Adam groggily lifted his fat head from the ground, with a heavy breath he staggered back onto his feet as a notification appeared in front of him.
*Soul +1*
Adam lifted an eyebrow at that 'Where are these stat points coming from? Actually what exactly are they? What do they do… actually fuck that, I need to find some safety' he thought as he slumped down against a tree, he couldn't even take an extra step from the searing pain in his muscles and feet, he had to rest whether he wanted to or not, but this at least gave him some time to think.
'What's going on in the first place? I mean back on Earth? And why am I here? Is this earth or someplace else? Ugh, who gives a shit what's important is survival!' he threw out a heavy sigh and calmed down.
Looking around he didn't see anything of importance that could be helpful or dangerous, only the cute little puppy that threatened to drown him with cuteness, for now he did his best to survive by petting it with his good hand, he couldn't help but smile even with the pain.
Next he looked at his body, one of his hands was scratched up while the other burned up one, was just useless at this point, it was clearly second degree burns… which was better than he expected but moving it even a little caused him pain, and he was worried how permanent of an injury it is or that it might get infected.
The next problem was his back which felt quite warm with all the blood covering it, his face scrunched up '... I won't lie to myself, with this... I'll probably be dead sooner rather than latter' with the realization he rested his head against the tree and looked up to the sky.
'Why am I here? Just to die again? Is this supposed to be my second chance? Or is this some sick joke?' Adam smirked at that 'No, I just screwed up again' he exhaled and closed his eyes almost falling asleep before he felt soft fur lightly pushing his leg.
Adam opened his eyes and looked at the little puppy, he couldn't help but chuckle looking at the cute little thing that sat and stared at him with its tongue sticking out, he raised his hand and lightly closed the puppy's jaw with his thumb and index finger "You selfish bastard" he said with another chuckle.
Taking a deep breath he started muttering to himself "Let's see to heal cuts I need to clean the wounds carefully, stop any bleeding and use ointment... and I can't do anything properly without the river, nor can I bandage my back really and the other cuts pretty much already stopped bleeding"
"Alright then what about burns? For that I need... Cold water... Don't pop blisters, make sure the burn is protected, don't expose to the sun too much, drink plenty of water to replenish my electrolytes not too much at once though..." *sigh* 'Nothing much I could do there either, I suppose I better get moving before it's too late'
Adam stood back up and took a deep breath, his burnt hand continued to feel like a bunch of needles stabbed into it while his back occasionally sent a jolt of pain through him, but he was sort of used to it by now, what was a bigger problem were his exhausted muscles that felt like they were on fire.
It made it difficult to even stand much less walk, but he did not have much of a choice in his opinion, 'I wonder could my status help in any way?'
Name: Adam Creed Species: Human Health Points: 11/62 Base: 50 Mana Points: 62/62 Base: 50 Energy Points: 4/65 Base: 50 Stats: Grade: Body: 7 L-[IV] Health: 4 L-[III] Energy: 5 L-[III] Mind: 5 L-[IV] Arcana: 4 L-[III] Soul: 8 L-[IV]
Adam gave out a sigh, looking at the status with nothing helpful on it, no stat points, no levels, no skills, nothing, though he did stop for a second at his mana "I wonder which stat is it dependent on... Oh, Arcana it seems that the ‘L’ is the grade and the roman numeral to its right the ‘level’ that its at, each level in the L grade is worth 1 point in the resource stats, I wonder how the worth is measured in the non-resource ones" he shrugged it off and started walking careful of his surroundings, the puppy slowly following him as well.
*Pop*
"Huh? Another stat buff?" Adam muttered in surprise and scratched his head while looking up at the blue window that appeared in front of him.
*Aptitude ‘Pain Nulification’ discovered, would you like to expand your archive access to include personal traits? Warning, necessary payment through mana points* *Warning, individual ‘Adam Creed’ is unable to manually pay the cost, personal archive seed will interfere in Adam Creed’s place if he gives permission*
*Do you agree? Warning cost is higher due to seed interference, Cost: 48 Mana Points* *Yes/No*
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Adam blinked for a moment, he attempted to ask the system some questions getting silence in return, he waited a bit before answering "Hell yes I do" he felt a shiver go down his spin and after a bit of numbness that left soon after, the pain alleviated making it easier to move around 'Thanks system' he opened up the status screen and found the personal traits expansion, he only had to think about opening it up before another screen appeared.
Traits: Pain Nulification- [I]
Adam hummed lightly before silently talking to himself while poking and proding the system too see if he could get a description on the trait or some of the stats, "I should be very thankful such a thing exists, with how the system has been acting so far by rewarding hardship, it doesn't seem to have levels or such which is honestly fine to have anything is good at this point, I wonder if it can become better since it has the grading tag... "
'I wonder if there is a runner trait of some sort, that would be very useful though I suppose I would have already gotten it, still won't stop me from trying later' He gave himself a mocking smirk as he looked down at his shaky weak legs, 'Got to try it later, also see if there are any other hidden features like spells or skills'
Ending up with no explanations from the system Adam continued walking silently, every movement made pain spike through him, though he certaintly noticed the difference pain nulification made it was still quite painfull, but he did his best to ignore it by thinking on how to obtain more system features and plan out what he can do to survive, trying to remember the details from various survival videos that dotted the internet he would watch out of boredom like anyone else.
He was also keeping an eye out for any plants that resembled medicinal plants like Rosemary, Aloe Vera, Thyme, or Catnip.
Each of those plants could help him in this situation, Rosemary can help with bacteria, Aloe Vera with his cuts and burn, Thyme could also help with cuts while catnip would be helpful if he had caught a fever... if he knew what to do with them, but that’s a problem for future Adam, either way though he had no clue where such plants grew he just hopped they looked the same since well the trees and bushes also look the same.
He also needed food like berries or some fruits, though that wouldn't be sufficient, but thankfully there was a river near him which hopefully could lead to some fish which were the best food you could ask for in a survival situation thanks to their fatty and nutritious meat.
He would also need proper shelter which he would hopefully locate a cave but otherwise a human sized scrub tent will have to do, another problem would be getting a way to properly make fire, since doing that the primitive way is a pain in the you know what.
But then again... this IS a fantasy world, maybe he could find a better way than rubbing sticks and rocks together, maybe there's some fire spewing plant or rock, or maybe he could learn to cast fire with his mana.
Adam stowed away those thoughts since he noticed that he could hear the river now, he hurried up a bit with renewed enthusiasm, to his surprise the forest cleared out revealing the rushing river falling off at the edge, below which the forest continues to expand all the way towards a mountain range that was a couple kilometers away.
To the right of the waterfall the forest continued covering a bunch of hills while to the left he could barely make out that it ended thanks to some hills being visible beyond the trees, basically there was a sea of green, he couldn't help but lightly smile as a breeze blew across his face, and the sound of singing birds and chirping insects reached his ears.
It seems the part of the forest below was much more populated than it was up here, Adam looked around confirming that it was safe before walking out unlike the excited puppy that simply jumped out running around the clear space, which made Adam's heart stop for a moment, but everything looked safe, so he relaxed a little.
The clearing was mostly grass with some rocks strewn about, still Adam took very slow steps inspecting every rock and patch of grass before moving towards the waterfall and trying to get a look at it from as far as possible.
He might be a little too cautious, but if he wasn't he will be regretting it after some rock crab or poisonous fish grabbed him and ripped him up even more than he already was, so he wouldn't take those chances just to do everything a bit faster.
He slowly made sure everything was completely safe before approaching the waterfall, to his surprise the water looked very clear which reminded him that it would have been smarter to follow the river against the current to its source which could hold much clearer water.
However, that did not seem to matter since even here at the top of the waterfall the water was pretty clear since he could almost see the bottom if it was going as fast as it was, he got down and scooped up a bit in his hand after going slightly farther along the river so that the current wasn't as fast.
It felt normal, looked clear, didn't have any weird smell, so he decided he could safely assume that there was nothing wrong with the water even though it seemed clearer than he believed it should be, but honestly he might just be mistaken, so he washed his hands and drank some quenching his parched throat.
Picking up some more he washed his face and slowly started cleaning his wounds starting with the hands and feet, he also took off his shirt cleaned it in the water and used it to scrub his back, gritting his teeth all the way through not only did he have to put pressure on the wounds which irritated them, but the water was also rather cold which didn't help.
It took him a long time but after at least 15 minutes of washing he felt satisfied, he dipped his shirt in the water again and cleaned off all the blood and tightly wrapped it around his burnt hand, he finally released a breath that released his tension with it.
Looking back down he finally paid attention to his reflection even though it was a bit hazy due to the speed of the river he was able to mostly see himself, and to his good surprise it was him but... it was the younger version of himself, not a scraggly man in his 27th year of life but more a kid that just got out of his teens.
'Mhm, it's definitely an 18-ish year old version of myself... even the hair cut was the same' cut short on the side and lightly on the top so the difference wasn't too big instead of the long shoulder length hair he had before, giving another sigh he decided to ignore his sudden return to youth for now.
"Alright, that should do it hopefully" he muttered to himself with a glance at his left arm, he got up and saw the puppy looking over the edge "What are you looking at little hunt?" he said as he walked up and looked over the edge following Hunter's sight, his eyes widened, he immediately jumped down onto his stomach and pulled back the puppy close to him.
'Shit' His lips pressed together ignoring the pain he kept as silent as he could for a moment, counting seconds as he listened if he could hear the creature bellow, after not hearing anything he slowly looked over the edge.