Mental Interference!

His nostrils twitched,

and he moved lightly through the dense forest, shafts of light spilling down through gaps in the towering canopy.

The air was fresh, carrying a strange mix of grass, trees, and earth.

But Merlin wasn't smelling those things. He was scenting other traces left in the surroundings.

Deep in the mountains, and especially near a water source, there was bound to be a complete ecosystem nearby.

As he caught the different scents in the air and glanced around while walking, his pupils continuously contracted and dilated with the changing light.

All kinds of creatures kept appearing in Merlin's field of vision.

A gray-brown tree lizard clung to a trunk, disguised as bark.

A gray rodent twitched its ears in the grass.

A long-eared rabbit poked its head out of a burrow, then hurriedly ducked back inside.

All manner of life filled his view.

The strange allure of nature steadily unfolded before his eyes.

Nature's beauty, so rarely seen in his previous life, was everywhere here—and even more breathtaking.

As he took in the scenes around him, Merlin's heart thumped powerfully, and a hunter's thrill gradually welled up inside him.

An urge to run wild, leaping and bounding, quietly surged up from the depths of his heart.

As he walked, Merlin suddenly shuddered and stopped, his eyes clouding with thought.

"This shouldn't be happening. Why would I have such 'beastlike' thoughts?"

Was it the influence of the [Lynx]?

Yes.

The thought immediately surfaced in Merlin's mind. When a creature was [equipped] for a long time, its instincts could subtly influence him.

He reflected on it.

Merlin's expression turned uncertain.

The lynx's cunning, its wariness, and its instinctive hunting habits were all etched into its nature.

That beastliness.

"If I keep synchronizing more deeply, will it really affect my own habits and consciousness?"

Even now, Merlin couldn't be completely sure he was unaffected.

One or two creatures were manageable,

but what would happen to him if he equipped many more in the future?

A conflicted look appeared in his eyes, but it soon faded.

"If I let the fear of choking make me give up eating, I'll only lose out.

"If there's a mental influence, then I'll fight it on the mental level."

Fight magic with magic.

Merlin vaguely remembered that this world had techniques for cultivating the mind, spirit, and will.

Take swordsmanship, for example. At an ordinary level, it involved honing one's skills toward perfection. At a deeper level, it involved applying consciousness, the mind, and the spirit in all kinds of ways.

Like meditation or sword meditation.

Or the Six Powers and Life Return. Merlin had always felt that techniques involving infusing the body with consciousness to control oneself had something to do with the mind and spirit.

Like visualization or contemplation.

Although he didn't know exactly how to do it, his "perspective," gained from reading all kinds of "books" in his previous life, told him that he was probably on the right track.

This world was full of mysteries. The powerful could change the weather and shatter islands. It seemed to lack the kind of cultivation techniques that refined life and power together, like those in martial arts and fantasy worlds, yet everywhere hinted at all sorts of inherited cultivation methods.

His thoughts raced. A glimmer shone in Merlin's eyes, as if a leaf that had blinded him had been lifted, and the door to a mysterious world had slowly cracked open before him.

His heart pounded powerfully, and the light in his eyes kept gleaming.

At that moment, Merlin couldn't help but exclaim inwardly:

Hello, world!

The world didn't answer him, nor did a Devil Fruit fall from the sky and land on his head.

Suddenly, Merlin darted to one side. A moment later, a whoosh of wind was followed by a muffled thump at the spot where he had just been standing.

Merlin's mouth twitched as he looked at the fruit on the ground.

It was a round, bright red fruit about the size of a human head, shaped a little like a papaya.

A delighted chitter came from a tree nearby. Merlin raised his head and gave it a long, cold look.

A brown-furred monkey with a face that looked like a painted mask sat among the thick branches at the top of the tree, which was laden with the same fruit.

Its powerful tail curled around a branch. It tugged at its face with its forepaws, making faces at Merlin and chittering mockingly.

Merlin slipped his right hand into his pocket and gripped a grenade, his gaze turning unfriendly.

Just then, the monkey let out a long cry. As if frightened by Merlin's presence, it suddenly sprang to another branch and quickly swung away through the canopy.

"Stupid monkey. Good call!" Merlin pursed his lips and grumbled. "If you'd stuck around for even a few more seconds, I'd have treated you to something real special."

Just then, surprise appeared in Merlin's eyes. Quite a few of the trees in this forest were fruit trees.

Even the air was tinged with a faint fruity fragrance.

Merlin walked over and bent to pick up the fruit. He tapped it with his knuckles.

Then he dug his fingers into either end and pulled. With a crack, it split open. Inside the peel was a ring of orange-red flesh, much like a dragon pomelo. Merlin grabbed a piece and put it in his mouth. It was sweet and sour, bursting with juice.

His eyes gradually lit up.

"What a great place! The fruits here should all be edible, right?"

He swallowed the delicious fruit, a smile flickering across his face. Just then, leaves and branches rustled nearby.

Merlin looked up. The same monkey had returned, clutching an apple in its left hand. With a whoosh, it threw it at him again.

Merlin's face darkened, but this time he was ready. His right arm shot up nimbly, and he caught the fruit with a smack.

Seeing this, the monkey screeched angrily, scratching at its head and baring its teeth at Merlin.

Merlin didn't hold back. He suddenly stepped forward with his left foot, drew his right arm back, then took aim and hurled the apple.

With a whoosh, the apple flew toward the monkey with a faint whistle. The monkey was quick, but it still panicked and sprang to another branch.

A crooked smile tugged at Merlin's lips. The next moment, he pulled his right hand from his pocket, gripping the grenade, while his left hand yanked out the pin.

Then he suddenly threw it.

The monkey hurriedly sprang aside again.

And just then,

Boom! An explosion erupted in midair. The monkey had dodged it, but the blast and flash of fire still startled it badly.

"Eek-eek!"

It shrieked,

then tucked its tail between its legs and fled through the treetops.

Merlin smirked at the sight. Then his eyes flashed, and he sprang into motion, suddenly sprinting after it.

The monkey swung farther and farther through the canopy while Merlin raced along the ground. He crossed hills and valleys, passed through a bamboo grove, and before long, Merlin slowed down.

Eek-eek-eek—

Caw-caw-caw—

At that moment,

following the monkey, Merlin arrived in an ancient forest where the trees grew denser and more gnarled. Monkeys of all sizes, all of the same kind, clambered through the surrounding treetops.

Their cries came in a dense chorus, like a surround-sound system turned up to full volume.

Merlin's gaze sharpened. Here, he could instinctively sense a hint of danger.

Clang!

He gripped the hilt of his saber and drew its gleaming blade, patterned with flames.

The monkeys in the trees shrieked at the intruder.

The next moment, a rain of all kinds of fruit came crashing down, pelting Merlin from every direction.

The corner of his eye twitched. Merlin bolted, darting left and right in a zigzag.

A single piece wouldn't do much damage, but under such a dense barrage, he'd definitely end up bruised and swollen if he didn't dodge.

If one hit the back of his head, Merlin couldn't guarantee he wouldn't black out.

So,

at that moment, Merlin made full use of his agility, darting this way and that in a serpentine path,

his sharp saber swinging wildly as he dodged,

and with a series of metallic shings, he sliced some of the fruits cleanly in two.

But there were also dull thuds against his back and thighs. He grimaced and hissed through his teeth as the fruit pelted him.

Still, the supply of fruit wasn't endless.

Before long, the monkeys had run out. They could only scratch their faces and shriek angrily at Merlin as they leaped about in the trees.

Meanwhile, as he fled, Merlin had unknowingly reached a spot twenty meters from a gnarled ancient tree whose trunk was dozens of meters thick and whose lower section had turned stone-like. The monkeys around him were shrieking with piercing intensity.

Merlin warily watched the base of the ancient tree directly in front of him. There was a hollow there, three meters in diameter and five meters tall.

A pair of oily green lights flickered in the pitch-black hollow.

The difference in light between the inside and outside of the hollow was too great, and Merlin couldn't make out what was inside.

Still, he didn't have to think hard to guess that it was something huge.

A deafening, furious roar came from inside the hollow. Then a black shadow shot out.

It ran on all fours and reached Merlin in the blink of an eye. Its muscular right forelimb rose, and five sharp, dagger-like claws gleamed coldly on its paw as it swept toward Merlin's head with a rush of wind.

At that moment,

Merlin's pupils suddenly contracted to pinpricks. The enormous black-furred monkey's movements slowed in his eyes. His muscles tensed reflexively, and as he bent his knees and leaped backward, both arms rose to block.

At the same time, the Calamity Ability inside him instinctively surged into action. Black flames erupted over his hands with a whoosh.

Thud! Crack!

In an instant, it was as though a speeding cement truck had crashed into Merlin. His arms snapped backward, then slammed into his chest. He spat out a mouthful of blood.

Merlin shot backward with a whoosh. For an instant, his mind went blank.

Thump! His body hit the ground hard and tumbled away.

Yet the crushing impact, and the dull pain from his internal organs, dragged Merlin's consciousness back.

A hundred meters away, Merlin lay motionless on the ground. Black flames still rose from his forearms and hands.