Chapter 4 - Finally!

I walked ahead, with no clues if I will come across a monster or a dungeon or something entirely new, deciding to take things step by step. It was an unsettling feeling and made me long for my boring, rules laden Earth life with an intensity that surprised me.

I planned to walk for 3 hours before turning back, which will allow me to reach safe room by sunset. For now, the objective was to explore and see if I could unlock my attributes and skills.

The first encounter was surprising – I came across a huge patch of mint, variety like the Moroccan mint, with bright green color laden with purple flowers. How do I know its mint? It’s the fragrance. Eggs I ate were good and plenty, but the flavor profile was quite different from what I was used to. This earthy, familiar fragrance had me enthralled. Since the leaves looked larger and brighter than the mint, I used to come across at the supermarket back home, I decided to call this one Moroccan mint, which is supposedly premium variety.

First, I plucked quite a few leaves and placed them in my inventory, leading to the discovery I could stack up to 999 of the same variety before the block in my inventory became full (this really is a game). I tried to keep two whole mint plant in the inventory, and it worked. Yes!! Now I will just have to see later if the plant remains alive or dies out.

Since I had used most of the firewood available at the saferoom in cooking eggs, I kept placing dry branches in my inventory for firewood. With no wilderness or camping experience, all I knew was that branches should be dry and since I had no axe to fall back on, this was my best bet for now.

As I walked further, the forest became denser with trees taller, tree trunks broader and reduced space between trees. The bushes and brambles made the path across the forest difficult to traverse without something to cut across. I had been using a stick so far but of course, it couldn’t cut through anything.

Next, I saw bushes laden with red fruits, which were ripe and ready for harvest. Should I take a chance and try one? What if its poisonous? Well, no pain no gain (anyway as per Ken and Yurin, If I don’t die during novice period, I was sure to die during the event), so I decided to go for it and try one. I wiped one tiny fruit on my sleeve and put it in my mouth, the sweet fruity aroma burst through. This wasn’t a fruit like anything on earth, but it was closest to raspberries in terms of texture and yes sweetness like Lychee. I waited to die or to feel uncomfortable…….1 minute dum dum dum…..5 minutes…….Ok alright, report – 1 tiny fruit is edible. I decided to put all of them in my inventory and that is when the first magic happened yay!

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My screen suddenly lit up with two notifications:

Skill 1 – choose (what happened to the ‘please’ no manners humph)

1. Forager level 1 (luck while foraging, chances of coming across useful plants and herbs increased by 5%)

2. Appraisal level 1 (able to see profile information from basic to detailed depending upon the level difference compared to the skill user)

3. Herbalist level 1 (able to unlock and concoct basic potions)

Life Skill Collect – Basic (Increase in harvesting speed – 5%, Able to collect loot without touching)

The details of the skills were rather sparse as if the whole set up was looking down on me. So, some of my skills are not pre-set, I am able to choose a skill based on my actions hmmm This is interesting. What is this Life skill though? Being able to collect faster and without touching will be a great boon in the long run. Did my actions of harvesting mint leaves and berries activate this skill? Does this mean my actions can cause more skills to activate? I put this thought to the side for now.

I chose Appraisal (of course). With Forager I could gather plenty of things and being an herbalist could save my life but with appraisal I don’t have to go through the pain of figuring out what is poisonous and plus I get to know their properties, hopefully. It’s a win-win. Without appraisal, I had no chance of ascertaining what to forage and without recipes any kind of concoction I made may possibly kill me instead.

The mint I put in the inventory is Spearmint and I can use it as a tea, for digestion and as toothpaste. The fruit that I just ate is a new undiscovered variety and I could name it as I wanted so I decided to name it Sweetberry (who said my naming skill was strong) and is used as a sweetener with plenty of health benefits. At least I won’t be dying of scurvy or bad teeth in the short term. I decided to get all the fruits that I could and even placed two of the shrubs in my inventory. Mint was still alive after 15 minutes, so who knows I might get lucky.

Geared up with this information, I decided that the next skill I unlock should relate to combat or something similar because weak as I was, I needed a strong back up. I understood that to activate a combat skill, I will need to fight, for which I need a weapon and the branch in my hand was highly unsuitable. I tried rubbing the branch on a small rock, but it broke instead, and one side became decently sharp. I decided to break a few branches into sharp edges and keep them handy. I also picked up a few small to mid-sized rocks that I could easily lift and throw, in my inventory. Beggars can’t be choosers, so make do with what you have. Not that it stopped me from cursing, whoever decided to send me here without a weapon. Half of me kept hoping to activate some sort of skill by creating sharp branches but nothing happened.

Thus, poorly armed and fighting bushes I cautiously walked deeper into the forest, after all I still needed to unlock my attributes, which I still had no clue about. What I found ahead wasn’t a rabbit or a squirrel as I was hoping for, but something far more dangerous.