Chapter 5: Thirty Days

Coals sustaining the heat of the fire, smoke rose through the trees and into the sky above. From the light peeking through the trees above, a seasoned survivalist would identify the time around noon. Specks of sunlight shone through onto Eluc, sitting with his head back and eyes closed on a white lounge chair.

A campsite was created around the fire that was currently roasting some meat atop its pan at a slow boil. From the White Room, Eluc brought out much of the furniture from inside as he enjoyed the fresh air compared to the stuffy basement. Wind brushed across his skin and rustled his black hair that grew longer by the day, spreading a cool through his body that helped in the mild heat. ‘It’s so relaxing, listening to the sounds of nature,’ Eluc thought. His sole focus was on his hearing, as he trained himself to be attentive to every rustle of the brush on the ground or the leaves on the trees. He also smelt the meat cooking over the pit, but that was yet another perk of the camp. Soon, he heard a rustling above his head.

Eluc’s hand glowed a teal hue as he continued to hold himself still, avoiding a scare towards the prey. Intent to attack his body cooled, but it was different from the wind grazing through the forest. His hands were the first to chill, injecting ice into his veins, and then traveled through the rest of his body. The clarity this induced served him well, both for his nerves and his mental health.

The rustling continued, occurring more frequently as the climbing creature got more careless in its approach. Eluc’s lack of diligence had already cost him before and he wasn’t one to make the same mistake twice. Well, blunders happened from time-to-time. At least the third instance was preventable.

At last, the creature pounced on the ground, halting its movement as it absorbed the shock from the landing. Eluc was experienced with this very situation. At the same moment as the landing, his eyes shot open and turned towards the source of the noise. He began to size up the creature as his hand reflexively pointed at the prey, shaking as power released from his palm.

Startlement was evident across Eluc’s face as his eyes registered what he was looking at. From the sound of its rustling and the impact of its pounce, he expected the creature to be of a much smaller size compared to the meter and a half long coyote that appeared. All its basic features resemble a coyote, but its floppy ears and the webbed skin between its torso and limbs differentiated itself. In fact, Eluc had fought one of these before and was bedridden from the lasting injuries of the fight.

In the same moment as these thoughts trained through his brain, Eluc’s hand glowed to its peak as a blue arrow materialized in the air, shooting in an instant. The [Ice Arrow] was fast and a glint shone in Eluc’s eye as he was sure of his kill, but the coyote was faster. Recovering from its landing, it pushed its legs off the ground and flew in the air to land on a near branch a few meters up a tree. The system actually had a name for this animal: [Flying Coyote].

Just like last time, the flying ability caused Eluc heartache. Its speed enabled it to perform swift fly-by attacks, capable of getting close and then away in one agile movement. Of course, the extended fight from last time enabled Eluc to find the creature's weakness, as most had. It was a common shortcoming flying creatures shared: fragile bones

Another flash of blue started on Eluc’s left hand, ready for the next engagement sure to follow his provocation. The Flying Coyote’s eyes sharpened as its neck retracted, folds forming on its back in a roll of meat. Saliva dripped from his tightened maw, perhaps beginning from the smell of roasted buck but only exacerbated by the living prey in front of its eyes. Long legs clenching in preparation, the coyote launched itself from its perch.

Eluc had waited with patience, just like his first move of the fight. As soon as he picked up his first book of magic from the White Room, he understood that spells were as practical as they were situational. Magic could be used as a substitute to a blade as an all-purpose weapon. However, it truly excelled in tailoring its versatility to the scenario.

Once the coyote was two arms-length away, the fingers on Eluc’s protruded left hand spread, releasing the spell. A blue, translucent shield formed, quickly spreading from its center to above his head and into the ground. Without time to react, the coyote’s nose crashed into the [Barrier], the rest of its body following. The weak spell shattered afterward, but its purpose was already complete.

The animal laid on the ground, whimpering in pain. Eluc wasn’t sure if the creature broke its neck on the impact, but he was sure that he wouldn’t take any chances of retaliation. His right hand that rested on the hilt of his sheathed sword pulled it from his hip, swinging the weapon down onto the beast’s neck.

Level Up!

You have reached Level 9!

Eluc’s sword, still buried in the ground through the body of the coyote. He heard his beating heart in his ears as his throat bobbed in a swallow. Momentarily closing his eyes, a satisfied grin appeared on his face with their reopening.

“Progress,” he uttered. True progress was made. Twenty days ago, this very same fight happened, but on much worse terms on Eluc’s side. Since then, he trained basic movements of the various weapons from the armory and even took a few into the field to hunt. He learned that mobility was highly prioritized in the current situation, so he chose a shortsword with decent force and agility. Upon realizing that, he sought out a complement to compensate for the lack of range and raw damage he would need when necessary. Carrying another weapon besides a dagger was out of the question as it would only encumber him, so magic became the best option. Eluc spent days sorting through the books figuring out which spells to choose from and chose a few of interest. However, an interesting situation presented itself as he learned each spell.

Skill Activated: The World [Lvl 1]

Intent to attack with a spell identified. Spell: Tremor raised to [Grade One - Lvl 1].

‘The World,’ his gift for awakening in this world with no memories, served to give him introductory knowledge with spells and swords. He first experienced this when he attacked the doe with a bow, but he didn’t expect it to extend to all armaments and spells. The knowledge it gave was only enough to cast the spell or perform a weapon’s movements, but it was more of a shortcut than actual learning. Fake wisdom would be implanted into his mind and body and it was up to him to build a stable foundation off of that.

Magic was quite fantastical when studying the practical application of casting, outlined inside of the White Room’s spellbooks. Every spell had underlying runes, facilitating the connection between man and chaos so he could draw from the elements and bring imagination to life. Before structural spells, magic used to be quite freeform and was capable of destroying any mountain that dared to stand before a caster. However, knowledge of the inner workings of magical theory was required, and for the purpose of mass-producing magicians, spells began to condense into an easy-to-use array of runes. Beginner spells only used up to ten runes, but more advanced ones required the user to form hundreds in less than a second. Mental acuity was needed to be a mage, but magic needed to build in the body over time, so regardless of one's intelligence they couldn’t skip a tier.

In the end, Eluc had to parse through all of the spells to find the useful ones. Most of them had overlaps between the other schools of magic and mostly involved switching a rune or two when initiating the spell. With the base element changed, the spell could be further adaptative towards the situation. That was something the book had not told Eluc. As for the spells he found most applicable, he had a list stored inside the system.

♢ Spells ♢

Elemental Arrow: [Novice - Lvl 5]

Barrier: [Novice - Lvl 3]

Elemental Wave: [Novice - Lvl 2]

Illuminate: [Novice - Lvl 6]

Tracking: [Novice - Lvl 3]

Marker: [Novice - Lvl 3]

It was a short list compared to the collection of spells scribed in the books, but it was neat and were the only spells Eluc felt he needed. Because of the system, skills and spells would be stored inside of it so he would never forget the runes to a spell or how to cast it should he need to as a last resort. ‘This must have been yet another convenience to switch to the new magical system,’ Eluc thought.c

While he was once more refreshing his memory over magical concepts, the coyote had already been reduced to workable scraps of furs and meat cut in sizable portions. His knife cleanly sliced through the muscles while avoiding the tendons entirely. Tendons and ligaments were cleanly torn through by the gutting knife once he worked all of the useful meat off. At this point, not even a single drop of blood splattered on his clothes, still the beautiful white color from the day he woke up.

Eluc then took a short walk to the river to wash his hands. A thirty minutes stay in the White Room would have dried them as well, but he didn’t like spending too much time down there nowadays. Despite its safety from the flora and fauna outside, it felt like there was another danger looming, only discoverable by his paranoia. No clues existed to point to this conclusion, but it was only a gut feeling.

The river still calmy surged in its divet of the land, traveling further eastwards by way of its current. He dipped his blood-stained hands into the water below, rubbing his hands together with fervor. Washing away with the river, the stream dyed red, flowing away until the fluid dispersed amongst the water before it disappeared altogether. Eluc always stared at the blood leaving his hands and being carried away, almost as if his sin was washed away and purity returned to his heart. Nearly a hundred creatures had died by his hand, the [World Points] counter dubiously keeping track for him. It was all in the name of survival, it was his life or theirs, but every time he said that to himself it just felt like rationalization towards the corruption of his soul. Eluc was fairly intelligent, more so upon the addition of his [Skill Points], so he knew that he must have been something before his Awakening. He liked to think that he never hurt a single creature in his past life.

His eyes wandered from the river as he saw a familiar face making its way towards him. Compared to before, the dire wolf’s head was raised proudly, looking with disdain at the prey in front of it. Its majesty would have been unmatched in the entire forest, had the gruesome scar across its eye not been present. Much larger than before, the wolf’s growth exceeded Eluc’s expectations as it now towered a couple of heads over him on its two powerful hind legs. As it approached to within a few meters, it growled towards the other.

“Yes, yes. Here you go, stingy wolf,” Eluc said, grabbing a piece of meat from inside his coat. He arced the steak towards the maw of the canine, who bit down and swallowed the food in one swift motion. After an appeased exhale, it then continued to stare with its yellow eyes. It went as far as to menacingly sit on its hind, tongue hanging from its mouth in excitement. Every one of its actions was coated in threats.

With a sigh, Eluc grabbed another steak and threw it in the same manner, watching as the wolf barked and strode off for the day. This was the unspoken arrangement between the two after their fights led to grievous wounds for both of them, but mostly Eluc. However, no injury Eluc received was permanent with the help of the White Room, only excruciatingly painful if he survived. Thus, he bided his time, getting stronger as he hunted the other creatures of the forest, just like the wolf. Both in a struggle to surpass the other, growing day by day until they fought their next. Only one of them would emerge as the victor then.

Coldness enveloped his hands, but Eluc was too lost in his thoughts to notice. He often forgot as no blatant side effects resulted from its existence, but the Brand continued to develop. Its spiral twisted, encroaching towards his hands, waiting for its moment in solemn hibernation.