Karan was astonished as he started grasping the size of the Dreamscape. As he ventured deeper into the forest, he encountered all manner of creatures and plants.
He found a rather large flower that was bipedal and was moving like a human. It didnt have eyes, but somehow the flower was able to sense his presence. And upon sensing him, it let out a green mist in the air.
Karan didnt stick around to test the effects of the mist.
Deeper in the forest, there were herds of the Sparrow Dogs roaming around, with an average of 12 dogs in a group. He also spotted these big snakes with small horns on their forehead. He saw them from a distance, but from his estimates, those slithering reptiles were at least 13 feet tall.
According to the commandments, the deeper one goes, the higher the reward. But it also stated that the deeper one goes, the higher the lethality of the beasts would be. He didnt know whether he was strong enough to fight a group of dogs, let alone a snake that could potentially gobble him up in a few seconds.
Which is why he refrained from going deeper into the jungle.
He started heading back to the village.
Till then, he had gotten accustomed to travelling through the trees. Now, he was not clumsily moving around, trying to see where he could get his footing. He had gained some speed, as well as some understanding of how he could move efficiently…
***
It had been a few hours since Karan had started his hunt. And now he had started to like it.
The groups of sparrow dogs were a challenge still, but they could be easily countered if he enough arrows. As the quiver only gets a new arrow every 5 mins, which means wastage was not an option.
During his hunting, he also came to realize that his arrows were shockingly not very durable at all. After piercing something, whether the head of a beast or a tree bark, the heads of the arrows would get bent in strange angles, making them useless.
Nonetheless, he had started to get a feel of this place.
Hunting dogs was fun. Especially a group, because the group always had an alpha dog, one who was bigger than everyone else. This big dog is smarter than everyone else and could give small commands to the other dogs.
The first group of Sparrow Dogs that he encountered, the dogs surrounded his tree, after he killed one of their comrades. With the Alpha dog's howling, the dogs started climbing the tree by jumping on each other's backs.
In the end, he was able to fend off against them with sheer luck.
The next time he encountered a group, he killed the alpha dog first. The group of dogs became disorganized and simply foolish, which opened them up to being slaughtered.
After killing two beast groups, Karan was tired, which made him decide that he should wrap up for the day. He wanted to see whether he would be able to enter the library now or not. The village was not far away, so he slowly started making his way back.
It was while he was jumping from one branch to another that he heard a cackle.
Curious, he made his way towards the sound to witness a bizarre scene. There was a asian-kid, who looked like he was 11-12 years old, flanked by two burly middled aged aisan men. The kid was laughing like a maniac while pointing a bloodied hatchet towards Tamika Popov, who was lying on the ground, bleeding profusely.
"Cat got your toungue bitch?" the child asked, "I asked how it feels to be fucked by a 10-year-old?"
He is taller for his age, Karan thought.
Tamika didnt have a shred of fear. She spat some blood on the ground and, with a bloody smile, said, "Fucked? Please, you Dragons and your small dicks are not even big enough for a cockroach, let alone a Popov." She wiped blood off her lips. Before she could say anything else, the boy smacked her from the back of the hatchet.
Dragons? As in.. The Twin Dragons? Like the Popovs, the Twin Dragons were also a family that ruled District 3.
"The bitch has a mouth on her," he said, "Boys.. It seems Miss Popov needs to witness how big a Dragon could be."
The boy then turned around and stared at the men before him, "Make sure that her screams could be heard for miles. I want everyone in this world to witness the glory of a Popov."
Those men bloomed an evil smile. Karan took it as his cue to intervene.
He could have just walked away; family rivalry is not something that he wanted to get his hands in. But the fact was, there were three humans before his eyes that could provide him with Runes. Considering that none of them know who he is, if he just be careful, he could benefit a lot from the situation.
Quickly, he nocked and let go the arrow, it struck the boy at the back of his head, disengaging the poor thing before he could realize what had happened.
The two men were clearly smart; as soon as they saw the boy disintegrate, they quickly jumped sideways and took cover.
"WHO IS IT!" one of them yelled, "DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU KILLED!" Then the other man yelled, "We will have your skin for that!"
Dont be seen, Karan thought. He then saw Tamika crawling away. He immediately nocked another arrow and killed her.
"I saw it" one of the men yelled, "The fucker is in a tree."
"Which one?" the other yelled back.
"The one which is…."
He didnt hear a word the man said, as he had already started moving. It took a minute or so, and soon he was able to make his way around. Those men had changed their positions as well, and they were zeroing in on the tree where he was initially.
"COME OUT NOW, I PROMISE I WILL NOW HARM YOU," One of the men yelled.
Do you think I will stay in one place after I have been made? Karan thought What a bunch of idiots.
He got on the ground and started sneaking up to one of them. The kid that he had killed earlier had dropped a hatchet, which he picked up.
The man's whole attention was towards the tree; he didnt even notice when Karan sneaked behind him. To kill him in one go, instead of using the hatchet, Karan nocked an arrow and went straight for the man's head. The arrow was able to penetrate the man's skull with ease from such a short distance, killing him in an instant.
"What the…" The colleague of the man heard him die. But Karan had already taken cover by then.
"Ming?" the other man said, "Ming… you there?"
Getting no answer, the man did the sanest thing that he could do. He started begging, "Listen.. We got no beef.. Right?" As he slowly started backing away, "I am going to leave 3 days' worth of time here; you can have it."
With that man produced a ball of light out of his hands and then ran away. Karan didnt give any chase. It was not worth his time or effort.
Maybe that one has some brain in him. He thought, as he came out of hiding to gather the loot.
_________________________________________
You have received 5 days, 30 hours, and 600 minutes
_________________________________________
Karan stopped in his tracks. This is 30% of the kids' time? What the fuck? I need to find out who this kid was.
_________________________________________
You have received 3 days, 24 hours, and 260 minutes
_________________________________________
The time that he received from Tamika was also big, but nothing could have prepared him for what was to come.
_________________________________________
You have received 8 days, 94 hours, and 80 minutes
_________________________________________
These guys had started hoarding time. He thought, looking at the time that he got from the man.
The only thing that could help to gain such an absurd amount of time is by extorting it from people. He thought, otherwise, i dont think there is another way.
It was a sound assumption considering the amount that he got from killing the Sparrow Dogs. And he had killed a lot of them.
_________________________________________
You have received 2 days, 24 hours, and 260 minutes
_________________________________________
After picking up the saber that Tamika had dropped, Karan didnt linger around. He started running at full speed. The chances were, if time does matter to these guys, then surely they would be racing back to take back their time…