At this point, while walking through the forest, I noticed many more details around me: the forest was amazing! How didn’t I notice all of this before? Here and there I came across different creatures: from flying squirrels-like animals to common hedgehogs. I was also able to detect many new unknown plants that I hadn’t noticed before, but unfortunately, ninety-nine percent of them were absolutely useless to me.

However, I did stumble upon a bush that was covered with berries, which looked like grapes, only they were coral colored with blue veins, and I sensed that these could be useful to me. To tell the truth, the falcon discovered the bush: he shouted out and instantly dived in to help himself to a treat. He began to peck away at everything within reach as fast as he could. Sadly for him, his stomach was small: the bird's eyes showed a mix of a desire to consume more and a disappointment that he was already full.

The falcon flew towards me, and for a brief time, I was watching as my Totem was flying between the trees as somebody who was very drunk. Finally, he realized that he couldn’t fly properly, but the bush was obviously closer to him than I was. The Copper Winged bird turned back and landed next to it. Then he looked at me hungrily.

“Are the berries really that delicious?” I asked.

As I expected, he nodded in affirmative.

“Let’s see...” I went over to the bush and picked a couple of berries. “Now let’s try some... Wow! They really are delicious!” I tore off a whole bunch.

The “Chewy Berry”. Used in potions and cooking. It is edible raw. The Chewy Berry is widely used, and they are a particular favorite of almost all birds.

“Now I get it. Okay, if it’s such a tasty and useful fruit then we'll collect as many as we can,” I promised the falcon.

Fortunately for my Totem, there were a dozen more of these bushes nearby, and since a single compartment in my bag could hold a hundred and twenty fruits, I filled up three of them. After that, ignoring the pleading looks from the bird, which was ready to live the rest of its life in here, we continued on our way. I threatened it that if the badly-behaved bird didn’t follow me, then I would burn down all the bushes. Looking me in the eyes, the Totem understood what I was telling him, even if he hadn’t quite sobered up yet. Wobbling around unsteadily, he hurried along after me. It was a good thing that the falcon didn’t know that I had never even started a fire in this world, and I wasn’t even sure if I could do it or not.

Around lunchtime, as I approached another meadow, I thought I could hear the faint sound of running water. It suddenly dawned on me just how thirsty I was! I had survived without water for several days, just like a long-clawed ground squirrel.

Enchanted by the sound, I followed it to its source, and I found myself by a forest stream. As I studied it a little longer, a name appeared: the “Sparkling River”, although it was more like a stream. My Copper Winged bird was flying above me, so he spotted the little river before I did. He drew my attention to it with a squawk, and he pointed out one of the tree branches.

“Obviously, you do not want to go there.”

The falcon nodded.

The river’s name was a perfect choice: the whole river shimmered with different colors and sparkled in the sunlight. Even from a distance I had to cover my eyes with my hand from its reflection, so I wondered what could happen when I got even closer. However, my thirst still drove me to the river. The reflection from it was cutting mercilessly into my eyes, bringing me to tears. I closed my eyes, made a cup from my hands and feeling around, I scooped up a little water. The water was very cold and incredibly tasty.

You now have the “Surviving Without Water” ability. This achievement is part of rare abilities. You can survive for more than a week merely from the moisture contained in plants and fruits.

“That’s impressive, but what else does it give me? Also, what other abilities are needed? Of course, I understand what it’s like to live “without food”, but I don’t want to go hungry for no good reason. So, the analogy is that this reward should give me the ability to survive without water for a week!”

I waited for a while, making sure that there were no harmful side effects from drinking the water. Still keeping my eyes closed, I bent my head down, and began to drink directly from the river. After drinking my fill, I got up and was about to leave. However, my intuition woke up: I was literally pushed back towards the river. I still didn’t understand why this was the case, because I hadn’t learned how to listen to my intuition yet.

“Okay, whatever you think is the right thing to do!”

I squatted down and, hoping for an enlightenment, started running my hands over the smooth surface of the water. When my hands became accustomed to the cold, I started playing with water, scooping it up and letting it run through my fingers, for the sake of trying something new... Suddenly my hand hit something. I was so surprised that I almost fell into the river.

“Well, what do we have here?” I carefully extended my hand towards whatever was there, and started feeling around until it came to rest on some sort of a stone.

My Intuition was ecstatic.

“This must be some kind of madness! It seems like some kind of animal is living inside me! Maybe I am going mad. It's a good thing that I still remember that I’m actually in a game ...”

“All right, let’s not worry about all that,” I reassured my intuition. “I get it: we need these stones.”

I began to systematically move my hands along the bottom of the river, collecting the stones. Falling into a rhythm, I switched off my conscious thought, and did everything on instinct. At one point, I held a stone in my hand, but I couldn’t add it to my collection in the bag.

Your compartment is full!

“How many stones have I already collected? Not to worry, the main thing is that my bag isn’t overloaded, but if I find something more important, then I'll throw them out,” I decided.

All wet and tired, I walked away from the river. My feathered friend was sat calmly on a branch and preening its feathers.

“You are one lazy bum! You should have been flying around searching for something interesting!” I scolded the bird.

The falcon pretended not to hear, but looked at me with interest, as if to ask “what’s next then?”

“Okay, I don’t think we are far from where I want to be. Let’s go. I'll show you a nice meadow.”

As I expected, half an hour later we were at the edge of the lunar meadow, only this time on the opposite side of the large tree, with the Fiddle mushrooms growing on its trunk. I got the impression that this was the only tree in the vicinity that they were growing on.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Your “Intuition” ability has increased: +1% (29%).

“That message confirms my suspicion. Now I don’t even need to check it myself. Intuition is a really cool thing. Only I have a suspicion that, thanks to it, I will have many more adventures, and end up falling on my ass many more times ...” Before I had time to contemplate my potentially problematic future, a new message popped up:

Your “Intuition” has increased: +1% (30%).

“The developers of the game have quite a sense of humor! Who would have thought? Even the fact that they managed to include such an option makes me want to laugh!” I chuckled.

This time the meadow was full of life. Alphiners of all sizes and colors were engaged in amusing themselves: some played with each other, some chased butterflies, and a couple simply lay carelessly on the grass. They had noticed me a long time ago, but completely ignored me.

I looked around and identified the small creature that I had met on my last visit, so I headed straight to him. He was one of the Alphiners playing around, chasing his friend. When I approached, the Alphiner pretended to just notice that I was there, and gave me a questioning look, as if saying “We're playing here, so why did you come?”

I silently took out a couple of Haiku fruits that had been in my bag ever since the visit to the cave. Just like last time, I offered the creature both of the treats on the palm of my hand.

My Copper Winged companion, who hadn’t yet decided how to behave in this situation, was flying around in circles, observing what was happening below on the ground with curiosity.

Sniffing the air, my old friend looked at the fruits with interest, but he was in no hurry to try them. However, its play friend didn’t possess such self-control. He could smell the delicacy, and he came closer to the palm of my hand, preparing to snatch one of the fruits. Realizing that being cautious was not in his favor in this instance, my old friend also instantly shortened the distance between us, and he was lucky to pick up the last fruit before it was too late.

I had plenty of Haiku, so I just put all of them in a pile at my side. The creatures in the meadow realized that they were in no danger, so one by one they slowly approached and joined the feast. I was already able to stroke and play with almost all the animals in the meadow, without any fear. Some of them tried to knock me over, and playfully nibble at me, and some of them even rolled over to have their bellies scratched.

We were all having fun, but suddenly everything changed. There was a tension in the air: I looked around the meadow and saw a new creature. This was clearly the leader of the pack. It was copper colored and one and a half times larger than any other Alphiner present in the meadow. This creature was also different in a sense that its tails looked a lot more dangerous. They looked like two whips and a decently sized hammer.

“Just look at that! What a potential pet that would make! This makes my decision easy!” I thought presumptuously.

The pack leader was approaching me with a formidable look about him. He clearly didn’t share my optimism regarding our future friendship.

You have received too much attention from the Alphiner pack from the enchanted forest of the Celestial Fairies. The leader of the pack exercises his right to invite you to a fair fight. In the event that you refuse, your reputation with the pack will change to Distrust.

Do you agree to the combat?

“Of course. It’s not like I have a choice at this point!” I had no intention of losing my hard-earned friendship.

“The real question is what exactly constitutes a fair fight?” The thought flashed through my mind.

The rules of a fair fight: one-on-one combat. The use of any kind of weapons, magic, elixirs and amplifications are forbidden. Also, during the combat divine powers do not work. The fight will begin in 2 minutes.

“Wow, that really is a fair fight.”

I put my sword away in the compartment in the bag that was now empty of Haiku fruit. I took the bag off as well, throwing it on the grass. I took off my shield protection and threw it down on the grass next to the bag. That was all the weaponry that I was carrying. I had no magic knowledge at all, and none of the other things mentioned either.

“Okay, you with the big tails, let's fight.”

I heard a sound of a gong, and the big Alphiner was in front of me already. One of his tails cut me with a single swing. As I lay on my back looking at the sky, the hammer tail swung at my head. It's good that my “Sliding Movements” ability worked, and I managed to roll out of the way. I jumped to my feet and, seeing the shadow of the third tail coming at me, I dodged to the left to avoid the impact.

“That’s good news. It looks like you can only swing them one at a time!” I cut the distance and swiped back at him.

My opponent didn’t expect such impudence from me and didn’t have time to jump out of the way. My attempt missed its mark, but apparently, I had seriously injured one of his paws. My leg was aching as well, but during the passage through the caves, I had become used to such pain and was able continue the fight. During the next five minutes of fighting I was on the lookout for ways to take my opponent by surprise. I caught hold of one of his tails and tried to entangle it in one of his paws. When this first attempt wasn’t successful, I caught hold of the second tail and tried to tie them together in a knot. The Alphiner didn’t fall for it either. Catching me off guard, he slapped me on the left hand with his hammer tail, as he was untangling the other tails.

As a result, I quickly changed tactics and decided to concentrate on his injured paw. Was it cruel? Of course, but I couldn’t see any alternative, so I just started to strike at the injured paw every chance I got. Another couple of minutes of similar tactical strikes and all sorts of fighting maneuvers from both sides followed. Both breathing heavily, we were slowly walking around each other in circles. My left arm was useless and my legs were aching after so many blows from the creature’s tails. My right side was pulsating in pain after a direct hit from the hammer shaped tail. The Alphiner was dragging his injured leg behind, and he was towing the left side whip tail behind him through the grass. I had managed to knock the pack leader over on the grass, and without wasting time, I had jumped on this injured tail with all my weight, and that’s when I had taken the hammer blow to my side.

My Copper Winged friend had joined the pack in the meadow, and was following the fight along with the rest of them. If I understood correctly, the bird had swayed half the pack into rooting for me.

“What a cool Totem I have!” I was touched. “But what should I do with this pack leader? Without weapons, we were equal in strength, maybe he is even stronger than me. I just got lucky several times, and at the right times my blows were critical. If I understand correctly, if my Luck hadn’t been at 25 points, then he would have already torn me into tiny pieces a long time ago ...”

It seemed that the Alphiner had reached the same conclusion as I had: he stopped, raised his right paw with a sigh, and then put it to his chest.

The leader of the Alphiner pack from the Enchanted Forest of the Celestial Fairies recognizes your strength and right to be a friend of the pack and he offers you a draw in this trial by combat.

“All praise to the creators of the game! I was beginning to think that you and I would be dancing forever.” I accepted the draw.

You have completed the hidden quest: “Obtaining the trust of the pack”. Your reputation with the Alphiner pack from the Enchanted Forest of the Celestial Fairies is now one of Trust. To reach the status of Respect you require 10 000 points.

You are accepted as a friend of the Alphiner pack from the Enchanted Forest of the Celestial Fairies.

You have obtained the reputation of “Accepted among the Beasts”. There is the possibility of improvement: you can reach the same reputation with another 10 packs.

+10% chance to meet rare species of animals.

Your “Endurance” has increased: +1 (16).

Your “Strength” has increased: +3 (14).

Your “Dexterity” has increased: +1 (16).

Your “Intellect” has increased: +4 (11).

Your “Reflexes” ability has increased: +3 (12).

Your “Inventiveness” ability has increased: +5 (6).

After reading the messages, I collapsed down on the grass, completely exhausted, and fell asleep.