Even if Jon disregarded his first three abilities and relied solely on the effects of his fourth ability, [Cometh Thy Red Horse Awaits], he thought he would be able to take on the fire-breathing duck. Jon's speed and agility exploded under the effects of this ability, propelling him through the forest at a pace he never thought possible before.

The wind licked his cheeks and whipped his hair back as he slid over a large fallen tree. His figure a little more than a flicker to any stationary target, the power of his new Spell filling him with an unimaginable sense of stamina and endurance.

It only occurred to Jon afterwards that his ability [Cometh Thy Red Horse Awaits], was being enhanced through the effects of his other ability, [Mine Is The Sea Of Knowledge]. The latter increased the effectiveness of all other Spells bearing the Knowledge Trait, granting Jon an even greater enhancement to his physicality.

It made Jon desire even more abilities. Despite integrating four fragments, his Knowledge Mana Core still registered prompts whenever he picked up his spare Fragment Of Mouth or Fragment Of Moss.

Jon wondered what the maximum number of fragments a Mana Core could integrate was, but suppressed those thoughts, enjoying the sensation of wind brushing against his cheeks. Feeling his intuition push his gaze in a certain direction, Jon spun on the balls of his feet, his figure threatening to topple over from the sudden change in direction, but lowered his centre of gravity, sprinting off in another direction.

Spiritual energy filled the gaps in any weaknesses of his physical form. This strange, mystical power flowed to every corner of Jon's body, allowing him to perform extraordinary feats of physicality and flexibility with the same ease that it took ride a bike.

Jon's eyes landed on the moving figure of a small primate-like creature climbing up a distant tree. The tree was adorned in dozens of different coloured fruits, all at different stages of maturation.

The creature was barely a foot tall, with long limbs and hands larger than what their small body suggested. Covered in a thin layer of purplish-black fur the creature continued to pluck pieces of fruit off the tree, nibbling on them, ignorant of the approaching danger.

Jon's figure rushed through the underbrush, avoiding dense patches of bushes and shrubbery. Pushing his newest ability so far would leave Jon with a sense of weakness for an equal amount of time as he had the ability activated, so never kept [Cometh Thy Red Horse Awaits] active for more than thirty seconds at a time.

The sensation of weakness in his muscles and bones did not feel artificial either. It reminded Jon of the time where he and Trevor swam more than two kilometres on a bet. After being deposited in the middle of the ocean, the last person back would have to shout the other lunch, resulting in Jon's significant loss.

Circling around to the primate-creature's blind spot, Jon immediately went on the offensive. Using his enhanced strength and speed to burst forward, spear raised and poised to strike. The creature still seemed ignorant of Jon's presence, but slowly turned around, its large round eyes glaring at Jon, unblinking and unmoving despite the approaching predator before it.

Jon felt his eye twitch as his instincts warned him of some foreign danger. None of his abilities enhanced his reaction time, so Jon did not even notice the air solidify in front of him, causing him to smash full throttle into a wall of condensed air.

It was like running face first into wooden door. Only the door was invisible, meaning that Jon could not brace himself for the incoming obstacle. Jon's focus on his fourth ability immediately dissipated, leaving him sore, and with an immense sense of weakness throughout his body.

The eighteen-year-old literally bounced off the invisible spiritual construct, flying back several feet, becoming slightly winded as his chest collided with the earth beneath him. His limbs and torso all ached with pain, although Jon did not think that he had a concussion.

'Note to self… don't ever do that again,' Jon let out a slow, muffled groan. His face was buried within a patch of soft grass, its coolness easing some of the pain that was coursing through his face and upper body.

Jon tried flexing his nose, breathing in and out without much trouble. The taste of blood filled his mouth, and Jon was sure that he had accidentally bit down on his tongue or gums. Despite everything however, he was most thankful for the fact that he did not break or fracture his nose.

The eighteen-year-old struggled to lift his head, glaring hatefully at the small, grinning primate gripping onto the unknown fruit tree. The creature seemed intelligent enough to laugh at Jon, munching down on another ripe fruit, throwing the remains of his previous one at the larger monkey.

It landed harmlessly in the space around Jon, causing him to lick the blood of his teeth, spitting out a mouthful onto the ground beneath him.

After roughly thirty seconds had passed, Jon regained the strength to stand, his chest and face still sore from slamming into a wall of condensed air. Jon just assumed that it was condensed air, although the possibility it was some sort of ability created by a Fragment Of Boundary, or a Fragment Of Shield was not out of the question.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Raising his hand, Jon felt his fingers come into contact with and invisible object in front of him. Knocking on it with his hand resulted in no sound or ripple across the objects surface, causing Jon to narrow his eyes at the small monkey-creature.

Even taking a few strides in either direction around the fruit tree resulted in another barrier appearing. The eyes of the monkey-creature did not leave Jon's figure for the entire duration of his approach, unblinking and unmoving.

With no other option, Jon merely stuck a finger up at the creature, before picking up his spear and walking away.

A part of Jon wanted to continue hunting this annoying monkey-creature, but it was not malicious, nor did it take advantage of his weakness and attempt to kill him. Jon could not deny that he was definitely interested in the fragment that this monkey-creature had managed to obtain but could not see a method of pushing through its barrier without draining it of all its spiritual energy.

Assuming that the creature was roughly the same Rank and Tier as himself, Jon could make a rough estimate on how much spiritual energy the creature possessed. Jon did not feel his spiritual energy increase after integrating new fragments into his Mana Core and accepted the fact that he would have to obtain another Mana Core before testing the amount of spiritual energy he had at his disposal.

Despite his pride being hurt, Jon arrived back at his camp without too much trouble. His face still felt slightly tender, but the young man just stripped off his clothing and dived into the river, washing his face and the inside of his mouth without any care for his appearance or countenance.

The water was cool, cold enough to send a shiver up Jon's spine. Yet the sensation of a cool liquid against his face and chest caused him to groan comfortably under the water. His [Monstrous Intuition] somewhat dulled, his senses not quite adapted towards receiving information underwater.

The timer for the System Introduction still had not begun yet, so there were still individuals who had not yet awoken after receiving their first Mana Core. Jon recalled that it only took him just over an hour to wake up after receiving his Knowledge Mana Core and judged that he was perhaps one of the first individuals brought into the small realm.

Jon wondered why such a thing occurred but thought about the compatibility between Mana Cores and Fragments and then added an additional factor into the equation.

'Is it possible… that we too possess a certain compatibility between certain types of Mana Cores over others?'

The theory sounded… feasible, at least according to Jon that is.

He did not know if there was some kind of quality or characteristic that an individual possessed that made them more suitable towards certain types of Mana Cores over other groups of Mana Cores. At this point in time Jon did not have enough information or data to prove this hypothesis.

It was another question that trickled down into his Sea Of Knowledge, to be remembered one day in the distant future.

Rising out of the water, Jon walked back to shore, drying himself off with the single towel he had in his possession. Everything he owned, or thought was necessary for an independent, self-reliant eighteen-year-old was either in his backpack or duffel bag.

Multiple changes of clothes, including sleepwear, casual wear and formal wear. A sleeping bag in the event that he did not have a mattress to sleep on. A single blanket consisting of some naturally cool synthetic fabric. One two litre water bottle, his wallet and an old lunchbox container which used to house a single sandwich.

Said container now housed his three Fragments, sitting carefully at the bottom of his bag.

In addition to a single pair of slippers, a handful of pairs of socks and underwear, and a single pair of runners, that was the entirety of Jon's possessions. He had lost his phone somewhere between arriving in the Pure Room and arriving in the small realm, so technically, he also possessed a phone charger but merely stored it beside his sandwich container.

Drying himself off, Jon slipped into more comfortable clothing, nibbling at a handful of nuts.

He had to dispose of the carcass of the pig-creature the moment it started to smell. Jon did not want to leave a rotting corpse so close to his base camp, so reluctantly moved the body of the pig-creature beyond the limits of where he had dug his pitfall traps. If some scavenger carnivore wanted to eat that, they could go ahead and eat far away from his current location.

If not, Jon was fine letting bugs or small birds slowly devour the corpse.

'I do now see the potential of an Ice Mana Core, or some sort of Fruit Mana Core capable of sustaining or creating a potential food source. Hunting for food is dangerous, perhaps even more so than on Earth considering that I cannot tell whether or not a creature has a powerful offensive ability like that duck, or an extremely durable defensive ability like that small monkey.'

'If I had a method of freezing my food, I would have been able to continue eating the pig-creature for a couple weeks, perhaps longer. I should try and create some sort of smoker. If I can dry out the meat and turn it into jerky, I should be able to store large quantities of meat for a couple months before they all go bad…'

Jon did not know how to create a smoker, but thought how hard could it be?

Laying down on the riverbank, Jon closed his eyes for a few seconds, before feeling his [Monstrous Intuition] react, immediately causing Jon to sit up, glancing around towards the tree line. Jon thought that he had spotted movement behind one of the trees further up the riverbank, narrowing his eyes, and glancing at the distance between himself and his weapon.

Jon did not hesitate, reaching towards his wooden spear, before seeing a familiar panel of strange alien text appear in front of him.

Greetings System Introduced individuals!

Small realm designation "732-GFS" has reached maximum individual occupancy. There are currently 999,427 individuals remaining within the small realm. There has been a total of 573 deaths within the small realm thus far.

The System shall now begin introducing a day and night cycle to the small realm, allowing for the generation of specific Mana Cores and Fragments. The creation of nascent Wonders will begin forming in the coming weeks, allowing for the birth of additional fragments and Mana Cores.

Additional System generated beasts will be introduced into the small realm, who possess unique and powerful Fragments.

This shall be the final System message until the System Introduction has concluded.

The countdown until the end of the System Introduction has begun.

Time remaining: 999 days 23 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds… 58 seconds… 57 seconds…

Jon dismissed the System prompt, instead focusing on the creature that stumbled out from behind the tree. The shadow it cast was large, but the sound it made caused Jon to pause, hearing the familiar sounding quack echo throughout the forest.

Jon's eyes widened, and the grip on his spear tightened, as the familiar figure of an extraordinarily large duck waddled from out behind the shrubbery.

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