I woke up to leaves being stepped on. I was instantly wide awake. It was pitch dark, and I just listened. The sound of my alarm system told me something was walking through my leaves and twigs. I couldn’t tell what, though. I brought up my Map and looked. I couldn’t identify it because I probably hadn’t analyzed it yet. That meant it wasn’t an Orc or a Hatmar. It was about my size, though. It’s not really small and walking on four legs. I could tell that much from zooming in on my Map. I couldn’t see anything, so I couldn’t use Analyze now. Couldn’t drop anything on it if I couldn’t see where to put the Inventory hole. Nothing about this was great. If it was hunting me, I would have to use my Instatravel and get out of Dodge.

Whatever it was, I kept walking. Every few feet, it would stop and then go again. Slowly, it walked away from my tree, and I started to breathe again. I didn’t even realize I had stopped. I hadn’t been that scared, even with the first Orc. It wasn’t what it was. It was the unknown. I waited until it was out of my Map’s range and then went into my status page and selected yes on assigning my skills points. I went straight to the one I now wanted more than any other.

YOU HAVE LEARNED THE NIGHT VISION SKILL

The dark no longer scares you. See in the darkest of dark without light. Chant Night Vision to cast at the cost of 1 mana. It will stay on until you say Night Vision off when you desire. There is no ongoing cost. Eyes will look black when in use. Does not level beyond level two. You can switch between Night Vision and Thermal Vision for hunting at level two.

I closed down the System and said Night Vision. Mana traveled up into my eyes, and suddenly I could see… everything…. It was like it was daytime. I brought my Map back up just so I could relax and was happy to see nothing alarming on the screen. I wasn’t going to be sleeping now. However long I had slept, it had been enough. Between that and the adrenaline, I was wide awake. That’s when I noticed a flashing icon in the bottom corner of my vision. I selected it, and an announcement popped up.

MANA MANIPULATION HAS LEVELED UP

MANA MANIPULATION HAS LEVELED UP

I went to look, and sure enough, My Mana manipulation was level 3! I bet it was upping Mana Control and then practicing it. I moved my Mana around, which was much easier and faster. It also felt like I could move more at once. I badly wanted to cast a fireball, but I also didn’t need to send up a flare to whatever was out there that something tasty was being an idiot over here. It would have to wait until morning.

With that, I decided to do a little Mana Manipulation until I calmed down. Once, I had done that for a decent amount of time without another level up (come on, level 4!). I switched to practicing with Time Stop and Time Slow. Time slow was really fun. There was a slider I could move to change how fast things went. I could barely notice a difference at the most negligible decrease in time speed, but my Mana only drained about 1 every few minutes. I wasn’t sure if this was the best way to level it up, but I went for the time used in my theory of how to get it to level. I would go until I had just 1 mana left, stop for long enough for my Mana to top off, and then start again. Meanwhile, I was planning for tomorrow. There were things I wanted to try, and I wanted to hunt whatever had scared me.

The morning of the second day

By the time the sun had come up, I had leveled up Time Control once. When I went to see what that got me, I was ecstatic. Now I could stop time for 15 seconds for one ManaMana. I wondered if that was all the level or if my Mana Manipulation was also putting in work here. I bet it was both. I needed to check the next time Mana Manipulation went up.

My nighttime visitor hadn’t returned, so I climbed down from my refuge, stretched, and warmed myself up. I had been right. It was either fall or spring, and night had been cold. I had managed it in my nest, but I would have been in trouble if I hadn’t prepared for it. After drinking some water, I relieved myself and started my plan for the day.

I needed to start to level up my skills. Now, with my Time Slow set at the lowest setting, I could use it for about 9 minutes for 1 Mana. This was almost at the rate that it would just refresh itself, and I could leave it on. I started with that and then started my next goal. I began to analyze everything. Grass, bugs, trees of different types, rocks, birds, and small animals, nothing was safe from my Analyze. I found several plants that were good for eating. I also started to fill in my Map with information. After an hour, the sun was up, and I made my first mark on my time dial. I set my alarm for an hour and kept on Analyzing. After another hour and a half of this, I finally got what I was hoping for

ANALYZE HAS INCREASED TO LEVEL TWO

You can now see all the stats of those lower than your level. You can also see one of the skills of those five levels higher than you and under. Plants will also give you one characteristic if applicable.

I returned to some of my edible plants and started Analyzing them again. I found two that would heal wounds if used in a poultice or speed up healing if eaten: one that could be used in a Mana Potion and one that could be used as a stimulant. It said it helped with focus. I left them all for now. Only taking a bit of the one used for wounds.

Next, I worked on Fire Magic. Time Control hadn’t leveled up, so I thought Fire Magic might be quicker. My first cast of Fire Ball, I was happy to see it was nearly twice as big and hotter as well. I started practicing aiming at smaller targets and then moving targets in the form of thrown sticks. It was on the fifth try of this that it finally leveled up. It had taken a good couple of hours because I had to wait for my Mana to refill every time I cast it.

YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL TWO OF FIRE MAGIC

You can now cast the magic spell Warmth. Gone are the days of cold nights, biting winter winds, and the chance of frostbite. Never again will you need thick blankets or oversized coats. Cast this by chanting Warmth Unto Me, and for the cost of two Mana, you will stay at a comfortable temperature no matter what the outside weather is. Cancel by chanting Warmth Be Gone.

Okay then. It isn’t an AOE spell, but this would be handy for survival. I’ll take it. I could think of one use for this right away. I hadn’t bathed yet because I was working up to it with the water’s coldness. I cast Warmth and felt my mana wisp out of my core, almost like a mist filling up every pathway in my body. I found Some of these pathways with Mana Manipulation, but some were new. It took a fair amount to fill it all, even as a mist. It made sense now why it cost two to cast. You don’t lose any mana, though, so it didn’t have an ongoing cost. I almost immediately felt like I was wrapped up in a warm blanket. I took off my clothes, went to the deepest part of the brook, where it was about waist level, and took a dip. The water felt like it was a comfortable temperature. I watched my skin to ensure it wasn’t turning blue and this feeling wasn’t just some trick of the mind. It didn’t, and I had to conclude that this was the Mana keeping my body warm. I wondered how cold it could get and still protect me, but having no way to test it, I finished my bath and air-dried.

As I stood there drying, I thought about last night’s experience in the dark. As I did, I got an idea I wanted to try. I wasn’t sure if I could do it, but it would be conducive to hunting. I closed my eyes and tried to see my Map. I could do that so I wouldn’t have to wait for night to try this. Next, I picked a small animal on my Map called a Raguth. It is basically a medium-sized mole look-a-like. I tried to focus on the point above the animal and Open my inventory. I selected a small stone I had picked up. And dropped it on the Raguth.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

I heard a small squeak and opened my eyes to see the little critter running away from where it had been hiding in the grass. Success! I could cast using my Map! Next, I needed to find the limit. Everything I had just done had been in plain view from where I was. After a bit of experimentation, I discovered that it wasn’t obstacles that stopped me from casting. It was distance. As soon as it got to the part of the Map where geography fell away and all I had was life essence to go by, it wouldn’t work. If I had been to that area and thus had the geography on my Map, then it would still work no matter the distance. Having found this, I started walking the area I could see from my camp tree on my Map. I wanted everything to be within striking distance from now on. You would no longer scare me if you came to my domain at night. No, from now on, you were my prey!

About this time, I found the point where the shadow was closest to my stick. I started my clock over at 12pm and marked the spot on the ground. Now, I could stop constantly checking it and recheck it tomorrow to see how long the days were. Now that I wasn’t stuck near my tree babysitting a sundial, I went to take care of phase two of my plan. First, I was going to up my skills… check. Now I was going to hunt. First some food and then my visitor from last night. To do that, there was a skill I thought would be very helpful, so I went into my skills page and used one of my two skills points on it.

YOU HAVE LEARNED THE SKILL TRACKING

Hate being left behind? Keep getting outrun by your prey? Not anymore! Unless it can fly, it leaves signs on the ground, and now you can see them. Level it up for more information on your prey seen through tracks. Level one will see the tracks and know when your prey walked there. The brighter the tracks, the more recent they are. Chant Tracking to start for a cost of 1 mana. Your eyes will glow blue when tracking. Chant Tracking off to turn it back off.

I chanted Tracking and once again felt Mana go towards my eyes, but this time, a different pattern filled my eyes. Less complete. Suddenly, there were tracks everywhere. Little tracks, big tracks crisscrossing back and forth all over. It was overwhelming. I tried looking for a bright, large track near my tree. It wasn’t hard to find, and once I focused on it, all other tracks faded away. I could call them back up, but as soon as my focus went to just that track, they went away again.

I pulled up my Map and made it fill about half my vision to keep track of anything significant that came near me. One of the things I learned about hunting was that the easiest way to take down a hunter was while it was hunting. They tend to focus just on their prey and fall into traps. I wasn’t going to let that happen to me. Thus, the Map is in view.

Following the tracks, I started moving through the forest. I strolled and tried not to look like I was hunting. Birds and other animals tend to respond to that behavior, calling out warnings, and then you know you have messed up because everything goes quiet around you. Instead, I followed the tracks while looking at plants and using Analyze. I found a few interesting plants and marked them on my Map. I climbed the occasional tree to see if I could see anything further out. Finally, I saw something larger on my Map. I stopped to see if it was moving. It was staying in one place, so I started moving very slowly.

Still, I was careful not to alert other animals. I simply moved one slow, easy step at a time, pausing and not stepping on anything that would make noise. Once, I heard a bird alert, so I sat down and waited until everything returned to normal. It was only a few miles from my camp! I stopped when I should have been able to see whatever it was I was tracking, but I couldn’t see anything. There didn’t seem to be anything there. There was a tree there, though, so it had to be up in the tree. That didn’t make me any happier because if it could climb trees, it was even more dangerous to me as that was my go-to escape. Now, I would have to be ready to Instatravel, and I was too far to make it to my home tree. I found a small clump of herbs growing out of a group of rocks. Would that even be specific enough to work for Instatravel? It felt like it wasn’t clear enough in my mind.

My thoughts were interrupted before I could conclude what to do when I saw a large black animal. It looked like a panther mated with a bodybuilder. Still a cat but hugely muscled. It was jumped out of the tree and then came straight for me! I dodged out of the way, but it swiped my right arm with its claws, which were long and black as it was. A tree branch was nearby, so I grabbed it, cast Fire Ball at the end so it was on fire, and swung at the beast. It dodged back and eyed me for a moment. I knew without trying that attempting to hit it with my slow Fire Ball at its current level was pointless. I hit it with Analyze quickly as I took another swing. I also couldn’t use my deadfall technique now. It would most likely just move out of the way.

Race: Pelur

Level 20

Strongest Stat: Agility (Balance) 20

Edible

Okay, I, at least its strongest stat, wasn’t Attack or speed. Though it was definitely faster than me. It jumped at the tree next to us and then rebounded towards me like a cat version of an acrobat. It was obviously trying to get around my stick. I rolled underneath it and got back up, but not quickly enough. It had turned on a dime when it landed and jumped back at me. I barely got my stick up and between its jaws, but that did nothing to stop its claws that it promptly tried to use to disembowel me. I got my legs up and used them to spin the creature so the pointy parts pointed away from me. It worked, and I clung to its back while trying desperately to keep my arms and legs from being raked. I used Time Stop, then opened my inventory two feet in front of me and pushed the big cat that way while dropping the one giant rock I had. It was my only hope of making it out of this.

There was no way Instatravel would work. My mind was barely keeping up to stay alive, but trying to picture a location that might work? Not a chance! I hadn’t practiced that enough. The rock dropped as soon as I released Time Stop. It didn’t land on the cat’s head, as it had just enough time to move slightly before it came down. Two of its legs did get caught under the boulder! The cracking sound said it now had at least a couple broken bones. It tried to yank them out while letting out the most horrible yell of pain. Not being able to get enough leverage, and most likely due to pain, it couldn’t budge them. I was safe for the moment. That said, I was a mess. My arm and one of my legs had long gashes in them. It didn’t look like it had hit an artery, but this wasn’t good.

I was bleeding, and if I passed out now, who knew what would happen. I tore my pant legs to make quick bandages to slow the blood loss. Then I took out an herb I had gathered that said it would stop blood loss, along with one for healing. I made a quick poultice and put it under the bandages. Amazingly, the pain and blood loss started to ease quickly. I didn’t know how long I had before I passed out, so I acted on instinct and did the first thing that came to mind. I went and finished off the cat. I didn’t want it getting free even if its legs were broken and attacking me while I was passed out. I only had my medium size rock, so I used that on it. The last thing I remember was bringing the rock down on its head before I passed out.