Day 84
I woke up feeling exhausted. I should have been fully fine from yesterday’s level ups but my body just refused to move from the hard stone floor I was lying upon. With a sigh I breathed out the closest approximation of the word “status” that I could.
[Unnamed]
[Transmigrator: Juniper Westin]
[Level: 24]
[Class: Survivor II]
[Core: Clear]
[Mana pool: Vacant]
[Body condition: child, malnourished.]
[Stats]
[Skills]
[Titles]
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
<1 vs 100>
God that was an eyeful. Couldn’t the system shorten things, or at least have a category collapse button? Still, since my body was choosing to lie on the ground and do jack shit, so I might as well read the new skills.
[Sturdy Body] seemed to be a defense boost to my bare body. Considering my lack of armor it was welcomed. [Way of the Survivor] confused me the most, “A survivor must undergo hardship after hardship. Starvation, disease, unrelenting weather. Nature itself knows no kindness, for all is fair in the wild. Enduring these trials is the Way of the Survivor”,..... as usual this damn system only gives flowery words and stories instead of just telling me what it does! I’ll have to wait until I can move around to test it. [Lunge] was self explanatory, it was a skill that let me lunge longer distances. Considering how the [Throw] skill helped with aiming and strength, [Lunge] probably did the same. [Stamina Well] seemed to be basically a storage of stamina I could fill and use when needed.
[Roar] was just that, a roar, maybe debuffs or stunning? [Endure] seemed to be a blocking skill, and [Retreat] was probably either a speed boost when running away, or maybe something that let me jump back quickly.
The skills seemed decent enough, and I didn’t really care about the titles. I was busy thinking about my next step. I needed a shelter that lasted. Maybe find a cave above ground level, or build something to prevent rain from seeping into one below ground level. I couldn't hope to find any metal tools, so at most I could use a rock tied to a stick to try and expand or modify the cave. If not a rock, I was sure some of the monster bones were probably tough enough to break rock. On top of that, I still had some pink feathers to keep monsters away. But It seemed some monsters weren’t affected by them, mostly ones too stupid to care or too smart to be fooled.
Day 85.
My body had finally decided I was allowed to move, so today I had only one objective: find the perfect cave to make my base. It had to be safe from rain flooding, have a small entrance, and not lead into a cave system. I’d use my [Hunter’s Vision] skill to try and find any entrances. Something decently high up wouldn't be bad. The only trouble would be dragging food back up. Maybe I could use a rope? Those plans would have to be made later, as after a few hours of my search… I heard it again, a whistle, reverberating throughout the entire valley, carried by a breeze that silenced all but the whistle. For those brief few seconds, it was as if time stood still.
The clouds froze, not even the dust by my feet flew by. But the silence was fiercely broken as I could feel and even see the maelstrom of wind descending from the clouds in the far distance. Dust stirred up and my vision turned clouded. Fuck, why now! However, maybe this was for the best. Those tar hounds, and creatures similarly weak would never attack whatever these feathers came from, and that swirling vortex of wind was clearly the owner of these feathers. This was the perfect time to gather fresh feathers. I just had to remember the direction I saw the vortex, wait for the maelstrom to calm down, then run there. Of course that was much easier said than done with how these valleys winded and curved. The sand and pebbles grinding against my skin as I trekked forward didn't help either. But thankfully it never broke my skin, probably because of that new passive [Sturdy Body].
The closer I got the more I could hear loud rumbling noises, and even begin to feel the ground tremor. It had been about an hour since the maelstrom began, and the sandstorm had begun to grow even more intense. Within the endless noise of the wind I could hear the roars of fearsome beasts. What the hell was happening over there? My questions wouldn't be answered for now, however, as I saw a large shadow rise into the sky through the blurry sandstorm. The moment the shadow rose beyond my vision, the wind began to lessen until the sandstorm dissipated, and the sight before me made me lose my breath.
I could see the ocean… but only because the valley that should have blocked my view had been sliced in half. It was as if someone had simply plucked a wedge out of the valley wall… and the next four valley walls behind it. I rushed forward towards the first sliced valley, and there I saw the pink feathers. Scattered about, some soaked in blood, others torn, but they were unmistakable. Just what the hell is the owner of these pink feathers… and how the hell could it do this?! Just what level was it, to slice a line straight to the ocean… It looked nearly 3 miles long.
I shook my head and quickly started to gather as many feathers as I could, bundling them all up under my arm I stared towards the ocean. I walked forward tentatively, perhaps the slicing opened up some cavities I could use as my new home… or perhaps they opened up the habitats of something fearsome. There was only one way to find out.