ART Of Survival - Chapter 13

“You shouldn’t have offended the boss kid.” The burly man sighed as he continued following Mal.

‘What a fruitful day!’ Mal was very happy today because he had completed the 2 most difficult tasks, now he just had to fight some level 0 and 1 monsters and exercise continuously to get as fit as possible before the 2-year mark ends.

‘I should buy the awakening potion as soon as possible, then I would have a higher chance of fighting and winning against monsters, and yeah I almost forgot I need a crossbow or something to fight from a distance and also a light shield’ The more Mal thought about things, the more he realized that how important was money even in this chaotic world.

“Even the herbs aren’t going to cut it, I need a better and a stable source of income,” Mal said as he lamented.

*Sigh* “Whatever, I first have to choose a hunting spot for someone of my level.” Mal was thinking about miscellaneous stuff as he was walking down the road towards the exit of the marketplace.

‘This kid doesn’t seem to be right in his head’ The burly man sighed and now he was feeling worse for the poor kid in front of him who was dancing and talking to himself in the middle of the market.

After exiting the market, Mal started running towards the direction of the mountain he was residing in.

‘Huh?! Did he figure out that I was following him?’ The burly man said as he sped up to catch up to Mal. But little did he know that Mal was just doing his daily exercise.

Mal kept running without knowing that he was being followed and the man was following Mal without knowing where Mal was running to. “Hup!” Mal let out a low grunt as he suddenly took a turn towards the woods.

‘What is he up to?’ The burly man now was 100% sure that Mal was aware of him. He put on his guard as he slowed down a bit as it was kind of easy to get discovered in a silent forest like this one because even a slight sound would be like giving away his position to the enemy on a plate,

‘What if he is taking me somewhere where more of his subordinates are waiting?’ constant thoughts were going inside the burly man’s mind.

After 10 minutes of trekking, They reached a cave. ‘Are his subordinates hiding in there?’ The burly man put on his defensive gear and took out a book from his bag, contrary to his bulky build, he was an Elementalist that also of water attribute which was regarded as a gentle attribute.

‘I shouldn’t go inside the cave, it would be disadvantageous for me to fight inside a closed space.’ he strengthened his hold on the book and glued his eyes towards the cave. He was waiting for the people inside the cave to come out.

-Inside The Cave-

Mal after coming back opened his inventory space and started looking at the things he had bought, “Noice” a smile bloomed on Mal’s face, he took out his spear (Auth:- The ether weapon, not that you dirty-minded person ;_:) and started inspecting it, after looking at it for some time, he stood up and walked towards a boulder that was in the corner of the cave. He held the spear in and took a battle stance that he had seen in a drama, he took a step forwards and trusted his spear (Auth:- PFFTTTTT *Inaudible laughter*) towards the boulder *Bam!!* the spear went inside the boulder as if the boulder was made up of butter and not stone, after the spear went inside, Mal twisted the spear making cracks appear on the huge boulder. (Auth:- Alright I will stop)

“Nice” Mal nodded his head looking at the boulder and retrieved the spear back into the sub-dimension. After that, he took out his magic battle suit and put it on. ‘Let’s check how resilient this suit is.’ Mal took a normal iron knife and stabbed himself.

“…” Mal sighed in relief she saw the armor blocking the knife like a tough shield.

Next, Mal took out the spear and after some hesitation, he again moved his hand to stab himself but this time, it was on his hand. This time too, the suit had stopped the spear, but Maal had still felt a pricking pain on his hand.

After that, Mal started taking out other things from the inventory, after looking and arranging all the stuff, Mal took out a meal package and started wolfing it down. Mal knew that it was important to eat nutritious food to stay healthy and also he needed to eat as much as he can because current him was a bag of bones.

‘6 months are enough.’ he thought.

Mal wanted to get back in shape again but he definitely didn’t wanted to harm his body, so he was doing everything systematically.

“Shoot! I forgot about that brush!” Mal suddenly remembered about the brush he got from the weird pillar. He quickly opened his bag and took out the ancient-looking wooden box from inside. ‘Let’s see if there is anything special about the brush or is it just a regular brush.’ Mal took a deep breath as he opened the box and held the brush in his hands. The moment he touched the brush, his vision turned dark and he heard a beeping sound

*Beep* *Beep*

[The second condition has been fulfilled, Complete the other hidden condition to awaken the ‘Can Paint’ Unique skill]

“Hearing the cold ancient voice of the system back again after almost 1 and a half years, Mal almost cried. It was not because he was missing the mother eye’s voice, it just that in this one and a half years, Mal has forgotten about his unique skill, he was sure that his unique skill was a sham, and now listening to the status’s alert message made Mal a bit hopeful.

‘Maybe I too would be able to use my skill for something’ Mal opened his info panel and he clicked on the notification he had just received. Second condition? Was it owning a brush? but it doesn’t make sense because I have tried using brushes to paint, but it had amounted to nothing. So why? Could it be it was specifically to own this brush and what was the first condition, how come I have never heard its alert of completion?’ Mal took out a pencil and a piece of paper from his stuff and started drawing on it.

This had become Mal’s habit in the last 10 years, whenever he wanted to think about something important or whenever he was trying to focus, he used to draw or paint or doodle.

He spent the entire night thinking about his unique skill and about his future with the skill. While researching he had found out that his skill had 3 conditions that had to be fulfilled then only his skill would work. The other thing was that he had already fulfilled 2 of the three conditions one was owning an Artist’s heart* and the other was about the ancient brush. Now only the last condition was left, but the thing was that Mal didn’t know about what the condition was as it was hidden.

I cannot forget about my resolution this easily, I have to rely upon myself and nothing else. What if I am never able to fulfill the third condition? what if even after completing the task, the skill I receive is just about simple painting then what? while Mal was thinking about all of this stuff, the burly man was still outside the cave and was waiting for Mal to come out.

“I…cam…bot sweep,” He said his last words as he fell asleep.