ART Of Survival - Chapter 24

After selling all the herbs, Mal bought everything he would need in the journey he was going to take, this time he bought extra stuff just to be safe.

‘What would be the use of money if, in the end, I am going to die?’ Mal thought as he stuffed all the things he got from Natalia in the system’s inventory.

After leaving the shop, Mal directly went to his cave to get ready for tomorrow. “I have to be in top condition at least for tomorrow.” After arranging his stuff, Mal went to bed.

“…”

“!!!!!”

“Shoooottt!!! Where the fuck is my paintbrush?!!” Mal screamed as he stood up and started running around the cave-like crazy, trying to find the most important thing for him.

“How much of an idiot can I be?!!! I forgot about the only tool that’s going to help me level up!!” Mal started panicking as he was not able to find his magical paintbrush anywhere. He searched everywhere but still couldn’t find it.

“Maybe it’s in the system’s inventory?” Mal knew that it was impossible to use the inventory for storing personal items before Lv 10, but still, he was hoping for a miracle to happen.

Mal closed his eyes and opened the inventory, “Inventory Open!” Mal shouted and slowly opened his eyes and as expected, there was no brush inside his inventory.

“Sigh” Mal sighed as he closed his inventory and started looking around the cave again. He also went out to the place he found Theo before to ask him about his magic brush.

“What if I lost it in the battle at the Palgan forest?” Mal had started thinking about the worst. “There is no meaning in me going out and hunt monsters if I am not able to level up.” Mal sighed as he lied down on the ground and started thinking about the fight and the drawing he made before.

“Oh! I didn’t even check my stats after coming back.” Mal thought as he called his status panel or ‘Pallette’ in his mind.

*Whoosh!*

Stats:-

HP:- 250/250 MP:- 225/225

Strength:- 45

Mana:- 45 (1 mana point = 5 Mana)

Speed:- 48 Dexterity:- 95

Defense:- 43 Mind:- 65 ( How calm can one remain in a situation, ability to make decisions, etc)

Luck:- -10(+5)= -5 [Auth:-Yup :), Oh and one cannot assign points to luck, some conditions have to be met to get more luck points.]

Charm:- 44

Equipment:- Admantanium Katana (SS), Ancient Brush (Sealed, currently E- grade)

“Hmm?!!” Mal was shocked not before because of his stats but, because of his information panel. The Pallette shaped information panel now had a paintbrush attached to it on the right side. “Isn’t this my brush?” Mal looked at the brush on his ‘Pallette’ which looked similar to his paintbrush.

Heck, it was not even similar, it was the same brush.

Mal raised his hand and moved it towards the brush on the ‘Pallette’ *Click* with a click sound, the brush came out of the ‘Pallette’ and fell onto Mal’s hands.

“Even my own status is trying to mess with me right now!” Mal cursed inwardly as he sat down.

“Thankgod I found this,” Mal said and he finally fell asleep.

-Next Day-

“Brush Check! Food check! Sleeping bag, cooking items, and other necessities check! Weapon check! Healing and Mana herbs Check! Haish!! I am ready now!” Mal checked everything he wanted to take and left the cave early in the morning.

“It’s better to hunt in this mountain, now that I have a way to grow strong and level up!” Mal decided to not leave the mountain and instead hunt in the lower area, as there were supposed to be low-level monsters in the area.

Mal tied the katana to his waist and a small bag to his back. Almost all the things Mal bought were from Alchemia, so he didn’t had to bring a big bag with him. After taking all the things, Mal wore a mask on his face to cover his identity if something happens in the forest.

“I hope this goes well unlike last time. Even if I am not able to level up, I have to make sure to get stronger by amassing stats and materials.” Mal didn’t wanted to get overconfident so he set a simpler goal. “Shoot for the moon, even if you fail, at least you will land on the stars.” With a positive mindset, Mal left the cave and started walking towards the low-level area of the mountain.

As he arrived at the foot of the mountain, he saw some people in the area. “There should be people here and even if there were people they should be way up in the mountains.” Because of the area being a high-level one, it was very rare for newbies to come here and hunt monsters as there was a risk of dying to a high-level monster, and thus, even Mal went to the Palgan forest last time but alas, his – luck was acted and the tragedy happened. Although one can say that to be a blessing in disguise for Mal but still, it was very dangerous. (Auth:- What else do you want? A free cookie?)

“Should I wait for them to disperse or should I just go for it?” Mal thought inwardly. After thinking for a while, Mal decided to risk it and just enter the forest from between.

“This should be the area of the steel armadillos.” Mal judged the area upon entering. He had remembered all the areas in the lower part of the mountain, along with the monsters living in the respective areas.

Without wasting any more time, Mal unsheathed his Katana and started moving around the area slowly. ‘Steel Armadillos’ are known to drill in the ground and surprise attack the hunters, therefore they are difficult to deal with. “I shouldn’t have chosen this spot to enter, as I don’t have any abilities related to perception.” Mal was sweating bullets while taking one step at a time and walking as carefully as possible.

*Rumble* While Mal was walking, the ground suddenly rumbled. “What the fuck was that!” Mal jumped in fright and started running out of the ‘Steel Armadillo’s’ area. “No! I cannot be like this! If I don’t conquer my fears now, then I will never be able to.” Mal stopped running and moved back. “I will try to clean all the low-level areas off the monsters. One step at a time! That’s what I have to do!” Mal steeled his resolve and started thumping on the ground with his feet to wake the steel armadillos up.

“Let’s hope I don’t die” *swoosh* The moment Mal completed his sentence, a figure leaked from under the ground, and while in mid-air, it started to spin like a Beyblade. “Come at me!” Mal shouted as he swung his Katana at the figure in the air. *Puchi* In front of the Admantanium Katana, the steel shell of the monster was useless and it got sliced into two while in mid-air.

“Easy! How are these difficult to kill?” After killing one ‘Steel Armadillo’ easily, Mal started to get cocky. (Auth:- And I was the one who gave him the Adamantium Katana as a plot ar…I mean as a gift :)) “Just come at me together! I dont have time to waste on you weaklings” Mal shouted and started jumping on the ground to anger as many monsters as possible.

*Rumble* The ground started to rumble again and this time tens of armadillos umped out of the ground together and started free falling towards Mal while spinning at full speed. “Fuck! I don’t want to play anymore! Pause! I said Pause!!!” Mal shouted and started swinging the katana all around.

*Baamm!* as one of the monsters fell down, it created a crater of 3 meters in diameter. “I am dead meat if it gets hit by the monster head-on!” Mal thought inwardly and started thinking about how to deal with these monsters.

“I have to calm myself down and aim my katana at as many monsters as possible the sword will do the rest.” Mal

Mal straightened his back and gripped the katana with both of his hands while calmly looking at the monsters in the sky. At that moment, the world slowed down but, Mal was too focused to notice this, he was looking at the monsters. “While looking like these, they seem like dots and I just have to connect them to form a painting.” When Mal was 5-6 years old, his parents used to draw Mal dots on a piece of paper and then used to ask him to join them and in the end, a picture used to come out of it which to Mal was magic at that time.

“Just join the dots…” Mal mumbled as he subconsciously moved his katana towards all the monsters one by one, to Mal the movement of his katana was the same as the movement of a brush, but if there was a person looking at him, he/she would have been shocked. To a normal person, Mal’s movements were like phantoms that were impossible to see with naked eyes.

After killing the monsters, Mal sheathed his katana back and said “so it was a star…” All the monsters he killed came under the points and edges of a star.

*Ding* Congratulations On Unlocking A New Subskill Skill [Constellation Brushwork SSS (Can be used with any single-handed brush or weapon):- {Once there was a painter looking at the stars in the night sky and a realization dawned upon him, he took out his brush started joining the stars in the sky and that lead to the birth of the mythical constellations.} Based on the imagination of the host, the skill activates on its own. Can be used to create or destroy. ] Current Rank (D).