Lucas couldn’t say he slept like a baby, but it was good enough for someone tied to a tree. And he had to admit he held a new level of respect for monkeys after answering a call of nature up there; that was no joke. Climbing down, he saw that everything looked the same way he had left.
It was a bright day, and his spirits were up. On the downside he was starting to feel thirsty; the leaves had dried up at this point, and he was in a hurry to find some river or something that he could drink out of. Before climbing down the tree, he had tried to scout his surroundings and found a place to the east that looked more clear of trees, and that’s where he was headed, but first, there was one little thing he had to do.
Taking his hide, he very crudely cut the thing and made three holes where he could put his arms and head. After thirty minutes of that, the result looked… unique. And the System probably agreed with this assessment, considering that no notifications came. The System didn’t even identify it as an item, seeing that no information appeared.
“Really?!” Lucas said, slightly offended by the silent dig at his work. “Whatever, it’s not like I’m applying for a job at Ralph Lauren” he muttered.
Lucas decided to leave the rest of the hide behind; he couldn’t be bothered carrying the rest. That way, a man and his spear set on a journey. A journey that was much shorter than he had predicted. He walked very carefully through the forest and still arrived at his destination, only forty minutes after setting off. He could hear a stream before he even arrived, and he heard something else.
People.
Being careful not to raise attention, he hid behind a tree and took a look. He saw two men and two women. The blond man who was holding a spear and the brunette woman seemed to be a couple. They were discussing something he couldn’t properly hear from that distance. But only the blonde one seemed to be carrying a weapon. They all looked a little pale, sick maybe.
He wasn’t sure if meeting people was a good or a bad idea. One thing he learned from fiction was that people could be extremely volatile, and he couldn’t predict what effects this change of planets might cause. But on the other hand, those people looked pretty harmless, so he decided to trust his gut over his brains this time and approach them straightforwardly.
“Hey there!” he greeted as he walked slowly in their direction. The first thing he noticed was that he could see their levels when he focused on them.
Race: Human. Lvl 0
Race: Human. Lvl 0
Race: Human. Lvl 0
Race: Human. Lvl 0
They looked scared after noticing him, but their faces changed from one of surprise to perplexed after their eyes reached his new vest.
“Hi!” The man with the spear was the one to answer, he was still fixated on Lucas’ vest while he spoke.
“You are the first people I have met since arriving here,” Lucas said, now a little embarrassed about his clothes. But he wasn’t sure if it would be better if he was shirtless anyway.
“Really?” the red-haired woman asked, seeming surprised. “There’s a big party there by the stream, we were one of the groups selected to try and find a beast, you know… to eat.” She said the last part like it was a very foreign concept, but Lucas understood; having your food bought in the supermarket and having to actually hunt for it were very different things.
Hearing there were other people picked his interest, but he remembered something else: “What about fruit?”
“This too, but it doesn’t seem to be as many fruit in this parts, we only found a few so far,” replied the blond man.
That made him think, he couldn’t remember having seen many fruits as well. Does that mean that almost all the beasts on this planet are carnivores? Or is just this forest?
“You seem to have hunted one already. And even gained a level,” the blond man pointed out, sounding a little impressed. Lucas realized he was probably the leader of their group.
“Yes, I was lucky,” he nodded. He didn’t want to say he nearly died in the process. Let them think he was cool.
“Still, it’s very impressive. We are having a hard time trying to get something. And you managed to do that all by yourself. Anyway, it’s good to know that hunting can make us level up.” He paused, as if considering something. “Do you want to join us? I know you can hunt alone, but it will be faster if we do it together, and safer too.”
“Yes, that might be a good idea… but I haven’t had anything to drink for some time now. Do you mind if I stop by the river first and take a look around?”
They seemed very happy with Lucas’ response and offered to go together. On the way there, he learned more about them. The blond man was named George, and his girlfriend Tina; the other two were his neighbors back on Earth, the red-headed woman was named Angela and the man in glasses, Dan. They told him that a lot of people appeared on the planet together, mostly if they were close to each other at the time they accepted the prompt.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
It didn’t take long for them to reach the river. There should be about a hundred people there, including some children. It was good seeing people again, but something about the scene made him feel uncomfortable, disappointed maybe.
Many people were just sitting there, doing nothing. Others were talking, whispering, and looking terrified. It was understandable; all of the sudden, people were dragged out of their normal lives to live in the wilderness. But even so, it was almost like they were expecting someone to save them, like they were just stranded on an island instead of a different planet.
“Why are they not making any preparations?” Lucas asked, frowning.
“What do you mean?” George asked.
“I mean… they could do something. Make weapons, prepare some sort of defensive measure, a shelter, anything. They are just sitting there,” Lucas said, confused. Were they not seeing what he saw?
“People are still adapting; not all of us are used to being in the wild,” Dan said.
Lucas took a while to understand that he was implying that he had experience being in that sort of environment, he found it amusing and said nothing else. It wasn’t his business.
He went to the stream and took a few sips before actually looking around. On the other side of the stream, there was a rocky mountain, and the stream seemed to go indefinitely. People were gathered near the stream and stayed the farthest away from the forest as possible. No one paid him any mind. There were probably a lot of people they didn’t know there; another strange face was nothing out of the ordinary.
Without further delay, he signaled for the others telling that he was ready. On the way back through the forest, Lucas asked George who had made his spear. He replied by saying that a woman in the camp did it. It turns out the woman had received the same ability he had, Beginner Craftsman 1, and for the time being was tasked to make some more spears for the others.
Lucas nodded; it was good to see there were more people making themselves useful. He didn’t know why but he felt that the transition to this world wouldn’t be so simple, and the sooner people realized that, the better.
On the way, Lucas found out that the guy named Dan, was major geek when it comes to RPG stuff, as he began ranting about how everything in Ponos seemed wrong.
“I mean, if they are going to throw us in this RPG world, shouldn’t there be a tutorial? Or at least a mysterious figure to tell what we should do? It just doesn’t make sense. And on top of that, they didn’t even give us a class or any sort of weapon, it’s almost like they didn’t even bother.”
Lucas had to admit that he had a point. He had the same thoughts not long ago, but at the same time, as he revisited this subject now as a listener, he thought of something else. “Maybe they want us to figure it out by ourselves.”
Dan didn’t seem to like that answer. He got quiet for a while. Lucas took a moment to think about what he had said. Despite looking a bit harsh to just throw people in the middle of the forest without much explanation at all, it also didn’t seem like they didn’t care. The system rewarded Lucas for his attempt to craft a spear with an ability that made the process much easier, and even when he made a mess trying to clean the Wild Tuk, he was recognized.
To Lucas, it seemed like the system was more akin to a strict parent or teacher—they wouldn’t do everything for you, but as long as you put in some effort, they would assist you. Beyond that, if they really didn’t care, they could have left them to be blown to smithereens back on Earth.
“How are we supposed to learn how magic even works?” Dan came back with another question. To that, Lucas had no answer and it was his time to be quiet. But even so, he felt excited, that only meant they had a lot more to learn.
Thirty minutes into the forest, they found something. At first, it looked like an overgrown rat, but on closer inspection, the best comparison would be an armadillo, as it had something like a turtle shell protecting its body.
Yutik – Lvl 4
The others looked terrified, and Lucas could see why—the beast had some sort of aura around, likely due to the difference in levels. Lucas had to agree that a lvl 4 wasn’t the most optimal choice for a hunt with their levels, and the smart choice would probably be to back away. But he didn’t even consider that. He had already decided that he wouldn’t live his life as he had before.
The thrill he had experienced when facing the Wild Tuk was still very much alive in his mind. He spent his whole life avoiding danger, surviving. And while he agreed that was the best decision at the time, this was his second chance, and the system rewarded bravery.
He didn’t want to make the same choices this time around or be limited by his disease. He had already kind of accepted that he was going to die when the coming of the comet proved to be inevitable. So when he got his second chance, he took it as an opportunity to make whatever the hell he wanted. Death was a certain be it in this world or back on Earth, but this time he would make his time worthwhile while he could.
They all retreated so they could discuss what to do without alerting the enemy. And Lucas was the first to speak.
“I understand if you guys don’t want to face this one, but I’m going to.”
While it would be good to have some extra hand when dealing with an unknown foe, it wasn’t an absolute necessity. It would only mean he would have to make a good plan first. They looked at him weirdly. Probably thinking he was being too confident, being only level 1, and wanting to fight a level 4 beast all on his own. But they didn’t voice any of that.
George, the leader of the group, sighed. “While it seems dangerous, there’s nothing we can do. We haven’t eaten for a full day now.” This explains why they look sick, Lucas thought.
“But that beast is four levels above us, we don’t stand a chance!” Dan said.
“George is right,” Angela said with decisiveness. “We are responsible for finding food, if we can’t even feed ourselves, how are we going to hunt for them?”
The discussion lasted a while longer until they finally decided to join the hunt. They looked terrified and Lucas couldn’t blame them. He remembered how he felt when he saw that Wild Tuk for the first time. But this time was different; they had time to plan since the Yutik hadn’t seen them yet.
“The first thing we need to do before facing this beast is upgrade our weapons. This wood-pointed spear may not be enough to penetrate that thing, and we need to make weapons for the others too,” Lucas said, and everyone nodded. “Now, there’s someone here that can use the bow?”
It would be a good idea to have an archer in the group—someone who could do damage and distract the beast from distance. But the main reason Lucas asked was because he was very eager to try and make a bow ever since he got his Beginner Craftsman ability, he wasn’t sure but he believed he could pull it off. To his surprise, someone raised a hand. It was George’s girlfriend, Tina; she seemed shy as she spoke.
“I… I had a few classes with the bow in middle school.”
“Good enough,” Lucas nodded.
I couldn’t expect her to be a pro, and some experience is better than none anyway. So long as she doesn’t shoot us by mistake… oh shit, she wouldn’t, would she?
Driving away these worrying thoughts, he began to work.