"Hello? Someone down there?" a voice said in a lazy drawl.
Alan remained silent for a moment stunned by the sudden question. He didn't move as his mind struggled with how to respond to the situation. Should he say something? What if the man meant him harm? Why wouldn't he know if someone was down in this cell?
Suddenly he [Sensed] the man who had called out begin to move away. His decision was quickly made.
"I'm down here!" Alan said urgently, desperate for whoever was up there not to leave, his voice coming out in a harsh croak. He felt hope and fear mingling in his heart.
The other man stopped at the sound of Alan's voice and then move back. A moment passed before Alan heard him clearing his throat.
"Yes well, I'm up here" the man drew closer to the edge. "It doesn't smell great down there if you don't mind me saying. I can't stay long I think" The man trailed off sounding distracted. "But well I'm here so before I go let's see if I can help you out."
The tone was almost flippant. Who was this man? He could [Sense] the strong frame and the relaxed bearing of the other man. But Alan wasn't heartened by the lazy, almost confused tone of the conversation. And he was still too shocked by the strange man's sudden appearance to feel anything other than a confusing mixture or hope and dread.
Was this a dream? A trick?
The man started waving his arm in a strange circular motion, and before Alan could wonder what he was up to a rope appeared in his hand as if from thin air.
"Looks like it's your lucky day," the man said seeming genuinly surprised by the rope in his hand. Hope, confusion, and suspicion all mingled together within Alan making it hard to process the situation. "I'll go ahead and gift you this fine rope here," the man continued. "From there you're on your own. I know this is probably pretty sudden for you, but well it's somewhat strange for me as well and I don't particularly feel like explaining. So please spare us both some time and don't ask."
Alan couldn't believe what he was hearing. After who knows how many months of being trapped he barely dared let himself hope that he might get out, and now that it was happening it was too sudden. The situation too bizarre. "Why?" He asked weakly, ignoring the man's comments.
He could sense the other man hesitating and then heard him give out a reluctant sigh. Suddenly the rope was thrown over the side and the man's presence went to the edge of his hole once again. "Given your situation, I would recommend against going back towards the surface directly," he called down, ignoring Alan's question. "You'll be found quickly if you do that so I would try for a different way out. This place seems to be built into an existing cave structure, meaning you're gonna have to go deeper so good luck with that. Do not try to follow me in any way either, not that I think you could, but I would not appreciate that if you understand my meaning..."
The man began to back away. "If luck has it perhaps we'll meet again." And suddenly the man's presence vanished from his [Sense] perception. Alan was startled. He must be using a Skill that hid him from even [Sense].
Alan stood there in shock. This seemed too abrupt. The changes in his life lately had all been too sudden and out of his direct control. But he didn't have time now to worry. He turned to the rope still swaying from being thrown over the ledge. He was suspicious of course, but he wouldn't waste this chance. He gave it a test tug.
It turned out to be harder than he expected to climb out of his prison. He was weaker than he had imagined and he briefly debated allocating some points to Strength. He didn't have time to waste. But his Stats were already a mess and he didn't want to skew it any further, so he decided to keep trying on his own. If too much time passed he would move some Points to Strength.
He tied some knots in the rough heavy rope making some footholds for himself on the way up. He was nervous and looping the rope around itself, he strained his Sense to check for approaching Guards. Heart in his chest, he eventually managed to make his footholds and began his climb up. The knots helped until he reached the highest one at which point he summoned the last of his strength and powered himself upwards. A task that would have been easy for him before his time in prison now took everything of him. But he was going to make it. Grabbing the rough stone ledge at the edge of the open latch, he pulled himself up using the last of his strength and managed to fall over the side onto the ground. He was out.
A window popped up.
You Have Been Granted Skills "Escape" Level 1. Do you wish to accept?
He mentally set aside the prompt. He didn't have time for this now.
He was out. He was free. He could breathe. He needed to focus and with a mental effort he picked himself up off the ground and set off at a walk. Though it did not matter he was suddenly oddly conscious of his nudity. Over the months that had passed the guards had not brought him new clothes and his old ones were no longer wearable. Nothing to do about it now, and at least it was dark.
It was quiet. He [Sensed] the empty halls around him. No sign of his rescuer or anyone else that he could [Sense]. But that didn't mean there was no one there. Time to go.
He hadn't moved much for a long time now but his Vitality had increased, and [Endure] actually turned out to be pretty versatile and gave him more energy to continue on in his current situation. He took his mysterious savior's advice and avoided going upward which he assumed led towards the surface. The only other direction was to go deeper underground. He turned to go further down into the tunnel. His body felt weak and each step carried a sense of pain and exhaustion. His limbs barely moved and he just wanted to lie down. But his adrenaline was pumping, helping him ignore his weakness and he forced himself to continue on.
Without [Sense] he would have been lost immediately. There was no light in the tunnels and it was only through his Skill that he managed to even find the correct direction to go and walk without tripping over himself. He could now use [Sense] passively and without thought within a radius of roughly 2 to 3 meters around himself. Extending it any further required him to concentrate and use up small amounts of mana. Practicing in his prison hole, he had found his maximum [Sense] range was around 80 meters or so around himself. He could only maintain that range for a second before his MP was completely drained, so while it was good to know, it was not very practical at long ranges.
He continued walking, trying to be quiet, and occasionally expanding his [Sense] perception to detect any people that might be nearby and gather his bearings. It seemed he was being held alone down here. He sensed no other people as he made his way deeper into the tunnels. At first there was the occasional door in the side of the cavern walls, and the floors had clearly marked paths and signs of at least somewhat recent use. But as he made his way deeper in, the doors stopped appearing and the ground became less marked and more natural.
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After an hour or so of walking, he stopped and sat down on the side of the cave tunnel. He barely had any strength left. There was a fork up ahead. He didn't want to let his guard down but he was exhausted and his escape was turning out to be surprisingly easy all things considered. A fork in the road was as good a place as any to rest and he worried about needing food eventually since he was already hungry and poorly fed. He could [Sense] some creatures around him if he concentrated, things like small lizards or spiders, nothing substantial but perhaps something that might prove edible. Then again he would have to somehow catch them first.
As he rested and let his mind wander he also regretted not taking the rope with him after climbing out of his prison. There had been the occasional hole that he might have been able to go down. It wasn't like him to forget such advantages. It wouldn't help to regret it now, he put it out of his mind.
He took stock of his Stats. Now that his levels were higher, the descriptions were clearer and he could utilize his new Skills better. After Level 5 he was able to pull up a more detailed description of his Skills. [Endure] in particular had been rising at an unmatched rate. He hadn't even seen his SP above 0 and he knew over the past months since he acquired the Skill it had been constantly increasing due to his imprisonment and terrible living conditions. He wondered how people raised such a Skill outside of living in squalor and hunger and pain.
Human Male, Age 15 MP (mana) 48/86 (*regen 0.463/second) SP (stamina) 0/460 Stats (Un-Allocated: 55)
Strength: 1 Vitality: 46 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 3 Wisdom: 0 Luck: 51
Skills
Hide (passive) Level 4: *58/100 till next level
You become harder to locate. Hidden Items: *none*
Endure (passive): Level 6. Multiplier: Vitality. *33/100 till next level.
Physical pain affects you less. You are resistant to hunger, physical injury, exhaustion, disease, and mental distress. You have gained SP (stamina points).
Sense (passive/active): Level 4. *96/100 till next level
You can mentally visualize the world around you through all of your senses. You have gained the ability to sense ambient Mana and Mana within yourself.
*none* *none* *none*
Given it was past level 5, looking at [Endure] on its own gave him more information.
Endure (passive): Level 6. Multiplier: Vitality. *33/100 till next level.
Physical pain affects you less. You are resistant to hunger, physical injury, exhaustion, disease, and mental distress. Low-level negative status effects related to physical health do not affect you. Low-level mental attacks do not affect you. You can now analyze statuses affecting your body.
You have gained SP (stamina points). Stamina points are based on Vitality (SP: Vitality * 10). SP allows you to exhaust your body beyond its limits. If it reaches zero, only then will your health start being affected by endurance draining activities.
Attribute multipliers (SP: Vitality * 10). SP regenerates at a 1/second ratio normally and 10/second when sleeping. Diet and your current physical state affect regeneration rates.
Without [Endure] he was sure he would've gone mad or been dead some time back. [Endure] and [Sense] might end up being useless Skills in the long run but he didn't regret accepting them. He was about to open up the window for the [Escape] Skill he had been granted when he heard a noise. He paused and extended [Sense] as far as he dared without draining his MP too much. He didn't notice anything, but he remained still as he strained his ears.
He heard it again. It was very faint but there was noise sounding in the direction from which he had just come. He immediately felt panic. He felt trapped. But he also felt tired.
How easy it would be to just stay there. Give up. End it. He was past exhausted and his body was sore and covered with infected cuts and bruises. He stretched out his arm, almost skeletal in its thinness, and thought about how he hadn't eaten a solid meal in months. He was glad he didn't have a mirror, he was sure he would not recognize the person looking back.
He took a deep breath. Breath in. Breath out. And he got himself up.
At the fork, he arbitrarily chose the left path. He was sure he was leaving a trail for anyone who knew how to look, but had no idea how to cover his tracks. He wanted to go faster but his body could only do so much. Too slowly he made his way deeper into the caves. More forks and side-tunnels appeared as he went and he kept choosing routes at random hoping to throw off his pursuers. He had no doubt now the sounds behind him were getting closer. He thought he could make out the sound of voices echoing in the distance.
The tunnels became more and more narrow and Alan noticed a small partially hidden opening on his left. It was just big enough for him to get through and he was able to [Sense] a larger opening on the other side. He hesitated a moment and then started crawling through the small hole. The hard and brittle cave wall encompassed him in the darkness. It was smaller than he had thought and he struggled to keep sliding his body through, his arms extended over his head as he inched forward through the passageway. The rock cut his skin as he kept pulling himself forward and he began to feel a rising panic. An instinctual fear of being buried alive.
He was stuck. The cave hugged his body tightly and he wiggled, inching himself slowly forward. The rock wall scrapped unyielding against his skin. So tightly was he held by the stone that he could barely fill his lungs to breathe. His entire body was now constricted and he struggled to wiggle forward. He felt panic threaten to take over but fought it down. If he had not [Sensed] an opening in the passage just in front of him he didn't think he would have been able to keep calm. Still, he struggled harder moving his wedged body slowly but surely forward. He could sense large spiders and other creatures not too far. His efforts didn't seem to be moving him forward anymore.
Despair. Exhaustion. Fear. Pain. He wanted it to end. He emptied his lungs letting out all of his air and making himself as skinny as possible. Alan then summoned all of his strength and pushed forward. His body shifted and his hands managed to find a holding in the rough rock. Arms stretched above his head, Alan was able to pull himself outwards inch by inch.
And he was out on the other side. The change was abrupt and he managed to crawl the rest of the way out and onto the floor of the cavern he now found himself. He let himself sit there for a time enjoying being able to take a full breath. The fear of being buried alive retreating. He didn't let himself rest for too long.
Reaching out with [Sense] he didn't notice anything unusual about the cavern in which he found himself. It seemed much like the caves he had been wandering through before. He slowly got up and kept walking. He would not give up just yet. The cave extended much further it seemed. He noted multiple passageways and hidden entrances as he stumbled deeper into the earth. Sometimes he chose more obvious routes and sometimes he went into more hidden areas in the cave. He lost track of time and thought. His head felt fuzzy and he couldn't think clearly.
Downwards and downwards. One step after another. He began counting his steps to himself, before quickly tiring of that and eventually just noting each step as he went. Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot.
And down he went until his body gave up and he collapsed on the ground. He tried to keep going, but his body would no longer move. He waited, trying to be silent, listening for any noises. For a long time, nothing happened as he lay breathing quietly in the dark using [Sense] to check around him periodically.
This was it then, he thought as he listened for the sounds of pursuit. He couldn't hear anything but that didn't mean he had escaped. He had pushed himself as far as he could. He didn't care anymore and closed his eyes, letting unconsciousness envelope his mind.