Ok, time to think. I shouldn’t stray from the river cause it’s my only reference point. And I can’t follow it upstream cause of the cliff. Hmmmm… Guess my only option is to go with the current. But I’ll need a better mode of transportation than last time. Looking around, all I saw was the cliff, the lake, the river, and the forest.

“That should work.” (Neil)

Oops. Got into my habit of talking to myself. Then I looked around.

“Oh well, not like anyone’s here to hear me. Time to work!” (Neil)

I walked straight towards a tree. The tree I choose was at least 30 feet tall, 5 feet in diameter, and angled. Once I reached it I used my [Air Bullets] to cut it down. After I removed all the foliage and the unnecessary parts, I rolled the log closer to the river while I waited for my mana to regenerate. I ended up making a log that was about 10 feet long and striped of the bark.

Once I had full mana I tried to use my [Air Ball] but instead of firing it, I tried to keep it in my hand. After a few failed attempts, (one of which consisted of me using my other hand to try and stop it resulting in me loosing 15 hp) I finally got some notifications.

[You have gained familiarity with Air. Familiarity of an element allows you to use the element without restrictions. The greater your familiarity the more freely you may use the element. Familiarity is represented by how much mana you can manipulate per 30 seconds over a distance of 1 foot.]

[You have lost the Spells [Air bullet] and [Air Ball]]

[Your familiarity is increased to 7.]

I shout “Yes!” and do a fist pump.

Getting back to work, I did a quick calculation. In order to use the air how I’d like, I’d need to at least use the size of a baseball. Therefore I’d be using 5 mana per 30 seconds. Meaning that I’d use 10 mana per minute and gain 4 for a total of 6 mana used per minute. And with 40 mana, I should be able to last at least 6 minutes before needing a rest.

“I guess I could just use a familiarity of 2 indefinitely. But I’d probably still get tired and need a rest eventually.” (Neil)

Shrugging my shoulders, I approached my log again. This time, when I try to keep the air in my hand, it works. I then try to make it spin and press it against the wood. As I expected, the air is able to cut out the wood.

After spending about 3 hours on the log, I had turned it into a decent canoe. I was excited to test it out and pushed it straight into the river and hopped in. Once I was in I realized my mistake.

“Crap, I forgot to make a paddle.” (Neil)

Looking towards the shore I realized that I had already passed the sandy area. If I capsized and dragged it to the shore I’d have a hard time dragging it up the rocks. So I just shrugged my shoulders and got comfortable as I let the current take me.

“Hahahaha… aaaa…I’m an idiot.” (Neil)

It was at this time, about 20 minutes after I started down river, that I realized that I could use my magic to steer the canoe. During those 20 minutes, I spent the first 10 enjoying the smooth current and experimenting with my magic. And spent the last 10 dislodging the canoe from some rocks it ran aground to when the river became wide and shallow.

It was also at this time that I realized, I was going about this all wrong. If I wanted to find fire and earth cores I’d have to leave the river. If a leviathan was in the water then the dragon would probably be in a volcano and the golem on a hill or something. And the village that I came from was pretty far from the river so I would have very little to gain from following the river.

Even though I knew there was no other reason to stay on the river, I was still tempted to stay on it. I mean, I spent at least 3 hours on this canoe. There is no way in hell I’m going to give it up so easily. This temptation however was put to rest once I found that I could put it in my storage. And so I headed away from the river.

“Aaaaahhhhh!” (???)

That sounded like someone probably found an unwanted monster. Now that I think about it, I haven’t tried to level up yet. Might as well see if I can leach some EXP from these monsters.

“Bad doggies. Shoo.” (???)

Following the sound while making very little sound myself, I found a guy up in a tree surrounded by 3 wolves. Feeling safe behind a tree, I inspected the guy. He has blond hair and has the same gear as me, making him a player rather than a NPC. I couldn’t see his book from this point of view, but sense he was shouting [Earth Bullet] I knew that he had the earth element.

After taking some time deciding on how I should attack, I was ready to start. I had decided to use half of my mana on the one furthest to my left so that he couldn’t approach me. I would then use the remaining mana against the other two as they attack me. I would also try to make my air into blades rather than balls, hoping it would do more damage. Having thought this through, I fire a [Air Bullet] into the sky so that it doesn’t make any noise.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

After counting to 50, I move to the front of my tree and fire 3 vertical blades of air consisting of 7 mana each at the left most wolf by swinging my arms like I was chopping the wolf. The wolf I aimed for gets hit and starts bleeding. All three wolves are now looking towards me. The two that weren’t hit charge me while the one that’s hurt is limping over.

After firing off my air blades I now knew how long they would be with 7 mana. Knowing that the length should be enough, I fired 3 blades of 6 mana horizontally followed by 1 blade of 5 mana. I was hoping that sense the wolves were close together that each blade would hit both of them. Knowing that I was out of mana, I followed the other guy’s example and climbed the tree behind me.

Once I climbed the tree, I turned around to see what the after effects of my plan was. What I did not expect to see was a blond stranger smiling up at me.

“Thanks for the assist, want to form a party?” (???)

“…huh?” (Neil)

“A party, you know, a group of friends trying to win the game together… Or is that a guild?” (???)

Shaking my head, I snap out of my daze and jump out of my tree. I then face the blond guy with my hands in a time-out position.

“Wait wait wait. Before we go any further, what happened to the wolves?” (Neil)

“They turned into items after we beat them.” (???) Pointing at the items.

Looking around I saw that there was some fur and meat on the ground.

“Okay… Let me rephrase the question. How did they die? I’m pretty sure that my spells didn’t do enough damage to them.” (Neil)

“Oh, that? Once I saw that you wounded them I jumped down and finished them off.” (???)

“With your bare fists?” (Neil)

“Yep.” (???)

“So, you have super strength?” (Neil)

“Nope, super speed. Unfortunately it’s not super enough to out run the wolves. But once they were wounded, I just had to hit them super-fast until they turn into items.” (???)

“Okay, now I understand how the wolves died. But why were they chasing you?” (Neil)

“I was tricked. I’m new to this whole virtual gaming and was nearly killed. But you saved me so I know I can trust you, so do you want to team up?” (???) All smiles

I didn’t get all the answers I wanted but I figured I could get them latter if we teamed up. So I put my hand out to shake his. “Sure, I’m Neil.”

Grabbing my hand and shaking it up and down. “Nice meeting ya, I’m Paul.”

“Do you know where a village is Paul?” (Neil)

“Sure, it should be that way.” (Paul) points is a direction

“Alright then, let’s gather this loot and head to the village. I’ve got some questions I want to ask you along the way.” (Neil) I move to get the loot

“No prob. Also I want to know, are you also a noob?” (Paul)

This freezes me in my tracks. I’ve been playing VR games for a while now and find his comment offensive, but I’m willing to give him a chance.

Facing Paul “What makes you ask that?” (Neil)

“Because you didn’t kill a single wolf. You just hit them all and ran.” (Paul)

Calming down I nod my head seeing how a noob could see it like that.

“Tell me, do you know what happens when you get hurt in a VR game?” (Neil)

“Duh, you lose hp.” (Paul)

“Correct. Now, what happens when you get cut in a VR?” (Neil)

Frowning at the question “Isn’t it the same thing?” (Paul)

“Nope. When you get cut in a VR, you get the bleeding status. This causes you to take damage over time. I ran up the tree after cutting the wolves cause I knew that they would bleed.” (Neil)

“So you were going to let them bleed to death? That’s harsh man.” (Paul)

Sighing at how much of a noob Paul was, I just go back to collecting the items. All three of the wolves left [Wolf Meat] and [Wolf Fur]. I let Paul carry the fury while I carried the meat. When he asked about why we were dividing it this way, I explained how the inventory works and how items can stack. What I didn’t tell him was that I wanted to keep the food supply in case we separated.

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I didn't really finish this chapter. I would like to end this chapter by having Paul question Neil on their way to the village. That's why I'll update this chapter after you guys leave some questions you have about this story. (might take awhile)

Also, after posting on this site I realized that I should probably condense my chapters (make them shorter with more action). But I don't want to change the flow of this story, therefore, I will try to start a new story. This story (One Life) will be updated occasionally if I get a sudden urge for this topic but will not be following a schedule (sorry I'm still new at this).

Thanks for reading!