Alex feels like Ash goddamn Ketchum in the first episode of Pokémon, being chased by a swarm of massive, murderous birds. He keeps running, glancing back to see the birds gaining on him, their shadows stretching across the ground in pursuit.
“This is stupid. There’s no way I can outrun these damn birds. Let’s try this!”
Alex skids to a halt, turns around, and focuses, unleashing his new spell, “Thunder,” in its area-of-effect form.
Instantly, messages flash before his eyes:
Nimbus Cloak effect activates - Increasing Evasion by 5%, and Movement speed by 40%
You have dealt 65 damage to Sinerva Bird
You have killed Sinerva Bird
You have dealt 62 damage to Sinerva Bird
You have killed Sinerva Bird
You have dealt 68 damage to Sinerva Bird
You have killed Sinerva Bird
You have dealt 64 damage to Sinerva Bird
You have killed Sinerva Bird
…
More than ten birds drop dead, but the rest keep coming, undeterred. Using the speed boost and agility granted by the spell, along with the effect of his [Nimbus Cloak] kicking in, Alex manages to evade the birds that close in on him. He pulls out a handful of Annihilation Grenades lvl 3, his mind racing with his next move.
He keeps running, his cloak billowing out into its large, mystical form, shimmering with magic. Glancing back, he hurls the grenades high into the air, each one detonating in a massive explosion. The skies burst with fire, taking down several birds in each blast. A few birds manage to get close enough to attack, and Alex feels a stabbing pain, like being hit with spears. Still, thanks to his trusty armor, he withstands the blows and evades most of the attacks.
You have taken 11 damage
You have taken 6 damage
Grenade after grenade is thrown, and finally, after dozens of birds lie dead on the ground, the massive flock gives up and scatters. Alex is left with only five grenades, having used more than half of his supply. He silently thanks himself for his thorough preparations.
Breathing hard, Alex scans the area nervously. “That was definitely not subtle… I just hope I didn’t attract too much attention.” But his greed flares up, and he can’t resist. He races to the bird corpses and, despite the sorry condition of some, collects every last one and stashes them in his inventory.
Just as he tucks away the final bird, he hears a rumbling sound. Emerging from the trees, a massive bear appears, clearly drawn by the noise of explosions and bird cries. This bear, however, is far from ordinary. It has a sharp horn protruding from its head, its size easily three or four times Alex’s, and its claws look like they could take him out in one or two swipes.
Reacting instantly, Alex casts a “Blizzard” spell at the bear. The spell hits, but the bear barely flinches—its thick fur absorbing much of the impact. The birds had been vulnerable to thunder, but this bear seems highly resistant to cold. No matter. Alex wasn’t aiming for damage; he wanted to slow it down.
Nimbus Cloak effect activates - Increasing Evasion by 5%, and Movement speed by 40%
You have dealt 14 damage to Sinerva bear
You have slowed Sinerva bear
With his boosted movement speed, Alex creates more distance, shouting, “Now eat this!” as he flings two more grenades directly at the bear. The grenades explode in front of it, dealing massive damage. The bear looks near death, staggering but still advancing, its steps slow and determined.
You have dealt 71 damage to Sinerva Bear
You have dealt 11 damage to Sinerva Bear
…
You have dealt 8 damage to Sinerva Bear
You have dealt 25 damage to Sinerva Bear
You have ignited Sinverva Bear
You have dealt 67 damage to Sinerva Bear
You have dealt 9 damage to Sinerva Bear
…
You have dealt 9 damage to Sinerva Bear
You have dealt 27 damage to Sinerva Bear
"HOW CAN THIS BEAR STILL BE ALIVE?" Alex thinks, panic setting in. "This forest is insane! A normal bear would’ve died three times by now!"
Despite his fear and astonishment at the bear's resilience, Alex is also concerned by the flames licking across its fur, the creature’s thick coat now ablaze. He decides to end it with his powerful “Blizzard Sword” attack, aiming to both kill the beast and douse the flames in one swift blow, to preserve the value of his prey.
Stolen story; please report.
Nimbus Cloak effect activates - Increasing Evasion by 5%, and Movement speed by 40%
The [Nimbus Cloak] activates again, granting Alex an extra burst of speed as he dashes around the burning bear. With a fierce battle cry, he lands a devastating, frost-infused strike on the back of the bear’s head, the chilling blow finally bringing the massive creature down.
You have dealt 56 + 21 damage to Sinerva Bear
You have killed Sinerva Bear
Alex cheers, exhilarated by his discovery. He’s realized something interesting: if he uses his Magic Sword lvl 3 skill, his [Nimbus Cloak] activates immediately, even without landing a strike. Sure, if he doesn’t act quickly, the effect fades within seconds, but this is a useful trick nonetheless! Now, he can activate the cloak, gain a burst of speed, and then unleash his strike. Alex’s face lights up with excitement. “That’s such a deadly combination—it makes me nearly unstoppable!”
Turning back to his fallen prey, he tries to place the massive bear into his inventory but gets an unwelcome message.
[Too big to put inside the inventory] appears before him, and he stares in shock.
With a sigh, Alex uses all 14 of his STR to drag the heavy carcass behind a tree, moving out of sight from the open field. He pulls out a large, regular butcher knife, unrecognized by the system, and begins butchering the bear. His movements are clumsy but effective. After five exhausting minutes, he’s managed to hack off the bear’s legs, arms, and head. Snapping the bones took a lot out of him, leaving him tired, but now, with the bear in six parts, his inventory finally accepts the dead beast.
[Sinerva Bear Arm] x2, [Sinerva Bear Leg] x2, [Sinerva Bear Head], [Sinerva Bear Torso].
Alex grins, satisfied, especially when he notices that the arms and legs are categorized as Gray-quality items, the head is White-quality, and the bear torso is Light Green! Ideally, he should let the bear bleed out, but there’s no time for that. He’s left a large trail of blood behind him, and he swears he heard a wolf howl in the distance.
Sure enough, he soon spots a few wolves prowling a few hundred meters away on the open field where he fought the birds. “SHIT!” he curses. Thinking quickly, Alex pulls out a few of the bird corpses in the worst condition—those ravaged by grenade shrapnel—and tosses them toward the open field, hoping to distract the wolves.
Then he bolts, running as fast as he can. “These wolves are two, maybe three times the size of normal ones. Their jaws look like something straight out of those Nightmare animatronics in Five Nights at Freddy’s 4. NO WAY I’M FIGHTING THEM!” He thinks, "If it were just one, I could take it, but there are at least three or four! If they work together, I’m done for!"
Twenty tense minutes later, he knows he’s close to the village, but then he hears the wolves again. Desperate, Alex throws out another bird corpse and glances back, only to see the wolves completely ignore it.
Angrily, he mutters to himself, “Not in the mood for chicken nuggets? How about something spicier?” With perfect timing, he drops his remaining three grenades and sprints forward. He hears the explosions behind him and sees a few notifications indicating he’s at least damaged some wolves. Their cries of pain fill the air, and he watches as they finally slow down, turning back toward the bird he’d thrown out earlier, seemingly preferring the easy meat over pursuing him any further.
“Thank god these stupid wolves don’t know those were my last grenades.” Alex takes a steadying breath, his heart pounding. “I’d better get back quickly… without my grenades, I…” He stops himself, unwilling to finish that thought.
Thankfully, Alex had traveled in a straight line north, using his senses to place markers around especially unique trees. Just minutes after his final grenade escape from the nightmare wolves, as he calls them, he finally spots the village walls up ahead. “Thank the system! Finally!”
As he enters, the guards eye him with curious expressions.
“We thought you were dead, human. Good job ssssurviving,” one of them hisses in a tone that could almost pass as encouraging.
The other guard adds, “It’ssss usssselesss to usss if ssssome monster eatsss your corpsssse. Make ssssure to alwaysss drag your body back to the village, human! Alsssso, avoid poissssonss—they ruin your meat, make it tassste bitter.” This additional comment makes the former encouragement feel much less comforting.
“Okay… thanks for the advice, I guess? See you around!” Alex replies, choosing to ignore the unsettling implications.
Still catching his breath, he heads toward the stall the navigator indicated, eager to see what his haul is actually worth. Exhausted from hours of mushroom hunting and barely surviving that insane escape, he checks over his inventory to tally his gains:
1x [Bloating Square Mushroom (damaged)]
3x [Bloating Square Mushroom]
6x [Small Bloating Square Mushroom]
36x [Sinerva Bird Corpse (partly damaged)]
and of course the hastily butchered bear contributing [Sinerva Bear Arm] x2, [Sinerva Bear Leg] x2, [Sinerva Bear Head], [Sinerva Bear Torso].
It’s not a perfect haul. One of his full-sized mushrooms is damaged, he probably lost a lot of the bear’s value with his rushed butchering, and most of the bird corpses are in rough shape. Still, he’s managed to gather a decent collection, with at least three full-sized and six small mushrooms in perfect condition. Despite how reckless and dangerous the trip was, Alex feels it was worth it.
With no real experience in hunting or gathering, he knows he made some mistakes, but he genuinely feels he did his best and came up with decent solutions for the problems he encountered. “Overall, I’d give myself a 7 out of 10! Not bad—and I learned a lot. Next trip should be even better… Sinerva Forest, huh? I’ll be back tomorrow!”
As he approaches the now-empty stall, he notices a few players sitting around, chatting amongst themselves. However, he quickly realizes that the number of players in the village, which started at 28 (including himself), is now down to 26. “This village is so small I can see everyone. So… if two are missing, it means they’re either still out hunting, died trying, or… they gave up and took the navigator’s offer.”
Deciding not to waste any more thought on these scared liabilities, Alex focuses on his task. He hopes the stall run by the monsters is legitimate and not a complete scam. If they decide his haul is worth just a single token, what can he really do? He silently prays the system is involved in the exchange, ensuring fair rates.
As Alex, covered in blood from head to toe thanks to his hasty bird slaughter and rough bear butchering, walks toward the stall, the other players stare at him in awe. With nothing better to do, they decide to follow him, curious to see what he plans to exchange.