[Alisha's PoV]
A flash of light welcomes us as we step out. Readying ourselves, we check our surroundings. We’ve come out back to the entrance we came in from, in front of us is the same clearing, the bodies previously laying around all but gone, the only remains that could be seen were some blood splatters on the ground and some of the trees. Lowering my guard and moving forward a bit I look around for where we should go first. According to Sally, she has only ever travelled this one path from Crater to here, Gray and I were in a similar position. We did not know much about the world outside of Crater, feeling nervous about how our futures looked, as well as a bit excited, we started walking down the path, being careful in case we ran into the humans. We wanted to avoid going off the path into the forest at any cost, not only do we not have a clear path to go, but we also lose a lot of vision and would need to keep our guard up constantly.
With Sally in front of us, Gray tailing behind and myself in the middle, we continue down the path while keeping a lookout. Judging by the daylight, we have about an hour left before night falls, meaning shelter has to be found before then, or at least somewhere we can defend ourselves without being surrounded. Breaking through the forest, we arrive in an open field, a grassland with boulders, a few trees and shrubs scattered about but otherwise was plain with some monsters roaming the fields and in the distance I can faintly make out what seems to be a river, one of our destinations to see if there is any shelter. Beyond the river I can make out another forest, less dense than the one we left. Without much time to spare, we start lightly jogging towards the river, hoping to get there in time to find shelter before night.
Along the way we were attacked by monsters, however they were around level 7 or 8 and we easily dispatched them. Within about twenty minutes we arrived at the river, and looking down the river sides there was no end in sight. The width of the river is about ten metres, something that we could cross if necessary but did not want to risk in case there were monsters waiting within.
“What direction do we go? Do you two see anything further up?”
“I see some rocks and maybe caves upstream, don't see anything downstream.”
Gray nods in agreement, so we start making our way upstream quickly. Moving quickly on the gravel near the bank of the river, we fight off a few more monsters on the way and reach the rocky area that Sally pointed out. Looking around, we check around to see if there is a cave nearby. Slowly moving, we keep ourselves prepared just in case of a sudden monster attack. We don’t know how strong the monsters are around here, if we encounter something too strong we’d be in a very bad situation.
“Over there, it looks like a cave.”
Saying this, Sally starts moving towards it. It’s a small cave entrance, hidden between some rocks. As we move towards it, we stop and look at each other, with a nod we move into the cave. Sniffing, I don’t smell anything but the dampness of the cave, a smell of a monster or beast that has nearly faded away and strangely water. With the flint and steel we brought from the dungeon, Gray lights a makeshift torch made from sticks and we move forward, thankfully even if we only had a little light, our vision was great in the dark due to being raised in near darkness. The first room is nothing but a naturally made corridor, with a few stalagmites coming from the ground and stalactite from the roof, walking downwards for about 40 metres, we arrive in a bigger room.
There is nothing really here, barren and the smell of water is stronger. Coming to the other side, we discover two more pathways. Choosing the closest one on the right, we come to a room with a pond of water at the back, with water flowing in from above. Checking to see if there are any threats, we quickly move back out and take the path on the left. In here is an old nest of some sorts, this is where the smell of an animal was coming from, but it’s extremely weak, like it has not come back for a very long time. Explaining my discovery to Sally and Gray, Sally is the first to speak.
“Well, if it hasn’t come back for a long time, then we’ll stay here for now. It’s near dark now, let's stop here and rest. Gray, you’re on watch first.”
Nodding, Gray moves to the entrance to the first room we discovered. Thankfully we don’t need light, having a fire down here could be dangerous and lure monsters here…a problem we’d need to deal with later. Looking at Sally, I smile and point at the room with the pond.
“Shall we get ourselves cleaned up?”
Nodding, Sally leads the way, and arriving in the room she hands me a small package.
“Soap, I got some as a reward, use it.”
Soap? I look at the soap in my hands and surprisingly the System reacts.
[Soap of Cleanliness
It’s soap, use it while bathing and you’ll be clean.]
‘Strange, why did the System prompt there?’ Thinking to myself, I tilted my head and secretly was glad the System said something. I don’t know what this soap is, but if it helps me get clean I’ll take it. Taking off the scraps of clothing clinging to my body and the gauntlets, I slowly walk into the water, which is crispy cold, with Sally doing the same.
After bathing and using that soap stuff, I found that I was a lot cleaner than when I bathed at the river back in Crater. Satisfied, I put on my new clothes, but was confused about a particular piece of clothing, it had two half circles connected with a strap that went around in a circle. Looking at Sally, she seemed equally confused, and shrugging I set it aside, maybe it had some use but the System wasn’t telling us how it worked. Putting on the red skirt and black top with no sleeves, I got my gauntlets back on and am very happy with how the clothing felt. Looking at Sally, she was in a blue shirt with long sleeves and black pants that went down to her ankles. We put on the shoes that came with the clothing and head back to the main room to get some sleep while we wait for the day to come about once again.
A few hours later, I’m awoken by Sally and take over watching the entrance, this will last until daylight comes. Walking over and sitting on a rock near the entrance, I watch the entrance. Smelling, I can smell rain and wet fur, guessing that there were monsters roaming around in the rain, I keep my guard up until sunrise. Seeing the daylight slowly coming through the entrance, I get up and move to wake up Gray and Sally. Once they were awake, we headed out with the purpose of getting wood and monsters as food. Discussing amongst ourselves, we decided to stay here and slowly explore the surroundings during the day when it was safest. Moving out, we quickly run into some monsters still wandering around. Most monsters will sleep during the day, some avoid the daylight while others don’t do either. The monsters we encounter are level 10 and 11, a group of three, they look like wolves, with massive fangs coming out of their mouths and long claws. Stepping out, Sally slams the hilt of her sword onto her shield, gaining the attention of all three. I move to her right while Gray moves to the left, extending the claws out of my gauntlets, I wait for the monsters to attack Sally first.
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[Level 11 Wolf Cub]
One attacks her while the other two watch Gray and I, something I didn’t expect, but quickly adapt to. Moving in on the one watching me, I throw out my right fist at its face, retracting my claws at the same time, while I swing my left fist from its blindspot, hoping it’ll dodge into it. Leaning forward, I watch as the wolf dodges towards where my left fist is aiming, and keeping the claws extended I connect and rip into the wolf’s right flanks, right between its front leg and ribs. Ripping through with a sharpness I’m not used to, I cleanly take out a chunk from the wolf, the smell of blood flows out, smelling absolutely amazing. The wolf is barely standing as I move in and punch out to its head once again with my right fist, with my claws extended, I stab through and move the gauntlets down, cutting its head into three pieces, still attached to the body of the wolf. I keep my guard up for a second then see the message the system gives me.
[You killed a Wolf Cub, gained 800xp.]
Raising my eyebrows, I wondered if I was seeing it correctly. I got that much experience for killing something? I know I got 700 from killing Thomas, but there was only one Thomas, there might be lots of Wolf Cub! Looking over at Sally and Gray, I can see they have finished as well. The head of Sally’s monster is cleanly cut off and Gray’s wolf’s head was…I guess it’s the mush of blood and flesh in the hole in the ground where its head used to be. A bit shocked at the surreal sight of someone who looks 14 wielding a massive two handed hammer standing over the mess, I bring the wolf over to Sally, who starts skinning the wolves and storing the fur and meat into two of the sacks we obtained with the clothing. The third sack would be used to store wood, at least tinder for fires. While Sally worked, Gray and I stood on lookout, since the smell of blood may attract monsters towards us. Thankfully they don’t, but from here on we’d need to be careful as we’ll be walking around with fresh bait.
Taking some time to explore around, the surroundings are mostly the rocks, big and small. Walking on the gravel floor, we continue forward, fighting off more Wolf Cub’s and some weaker monsters. We came across another cave a short distance from ours. The smell of monster was much stronger, so we avoided exploring it for the time being. Making our way back downstream, we find some loose bark and scraps of wood, seemingly from other monsters cutting into it. Grabbing some loose wood, we quickly filled the third bag.
“We certainly don’t have enough. This would be easier with a cart.”
Agreeing with Sally, I approach another tree and extend my claws, and just as I’m about to swing I stop myself. Looking at the tree, I think I see slashes, not claw marks from a monster, but what appeared to be sword marks. Like someone or something was practising on this tree. The current place we were at was quite the distance from Crater, somewhere they shouldn’t be able to reach to casually practise sword striking. Was there others living this far out, or is it a monster with claws this straight. Calling Sally over, I show her the marks to get her opinion, after observing she comes to the same conclusion as me, we may not be alone out here. With something else to keep an eye out for, we return to gathering wood, using my gauntlets I can slowly strip wood off these trees. Our plan is to smoke this meat, something we were forced to do growing up as rations for the humans, so we knew why this was the best option.
Managing to get enough wood to pick up with both arms, a pile under each, we gather back together and move back to our little cave. After dropping off the fur and tendons from the Wolf Cubs, we take the wood and meat with us and move further up to near the river. We did not want to cook this close to the cave, as the chances of attracting monsters was high. After we set up the fire, with Gray and Sally on lookout, I slowly started cooking some of the meat for our meals today and smoked the rest to eat later on. The smell, at least to myself, was very strong and started attracting some of the weaker monsters that had hidden away during the daylight. Thankfully there were no monsters too high level, but with night quickly approaching, we did not want to stay out for too long, as the scarier higher level monsters would come out to hunt. Finishing up the last batch of smoked meat, we put out the fire and took the remaining wood we had left, and as we’re about to leave, one of our fears appeared.
[Level 14 Wolf Adult]
With two of these higher level monsters approaching, we knew we needed to finish this quickly, or at least escape back to the cave without them following. Without a word, Sally quickly charges at one of the monsters and slams her shield into its face, causing it to buckle. Gray approaches the second and swinging his hammer slowly, he distracts it while I approach the one Sally was fighting. Moving swiftly, I move into its blind spot and lash out with my claws from my right gauntlet, aiming for its leg, but it dodges at the last moment. Not expecting it to dodge as it did, I stumble forward a bit and use that momentum to roll quickly to my left, narrowly dodging a bite that came down. Feeling a cold sweat on my back, I remembered where we were, outside of Crater monsters can be extremely strong, and smart. Taking a breath, I refocus myself with this in mind, one mistake could lead to a swift death against these monsters. Retracting both claws, I stay back a bit while Sally gets some hits in and gains its attention again.
When it finally starts attacking Sally again, I move in once again towards the Wolf Adult’s blindspot at its hind legs. Now more focused on its movements, I swing at its upper body and connect with my right fist, hearing a crunching sound. I knew I was successful this time, and quickly jumped back to avoid it once again biting down where I just hit it. This time while it was facing me, I extended both claws out and moved in again, rolling to the right while it tried to bite me again and arrive at its side. Stabbing down into the back of the wolf, I jerk my hand down as hard as possible, nearly slicing it in half in one go, but I hit a bone near the bottom. Pulling my hand back, the claws are stuck, possibly in the bone that stopped my slice, giving it another pull I manage to free myself, just as the wolf claws at me. Raising my left arm, it connects and leaves a claw wound on my arm. Stinging painfully, I check the wound and see it’s shallow but could’ve been much worse if I hadn’t freed myself. As the wolf turns to bit at me again, Sally cleanly cuts through the bone I failed to, finishing the Wolf Adult off.
[You killed a Wolf Adult, gained 1,800xp.]
[You obtain 1x Wolf Tail.]
Quickly moving to the Wolf Adult that Gray was attacking, we quickly deal with it in a similar fashion. Gray had gotten some hits in making it easier for us. After killing the Wolf Adult, we decided to take the risk and skin it for the fur, and thankfully this risk paid off. We left the meat behind, as a lure to keep monsters away from our cave, and quickly moved, arriving just as night started setting in. As we enter, we can hear the sounds of howling in the distance, strangely making us feel fear and slightly weaker.
We store the smoked meat into the empty room, and set up some of the remaining wood to dry out the fur, tendons and skin we accumulated from killing monsters. Prioritising the materials from the Wolf Adult, I also requested the Wolf Tail I had received, and looking it over it was just that, a tail. Not sure what it could be used for, we decided to just skin it and use the extra bone to help prop up the wood for drying the fur. After making sure we hang up as much fur as we can to dry, we eat and once again bathe. Gray finally wore his new clothing, a yellow short sleeved buttoned shirt that mixes well with his hair, and blue shorts that go down to just above his knees. With myself as the first guard, we turn in for our second night in this cave, with plans to explore more of the outside world and to see if we can find a dungeon to get stronger.