“ARF! ARF!”
I woke up lying on my back in the middle of a large grassy plain and could feel something rough repeatedly licking my face. I opened my eyes and was surprised to find a dog not much larger than a puppy staring right back at me, but that wasn’t all that was weird. The sky above me had two suns. The first one looked just like the one from the solar system I was familiar with, but the other sun was a bright blue colour and had a ring like Saturn’s. I looked at the two suns and was extremely confused, but the events of the past few hours slowly came back to me.
Holy crap…I’m really in another universe! What the f*ck do I do now?! The dog had somehow managed to crawl up on to my chest while I was lying passed out in the field I was in, and its paws pressing into my chest distracted me for a moment. Noticing that it finally had my attention, the dog wagged its tail back and forth with a dopey-looking grin on its face. I gently lifted the small dog off of my chest and placed it next to me on the ground. Huh, that’s weird… I’m still wearing my school uniform. The collar of my blazer must have gotten messed up in the fall, so I took a second to fix it and dust myself off. The students of Ginza Academy we’re known for being impeccably dressed and had been taught to always look professional. Keeping up your outward appearance was important and we we’re taught that this was one of the first things people looked at when judging you. I decided I wouldn’t drop that philosophy just because I was in a different world.
“If you’re here I guess that really wasn’t a dream, huh?” The dog tilted its head to the left and blinked at me. I slowly reached over and scratched the spot behind its ear while I observed my surroundings. My back was turned towards the edge of a massive forest, with nothing but a vast wasteland stretching out over the horizon in front of me. In the distance, I thought I could make out a bog of some kind on the opposite side of the wasteland from where I was standing currently. “Terminal Open.” The same screen from The House’s control room earlier appeared, albeit with a few noticeable changes. Panicked by the change, I eventually calmed down once I realized that the icons had just been switched and the theme of the terminal now resembled a desktop computer from the early nineties. A lowercase italicized letter ‘I’ icon entitled ‘Character Info’ was the first thing I decided to press on. The information that loaded displayed my statistics, abilities and any other relevant information that pertained to my character.
Name: Adam Vegas Rep: Decent Class: Sovereign
LVL: 1 Age: 18 yrs. old Sex: Male
Deity: Aliyah
STR: 5 AGI: 8 INT: 8
CON: 5 DEX: 6 CHR: 5
LUK: 6 = 5 (+1) WIS: 4
Health: 500 HP Mana: 500 MP
Stamina: 50 SP
{Acrobat: LVL 1} {Alchemy: LVL 1} {Appraisal: LVL 1} {Asset Manager: LVL 10} {Blacksmithing: LVL 1} {Botany: LVL 1} {Calculations: LVL 10} {Commerce: LVL 1} {Cooking: LVL 1} {Crafting: LVL 1} {Dagger Mastery: LVL 1} {Dark Magic: LVL 1} {Dual Casting: LVL 1} {Dual Wielding: LVL 1} {Earth Magic: LVL 1} {Enchanting: LVL 1} {Engineering: LVL 1} {Etiquette: LVL 10} {EZ-Build: LVL 10} {Farming: LVL 1} {Fishing: LVL 1} {Fire Arm Mastery: LVL 1} {Hunting: LVL 1} {Hyper Regeneration: LVL 1} {Investigation: LVL 1} {Kingcraft: LVL 10} {Leadership: LVL 10} {Lightning Magic: LVL 1} {Linguistics: LVL 10} {Lock-picking: LVL 1} {Mana Manipulation: LVL 10} {Marksman: LVL 1} {Medicine Maker: LVL 1} {Naming: LVL 1} {Navigation: LVL 1} {Pick-pocket: LVL 1} {Quick Casting: LVL 1} {Reading & Writing: LVL 10} {Riding: LVL 10} {Stealth: LVL 1} {Strategist: LVL 1} {Support Magic: LVL 1} {Sword Mastery: LVL 1} {Space Magic: LVL 1} {Mind Magic: LVL 1} {Taming Magic: LVL 1}
Holy crap...that's alot of skills. They really need to clean up the UI... but I guess other classes might not have this many abilities so this could just be a problem for my class... I checked my inventory and was pleased to see the three items I selected plus the welcome kit everyone got. I clicked on The Boundless Water Skin and withdrew it from my inventory. There was a small poof and the water skin appeared in my hand. I took a quick sip from it and then hit the return button, which caused the water skin to travel back to whatever space it was magically summoned from. I then opened Yasha’s Encyclopedia of Everything, but it was blank. That's odd, I wonder how I’m supposed to use this? I flipped the book from cover to cover and even tried turning it upside down, but nothing changed. I eventually looked at the dog with the book still open on my lap and the page I had the book opened to finally started to fill with text.
Hound of Fortune
An extremely rare type of dog found in the Dombassi Region of Verakkia. Endangered species. They are known for their overly-friendly nature and their inability to protect themselves from external threats. The Hound of Fortune struggles to hunt in the wild, but can take down an animal the size of a small deer using pack tactics. They developed into omnivores over the centuries due to their lack of notable combat skills. Their fur and canines have properties that boost an individual’s luck statistic. When this was discovered, the locals hunted the animal to the brink of extinction. Due to environmental impacts caused by this, The Verakkian government made them a protected species during the Bloody Age in the Year 622. It’s estimated that less than one hundred native Hound of Fortune’s remain in the wild.
The book gave me more questions than answers. Bloody Age? Verakkia? Are Hound of Fortune’s teeth and fur really that effective? If they were I guess I can understand why the locals did what they did, but that doesn’t excuse them from being too stupid to put in hunting limits and seasonal bans so the species had the time to repopulate. Still, there wasn’t much I could do with any of this with the information I currently had. I need to find someone who can explain the unique characteristics of this world to me ASAP.
The welcome kit was the first thing that initially stuck out to me, so I decided to open that as well. The screen displayed an unpacking symbol momentarily and then the inventory expanded to show all the new items I acquired. Added to my collection was a hatchet, a shovel, a pick-axe, a dagger, a rope, ten silver coins engraved with face of some guy I had never seen before, an antidote, a blanket and three minor health potions. I decided to take the dagger out of my inventory just to see what it looked like. There was a quick flash of light and an audible pop noise as something magically appeared in my right hand. I carefully turned the object over and tested the point to see how sharp it was. What had manifested was a rather small hunting knife with a brown leather scabbard, which I promptly attached to my waist using the belt loops of the pants of my school uniform.
Next I hit the icon that looked like a globe and was titled ‘Map’. From what I could tell from the image that loaded, the land was made up of two main continents with several tiny island chains that sprung up all over the place. An arrow indicated where you were exactly in the world like a mall kiosk sign. Judging from the picture, I was in a small area nestled between the regions called the Azure Wasteland, Bright Bog and Helgin Forest. The country of Keegan and Nygaurdia lay to the immediate west while the Targe Mountains and an area called ‘The Shifting Sands’ took up a large portion of land to the east.
Using the skills menu for the first time, I noticed that the app was sorted into multiple categories to make things easier on the user. I took a look at the lifestyle skills sub-heading and tried casting appraisal on the dog next to me. As the information loaded in another window, I saw that my appraisal skill had gained a tiny bit of EXP.
Name: (BLANK) LVL: 1 Sex: Male
Race: Hound of Fortune Owner: Adam Vegas
STR: 2 AGI: 4 INT: 1
CON: 2 DEX: 2 CHR: 5
LUK: 4 WIS: 1
Health: 200 HP Mana: 100 MP
Stamina: 20 SP Trust: 1/100
{Danger Detection LVL: 1} {Keen Senses: LVL 1} {Luck Bringer: LVL: 1} {Pet Commands: LVL 1} {Tracking: LVL 1}
Well, first things first; the essentials. Normally, the first thing I’d do in a new game is head to the nearest town to procure supplies, but that doesn’t seem like something the Sovereign class should do. No, I should probably build my own little base instead and hope I run into some of the neutral players, but where do I build? I obviously need to find food, shelter and water as soon as possible. The House said this area is dangerous, so pushing too far into the forest or wasteland is probably a bad idea for now. It looks like there’s a little lake nearby. If I walk along the forest’s border I should be able to get there relatively quickly.
I went to make sure the dog was following but it was just standing still for some reason, staring at me from the spot where I had woken up. That’s odd. Why won’t he come? I tried calling out to the dog, but it didn’t respond to any of the usual pet commands I had seen back on earth. Well, it’s impossible to issue commands to an animal that doesn’t understand me. Maybe…he needs a name first? I do have that naming skill I took back during my skill selection. But what do I call him? His species is called the Hound of Fortune. How about…Lucky. Yeah, that’s perfect. I activated the naming skill from the skills menu. “Your name is now: Lucky.” Suddenly, Lucky began to shine brightly and I stumbled backwards. There was a brilliant flash of light that overtook me before the dog seemed to return back to the way it was before. Or so I thought.
“Arf! Arf!”
What the heck was that?! All I did was give the dog a name, why did that light show just happen? Wait…does that have something to do with my naming skill by any chance? Let me check my stats again. Yep, my naming skill gained EXP, exactly like the appraisal skill had. I guess if I want to level up my skills, I’m going to have to use them as frequently as I can, just like The House said I should. Huh, I wonder if that did anything to Lucky… Let’s cast appraisal on him again to find out.
Name: Lucky LVL: 1 Sex: Male
Race: Hound of Fortune Owner: Adam Vegas
STR: 3 (2+1) AGI: 5 (4+1) INT: 2 (1+1)
CON: 3 (2+1) DEX: 2 CHR: 5
LUK: 4 WIS: 2 (1+1)
Health: 300 HP Mana: 200 MP
Stamina: 30 SP Trust: 5/100
{Danger Detection: LVL 1} {Keen Senses: LVL 1} {Luck Bringer: LVL: 1} {Pet Commands: LVL 1} {Tracking: LVL 1}
So giving him a name changed his stats?! That’s awesome! It kind of reminds of the named versions of creatures you can come across in different RPG’s. Several games tended to use these upgraded versions of creatures as special encounters or small bosses. The game would give them small stat changes or unique attack patterns to trip players up and make it seem less like a giant re-skin of an already used asset you’ve seen multiple times. Giving him a name seems to have also raised his trust level. I wonder…does that happen every time I name something? I need to test this hypothesis…
I looked around for anything I could possibly give a name to, but nothing stuck out as being usable. Disappointed, I put my hands on my hip and felt the handle of the dagger I had pulled out. Well, it’s worth a shot…
“Your name is now: Ol’ Reliable.” I shouted, feeling rather immature as I declared the name of my weapon out loud but luckily there was no one around to laugh at me. After I spoke, the dagger in my hand glowed just like the dog had. Happy that it worked, I cast another appraisal. The dagger now boosted my dexterity by one and had triple the durability points, which I’m assuming determines how quickly a weapon breaks or needs to be repaired in this world. Not the greatest upgrade ever, but still…it’s better than nothing. As a plus, my dexterity is now sitting at 7 when I have Ol’ Reliable equipped.
About an hour later, I finally arrived at the bank of the lake I was walking towards. It had been a pretty uneventful trip, with relatively nothing to mention besides a flock of birds I could see hovering over the wasteland a good distance away. I had pulled out different items from my inventory and experimented with the Naming skill to pass the time on my hike. Initially I was worried I wouldn’t find a food source at the lake, but I celebrated internally when I could make out the shadows of small schools of fish moving about underwater.
Thing’s really haven’t been too bad for me so far…thank you, luck stat. My father in my previous life was an avid outdoors-man, so I had a ton of experience with camping and was taught how to live off the land from an early age. I quickly got to work, gathering sticks and rocks to make a small fish pond trap just like I had when I was younger. When I got to the water’s edge for the first time, I caught sight of my reflection and did a double take. Shit… I look good.
The face staring back at me wasn’t the one I had grown accustomed to seeing in the mirror every day. I was now a Caucasian male, with greenish-yellow eyes and long shaggy grey hair that went about halfway down my neck. There was a big scar running through my right eyebrow that went over my eyelid before going down to my cheek, but it honestly didn’t look too bad. If anything, it kind of made me look badass. If I had to guess based off my new appearance, I looked like I was maybe eighteen years old, not sixteen like my stat page had indicated. Somehow my body was in even better shape than it was back on Earth, and I had a pretty active lifestyle back in my previous life. I wasn’t exactly jacked by any means and was more on the leaner side, but it did appear from my muscle definition that I’d likely seen some action before.
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I took a moment to admire my new features before I remembered what I was actually supposed to be doing. I started working on the fish pond trap for a good while, dropping rocks into specific places so that water and fish could funnel in and stay within the pond enclosure when I had an idea. I wonder if there’s an easier way to do this…I opened the Crafting app and surprisingly found what I was looking for.
Fish Pond Trap –8 Branches, 2 Mud, 6 Rocks
So I can use the crafting menu to put together items quickly, huh? Not only that, but it seems like just thinking about an item I want to make magically adds it to the crafting list…that’s definitely going to help me cut down the time it would normally take to build things the old fashioned way. I should try to use the crafting list as much as I possibly can. It took a few minutes to gather the materials the trap needed and I piled the stuff up next to the river. It took a few tries to get the crafting list to accept the materials, but I eventually had a fish pond trap added to the crafting queue. The crafting list made a digital chime once the timer finished, and I pulled out the trap quickly to see what it looked like. A red hologram of a giant fish pond trap suddenly appeared before me, causing me to jump almost out of my skin.
What the f*ck? What the hell am I supposed to do with this?! Wait a minute… does building placement work exactly like it does in other building management games from earth? An old classic video game that used a similar mechanic to this suddenly came to mind, where in it you would build and manage a theme park by placing attractions or amenities down in different spots on the map. I noticed that the hologram of the trap moved wherever I was actually looking which was pretty awesome. I hypothesized that the red colour was to indicate that the building or item couldn’t be placed down in this particular spot, just like how it worked in the theme park game. Testing my theory, I manipulated the hologram of the trap over the surface of the water and the colour of the hologram suddenly changed to blue. I took a few steps into the river until I was satisfied with the location I had chosen and placed the fish trap down with the confirm button. Magically, the hologram shifted from ethereal to being completely real in a flash. I took a few moments to inspect the fish pond trap, but didn’t see any issues with how it was constructed.
After I finished playing around with the building placement mechanic, I climbed back onto the bank and caught my breath for a few seconds. Judging from the position of the sun in this world, it was now roughly one in the afternoon. That left me about six hours to procure the materials I needed to build a small shelter before sundown. But…I can’t use EZ-Build or Asset Manager yet for some reason. I guess I’m going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. I pulled out Tree-Splitter (which was the name I had given to the starter hatchet) and carefully began chopping down a medium sized tree that wasn’t too far away from the edge of the water. I stood there swinging the axe for the better part of an hour until the tree finally gave way and toppled over with a resounding thud.
That…was exhausting, I thought to myself as I caught my breath and admired my handiwork. Satisfied, I slowly dragged the log back to the water’s edge than sat down on it for a moment. I opened my terminal, and a new prompt I hadn’t seen yet greeted me.
You have acquired (2) new skills!
Woodcutting: LVL 1
Outdoor Survival: LVL 1
Nice! A few new skills already! I dismissed the prompt and moved to the inventory app where another message was waiting.
Would you like to move (1) log to your magic inventory?
Yes / No
Wait a minute, I have a magic inventory? Why the hell was I lugging around those rocks earlier! Never mind that, magic is so convenient! With an ability like this, I should be able to gather materials soooo much faster than I would have just using my hands. Just for fun, I hit yes to try out the ability. There was a small poof and a digital chime sounded as the log disappeared from underneath me and I fell embarrassingly on my ass. I hit the ground hard, smashing my tailbone on a rock and sending a spasm of pain through my spine. The pain was so intense I wanted to cry as I rolled around on the ground holding my sore butt.
Jeez…stupid magic inventory. I’ve changed my mind. Magic sucks. Who designed this stupid f*cking system anyway?! A little warning would have been great, thanks. I really hope none of the gods watching just saw me make an ass out of myself. I stood up and shook the dust off of my pants once the pain subsided. I decided I would try to forget about my little mishap by looking at the next thing that had caught my eye in the terminal, the Grimoire App. Considering the fact that I didn’t know I had a magic inventory, I should probably get familiar with what I can currently cast and do at my level.
With a click on the app a list of all my currently available spells and how much mana they used opened just like I thought they would. Looking at the list of spells shown, I quickly noticed that I got two spells for each affinity I had for a beginning total of fourteen starting spells. The spells I had to start off with were; Black Tendrils, Blink, Calm, Confusion, Decay, Earth Wall, Fortify, Magic Inventory, Message, Mud Shot, Release Creature, Spark, Tame Creature, and Thunderclap. Earth Wall should make building a small shelter way easier…this is so cool! I’ve always dreamed of slinging spells around like a bad-ass mage! Let’s see what I can do, shall we?
“Earth Magic: Earth Wall!”
A wall of dirt about 7 feet tall and seven feet wide magically rose out of the ground, completely blocking my view of the forest. Well…that was bigger than expected. The good news is if I can use this as a shortcut, I won’t need much more wood to make a basic shelter. The bad news was that earth wall cost me about 125 mana to use, so I could only cast the spell another three times total before I’d be completely dry on magic. I cut down another three logs and dragged them over to my site using my magic inventory while Lucky supervised from a safe distance. While I was cutting, I gathered any plant fiber, sticks, and rocks that I could find, figuring I would need them to craft things later. A mound of clay caught my eye as well, so I spent thirty minutes digging some up to use for later. I then made two more earth walls that connected to the ends of the first, which now resembled a square U-like structure.
I then used the four logs and some of the branches I had left to make the last wall, leaving a small gap I had to crouch to get through that acted as the entrance. The last things I needed for now was a small door and a fire pit to cook on. I opened the terminal once again and opened the Crafting menu.
Make-Shift Door – 8 Branches, 4 Plant-Fiber Ropes
Fire Pit – 6 Branches, 6 Rocks
Plant-Fiber Ropes – 2 Plant Fiber
A fire pit is six stones and six branches which I could craft right away, but a door was slightly more complicated. The crafting cost of a door was 8 branches and 4 plant fiber ropes, which I currently had none of. Using the crafting menu, I could see that I would be able to make plant fiber ropes by wrapping two pieces of pant fiber together, which was great because I had never made anything like that before. I confirmed what I wanted to make and set up the crafting queue again. In about twenty minutes, I had crafted the items I wanted and placed them where needed.
After five hours of work, there was now a small hut on the bank of the river that would be home for the foreseeable future. Proud of myself, I admired my handiwork as I put most of my tools away for the day. I had managed to make everything just before sundown like I had planned, but I doubt I could have finished in time without the help of magic. I thought about the convenience of magic as I walked back to the pond I built and was happy to find a pair of fish that looked a little bit like river trout caught in the pond of the fish trap. I sharpened a stick that I pulled out from my inventory with Ol’ Reliable and managed to pierce the two fish after several tries. I carefully extracting them from the water and carry my dinner over to the fire pit. Boy am I glad that the trap worked, all of that work gathering materials left me starving… just to be safe, I should probably cast appraisal on one of these fish first, I need to make sure I’m not about to bite into something poisonous.
Name: (Blank) LVL: 1 Sex: Female
Race: Garpin
STR: 1 AGI: 2 INT: 1
CON: 1 DEX: 0 CHR: 0
LUK: 0 WIS: 0
Health: 100 HP Mana: 100 MP
Stamina: 10 SP
{Aquatic Respiration: LVL 1} {Scales: LVL 1} {Swift Swimmer: LVL 1}
Huh, so this fish is called a Garpin? I didn’t see anything in the fish’s stats that indicated that the animal was poisonous, so I began preparing it. I happily whistled away while I descaled the fish before carefully removing all of the guts and bones from both of them. I had always helped my father in the kitchen when I was growing up, so doing something like this came naturally to me. When they we’re ready, I gingerly placed them back on the sharpened stick and hung it just above the fire pit, just out of reach of the fire but still close enough where the smoke could catch the meat. An ‘interact’ prompt caught my attention as I hovered over the fire pit, so I used the terminal to open it. Another window called the Cooking App appeared that wasn’t one of the one’s I had seen on the terminal initially.
Huh…it seems like some unique items have their own menus. From the information on the screen, I can see that I need some sort of fuel source for the fire. I took out some of the leftover plant fiber and branches I had left in my inventory. When I added them to the menu of the fire pit, a small timer indicator with a count in minutes appeared on the branches, fish and fiber. Well that’s odd… the time displayed was in a different colour depending on if the item was food or burnable materials. Judging from how other survival RPG’s work, I think the minutes displayed on each item must either represent the amount of time the fuel source will burn or the amount of time it would take to cook a certain food.
I had noticed earlier that I could make kindling in the crafting menu, so that’s what I did instead of just using the raw materials to start a fire. When I finished crafting the kindling, a small bundle appeared in the menu of the fire pit with a time that was practically double any of the other numbers on the other items. Hmm, so the raw materials only last half as long as a bundle of kindling would... I have to remember that. Maybe I should craft a large stack of kindling for the future?No that doesn’t make sense right now, I’ve got to nowhere to keep the kindling and would need some sort of storehouse or warehouse first. If this does work like other RPG’s, I’m most likely going to need different fuel sources to accomplish certain tasks as well, like charcoal to make steel for example. I couldn’t spare another moment thinking about how this world’s crafting system worked right this second though. My stomach grumbled, and I knew that thought process could wait until later. It was now finally time for me to get cooking, but I needed to get the fire going first.
“Lightning Magic: Spark!” A small spark jumped from my hand towards the bundle I placed in the fire pit. The kindling bundle started smoking where the spark had hit it and a few minutes later I had a small fire going. I carefully cooked the two fish on the fire until the timer finished and I hoped that for my sake the fish was thoroughly cooked, because I was risking the chance of getting food poisoning if the cooking crafting system didn’t work properly. Anxious, I removed them from the finished section of the menu queue before carefully taking a small nibble to see what the Garpin tasted like. Huh… not bad. It’s not amazing or anything, but with a bit of seasoning, some wasabi and some fresh lemon…I wonder if this world has anything like that… It took me a while before I realized that I had been daydreaming about spices from back home for the better part of twenty minutes and I had finished my food at some point while thinking. Oops. I might have gotten slightly carried away coming up with possible cooking recipes. It’s time to get back to work.
Lucky was hungrily eying the leftover fish on the stick I was holding, and I realized I hadn’t fed him yet. Feeling guilty, I pulled what was left off the stick and gave him the rest to eat after ripping the fish into small pieces. He happily ate every last bite before he curled up in a ball next to the fire and promptly fell asleep. I checked my stats and noticed that I had recovered about 100 mana since I cast Earth wall for a total of 225 Mana remaining. With all the activity I had done, I also noticed that I used up two thirds of my stamina points. I should probably keep a bit of mana and stamina leftover in case of emergencies. I should be more careful. I took the blanket out and carried Lucky into the hut. I cast earth wall once again to close off the ceiling of the hut and then lay down on the floor. I don’t know what tomorrow has in store for me so I should get some sleep.
AAAH-WWWWOOOOOOOOOO!
Or not…f*ck me that was close. The howl sounded like a wolf, and the volume of it made me instantly think that the creature was either just outside the shelter or absolutely gigantic. Paranoid, I carefully took a peak outside of the hut through the opening, but I didn’t see any signs of a large animal or wolf. I crept back outside and made sure all the food scraps had been disposed of after making sure the coast was clear. I then put together a small noise trap on the side of the hut that led to the forest by tying some of the tools together with plant fiber ropes.
The wind blew through the bushes nearby and I instinctively looked over for a moment, but the moonlight couldn’t penetrate through the thick canopy of trees so I didn’t really see anything. I waited for a few moments, but there wasn’t any more movement, so I finished tying up my little noise trap. As I put the finishing touches on the trap, my lack of stamina caught up with me and I realized that I was exhausted. It’s been a really long day… I need to get some sleep if I’m going to take a good look around tomorrow. Satisfied that I was safe for now and the metal tools in the trap would loudly bang together if anything got wrapped up in it, I eventually went back to bed and drifted off to sleep faster than I ever thought possible.
¤ ¤ ¤
From those same bushes nearby, a pair of eyes glowed in the darkness, watching the boy as he tied his tools together. The thing the eyes belonged too had been drawn to the river by the noise Sake had made throughout the day while he worked, and the smoke from the campfire helped lead it directly to him. It sat there, observing the strange behaviour of the child throughout the night. The boy ate some fish he caught from the river quietly and went back to work without any awareness of his surroundings, not noticing that he was being carefully watched from the edge of the forest. As it coldly regarded him, it struggled with what action it should take and was contemplating the possibilities.
Where did this child come from? When my team scouted this area last week, there wasn’t anyone else even remotely around here. Is the boy alone? Maybe he got separated from a larger group and is lost…but if so, how is it possible that we missed him? A large group would have been spotted easily…Also, it’s not like he’s doing anything to conceal his presence at all. Is he even aware how dangerous this place is? Seriously…is a kid this young even a problem for us? No, it’s illogical to think a kid who can survive in a place like this is anything to scoff at. I need to be careful.
Yes…if he really was just a weakling, the wild-life in the area would have killed him a hundred times over by now. It be one thing if I could see his strength in person, but since I discovered him I haven’t seen the boy be approached yet by any dangerous monsters or creatures at all!
Now that might be possible if he was using some sort of concealment ability, but that doesn’t make sense in this case. If he did have those kinds of abilities, I wouldn’t have been able to sense him either. There’s no questioning it…he must be extremely skilled. Wait a minute…is it possible he let me sense him on purpose?! Have I’ve been lured here?
The boy finished what he was doing and stood up, whistling to himself as he stretched his back nonchalantly. No…I’m just panicking. Despite bumping into this child, my mission and purpose haven’t changed. The plan we came up with will need to be adjusted, but that’s nothing I can’t handle. Hell, I should probably just take him out right here.
Suddenly, as if sensing my malice, the boy seemed to turn around and look directly at me. His stare felt oddly cold and he didn’t blink once as he calmly regarded me. All of the fight left my body in an instant. I shivered as my fear started to grow, unsure of what to do. It shouldn’t have been possible to locate me…how did this child do that?!
There was something about his eyes that was absolutely terrifying. I’ve seen eyes like that before and those are definitely the eyes of a true predator. Shit, that’s scary…now I think I know how my pray feels. Yellow eyes and grey hair…what a strange combination. The boy isn’t normal… no, he looks like a demon bathed in the light of the camp fire. A chill went down my body as I tried to get a grip on myself.
I haven’t felt this scared since I left my homeland… I’ve made a horrible miscalculation. I’m in serious danger! I need to get away as fast as I can and warn the other’s not to mess with him! But can I even get away? I’ll have to attack him if I actually want a chance of running from this monster. I started to move and then immediately froze. Hold on… based on the boy’s behaviour, I can’t actually tell if he detected me or if the child had just casually looked my way for a moment.
God Damn it! Why am I so nervous? Pull yourself together Lidara! I’ve been in a hundreds of fights in my life, for crying out loud! Yet, for some reason, my senses we’re telling me that this child is a bigger threat than anything I could ever even dream of encountering. I didn’t need to touch the back of my neck. I knew that I was sweating from how nervous I was. The boy seemed to stare back at me for a few seconds, unblinking as he gave me the once over. My nerves eventually overtook me and I couldn’t help it. It was time to attack.
I slowly reached for the sabre that hung from my belt, not wanting to make any noticeable motions in preparation of what was to come. Just as I wrapped my hands around the hilt something unexpected happened. I was just about ready to charge into battle and unsheathe my blade when the boy suddenly smiled at me. There was a warmness to his smile and the sudden lack of aggression confused me. I froze up again, shocked by the sudden change in his expression. The boy then turned away from me and casually went back into his hut, not even sparing another glance towards the bushes I was hiding in.
No way… I-I don’t think he even sees me as a threat! Me! One of the strongest of my kind! Is that even possible?! I was right earlier, he definitely must have turned off his secret ability to trick me into approaching. Damn it! Why did I let my guard down?! How could I be so careless?! I thought I was the hunter, but my prey has had its jaws around my head this entire time. I need to get out of here before something else happens.
The silhouette sat there in stunned silence for a few minutes in case the strange boy was still watching from a spot in his hut, then carefully made its retreat from its hiding spot. It needed to report back to the others immediately.
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