NOVEL WEB Chapter 30: Survival
Valerio woke up with his back against his pod with puffy eyes and bloody fists.
He looked down at his hands, as if to lament the pitiful strength they held.
'Never again will I be so weak, so useless.'
Valerio swore to himself in a perfectly even voice in his head, there was no passion, no anger, no emotion. He was as calm as his surroundings.
It was simply a statement.
A statement that he didn't need to further, because from the moment he set it, it had ingrained itself into him as the truth.
And for that statement, he would be willing.
Willing to do it all.
With a deep breath and a final look at the crater he'd created with his fists, Valerio stood up and placed his palm against the hatch, prompting a handprint scan.
"Pod, is there a way to contact my father or mother?"
Though he didn't want to, and though he knew the truth, he still held a little shred of hope as the pod turned to silence before responding.
[My apologies young master, there is no listed method of contact or connection established with Master Maximus.]
Valerio felt something in his stomach drop as the world seemed to lose a little colour.
Taking a deep breath, he recomposed himself.
"Are there methods of contact for Clarence, Vermillious or Vincent?" Valerio said calmly as he could, though the slight quiver in his voice betrayed a sincere hope.
[Apologies young master, Lord Maximus did not leave any contact details for "chicken head" or "nerd."]
A melancholic chuckle broke through Valerio's visage as he mumbled to himself.
"chicken head.... nerd..... ha"
"How long has it been since we left Fluxura?" Valerio asked again, undeterred. After coming to terms with his situation, he knew no matter how much he had hoped, that there would be no method of contact.
He was on his own.
[5 hours, 17 minutes and 36 seconds young master]
'Guess I'm 18 now huh? Happy birthday to me I guess.' Valerio said with another internal chuckle. 'Happy fucking birthday.'
With a shiver in his movements, Valerio slumped onto the floor and watched the dust settle from the impact he had created. Valerio looked down at his hands, a single tear slowly fell down his cheeks and wet the cold, hard dirt. And following that single tear, many more fell as Valerio lay, staring into the night sky, expressionless as tears flowed down his cheeks.
Eventually, exhaustion overtook him. Still crying, he drifted into a restless sleep.
Hours passed. The first light of morning crept over the horizon, casting soft rays onto his face.
Valerio stirred, the brightness pricking his eyes. He rolled over, seeking warmth from the sunlight, but instead, his shoulder knocked against something cold and metallic. He shot awake, the events of last night flooding his brain like a torrent, unseizing.
He gazed around expressionlessly, minutes passed by as what felt like empty thoughts flowed through his mind.
He was tired.
His stomach grumbled. A sigh left his mouth.
'Tired. Homeless. Emotionally fucked. Broke. No Family. No friends. No Food… No Water.'
A miserable chuckle left him as the slightest smile made it to his face.
What else could he do but survive first? Self-pity wasn't going to magically send him to Fluxara. If only this had been like one of the novels he'd read, he couldn't help but kid himself.
'Maybe if I had Self Gu.' he mused with a chortle. Of course, this wasn't a fantasy novel and nor was he a scheming cultivator.
'Well, not a scheming one yet at least.'
But fantasy or not, hunger was real—sharp and insistent. Maybe it was the stress, or the flood of emotions finally clearing, but now that he had a moment to breathe, he realized just how painfully empty his stomach felt.
'I'm here. I'm alive. I'm breathing. It's not over. I just need to find food and reach Tier 7, I can asses the situation after getting into my void ring and soul sea.'
Valerio pushed himself off the ground and dusted his robes. He was still wearing his family's formal robes, with an elegant design in black and gold accents. His robes were of the highest quality an heir could wear, but they were still robes. Though they'd protect him from scratches and minimal injuries, they weren't anything to rely on.
'At least their self-repair and cleansing formations work.'
The first requirement for survival was surveying your surroundings. If you didn't know what was around you, how could you make use of it? The second and third were water and food, respectively. Humans could go without food for quite a while, but the same didn't apply to water.
Valeiro remembered all of this as he stood up, reminiscing about the survival books his dad had forced him to read.
He adjusted his robe as he started scanning his surroundings. Now that it was day, he could clearly see around him.
He was surrounded by gigantic redwood trees that seemed to reach for the skies, and their bark was so thick that three or four people would need to hug it to envelop it. They extended high towards the sky, their orange-red leaves ranged from palm-sized to torso-sized. The leaves provided shade to the birds and other critters living on the extending branches.
Valerio glanced down and around. He was situated in a small clearing in this forest of redwoods, with a mountain to his left.
The clearing was completely dry and barren, but Valerio searched for any sign of grass. Higher levels of vegetation could indicate the presence of a river or ravine. He surveyed the surroundings and noticed some grass to his left, where he could spot some mountains ahead.
'On second thought, the mountain does seem to be located below the ground level here.'
'Since vegetation is increasing and the mountain seems like it's at a lower sea level, I'll probably find a river or ravine this way. Let's hope I'm right.'
Having made his decision, he grabbed the emergency resources in his pod and started his venture to the East.