Chương 4: Chapter Four: Emergence

I look around at the bodies for a few heartbeats, as if waiting for something to happen due to my realization. Unexpectedly, nothing does. No point in wasting time thinking about how many alien creatures I killed. Better them then me, I guess. Turning back to Pawl, he seems as unbothered by the situation as myself, so I don't think any more on the matter and instead focus on my shackle.

Since I am healthy now and have the super cool magical power of sunglasses at my disposal, I guess it is time to get out of this cave. I carefully lift Pawl off my lap and shift my position to get a better grip on the shackle. With my mighty BDY value of 3, I yank on the shackle with my entire force behind it. Surprisingly, the shackle does not budge at all. I surmise that the metal must be comprised of the strongest material in the world or something and instead focus on the end that is embedded in the wall.

I notice Pawl laying on his side next to me, casually watching with half-lidded eyes. It doesn't seem like he is very interested in helping at the moment. Realizing I will have to use my brain for this specific challenge, I grab the chain with both of my hands and brace my feet against the wall. Feeling a small grin on my face, I enjoy the sensation of my body moving fluidly at my command. I take a deep breath and yank with all of my strength while I push my feet against the wall.

Eventually becoming perpendicular with the stone surface, I even hold myself slightly above the ground due to the force at which I pull, but nothing happens. I let out a sigh and lower myself to the ground. Scooting back over to the wall, I inspect the small metal plate that holds my chain. I could be imagining things, but I think I see a slight gap between the wall and the plate that wasn't there before.

Sweeping my hands across the floor of the cave, I grab the most solid rock I can find and quickly get to work slamming it against the gap as best I can. I work at it for multiple minutes to the point where my hand that holds the rock is completely numb due to the repeated impacts. Shaking it out to get the blood flowing, I re-inspect the plate. One of the corners is thoroughly scratched up, and I managed to get it to curl into the wall a good bit.

Utilizing the little amount of physics I know, I drop the rock and get back into my original position with my feet braced against the wall. Pulling the chain taut, I raise myself from the ground once again and hear a satisfying creak of the metal in response to my weight. Waddling over to the opposite side of the damaged plate, I continue to pull on the chain as sweat starts to collect on my brow.

Finally prepared, I suck in my breath and abruptly swing myself to the other side while I pull with all my strength and plant my feet on the wall and push. A loud squeal of metal rings out but the plate does not budge as much as expected, and my shoulder swings into the wall with all of my force behind it. Crumpling to the ground, I breathe heavily but luckily my shoulder doesn't seem to be broken from the impact. I shakily get up and do a couple of arm circles.

A few crackles and pops sound out, and I can definitely see some swelling already showing, but other than that it is perfectly fine. I tug on the chain a bit and notice a good amount of give coming from the plate. It looks like one more push should get it. Resuming my position and beginning the action, just as I am in the middle of my swing, the plate comes free and I awkwardly hit the ground with a grunt. This time I manage to catch myself with my chained hand for the most part.

As I push myself back to my feet, happy to be free from the wall, my right wrist collapses underneath my weight and I skid my knee trying to keep myself upright. After fully standing up, I raise my still chained wrist to the light and notice that it is bent in the wrong direction. Maybe I didn't catch myself as well as I thought. Attempting to bend my fingers with the hand, I only partially succeed. Hmm, that could be a bit annoying.

Using my bare-bones medical knowledge I gained from the hospital, I use the chain that is now just hanging from the shackle and tightly bind my wrist and fingers to hold the hand in place. Smiling at my handiwork, I notice that the hand is beginning to turn an angry shade of purple, and I can feel a pulse in my fingers. It's probably nothing. Turning my attention away from my personal health, I let out a small whoop to celebrate my freedom and begin to walk around the room.

Facing the wall, I can see that it is only around six feet tall, so I quickly search the bodies near me for any gray loot. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. A few minutes later, I am left disappointed to find that none of the bodies had anything of use. This discovery is fairly distressing to me, as I'm worried about the quality of this System overall if they do not even know the cardinal rule of providing starter gear for a freshly spawned player.

It's bad enough that most of the creatures were only wearing loincloths that were completely soiled in their filth. It's only then that I realized that I'm not much better than them, as I'm only wearing my hospital gown and mooning everyone that is at my Six O'clock. How terribly perverted of me. I cast a glance at Pawl, but he seems to have fallen asleep at some point during my escapades. I quickly turn the gown into a very crude shorts/diaper hybrid using some of the straps and my own creativity.

Now instead of mooning strangers, I would just be showing them an anorexic man in a tasteful diaper. Much better. Just as I'm about to wake Pawl so we can start our climb over the wall, a better thought crosses my mind and I walk over to one of the corpses with the most wounds. One of their legs looks to be held on by just a few strands of muscle and flesh, so I use a nearby rock to saw off the rest of it and grab the leg. It's only about a foot and a half in length, but it's a better weapon than my mangled hand.

Finally, I walk back over to Pawl, and he slowly opens his eyes and stretches as if he was awake the entire time. I bend down and put him on my shoulder before walking up to the wall. If I stand on my tip toes, I can almost see over the wall, but for now, I just raise him up and let Pawl scramble over the top. Tossing up my weapon, I follow shortly after, struggling a bit due to my right hand's condition. Grabbing the leg once again, I examine the new surroundings.

The room isn't much different than the pit that I had been chained up in. It is the same stone chamber besides the small fire in the center of the room and little puppets held up on slim poles, facing the pit I crawled from. One of the poles are broken and its puppet is lying on the floor. I cannot make heads or tails of why they are in the cave, as it doesn't seem like there is anything else here.

I think for a moment that the puppets themselves could be some sort of useful item or a type of witch-cultist paraphernalia, but upon closer inspection, I find that they are nothing more than pieces of junk tied together by some shoddy looking twine. Meow I notice Pawl is getting ahead of me, seemingly disinterested in the room and its contents. As I close the gap between us, I see there is a path leading upward that was just around the corner, out of my view.

I give Pawl a loving pet before following him out of the room and into the new corridor. We are walking for a short time before the light of the fire is lost and we are forced to be led only by a slight shine against the cave walls ahead of us. I trail behind Pawl while pins and needles shoot through my right hand annoyingly. Taking my eye off Pawl for a moment, I quietly adjust the chain to let some blood flow and provide some much-needed color to my currently violet hand.

I check really quick to make sure my companion didn't notice my antics. I am happy to discover that he doesn't seem to notice, and we silently continue on our journey. It only takes a few more minutes of walking and a turn down one more corner before an opening is shown ahead of us. I begin to speed up until we reach high enough that the opening's luminescence is shown to be sunlight. The abrupt change in visibility starts to sting my eyes. Wait a minute.

Thinking on my feet, I use <Polarize> and bask in the power of sunglasses as my vision adjusts instantly to the harsh light. What a lovely skill. Continuing to follow Pawl, we finally emerge from the cave, and I feel a delightful breeze blow over my aerodynamic head and warm sunlight color my cheeks. After a quick scan of the area, I see that I am standing at the entrance of a cave at the bottom of a large cliffside.

The entrance is surrounded by a small grass clearing which is further ringed by some thick woods where a few paths have been cleared for travel. If I didn't just see a bunch of scabbed-over corpses of alien creatures and floating screens, I would swear that this was Earth. The soft grass beneath my feet and fresh scent of pine trees is almost exactly like I remember. At least I think it is. It's been a while since I was able to smell things and even longer since I was outside, so it could be nostalgia talking.

I look down and notice Pawl is already running ahead of schedule as he sprawls in the grass and rolls around. It is very cute. I follow his lead and close my eyes. A deep cleansing breath fills my lungs, and I revel in the lovely warmth of the sun. I peak just for a moment and rely on my sunglasses skill to allow me to gaze upon the sun unhindered. It looks a lot brighter than I remember. Also, perhaps a bit smaller and slightly tinged green. I guess this is a different planet after all.

Taking a note from my furry friend, I lie down on the grass and begin to roll around just for the hell of it. I am pleasantly surprised to find the activity is actually quite fun, and I even giggle like a schoolgirl as I cosplay as a worm alongside my new cat buddy. Eventually, I am all wormed out, so I stand up to marvel in the sun with my hands raised to the sky. What a beautiful day.

The wind is relaxing, the grass is soft, the sunlight is the perfect temperature, the trees smell amazing, and the sounds of heavy breathing grace my ears. Wait, what? I open my eyes and look toward the source of the heavy breathing. Standing at the edge of the woods is a tall figure still hidden by the shade of the trees. Hefting the leg in my hand like a club, I slowly walk toward the figure. It's hard to tell, but whoever it is seems to be roughly my height unlike the toddler sized creatures in the cave.

It looks humanoid, but I'm not stupid.

"Hey, are you a person or what?" I shout across the clearing. At the sound of my voice, I see the figure shudder for a moment before taking a step out of the shade so that I can finally see them. My breath catches in my throat as a green behemoth that is a head taller than me emerges from the trees. It looks like it is partially covered in blood and limping on one leg, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it easily weighs triple what I do and is rippling with muscles like the Hulk's little brother.

A line of text blooms into existence right above the monster. < Goblin - Level 4 > Shit.