After about an hour of playing around with his new toy, Jake shrank it back down to a comfortable walking stick size.
Jake walked over to the enclosure that held the rope ladder and let the ladder free.
Despite the platform being large enough that he could walk from one end to the other in about 40 steps, Jake was feeling cooped up.
There really wasn't all that much he could do besides mess around with his abilities. So Jake decided to go down and see if he could find anything interesting.
He also wanted to get his final ability going. Based on the ability’s description, the sooner he planted one the quicker he would be able to start harvesting explosives.
Climbing down the rope ladder Jake began thinking about his current situation.
“Well, I'm not doing too bad… I should probably venture into the city eventually to see if I can find any other humans. But for now, I think staying out here is the safest option.”
Once his feet touched the ground Jake briefly re-read the description of his “organic explosives” ability.
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[https://i.imgur.com/X9BoO4d.png]
Organic explosives (Elementally Susceptible): - Upgrade Points:0
When activated plants a quick-growing flower that fruits a single magical explosive, about equivalent to a hand grenade per day, at random the flower can grow extra shoots that will each produce an extra explosive per day.
(Elementally Susceptible): The grenades produced by this flower are highly susceptible to ambient elements, as such the explosive will take on the properties of elements in the surrounding area.
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Not seeing any clear indicator of how to activate the ability Jake repeated the process he had used to activate enchanting, saying the name in his head and out loud.
Luckily there was nothing complicated about activating the ability, all it took was saying the name of the ability in his head.
Upon activation, Jake felt a refreshing but powerful energy pulse down his arm and coalesce into a tiny bead of liquid on his hand. Figuring this was the flower’s seed, Jake dropped it onto the ground near his feet.
With a surge of the same refreshing energy, Jake watched as a flower grew up out of the ground at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The stem grew to a height of around 3 feet before the top split open into an array of azure petals. In the center of the flower, a tiny fruit glowing a brilliant white sat protected by a clear shell of some sort.
“Huh, I guess the little glowing white fruit is the explosive, and when it's ready I'll be able to access it.” Jake thought to himself.
After taking a second to inspect the flower further Jake saw nothing of particular note and grew disinterested.
“Well, there isn't really much I can do with it until the fruit is fully grown.”
Walking back over to the rope ladder, Jake tucked it around the tree in such a way that it would be hard to spot just walking by.
Once he was relatively sure that no one would be able to find the treehouse, Jake began to walk in the direction of the tree-covered in carvings he had passed the day before.
Jake was very careful to not get careless, making sure to take in his surroundings at all times and not get too comfortable or zone out in case another monster appeared.
A few minutes later he made it back to the carved tree.
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Taking a slow walk around the tree Jake allowed himself a moment of nostalgia as he inspected the carvings.
When he had first seen the tree it was a blank slate, untouched by humans.
Now ten years later carvings as mundane as initials inscribed in small hearts sat next to engravings detailed enough to be called true art: Perfectly proportioned faces, renditions of household objects, and even a few extremely well carved phallic additions riddled the massive tree.
Jake remembered being present for the creation of many of the more tasteful pieces, apparently, he had made a good discussion partner for the talented wood sculptor that had carved them.
Jake was startled out of his reminiscence by a rustling sound behind him. Whipping his head around however, Jake saw nothing out of the ordinary.
Apprehensively taking one last lap around the tree, Jake walked back to the treehouse, having stretched his legs enough for the day.
He was about halfway back when Jake absentmindedly felt how dry his mouth was and had the ultimate, “Oh shit” moment.
“Im so fucking stupid! How could I forget water!!!” Jake realized that in his haste to get to the forest the day before, he had completely neglected the fact that he should probably bring something to drink with him.
“Shit, I hope I remember where that stream is, and that it’s still safe to drink.”
Jake began urgently going through his memory to pinpoint where the stream was in the forest.
Thinking on it while he walked back to the treehouse, Jake managed to recall a relatively good idea of where it was.
Passing by the treehouse, Jake began to mark the ground beneath him with his club - turned - walking stick.
He wanted to make sure that he didn't get lost in the forest.
After about 15 minutes of walking, Jake sighed in relief when he stepped out onto the shore of a shallow stream.
Carefully inspecting his surroundings, he did not see or hear any other animals. However, Jake did see a whole host of animal paw prints all along the stream. The tracks were all sorts of sizes and shapes, with the smallest being the size of a penny and the largest the size of a car tire.
“I would not want to run into whatever made that,” Jake thought, looking at a massive print. “I guess all animals need water, monster or not. At least that means the water should be safe to drink though.”
Jake carefully crept over to the stream, being sure to use the slowest of movements possible in case a monster happened to be waiting nearby.
Once he had made it to the edge of the stream, Jake cupped some water in his hands and began to drink.
“I should really make something to carry water in so I don't have to come back here too often.” Jake mentally noted. “Better yet, why don't I just make an automatically filling bottle with enchanting, I’m sure that would be possible.”
After drinking till he was satisfied, Jake slowly backed away from the stream into the forest.
Following his markings back, Jake was careful to wipe them away as he went. He wouldn't want to inadvertently lead anything else back to the treehouse by leaving a trail.
He also now remembered exactly where the stream was so it would not be a problem to find again in the future.
Jake was only a few meters away from the treehouse when he stopped suddenly. On the edge of his vision, inside a little hollowed-out portion of a tree, Jake could see an orange glowing orb.
Jake was surprised when, as he carefully walked over to the orb, a window popped into existence before him.
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Congratulations!
You have found an ability orb! This orb, when crushed, will award you with a single upgrade point to be distributed however you like. Ability orbs are extremely valuable and should be used wisely!
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“Huh, well, that's neat.” Jake had largely neglected the fact that each ability had an “upgrade points” counter next to it, figuring he would learn how that worked in time.
“So I guess this is how you get those upgrade points… I wonder what they are used for.” Jake pondered for a second.
“I should probably wait on using this until I can talk to someone who has already used one”
Picking up the orb Jake placed it into his pocket, lightly squeezing it to make sure it wasn't too fragile.
Jake scanned the area around where he found the orb for anything else he might have not seen before walking the last little bit to the treehouse.
Jake, while heading back up the rope ladder, thought about his overall plan for the apocalypse. If he was being honest with himself he really didn't have one. All he could really do was try to survive.
He didn't really see any end goal, nothing to really work towards, but he was sure that he would find something worthwhile to do eventually.
“Until then though, all I can do is wait, and survive,” Jake concluded.