The fresh smell of nature pierced through his senses as he fully stepped outside, making him smile because if everything were to change around him, this would remain unchangeable, bringing a sense of reality to this fantasy world..
The clearing he found himself in seemed to be wide and circular, having a pond and flowers sparsely placed around it.
In the distance, he could see a rabbit hopping to and fro from the trees while a bird chirped in the distance. All what one would expect from a normal forest back on Earth. Though Aaro had a feeling that everything was not exactly how it seemed and that it may even be the quiet before the storm.
He shook his head slightly, brushing off those thoughts as he began to walk forward ever so slowly towards the edge of the forest, trying to get a better view on what might lay waiting past the serenity that he found himself in.
Upon reaching the outer ring of the clearing, he peered into the treeline. It seemed to just be densely populated with trees, not letting him see too far into the forest but from what he saw, there was nothing wrong with it, only some shrubs and things of the such stuck in the ground, lacking any presence of animals.
Aaron slowly began to comfort up to the forest, realizing there was nothing too wrong with it, but just as his guard was beginning to be let down, a sudden growl could be heard coming from right in front of him, causing him to panic and fall on his behind.
Coming out from a bush that was conveniently placed in between two trees, a wolf jumped out, with drool dripping down its face and sinister red eyes, staring at Aaron as if he were his prey, which he most likely was.
Now on the floor, he began to crawl backwards, not being able to turn around because of the utter fear that he felt. It began to saunter towards him, baring its fangs at him, causing Aaron to panic even more.
“Fuck fuck fuck fuck!” He began to yell as it slowly got more closer, his heart beating faster and faster as the adrenaline pumped into him, allowing him to get up as fast as possible and run back towards the cottage he was in. Peeking over his shoulder, he saw the wolf begin to sprint at him, causing him to panic even more.
With this all happening, he regained a little bit of his senses, causing him to look in front of him finally and saw that his only hope of safety disappeared from existence, causing him to panic even more and run even faster. He turned his head back one more time to try to get a grasp on how close the wolf was.
Just as his head looked back, he tripped on a rock that was placed on the ground and fell flat onto the ground with a loud thump.
As he quickly tried to stand, he heard the wolf’s feet slam down just next to him and when he turned his body, the wolf was already on top of him, with his jaw wide open, quickly biting down on his leg.
Blood began to seep out of his leg as the wolf’s fangs dug deep into his skin. Screaming in pain, he began to kick the wolf but it only caused it to sink its teeth even deeper into him. As tears began to form on Aaron’s eyes, he chose to start punching it instead, trying his best to just survive this encounter.
The struggle kept continuing between the human and the wolf for a minute or two until Aaron could feel himself losing consciousness slowly due to the sheer amount of pain he was feeling. His leg was slowly getting torn apart by the wolf, causing him to lose huge amounts of blood and feel light headed.
Skill Received! Pain Resistance: Due to feeling mind numbing pain multiple times, you have begun to be used to it, the amount of pain you can handle increases with each level.
Upon receiving the school, he slightly regained the ability to think instead of using only his instinct to fight the wolf. Shit… I'm going to die… I need to do something… Just as those thoughts left his head, the wolf dog went even deeper into his leg, seemingly trying to tear it off and Aaron gave off a screech, not being able to resist the pain.
Pain Resistance +1
Pain Resistance +1
Pain Resistance +1
You are in a critical condition, less than 5 Health remains.
When he saw the message, his eyes bulged and yelled out at the top of his lungs, “I DON’T WANT TO DIE” and with that, he brought up both of his fists and slammed it down in the wolf.
The wolf gave out a yelp as it dug even deeper, seeming to have reached his bone. In reaction, Aaron screamed even louder and started to slam his fist into the wolves head repeatedly, trying his hardest to get this vicious predator off of him.
After his fifth slam into the wolf, he felt something crack and the wolf began to give some slack on his leg, letting go slightly. Though Aaron did not stop, his fifth hit turned into his tenth hit as blood began to come out of the wolves mouth. His tenth hit turned into his twentieth hit, feeling the wolf’s skull cave in. In his fiftieth hit, he finally ran out of stamina, and what was left of the wolves head was just brain matter, blood, and fur.
Monster has been slain! Calculating experience… Monster’s level was 20 levels higher than you, +200 experience, first time slaying bonus acquired, +200 experience! Total of 400 Experience!
Level Up!
Title gained! Underdog: Kill an enemy that is at least 10 levels above your own. +2 STR +1 END
Title gained! Underdog II: Kill an enemy that is at least 20 levels above your own. +2 STR +1 END +1 VIT
Title gained! Survivor: Survive a fight with 1 Health remaining. If this is going to become a habit, I wished you died there.(EDITED). +2 SPI +1 VIT
The Twin’s Gift +1!
“Oh give me a break, at least I can do SOMETHING!” Aaron yelled out loud, knowing that it was Trishta who decided to write that little message on the last title. He really didn’t need her to give him sass right now, he almost died!
[I leave for an hour and this is what comes of you, I really should of chose someone else]
Aaron scoffed in response at what she said, not wanting to deal with her right now and just decided to lay down and close his eyes. He could feel them grow heavier and heavier as the adrenaline left over in his body began to dissipate and he was left with only the pain in his leg.
Continuing to lay there, his consciousness began to wane as he slowly began to fall asleep, not being able to withstand the mental strain of his battle anymore.
*****
When he finally opened his eyes again, it seemed that it was still day time, sleeping for what seemed to be a few hours luckily. Sleeping for too long might have led to unfortunate encounters with monsters that he couldn’t deal with.
His leg seemed to still be in pain as he slowly lifted himself up off the floor. As he looked down to check out the state of his previously mauled leg. Though to his surprise, it seemed that after sleeping, he healed a decent amount, his skin seeming to have repaired itself, including the muscles and tissues, seeming as though he was bitten by only a dog.
Seeing this made him relax a little, knowing that he could at least move even if it might hurt a lot. Standing idly by was only asking for a fate that would be short and he would rather live to tell the tale of his unfortunate encounter.
Ignoring the pain in his leg, he slowly stood up until he stood tall and began to look around. After a few minutes of still not finding any signs of the cottage that he found himself in, he gave up trying to find it and instead decided to go back to the edge of the clearing. Though learning from his mistake, he decided to slowly approach it as stealthily as possible, trying to make sure that if there was anything in the forest it wouldn’t be able to see him.
Once a few minutes passed and there were no signs of monsters in the forest, he decided to walk past the treeline and walk up to a plant he had his eyes on. The plant that caught his attention was one that he hadn’t seen on Earth so he couldn’t help but satiate his curiosity.
Finally arriving at the plant and seeing there were no thorns present on it that could prick him, he pulled it out of the ground and began to investigate it. The plant itself seemed to have red tips with the rest of it being green. It seemed to be like your average weed that one might find on their lawn but it was obvious to him that it seemed a little different than what he had seen before.
To his surprise thought, after looking at it more closely he suddenly got a pop up by the system for another skill.
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Skill Received! Identify: From looking at wildlife or items closely, you have learned to be able to get information about it, the amount of information received increases with each level.
Name: Felly’s Herb
Information: Named after an elven herbalist, it seems to be found in the northern part of the continent. It has properties that allow it to heal wounds slightly if eaten.
Seeing the information about the plant, he couldn’t help but grin as he decided to put in his mouth and start chewing.
Oddly enough, the herb didn’t taste bad but instead tasted like cherries. After chewing it and swallowing, he could feel something pulsing through his body and as he looked down at his leg, he could slowly see it heal visible to his eyes. After a minute of looking at his leg, it finally stopped healing and the leg that once looked like it was bitten by a dog turned into that of a few scratches.
Another benefit from the herb was that the pain in his leg lessoned, making him pleasantly happy because even though he had pain resistance, that didn’t mean he couldn’t feel the pain at all. Giving off a satisfied grin, he picked some more of the plant that he could see, continuing to try to be as stealthy as possible. In total, he collected around twenty of them.
Getting a little more confidence, he walked a little bit deeper into the forest, beginning to use his Inspect skill, looking at all the wildlife that surrounded him.
Other than the basic trees and shrubs that he found, he seemed to have found two other new types of flowers he had never seen. One of them looked like a white rose and was called a Trillian and with the description he found out it could treat various poisons. The other flower he found was a blue looking one called an Opprie which could replenish mana when eaten.
After plucking the plants that he found, he moved onto picking up some sticks as they popped up in his vision. With everything he needed at the moment and with a dry throat, he made his way to the pond he originally found.
The water of the pond was pretty clear, and from what he remembered from watching television shows and such, that meant that it was drinkable, and drinkable water makes a happy Aaron. Moving to a crouching position, he cupped up the water with his hands, bringing it to his face and began drinking merrily, feeling his once parched throat become rejuvenated with water.
Time to make that fire… he thought to himself as he put down on the things he collected except for the sticks he collected. Then he brought it over to be a piece of land that seemed to lack any grass that was mostly found in the clearing.
Placing down the sticks and setting them up to be prepared to be ignited, he grabbed two sticks and began the gruelling process of rubbing them together.
*****
Skill Received! Survival Skills: After going through the effort of surviving in the wild, you have slowly adapted to it, gaining more information that one needs to survive and the skills to do so.
After around an hour or so of painstakingly rubbing sticks and a level up in pain resistance, a flame finally shot up from the friction and with him breathing on it, it slowly began to ignite more and more of the stick before he finally put it on the already set up campfire.
“Seeing it on television makes it seem way easier than it actually is!” Aaron exclaimed in a mocking tone to nobody but himself but then an annoying red box decided to pop up and ruin his proud moment.
[You are awfully boring to watch and a pitiful excuse for who someone might call a ‘Survivor’ so stop getting so full of yourself.]
“Oh come on! Let me at least have my moment in peace!” He yelled out loud even though it wasn’t needed.
Getting over the rude comment given by Trishta, he opened his status while casually walking over to the wolf corpse and dragging it over to the fire, planning to cook the meat and eat it.
Name: Aaron Cyprus/???
Level: 3 (200/300)
Race: Akrian
Ideology: The Twin
Class: Shadow Weaver
Health: 35/35
Stamina: 75/75
Mana: 80/80
Strength(STR): 9
Vitality(VIT): 10
Endurance(END): 10
Spirit(SPI): 13
Intelligence(INT): 17
Agility(AGI): 14
Perception(PER): 8
Charisma(CHA): 14
Skills: Shadow Control(C)(1), The Twin’s Gift(L)(2), Pain Resistance(C)(4), Identify(C)(1), Survival Skills(C)(1)
Titles: Underdog, Underdog II,
Stat Points: +9
Midway through looking at it though, he could only facepalm as he realized that he had extra Stat Points that he neglected to use in his previous fight, making him feel slightly depressed at the pain he might have been able to avoid if only he used them.
Now that he had the time though, he decided to not make the same mistake and distributed his stat points. Three went into Agility, two went into Vitality, and the rest to Perception.
He finally reached the fire with the wolf body and put it next to it, but after he stood there for a second, he realized he had no clue how to cook at all. So he sat there for a few moments trying to think up a plan on what to do but could only bring up blanks.
[If you ask politely I might give you a hand…]
Aaron could almost feel her haughtiness as that message appeared though decided to not say anything that might lead to her not helping him, he needed anything he could get. ‘Yeah yeah go for it’ he replied to her, holding back the urge to roll his eyes.
Immediately when he told her his answer, he could feel a stream of information play in his head, seeming to teach him how to cook and startling him because he wasn’t prepared for this. It was a weird feeling to be honest, just suddenly getting information that was previously not there, almost like reading a whole book and absorbing all the information.
Skill Received! Cooking: Through the help of her holiness(EDITED), you have learned how to cook and understand ingredients. Proficiency in cooking increases with each level.
‘Thank you!’ He genuinely thought she was just lying but seeing the results really made him happy, at least she wasn’t just a freeloader inside his head. Shifting through the information that he just received, he began to tear away at the wolf.
Before he could get very far, he began to gag as the fur began to tear and blood could be seen everywhere. “Oh god this is horrible…” Though that didnt mean he would stop but instead worked even harder, wanting to speed it up so the process would be done as quickly as possible.
After a gory few minutes, he finally got enough meat off the wolf for it to satiate his hunger completely. Then he grabbed a small stick but large enough to hold the weight of the meat and stabbed it into the meat. Then doing the most ridiculous thing ever, he held it over the fire like a marshmallow.
[Pfft you realize how stupid you look right?]
“Oh shut up and just wait, i'll show you!” He began to stare intensely at the fire and the meat on a stick, trying his best to balance the weight and began to turn it. He really was trying to cook it like a marshmallow!
After forty minutes of this process of turning the meat and then getting insulted by Trishta. Surprisingly though, the meat actually kept cooking seeming to completely deny all expectations as to what would occur.
Cooking +1!
The cooking skill really does work wonders… he thought to himself. As he thought back on it, he did agree with Trishta on the fact that what he was doing was utterly idiotic but after learning a lot about cooking, he also learned that he could do this somehow, most likely do to the increase in his proficiency in it.
Laying down, he held the stick above his chest as he waited for it to cool down, not wanting to burn his mouth and have to deal with that for a few days.
Giving the meat a minute to cool down, he finally lifted the meat to his mouth. Breathing on it lightly, he took a nibble to test the water and see if it was too hot still. From what he tasted, it seemed to be oddly bland but that was to be expected as all the juices from the meat would have already fallen into the flames. Though even if it didn’t taste the best, he still dug into it because he was quite literally starving and had no right to complain about it.
He slowly finished the bland meat as he laid there, pondering on what to do the next day as he could see colors of the sunset in the distance. His battle with the wolf was a testament to how everything could go wrong without being careful and he would not be one to forget a lesson such as that.
Getting up once he was done resting for a little, he decided to go back to the forest and collect some more sticks for the fire to make sure it wouldn’t die off in the morning and ruin all his effort he put into igniting it. Feeling satisfied with the amount of sticks he collected, he went back to his fire and threw half the sticks in while setting the rest off to the side.
I really wish i had a bed but beggars can’t be choosers slightly sighing, he laid down on the cold hard ground and tried his best to close his eyes and welcome sleep. Giving it around an hour of twisting and turning to find at least a semi-comfortable spot, he slowly fell asleep under the now night sky.
*****
“Brother! Please stay with me, you can’t die yet!” Slowly opening his eyes to the sorrowful cries of a young girl, he could see what he thought to be Trishta at a younger age, with her white hair and grey eyes. Aaron could feel a pain in his chest as what seemed to be a liquid poured onto him.
‘What’s happening Trishta?’ He tried to speak those words but found that they couldn’t escape his mouth and instead he heard in a voice that was his voice but when he was younger, causing Aaron a lot of confusion. “It’s ok Trishta, we… will meet… again” Coughing up blood as he spoke that sentence, Aaron could feel a smile that wasn’t his appear on his face and the pain of the gaping hole in his chest caught up to him.
When trying to move, he realized he couldn’t, almost as if he were watching a movie from the first person's perspective, watching something that already happened before and not being able to do anything about it.
Looking up at the sky, he saw it burning with red and orange, and what seemed to be dragons spouting flames from their mouths, making the sky bright up even more periodically. He realized how… beautiful the scene was in a way, giving off the feel of a painting of sorts.
Closing his eyes slowly, he could feel the life seeping out of him or maybe Trishta’s brother? He couldn’t tell in the end as the last thing he saw was Trishta crying over him, tears filling her oval grey eyes.
Aaron or maybe Trishta’s brother slowly brought up his hand to her face and in one last final action, wiped a little bit of the tears out of her eyes. With this, his hand dropped abruptly, losing all strength in it and letting out his last breath, not being able to take anymore of the suffering he was in.
The Twin’s Gift +1