Brown eyes watched in a twisted form of curiosity and hunger as the stranger fought against the undead. They didn't move with the kind of training one would expect form a fighter. Instead it was the raw combination of heightened panicked senses and tunnel visioned focus. They licked their lips as the stranger swung a shovel upwards and staggered a zombie, knocking it onto its back. They let out a breath as the stranger spun, knocking an arrow out of the air and shoulder charging into a skeleton. Their fingers curled as the stranger crushed an approaching spider with a hammer.
Click. Click. Click.
Each click was faint, and the stranger didn't hear it. Each click caused sparked to appear, showing a round face with brown eyes and a wide, predatory grin. As the stranger decapitated the fallen zombie with the shovel, the began to stand, ready to show themselves and claim the stranger.
The brown eyes flicked, seeing something approaching from the trees. The stranger was so focused on the undead that he didn't see the approaching danger. Gritted teeth bared like fangs as they started to move, quickly and quietly circling around.
Click. Click. Fwoosh.
A flame, no bigger than a fist, arced through the night air. It missed tree trunks and branches, and landed in the bushes behind the creature, illuminating it from behind. They grinned, before vanishing into the shadows again.
"Mine."
----------------------------------------
Isaac was hunched over, breathing hard. He looked at the window in front of him as he bit into his last bit of grilled fish.
Raw Silk, Bone x2, and Zombie Skin x2 has been added to your inventory!
Progress: 9/10
One to go. And he was running low on food. He'd have to find something soon to-
FWOOSH
An eruption of flame behind him cast shadows, both his and another. Isaac turned to to face the creature that had managed to sneak up behind him. It was tall, almost as tall as him, with a body that looked like an emaciated human in a straitjacket going down to a far too narrow waist. Its hide was a vivid green, not quite skin but not full on fur. Instead of legs there were four spider like appendages that moved at odd angles to keep it stable. The head, if you could call it that, looked like skin pulled over a skull, with a jagged rip for the mouth. Two pits of black void with pinpricks of red light coming from them served as eyes to this absolute aberration.
Outlined by fire, the monster let out a shriek, its maw opening wide and the skull stretching like rubber. A phlegm like wad of vicious liquid shot from its mouth, immediately catching flame and roaring towards him. Isaac managed to leap out of the way, landing hard and pushing himself up to his feel.
Skulkers. Easily the most messed up part of Blockworld. Hideous things that moved as silent as the night and could spit fire with surprisingly good accuracy. That vile, gurgling hiss erupted from the creature as it again spat fire at him, narrowly missing each time.
Isaac tumbled, the edges of his shirt smelling of burned fibers. He hadn't taken any damage yet but he also hadn't been able to get close. Pushing himself up he ran forwards, again avoid an oncoming fireball. As the skulker twitch walked towards him he stopped suddenly, his feet digging into the dirt beneath him. With his built up momentum he launched himself towards the monster, right as its distorted mouth began to open.
The flickering embers of heat could be seen in the back of its throat. It was like looking down a black tunnel with a cloud of noxious gas rushing towards him. He jumped, his hammer appearing in his hand and he swung down hard onto the skulker's mouth. The resulting contained explosion threw Isaac back and he landed hard, rolling on the ground until he hit the hillside.
Progress: 10/10
Skulker Syrup has been added to your inventory!
Quest Complete!
Reward: Camping Supplies, Combat Kit, Skill Book
Accept? Yes/No
His hand came up and batted at the 'Yes' before slumping down again. The pain was leaving, fortunately. But it did little for the lingering soreness that seemed to stick to him like wet tree sap.
Sleeping Bag, Campfire, Fire Starter, Fishing Rod, Bait Box, Stony Sword, and Wood Shield have been added to your Inventory!
Skill Book has been added to your Inventory!
As much as Isaac wanted to play with his new stuff, he was far too tired to do so. He drug himself into his hole in the hill, pulled out the sleeping bag, and fell asleep on top of it.
Morning found him in much better spirits than before. After eating the last of his provisions and splashing lake water on his face to wake up, he stood on the bank and accessed his inventory. The skill book appeared in his hands, and he opened it, looking for the new pop up window.
Trait Acquired: Crafting Grid
You can summon an image of a grid in your mind. You can combine items in your inventory to make new items. Once you make something for the first time, you can make it again without having to go through the process.
His eyebrows shot up at this. Blinking he focused, and a new window popped up. A 3 by 3 grid floated in front of him, with another slightly larger cell off to the left side. After a moment to contemplate, he drew up his inventory window as well. He tapped the small icon with the oak logs, and drug them over to the crafting grid.
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With a slight popping noise, the logs showed they could be turned into wooden planks. Three of them, specifically.
Isaac let out a whooping cheer that echoed across the lake and through the trees. It didn't take long for him to figure out what items made certain things, and after a few minutes he had upgraded his broken wooden tools into stone tools. He also made a door for his hillside base, and using the stone he'd mined he fashioned a rudimentary kiln.
"Trees make logs, logs make charcoal." he said, tossing a few logs into the kiln and using some of the left over branches as fuel. The kiln lit up with fire and began to cook the logs, much to his delight.
The next few hours were spent felling trees, cooking wood, and making stuff. Soon the dirt floor in the base was turned into wood planks, torches were mounted on the walls and a chest was constructed to store his items. By about midday he'd overhauled his shelter into something that resembled a home and less of a bear cave.
It was his stomach growling that shifted his focus. He reached for his rations, only to realize he'd run out. Instead, he pulled out the fishing rod and Bait Box. Walking over he set down a wooden rocking chair he'd made and took a seat, stretching his legs out and baiting his hook. With a flick of the wrist he cast his line, watched the bobber hit the water and...
Let out a long, drawn out sigh.
The last 24 hours felt like a dream. Maybe it was. Talking to a computer hacker and then getting yoinked from his life and yeeted into a video game. It sounded like a set up to a cheap book he'd read online. Isaac shook his head. No, they weren't cheap. Some of them were good, real good. And he'd be lying if he hadn't wished to be in the protagonists situation.
Well, here he was.
Ploomp.
Isaac looked at the water as the bobber dipped below the surface. He stood, yanking the pole back and watching as a large fish was sent flying through the air towards him. He laughed, picking up the fish and putting it into his inventory. Then he thought about it, and quickly ran through the materials he had in the crafting grid. Eventually eventually branches, stone, and charcoal made a campfire, and he set it down nearby and put the fish on the cook.
He returned to fishing, and just relaxed. As the sun moved through the sky and eventually began to dip past the trees, Isaac fished. It was funny, he'd never been one to go out camping in his life before. And here he was, out in the wild and fishing while watching the sun set.
Once he'd fished up enough food to be content for a while, he sat down at the campfire to eat. As the sun began to set once more, his eyes scanned the growing shadows. Amidst the light of the torches and the campfire, the gloom looked far less intimidating. He could still see movement in the distance, but he kept his stone sword nearby.
All in all it was an uneventful night. No more wandering horde of monsters set upon him by the system. Speaking of which, he was a little curious that he hadn't received another quest.
A quest made itself known bright and early the next day.
New Quest! Fishenomics
Barter with the Traveling Dealer, and get some new items for your adventure!
Reward: Random Map
He accepted the quest, pushing himself up and out of the sleeping bag. A Traveling Dealer... That sounded vaguely familiar. He knew it was a rare thing to encounter in the game. Well, usually. Sometimes they could show up randomly by knocking on your front door.
Knock knock knock.
"Okay, real subtle." Isaac said, shaking his head and walking to his front door.
Beyond the door was a small figure, no taller than maybe 4 foot. It looked like a chubby penguin, with bright blue feathers along its back, a white underbelly, and a yellow beak. It was wearing a floppy hat with a green flower tucked into the band, and a small gray vest where a compass and a couple pens were secured. The little guy had a backpack nearly as large as he was strapped to him, and he carried what looked like a sign on a stick.
"Peggi peggi!" the little merchant said, in a cheery tone as if to say 'Good Morning'.
The Pehngi were one of the intelligent species to this world. They didn't speak like humans could, but could understand speech fairly well.
"Hey there bud, how can I help you?"
The pehngi scribbled on his sign and held it up for Isaac to see. It was a stick figure and what he could guess was a pehngi with a hat, each holding stuff, with arrows pointing at each other. Isaac also noticed the name tag stitched onto his vest: Burge.
"So your name is Burge... You want to trade with me?"
"Peggi!"
"I don't know, all I have is grilled fish."
"Piggi? Piggi peggi!"
That must mean yes. Probably. Isaac went and pulled his supply of grilled fish out of his chest and came outside. Burge the Dealer had set up shop rather quickly, laying out a gray and white checkered quilt and presenting several items.
The array of items were interesting. There was a steel sword that had a strange looking shimmering glint when the light hit it. There was a compass, a few rolled up scrolls set next to one another. And there was even a bow and a quiver of arrows. But what caught Isaac's eye was the two books that looked suspiciously like Skill Books.
"How much for these?" he asked, pointing at the books. The pehngi merchant looked at the books and then set up a sign.
20x Fish per book.
Isaac winced. He only had 49 fish, and that had cost him all day before. He didn't want to go broke but... In the end he bought the books, and the compass. The Travelling Dealer happily took the fish and packed them away, and began to pack up his wares. While he did that, Isaac took a look at the skill books.
Trait Acquired: Eyes of Waila
You can identify things! At will anything you look at will have its information shown to you!
Note: Certain things will remain hidden if you lack the proper knowledge to conceive it.
Huh. That's nifty. Not the most bombastic ability out there but it could come in handy. Glancing around he was able to identify several things, a small transparent window popping up in the corner of his view. It didn't give him a ton of information, but it was still useful.
Isaac's eyes glanced at the traveling dealer as he hoisted his bag onto a large racoon like wolf creature with a saddle. Burge tipped his hat to him before the furry beast stood and began to trot into the forest.
"What a nice fellow. I hope he does well out there." he mused to himself before looking down at the book again. With his new sight he was able to get a bit more information this time.
Skill Book: Evolving Upgrade
Enchanted Item
Rarity: Unique
Takes an existing skill or trait and upgrades it to an Evolving Skill.
It didn't give him much more to go on than that. And while he was eager to break into new and cool skills, he felt that he should hold on to this one. Maybe evolve a skill he picks up in the future. As he tucked the book away in his inventory, the quest window popped up again.
His eyebrows rose a bit. This was new.