Alvis had the branch in front of him, his eyes fixed on the moving bushes, while his body was covered in goosebumps. His breathing had almost stopped, and it seemed as if nothing else existed at that moment except him and whatever was coming out of the bushes.
Finally, just before he began to feel dizzy from lack of air, a small figure shot out of the bush, causing him to take a sharp breath and let out a small, startled cry.
In front of him, perhaps only a few meters away, was a small creature, standing on its two lower legs, with a short brown body that barely reached up to its knees. It had dark brown fur, a bushy tail, and two small, completely dark eyes that seemed to be soaking up the light around them, not letting any of it escape.
"Haaa... just a squirrel. Hahaha," Alvis laughed lightly, feeling a bit silly about the situation, and let the branch fall slightly, his body relaxing somewhat, returning to normal breathing and shaking his head from side to side.
He glanced at the squirrel again, examining it a bit more closely now, because something about the situation made him feel a bit unnerved. Maybe it was the way the squirrel had stopped moving, or maybe it was the chill he felt the longer he stared at the small rodent's face.
[Juvenile Forest Squirrel - Level 2]
Uh-oh. Alvis raised the branch once more and took a slow step back to get some distance between them, but that seemed to have been the wrong move as the squirrel let out a sharp scream and jumped at him.
Panicking, he only had time to swing the branch sideways, and by a stroke of luck, he managed to hit it. It was a hasty swing, and he barely managed to push the squirrel away, but it bought him a few seconds to calm down a tad.
Alvis grabbed the branch even harder, tightening his grip, and took a deep breath to try and calm his nerves.
"Come on then!" he called.
The squirrel had not wasted the opportunity either. Those few seconds had given him enough time to make his own preparations. Now his front teeth were gleaming, and they seemed to have grown twice as big as before.
"Oh boy." The words were barely out of his mouth before the squirrel was upon him.
Again, Alvis tried to swing the branch at it, but this time the result was different. The rodent bit through the weapon quite easily and attacked Alvis' stomach, causing him to stagger and flinch slightly.
With its momentum exhausted, the rodent fell to the ground, and before it could reorient itself and attack him again, Alvis kicked the squirrel, sending it flying away and crashing into one of the giant trees.
He winced again as he looked down at his foot and saw a small cut that began to bleed almost immediately, but he forced himself to focus on what was more important right now, and that was the rodent in front of him, who seemed to be having a bit of trouble getting up from the previous hit.
Recognizing the opportunity for what it was, Alvis began to run towards it. Every time he stomped his right foot, he was reminded of what not to do against the squirrel. When he was almost on top of it and the rodent was almost on its feet, he showed no mercy and brought his branch up and down on the animal, striking it two, three, four times until he heard a clear sound accompanied by another block of text in front of him.
[Ding!]
[Juvenile Forest Squirrel - Level 2 Defeated!]
[Ding!]
[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]
[New level: 2!]
[You have gained 10 free points!]
[You have gained 1 active skill slot!]
[You have gained 1 passive skill slot!]
Only when he saw the text signifying its defeat, ignoring the rest for now, did he allow himself to slow down, but not before hitting it two more times for good measure. Then he inspected the branch. Seeing its broken form, red with blood and unrecognizable parts of squirrel, he tossed it aside.
Since his focus was not on them, the System notifications quickly disappeared, allowing him to relax a bit from the adrenaline rush. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, his eyes fixed on the broken, battered form of the squirrel, then, as if he remembered something, he quickly brought his head back up to look around.
Only when he seemed satisfied that nothing new had decided to announce its presence did he allow himself to relax slightly, still vigilant, but a bit calmer and able to think a bit more clearly.
He lowered his head again to check his stomach, using one hand to roll up his tank top and the other to gently press on the spot where the squirrel had hit him. Damn little bastard, juvenile my ass, it was almost as tall as my knees and with teeth like that, I was just glad I decided to keep the branch and not let it chew through my arms.
Although, Alvis let the tank top roll down again and sat down to inspect his foot more closely.
It does have a small cut which is bleeding slightly, but it doesn’t seem so bad. The problem is I don’t have any of the usual ways to handle such minor cuts out here in this forest. Ugh…
After thinking about it for a while, he started to rip off the lower part of the tank top to use as a makeshift bandage, leaving his stomach exposed on his left side.
“Better than nothing I guess…” he muttered.
With another quick glance around, and not seeing nothing else, he began to focus on the System notifications once more, going through the lines one by one.
Hah, level 2 already, and I just got here, Alvis thought with a slight smile on his face. Points and skills, hmm…
Thinking about it for a while, and a little curious about the damage he had taken in this encounter, he opened the Menu and went to Status first.
Status
Attributes
Skills
Status
Name
Alvis Olsen
Race
Human
Class
None
Level
2
---
HP
86/100
SP
74/100
MP
100/100
“That feels about right,” he murmured.
With that out of the way, and another glance around, he started to open the next screens but another gust blew through the area, moving the branches slightly above his head, bringing sunlight into his eyes, forcing him to shield his eyes from the sun and, slightly startled, to scan the canopy as well for any unpleasant surprises from above.
When it looked like the situation wasn’t going to change anytime soon, he went back to interacting with the system once more, this time skipping the Attributes section and opening the Skills section.
Skills
Active
Passive
Choose here…
Choose here…
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If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
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General
Inspect – Level 1 – Show basic information about entities you encounter
Huh… So I couldn’t have a skill before that fight, somehow that makes me feel better. I guess Inspect is also what allowed me to know that it was a Juvenile Forest Squirrel or whatever it was…
Still vigilant, and seeing no new threats or anything of note, Alvis focused on the Active Skill selection option, a smile slowly spreading across his face, regardless of what had just happened.
But he wasn’t quite prepared for the long list of skills that appeared before him. Still, he took his time, and went through them slowly.
Active Skills
Powerful Swing – A powerful swing that costs 20 stamina per use.
Powerful Punch – A powerful punch that costs 20 stamina per use.
Powerful Kick – A powerful kick that costs 20 stamina per use.
…
Double Arrow – Allows the user to double the arrow fired that costs 20 stamina per use.
…
Fireball – A simple fire spell that costs 20 mana per use.
Waterbolt – A simple water spell that costs 20 mana per use.
…
When the magic spells started to fill in, Alvis’ smile seemed to grow even wider, his eyes hungrily reading through the entries.
Magic spells! I mean, I guess even the other skills are magic in their own right, even with such lousy descriptions, but this Double Arrow for example, possibly creating another arrow mid-flight and maintaining its own momentum is magic on its own right.
But, but, but! Real ‘magic’, like a magician! It is possible, I have to get at least one of them… But which one?
At that Alvis turned pensive, looking over the many possibilities, and while he thought, his eyes passed through his injured foot, and the makeshift bandage.
Based on those descriptions, if it were on damage alone, I think they may be similar to each other. But the versality of water, if it can be used for more than just combat, it can be quite useful. No healing spells outright, not even regeneration ones… huh.
He turned his head this way and that, scanning again for something new, but he was alone. For now.
Right. Having a way to defend myself at long range, plus possibly clean water to use or drink, if possible, makes it probably the best choice.
Hahh, still, it is kind of hard to make this choice.
Not wanting to commit to anything quite yet, Alvis scanned through the list again for anything that caught his attention, but decided to postpone his choice until a little later, when he had a better grasp of where he was and understood his situation better.
Closing the selection list, he instead opened the Passive Skills list to see what there was in offer.
Passive Skills
Iron Fists – Makes the fists harder and more resistant to damage
…
Nocturnal – Easier to see in around in the dark.
…
Energetic – The body doesn’t get tired as easily.
…
Caution – More alert to your surrounding area and entity.
…
Now those choices are even harder… although at least for now, I can limit it to just 4. But even then, Iron Fists might seem like a good option, but the forest is littered with fallen branches, and boosting just the fists seems a bit limited.
Alvis scratched his stubble for a while, his eyes narrowing as he seemed to absent-mindedly scan the area. Then he crossed his arms and leaned back to stand by a near where the squirrel body lay.
Nocturnal may seem like a good option, but that would be only if I am here for a long time, and still lost in this forest, unable to see what is around me.
Alvis turned his eyes up, to see if he could make out where the sun was located, and from what he could tell, it seemed to be either early in the day, or a few hours before sunset. With focused eyes, he looked in the direction of the sun for a while, shaking his head slightly after a while, and with a sigh, went back to scanning the clearing.
I’ll have to keep an eye on it, maybe check it back in like 30 minutes or so… Still, hopefully it’s morning, I won’t have to deal with any nocturnal animals or monsters. Or even just navigating in the dark inside a forest.
Energetic, situational, if I have to keep going for a long time without rest, I guess this would be a very good skill to have, and even though the description doesn’t say much, getting less tired might even work on sleeping less? Probably.
And finally, Caution.
All the rest are situational, have their own uses, but with giant squirrels, Alvis looked at the dead rodent at that, and with their own skills they might have, it could prove to be very dangerous if caught unprepared. At least with this skill it says that I can be more aware of what’s around me which can help.
There are also the General Skills but am not exactly sure how they come about.
Alvis unlinked his arms, and moved from the tree to the squirrel. He looked around it, and at the squirrel itself, to see if anything came out of it, no loot, then moved away from it to escape from the bad smell it was starting to emit.
It’s way too early for its body to emit this stinking smell.
Got to get out of here now, one way or another. Alvis coughed and moved away from the stinking remains of the rodent. Not only to try and find other people, but because of the horrible smell, which may even attract other monsters, maybe even stronger ones… Ones I can’t handle.
Alvis shook his head at that. One at a time, let’s take it step by step.
Oh yeah, apart from the skills, there are also free points in the Attributes section left to distribute.
Menu, Attributes.
Attributes
Strength
10
Endurance
10
Dexterity
10
Perseverance
10
Intelligence
10
Clarity
10
---
Free points
10
So… No pressure, but need to move. I do like living, and damage, plus some extra HP wouldn’t hurt at all, so I know I will spend some of my points in Strength, but not sure how much or what else to improve…
I think Endurance, to help with regeneration, may help with the bruises on my foot at least.
But that would make it better to be a “warrior” like role…
Alvis spent a while then just scanning through the area, his eyes sometimes focused and sometimes not. After a while, he seemed to have come to a decision, and with a nod, he seemed ready to distribute the points.
This is it, I think for now this distribution is fine. How do I increase it though? Oh, just concentrate on what you want to improve. Got it.
[Confirm?]
[Yes/No]
Yes, do it.
Attributes
Strength
15
Endurance
10
Dexterity
10
Perseverance
10
Intelligence
15
Clarity
10
---
Free points
0
I think focusing on melee, with the increase in HP to handle difficult situations also will help. But also having magic to deal with any situations where a fist to the face will prove difficult to deal with on its own.
Alvis the battle mage? Hah.
With a nod and a slowly growing smile, Alvis prepared to continue. Before that, let’s see if it’s morning or not, and… Well, before it didn’t go over that tree, which means it keep on rising, which is really good to know.
So, which skills to choose…
Alvis was now standing almost in the middle of the clearing, keeping an eye out on any forest denizens that decided they wanted to “meet” with him.
As he stood there, deliberating, scratching at his stubble, a tentative smile spread across his face, and then his eyes lost focus for a moment. It was happening.
Alvis pushed his hands forward, and with a murmur, you could see a stream of water moving over his hands and a truly satisfied smile on his face. There was joy in his eyes.
Menu, Skills
Skills
Active
Passive
Waterbolt – Level 1 - A simple water spell that costs 20 mana per use.
Caution – Level 1 - More alert to your surrounding area and entity.
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General
Inspect – Level 1 – Show basic information about entities you encounter
Thinking of something, Alvis decided to open the Status page as well to check the levels of the pools, and how fast they had regenerated.
Menu, Status
Status
Name
Alvis Olsen
Race
Human
Class
None
Level
2
---
HP
91/150
SP
79/100
MP
80/150
Hmm, so improving the attributes doesn’t seem to give the extra points in resources from the current to match the total points. Oh well. It would also have been nice to have a clock to measure exactly how fast the regeneration works, but it works.
It shouldn’t have been more than an hour and some regeneration has already happened.
He messed around a bit more with the Waterbolt spell, and was able to spin it, this way and that, but slowly, in a wide circle around him. The controls are quite simple, and I also have simple control over it too. Hard to do complicated maneuvers, and after a while a kind of pressure built up, making it harder and harder to control.
Anyway, Alvis let go of the Waterbolt go and crash into a tree at the edge of the clearing. With a smile and a fist pump, the smile on his face didn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. The water was still staying around even after he lost the connection to it, and seeing his bloody foot, he first washed it a bit, then used the right side of his tank top to make another makeshift bandage.
Now, no longer wearing a tank top, Alvis was down to a crop top, and his shorts.
Then he turned around for a while, deliberating for a few moments at each turn, whether he was facing north, south or any other direction, he chose to walk east towards the sun.
Lowering himself down when he was just outside the clearing, he found another fallen branch, almost similar to the first one, and gave it a few experimental swings to test it out.
It does feel lighter! Hahaha!
With a spring in his step, and a weapon on his hands, he began to walk away from the clearing and through the forest.
When you are completely lost, and every direction seems the same, just pick one and go I guess just have to make sure…
Alvis lowered himself to grab at a nearby stone, and used it to carve some signs into the trees as he passed. He started to whistle as he walked, but thought better of it, and shook his head, beginning to scan his surroundings carefully, making sure not to step on any exposed thorns or rocky terrain. Whenever he saw the path getting rough, he took great care to avoid it at all costs as he had no shoes at all.
After a little while, he began to have some sort of premonition that something was coming, and while he was confused at first, when he saw some of the bushes start to move he quickly understood what was going on and prepared himself for what was about to happen.