New World Day 5

  It was only a half hour later when my throat was sore and voice hoarse that my maniacal laughter finally subsided. The fit of laughter was set off by the thrill and joy of surviving such a stupid endeavor. It was no doubt the absolutely stupidest thing I have ever done in my life, and oddly enough I have never felt so alive before. I could easily see how thrill seekers became addicted to taking risks. There was an almost euphoric high that accompanied success. I don’t think that I should go crazy and take such risks at every turn, but maybe I have been a bit too conservative in my life so far. I had taken the easy path that was laid out in front all of my life. As dangerous as this New World was it could be an opportunity for me to become something more than I had ever had a chance to be before.

  A smile broke across my face like a ray of sunshine and chased away the last few feelings of gloom that had fallen upon me after the clash with the goblins. Feeling happy for the first time in quite awhile, I made a short trip to the workshop, almost skipping along the way, to drink a couple bottles of water and devour a small meal of chips and peanut butter crackers. Two of the three tasks I had set for myself today had been completed. It was time to go and finish the third.

  I picked up my backpack and weapons once again and snuck out of the garage. I made my way up to the front of the house to the open lawn once again, but this time I headed left towards the front field and the road that lay beyond. I passed through the twin fang tree line into the open field to where my car was sitting safely on my right basking in the sun. I thought briefly about hopping in and driving as far as I could towards Falmouth, but after the morning’s encounter with what I was called the black barbed python, I wasn’t confident enough in its ability to run over or escape from the creatures that might come calling. Instead, I continued on foot down the road towards the state highway that would lead to city of Falmouth. I passed by my deceased neighbors’ houses without incident careful to stay on the road so as to avoid the cow ponds that dotted the landscape. Since I had buried my neighbors, the smell that had accompanied their grisly fate had mostly dissipated except for the rare moment where the stench of decay reached up to crinkle my nose. Each time it happened the memory of their grisly fate flashed through my mind causing tears to well up in the corner of my eyes. I wouldn’t let that fate fall on anyone else if I could help it.

  Forty-five minutes later I found myself at the end of the road both literally and metaphorically. The road originally cut through a dense patch of forest to intersect at a T junction with a state highway that would lead right to the city, but now the road was cut off cleanly and instead of blacktop there was a declining grass covered slope that led to a series of treeless hills and valleys. The forest and road that I was expecting were just barely visible at the very edge of my vision. I would have to pass through these hills if I wanted to reach my intended destination. Cautiously, I walked down the first hill heading directly towards the spot where the road picked back up. I didn’t see any beasts around at the moment, but I had no way of knowing what may be lying in wait in the valleys below each of the other hills. After five minutes of hiking I made it to the top of the first new hill and got a glimpse of what lay beyond its crown.

  A group of twenty large bison were eating the greenish black grass in the valley below me. The bison were very different than the ones I had seen in the Old World. They were twice the size of a normal bison and were covered in a shaggy light blue fur that matched the color of the sky with a large hump square in the middle of their back. Their four stocky legs ended in dark navy blue hooves that set off sparks when they struck the ground and tiny bolts of lightning danced around their ankles. The bison possessed giant heads covered with that same light blue fur. On each side of their skull there was a giant horn that grew out. The horns grew straight out from the skull a full foot before they curved forward parallel to the bison’s snout. The forward facing part of horn zigged and zagged forward like lightning bolts and strands of lightning flashed back and forth along their lengths.

  I did not want to mess with those bison. Just their size alone made each of them a terrible threat, and when you added in the number of them and their apparent lightning magic it was eminently clear that they were not to be trifled with. I would have to give them a wide berth if I wanted to get to where the road picked back up. I stood there and watched the bison eat the grass and meander around the valley for at least an hour. It was right when I was about to get back underway when something happened. Every one of the bison raised their heads up at once and let out a great bleet. Something had alarmed them, and if there was something around that could make those beasts afraid then it wasn’t something I intended to tangle with. I began to slowly back up the hill towards the direction of my house when the entire herd charged up the other hill in the opposite direction of me. The sound of the hooves smashing into the ground reminded me of thunder and the hills and valleys began to rumble from the force of each step.

  At least that was what I thought was causing the rumbling! I was quickly disabused of that notion when something dark brown erupted out of the side of the hill swallowing one of the bison at the back of herd whole before plunging once more into the earth at the bottom of the valley. I caught only a fleeting glimpse of the creature responsible before it disappeared into the ground. That glimpse plus the fact that it ate an entire bison whole was enough to make it clear that I was not getting back to Falmouth this way. The creature responsible was a dark brown snake at least 8 feet wide and 30 feet long with a long straight head and smooth mud covered scales. It erupted from the hill and entered the dirt of the valley as if it could swim through the earth like water. I didn’t waste any time getting the hell out of dodge. Those bison obviously had the right idea. I stopped backpedaling, turned around, and sprinted away towards my house at full speed not stopping or slowing the entire time. Half-way through the sprint home I realized that this was the second time in one day that I was fleeing for my life from a massive snake, and I couldn’t help but start laughing maniacally once again.

  I managed to get back to my basement hideout without any further trouble. There was still some light out when I returned, but I had had enough excitement for the day already. I decided to train for a bit instead of exploring any further before eating and going to bed. However, the first thing I did before training was to use my title points to buy the third resistance skill I was eyeing the poison resistance skill. Just like last time I purchased a skill, the same overwhelming power appeared and flooded into my body. The process didn’t take more than a minute or two, but I still found myself shivering after it was over. I really didn’t like that feeling.

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  After that, I started the training with push ups and sit ups followed by swinging my axe while stepping in each direction like the previous night’s training. I continued this routine until the sun had dipped all the way down and darkness reigned. Once the garage was pitch black I grabbed the two solar lanterns and headed into the bedroom. I put one lantern on the nightstand next to the bed and the second on the stand next to the love seat. They illuminated the bedroom extremely well. Finished with that, I washed my sweat and filth away with a slightly damp washcloth before I put on some shirts and a clean T-shirt. I ate a the last of the lunch meat, some water, and some chips, and then sat cross legged on the love seat ready to practice my mana control.

  I had thought a bit throughout the day about my idea of a spiritual body, and I was happy with the idea. However, I realized that I needed a better way of delivering the mana to where I intended to start the outline. As it was, I was spending so much time and effort just getting the mana to the starting point of the spiritual body that I had no chance at all of actually creating it. I needed to create something akin to veins that connected to the equivalent of the skin for the spiritual body, and then I could pump the mana through the veins to the skin by contracting and expanding my mana lake. In this way, the mana lake would become something similar to a mana heart instead of a mana lake. I spent five hours working on trying to turn the tendrils into hollow veins connected to the mana lake. At this point the normal headache while painful no longer stopped my training. By the end of the training, I could reliably create a hollow vein, but I needed to find a way to make the vein permanent. When I stopped supplying mana to the veins, started to fade away. They lasted longer than the tendrils did, but they still fell apart after a time. Yawning, I got up from the love seat and turned off the two lanterns. I headed to the bed and decided that issue was a problem for another day.

Strength increased by 1!

Endurance increased by 1!

Basic Axe Mastery (B) * leveled up!

Basic Mana Control (B) * leveled up!

Basic Mana Control (B) * leveled up!

Basic Regen (Passive) (B) * leveled up!

Basic Poison Resist (Passive) (B) * LVL 1 0% : This skill grants users a basic resistance to all poisons. The resistance even applies to magical poisons. The rarity of the skill is determined by additional abilities that may be granted along with the initial resistance. For example, higher rarity versions may allow the user to store the poisons or antidotes in their bodies to be used to harm or help others. The rank of the skill will increase after every ten levels. Currently, the skill automatically takes .25 mana per minute from the user in order to function. This deduction can not currently be controlled by the user.

Name: Jason Silver

Job Name: N/A

LVL: 3 12%

Job LVL: N/A 0%

Job Points:

N/A

N/A

Titles:

Survivor (B) LVL 3 91%

Fool (B) LVL 4 99%

Pack Killer (B) LVL 3 54%

Beast Killer (B) LVL 3 50%

Risk Taker (B) LVL 3 42%

Repeated Risk Taker ( C ) LVL 2 89%

Compassionate Fool ( C ) LVL 1 78%

Curious Fool ( C ) LVL 1 0%

Stupid Fool ( C ) LVL 1 0%

Title Points:

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

3

Stats:

HP:

MP:

Mana Regen:

Endurance:

Strength:

Speed:

Bonus Points:

125/125

10/10

2 per min (-1.75)

11

9

7

9

Status Effects:

Regen, Disease Resist, Parasite Resist, Poison Resist

Skills:

Basic Axe Mastery (B) LVL 7 10%

Basic Gun Mastery (B) LVL 4 62%

Basic Regen (Passive) (B) LVL 7 34%

Basic Disease Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 1 34%

Basic Parasite Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 1 10%

Basic Poison Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 1 0%

Basic Mana Control (B) LVL 5 22%

*

*

*

*

*

*

*