Lost within the confines of a dream, a loud squeal jerked me awake. I gasped for air before my senses sprung back to life. “What the…” I groaned as the ground trembled mildly beneath me. The sounds of animals running around surprised me as I hadn’t encountered any so far. Was this the dawning of a new experience?
A deep growl erupted a short distance away and judging by its ferocity, it was that of a predator. With my vision obscured on three sides by the shelter, I couldn’t exactly see much. The side that was actually open was obscured by the light from the campfire. “Looks like plan B it is,” I whispered before grabbing the crafting hammer I had snuggled up beside me while I slept. Like a child’s teddy bear, it had given me psychological comfort during the night for a moment just like this.
I groggily crept out and twisted my neck in every direction to make a plan of action. Luckily, the campfire provided just enough light to see whatever was approaching. While I had the time, I placed my hands in a better position on the handle, prepared to attack within a moment's notice. The light from the fire provided ample light, enough to actually see about ten metres in every direction, besides where the bushes and trees blocked my line of sight.
The stomps got louder when a deer suddenly leapt from out of the darkness, heading directly towards me; it managed to turn its direction away at the last moment before hopping away back into the darkness. What naturally came after that was the predator.
Gleaming red eyes erupted from behind the shroud of darkness, shifting its eyes away from the deer and setting its goal on easier prey. It slowed before locking gazes with me, stopping about five metres away, give or take. From this distance, I could tell it resembled a wolf… not a fully grown adult, but big enough to cause some serious damage. Its full attention targeted me when it began to snarl viciously, revealing the crimson blood-stained teeth resting within its jaws.
The lighting was horrendous, to say the least, so I couldn’t exactly see many details apart from that and its dark grey fur. Within a second, the system had sprung to life and begun conducting a scan of the creature. A stat box appeared atop its head.
Wolf Level 3
HP: 134/150
With the wolf having 3 levels and 34 HP on me, I didn’t know what to expect from this battle as it clearly had no intention of backing down. My heart rate skyrocketed as adrenaline raced throughout my veins… for the first time I was scared but also a little excited to learn more about the combat system. I didn’t exactly want to test the death mechanics just yet so I decided I would run away if things went south.
I gripped the wooden handle tighter and took in a deep breath. Yeah, I knew the hammer’s purpose was to craft, but it’s not like I had anything better to defend myself with. It’d have to do until I found… or crafted something better.
I also had the three health potions, but it’d be nice to save them for when things were really dire. Three small stat bars appeared in the corner of my HUD, which indicated my own stat points: health was red, stamina was green, and magic was blue. Pretty standard stuff when it came to RPGs.
The wolf was done waiting around, and it pounced forward with unyielding ferocity. I barely managed to get out of the way in time by jumping to the side. It landed mere centimetres away from the fire; some of the hairs on its chin sizzled away leaving a small trail of smoke in the air as it began to rub the burns with its dirty paws. This gave me enough time to make my move; I raised the hammer above my head and stuck the creature's head. In real-time, the HP bar above its head diminished to 113 HP. I was hoping to deal more damage but at least now, I knew where I stood.
[Wolf Level 3: HP: 113/150]
It turned its head towards me. By that time, I had managed to take a few steps back and once again took a defensive position. With no more surprises up my sleeve, the real fight had begun.
Once again, the wolf leaped towards me; this time it narrowly missed using my arm as a chew toy, its razor-sharp teeth grazing my arm on the way down as I tried my best to avoid it. Like last time, I gave it a good whack, but this time the blow landed on the side of its belly. The creature snarled in pain as its HP dropped to 98 points. With no intention of giving up, it growled once more before charging toward my leg, this time catching me off-guard. I couldn’t even take a step back as before I knew it, its teeth had dug deep into the tendons of my lower leg.
[Wolf Level 3: HP: 98/150]
“Argh!” I yelled as the pain shot up my nerves. Without thinking about it, I began to barrage the creature's head repeatedly in a bid to force it to release the vice-like grip it had me trapped in. I was at breaking point, a little more force and my bone would have splintered like timber being ripped in half. With what little self-preservation I had remaining, I kept up the flurry of attacks… when finally, I felt the grip of its jaw weaken. I stumbled to the side before hitting the ground like a stone.
[Ali'Creed Level 0: HP: 67/100, SP: 96/100, MP:100/100]
I panted furiously as my leg leaked blood like a faucet. My HP had dropped down to 67 and continued its decline as more blood kept escaping. My shoes began to get soggy from all the blood loss, only increasing my concern. I grabbed the hammer I’d dropped and stared at the wolf in case it was still alive, but my gaze met its lifeless corpse. I sighed with relief as notifications barraged my HUD.
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[New Skill Gained. One-Handed Weapons Level 0]
[One-Handed Weapons are weapons that are wielded with one hand. Upgrading this skill improves proficiency and unlocks new perks that will enhance your experience in combat.]
[You have killed Wolf Level 3: +3XP Gained]
[Bonus XP for using One-Handed Weapon: +3XP]
[You have now reached Level 1: +1 Perk Point]
With that, I rushed to the inventory screen and quickly selected the Health Potion as my HP dropped to 57. It slipped from my hand and landed on the grass, narrowly avoiding the widening pool of blood. I grabbed the small glass vial as fast as I could and gulped every last drop of the red liquid it contained. The torrent of blood ceased and the holes in my leg slammed shut within a blink of an eye. A feeling of relief buzzed throughout my body, as with every point of healing, I felt my blood being replenished.
[You consumed Health Potion Level 0: +53HP]
Damn it! The left side of my pants and the corresponding shoe were completely drenched in blood. That’s when the reality of this world had hit me like a freight train. What if I’m not lucky next time?
One thing was sure and that was I had to be more careful from now on. With two life-saving health potions remaining that was now truer than ever. And judging from the other howls in the distance there were more wolves out there. I needed to get stronger. I controlled my breathing to calm down and opened the menu.
<<
Profile
Level: 1
4/125 XP
HP: 110/110
SP: 96/110
MP: 110/110
Head: None
Primary Weapon: Crafting Hammer Level 0
Torso: Cotton Tunic 99%
?
Arms: None
?
Legs: Cotton Pants 77%
?
Feet: Cloth Shoes 96%
?
Accessories: None
?
?
?
?
Levelling up increased my stats by 10% and reset the XP bar back to zero while raising the cap for the next level to 125 XP. Looks like with every level gained it would get harder to reach the next. The level up had also granted me a neat 10% increase in stat points. Next up was the skills menu.
<<
Skills
Herbalism Level 0
10/50XP
Foraging Level 0
38/50XP
Crafting Level 1 (Perks Available)
0/75XP
One-Handed Weapons Level 0
3/50XP
Killing the wolf had gained me 3 experience which had added directly into the main XP pool while the bonus XP added into both the skill I had used to defeat it and the main XP pool. The Crafting skill that had levelled up yesterday now also had an increased ceiling for the next level. With the level increase, a new option had been made available to gain a perk which I had also gained during the level up. Upon pressing the skill, a new menu appeared… the perk menu.
Crafting Perks
Basic Carpentry
Cost: 1 Point
Unlocks the workbench.
Only one option made itself available along with a lacking description. The basic carpentry perk would allow me to craft the workbench. With nothing else available at the moment, I clicked it.
[You unlocked Basic Carpentry. You can now craft the Workbench.]
“Great!” I thought. I held the hammer in front of me and activated the build menu.
Campfire
Stone x5
Softwood x2
Stamina: 10
Basic Shelter
Softwood x5
Hardwood x2
Stamina: 20
Workbench
Softwood x10
Hardwood x5
Stone 5
Stamina: 50
“Well… It looks like I’ll be spending a few hours collecting materials today,” I groaned to myself. The workbench’s cost was significantly higher than the Campfire and the Basic Shelter. It would also cost a great deal more SP to build the damn thing.
I sighed before turning my attention to the wolf’s carcass, knowing full well I would be able to loot the corpse. As I neared, a small command appeared upon its head.
[Open Inventory]
“Okay, system, call it what you like, but this is obviously corpse looting.” I chuckled before proceeding.
<<
Wolf (Beast) Level 3
Wolf Pelt (1)
Wolf Meat (2)
Capacity: ?/?
Not exactly epic loot, but it was something, at least. I could use the pelt later to craft something, I guess. The wolf meat could be cooked for food, but I knew it could potentially contain diseases if not cooked right. Would it even stay fresh in the system?
Light began to pour out over the horizon as early morning came to life and birds had already begun to sing their lullaby. With my stamina nearly full, I decided on setting my goal to gather the materials needed to craft the workbench. This would give me a better idea of what other things I could craft. I was hoping at the very least for some decent weapons given these kinds of encounters would be the norm going forward.
Before heading out, I needed to empty my bladder and bowels first and clean myself up. Why on earth would they programme this in… that is, if this world is a construct?