LIGHTNOVELONLINE 8th | Prey | Part 2
Prey | Day 5 | part 2
<[Sharpening] Experience threshold Reached. Lv4 -> Lv5>
<[Deft] Experience threshold Reached. Lv2 -> Lv3 | +3 dex>
<[Simple Crafting] Experience threshold Reached. Lv1 -> Lv3>
I rounded up my vitality and sense into 20 for both of them, putting the one point of sense into smell. Then I put the rest of them in stamina, which comes out as 17 now. For the last 3 hours or so, I've just been crafting. I've made like 300 arrows, 15 wooden containers filled with mashed Diamond fruit, which is what I call the super poisonous diamond shaped fruit. I also made some scale armor, which turned out way better than the metal chest piece. With the scales and lizard hide, I made handcuffs and shin guards, and a sheet of scale I layered over my shoes. I was going to make gloves out of lizard skin, but I know I'll mess up and restrict my fingers, which I need for firing my bow.
Speaking of my bow, I made a new one. It's bigger, and way more powerful. Not only is the string harder to pull, but it's stronger so I can pull it back way more, without having to worry about it breaking. I also modified it to make it easier to use multiple arrows at once. How? Dont worry about it.
And that's not all.
With such a huge influx of souls, of course I modified myself a bit.
Class - Survivor | lv 10/25 384/1000 xp *
Race - Other World Human? m
Name - Maximilian Condition- Nominal, <[
Hp- 2000/2000
SkP- 2 Stp- 0 Souls- 24 7 0
Special Skills -
Sense of Self || lv2/10
Skills -
Simple Crafting || lv3/10
Multishot || lv2/10
Tracing || lv1/10
Dismantling | lv2/5
Grinding || lv1/10
Poison Det | lv2/5
Poison App | lv3/5
Aim | lv4/5
Deft | lv3/5
Stride | lv1/5
Stats -
Strength 20
Speed 15
Stamina 17
Dexterity 26 (+11)
Intellect 25
Sense 20 (+5)
Vitality 20
Charm 8 {Locked}
Class Skills-
Desperate Endurance | lv1
Schematica 2/3 | lv1
Modularity-
Nervous 125% | Immune 125% | Integumentary 125% | Muscular 150% | Skeletal 150%
During the modular process, rather than pain, or feeling itchy, it just felt really weird, like my entire body was made of jello. But now, I'm way stronger, and probably way more durable. While I do have more souls, and I could do more modifications, I have this feeling that I shouldn't do too much, like it'll really mess with my body if I modify it too heavily at once. Now that I think about it, that's kinda dumb isn't it? Aren't they both system abilities? Though, I do get the feeling that the system and modification menu are seperate somehow. As if two different people made them. But, ill trust my instincts for now, its the only thing I have to trust at the moment. I think modifications are like a more dangerous version of stats. A high risk high reward sort of deal.
I've also found out what [Schematica] does. Rather than the big-worded, convoluted explanation the system gave me, here's what it really does. I can essentially make blueprints, I can only save three right now but I'm sure that will increase with level. Whenever I make a blueprint of a crafted item, every time I make the item the blueprint itself levels up, and I become better at making it. Before, when I crafted stuff, my crafting skill would go up, and next time, I would make it better. Now, I level up both my skill and my ability to make whatever I set as the blueprint, mostly stone arrows. It's like a much more narrow application of crafting skills. But since it only focuses on specific things, each level grants a massive bonus, my Arrow schematic is lv3 now, And my arrows are almost perfect. The only thing that can increase its power at this point is getting better materials, which will be pretty difficult right now. As for the other slot, I've got it as bind twine. I got it to lv2 before I made my new bow.
I feel pretty parched, so I stand up and walk over to the small river flowing near my base, I turn towards the army of shrubs across from the main entrance of my base, and I start marching towards it. My back pops with every slight movement, I suppose sitting bent over on the ground for four hours would do that to you. About 200 feet away, a small, winding river a few feet across flows from an upper corner down to the mid left of my vision. I jump across beds of rocks, and then check the water for contaminants using [poison detection]. Nothing bad, so I get on my knees and drink from the water, letting the cool liquid pour down my dry throat.
With that done, it's time for a journey. Do you really think that I, a possessor of [simple crafting lv3] would take four whole hours on a few hundred arrows? Nah, it took one. The scale armor? 45 minutes. But that begs the question, what did I do with the remaining time?
I stand at the sandy bank that I had landed on when I first swam here. I remember it like it was yesterday. Because it was. I look down triumphantly at my finest construct… a boat!
Not really though, it's more like a long raft with 1 foot walls. But the floor is thicker and much more buoyant. I took inspiration from moana and put those little side thingies on the boat, with sturdy branches connecting them, for balance. I had made a couple oars as well, cause I have no clue how to make a sail, my crafting skill told me to give up when I asked.
I packed some juicy fruit, hella poison containers and dried frog meat, as well as all of my arrows. My old bow was there too, as an emergency back up. The boat wasn't as rickety as I thought, and I had used those glue fruits as sealant. Those things are gonna go extinct by the time I'm done with them.
I haven't really described what the boat looks like, and for good reason. It's literally a bunch of thick branches put together. The inside ones were stripped, so the bark wouldn't poke at me. You make a sheet of branches. Roll the logs up on the left and right sides. Then pinch the rolled up ones at the front and back. Using glue to stick them together. Then I filled the gaps between the thin logs with a metric shit ton of glue. I also put thin, stripped wooden panels on the outside, where the water would touch.
If this thing floats, I swear I'm gonna become religious. I'll have you know that I did test the glue beforehand to see if it was waterproof, and it was. And I did weight test the boat… like 60 seconds ago. so everything will probably be fine!
I'm currently on the boat, and I am now lazily drifting to the left in the still river. I start paddling to the distant shore. And as I float towards the forest, my mind starts to wander. I peek my face out from one of the short wooden walls. My face looks the same, but my eyes, instead of the boring brown they were before, are now a brilliant shade of emerald green, with flecks of gold tossed within.
It's magical, and speaking of magic, how do I use it? I know there is magic in this world, not just from the whole status thingy, but from what I've seen those other creatures do. The snakes that unleashed sparks from their fangs, the smoke foxes that could blink forward, and the fire source. Just the fact that a crystal, a rock, grew from a flower which is biological, living matter is already weird enough to be considered magic.
I stop leaning over the side and begin shifting around in place, until my back is on the floor and my head is on the rind of the boat, tilted 30 degrees, I stare at the sky. It's the same blue as Earth, a few clouds occasionally drifting over the sun.
It's been, what, five days since I came here? I've been in the same clothes for 5 days, I feel pretty icky from not taking a shower for so long. I think about my family, they must be pretty freaked out right about now right? I suddenly disappeared in the middle of class. After only five days, I'm sure the police are still searching for me, or just started knowing the state of America right now.. Will I ever be able to go back? Will the system randomly displace me again, or do I have to find some kind of object or artifact to go back? Actually, why am I even here? What is my purpose, why was I of all people, brought to this world. Was it a punishment? Some experiment? Am I supposed to be some kind of hero sent to save this world? That's what it always boiled down to in the stories….
The gentle rocking of the boat slowed my thoughts and lulled me to sleep, although I resisted it, it still made me sleepy. For some reason, even though the river was flowing pretty fast when I first laid eyes on it, this part is super slow. For like a solid 400 feet the water calms down into a clear blue sheet, before instantly speeding up into the white fury I remembered. It's super weird, and I have no clue how to explain it, so I'll just chalk it up to magic and move on. Actually, I'm pretty sure physics is messed up in this world, most likely due to the balance breaking existence of magic. It's nothing obvious like gravity being weird, but I dont think multishot bows were really a thing on Earth. Although [Simple Crafting] didn't have a problem at all.
I'm about halfway there now, so I start paddling to speed it up, before I remembered I can now get those two skills I wanted before.
< Dash- increases speed by 100% for 20 seconds >
Basically all of my skills are passive, so I wanted some trump cards I can use, both for escape, getting places faster, and setting up for shots better. By that I mean I can use [leap] to jump onto tree branches, so even if those monsters get alerted by my arrows, they can't get to me. Plus I can use [Dash] to run away.
Class - Survivor | lv 10/25 384/1000 xp *
Race - Other World Human? m
Name - Maximilian Condition- Nominal, <[
Hp- 2000/2000
SkP- 0 Stp- 0 Souls- 24 7 0
Special Skills -
Sense of Self || lv2/10
Skills -
Simple Crafting || lv3/10
Multishot || lv2/10
Tracing || lv1/10
Dismantling | lv2/5
Grinding || lv1/10
Poison Det | lv2/5
Poison App | lv3/5
Aim | lv4/5
Deft | lv3/5
Stride | lv1/5
Dash | lv1/5
Leap | lv1/5
Stats -
Strength 20
Speed 15
Stamina 17
Dexterity 26 (+11)
Intellect 25
Sense 20 (+5)
Vitality 20
Charm 8 {Locked}
< Calculating survival xp-
“ Yeah Yeah just give me the xp, I don't need the specifics. “
<...>
< Survival bonus: 202xp >
I can always use some more xp.
It's about 5PM when I finally reach shore, so it's still light out. I pull the boat further up the beach, and set the boat as a [tracing] target. Now that the skill has ranked up, rather than the 6ft range I had before, It's now more like 30ft, 10 meters for all the lesser english speakers out there. Now I don't even need to look around for traces, I can just sense them.
I get the feeling that's not supposed to happen though, that the larger range is so I can see more in large clearings, without needing to walk over to smaller parts of the forest. I have a feeling that [Sense of Self] is inserting itself into the skill. That skill is giving me some version of a sixth sense, a weakened version, but it's something.
Before, back when the skill was [Tracking], the way it worked was by putting these 2d gray dots on things that counted as traces. Once I found enough dots, I could follow a trail. Needless to say, it sucked, the dots were stupid hard to see, and the amount I needed to find before I could catch a trail always fluctuated, sometimes it would be three, other times, seventeen! I think my record was 22.
Now, it highlights the general area of the trace white, and makes the actual trace indicator a 3d red dot, it's much more convenient.
As for the purpose of this mission, leveling up is the main goal still, but I also want to find large souls. When I first came here I saw trees that were smashed and torn apart. Which I believe are traces of huge monsters, and I think those guys will net me some large souls. The reason I need large souls is for the modification menu. I get one free modification for each body part, and then I need a modification every 4 reinforcements. In the menu, there are three tabs. The first one is titled; ‘Reinforcement’. Which is how I use my small souls, and the middle one says; ‘Modification’. Which I need to use medium souls for. However, the last box is grayed out. The only logical reason I could come up with is that I need to get a large soul to unlock it.
In an instant, I'm on the hunt. I put [strider] to use as I flit through the trees, breezing through the leaves, I idly think about testing [Dash]. Right when I think about it, the skill activates. I rocket forward, It takes everything I have to not slam into every tree for the duration of the skill. The skill ends, and I've covered a vast amount of ground. Without me even noticing both the sky and trees have gotten darker. I slow down and start walking. If I was a cat, my hackles would be raised. A feeling of unease grows sharper, covering my entire body in a bulky blanket of worry. The forest gets darker and darker, the trees seemingly eating the light.
I've entered some kind of new forest. The trees, both their leaves and bark, get darker and darker the more I go in. Suddenly the width of the trees sharply increases, their branches getting thicker and more numerous, and at a lower altitude. They thread together and blot out the sun, a thick weave of branches intertwined and towering above me.
Now, even my skills are telling me something is wrong. With every step the warnings grow louder, and after an indiscernible threshold, they start telling me to leave, Screaming at me to leave. Shivers go down my neck, [Tracing] starts shaking, the skill itself afraid, and it stops working, the tracing signals crack, and all at once, my passive skills go silent.
The feeling of wrongness continues on an infinite crescendo, daggers slam into my back as I fight for an excuse to carry on. Every step my bones rattle, and eventually, completely ensconced in shadow, I think; what am I doing? Why am I here? Why did I do this?
<<[
<...>
<<[
I felt a chill down my neck, flood gates open as my emotions strain my mind. I feel a chill down my neck. No. I feel breath.
I'm not sure why I did it. Or why I felt compelled to. A gift from the gods or sheer dumb luck, but suddenly, for no particular reason, I activated dash, stride, and used every ounce of strength and speed in a single instance. I burst forward, and I turned. I shouldn't have. I had no choice, I just had to see, but to this day, I wish I didn't.
A monster, not an animal, or a creature, a true, flesh and blood, monster. A wolf the size of a 2 story house. Vanta black, covered in wisps of shadow. 7 red glowing eyes stare at me. Its claws, covered in.. blood?
< HP: 25/2000 >
Ah, so that's it. It attacked me.
<[Sense of Self] Experience threshold Reached. Lv2 -> Lv5 | +5 sense>
I don't snap out of it. My mind is a mess of emotion, emotion long suppressed since the dawn of my arrival here. But suddenly, my ability to shove them back increases. Upon a closer look, the wolf has 8 legs, and horns coming out of every inch of its body. It snarls at me, jaw split in half, like a three pointed star. I run for my life.
I put every fiber of my being into running.
< Dash cooldown: 2:03 >
It hasn't even moved, it watches me in the dark as I run. The slightest twitch of its paw and it blurs and teleports 2 inches away from me. As it reaches out with another lazy 6 clawed paw to rend my life away, I [Leap] into one of the massive trees. I was about to look at it when a skill warned me against it, and I felt the air vibrate with power.
I duck behind the tree, covering my eyes with my hands as I weep from fear. The warning increases, I look around and see the thick tree disintegrating before my eyes. A few hundred feet before I reach light.
< Dash cooldown: Ready >
I [Dash] and run from tree branch to tree branch, the wolf trotting along, idly following me on the ground. Just a few seconds away from the entrance to this dark forest, and the monster blinks behind me once again. Instead of a claw strike, it opens its 2 jawed mouth, and I feel that air vibration. Warnings go off around me, as I swing on a branch, placing my feet on it with my head facing the ground. I spring off, and hear what I can only call a railgun firing behind me. I slam into the ground, adrenaline negating any pain, and losing the hp I had just regenerated, I begin rushing to the sunlight.
I twisted around and saw what had happened to the cluster of branches I was leaping across. They were gone, everything in a cone shape from the monster's mouth was completely obliterated. And it watched me, eyes full of malice, or content, I didn’t know. I ran and I ran, until I crossed that invisible threshold, and light swam across my face. I escaped to my boat, and left as fast as I could back to base. Time blurred, night came. I was back home.
I collapsed, and I wept.
I want to go home.
Class - Survivor | lv 10/25 586/1000 xp *
Race - Other World Human m
Achievements- Pending(x4)
Name - Maximilian Condition- Fear (Major) | Panic (Major) | Stress (Major) | Curse of Soul Fray | Bleeding x3
Hp- 170/2000 (1/2)
SkP- 0 Stp- 0 Souls- 24 7 0
Special Skills -
Sense of Self || lv5/10
Skills - Stats -
Simple Crafting || lv3/10
Multishot || lv2/10
Tracing || lv1/10
Dismantling | lv2/5
Grinding || lv1/10
Poison Det | lv2/5
Poison App | lv3/5
Aim | lv4/5
Deft | lv3/5
Stride | lv1/5
Dash | lv1/5
Leap | lv1/5
Stats -
Strength 20
Speed 15
Stamina 17
Dexterity 26 (+11)
Intellect 25
Sense 25 (+10)
Vitality 10 (1/2)
Charm 8 {Locked}
Class Skills-
Desperate Endurance | lv1
Emplacement | lv1
Modularity-
Nervous 125% | Immune 125% | Integumentary 125% | Muscular 150% | Skeletal 150%
< Repressed Notifications: >
<[Tracing] Experience threshold Reached. Lv1 -> Lv2>
<[Stride] Experience threshold Reached. Lv1 -> Lv3>
<[Dash] Experience threshold Reached. Lv1 -> Lv2>
< Acquired skill: [Pain Resistance] >