Riven made his way out of the town after close to half an hour of walking. Immediately he stepped out, it was like the breeze took a beautiful change, blowing better without the obstructions of buildings.
He took a deep breath and walked off, headed for the Blackwood Forest. It was the closest forest to Ribest, a measly ten minutes' walk away.
He made it to the edge of the forest, looking at the massive trees that stretched out for as far as his eyes could see. Without any hesitation, he walked in.
His feet pressed against dry leaves and twigs as he walked, leaving a small, subtle crackle with every step. He kept his eyes forward, making sure he was fully attentive.
The forest was considered safe for the most part, but there were still some dangerous beasts hidden deep within, and he didn't want to have a run-in with them.
He pulled out the paper from the quest he had collected. He glanced at the small details that were there. It stated:
(The Carnivorous Maw is found deep within the Blackwood Forest, where the sun shines the least.)
"So I have to look for the darkest parts of the forest. I think that shouldn't be too hard then."
He kept walking, and soon, the whole of the forest was beyond sight. He could no longer see it. With that in mind, he figured this would be a good place to finally test out the flame spell.
After all, the spell was one of the main reasons why he had come out here. He looked around, making sure there was no one there, and then he pointed his palm at a random tree.
"Flame Blast." He called out, though he didn't need to. He felt the mana surge through him and to his hands, and without his resistance like the last time, a massive blast of fire shot out of his hands.
The crimson beam travelled at an astonishing speed and collided with the tree, followed by a massive explosion, -Boom-
The sound of the explosion caused birds in the tree to scatter. Riven watched as the smoke died down, and the tree he attacked slowly fell to the ground. The blast had completely obliterated a part of the tree.
"That... that was massive." Riven said, his eyes shining. He stared at his hands, not believing the fact that he was able to cast a spell like that.
"That was definitely not a basic spell. It can't be." He said. He was certain that the spell was intermediate at the very least.
Happy with the results of the fire, he decided to keep heading into the forest to find the plant.
'Blood magic isn't common in this story. I think there was someone who could do it, but her presence only lasted a few pages.
I shouldn't do it in public. It could be my trump card when I need it.' He thought to himself as he walked.
After several minutes of an unfruitful walk, he finally came across a shallow cave. The inside of the cave was very dark, but he could tell that there was something inside.
Using fire manipulation, he made a fire on his palm to give him light, and then he pulled his sword, gripping it tight in his right hand.
He walked into the cave with caution, making every step as light as possible. When he entered, he was immediately greeted with a whole garden of Carnivorous Maws.
Each one stood at one meter or more, their flytrap heads filled with razor-like teeth. He looked down at their stems and saw that each one had one or two pearl-white flowers on them.
"That's my target."
He walked closer to it, trying to keep quiet, but he stepped on a twig, -snap- the sound echoed in the cave.
Screeeeech.
The maws opened their mouths wide and screeched when they heard the sound. The ones closer to Riven immediately attacked, moving like snakes going for the attack.
Riven panicked and swung his blade recklessly, but luckily, it beheaded the one closest to him, giving him enough time to take a few steps back.
The maws kept snapping at him, but they couldn't reach him. Riven looked at the maw he had just killed, and he noticed the body had slowly started drying up, and it would soon get the flower.
He took a deep breath, pointed his palm at the maws. He used Flame Blast. The flame shot out and hit one of the maws. It was an instant death, and the explosion that followed killed several more.
The bright light from the explosion caused the rest to screech louder. It seemed they hated light and sound.
Riven turned off the flame in his hand. The burning maws proved enough light for him to charge in and pick the flowers off the ones he killed. He moved fast, not wanting the others to regain their composure while he was still there.
With the flowers in hand, he took his sword and very quickly started hacking down, cutting down maw after maw in a frenzy until he cleared up twenty so he could finally gather the flowers.
He did that and headed back to the entrance. He lay them down, having over thirty now—twenty more to go.
[Sword Slash Lv2]
[Sword Slash Lv2: Increases all sword slashes by 10%]
A notification came up, and Riven felt ecstatic. He had finally leveled his sword slash. It had taken a lot of time, but it was definitely worth it.
He held his sword in a firm grip, and a flame in the other hand, his lips curled up into a smile as he rushed into the maws to kill them.
After less than a minute, he gathered all fifty flowers, making a small pile on the ground. And it was now that it dawned on him—he had no way to carry them back.
He thought for a few minutes and finally came up with a solution. He took off the upper parts of his armor and removed the shirt underneath. He would use it to wrap up the flowers for now.
He moved everything outside where he could see and managed to wrap the flowers up. But as he was about to wear his armor back, he heard a footstep.
He quickly reached out for his sword, while his eyes darted around. Something was near. And then out of the forest, Crooked Teeth walked out with his friend, his lips curled into a smile that showed the highlight of his body—his teeth.