The morning greeted Seth with the telltale sounds of his grumbling stomach and the gnawing feeling of hunger. Wanting to fall back to sleep just to ignore the uncomfortable sensations, Seth understood he was just being petulant and forced himself to sit up before his body betrayed him much more than it already was. Now standing, or doing the best he could in a cave that was still a bit too short to properly stand in even after his hours of improvised mining yesterday, Seth took stock of his situation. He was still alive which was the first thing he happily noted, his leg wasn’t feeling any worse so it was likely that it was on its way to a near full recovery, and the stone wall he’d placed at the entrance to the cave was still standing tall meaning nothing dangerous had gotten inside . All in all, Seth found it to be a very good first hour of the new day. Unfortunately, the second hour wasn’t as good as Seth needed to remove the wall that was his door and that could only be done one specific way.
The wall eventually came down with a crumbling crash as Seth put away what had to be the 50th stone he’d worked his way through. Now Sweating and covered in even more grime compared to yesterday, he almost wanted to race out of the cave and find the nearest water source to wash himself off but held himself back. He had no idea if the demon bear from yesterday was even still around, so with a quick peek outside Seth found nothing as far as he could see. Then he took another step further out, then another, and eventually he was nearly fully out of the cave with no demon bears or other monsters to be seen.
Releasing a breath he hadn’t even known he had been holding, Seth relaxed and began looking around to get a proper view of the forest he found himself in after his impromptu transmigration. As far as he could see, there were trees but not the normal kinds he was used to. These trees were massive, looking closer to mini-skyscrapers with trunks nearly twice as wide as he was tall while soaring into the sky with massive tops littered with branches and leaves that blotted out the sky from view save for specks of light that made their way through the canopy. Meanwhile, down below, grass as far as the eye could see alongside a number of ferns and other small bush-like plant life. Ignoring the plants for now, Seth approached one of the trees before pulling a stone from his inventory and banged it against the rough bark covered trunk.
He received no prompt or notification for his efforts and it looked as though he hadn’t even made a dent in the tree. Hitting it a few more times on the off chance that it simply took more effort to obtain the resources the tree had to offer, he found himself without luck as no matter how hard he hit it or what angle he received no resources. More than a bit irritated by the fact, Seth quickly realized that it meant only one thing: he had to work his way up to proper tools. Unsure of how exactly he was supposed to do that, however, without the necessary wood to make the tools, Seth decided to just ignore the problem for now and began pulling grass up. Sure enough, the moment he pulled a handful he was rewarded with a screen.
[Fiber: +0.1 units]
Mentally dismissing the notification, something he’d discovered the night before after his vision had been blocked by the floating screens, he began collecting more and more of the grass before making his way over to one of the bushes and began pulling off the leafy exterior. By the time he was done with it, a sharp looking skeleton now stood where it once had been. Looking at it, Seth found himself a bit unsure before reaching and snapping off one of the tiny branches. Sure enough, a screen appeared but unlike any of his prior screens this one was massive and Seth could instantly tell why. It showed he had collected a form of wood, but the amount he had collected made up such a small amount that the screen had to be made larger to accommodate all the zeroes.
Well shit, this’ll take forever to fill up and it’s just for one unit. I’ll finish trying to break this bush down, but I'll need to try my luck and hopefully find some fallen branches. Those should be weak enough for me to collect resources from.
Collecting as much as he could, he’d barely had enough for half a unit’s worth. With no more he could collect however, he needed to delve deeper into the forest. Leaving stones as he went to mark his path, the large balls being obvious to notice even when multiple yards away, Seth delved deeper into the unknown but making sure to keep his eyes and ears open for possible predators. Thankfully, due to the large nature of the trees, swathes of visible sightlines were available making sneaking up on someone near impossible…at least as far as Seth was aware. Considering this world was one of apparent magical forces, there easily could be something or another with camouflage or even outright invisibility but he didn’t want to freak himself out over nothing.
Eventually finding some branches, they were more akin to logs as the massive branches were large beyond reason just like the trees themselves. Still though, Seth figured they would be easier to collect from and quickly set to work banging his stone into the partly rotted piece. After some time had passed, large chunks of the branch were now missing and Seth was a dozen units of wood richer. Giddy to finally have the missing piece to make his first tool, he quickly pulled up the screen for a stone axe.
[Stone Axe]
[Stone: 90/2 units]
[Wood: 12/2 units]
[Fibers: 20/2 units]
[Success Chance: 60%]
[Begin Crafting: Y/N?]
Mentally pressing yes, the glow he had associated with his power shone but when the light finally died down Seth was confused to see there was no axe anywhere to be seen. Confused, he brought up the screen once more to see if anything had happened. Sure enough, something had, just not what he wanted.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
[Stone Axe]
[Stone: 88/2 units]
[Wood: 10/2 units]
[Fibers: 18/2 units]
[Success Chance: 60%]
[Begin Crafting: Y/N?]
Seeing he was now missing units of each material, Seth had it figured out. His power had worked, but because it wasn’t 100% his luck had finally run out and he’d failed to create the tool. In the process, the resources that were used to make it were lost in the process as well. While Seth didn’t think it made any sense considering he wasn’t in a game where such mechanics would be more understandable, he ultimately had no choice but to accept that it was the way his power worked and he needed to accept it. He figured he could complain about it later when he wasn’t struggling for survival. With that in mind, he tried to make his axe again and was rewarded once more with failure and lost resources.It was on the third attempt that his efforts were rewarded as the tool settled in his hands.
Looking like a crappy D.I.Y. project with the stone head a blocky chipped mess and the handle being just a normal sized branch with the bark stripped off of it, Seth found himself excited beyond belief. He finally had a tool and things were going to finally turn around for him.
It was in that moment of glee that his stomach made itself known once again after having been ignored for so long, leaving Seth grimacing in pain at the lack of any meals. Looking up to see the position of the sun, Seth quickly realized his stupidity considering the massive canopy above and having forgotten that fact.
With no way to gauge time without at least the sun, Seth could only guess that he’d been awake and moving for at least a few hours now and it was probably quickly approaching noon. With around half a day left to work with, Seth realized he didn’t have much time to dawdle…though he did make sure to finish off the branch log for as much wood as he could get, discovering his tool gave him 2 units of wood with each swing.
Heading back to his cave, Seth wondered what exactly he could do for food. He hadn’t been the kind of guy to go foraging or hunting, he’d lived a rather typical suburban lifestyle and had never even left his hometown, and even if he wanted to hunt for food he didn’t have the slightest clue of even how to do any tracking to find something. As far as he was aware, his best chance was foraging but even then he had no idea if he could even find anything, much less if it would be edible or not since he was on another world.
So caught up in his own ponderings, Seth nearly missed the sound of a twig snapping coming from behind him. Quickly turning to face and defend himself, he hadn’t even had a chance to get his axe fully out of his inventory when a massive weight pounced on him. Pushed to the ground by the excessive weight, it was only by luck that sharp fangs hadn’t found their way to his jugular as whatever had jumped him found its maw filled with splinters and stone from Seth’s axe. Scrambling out from under the beast and leaving it to deal with his now rapidly breaking tool, Seth barely even gave a thought as a new one was made in his hands, thankfully on the first try.
Now able to fully see the beast, it looked like a cougar made from grass as its fur was a bright green color with each follicle looking like grass. Unsure what exactly he was looking at, Seth knew it was deadly and carnivorous, much like the bear from before. The only difference from this situation and last time was the fact Seth doubted he could out run it since large breed felines were typically much faster than bears out in the wild, plus he didn’t feel like putting his back to it again.
Holding his axe defensively in both hands, the large plant cougar had finally snapped the length of the previous axe and was eyeing Seth hungrily. Now that Seth thought about it, the creature looked a bit emaciated, like it hadn’t eaten in a while. Even if it was starving though, Seth couldn’t take any chances and did his best to keep his distance from the creature. The creature, however, was apparently desperate and did seem to care all that much as it began approaching.
Seth wanted to swing his axe, to scare it away, but he could see it in the creature’s eyes. Their meeting would only end in death, whether by his own or the massive predator’s. Realizing he had no other choice but to fight it, Seth did his best to steel his nerves while still keeping his distance. This went on for nearly a full minute and Seth wasn’t sure how much longer the plant cougar would wait before deciding to pounce.
With that in mind, Seth took a tentative step towards the beast. The creature seemed to be caught off guard by his sudden approach. Noticing this, and desperate for survival, Seth charged. With a roar that probably sounded closer to a screaming like a little girl, Seth raised his axe high, ready to strike the creature that had been unprepared for such a suicidal charge. Unfortunately, Seth found his efforts to not be enough as out of nowhere vines would shoot out of the ground and wrap around his feet before pulling tight and lifting him into the air. Still holding onto his axe, Seth panicked and tried to aim for the vines that had sprouted out of nowhere.
Not even thinking about how it had happened, Seth missed nearly every swing though few grazed the vine just enough to cause something to happen as the vine began thrashing about. Swinging wildly once again, Seth finally found his mark and cut through the thick vine before being sent flying through the air after from the thrashing. Luck appeared to be on Seth’s side however as his flight landed him directly onto the cougar who yowled from the impact and cushioned Seth’s own fall. With both of them tumbling across the forest floor, Seth held onto his axe waiting for their movement to stop and sure enough it did with the now disoriented grass cougar only a few feet away.
Scrambling to his feet once more, more than a bit disoriented himself, Seth charged once again and this time struck true as his axe sank into the neck of the beast a few inches before going limp, its neck apparently having been broken from the impact. Now left only whimpering, no doubt from the pain and fear of its situation, Seth found himself regaining some sense before a blossom of regret sprouted within him, but it was too late. He’d already all but killed it, he just had to put it out of its misery.
Doing his best not to look the creature in the eyes for what he was about to do, he removed the axe from the creature with a sickening sound of bones cracking and blood gushing before finally ending it with one last chop. By then, the whimpering stopped and Seth was left breathing raggedly, no longer able to stand on his own two feet from the exertion, Seth looked down at the now dead creature that had tried to kill him. Forcing himself to stand once more after a few minutes, he looked to his axe and noticed it wasn’t covered in blood but rather some kind of sap. Finding the discovery almost comical in a morbid sense of the word, he barely even registered the fact he was raising his axe above his head before finally striking once more into the now dead beast.
[Meat: +5 units]
[Bone: +3 units]
[Hide: +1 units]
[Sap: +10 units]
[Fiber: +2 units]
When he was finished, there was no corpse left to be seen, not even a pool of the sap blood was left on the ground. The only showing of what had transpired was Seth’s now further disheveled state, but Seth didn’t care. Storing his axe, he’d decided he’d done enough for the day and made his way back home to his cave. Just before he was set to enter though, he made his way over to a nearby tree with his axe now back out and struck it. Sure enough a screen appeared showing he’d obtained more wood. With that settled, he didn’t hit the tree any further and finally entered back into his cave, a new stone wall taking up the entrance once again.