Nathan walked along the dead, cracked soil. His heart jumped at every stray noise. He was fairly certain he could take on those Mutant Sheep, but who knew what else was out there?
After about five minutes of walking, he shook his head and pushed away the fear.
I have to be brave.
The words sounded faker every time he thought them.
“God, what I wouldn’t give for some company,” he said. “Would it be so much for one other person to be here? Just one?”
The universe didn’t reply.
Nathan decided to circle his cave’s location. This would have the side effect of allowing him to learn more about his home base’s surroundings.
Ten more minutes of walking occurred, with nothing at all happening. The fear slipped away, replaced by boredom.
Nathan glanced north by using the sun as his compass. He couldn’t see the stone outcropping of his cavern anymore, he’d wandered so far.
He turned back around just in time to see something out of the corner of his eye. A large, black color at the edge of his vision. Nathan swallowed, then approached it.
It was an inky lake. It was huge, stretching out for what seemed like miles. The surface of the water was completely still, with no ripples.
He reached out and tapped a finger against the surface. His finger didn’t register any unusual feeling. It seemed normal.
“Then why is it such a strange color? Is it some sort of algae?” he said.
Nathan brought his fishing rod out. There might be loot in here that he could fish up!
He pulled his fishing rod and slung it forward. The hook sailed through the air before landing in the water with a loud splash. A red and white bob shimmered into existence a moment later, preventing the hook from sinking into the bottom of the lake.
Nathan sat down and counted the seconds. No bites. He took one hand away from the fishing pole and scratched the back of his head.
It was almost relaxing. Sure, the temperature was a little warm… scratch that, it was hot. But still, he was starting to understand why people had enjoyed fishing back in his old world.
He hummed a little tune to himself and bobbed his head.
A shadow appeared in the distance.
Nathan furrowed his eyebrows. His heart increased in speed.
The figure got closer and closer. It was flying in the air, wings flapping through the air. Its body was long and serpentine, like some kind of wyvern.
Nathan almost used [Basic Inspect] before pausing. He knew that the monster would notice him, but he had to confirm if he was looking at what he thought he was looking at.
He used Inspect.
The monster let out a roar.
Gliding Eel - Lv. 37
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Nathan’s face paled. It was only a minute away. Should he run? He took a step backward, only to be stopped by the resistance of his hook and string.
He hurriedly reeled the hook back in. The monster flapped its wings, getting closer to Nathan. Nathan adjusted his position, trying to get a little bit more reeling speed.
The monster opened its jaws. It was a few seconds away now.
Nathan shouted and pulled his hook up, sending it flying into the air. The hook hit the tip of one of the eel’s wings, and the eel screeched and flapped to the side.
Nathan glanced back to his cavern. He wouldn’t be able to outrun the eel.
Maybe I could jump into the water?
The eel flapped its wings, stabilizing its flight and turning right back around. Nathan slung his hook into the air, aiming for the eel’s stomach. The eel dodged with a spin.
Nathan didn’t even have time to scream. The eel bit into Nathan’s hand. Its teeth ripped into his flesh, bypassing his high Constitution with ease. The bone crushed and cracked where the teeth got to. The only thing that prevented it from getting ripped off instantly was the fishing rod’s large reel and thick handle, which somehow managed to withstand the strength of the eel’s sharp teeth.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
I’m going to die.
The thought rang in Nathan’s mind. Tears burst to his eyes and his knees collapsed.
“[Shell of Protection]!” he said.
A glowing shell exploded from his chest and shoved the eel away from him. A second later, it dissipated into nothingness.
Run.
Nathan jumped into the water. Everything disappeared and he could hear nothing but the sound of his own heartbeat. He swam down as deep as he could, despite his damaged hand—a hand that was still holding his fishing rod.
A sensation poked at him, like gentle needles pricking at his skin. At first, Nathan could ignore it. Then the pain increased. Instead of gentle pricks, it was more like it was digging daggers deep into his muscles. Tears came from his eyes. As soon the tears leaked, the pain shot into his eyeballs.
It was the water. The black water was so much worse than he thought. No wonder nothing was alive in it. They’d all died.
It was liquid poison.
He heard a muffled splash.
Oh.
His enemy was an eel, and Nathan just went into the water.
A crackle in his ear was all the warning he got. A moment later, the world lit up with light and pain.
…
A river swept him through the underground. The black ink gave way to glowing blue.
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Nathan coughed, each retch sending waves of agony up his spine as water poured from his throat. His whole body shook, heat leaking from his soaked clothes. His head spun as he forced his eyes open.
The ceiling above glowed faintly, the flickering reflection of the underground lake rippling below him. He groaned and tried to push his head up only for it to drop back down, the effort too much. His body was heavy like something had drained all the strength out of him. He recalled getting swept away in a current—water, darkness, cold. That’s how he ended up here, on the shore of the glowing lake.
A feeling of weakness washed over him and collapsed to his side. Vomit rushed up his mouth and he threw up on the lake shore. After several minutes of dry heaving, he got enough strength to stand up.
The world tilted. He stumbled, falling to his knees.
“Crap…” he muttered, clutching his temples as pain shot through his skull like a nail being hammered in.
He looked around. He didn’t see the dent that he’d made in the cavern wall with his fishing pole, which meant he was on the wrong side of his magic lake. Either that, or he was in a separate lake entirely and there just happened to be multiple underground.
Nathan hoped it wasn’t the second one. He needed to get back. Back to the surface, where he could grab those dead bushes for a fire. He shivered violently at the idea of going without warmth. If he didn’t get to the surface, he’d die here, from the cold or the poison tearing through him.
Something caught his attention. Something was wiggling on the ground in his vomit.
He blinked and inspected it.
[Scythian Worm] (E-rank)
When life gives you poison, make bait
A revolting, writhing mass that you'd rather forget came from your own insides. This nauseating nugget of near-death experience turns out to be an irresistible lure for fish with questionable taste buds (which is most of them, really).
Origin: Self-produced through an impromptu stomach evacuation after Blackwater poisoning.
Scent: Indescribable (We tried. The scent-tester quit.)
Taste: Somewhere between "oh no" and "dear god why"
Note: We'd like to remind everyone that intentionally poisoning oneself to produce bait is NOT a recommended fishing technique. Please stop. We're concerned.
…
The [Scythian Worm] was produced… via poisoning himself? What kind of bullshit was this?
Nathan reached down and picked it up. He scrunched up his nose at the vomit and stuffed it into his inventory.
[Upgrade BAIT to Diamond+] (1/1 Scythian Worms)
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
Bait now provided a +10% increase to catch rarity and catch rate. Nathan sighed. Maybe if he was lucky, he’d get another weapon. Something even more powerful than his fishing rod?
He also noted that he was only one level away from getting a class… a class that would probably be useless for him, given his skillset.
A rush of pain shot up his spine. He nearly collapsed before he managed to pull himself together.
Nathan had to get back to the surface. He had to put together a fire, and he had to stay alive.
He accessed his stats menu. He currently had 25 points available and 20 Constitution.
After a moment of hesitation, he put 15 points into his Constitution. He wanted to put everything he had into the stat, but he knew that he might need the points at a later date.
He stumbled along the lake shore for what felt like hours, the cold gnawed at him, each step weaker than the last. His teeth chattered violently, and he could barely feel his fingers. Finally, through the haze, he saw it—a small rock slide he recognized from before. He had made it back to the other side. Relief flooded him, though he wasn’t sure why. He was still freezing, still poisoned, still injured.
The swim across the lake was agony. His limbs felt like lead, barely obeying him as he paddled through the cold water. His wrist burned with every stroke, sending sharp jolts of pain up his arm.
He let out a cry, gasping as he hit the other side.
Nathan ran up to the entrance. It was freezing cold, especially since his clothing was wet. He ripped a dead bush out of the ground and ran back into the cavern. On the way back, he grabbed the dry bandages that he’d set out the other day.
Chills raced up and down his spine.
Nathan ripped the bush to shreds using his enhanced Strength.
He grabbed a particularly straight branch and reached both of his palms up to spin it. He paused when his left hand erupted in pain.
He looked at it and grimaced. It was still bleeding, and he somehow hadn’t noticed. The adrenaline had been enough to distract him, but he was still injured badly.
He awkwardly tried his best to spin the twig with only one hand. Over and over, it kept dropping out of his hand when he tried to speed it up. Finally, he just slammed the tinder with his fist.
Sparks lit up and he passed it over to the thicker roots of the branch. He’d made his fire. He took off his clothing and let it dry off beside the fire, then wrapped his wounds.
He groaned from the pain and his head pounded. He’d just finished when he fell over next to the fire.