As Lanek and Kazuma wandered into the forest, Lanek thought about his options. His first option was to pick a direction and get as far away from the Ashen Depths and Caelis as possible. While he did find this option appealing, there was no way to be sure that he would be able to find civilization or just end up somewhere even worse than the ruined city he left behind.
Lanek’s second option was to just become a hermit and live in the wilderness. While Lanek could hunt and fish to some extent and had some basic survival skills thanks to living with his grandfather who insisted on teaching him, this option was the least appealing. This was because he needed more information about this world and the system and it was unlikely that the information would just drop in his lap while living in the woods. Also, if Lanek was being honest, he really wanted some of those amenities he saw back at the guild hall.
No, he needed something that was a bit of a hybrid of the two options. As Kazuma rushed around enjoying his new body, Lanek went about planning. He decided that exploiting the dungeon where possible was probably his best approach. Lanek could gain experience and levels to enable him to wander with more confidence in the wilderness.
In addition, the city would be a fantastic resource if he could find intact books to learn more about the history of the world. Even better, he could potentially find an intact map that could guide him to another settlement without him having to wander off in a random direction. Maybe he could even find gear.
I wonder how many game mechanics the dungeon has… Experience and levels are great, but what if there were treasure chests or the creatures dropped loot I could use? Hell, the dungeon creatures might even be edible. That last thought nearly made Lanek gag, even as it reminded him that he hadn’t eaten since arriving in this world.
Well, I need to get the lay of the land and find a campsite I can secure out here. Lanek mused as he looked for any large trees or elevated land. He figured if he could find a good spot for long-term survival, he could make forays into the city for leveling and hopefully looting. The trick was going to be finding a place far enough from the city that he would feel confident that the dungeon monsters could not reach him but close enough to the city that he could get there and back before nightfall. Now that the dungeon was aware of him, he had no desire to stay in its territory overnight.
“Hey Kazuma, come here a minute.” He called out to the mist cat. Kazuma bounded over and cocked his head to the side as if asking what Lanek wanted.
“Could you help me find a tree that we can climb so I can look around the area, please? Oh, and a river or lake would be great as well.” Lanek started when he felt a pulse of what he could only describe as acknowledgment from Kazuma. Well, that’s handy. That’s going to make communication so much easier.
“Thanks, buddy. I’ll just keep heading this way and look for myself and you can come find me if you see something we can use.”
With a quick head bob, the mist cat rushed off into the surrounding forest. I wonder how much searching he is going to do before he gets distracted by everything bombarding his senses after so long as a ghost. Lanek thought with a quiet chuckle to himself. Not that he could blame the cat, the poor furball had been deprived of so much for so long.
While keeping his eye out for a vantage point, Lanek had to admit that this forest was beautiful and he could hear signs of life all around, which stood in sharp contrast to the silence of the city when the monsters weren’t out and about. The trees were large and healthy.
The trees were also a cause for concern as the leaves were a riot of colors. If autumn was already here, then he didn’t have much time to prepare for winter. To make matters worse, he had no idea how harsh winters were in this place.
As he walked, Lanek idly removed his chain whip from his forearm and began swinging half of its length lazily. He still had no clue how to use the thing, but he would need to learn at some point. How was he supposed to learn, though? He had no experience with a regular whip and even if he did, he doubted it would have much in common with using a chain whip.
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Even back home, many chain weapons took many years of practice and dedication to use, and even then they were mostly for demonstration purposes. The chain whip, three section staff, kusarigama, all of them were not only difficult to learn but also dangerous to a novice.
He fought the urge to use [Identify] on the whip. It would likely distract him, which was a good way to get hurt in unfamiliar terrain.
After an hour of walking, he felt a pulse from Kazuma letting him know that he had found something. Lanek was excited to notice that the pulse also let him feel in which direction Kazuma was located. Without hesitation, he turned a bit to the right and picked up his pace to catch up with his companion.
On the way to the cat’s location, Lanek noticed that the foliage was getting even thicker and the trees were growing closer to one another. Rather than be concerned, his spirits lifted as he thought about the potential food to be found hiding or growing in this much foliage and how much easier it would be for him to hide from a threat. Also, he could see a tree-studded hill rising above the surrounding forest.
Lanek was surprised to find Kazuma waiting for him at the foot of the hill rather than at the top. The cat chuffed at him and walked around the hill, leading Lanek to the opposite side. His confusion at the cat’s actions cleared as soon as he saw what had excited the cat. There was a cave in the side of the hill.
“Okay, that is awesome! Is it empty?” he asked the cat. Kazuma nodded in affirmation before walking into the cave. With a smile, Lanek followed and found that it wasn’t all that large, but it was deep enough to get out of the elements. It looked to be around the size of a small bedroom back on Earth.
Lanek was a little curious as to why it was empty. There were no tracks, dung, or other signs of habitation by an animal. This was extremely unusual considering it would make a perfect den for all manner of creatures.
Well, Lanek wasn’t about to complain about a free shelter that looked to have either never been used or had been long abandoned. He gave the mist cat some ear scratches in gratitude before deciding to climb to the top of the hill. Now, if I can find some nearby water this would make a perfect base camp to explore the city.
Upon reaching the top of the hill, Lanek’s breath caught in his throat. Before him was a blanket of trees in every autumn color imaginable and massive snow-capped mountains in the distance. Turning around, he could see the walls of Caelis towering over the forest clearly despite the distance he thought he had traveled. Turning back toward the mountains, he scanned the horizon slowly, looking for water or signs of civilization. Unfortunately, the thickness of the trees made it impossible to spot any signs of water. With how dense the foliage was, he would need to get even higher to find a suitable water source.
With a groan of frustration, he walked toward one of the taller trees on the hill and found very little in the way of branches within his reach, much less ones that were large enough to hold his weight. The tree was also far too big around for him to try shimmying his way up the tree.
He briefly considered throwing the chain to the best suited branch, but discarded that thought when he realized that he would not be able to anchor the chain in any way since it had a blade rather than a hook on the end. Dammit, even a grappling hook would be more useful than this thing.
Lanek glanced down as he felt a soft touch on his leg and saw Kazuma looking at him quizzically. “Hey bud, just trying to figure out how to climb the tree. It probably looks easy to you, though.”
The cat chuffed at him before fading into mist and floating to the branch Lanek had been eyeing before reforming. Lanek froze at the sight. “You can do that without being a spirit?! I suppose that’s why you’re called a mist cat, huh?” The cat, looking immensely smug, chuffed once more.
Quickly coming to a decision, Lanek began to swing his whip. “Kazuma, I need you to find some way to secure the chain so I can climb up there. Can you do that for me?” he asked, not sure just how intelligent the cat actually was and how much it understood. The cat shot him an imperious look and nodded once more.
It took him a few tries, but he finally managed to swing the whip close enough to the branch for Kazuma to snatch it out of the air safely. Looking around, the cat pulled the chain to the body of the tree before inserting it between a gap between branches.
Lanek pulled on the whip as hard as he could to test the strength of its anchor spot. It seemed like the gap was large enough to accommodate the fine chain portion of the whip but too small to allow the dagger with cross-guard through.
With increasing confidence in both the strength of the anchor and his companion, Lanek began climbing the massive tree. Reaching the top, he smiled broadly at the lake he could now see in the distance. However, his smile faded abruptly as he took a closer look.