Chapter Two

Haera stared stunned at the new notification. She had known how to skin and prepare a kill, but now after that notification, it was as if she had been doing this every day for years and it was muscle memory. She began skinning the level 3 Basher next and marveled at the speed and efficiency of her new Skill. There was knowledge there too, little things that you didn’t necessarily need to know, but it helped with the denizens of this new world. She perused the new knowledge and found she knew she could theoretically skin quite a few animals that she had never heard of, instinctually and efficiently. It was one thing to skin a Basher, which was almost identical to a rabbit from Earth except for the horn. It was another thing entirely to skin a six-legged Scaled Wolf, whatever that was. She could vaguely picture this new creature in her mind. The image resembled old textbooks with anatomical representations denoting organ placement and functions.

“So, skill levels represent knowledge and application of a certain task. Interesting.”

After she finished cleaning her kills, she collected her skins and tools and began searching for water knowing it was essential to her survival. She continued hiking in the direction she had initially been travelling and after about a couple of hours, she heard the distinct sound of running water. She followed the sounds to a small brook flowing to the south. Taking a quick sip, she began searching the area for tracks to ensure this place was isolated from most wildlife and found few signs of animals passing. As she was searching, she came across a good campsite near a tree that offered a bit of protection from the elements and began setting camp. She took her tent out and set it up, then proceeded to collect rocks from the stream to set a fire ring. Once she had finished, she noticed the sun was setting and she wanted to get a fire going before it was completely dark so she virtually ran around gathering fallen branches and deadfall from the various trees nearby. Once she had gathered a sufficient amount to keep the fire burning for a few hours, she returned to camp and kindled a fire into being. She took the Basher meat out of her inventory and used a few wooden sticks as skewers to roast it over the fire and ate both portions. It had been a couple of hours since she drank the water from the stream and there were no adverse effects so she returned and drank her fill. After that, she lay under her simple tent and promptly fell asleep.

She awoke early the next morning feeling as refreshed as she could from sleeping on the ground with no pillow. Breaking camp was a simple affair and she proceeded to follow the brook to the north hoping to find a larger body of water. She kept her eyes open for tracks and was lucky enough to encounter a few more Bashers, all level 1, for food. This task was made much easier by a thick walking stick she had picked up during the day’s hike. At midmorning she took a break and made a quick campfire to roast the meat, after eating one she stuffed the rest back into her inventory and continued her search. Eventually the brook widened a bit and she was buoyed by her excitement, knowing that conventional wisdom dictated that society built near water. She finally came to a wide river flowing from northeast to southwest with telltale signs of fish swimming beneath the surface. With most of the day gone by, she decided to search for a campsite. Foregoing wood because the weather was nice, she laid against the base of a wide tree and let go of the stresses of the waking world.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

For a whole week she hiked, hunted, skinned and slept in the wilderness. It wasn’t until the afternoon on the seventh day that she discovered a break in the forest that clearly looked manmade. Sure enough, as she left the wooded canopy behind, she spotted a small village in the distance as if it had been planted right next to the river. Thinking better of rushing in, she decided to wait until dark and do some reconnaissance to determine what she would be getting into. As she waited for night to fall, she retreated back into the forest and set camp. With hours before nightfall, she decided to hunt more Bashers for meat and skin. Over the course of a few hours Haera ended up killing and skinning 18 of the prolific rabbits. On her 12th kill she received a welcome notification.

Congratulations! You have received enough experience to Level Up!

You have received

+2 Intelligence

+1 Strength

+1 Agility

You have 3 Unassigned Stat Points.

When she finished cleaning her kills and packing everything into her inventory, she took another look at her status, knowing she should assign everything before going into a potentially dangerous situation.

Status

Status Window

Name: Haera

Race: Argussian

Age: 28

Level: 2

Health: 100

Mana: 120

Stamina: 126

Strength: 14 +/-

Constitution: 12 +/-

Agility: 14 +/-

Dexterity: 11 +/-

Intelligence: 17 +/-

Wisdom: 11 +/-

Charisma: 12 +/-

Luck: 5

Unassigned Stats: 0

Experience to Next Level: 30/200

Skills:

Skinning Level 10

She decided more health couldn’t hurt so she dropped 2 points into Constitution and decided to bring her Dexterity up to 11 to try to keep everything balanced for the time being. With night falling, she trekked back towards the village. As she approached, she could see the village resembled late medieval architecture and that there was no earthlike technology around. The activity started dying down as farmers and workmen finished their tasks for the day and returned home. She witnessed a variety of races, from dwarves and gnomes to humans and elves working the land alongside one another. She was relieved to find that these people didn’t discriminate based on race as far as she could see. All of the people in the village seemed to be common folk of this day and age. Screwing up her nerve, Haera began her approach. She kept her back straight and her head held tall. When the villagers first noticed her, they just stared at the first stranger to walk into their little village. Haera approached one of the nearer villagers.

“Hello, My name is Haera Forscythe, I seem to have lost my way in the woods and found myself near your quaint little village, could you point me to your local shop?”