NOVEL WEB 5th | Desperation
Day 3
It hurts. My entire body is sore, my thoughts are sluggish, as if someone slammed a hammer over my head without shattering my skull. It feels like someone dug channels in my body, and then poured liquid fire into all of them. My mouth is dry. I reached up and felt my hair, it had the texture of straw. I try to speak, and I cough up dust.
What's going on? Why do I feel so terrible? Well, besides the obvious, messing with my biology WOULD hurt wouldn't it? But I don't see what altering my nervous and immune systems have to do with making my mouth dry. Personal status!
Class - Survivor | lv 4/25 31/400 xp *
Race - Other World Human m
Name - Maximilian Condition- Severe Dehydration, <[
SkP- 0 Souls- 0 0 0
I figured out how to shorten the status and make it only give me the info I need. It's a bit more convenient, especially since it's getting so big now.
Ah, I suppose not drinking water for 48 hours would do that to you huh?
… HOW THE FUCK DID I FORGET ABOUT WATER!?!?
My intellect astounds me.
I activate [Tracking] Immediately, However I get no pings for water. The reason I could find the source flower that one time is because some animals are attracted to it, that's how the skill works, by following the signs made by animal trails. However, there are no immediate trails of animals going to water around me, at least no obvious ones. The range of the skill increased slightly because of the level up, but not enough to help in this situation.
I try to run but can't, so I start fast walking forward, hoping to find a trail.
I'm gonna have to ignore that. I fast walk forward, using my enhanced hearing to try and listen for flowing water. No luck. I search for trails with my heightened sense of smell and sight. No luck. So I keep trekking on, praying to find something.
<[Focus] Experience threshold Reached. Lv1 -> Lv2>
I sit on a large rock to rest. I've had no luck so far, a few animal trails but none leading to water. I left all my stuff back at the clearing to reduce my weight and save energy. I think I'll just try to track as much as I can, to level up the skill and expand its range and perception.
A spider jumps through leaves and shrubs, until it reaches a small crevice, home.
A frog leaps through the air and travels across floating lily pads, until it gets gobbled up by a 20ft snake.
A muscular ape with unnaturally long arms, bat wings, and spikes growing out of its face and back swings across branches, hunting for prey, slaughtering Giant insects and a 3 headed praying mantis.
I'm just not gonna think about it.
<[Tracking] Experience threshold Reached. Lv2 -> Lv3>
If the starting area for tracking was a 6ft radius, now it's 6.5ft. Seems the range increases by 0.25 or 3 inches each time, neat.
I'm wasting my time. Screw a river, I'll just look for some juicy fruit. And I do. But guess what? It's ALL poisoned. Every single one, without fail, and I see like fifty different ones. I saw the white dotted orange things, Diamond blue apples with three stems made of semi-solid liquid, Leaves that are just regular leaves but extra thick so it's like biting into a granola bar, probably without the coughing fit afterwards. I know I should be frustrated right now, but I feel unusually placid, Must be an effect of the whole ‘you're about to die” thing.
<[Poison Detection] Experience threshold Reached. Lv1 -> Lv2>
And now, I can tell every poison is a little different, though how It works I couldn't tell you. And so, I resume the search for both a source of water, and non poisoned fruit. It seemed aimless, and time seemed to fast forward as I focused on this task. My body degraded, I lost energy, and only my will for survival kept me going.
<[WIll] Experience threshold Reached. Lv2 -> Lv3>
<[Focus] Experience threshold Reached. Lv2 -> Lv3>
I wondered for miles, my desperation grew, and my surroundings changed, no longer an arching jungle, but a squat, ancient forest dotted with colossal stones I mistook for mountains at first.
You're telling me. It's hard to move, hard to breathe, I feel so terrible I won't even bother to describe it… it's a bad habit, I've always wanted to write a book, so I like to describe events in my life like one would write a book. But then it became a habit, and now I do it when I'm stressed. Lately I've been stressed all the time.
And now, I'm dying. It was fun while it lasted I suppose. My life was pretty uneventful before I got here, god I miss Air Conditioning. I would kill for some olive garden right about now. I wish I had asked that girl out while I had the chance, She was cute… I wonder if my family is freaking out right now? I never thought about it because of the urgency of the situation, but I never got to say goodbye to my family huh? Well, I suppose i'll be meeting my ancestors pretty soon…
I lay on the ground and stare at the sunset…
It's not like Earth, but it sure is beautiful. The clouds are ringed together, reflecting Pink and orange like a lake in the sky, barely visible stars glow in the vast distance, I feel the gods above looking down on me. What do they feel? Pity? Are they sad it had to end this way? Or am I so insignificant, Even the stars gaze past me?
It's so peaceful, the wind now a dull breeze, the dust cleared, I lay on the ground, and I close my eyes. And I wait. My body lays still, I breathe evenly as the pain become naught but a dull murmur, It's alright, I'm ready, It all seems so clear now.
<...>
And my eyes burst open, as I suddenly hear it. Flowing. I bolt upwards and scramble to my feet.
I track the sound with both my skill and sense, they resonate and combine together, tripling the range of [Tracking] And I sprint towards the water.
My body breaks down, my muscles decay, my bones crack, but my eyes, my will, stays trained on that sound, growing louder and louder with every stride. And suddenly, I break through the trees, into what I can only call paradise.A massive river a ¼ of a mile wide splits in twain and then fuses back into another channel. Making a circle, and a giant island in the center, sectioned off from all the dangers of the world.
I have GOT to make that my new base.
I run as I think, caution gone to the wind I throw myself into the water and drink. I splutter and almost die Again from drinking too much too fast. But I satiat myself and swim out of the crystal clear, slightly blue water.
I feel the mental ping, And check my status, I guess that means I'm fine now? I was kinda hoping for another message besides just the one. It's a weird feeling, like I was expecting something more, but I'm not sure why I feel it. Maybe the melancholy is still messing with me? I check the message log for the earlier messages it sent when I accepted death, I felt like there was more besides just the three of them. My mind feels kinda foggy when I think about it, so I'll stop now. Maybe the water was poisoned, who knows.
Status
Class - Survivor | lv 4/25 31/400 xp *
Race - Other World Human m
Name - Maximilian Condition- Recovering, Weakened, <[
SkP- 0 Souls- 0 0 0
Skills -
Primitive Crafting | lv3/5
Archery | lv2/5
Tracking | lv3/5
Will | lv3/5
Dismantling | lv1/5
Sharpening | lv4/5
Poison Det | lv2/5
Focus | lv3/5
Clarity | lv1/5
Aim | lv1/5
Deft | lv1/5
Stats-
StP - 0
Strength 15
Speed 15
Stamina 10
Dexterity 20 (+5)
Intellect 25
Sense 14 ( Sight 4, Touch 2, Sound 3, Taste 2, Smell 3 )
Vitality 15
Charm 8 {locked}
Modularity-
Nervous 125% | Immune 125%
A what?
Oh, that's cool! What will it make?
…
My fault for expecting anything else.
---
I make the unexpectedly long journey home, (I went a lot further than I thought), In the dead of night. Dawn had just started when I finally got back home. I took all the worthwhile supplies, and started walking back. I used [Tracking] to retrace my steps, and when the sun rose once again on the dawn of my fourth day, I was back at the beach that had revived me so many hours ago.
…Can I get A more simple version?
<[Stride] Makes long distance movement more efficient stamina wise>
Sweet!
As much as I'd love to do stuff, I'm super tired and I need to sleep, So I set up the grass bed a little further up the beach on solid ground. I put the big leaves on the bottom, and a ton of grass to use as a cushion. It still sucks, but it's better than nothing. My status is pretty depleted of resources like souls and points, so I'll focus on leveling up tomorrow, or technically later today. I'll sleep, then when I wake up, I'll hunt till I collapse, and get back to a decent sleep schedule.