There was a sucking feeling coming from my arm near the red tattoo. I watched it tick down to [4/15] and stop. My injuries vanished, the skin healing where the bird gouges were. I gasped, amazed at the magic of the tattoo and the relief from the pain. A symbol of an anvil had imprinted itself right below my mana reading, which had decreased to [5/10].

[YOU HAVE UNLOCKED THE *CREATE* SKILL]

I jumped, forgetting a voice would announce things in my head. Thank goodness, a skill to help me. Maybe this is a video game after all.

My first twenty minutes in this world had been terrifying. I sat back, resting for a moment with my eyes closed. I felt exhausted. I certainly wasn’t used to that kind of activity. Those injuries felt so real, even though they were gone now.

Satisfied that I wasn’t going to die, I slowly stood up. What else could I make? I picked up a random stick on the ground but felt no pull to make anything with it. Well, it must only work for some things here, then. Since the bird monster had been a living thing, what was left behind could be changed into other items?

I needed to figure out if there was a way home or how to wake up. I didn't want to live in a world where monsters roamed free and I had little chance of survival. This game, if that's what it was, was way too realistic. I had no interest in playing something that resulted in feeling real pain unless the magic and class thing could outweigh it. I don't know how to quit or get out, so I guess I’ll continue for now.

I dusted myself off, leaves and dirt all over my pants from hiding behind the log. With the abundance of plant life here, there had to be something I could use to craft some basic protection- armor or bracers. Hell, even a shirt.

I stumbled through the dense jungle, batting large insects out of my face. I scoured the jungle for materials, looking for anything I could use. If my dagger cost me five mana, and I had five left, I assumed I could create one more thing before I ran out. I began walking around and gently touching various non-poisonous-looking plants around the jungle.

I felt a pull in the back of my mind when I put my hand on some thick, fibrous vines surrounding a thick tree. The feeling was the same thing that had led me to craft the dagger, so I trusted the instinct. My eyes followed the tree from the base to the canopy as I found a spot to cut some vines off. The plant was around four inches thick, and I doubted my little dagger could cut through it.

My lips pursed in thought, unsure how to proceed. I knew I needed this material and wanted to move fast in case something attacked me out here. Out of options, I tried my dagger on the vine.

I made sawing motions back and forth but made very little progress. Sweat dripped down my face from the effort. A new idea struck me. I ran over to a moss-covered rock, grabbed it in my right hand, then returned to the tree. I placed the dagger on the vine and began hitting it with the rock.

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It took a few hits, but I eventually sliced the vine. As soon as it cut through, the vine snapped around the tree, slapping me right in the shoulder. I yelled in pain, an angry welt forming like an experienced cowboy had just whipped me. A moment later, another sucking feeling from my arm, and my red tattoo took care of it, taking the pain away. My arm read [3/15] now. Crap, I can’t keep getting hurt! I dreaded what would happen when it reached zero. I didn’t know the rules of this place, but if it was real, I certainly couldn’t risk dying.

I gathered the vine that lay on the floor. Next, I looked for thick leaves to use as the padding. At this point, I didn’t dare try my luck with hunting an animal for a pelt. Plus, I was unsure what lived in the jungle with me. If a couple of birds could take me down, then actual forest predators were probably much worse.

I spotted a plant that resembled a bird of paradise from Earth about 30 feet away and walked over to it. My crafting sense told me that this would work. I plucked a leaf and jumped back, pretty scarred from injury at this point. Nothing happened. My eyes continued darting around the area, looking for a threat. Satisfied that nothing would jump out of the bush and kill me, I gathered a few more leaves.

As soon as I held my third leaf, my crafting sense blared in my mind, telling me I held something that could be combined together. I held my breath, thinking about combining the items, and after a brief shock to my arm around the blue tattoo, a green vest appeared in my hand.

My eyes widened at the sight. Holy crap. This is so cool. Maybe I can deal with the pain for this! I donned the vest, sliding it over my head. There was even a little vine-colored strap at the sides. With my armor complete, at least for now, I set off down an animal path toward that clearing that I had seen earlier.

My main goal was to get out of this damn jungle before something else attacked me. I cautiously walked through the opening in the trees and into the clearing. I stopped in my tracks, gasping at what I saw.

The planet had three moons, one of which was massive. Two were smaller and pea-sized in the star-dotted sky. I hadn’t been able to see them while I was in the jungle, but I could view them now with the canopy cleared around the settlement before me.

A dirt path led through the clearing with thirty-foot-tall drooping trees everywhere in a valley below me. Between the trees were farms of red plants growing about 15 feet high. And in the fields were humans working. They looked filthy and tired with long, sad faces. It smelled like manure here. Or more like a wet stink like we were in a swamp.

The humans were silent, working to the sounds of diggings and picking vegetables off the enormous stalks. The same black dirt from the jungle made up the farmland, tilled into rows similarly to how it was done on Earth. To the right, a few humans used a giant saw to cut a branch off a big tree, littering the ground with sawdust.

Behind the farms were tall, vine-covered walls made of a blackish stone, with turrets and towers peeking above the greenery. The defenses didn’t look like they were in very good condition. I saw two large, muscular cat humanoids guarding the gates, visible through the path leading to the city. They stood about six feet tall and resembled white tigers with stripes crisscrossing their shaggy fur and had leather armor on their chest and legs with curved sabers hanging from their belts. Their facial expressions looked around with a high level of intelligence.

Rising above the thick wall was a colossal, circular, wooden tower with three levels holding the buildings, homes, and streets of the town's center. It reminded me of an intricate cat tower. I had no idea how it supported itself; the physics of the building beyond what I imagined was possible.

Suddenly, another feline creature, this time resembling a snow leopard, walked out of the rows of corn plants and stopped when it saw me. On its face and arms were spots instead of stripes. He wore similar armor as the guards. Protecting the creature's chest was gleaming silver armor. He made eye contact with me and scowled.