Alright, let's blow their socks off. Crouching down I flex my knees and burst forward with every ounce of strength I can muster.
*CRACK*
The ground under my foot crushes into bits of rocks as I go sprawling forward. Quickly I jerk my left foot forward to catch myself - and there’s nothing there.
“Shit.” Endless wit there me.
Pinwheeling to catch myself on anything, I manage to smash my face on an outcropping of rock as I get flipped upside down and go bouncing down the ravine.
Alright, no big deal… just tuck and roll. I’ve been in worse situations, I think. Hard to remember, but that’s not important… How damned deep is this canyon? I’ve been musing to myself for awhile but I don’t know exactly where the bottom is. It doesn’t exactly look this deep, but holy hell have I been falling for yards?, chains?, a furlong? How deep is this exactly?
Rolling hurts like hell, and this is a near vertical drop, so maybe I should try and catch myself. Yep, me, do something.
Heaving, I chamber back and just drill my fingers into the cliff face. Let’s hope adamantine or whatever is strong enough to pull this off. With a solid rocky pop sound my fingers drill into the dusty red rock-face with enough force for my whole hand to sink into the cliff. The weight of my body falling creates massive whiplash on my arm and shoulder as I snap taught and start to swing back and forth.
Right as I’m about to let out a sigh of relief, a rock from above smashes me on the head, causing my hand to pop out of its hole and pushes me away from the cliff.
“FUCK YOU ROCK!” I scream in futility while I plummet to a sure second death.
Reflexively I tuck my knees to my chest, roll over backwards, and straighten my legs while angling to land on my toes with my body leaned backwards. If I can do this right I might only shatter both legs.
*BOOM* The impact is nearly a thousand times stronger than I was expecting. My legs instantly collapse as the momentum tucks me and rolls me backwards. In desperate hopes of not snapping my spine from the sheer speed of my roll I plant my arms by my head. As I roll over my shoulder I shove against the ground with all the strength I can muster - which was way more than I was expecting.
I’m now airborne - again - and spinning rapidly. Alright, maybe I can get fancy. I kick my legs out in the direction I’m sailing to straighten my body and… it works! I’m now a shooting arrow flying feet first towards - well would ya look at that - the boulder I threw down here on accident.
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Pulling my legs down and spreading my arms and legs as wide as possible I manage to create just enough drag to slow me down and let me land infront of this rock, barely.
*Whap* Momentum, meet this here boulder.
“Uggghhhh…” Between the impacts and the adrenaline I’m just gonna lay here and vibrate for a minute. If I broke something I don’t want to move it. Maybe Jobi and Vorben will come magic me away?
Laying here and letting time pass, at least 10 minutes - wait is time still time? How would I even know? The ‘system’ hasn’t said anything - nothing feels broken and none of the pain is significant. Getting up and slowly checking myself over, other than a lot of dust on my clothes, everything looks and feels just fine. Some blood on my face, but that’s it? Amazing!
Looking closer at the rock I landed on, the one that used to be a door, I realized that it seems to be custom fit for that opening. If I don’t bring this back Jobi might start invasive tests on me out of spite.
Reaching down I grab the bounder, bend my knees, and heave. The boulder - which is just a little bigger than I am, comes up with ease. Holy balls what is this strength? Shifting the bounder to my left shoulder I realize I can carry it with no problems. Either this rock is hollow or I’m carrying a 1200lb rock like nothing.
*knock knock* ~knock knock~ echoes back from inside the rock. Alright, so it is hollow. Sounds like, metal? Feels like stone. Nifty.
Looking around there doesn’t seem to be a way back up from where I am. I could try climbing but… screw it. Remembering the ease with which I could make hand holds I can probably scale this easily enough. Reaching up to shove my fingers into a crack I press forward with no result. What the hell? What’s the difference between here and when I did it up there? Just cause that was a dusty red… oh it was probably clay.
Setting the boulder down I close my eyes to meditate and remember the layout of the canyons and ridges I saw from above.
[SKILL ACQUIRED - SPATIAL ORIENTATION]
[SKILL EVOLVED - SPATIAL ORIENTATION -> MENTAL CARTOGRAPHY]
Uh what now? Alright weird interface in my soul (at least that’s what I assume is going on). Tell me what this skill does.
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MENTAL CARTOGRAPHY
SKILL
ALWAYS KNOW DIRECTION BACK TO A VISITED LANDMARK
REQUIREMENT: MUST KNOW CURRENT LOCATION AND LANDMARK’S APPROXIMATE DISTANCE AND DIRECTION
EVOLUTION
THROUGH CONCENTRATION CAN DISCERN GENERAL LAYOUT OF VISITED LOCATIONS, INCLUDING DISTANCE BETWEEN STATIONARY OBJECTS
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Oh ya~y, I now have some mental text that tells me what I was literally just about to do.
One day I will figure out what this is, but for now, let me see. Closing my eyes and focusing I can see in my mind a clear path from here to the pylon I was supposed to tag before. The only difference is instead of 5 miles of relatively straight running it’s now roughly 12 miles of detours and switch backs to get above the canyon. Now I’m super happy I ate before this fiasco.
Hefting the boulder I lean forward and start my run towards the first switch back. Or well, again, that was my plan. As I push through my leg I feel the purchase beneath me slide away. Flailing I accidentally shot put this hollow boulder a good 40 yards as I once again eat dirt.
Alright, what the fuck is going on? Running can NOT be this hard!
Carefully picking myself up I start to walk back and forth. Slowly picking up speed I can feel myself flexing against the ground. As I push hard I realize that the level of dust and dirt on the ground is causing me to slip when I try and kick off. Alright then, I know I’m a giant and I probably weigh a ton, so being slow and clumsy is ok.
Picking up the rock I decide to start hopping forward instead of running. It does seem to be working. It’s not as fast and much more tiring but until I get the feeling of moving this is gonna have to work.