I stood there in the forest completely confused, trying to understand what the hell was happening.
“The last thing I remember is me controlling the devil cat with the overtake skill…” I tried to recall the last thing that I did but it all was so hard to remember.
“So why am I here and where is the devil cat? *Self Awareness*” I asked myself in confusion and immediately checked my stat status.
*Self Awareness Status*
-Visavil Bush Lv3-
Experience: 56/60
Rarity: Uncommon
Health: 1/13
Mana: 13/44
Stamina: 4/11
Health regen: -0.75/week (-2)
Mana regen: 0.9/hour (-3)
Stamina regen: 0.27/hour (-1.4)
Race: Berry bush.
Status: Intelligent(Unique), Withering(Strong)
Skills:
*Magic Perception Lv4(Active)* *Self Awareness Lv3* *Calm Mind Lv6* *Inspect Lv5* *Rage Lv1* *Killing Intent Lv2* *Pain Resistance Lv2* *Mana Manipulating Lv2* *Wood Element Control Lv4* *Dig Lv4* *Stealth Lv4* *Detection Lv3* *Lifesteal Lv2* *Poison Resistance Lv1* *Item Crafting Lv2* *Stamina Storage Lv2* *Throwing Lv3* *Lesser Hand To Hand Combat Lv2* *Grow Lv3* *Increase Mana Regeneration Lv1* *Lesser Spear Mastery Lv1* *Thorns Lv1* *Falling Damage Resistance Lv1* *Roll Lv1* *Fruits Production Lv1* *Mana Storage Lv2* *Overtake Lv1* *Mind Wave Lv1* *Evil Lv1* *Digging Lv1* *Lingua Language Lv4* *Forced Absorption Lv2* *Lesser Sword Mastery Lv1* *Soul Link Lv1*
Titles:
*Clutz* *Novice Trapper* *Guardian*
I looked through my status and was horrified and happy at the same time. “The shadow mark is gone which means the devil cat is dead, but what is this *Withering* status, and why my regens are so… SHIT I AM DYING!!! *Inspect* *Withering*!”
*Withering* - Status unique to the plant race creatures or flora, those plants that have this status means that they are with one root in the grave because they cannot sustain themself. Can appear because of disease, heavy damage to the body of the plant, as well from bad or poisonous soil.
“I am dead, I am so fucking dead! I need to find monsters and use life steal on them as soon as possible!” I looked at myself looking for berries but found that no berries had grown, which meant that my body was too weak to grow berries right now.
“I can’t lure them to me then that means I need to go to them, but… My health is one, one wrong step or move and I am dead…” I felt hopeless jumping from one problem to another.
”Damn it! I wanted to use some more life steal on the devil cat and then use its body as a tank but now, not only that it's gone and I don’t know what happened to it, I couldn’t even reap the hard-earned fruits of labor from it *sigh*…” I could only sigh in regret as I had no clue what was going on.
“Alright calm down, first the shadow mark is gone so that means that the devil cat is dead secondly I need to think about a plan of action, think think…” Closing my eyes again I started to think of a plan of next action.
“I need to dig out a trap and lure a monster into it, but I don’t have berries so that won’t be possible. Then I need to find a weapon and start looking for weak monsters. I guess a spear will be good, I just need a stick, a stone, and something to make a rope with.” I slowly calmed down and formulated a simple plan in my head.
I knew that it was dangerous but I didn’t know for how long this one health will sustain me, as I tried to inspect it and only saw the stupid message *one health*. That meant that I could die any moment, so I had to be really careful and stealth my way through the forest, but first I needed to check the gains I got from the terrible fights I had yesterday and by gains, I meant the skills and skill level ups I got.
*Throwing Lv3* *Grow Lv3* *Soul Link Lv1* *Forced Absorption Lv2* *Calm Mind Lv6* *Pain Resistance Lv2*
“So many skills level up from one day, not sure if it's luck or because it's easier to get skills when your life is in danger…” I thought to myself thinking maybe if I can recreate this kind of dangerous situation sooner or later I will become invincible, but then I shrugged and shook my head left and right fearing the inevitable. “I will surely die eventually if I do something so stupid.”
“I got a new skill as well but didn’t have the time to check it out, *inspect Soul Link*.” I inspected the new skill that I have gotten while I was riding the bear.
*Soul Link* - One-sided communication through the soul, breaking the language barrier the user can transmit their thoughts to the target at will. The stronger the thoughts the easier for the target to understand them, or if the level is high enough even the weakest of thoughts could be transmitted and understood.
“This is amazing! Why didn’t I have this skill before when I was in the village? That way I would have been able to talk to Luna!” I was speechless as it was an amazing communication skill, that most likely would have been able to work on anyone with means I just got a universal language translation skill even though it was just one-sided it still was useful.
“Wait then that time that the bear was attacking her and I shouted, did she hear me and that's why she moved from the way? But why would she just stand there? I am so confused…” I scratched my head, not sure what happened to Luna. Her behavior around me was always somewhat weird, but for some reason, I found it charming.
I shook my head as I couldn’t understand her but dwelling on it too much wouldn’t help in any way, then I remembered myself screaming at Fortis and his weird behavior too. “Thinking about it, it's then when he started to go insane, was he too offended that I shouted at him?”
And then I remembered the devil's cat growls and roars when I cursed it, “Don’t tell me that this skill works on monsters too?” I asked myself with interest as it can become really useful, after going through all the skills it was about time for me to go.
I opened my perspective and started to look around, I could only see trees around me. I removed my roots from the ground and started to stumble in a random direction as I had no clue where I was located.
I found out that my movements were a little bit slow even though I mostly used the *Wood Element Control* skill to move but by the looks of it, my body withering state does affect my other stats too.
“Shit it looks like it will be harder than I thought,” I said to myself but I still didn’t lose hope.
On my way, I was looking for a branch long enough for the spear but not long enough for me not to be able to use it. Luckily I found a dead fallen tree not so long from here on a small dirt patch so I picked up a random stone and started to hit one of the desired branches.
After cleaning it apart I started to look for a jagged rock. I thought about breaking some stones and getting one but with my current state that would be kinda hard and maybe even dangerous, so I just choose to continue to look around for a jagged one instead.
With every step I took, I fired the *Detection* skill and to my surprise, I couldn’t find any monsters around at all, of course, I was happy but I was walking for over an hour and usually I should have already met at least one monster, but it didn’t bother me as I was still under prepared but I still found it weird.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
I used the stick for the spear as a walking stick and continued on my way, as I walked I found some flowers and mushrooms but sadly they weren't any help for healing, otherwise I would have used *Forced Absorption* to consume them.
After more walking, I found some tall grass that I could use like a rope and the jagged rock that I was looking for and with them, I started to craft my spear.
After testing it a little bit on a tree I was happily surprised that it was sturdy enough but the marks I made on the tree made me somewhat concerned.
“They are too shallow.” I said as I touched those marks.
“This will be hard, if I catch a rabbit and stab it ten, maybe twenty times I will kill it, but anything else will just not die…” I picked up the spear and started to walk once more but after walking for another hour I started to get really concerned.
“What is going on?!” I asked myself, confused.
“I should have met monsters long ago, but why isn't there even one of them around?” As I was thinking something red entered my vision it was one of my leaves.
“Shit, the devil's cat blood, don’t tell me it repels all of the monsters away!” I looked around my body to see it was still soaked with the devil cat's blood.
“I didn’t see any rivers around, what do I do now…?” I asked myself while thinking and had no choice but to root myself into the ground for a while as I already wasted half of my stamina. I had no choice but to wait and rest for a while or it would be dangerous for me if I encounter a monster.
I could have used *Forced Absorption* skill but I was afraid of the hidden dangers of its uses of damaging the body that I remembered from the last time I inspected the skill.
*“...but if used too much the overall structure of the body will be damaged if not given enough time for the materials to integrate completely into the body.”*
Not only that, I wanted to not waste too much mana as I was sure that I will be needing it if I have to fight someone.
I found a good spot near a few big rocks so I would get surprised from behind and made a hole big enough for my roots in the ground as I rooted myself there. I closed my perception skill for a while, and just like before I still could feel and hear some stuff around me, they were just muffled a little bit. But it didn’t bother me, on the other hand, it was useful as I would know if someone was approaching me.
Around an hour passed when suddenly I heard some weak howls coming from some distance away. I activated my *Magic Perception* skill again and looked in the direction where the howls were coming from.
“Wolves, a pack of them, not so far away. Are they hunting some poor prey? I should be able to get to them in ten to fifteen minutes.” I estimated the distance between us wrongly as I had no clue how to do it, and started to think if I should stay here, go to hide, or go and see if I would be able to get myself some target for the *Life Steal* skill.
“A wolf isn’t a monster that I can take on head-on, but I am running out of time and I don’t know when I will lose my last health.” I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, from one side I just couldn’t stay here forever and hope for a miracle, from another if I would go there and a wolf even scratch me once I would surely die.
But I couldn’t just stay in one place and not do anything, “Alright I have to go, in a worst-case scenario, I will use my *Grow* skill and send some roots to a tree, I doubt wolves can climb trees.” Normal wolves can’t but these wolves were monsters so most of them could, I didn’t know that at that time though.
I plucked my roots from the ground and started to go in the direction of the howls. I was very careful sending my *Detection* skill in every direction while using the *Stealth* skill every step I took, even though I knew that most likely they knew that I am coming to them because of the devil cat's blood I still was very cautious.
I actually was hoping that they would run away because of the smell of the stronger predator and I would be able to get myself the monster that they were hunting and steal its health, but of course, I knew that that was the best-case scenario which most likely would never have happened.
But as I was getting closer and closer to the location that the howls were coming from I found out a few interesting things. First of all, I was wrong about the distance, “I will get there in fifteen minutes, he said it will be easy he said.” I mocked myself as I stumbled from climbing the mountain.
The other thing was the howls scattered and now were coming from further directions, as if they were running. “Are they really so afraid of the smell of the devil cat?” I asked myself, still not sure if I am safe and will I even be able to find their prey for myself or am I just doing all of this exercise for nothing.
I continued to move forward and then I found a wolf's paw print, I looked at it with big imaginary eyes. “Wait, didn't I have a tracking skill?” I asked myself, trying to activate it on the print, as I did a few more prints started to appear in a meter radius around me.
*Pam* I facepalmed myself, as I figured that I most likely could have tried to use the skill to track bunnies or other more peaceful monsters than wolves, “Nah they most likely would have run away from me even faster than the wolves.” I reassured myself and continued walking after the paw prints.
“Five wolves were chasing after something.” I deduced it as I continued walking.
But at the same time, I was kinda confused as I couldn’t see the prints of what they were chasing after, “Weird I can see that they were running after something as if they were running away from something they would have split apart.”
I continued to walk further and found some blood on one of the branches of a nearby bush, I came closer to it and picked up some white gray fur from it and then I understood that I made a mistake in my judgment. “It's not five wolves hunting something, it's four wolves chasing after another wolf.”
I continued to walk forward and as I walked more blood and fur were scattered around, some of it even in a darker color. “He didn’t go down without a fight.” I commented as I looked around.
After walking for another five minutes I came to an abrupt stop in front of a small cliff, the paw prints stopped there too.
“The one that they were chasing was pushed off the cliff, or he chose to jump.” I said as I touched the ground and looked around, the other prints scattered in different directions most likely they started to smell me around here or just thought that they finished the job.
“Weird… Are they fighting for territory? As I doubt they are doing it because of food shortage.” I thought to myself as I started to go around the cliff looking for somewhere to get down, after walking for a few minutes in the descending direction I got to the location where the wolf had fallen too.
The wolf was nowhere to be found but there were bloody prints going in one direction, “He is limping and looks like he had broken a leg from the fall.” I walked after the prints and to my surprise, the prints pointed to a cave in the cliffside.
I hesitated if I should enter or not, but in the end, I gritted my teeth and entered it. After walking through some weird turns in the tunnel of me still following the prints I found an opening but to my surprise, I saw light coming from it. I slowly exited the cave to find a bigger cave with light coming from a broken part of a cliff, making the small tunnel the only entrance into this place.
I looked around with awe, there was a tree in the middle of the cave, and near it was a small pond. It all looked magical as if a druid was living here, but there was no small hut or sign of any human being ever being here.
“This is a perfect place for a hideout!” I shouted inside my head, but at the same time I was quite cautious as there could be some other stronger monsters sleeping here, but after a few seconds of me looking around I didn’t find any signs of danger, so I continued on my hunt and moved to the pond, in front of it the wolf was laying with its paws in the water while breathing heavily.
“Found you my little meal.” I said as I came closer to him, my spear pointing right at him, for some reason it felt as if I already met him somewhere, I looked closely at him and found a scar near one of his eyes.
“Wait, aren't you that wolf that chased after me in the past?” I asked myself while remembering that one time when I wounded a wolf in the eye when he chased me, I thought to myself, “Fate is a funny thing.” and inspected the wolf.
-Young Wild Wolf Lv10-
Health: 13/40
Mana: 2/4
Stamina: 3/18
Status: Bleeding(Medium), Weakened(Strong), Unconscious(Weak)
I looked at his stats and said, “Bleeding medium aka most likely will die if not treated, well it's not my problem as I need him just for the health and he got the unconscious status too I hope it's what I think it is *inspect* *Unconscious*.”
*Unconscious* - The target has fallen into a sleeping state and wouldn’t wake up easily depending on the severity of the state.
“Yes it means I can use the *Life Steal* skill on it, and it won’t even notice.” I happily walked to the wolf, still being careful though I didn’t want to take a chance, holding my spear right towards its head just in case.
As I came behind him I moved my roots to its back and started to insert the smaller ones into his wounds first, as I didn’t want him to suddenly wake up from the pain. It all went so well that I was even surprised, so I used the life still skill once. The wolf whimpered a little bit but to my surprise, he didn’t wake up.
“Nice, I already feel my branches becoming healthy once more. *Self Awareness*” I said to myself as the warm feeling passed through my roots and my status popped open.
*Self Awareness Status*
-Visavil Bush Lv3-
Experience: 56/60
Rarity: Uncommon
Health: 3/13
Mana: 8/44
Stamina: 2/11
Health regen: -0.75/week (-2)
Mana regen: 0.9/hour (-3)
Stamina regen: 0.27/hour (-1.4)
Race: Berry bush.
Status: Intelligent(Unique), Withering
“What? Nothing changed!” I looked at my status in shock. I did get two health points from the life steal skill but the withering status and the negative regeneration didn’t go away.
While I was panicking while looking at my status and not understanding what was going on, I didn’t notice that the wolf's eyes slowly trembled and opened.