Chapter 20: The Purple Whirlpool (1/2)

*Drip* *Drop*

A drop of water fell on Jake, waking him up. He opened his eyes, feeling the warm ray of sunshine on his skin.

The scenery was beautiful. He could hear birds chirping, leaves singing, the occasional rustles of small bushes, and the rhythm of the raindrops.

'Perfection!' Jake commented, after the battle with the ape, he never felt so whole, like he had been sleeping all his life only to have just awoken.

His thoughts were interrupted by a mild headache lingering in his head since the battle.

Looking at the warm sun, Jake discerned that it was a day after his fight with the ape. He was still in the exact position he killed the beast, on the skull.

Touching his skin, he realized it was dry with blood and though his injuries have not been fully healed, they have at least closed.

'Hmm, I need to get a bath, or else I would start to smell,' Jake thought.

He stood up from the carcass of the beast, took off his stinky clothes, and offered himself to the rain.

The rain was a blessing to him. Most people would die from taking a nap in the forest and Jake straight up slept for more than five hours.

This was only possible due to the rain. As most beasts relied on their sense of smell to hunt, they would be terribly hindered amidst a rainfall….The rain protected him.

Jake smiled as he was washed afresh by the rain. After that, he washed his clothes, as he wouldn't want to walk out of the forest naked.

Putting on his clothes, Jake felt the headache again.

Ever since he woke up, he had been feeling a splitting headache and he felt more drained mentally than physically.

'It must have been the ability I used to defeat the ape. It drained my mind of juice, now I feel lucid and dreamy,' Jake solved the mystery.

Whatever ability the eye--the Akashic eye had, it was clearly too soon for him to use it.

To be honest, the appearance of the eye left him confused, as the eye had not been with him before his rebirth, but Jake didn't dwell on the topic as now was not the right time for that.

He looked at himself through a clear puddle of water on the ground.

'As expected, I'm still perfect,' Jake said clearly impressed by what he saw.

With short jet black hair and a delicate face, Jake's beauty would stand out anywhere he went.

'Hmm?'

Jake noticed something different about his appearance. His eyes were now heterochromatic. His previously right blue eyes had changed to a purple one, while the left blue one remained the same.

'This is the Akashic eye,' said a stunned Jake.

Before, he had previously thought that the eyeball was within his body, but now, he was convinced that the eyeball was his right eye, except for some reason, the appearance was too different from what he saw.

Thinking at a fast speed, Jake surmised that the purple eye was the semi awakened form of the Akashic eye.

He put the matter to rest for the meantime as he saw the rain was about to stop.

With great difficulty, Jake dug his hand into the ape and pushed out three spikes from its back. They would serve as replacements for his bone swords.

After making sure he was ready, Jake began to run to the entrance of the Dark Forest. Now that he had killed the ape, he was in more danger.

His speed was faster than ever as he blitzed past trees like a cheetah.

…..Sure enough, after five minutes of running, the sounds of raindrops stopped and the clouds cleared the path for the beautiful radiance of the sun.

…..but that was far from what was on Jake's mind. He was thinking of how screwed he was.

He realized he could see some hidden eyes from the bushes, watching his every move. He picked out his pace as he tried to throw off his watchers.

*Roar!!*

Jake heard a terrifying roar that echoed throughout the forest. It was what he had been worried about all this while.

Ever since he encountered the curved spike ape, he knew this would happen. While beasts were known to be cruel, that didn't stop them from being vengeful. Now that he had killed the child of the King of the outer forest, he reckoned he would be chased from every corner of the forest.

...To top it off, the father of the ape he killed, the king of the forest, was known to be intelligent and commanded beasts far stronger than it, that was its true strength, the reason it ruled this part of the forest!

'What is this feeling,' Jake thought.

His eyes were not at the back of his neck, but he could feel some beast chasing him.

It was surreal. Suddenly, he felt the looming spin of death on him.

'Duck!'

He ducked as a sharp stone flew past his head's previous location. He understood what had just happened. He had sensed something fast enter his proximity and reacted to it.

It was the ability of sixth sense, and it most likely came from the Akashic eye. Before his rebirth, he had also possessed a sixth sense of mighty power. He could sense an attack 10 feet away from him, he could effortlessly dodge barrages of bullets. He had achieved many feats with just the sixth sense.

So, with his experience, Jake began to use his sixth sense more fluid. He started to move faster as he avoided most of the obstacles in his path.

….Out of nowhere, a panther jumped at Jake. The panther was black and had two tails.

Of course, Jake had sensed it but there was nothing much he could do other than dodging, as it was too fast.

Other creatures popped up from nowhere to take a shot at the grand prize, Jake.

'How are they finding me? Wait, the smell of blood, the rain only washed the blood away, it didn't wash away the smell. Shit!'

While he was running, Jake took out his spike sword as he stabbed at a beast lunging at him….without even looking.

It didn't matter to him how many beasts attacked, they would all suffer the same outcome, Death!

With his sixth sense, he could sense which one was a threat and thereby killed it before it had any chance.

With great momentum, Jake jumped on a tree branch and began to run on trees. At first, it was hard to keep his balance, but gradually his movements became smooth and fluid like a baby bird taking its first flight.

'What is that?' Jake mentally cried.

Behind him, he saw multiple shadows rushing at him with full speed. They were immensely faster than Jake. Jake reckoned they would catch up to him in no time.

'It seems like there's no escaping this,' Jake bitterly smiled.

Pausing his footsteps, Jake threw his spare spike sword at one of the shadows. Judging by the shape of the creature, which was like a lion, Jake threw it at its chest, aiming for the heart. The spikes were gotten from the curved spiked ape; it was deadly and sharp.

Thus, the spike failed to disappoint as it killed the beast instantly.