Chapter 14

The time that passed for James due to his sickness was hazy and painful and the only moments that stood out was when he heard the sound of the now familiar ding from [Poison Resistance] leveling up and the shift from day to night in a blink of his eye. It seemed that the deep wound on his shoulder combined with the fact he had a babies immune system an infection set in.

Days went buy like this, forcing himself to drink the water that was under his make shift raft that came from the sewer most likely made things worse.

[Poison Resistance] leveled up

A thought James hated himself for having started then grew stronger each time that ding and message came.

It’s your fault Tom for my suffering

In his mind James knew that while the idea to come out here was Tom’s because he missed his family it was both of their choices. But the pain and sickness was just so much. Why did he have to suffer, what did he do to deserve such treatment for what everyone says is a good thing?

I won’t make the same mistake again: the next time someone ask for my help I will refuse. Twice now I have suffered from helping others from my previous life and now this, life is still the same no matter what life I live.

It was by the third day that James was able to stay awake longer then moments for a time and noticed the places he was passing by. Lush, green grass and tall trees filled the landscape around him. Every so often small animals would dart past his vision, then unknown creatures would sometimes eat him out of nowhere forcing James to look away.

Another thing he noticed was his body was now thinner which was another worry added to his growing pile. Eventually James knew that he needed to land somewhere but he knew nothing about what was out there. Then become a list of sites that at least seemed safe. A few times there was almost a touch down but then some sort of predator would pop out of its eyes would shine and all he could do was look at it.

Maybe I am tainted meat

Day four was when James decided it was now or never to find a place to land or else with the infection he would not have enough energy to do what he needed to live on. The first option was an area made of mostly beachfront and while it looked nice had far too many things running about. The land around him was mostly higher than the water so landing sites options were not actually many, combined that with the fact that he could not stop the raft and would not know when a next site would come up.

Sun is setting, whatever site comes up next will be my new home

James forced himself up and leaned on the metal chest and darted his eyes to either side of the river looking over and over. His fear started to grow as nothing was showing up.

[Fear Resistance] has leveled

Even with that help the fear was still there, the cold sweats and shaking from the fever all mixed into a disappointing state. When the sun had just about finished dropping was when the finally site popped up. James wasted no time and broke off a piece of the rift, using it to pull himself to land.

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The river was deep and wide but with the paddle was able to make a landing and saw his new home up close. With the metal chest as heavy as it was James had no fear it would wash away and walked up the natural opening. It was flanked don either side by high land at least as tall as normal male if not higher. Dropping himself low he crawled the rest of the way up to stand out as little as possible.

It seemed that the hill was relatively flat on top and was fairly spacious, if he had to compare it to something it would be the entire floor space of his home.

Home…

Comparing the two things made him miss home terribly and decided that if he was going to make it through this then the focus had to be on how things are not how he wished they were. Going back down to the shore James slowly dragged the chest up with him. Getting up to the top again he dropped up his chest and raft on the nearest tree to the earth ramp and started digging at the base of it.

No way can I stay out during the dark

There was a clear and present danger to the horror that was nature and from what he was awake to see with the travel that was a clear divide between his power level and whatever was around him.

[Digging] skill acquired

Not even bothering to tap the message so it would go away James focused all his attention on digging. It was getting hard to see what was below him since his light source the sun was being replaced by the stars and moon above. As it grew darker the inhuman sounds he heard on the raft grew louder.

After all that I have suffered it can’t end like this… it can’t end sick and alone and in the dark eaten alive!

[Digging] leveled up

[Fear Resistance] leveled up

A pile of clay and top soil started to form next to him as his digging started to slightly increase in speed. Getting deeper made it harder to piece through, his paddle bending under the pressure until it broke. Not even wasting the effort to freak out James switched to digging with his baby hands. Pulling on the earth and getting clumps of clay allowed the hole to get even deeper

The sounds were getting closer and James had reached the point where his weakened strength was not enough to be able to reach under the clay anymore. Struggling to find a fast answer only one came to him but he would hurt his body even more if it was chosen. Left with no other choice the stopped cupping his left hand and instead flattened it.

[Power Attack]

James hand darted into the clay completely causing a surge of pain to travel up his arm, forcing him to stop moving. Using his other hand to pull out the one stuck in the clay a huge piece came out. With the amount of pain it caused to do it even once it was clear his hand would be useless after it was over but there was no choice.

Over and over again James used [Power Attack] to cut into the earth and secure his freedom, each time the pain becoming worse.

[Pain Resistance] skill acquired

There was a time I got excited whenever I got a skill, now whenever they pop up it reminds me of the danger I am in

Finally it was deep enough that James had dug himself a small “cave” he could sit up in that was directly under the tree just in time. His hand was now so busted it would taking one of those [Healing Potions] to be useable again. On a good note he acquired the skill [Unarmed Attacks] and leveled up [Power Attack], in fact this was almost an unexpected reward for his great efforts.

[1 Strength] acquired

Looks like this pretty much makes me a Monk

Dry humor was the only thing the kept James going at this point, he forced himself not to look at his hand because he was honestly afraid at what he would see so the cape was wrapped around the arm. Waddling over to the metal chest he used his one good arm to grab onto the dangling lock and went backwards until it completely covered the hole.

Time to power level [Poison Resistance] at this rate given what my arm is now

Just sitting there James waited for what he knew was coming next and it did come quickly. Sounds could be heard just outside his little cave, of things banging and clawing at the chest.

Everything is going to be fine… everything is going to be fine

Repeating that saying over and over as James crawled over to the lock and pulled it to come so whatever was outside could not get to him. He started to cry, a little at first then uncontrollably making whatever was outside more determined to get in that is now James spent his first night in the forest.