Ben was excited. He wouldn't consider himself a social butterfly, but he definitely enjoyed the company of others. Growing up he'd always liked when there were other kids to play with in the foster homes he'd lived in before he'd landed on his grandma's couch at 15, then he'd enjoyed meeting people in the high school he attended. Many kids in his situation retreated into a shell away from the world, but he'd refused to let his situation ruin his perspective on others, determined not to let the bad turn worse.
Despite this he was also nervous, given it was the first person he'd be meeting since the end of the world, so some slack should be cut, or so he thought.
As he hiked his way through the woods toward he looked deeply at all the passing trees and bushes, testing the new Identify skill. It was a bit different than he recalled from the books he'd read and games he'd played.
Trees he didn't really recognize as anything other than trees readout "Tree", in the interface, but the ones he could pinpoint readout more fully.
Fir Tree: A common coniferous tree found throughout much of Old Earth. Leaves are small and needle shaped, seeds are contained in cone like pods that fall from the main tree body...
The interface went on for a long time about Firs.
Well, I did do that report on Fir Trees for that Botany class. I guess it's giving me what I already know in a tighter clearly laid out interface. But it just gave me the info on Manora Gensis though. Ben thought more about it as he continued onward, staring at passing "Rocks" and "Bushes" as he went.
About 30 minutes later Ben arrived at the top of a small hill overlooking the area the smoke was rising from. He pegged it at about 200 yards into the woods beyond.
If I yell, whoever is over there would probably hear me. He considered, then reconsidered, thinking about potentially malicious humans, or particularly intelligent monsters that may be lurking ahead. With that in mind he began slowly making his way down the hill toward the smoking, minding where he placed his feet, and carefully side stepping behind trees between him and his target.
About halfway down the hill he got another notification.
Skill Sneak Level 1 Acquired
With that under his belt, stepping quietly got much easier, and he noted he barely needed to pay attention to where he was placing his feet to reduce his noise down to a barely audible level. Suddenly avoiding twigs and the crunchier leaves blanketing the forest floor became much easier.
I'm never going to get used to this. He considered, the increase in ability playing at his mind again.
A few minutes later he found himself behind a wide pine like tree that simply read "Tree" to his Identify, so must not be a pine at all for all he knew. Ben could smell the fire clearly now, as well as the distinct smell of cooking meat. Ben knew he was only about 15 yards from the fire now, and he could see that it was in a clearing in the trees. Right as he peered around the wide trunk he hid behind he felt it.
Placed just below the base of his skull, was a sharp point.
"Who the hell are you, and what do you want?", snarled a distinctly feminine voice at the other end of the point behind him.
"I'm Ben. I swear I mean you know harm. I'm really glad you speak English, that's kind of a crazy coincidence considering-", Ben's shaky voice was cutoff by the point pressing a slight bit further into his skin, but still not quite breaking it.
"That's enough 'Ben'. I'm going to be straight with you, I don't know you and I don't trust you. You can either turn around and take your happy ass out the way you came, or you can die where you stand.", said the voice.
"Hm. Well I think I would take the first option, but first is there any chance I could ask you a few questions, maybe sit down and we can share what we've noticed so far. I don't know about you, but I haven't seen or heard from anyone since this whole thing started. My phone is dead or broken, I'm not sure which. I'd really like to try to work together, at least for a bit.", Ben spoke quickly, trying to seem non-threatening to this obviously on edge individual.
"Tell me your Core Talent, you have 2 seconds go!", the woman said in a rush.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"The Passivist: I can't use actives, but my passives are amped up and I get them faster! Was that two sec-", Ben wasn't able to finish his sentence before he was hooked from his side and spun around.
What he found shook him. A woman, in ripped up blue jeans and flannel, both soaked with blood. She had a heavy gash in her leg, and several lighter wound on her arms. She appeared to be around his age, or maybe a bit older, had tanned dark skin, black hair, and sharp features on her face, much like his own. What concerned him most was the obviously used spear she held in her hands, pointed near his stomach and groin.
"Well Ben, lucky for you I think I could kill you in less than a second in that case. Walk slowly backward into the clearing, there are a few logs there we can sit on and keep an eye on each other.", she said, motioning him to move backward with tip of the spear.
"Right away ma'am.", he quickly responded with a nod.
"Call me ma'am again and our talk will be cut short, along with other things.", she motioned suggestively with the spear.
Ben felt his eyes widen with shock at that notion and quickly backed into the clearing, stumbling to a seat on a stump she guided him to.
"Wh-what is your name?", he asked as she sighed and sat back on stump opposite him. Ben looked over the clearing once she sat, noting a distinctly human shaped monster (or what he hoped was a monster) roasting over a low fire.
"Mari", she said curtly, eyes staying on Ben.
"Well Mari, can I ask about your Core Talent since you know mine?", he asked, voice getting quieter as he remembered their situation.
"No, only an idiot would give out their core talent so easily." She said dismissively.
"Well." Ben chewed on his next words. "How about how all those wounds happened?"
"Well. I got dropped into a cave, and happened to exit out the side that was surrounded by some kind of monster camp. A bunch of tiny guys, kind of like goblins from games, but they came in all different colors.", she said nodding toward the monster on the fire.
"And you're... Eating them?", Ben asked, slightly concerned for his safety suddenly.
"Well, there isn't shit else to eat. I only know a few of the plants out here, and none that are edible. To top it off I got really hurt fighting my way out, and it took eating and getting a bit of shitty sleep last night just to stop my HP ticking down.", she said quietly, hissing the first part in disgust.
Ben hadn't considered that. I guess I'd probably do the same if I were in her situation, you have to do what you have to do I guess.
"Can I ask what your health is at?", he asked carefully.
"60. Out of 100." She said back quietly.
"Have you not levelled up? Why not?!" he asked sitting forward.
"No points. I dropped all my initial points on this spear.", she said hefting the spear. "Then the points I got from the initial kill bonus and the 6 kills I got after on skills. If it hadn't been for the giant red dude I would've made it out fine with a spear and 3 skills to boot."
"Oh. Was it some kind of boss or something?" Ben asked, considering that this lady must be some badass martial artist or something. He'd nearly died to a methed up Koala, meanwhile she'd been fighting gangs of goblinoids at level 1.
"Something like that. It could coat it's axe in fire. Luckily it only hit me with a few glancing blows before I high tailed it out of there.", she responded head falling to look at the grassy floor.
She must be starting to trust me. He considered her drooping head. Time to double down. Send 10 points to Mari. He issued the thought to the system.
10 points sent to Mari
"Use those to buy a level. You should put it in Fortitude. If you'll gamble on me I'll keep you safe for a bit while you catch some sleep and try to heal up. After that we can head back the way I came if you're willing to stick together. I can't guarantee I can protect you, but I can at least wake you up if it hits the fan.", he said, leaning toward her, elbows on his knees.
Skill Persuasion Level 1 Acquired
Status
Name: Benjamin October
Core Talent: The Passivist
Level: 4
Grade: 1
Points: 10
HP: 130/130
Mana: 130/130
Strength: 10
Fortitude: 16
Dexterity: 11
Wisdom: 10
Intelligence: 11
Willpower: 15
Skills
Actives: N/A
Passives: Hardened Skin 2; Reinforced Fists 1; Hiking 1; Identify 1; Sneak 1; Persuasion 1