Chapter two

Wind whipped through my hair, my body plummeting through the sky like some kind of twisted amusement park ride. Except, you know, minus the seatbelt and the guarantee of not dying. I could barely think straight over the roaring sound of air rushing past me, but one thing was crystal clear.

"What the actual—why is the ground getting closer? Am I falling? Oh God, I’m falling!"

I flailed wildly, limbs spinning like windmills in a storm. Panic surged through my veins as I saw the treetops below rushing toward me at an alarming rate.

"This is how it ends? Not in a blaze of glory, but as a human pancake? Fantastic."

The treetops weren’t merciful. They snapped like twigs under my weight, each branch delivering a sharp slap to my body as I plummeted through. My indignant swearing was drowned out by the sound of breaking wood. Finally, I slammed into the ground, face first, with a solid *thud*. Every bone in my body screamed in protest.

**HP: -20**

*You’ve taken fall damage. Congratulations on surviving!*

"Ugh, are you kidding me?" I groaned, rolling onto my back. The world above me was a blur of leaves and sky. "I survived that? Of course I did."

I winced as I pushed myself upright. Everything hurt, but somehow, nothing seemed broken. I brushed dirt and twigs off my shirt, still half-expecting a giant cartoon piano to fall from the sky and finish the job.

"Okay, Claire. You survived a sky-diving fail without a parachute. Step one: don’t die. Step two: figure out where the hell you are."

The forest around me was dense, the air thick with the earthy scent of damp soil and moss. Shafts of sunlight pierced through the canopy, illuminating patches of ferns and unfamiliar plants. There was a strange hush to the place, like the world was holding its breath. In the distance, I thought I heard the faint trickle of water, but it could’ve been my imagination. Every rustle of leaves sent a shiver down my spine—this place wasn’t just quiet, it felt... alive.

Suddenly, a faint blink in the corner of my vision caught my attention. I squinted, and a small, floating notification appeared before me.

**Skill Gained: Pain Resistance**

*Description*: Congratulations! You’ve survived a series of unfortunate impacts and learned to tolerate pain just a bit more. Keep up the good work, human crash test dummy!

I stared at the message, trying to process it through the fog of my throbbing head.

"Yeah, 'human crash test dummy' is exactly what I was aiming for," I muttered, rolling my eyes. At least I hadn’t died on impact. *Small victories, right?*

I stood up, brushing the dirt off my leather trousers, and scanned my surroundings. Dense forest, no sign of civilization. Just me and the trees.

"No wisp. No glowing nightlight to annoy me. Just… me."

The eerie silence of the wilderness settled around me. For a moment, I stood there, feeling the weight of the situation. Alone. Completely, utterly alone. There was no one to call for help. No safety net. Just me and... whatever lurked out here.

I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck. "Alright, Claire. You’ve watched those survival shows. What did they do? Right, find water. Gotta find a stream or something."

I started walking, hoping some basic survival instinct would kick in. As I moved, I spotted a bush full of strange berries. They looked sort of edible. *Probably.*

I eyed them suspiciously. "And don’t eat random berries unless you want to be featured on *World’s Dumbest Adventurer.*"

I pushed on, my naginata slung awkwardly over my shoulder. After a few minutes of walking, the silence was broken by a rustling in the bushes behind me. My heart jumped into my throat. I tightened my grip on the naginata and turned around slowly.

"Okay, if that’s some kind of giant slug monster, I swear to whatever gods rule this place, I am not ready for this!"

The rustling grew louder, and out hopped… a small, fluffy creature. It was a rabbit with big eyes and twitching whiskers.

I blinked. "Seriously?"

I lowered my weapon slightly, eyeing the creature. "This? This is what I’m supposed to be scared of?"

The creature tilted its head, then darted forward and bit my boot.

"Ow! What the hell!?" I yelped, hopping back. The little beast was fast, nipping at my trousers now.

"Great. I’m being attacked by a rabbit. What is this, *Monty Python*?"

I swiped at the thing with my naginata, but it darted around, too quick for my half-hearted swings. What followed was an embarrassing series of stumbles and missteps as I tried to fend off the bunny while simultaneously not falling on my face. My hands were slick with sweat, my heart racing with panic as the creature darted between my legs.

**HP: -5**

*You’ve taken minor damage.*

"Of course. It’s always the fluffy ones," I muttered, kicking at it again. "Killer bunnies! It’s always the bunnies!"

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Finally, with a particularly wild swing, I managed to scare the little terror off. It scurried back into the bushes, and I was left standing there, panting and clutching the naginata like it was the only thing keeping me upright.

**Skill Gained: Improvised Combat**

*Description*: Through sheer panic and desperation, you’ve managed to fend off a small creature. Keep this up, and you might not die to something bigger.

I stared at the floating notification, still catching my breath.

"Improvised combat? Great. I’m basically the queen of panicked flailing."

I flopped down onto a nearby log, still shaking from the encounter. My muscles trembled, the weight of everything crashing down on me all at once. I’d barely survived a fight with a bunny. What would happen when something bigger came along? My hands shook, and I squeezed them into fists, trying to stop the trembling. I had to get it together. I had to.

**Endurance: -10**

*You’ve exhausted yourself. Rest to recover.*

I took a deep breath, letting the weight of that realization settle in.

"Alright. I survived a fall from the sky. I survived a bunny attack. I can do this."

I stood up, gripping the naginata with a new sense of purpose, though the fear still lingered in the back of my mind. I glanced around the trees ahead.

"Okay, Claire. Let’s find some water. And for the love of all that’s holy, let’s not die to a bunny."

With that, I started walking again, deeper into the wilderness. Alone, but determined.

I walked for what felt like hours, the dense forest offering nothing but more trees, rocks, and the occasional birdcall. Every time a twig snapped or leaves rustled, I’d whip around, ready to face another killer bunny. Thankfully, the forest seemed content to leave me alone—for now, at least.

"Alright, Claire, focus. Water first, then food, then… what? Build a shelter? Start a fire? I’m not exactly the camping type."

As I navigated through the underbrush, my boots squishing slightly with each step, I realized just how tired I was. Surviving a fall from the sky and fighting off feral rabbits wasn’t exactly easy on the energy levels.

Eventually, the soft sound of trickling water reached my ears. I stopped, listening, my heart doing a little flip of relief. *Water. Actual, honest-to-god water.*

"Please tell me that’s not just a hallucination," I muttered, picking up the pace.

Sure enough, after pushing through some ferns and ducking under a low-hanging branch, I stumbled upon a small stream winding its way through the forest. The water was clear, sparkling in the sunlight that managed to pierce through the thick canopy above.

I dropped to my knees at the edge of the stream, dipping my hand in to make sure it was real. The coolness of the water sent a shiver up my arm. It wasn’t exactly a freshwater spring, but it wasn’t a mud pit either.

"Okay, this’ll do," I said, cupping my hands and drinking deeply. The cold water felt like heaven sliding down my throat, even if I was half expecting to start glowing from some weird magical contamination.

After a few gulps, I sat back, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. For a moment, I just stared at the water, letting the reality of the situation sink in.

I was alone. No wisp. No guide. Just me and the wilderness. *Surreal doesn’t even begin to cover it.*

I reached down and splashed some of the cool water on my face, letting it jolt me back to the present. No time to dwell. I had to keep moving, find food, figure out where the hell I was, and most importantly, not die.

Just as I was about to stand up, something caught my eye. Across the stream, half-hidden in the brush, was what looked like… a pack. I squinted. No, it wasn’t just a pack—it was a whole little stash of supplies.

"What the…? How did that get there?" I muttered, crossing the stream cautiously. *Please don’t be some sort of trap. Or cursed. Or worse—empty.*

I knelt beside the stash, eyeing it warily before gingerly pulling it open. Inside was a small collection of random items: a worn-out knife, a battered canteen, some rope, and… jerky?

I held up the piece of jerky, inspecting it as if it might bite me back. It didn’t look poisonous. Or, at least, not immediately.

"Well, beggars can’t be choosers," I said, unwrapping it and taking a hesitant bite. *Not bad. Kinda salty, kinda chewy, but definitely not rabbit food.*

With the jerky in one hand, I examined the rest of the stash. The rope looked sturdy enough to be useful, and the knife—well, I’d take anything sharp at this point.

As I went to stuff the rope into my pocket, something strange happened. The rope… disappeared? Not poofed into smoke, but it vanished from my hand like it had been sucked into thin air.

I blinked, my hand still outstretched. "Wait, what just—?"

A small icon blinked in the corner of my vision. It read: **Inventory Updated**.

"Inventory? Wait, do I… have an inventory?"

I squinted and, with a little mental nudge, thought the word "Inventory." Sure enough, a 10x10 grid popped into my field of vision, showing my newly acquired knife, rope, and jerky, all sitting neatly in little slots.

"Okay, that’s both incredibly weird and… kinda cool," I muttered, inspecting the interface. "No weight limit? Guess this world isn’t totally out to kill me."

After collecting the rest of the supplies into my inventory, I sat back down by the stream, feeling the exhaustion creeping up again. My entire body was aching from the fall, the bunny attack, and now the constant walking.

"Why am I so wiped? I wasn’t this out of shape back on Earth…" I mumbled.

Just then, another blinking notification appeared in my vision.

**Health: 48/70**

*You’ve taken some hits, but you’re still standing. Better take it easy for a while, or you might not be so lucky next time.*

**Stamina: 20/55**

*You’ve been pushing yourself hard. Take a rest, or you’ll be running on fumes soon.*

I stared at the floating notifications, my brain catching up slowly. "Wait, is that… me?"

I waved my hand in front of my face as if I could swat the bars away, but they stayed right there, in the corner of my vision.

*Great. I’m not only in a weird fantasy world—I’ve got status bars now.*

"Well, at least now I know why I feel like death warmed over," I muttered. "48 out of 70? What even hit me that hard? Oh yeah, the ground, the branches, and that cute little murder rabbit."

Leaning back, I tried to relax, but something else began to dawn on me—a problem I hadn’t even thought about until now. My stomach churned a little, but not from hunger. No, it was… something else.

"Oh, no. Oh god, what do I do about—bathrooms? There aren’t any. Am I supposed to… just go behind a tree?"

The realization hit hard. I groaned, burying my face in my hands. "Of course, no toilets. This place is just getting better and better."

I stood up, searching around for a place far enough from the stream but close enough that I wouldn’t have to wander too far into the wilderness. My fear of monsters paled in comparison to the anxiety of having to squat behind a bush.

"Okay, bugs, please just… stay away. Let me do this in peace."

A few minutes later, and feeling more embarrassed than ever, I returned to my makeshift shelter.

"Alright, Claire. You’re not gonna die from that… humiliation. Focus. Shelter next."

I scanned the area, mentally noting the various rocks, fallen logs, and branches scattered around. It wasn’t much, but I could probably cobble something together if I tried hard enough. It wouldn’t be pretty, but at least I wouldn’t be sleeping directly on the ground.

"Time to get your survivalist on."

I got to work, dragging over a few fallen logs and large branches to make some kind of crude lean-to. Each time I hefted a branch, I muttered under my breath about how I was no survival expert. “I can barely put together a flatpack bookshelf, and now I’m building woodland architecture.”

After what felt like hours of grumbling, swearing, and sweating, I stepped back to survey my handiwork. It was a little crooked and didn’t exactly scream "luxury," but it was standing.

"Not bad for a first attempt, I guess," I said, wiping my brow. "At least I won’t be completely exposed to the elements."

As I sat down under the makeshift shelter, trying to catch my breath, another notification appeared.

**Skill Gained: Basic Shelter Construction**

*Description*: You’ve managed to slap together a semi-functional shelter with whatever you could find. Don’t get too comfortable—it’s still a bit wobbly.

I chuckled, my exhaustion starting to creep in. "Yeah, wobbly is right. But hey, I’ve got a roof over my head. That’s gotta count for something."

As the last rays of sunlight filtered through the trees, I settled in under the shelter, wrapping my cloak around me for warmth. The forest seemed to grow quieter, the sounds of birds and rustling leaves fading into the distance.

For the first time since I arrived in Grimoria, I felt a pang of loneliness. The humor was fading, leaving only the reality of my situation: I was alone in a strange world, and I had no idea what was coming next.

But I wasn’t ready to give up just yet.

I tightened the cloak around me, staring up at the stars beginning to peek through the treetops.

"Alright, Grimoria. Bring it.”