I groaned as the pain came rushing back into my leg. Laying on my back, I found myself unsure of how to proceed. I had no way to fix a broken leg. The only thing I could do was ask Alex.
Asher: I broke my leg. What the hell do I do?
Alex: How in the world did that happen? Heal yourself.
Asher: I would love to but HOW?
Alex: I thought you reviewed all of your abilities. Everyone has a Heal Self ability.
My eyebrows shot to the top of my head in surprise. I had reviewed my character sheet and the only ones I had noticed were my class abilities. Taking a second look, I confirmed that there was a Heal Self ability. It wasn’t considered a class ability.
**General Active Abilities**
Unranked:
[Heal Self]
Well, shit. If I hadn’t had Alex I would have been dead by now. If not dead, then one mistake away from making it that way. I reviewed the ability.
[Heal Self]
Active
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Heal yourself, over time, of any damage or wounds.
Well, that was what I needed. Without hesitating, I triggered the ability. An immediate soothing sensation swam through my body. The pain in my leg became a dull ache as the soothing effect overcame it. After a few moments, I was able to move my leg again without crying out in pain.
Pausing for a moment, I attempted to stand back up to my feet. I had expected to feel a jolt of pain as I put weight on it but that didn’t happen. Instead, it felt sore.
An entire minute had passed since healing myself and my leg was as good as new. No pain. No ache. No soreness.
“Alex, you are a goddamn genius,” I said. “I should probably tell him that. Wait—no maybe not.”
Asher: That did the trick. Thank you, Alex.
Alex: Of course! Now, are you going to share how you broke your leg?
Asher: Ah, right. After I looted the first treant a few more appeared and attacked me. One yanked another’s leg off and threw it at me which I collided with. That broke my leg. Also, it threw its own arm at me! Speaking of looting…
Alex: Yikes! That could’ve cost you your life. You need to be more vigilant of your surroundings. Once you level up you should think about adding a few points to your Perception attribute. Also, your Constitution.
Alex: You need armor, as well.
“Yeesh. Does he always lecture?” I said, walking toward the three burned remains of the treants. “Maybe I should’ve waited before accepting his bond request.”
The loot from the treants gave me additional Ancient Bark and Verdant Leafs. I wasn’t sure what I could do with it just yet but I figured Alex would deal with all of that.
A smile plastered my face as I recalled my level up to Opal 1. Opening my character sheet, I reviewed my attributes.
**Attributes**
Strength: 3
Agility: 2
Dexterity: 3
Intellect: 3
Perception: 3
Constitution: 1
Charisma: 1
I took Alex’s advice and threw a point into Constitution. If what Alex mentioned earlier was correct about Constitution being related to aging and health strength then I had just doubled my lifespan with a single attribute point while three remained. If all of these attributes were around the base of average adult human capabilities then within a few levels they would be considered superhuman. I couldn’t imagine what would happen when someone ranked up. “Unbelievable”, I whispered.
With the remaining three points, I allocated two to Agility, doubling it, and one to Perception. After spending the rest of my unassigned attribute points, I reviewed my attributes again.
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**Attributes**
Strength: 3
Agility: 4
Dexterity: 3
Intellect: 3
Perception: 4
Constitution: 2
Charisma: 1
There wasn’t a noticeable change in my body but I felt in shape now—like I could go could compete in a triathlon, eat some food, and then go do it again. I jumped up and down, twisted and pulled my body in each way, testing out the new limits I had just pushed. “Damn, I feel good. I think I can even see better?”
With the looting and levels out of the way, the last thing I had remaining to review was the achievement I had received after killing the first treant.
Achievement Unlocked! Bark Burner
You managed to topple your very first monster! Woohoo! A treant as well. Who knew that these wise and ancient beings loved to be burned to death? Well, apparently you did because that is what you did.
Reward: [Opal Adventurer Box]x1
I laughed, “Why are these descriptions so sassy? Who comes up with them anyway? Is it you Cleo?”
Making sure no other treants were going to pop out anytime soon, I decided to open my loot box here in the forest in case it had something I could use now—like armor.
An opal-lined chest landed with a thud on the forest floor. Startled by the break in silence, I waited a moment and scanned my surroundings again to ensure nothing decided to be pissed off by the noise. Satisfied with what I found I initiated the box opening.
It did the same old song and dance with the floating, glitter, and noise. Out came the reward.
[Health Potion]x10 obtained.
[Mana Potion]x5 obtained.
I grinned at my reward. About ten minutes ago I hadn’t had a way to heal myself of a broken leg but now I had two. I also had a way to restore mana which I didn’t think I had any of. All my abilities were based on cooldown and arrow costs. But I rather have the Mana Potions as a backup in case something changed.
Reorienting myself on where I was originally headed, I gave the withered husks of the treants one last look. “Sucks to be you guys,” I said in a low tone, kicking the burned wood of treant.
“Hello,” an unknown voice said. The voice was quiet and sounded young and foreign.
Searching for where the voice came from, I prepared myself to pull my bow up at a moment’s notice if it came down to that and responded with, “Hello?”
“I saw what you did to those trees,” said the voice. “Will you…help me?”
“Er—well…” I said, unsure how to answer.
“You probably have to. How can you say no to me? I am a child for Pete’s sake!” barked the voice.
Scanning for a glimpse of the source of the voice, “A child? Where are you?”
After a few moments, the sound of feet hitting the ground traveled through the air. A slender child, sporting a denim jacket over a white shirt with black pants that reached their ankles, as well as ankle-high brown leather boots, appeared from around a tree. “Right here.”
My eyes were wide as my lips pried open. “You really are a child. Where are your parents? Were you just in a tree?” I asked, loosening my grip on my bow.
“Uh, not here. Duh. Don’t you remember what Cleo said? Everyone has been moved around into different places,” the child said. “That includes my parents and my brother. Well… I assume they did. They made me touch an orb before they went and found ones for themselves. And yes I was in a tree.”
“Oh, that’s right. You are a smart one,” I said.
“Thank you! My parents say the same thing. My name is Sarah, by the way. Sarah King,” she said, flipping her silky brown locks back over her shoulders.
“You probably shouldn’t go around talking to strangers, right? That’s something a kid shouldn’t do. And probably don’t tell them your name,” I responded.
“Well… yes that is true. But I am a small girl lost in the woods with walking trees. What else am I to do?” said Sarah.
“Oh… right. OK. Well, Sarah, my name is Asher. I suppose I can help you out of these woods. I mean I guess I have to, right?” I said. “Who would just leave a child in the woods by themselves?”
Sarah nodded in agreement. “Exactly! What is your last name, Asher? Mine is King like I said earlier. Like a royal King. Did you know that last names usually indicate what type of profession your ancestors were long ago?”
“Uh-huh,” I said with a furrowed brow. “Well, I don’t know if my last name indicates that. I don’t think it’s important to say, anyway.”
“Tell me! Now I need to know,” she snapped at me. “Tell me!”
Throwing my hands up in front of me, as if she were about to attack, “Alright, kid. Chill. My last name is… uh… Loveless.”
Sarah’s expression remained blank as she processed the information given to her. Over a few moments, her facial expression transformed into a smirk. “I see. That is very interesting to hear, Asher Loveless.”
I narrowed my eyes at her, “…yes… interesting. Anyway, where exactly are you from Sarah?”
Sarah grimaced at the question. “I’m not going to give you my address, you creep! If I do that next thing I know you’ll be watching me from my room as I—“
I cut her off before she could finish her thought, “Woah! No! I meant what country you are from. Yeesh kid. You are imaginative.” I waited a moment before continuing, “Plus remember what you just said? The whole world is shuffled. Your address doesn’t exist anymore.”
“Oh. That is right,” she said in a quiet voice. “Sorry, Asher,”
“It’s fine. My address doesn’t exist anymore either. I guess we are both homeless,” I said in my most comforting voice possible. “You’re not going to… cry, right?”
Her face turned red and jabbed a finger into the air in my direction. “No! Just because I am a girl doesn’t mean I am going to cry!”
“Alright,” I said with my hands in the air again, hoping she wouldn’t attack. “You are right. That was insensitive of me. Look I'm sorry too. Let’s just start over. My name is Asher Loveless. I'm 33 years old. I'm from the United States. Pennsylvania to be exact.”
Sarah’s face pointed down, the balls of her feet rubbing her shoe into the dirt of the forest floor. She let out a sniff and said, “My name is Sarah King. I'm 12 years old and I'm from the United Kingdom. England to be exact.”
I smiled at her. “Well, nice to meet you, Sarah.”
She lifted her head and returned a smile.
“Let’s get you out of this forest. There is a town in this direction…” I said, pausing for a moment as I pointed my finger in the air toward the town, “…and I didn’t get a chance to check it out yet. So maybe we can go there and then figure out what we can do with you? Sound like a plan?”
Sarah’s shoulders sunk as she squeaked out, “Yeah… sure. That sounds fine.”
“Great! Let’s head this way immediately. I don’t want any more treants barging out and smushing us into a pulp,” I said. “Let’s roll.”
Reorienting myself from the way I came, I began to walk back to town. Turning my head around, I ensured Sarah began to follow. She lagged behind by several feet as we continued.
Dozens of thoughts ran through my head as I tried to figure out what to do with this girl. What if we were attacked by another treant? Or even multiple? How would I defend her? I couldn’t dodge a log let alone defend another human. How was she going to defend herself?
A moment of clarity popped into my brain after that last thought. I stopped in my tracks and stared at Sarah.
She stopped and her head popped up. “What?”
“What is your classification? Have you used any of your abilities yet? You just have to think of them and it’ll appear in your mind. Think of Stats and you should get a list of everything regarding your capabilities,” I explained.
Sarah blinked at me with a blank expression.
“Are you doing it? I can’t tell if you underst—” I said before Sarah interjected abruptly.
“Shush. I am trying to think,” she said.
After a few moments of silence and fingers tapping on my legs in anticipation, a smile grew on her face.
“Well?” I asked without waiting for her to speak.
“Bloodfire Berserker”