Night was coming around and campfires were lit. Despite being a ten-person group, our two parties didn’t associate with each other much. Besides eating and relaying information, we kept to ourselves.

It got dark super early, much earlier than when we would reasonably be able to fall asleep. The monsters seemed to go dormant at this time, or at least we hadn’t fought a single night encounter since leaving Arturii.

This was the best time to practice Enchanting and Runecraft, and there was a specific enchantment I was hopeful about completing. A +3 AGI enchantment would give me 6 AGI if I could enchant both my boots and chest. This was definitely high priority. I snuck off to sit against a large tree trunk and started working on it alone.

Hours passed and on my seventh attempt I managed to enchant Valkyrian Shoes with +3 AGI.

Valkyrian Shoes**: Max HP +10%, Max MP +10% AGI +3*

A beautiful pair of shoes once worn by a Valkyrie. The back has a small pair of wings.

I was starting to get tired, but felt something had clicked for me, that it would be easier to succeed in future, and so I continued to try for my robe.

It was chilly at night, and removing my robe made that cold more piercing. My entire body started to shiver and I worked on enchanting to drown out that feeling. It took twice as long to concentrate, but I eventually got out my surroundings to disappear from my thoughts.

My focus was purely on the ruby and zircon resting in my palm. By now, the process of melding them was second nature. Maintaining two stones was no longer difficult, it was imprinting that mana onto the item that caused me trouble. It seemed though, that Runecrafting helped in that regard.

The process of separation required to create a rune and separating to for an enchantment was similar enough that succeeding in one provided boost in experience and knowledge that helped in succeeding in the other. I formed the sphere of mana appropriately and held it above my robe.

I hesitated for a moment and tried to make sure my mind was completely clear. Only when I felt absolutely certain did I lower the meld and start to force it into my robe. The enchantment was going smoothly, and it looked as if I was going to succeed.

There was suddenly death. I could feel death fall upon my back and I immediately Phase Stepped, not once, but twice. For a moment I thought it Lucas, but it wasn’t. He was dirty, but wouldn’t play such an evil trick while I was focusing so hard.

Obviously the enchantment shattered into pieces. It was impossible to succeed given the circumstances. I scanned the surroundings but could see nothing untoward around me. The forest was calm as it was ten minutes ago.

There was a beast in the darkness, a monster I couldn’t see. If I hadn’t moved when I did, it would have smashed me to a pulp. That much I was sure of. I didn’t have time to yell out when Lucas rushed by me and into the darkness, “Get back!” he yelled.

That wasn’t all though. I suddenly felt the presence of another beast, and another. I had the impression they were reptilian and not natural to forest. How had they gotten so close? Not only that, every single one was too high a level, out of our league. We would find ourselves swamped if the monsters charged.

I hesitated before rushing to my robe and slipping it back on. Regardless of his warning, there was no way I’d be leaving it. Only then did I rush to join my party. We stood in a circle about the campfire and stared outwards into the darkness.

There were probably seven or eight giant reptiles, each high enough level that casting Inspect at the dark shapes in the undergrowth simply told me my level was insufficient. Could even our parent party contend with these creatures? They didn’t want the responsibility of trying while we were nearby and liable to get killed.

“Get out of here!” Someone from the other party yelled.

And go where? The night was pitch black and I wouldn’t know where I was going. But we couldn’t stay. Nor, I reckoned, could the other party. My feeling was that these reptiles were more than they could handle.

Joy started to run. “Come on!”

I could feel that four of the high-level monsters had come rushing after us. We did our best to rush through the trees and evade them as best as possible. Even without my sense of danger, it was becoming clear from the sounds of the large creatures smashing through the undergrowth that we couldn’t shake them off and that they were closing in.

If we continued in this way we were all going to die, that was guaranteed. “We have to split up!” I shouted. With only four mobs at least one of us would survive. It was possible even more than one depending on the split.

This was a hard decision to make, and it almost guaranteed at least one of the group wouldn’t be alive by sunrise. But I saw nods from Julian and Joy either side of me.

“Until we meet again!” I cried, then I took a hard right into the trees and started to create distance between myself and my party members.

My decision was definitely the correct one for the greater good, but it turned badly for me personally. All four mobs all turned in my direction and their chase was focused entirely on me. Yet I refused to die here, regardless of how many mobs chased me.

There was too much to do. Marcus hadn’t woken up. I still didn’t know why I was brought to this planet. There was my revenge for the death of Aaron. I had to find my brother and even my parents… Zero chance I’d go down like this.

I said that, but my mind was growing muddled. Alarms were flashing in my head as I used Phase Step over and over. The training torture Lucas had put me through was showing its value right now.

There were only four mana potions left in my inventory. By drinking each on cool down, I would still merely gain two minutes of subsistence. Nor did the environment have anything to help me. No matter how far I ran, I couldn’t see anything but the black outlines of trees and a hint of starlight from the gaps between them.

Maybe ambition and determination wasn’t enough. The four mana potions disappeared in a flash and Phase Step was constantly using my MP.

Congratulations! Your Phase Step has reached level 2!

This was a welcomed message that didn’t mean much at this moment. If I couldn’t break away from the monsters, I’d only last five more minutes, maximum. Despite my hopes for some respite, the scenery around me never changed and the mobs behind me continued to close the distance as my stamina started to wane.

The pounding of the monsters’ legs on the ground was so close that I felt I wouldn’t even have the time to cast any kind of spell after turning around: not that stopping to fight would accomplish anything. I was desperate for any solution, anything at all. Life was too unfair.

My senses were starting to dull and even my reaction time had dropped. Phase Step came a fraction too late as a burning sensation told me a gash had opened up on my back. It took everything in my power to keep my legs from buckling beneath me at the impact.

I suddenly heard the sound of water. It was faint at first but as I continued to race forward the noise grew in intensity. I steered towards the growing rumble, which more and more made me think of water smashing into rocks a long way below.

It was a short thirty seconds later when I could finally grasp what the sound was. I was at a cliff face. There was a river below an unknown distance below me, fed by a powerful waterfall that must have been close by on my right.

The powerful reptiles were right behind me and it was too dark to assess the situation below. There was really only one option, and that was to jump. If there was only a five percent chance of survival, it was still better than being mauled alive.

I looked into the abyss and jumped. My mana pulsing rod across my chest and I held it out as best as I could. At least if I smashed into something it would hit that first and brace the impact even slightly.

The wind blowing against my face was chilly. I could feel the splatter of water touching my body and then came impact. Was this how it felt to jump into water?The air in my lungs vanished instantly, as though I’d been punched hard. The cold and a feeling that I was still descending, sinking, let me know I hadn’t smashed into a solid surface although the pain in my legs suggested otherwise.

It was freezing cold and a current was pulling me along. I couldn’t even tell which way was up or down as I tumbled under water. I was in torture as my body craved for one last, deep breath.

My will power was crumbling rapidly as my vision faded. My body slammed into something hard and my hands grasped and reached. I suddenly felt the cool air against my hands and pulled myself upward.

Waves roared around me as I grasped onto a rock for dear life and caught my breath. Waves were crashing into me from each direction threatened to rip me off and plunge me back into the abyss. Yet I was too hurt and stunned to act. It took several minutes for me to fully come to grips with the situation.

I braced myself as well as I could and lifted a single hand off the rock to light a fireball. There was no shore close enough to see from just that light alone, so I tossed it out. Only after it launched and then landed on stones did I see the shore, about fifteen feet away.

I can do this. Land was close enough that it would be a twenty second endeavor. I reckoned my STR was high enough to fight the waves long enough for me to make it to safety, especially now that I had a bearing for where to go.

My legs hugged the rock tightly and I skirted around until my back was facing the shore. Once there, I did my best to push off onto my back and the lunge took me close enough to the shingle that when I put my feet down they touched ground. Fighting the waves to get out of the sea was incredibly strenuous while holding my rod, but the tide must have been on my side, because I managed somehow.

The shore was filled with smooth stones that rolled underfoot. My legs and arms were so tired I could barely move them, yet I fell to all fours once the salty water was low enough. I stopped crawling only after the crashing waves no longer reached my ankles.

I managed to flip over and breathe in deep. My vision was blurred and my head spun. Everything was hitting me all at once. A feeling of dizziness washed over me and I could no longer keep my eyes open.

An unknown time later I felt a tickling on my noise: a moist sensation over and over. My hand raised and I swatted instinctively while opening my eyes. It was a baby wolf, licking the tip of my nose curiously.

The sun assaulted my face and I couldn’t help but squint. I tried to flip myself over, but my entire body creaked. I had taken a beating that had only been covered up by my raging adrenaline last night.

Making a real effort, I forced myself sit up, and saw the wolf’s mother facing in my direction, growling. The baby let out a low bark and then rushed back to the mother. She seemed to be weighing her options and instead of attacking, disappeared up the shore and into the forest.

Current EXP: 83350/103000 LEVEL: 32 Soul Harvester Eternal

HP: 746/1890 MP: 371/706

STR: 27

AGI: 26+3

DEX: 35 +5

VIT: 30 +5

INT: 55 +24

Available: 0

I couldn’t be sure how long I had been out for. The sun was mid way in the sky and yet my HP and MP were still incredibly low. I had been slashed in the back but the damage was not enough to inflict the bleeding status.

My body was still soaked through and all I could do was strip down and start a fire with the driftwood that had dried out above the high-water mark. Almost immediately after starting to warm my body I noticed an increase in my HP recovery. I contemplated pulling a white potion but decided against it. There was nothing nearby to cause me any trouble.

I suddenly started to laugh as I stirred the burning logs in front of me. There was no doubt now, I was a cockroach in another life. A survivor. I embraced that idea openly.

My current problem was to figure out where in the hell I was. The cliff walls were above me and a waterfall was up river to my left. I was in a beautiful little cove secluded from the rest of the world. Climbing the cliffs behind me seemed to be my only way out.

I didn’t have a map at all, and navigating the forest was near impossible. It was unlikely the Valkyrie party would come looking for me. Common sense would have told them I’d died with four mobs chasing me, all of which were probably above level 60.

First and foremost, I had to take care of my physical recovery. I curled around the campfire and lay there for over two hours before my health regenerated to a safe level. Only then did I stand and look towards the slope behind me.