Lying on his belly in a space where he could barely move, Nate tried to make a plan for his escape from the beast that was waiting outside to kill him. Nate had killed its cub. The beast was understandably mad.

"Maybe there is another way out of this crack," Nate thought to himself as he started scooting along inside the crack to investigate. As long as he maintained about five feet from the opening, he felt that he was safe moving around.

After a few hours of painfully flopping his way around the space, Nate hadn't found another way out.He did find the limits of his hiding space though. The height of the space wasn't much, but the split in the rock went on for over 60 feet along the wall. The depth was at least 50 feet. Once Nate got about 40 feet in then space became too narrow for him to move further.

Although he hadn’t managed to find an escape route, Nate did manage to find something that brightened his sprit slightly. He found an area inside the large split in the rock that actually allowed him to move a bit more. The slightly wider portion of his hiding space still wasn't tall enough for him to sit up. But the additional range of motion it provided allowed him to better check his wounds and care for himself.

After spending some time seriously checking himself over, Nate ate another one of the rations from his pack. The greasy cake tasted alright and the fuel it provided his body made him feel better physically. His health had even increased by 20 after the meal.

[Health: 41/130]

However, his wounds were still pretty bad. Most of the surface injuries could be healed in a week’s time, but some of the other injuries would take more. The other wounds to his back and neck would slow him down but they weren’t his major concern. The spear wound in his leg was the most detrimental to a potential escape.

Thinking through his provisions, Nate figured that he could stay tucked away in this hideaway for about two weeks if he rationed out the food. It wouldn't be his first time stretching food to survive. Two weeks would give him a good amount of time to heal minor injuries. But he wasn’t sure if that would be enough. His leg should see some improvement, but Nate guessed that it would probably take him at least a month to heal. He would try to stretch out his stay as long as possible to heal, then maybe he could get away.

Doubt plagued his mind though. When he was honest with himself, he thought that he would die in this cavern. Either by starving to death or at the claws of the beast.

Being stuck in his predicament, Nate was frustrated with his lack of strength.

He couldn't test any of his new skills. He couldn't stretch to work out the stiffness of his injuries. He couldn't even try to sleep. Hell, he had no idea what time of day it was.

In a sliver of space between massive amounts of rock, Nate just laid on his back in the dark. He spent some time thinking about the things he wanted to do if he got out of this mess.

***************

Nate had spent the last couple of hours looking out over cavern from the safety of his niche. With time on his hands, the only thing he could really think to do was try to level his [Dark Vision] skill. He had managed to gain a few levels in a short amount of time by focusing on the limits of his vision. He could now see around fifteen feet clearly. If he focused on the hazy area just past fifteen feet, then he gained skill experience. He also gained a headache, but that was a small price to pay for potential survival.

[‘Dark Vision’ has increased to Level 29]

Another level. Nate was glad he could level the skill fairly easily. If he was going to try outrunning the beast, then his chances improved the more he could see in the dark. Thinking of the beast, he started to wonder what the animal was doing. He had heard the beast move around a few times throughout the course of his skill training, but he had never seen the animal. The beast could have left and he wouldn’t have known. I need to get my [Dark Vision] skill as high as possible.

Nate stressed thinking about the times ahead, but a flicker in the distance of the cavern caught his attention. What's that? The flicker turned into a glow and soon the shadows of two human figures could be seen. The light of torches began to illuminate the cavern at the same time whispered voices could be heard bouncing off the walls of the cavern. They must have come looking for me. Nate's heartbeat started to quicken.

"The blood keeps going," one of the men said. The voices echoing into the cavern seemed to amplify the words.

"It looks like a beast's lair. Told you he got killed by a beast," the other man said as he moved closer.

"There must have been a fight. I see two dead beasts but I don't see the kid," the larger of the two men said.

Two dead beasts? Nate's eyes went around the cavern. The added light of the torch gave his ability to see a much-needed boost. He could see the dead beast cub lying on the floor about 50 feet away. One dead beast. Nate looked around some more. At the other end of the cavern, a black beast was curled up in a ball. It looked dead.

But Nate knew otherwise.

It's playing dead again. The large cat must have a skill that lets it play dead. He was surprised but Nate didn't have time to think about it anymore.

"Go get the beast cores while I look for that little shit's body," one of the men said as he waved his torch in the air trying to illuminate more of the cavern.

That's a bad idea. Nate knew that this plan wasn't going to work out well for the two men. The beast was probably going to kill them.

Nate was running through possibilities in his mind while one of the men was approaching the living beast. If I had weapons, then I could try to fight. But I don't have anything.

Nate used the opportunity the torchlight provided to take in as much information as he could. His eyes couldn't find the bone dagger amongst the other scattered bones on the ground. Still no weapon.

With no tool to fight, Nate knew that his only opportunity was to run. The beast would be distracted for a moment with the two men. He had a chance. The exit must be where the flickering light started.

"Hey, do you see the kid? We need his head if we want to get the bounty from the Elder," the man closest to the beast yelled back. He was only about fifteen feet away from the beast now.

Nate began shifting himself for action. He scooted to the edge of the crack. He knew the way out and he was about to have a distraction. Now was the time to run.

Even with his leg injury, Nate had a feeling that the event that was about to unfold was the best chance that he was going to have. He pulled up his stat menu and put all his remaining available stats into Speed.

Nate let out a groan as he felt a tremor run through every muscle in his body. It actually felt really good. Almost comparable to a night in a bed with Sky.

"Hey, I see him hiding over there. He's still alive," the man searching around yelled from the other side of the cavern.

Shit. Nate cursed as the last groan escaped his mouth. His muscles felt full of power. He looked across the cavern just as the man nearest to the beast turned to look at him.

Then, the beast attacked.

Nate watched as the large black beast lunged forward and bit down on the back of the man's shoulder. This wasn't the grab and catch that it had done to Nate.

The man screamed as the beast thrashed him around in the fury.

Even though the beast had quickly launched an attack, Nate hadn't wasted a moment. The second he had seen the beast move, he jumped out of the wall and started running towards the cavern's exit. He had a clear path forward since the other Purpleheart man was on the other side of the cavern. No one was blocking the way.

Nate ran.

[‘Calm Survivor’ class effects are active. All Stats are doubled. All experience earned is doubled.]

To his surprise, Nate felt himself move faster even with his leg injury. The boost of his ‘Calm Survivor’ coupled with his stat increase and new skill was exceptional. His leg pain had almost vanished in an instant. He had never moved so quickly before.

With his companion in the midst of getting ripped apart by the beast, the Purpleheart tribesman just stood in the distance as Nate sped out of the cavern. He hadn’t even had a chance to react to the sudden turn of events.

Nate didn't even spare a glance back as he exited the cavern and ran into the rocky crevice. The ding of system alerts was completely ignored as he fled for his life.

The crevice was lit enough that Nate could see clearly. The sun must have been fully out above because as soon as he exited the cavern his vision improved dramatically.

He ran without restraint.

After all-out running for around 10 minutes, Nate came across a narrow part of the crevice that looked easy to climb. He didn’t miss a stride as his feet touched the rocky wall and he started to climb toward the sunshine above.

He expended a fair amount of effort climbing the rock face, but he eventually made it to the top.

A smile crossed his face as he stepped out of the earth and into the sun.

I made it out alive. Of all the near-death experiences he survived, the last day and a half were the most intense. It was pure luck that he made it out of this one.

I haven't even been gone from the Greyfor Tribe for two days. Feeling a bit giddy, Nate laughed at himself.

Then, the feeling of pain returned to his body and he doubled over onto the rocky ground. His leg wound had busted open and his muscles throbbed with painful cramps.

**************

After a brief recovery from his painful body cramps, Nate had bandaged his leg and continued to move out of the rocky area.

The trip out of the Crags had been relatively uneventful thanks to Nate's raised Speed Stat and his new ability, [Wanderer's Walk]. In his exit from the Crags, Nate had found that the combination of skill and stat was outstanding.

He could now move through the rocky terrain a lot easier than before. The effects of [Wanderer’s Walk] seemed to be composed of several different factors.

The skill gave him a sort of intuition about where to place each step when running or walking. Subconsciously, his steps avoided loose stones and slippery slopes as he ran through the rugged terrain.

But that wasn't the most astounding aspect of the skill. After moving through one particular area, Nate had stopped to look around. When he looked back the way he had come, he noticed something odd with his footprints. The skill's description had been mostly true. His footprints had barely left a trace on the ground.

The only part of the skill that had some sort of drawback was the apparent lack of awareness of injury as Nate moved. If he was moving, Nate felt very little pain from his legs. However, the second that he stopped, the accumulated pain seemed to hit him all at once. After experiencing the issue several times, Nate’s [Pain Resistance] skill had leveled up substantially. He also grew cautious about the speed that he traveled. Walking was much more enjoyable than running and the pain didn't happen unless he really pushed himself.

*****************

With his Dark Vision Skill now at Level 29, the moonlit nights we're just as bright as the day. So, Nate continued moving towards his home both day and night. He was very eager to get back to his cave.

Because of his ease of moving during the night, Nate only tried to sleep for a few hours every evening before moving forward. However, his sleep was a bit disjointed and he continually cursed at his new skill, [Shaman’s Dream]. His sleep was weird at best and consisted mostly of him being in a half awake and half asleep state. He had yet to figure out how the skill could benefit him and it irked him to no end. Regardless, he continued forward.

Although Nate had fashioned himself a makeshift spear, the quality was limited and would pose no threat to a really powerful beast. During his travels, he had made it a point to avoid beasts because of his lack of a good weapon. With his added speed this wasn't an issue at all.

When thinking about the whole experience, Nate would often smile at his luck. The only thing he complained about was the loss of his trusty knife. It was the only real memento he had from his time in Newcomb City. Although the loss of his prized possession had hurt, Nate began to feel a sense of freedom. Maybe losing the last belonging left from his time in the city had been something that he needed.

*******************

Nate's remaining travels were quite simple and he soon began to recognize a few landmarks. He was back in his territory.

Finally. Nate approached his cave. Not letting his eagerness get the better of him, Nate scopeed out the entrance of his cave. The berry bushes looked slightly disturbed, but it wasn't disturbed enough to be a large beast. Must be something small or nothing at all.

Keeping his sharpened wood stick of a spear at the ready, Nate made his way through the berry bushes and into the cave. All of his fortifications were still in place. Nothing appeared to be disturbed.

Nate made his way deeper into the cave and looked around. Something seems off. The image of the cave before he left flashed into his mind. Some of my things have been moved around.

A noise came from Nate's side. Shit. He quickly turned in preparation for an incoming attack. His heartbeat quickening at the sight in front of him.

"What the fuck?" Nate exclaimed as he looked at Rod laying in his little sleeping nook in the wall of his cave.

"Calm down kid. I was just tryin to get a good sleep," Rod said as he rolled over in Nate's bed and went back to sleep.