Days passed, but neither the scenery nor the situation changed. He was alive, he was well, but he wasn’t prospering. Everything tasted so disgusting. It was becoming a problem.

What was not the problem, strangely, was the lack of people. The solitude was oddly refreshing and It was strange how he didn’t feel lonely. Was the jungle beginning to grow on him? – He didn’t know but there was some progress: He managed to craft himself [Bark Armour] and [Leaf Shoes]. Both gave +1Rep with Elves and Crafting +1exp. The shoes soon disintegrated, they weren't that durable. But hey easy exp at least.

“I wonder exactly how much exp I need to acquire before something fun starts to happen.”

No helpful message popped up to explain such things.

It was getting boring to be roaming around in what probably were circles. There were no signs of animals or civilisation, so he decided to settle and grind some exp, if walking wasn’t a solution maybe this was… so he took a small crafting project. He worked like a factory robot, pumping out [Leaf Shoes] one after the other.

[+1exp. +1exp, +1exp…]

The messages kept popping up. The level-up announcement remained elusive.

[Congratulations! You are now proficient enough to craft leaf shoes of common quality.]

“After hours of work? That’s it?”

The message even sounded condescending when he read it in his mind.

Just to test if he understood this right, he crafted another [Leaf Skirt] it came out as poor.

“Vine juice!” He swore in disappointment. By the way, the vine juice was so bitter it became a swear word of its own.

There was little to do here. He didn’t even get to use his spear not even once! The place was devoid of danger, but also of fun, and it seemed endless. Wandering aimlessly didn’t look like a solution anymore.

Well, there was one thing he always wanted to do. To build a house of his own and grow his own food and crops. He began daydreaming to escape the harsh reality of being stuck in this ‘hostile’ place.

“It sounds nice. Who is here to stop me?” None, literally, no one was there.

To build his first house he needed materials and tools. Materials were plentiful and the tools could be made. With ample time he managed it. The stone tools weren't fancy but they did the job so the construction began.

The first house, in reality, a shed, failed; it collapsed. A second one held but looked really shabby. As he was building a message popped out once in a while telling him that he was earning +1exp in Building. It wasn’t much but it felt rewarding.

After many attempts, the shed was complete. It was a structure made out of wooden beams, woven twigs, vines and leaves. All in all not too bad. He felt proud of himself.

Then he cleared a small spot of all the shrubs and other flora. The bendy twigs he could handle, but there were these white tall trees and they seemed to be harder than stone. Not to mention the fact that they were just really thick.

Anyways, he kinda needed the timber so he cut the softwood leaving the white trees untouched. After all, he was a homesteader, no, a pioneer sent here to conquer the wilderness. And real homesteaders always grew their own food. In his case, it will be vines. Disgusting Bitter Vines which were awful but by the leagues the best this jungle had to offer.

“I will become a vine juice farmer!” He shouted proudly rising the wooden hoe in the air.

And then began crying. He broke. He didn’t want to eat these stupid vines for all eternity. He craved for the real food. Regardless, he tilled the ground around the white tree, removing all other plants and roots. He was kinda lucky that the roots of the tree were not in the way at all and after a lot of painstaking work, he had a small patch of Bitter Vines. Each time he planted a vine and tied it to a stick he would get Farming +1exp, so his hard work was already being rewarded.

When the vine patch was done he called it a day and went to sleep in the Leaves Bed he had crafted earlier. It was exactly like one a gorilla would make and he shamelessly borrowed that design from his memory. The sleepiness overtook him quickly.

He dreamt of vine juice. Barrels upon barrels of it. He looked at the barrel in disdain and then fell in it. The barrel was larger than it was supposed to be, it became as large as a pool. The pulp was sticky and reeked of plant matter. His body began to change. His ears elongated, his face became long and his hair turned long and blonde. It was a nightmare!

He woke up drenched in a cold sweat and grasped for his ears.

“Phew, only a dream.”

But that was not all: [Perk Chaos Blessed activated.]. It must have happened during the night.

He inspected the clearing where he planted the vines. They were already budding. The plant was growing at an astonishing speed and there was a slight shadow of blue taking colour on the stem. The perk did something to the vine, whatever it was. He dabbed twice in the air to celebrate the good news, it was okay and not cringe at all; no one was watching anyway. Then he had some vines for breakfast. Eww!

“At this pace, I might just admit it… Virtually I am no different from a stinky elf.” He lived like one, he ate like one.

To dispel depressing thoughts he made a small wattle cage to protect the budding plant. He watched it grow. Really, there was nothing better to do. No entertainment.

He decided to explore the surroundings further. As he went he marked his way with sticks. He went quite far but the scenery barely changed. There was no life at all: he confirmed that for the hundredth time. At least he had some good exercise.

Back at his place he still had a good amount of free time so he decided to hone his crafting skill.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

The materials he had on hand were limited. There were bendy twigs, vines, bark and other plant matter for his creations. The stems of the vines were surprisingly durable and with some processing could be made into a rope. He did just that. He pulled the fibres and twisted them into a rope. The rope was the essential tool for any wannabe survivalist.

So he crafted Rope for days. He had a bunch of it. “In the end, I didn’t get much exp for that.” It kinda made sense it was repetitive and boring but quite easy to make. He looked himself over. His ‘clothes’ were beginning to deteriorate. The plant matter they were made was wilting. “A chance for new gear.” He decided.

This time he spent a good amount of time thinking about how to increase its durability. He could try processing plant fibre into the cloth, similar to what he did to get the rope, but that would take forever.

In the end, he made himself a [Leaf Vest], [Leaf Skirt], and believe it or not [Rope Sandals]. The sandals were a great success. Then he made himself a [Leaf Hat] to complete the look.

[Gear bonus achieved +5 Rep with Elves]

“Sweet!” But then he realised that he must look like a hippy or something. “Or not…”

But who cares, he was proud of his budding skill. “Who knew I had a talent as a clothes designer.” He smiled proudly.

The plant was growing nicely, however, there were some alarming signs. It was blue – the stem and the leaves; it was completely blue. Blue! But there were also the beginnings of small grapelike fruits nesting under the leaves.

“It’s okay. There is no need to panic.” He calmed himself knowing that the stem didn’t need to be normal colour to grow edible fruits.

He was under the impression this was either a tomato or grape, both were vine plants. Or whatever category they were supposed to be; he wasn’t a botanist.

As time went by he either spent it figuring out how to make cloth from plant fibres or admiring his magical blue plant.

Cloth-making wasn’t an easy process. He tried various plants. Some were successes, some failed to produce good results. There was some sort of a leafy bush, its leaves were spiky and difficult to harvest. It kinda looked like the top of a pineapple but bigger and minus the fruit. That one had a good fibre for cloth. Also, there was another candidate, it was just an oversized leaf on an oversized stem, and unlike the former only its stems were useful. So there were options.

He harvested the string-like fibre from the plants and left them to dry. Then he needed to weave them into the cloth. “Nope!” He gave up. It just was too labour-intensive. It seriously needed some automation. A nice roll of thin cloth was beyond his skill, but he could manage a thin rope. If push comes to shove he could try something similar to knitting.

On a brighter note, the magic plant was growing splendidly. “It must be eight metres long.” He appraised the length of the vine. Tiny yellow fruits were already getting bigger.

He tried eating its leaves already but only a few because he didn’t want to harm the plant. It surprisingly tasted ten times better than his usual staple of the bitter vine, but still, it tasted very much as an edible weed would; not the best. He was praying for the fruits to grow quicker.

…

The plant matured. It bore big fruits the size of grapefruit, its skin was smooth and the membrane thin and edible. Its flesh was interesting. It was almost like jelly. It tasted positively divine, it was sweet and it was unlike any other fruit he had eaten.

“Oh my god!” He stuffed himself full of it.

It was hard to control himself. But he had to. He needed to leave some for seeds because the fruit had to overripen to mature them. At which point it became hard and inedible; each yielded twelve seeds. With the extra seeds, he expanded his vine patch.

Soon the small patch turned into a small farm. It grew very quickly and the harvest was plentiful; truly a plant infused with mysterious magic. This Chaos Blessed perk he had was a powerful one, but it was slightly unpredictable; he couldn't even choose to activate it – it seemed to be random.

The fruits he was eating had a surprising bonus, not only were they tasty they energised him. And he had a feeling that just one fruit per day was enough, but of course, he ate more. They were dense in energy and nutrients. He worried about getting fat, but he just didn’t. Metabolism or something – go figure.

With renewed vigour and ample time, he achieved several things. The first one came as a surprise. Caring for the magic plant and harvesting the fruits gave him Farming exp, a surprisingly high amount of it.

[Congratulations! You have reached Farming lvl 1.]

[Requirements have been met. Hidden perk unlocked.]

[Perk Unnatural Selection obtained.]

It didn’t elaborate further. And also this meant that the entire time he was on level 0. Lucking out on this blue vine was likely a contributing factor to obtaining this strange perk.

The other achievements were of lesser significance. He managed to make cloth. Yes! And turn it into sacks to store the fruits. Fruit left on the vines would overripen and go hard, but if plucked and stored away they kept for a good while.

Also, he had made himself a better shed and a storehouse to store all of the fruit. All good and well… Or not really. It was still kinda boring. And, after what it was? – a few months; it was getting lonely. He even made himself a scarecrow to talk with. He named it Wilson. At that point, it dawned that something had to change and quickly.

While he wasn’t busy farming or talking with Wilson he kept exploring the surrounding area, establishing a few trails here and there. He was looking for useful plants like the Bitter Vine, or that spiky plant for fibres so that he could make more cloth. On one of such treks, in the small stream, he found a peculiar rock. It didn't look natural, because it was a polyhedron sphere, like a football ball. And he knew that rocks in nature, and especially in streams would just be smoothed flat or round. Also, it was black and had this glass feel to it, almost like obsidian. Anyways it felt special so he took the shiny trinket. He kept the thing next to his bed, and would often play with it in his hands, especially in the evenings while thinking about one thing or the other.

That was until: [Perk Chaos Blessed activated.]. The obsidian sphere glowed in purple for a few seconds and the light disappeared as soon as it appeared. “What just happened?” He inspected the sphere. It didn’t look any different. Shrugging off the mysterious event he went to sleep.

A few days went by, and without being able to figure out what exactly happened to the sphere he had almost forgotten the entire incident. He treated the sphere like he always would, rolling it in his hand before he fell to sleep. But, eventually, he noticed a peculiar thing. The sphere was breaking the laws of nature, it was growing in size! It might be the isolation and his imagination going wild but, the sphere began as apple-sized and now It was the size of a grapefruit. So yeah, the chaos perk was somehow growing the sphere, “But why?” he couldn’t help but wonder.

One evening, after a hard day of farming and crafting he came back to his shack. There were pieces of black broken shells all over the spot where he kept the orb. The conclusion was simple, it wasn’t just an orb, it was an egg and something hatched from it. But what was it and, “Where is it?!” he panicked for a moment.

He looked everywhere inside but couldn't find it. He even looked outside around the shack. No mysterious creature or anything. Nothing.

“It hatched and made a runner. What did I expect?” He should have predicted it and it was disheartening, but it was his own fault.

“Maybe with luck, I will find it. No, I definitely will, there is nothing to eat in this jungle. If anywhere the creature will be somewhere in my garden.”

As he was about to go and check the garden vines something rustled by the ceiling. He looked up and almost fainted. A creature out of a horror movie was hanging on the ceiling. It was black like coal and had six legs. A set of four yellow eyes stared at him hungrily. It had mandibles and all. It kinda looked like a spider or an ant, it definitely was like an insect but nothing like he had seen before.

It was ugly. It was scary. It was way too big. He came to the dreadful realisation “A monster!” The two looked at each other, and neither moved from their spot. “Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers.” So he went to get some fruit to feed the monster. He hoped it would eat the fruit and not crave his human flesh. He prayed fervently in his mind for it to be a vegetarian.

Once back he offered a slice of the freshly plucked fruit from the blue vine. It came off the ceiling and devoured the slice greedily. “At’a boy!” He celebrated in relief and fed it some more until it wasn’t hungry; one could not be too careful it might still have had a thirst for blood.