6: Sprint, climb and don’t swim
"I'm telling you all. This really does feel like it's all real. When I woke up in this avatar, the first thing I thought was that I'd been kidnapped. It was that realistic."
CoDestiny has spent the last couple hours wandering around, talking to his chat.
Most of the conversation is him trying to convince everyone that this isn't some elaborate prank he's pulling. Results have been mixed.
At this point it is mostly his chat arguing between themselves on what's more likely, new technology surpassing anything seen before, or a bored billionaire deciding to pull an extremely convoluted prank.
The info some people have been able to dig up about Sect Tech has actually given credibility to CoDestiny's claims, but there are still plenty of people who find it hard to believe.
"So Mods, do you need me to slow down a bit, or have you already got down everything in this area?"
This is the trick he's been using to map out the area without it being tedious. His mods have been taking screenshots of his stream, noting the estimated coordinates relative to the sect, and uploading as tertiary media to the streaming site.
It is incredibly difficult to understand, but prevents the stream from being boring with him in the same place the whole time. They can also have someone create an actual map based on the images once the stream is over, so in that way it's an incredibly efficient method.
The main thing he's found while exploring is a number of interesting plants. He tried pulling one out of the ground, but it sprayed boiling water at him in response.
It's a very good thing that he managed to dodge out of the way in time.
After that he decided not to try his luck with the plants. It'd be a hassle to carry them back anyway and doesn't even know if they'd be worth anything.
Other than that there was a cave too dark to explore, a strong river with a log fallen over to create a makeshift bridge, and a very curly tree.
"Now this seems interesting." CoDestiny's attention is drawn to the first sign of wildlife he's seen. Suspicious scratch marks on a tree.
Chat
I've heard about this. Some animals do it to mark their territory
CoDestiny grins. "Looks like we've found our first boss battle."
...
After a few minutes he finally finds his target.
And he immediately realises how much he overestimated himself.
A giant boar, at least two meters tall, is feasting on a berry bush.
Not just eating the berries, but the entire bush.
CoDestiny backs away slowly, hoping it hasn't noticed him yet. There's no way he can beat something like this, he doesn't even know any special moves yet.
#SNAP#
He stepped on a branch.
Who's idea was it to leave a branch in the middle of a forest!
Fight or flight suddenly kicking in, CoDestiny turns around and sprints as fast as he can.
"SKREEE!!!" The Boar charges after him, and at this point he can't think of any sound more terrifying.
He has to keep running.
Nothing else matters, only ensuring he's as far from the boar as possible.
But the sound of it behind him is getting louder. At this rate there's no way he can-
#BANG#
He ran straight into a tree.
He still has to keep moving though, and the only possible direction is... UP!
Using agility and strength he didn't know he had, he climbs to a point he hopes will be safe.
#CRASH#
The boar didn't stop though, ramming into the tree so hard that it starts to tilt.
Chat
COWARD!
Nice save
Didn't you say you wanted to fight a boss!
"Have you ever tried wrestling a giant boar!?" CoDestiny yells at his chat. "Now do you have any useful ideas?"
Chat
It's just a game
get gud
Try luring it to the log over the river
The log! That might actually work. But how is he supposed to get there? Where even is it?
He looks around and...
Oh.
There it is. Only a hundred meters or so away.
That's one problem solved, but when will the right time be to-
#CREAK#
The tree starts to tilt even further, not helped by the fact the boar is still pushing at it's base.
Now is the time.
Just as the the tree is about to hit the ground, he jumps.
As he lands, he ignores the wobbly feeling in his legs and resumes his sprint, this time with an actual goal in mind.
Last time he crossed the log he did so very carefully, as it didn't seem very secure, but now he crosses as soon as he reaches it.
Hopefully the boar either won't be willing to follow him here. And it it does then there's at least a chance that-
#SPLASH#
CoDestiny looks at the source of the splash and smiles. "Take that Chubby!"
It seems the boar did try to follow him, but it's weight was too much for the log to handle. Now it's being washed away by the current, and he is finally safe.
CoDestiny feels the strength leave his body as the adrenaline rush ends, collapsing onto the grass with heavy breaths.
But with the last of his energy, he yells out. "THAT WAS AWESOME!"
When he finally returns to the sect building, he's happy to find both the other disciples are exploring the immediate area.
"HEY! You will not believe the day I've had." He yells as he approaches them.
"We've learnt some important and interesting things too." PCliver says.
"Well it's not as interesting as what happened to me." CoDestiny grins. "I almost got mauled by a giant boar. But that's to my quick thinking I was able to defeat it."
"Then you have it's corpse?" JadeBea's suddenly seems very interested. "Were you able to find it's core? It would look like-"
"Hold on." CoDestiny interrupts. "You seem to have misunderstood. I didn't actually kill it."
"What exactly happened?" PCliver asks.
"Well..." He originally intended to exaggerate a bit about his bravery and cunning, but realising they'd just be able to see everything on his streaming channel, he decided to tell a more truthful account.
"You were especially lucky it seems." PCliver says.
"I know. It'd be embarrassing to die on the very first day." CoDestiny sighs.
"I meant that there's no respawn mechanic yet." PCliver explains. "If you die, you'll have to wait until we reach that point."
"What!?" CoDestiny yells. "That's so harsh!"
"I don't disagree, but it's apparently part of the worldbuilding." PCliver explains. "Our current bodies are vessels created using a special production technique. If it's destroyed then our souls will return to the sect and can inhabit any spare vessels we own, but there has to be a spare vessel in the first place."
"And how do we go about getting one?" CoDestiny asks. "Can we obtain the production technique?"
"We can buy it for SP, but right now there's no point." JadeBea says. "Using it requires a higher cultivation level and some resources. Increasing our cultivation requires a technique that also cost SP, and the best way to get SP is to acquire resources. That's why your scouting has been so important. We need to know where to look for those resources."
"I've been doing my job properly." CoDestiny says. "There are lots of interesting plants, that's probably our best bet for resource gathering, though at least one type will attack you if you get close so..."
"The library books detailed what exactly we should do with all the plants we might find in the local area." JadeBea nods. "For now could you fill our what you know on this map gem." She hands him a green opal.
"This is a map?" He asks, holding it up to see if there's anything inside. "And why was I scouting if there's already a map available?"
"It's a blank map, I had to buy this map using my only SP." She replies. "And you can read or update it by pressing it to your forehead. I will warn you though, adding new details is extremely tedious. You probably won't be done by the end of todays session."
"Uhhhh." CoDestiny groans. It's only been three hours so far, so that means another five left. And she's saying it will take longer than that.
Despite his hesitance, he still presses the 'map' to his forehead, if only to see what it's like.
Many images depicting the region have been found on the streaming channel associated to your account. Would you like to convert these to map data for the cost of 3 Sect Points? Insufficient funds found. By also selling the map data to the sect, you can gain more than enough Sect Points to make this payment. Would you like to proceed with this process? |
'Er... yes.'
Deal complete. Gained 92 Sect Points for the map data provided. Deducted by 3 as payment for the image to map data conversion. All map gems sold by the sect have been updated with the map data you provided. |
The image of a map appears in his mind, and it's very easy to understand. Everywhere he's been is included, with annotations and reference images easily brought up or ignored.
If only real world maps were so easy to read.
"I'm already done." He hands the map gem back to JadeBea.
She frowns, bud decides to check anyway.
"HOW?!"
"Apparently there are some benefits to being a streamer." CoDestiny explains. "My moderators were taking screenshots of the various places I found, with the intention of converting it to a real map later. When I tried looking at the map, a popup said I could pay SP to convert those images to map data. And I could sell my map data to the sect, which more than covered the amount."