Waking up, I feel the uncomfortable after effects of sleeping on the ground. Last night I went to sleep on a pile of leaves stacked against one of the slimy trees here and covered myself with the very same leaves, as a sort of makeshift blanket.

But now, as I’m laying here, the sun having just risen, I wonder what happened. You see, the reason I’m so stiff and my body hurts is twofold. One, as I mentioned, is that I went to sleep on what is most definitely not a bed. And the second is what is troubling me. You see, I woke up and the improvised bed of leaves is nowhere to be seen.

So, something happened in the night that caused my bedding to disappear, leaving me to sleep on the hard and cold ground. Which is troubling.

Not only because it means that I was so knocked out cod that I didn’t wake up when something neared me, but also because this means that I’m not as alone in this forest as I first thought. Fortunately, whatever it is that visited me wasn’t aggressive, I am alive after all.

I sit up and finally look around myself. The forest canopy blocks out quite a lot of sunlight, so there’s nothing to stab my eyes this early in the morning. That’s at least one thing that’s better here than it was back on Earth.

Hmm, but I can’t see any footprints in the ground around me. Admittedly, I never learned how to spot those and have no idea what to even be on the lookout for, but I believe that I’d recognize if something disturbed the forest floor by walking up to me and stealing my blanket.

My own trail from yesterday is still mostly visible after all. I really hope that it wasn’t a flying creature or even worse, something capable of climbing. Not that climbers are worse; it would just mean that some creature exists that willingly touches these mucus covered trees.

It’s so disgusting just the thought makes me shiver.

Speaking of my mortal enemies. The tree I piled all of those leaves on last night looks fine. So, whatever it is that was here did not deem worth it to take from. Actually, it sort of looks better than yesterday.

Okay, not better, there’s nothing that can make this species of tree look better, but maybe healthier? It does seem to be secreting more of that slime than usual.

I look at it suspiciously. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about this buddy, would you? But it does not answer. It is a tree, after all.

Just to make sure that this isn’t a normal life cycle of this kind of tree I check on the other nearby ones. These ones, whiles still covered in the mucus don’t seem to have produced an increased quantity of it overnight.

I look back at the one I slept against, trying to uncover its secrets. What is it you hide, slimy one?

Decomposing Sapwood

Also known as a Sappard tree, it certainly lives up to its name. It secretes a thick mucus-like substance through its bark. Anything that comes in contact with it decomposes at an accelerated rate, feeding the tree copious nutrients.

What?

Wait, decomposing slime? I look down at my feet. Surely not, right? And yet, as I scrape off the dried layer of mucus from yesterday, it isn’t the only thing that flakes away. A thin layer of my skin also falls away, leaving behind a sensitive pink patch of skin. It’s almost thin enough for me to see the flesh underneath.

Shit. This is really not good. The need to find a river just soared into first place on my to do list.

But luckily it seems that although my feet have suffered, they are no longer in any danger. Damn, I knew these trees were not to be trusted. I should have trusted my gut more.

Now that that’s out of the way. Was no one going to tell me that I can fucking identify things! That would have been so much more useful earlier! For example, when I was putting corrosive acid on my feet!

Ah, whatever. Should I accept the skill though? Wait, why don’t I have a prompt to learn the skill?

Checking the whole list of available skills in my status, I don’t find it even there. Huh. Is that just a universal System feature? That doesn’t seem like something the stingy System would do. So far it hasn’t been the kind to freely give up information. Why would it start now all of a sudden?

No, it must be something else. Maybe it’s part of the bonus I receive as a part of an endangered species? But surely it would have mentioned that in the message informing me about the other benefits, right?

That just leaves one option. I already have a skill with the same feature as a theoretical inspect skill. Now that I think about it, even back when I just arrived here, I was able to bring up the description of my skills. Hmm.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

It pretty obvious which skill would be the perpetrator in that case. I only have one that deals purely with information. Let me bring up its description again.

General knowledge – A knowledge skill created through the combination of thousands of skills that couldn’t achieve a significant level of their own, yet were too big to ignore. Increases your memory retention and learning rate overall. Allows for the retrieval of ‘general’ knowledge from the world.

Aha! That last line definitely wasn’t there the last time I checked! But is that just because I had no idea about it back then or because the skill is higher levelled now? OR perhaps both?

There’s a simple way to find out. The description of the tree mentioned nothing about it also having numbing properties. And yet it has to have some, otherwise I would have noticed it eating through my feet.

So, let’s look at the description of the tree again.

Decomposing Sapwood

Also known as a Sappard tree, it certainly lives up to its name. It secretes a thick mucus-like substance through its bark. Anything that comes in contact with it decomposes at an accelerated rate, feeding the tree copious nutrients. A slight numbing agent in the mucus allows it to consume some smaller creatures.

Aha! Wait, no. that doesn’t prove anything. I had no idea whether the skill levelled between now and when I first identified it. I’m going to have to analyse something else and then specifically not learn anything about it until my skill levels.

And there’s a prime candidate waiting right here. The leaves of these Sappards are green, yet become a deep crimson once fallen. And more importantly, they are everywhere on the ground. So, I’ll have it on hand anytime I want to check. And maybe the mystery of why it’s blood coloured will finally come to light.

First, the current level of the skill.

Level Up!

Silent step – level 21 -> 25

Fortified mind – level 23 -> 26

General knowledge – level 12 -> 16

Visualize – level 9 -> 17

Parallel processing – level 3 -> 15

Damn, those two skills sure received a boost from yesterday’s intense afternoon binge watching

Now then, let’s see here.

A fallen leaf of the Sappard tree. It has a striking deep crimson blood-red colouration.

Ok, good. Normally I wouldn’t be happy that the skill didn’t offer info about why it’s that colour, but now it’s actually useful. I’ll know whether pure levelling helps me retrieve more knowledge about things.

Sighing, I finally stand up and get ready for the day. Such a chaotic morning, tsk, tsk. Well then, hopefully a river is somewhere nearby.

I head out into the forest once again. This time without slime eating through my feet. But it doesn’t stop me from levelling silent step as I can now still focus on walking quietly and focus on other things thanks to parallel processing. Like keeping watch on my surroundings.

Because while my ‘nightly visitor’ turned out to be a long familiar enemy, my imagination was sparked either way and I can’t get the idea of something else being out there out of my mind. And also, because I still need to be on the lookout for food. And the rushing sounds of a river, hopefully.

And lastly, so as to not leave my any of my skills behind, I also start to create another scenery inside my mind.

Well, not leave any of my skills behind except for languages. I can’t really level that one. Actually, hold on. While, if I remember correctly, the skill did say that it helps me to learn and speak new languages, my recent experience has revealed to me that that may not be all that it can do.

And since I highly doubt that I’ll find anything to learn anytime soon, why not just make something? Oh, a language of my own, wouldn’t that be interesting. And also, useful. Sure, writing down secret stuff in English could be a good cipher (why would I even want to start writing things down? I’m not a researcher or something.). But if I survived the end of the world, then surely some other people did too. I wouldn’t want some random shmuck to read my stuff just because I thought that no one spoke English.

Yes, it’s decided. I will dedicate another part of my mind to creating my very own language. And this even connects back to my desire for magic. If words really do hold power, as they do in so many stories, then surely a unique language that only I can use would be good for some interesting results.

Though I do hope that magic isn’t dependant on names, words or language. Too constricting, if you ask me.

And time passes. I trek through a carnivorous forest while focusing on four activities at the same time. I’m really becoming superhuman already, aren’t I?

It’s maybe around noon, I’m not sure, the sun is hidden behind the forest canopy, when I realize there’s finally a different sound that me walking through a forest. And even that sound is very quiet recently.

What I hear is the sweet sound of rushing water. The lifeblood of most living organisms on Earth and most likely here too.

My parched throat finally becomes apparent to me as I near the river. But I soon slow down. If things also need water here, which they probably do since things haven’t been that alien from Earth, then there’s a higher chance of meeting some of the surviving creatures there.

Let’s just hope that it won’t be anything aggressive. Which it shouldn’t be, considering the state of this forest.

The nearer I get to the river, the louder the rushing sound of water is. Eventually it gets so loud that I wouldn’t be able to hear myself even if I shouted. Not that I’m going to try that.

Finally, the trees end and I’m treated to the sight of a beautiful and wide river, cascading over rocks. It truly is a magnificent sight and not just because I’m very, very thirsty.

Speaking of drinking water, I don’t think I’ll be able to. It’s simply too fast. Which is also the reason why it’s so loud.

It for this reason that I head down along the river bank, searching for a place where it calms down and I’ll be able to sate my dry throat.

And even though I still haven’t had a single sip of it, the simple presence of the river reinvigorates me, causing me to walk in a brisk pace. I even ignore how much noise my steps are making, not that I’d be able to hear it over the ruckus caused by the river.

Or perhaps the humid air near the water does somewhat help with the dehydration. Either way, I couldn’t care less. I’m just happy that soon I’ll be able to drink again.