In the darkness of my slumber, I hear whimpering and I believe I'm back at the hospital. I'm afraid to open my eyes. Afraid to see my mom sitting up in her bed. Afraid to see her crying into her hands. Afraid that there's nothing I can do.

I'm completely helpless.

I force my eyes open, feeling a slight tug in the back of mind to keep them shut. It's a weak battle and the view, when they fully open, keeps them open. I'm still in Arc. Its just about the third day in game, which means its only the last third of the first day IRL. Dawn is standing in front of me looking worried.

"Our watch?" I groggily spout.

She stutters a response, "Uh, yeah. I was just about to wake you. How do you sleep like that?"

"Practice."

Dawn offers me a hand and helps me up, her tiny frame hiding her strength well. She musn't be used to it yet and I stumble right into her as she stammers an apology, "Shit! I'm so sorry!"

"Oof! First time playing a power character like this?"

She chuckles, embarrassed, "Heh, yeah. You know me and RPGs."

I smile and put a hand on her shoulder, "We'll get some practice tomorrow. Get some rest, okay?" She nods and summons a flimsy sleeping mat from her own bracelet. I'm about to offer my bedroll, but Kona is already sprawled out on it, snoring lightly.

Elsbeth rolls her eyes and signs, "Silly kitty." She smiles and I chuckle. Ramona climbs on top of a smooth rock, lays out comfortably, and goes to sleep.

For the moment, I post by our tiny camp and let Elsbeth look for some wood for arrows. While using my Wolf Senses to zoom my vision around the cave, the darkvision making everything shades of grey. I wonder if Ramona is trained in unarmed combat since she has claws, too.

After all of the battles I've been through, I've taken note that anything like a weapons proficiency skill or Feat hasn't come up. I flex my claws and swipe them through the air. I resist the urge to smash some rocks with my new weapons, not wanting to make unnecessary noise. Towards the rear I see the strange rock that Dawn mentioned earlier. It's still too far, so I'll just wait until Elsbeth returns.

By now, only a fragment of my dream can be recalled. At first I thought it'd be strange to dream in the game, but it's all in our heads anyway, isnt it? Elsbeth approaches, carrying a bundle of sticks. I ask her if she needs me to stay and she shakes her head. I quietly take my leave.

"Its a doorbell…" I whisper to myself.

It's not really a doorbell and I don't even laugh at my own joke. Up close now, I see that the stone is labeled as a dungeon entry panel. I stare at the blank cave wall in front of me and wonder how it works. Maybe you touch it and it teleports you to the dungeon? Well, we can't delve today, my party is too low leveled and--

A disembodied voice echoes in the back of my head. There are no intelligeable words, but I can sense it beckoning me, calling me over to press my hand to the stone.

A "Huh," escapes my lips out of interest. "Don't worry, we'll be back to play soon enough."

[Minor Quest: One small step

[Activate the gate and take a single step inside Rentas Dungeon

[Reward: 500XP, 5*Silver, 5* Minor Rings of Storage]

"Come on, don't give it all up like that. I promise, we'll be right back. You're the only dungeon I'm seeing, I swear!" I turn and leave, trying to hide how spooked I became from that.

Anyway, another quest is a good thing right? And what's with that reward? Even though I'm standing there by myself, the quest giver knows I'm in a party of five. I'm partially tempted to disband the party and keep the reward myself. But, for some reason, we can only equip two magical rings total. I look back at the rock and I can almost sense the sadness and desperation emanating from it. I jog back to the group,

"Freakin haunted cave…"

Elsbeth is finishing up her twentieth arrow by the time I get back. I feel like that's realy fast, but I don't know anything except that its called fletching. I'm about to ask her about it, but I switch it to "Did you get a notification?" She gives me an impressed look, expands her hands, holds an invisible stack of cash, and smacks her other hand twice, (A lot of money!)

"A lot of everything. I'm sure you all can use the rings too. Just for taking one step? What if it's a trap? What if we get trapped? Or killed?"

She winces, moving a hand from her lips to flat down in front of her (Bad!)

"Yeah. We'll wrap up our current quest and then gain a level or two before tackling the dungeon."

I'm still impressed with how fast she's learned to sign. I'm thinking the others learned it just as fast since they paid as much attention as she did, but they had no real reason to use it. Maybe Kona uses it, but I'm pretty sure she actually likes shouting out the spell names. Looking back, I'm pretty sure she was doing a lot of it in the boss battle. I vividy recall her last battle cry before killing the leap frogging wolf.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I continue past our camp, Elsbeth finishing up her last bundle of arrows. I didn't ask her yet, but I'm hoping Dawn has some room in her bracelet to hold the extra arrows that wont fit in El's twenty arrow quiver. At the mouth of the cave I browse my status, checking out all my skills and feats when I notice that Minor Survival Skill is at level two. I wonder why the system didn't notify me? I read its description and finally notice that the next upgrade will be level 9.

[Minor Survival Craft II(2MP+2SP)

[Heal 3HP

[Create a small spark, deals no damage

[Purify up to 1 gallon of water or 5 pieces of meat

[Produce 2 bedrolls and pads that last 10hrs/dismissed

[Produce a 12x12ft weather proof leather tarp that lasts 10hrs/dismissed

[Produce 15ft of hempen rope. permanent. Recharge: 2hrs

[Able to make improvised class gear from non metal material: weapons, artisan tools, certain armor, and shields]

The last update to the skill got me crazy excited and I frantically searched through my inventory for anything I might be able to use. I pick something at random.

[Wolf Meat * 14. Consumable. Recipe available.]

Oops, guess I better just pick one. I realize that was the first time I really looked at an item from the game and I don't know much about anything in this world, I'm just moving along like I've been playing this game for years. I know part of this run is a race to the milestones, but this is a real world and just like any real world its easy to get sidetracked.

I look back into the cave and watch Elsbeth take careful steps towards me while adjusting her quiver. Stopping a couple feet near me, she looks at me with her sad smile and turns her attention to the half moon in the sky. I look at it too, I mean, really look at it.

That moon doesn't have the billions of years of experience that the IRL one does, but it's been dutifully circling this world for hundreds of years. Lighting the night sky, affecting the tides, adding romance to lovers' lives. The inhabitants of this world could have done anything in the time they were given to cultivate this world and the one thing they didn't do yet, is destroy each other. There are still people roaming around, loving and hating each other. They weren't scripted to do anything and yet they still continue to be. Doesn't that earn them the right to be treated like people?

Elsbeth keeps an eye out while I look around just outside the cave. There's no other instruction for me so I decide to "activate" the survival skill with an actual target, thinking about the last part of the skill. I'm rewarded with a new detail to my vision. Breathing through my mouth to lessen the effects of the advanced scent detection, my vision is still grey but there's a new detail. Different things all around me gain a dim yellow outline. I walk up to something on the ground with the outline and scoop it up. Its just a three foot branch.

[Branch. Minor Craft Material. Handle slot.]

I draw my simple iron dagger and some of the hempen rope. All three items have the same dim yellow aura and a notification pops up.

[Combine: Branch + Minor Iron Dagger + Rope Y/N?]

I mentally choose yes, and my hands seemingly move on their own, a glimpse of knowledge floating to the surface of my mind. I feel like I'm watching someone teach me what to do as I slowly learn what it is they're doing.

[You lost Minor Iron Dagger]

[You received Improvised Wooden Spear]

Using the rest of the rope I have before it needed recharging, I create a sling for it since its a little too long for the storage bracelet. It reminds me of something you'd see in a survivalist show. I find some feathers on the ground and some sticks. I hold them up but don't get the same prompt as before. I'm guessing arrows are not a simple thing that can be thrown together and wonder what level Elsbeth's Fletching skill must be if she has something like that.

I make a mental list of stuff I could really use more of to craft in the wild: Pieces of leather, maybe treated thread for sewing, Duct tape would have been perfect with this skill! At work I used to use it to fix a lot of things and kinda used it to make things work. As a barback, or prep cook, or even a private in the military, we all have to make things work regardless of circumstances. Or, as our superiors would say, "I wanna see the baby, not hear the labor pains."

I'm reminded of a graveyard shift, as I walk around the edge of the clearing in front of the cave. After doing everything you're supposed to do, what is there to do to fill in the time? My resources are limited, noise and light factors must be kept low, and I have to stay awake through it all. I check my in game clock. One hour until sunrise. I remember something I was doing earlier and withdraw my mask. With little hesitation this time I placed it on my face and felt that mental .

This one is different though. Deeper.

[Equipped: Mask of the Grey Wanderer

[+3Agi, +1Str, +1Armor, ???]

[Complete set to receive bonus stats]

I could almost feel my ear twitch and I notice something in my radar. I glance over my shoulder and spot a couple wolves. They're staring right back at me; not growling, not wagging their tails, nothing. They're just standing there waiting for something to happen.

I whisper at them, "Sorry, your alpha isn't here anymore." I almost feel stupid for talking to them, but then they just turned away quickly and ran off. "Oh. Good luck then, I guess." Strange. They usually just attack people on sight.

The three sleepers are woken up to the smell of something cooking, smiles spreading across their faces before their eyes could open. Dawn is the first to get up, stowing her sleep gear and walking over to the source. Ramona is a close second behind her. Kona is a far third, still yawning and scratching while joining the rest of us around the small cooking fire.

Dawn is simply tearing into the skewers, "Theshe are amazhing! Way mbetter than rations! And buffs! You shpoil me! Cool mask mby the mway!" I look disgusted at her, though not because of her manners.

"Gross, you ate those?" She didn't have a choice, she explained. Not knowing how to cook, in game or out, she had to rely on the rations she started out with and whatever could be spared for her.

After swallowing her big bite she continued, "I was able to kill some creatures for their meat, but Gorm only knew how to make Basic and Better Rations, being a retired army cook."

"And our sick need the Better Rations to ease their pain," finished Ramona, then gulped down her second skewer.

Ooo, I'm going to add those to my recipe list for sure when we get back! I figure an even trade of information should be enough. Dawn looked at all the cooked skewers after we had all fiished, "Why so many? I'm stuffed!"

"We can keep them in our storage bracelets and they wont go bad," I explain to her. "In fact, they'll even stay hot in there."

"That is so weird," pulling a few into storage, "I never would have thought of doing that. Hey, was that quest notification a dream or did we all get it?"

I explain what happened last night while they slept, about the hauntingly strange voice and the rock's supposed purpose. I shared with them my Feat's upgrade and wish list of items.

"After we get back, we got'cha covered, Ardy!" came the sudden reply from Kona, "I'm sure Vic wouldn't mind sharing with you if you don't mind helping us out some more!"

Practice crafting, receive quests, get closer to Victoria? All I see are wins in this scenario! "Well, we have to get back first, right? Let's go!"