Into the Woods – Grinding at Level One
John trudged through the dense forest, his eyes flicking between the towering trees and the faint dirt path winding ahead. The sun filtered through the canopy in golden shafts, but it didn’t do much to ease the tension building in his chest.
"Alright, forest, show me the way to civilization. Or at least to someone who speaks in more than riddles and smug grins," John muttered, swatting at a low-hanging branch. His lunch bag of holding bounced lightly against his hip. The eerie emptiness of the path gnawed at him.
He wasn’t alone for long.
A rustle from the underbrush sent him pausing mid-step. Slowly, he reached for the pocket knife – Widow Fang. It was hardly impressive, but it was better than nothing.
A small, furry creature hopped into view.
"Round two, Bugs Bunny?" John sighed, recognizing the fluffy brown rabbit. It looked almost identical to the one he had exploded.
The rabbit twitched its nose at him – and then lunged.
[Wild Forest Rabbit – Level 1]
John jabbed forward, catching the creature mid-leap. It dissolved into wisps of light with a soft ding.
[+2 XP. Rabbit Fur x1. Raw Meat x1.]
John stared at the loot screen floating before him. "...Sure. Because every forest rabbit comes pre-packaged like a medieval butcher shop."
John thought as he continued to follow the path he had found that at least these murder bunnies had been easy.
Feeling very confident in his skills as a Slayer of rabbits John was not paying attention to his surroundings. So when a squirrel leaped from the trees landing claw first on John's face and began to savage him to say he was surprised was an understatement.
[Angry Squirrel - Level 1 ]
"Fucking Shit biscuits what the fuck is this? " John screamed as he tried to pull the demonic creature from his face.
Johns's meager amount of HP's began to plummet. His vision became tinged in red.
"Enough you furry rat" John growled as he wrapped his hand around the squirrel's tail and proceeded to rip it off his face leaving his face a bloody wreck.
With the tail gripped tightly and the squirrel writhing in fits of rage John swung the tiny creature with all his pathetic 7 points of strength into a tree. And continued to do this until it showered him in motes of light.
[+4 XP. Squirrel Fur x1. Raw Meat x1.]
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John checked his HP's and saw that he was down to 4 HP's. He had lost half his health to this psychotic furball. As he watched it began to tick back up slowly. He collapsed down leaning against a tree. Breathing deeply while he recovered.
"Ok, that hurt. Hopefully healing in this world is great and doesn't leave my beautiful face a wreck leaving my wife deprived of these rugged good looks" John mused.
He wiped his face off on his shirt hoping the red would add flair and not leave him looking like a murder hobo. When John's HPs was full again he stood and began to follow the path again.
"At least Clown Shoes didn't drop me into a wolf's den," John thought.
A low growl rumbled behind him.
John turned, meeting the amber eyes of a wolf crouched low beneath the trees.
[Forest Wolf – Level 3]
John’s grip tightened around his knife. Seeing the wolf two levels about him He said aloud "That really escalated fast."
The wolf circled him, muscles coiled like springs ready to launch. It lunged, and John barely sidestepped, feeling the claws rake across his arm.
[-3 HP]
"Ow! Damn that hurt you mangy flea-bitten mongrel!" He swiped in retaliation, clipping the wolf’s flank. A sliver of red appeared above its head. Seeing how long this going to take John felt panic try to take hold.
Trying to snap himself from fear setting in John yelled at the wolf " I ain't getting taken out by the first wolf I come across like a bitch"
The wolf took this as a personal insult and leaped. John ready for it this time dodged out of the way and slashed the wolf's rear flank a deep wound cutting to bone. As the wolf howled in pain and rage John saw its health bar plummet by half.
"Good, you're in the same boat as me now," John said in a low whisper.
John could see the wolf driven mad by pain was not going to go down easy. Suddenly the wolf croched to jump and responded with a dodge. But it was too early, the wolf was faking to leap. John off balance wasn't expecting the beast to rush in. Gleaming teeth darted toward John's face. In a last-ditch effort, he brought up his arm to catch the bite. The animal clamped down on his knife-holding arm.
[-4 HP]
With vision tingled with red John screamed in pain. His weapon was trapped in a useless hand clamped in the wolf's mouth and down to one HP John needed a way to end this now. John's mind, as it often did, went to movies and TV shows. An idea hit him. A crazy idea but he didn't have anything to lose.
John forced his savaged hand open and dropped the blade. It fell spinning end over end. Grasping it with his left he swung it up and plunged it into the wolf's eye and sunk it to the base.
[Dual Weilding +1]
The wolf opened its mouth to unleash a pitiful howl. pawing at its mangled eye forgetting John was there. John seeing the wolf's health bar was almost depleted slowly walked up behind the animal and dealt the death blow to it.
The wolf dissolved, leaving behind a pile of loot.
[+15 XP. Wolf Pelt x1. Canine Fang x2. 5 Silver Coins.]
John leaned against a tree, wiping sweat from his forehead. His HP bar in the corner of his vision began refilling – slowly but steadily.
"I have got to get some health potions. I've come too close to death. One freaking Hp left." John grumbled, watching the bar inch upward. "I'm not interested in finding out if I have respawns or not."
The interface chimed softly.
[Level Up – Level 2 Reached.]
John squinted at the tiny notification. "That's it? One level after three hours of fighting wildlife and getting chewed on?" He ruffled his hair, frustrated. "Man, if this were a normal RPG, I’d be power-leveling off rats in someone’s basement by now."
He sorted through the loot absentmindedly, pocketing the silver coins. The wolf's pelt and fangs went straight into the bag. "At least I’m making bank on random pelts and meat. What’s next? Maybe I can get a quest to turn in all this junk?"
[New Quest - Find someone to buy your questionable wolf meat]
John read the notification shaking his head.
A snap of a twig drew his attention back to the path. John sighed and raised his knife, stepping forward.
"Alright, forest. Let’s keep this grind going. There’s gotta be a town around here somewhere."