The steady drip of water hitting stone greeted his sense long before he fully regained consciousness. Drip. Drip... Drip. Drip...

Scott opened his eyes slowly and found that he was once again embraced by darkness. It was not the eternal blackness of empty space, like before when the voice had spoken to him. This darkness seemed natural and somehow, safe.

He sat up and looked around. Faint rays of light streamed through an opening nearby illuminating the interior of what looked to be a shallow cave.

“Where am I?” The last thing he remembered was being laughed at by an unseen woman. How had he gotten into a cave?

Scott was greatly surprised when a message screen popped up. He stared at the new arrival while his mouth hung open like a stereotypical slack-jawed yokel.

“A message screen? They’re working again?” He read the screen quickly to see what it had to say.

Greetings, Scott Hunter.

Due to quantum interference during your last login attempt your data file has been corrupted. We were made aware of this by the lunar goddess Seductia.

The timely intervention of the goddess has allowed us to locate your quantum signature once more. We have completed the restoration of your original file based on your last saved state. Unfortunately, certain functions cannot be enabled at this time due to the prior event. These functions will be reinstated as soon as possible. Please take note of the estimated repair time next to each function and plan your time on Alterra accordingly.

Currently unavailable functions:

Enhanced Experience Gain - 47 Hours

Quantum Transfer Protocol - 567 Hours

Reincarnation Protocol - 623 Hours

Skill Usage - 42 Hours

Telepathic Whispers - 38 Hours

Please note that it is inadvisable for you to die before the transfer and reincarnation protocols are reinstated.

He finished reading the message screen then closed his mouth. Those bastards had screwed up his data file somehow, and now they advise him not to die until repairs are complete? He had been right! If he had died it would have been permanent!

Scott started to check his menu screen since that had not been listed on the unavailable functions message. However, another screen popped into view.

You have been granted the Lesser Blessing of the Mother Dragon.

All stats increase by 10 points.

Hit points and mana increase by 25 points.

You gain the skill: Serenity

Serenity grants you the power to avoid conflict with monsters for four hours, once per day.

Scott stared at the new message screen then curled his hands into fists. He raised his arms then lowered them. His body felt much lighter after the increase to his stats. It was like he had been wearing weighted clothes and had finally taken them off.

He tried to check on the serenity skill. Unfortunately, a message screen popped up to remind him that he could not use skills at the moment.

“Now that’s just bullshit!” He had the power to be free of monsters for four hours per day, and he couldn’t even use it!

Suddenly, the high-pitched shriek of a hunting bird echoed through the air. Scott stopped cold and turned toward the opening to the cave. Were the damned birds out there?

He crept over to the opening and attempted to take a look. The entire time that he was in motion he prayed that the birds would not see or hear him.

The massive creatures circled overhead, but from what he could see they did not seem to know where he was. Quickly, he moved back into the darker part of the cave. He could not help but feel like a rat cornered in a hole.

A female voice called out to him. “Huuu-man, come out to plaaay-yaaay.”

Scott did not know which was worse, the unrelenting attempt to get at his sweat meats or the horrible reference she had unwittingly made. He drew further back into the cavern and sighed.

There was no way out of this situation. They would easily catch him if he left the safety of his hole. Even if he had been at one hundred percent he would have been too slow to escape.

Despite his recent stat increase, lingering injuries and stiffness would make it nearly impossible to get away. The arrow and its accompanying wound had mysteriously disappeared, but he still looked and felt like an ill-used punching bag.

Several tense minutes passed before something strange and terrifying occurred. The bird woman from before cried out, “Found you!”

He looked around frantically but there was no sign that his haven had been compromised. A panicked shriek from outside caught his attention and he moved forward to risk taking a look. Scott shuddered involuntarily. One of the flying women had captured a man, and now held him up by his ankle.

“You thought that you’d get away from Momo? Silly boy.” She twirled around happily. The motion caused her captive to start screaming again while he went on a terrifying ride. The strength of the monster had to be enormous. She was hovering in mid-air while holding a grown man by the ankle!

“Let me go dammit!” The man attempted to kick her with his free leg but she easily avoided the awkward attack.

“So feisty, and you’re sort of pretty for a human! We’ll have cute babies, I think.”

“No! No!” He began to blubber and cry, like a terrified child.

The harpies and hunting hawks laughed. Yes, the hawks laughed as well. It was creepy and sinister in a way that only a laughing bird could be.

Momo the Harpy Queen, as Scott started to think of her, simply giggled at her prey then said, “Its ok. You’ll like being one of my husbands. At least I won’t eat you for a while.”

The wail the man unleashed was heart wrenching. There was nothing that he could do for the hapless man. That could have been him up there begging and crying to be released.

The harpy queen and her retinue flew off with their prize. The man’s screams echoed in the distance for only a short time but they were burned into Scott’s memory.

He had just witnessed something terrible. He had been powerless to prevent that poor man’s abduction. This fantasy world had proven to be a terrible place for humanity in general. How this could be seen as a game was beyond his understanding.

Scott waited a short time then slid out of the safety of the tree root cave. He had to keep moving. If he really was in the game world, and all signs did point to that fact, there would be human civilization somewhere. He would not be able to survive in the wilds as he was now.

While he was tempted to simply stay in the cave and try to wait things out, he knew he would need food and water. He would have to come out anyway. Besides, there was no guarantee of safety in that cave. It had served him once, but who knew if it would continue to be safe?

The last few days had been horrible for Scott. He had survived by drinking rain water from oversized leaves and eating whatever roots or insects he could find. He had grown sick after being caught in a heavy downpour. He had even been molested by a bug woman and chased by birds of prey!

He walked through the forest. Every sound or sudden movement caught his attention. It was slow going, but he persevered. After a few hours of wandering he managed to reach the edge of the woodland and saw a river in a relatively open area.

There were more trees on the other side, but this was a good sign! A water source like this would be vital to civilization. There had to be a human town or village along the course of this waterway.

“Finally, a break.”

Scott decided to observe the area for a moment. He wished that he could use the skills that he had acquired during his tutorial. The identify and observe skills would have saved him a great deal of heart ache and intestinal trauma.

Just when he had thought that it might be safe to head toward the water he noticed movement from the opposite embankment. In the distance he could see a creature that looked like a cross between a giant rat and a lizard amble out of the woods. It had a spiked fin running along its back. That much he could tell. It was a little too far away to see every detail, but he believed that there were scales running down its overly long legs.

Silently, he considered the creature. It would probably be able to run quickly. He had not seen a monster like it on this side of the forest, so it was either rare in the area or its kind chose not to cross the water for some reason.

The creature looked around suspiciously. Scott wondered if it had caught his scent but it seemed more interested in the river bank than the woods on his side.

Slowly, the bear sized monster padded toward the water’s edge. The closer it came, the more cautious it seemed to become. It drew its head down and looked around tensely.

It sniffed at the ground then looked around again. When it reached the water it stood there for a moment gazing into it. The monster seemed like it was searching for something.

The monster leaned forward and began to drink from the river. Scott wondered at its caution. It was a big creature, even for this bizarre planet. It would probably have had few to no natural predators on Earth.

Scott’s attention was drawn away from the monster. Something in the water, he had seen something move in the water. That something was a dark shadow that seemed to sway and move with the current of the river. The shadow began to slowly drift toward the monster drinking on the opposite bank.

From his vantage point he could see it, but the rat-lizard would probably not have had that luxury. Suddenly, the monster lifted its head. It sniffed the air then looked left and right. Carefully it took a step back.

However, its caution would not save it. Dozens of tentacles ripped outward from the deceitfully still water and thoroughly ensnared the beast. Scott watched as the writhing mass wrapped the creature tight, squeezed the air from its lungs so completely that even its panicked scream had been rudely cut-off, then dragged it swiftly down into the depths.

The water was barely disturbed after the initial assault ended. Just as suddenly as the brutal event had occurred, the area went back to a scene of perfect tranquility.

Scott looked down then turned away from the peaceful scenery. It would not prove to be his savior after all. Even the monsters only went there out of desperate need. The rat-thing had known that going to drink could lead to its death. It still went. Nothing but severe thirst would have driven it to do such a thing.

He sighed softly then started to walk again. The river was out, but if he stayed far enough from the water he might be able to occasionally use it as a guide. He would have to watch for river beasts and the occasional thirsty monster, but it was the best lead that he’d found so far.