocated his mouth, but didn't kill it. She retreated a few meters as did the bear, both sizing up their opponent.

Mira didn't seem to know that Moon Bears get stronger while in the moonlight. Even though it's you can't see the moon in the forest its light is still there. This Moon Bear much stronger than it is during the day.

They both charged back at each other again, this time the bear swept across Mira's feet. Mira rotated her blade end of the scythe towards her feet and blocked the swing, but the bear didn't stop there and used his other paw to slash towards her neck. Mira sneered and adjusted the other end of the scythe to block, but a part of the claws still got her and put a wound on her back. It wasn't serious but will have to be taken care of later. They kept doing this back and forward for around 10 minutes before Mira pushed the paws back then swept low towards the bear, but kept the momentum going and hit the bear in the side of the head with the pole end. The bear was dazed for a second, but that's all Mira needed as she swung her scythe to decapitate the bear. The scythe came down like an executioner and cut off the bear's head.

She sat down next to the bear fairly tired from that battle but needs to dress her wounds.

"That bear sure packed a punch. He fractured my arms and cut my back plus my whole body aches. I had no idea a Middle Rank 1 Moon Bear was so terrifying. Not to mention it wasn't a full-grown one. Now, what will I do with all of this meat? I haven't had dinner yet so I might as well eat my fill then turn the rest into dried meat and rations as I don't have anywhere to store it."

Mira sat down and started a fire then started to dress her wounds. She applied the Ironhide grass to any sore spots then applied an herb called Skyline Grass that can help treat wounds. It wasn't the most effective, but she's still a mortal so she didn't need anything too special. Then she started to cook the Moon Bear. Mira knew that although the beasts can smell the food if they are weaker than the Moon Bear at night only death awaits. Mira cooked up a leg of the bear and started eating it.

She let a long sigh and a smile, then said "I haven't had magical beast meat yet in this life. This is so much better than regular animals, not to mention their energy can help me recover my energy a bit. I definitely won't go back to regular animals now that I know I can kill a rank 1 magical beast."

She enjoyed this massive bear leg then proceeded to cook the rest of the meat to turn it into rations. This giant bear should produce quite a bit. She spent the next several hours cooking the entire bear. She saved the best of the bear as it is a pretty nice pelt, definitely better than a regular animal's pelt. After she finished everything she blocked the part of the entrance with some bushes and rocks then went to sleep.

The next morning as dawn arose, well what was probably dawn, came out of her cave. It almost seemed like it didn't get any lighter than it did from last night. She just shrugged her shoulders, made sure she had everything, then set out to go farther into the forest. Mira wanted to travel another 600 miles or so then find a new cave to temporarily call home.

She breathed in a long breath then breathed out and looked towards the direction she'll be leaving in.

Mira started jogging at a decent speed as she came across several Low-Rank 1 magical beasts. She came across Night Hare which is just a black rabbit. They are extremely fast and aren't that hostile. Mira tried to kill it, but it just ran away as soon as she charged at it. Another was a Shadow Crow. It's a Low-Rank 1 magical beast but still extremely dangerous. They are able to hide in the shadows and come out to sneak attack. She almost got hit by one of its sneak attacks but was able to sense just as it was about to hit her. She waited for the for to attack again, and it did the same thing as before and attacked from behind. She slashed down with her scythe and cut it in half.

She also saw this silver owl but had no idea what it was called. It didn't seem hostile as it just looked at her then turned around and flew away. She just shrugged and kept moving along her journey. There was also a weird-looking silver-black fox but had no idea what it was called. She also found many Earth Rats, another Low-Rank 1 magical beast, but had no interest in these rats and just decided to continue her journey.

Mira has been running for about half a day now and decided to stop and take a break. She's run about 300 miles so far. Even with her strength running that long is still tiring and boring. She took out her bear rations and some water. She was about to start going when she heard a scream off in the distance. It sounded like a teenage girl, so she decided to go and check it to see what's going on. It's been a while since she's been near another person.

She made her way over to where she heard the scream come from.