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Name: Ashton Hunt
Job: Not obtained yet
Race: Low Goblin
Level: 4
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Attributes:
- Strength - 11
- Dexterity - 13
- Constitution - 11
- Speed - 15
- Intelligence - 17
- Awareness - 16
- Fortune - 8
Unspent Points: 9
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Happy to see that no surprises had occurred, he looked at the other screen that was showing.
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Quest Completed: First Night
Reward: Common
3 Free Skill Points Given
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A small amount of fulfill washed over him for completing the quest. He noticed that his total free points was 9 which must have included the quest rewards. Since he got 2 per level up and 3 from the quest.
He started debating where to put his free points. The obvious choices were Strength or Dexterity or maybe even Speed, but Ashton wasn’t set on them. Due to the bones being pointy, strength wasn’t really necessary at the moment. Dexterity wasn’t really clear what it did but it seemed as though it had something to do with aiming and fine motor movements. He wasn’t too concerned with being faster so Speed didn’t seem like a good option. He analyzed the list over and over trying to decide but one stuck out to him the most. Fortune.
In his past life he didn’t feel as though he was lucky. Actually he felt the opposite, he felt he had to work for everything he had in life. He knew it was a risk, he knew the safer options were the obvious ones. But his mind thought about this new world, he thought about the quest, he thought about how there was something controlling this world, he thought about maybe, just maybe, fortune could be his way of making the world work for him.
Set on it, the 9 free points went into fortune.
Standing up he opened his inventory, he went to sleep with a body of a rabbit in it. So he just wondered if it would still be there or if it would be rotten.
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Inventory
- Bones (Common) x8
- Rabbit Carcass
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The rabbit body appeared in his hands, it still looked fresh, as if he had just killed it. He put it back in his inventory. But the question came up, what was the inventory, was it like a temporal pocket where time didn’t pass? Since he wasn’t going to get an answer he moved on.
He knew to get stronger he was going to need to go hunting again, but a sudden thought halted him, how he was so calm about killing things? In his past life he had not killed anything, besides bugs and the like. Was it because he was now a monster? Were his human emotions flowing away or more terrifying, was he always this cold? The thought scared him so decided not to concern himself with it. So this time without another delay he went out on his excursion.
There was a natural path that he followed, he marked the dirt with an X using his slingshot. His directional skills were good but due to his lack of experience in a forest he did not want to risk it. As he journeyed he paid less attention to the plants and more to the sounds. Previously he was focused on his Herbivore Knowledge skill, he was still on guard about predators like the bear but he was just wanting to learn and absorb all he could. But this time he kept his eyes open and more importantly his ears aware.
The first new creature he spotted was a gray bird, it honestly reminded him of a pigeon, but it had short brown horns. It was about 15 feet up on a tree branch. He snuck up so he was positioned behind the bird so hopefully the bird did not run away from him. The slingshot got pulled back and released as a bone shot through the air, the bird must have heard the slingshot but Ashton’s strength surprised him. The bird lifted off but due to his new strength the bone flew much straighter and hit the bird right in the gut making it fall to the ground.
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Creature Defeated: Gray Horned-Dove - Level 3
Absorption Activated:
Absorbable Skills:
- Startled Flight (Dexterity 2)
- Calm Presence (Constitution 2)
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“I got two options this time?” He thought. Every other time he defeated something he got one option of a skill they had. It wasn’t because they only had one skill because the rabbits had at least three different skills. Each one may have only had one skill and he just got lucky but he thought it was unlikely. In any case, his current options did not really feel useful. He focused on the first skill, Startled Flight, like he had on his list of skills hoping for a description but to no avail. With no hope he tried the second one but it was the same result. Startled Flight seemed like another dodge skill but did not want it to interfere with his other skill Quick Reflexes, so he did not take it. Calm Presence could have multiple different capabilities, some good some bad, but if he took it at face value the skill did not seem worth it. If the name was straight forward it would calm him down in stressful times, but Ashton did not need help with that, all he had to do was adapt to whatever situation he was in. So with that dealt with he moved on.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Looking and more importantly listening to his surroundings nothing was brought to his attention. So he went to continue his journey but stopped to draw another X into the dirt. But this time he looked down at his slingshot, there was a new crack near the area where his hand was meant to be. As he concentrated on it a screen appeared.
Primitive Slingshot
Quality: Poor (Damaged)
His slingshot was damaged? It was the only thing that really gave him any protection, let alone the only thing that had given him a path to reach his goal to conquer all. He did not know what to do. Was there a way to fix it or hold it in place? All he knew is if he did nothing it would not last more than a few shots.
Slowly moving forward, he tried to remain in a straight path to not get lost. Though the cave was not the best shelter it at least was better than being out in the open.
Sounds of the forest held his attention, mostly the birds singing after he realized he could absorb their skills, but they all seemed out of his way and he did not want to risk getting lost. The wind blows through the trees, through the bushes, making the trees brush up against one another. Yet the wind made a new sound just a little to the right off the path. Marking his spot he moved towards the sound realizing it was the sound of the wind blowing on cloth, as he saw a tent set up with an extinguished fire. The wood was cold, whoever had been here must have been long gone by now. Though whoever it was would most likely return to collect their tent. So he began quickly rushing over and grabbing what he thought was useful. He put his hand on the tent and tried to put it in his inventory but it did not work so since it was a basic pitched tent he just broke it down and folded the cloth. Finally it disappeared, without looking at his inventory he rolled up the two small fur pelts on the ground and they also disappeared. The last thing remaining was a bag or a more specific term would be a knapsack, he opened it. Inside was a few sticks, rocks, a few berries, and a piece of paper.
The first thing he inspected was the paper, as it was the first he had seen since coming to this world. Setting the bag on the ground he held the paper on both ends to see it clearly.
Common Personal Auto-Map
After reading the screen his eyes quickly darted over to the paper. There was a small green icon, unfortunate color due to it presumably being him as everything else on the map was green. Maybe then he would not need to mark where he was going. He put it in his inventory and kept looking through the bag. The sticks and rocks seemed to not be special in any way so he stashed the rocks back but threw away the sticks. The berries made his Herbivore Knowledge go off in an odd way though did not seem dangerous to touch. So he picked them up and put them in his inventory. He opened it up to see what all he had.
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Inventory
- Bones (Common) x7
- Rabbit Carcass
- Basic White Cloth
- Mossglow Wolf Pelt x2
- Common Personal Auto-Map
- Hollowsong Berries x12
- Mossplum Berries x40
- Amberdrop Berries x10
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Putting the knapsack around him he hustled back to his path. Pulling out the map he realized it had only marked where the camp was and now where he was now. Did it have to be on his physical person? Not to risk it he put it in the bag and kept walking along his straight path. After about 5 minutes he checked again and it turned out he was correct as it charted his whole path. It was not too helpful as the area was heavily dominated by trees so he could only see a few gaps.
A white lanky furry creature (Paleheart Weasel) came into view. It was moving but then stopped once it was in the open. The animal looked at Ashton, it had black eyes but seemed more hollow than normal black eyes. He could not explain why, they just seemed off. Preparing to take the shot at the animal, it seemed to notice the threat and scurried away. Too fast for him to aim and track, he gave up as it escaped.
During his expedition he found more than a few berries, consuming some and putting most into his inventory and had determined which ones were safe and which ones were dangerous. Those berries that were safe in his area were the Whisperberries, Mossplum, and Amberdrop berries. Based on his inventory, he had 103, 54, and 18 respectively. Whisperberries were a pale white with silvery sparkles and had only started to find them recently in his travels but they were plentiful. Mossplum berries were closer to his cave and had not been found since the whisperberries appeared, but they are a dark blue with specks of green. Amberdrop berries have an orange translucent outer film with a golden visible interior, they were much rarer than the other berries and each bush was much smaller. There were other berries that he had found but each one triggered his Herbivore Knowledge skill in either an odd or bad way so he decided not to risk it.
The white creature must’ve made too much noise as Ashton had not made much noise but since then he had not seen or heard any rustling. Though the surroundings started to slowly shift from there, not every leaf but some leaves were a pale white. It was strange enough just for him to notice, he didn’t contemplate it nor did it slow him down any, just saw them and kept moving. When it really puzzled him was when the bark started to become white the further he travelled, when those trees started to appear the leaves on the trees had become mostly all white. Not a snow white, but a pale white, he had seen this color before somewhere. The more he thought about it he knew he had seen it recently, as in since he had been in this world. These trees made him stop moving and made him think about what was causing this. His eyes looked through the trees and followed the tree all the way to the base trying to notice a pattern, but when his eyes met the ground he finally noticed that even the grass was the white, not everywhere but a similar frequency as the bark. Curious to find out what was going on and causing this sudden whiteness he wanted to move forward but knew that it would be dangerous. He decided to turn back and head to his shelter and come back once he had gotten stronger but as soon as he turned around.
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Quest Initiated: The Pallid Blight
Objective: Establish visual confirmation of advanced forest degradation.
Duration: 2 hours
Reward: Common
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Eyes wide, mouth ajar, Ashton stood stunned looking at the screen. Did the system want him to be in danger? When he was given his first quest he thought the system wanted to aid him in being safe, but with the quest to defeat the bear and this quest he was not sure anymore. Would defeating the bear make him stronger, yes, but at his current state he wouldn’t stand a chance, and who knew what was causing the spread of the white but it could not be good, right? After a few minutes he made his decision, he would continue on his path, if the system wanted him to be in danger then why would they have summoned him into this world in the first place? So after drawing another X he moved on. Soon enough the bark had become mostly pale and the dirt had started to turn more pale from the original brown. As he got closer to what he thought was the source he slowed down as he became nervous and on edge. Even the sound of an animal eating nearby initially made him jump internally. He got a bone ready into his slingshot while continuing to look at where the sound came from, where there was a tree blocking his view from the animal. Walking up, he pulled the slingshot back, then he aimed and peaked at the animal at the same time. It was a rabbit, but for a split second it appeared as a skeleton, no skin, muscles, or organs, just bones. Anxiety shot through Ashton’s body at the sight causing him to release the bone. Due to panic that made him shot he forgot to control his newly found strength.
It successfully launched the projectile but sharp pain instantly flared up on his wrist. He watched as the once “Y” shaped wood shattered into three pieces originating at the crack he saw earlier.
The elastic band, now torn but still in one piece connecting two of the pieces of wood.
The bone still flew through the air striking the rabbit. When he finally opened his eyes after blinking from seeing the skeleton rabbit, all he saw was a white colored rabbit with a bone protruding from the top of its front leg. It only lived for a moment longer as the bone must have pierced through its heart. When the screen appeared it just left more questions.
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Creature Defeated: Forest Rabbit - Level 5
Absorption Activated:
Absorbable Skills:
- High Jump - Increases jump height (Dexterity 2).
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This was the same kind of rabbit from before. Even the animals had become pale but what was up with the skeleton rabbit he saw. He knew it was not a hallucination, what he was was real, he just could not rationalize it. That’s when it finally clicked for him, the familiar color that he was trying to remember, he was looking at it. It was the color of bone. Everything was becoming the color of bone, things that did not have bones were becoming reminiscent of bone or were maybe even becoming bone. Who knew what this new world could do.
Ashton looked down at his hand which ones had a slingshot. There was a brown mark on his wrist from the elastic whipping him as the slingshot was breaking apart, causing him to drop the wood that originally was the handle. On the ground lay 3 major pieces of wood and tons of fragments of wood on the ground.
With the destruction of his slingshot his main sense of protection vanished. Paranoia started setting in and the sense of vulnerability began creeping up. He thought about the quest, the main thing driving him forward. Looking around, the trees were almost fully pale and he knew he was so close to completing the quest. Digging deep pushing the paranoia and vulnerability down he decided to push further for at least a few more minutes. If worst came to worst he could sprint away with his new speed, even though he did not know how fast he could run now.
Gazing up from the remnants of his slingshot ahead at the path he was traveling. His intuition told him there was something along the path. So he took the next step closer to the Pallid Blight.