Chapter 2: Chapter 2 - Of Course, it Has To Be a Forest
When my eyes shot open for the second time, I had to close them as the light blinded me. I hissed and quickly raised a hand to what I assumed was sunlight. I felt pretty good and got to my feet blinking the spots away before looking around.
"Of course, she dropped me in a forest," I muttered. It was damn good I had picked hunting, foraging, and general crafting. I had guessed this would happen.
Everything around me looked pretty normal. The grass was green, the trees were tall, and there was a slight wind that felt quite good on my face. After looking around, I began to inspect myself. I was wearing a plain white tunic and black pants, over which was a vest, and to my surprise, I had a brown cloak. But what ended up catching my eye for the longest was the sword belted at my hip. The rasp was loud and though the blade was basic, it felt good to wield. There was a nice weight to it, not to mention the fact I knew what to do with it. There were memories that hadn't bene there before and instincts. I swung and it wasnt clumsy but clean and smooth, precise if not elegant. It was like a soldier's swing.
The blade was a decent length, probably around 30 inches, so not a great sword or even a long sword, but something good nevertheless. I spent a few minutes just swinging it around, marveling at my skill with the blade. It felt so natural, and my confidence grew as I practiced. After that was done, came time to finally see what abilities I had gotten.
I didn't know how to open my status, but I could take a guess. I focused and there it was.
Name: Jericho Law
Titles: Interdimensional Traveller
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Age: 22
- Attributes -
Strength: 4
Endurance: 3
Constitution: 3
Dexterity: 5
Agility: 2
Intelligence: 7
Perception: 5
Sense: 2
Willpower: 3
Wisdom: 4
Luck: 3
- Skills -
Weaponry(Swords)(10)[Novice]
Persuasion(10)[Novice]
Hunting(2)
Foraging(2)
Crafting(General)(2)
- Abilities -
-----
Growth(?)[?]
Growth: ?
Time: 1 Week
Cooldown: 1 Day
Type: Active
-----
Boost(?)[?]
Boost: ?
Time: Varied
Cooldown: Varied
Type: Active
-----
Language Comprehension(60)[E]
Language Comprehension: The Ability to understand and comprehend languages.
Time: N/A
Cooldown: N/A
Type: Passive
-----
- Magic -
Magical Skills: None
Spell List: None
I frowned, disappointed and confused. What were my abilities? There was no description, just question marks, and as I tried to focus to see if I could gain any info, I was met with nothing. Panic began to rise, but I pushed it down. She hadn't said anything about this, but I hadn't asked, and maybe this was normal. But if I didn't know what they did, then how was I to know when to use them? Could I use them? I shook my head and felt like shouting at something or someone when a howl pierced the silence.
My blade was out in flash and before I could be shocked at the instinctual reaction now engrained in me, something burst into the small clearing I was in. A small creature skidded to a stop in front of me. It looked like a cross between a deer and a rabbit. The shape was deer but the color, fur, and face was that of a rabbit. It stared at me and its eyes showed clear fear.
I wasn't sure what to do, but a thought came to mind. I could do with some food so I didn't have to use my rations. I hadn't killed before, but how hard could it be to kill a deer rabbit, or whatever it was called? Although this thing was far cuter than either a deer or a rabbit, but a man's gotta eat.
My new instincts told me to lunge, but another part remembered the howl. If this thing was being chased then how far behind were the hunters? Did I want to mess with their hunt? In the end, it was decided for me, when a blur shot out and crashed on top of the odd deer. A wolf, larger than I'd ever seen online sunk its fangs into the deer's neck while its claws tore through skin and flesh.
I watched in shock and some horror as the deer died rather quickly. There was a crack and then the deer went limp, its cries dying down. That's when I realized that I was acting a fool and ended to do something. The wolf relaxed but immediately tensed as it started sniffing. It looked up and we locked eyes. I froze as for the first time I looked into the eyes of a true predator and felt honest to god fear. Adrenaline kicked in, but the wolf didn't growl or even howl. It just stared as it moved in front of the deer. Then it growled and a chill ran down my spine. It didn't move forward, and it didn't take me long to realize it wasn't going to attack.
It was defending its kill. I took a few steps back tentatively and its body relaxed a little, the growl dying down. "Good doggy, just gonna go now." I didn't turn until it was out of sight and I heard the sound of tearing meat. I let out a sigh and a shaky breath. That had been intense, but I was pleased with my reaction. There had been fear of course, but I hadn't screamed, panicked, or done something rash like run away. I had watched some documentaries about animals and so I knew to show yourself as prey to a predator was about the dumbest thing you could do.
My father would be proud. He had always said that emotion had nothing to do with being calm and that a person capable of calm through powerful emotions was a man capable of much. That one needed to be aware and think clearly even when ravaged by emotion which was one of the hardest things to do as emotion usually affects how you think. I wasn't anywhere near as good as him, but I could keep calm when others would freak out. Panic never helped, and fear was common if it was valid, and against a giant wolf, it was pretty normal.
I was not a warrior, yet.
Once I was a distance away, I decided to go through the small pack I had as I picked a direction and started walking. I was hoping to run across some people and then go from there. The pack held a purse with some silver and copper coins, a jug of water, and what looked like hard tack alongside some dried meat, cheese, and a few small squishy orbs that smelled like honey. I felt a bit empty so I pulled out some tack, and a small strip of meat, and ate as I walked.
As I did I puzzled over my abilities for some time as the day transitioned into midday. It seemed like I had woken up early in the morning just after sunrise which was good. The rations were bland, to say the least, but when I popped one of the orbs in my mouth it changed, turning into liquid honey, and filling my mouth with sweetness. I drank some water and for a while just took in the forest.
I wasn't an outdoor person mainly because there was nothing there for me, but this was different. The forest was full of life and all sorts of sounds could be heard. I heard bird cries, animal calls, rustling, and some more howls which was a bit worrying, but if the wolfs here acted like those back on earth, then I wouldn't be on the menu unless they were really hungry. Plus they sounded far behind me so maybe they were still feasting on the corpse of that deer. I ended up seeing two more odd animals. A squirrel with a very long monkey-like tail. It swung upside down and stared at me as I passed. I contemplated hunting it but decided against it. I didn't need to and the new information told me it would be hell if was just half as agile as it looked. I didn't have a stealth skill. Another was a bird that looked like a small pigeon. I watched as it pulled a grub from a hole in a tree. It ate the thing and then turned and noticed me, coking its head to the side before flying off.
Just as I was starting to get worried I might not find anything before night fell, I broke out of the trees and into a road. "Thank god." It was dirt, but there were tracks that showed it had been used very recently, hours ago. My hunting skill wasn't a tracking skill, but there were tracking aspects to hunting. I looked up both sides and then decided to flip a coin. There were tracks going both ways, though more did seem to be going in one direction. I decided I'd go that way, and began walking on the side of the road rather than the middle since I didn't know if a horse or carriage of whatever would come through. There certainly had been horse and cart tracks, not to mention what clearly had to be some sort of farm animal, like a cow or maybe a bison.
I smiled. I would not have been able to connect the dots to come up with these conclusions before. I knew plenty about animals due to my love of documentaries, but it was the hunting skill that put things in a different light.
It did not take long to find another person. There was a horse coming down and I raised a hand to stop. The man was dressed in leather armor and had a bow attached to his horse, and knives on his belt. His hand drifted ever so slightly into a position to reach them and no doubt fling them at me should I prove to be a bandit or something.
I hesitated before I spoke, but there was no need as knew what to say. The words that came out of my mouth were foreign yet familiar to me. "Hello, you mind helping with some directions?"
"Directions?" He raised an eyebrow. "You're on the road, just head past me to Winsby, or back down to Eras."
"I'm not from around here. Winsby is a town?"
He nodded and sized me up. He relaxed, clearly not seeing me as a threat. Not surprising since I wasn't muscular or particularly tall. I was 6ft and had no armor. "Your accent is… strange. Where do you hail from?"
"Not from a place you'd know of," I said. "But I'm traveling, and looking for a place to stay."
"Well, you'll find an inn in Winsby," he said. "If you're looking for a cheap bed to lay on, head to Stoll's Swing, but if you've got the coin head to Karra's Kingdom, got everything you could need."
"Thank you."
He nodded and was off down the road. I smiled, glad that hadn't turned nasty. He had looked dangerous, and the causal confidence not to mention stillness had been unnerving. If Angelica was right these people would be more dangerous than the average human. With skills and abilities, I had to watch out and not cause trouble. I wasn't prepared to deal with anything like that yet.
With a promise to keep my head down and to myself, I headed toward the town of Winsby.
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