Chapter 21- Survival 101.

As I'm sailing through the air towards the opposite branch, the adrenaline rush suddenly kicks in and the world around me seemingly slows as I stretch my arm out to grab on to the opposite branch.

For long gut-wrenching moments that branch is all I can think about as the do or die switch does it's thing to help me stay alive by pumping me chock-full of adrenaline until finally, my right hand makes contact with the branch and is quickly followed by my left as I give my all to keep a hold of the branch and my momentum catches up with me.

Gritting my teeth, I hold on for dear life as the bark of the branch bites into my hand as the built up momentum seeks an outlet. Agonizing moments later the momentum is spent, and I start pulling myself up while clenching my teeth to endure the pain in my hands.

Once up over the edge, I roll over and lay on the double-layered branch-terrass as I try to catch my breath and calm my beating heart.

Looking down at my hands, I check to see the extent of the injuries; bloody partially pictured by sharp bark pieces, my hands are a mess.

However, with the exception of the punctured skin, they don't seem to be seriously damaged. As long as they don't get infected, I should be fine, I think; I'm no doctor so what do I know.

Thinking back at my acrobatic act, I grimace. "3/10, do not recommend; that shit is painful as hell." I say to myself. "Well, at least I made it up here. Maybe now I won't get eaten by the first monster that comes out at night." I say as I sit up and carefully pour some water on my bloody hands as I try to clean them the best I can before ripping a piece of my sleeve off to make makeshift bandages.

That finished, I drink some water and then settle down to get some sleep while ignoring the protests from my hungry stomach. "Yeah yeah, I'll get us some food tomorrow. So just let me get some sleep now." I mumble quietly to myself. 'I'm talking to my stomach… I think I really am going a bit crazy lately…' I ponder lightly before shaking my head to clear out my thoughts and then promptly close my eyes and focus on sleeping.

-------+#_#(@---

I am suddenly awoken from my sleep by a loud noise from below me. Whipping my face towards the source of the noise, I peer down through the branches towards the ground. But as it is still totally dark except a weak glow that filters through the foliage that I can only attribute to the moons; I can hardly make anything out as I stare down, and I am too afraid to move for the thought of it making a sound that may alert whatever is down there of my presence.

Long seconds pass as I try to breathe as quietly as humanly possible as I lay still as a stone but eventually, I can hear whatever it is moving further away with heavy footsteps.

I just lie there for long seconds, as I focus all my attention on the slowly fading footsteps as I try to calm my racing heart. 'Breathe; Just breathe…' I remind myself as I hear the last of the footsteps fading into the night.

After a few minutes of laying completely still, just to make sure that there isn't anything else out there; I once again try to fall asleep.

Once I managed to fall asleep again, I managed to get another few hours of uneventful but fitful sleep.

-----$#@@$----

Waking up to the sound of birdsong, I wearily open my eyes to look around my immediate surroundings; But nothing seems out of the ordinary so I try searching the trees for the singing birds. 'Or at least I assume they are birds, maybe this world has singing spiders or something? … not a pleasant thought, now that I think about it.'

After a few minutes of trying to find the source of the singing but coming up short, I instead focus on what my plan of action is for today.

"So, number 1 would be finding some more water, as I am almost out of it now. Number 2 would be food. Number 3 would be to find somewhere safe; hopefully without climbing and with the risk of falling to my death; Unlikely, but hey, a man can dream.

… I think that is all, right? Stay alive, basically." I ponder my plans as I look up at the foliage covered sky above me.

"Ok, time to go; the sun ain't waiting for me and I sure don't want to be moving around in the dark. Not after last night…" I say as I stretch my sore body and gingerly start looking for a way down. Luckily, once I was up here I could just grab one of the thinner branches and basically use it as a rope to get down; which I did.

Once down on the ground once again, I randomly pick a direction and start walking once again.

[email protected])$()/---

A few hours later I come upon a river that runs through the woodlands, which I quickly make my way to and fill my parched throat before filling my water skin. 'Now I need to find food, my stomach is killing me. I've never ever been so hungry before…'

Searching the river reveals that there are indeed fish swimming around; the question is: how do I get them out of the water so I can cook them?

"I could try to make a fishing rod, but I don't even know the first thing of where to start with that so… not likely to happen." I mumble to myself quietly as I consider my options. "Oh! I could make one of those fishing spears things; Tridents or whatever they're called. That could work, right?

I mean, it's just a sharpened stick, how hard can I be?"

But as I consider how to sharpen the ends and my eyes fall upon my katana on my left hip I can only facepalm. "Right, I have a magical sword that can shoot wind-blades; that should do the trick, right?" I mumble to myself and promptly stand up and take a stance to try it out.

----#+$(#)----

Half an hour later and hundreds of tries later I can only throw up my hands in surrender at my complete lack of mastery of my weapon. Even after hundreds and hundreds of tries, I still couldn't figure out how to aim the wind-blades so they cut where the fishes swim and not just cut water pointlessly.

"This is way harder than I thought it would be…" I can only lament to myself as I sigh and sit down on a conveniently placed rock by the river to rest my tired body. 'So what now? Just blast it all with lightning and hope for the best?' I ponder, only to sigh once again as my stomach rumbles angrily at me.

'I guess that settles it… lightning time, I guess. It could make things much worse at least, right?' I think as I stand up wearily and move a safe distance away, some 50 meters away from the river, and for good measure I stand behind a decently sized rock; Just to be safe. With my safety assured, I start focusing on my task.

Visualizing a lightning bolt striking the river and frying the swimming just right, I start gathering and condensing mana as I hold the image in my hand.

As I feel the magic reach completion, I let it loose and hunch down behind the rock to take cover. A moment later a thunderclap sounds as the thunderbolt hits the surface of the river and sets my ears to ringing.

I let a few seconds pass as I wait quietly to see if anything changes in the surroundings. With no beats or the like coming rushing, I make my way hurriedly to the river and quickly look around for my next meal. It only takes one glance to notice the dozens of fish that are now floating on the surface of the river while slowly being carried away by the currents.

"Alright!" I exclaim happily as I start rushing toward the river and my waiting meal that is slowly drifting away from me.

[email protected]/($+$#---

After eating my fill of the well-cooked fish and then some, I then gather what I can to bring with me.

After some deliberation, I decide to bring one particularly big fish with me as I have nothing to store food in so I opt to hold the fish with my left hand and after refilling my water skin I once again begin walking through the deep woodlands.

End of chapter 21