Mental Interference!

His nostrils twitched, He walked lightly through the dense forest, rays of light filtering down through the gaps in the canopy of the tall trees surrounding him.

The air was fresh, mixed with the peculiar scents of grass, trees, and earth.

But Merlin wasn't smelling those; he was detecting other residual scents in the environment.

In the deep mountains and old forests, especially near a water source, there must be a complete food chain nearby.

Sniffing the various scents in the air, he scanned his surroundings as he walked, his pupils constantly constricting and expanding with the changing light.

Various creatures appeared in Merlin's vision.

A gray-brown tree lizard camouflaged as bark on a tree trunk.

Gray rodents twitching their ears in the grass.

Long-eared rabbits poking their heads out of holes before quickly retreating.

Visions of life unfolded before his eyes.

The peculiar charm of nature was constantly revealed to him.

This kind of natural beauty, rarely seen in his previous life, was everywhere here, and even more striking.

Seeing these scenes, Merlin's heart pounded powerfully, a sense of primal hunting surging within him.

An urge to run wildly, to leap and bound, quietly welled up from the depths of his heart.

As Merlin walked, his body suddenly tensed, and he stopped, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"This shouldn't be happening. How could I have such 'beastly' thoughts?"

Was it the influence of the [Lynx]?

Yes.

The thought immediately surfaced in Merlin's mind. Prolonged association with an [Equipment] creature would subtly influence him with that creature's habits.

He reflected inwardly.

Merlin's expression flickered with uncertainty.

The cunning, vigilance, and deeply ingrained predatory instincts of the lynx.

This beastliness.

"As my synchronization deepens in the future, will it truly affect my own habits and consciousness?"

Merlin couldn't be entirely sure at that moment that he wouldn't be influenced.

One or two were manageable, But what would he become if he equipped more creatures in the future?

A look of conflict appeared in his eyes, but it quickly vanished:

"To give up eating for fear of choking would be a loss outweighing the gain.

If there is an influence on the mental level, then I will fight it on the mental level."

Fighting fire with fire, or rather, magic with magic.

Merlin vaguely recalled that this world wasn't without techniques related to cultivating the mind, spirit, and will.

Take Kendo, for example. On a superficial level, it's about honing skills to perfection, but on a deeper level, it involves the application of consciousness, mind, and spirit in all aspects.

Such as meditation, sword zen, and so on.

Or the Six Powers, Life Return, Merlin felt that the technique of infusing consciousness into the body to control oneself was related to the mind and spirit.

Like visualization, contemplation.

Although he didn't know the specifics, combining the "vision" gained from reading numerous "books" in his previous life, this should be generally correct.

This world ran deep. The powerful could change the weather and destroy islands. Although there seemed to be no cultivation methods like those in wuxia or xianxia worlds, hints of various cultivation techniques were everywhere.

Thoughts swirled in his mind. A light shone in Merlin's eyes, as if a leaf obscuring his vision had been swept away, and the door to a mysterious world slowly creaked open before him.

His heart pounded forcefully, the light in his eyes twinkling.

At this moment, Merlin couldn't help but sigh inwardly:

Hello, world!

The world wouldn't respond, nor would a Devil Fruit fall from the sky and hit him on the head.

Suddenly, Merlin dodged to the side as a sound of rushing air was followed by a dull thud, bang!, from where he had just been standing.

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

A round, bright red, unknown fruit, about the size of a human head, somewhat resembling a papaya.

Joyful squeaking sounds came from a large tree to his side. Merlin slowly raised his gaze.

A brown-furred monkey, its face resembling a painted mask, appeared on the treetop where the fruit-laden branches were covered in lush foliage.

Its strong tail wrapped around a branch, and its front paws pulled at its face, making a squeaking, mocking grimace at Merlin.

Merlin's right hand was in his pocket, gripping a grenade, his gaze turning hostile.

Just then, the monkey let out a long screech, as if startled by Merlin's aura. It suddenly leaped onto another branch and quickly disappeared among the treetops.

"Stupid monkey, you're smart enough!" Merlin muttered, curling his lips. "If you'd been even a few seconds slower, I would've treated you to a big surprise."

At this moment, a hint of surprise appeared in Merlin's eyes because many of the trees in the surrounding forest were fruit trees.

A faint fruity aroma even permeated the air.

Merlin took two steps, bent down, and picked up a piece of fruit from the ground. He tapped it with his knuckles.

Then, he gripped the fruit with both hands and snapped it open with a crack. He saw that the inside was lined with a circle of orange-red flesh, resembling a dragon pomelo. Merlin grabbed a piece and popped it into his mouth, chewing. It was sour, sweet, and juicy.

His eyes gradually lit up.

"What a great place! All the fruit here should be edible, right?"

Swallowing the delicious pulp, a smile flashed in Merlin's eyes. Just then, he heard a rustling sound from the leaves.

Merlin looked up and saw the same monkey returning, this time holding an apple in its left hand. Whoosh! It threw it over again.

Merlin's face darkened. This time, however, he was prepared. He swiftly raised his right arm and caught the fruit with a smack!

Seeing this, the monkey became furious, screeching and chattering, baring its teeth at Merlin.

Merlin wasn't going to stand for it. He took a forceful step forward with his left foot, pulled his right arm back, and then aimed and threw it fiercely.

Whoosh! The apple flew with a faint whistling sound towards the monkey, which, though agile, panicked and scrambled to another branch.

Merlin's lips curled. In the next moment, he took his right hand out of his pocket, the one holding the grenade, and pulled the pin with his left hand.

Then, he threw it forcefully.

The monkey, enraged, darted away to the side again.

And at this moment, BOOM! An explosion occurred in mid-air. Although the monkey dodged, it was still greatly startled by the blast and the fireball.

"Screech--"

It shrieked, and with its tail tucked, it fled rapidly through the treetops.

Seeing this, Merlin's lips twitched. Then, his eyes flashed, and he moved, suddenly dashing in the direction the monkey had fled.

The monkey swung further and further through the treetops, while Merlin moved rapidly on the ground. Crossing mountains and valleys, he passed through a bamboo forest. Before long, Merlin slowed his pace.

"Screech, screech, screech--"

"Caw, caw, caw--"

At this moment, Chasing the monkey, Merlin arrived at an ancient forest where the trees grew increasingly dense and gnarled. All around, on the treetops, climbed monkeys of all sizes, of the same kind.

The monkey calls were dense, like a surround-sound system had been activated.

Merlin's gaze sharpened because here, he vaguely sensed danger instinctively.

Clang!

His right hand gripped the hilt of his katana, and the gleaming blade with its fiery pattern was drawn from the sheath.

"Screech, screech, screech!!!"

The monkeys in the trees let out piercing screams at Merlin, the uninvited guest.

In the next moment, a rain of various fruits fell from the sky, pelting down towards Merlin.

His eyelids twitched. Merlin took to his heels and ran. Although the individual fruits didn't cause much damage, under this dense barrage, he would definitely end up bruised and battered if he didn't dodge.

If one hit the back of his head badly, Merlin wasn't sure he wouldn't pass out.

So.

At this moment, Merlin fully utilized his agility, weaving left and right in a serpentine motion.

His sharp katana swung wildly as he dodged, with swish, swish! sounds, he occasionally split some of the fruits in half.

But there were also dull thuds, thump, thump!, from his back and thighs, causing him to grimace and gasp in pain.

However, the fruit supply wasn't infinite.

Before long, the monkeys ran out of fruit. They could only scratch their faces and screech angrily at Merlin, leaping and jumping in the trees.

Meanwhile, during his escape, Merlin had unknowingly come within twenty meters of an ancient, gnarled tree with a trunk dozens of meters in diameter, its lower part petrified. The monkey calls around him were now incredibly sharp.

Merlin's gaze warily fell upon the area below the ancient tree in front of him, where there was a tree hollow three meters in diameter and five meters high.

A pair of oily green lights, half a meter apart, flickered in the dark tree hollow.

Due to the significant difference in light between the inside and outside of the tree hollow, Merlin couldn't see clearly inside for the moment.

However, without needing to think much, Merlin could guess that it had to be something big.

Creak--

A deafening roar echoed from the tree hollow, followed by a black shadow that shot out.

On all fours, it dashed in front of Merlin in the blink of an eye. Its muscular right forelimb was raised, its right claw bearing five sharp, dagger-like nails glinting coldly. At this moment, they whistled through the air, striking forcefully towards Merlin's head.

And at this instant, Merlin's pupils suddenly contracted into dots. The movements of this massive black-furred monkey slowed down in his eyes. His body's muscles tensed reflexively. As he bent his knees and leaped backward, he raised his arms forward and upward to block.

At the same time, his Calamity Ability began to circulate instinctively, and black flames erupted with a whoosh on his hands.

Bang! Crack!

In an instant, Merlin felt as if he had been hit by a speeding mud truck. His arms bent backward instantly, then slammed into his chest. Pfft! He spat out a mouthful of blood.

Merlin shot backward like a whoosh! In that moment, his consciousness went blank.

With a bang! his body slammed heavily onto the ground and rolled.

However, it was also within this heavy impact, along with the dull, intense pain from his internal organs, that this pain pulled Merlin's consciousness back.

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