## Chapter fourteen, The wilderness

I left my room the way I found it more or less. I headed down to the bar area which now was transformed into a breakfast room. I had a quick breakfast and told Hilda I’d be back to settle my account. Then I went out looking for supplies. One of the stores along the street were called ‘Adventures best friend’. They probably had what I would need to sleep comfortably out in the wilderness. Even if it was still early in the morning, they were open or at least the door was open in a welcoming way. I entered the store and was met by a burly man on the other side of the room, where he was unpacking goods.

“Hi there, lad. What can I do for you?” He asked with an accent that reminded me of Scotland and came towards me brushing off his hands from what he was doing. The store didn’t feel cramped even though it was filled with goods on shelves all over the store. I thought about it for a second and decided it was because of the high ceiling.

“Yes hello, I’m looking for some camping gear and all the things you might need while being in the wilderness.” I answered.

“Then you have come to the right place. Let me put together some gear for you. You can browse the store in the meantime,” he said and turned around. With that, I started to look around. The shelves were packed with everything from shovels to axes to water-skins. I definitely wanted an ax, a sharp knife, maybe a tent and provisions, but I also wanted the shopkeeper to come with his suggestions first. I only had to wait for a couple of minutes before I heard him. Turning around, I saw he had put together a lot of stuff on a bench.

“This is what I would bring into the wilderness,” he said, “here is a good axe, a knife, two canteens and a cooking pot. Is it anything else you’re looking for?”

“Yes, the axe and knife I want. Can I have a belt and something to carry the knife in? And I’m looking for a tent for 1-2 persons. Something to make a fire. Rations for 2 weeks and maybe a warmer jacket? Cost wise, don’t go for the cheap stuff. I want good grade gear that can take a beating.”

“Let me see. Okay, I’ll change some of this stuff out. Just hang on,” he said and went back deeper into the store. This time he was away longer. When he came back, his arms were over full with gear.

“Here you go. A great quality axe. Same with the knife. A tent that is both weather and windproof. 2 canteens that on the outside measure like a 1 liter container, but on the inside, it holds five liters. Rations for 2 weeks. Here is something I just got in that's called a firemaker. With it, you can easily make a fire. I’ll even throw in some flammable dried wood that makes it easier to get that fire going. I’m afraid it’s not the season for warmer jackets, so I don’t have them now. All in all, it will set you back 630 gold.”

I thought he tried to skin me so I said, “that looks nice. Tell you what, I'll give you 450 gold and then I will take it right now.” Some haggle ensued and we settled on 500 gold. I transferred the money to Leif as the shopkeeper was called, collected all my new gear and put them into my [Inventory]. I thanked the man and went back to the inn to settle my tab.

I reached the Inn just after the breakfast crowd had left and before the lunch crowd arrived, so there were only a few customers there drinking boork. Hilda looked up when I came in through the door, “Hi there Green Raven, did you find what you needed?”

“Yes, or almost. I have two nice new canteens that are empty. If you could fill them up with Canfee, I'd be grateful. After that, I only need to pay you for the food, bath and room and then I’m off.” I said with a smile.

18 gold poorer and a good luck talk later, I was making my way out of Raeen. “Yoerus, you have been very quiet. Are you still there?”

“Yes, Green Raven, I’m always here. Is it something I can help you with?”

“Yes, can you set the route for the next monster in the quest? I’m all set to continue it now.” With that said, my map was updated, and I started the trek down the mountain. This time it was an easier trip down to the steppe. Probably because I was stronger, well rested and knew I had a nice [Inventory] now. “Yoerus, do you know what we are looking for?”

“Not yet. I’ll let you know as soon as I pick something up.”

“Good,” I mused and kept following the directions on the map. It looked like we were getting near a new forest. It loomed omnius in the near distance, looking both old and dark. The trees stood close to each other and looked like they had been there a long time. It was the kind of forest that you rather went around than into it if you had the chance. I didn’t, so I trekked forward into the forest. The air felt colder and more moist even with the sun shining. Most likely because there was no direct sunlight reaching the ground, just a kind of dusk-like light. If this had been a movie, here is where the music would have turned dark.

“Green Raven, now is a good time to get ready. There is something out there. Something new and dangerous. I have not encountered this creature before.”

“Thanks. That doesn’t sound promising. Well, keep me updated.”

“I will.”

I got my sword out and even loosened the strap on my knife. Not that it probably would do any good, but it felt better. That’s all that mattered right now. I moved deeper into the forest. I started hearing a growling sound around the time as Yoerus said warningly, “Green Raven, the creatures is moving closer. Still haven’t pinpointed what kind of creature it is.”

I said nothing, just gripped harder on my sword and tried to look all over at the same time.

“I have a name of the creatures now. The Taloned Goronde of doom.” Yoerus said and gave me some info on the creatures too. If he was correct in his assessment, they were similar to monkeys back on earth, just stoned out of their heads. Now I knew what they looked like, and I was about to find out how they fought because they were heading straight for me. The feeling I got when I saw them brought chills down my spine. They felt just like rabid dogs.

“Yoerus, do you have any suggestions or ideas for tackling these creatures?” I asked with tension in my voice.

“Sorry, Green Raven, I have nothing.”

Okay, so think Ronald, think. What do I have around me that can attack them? I'm in a forest, for crying out loud. I am stronger now. Let's take advantage of that. The creatures were only 30-40 meters away now. I focused on one of the smaller trees with [Telekinesis]. I got it uprooted and brought it down on the heads of the first 10 of them. That worked better than I thought it would. I was wielding a tree as a big ass club, so 10 down and a lot more to go. That was when they started to throw bananas at me. I wasn’t worried until the fucking things started to explode around and on me.

Damage taken 58 HP

Damage negated 40 HP

Damage taken 58 HP

Damage negated 40 HP

Over 100 HP would be gone in a flash if it wasn’t for my kickass robe. Although, if I continued to meet tougher and tougher monsters, which I most likely will, I really need to focus on getting my vitality up, I thought for a second. They were clever bastards. They had all but surrounded me in the time I registered the hits on me. Though, they forgot that I could be holding a very big stick. Focusing on [Telekinesis] brought the tree up again, and I did like I’d seen on television in the Olympics but without the figure skates, and on the ground. I did a pirouette of sorts. It was probably not that great to watch, but I can promise you that the Gorondes or bloody monkeys didn’t like it one bit. I took out all the ones standing close to me with that 360 degrees sweep of the tree. They all fell like bowling pins to the ground. Then I bonked them on the head for good measure. A quick glance on my mana bar told me that 750 mana was exactly what the doctor had ordered. I had a cool 400 left. Now the herd had thinned out quite a bit. Still, I was not relaxing but more thinking I had this in the bag. I just needed to sweep up the last ones. That was when I heard a sound that made the remaining standing Gorondes to toss all the exploding bananas at me and then flee. Out of the woods came the mother or father of all Gorondes. If this wasn’t a boss creature, I’d eat my hat. If the regular Gorondes were as large as a 10 year old child, this creature was tall like a small house, or as large as the trolls I’d been reading about back on earth. It was humongous. “Yoeurs, a bit of a heads up next time?”

“Yes, but not this time, you are alone in this.” The fucker answered.

I swore under my breath, took a quick sip of Canfee, and then mentally grabbed the tree once again and screamed loudly, “Come get some!” The mother of all monsters rushed right at me. It didn’t throw any exploding bananas at me. Instead, it uprooted a bigger tree than the one I had. Oh, shit, shit, shit, this was not good, at all.

Damage taken 250 HP

Damage negated 40 HP

Ouch, that hurt real bad. He had hit me right in the left hand side of my body. Only 74 HP left before I was dead. I couldn't take another hit like that. I needed to get my vitality up but also see if I could get a better robe or level it up somehow. For now, I focused on the level up notification I knew I had saved for an occasion just like this.

Congratulations, you have reached level 25 ….

It said more things, but I minimized it. While everything in the world felt totally alright, I dodged another blow from the Goronde and thought like a trucker missing his last exit before the highway to hell started. What could I do, and Yoerus was apparently not any help, I hadn’t signed up for this.

Damage taken 300 HP

Damage negated 40 HP

God dammit, that hurt like a MF. Okay think! I still had 750 mana, why not try [Copy, slot 1]? Even if it didn’t really work last time, it got the creature out of the room that time. Yes, that's what I’ll do. I focused on [Copy, slot 1] and used focus hit on the large Goronde and teleported him upside down 50 meters up in the air, and then canceled the skill. The uprooted trees and the exploding bananas had made the ground around us open up a bit, so there were no trees in the nearby area. Good for me, bad for the Goronde, who landed hard on its head.

Congratulations, You have defeated Gogge the Goronde, a level 30 boss, and received:

100 experience points

Congratulations, you have defeated 23 level 30 Gorondes, and received:

1150 experience points

Congratulations, you have finished the quest ‘Madness at every turn’, and received:

1000 experience points

An item of your choosing from USERUS

A level up of a existing skill

“Congratulations Green Raven, the item and the skill you chose to level up is something you tell me, and I’ll tell USERUS.”

“Thanks, can I think about it?*

“Yes”

I was near death, but those experience points would level me up quite a few times. I needed to check with Youerus if it was safe here now. Iif it was safe, I could get my tent set up, eat some cold rations and then do some Admin work on my stats and pass out.

“Yoerus, are you able to help me again?” I asked tiredly.

“Yes, what can I do for you, Green Raven?”

“Can you check and see if this area is safe? I need to rest and read notifications and level up.”

“Checking,” he was quiet for some time, “Yes, it’s safe for 20 hours. If you’re not up and moving in 18 hours, I’ll wake you.”

“Thanks!”

I opened up my minimized level up notification.

Congratulations you have reached level 25

You have 3 unspent points to spend on your stats. An additional 2 points for being from another world.

Congratulations since you have reached level 25 you can choose to get a new random skill or level up one of your existing skills.

I read one more of the level up notifications. I was badly hurt, almost unable to move, so first was to get my health back up.

Congratulations you have reached level 26

You have 3 unspent points to spend on your stats. An additional 2 points for being from another world.

Ah, that felt better. My health went back to 300 HP. It was kind of crazy how fast you got used to healing this way. Nothing like back on earth when I’d be in a hospital for at least a couple of weeks. Now, I was well in just a few seconds.

So I had some small choices to make, the gifts from Userus, and the level 25 new or level up of a skill. I’d save the item from him for now and concentrate on my notifications. Since I got a level for an existing skill too from Userus, I was going for a new skill from me reaching level 25.

Congratulations you have received a common skill. [Roots] level 1 costs 10 mana to activate and 5 mana per second the skill is used. The range is 15 meters at level 1.

Roots, bloody roots, could be useful. I already thought about ways to use it in combat. Should I get it to level 2 directly or level up [Telekinesis]? That was the question? Better to go with what is known first. “Yoerus, I’ll level up [Telekinesis], but for the item, could it be a better robe or something that negates more damage? 40 dmg is not enough if the monsters I’ve been facing lately are anything to go by.

“Telekinesis will be leveled up one level. Regarding the Item, we can upgrade the defense of the robe to negate 70 dmg, but if you are willing to pay, we can change both the hat and the robe to negate more. The cost is 1000 gold for 50 negated dmg per item.”

“That is acceptable, but could you take both the robe and the hat to 70 dmg negated? Then I’ll spend 4000 gold to bring them up to a total of 120 dmg negated.”

“Checking,”

“Checking,”

That went on for a short while. Then, the answer came in the form of a ping. I was 4000 gold poorer, and both my robe and hat were upgraded to handle more damages. That was more than okay. I still had over 7000 gold. So far, I hadn’t seen any store where I could spend much more money than a couple of hundred gold. I did some math and some guessing. I was level 26 now, so I had at least two more levels. I read those notifications real quick.

Congratulations you have reached level 28

You have 3 unspent points to spend on your stats. An additional 2 points for being from another world.

After that, I removed my tent from my [Inventory] and put it up. After getting my sleeping bag in the tent, I ate some cold rations and drank some of my water. Canfee and sleep didn’t mix. Although I would pass out, I thought that water was better.

That made 4 levels and 20 new points. The priority this time was vitality. If I put 10 points in it, it would bring my HP up to 400. Let's put 15 in vitality instead and the last five in wisdom.

I focused on vitality first, bringing it up to 45 and therefore my HP to 450. Then bring wisdom up to 80 and my mana would be 800. I closed down the windows. As I lay down in my sleeping bag, this time I welcomed the pain and black out. I was so tired after all the fighting today.