In the jungle.
Nolan walked east, stepping deeply and lightly. Perhaps because he had always been on the outermost periphery, he hadn't encountered any wild beasts or even magical beasts despite traveling for some time.
Buzz—
A faint, almost imperceptible sound of a pair of wings flapping rose from the branches in the forest.
This was a strange insect, about the length of a thumb, with a jade-green appearance similar to a caterpillar, but possessing a pair of thin wings.
This winged caterpillar slid off a jade-green leaf and slowly descended towards Nolan below.
However, just as it reached the space above Nolan's head!
An iron sword arced through the air, cutting the winged caterpillar in half, and it fell to the ground.
'Gained 1 experience point.'
A faint, fishy smell spread through the air.
Is it poisonous?
Nolan glanced at it casually, his steps not faltering as he continued forward.
What a pity!
He hadn't mastered any detection magic; otherwise, he wouldn't have to rely on his own judgment.
Currently, Nolan's HP, physical attack, and agility attributes had all reached 73 points.
Leaving HP aside for now.
He had experimented a little earlier; with 73 points of physical attack, he could chop down a tree as thick as a man's embrace with just three swings of his iron sword, if he put his full strength into it.
If he used his fist.
A full-force punch on a tree stump could leave an indentation half a fist deep in the trunk.
In terms of "agility," the data wasn't as precise. Nolan only knew that all his five senses had improved quite significantly.
With his previous 63 "agility" points, when he encountered the rogue who was likely above LV8, that speed, which was incredibly fast in the eyes of ordinary people, felt relatively normal to Nolan, even a little slow.
The "Stone" team was the adventurer group Nolan had the most contact with, and the strongest among them was their leader, Dossari.
Now, Nolan felt he should be a little stronger than him.
Furthermore.
He not only mastered martial arts but also skills and magic.
If it were a head-on confrontation, Nolan wasn't entirely confident, but if it were a sneak attack, he had some confidence in being able to annihilate the "Stone" team, though he would also be injured in the process.
From being a weakling to now possessing strength comparable to a "Silver-ranked" adventurer team, Nolan couldn't help but marvel at the terrifying nature of the innate ability of a "Player."
The "Player" captain, the leader of the Thirteen Heroes two hundred years ago, had aroused the Platinum Dragon Lord's apprehension due to his continuous increase in strength in a short period.
Keep moving forward!
The truly troublesome things in the forest were not the obvious magical beasts and wild beasts, but rather the colorful insects, most of which contained potent venom.
With Nolan's agility, he wasn't afraid of these insects' sudden attacks, but dealing with them was really troublesome, and the experience gained was always in single digits.
It severely slowed down his progress.
Crack!
A branch lying on the ground was snapped by Nolan's foot, emitting a crisp sound.
In the outer forest, filled with the chirping of various insects and the rustling of leaves in the wind, this wasn't particularly noticeable, but Nolan stopped.
"Finally, I've found a decent prey. This is your territory, isn't it?" Nolan turned his head and looked to his left.
He saw!
At the intersection of the thick branches and leaves of several large trees, a purely black creature with faint green spots was lying motionless among the leaves.
It was fortunate that it was daytime now.
Although the creature was hidden among the branches and leaves, its rather long silhouette could still be discerned; in the dark of night, Nolan probably wouldn't have noticed it at all.
Earlier.
Nolan had subtly sensed something unusual. Although this area belonged to the outskirts of the Tob Great Forest, the number of wild beasts he encountered during his progress was surprisingly small.
There was only one most likely reason for such a situation!
That was, this place belonged to the territory of some relatively powerful wild beast or magical beast.
Now it seemed he was right.
Nolan's gaze swept over the black figure hidden in the branches and leaves; its body length was at least one meter.
By the way, what exactly is this?
Nolan narrowed his eyes, holding the iron sword horizontally in front of his chest.
Rustle! Rustle!
The leaves rubbed against each other, making a sound as if blown by the wind.
The hidden creature had clearly realized it had been discovered. Facing this human who had trespassed into its territory, a red forked tongue flicked out from its mouth.
The next moment!
The black-green figure sprang like a coiled spring from the lush foliage, its jaws agape, and lunged towards Nolan below.
The black-green scales, illuminated by the dappled sunlight, emitted a cold, sharp gleam—a metallic texture!
Nolan finally identified what creature this was.
It was a snake!
And it was a giant snake, over six meters long and as thick as two normal human thighs.
The black-green giant snake shot forward, its foul-smelling maw aimed at Nolan's head, snapping down fiercely.
Nolan quickly swung the iron sword in his hand, striking hard at the black-green giant snake's head.
Bang!
The blade heavily struck the black-green giant snake's open mouth, emitting a dull thud. Sparks even flew from the point where the black scales met the iron sword.
So hard!
Nolan's eyes narrowed.
"Hiss!"
The black-green giant snake let out a pained hiss, its six-meter-long body twisting, and its thick tail whipped around from behind.
The tail's strike through the air produced a sharp buzzing sound.
Seeing this scene.
Nolan held the sword in his right hand, pressing down on the black-green giant snake that was trying to bite him. With his left hand, he grabbed at the empty air, drawing another iron sword from his inventory, and slashed towards the direction the snake's tail was swinging.
Bang!
A dull impact sound rang out again.
The surprisingly strong force made Nolan take a step back, his left shoulder shifting, but he successfully blocked the black-green giant snake's tail strike.
"Hiss!"
Apart from its mid-section standing on the ground, the black-green giant snake had its entire front half and lower tail section pressed against Nolan, continuously twisting its body.
It seemed to want to coil Nolan into its body, using the constricting technique snakes were good at, to kill its prey!
But Nolan, using his agility advantage, held a sword in each hand, parrying the black-green giant snake's head and tail attacks while steadily retreating.
"The scales are very hard, and combined with its slippery body, it's difficult to damage its body through brute force."
Nolan continuously swung his iron swords, occasionally striking the creature's body, but the effect was minimal.
If it were simply hard, that would be one thing, but its slippery body caused a significant portion of Nolan's attacks to lose their force upon impact.
He had originally thought this was just a large snake-like wild beast, but now it seemed to be a magical beast!
In this other world, wild beasts and magical beasts were easy to distinguish; any creature possessing some unique abilities could be classified as a type of magical beast.
Seeing that the human in front of it seemed unable to penetrate its scales, the black-green giant snake's dark yellow snake eyes showed a little less caution.
It gradually began to abandon some defensive movements, and its attacks became even more ferocious.
Thump!
The swinging thick tail was once again blocked by Nolan's iron sword, and the force was now even greater than before.
"That's enough."
Nolan's expression remained unchanged; he had already basically figured out this black-green giant snake's attack pattern.
It wouldn't be difficult to escape this black-green giant snake using his speed.
However, this was an excellent experience package!
Bang!
Nolan stomped heavily on the ground, leaping backward quickly, putting on an act as if he wanted to escape.