Chapter 7: Chapter 7 — Strange Monkey at the Sapphire Tree

Having decided he needed to go through another location, Laden’s return journey wasn’t as linear as his earlier journey was; instead, he made a diagonal cut through the desert area, knowing he would arrive at the forest.

And things went just the way Laden expected as he soon arrived at the entrance to the forest area without any disturbance.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered before Sternly entering the forest area.

Using the experience he had the last time, Laden made absolutely sure that he didn’t touch anything in particular that could be a part of a tree.

"If I don’t disturb them, they shouldn’t disturb me too, right?" Laden thought.

"But are these trees conscious minds, or do they just attack whatever they see?" he wondered.

"That’s not an hypothesis I would like to test or confirm for now," he said with a laugh.

All of this was done while he walked on the tips of his toes and made sure he wasn’t touching a root or grass, though he wasn’t sure of where he was headed.

Before he stood up to enter this forest, Laden had looked at it from a far-away distance, and thus he was able to get quite a bit of information.

From the distance he watched from, Laden noticed a curvature in the line of the forest, and that could almost certainly only mean one thing: the forest was circular.

With that thought in mind, Laden had decided to just head to the place he thought should be the center of the circle, but he wasn’t absolutely sure.

"A special tree should be kept in the most special location."

The deeper Laden walked through the forest, though; the tougher it was for him to move by touching any of the trees since they seemed to be getting larger and closer.

"This is getting more difficult," he said frustratedly.

Despite complaining, Laden still pressed on, his movements getting more and more stressful and exaggerated the deeper he went, and just when he was about to feel disappointed, he spotted something.

He noticed a root that looked especially different from the others—there was a blue vein running all across it, and his mind instantly activated.

"A sapphire tree—sapphire is just a fancy name for blue—could this root lead me there?" he wondered.

The moment that idea came to his mind, Laden decided to follow it since there was no other choice. From that point he trailed the blue route until he saw more of them, and they grew thicker.

He followed them till he arrived at a point of the forest where the trees were so close that they were forming what looked to be a wall.

The instant he noticed that frustration welled up in Laden, he could see a faint blue light peeking from the other side. The tree felt so close yet so far.

"There must be another way," Laden thought before turning to his side and moving in that direction while making sure he was staying close to the tree barrier.

Laden walked around until he realized he had arrived just where he started, and it didn’t take him too much time since he was in the Central area.

"I can’t just leave like this; there must be a way," Laden said as he wanted to circle round again.

"Are you really going to circle back again?" Laden suddenly heard from somewhere not too far away.

"I knew humans were dumb but not this dumb," said the voice, thin but very tough, creating a weird contrast.

Tracing the direction the voice was coming from, Laden looked up at one of the trees and noticed a blue-furred monkey sitting there arrogantly.

Its tail hung high despite its sitting posture, as if intentionally trying to defy gravity itself.

"What the hell, I didn’t know Spirit Beast could talk," Laden said in shock.

"Dumb Human, I am not a lowly spirit beast," the monkey replied curtly.

"What are you then?" Laden asked with interest.

"I am a—" the monkey’s voice resounded sharply before quickly falling silent as if the words were stuck in its throat.

"I don’t know," the monkey finally said with a confused expression.

Watching the sudden change in the monkey’s expression, Laden tried his best not to laugh but a small chuckle managed to escape resulting in a stern expression from the monkey.

"Why are you here, human?" the monkey asked.

"There’s something I need with Sapphire tree," Laden replied.

"Ohhhh that’s great, you can be my servant on this mission then," the monkey said with a laugh.

Laden didn’t know if he should be happy or be sad to see such arrogance coming from a monkey.

"People back on earth will go crazy to see a monkey like this," Laden thought.

"Are you also blocked by these trees?" Laden asked.

"You really are a dumb Human, can’t you see me sitting on one right now, how can I be blocked by these lowly puppet trees? My real opponent is that stupid Sapphire Tree," the monkey said.

"Something tells me I need to get its fruit, and that’s exactly what you will be doing since you are so weak and puny," The monkey said.

"I will break through these trees and attack that sapphire tree, distracting it, and all you have to do is just take on fruit," the monkey said.

Laden listened to the plan and instinctively tried to refute it, but he stopped the more he heard. He couldn’t find any problem with the plan. It was simple and effective.

"While picking the fruit, I can also check around the tree for anything," Laden thought.

"Alright then, let’s do it," Laden said with a nod.

"You have begun your journey towards smartness; now scurry to the side," the monkey said while it stood up.

Despite being quite high on the tree, the monkey jumped down fearlessly, and Laden noticed a change in its body.

Its body started inflating as if it were a balloon, making the beast look particularly domineering, and by the time it reached the ground, it was almost triple its current size.

Boom!

The beast landed on the forest floor, raising up dust everywhere.

It raised its fist and sent a single punch flying straight at the large trees.

Without any form of resistance, the trees were cleanly split, creating a gap.

"I am here to take all of the delicious fruit, stupid tree," the monkey shouted as it rushed towards the large blue glowing tree.

Laden, who was by the side, also didn’t waste time while making sure he didn’t touch any of the trees; he passed through the gap made by the monkey and slowly crept towards the large blue glowing tree currently in front of him.

The tree had multiple fruits that glowed slightly hanging from it, making Laden swallow a mouthful of saliva.

While he inched closer to the tree, Laden watched the now exactly expanded monkey battle fiercely with the blue roots of the tree.

But at a glance it was obvious that the monkey was only barely holding on, as the roots had made multiple injuries on its body.

"I need to hurry," Laden said to himself as he picked up his pace, making him arrive just below the first fruit.

In one fluid motion, Laden jumped and plucked one fruit and was just about to run when another thought popped up in his mind.

"Why don’t I take one more," he thought.

To fulfill his consciousness, Laden moved towards another fruit and jumped to pluck it, but this time it didn’t go unnoticed.

One thick blue root suddenly separated from the fight and was heading straight for Laden, and from its velocity and size, Laden knew there was absolutely no way he could dodge that.

"Dead, uhh," he said helplessly as he closed his eyes, waiting for the root to puncture him.

Pwushhhh! the sound of a root tearing into flesh suddenly rang out.

But he was shocked, as he didn’t feel anything, so he slowly opened his eyes to see an enlarged monkey standing right in front of him with a root sticking through it.

His eyes widened as he subconsciously took a step back.

"What are you getting shocked stupid, give me a damn fruit now," the monkey shouted, snapping Laden out of his shock.

Without wasting a second, he threw one of the glowing fruits at the monkey, which instantly threw the whole thing in its mouth.

Bang!

A large shockwave suddenly spread out, originating from the blue monkey’s body itself, almost completely knocking Laden down.

"Now it’s time to get real."