When Zeke pa.s.sed through a line of trees that were taller than the previous ones, he knew he had already entered the deeper part. The difference between the outskirts to the deeper part of the forest is not just the size of the trees, but also the entire environment. In the outskirts, Zeke could feel the serene and peaceful aura it emanates, just like how one would feel when one enters a forest in Zeke's previous world. However, the deeper part of the forest is very different. The atmosphere there is much more suffocating and stressful than the area Zeke was previously in. It is also very divided in terms of territory while each territory has its own ruler or 'king'. The outskirts only had one 'king' because it is only considered the easiest part of the forest, which had a lot more than 10 divisions.

When Zeke entered the deep forest, he could clearly sense that there were some smaller beasts lurking above the high trees that are looking at him like he's some kind of prey. This made Zeke uncomfortable since he clearly noticed that almost each and every one of the trees had at least one or two pairs of eyes looking at him. Since it was so tall and with huge amount of tree leaves overlapping each other, Zeke couldn't get a glimpse of the figures that were looking at him. He continued to walk further deeper while vigilantly looking out for his surroundings.

Zeke suddenly sensed something dangerous behind him. He immediately clutched the sword that was in his back as he randomly swiped it behind him. There was then a clas.h.i.+ng sound as Zeke saw a small branch hurling towards his side. He was surprised about the hardness of the branch that is capable of staying intact after getting hit by a sword. He immediately looked towards the source of the throw to see a small figure resembling a monkey with wide eyes and long arms looking at him like an innocent child. However, after absorbing the fact that its throw was deflected, the innocent face of the monkey contorted into a vicious one. Zeke was surprised but then s.h.i.+fted his attention to the other pair of eyes. Gradually, Zeke could see a lot of monkeys on the surrounding trees suddenly show up and hurled branches that were as tough as metal at him.

Zeke immediately brought up his sword as he deflected most of the attacks aiming for his vital spots while making the others veer off and change trajectory. However, there were just too many projectiles so he was grazed by some on his legs and arms, staining his black clothes red. Zeke's expression didn't change however, as he didn't feel much pain from the superficial wounds. He instead held up his left arm while a small javelin of ice was gradually forming. After a few seconds, while his right hand was still holding a sword and deflecting the incoming small branches, Zeke threw the ice javelin towards one of the monkeys. The monkey didn't expect Zeke to counterattack much less target it out of all the monkeys, so it received the hit directly and was pierced by it in its chest, directly ending its life.

When the other monkeys saw their kin getting hit by an attack from the human, their eyes suddenly went red as they looked back at Zeke. Then, to Zeke's surprise, the monkeys actually went down little by little until they swarmed Zeke from all sides.

Seeing the situation getting out of hand, Zeke immediately ran off towards a direction as he forced his way through the dozen or so monkeys in front of him. His sword was like the scythe of death for the monkeys as they couldn't react to it in time. They would only see an image of the sword coming towards them while in the next second, they would feel pain from their necks as their heads disconnected from their bodies.

Zeke chose that direction because he discerned that it was the way that had fewer monkeys so he had immediately broken through the encirclement and ran. However, when he looked back, he saw the monkeys beeline towards him while holding their small makes.h.i.+ft spears. Zeke knew he could escape easily, but he didn't want to let the monkeys off lightly since they dared sneak attack him. He turned around and brought out another dagger for his left hand to use then divided his mind into multiple thoughts again as four javelins of ice were gradually forming on Zeke's left and right. Then, Zeke started hacking the incoming monkeys while also unleas.h.i.+ng a torrent of small ice javelins towards the monkeys. They were like fishes on a chopping block as they couldn't even get close to Zeke before they either get hacked into two by Zeke's sword and dagger, or get hit by the small ice javelins to their head or neck, both ending their life in one hit.

A minute had pa.s.sed by and the ground beneath Zeke had gradually turned into crimson red due to the amount of blood spilled. Corpses of monkeys were also seen on the ground while being stomped by the other rampaging monkeys who would in turn become corpses themselves.

Another minute had pa.s.sed by and the onslaught of monkeys had visibly lessened. The remaining monkeys who were the last to arrive saw the countless bodies of their brethren as they looked at Zeke with anger and indignation but they didn't dare get near him as they knew death too would be waiting for them. Most of the remaining left with tails tucked between their legs while some still had the courage to charge forward only to die moments later.

Seeing that there were no living monkeys in sight, Zeke panted while shaking his sword and dagger in his hands, causing the blood on the surface to acc.u.mulate to the tip of the sword and dagger before dripping to the soil. Zeke then looked at the corpses piled in front of him. With a rough glance, Zeke could tell that the numbers exceed 100. Some had been sliced to two, some had their throats slashed, some had stab wounds on their neck, while some had holes in their forehead caused by the constant barrage of ice javelins.

From that fight, Zeke exhausted much of his soul and mental power as he sat down in a nearby tree that had no blood around it. He was still panting heavily after the continuous dual wielding of sword and dagger but he was very excited and satisfied inwardly. These kinds of battles were what excites Zeke's blood the most. Right now, Zeke already had the feeling of satisfaction in his heart, indicating that he can already awaken his bloodline now. However, Zeke refrained from doing so as right now, he only had 55% of his overall bloodline awakened, and he still had lots of months to spend before going back to Dragonsoar City. He suppressed the satisfying feeling in the deepest part of his heart as he continued to excite his blood more. Based on what the system told him, individuals could suppress the lingering feeling of contentment within their body to continue the acc.u.mulation of awakening their bloodline. If one couldn't resist the temptation, he/she would quickly enter into a meditative state, and after a few minutes or even hours, their dragon blood will be awakened, giving a significant boost in raw power along with one or two innate abilities.

He also read from his father's books that there were instances that people didn't bother suppressing their feelings of contentment as they immediately charged through and awaken their blood. These people only had 30 to 35% of their dragon blood awakened so it only gave them at most raw power but no innate abilities. For geniuses, they wouldn't consider awakening until its 50% or higher since only then will they inherit the bloodline of their family and not an inferior and downgraded one. People knew the importance of this as trying to reawaken your dragon blood once more is as hard as ascending the heavens, so every Dragonborn could only have one shot at it.

Currently, Zeke was walking through a part of the forest with plants and gra.s.s that was as tall as him. He didn't dare let his guard down as he used the sword to hack down the gra.s.s in front of him while readying his dagger into a defensive position. While walking a few meters in, Zeke sensed a slight fluctuation on his right side. From his enhanced perception, he could see in the corner of his eyes that the sway of some of the gra.s.s there were different, and so without any hesitation, he charged at it and stabbed his sword at a very fast speed, enough to cover a few meters within a blink of an eye. Zeke then felt the sword hit something as he quickly pushed it with added force, burying the sword towards the thing. Zeke heard a soft whimper before looking at the figure he attacked. He then saw a pitch black leopard lying down on the gra.s.sland dying its surroundings red from the stab wound on its neck. Zeke laughed at the leopard's misfortune of meeting him and he then stored the corpse in his inventory. He figured he needed to eat after all the fierce battle earlier.

After he crossed the tall gra.s.sland, Zeke arrived in yet another common-looking forest except for the absurdly tall trees with thick trunks and enormous branches that stretched out and overlapped with other tree branches. This also caused most of the sunlight to be blocked, preventing almost 90% of sunlight to enter the forest. Thanks to some of the gaps, the whole place isn't all dark, but Zeke still felt uncomfortable having less vision while resting so he set up a small campfire before sprinkling some powder in the vicinity. The powder is something Zeke prepared before going inside the forest as it was a great repellent for wild beasts, or beasts that aren't that strong and only comparable to a normal human. With the powder spread in the vicinity, there would be no weak beasts that would close in on Zeke due to the pungent smell that was aromatic to Zeke but suffocating to wild beasts.

Zeke then brought out an a.s.sortment of meat he gained from various beasts he killed while he roasted it above the fire. While waiting for it to caramelize and burn the fats, Zeke sat and took out a small makes.h.i.+ft grindstone. This was made by Esteban back then when he noticed that Zeke doesn't have any durable weapons besides the common ones sold from the market. He then sharpened his weapons while smelling the pleasant aroma of the cooked meat. After a few minutes, he left the grindstone while heading towards the campfire and getting a skewer of meat. Zeke stared at his food and was about to wolf it down when the ground suddenly quakes, shaking off Zeke's grip of the food as it fell down and got dirtied. Zeke swore, but he quickly stored his things while chomping down on the remaining cooked meat as he swiftly got out of there.

Based on the sudden quake, Zeke knew for a fact that it wasn't a natural earthquake, but more of an earthquake that was caused by a beast. Zeke didn't know the extent of the beast's power for it to cause the earth to rumble but he knew it was a very formidable foe. His heart skipped a beat as he ran towards the epicenter of the earthquake with meat still hanging on his mouth.