Chapter 7: Delightful harvest

I woke up in the morning with the sun rays hitting my face. The gap between the wall and the roof was strategically placed to wake you up early enough. Stretching, I felt rested and refreshed with no aches and pains. The wound on my shoulder seemed to have healed by magic and the bruises on my body seemed to have faded. While going through my morning routine I thought through my experience so fat and work out what kind of world this was and what kind of event will be held 6 days from now. It all sounded too far-fetched for me to come up with even a single imaginary example. The only thing I could think of was the global transmigration novels I had read. I felt that since this event will be about ownership of this planet, it might lean towards survival skills and strength unless there was some CGM politics.

The status leaning towards game set up, potions and skills leaning towards magic. Only cultivation was missing thus far. Who knows, the next monster I kill might end up dropping a cultivation skill that I could try my hand at.

I checked to see if my day 2 novice bag had been delivered, and yes it was. I used up the rest of my firewood to cook eggs with a small slice of meat from the wolf and embellished it with fruit on the side – I had berries. I made mint tea this morning and saved up my coffee for later. Like a noob I checked my status to see if my cooking skill was going up but alas no. Without salt eggs ended up a bit bland but fruit helped.

I could head out to the forest and explore a different direction today, but with the sword of 6 days hanging on my head, I was a bit worried. What are the chances that the event would be held in the same area as I am now? What if the terrain and weather are completely different? I wished I had a map to figure out the surroundings and have a plan. I had been lucky so far. Someone supported me in my first fight or else there was no way I was coming out alive – I don’t know how but there was help, maybe it was luck or something else, then I had a message like a treasure hunt which led me to find essentials that I badly needed. They may even have saved my life – who knows how the wound on my shoulder would have developed.

I decided to take advantage of this lucky streak and check the novice area completely first.

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The novice area was spread across 1 km radius of a circular area. There were similarly lit, and empty shops spread across but there were no houses or anything like my room. All structures were stand alone, as if someone had sprinkled them on this land and encapsulated them within a circular dome.

Checking the novice area was the right call. I didn’t find a map but there was a fragment of the regional map. As soon as I touched this fragment, it turned into a white light and embedded into my screen. Notification flashed – Mapping feature unlocked. An app like icon appeared on my screen listed as map. When I opened it (with a thought) it was like a rectangle of darkness with novice area lit up showing the ‘you are here’ icon and a part of the map towards the north was also available. The area of the forest outside that I had explored yesterday was also lit up. I was excited, after all I had an app like GPS in this wild weird place.

There were features available on the map highlighting mine, dungeon, forest, and water. It was strangely like a game map except the name of the region or maybe it was because the areas had not been named yet.

Map was the biggest find of the day. Apart from that, I also found a worn-out shirt and pants, with that I had a change of clothes available (and underpants, yes), an iron pot like what I had been using for cooking, 2 packets of camping matches – the thick ones that are used for lighting firewood, rusty water canteen, tarp and some rope. It wasn’t a lot, but this area had given me some survival essentials. The main difference was that I could store all these items in my inventory, while the ones in the room were for use in the room only. The mint and berry plant in my inventory were still alive, which was encouraging. I decided to store more plants, if I find them, who knows how the future will unfold. Better to have more than less.

With a handful of berries in my hand, I headed to explore the area lit up by the fragment. I didn’t know if I was dungeon ready, but I had to try.

Near the forest area, I kept the katana in my hand. The terrain here was still forest path but there was an incline to it. Map indicated it was a hilly area with some rocky patches and deep craters in between. The progress was slow as I used appraisal on all plants to see if I could find anything useful. The trees were great for lumber and the plants were mostly weeds, shrubs and vines but for now they were not of much use to me.

The jungle voices started to grow as I walked further, finally the natural symphony of insects, crickets, and birds that we read about in books was coming alive around me. Though delightful, my danger radar was pinging at maximum with this cacophony – who knows when and how the next attack might materialize.