15 minutes of walking later, Robin only had 2 Thu'heahs remaining, after barely having been able to swallow about half a fruit's worth in total.
Thankfully their disgusting, old-sock-flavoured-dog-food tasting juices seemed to contain a lot of water, so he was not as thirsty anymore. His hunger went away much earlier on, after his 3rd bite, with even his stomach having decided that it was happier to endure starvation for a few days than have to process that.
He reached a place he thought was as safe as anything in the middle of the wilderness was going to get.
Behind him was a rocky, 4-5 meters tall cliff, which marked the border of the clearing he was sitting in the middle of, making it roughly the shape of a semicircle. The closest tree was at least 7 meters away from him, and the closest bush was even further, so he was going to see whatever was coming at him.
Now, what he was going to do about anything charging at him... he hoped it wouldn't come to that. Currently, he had at most 40 more minutes of daylight, so after drawing an arrow on the ground pointing in the direction he found the only edible plant in the forest so far, he went out to look for some firewood.
A few minutes in he realized he had barely any clue if the wood was dry enough to catch fire, and then even if it could, he had nothing to light it on fire with.
"Guess my only hope is that stick-rubbing I saw people do on TV when I was younger. Wonderful."
When the sun eventually set, he had 2 piles of wood - a small one in which he put everything he was sure would catch alight, and another one made of about 10 kilograms' worth of stuff he thought he would be able to set aflame, at least eventually.
He also kept the sturdiest stick he found on him, intending to use it as his last - and only - defense against attackers.
The quiet and the dark made the forest much creepier than it was during the day. It could be a good sign and mean that nothing was around, but it could also mean that anything that was around had skills that made themselves practically undetectable to Robin. That was a thought he didn't want to entertain.
He tried rubbing a stick on a piece of bark very fast for a few minutes. The only thing he got to show for it were irritation on both his palms and a couple splinters.
He took off his socks and tried again while using them as gloves. It still wasn't working.
He failed and failed and failed, and after a while he started to hear some shuffling behind the trees and bushes around him, which reminded him to hurry the fuck up if he wanted to see the sun again.
At this point he could constantly see glowing orbs in the dark, watching him from the corners of his vision. They always disappeared when he focused on them.
He started panicking, his surroundings teaming up against him and his only hope being something that he only knew he could theoretically do.
In his frenzy, he tore a hole in his sock-gloves, which snapped him out of it momentarily.
"These things are pretty thick. If i managed to tear them I'll surely poke a hole in my skin in no time as well, and the last thing I need is to give whatever is prowling here a sniff of fresh blood." he shivered, from the cold and danger both.
Notice
Body temperatures below healthy levels. You are now under the effects of Hypothermia.
Hypothermia - taking constant damage until body heat restored to normal levels. Scales with the difference between current temperature and minimum acceptable temperature.
He briefly thought about covering himself in Thu'heah juices to make himself smell less appetizing, but decided against it shortly after.
Then he hoped those same juices would be flammable, so he poked one and squeezed some on the bark, but it didn't help with anything either.
He had no other ideas. He looked around him - only sticks and branches, some small rocks and dirt. He could throw some rocks at the shadows, but that too could backfire and make the things pounce if they felt his warning attacks were weak.
There was nothing else he had. His last hope was to find something in his Status screen that he hadn't seen before.
"Status."
Status
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Name: Robin Greystone
Race: Human (Uncommon)
Age: 20
Resources:
Health: 48/50
Stamina: 20/20
Mana: 40/40
Afflictions:
Hypothermia
Attributes:
Agility: 2
Endurance: 2
Intelligence: 4
Perception: 3
Resistance: 1
Strength: 2
Vitality: 4
Willpower: 4
Skills:
Identify* (C)
Elemental Affinity* (S)
Nothing new. Nothing good anyway.
He had already tried using his second skill a number of times but he couldn't get it to work.
He tried opening an inventory like in a RPG's, but his hope was gone as fast as it came as nothing popped up after he called out.
"Okay, think. You have a Superior grade skill. It should be strong as fuck. But nothing happens with you just calling out it's name, or saying a random chemical element like Iron or Copper, or simply Earth."
"Think what it could possibly do. It increases my 'affinity' with the elements. I would really like to know what the fuck that means..."
But then he got an idea. He never tried using Identify on something on his Status screen before. So he did now.
Elemental Affinity* - Superior
Passive skill
Allows user to invoke any Element in their most base forms. Mildly boosts ability to comprehend and manipulate Elemental Magic. Increases Mana efficiency when casting Elemental Magic. Slightly increases resistance to Elemental damage.
* - Skill has been granted as a blessing from Nydros, The First #%@*(&]%>@{+^
"So much information and so little I can do with it..."
The shivering was constant now - a combination of the fear of being surrounded by unknown beasts, the cold of a night out in the mountains while only wearing pajamas, and the frustration he felt towards all of it.
Maybe the things out there were enjoying watching him struggle; he was an interesting toy now and would become an effortless meal later.
There was an impulse to just get up and run at them, to at least draw out the smallest amount of effort from them. To prove... something.
But at the moment he was not. He faced that fact and gave up on his suicidal charge.
"A world of infinite possibility, and I'm about to die on the first day. I bet I would've been able to create ice spears or fireballs out of thin air if I had a few months..." he thought sadly, closing his eyes.
A memory surfaced. It was him, younger, at the end of his first summer camp.
He remembered being in awe from the size and heat of the fire. A 3-meter tall beacon that dried his eyes and turn his face beet red when he got close.
"Yeah, maybe even something as big as this..."
He reached out with his hand, both in the memory and right now. "A fire so strong I feel like even now I can feel that heat. The way it burns my hand..."
His brain tickled.
"How I miss that heat right now." he shook his head, and opened his eyes - or at least tried to.
There was light radiating from his hand, and it was blinding for his pitch-darkness accustomed vision.
He had fire. Burning a bit bigger than how a candlelight would, but fire nonetheless.
He didn't think, he just grabbed the closest thing from the dry pile and touched it to the flame. The flame looked like it just floated from this hand to the branch, setting it alight.
He didn't know how or why and it didn't matter. He had to get a fire going with this. His life depended on it.
A minute later, Robin had a fire that was not going to go out. At some point he stopped shivering as well and realized that there was no more movement in the darkness.
"Honestly, there might have not even been anything there in the first place, just my mind playing tricks on me. But in any case, there's nothing there now - imagined or otherwise - so that's good."
He felt pretty depleted, but also curious about both how he got his fire and how hurt the Nexus considered him to be, so he once again opened his Status.
Status
Name: Robin Greystone
Race: Human (Uncommon)
Age: 20
Resources:
Health: 27/50
Stamina: 20/20
Mana: 26/40
Attributes:
Agility: 2
Endurance: 2
Intelligence: 4
Perception: 3
Resistance: 1
Strength: 2
Vitality: 4
Willpower: 4
Skills:
Identify* (C)
Elemental Affinity* (S)
(!) Spark (I)
He had basically lost half of his health to hypothermia and his own Inferior grade Skill - apparently called "Spark" - but he was still alive.
And that was all that mattered at the moment.
Now, with the cliff at his back and a fire between him and anything else that was out there, he could finally lie down and rest.
It had been a very stressful day, and he was feeling extremely tired.