Chapter 7: Walking

James reached above his head, and tried to find a handhold, blindly swinging his arm about. After moving his arm around a bit, he finally grabbed onto something, and using one arm, he pulled himself over the ledge and onto the top of the canyon.

The climb had been surprisingly easy. The extra strength, agility, dexterity, and endurance he had gotten from upgrading his stats to tier one had made him stronger, more agile, and more dexterous than any olympic athlete. As a result, the climb had been really easy for James, even though he had never practiced rock climbing before. His technique may have left something to be desired, but he was able to escape the canyon through his newly acquired athleticism.

Speaking of his new athleticism, getting used to his new strength and everything had not actually been that hard despite the fact that his body’s abilities had just increased by leaps and bounds.. It seemed that the system helped him be able to utilize his new stats flawlessly. As a result, James could still do all the delicate tasks that he used to be able to, while at the same time he could do some really amazing and athletic things that he previously didn’t think were possible. He didn’t know how large exactly his improvements were, but he guessed they were anything in the ballpark of two to five times stronger than before.

After realizing that he could use his new found strength so easily, James had decided to try and climb out of the canyon. He had still bought some climbing equipment for twelve points just to be safe, but it turned out he didn’t need it.

Now James stood at the top of the canyon, and he could finally face the rest of the floor. James couldn’t figure out where he was since he had gotten disorientated when he got washed down the river, and he couldn’t see the waterfall which was near where he jumped in.

Looking around, James also saw that the forest that he was in previously was out of sight. Around him were some short shrubs, yellowed grass, and some rocky outcroppings that jutted out of the ground.

James decided that he would follow along the canyon for now, since following the water might bring him somewhere-although since he was on the top of the canyon, at the moment he couldn’t currently utilize all of the river’s benefits.

However, before that, James decided to buy a spear from the shop. He hadn’t done so before as he worried it would get in his way while he climbed, but now he needed to buy it so that he would be able to defend against any enemies that he might encounter later.

James scrolled through the shop a bit until he found three spears that he might like.

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Spartan Spear:

A well-built spear made in ancient Greece. This spear has a long wooden pole as a handle, with a bronze spear head on one side, and a bronze spike on the other end.

Cost: 60 points

Steel Spear:

A spear made entirely out of steel. While heavier than a regular spear, this spear is not likely to break against normal weapons.

Cost: 150 points

Arctic Spear:

A spear made purely out of the alloy ice-iron, and forged in ice-fire. All enemies that have been hit by the spear will be slowed down depending on the amount mana infused into the spear and the enemies cold resistance. Additionally, the arctic spear allows the user to shoot projectiles of ice out of its tip at the cost of mana.

Cost: 2,400 points

James considered the three options carefully. He decided to first eliminate the Spartan spear. ‘Since with my new strength I could probably handle the steel spear prettily easily, and since the steel spear will be sharper and more durable than the Spartan spear while not being much more expensive, I don’t see any reason to choose the Spartan spear over the steel one,’ James thought. Next he compared the Steel Spear and the Arctic Spear. He really wanted to choose the Arctic Spear, but it would completely bankrupt him. Right now he has 2,683 points, and he worried that if he spent all his points on the Arctic Spear right now, it might come back to bite him later..

After considering the pros and cons of both spears for a couple minutes, James ultimately decided to buy the Steel Spear. While the Arctic Spear was really cool, he decided to go with the safe choice for now. Additionally, since the steel spear was only one-hundred and fifty points, he still had the points to buy the Arctic Spear later if he really needed to.

After James bought the spear he started walking. Keeping his head on a swivel James continued forward.

As James walked he found that the silence from before in the forest had returned. There was only the sound of grass and gravel crunching under his feet, and the slight rumble from the river down below him. But despite this, James refused to relax. He was prepared for danger to pop out at him at any moment.

However, danger never came. James followed the canyon down river late into the afternoon. The landscape hadn’t changed much during that time, it still was full of dead shrubbery, yellowed grass, and rocks. He hadn’t been able to see anything on the horizon even though the sky was clear. There were no absolutely no mountains on the horizon, and the world just looked the same as far as his eye could see.

In fact, James was beginning to get a bit worried. He had been walking for almost a full afternoon, yet nothing around him had really changed. The river still tumbled through the canyon below, and the same old dry landscape surrounded him.

As the sun started moving closer and closer towards the horizon, still nothing changed. James wanted to find a place to rest for the night, but he decided against it. This would be his first night in this area of the floor, and despite the fact it was quiet during the day, he worried that the night would be different.

James took a break on a large T-shaped rock and took a swig out of a water bottle he had. He had botten it from the shop for forty-five points. It automatically refilled itself overtime, and so James thought it was a great investment. He had also bought two more servings of beef jerky that day to satisfy his hunger, he had already eaten one and he was holding onto the other. Since the water bottle and jerky were kind of annoying to hold at the same time as his spear, James had also invested in a small backpack for only fifteen points.

After drinking his fill James stood up to continue walking. He decided that if he wasn’t going to sleep anyways, he may as well make some progress. He wouldn’t even be that fatigued anyways, since the endurance upgrade meant a little bit of walking would never tire him out.

James invested in a tiny headlamp for another thirteen points and walked towards the sunset.