Ludan

As promised (I didn't really promise anything) here's a new chapter! Although I feel like this is on the shorter side of what I'll put out as a chapter, the average lenght will probably stay at around a 1000 words per chapter, sometimes more, sometimes less. 

Anyways, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! The story will kind of pick up its pace in the next few chapters but I wanted to use those early chapters to establish the environment that our protagonist has found himself in. Feel free to leave any criticism down below as I will try to improve my writing and storytelling as much as possible over the course of this novel.

See you next time!

Chapter 4 - Newfound determination

Cantorn began moving again, this time with a bundle of healroots strapped under his belt. While the dense undergrowth proved to be quite the obstacle when trying to move quickly it also provided a lot of cover against unknown threats. However, that obviously would work the other way around as well. As he silently made his way into the direction of the water he noticed his surroundings becoming livlier the closer he got. The buzzing of insects got noticably louder and he could even make out a few smaller animals scurrying around. One animal in particular stood out to him, a little rodent-like being with strong hind legs and two horns on his head. Although he had at first assumed that they were herbivores, he got rid of that thought rather quick as the little things would leap onto every smaller animal that got into their range. Occasionally he would even see them picking fights with bigger creatures, usually ganging up on them in small groups. Albeit not being successful everytime one larger kill would probably secure food for a few days.

Cantorn finished his observations as he finally got into view of the river. It was a medium sized stream winding itself through the forest, brimming with crystal clear water. The air around him got slightly cooler, now having an almost relaxing feel to it. Maybe he could have enjoyed this while he was still in his old tribe but faced with this situatuion right now, he didn't really have time to spare. With newfound motivation and the certainty that he would at least have the most essential resource to survive, water, he went on to decide what to do next.

Trailing the stream upwards would possibly result in him encountering fewer animals, as most living beings were gravitating towards the largest amount of resources, which was usually where most of the water was. Mana density obviously played a big role as well but his senses were far from acute enough to make a meaningful impact on his descision. As long as he wasn't able to feel the differences in mana in the air he would refrain from basing any of his choices on it. This left him with water as the only deciding factor. Should he go with the flow, increasing his resources but increasing the danger as well or was risk minimization the better option.

In the beginning he was tempted to follow his pacifistic notions and trail the stream upwards but the more he thought about it he realized that he was falling back into old behavioral patterns. He had already lived like a coward once before, netting him only three levels throughout his whole life. These mostly came from basic tasks such as carrying things around, completing minor gathering quests issued by the elderly population and lastly the natural accumulation of experience points. If not for that, fully grown adults could technically stay at the same level as a newborn baby for their whole life. Keeping this absolute failure of an elven life in mind he decided to change up his ways. Avoiding conflicts for all time to come would never get him anywhere. He would die with a feeble body and an even weaker mind if he didn't live any different from before.

*****

Around thirty minutes or so after following the stream downwards Cantorn noticed a slight change in the ambient noise. There was a distant roaring similar to the sound of waves in the sea. Now filled with a spark of interest he started to pick up his pace, eager to investigate what exactly was up ahead.

Only a few moments later he arrived. In front of him a massive waterfall presented itself. Raging currents of water were making their way down a cliff. Approximately 40 meters below they impacted the rippling surface of a lake that was of the same crystal clear water as the stream besides Cantorn. The only difference was that the soothing effect of the water now felt like it was greatly amplified. Not only the young dark elf seemed to enjoy this feeling as a multitude of larger and smaller animals were lazing around the lake. Some got as tall as 5 meters in height while other, more nimble animals only reached sizes of 15 centimetres. This however did not seem to impact how lethal their attacks were. Quite a few of the bigger animals were littered with small bites and scratches, obviously having proven themselves to be resilient enough to survive to this day while the more unlucky ones of their kind were sometimes even missing an ear or an eye up to one especially hairy individual even lacking a whole limb.

While Cantorn realized what it meant to be part of the big resource pool, he didn't feel discouraged. Fully accepting the challenge presented to him he made a resolution: this was where he would set up camp.