Forest Stalker

After making Xiao agree to a bet, which terms were not explicitly stated as what Edrick intended to make him do wasn't known to the other party, he went out of the sect, and out of the city, carrying his rapier, bow and arrows as well as few throwing knives amongst other tools, although he practised with it, he did not show himself with the kanabo he owned, just in case the investigators managed to somehow identify the weapon that had been used to kill those guys from last time.

A little bit of care was always welcome, he did not quite know how investigative work functioned around here, so he wasn't yet feeling like taunting authorities, he would let them give up on the murder of Golden Teeth and his goons, before striking again within the city.

Right, now he was heading for the forest, intent on playing his part as the big bad sasquatch, he had gone by the bar and gotten word that some people were still feeling brave enough to go into the forest, apparently because some rare resources could possibly grow during the winter, and also, the density of the canopy meant that the woods weren't nearly as buried under snow as one might expect.

The sight of so many coniferous trees having turned completely white as their needle-like leaves were completely covered in the pale powder…

Also, winter time was also quite liked by a few because of the harder conditions which promoted better training in their minds as they exposed themselves to the element whilst battling or meditating, although he agreed that the cold could allow someone to train certain things better, going into a forest that was now known to house an unnaturally powerful and aggressive sasquatch was a stupid move.

Unless they were planning on fighting the beast, they should just stay at home or meditate in their backyard.

Edrick took the same route as usual, paying attention not to leave footprints behind as this could potentially lead people to his little hidey-hole, and settled upon the big rock near the small space into the hill, which was now longer covered in moss, it had all disappeared, either frozen off or retreated due to the cold.

He undressed and hid all of his stuff away, channeling his energy to cultivate the Mountain Sasquatch Body, he had yet to find what had caused the technique to react, but it seemed like the small boost the environment provided had gotten a bit better, perhaps because he had been playing more into the instincts and strengths of a sasquatch when in the woods.

Even when he didn't actively cultivate it, he could feel his inner circulation naturally taking on a different route than that of his bloodstream, which was like he was constantly cultivating the technique even when moving around, albeit to a much lesser degree.

The black fur was awfully long and thick now that winter was completely there, despite the cold, he felt basically nothing.

Anoteros sat upon the rock and listened, winter made the animals calm as many hibernated or went into winter rest, the birds were quieter as they had less insects or worms to catch with the snow, bears were slumbering in their dens…

So the presence of sapients was more easily discernible, especially since most of them couldn't help but be loud.

Although Edrick was always tempted to think of his prey as fellow humans, he had to remember that many intelligent species were up on the chopping block, and that he needed to be careful lest he was caught off guard by a certain species with a special capability.

It had yet to happen to him, but he remained on guard.

Not hearing or seeing anything yet, he brought up his list of quests, organising them to only show those he knew could be accomplished, or those he was planning on clearing.

*As a sasquatch, ravish thirty people*

*As a sasquatch, ravish fifteen people and leave them alive to tell the tale*

*As a sasquatch, instill fear for the woods and cause not a single person to dare venture into the forest for at least an entire week*

*Ravish an outer disciple and make them leave the sect out of fear*

*Ravish an inner disciple*

*Humiliate any disciple and enjoy their beloved one's body*

*Force yourself on ten people without coercing them using your status or authority*

*Ravish a store owner in their own shop during opening hours*

*Ravish and kill a single mother*

*Force yourself on someone in front of an audience*

*Kill someone by having your way with them*

*Make Luxuli willingly submit herself to you and form a bond of her own volition alone*

The one's pertaining to playing the part of a sasquatch were those of interest for him at the moment, the top two had once been about ravishing ten people and leaving five to tell the tale, but he had eventually completed them and they had morphed into these.

Unfortunately, the sort that he felt like playing with wasn't the most common to go out into the woods, the sector of adventuring, exploring and such was mostly occupied by men that definitely didn't fit his standards.

'The one with the audience could be done here as well… There are no precisions concerning how I should look… The single mother one too but I can't tell at a glance, and I have to leave them alive for the other quest…'

He wondered how to proceed when a voice reached him, a rather gruff and deep one, which reminded him of Tusk's but even more rough-sounding.

Edrick stood up and focused, making out lower voices, though the distance wasn't allowing him to make out anything or even tell what sort of person they might belong to, the silence of the woods was the only reason he could even hear them at all, had it not been winter, he probably wouldn't have noticed their presence.

Unfortunately for them, the circumstances meant that he did.

Climbing up a tree, Anoteros went slower than normal, having to be careful not to shake snow off the trees, which would make them suspicious at best, and alert them at worse, he did not yet know if they were suitable targets, so engaging them head-on was out of the question.

Thankfully, they were quite the talkative bunch, which allowed him to always have a good grasp of where they stood compared to him, and since they were going deeper into the forest, he took his time to get there.

Only catching sights after ten minutes of hopping between trees.

'Mmh… System, is this another script?'

*Nope*

'Good' he thought, having had a doubt as he noticed this big guy with an oversized sword accompanied by two girls.

'That should settle it for at least one quest…' he grinned and observed silently.