Novels2Search

Chapter 1 : The Thirst

‘Well at least this is gonna be fun, right ?’ said Nat out loud. Her croaked voice sounded weird, and she realised that she was thirsty.

“I'm in deep shit actually. I don't have water with me, I'm in fact dressed with the same clothes than on Earth.”

As mocking her, a gust of wind appeared out of nowhere and made her shiver. Wondering about the season, Nat observed her surroundings. Tall trees surrounded her (mostly deciduous trees mused Nat, recalling her Botanic course in college) and the soil was filled with grass, moss and lichen covered stones. Crouching near the soil, Nat looked at a dark green bush. She wondered for a bit, but finally decided that she had never seem such a specie. Getting back up, Nat jumped in the air to snatch a leaf of the nearest tree. The leaf was a light green and in a oval-shaped form.

“This is really another world huh. The trees are different, and we're probably in spring here, contrary to fall on Earth.”

Clearing her troat, Nat decided to search for water. She began to walk at a steady pace in a random direction.

~~~

Panting heavily, Nat was on the verge of panic by being still in the forest, when a Ding sound resonated.

*You are in a state of extreme thirst. -10% of all stats*

“Uh ?! Seriously? I'm totally in a game-like world ! I should have thought about it sooner, it kinda makes sense with all those cliché events going on...”

Looking at the blue screen in front of her, Nat grinned.

‘Open Status’

*Status :

Name : Natasha Hemington

Race : Human

Gender : Female

Age : 19 years old

Level : 1 (0%)

Class : ???

Titles : ???

Stats :

Health : 60/60

Stamina: 30/50

Mana : 150/150

Attributes :

Vitality : 6

Endurance : 5

Intelligence : 15

Agility: 5

Dexterity : 5

Strength: 7

Wisdom : 13

Charm : 5

Leadership : 0

Luck : 2

Attributes points : 5

Status Effects:

State of extreme thirst -10% to all stats*

“It really shows all of me in number uh… Dang, I'm quite vexed to have such pitiful physical stats, I'm really not the sporty type.

The stats are quite self-explanatory, and I think I can conclude that :

Health is lied to Vitality, Mana to Intelligence and Stamina to Endurance.

Agility mean my speed and my body flexibility, Dexterity is my accuracy in my hits, Strength is my attack damage and maybe my inventory space…(speaking of which I should look in my Inventory, but let's do that later).

Wisdom is probably my regeneration of Mana and my spell-casting time, the rest is logical but I'm a bit weirded out to see that things like Luck et Charm can be quantified…”

Remembering the unallocated points, she allocated 3 of them to Agility, and the rest to Vitality. Her maximum health got up to 80.

Nat finally mentally dismissed the blue screen and said :

‘Open Inventory ’

Another blue window appeared in her vision field.

*Inventory

1/20 spaces filled

- Starter pack*

‘Inspect Starter Pack’ said Nat, and a new window appeared on the screen.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

*A basic starter pack gifted to new players in the world of Kealm*

“I least I know the name of this new world. Let's open this thing, I'm quite excited...”

As she said ‘Open Starter Pack’, her Inventory changed.

*Inventory

3/20 places filled

Coins : 0 gold 5 silver 0 copper

- Barley bread x 10

- Canteen of water (10/10)

- Iron dagger*

‘Equip Iron dagger’

Nothing happened.

“I need to equip it manually then…”

Nat took out the dagger of her Inventory. The dagger was a crude rusted weapon and the blade length was 20cm. To ease the grip on the handle, a band of leather poorly covered it.

Strapping the weapon to her leather belt, Nat took out her canteen of water. After gulping down the welcomed liquid and stowing it away, she checked her Inventory. Like she thought, the water was down to 8/10.

“Let's search my skills now, well if I have any.. ”

‘Open Skills’

*Skills :

-Inspect Beginner 1 (0%)*

“Lucky me ! I was afraid of having none. Inspect is super useful !”

Watching the dagger at her side, Nat inspected it.

*Iron dagger

A poorly crafted iron dagger offered to beginners players.

Durability : 16/20

Damage : 5-7

No requirements*

After inspecting her clothes (they didn't have any Defense), her Inspect skill got up to Beginner 1 (24,6%).

“Now, what should I do ?”

Seeing that the sun got a lot more higher in the sky, Nat decided to find a shelter for the night. She was really lucky to not have encountered any monsters, as even a rabbit would probably be dangerous at the moment.

“I will be a lot more secure if I climb a tree. I also need to have sight of all my surroundings, to detect any possible threat. A tree near wall of stone would be perfect, I would have to only watch for monsters to 180° around me. But finding a cliff in a forest isn't easy, and I'm feeling like I used all my luck for the day…”

Nat began to walk in the same direction as she began.

~~~

Few hours later, the sun was low in the sky, and no cliff was in sight. The landscape of the forest had however changed, and she was following a slope down. The trees were more sparse, contrary to the more numbered shrubs and bushes.

“I should stop walking here, the less trees are, the less likely there is a potential shelter.”

After looking for the best tree around her, Nat finally opted for some kind of willow tree, which had big enough branches to support her sleeping weight. After climbing and being installed between thick branches the best as she could, Nat sighed.

“The night is gonna be soo boring… What should I do ?”

Remembering her Inspect skill, and cursing under her breath for not having used it on the way, she said ‘Inspect ’ while looking at the the tree she was on.

*Elbir Tree

A common tree in the forests of the North-west of the Azylean Continent.

His bark is rumored to have medical properties.*

“Nice ! ”

Nat cut the nearest branch with her dagger and inspected it.

*Small branch of Elbir Tree

A flexible branch of Elbir Tree. The bark is rumored to have medical properties.*

Then removing the bark of the branch with the help of her dagger, Nat inspected the piece of bark.

*Medium piece of bark of Elbir Tree

Grinding it into a thin powder will gave it cicatrisation properties while boiling it in water will gave it disinfecting properties.*

“Oh that will be useful in time. I should collect some more and already prepare some powder if I ever need it quickly…”

After having collected some bark and putting it in her Inventory, she looked at the branches she cut and were bark-less.

*Small branch of Elbir Tree x 4

A flexible branch of Elbir Tree. The bark has been removed*

“What should I do with this ? Some kind of little spears ? Arrows ? I don't have an bow… making one won't be easy… ”

Shrugging her shoulders, Nat decided to sharpen the ends. This way, they could be used in traps or could be upgraded to arrows by adding some feathers.

Few minutes later her second sharpened branch, the familiar ding sound resonated.

*You've learned Crafting*

Opening her skills window, Nat read :

*Skills :

-Inspect Beginner 1 (64,7%)

-Crafting Beginner 1 (0%)*

She then inspected both skills.

*Inspect Beginner 1 (64,7%)

Skill that describe the target. Leveling it will give access to better informations.*

*Crafting Beginner 1 (0%)

Skill that enable the user to make better crafted objects. Give more understanding of the art of creating objects.*

“Well I suppose that's good…”

Crafting her last two spears was now easier, and she finished them not too long after.

Watching the now dark sky, Nat waited for the sleep to take her, hoping to not see any monsters during the night.