Novels2Search
Rise of the Business [Class]
19. Overlooking the Ocean

19. Overlooking the Ocean

The body of a girl from Earth spawned suddenly in the wilderness, stood on a cliff overlooking the ocean. That's when Livia opened her eyes again.

“Shit!” Livia shouted. “Shit, shit, shit-” She kept going quite a while. She remembered her cat, Bismarck, at home. And her parents, and friends, who would never give up searching.

She remembered all the deadlines and exams she would miss now; and eventually she remembered where she was and that maybe she shouldn’t be so loud.

There wasn't much to see where she was overlooking the ocean, only a sun just past dawn and clouds that looked too large, looming over her like that.

Behind her was a forest that seemed oddly familiar, but not quite American, with leafy trees and smaller evergreens. And lots of boulders.

What was it that I need to do first…? She looked up and down the coast again. “I’m lucky it’s summer,” She hefted the big hammer and went to strike at a tree with some white bark.

Thunk. “And that I have this,” And that’s when the confirmation that it was all real showed up, the words of the System. And so Livia got her first real taste of the strange magic inhabiting her new world.

[Class Aspirant detected. Hammerer. Big Hammer. Yes/No?]

Hope I'm not remembered back home as a hammer-thief.

----------------------------------------

Twenty-six hours had passed since Livia arrived on Ross. She'd spent the first sixteen following the coast to what she figured was the north, hoping to find a river to follow.

She knew she ran the risk of encountering wild animals by trailing the only freshwater source in the area, but Livia was an animal too and the kidnapping Spell had failed to send her along with any provisions.

She had eventually gotten lucky and found a couple hundred blueberries that she recognised.

Livia hadn’t been certain if she could trust their appearance at first, this being an alien planet and all, but what finally convinced her was their strong fragrance. If the many chemicals required for that specific fragrance matched her memory then the meal was a go. Shortly after that she finally found a river that she dared to follow for a bit.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

But eventually she spotted a huge, strange, orange bear far up ahead, drinking its fill. The sun made its fur glimmer strangely. And the realization that such beasts would congregate by her current path made Livia reconsider her chosen path.

The reality of how close she had come to walking right up to such a giant thing convinced her to hide in a tree and wait for the cover of night before she continued to travel.

In the end it took much longer for the sun to descend than Livia expected, and even then it did not turn nearly as dark as had feared it would. The large yellow moon provided ample light. Although she was still feeling far from confident that she could count on getting so lucky every night.

And then nighttime was over much sooner than expected as well, with the sun greeting Livia's tired hazel eyes after a mere five or six hours. That was when she had the thought that maybe she should try to find a tall hill or a good tree to climb to get a better sense of where she needed to go.

It had been getting late, and once she found a vantage she'd nearly broken down from the disappointing sight. There was nothing but nature far as her eyes could see. But Livia knew that to give in to despair was to accept a death sentence.

And so she kept looking.

Right when the sun started to set she finally spotted a plume of smoke, and she thought she could even see the beginnings of a small camp. The sight filled her with elation and relief, nearly enough to shout with glee, but that's when she spotted something that managed to turn that relief to fear.

What Livia saw was a trio of strange creatures, wolf-like but larger and tinted a dark, brackish green, with strange bulges on their backs. Could those be Mosswolves? They look sick.

She recognised them from the books, but the beasts were moving away from Livia's tree, and it looked like they smelled something. They were heading straight for the little camp.

Livia stood frozen for a moment, indecision warring with her hope for aid. I finally found someone, I can’t just watch them get attacked. But what if the beasts sense me following and turn back around?

What decided her in the end was that she knew she would be screwed anyway if she failed to make a decision. What would Renard do?

She started stalking them, the best way an Aspiring [Hammerer] and self-professed bookworm knew how.