A huge, massive, immense deer that could easily eat me in one chomp stands before me. Or, if it so desired, it could probably just crush me instead. Its hooves eclipse me. Comparatively, its antlers are about the size of trees to me. And its nose is right in front of me. Sniffing my chest, probably wondering if I’m any tasty.

I never considered myself the kind of man capable of being eaten by a deer, but here I stand, facing an enemy that doesn’t even experience conscious thought.

It blinks at me and leans in closer.

At this moment, I make a decision. My options are three: fight, flight, or freeze. I choose the former option and try to throw myself at the exposed nose of the deer. Surprised, it backs off slightly, allowing me to faceplant the mossy ground again. It sniffs my exposed back and I try to regain my stance but fumble and fall several times more.

Alright, that’s it, no longer can I embarrass myself in front of wildlife!

It presses its nose into my chest again and I take the moment to leap onto its snout and scratch it on the nose several times.

Logically, I know this is stupid. Do deer even eat moss? Probably not, so if I just laid down I’d be golden. Running is out of the question since I can barely walk, but actively attacking just for the sake of revenge is a new record for me.

Startled, the deer draws back, shaking its head violently enough for me to fly off a few paces off. Apparently happy with this encounter, the deer trudges off.

Okay. Alright. We survived. Great. I think? I feel a bit dishevelled but otherwise fine.

Mossling(F-) Lv 1/10 Stage: Kid Health: 2/4 State: Shaken

...Eager, aren’t you?

Falling a meter or so was enough to shave off half of my HP, is that it? Very well. Now that I take a gander at myself, I do look pretty tattered. Around a third of my mossy body has been torn off, now lying a few paces off. It wasn’t all that painful to lose it, but it does give me a newfound appreciation for the sensation of pain. I’m halfway to death and I feel nothing.

Nothing except for seething rage at that damn deer, of course. How come a normal-ass herbivore jackass is ranked D while a supernatural entity like myself is the bottom of the batch? It’s entirely unfair. If I still had a human body, there’s no doubt in my mind that I could strangle that damn thing bare-handed!

Ah, but, for now, I should probably focus on regaining my health. One more deer encounter and I’m dead.

I’ve always felt a bit apathetic regarding death, but strangely, I don’t feel all too interested in just lying down and dying. Not without dragging that damn deer down with me, at least.

The question here being how in the world I might regain my health. If I was a human, I’d definitely lie down, drink some soup and read a book, but what would moss do?

I glance up at the treetops. The sky is still blue.

Racial Skill Photosynthesis: recover health and stamina through photosynthesis.

…Right. Of course.

Understanding what it’s trying to tell me, I carefully wander over to a sunny little spot on the ground where I lie down. If I just lie straight down, I don’t look like anything strange. Just a normal patch of moss, here. No deer or otherwise malicious creatures allowed.

Technically speaking, I don’t actually doze off. But I’m not exactly awake, either.

When I come back to, the sky has grown a golden orange high above the trees, and my health looks alright. All the lost patches are regrown. But there’s one new thing here.

There’s a little mushroom growing on my left leg.

What in the world?

Mossling(F-) Lv 1/10 Stage: Kid Health: 4/4 State: Mycorrhiza(Lesser)

That’s… New.

Bending my knee slightly, I bring up the tiny mushroom to my face. Yeah. It’s a mushroom. It’s growing straight out of my leg and it is a light brown in colour. It isn’t painful, but then again, nothing really is. Just looking at it, I would expect it to be a hindrance of some sort, but the status effect says differently.

Mycorrhiza. A symbiotic relationship between a fungus and a plant. This would suggest that even though it looks like an unwanted hitchhiker at best, it must have some sort of use.

Plain Cap(E): Small mushroom that grows on dead branches.

Right. Useless, as usual, although this does tell me that this little thing is somehow higher ranked than me. Whoever created these rankings deserves a smack in the face.

Anyhow, I guess I’ll steer clear of removing it just yet before I know what it does.

Right now, I have a more important goal in mind. Namely, getting out of these damn woods. My reason is simple: I don’t want to die. Not like this, not in this place. Not to the jaws of some stupid mindless animal.

With a heave and a ho, I hop to my feet. And I don’t stumble. Strangely enough, I feel pretty stable. As a matter of fact, my legs feel much more nimble now. Is it because of the regained health or is it the mushroom? I can’t really tell, but considering how stale I felt earlier, I’ll assume it’s the mushroom.

Very well then. I suppose you’ll be tolerable to some degree, Cap. I can’t tell as of yet what you take from me, but it doesn’t seem to be all that much.

Alright. Let’s get going.

Typically, when you’re lost, the general advice would be to stay still. Hug a tree. Wait for someone to find you. The problem here is that nobody’s looking for me. No way, no how. The only creature I can imagine holding any sort of interest in my whereabouts would be my pets, or possibly my boss. The image of Mr Ruxum putting on a pair of boots and trudging out into some Swedish forest is amusing, but also completely nonsensical.

I have to save myself. As simple as that.

With that in mind, I start walking.

With legs shorter than matchsticks, it’s only to be expected that I’m not fast. That’s Dexterity 2 for you: 2 feet per hour. Fantastic. At least I haven’t fallen over again since Cap took hold of my leg, so I’ve got that going for me. This in itself is pretty surprising, since the only ground I have to walk on is made up of snaring moss that goes halfway up my legs, forcing me to take comically massive steps.

With rocks the size of houses meeting me at every turn, there’s little I can do except to take long, winding detours just to keep my path somewhat straight. Even then, I’ve got the sneaking suspicion that I’m walking in circles.

Not that I get all that far. The forest is absolutely massive, and just getting from one tree to another can easily take me minutes even though I’m sure the distance is less than a few feet.