“Marsha, slow down a bit. I’m down to get dirty as much as you are, but are you sure this is what you want? What will Dillon think? Aren’t you a thing?”

Marsha, the baker’s daughter, was all over me hot and heavy. I couldn’t say that I hadn’t admired her form before when dropping by the shop. More than once I’d caught myself drifting off thinking about her long blond hair with stray bits of flour in it, or the way the sweat from working the ovens made her skin glisten and caused her smock to hug her form in all the right places.

She wasn’t speaking much but she’d come onto me very quickly. It was odd because she and Dillon had been a set since a few years back and every assumed they’d be getting married, but I was not one to complain. Right now I was on my back while she straddled my chest trying to make out with me and I’d finally decided to stop resisting and allowed my tongue to meet hers.

“Ow, what the fuck! Did you just bite me?”

I sat up and the dog fell off my chest. The sun wasn’t quiet up yet and I was still more tired than I’d been in a very long time. I looked around and realized that I had been dreaming and I was still in the field next to the forest.

I wiped my face and found my hand to be wet with dog saliva as I pulled it away. Wait a minute, does that mean I kissed… A quick look around told me that there was nobody else here to have seen it and so it never happened. There was not a single chance my first kiss had been with a mutt I’d just met.

I leaned pushed myself onto my feet, much to the protest of my legs, chest, and arms. When I did not instantly collapse I decided I’d acknowledge the interface pop-ups I’d received during the battle, not before I went over and pried my spear free from the beast though. It wouldn’t due to be caught unawares and unarmed.

The rakopian was located on the edge of the clearing and was still covered in a plethora of grass, although it had stopped growing and squirming around now. It seemed that my skinning knife had managed to slit the beast’s throat as I’d fallen and slayed it. Judging by the drag marks and the pain in my left shin the dog then dragged me farther from the ominous grass wall before licking me awake.

I involuntarily shuttered when remembering the method I’d been awakened. After dislodging my scrap spear from the rat’s rear I limped over toward the dead campfire. All semblance of the embers had faded away now so it took me a few minutes to get a fire going again. I pulled up my mana to judge the passing of time and was surprised at what I saw.

It had fully regained, which at about 1 mana per 7 minutes meant I’d been out cold for at least an hour. I wasn’t sure of my exact regen rate but it was somewhere around there judging from what I’d observed after growing my father’s pepper bush before leaving. That wasn’t the surprising part however, my maximum mana had increased by 1!

Right, no point putting off now. I pulled up the missed notifications.

[Congratulations! Due to your excessive practice, and never ending drive to improve yourself, you’ve unlocked ‘Basic Acrobatics’. You didn’t let anyone telling you that you smelled like dirt stop you, good job!]

[Congratulations! Due to your extensive efforts and natural affinity with the spell, [Weak Growth] has been upgraded to [Minor Growth]. [Minor Growth] costs 1 additional mana point per cast.]

[Congratulations! Due to your extensive efforts and natural affinity with [Weak Growth], you managed to overload the spell and craft its effects to suit your own needs. Awarding ability [Spell Manipulation]. This ability does not have a traditional skill level, but don’t let that fool you! It can still be improved and refined through continuous practice.]

[Congratulations! Using the ability [Spell Manipulation] and spell [Weak Growth], you’ve managed to craft a spell resembling another in the Nature Spellbook. Awarding the spell [Entangling Roots].]

[Juvenile Rakopian slain. Opponent’s skill and power level outnumbered your own, but against all odds you’ve managed to prevail. Due to method of victory, .3 Int and .2 Dex have been awarded.]

[Progress Made: .003% toward [Maintain Consciousness] skill.]

The prompts flooded my vision all at once and it took me a moment to read through them. A few things occurred to me after I finished reading. The first was that it looked like it was a lot easier to gain skills after you unlocked your interface, another reason my village shouldn’t have restrained their children, and even faster during combat for some reason. I was nowhere near unlocking Acrobatics that morning, but after doing a few rolls and evasive maneuvers during the fight I managed to unlock it. I’d test out how much easier movement was when my legs weren’t killing me.

Second I noticed that the interface seemed to have a bit of a sense of humor, that or everybody who unlocked Acrobatics did it by taking a couple of tumbles.

I was very excited to check out my new ability and spell. Since my mana was recharged I decided to try out [Entangling Roots] first. I targeted one of the trees and cast it. 5 mana drained away from me and the grass and bushes around the tree burst into motion. The plants wrapped around the tree trunk all the way up to my waist. I really had gotten very close with my casting, so it made sense that the spell was unlocked. Naturally casting the actual spell instead of brute forcing it with another one was far more efficient, costing 5 mana rather than 10.

The [Spell Manipulation] was a lot harder to grasp, and it seemed like something I could only really use when I had proper inspiration. I wasn’t really sure what else I could do with my spells right now, so I shelved it for now. Without much else to do I had a decision to make. I was running low on travel rations, and in front of me was a freshly slain beast. Granted it was a rat, but I’d eaten rats during past winters before and wasn’t very picky. The issue was, I didn’t have enough wood here to make fires to smoke it properly. Was it worth going into the forest to collect more while it was still dark?

I decided that one way or another, I couldn’t really spare the fresh kill if it was just going to walk out and present itself on a silver platter. I spent a good amount of time untangling the rakopian and dragging it back over to the fire, which is where my savior was curled up sleeping. The venom sack had been pierced and drained during combat but the rest of the creature looked salvageable. It was unfortunate because a rakopian’s venom sack could be sold to herbalists to craft potions or anti-venoms.

By the time I’d finished skinning the upper half of my vanquished foe the sun was high enough that I was willing to venture in to collect more firewood. Without much space in my bag to carry a lot I decided I’d smoke about 6 pounds of the rat to carry with me. I sliced off 6 slabs of meat that weighed close to a pound each from the front half of the rat and smoked it in separate small fires. I did my best to flay the flesh from the rat hide so that I could use it to carry the cooked meat. I knew that it wouldn’t preserve very well if I didn’t tan the hide first, but I wasn’t really planning to save the rat hide anyways, it wasn’t very valuable.

As I cut off one last chunk to toss into the fire and char for breakfast I decided to feed the dog. I looked around and found the bitch, it was a female dog as far as I could see, was already feasting on the offal. To each their own I guess. Almost as an afterthought I sliced out the sinew from the rakopian’s legs and wrapped them in dry cloth from my bag. I wasn’t sure if it would be as effective as a deer’s sinew but I’d read that it was possible to fashion a hunting bow string from it.

A couple hours later the sun was fully up and my meat was finished smoking, or as close as it was going to get. In the future I’d make a real camp so that I could properly dry and tan hides as well as smoke meat and make jerky. For now I was in a rush, and I wasn’t sure any amount of preparation would make the rakopian less stringy and gamey. I planned on traveling at least a few more days before stopping. I may not be in a rush but I wanted to at least make some distance toward my goal, wherever that was.

I was as rested as I was getting and my stomach was relatively full, so after wrapping the smoked meat in rat hide and stashing it at the bottom of my bag, I set off into the forest. I wasn’t sure if the dog was going to tag along, but before long she trotted over and was walking beside me.

Whether it was because the sun was up or because I now had a companion, the forest seemed a lot more accommodating. I still got the feeling I was being watched, but it no longer made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. As I progressed through the forest I saw a few nuts I knew were safe to eat as well as some flowers and herbs that I could brew into a tea or sell for medicinal qualities. These finds were accompanied by a message letting me know I made a bit of progress towards ‘forage’. Mentally, I ordered the interface to only notify me about skill progress when I made progress toward it the first time. I found the pop-ups annoying but I also did not want to miss out on a new skill discovery by muting them completely.

Progress through the underbrush was a lot slower than the field or road had been, both because I was tired and sore and because of roots and uneven terrain. I decided to take a quick break around midday. I walked over to a nearby bush to answer nature’s call and then I heard it.

“Hello? Is there anyone out here?” A female’s voice drifted over the wind to my ears. I was unsure if I should try and seek them out or not because I’d heard stories about nature spirits that lured young men away with alluring voices, just to kill and eat them or something. I’d also heard tales of bandits, admittedly a far more plausible scenario.

Just as I’d made up my mind to ignore it the dog who’d been following me like a, well like a dog, whined and started walking toward where we’d heard the voice from. I guess if the dog trusted it, I could too. I pulled my pants up and grabbed my belongings, telling myself that I’d be cautious.