Chapter 6: mystery supporter

It took me a few hours to get back with my slow injured steps. A sense of relief and security washed over me as I entered the white light and headed toward the alley where my room was located. Broken, small, pitiful – whatever it was, for now it was my haven.

By the time I reached my room, I was in pain and starving. Apart from a cup of coffee, 2 eggs and cup of tea (in the coffee cup ofcourse), the only thing I had eaten were a couple of berries and a few mint leaves. I needed food, pronto.

I first decided to take a bath and wash my torn clothes (yes, I do have underpants and yes, they are worn out as well). I had wounds on my shoulder and chest – where the blood was starting to clot and making my upper body stiff with pain. I also had multiple bruises which were starting to stand out with their greenish blue color on my back from walking in the jungle and the thwack I took while trying to smash the wolf skull. I hadn’t noticed them until now and now that I had seen them, the intensity of the overall body ache had gone up by several notches. While washing my clothes, I tried cleaning out the towel I had used as a pillow as well – I had no substitute so it would have to do, and I didn’t fancy putting my head on something that wasn’t clean. I don’t know if I will have the privilege of taking a bath in the coming days so best to stay clean while I can. With the lack of any salve or pain killers, cleaning the wounds with water and tying them again seemed to be the only choice.

While my clothes were drying on the table and back of the chair, I started the fire. Dry branches won’t last through the night but cooking tonight and for breakfast would not be an issue. No one tells you that branches catch fire from the matches quickly, but they burn out real fast too. I had no way to cut the meat, so I decided to eat both pieces of bread and both sausages for now. I did think about using wolf fang for cutting purpose but decided against it. With no other weapon in hand, it could be crucial to my survival.

Try toasting the bread in an iron pot and you will realize the damn difficulty of it! Sausage wrapped in bread X 2 and dinner is served. Without ketchup and mustard, the dinner was dry, but I was too hungry to care about it. As soon as I put the food on the plate, I head a notification – ding! Blue screen flashed in front of me -

Life skill Cooking – basic (taste up by 5%, stamina recovery up by 5%)

I hope this stamina recovery could expedite the healing of my wounds. While eating I tried to figure out the anomaly around my status. But there was nothing except skill 3 still locked and a new life skill cooking listed under it. Why didn’t I get this skill when I made the eggs in the morning then? Was it because my attributes and skills were locked. There was something truly spooky about this experience and I wasn’t overpowered yet at all. Is it because I asked to be skilled?

While trying to think of the reason why my intelligence was 12 but wisdom was 10, I noticed that italicized footnote at the bottom of my status had changed.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“Congratulations on a wonderful start. There is always a benefit in checking simulated places, who knows where the surprises might be waiting.”

Okay. Seriously. What the hell.

I ate and lied down while waiting for my clothes to be somewhat dry and my stamina to recover. I thought for a while and decided to head out and see if I could check any places nearby as suggested by the note. It was still light so better take advantage while I can.

First, I visited the shop where I met cloak and warrior in the morning. As I walked towards the shop, I realized it was lit but empty. I opened the door and walked in and started checking out the shelves. I got lucky as I checked behind the counter – though it was all empty there was an old knife lying in the drawer.

Appraisal

Old kitchen knife (sharp) – 12 inches made of steel.

That’s it? Nothing else? No level? Oh well, at least I had a knife now and could cut the meat. Encouraged by this discovery, I decided to walk the other way as I had not seen anything except this shop in this direction. It felt as if someone had set up a shop in the middle of a park or a farmland and it was close to the end of novice village.

As the sun was setting, I headed back to my safe room excited and amazed. I, who took pride in my observational skills felt a huge gap in my intelligence right at this moment – didn’t I also ask to smarter? My hunt had been immensely fruitful and with my bounty in hand, I was already excited about tomorrow. I had checked only one nearby area so far and found a katana, which means my hunting prowess had gone up a notch. Though I had never used a Katana and had no skills to speak of, but a person equipped with a weapon is always better than the one without. I also found 2 potions and my appraisal said they were low level recovery potions, which meant I don’t need to be in pain as I rest tonight.

It was strange though. There were lit and empty shops with no one around but just these things hidden around as if someone was providing a silent support and didn’t want anyone to know about it. Whoever this mystery supporter was had my heartfelt gratitude for sure. I prayed they continued in their endeavor and a bag of Korean fried chicken with kimchi fries wouldn’t go amiss too. I wanted to keep checking the rest of the novice village, but it was getting dark and the feeling of being alone on the planet is too disconcerting. I wish there was someone I could talk to or post my experience on social media for a bit of a human interaction. It was a very lonely life, and I was only at day 1 so far.

Appraisal didn’t work on the potion sadly so I knew it could heal me, so I didn’t know how to make more for future. It tasted bitter but I could feel the pain decreasing and wounds closing immediately, I knew it was effective. I noticed I could keep my empty water bottle and empty potion bottle in the inventory. I filled up the empty bottle with water from the room tap and it showed up as simply water instead of fresh water. I tried filling the empty potion bottle as well, but it was as if a rule had been set up and not even a drop of water entered the bottle. After a few failed attempts I gave up and decided to call it a night.

It got a bit cooler in the night. It wasn’t unbearable so instead of using my poor excuse of firewood, I decided to use the wolf fur as a blanket and get some sleep on the lumpy mattress. The potion worked like a charm and after the whole days’ worth of excitement I was out like a light in no time.