Chapter 7: Into the Wild

There was a disorienting rush as if he had just fallen from a great and towering height before the details of his new surroundings snapped into existence. Like when he’d been transported to the Proving Grounds and taken to the room to prepare for his Proving, between one moment and the next, his surroundings blurred and twisted, snapping into a new reality.

Looking around, Erik tried to take in the details of his new surroundings, overwhelmed at the sudden wealth of sensory input. To the north, colossal trees rose into the sky around him, their majestic and aged trunks towering over his head. Many of these trees were truly ancient, their trunks several times thicker than any tree Erik had ever seen. Their height and enormous size brought to mind the giant sequoia and redwood trees from earth and Erik could not help but stare in awe. The massive trees were spaced apart a good distance, allowing sunlight to bathe the ground around them as it pierced through their enormous canopies. This light nourished a healthy carpet of wild grass, a thick tangle of shrubbery, and other vegetation that was scattered around the forest floor amidst some larger rocks and boulders.

Much smaller and younger trees, more in line with the size of trees from Earth, flourished in the large open spaces made by the breaks in their towering brethren’s sprawling canopies. These younger trees were clearly of different species but most among them closely resembled pines, firs, and oak trees. The scents of fresh earth and fertile soil floated through the air, accompanied by the wild and untouched scents of a forest bereft of the slow, poisonous touch of civilization. The twittering song of birds calling out to their fellows reached his ears, and Erik briefly caught the victorious scream of a bird of prey as well as several other sounds he did not recognize.

A crisp breeze blew in from the north, bringing with it a light chill, and Erik found himself relieved the region he was in was colder than he was used to; back on Earth, Florida had always been a personal hell to him, and he’d always wanted to move to someplace that wasn’t locked into a near-perpetual summer heat-wave.

Turning his gaze to the area behind him, to what his skill told him was roughly south, revealed a long stretch of imposing mountains, their peaks reaching into unnaturally darkened skies like the black fangs of some great beast. They were close enough to give Erik a hint of their massive size but still quite a way in the distance.

Squinting, Erik thought he spied a deep red glow through the black haze hanging in the sky around the mountains. Since he had no intention of traveling in that direction—which he strongly suspected was the Ashen Waste, as what he’d glimpsed of the mountains in the distance matched the basic description in his head—Erik turned back to the forest spread before him.

Looking up through the canopy, Erik saw something that resembled the sky he knew from Earth but was subtly different. Looking between the pieces of sky he could see through the vast canopies of the trees, and the wealth of plant-life around him, Erik realized what his mind had been telling him all along. The colors were deeper, with a depth and richness, just slightly off from those he would have expected from nature on earth, giving his surroundings a surreal quality while also emphasizing their magnificence.

There were undertones and shades in the colors of the vegetation, trees, and sky that made them more vivid and yet also somehow alien to him. Realizing this truly hammered home that he was on a different planet entirely and the full wonder of it struck Erik, leaving him feeling pleasantly awed by his surroundings. Although it was tinged with a faint sense of curiosity at the fact that his surroundings seemed like an alien analog to much of the vegetation in forests on Earth.

Using Inspect on the giant trees revealed that they were something called a ‘goliath pine’, though the system didn’t give any more information than the colossal tree’s name. The System also confirmed Erik’s thought that the smaller trees were mostly derived from firs and pines, though what he’d at first glance thought were oaks were actually something called a ‘crimson maple’, the dark brown, near-black color of its bark of which was highlighted with subtle striations of a deep, bloody red. Interestingly, the System also gave Erik slightly more detail than it had with any of the other trees.

Crimson Maple

This tree is named for the rich crimson streaks in its bark and the blood-colored sap it produces. Its sap is well-sought after for its nutritional and medicinal properties.

Finishing the cursory inspection of his literally otherworldly yet oddly reminiscent surroundings, Erik then turned his attention to the next matter at hand—survival. His cursory examination and the knowledge implanted by his Survival skill gave him enough information to conclude a rough approximation of his location. The basic geography of the continent he was on—Eralia, one of several large landmasses covering the vast surface of Terra, though he had no information at all on any of the other continents—floated to the surface of his mind at his call. Sorting through the knowledge in his head, Erik recalled that there were only three major forested areas on Eralia: the Ironwood Grove, located in the southern half of the continent, the Wildwood, which was a part of the Vrael Wildlands, closer to the northern half of the continent, and the Forest of Teeth, located on the far northern edge of the continent.

Looking around at his surroundings once more, trying to use all his senses to feel out the location, Erik decided it was likely this place was somewhere in the Wildwood. He could have been wrong of course, but there was an undercurrent beneath the natural calm of the forest. Beneath that calm, the air was charged with a predatory anticipation. On the surface, the forest seemed peaceful, but it felt to Erik almost as if the forest was watching and waiting for him to drop his guard before it went for his throat.

Something, some deeper nuance of the knowledge his skill had ingrained into his mind, told him that the Ironwood Grove was a calmer, quieter place. Here, it was as if the land itself was waiting for a chance to eat you alive. The Forest of Teeth he dismissed out of hand. Though he knew little else besides the rough geographical positioning of particular regions on the continent, he did know that the Forest of Teeth was in the true north, on the other side of the Frostfang Mountains, and the region was far colder than the more temperate chill he felt here. With what he was confident was the Ashen Waste at his back, the Wildwood was really the only location he could have been.

Knowing that the first thing he needed to do was find a source of water and then set up a shelter, Erik took a moment to check his resource bars. His Health, Stamina, and Mana had all already begun to recover, though from what he remembered from his Status screen, most of his pools would need the better part of an hour or more to fully recover from combat. Thinking over the fight, Erik was enormously glad he’d managed to learn the Aegis technique from his Proficiency, else he’d have likely died in that fight.

Even blocking the fireball with a sixty percent reduction to its damage, it had still done a fair bit of harm. If he hadn’t blocked both lightning spells and the fireball, it would have been child’s play for the other nightmares to finish him off. In contrast to his resource bars, his Thirst, Satiety, and Fatigue were slightly more urgent.

Though he didn’t feel any major drop in Fatigue after the fight, his Satiety bar was down to a quarter of its length and his Thirst bar was at about the halfway mark. Until that moment, Erik hadn’t even realized how hungry and thirsty he was. He didn’t know how long he’d already been away from Earth for, but considering he normally waited to eat until after exercising and he’d been right at the end of a trip to the gym before Janus had pulled them to the Proving Grounds, Erik wasn’t really surprised he’d worked up quite the appetite between that and being forced to fight for his life. It was a struggle to suppress the sudden disgruntled roar of his hunger but with ease of long practice, he forced it down, knowing he couldn’t allow himself to be distracted by it in a potentially dangerous and unknown location.

Shaking his head and making a mental note to kill the mages first in any future encounters, Erik remembered the crate he’d found in his inventory directly after the Proving and hoped it had some food in it to sate his hunger until he could find a more substantial food source. Thankfully, his luck held. When he touched the crate in his inventory window, it burst open and released its contents into his inventory.

Scanning through them, Erik noted that it had contained a basic knife, a tinderbox, a small canteen, a crude needle with a spool of rough thread, and six bundles of something called ‘traveler’s rations’. The canteen proved to be a small sack of animal hide, sewn shut and treated with some sort of waxen substance. A simple cap held it shut. Thankfully, when Erik opened it, it was already full of fresh water. Taking a careful swig, Erik eyed his Thirst meter briefly and watched it tick up, judging how much he would need to drink to fill it.

Normally, he’d have just drunk until his thirst disappeared, but he figured if he used the thirst meter as a more accurate gauge than going by feel, it would allow for a higher rate of efficiency and might even save him some of his precious supply of water. He wound up drinking slightly under half of the canteen’s contents before his Thirst meter was entirely filled again and then proceeded to remove one of the traveler’s rations from his inventory after stowing the canteen away once more.

What the System called a ‘traveler’s ration’ turned out to be a small bundle of thick strips of dried meat which resembled beef jerky, wrapped in cloth. Eyeing the dried meat with displeasure, Erik recalled the quote—wherever it had originated from—that the System had included on his Trait, Sasquatch.

Erik was aware of the reference being implied there and it made him want to grind his teeth that the System once more seemed to be having a laugh at his expense. Grumbling but knowing he couldn’t afford to throw away good food, Erik bit into one of the strips of meat and tried not to enjoy the smoky flavor touched with spices. The strips of meat were surprisingly filling and Erik felt his hunger calm down considerably. Have to remember not to suppress the hunger for long periods of time or it could hit me at the worst possible moment, Erik admonished himself.

After polishing off all the strips, Erik saw that his Satiety meter had only crept up to half and broke out another of the rations, quickly wolfing it down. Releasing a light belch, Erik patted his stomach in satisfaction and turned his attention back to his surroundings. Glancing up at the sky and orienting himself in the direction he thought was north, Erik set off into the forest, his senses alert for danger.

He did his best to move quietly but quickly, hoping he wouldn’t draw the attention of anything that might want to snack on him, and trying to ignore the lingering shadow of pain that flared up from his wounds when he moved. He made sure to move with Savage Grace active, utilizing the extra fluidity it provided his movements to improve his control of his body.

Surprisingly, he didn’t feel any discomfort from walking through the detritus of sticks and other debris on the forest floor. The soles of his feet were tough enough thanks to his Stoneskin that he only felt mild discomfort when he was walking over sharp stones and sticks, and even that faded quickly. His bare feet made less sound and allowed for more precise placement of his feet and toes when he was moving, though the enormous size of his feet worked against him until he got more used to it.

He’d worn a size eighteen shoe back on Earth and the widest pair of shoes he’d ever found was almost too snug for him to wear. Erik’s extremely large hands and feet had been something inherited from his father, and even when they caused him trouble—like now, when he was consciously attempting to move without just stomping around everywhere like a clumsy elephant—he’d never felt ashamed of that link to his father, a man he had loved and respected more than anyone else.

His father had been there for him through everything and had never treated his son like the leper everyone else treated him as. Erik felt a pang of sorrow tremble through his mind as memories of his father played through his head, but he set them and the emotions they brought on aside. There was time to reminisce and remember later when he wasn’t in danger of being eaten by something in a strange, unfamiliar forest.

After a while of attempting to move quietly, he felt something click in his brain and suddenly, he knew where and how to move and place his feet to reduce the sound of his movement and profile far more effectively than the previous clumsy bumbling he’d been doing. It was a relatively slight but noticeable improvement and he was able to move more quickly as a result with less concern of alerting the denizens of the Wildwood. The notification that accompanied this new knowledge was an unsurprising one he dismissed moments after reading it, focusing on moving as quietly as possible while maintaining his speed.

You have learned a new skill!

Stealth

Level 1

You know how to move quietly and quickly without being seen so that your enemies cannot detect your presence

Reduces the chance of detection based on skill level

After dismissing the notification, Erik turned his focus back to his journey through the forest. He stopped and rested briefly over the next several hours and for the first three, he was extremely grateful at the bonus his ability had provided to his Stamina regeneration from eating. It seemed just moving through the forest, even using Stealth, didn’t cost nearly as much Stamina as combat—though he suspected using Savage Grace the entire time helped reduce the strain on his Stamina—and he knew he would be able to maintain his starting speed for nearly the entire day if he paced himself properly.

However, Erik needed to find shelter before dark, so he had increased his pace after the first hour of travel, trying to find a better balance between stealth and speed. Several hours after that, he was dearly wishing he had taken Nimble Tread instead of Savage Grace, as it would likely have made what he was trying to accomplish significantly easier.

Of course, Erik thought as he tried to keep his breathing even. If I had taken Nimble Tread instead, I probably wouldn’t be alive, so I guess the point is moot.

As he moved through the forest, Erik saw a wide area of vegetation, though not any new kinds of trees, and he tried to use Inspect on anything that his Survival skill seemed to point put to him. Thanks to this, he learned of several potential plants he could use to treat his wounds. His Health had stopped recovering after it had reached a certain point and since neither the burns nor the wounds in his stomach or on his side had closed and healed by themselves, Erik figured he would need to treat his wounds in order for his Health to recover to its maximum.

Remembering what the System had told him about the sap from the crimson maple, Erik decided to see if he could harvest some from the next crimson maple he saw—they seemed to be a lot more scarce than the other trees, as he’d only seen one more in hours of travel. About the time he was due for another short break, he got lucky and spotted the blood-red leaves of a crimson maple in the distance, past some large boulders that obscured his view.

Deciding it was worthwhile to collect a potentially useful and valuable curative while he was resting, he made his way in that direction. Upon rounding the side of the boulders, Erik let out a satisfied grunt at his good fortune. The crimson maple he’d spotted stood in a clearing formed by several large boulders, which stood as proud stone sentries around a small spring of water that flowed out into a creek between two of the boulders and out of the clearing.

Carefully inspecting the ground for tracks, Erik felt the tension leave his shoulders. There were no prints from any animals at all, and though that would have normally sent alarm bells off in his head, he could sense that something about the clearing he was in was different from the rest of the forest. It felt…quieter here and the wary and patient predatory air of the rest of the forest was simply gone. Whatever this place was, it felt like a haven to Erik’s senses and he decided he was going to take the chance that the forest wasn’t trying to lure him into some kind of trap and make camp in this clearing.

For all that the Wildwood seemed like a living, breathing beast, it didn’t come across to Erik as evil, just...predatory. More like something untamed, waiting for him to make a miss-step before it brought down all the force and fury of nature on his head. This clearing was like an oasis, and he didn’t know why but he was convinced nothing would harm him here, so long as he didn’t disturb the natural peace it seemed to engender.

Once he was certain nothing else was in the clearing— the air of serenity be damned, he was not going to get his face torn off by some hostile critter because he was too stupid to display a little caution in a forest that literally felt like it wanted to murder him—Erik advanced into the clearing. His first action to head straight for the crimson maple. Unlike the other two of its kind he’d seen, this one seemed to be leaking its precious sap in thick rivulets, making it appear as though the tree itself was bleeding.

Erik was happy that he wouldn’t have to cut the tree to get at its sap; he had a feeling that would end quite badly for him. Since he needed a container to store the sap in, Erik emptied a vial of ectoplasm from his inventory and proceeded to collect as much sap in the glass vial as he could. Thankfully, his attempts were made easier by the fact that the sap seemed to be less viscous than regular tree sap, though it was just as sticky. When the vial was full, he replaced its stopper and stored it back in his inventory.

Seeing there was still a wealth of sap left leaking from the tree, Erik decided to gamble on the sap being more useful than the ectoplasm and emptied the other five vials in his inventory, filling each one with as much sap as he could just as he had the first vial.

When he was done collecting sap, Erik held one of the vials up and used Inspect on it.

Crimson Maple Tears

Collected from a crimson maple during its flowering cycle, where it weeps sap from its bark like tears of blood, this sap is more potent than usual, and its natural properties are enhanced.

Satisfied, Erik then searched his surroundings for any of the basic herbs his Survival skill told him would help with burns or bleeding. Not seeing anything resembling the basic description of the few herbs he knew to look for, he gave up the search and decided to see if he could find some outside the clearing once he’d established a camp and replenished his supply of water.

Looking at the spring, Erik debated for a moment the pros and cons of drinking potentially contaminated water. The information in his head seemed to think the water would be fine, however, and he saw little other choice. There was no telling how long it would be until he found another reliable source of water and Erik intended to stay in the clearing at least as long as necessary to find enough food that he wouldn’t starve immediately.

Moving further down and away from the source of the water—he didn’t want to clean off in the source of his drinking water, after all—Erik crouched down and splashed water on his hands and arms, cleaning off the darkly colored blood that had dried on his arms and gauntlets. The creek was actually about three feet deep and four or five feet across, but its water was ice-cold and while it might have been quicker to simply leap in, Erik had no desire to freeze his bits off. Once he’d finished cleaning off his arms, gauntlets, and hands, he turned his attention to his wounds.

Carefully, Erik removed his gambeson and gently wiped away the blood on his side and abdomen. Thankfully, it seemed his Stoneskin ability’s side-effect had at least allowed the wounds to clot, preventing them from continually re-opening and bleeding as he moved through the forest. Splashing water on his wounds, Erik gently wiped away the blood and other debris from the wound. Distracted by the brisk temperature of the water on his skin, he didn’t notice the brief and slight sensation of warmth when the water met his wounds.

When he had finished cleaning himself up a bit, Erik moved slightly further upstream and cupped his hands in the water, raising what he’d captured to his lips and greedily slurping it down. The cool sensation of the crisp water sliding down his throat was refreshing and accompanied also by a slight warmth that suffused his flesh, sinking into muscle and bone. Startled by the odd sensation, Erik waited for a moment, trying to sense by feel if his health was going to suddenly decline as if he’d been poisoned by the water. However, the only thing Erik felt was the fading sensation of the odd warmth.

About to shrug it off as an odd but non-lethal side-effect of the spring, Erik went to stand up. As he did, he noticed a small icon flash briefly beneath the trio of his resource bars. Directing his attention to it brought it sharply into focus and Erik saw that the icon was edged in gold with what appeared to be a symbol of a cup overflowing with water stamped on it. Looking next to it, Erik saw two other icons he had failed to notice before which resembled it, but these were etched in black. After a brief moment of concentration, the System provided him with details on what they were.

Font of Regeneration

You have consumed water saturated with the sap of a crimson maple. Your passive recovery from persistent wounds is increased

Minor Burns

You have sustained minor burns on your arms and legs. Your Health will not fully regenerate until these wounds are healed or treated

Gut Wound and Laceration

You have suffered a piercing wound to your abdomen and a minor wound to your side. Your Health will not fully regenerate until these wounds are healed or treated

There was what looked like a timer beneath each symbol and Erik guessed that these were how long the effects would last or take to negate. Thankfully, it seemed both his ‘debuffs’ would be fixed by his passive healing in five days, possibly less with the Font of Regeneration counteracting them. Unfortunately, Erik didn’t think he could afford to wait that long in a forest full of potentially deadly threats. He might have been safe at the spring, but he knew he’d have to leave the area to hunt and he might need every drop of health he had to survive.

Which means I need to find something to use to heal my wounds, Erik thought to himself. He decided to do another search of his surroundings for any potentially useful herbs, his inspection focused by urgency. After considering for a moment, Erik turned and surveyed the ground near the spring and the crimson maple. The System message he’d seen for the water had said prolonged exposure to the sap of the tree had enhanced it, so maybe the tree’s sap had affected one of the plants near it?

Erik’s hunch paid off. Near where the tree perched at the edge of the spring, there was a grouping of small rocks covered with a carpet of crimson-tinged moss partially hidden behind a larger boulder, so Erik hadn’t seen it at first. After using Inspect on the moss, Erik knew he’d found precisely what he was looking for.

Blood Moss

A type of moss that feeds on the sap of crimson maples. It is a sought-after ingredient by healers for its healing properties and usefulness in enhancing the healing properties of other herbs

Smiling, Erik dismissed the message along with the notification that his Inspect skill had increased to level two. Consulting the basic first-aid knowledge implanted by his Survival skill, Erik took out the ragged cloth from his inventory. Taking a bit of the blood moss in one hand, Erik moved to the crimson maple and coated the moss in its sap. When the moss was saturated and sticky, Erik carefully peeled apart the edges of the wound on his side and packed the moss into the torn flesh.

Grimacing slightly from the pain and the odd, slimy sensation of packing the sap-coated moss into his wound, Erik grabbed another clump of moss and did the same with both the wounds on his abdomen. The wounds left by the daggers hurt far more than the wound on his side and Erik grit his teeth as he fought to ignore it. When he was done packing his wounds, Erik paused for a moment and rubbed some sap into one piece of ragged cloth before he proceeded to wrap it around his torso.

Thankfully, the cloth was wide and long enough that he was actually able to wrap it around the thick trunk of his torso, though the ends just barely met. Grimacing at the sensation of the sap adhering the make-shift bandage to his skin and sticking in the thick pelt of hair on his chest and abdomen, Erik proceeded to treat his burned flesh. Despite his discomfort, he wasn’t about to leave his wounds untreated, not when it could mean the difference between life and death in a strange, hostile environment. Much like the wounds to his torso, Erik soaked some blood moss in sap, slapped it on the area of each burn, then wrapped it in more sap-coated cloth as a bandage.

When he was finished bandaging all his wounds, Erik pulled his armor back on, ignoring the odd sensation of it pressing down on his make-shift bandages, and pulled his canteen from his inventory, emptied it and filled it with water from the spring. As he stood up from where he was crouched, the hairs on the back of his neck raised and a shiver of sudden intuition ran up his spine.

Tossing his canteen back in his inventory, Erik spun, training his attention on the far side of the clearing from himself. For a long moment, Erik couldn’t identify what had set his instincts on high alert, but then he realized the normal sounds of the forest had fallen silent and there was an underlying tension to the previous peace of the clearing. In the distance, he heard the crashing of the brush as something moved recklessly through the forest, followed by an odd high-pitched screeching that almost sounded like some particularly psychotic child’s laughter.

The sounds gradually got louder, and Erik realized whatever was coming was heading straight for him and clearing he was in. Moving to the middle of the small clearing, Erik activated Savage Grace. The Beast rose up from the depths of his mind, looking out through his eyes once again. Its eager anticipation for the potential fight approaching them both bled over into his awareness and Erik felt his heart-rate speed up in response, his breathing intense and controlled. Settling into a loose guard stance and keeping his senses alert for any other trouble he might have missed in the cacophony, Erik waited for the approaching enemy.