Ethan traced his steps back through the tunnel he walked through to find the spacious abandoned kitchen. The walk back was quiet, without any surprises, and he soon reached the old courtyard and walked out of the corridor. He observed the yard and noted that it was thankfully still empty.
I do not see what purpose it filled, he thought and looked around, noting that the only reason to have such a place would be to hold training sessions, given how much room the yard had.
Ethan had seen enough medieval movies and cheesy TV shows staring a teen wizard with a bowl haircut to remember that a good knight always had a muddy ground he called his home. And this place fits the bill just right, he noted.
He walked over the muddy grounds, unsurprised that it had not managed to dry overnight, despite the warmer air than yesterday. I wonder what the summer is like here? I hope they do not have mosquitoes the size of a labrador, he thought, panning his gaze up to the sky.
Finding nothing, he quickly walked to the tunnel entrance leading down and out of the gloomy mountain castle. Then, with his trustworthy glowing crystal in hand, he walked into the tunnel and descended. No point in going slow now, he thought, speeding up in a slight jog.
He ran for several minutes, noting that the tunnel was abandoned as before, no new monster having spawned for unknown reasons, thinking some things over. Where do the monsters come from? Is it some disease? Evolution, perhaps? Or is something magical working its thing somehow?
Finding no answers, Ethan reached the guard post below. All right, game time, he thought and opened the door, checking the room and not finding anything amiss. Then, finally, he walked up to the smaller door leading outside and leaned against the wood to listen. I hope the cat did not find my trail, he thought silently, listening.
After a second, when nothing made any sound behind the door, Ethan opened it up and carefully examined the small cave, looking around the clearing, searching for signs of wildlife mulling nearby. No one around. Good, he thought and pulled up his map ability and looked where he was, noting that he had to move east to find the river.
Ethan exited the cave entrance and slowly crossed the clearing, slightly crouching. He took his time to listen and pay attention to his surroundings, noting that the forest sounded as a forest should. Birds were chirping away at their songs, bugs were buzzing around and below his feet, and nothing made weird noises from the bushes.
He exited the clearing and went through the bushes before striding faster through the forest, careful not to step on too many noisy branches and dry leaves. Maybe I should look for some berries while I am at it? But I have yet to learn what is edible here and what is not. I would not want to die from simple poisoning, he clicked his tongue.
Ethan walked eastward for around thirty minutes before the signature gurgling sound of water reached his ears. He walked up to the stream, noting that the place he found was good enough and had a small, clear space to put up his fishing rod and sit down. Now I need to find a suitable branch, he thought.
He looked around and saw a large bush to his left. Having no idea what type of growth it was, he got out his knife and cut down a long branch, clearing it of leaves and other protruding imperfections. This will do, he nodded.
Then, he retrieved his string and makeshift lure before attaching a small self-made hook he managed to salvage from the kitchen. Finding a comfortable spot, Ethan sat down and threw the bait down in the river, noting that the stream was slow and steady. Now we wait, he relaxed, stretching his limbs and listening to the sounds around him.
Ethan fished for the better part of two hours, not realizing how easy he had come to take up his new circumstances. He always thought fishing made men forget the essential bits and now was living proof. Surprisingly, despite being skeptical about the whole endeavor, he caught various fish without much trouble. At least I will not starve now, he thought as he pulled out another catch and threw it in the large bowl he had salvaged from the castle.
He initially tried to store the fish in his storage space, noting that the power did not accept what counted as living organisms, so the bowl temporarily stored the fish he had caught just recently. Once it stopped flopping, the fish easily stacked in his storage space if it was of the same variety, allowing Ethan to catch quite the haul.
Ethan found the whole thing funny and drew parallels to the times he played the RPG game Runescape on his PC when he was twelve. He came to love the game a lot all those years ago, as the simple tasks it provided helped him calm his nerves and drift off for countless hours.
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And now I am here, doing the same things. Running around the woods, collecting random scraps, and now fishing. Will I get a level or something? he thought back to the abilities he had seen before and mentally pulled up the list.
You have been granted the following [Reborn] bloodline abilities:
* Clarity
* Storage
* Map
* Quests
* Transmigrator
He examined the list, noting that his map ability worked well and helped him to backtrack his steps to the places he had been before. Storage worked as he would expect it to work from the RPG games he had played. Some unknown void was storing the things he put in. Nevertheless, he pulled up the description to make sure.
[Storage] (Bloodline ability)
A personal dimensional space tied to the soul. Size is based on the soul's potential.
Soul potential? What the hell does that mean? Is my soul a grid of twenty spaces? He frowned at the implications of that. Then, he turned his attention to the next ability on the list, What the hell is Clarity?
[Clarity] (Bloodline ability)
Decipher aspects of the world around and within. Allows to identify people, objects, and creatures, grasping some level of detail about them.
Ethan laughed at the description, thinking back to how he had identified the rat in the corridor and the items in the kitchen. Sure, a helpful ability. But damn, call it Identify or something. What about the within part? he thought back to the three bars indicating his status and looked at the corner of his vision.
Next to the bars, he noticed a small icon that looked like a man and focused on it. The grey description was replaced with another window, sporting a figure of a man in the middle. An array of boxes surrounded it, with empty slots next to his arms, feet, head, and neck.
What is this? Equipment slots? Ethan focused on the torso and the legs, noting that his shirt and pants were depicted in incredible detail. “If I can see the things I have equipped, can I store them?” he mused out loud, closing his eyes and focusing on removing his clothes. To his surprise, he immediately felt the effect.
Opening his eyes, he saw that he was butt-naked now, his clothes removed from the slots. And if I want to equip them back? he thought, opened his inventory, and focused on the shirt and pants. The clothes appeared back on him immediately. Well, if this is not useful, I do not know what is, he chuckled.
Next, he pulled up his questing ability, expecting it to work like game quests usually did.
[Quests] (Bloodline ability)
Assistance with difficulties. Transforms dispersed mana into objects as a prize for overcoming obstacles.
“C'mon, that is vague as hell,” he complained as another fish was caught by his lure. Ethan pulled the fish out and noted that he had acquired many of them over hours.
That will be enough for a while, maybe weeks even. All right, just one more, he thought absently and threw the lure back in the water. Then he pulled up the description of his last ability.
[Transmigrator] (Bloodline ability)
Instantly understand new languages after hearing or reading a few words. Increased ability to absorb Aspects gaining additional effects.
“Nice, a language power. What is more useful than reading in the middle of the forest with no books?” he groaned, throwing his head back, some of the frustration returning after the calming hours of fishing.
Then he focused on the second part of the description. Again with the aspects. How many were there? he thought, and a window popped up.
Aspects:
Soul: [locked]
Mind: [none] (0%)
Might: [none] (0%)
Agility: [none] (0%)
Recuperation: [none] (0%)
“Is it one for each of the types listed here?” he looked at the list and frowned. “Okay, Might is likely strength. Agility is how fast I would move. Recuperation is what, recovery? Then what the hell does Soul mean?” Before Ethan could go on another of his lengthy rants, he felt a stronger-than-usual tug on the fishing rod.
He took the rod in both hands and tried to pull it, but the thing refused to move. “What the…?” he muttered before something at the other end of the rod pulled so hard he dropped face-first into the muddy river shore. He groaned but did not release the rod, getting back up just in time to see something large raise its head above the water.
A fish-like monster with a head the size of a small pony stared back at him from five meters away. He froze, looking at the monster. It had a toothy maw and tentacle-like things behind its head, glistening in the afternoon sun. Then a window appeared next to the beast.
[Gulper] (unranked)
Bane of the inexperienced fishermen. Be wary of what you fish for.
Without a pause, a tentacle shot out of the water, aiming at Ethan’s hand. He swiftly moved back, dropping the fishing rod, and leaped away to his fish bowl. Not taking his eyes off the monster, Ethan touched the fish in the bowl and stored all of them until he felt that the bowl was empty.
Unfortunately, the Gulper did not wait for Ethan to finish storing the bowl before it moved closer to the shore, shooting another of its tentacles. Ethan swiftly avoided it, ready for the monster to make some move. Then he considered, All right, I have had enough.
He turned, backed away slowly, and, once safe, took off into a run back to the cave entrance, hoping the monster could not follow him on the ground. When will I be able to find civilization already? he whined in his head.