Chapter Two
Overwhelming terror froze Joe’s entire body and he couldn’t tear his eyes away from what he was seeing. The creature stalked around the location of the pod’s landing before setting eyes on the indentation leading from the site to the river. As the creature rumbled across the field towards the river following the track of the rolled pod, Joe could actually feel the rumbling shake through the earth even despite the raised floor of the cabin. The heavy thuds of the shadow creature’s stride revealed a mass that was terrifying which was belied by the creatures rapid movements and agility which only deepened Joe’s fear because of the creature’s massive agility and power in contrast to its thunderous footsteps.
The creature came to the river’s edge and peered up and down the river before suddenly fixing its eyes on the depths of the river right where the pod should still be resting. Joe stiffened in fear and worry as the creature stood frozen, seeming to stare directly at the water covered pod. Several moments later, the creature erupted into the sky and wings of shadow rocketed it down the river, disappearing in a flash. The fear lingered over Joe’s body for several moments before he shook it off and leapt to action. Quickly grabbing the cooking pot of water he had brought back with him from the river, he spread it carefully on the fire to kill the embers. After drowning out the flames by carefully dribbling the water across the various embers and charcoaled logs, he gathered up his lighting equipment, cooking equipment, and several other tools and stuffed his bag before he fled from the cabin, dragging the edge of the sleeping bag lightly across the grass behind him.
He fled into the forest quickly, but then slowed and began to cautiously, but quickly, make his way into the depths of the woods while trying to remember his bearings. He wasn’t worried too much about the creature sneaking up on him. Its pounding footsteps made it quite easy to hear coming. He only needed enough distance and a decent hiding place to lay low until the terrifying creature was gone. He found an animal trail and stopped to take account of his surroundings. Listening quietly, he heard a stream heading further into the depths of the woods. Gathering his belongings a little more carefully over his shoulders, especially the sleeping bag which had been dragging behind him, Joe turned down the animal trail towards the sound of water.
Travelling quickly down the animal trail lead him to a small stream where many of the local animals likely watered. He glanced up and down the stream, quickly finding that the stream had carved a significant path against a bluff, leaving an overhang covered in drooping vines and underbrush. While he wasn’t certain how deep the undercut would go, the river backed up right to the bluff and had cut underneath it, leaving a deep shallow muddy cave. However, the slow stream had been pushed back out from under the bluff by the detritus and sludge the stream had dumped up under the bluff along with the fallen earth from the bluff above falling down into the stream.
This created a small cavern of sorts, certainly a bit muddy, but an excellent hiding place. He quickly ran down the stream, leaping across it to be on the opposite side from the bluff and undercut. Grasping a branch, he probed the depths of the undercut while also rattling the stick loudly to drive out any animals. The undercut proved quite deep, although it was not quite as tall as he hoped and would require him ducking to enter. A small nest of rabbit-like creatures he had eaten earlier dashed out from the undercut and he retrieved his stick. Well, if that is their home, I don’t have to worry about any carnivores!
After pulling the stick out, he saw the end had been covered in mud and quickly tossed it aside before sitting and pulling off his boots and socks, then dropped his bag, boots, and the other materials he had been carrying in a mess in his arms onto a relatively dry and clean spot on the stream’s bank.
Casting around quickly, he found a small log and quickly slid it into the undercut, placing it carefully in the muddy bank of the undercut, pressing it down into the mud firmly to serve as a seat. Returning to the other side of the creak, he grasped a mostly dry pile of leaves and scrambled back into the undercut to scatter the leaves on the mud as a small staging area to place his belongings without getting them wet or dirtying them. Spreading the leaves thinly across the ground, he slid his pack and shoes onto the leaves, then the sleeping bag on top of the pack before attempting to place his lighting tools, kitchen equipment, and other miscellanea on top in a semi-stable tower. He settled himself onto the log cautiously, worried that it might sink too deeply into the mud to support him. The log settled under his weight, but remained firm and he felt himself relax slightly. His hands reached up and fluffed the bushes and vines covering the entrance into a semblance of wild growth, hiding where he had parted the foliage. He sat in tense silence while attempting to relax his body as much as possible, slipping his mind towards meditation to still any movement and leave him with as little presence as possible.
As time continued, fear drained from his body and he began to feel a slight hope that the ordeal may be over. He still did not move, and made no plan to do so for several hours, if not several days. But considering the shadow creature seemed gone, he slowly rose from his meditation and decided to explore the only safe option available to him: the strange notification system that had popped up after he had dismissed the first. It still glowed softly, directly in front of his eyes, but seemed to only come into focus now as he considered it. A bit of shock came to him as he realized that the … popup… It literally is a popup… sigh! Travel to an entirely new star system and I still can’t escape popups! But it was interesting. The popup seemed to fade from his view, disappearing so as not to distract his vision when he chose to focus on his surroundings. Taking a moment to practice with it, he noticed it fading quickly into and out of view as he made the decision to focus on something in the environment versus the times where he deliberately chose to focus on the popup. When he was finished with his practice, he turned to the content of the popup but then he suddenly felt and heard a massive roar and crashing thump similar to the shadow creature before. Is it the same shadow thing? Did he land where the animal trail and stream met? How did he know I was there? Does he know I’m here?
Even as Joe tensed up to flee, he began to notice that the creature was not moving with any determined movement. There were steps interrupted by pauses before some more steps rumbled through the ground. He’s looking for me. He’s not sure! Joe calmed quickly and once again retreated into a meditation, desperately trying to calm himself and his breathing. The moment stretched even as his senses faded to nothing as all his focus settled on his hearing.
* * *
The creature searched the surroundings, his guttural epithets of frustration erupting irregularly as his anger continued to peak. He had arrived immediately after the eccentric had accepted the Treaty of Beings, yet found the location empty, with no significant life forms in the area. The cabin had been inhabited by a simple creature, Powerless and insignificant, little more than a base or an animal. Strange tracks had led to the river and there he had found an exceedingly strange artifact bereft of all Power buried in the river. Curiosity had pulled at him, but the search for the eccentric was of much greater importance. Seeing the river and knowing the eccentric would have been incapable of flight, he had taken to the skies to see if the eccentric had chosen to escape along the river; the quickest and most sensible path available to the intruding eccentric. But, he had found no sign of the eccentric, up or down river. Deciding to return and question the Powerless hiding in the cabin, he found the cabin empty and growled in frustration.
He’d then explored the forests around the cabin but found little more than animals and mindless beasts. The creature that had been in the cabin was likely a beast at best, once he’d seen the state of the cabin, but there had been some heat from the fireplace but no Power to bank or withdraw it, making it an old heat. Despite the likelihood of the inhabitant being gone days past, he’d still persisted to explore the forests, finding a strange trail leaving the cabin going into the forest to a game trail. From there, he’d lost any further direction, and the only few creatures he’d sensed had been cowering in their holes too afraid to flee, prey thinking themselves safe in their burrows. He growled in frustration once more, his roar echoing through the forest.
“Eight eccentrics entering our plane just today and I’ve already missed one?”
The creature took to the skies, deciding to scan the forest from the air to seek the Powerless, sensing some disturbance distinctly not monstrous or wildlife, he landed at a small stream and found himself floundering to sense any direction or find any meaning. Even as his frustration grew and he began to be more violent in his exploration, a notification pressed its way into his awareness and his eyes widened in shock.
“Another?!? Seriously? Is it an invasion?”
Less than a second later, he was gone with a shockwave thumping through the forest, several of the smaller and older trees blasting over to fall to the forest floor.
* * *
Joe winced in shocked pain as a massive shockwave rippled across his location and he heard some secondary thumps shortly after. Must be some trees? Joe reached his hands up to his ears, touching them carefully but did not find any blood trickling out of his ears. He settled himself once more, quickly returning his mind to calm meditation as he waited for his ringing ears to return to some semblance of working order, his other senses fading away once more as he tried to focus on his hearing. The tense anxiety he had felt with the return of the shadow creature left him disturbed and tense, unable to relax and the popup had once again long faded from his mind.
His cautious watch continued until darkness began to fall and the sun set. His vigilance did not end, and he continued with cautious awareness while trying to rest as much as he was able to while maintaining wakefulness. After what felt like half the night had passed, Joe finally allowed his vigilance to retreat and once again considered active exploration of the popup system. Night was dark, and he had nowhere to go, but he didn’t feel relaxed enough to sleep, nor did he have any desire to sleep in such a location or the courage to seek out a new place in the deep darkness that surrounded him.
In accordance to the Treaty of Beings, your status is currently unchanged, your current status according to the current Cradle will be displayed as the primary status, while your previous status will be displayed immediately afterwards in parenthesis. Your previous abilities will be translated into equivalent values of this Cradle, although you will not retain any of your previous skills or abilities.
Your status can be viewed at any time with your personal details.
Your current job is set to: Level One Commoner
Even as he considered the popup once again, it faded into view in front of him, taking on a solidity only a half a meter in front of his face, looking almost identical to the previous notification.
Joe pressed the accept button and found another notification replacing it.
Do you wish to naturalize your stats?
Joe blinked at that, then frowned, remembering the previous pop up. Level one commoner? That sounds… not good? So… no?
The pop up disappeared without any real change before a final and third one appeared before him.
Status – View your status.
Help – Review available commands.
Joe considered the notification, carefully memorizing the commands before dismissing it. His mind wandered over the information as he considered what the commands meant. Finally, he shrugged and just decided to just consider it a voice or mental command system. He decided to first try to see if simple mental commands would be enough, and he thought with focus, the idea of ‘status’ coming to his mind. Several moments went by and nothing really happened. His eyes creased, and he decided to think about ‘help.’ Again, nothing happened and he began to shake his head. Maybe it’s a verbal system? Seriously, what do I have to do, think I want to see my status?
Suddenly, another blue screen splashed before him, much more extensive and hovering over the majority of his view. On it was a detailed overview of what appeared to be the entirety of his current life. Numbers scattered across the screen with some words clear and easily read, others an illegible jumble of symbols he had never seen before which quickly seemed to squiggle until it squirmed into comprehensibility.
Status
Current Job
Available Jobs
Current Skills
Available Skills
Details
Joe McConnell
Status
Physical Resistances
Magical Resistances
HP
1 (138)
Physical:
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Wind
.1
MP
1 (100)
Piercing
0 (48)
Water
.1
Attack
1 (181)
Crushing
0 (132)
Ice
.1
Defense
1 (158)
Slashing
0 (39)
Magic
1 (100)
Magic Defense
1 (100)
Strength
1 (148)
Dexterity
1 (112)
Agility
1 (133)
IQ
1 (132)
Wisdom
1 (105)
Learning
1
Luck
0
Joe looked across his status and became quite concerned when he saw how low his status was. OK… so… yeah… bad idea to naturalize your stats! He was considered quite strong for an average human of Earth. His training was extensive and his parents had placed quite a bit of effort into developing him in his training ever since he was a child. His parents had not put as much effort in his mental education, so he was quite confused by what he saw of his intelligence, when he suddenly realized that the 132 actually was identical to what he had received on his IQ test. So this reveals my capabilities? My potential? Or just what I am capable of doing now…
There’s magic! Magic! HA! I wonder what it’ll look like. When he saw the list of magical resistances listed on the side, his eyebrows rose by quite a bit. An odd set of just three? That seems... strangely limited and specific. Only wind, water, and ice? A frown came to his face as he considered it, but then he simply shrugged his shoulders. It was an exciting idea, and something that certainly piqued his interest, but he ultimately had a rather large and scary shadow monster stalking him, survival and hiding was more important to him at this time.
One interesting detail he found was that all the magic stats were 100. Is one hundred the average capability? It is for intelligence back home. Does that equate for the other stats as well? Joe was uncertain of making such an assumption, but the repetitiveness of the magic stat, and the equivalence of the intelligence stat to his IQ as determined back on Earth made him think… What?!
Shock shook his face as his eyebrows leapt up slightly. The display updated even as he watched and the word ‘Intelligence’ change to ‘IQ.’ Whelp! That confirms it. I guess assuming 100 as average, or the norm, is also correct given the context.
The other two stats that seemed unusual were learning and luck. Both of them did not have any ‘hold’ over from his Earth days. It seemed there was no equivalent, although he found that odd, especially for luck. People spoke of luck regularly on earth, although there was no way to train it, similar to the magic stats. But then why were his magical stats averaged to 100 while luck was not? It must be unique, especially as he was given zero! He could only hope that this didn’t mean he had bad luck!
Learning was also a strange one, only a single point offered to him without any Earth equivalent. The resistances listed seemed to be separated into physical and magical, although he had nothing to speak of magically. Why do I have average magical stats but no magical resistances to speak of? Are no resistances the norm? Joe pondered for several moments then shook the thoughts from his mind as he realized that no amount of thought would give him any more details. Given what he was looking at, he had one year to get his base one point up or close to his current abilities. Suddenly, the ramifications of his intelligence being his IQ settled in and a deep fear rocked through him. SHIT! If intelligence equals my IQ, and I don’t get my IQ back up to or above 100, my intelligence…. For the first time, fear settled deep in his bones and he felt a desperate urgency flood him. If he didn’t get his intelligence up, his thought processes would be crippled and he would have absolutely no way to plan his development or his life here. His thoughts began whirling away through his mind and derailed any further exploration of his status and the system.
The overwhelming situation soon took first place in his thoughts and he wrestled with his new reality. The surprise of the situation was more concerning than where he currently was. Living outdoors wasn’t something new to him. The land was verdant and fecund. It would easily be able to supply his needs, and the cabin proved that there was some kind of civilization. His weaponry left him a bit nervous since it seemed to prove there was violence and conflict of some kind, but the alien night sky, the gas giant, and the rest was what really threw him. It took him a bit to calm down to accept the situation, but he knew that he wasn’t exactly calm and his emotional state would likely be very fragile for a while. Finding a routine and a semi safe place to stay would do wonders for settling him, and he knew that was exactly what he needed to do next. His planning and worries, though, soon faded as he felt himself grow tired. His head fell forward on his knees and the exhaustion and terror of the shadow creature multiplied by the realization of what the passing of a year might mean to his capabilities left him muddled. His mind was unable to recover easily and he soon found his thoughts lazily meandering in a stream of consciousness which soon faded to blank emptiness.
* * *