It only took about an hour before my conviction to find water began wavering. My Stamina had reached the single-digits and I wanted nothing else than to rest. But I pushed on, aware of the time limit threatening me. I could barely walk, stumbling through the forest and trying my best to head downhill whenever possible.

I’d actually gotten quite good at casting – well, as good as could be expected of someone who’d only just started training. I imagined that training so hard while in these circumstances was probably helping me a lot, as opposed to training in a calm, comfortable environment. It wasn’t like your typical battle was very serene, and I knew from experience that I had trouble finding the inner peace to cast in those chaotic situations.

Besides, it’d become a bit of a calming ritual for me – something to help take my mind off of my discomfort and focus on something else. It was a bit masochistic – taking my mind off of my discomfort by doing something that caused more discomfort – but it worked for me, so whatever. Besides, it made me stronger.

On top of that, I also kept my head on a swivel. It wasn’t like I could neglect my surroundings. I needed to keep my eyes and ears out for any sign of water, so I was being constantly vigilant.

I saw something move to my side.

Oh, I also needed to watch out for monsters, too.

I immediately froze, trying to move as slowly as possible as I backed away from the source of movement. It was another one of those giant scorpions! This one was quite a bit closer to me than the one from before – only ten paces or so – and I was a lot more tired than before, too. I didn’t trust my ability to move stealthily.

Shit, shit, shit… what do I do?

I shifted, trying to hide behind a tree without alerting the scorpion monster. It seemed to be busy with eating something it killed, so I wasn’t too worried, but I really didn’t want one of them chasing after me. As I watched, however, something else came out of the forest.

A Nymph!

Nymphs were unique monsters. They didn’t look incredibly intimidating – they were Humanoid, but normally a bit shorter than your average person, and looked as if they were made from plants. They had green skin covered with leaves, vines, and roots. These plants were a part of the Nymph’s body, but also seemed to have lives of their own, blooming in spring and turning brown in fall. As Humanoids, the monsters had dirt-colored hair, but it never seemed to get very long, and they also had a relatively normal, Human-like face. Or, they would, if not for their eyes. A Nymph’s eyes were slightly larger than a person’s, and, most notably, were solid-white – no irises or pupils in the pearl-like oculars, just sclera. They could see just fine, but it was unnerving to look at. I’d always thought so, even when all I’d seen were illustrations in monster manuals. Now that I’d seen one in the flesh, I could attest that they were, in fact, creepy.

Nymphs also had strange behavior. They weren’t like normal monsters, simply roaming their territories killing whatever prey they came across. Instead, they seemed to focus on the conservation of their environment. That obviously meant attacking any Humans trying to deforest the area, but it also meant fighting wildfires, and exterminating invasive species – both plants and animals.

And it seemed that, whatever this giant scorpion monster was, it was considered invasive, because the Nymph sprinted right up and attacked it with no warning. It had long, needle-like claws tipping its fingers that it used to swipe at the scorpion’s thick chitin. It wasn’t as if all Nymphs had claws like this one, however. One of the most curious aspects of these strange beings was that they could receive Tribute from other monsters. I hadn’t read up on the specifics on it, but essentially, as a thank-you for its service in protecting the environment, sometimes another monster would give Tribute to a Nymph, sacrificing one of its own Levels to give some of its power to the Nymph. This led to almost every Nymph having a unique, tailor-made appearance and set of abilities that accorded to its environment and the types of monsters it protected.

It seemed that this one had received Tribute from some sort of monster with claws like that. Based on the claws’ appearance, I guessed it was a… Stripek? Whatever, it wasn't important. Whatever it got them from, the Nymph’s claws plunged into the scorpion's body in its wild attack from behind. However, the scorpion counterattacked, whipping its tail at the Nymph in a wild attack too fast for me to follow. The Nymph was fast too, though, and it blocked the strike with its claws, deflecting it off to the side. The scorpion monster struck out with its pincers, but the Nymph leapt back out of the range of its strike. It dashed to the side, making use of its clearly-superior Dexterity to flank the scorpion, where the beast couldn’t defend itself, and struck forward, stabbing the scorpion and following up with a slash that completely bisected the monster’s body.

In what seemed like no time at all, the monster that I’d feared so much had been killed. I realized I was standing out in the open, staring at the victorious Nymph, so I quickly got back into hiding. Nymphs were famously inconsistent when it came to their feelings toward Humans. Some of them didn’t seem to mind people at all as long as we didn’t get in their way, while others seemed to operate on a strict kill-on-sight policy, hunting people down whenever they saw them. Most seemed to exist somewhere between those two extremes, but there was no telling how this one felt. It was better to just stay away. An encouraging note, though, was that Nymphs typically made their homes near rivers and streams, so if it was hanging around over here, its home was most likely nearby. If I just kept wandering for a little more…

…Wait.

Nymphs made their homes near rivers. Sure, that meant that a river was probably nearby, but what if I walked in the wrong direction? It wasn’t much of a guarantee of anything. I was getting weaker by the minute, so this was gonna be my last chance. There was one river near here, and I needed to find it fast. How would I do that? I sure as hells wasn’t going to just wander in a random direction like I’d been doing – that obviously wasn’t a very good strategy.

So, I needed a guide. And who better to guide me to the river than the monster that lives there?

I stared in the direction of the Nymph. Specifically, I stared at the gigantic scorpion monster that it had just executed. Part of me wanted to just take my chances with walking in a random direction. But I couldn’t do that; I needed to take control of my own fate, not let chance decide whether I live or die.

So, taking care to move stealthily, I started tailing the Nymph, which had already begun wandering off. I stayed far enough away that it was just barely within my sight so that the chances of it detecting me were as low as possible. However, I wasn’t actually too worried about the Nymph seeing or hearing me nearby. Despite their battle prowess, a Nymph’s actual senses were relatively poor; their eyesight was short, and their hearing soft.

The problem was their sixth sense. Nymphs were protectors of nature, and because of that, they had the ability to sense and feel the emotions of all nearby creatures. So, my real worry was accidentally spooking some animal that I failed to see, alerting the Nymph to my location. This ability worked both ways, too – not only could the Nymph feel the emotions of nearby creatures, the creatures would feel the emotions of the Nymph. So, if I drew its ire, I’d be facing down the wrath of the entire forest.

The Nymph wandered excruciatingly slowly for a while, occasionally stopping randomly to examine a bush or to pat an animal on the head. Speaking of, the monsters it was interacting with were totally calm, unlike I’d ever seen before. I even saw another Wood Wraith and prepared for a fight, but it just wandered through the forest, glancing at me but not attacking or even using its glare attack. I guessed that the Nymph’s calm attitude was spreading to all of the nearby monsters. That was good; it would hopefully mean that I wouldn’t need to worry as much about scaring the smaller animals.

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After a bit longer, the Nymph started moving in a more direct way, not wandering as much. I felt like I could predict its movements a bit more reliably, so I backed up even more, until it was just barely in my sight. I didn’t want to take any chances with it spotting me. I kept following from further behind, making sure I kept track of the Nymph, occasionally getting closer to make sure I was going in the right direction.

To help with the stress of the operation, I was still casting my Noxious Grasp once every couple minutes, letting off some of those poisonous mists to dissolve in the air. Besides, I was at 10/11 XP! There was no way I was gonna take a break when I was so close.

After a bit longer tailing the Nymph, I finally heard it – the sound of salvation! Rushing water! A river was nearby! My breathing quickened, but I couldn’t run forward; I didn’t want to alert the Nymph to my presence. I held back, using every ounce of my self control as my body was fighting to rush ahead, regardless of the consequences.

I let off a second of Noxious Grasp, trying to calm myself down and focus.

You have struck Level 0 Rabbit for 6 damage and drained 3 Stamina over the course of 0.6 seconds using Noxious Grasp.

1.8 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 102.

I heard a squeal as an animal I didn’t even know was there brushed up against my leg at exactly the wrong time. It scurried off toward the Nymph, no doubt seeking its protection and calming aura.

Shit!

If it got near the Nymph, it would know I was here. I tried chasing after it, but my deficient Stamina barely let me walk, much less run after a frightened animal. Breathing heavily, I panicked, not knowing what to do. I glanced around and found a decent-sized rock, so I scampered over to hide behind it. Maybe if the Nymph didn’t see me immediately, it wouldn’t go searching? Besides, I didn’t technically even know if it was hostile toward Humans – only some Nymphs were. Sure, it seemed pretty violent toward the scorpion monster, but maybe it was just like that toward specific things, and not anything it viewed as foreign to the forest? I breathed. Yeah. It’d probably be fine if–

You have been stabbed with claws. 42 damage.

Your Health is 11.

I gasped in pain and looked down to see four long, knife-like claws sticking into my chest. I looked up and saw the Nymph staring down at me with its angel-white eyes. Without saying anything – not even a twitch on its face – it tore its claws out of my body, and slashed.

You have been sliced by claws. 87 damage.

Your Health is 0.

You have been decapitated.

You have died.

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My consciousness awoke in what felt like a dark, smoky space. I gasped and looked around, except, well, I didn’t do either of those things. I didn’t have a body to breathe with or eyes to look with. I was just… a presence. An existence.

“What in the hells is happening?” I tried to say aloud, but I still didn’t have a mouth to speak.

In front of me, I could sense two options, waiting for me to make a choice. In one of the options, I was standing there, looking panicked, right after I accidentally damaged that Rabbit with Noxious Grasp. It was… one minute before I died, I could somehow tell.

The other option was two minutes before I died. It just had me distantly trailing the Nymph, before I had even noticed the Rabbit.

…Oh, right!

I’d Ranked up Time Loop, I remembered. And when I did, it went from taking me back one minute in time, to taking me back ‘up to’ two minutes back. This was me choosing how far back I wanted to go – one minute, or two minutes.

I could feel my consciousness fading from this place already; it seemed the space didn’t like me lingering here for long. Well, obviously, I didn’t want to go back one minute, after I’d already made my mistake, so I chose two minutes and–

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And then I was back, immediately finding myself in my body, distantly following the Nymph. I looked around, and saw that damned Rabbit unassumingly approaching behind me. I stepped aside, let it pass, and took a deep breath. Yeah, so, it seemed that the Nymph was definitely hostile toward Humans. Or, at least, it was hostile to any Human that harmed animals.

Well, now that I knew where the river was, I didn’t need to follow the Nymph, anyway. Slowly, I backed away – careful not to accidentally step on some other dumbass animal’s tail or something – until I was sure I was totally out of range of the Nymph. Then, I circled around, walking in a large arc angled toward the river, until… yes! I began to hear the running water again. And, after a few more minutes, there it was! The river I had dreamed of, surrounded by greenery and vegetation, running along a divot lined with natural stones.

This time, I couldn’t contain myself. Running forward in a burst of energy more intense than anything I’d felt all day, I fell at the side of the pool and knelt down. I lowered my face to the surface of the water, drinking it directly from the source and relishing in the ecstasy of finally wetting my parched throat.

You are no longer suffering from Dehydration.

All Stamina regeneration has been re-enabled.

I finally had my most basic survival need sated. Or, second most basic, depending on where you ranked being able to fight off monsters.

Yeah. With this taken care of, I felt like it was finally time to get a bit stronger.