In a forest filled with all kinds of life untouched by people, a young boy with messy brown hair ran through. He jumped and hopped over roots and bushes, trying to get away from three men that chased after him. The rag-like tunic he wore caught on twigs and branches, poking holes into it. His pursuers were middle-aged men that wore nasty-looking leather armor that had the face of an animal branded into it.

“Where the hell do you even plan to run to O’Kelly? You’re gonna end up back in Spawnharbor anyway. Might as well not waste our time and avoid a beating,” A lanky man with several missing teeth called out to the boy.

“I told you, I can pay you guys back. I just need more time!” The boy shouted.

“The boss already gave you more than enough time!” A shorter man said.

“Come on, that pseudo-mother of yours is gone now anyways, might as well just come and do work for us!” A man with bug-like eyes said.

“The Credits I borrowed weren’t even enough to save her!” the boy shouted. Tears started to form at the corners of his eyes.

“Even if it didn’t, you still owe us money!” The lanky man shouted.

“What’s this? The first people I meet in a week and all they’re talking about is money!” A man shouted from the boy’s direction. “More importantly, I need help getting this thing off my ass!”

A dirty man in a cloak with no pants on, wearing wooden sandals jumped out in front of the boy. He landed on top of him, suffocating him with his stinky mass.

“What the hell?” The lanky man said.

The three loan sharks stopped in their tracks, skidding to a stop. Rustling leaves and deep grumbling came from the bushes where the dirty man came from. Then, a leapt out of it, landing on the short loan shark.

It bit at his meaty forearm, but he was able to grab the cudgel from his belt and hit it on the nose. The attack was able to break him free from the beast’s grasp, but it only enraged it further.

The loan sharks grabbed their friend and ran the opposite direction, forgetting about the boy. The warg switched targets and ran after them.

“Man, thanks for the save. Uh, are you still alive?” The dirty man asked as he pushed himself off the boy.

“Ugh, I think so,” the boy said, picking up his large glasses off the ground.

“Haha, I didn't think I would encounter people in this place. Let alone someone who’s also in debt. Is that why they were chasing you? My name’s Steak by the way,” he said.

“Thanks as well, I guess,” the boy frowned.

“So, is there some sort of town nearby? I’m kind of lost,” Steak pulled out some leaves from a makeshift pouch and began chewing on them.

The boy gave him a questioning look.

“What do you mean? There’s only one town in the available continent. Spawnharbor, the place where you get sent to if you got assigned to this region. By the way, are you sure you’re supposed to be eating that? My skill says that it’s poisonous,” the boy said.

“It’s not if I don’t swallow it and spit it out. Anyways, I just got to this world a week ago and I got sent to the top of that mountain,” Steak pointed to the snowy peak behind him. The tip of the mountain is visible from above the treeline.

“Hold on, you’re telling me you’re one of the last batches?” The boy asked. He scanned Steak from head to toe.

The boy pulled out a stick that had engravings carved into it and imbued it with magic, making it glow with energy. Steak immediately raised both of his hands up.

“Woah, chill out. I might look like this, but I’m not desperate enough to rob you or anything,” he said.

“You, are you sure you’re human? What Level are you?” The boy nervously asked.

“Hm? Level 8. Why?” Steak tilted his head.

“Why do you have an enemy marker that has question marks and the Level 1 on your stomach? I’ve heard people talking about Skinwalkers recently,” the boy said.

“What!?” Steak looked down and examined himself. “Oh, no.”

Effects

Tapeworm

Level 1

Wrath of Nature

Rank - 1

“So, uh, I have a tapeworm inside of me. And, I think it just gained a Level,” Steak said. He swallowed saliva, accidentally swallowing the piece of leaf he was chewing on.

The boy lowered his guard and watched the pathetic man send himself to a coughing fit on the ground. Then, he used on him once again, focusing on the monster inside of him.

His eyes widened and a smile slowly crept up on his face. He crouched down to the large man and patted him on the back.

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“Steak, was it? My name’s Rochester O’Kelly. Why don’t you tell me the exact details of your week?” The boy had a wicked smile on his face.

“Heh, that’s a mouthful of a name for someone so tiny. Can I call you Rook instead? First two letters of your names,” Steak gave him a thumbs up, trying to seem cool in front of the kid. Of course, there wasn’t anything cool about a man who had drool all over his face.

Rook continued smiling at him. “Sure, call me whatever you want, friend!”

Steak began telling him his experiences that led to their encounter.

***

After clearing the dungeon with Lilith, Steak found himself alone on top of a mountain filled with snow. The majority of his first day was spent descending the mountain while trying not to freeze to death. The little supplies that he had in his inventory was what sustained him during the first day. And somehow, his skill seemed to prevent him from dying to the cold, even gaining a few percent in Skill experience on it.

It took him a whole day to reach the halfway point. Visibility around him got better as he descended, however it began to get dark as the sun set. Luckily for him, he found a protruding rock to seek shelter in. He created walls made of snow to block the harsh wind.

Steak didn’t get much sleep during his first night in the real world. He risked freezing to death if he fell asleep. So, to warm himself up, he decided to move around in the tiny space he created until morning came. But, he was short-sighted. By the time he saw the sun, he was dead tired.

With weak legs, no food, and a migraine from staying up all night, he continued on his journey down the mountain. This was when he decided to start his habit of sending a message to Lilith in the morning.

<35 Mana>

It was the same message he got the other day. Even so, he didn’t let it affect him mentally. Seeing that it said that the user was far away meant to him that she was still out there somewhere, alive. And, despite being lost in the wilderness with no signs of human life, he now had something to look forward to. A goal.

Through grit and perseverance, he managed to reach the base of the mountain and the edge of the forest. Trees started to appear, and animals as well. However, a lot of the smaller creatures ran away in fear due to the curse that still afflicted him, . It took him 3 days to get this far.

Gnawing hunger clawed at him from his mind and stomach. With no food in sight, Steak grabbed the nearest, and tastiest looking leaves and chewed on them. It made the inside of his mouth numb after a while, but it was an effect he welcomed.

During his first night in the forest, he started crafting items with items near him. First, it was a pouch and a sling made of string he made from tall grass. He collected and placed the numbing leaves he found in it. Then, he chopped down a tree and made wooden sandals out of it to rest the soles of his feet. The descent down the mountain wasn't kind to him, his flesh got poked and pierced by the loose sharp rocks hidden in the snow. Steak also made a makeshift water bottle out of the same log.

On his fourth day, he finally found some flightless birds to kill and consume. That day felt like the time he spent on the tutorial island when he first awakened.

Now geared up and satiated, it was time for him to get back on his journey to find some form of civilization. It wasn’t hard for him to pick a direction. With the massive wall of light he saw on the mountain, going away from it seemed like the only choice.

The fifth and sixth day was mostly spent walking through the forest and checking out weird looking plants from time to time. Majority of the animals he saw stayed away from him. However, on his seventh day, there was one that didn’t behave as he expected.

Without realizing, he had encountered a den. He stumbled upon it while looking for a suitable place to spend the night. Upon entering the cozy looking spot covered by vines and leaves, he came face to face with it.

He spent the next few hours running away from it. But, because of it seemed to know his exact location even after gaining a lot of distance from it. After that, his tiring journey alone came to an end. He heard voices and people shouting. So, he decided to run toward it, thinking that they could help him take it down. Instead, he took a small teenage boy down, nearly crushing him.

***

“--and then, I met you,” Steak finished telling his story.

The two of them sat around a campfire. It was clear from Rook’s face that he stopped listening halfway through Steak’s theory. His furrowed brows meant that he was in deep thought.

“This plant that you chewed on. Do you have more of these?” Rook asked.

“Yeah, here, catch,” Steak threw him the makeshift pouch that was slung around his torso.

Rook pulled out the leaves from the pouch, sniffing, touching, and inspecting them thoroughly. It didn’t resemble the tobacco leaves from his old life on earth, but from the effects that he observed from Steak earlier mentioned Nicotine.

“So, when morning comes, will you take me to that Spawnharbor place that you were talking about? I’ve been wanting to get rid of this tapeworm inside of me. Oh, I’m probably gonna need a job as well, huh? That operation’s gonna cost me money,” Steak rambled.

The boy did not listen. Instead, he pulled out the engraved stick that he had on his waist and conjured a bowl and a blunt rod made out of what appeared to be Mana. Then, he placed some of the dried leaves into the bowl and started crushing it with the rod. He did all of this without lifting a finger.

“Woah, is that one of your skills?” Steak asked.

Once again, the boy ignored him.

“Hey, you mentioned earlier that you carved out sandals for yourself. Can you make a pipe? One for smoking,” Rook ordered.

Steak gave him a weird look, slightly annoyed by Rook’s attitude. Nevertheless, he followed and began carving one using his claw.

After it was all done, Steak handed him the pipe. Rook gathered the crushed leaves into a small ball and placed it in the pipe’s bowl. Grabbing a long and thin stick, he lit one end of it using the campfire’s flame and handed both it and the pipe to Steak.

“What, you want me to smoke it?” Steak asked, accepting the two items.

“Yeah, and tell me if you feel any different afterwards,” Rook pulled out a crude-looking notepad and a charcoal pencil. Both of them looked handmade.

Steak didn’t protest and just shrugged. He placed one end of it to his mouth and lit the bowl while inhaling a bit. It was only when the smoke hit his lungs that he got surprised by how natural all of it felt despite having no memories of doing this. He exhaled the smoke after holding it in his lungs for a few seconds. The corners of his mouth slowly crept upwards.

“Uh, my brain feels kind of weird, I think,” Steak said.

“Hm, not the bad kind of weird I assume,” Rook wrote something down. “How’s the taste?”

“I don’t know. Tastes like smoke?” Steak wasn’t sure how to answer the question.

Rook didn’t say anything. For a while, he sat there writing things on his notepad, counting with his fingers from time to time. Then, he suddenly stood up and grabbed Steak by the shoulders.

“Please tell me you can find this plant again,” Rook said.

“Yeah, I can. They smell kind of nice, so it’s easy for me to spot them,” Steak said, taking another puff of his new pipe.

“You said that your Credits were in the negatives, right? Well, I think I have a business offer that may alleviate that!” Rook beamed at him.

Rook stretched out his hand in front of Steak. He stared at it for a while until he figured out that he wanted a handshake. Steak grabbed the small hand, still not entirely sure what he was getting into.

“Sounds good to me,” he blew out a puff of smoke.