Chương 7: Chapter Seven: Survival of The Fittest

My laugh echoes throughout the woods and I realize I am still pulling on the arm. That's a little embarrassing. My embarrassment grows as it takes me multiple minutes to just unwind myself from the bloody mess that is the goblin's hand. When I am finally free, I take a step back and circle the tree to inspect my handiwork. Maybe I went a little too far. I will spare the details, but let's just say it looks like the goblin's arm somehow gained an extra foot in length.

How the skin did not tear is completely beyond me. The rest of the goblin is not doing much better. Even though I let go of the arm, the body is still wedged in between the two trees with a part of its chest caved in due my excessive pull. Hearing a small squelch next to me, I look down with horror to find Pawl chewing on some of the hanging meat already. I don't even have the heart to stop him. Taking one look back at the body, I leave the feline to his duties and go to find the knife from earlier.

"Put three points in BDY." I feel the dull pressure of the stat points running through my body. I dedicate full attention to trying to analyze how the process affects me, but no matter how hard I try, I can't sense anything amiss. I know now that every level up, all of my stats increase by one, with three points being given to me to allocate as I see fit. This makes more sense to me, as this would mean that my initial stat debuff: Tarnished Body, had been a -10 rather than the -7 that I had first saw.

The three levels I gained first must have knocked a few off from the passive levels I gained while unconscious. It doesn't take long for the pressure to settle, and I can already notice the change in how I move. Like night and day, I watch as my stride is more measured and takes less effort on my part. It would be impossible to believe if I hadn't been paying such close attention, but I can see that my body has also filled out slightly.

My veins are less visible, and my joints have turned from random bulges in my limbs to acceptably sized protrusions against my somewhat larger limbs. No improvement comes without a cost though as I feel the pit in my stomach grow in size and the mild pain in my throat becomes a sandpaper slip-and-slide that causes me to cough and lick my dry lips. Bending over to pick up the fallen knife from earlier, I cast a glance back at the goblin's corpse.

I look down at the knife in my hand and recognize the familiar metal the edge is made from. I strike the shackle against the knife, and a small spark results from the impact. My stomach has the rumblies. I begin to make my way back toward the body I left behind for Pawl. And only goblin meat can satisfy.

It doesn't take me too long to pry the corpse from its position between the trees. Before Pawl starts complaining, I use the knife to hack off the mangled arm and set it down next to him as an offering. He graciously accepts and I leave him to his business so that I can go begin my preparations. I might be crazy enough to eat some alien creature meat, but I'm not too far gone to do so without cooking it first.

Making sure to clear the area and check if there are any other goblins within the vicinity, I start grabbing some dead twigs and crushed leaves. I never really paid attention to it earlier, but the woods are fairly quiet, and I rarely see any other animals running around. I have spotted a few birds and even saw a small boar earlier, but other than that, the forest is kind of ominous in its lack of life. I am almost back to the site of the kill when I spot a glint ahead of me.

Taking cover in case it is another goblin, I duck down before noticing that the glint is reflecting off of a tree rather than another monster. I carefully make my way over to the tree that seems to have a small patch of grayish blue crystals. It is very strange, and I find the random change in environment odd, especially since this is the first tree I have seen that looks any different than the others. Bending down to inspect them, I suddenly feel a distinct change in the air surrounding them.

I reach forward and press my finger gingerly on the crystal. Immediately, my finger becomes annoyingly cold. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. It's more frost. My finger traces along the surface of the glass-like crystals as I think. What is the ice all about? Why was it in the cave too? Is it part of the quest or something? What does 'Finish what was started' even mean? My spiral is interrupted as I feel water trickle into my palm.

I look down with surprise as the ice melts underneath my touch at a visible speed. I quickly regain my wits and cup my hand to catch as much as possible before raising it to my mouth and sloppily gulping down the teaspoon's worth of liquid. Forgetting about my previous questions, I raise one hand underneath the frost and set my other on top of the patch. After only a few seconds, water runs freely and I catch it all. Before long, the entire patch is gone and my throat is slightly less parched.

I longingly run my fingers against the now dry patch of wood. I look around for any other signs to explain the random occurrence of ice. To my continued shock, I see two more patches. One to my Two o'clock and another to my Seven. I am about to dart off toward the nearest patch, but force myself to stop. The small amount of water I was able to consume finally allows logic to take back over. Fully taking account of my surroundings, I calculate my position in relation to where I left the goblin corpse.

Going even further, I estimate where I am in regard to the cave and come across a most interesting discovery. The patch to my Two o'clock is in the direction of the cave. I look back to the patch at my Seven o'clock that leads in the general direction of where the Train path should intercept it in only a few hundred feet. Hefting the goblin knife in my good hand, I scratch a large X in the tree to mark where the ice was.

Shortly afterward, I head over to the frosted tree that was at my Seven and begin the process of melting the ice once again. Lo and behold, after a bit of spying, I find another tree ahead with another familiar glint. Then after that one- another icy tree. I follow the path of ice methodically. Melt the ice, drink the water, score the tree, head to the next ice patch. By the time I am fully quenched, I am only two trees away from the Train's carnage.

After I reach the path again, I make sure to scratch large Xs into the trees around my exit before trailing my earlier tracks. The bloody site of the goblin I killed is only a few minutes of walking away. While I am walking toward my current base camp, a rumbling sound goes off in the distance. I stop and listen for several seconds, but the sound eventually fades away, and I am left with only the sounds of the woods once again. Upon arrival at the site of the goblicide, I find mostly bones.

Besides one meaty leg sitting nearby, the corpse is completely barren of flesh, organs, or anything at all. The pearly white bones sit quietly as if they had centuries to rest. I slowly turn toward the tree where a particularly gluttonous beast lies in the shade without a care in the world. Pawl doesn't even have the decency to open his eyes and toss a look my way. What a cheeky little brat. I make sure to walk over and pet him exactly twenty-five times. That'll show him.

Making my way back over to the leftover leg, I gather the small pile of kindling that I left behind and begin my long and arduous journey to relearn the great talent the cavemen figured out oh so long ago.

How in the hell did some barely evolved primates learn to do this shit? I strike the shackle against the knife for the two-hundred and twentieth time. Sparks. No fire. I drop the knife and stare at my blistered hands. Sparks + Dry Leaves + Dry Wood = Fire Why is this simple equation so difficult to enact? Why doesn't anything here make any sense? Why is there ice in the middle of the woods on a hot sunny day? Why am I on some alien planet?

Why are there levels and skills and difficulties and quests and shackles and caves and creatures and this goddamn itching on my skin? I raise my fist to punch the dirt beneath me in frustration. I sit like this with my arm cocked back for several seconds, but in the end, I restrain myself. Instead of assaulting the forest floor, I hesitantly unclasp my hand and lower my palm to the ground. < Cogitation Lvl. 5 -> Cogitation Lvl. 6 > I run my fingers through the soft soil beneath me.

I smell the fragrant pine of the trees in the air. While shifting into a crouch, I feel the fibers of my new muscles tense underneath my previously paper-thin skin. I gaze upon the visible but healthy veins that carry blood seamlessly through the steady and strong beat of my healthy heart. I need to make a decision. There are too many things going on that I do not understand. This place, the System, and all that comes with it are too much to focus on.

I have lived in my own head for so long that I am forcing myself to do so again here even though I don't have to. Either sit in the sorrow and frustration like I have my entire life or accept my new reality and dedicate myself to this new world. Embrace despair or embrace that I am truly alive in this moment. My hands reach forward and submerge themselves in the kindling. I want to keep living. This time, I do not hesitate in the use of my skills and ditch the knife entirely.

<Cogitation> sharpens my mind to superhuman levels and I push <Emit> as hard as I can. I don't even think about what it draws from. I push and I sharpen. The itch is almost completely gone as I let the skill loose. I can feel the heat bloom from my body. I use <Cogitation> to gather as much as possible and I concentrate the stream. First, I focus on my hands. Soon enough, the heat consolidates down to my wrists, but it still spills in every direction.

I go even further and imagine the heat emerging from my palms only. The simple act of imagining the skill bending to my will leaves my mind scrambling and I can feel my supplemental mental skill just barely allowing me to hold on to the clear picture of the heat pushing through my palm. My hands turn pink and small blisters begin to fester but I just use the mild sting to focus even more. It feels like I'm touching the surface of a stove top, but I continue to push the strange radiation through my palms.

< Emit Lvl. 4 -> Emit Lvl. 5 > I watch the smallest flicker of flame appear on one of the dead leaves before sputtering out. The light is like a beacon of hope for me though, and I use the sight as fuel for my efforts. Within only a couple more seconds, another small flame licks off of a leaf before finally catching with a satisfying crackle. The pile quickly succumbs to the flame and before I know it there is a steady campfire sitting at my feet.