Day 4

For the next couple of days, I settled into a routine of exploring, fishing, cooking, and sleeping. While exploring the forest, I stuck to the trees. It was still an inefficient form of travel, but I needed to get used to it. The wood was pretty dense, and it allowed me to jump from tree to tree, while also avoiding leaving a trail on the ground. Another unexpected bonus of tree running as I called it, were bird nests. Sometimes those bird nests would have eggs, and eggs were delicious when cooked. I would just put a large smooth stone over my campfire and fry them up on top of it. There was no oil, so sometimes they would stick on the bottom. It did not matter to me, I would just lick it off the stone.

As my food and drinking needs were taking care of, I started focusing more on looking for shelter. Luck was on my side, and it had not rained yet, but I knew I was running out of time. Eventually, it would rain, and I would be left out in the open to soak.

I was terrified to build a shelter for myself, knowing that those tigers might still be out there hunting me. The image of me sleeping in my little lean-to while one of them sneaked around my camp was hard to shake. What I really wanted was a cave of my own. Every time I went exploring, I would keep an eye out for one.

So my days continued in that fashion.

Day 6

I found it, a cave of my dreams! It was a small and snug, fit just for one person. I could barely stand up straight while inside, but it was deep enough for me to stretch all the way out. Of course, a larger cave with its own little lake would have been even better, but that was just fantasy at this point. A roof over my head and a place to hide was all I could ask for, and honestly, all that I needed.

Initially, I was planning to clear out all the vegetation near the cave, but then I might have as well put up a sign saying 'fresh human living here.' On the other hand, something could hide in that underbrush, stalking me, if I left it untouched.

I reached a compromise. I left a lot of the shrubbery right at the entrance of the cave intact and cleared out the rest. Most of the dead plants I saved to dry and use for kindling later.

Day 10

It took me a long time to set up a proper camp near my cave. The biggest problem I ran into was the distance between the cave and the runlet. I was still dependent on fish for my food and needed to make frequent trips to and from. I was getting pretty good at catching fish, but it was harder to find them in this part of the forest. Sometimes I would have to walk several miles up and downriver to find any. The steady diet of fish, water, and occasional bird egg were getting pretty old. I liked living, so I could not complain much, but I needed to add some variety to my diet before I went mad.

Day 15

I got sick. Some form of a stomach virus. Who knew, consuming only fish and water would eventually lead to me wanting to die. Constant nausea, diarrhea, dehydration, and physical exhaustion took their mental toll on me. Nothing like being laid out in a tiny damp cave while smelling like shit. It makes you really appreciate the simple acts of walking, bathing, sitting near a campfire while eating some charred fish. I felt vulnerable at all times. If something came after me, they would have me. Maybe I even would thank them for ending my misery.

For three days, I laid there, thinking today might be the day I finally kick the bucket. Sometimes there were fever dreams at night, where I would leave the cave looking for my cell phone, wanting to call my doctor. Other times, I dreamt about my family coming to take care of me. They would bring me sparkling water because it was good for my stomach. And strawberry ice cream because that is what I liked. Those nights were the hardest. It was as if those dreams taunted me that I would never see them again. There was no ice cream, no water, no family. Just me, the forest, and the death standing right around the corner, waiting.

But I survived. If not for the waterskin full of water, I might really have died. I was in no shape to get more water, and it still had not rained yet. I was malnourished, dehydrated, and dirty, but alive.

When the sickness passed completely, I slowly made my way to the runlet and cleaned myself. God, I smelled like shit!

I caught and ate another fish that day. Thankfully I did not throw up.

I did not know where my sickness had come from, but I did see that I needed to eat more greens. Unfortunately, that would take a lot of trial and error. I would have to be really careful and start with some fruits, and maybe some berries, then I could look into some vegetations. There were different forms of onions that could grow in the wild, perhaps I could find some of those.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Day 20

It had been twenty days since I started this Trial, and there was still no rain. I have started working on a spear. I found a nice and straight sapling and cut it down at the bottom with my dagger. The tip went into the fire to make it easier to shave into a point. It took me a long time, but the final product was more menacing and dangerous than I had anticipated. It stood at about 5 feet, which I guessed was on the shorter side of most spears. But it worked. The tip was sharp and hard. It was light enough to carry around but heavy enough to do some damage. I practiced different stabbing and cutting motions with it. Not that this spear could cut anything. I also practiced launching it. Which turned out to be harder than I anticipated. Even with a perfect balance, and juiced up video game body, I still struggled with the motion. Harder, I threw it, less accurate I was. The trick it seemed was finding the right balance between power and control.

Day 22

When I had nothing to do, I would practice my [Invert] ability. The level up had shaved off a few seconds from the cooldown timer. Still, the most significant benefit was in its execution. The more I used the Ability, the better I became at establishing an Essence link between the items that I wanted to switch with. It came to the point where I could have several different links established in a 5-meter radius around me, and switch with any of them at will.

My [Stealth Ops]Skill had leveled up once more. Mostly due to all the stealth fishing that I have been doing. It was harder to test my Skill compared to my Ability. Everything about it was more…instinctual. I felt it got better with a level up, but there was no quantifiable way to measure the progress. Maybe that was the difference between Skills and Abilities. Abilities were gifts given by The Tower, while Skills had to be earned and developed in a more… natural manner. I had gotten lucky with Skill selections due to my Outsider trait. I could not imagine what I would have done if the Skills and Perks lists were modified based on my real-life proficiencies.

Day 25

I found some berries that resembled raspberries from Earth. I ate one in silent prayer, hoping it would not poison me to death. I spent the next hour or so, high out of my mind, fighting off hallucinations. At least I hoped they were hallucinations.

In my quest to add veggies to my diet, I started trying out some harmless-looking greens. In hindsight, that might have been one of the dumbest things I had done. I got lucky, and the acid berries as I called them now, were the worst of the bunch. It could have been much much worse. Some of them that did not make me sick I kept and ate with some grilled fish. It tasted like eating grass and meat. Who knew!

Day 30

One month. Still alive and kicking. That at least was worth celebrating. The only other human that I'd seen got eaten by some ugly tigers.

It finally started raining yesterday, and now it does not seem like it wants to stop. I spent most of the day holed up in my cave, only going out to bathe naked in the rain. Thankfully, there was a stockpile of wood to keep the fire going, at least. But I almost have no food left.

Day 34

It is still raining, although it is just drizzling now. The diet of grass and fish, for the last few days, is making me want to kill myself. I had wanted to leave my cave and go out into the rain. Maybe catch some fish. Instead, I'm just lying here, staring at the ceiling of the cave and daydreaming. No motivation, no energy.

I have not spoken to anybody for so long. I always thought of myself as an introvert, but this is too much, even for me. Sometimes, I catch myself talking to people in my head. I tell them about my new life, about The Tower, and about this DAMNED forest. There are still over 80 days; I have to spend here. I just hope I am still me at the end of it all. Sometimes I doubt that.

Day 36

I finally went out fishing. It is crazy that I was so proud of myself for having even done that.

The small brook had turned into a full creak now due to all the rain. It was deeper and flowed much faster. But there were a lot of fish. I was able to catch three of them within the hour. I would have been lucky to find one within that time before.

While I was holed up in the cave, some of my fish provisions had gone bad. I wanted to find a way to preserve them. Salting them would have been the perfect method, but I did not have any. So I focused on smoking them.

I lugged several large stones back to my cave. The rain was just drizzling now, so it was not that uncomfortable. I stacked them on top of each other, with layers of mud in between, in a square formation. I made it as tall as I could without it collapsing. The top was covered with some branches, and the gutted fish went on top of them. I put some live coals at the bottom, along with some soaked wood chips to create that smoke. I covered the fish with more tree branches with leaves still attached. It was not perfect insulation, but it was good enough. On the other hand, the cave was full of smoke now.

I let it smoke for the rest of the day and night. I occasionally put more coals and wood chips in there if the smoke became thinner.

The next day I tried the meat. It was sooo fucking good. It was still bland, but the smoke added so much flavor to the fish, it brought tears to my eyes. After weeks of grass and bland fish, this felt like heaven. Why hadn't I tried that before?

Day 38

Back into the routine. Fishing, exploring, foraging, and sleeping. The rain is gone and with it my dour attitude. I realized I need projects to keep my mind occupied and focused, or Ill just drift down into another depression. My new focus is on hunting. While out exploring, I have been putting a concerted effort into looking out for small animals. I have a spear now, might as well put it to good use.