Chapter 8

  Wes had decided to gamble his life. He was not a person who loved to put his life in the hands of chance. He just felt that there was no other option. He did not think that he was equipped to handle those big bipedal monsters. They were fast and strong. They moved with grace, and he suspected that they could coordinate after seeing two of them not attack each other over the meal that the first had killed.

  Not knowing their exact level of intelligence was another thing that increased the probability of his dying in the forest. The unknown of what else may be in the forest also weighed heavily on his reasoning.

  Earlie,r when the first giant creature brought its fist down on that four-legged creature, the sound was deafening. But it was from the crunch of all the bones its fist connected with. It was not the loud booms he heard while on top of the mountain. Something else must be out there still that he had not seen.

  Asking to traverse thousands of trees on the outskirts while it was dark was stupid. He would die in short order after stumbling over a branch or his foot falling on some twig or leaf that made too much noise.

  All that led to his thinking that skirting the water line was the best option. But that too had its problems. It exposed him like it did the furry creature. He was also betting on there being no creatures themselves in the water. The furry creature must have bled quite a bit into the water. At the very least they were not common if they were there.

  Perhaps the stupidest part of his gamble was that if he was charged by one of those humanoid creatures he would jump into the water. The stupid part was that he could not swim. Didn’t even know how to tread water. Of course, he mocked how it was done and read up on it with his teacher,s but he never actually had his body submerged in water. The liquid was just too damn scarce back home for them to waste it.

  With his course of action decided, he skirted the water as low as he could. He kept his back directly to the water, paying no mind to what may lie in there. He scanned the tree line with every step. He could propel himself off into the water at a moment's notice. The channel of water was at least twenty feet wide, so he had hoped it would be at least half as deep. The only real thing he could not account for with this plan, besides knowing for certain that nothing was in there, was that if there were stones just under the water's surface. Hitting one or two of them while jumping backwards would seriously compromise those first few moments in the water.

  Wes trudged along the water's edge. After 10 minutes ticking off the timer, he realized he had a new problem. The treeline offered death; that was a sure thing. What it did not offer after just ten minutes was excitement. In those 10 minutes, his mind started to wander. He knew that if he did not remain focused on the task at hand, he would miss one of those bipedal creatures, but after a time, all those trees started to look the same.

  The minutes of holding his attention stacked up on him. He started his plan at 169:44:00. He looked at what his status read now.

  167:49:31

  Him not having to bypass trees made him make great time back to where he witnessed the kill.. The blood from the animal was dried. On the black surface, it would have been hard to spot if not for the little crater that it collected in. Nothing remained besides the blood. He wanted to look behind himself to check if anything had collected on the water's edge, but changing his focus to behind him would be suicidal right now. He did not see any movement at all.

  Going through the death zone made his heart rate quicken again for a time. But after he left that area far behind, it settled back down again.

  166:24:26

  Over an hour had passed since he passed when he saw the humanoid kill the furry creature. In the time that had passed, he did not see any movement in the treeline aside from the leaves moving with the breeze. He began racking his brain at what he was missing, but could not figure out what it could be. He expected to be soaking wet and drowning by now. But here he was, dry and moving at a good pace. He estimated that he had to be well over a tenth of the way.

  Another 3 hours came and went as he continued his journey to the sea. He had gotten pretty good at keeping his focus. Spotting the movement of leaves in his peripheral vision became easy for him. He could allow his mind to wander for a few moments at a time while searching for movement. Taking inventory of the light, he knew that it would be pitch black in less time than he thought. The light source was heading toward the opposite side of the mountain. Before long, this side would be black. With the clouds, he would not be able to see anything. Wes estimated he had another six to eight hours. With him being a little under halfway to the sea, he decided to risk it. He left his crouch and began walking sideways. His muscles and back screamed in ecstasy at being able to stretch out. He had been fighting cramping for the past 3 hours.

  Expecting to be rushed as soon as he exited his crouched position, he kept his eyes on as much of the treeline as possible. When nothing came, he increased his pace to his right. Going into a sideways job. He increased his distance from the water's edge so he wouldn’t accidentally fall in.

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  Wes would change his sideways jog to a walk whenever he got tired. He had grown exhausted after having his attention maxed on the treeline and pushing his body to walk in a manner he had never asked. Both of his hips were hurting, and his left knee felt weak. In fact most of his lower left side hurt a fair bit worse than his right. He had, after all, been pushing his body off to the right for hours.

  162:14:50

  The sky around him had grown black. With the last wisps of light fighting through the clouds, he could still make out movement, but that was growing more and more difficult. Since he had changed his speed, he had lost where he was on his internal map. He hoped he was in the last third, but since he lost the mountain in his peripheral vision, he could not estimate with any accuracy. He could smell the sea again, but he didn’t remember how far he was last time when he smelled it.

  Two hours later, after the last of the light retreated past the mountain, all that was left were clouds with a hazy glow. The light that hit the ground was no more than a candle in a dark room. He could make out less and less of the treeline without moving his head slightly side to side. He began to convince himself that he could see movement in his peripheral vision opposite the side he was shifting his head toward.

  So when the edge of the forest entered his peripheral he could not help but be excited. His journey was almost over.

  160:19:55

  As the tree line's intersection met in a corner in front of him, he knew he had cleared the tree line, so he angled his movement to keep it in his view. While retreating backwards, he felt the soft ground below him, and he knew the home stretch was upon him. His excitement allowed a smile to break his cheeks.

  When the status screen popped in front of his face, he felt himself losing consciousness. He heard thumping on the ground in front of him before a bright light flashed all around him.

  ***

  Coren and Rocen had been watching over Wes the entire time. They had watched as he turned away from accepting his awards on the uninhabited side. He was cautious, but that was to be expected for someone who had not awakened on the path.

  Rocen grew bored of babysitting duty and tried convincing Coren of killing the young man in an ‘accident’, but Rocen would have none of it. Their honorable uncle had given them both a duty. A duty he would see through. His uncle had shepherded their growth after hundreds of years of stagnation.

  When the young man walked away after turning down his awakening, Rocen lost it. He wanted to leave and start the real training. The boy, however, decided to reach for the impossible. Coren knew that he could always return if he was short on time, so he stayed Rocen’s hand.

  ***

  Wes woke up in a lot of pain. His mouth was dry after not taking any water while heading to the sea. For a moment, he thought he was in a cave because he could not see anything. His own hand in front of his face offered no visual cue. He sat up, wincing at the stabbing pain in his left hip. With his inhale after wincing, he tasted something terrible on his tongue. His nose was the next to register a terrible smell. With not being able to see around him, he shrugged his shoulders. I never thought about it before, but does my status produce any light? Or is it something only I can see?

  He hesitated for only a moment before his curiosity got the best of him. He opened it. He checked outside the status and found that he still could not see the ground or even his body. How the hell do these work? It’s so damn bright.

  He had been wincing to allow his eyes to adjust, but this did nothing. His eyes still saw a blazing blue box.

  Congratulations

  You have cleared your first quest in below-average time. You have chosen that which is hard after dipping your toe in the easy. You choose to walk among giants and make the inhabited serve at your leisure. Do you wish to claim your rewards?

  Yes/No

  Wes closed his eyes and breathed deeply. He was going to be awakened. His dream as a child was now a reality. He opened his eyes and hit Yes.

  Reward: BECOME ONE IN A CENTILLION SENTIENTS. IMPOSSIBLE NOW ONLY IMPROBABLE.

  (Health, Stamina, Mana, Strength, Dexterity will replace EXPERIENCE.)

  Health, Mana, Stamina will be drawn from EXP

  Morality is ever-shifting. Bear the weight of your deeds.

  Nothing is Free. That which cannot be bought shall be paid.

  A level wagered is a power earned.

  Reward: A DEGENERATE’S FATE IS CHANCE

  A wager here or there can be one’s savior.

  Reward: SAVE OR DIE

  Save that which was earned.

  Achievement(s): Bloody Soul, Pragmatic Savant

  Wes took in his changed status screen for the first time.

  Name: Wesley of 29744C

  Race: Human

  Age: 27

  Unique abilities: Imperial over Metric, Back in My Day

  Abilities: Deposit

  Skills: N/A

  Achievement(s): Bloody Soul, Pragmatic Savant

  Trait(s): 3

  Current Status: Blessed

  Level 1

  Savings: 2,483,255

  Next Level: 207.36

  Level 1 Exp Per Sec: .0024

  Current Exp: .148

  Wes sat while taking in all the changes to his status screen. This would take some getting used to. He sat back and closed his status screen. Right when it closed it another one opened. This screen, even more confusing than the last. An ability store. And what the hell is a slot machine? Fuck you, status gods. Just give me something normal.