In nature, only the strong are supposed to survive.

In defiance of all odds, I did too.

For now.

Six months after the apocalypse, I was still alive and kicking. A big part of that was the same way I survived the civilized world before the apocalypse. Finding a job that needed doing—and one that everyone else hated—and doing it very well.

As soon as you’re doing dirty work that nobody else wants, the people who want that work done will realize that your continued survival is in their best interest and they’ll take care of you. It just turned out in a world without retail shops, the dirty work that nobody else wanted was to act as a big stupid diversion.

And, like everything else in life, being a diversion is just a primitive, degenerate form of customer service. The customers now were the raiders who needed the enemy guards drawn away from their farms, and the service was now hurtling myself into danger as noisily as possible.

I’d split off from the raiding party just under an hour ago, arriving at the far side of the enemy village just before designated go time. Without any ability to communicate, the sign for their infiltration would be the alarm that would go out when I made my presence known.

Technically, I could start now, but I knew better. A single person moved through the forest far better than a group. Especially the specific group in question.

Nothing against Rebecca. She’d been great to hang out with between missions. But when a task involves overland travel, Rebecca’s a liability.

The forest around me was not at all what I was expecting before the apocalypse came and dumped me into it. From the message right before everything hit the proverbial fan, I’d expected that we were getting dumped into the Jurassic period, full of dinosaurs and palm trees and tropical ferns.

Obviously, with hindsight, that was an expectation driven by depictions of prehistory through the lens of cartoons, and not grounded in fact.

Instead, I was standing in the middle of an old growth pine forest, with trees that were dozens of feet around and stretching up too high to track from the ground. The interwoven canopy above simply did not let enough light reach the ground for foliage to grow here. The only things that survived were fungus, moss, and lichens.

Things that could endure the lightless existence.

Up ahead was different, though. A dense explosion of green. Light poured in from a gap in the forest canopy, feeding shrubs, bushes, and other plants that would starve anywhere else in this forest. Bright green foliage was interrupted here and there with bulging bunches of berries. Clumps of leaves sprouting from the dirt promised tuberous vegetables in the ground beneath.

The huge lump of greenery looked like a giant hill in the light covered with a natural bounty. I knew better. That veritable Garden of Eden had been birthed on the back of an enormous stump.

And someone had cut down this tree with purpose.

Someone had cultivated what grew from the stump.

Someone had worked tirelessly in the forest canopy to ensure that the window of light remained open to keep this mixed crop growing and healthy.

These cutout gardens were all through the forest here, surrounding the enemy settlement.

I could probably sneak up and grab a handful of berries without issue. I might even be able to dig out a few tubers and herbs and fire-roast myself a meal to last through the night.

But the guards would respond too quickly.

I could see three of them from here. A pair on patrol, passing by as they went between the various garden stumps. There was another amidst the foliage, carefully picking weeds out from around the base of the largest berry bush. Hunched-over and hairy, the farmer looked more like the creature the enemy resembled, where the guards—alert and walking upright—could pass for humans at a far enough distance.

They were enormous mandrills. Old-world primate from the world before the old world. Hairy and muscular, they had red noses flanked by blue-white ridges. They were larger and more heavily-built than the mandrills I remembered, their size and behavior marking them as a semi-civilized people rather than just big angry monkeys.

I would see their town soon enough, but even from here, they were clearly more than animals. They moved with calm and disciplined purpose, and while most of their modesty was preserved by their dense fur, they wore dyed loincloths to cover their lower bodies while retaining the bright colors that were usually a sign of strength, health, and desirability as mates among their species.

With their natural advantages and strong foothold in this primeval world, the mandrills had proven to be the greatest threat to human lives, even next to disease, starvation, and the other monstrous natural threats. The mandrills’ dark brown fur would let them blend in with the trees of the forest to be near-invisible, were it not for the colorful ornamentation on their faces and rear ends.

These three nearby were taller than me, but only by a handful of inches. As expected, this close to the settlement, they were the mandrill women. The men were usually over seven feet tall, and much more brightly colored. Rather than protecting the town and managing the farmwork, the men roamed the wilderness in gangs, acting as satellite patrols keeping threats at bay.

I was far too close to town now to worry about them.

The only men I was likely to see would be juveniles. Children too young to be far from their mothers.

Well, them, and also the alpha.

I gritted my teeth and remained silent as the guards walked by. Patience was a virtue, even in this dangerous world. I needed more time before raising a stink and drawing the Mandril guards to me. My friends were unlikely to be in position yet.

Not slowed down as they were by their numbers.

And Rebecca.

I checked my status menu, and the system that had kicked this whole mess off filled me in on my current details. Normally I wouldn’t read the entire screen of information, but in my nervous state, the familiar numbers helped to soothe away my worries for the upcoming mission and remind me how far I’ve come.

How many times I’ve done this before.

Colin Richardson

Level 4 Marauder

Status effect: Hide In Plain Sight

HP: 472/472

MP: 0/0

SP: 60/110

STR: 16

CON: 18

DEX: 13

AGI: 16

INT: 10

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

WIS: 8

Class: Marauder

Subclass: Unlocked at level 5

Marauder is a tank/DPS hybrid basic class adept at both surviving in the thick of combat and dishing out damage. Versatile, yet focused, its class skills include nearly all weapons and armor, but only a smattering of non-combat skills.

[Class Abilities]

Fierce (Passive): Deal 10% more damage with melee attacks.

Durable (Passive): Your max HP is increased by 10%.

Second Wind (90 second cooldown, 3 charges): Restore 10% of your HP instantly, and 15% of your HP over the next 15 seconds.

Enrage (120 second cooldown): For the next 66 seconds, your damage done is increased by 30%.

Last Stand (Passive): While below 20% HP, increase all defense ratings by 50%.

Maul (30 second cooldown): Your next melee weapon attack inflicts the Maul effect on the target and all enemies in 5 yards around them, dealing 5% weapon damage per second for 6 seconds. Dealing melee damage to enemies with Maul active extends the duration of the effect by 6 more seconds.

Intuition (Passive): Chance to dodge/block/parry attacks by enemies you can sense is increased by 5%.

Bloodbath (90 second cooldown): For the next 30 seconds, when dealing damage, 25% of the damage done is returned to you as health. Your damage dealt is increased by 5.0% while Bloodbath is active.

Skull Bash (30 second cooldown): Your next unarmed strike stuns the target for 0.75 seconds. Afterwards, take 20% reduced damage from all sources, and deal 10% increased damage for 2 seconds.

[Class Achievements]

Built To Resist IV: Take more than 150% of your HP in damage in 6 seconds and survive. Second Wind gains 2 additional charges. Reduce Second Wind’s cooldown by 10%.

Sustained Rage: Deal 100,000 damage while under the effect of Enrage (lifetime). Enrage gains a 10% duration increase.

Indestructible IV: Spend 120 minutes with Last Stand active (lifetime). The defense bonus of Last Stand is increased by 100%

Pig Sticker: Deal damage with Maul to four targets on the same system tick. Maul now affects an area around your primary target.

Bloodlust II: Recover 100% of your maximum HP over the course of a single use of Bloodbath. Deal 5.0% more damage while Bloodbath is active.

Third Eye: Block, dodge, or parry seven attacks in a row. Intuition increases your detection radius by 10%.

Thick Skulled II: Stun an enemy with Skull Bash during the cast time of a spell or ability 10 times. After using Skull Bash, take 20% reduced damage for 2 seconds.

Stunning Finisher: 5 enemies killed during Skull Bash’s stun effect. After using Skull Bash, deal 10% increased damage for 2 seconds.

[Skills]

Unarmed (Cross-class): 3

Sword: 4

Axe: 16

Spear: 8

Bow (Cross-class): 1

Club: 8

Block: 4

Parry: 16

Dodge: 18

Unarmored: 8

Light armor: 12

Medium armor: 6

Detection: 18

Stealth (Cross-Class): 9

Athletics: 16

Acrobatics: 16

Simple Crafting (Cross-Class): 8

Crafting (Alchemy) (Cross-Class): 8

Crafting (Cooking): 4

Use Rope (Cross-Class): 10

Climb: 8

Swim: 6

Ride: 3

Survival: 18

Intuit North (Cross-Class): 8

Harvesting (Cross-Class): 8

Excavation: 2

Skinning (Cross-Class): 4

Butchering: 12

[Skill Achievements]

Stronger than the Self (Axe): Deal more than your maximum hit points in damage in under 120 seconds while wielding Axes. Deal 10% more damage with axes.

Line of Attack: Parry 1,000 attacks (Lifetime). Gain Defensive Stance (Active, Toggle) to increase your parry skill by 20% while reducing your weapon skill by 20%.

Sight Unseen: Succeed on a Stealth check. Gain Hide In Plain Sight (Active, Toggle) to use Stealth skill when there are no shadows or cover.

Lost and Found V: Fail a Stealth check by 50 points or more. When failing a Stealth check by 25 or less, reroll and take the new result.

Blind Sentinel: Succeed on a Detection check while one of your senses is disabled. Increase detection radius by 10%.

Sentry II: Succeed on Detection checks against hostile beings 50 times (Lifetime). Increase detection radius by 20%.

Marathon: Travel 1,000 feet while at 0 Stamina (Lifetime). Increase Stamina Points by 10%, Athletics checks consume 10% reduced Stamina Points.

Freefall VIII: Fall 8,000 feet (Lifetime). Fall 80% farther before an Acrobatics check is required to avoid fall damage.

Tastes Bad: Discover an Alchemical Property by eating raw ingredients. When failing a Crafting (Alchemy) check to discern Alchemical Properties, you may reroll the check once per day without consuming the ingredient.

Gaoler II: Restrain living beings with rope 100 times (Lifetime). When an enemy succeeds on a check to escape bindings you have tied, force them to reroll and take the new result. When an enemy you have bound breaks free, you are notified as long as you are within 30 yards.

Green Teeth III: Survive on foliage only for 3 days. Survival skill is increased by 30% to identify edible plants.

[Equipment]

Head:

Antler Cap

DEF: 10

+1 CON

+2 Survival

Body:

Leather Vest

DEF: 10

+1 CON

+2 Survival

Hands:

Clawed Gloves of Strength

DEF: 5

+2 STR

+2 Climb

Legs:

Leather Leggings

DEF: 5

+1 AGI

+2 Dodge

Feet:

Reed Sandals

DEF: 2

+1 AGI

+2 Stealth

Adornment:

Fang Necklace

+2 Detection

Adornment:

Thick Hide Bracer

DEF: 5

Weapon:

Crude Handaxe

DAM: 10

DEL: 15

Offhand:

Crude Handaxe

DAM: 10

DEL:15

In the corner of my mind, my Journal screen kept me reminded of my current quests. The quests were auto-generated by a system that seemed to be only barely sentient, so most of them were half-baked tutorials for systems I had no interest in. Trying to teach me random crap about metalcraft and carpentry even though I had neither the skills nor the tools to engage with them. Those had all been marked to hide, and silenced for the foreseeable future.

Only two remained active.

Reach Level 5

Completing objectives, overcoming challenges, and defeating powerful foes will gain you experience points to increase your level. At level 5 you will unlock: Choose A Subclass.

Milk Run XCVIII (Shared with Party)

Hamlet Jamestown is running low on food. Locate and donate at least 50 lbs of food to avert this crisis.

I could almost sense the guards’ Observation checks bouncing off my Stealth skill as I crouched at the base of a skyscraper-like tree just a few yards off their patrol route. Any move I made to get to more secure cover would give them a bonus to their checks, but I could just wait for them to pass me by. One of them hesitated, causing me to hold my breath, but she just snaked a hand out to sneak a berry off of the garden and pop it into her mouth before moving on.

They made their way out of view to my right around the next giant pine tree just a few moments later, opening the narrow window I’d need to rush through.

It would take under a minute for the next patrol to emerge from the forest to the left.

Creeping forward, I gave the farmer as wide a berth as I could, careful to avoid shuffling my feet on the thick carpet of brown pine needles beneath me.

Soon it wouldn’t matter if my friends were in position or not. As I passed the farmer and moved towards where I knew the Mandrill settlement would be, the clock had started. It was only a matter of time before someone—or something—succeeded on the Observation check to spot me.

Of course, that simply meant that the stage was set. As soon as the alarm went up, it was showtime.