Dawn came with sunlight piercing through the entrance to the cave waking Noah up.

“I guess that’s enough of a wake-up alarm” he said wiping the sleep from his eyes, not wanting to get up. All of sudden his situation hit him and fully woke him from that in-between state of sleep and wakefulness.

“ACAS, how far until the village?”

“With your Jungle step skill and it being levelled up to level 3, you should only take 2 more days to get to the village. ““Be warned, the inhabitants will not be as you expect, they will not follow earth standards”

“Well that’s not ominous or anything. No point worrying about it just yet though, gotta get there first”

With that, Noah packed up the temporary camp he made in the crack in the hill and resumed his slog through the thick undergrowth.

“Hacking through this shit is boring. Hey! ACAS, when my Spectre step skill makes me incorporeal does it have a failsafe so I can’t become corporeal inside anything?”

“Yes, if the skill runs out, or you choose to end it early, a relative push will move things away from your vicinity so you become corporeal in empty space” “On a side note, may I suggest you inspect your machete, I am personally surprised that you have not noticed that it hasn’t stayed blunt even after bashing it on a Quilaxon’s scales and through all this undergrowth. And as I am an AI, surprising me is no small feat in of itself”

“yeah yah, no need to be sarky, it slipped my mind ok, this whole situation is ridiculous, I’m meant to remember stuff like that?”

“No, I guess not, which probably accounts for me being here, and my purpose in life”

“Ok so just stare at the machete and the skill will kick in?”

As he said that, he did what he was asking, and all of a sudden, a new screen popped up

Consolation Machete

Abilities

A machete given to Noah Clark by the system as recompense for the error in location delivery

This Machete has a built-in edge repair. The structure has also been re-enforced and is nigh unbreakable

“That’s a start I guess, I mean the system could have done a lot more to keep me alive after its fuckup”

“This system has bent the rules as much as it has been able. You have a nearly unrestricted AI helping you survive. You have been given tools blessed by the system to help you survive. The rest is up to you. Are you going to quit?”

“Hell no, I have to get home. I have to find my family” A familiar anger surged through Noah, the intensity almost knocking him off his feet. He turned and started swinging madly, carving a path through the jungle.

“Why is this happening, this shouldn’t happen”

What what’s wrong ACAS?” Noah asked, worried

“You have been granted another combined skill. Either the system has been modified, or you have stupidly high luck. It could be something else, but whatever that is its so far beyond me I can’t even guess”

“Oh awesome, what the new skill?”

“Your brief flash of anger caused Jungle travel and Brutal Swing to combine into Savage travel. I… I haven’t heard of this skill before. You must be truly blessed; do you wish to accept it?”

“Hell yeah! Ill accept anything that gets me through this jungle quicker”

Skills Combined

Brutal Swing [Level 1]

Jungle Travel [Level 3]

Skill Gained

Savage Travel [Level 1]

You have begun to learn how to forge your path through the harshest of difficulties

(Bonus to Movement through Dangerous/Difficult terrain)

Upon gaining the skill, grim faced, Noah turned and started speeding through the jungle, his skills working in concert to push him closer and closer to village.

He was working hard enough to exhaust anyone pre-integration, be they professional strongmen or endurance athletes, so it may be understandable why he didn’t notice the loose ground under his feet as he carved and flitted his way through the jungle.

Noah eventually came to a rest, even the increased attributes given by the system had a limit. As he did, the ground that had survived over the brief impacts that Noah had made as he forged his path gave way and he fell.

He Fell between two giant statues, Humanoid in nature, as he fell, he felt an strange lightening of his mass, and he hit the ground as light as feather.

“ACAS! What was that?”

“That seems to have been a stored version of a Featherfall spell, it must have been activated by having a humanoid moving past it. “

Noah turned slowly gazing at the ginormous cavern around him and the architecture showed evidence of a technologically advanced species

“Who created this?”

“I do not know. The system has not seen fit to provide me this information. As a personal summarization, this place might have been the final resting place of the original species of this world. We may be intruding on a tomb”

“I hate that we might be going through a tomb, but with all this shit that is happening, I need any edge, and this place doesn’t look touched at all. I need to see what I can find”

“I agree, Good luck”