William and Stacey walked out from Serendipity hand in hand, watching Echo, now fully opaque, skipping along the ground in front of them with Ashen in tow. The two creatures seemed to take a quick liking to each other. William was relieved as he had feared that the two drastically different creatures would find each other a threat. Echo seemed to be using his echo location skill to vibrate Ashen’s feathers, causing them to shimmer as the light hit the different shades of grey, creating the appearance of an ashy gradient. William was curious what sort of things ashen could do as Echo was clearly showing off for his new friend. William was picturing either a vortex of wind to come forth with a flap of the wings or maybe a shower of spiky quilled feathers as a volley style attack. Both would be very cool to see. He had a couple concerns about the task before them, mainly unknown numbers of wolves and Stacey’s safety. His mental plan was to help Stacey into a tree nearby where she can safely use [Fire-Bolt] and Echo can maybe try his stun attack that he had used on those bugs. William doubted it would do much, but experience was a valuable thing for Echo to gain nonetheless. With Ashen present, he would need Stacey to keep the guy under control.
William intended to cripple a wolf or two and make them easy EXP for the group to farm. He didn’t fear his own safety as they would most likely be level twenty at most. Maybe if he slayed a hundred or more of the creatures he would see some tangible EXP gain, but if there were that many, the area wouldn’t be safe in the slightest. They would be everywhere south of Everglade.
As they all reached the wall where they had originally entered Everglade from, two tall wooden constructs, several inches taller than William pulled out a matching pair of glowing one handed staves. William tensed, expecting an attack and mentally commanded Echo to get behind him. Relief came quickly as the guards turned out towards the wall and with an almost mirrored swish, used the staves to conjure a doorway. It would’ve been weird if they had attacked and highly illogical given the welcome they had received, but weirder things were plausible in this new world, so William mentally patted himself on the back for his diligence.
William’s group passed under the arch of the doorway and heard it closing behind them. Suddenly, the ground shifted and the two large constructs grew from underneath, taking statuesque postures on either side of the nearly closed entryway. William watched them for a moment to see if they moved or breathed. They were perfectly still. William assumed they were created by Wylton with some OP Druid skill. Why use actual guards if you can make these big guys?
William managed to stop going down a spiral of curiosity thanks to a timely tap on the shoulder from Stacey. She seemed to have started noticing William’s distracted face. With nothing else to do, they ventured south towards their quarry of unknown size and number. The woods for the first few miles were no different to the woodland they had traversed towards Everglade. As they passed over a large glade, the trees slowly began to look different. Oaken trees had slowly transitioned away as they entered an area with trees that closely resembled Willows. It was gradual and the pair hadn’t noticed a large change in flora up until that point. Large root systems and thick shrubbery weaved between many of the trees. William was relieved that the map he received had automatically been transferred to his [Cartographer] skill. He knew the direction to continue travelling thanks to the skill. It didn’t give extra information, but the skill charted a beeline for him to follow. It would have been much harder without the skill as every bush was alike, as was every tree. William took Stacey’s hand and the pair willed their bonds to remain on their shoulders.
William used his free hand to summon Sharpie and start chopping his way through the bushes as he guided Stacey over the weird and snaking root system. It was a jumble of roots and vines that would have been difficult to navigate through without reasonable Dexterity. William had plenty so it wasn’t an issue for him, and he had suggested for Stacey to put an odd point here and there into Dexterity to improve staying power in combat. It visibly helped, but she still struggled and so William did the chivalrous deed.
It was coming up to evening time when they had cleared the dense woodland and had reached an area that thinned out into another glade. With the evening sky looming, it would be wise to set up a camp and carry on in the morning. They picked a space that was thin of trees and close to the glade proper. The camp would be semi-obscured from a few different routes, was open enough for the special shelter he liberated to be set up, and had high branches for the bonds to move freely in.
The camp was quick to set up and William got to work making a fire pit afterwards. He used his hands and Strength stat to dig out a five inch divot in the ground. William made a note to store a shovel in his Spatial Ring next time. Once that was done, they filled it with twigs and small branches to get the fire off to a good start.
“Hold the [Fire-Bolt] for a sec. I want to try it by hand,” William said, smiling at Stacey in the process.
She was magnificent enough to humor his request and grabbing a flatter piece of wood he had cut out from a nearby branch, picked up a small stick with his free hand. He held the stick’s end flush with the flat of the other piece of wood. William lay the setup flat on the ground then grasping the stick in two hands, started to quickly roll his hands back and forth, twisting the stick at a high speed. His plan was to do the old stick rub thing, believing his higher Dexterity would lead to faster hands, ergo, faster spinny stick. That was William’s theory. It was working, as within a minute since starting, smoke had begun to rise from the mini friction crater made in the flat wood. He emptied the tiny embers underneath the next of twigs he had made and began to blow on it. To his delight, the fire was quick to take.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Just like all those videos he had watched late at night about survivalists sometimes, he had done the fundamental act that propelled man through history.
“Man make fire. Man pleased,” William said, doing his best brain dead expression.
This prompted a mirthful laugh from Stacey and she rolled her eyes at the joke, but her smile clearly indicated she at least liked that side of William too.
“Man is big and strong. Man will protect fair Maiden?” Stacey replied, matching his own expression.
“Man will always protect fair Maiden. Always,” William said, as he got within arm’s reach and he pulled her into his arms.
Their lips locked in a moment of pure bliss. William had to make sure everything was set up correctly, so forced himself to pull away. Stacey’s eyes were longing and he felt the way she looked. Soon.
Before Charisma, he wouldn’t have even thought it possible to be that open and forward with a woman. All it needed to do to become his favourite stat now was to completely clear his anxiety.
William spent several minutes going over every detail of their camp. He wanted to do it right and be sure that they would be somewhat defensible if needed. He eventually returned to a now larger fire that Stacey had fed some thicker branches from the fallen debris of wood all around them, happy with the arrangements. As he sat down, he was in time to watch the evening shift to twilight and for the first stars to make an appearance. Their spot had enough space in the canopy above to form what almost seemed like windows to the heavens.
The fire wasn’t used to cook anything, but was a source of warmth and light. William would be fine without the light, but warmth was a nicety he appreciated having. Ashen was napping near the fire, enjoying the warmth. William couldn’t see Echo, but through his bond could sense Echo atop one of the higher branches, eating any bugs he could find.
William and Stacey sat with their backs against the metal shelter, facing the fire. Stacey was cuddled up in his arms. William didn’t want to move. He could stay like that forever and be happy. Her warmth melding with his was William’s happy place. His relaxation however, was short lived as a prompt appeared in his mind:
{Ascension_Protocol}
{New Job Offer}
Survivalist
{Description}
Through your trials of foraging, exploring, mapping, performance of survival activities, and long exposure to a particular environment, you have developed an affinity for living amongst nature.
[Notice – This Job uses a bespoke resource pool.]
{Resource Description – Grit.}
Grit is a resource that is accumulated through the following activities:
- Consuming food and drink gathered by yourself from natural sources.
- Completing survival tasks such as fishing, creating a fire, hunting, crafting shelter, trapping, and tracking.
- Survive encounters with wild creatures.
Grit is not static in gains and fluctuates in accumulation based on repetition. If the individual eats the same food repeatedly, less Grit is awarded. Hunting the same prey has the same effect, as does each other qualifying activity.
E.G. Gathering a new food or herb will award bonus Grit. Hunting a creature for the first time will award bonus Grit. All other qualifying activities work the same way.
Grit starts at 0 and has no cap. Grit is required to use enhanced versions of Job Skills. Grit cost per skill is X. Job Skills will increase in potency with more added Grit. Result of increase is dependent on Skill used.
{Skills}
Threshold 0 Skills:
- Flora Sense
{Description}
Through your affinity to nature, locate a type of gatherable item you desire. Desire food to sense nearby edible gatherable items. Desire protection to sense nearby gatherable items that can be used for clothing.
[Notice – Item desired can only be from a natural source]
[Cost: 20MP][Grit Cost: X][Range: 300 Meters]
{Grit Boost Description}
Range of detection increased if more than 20 Grit is used. Every increment of 20 Grit added doubles this effect up to 100. If 100 or more Grit is used, receive the details of all applicable resources within range of detection. Every 10 Grit beyond 100 will double range further.
- Tracker
{Description}
As someone who has traversed mile after mile of land, the lay of it and those within become easier to follow, their tracks easier to locate.
[Notice – Creature must be unbounded, living, and not made of an elemental energy.]
[Cost: 50MP][Grit Cost: X][Range: 200 Meters]
{Grit Boost Description}
Range of detection increased if more than 20 Grit is used. Every increment of 20 Grit added doubles this effect up to 100. If 100 or more Grit is used, receive the details of the creature and all of the same creatures within range of detection. Every 10 Grit beyond 100 will tell you the location of the next nearest creature detected in range.
Threshold 1 Skill:
- [Hidden – Exceed Threshold to see Skill.]
Threshold 5 Skill:
- [Hidden – Exceed Threshold to see Skill.]
Threshold 10 Skill:
- [Hidden – Exceed Threshold to see Skill.]
{Accept Job?}
{Y/N}
{End}
William grinned. He had gotten his first proper Job offer and it was for a really fucking good Job too! He instantly accepted the job. He felt a subconscious change in the back of his mind, like a sense of excess Willpower. He guessed that was his Grit pool given how barren it felt.
William was about to check his character sheet when he heard a howl from the north, close by. Suddenly, another echoed to the East. Two more from the West came next. More howls, a group of at least five if William had to guess Howled to the south. They were surrounded. They were surrounded by pack animals. William had a feeling this fight would be dicey. If he could figure out where they were before appearing, he could wipe some out swiftly to improve the odds, but as he looked at his Grit he sighed with disappointment:
Grit: 0