Chapter 4

 

‘Clare, how do I see my status?’

I at least knew that much from the few stories I had read. But they each seemed to have their own way of viewing that kind of information. Given that I had received a very subtle ‘insufficient privileges’ message the last time I had tried to learn something about me, I chose to just ask.

'Use the [Status] function.'

‘Isn’t… you know what, never mind. [Status]’

And ole behold everything there is to know about me. Is just five lines, well four to be exact.

[Human : Hartie]

Status:

[HP: 580/1062]

[MP: 1487/1487]

[SP: 1515/1637]

‘Where is everything else?’

'You will need the Skill [Identify] for that.'

I decided not to argue about the absurdity of not having access to information about me. I was me! If someone should everything about me, it should be me. Did it mean that if I met someone with the Skill [Identify], they would be able to know things about me I didn’t even know? That was just fucked up.

‘How do I get this Skill [Identify]?’

'You pick it.'

‘From where? Under these leaves? Maybe behind that tree?’

'From the General Skills list.'

‘Can you show me this General Skills list? Please.’ I add the last part as a prayer and not out of politeness.

I was kind of tired of all the security measures that the System employed. It had me wondering, had someone tried to hack it? Find a shortcut to something maybe? It couldn’t really be ruled out, people loved the easy way out.

Clare’s response was to bring up a window with the list of all the General Skills. At least I assumed it was such.

[Identify]

[Health Regeneration]

[Language Proficiency]

[Mana Manipulation]

[Mana Regeneration]

[Stamina Regeneration]

‘Is this all there is?’ I asked. The list, even though it seemed to cover the basics, wasn’t as exhaustive as I had hoped.

'There is more, but—'

‘This is all I am allowed to see right now,’ I interrupted Clare. I was getting used to the whole restricted information thing. A bit annoying, but it was okay. It wasn’t the first time something was held back from me. Even my previous life had lots of those.

‘How do I select them?’

'Concentrate on the ones you want and I’ll do the rest.'

‘Okay. I want all of them.’

'You can only select a maximum of three at your current level.'

I knew that was coming but I hoped it wasn’t. And three? That was pretty restrictive. They all looked very essential to me. Mighty essential even. The knowledge that I could select more as I leveled up wasn’t as reassuring as it should have been. And while I was at the topic of levels,

‘What level am I?’

'You will need the Skill [Identify] for me to tell you that.'

‘Select it already then!’

'Are you sure you want to select the Skill [Identify]?'

‘Yes!’ What kind of question was that? I had already asked too many questions that were left unanswered because I didn’t have the damn Skill.

'The Skill [Identify] acquired.'

‘Finally. Show me my goods.’

I was excited, and anxious at the same time. I had read a novel that showed the main character acquiring a similar skill but it didn’t reveal any new information. Just what the character already knew. With my luck, that would be the case. But I had already learnt that the System was highly customizable. If it proved to be worthless, I would just discard it.

All there was to know about me in this Realm of Mesily finally revealed itself.

[Species: Human]

[Name: Hartie]

[Sex: Androgynous]

[Level: 10]

 

Status:

[HP: 782/1062]

[MP: 1487/1487]

[SP: 1430/1637]

Attributes:

[Agility: 6]

[Constitution: 7]

[Endurance: 13]

[Intelligence: 11]

[Strength: 12]

[Vitality: 9]

[Wisdom: 12]

General Skills [0/3]:

Skills:

[Bludgeoning: 1]

Hey, hey, hey. There was something there that was very, very wrong. ‘Clare-san, what have you done to my [Sex]?’

'Nothing. You requested I keep everything about you as is.'

‘Yeah. But I’m pretty sure that my sex is male.’

'Are you sure you want to change to [Sex: Male]?'

‘Yes.’

Everything I changed seemed it had to go through a confirmation prompt. Not bad, not bad. But there were things I wished would just change without the prompting.

‘I’m assuming the [Bludgeoning] is from the not-caterpillar I killed.’

'Yes.'

‘How much experience did I get from killing it?’

'I don’t understand the question. Please elaborate.'

‘What did I get, or earn, from the killing it?’

'You learnt the Skill [Bludgeoning] from the encounter.'

‘Learnt? Not acquired. How exactly do I gain new skills?’ I felt the need to ask.

I had thought that I would be gaining experience from slaying beasts and monsters. If that wasn’t the case, it might not be as fun as I had thought it would be. Learning things wasn’t fun, no, it wasn’t fun at all.

'For the General Skills, you select from the options available to you. For the other Skills, you gain them by learning. Either through doing something right on your own, being taught by someone else or reading about it and practicing.'

And there it was, no killing. Killing hadn’t been listed as one of the ways I could gain a new Skill. Unless killing was a Skill in and of itself. But, where were the Skills for the things that I already knew? I went to ask Clare that but something caught my attention. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I thought I had heard something. Something new in the surrounding forest.

Then I heard it again. That sound, the swirling. The plit-platter. That could only be one thing. WATER!!!!

I looked left, then right. Turned around on the spot. But I couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from. The trees blocked my view, and bounced the sound all around me. The background sound of the birds, small animals and insects of the forest wasn’t helping either.

I tried calming myself down. I hard thing with all the excitement running through me. I needed to think things through. I was already near enough to hear it, if I approached logically, I would get to it soon enough.

The way I had come from wasn’t it. And neither were the directions sharply to my left or right. That only left forward, or slightly left or right. I decided to continue with my previous direction for a few minutes. To try and figure out where exactly the sound was coming.

As I resumed my walk, I realized that in my reduced vigilance, the bugs had started in on me again. I swatted them away, crushing others against my skin. I hoped that they didn’t carry any pathogens that might cause life threatening illnesses. I had yet to learn any healing spells, or even magic itself for that matter. I decided to check on the General Skill [Health Regeneration], maybe it offered protection against such things as ailments. But before I could even think of talking to Clare, I noticed a change in the sound of the running water. It was slightly to my right. With that, I took off in a flat out sprint.

And promptly slowed down after a few seconds. Down below was not used to being thrown around like that. The pain, water wouldn’t be worth it. I really needed to find clothing. Why had been brought here stark naked? They could have tried something, even a loincloth would have been appreciated.

The slower speed around me to weave through the trees and over the downed trunks and protruding roots. The leaf cover gave the impression of a completely even ground, but the reality was much different. I might not have noticed it much while I was just walking, but running brought that into focus. The sudden dips and elevated mounds, or were those roots, made the running very ungainly.

I flailed my hands all over the place, my body swaying left and right as I tried to compensate for the sudden ground impacts and lack thereof. But I never slowed down more than was necessary to protect my down below.

As the seconds dragged on, the sound became clearer and the ground gained a slight downward tilt to it. I wanted to increase my speed then, but I kept myself contained. It wouldn’t do to arrive there writhing in agony.

Close to a minute passed before the trees thinned out, before abruptly ending in a small ravine. It was a small thing. Meandering little as it passed in front of me. The vegetation that I could see on the ground was all leafy as it some of it got submerged a little into the flowing stream. The waters as crystal clear, allowing me to see all the way to its deep center. It wasn’t that far though, barely a stretched out hand by my approximation. There were pebbles down there, of different colors. Blue, silver, white, orange and maybe green. Maybe they were gems. I hoped that green wasn’t mold though.

I suddenly became aware of my dry mouth and irritating throat. Reminding me of why I was there in the first place. I removed my meat rations and haphazardly placed them on a leafy shrub before squatting by the stream and placing the staff by my side. I hesitated a little before bringing my hands close to the water. I held them there for a few seconds as I felt my mouth dry even further.

I dipped the tips of my fingers, feeling a coolness takeover them. It sent a chill up my arms. The flow of the water was soothing, relieving some of the tension I didn’t know I had had. I finally dipped my hands in fully and came up with a handful. As I brought my prize close to my mouth, I noticed it become less clear. I paused. And watched the water in my hands.

Was it cursed? Not water?

‘[Identify].’

'Water.'

Then what… ooh. My hands, they were dirty. I berated myself for getting worked up over nothing. I quickly dipped my hands back in again and cleaned them as much as I could. Then gave the stream a few seconds to wash all the murk away before scooping another handful. I didn’t hesitate, bringing it to my mouth quickly for a small sip.

It was divine. The feeling of wetness. The cold liquid spreading in my mouth. I wanted more. I quickly downed the handful, feeling the coldness run down my throat. Easing the soreness that I had felt there since I tried speaking. I went in for another handful. And another. Each time feeling my body rejuvenated if only for a little bit.

After I had my fill, I slowly got up. Looking around, I saw the forest in a new light. I started noticing things that I hadn’t seen before, like the birds roosting on trees or flying around, that white-black monkey that scurried away into the trees. The canopy wasn’t as thick as I would have expected in a rainforest. Maybe it wasn’t that. Or it was the dry season. The heavy leaf-cover on the ground suggested that. But the slightly submerged vegetation at the stream bank suggested that the rains had already began again. Oh, right. It had been wet when I came to.

I picked up my rations, hanged them back on my shoulder and then stopped. A funny smell. They had a smell to them that wasn’t very fresh. They had hardly dried out at all and it seemed that something else had decided to consume them since I wasn’t in a hurry. I threw them back into the trees, picked up my staff and began my journey down, following the stream downstream.

Hours tredged on as the stream got bigger. Being joined by other streams, some small other large. I had to cross a few of those to maintain my route. I knew the risks of keeping so close to the stream, but I didn’t know what else to do. I felt like if I lost sight of the stream, it would disappear. I didn’t want that.

As evening approached, the stream had already turned into a somewhat small river, a few meters across. The forest was showing no signs of thinning out and I had been lucky not to meet any large predators that could consider me a meal. The occasional snakes, which was the main reason I crossed streams, and a few small cat-like creatures barely two times the size of a housecat. [Identify] called [Rainforest Cat]s. Some of them had been pretty high-levelled, close to Level 20. Or it could be that I was the one who was low-levelled. I still avoided them. Killing them wouldn’t get me anything, and the chances of them actually killing me where pretty high.

Fish had started showing up in the river, but my attempts at fishing had proved futile. I had given up and decided to try my luck the following day. The forest was already getting dark, shelter for the night had become a priority.

Since I didn’t want to leave the stream, river now, I chose one of the tallest and sturdiest trees near the banks as my night-roost. Then I pulled up and thrashed a few vines I saw at a nearby tree until the broke free. The exertion sapping away at my limited energy resources. I left my staff at the base of the tree and climbed it as far as I could go before choosing one of the branches and setting myself for the night.

I made myself comfortable, or as comfortable as I could with a naked butt on a cold wet coarse tree bank. I used the vine to tie myself to the tree, both my torso and my legs, further adding to my uncomfortableness. But I had seen it done on television and the character was being portrayed as a survivor.

I was exhausted, not from the half-day march, I had done those a lot in my previous life and at least that part of me seemed to have carried over. But from the lack of food. I had drunk as much water as could to keep the hunger pangs at bay, but there was just not much that water could do.

By the time all that was done, it was already dark. A lone naked human, tied to a wet tree on a cold night. It was a recipe for disaster. Especially if you added in the biting insects all over the forest.

Since it didn’t look like I would be going to sleep anytime soon, I decided to get back to my analsys of the Attributes and Skills that I had. Come to think of it, I never did try to analyze the Attributes. And those had been right there. Unlike the Skills. I also needed to pick up two more General Skills, and for that, I needed to know what each of those General Skills actually did. Plus, if I wasn’t gaining Levels by killing things, how exactly was I supposed to level up. There was no way I was going to stay at Level 10. Even the puny [Rainforest Cat]s were higher levelled than that.