It had been a difficult decision to make. The fire crackled as I wondered how to proceed from here. My exp had gone up another point from successfully starting the fire but I was still woefully unprepared to face the world around me. Being level one meant that I was vulnerable to most attacks and being naive in the ways of this world meant that leveling up was going to be difficult.

I stared at the creature I had dragged close to the fire, bandages of healing moss covering its major wounds. After only a few hours the dressings had almost completely healed the lacerations and the arm was starting to contort back into its normal shape. I had used all but one of my bandages to save the creature, its breathing having steadied after I had applied the first aid.

The creature itself had passed out shortly before I had made the decision to save it. It’s green eyes clouded over as it slipped from consciousness. At this point all that remained of its wounds were the dark red crusted blood that stained its orange and black fur. It looked similar to myself albeit quite a bit smaller. Its fisique was stringy, likely trading strength for speed or agility, resembling an anthropomorphised old world fox with subtle differences in both scale and shape. I could only hope that it was an intelligent species and non-hostile as otherwise I might be in a poor position in the morning.

I looked up at the night sky, starlight filtering in through the atmosphere to fill my vision. Millions of twinkling specks filled the sky as twin moons lit up the world below. During my time on Earth I had grown fond of these types of views, commonly going on camping trips out of town just for spectacles like this. This was beyond anything earth had to offer however. Here there was no light pollution out competing the light from the stars, there was no industrial haze clogging the atmosphere and preventing dimmer stars from appearing. From what I could gather, this world seemed pure, untouched, and wild. Incredibly dangerous while stunningly beautiful. Truly a gem in the dark.

A rustling sound across the firepit brought me back to reality, the fox-like creature had awoken and had begun struggling to sit up. I sat there and watched it as it feebly tried to prop itself up against a nearby boulder. After succeeding, it gazed across the fire at me, emerald eyes exploring my body language, “Thank you” it said softly in a quiet but unmistakably masculin voice.

I nodded before quietly responding, “You’re welcome. You were in pretty bad shape you know, had I not been quick with the first aid you might not have made it.”

At this he looked down at his wounds in surprise. His hands quickly slid over the bandages where his body had taken a beating, “Where in the world did you find all of this healing moss and why would you use this much on me? I can’t possibly afford even one of these let alone three, there’s no way I’ll ever be able to repay you for this treatment.” He stared at me, worry seeping onto his face as if what he just said would change the fact that he’s already been treated.

Damn, the healing moss was rare, I would need to retrace my steps in order to go get more. Perhaps I would be able to coax more information out of this creature as payment, “There are ways you could pay me back that don’t involve money.” I said nonchalantly.

This seemed to make the fox visibly upset to the point he started shaking, “No wait I can scrape together some money. After what happened I could surely convince my village to pool some money in order to pay you but it might take some ti…”

I cut him off after realizing that he was panicking. I hadn’t wanted to upset him, I’d just wanted it to seem like I was negotiating a good deal for him, “No, I meant that in addition to paying me what you can, I would like you to provide me with some information. I am new around here and would like you to inform me of locations, wildlife, and other miscellaneous information.”

At this he visibly relaxed. The expression he wore was still one of distrust but was no longer one of outright fear, “Oh… Yes I can tell you anything you need to know about the area. I’ve been living here for almost 18 years. I was born in a small village up river by the name of Fenroot so you could say that I am familiar with the area.” He slowly got up and limped over to where I was sitting, his frame reached about 5’3, much shorter than my near 6’6 height. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to approach someone that much bigger than you while wounded, let alone someone who looked like me. He stuck out his hand, “Name’s Orion pleasure to make your acquaintance. Thanks again for saving my life.”

I reached out my much larger hand and shook his, “Alyx and you’re welcome. Have a seat by the fire, I’ve got a few questions I’d like to start with.” At this he nodded and slowly moved a few feet away, propping himself up against a rock facing the fire. I waited until he seemed comfortable before continuing, “First thing’s first, what are you and how many are there like you?”

He cocked his head at the question, “What do you mean? What race am I? That would seem like a fairly silly question if I wasn’t going to ask you the same thing I suppose. If you don’t know a Ferrin when you see one then you must be from far away. Would you mind answering that same question? I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything like you before.”

Quietly I looked through my stats. To be fully honest I didn’t even know what I was. My eyes hovered over the interface before spotting something that might illuminate the situation, “I am a Wrorine and am indeed from far away.”

“What did you say!” He jerked forward wincing in pain before reluctantly deciding to remain seated before continuing, “You’re full of crap! I’ve been told that nobody has seen a Wrorine in hundreds of years. They were hunted to extinction by humans after their rebellion. If you didn’t want to tell me then that’s fine but don’t go giving me a heart attack by passing off as something I’ve dreamed of seeing as a youngling. my guess was that you were probably just an overgrown Ferrin.” He chuckled slightly as he relaxed himself back against the rock.

I grunted in irritation, annoyed by the fact that he was questioning my honesty but decided to drop it. If what he said was true then I might be even more alone in this world than I thought. I might be in even more danger too as who knows how my race would be perceived. Maybe it was better to have everyone believe that I was just a tall Ferrin, “You got me.” I smiled wryly, “I’m taller than any other Ferrin I know so I can usually convince people I’m Wrorine. You should see some of the reactions I get. Couldn’t pull the wool over your eyes though.” At this he chuckled again, “OK second question, what kind of hostile wildlife lives around here?”

“Well, there are a few tusk bears but they don’t usually bother anyone, wolves tend to pop up once in a while too and they usually prefer attacking livestock over people, feral dogs can sometimes become a problem. Occasionally you’ll get a few random tarspawn monsters like tardogs and tarslimes, they’re not too dangerous alone because we haven’t had a rift in this forest in decades so we don’t have to deal with packs.” He thought a bit before nodding to himself, “And humans can be pretty hostile but I would hardly call them wildlife.”

Deconstructing that last statement confirmed what I remembered about my conversation with the old man in Here, humans seemed to be generally condescending towards non-humans. What really caught my attention was the comment on rifts and tarspawn, “What exactly does a rift look like and how do they work?”

Orion seemed to consider this for a moment before responding, “I personally have never seen one. I’ve heard that they’re fissures in the earth from which bubbles a thick black tar. A wandering trader that came through our village a few years back sold us a book on them. Apparently, when they form a pool of that tar, monsters can start to spawn from them. The bigger the pool the stronger the monsters that will spawn.”

That was worrying. Packs of tardogs might be spawning as we sit here and exchange stories. “One last question for tonight, what level are you and what kind of combat skills do you have?”

He paused for a long while, slowly looking me up and down. Something had changed about the way he answered, now more distrustful and vague, “How do I know I can trust you? That’s a question that’s a bit of a cultural faux pax to ask around here.”

“You don’t know that you can trust me but I need to know whether or not I can trust you.” I responded calmly. I chastised myself for making the mistake, I didn’t want to come off as untrustworthy, I hadn’t known about this unspoken rule.

He seemed to ponder my response while the fire crackled in between us, its shadows casting silhouettes on the boulders peppering the beach, “I suppose you did save my life, you could have chosen not to and just taken my things. But instead you chose to trust that I wasn’t a cutthroat, so I suppose the least I could do is return some of that trust. I am level three and I have only one combat skill (Spear G) developed during my time fishing.”

I had learned something very valuable from that screw up. People would take offense if you asked them about their level in this world. It would be good if I remembered that, “Thank you, I know it is tough placing trust in a complete stranger. We should get some rest because tomorrow morning you’re going to help me collect more healing moss to make up for the ones I used on you.”

At this his eyes lit up and he nodded vigorously, I was showing him the location of valuable resources so he was obviously quite excited. I didn’t intend to stay here long term so it was fine to share the knowledge with his village. If what Orion said was true then his village was ill prepared for the rift that had been opened in the forest and needed all the healing moss they could get. Besides, I couldn’t get caught up in fighting packs of tardogs, if a rift worried this level three Ferrin then I wouldn’t stand a chance at level one. He had quickly curled up in a ball, his back still pressed against the rock.

As I laid down, my back pressed against my own boulder, I could sense that tomorrow was going to be a busy day. I would like to find Fenroot village and ask Orion about the area surrounding it. What kind of settlements were near, how many people were in the area, and were there any cities nearby? I had to be careful not to give away my complete lack of experience though as someone might use it to take advantage of my low level. Needless to say I had a lot of catching up to do and very few options for how to go about doing that.

I could only hope that my trust in this Ferrin wasn’t going to come back to bite me.

Tardog (Level 3)

0/300 Experience

50/50 Health ----

90/90 Stamina ------

0/0 Mana --

50/50 Spirit ---

‘0’ Stat Points Available

Racial Ability - Call Pack

Skills: (Tar Fang G)