Armageddon: Defying Fate

Picking Herbs In The Wild

Once again Kiran embarked on a journey into the wilds, but this time something was different, he wasn't going there to hunt for, evolved monsters, rather he was going there to look for herbs and other plants used for making evolutionary liquid.

So this time, he didn't rush into the forest, like he normally did, instead, he carefully walked taking account of his entire surroundings, looking for the herbs, he started his search from the entrance of the Academy, and then deeper into the forest.

He saw a lot of plants similar to the herbs on his way, but going close, they scented differently, he was already 1000 meters into the wild, and he had not come across any herb. He couldn't help but think, if he had been here without knowing the scent of the herbs, he would have plucked all these plants thinking they were herbs.

1000 meters mark into the wild, most of the evolved monsters here were at the 4th level, though most of them were usually in the 3rd level. But surprisingly Kiran saw a beast at the 5th level, it was behind a rock, and you could see blood on the floor,

"It must have killed the 4th level evolved monster staying here. Kiran didn't enter the forest, this time to hunt, so he forgot about the monster and was about to leave when he caught the sight of a few blades of grass by the rock side.

There was a cluster of weed-like plants on the rock. Their bodies were emerald green and the tops were fluffy and covered in dew. Their oval shape was surrounded by raised green burrs. This was the White grass, it looked exactly like what Instructor Yama had sent him.

"There's a lot of clusters by the rock side, if it's really the white grass, then I have made a windfall,"

Normally it was hard to see, even a little of it, but this time there were clusters of it beside the rock.

He then quickly went toward the rock, to pick up the grasses, the evolved monster, threw a threatening growl, but Kiran ignore it, he was in the 7th level of basic evolution, he didn't care about a 5th level evolved monster.

The evolved monster was a ground lizard, it had probably evolved from a normal lizard, it rushed towards Kiran, opening its mouth to attack, Kiran brought out his sword, activated fast sword, and quickly killed it.

He did not want it to, destroy the cluster of grasses by the rock, so he killed it faster, he went beside to rock to pick up the grasses, he could see some of them had been eaten by the evolved monsters.

"It must have killed the evolves monsters staying here because of the grasses, that means even the evolved monsters also eat herbs"

He picked up one of the grasses, he had to test if it was the real one before keeping it.

He sniffed the grass, and he felt a familiar scent from the grass, resembling the white grass he had smelled from the instructor.

"This is really the white grass, I have made a windfall"

He picked up all the clusters of grasses and put them into his spatial ring.

Even though he knew he had a photographic memory, he had doubted, if he would succeed in differentiating the herb using their scent, after seeing the instructor's reaction, when he told him about it. But now it had worked, he could differentiate them from their scents.

He left the area and then continued his search deeper into the forest, he was now at the 2000 meters mark, and on his way, he had picked 3 other herbs, which he identified using their scents, and also he had always taken a point of places where evolved monsters sleep, he had found out that, the evolved monsters also like consuming herbs, so some of their houses would contain herbs they had found useful and picked.

Instructor Yama had asked him to bring

Any amount of ten types of herbs, he had only gotten 4 so far, but he knew the deeper he went into the forest, the easier he could find what he was looking for.

He had just entered the 2000 meters mark when he sighted a flowery plant, it looked like one of the herbs he was looking for, he moved close to it swiftly, sniffing the plant, and yes it was one of the herbs he was looking for.

The funny part was that there were 5 herbs around this place that looked exactly alike, but only 2 of them were the ones he was looking for, without him being capable of differentiating them from their scent, he would have picked the three other useless plants too.

Now he had picked half of the plants he was looking for, just a bit and he would complete his task.

He didn't waste anytime there and kept searching for more herbs, his search led him to the 3000 meters mark, at the exact dividing mark to beyond the 3000 meters mark, he had heard a loud disturbance on his way, so he wanted to check it out, he had searched for the remaining herbs on his way, but he had found none, so he decided to enter where the disturbance was.

He saw three students fighting evolved hawks, this was the first time Kiran had seen a flying evolved monster fighting, they were about five birds ambushing the three students. the three of them were all injured, the birds were in the 9th level of basic evolution just like the students, but the monsters had an advantage of flight, they would only attack when the students were unguarded.

"These students must have ventured beyond the 3000 meters mark, and must have been followed immediately they entered," Kiran thought.

He contemplated whether to help the students or not because it looked as if they would soon be killed by the monsters.

"Hey, please help us" a weak voice came from the girl in the group.

Kiran didn't make any moves as he heard her voice,

"Please help us or we will be killed," one of the boys cried begging Kiran.

"Stop begging him, he is a coward and will not help us, I have already sent a help distress to the academy we just need to hold on before help arrives"

The girl cried in despair, as she saw no help was coming from Kiran, she was the one who had convinced the two boys, to go deeper beyond the 3000 meters mark, they were supposed to only enter the periphery, she was sure the three of them could handle the evolved monsters in the periphery, but what she did not expect was an ambush from this birds as they were roaming the periphery.

The birds had followed them all the way here, as they ran. They couldn't lose the birds and they were tired from the running and fighting, very soon they would lose all their strength, and they would be killed by the monsters,

Tears flowed out of her eyes as she cried

"It's all my fault if only I had not convinced you guys to follow me"

"It's not your fault, you did not drag us, we could have said no," the boy who had accused Kiran of being a coward said trying to calm the girl down, she would die faster if her mind was in disarray.

Kiran stood there for some seconds before disappearing,

"I told you he was a coward," the boy said angrily, though he had accused Kiran of being a coward, deep in his heart, he had wished Kiran could do something to save them.

Kiran ran, and then hid behind a large tree, his eyes were glued to the birds flying around the students, occasionally the birds would attack if they saw a chance,

He had been monitoring the birds, since he came here, he had not fought a flying evolved monster before, so he didn't want to dash straight into the fight, and then end up being killed.

He studied the monsters, their flying pattern, methods of attack, and their speed, the monsters were cunning, they never flew near the students, they would only strike fast and then retreat.

He was in the 7th level of basic evolution, though he could fight 9th level evolved monsters, fighting these flying birds would be tough.

He had studied the birds and knew their method of attacking and retreating, it was now time to fight them. he brought out his sword, looked over at the battle, still standing at the back of the tree, one of the birds was about attacking the girl, when a sword suddenly came plunging into its eyes, Kiran had attacked.

No one saw the sword coming not even the birds, the three students, we're excited, they thought help from the academy had come.

They were jolted awake when they heard Kiran's Voice, "quickly, run and hide in the back of the trees," it dawned on them, that help had not come yet, they quickly ran following the voice into the back of the tree, as the birds were still in disarray, from the sudden attack.

"You....you were the one that threw the weapon, I thought you had run away," the boy who had formerly accused Kiran said"

Kiran didn't answer him, as he was still observing the reaction of the birds, the bird who had been injured by Kiran's attack had fallen, and was screeching from the pains of losing its eyes.

"Give me your weapons," Kiran voice came,

They didn't know what Kiran would do with their weapons, but still, they quickly threw it to him.

One of the boys was a short sword user, while the girl used a long dagger, while the boy who had accused him, used a spear.

Kiran collected the weapons, and quickly threw them at the birds, the birds were rushing angrily towards them, wanting to take revenge for their injured mate.

The tree weapons impaled three birds, on their wings, sending then hauling towards the ground,

"Quickly go over and attack them before they get back up"

The students rushed towards the birds, you could see anger and revenge in their eyes, as they ran towards the birds, all the students in the Academy knew the boxing technique, so even without their weapons, their punches were still fatal to the birds.

The birds had a weaker body compared to the other evolved monsters, so without their wings, their strength was more than half reduced.

The last bird had gone mad, rushing toward Kiran, it had forgotten its injured mates, it just wanted to take revenge on Kiran.

Kiran had calculated, it would go after him, so he was prepared. He broke off branches from the nearby trees, throwing them at the bird, though the bird had gone mad, it still dodged the branches, but Kiran was slowly moving back into the thicker place, where there were more trees.

As the bird followed Kiran, it found out there was lesser and lesser space it could maneuver itself as it followed Kiran, they were branches everywhere, even with that it still kept going after Kiran.

"Now I got u," this place Kiran had run to, was so cramped, the bird could no longer dodge any branch Kiran threw, wound after the wound was inflicted on the body, until it finally decided to rush back, but how was Kiran going to let it go.

He rushed towards it with a large beach in his hands, jumped until he was almost at the birds' height, and then smacked it with the branch on its head, he had enlarged his hand and used his entire strength.

The bird came crashing on the ground, blood flowing from the wound on its head, Kiran immediately followed it up with more hits until the branch broke to pieces, the bird had lost its life, its head was all mangled, depicting a scene of gore,

"This birds really have weaker body than other evolved monsters,"

He put its body inside his spatial ring, and then went back to where the other students were.

As Kiran reached their location, he found out that three of the birds were dead. Without their flight, they were obviously weaker than the students.

"Thank you for helping us" they unanimously uttered,

"Don't bother, it's what a normal person would do"

"I am Clara, and thank you once again" the girl introduced herself, her eyes were all red from her cries earlier.

"I am Justin," the other boy said.

"I am Rin, am really sorry for what I said earlier" the boy who had accused Kiran finally apologized.

"I am Kiran, no need for you to apologize, I would have thought the same too"

"You are the top-ranking new student who bested Sam"

"Yes," Kiran answered awkwardly

They had found his face was familiar, but they never attributed it to Kiran, he was a new student, they didn't expect he had gotten this strong.

"No wonder Sam lost, I can wait to see the face of all those idiots, who want to beat you up during the tournament," the girl said excitedly,

"You guys should quickly leave this place, am sure a lot of monsters will soon be reaching this place,"

Kiran went to get back his sword which he had thrown to the first bird he injured, the bird managed, to wriggle out the sword from its eyes, and it runs immediately it saw Kiran,

Kiran quickly picked up his sword and went back to the students,

"We need to leave quickly"

"The bird, might bring back its other mates"

most of the birds hunted in groups, the bird might bring in more birds from beyond the 300 meters mark.

They quickly ran until they were back in the 1000 meters mark, this was a safer location for people of their strength, there were barely any evolved monsters who could hurt them here.

Kiran said his goodbyes and was about to leave when he was stooped by Rin,

"You should take this carcass, they rightfully belong to you,"

"I didn't kill them, you guys should keep it"

They wanted to insist but, Kiran wasn't going to change his mind he didn't help them because of the body of the monster.

"We are going back to the Academy, are you coming with us," the girl asked.

"No, am not done with my task, I still have things to do" Kiran declined.

"Are you still killing monsters, aren't you tired from all that?" Rin asked surprised, the fight they had with the birds was already enough for them to call it a day.

"Am not hunting monsters, am picking herbs"

"Rin didn't we pick a lot of herbs in the periphery of the 4000 meters mark," the girl asked.

"Yes I almost forgot, Kiran we have a lot of plants here, am sure u know the problem of picking herbs, only the scientists know the real one, we can give you all our plants they might be useful to you"

"You guys don't have to do this, "

"There a possibility these plants might not even contain a single herb there no harm giving you"

They all brought out the plats from their spatial rings and handed them to Kiran.

Kiran collected the plants, and started sniffing them, to identify which ones were herbs,

They all stared at Kiran strangely as he sniffed the herbs.

"Why is he sniffing the plants, is something wrong with him," Clara thought.

An excited smile appeared on Kiran's face, after sniffing the plants, the plants had miraculously contained the 5 plants he needed to complete his task,

He raised his head and saw all of them looking at him strangely,

"I have a photographic memory, so I can exactly remember everything I see and the smell of anything I have smelt before"

"Thanks for the herbs, this plant contains the exact herbs I was looking for"

Rin and the other students were dumbfounded by what they just heard, photographic memory, this is a godlike ability, wouldn't they no longer need to hunt, if they had this ability.

"Damm Kiran you are too overpowered," Rin said smiling,

"I hope I can always come to you, to help me identify herbs if I gather plants in the future," the girl said smiling

"Of course you can always come"

Kiran didn't have any other reason, to stay in the wild anymore, and prepared to go back to the Academy, he had completed the task, and his photographic memory really worked in identifying the herbs, he had won the bet, and instructor Yama would teach him now to make Evolutional liquids. He thought of how he would be swimming in points, he could not help but smile.