Chương 6: Finding My Way

Occasionally I saw a player or two running around, fighting mobs and gathering ingredients. I saw some of them die trying their luck with more animals than they could handle, but one thing was the same within all of us: we couldn't get enough of this world. This was a one of a kind experience for every player, and we could barely believe our eyes, ears, and noses. The combat was fluid and easy to get used to, although I definitely felt that my expertise in archery helped.

I kept hunting wild dogs, boars, slimes and other low-level monsters, each granting 20-30 experience, and a little while after I reached level 2. However, during all this time, none of the monsters dropped anything else, so I figured the Collar I found earlier was kind of rare. ⚔ Level Up! ⚔ Attribute Points: +5 Health: +10 Mana: +5 EXP 0/1200 I instantly recovered all of my missing health and mana, too. Knowing this could definitely come in handy in the future.

I hovered over Dexterity for a moment, but then got to thinking.

"The attack speed difference with only five points will be marginal at best," I said out loud. According to my own, bows gave a percentage-based increase to shooting speed. That was much more useful when I already had more invested in the attribute. DEX didn't give me any power, either. I could focus on attack speed later, I thought. When I have good base damage.

I pondered for a little while, weighing the pros and cons until I was sure: in the early game, while I was adjusting to the system, fighting mobs with a limited health pool, focusing on Strength was the optimal way to go. Dexterity was more of a mid-game stat. I spent all five points on STR, bringing my attack value up to 26, then moved on. I still had 27 minutes of the luck buff, and I wanted to use it efficiently, so I pushed deeper into the forest.

Without a map, getting lost was a possibility, but I felt like I could handle stronger mobs, and with the luck increase, I hoped for more rare drops. As I was not following a beaten path anymore, I tried to keep track of my surroundings, but the constant fighting with the wildlife made it hard to stay oriented. Ten minutes into the hunt, I came across my first goblin. It was small and humanoid, with greenish skin, holding a crude dagger.

The monster was gathering small branches, probably to make a fire, which made me think that there were more of them nearby. Goblin Gatherer Level 2 The fact that it being a 'gatherer' was mentioned implied that there were other classes in their hierarchy, and that meant I had to pay attention to potential 'Goblin Warriors', or anything that might mean more trouble than their branch-gathering kin. The level-up gave me no new skills, so I could only rely on Piercing Shot, basic attacks, and my talent.

I drew, the yew in my hands crackling from the pressure, and when the goblin reached for another branch, I sent an arrow through his head. I didn't stop there, though. Another arrow was already nocked, and after a brief repositioning, I sent it on its way. The monster only found me after getting shot in the head the second time. It started charging, but by the time he got to me, I hit him again, and he collapsed to the ground.

I bagged 40 experience, which was more than the wild dogs and the boars with 20 and 30 respectively, and it also dropped the knife he was holding. Crude Goblin Dagger Common Level 2 Attack Power: 7 Restriction: None Can be used as a Skinning Tool It was not a bow, but since it had no restrictions, all classes could use it. The power increase was higher than my weapon's, but without the range or the ability to use Piercing Shot, it had little use to me in combat.

However, the tooltip saying I could use it to skin my prey was a welcome sight. I was about to leave to look for other goblins when I noticed a piece of paper that I thought was a fallen leaf at first. As I picked it up and smoothed it out, a map revealed itself to me. Map of Carpa Precincts A detailed map about Carpa and its surrounding territories. It had been tampered with in a crude fashion, but it is still usable.

I wasn't sure why the goblin had a map, or if they could read it at all, but it was something I desperately needed. I quickly checked where the village was located and assessed my position accordingly: I was in Fang Forest, just north of Carpa. The hills surrounding me were called the Sharp Highlands, and other than three caves, there were no points of interest in the vicinity. There was an X mark next to one of them that wasn't part of the original map.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. That was what the description meant by 'being tampered with', I guessed. The X could have marked where their camp was located, if they had a camp at all.

"If I'm north of the village," I murmured, "there should be a…" I traced the ideal route from my supposed position toward the creek that split Carpa. It shouldn't be far, I thought. I was correct. The moment I focused, I could hear a monotone sound in the background. A river. I adjusted the map, observed the path I took from Carpa to the forest, and that confirmed it: the river should be on my right. To the right, I went. It didn't take me long to reach the water.

An idyllic stream by all means, with wildflowers on both banks and a couple of beavers to my left, floating around. I watched the peaceful animals for a minute, enjoying the ambience. They meant no threat to me, and I made sure they knew I meant no threat to them, either. I have never hunted in my life. Archery was not a tool of survival to me, at least not in the literal sense, and I never understood why sport-hunting was a thing. Population control, I understood.

Posing with dead animals for a new profile picture? That was a no from me. Even now, killing the wild dogs and boars, I made sure it was as quick as possible, despite the game clearly intending us to hunt them. Upon further inspection, there was no way for me to cross the creek without getting myself wet, and the cave with the X mark was on the other side, just northeast of where I guessed I was.

The river wasn't too wide; about six meters at the narrowest point, and I could see the bottom even in the middle, so it wasn't too deep either. It looked completely safe to dip into, but this was not real life, so I couldn't be sure there weren't any dangers lurking around. Let's see how swimming in the game is, I guess, I thought. I unequipped my bow and I took off my clothes. There I was, standing in simple flannel underwear, about to submerge into unknown waters. Literally.

As I stepped into the river, the fresh flowing water felt like a bunch of cold needles piercing my skin, like acupuncture. It was colder than I expected, but spring had just arrived, and although the winter winds had already turned into pleasant spring breezes, the rivers hadn't had enough time to warm up just yet. With that thought on my mind, I lunged forward. Once I got fully submerged, the cold turned bearable, and I started swimming, while still looking around for potential threats.

The current wasn't too strong, and a couple of seconds later I reached the other shore. I climbed out of the riverbed, cold, but not shivering. I guessed it would have been much worse in the outside world; either my character was more durable and resistant than a normal person, or the game was made to be much more bearable. Either way, I had little trouble shaking the feeling off.

I looked down at my health bar and worriedly noticed that two small icons had appeared next to my Luck buff, which still had a couple of minutes left. Soaked You are completely soaked. Agility -20% Cold You are unprotected from cold weather. All stats -10% Well, I should have thought of that, I thought. A game like this would punish you for environmental hazards. As I was about to equip my clothes, a worrying thought crossed my mind. What happens if I get dressed while still wet?

Clothes didn't seem to have any durability stat, but what would happen if my shirt and trousers got soaked as well? Would it be harder for me to dry up? Still, I equipped them all, just for the sake of removing the "Cold" debuff. Much to my delight, both icons disappeared shortly after getting dressed. It felt like even my underwear had dried up somehow, and although it didn't make much sense, I wasn't about to complain. I headed north and kept killing the hogs and slimes that came my way. ⚔ Level Up!

⚔ Attribute Points: +5 Health: +10 Mana: +5 EXP 0/1600 It took about 30 minutes to gain a level. It would have been faster if I had solely focused on that, but I had to keep stopping to admire the details of this game. Every tree, every boulder felt like it had been carefully placed to form a unified world, and I felt like I had to take it all in. Once again, I spent my free points on Strength, bringing my attack power up to 36. I tried attacking a group of Wild Hogs, and they fell much quicker than before.

I was also making steady progress with my quests. Quest Log Pest Control Required Rank: Copper Objectives: Kill dangerous wildlife (small) 83/100 Herbs for the Spring Festival Required Rank: Copper Objectives: Butterfly mushrooms 33/50 Blue wildflowers 17/50 Flamewing tulips 0/50 Walnuts 52/100 It turned out that walnuts were plentiful where Wild Hogs liked to linger; however, I still hadn't found a single Flamewing tulip, which made me think they were in different biomes.

I also processed the animals for their remains using my newfound knife. It went smoothly and likely much easier than in real life, while also being easier to stomach. Skinning them didn't always succeed since I wasn't proficient enough. The first time it did, however, I unlocked the passive skill "Skinning and Processing". The higher the level I had in this skill, the easier it became to extract the spoils. Currently, I had 2 points in it, after trying it on all 22 wild animals I've hunted.

They were mostly Wild Hogs, or Large Wild Dogs, which were the level 2 variants of the Wild Dogs from earlier. I opened my inventory to check what I had gathered. Rough Boar Hide x4 Boar Hide x2 Exquisite Boar Hide x1 Rough Wild Dog Hide x3 Boar Fangs x2 It wasn't much, but they could probably be used to craft something later on, or sold to a player or an NPC. Out of all of them, the Exquisite Boar Hide looked like the best quality loot I got. Hide of a Wild Boar. It was extracted exceptionally well.

So it matters how well you skin the animals, too? I thought. I wasn't sure if my Luck buff helped me get this, but overall, I couldn't complain. By the time it ran out, I had the Collar, the exquisite hide, the skinning knife and the map in my inventory.