Chapter 6: Damn Skill Nearly Killed Me

It’s been more than a week since my fight with the black bear and Misha being my new companion, it took us 2 uneventful days getting back to old man Silan’s house, no weaker beast, rabbits, and birds came near us, the reason being me who stink like a chicken coop or ammonia, even old man Silan didn’t came closer to me, he said I must always stay 10 meters away from him and be always stay downwind from him, this gesture hurt me a lot, it makes me want to cry. Misha is the only one who wants to stay near me, and who seems to enjoy how I smell. The other problem aside from me who stink is, is me who stink like Misha’s mother. Why does me who stink like Misha’s mother is a problem, I asked old man Silan, he told me that other stronger beast like the bear, search for a new territory or expand the territory they already had, they will challenge other beast for a territory, like how the bear who challenge Misha’s mother by trespassing her territory, and since me, who stink’s like Misha’s mother, will be a good target for a challenge, even if I don’t own the territory.

Misha was the rightfully owner of the territory which we abandoned, since she can’t defend the territory on her own, she would die in a week if I didn’t take her, good thing we left immediately after we skinned and butchered the bear and Misha’s mother, which I regretted for a moment but decided that she deserves it for putting me in this circumstances, I just needed to stay alive for a week said the old man. I asked the old man if I can just take a bath to remove this awful smell, he said that even if I bathe multiple times, it won’t go away, because there was mana of the imprinter mixed in it, that is how imprinting works, so even if somebody want to own a dragon and decided to take a bath in a dragon piss, all they can get is an awful lot of smell. So there was nothing I can do but to wait for my smell to revert back to its original smell. Then what will happen if I revert back to my own smell, wont Misha recognize me? I asked again the old man, he said that, that was why a week was needed, the smell would slowly diminishes by time, slowly making Misha accustomed to my original smell. And the most important question of all, why I didn’t notice my smell change, I remembered that time was standing up and feeling wet, I didn’t smell myself bad, I just “saw” that I smelt bad from the way old man Silan treats me and my yellowy outline in the snow. Old man Silan said, he didn’t know why, it just work that way, all he had was a theory, that the mana mixed in the piss bypass my sense of smell so that I can’t smell it. Good thing if it works that way, because if I smell myself, there’s a high chance that I would also stay away from myself.

When we arrive home, I was about to enter the house when the old man shut the door, and shouted from the inside that I can stay in the shed till the smell wears off. Damn you Misha’s mother. The old man also told me not to go far away from him, because there was some chances that some beast followed us even though we already left the territory, which rarely happen because they are smart enough to stay away from the signs of human habitat, but there’s nothing wrong in being careful, so I heed his advice. How strong the old man really is? I thought again.

I spend the rest of the day of my smelly week doing the same routine I did before going to hunt and added some of the skills I learned from the old man during the hunt.

Silent Step (Passive) Apprentice Grade 2 (39.90% to the next grade)To run or walk lightly and silently.

-10% to the sound you make while walking or running

Steps become a little lighter that leaves barely a mark

The Higher the Grade of this skill will make you step soundless, lighter, and tire much slower

Hunting (Passive) Apprentice Grade 4 (45.08% to the next grade)A collection of skill that is use in the wild but can be also used anywhere. A means of survival

You know the right way how to Skin

You know the right way how to Butcher

You know the right way how to Tan

Enhance the item produce by 12%

You know the right way how to Track

Details shall now be added to Identify skill when related to this skill

The higher the grade of this skill affects much better to overall hunting skills

Herbology Crafting (Passive) Apprentice Grade 2(10.01% to the next grade)To craft something new out of herbs and plants, be it medicine, poison, food ingredients, or any other herbs and plants related.

Enhance the created item by 6%

You know the right way how to gather herbs and plants

Details shall now be added to Identify skill when related to this skill

The higher the grade of this skill affects much better to overall crafting skills

I learned herbology crafting on the way back, I learned silent step two days after we came back, and I learned hunting when old man Silan taught me how to tan the fur we got. He said I can learn the skills involve in the hunting skills separately, but it won’t be much effective as I learned it as a whole. I asked old man Silan if I can use hiding skill plus Silent step skill as a combination so I can move while not being seen like stealth, he said I can use it but it won’t turn into a skill like stealth and not as effective as the skill like stealth, because stealth is a three combination of skill, one is hiding, two is silent step and three is mana manipulation which I don’t have. He explained that hiding is blending in the surrounding and not moving while stealth is the manipulation of mana so the surrounding will blend at you while you move. I asked him if he can teach me, but he said he can’t, because he don’t have mana manipulation skill, and even if he does, a full mage can only taught it.

So I gave up, but at least I can use my two skill as a combination even if it’s not as effective. I didn’t add any fighting skill in my routine because it would be pointless to learn on my own. I need a proper teacher to learn how to fight properly, since I had this premonition that I will be fighting more on this world and fist fight and what I learn on my own won’t do a thing when faced a proper fighter. Misha accompanied me in my training, which is what she mostly does, following and sticking to me. When I run around the house she accompanied me, when I go to sleep, she’s beside me, and even taking a bath and privy, she was always there. Since she wants to stick closely to me, I decided to train her but purely in physical fitness and physical strength. I taught her some tricks like how to bite, catch, get, sit, roll, fetch, and some other simple command you can teach to a dog. Don’t look at me like that, I know she’s a cat, but I don’t know how to teach her or help her to develop her skills, at least she’s getting much stronger than before with all that training.

The day when my smell revert back to its original smell finally came, old man Silan deemed it worthy for me to return to my bed. I was so happy that day, no more sleeping in that smelly hard shack. Old man Silan also deemed it safe that he won’t need to guard me anymore, so he decided that he would go to the village the next day to sell some of the meat and fur we got, he also ask me what I want or if there’s anything that I need so he can buy it in the village since he know I won’t be coming with him. I told him that I need books, mostly about this world, beast, about places and peoples that live here, and some books that is useful for me, I also added some maps, clothes, and anything he sees fit that I need. He told me that don’t expect anything about books, because it’s just a village, unless some roaming merchant that comes to trade is present then maybe he can get some, I told him that anything is fine, then I asked if the tailor of the village has some skills, so he can make both of us some new cloak out the bear and Misha’s mother fur.

He said there was, and a great one at that, he asked me again if that’s all I want with the fur and not some armor, because there will be a lot left, the bear fur alone can make 6 cloaks, I said again that I don’t want any fur armor, it will make me look hairy, then make us two cloak each, one for winter and the other one for everyday use when it’s not cold anymore, and if there’s a leftover, you can decide what to do, I said. I asked where he would get the money, since all I want seems expensive, he said the meat alone would be enough to pay it with a lot of gold to spare, since it’s more than a thousand pound of meat and came from two rare beast. After deciding what other things we need he said that he won’t be back till three to four days later because it would take 2 days to travel back and forth and 1 or 2 days to sell and buy everything. Then me and Misha would be left alone here till old man Silan came back, I guess that would be ok since I don’t smell anymore, I just hope nothing bad happen.

The next day, old man Silan was prepared to leave, I asked him if he needs help dragging the litter of goods halfway to the village since its quite heavy. He said he can manage it, really? How strong you really are old man, I remembered laboring breath when I drag that litter a couple kilometers on the way back. He said his goodbye and some advice, then he left off, dragging the litter on to the snow. Misha and I watch the disappearing silhouette of the litter onto the distance. After that, we continued our day with the same routine we did this past few days. This is the first time I’ve been alone in this world, alone I mean as human companion, since I’m not totally alone because Misha is always tailing me. It’s quite lonely without the old man, I missed him already. So to disperse this loneliness, I immersed myself in more training.

Five days went by as I waited for the old man to comeback. He didn’t comeback yesterday, so its means, he will be coming back later, the old man was a day late. And what will welcome him is me in a bad shape because of the skill I got three days after the day the old man left, when I got the skill I used it like no tomorrow not knowing any consequences that will happen while using it.

You learned a skill “Immersion”

Immersion (Passive) Apprentice Grade 1 (50.20% to the next grade)You delve too deeply in a particular activity. You are likely to forgot anything around you till you are done in that particular activity

Adds one to the effect of your action you immersed in

Doubles up the negative effect you receive when suddenly released from being immerse

The higher the grade of this skill enhances the effect of this skill much better

This skill I learned is another skill like Focus, this time it’s Immersion, it’s a good skill to have, aside from it being passive which became 3 times more effective, when it is combined in Training skill which also a passive skill, it became 9 times more effective then add up with Focus that became 6 times more effective because its passive, the result became 54 times more effective, so I got 54 stat every time a message pops up to notify me. Same with training my bow proficiency and other skills but instead of grade, it adds up in the total experience I gain, if I gain 0.01% every 30 arrows I shot in my current grade of skill, it became 0.54%. This is so overpowered skill.

But there was a downside that I neglected in it. Before I learned the skill, I was already immerse in training that I gradually forgot about Misha, at first I forgot to gave it food in the right time, then it became worse and worse after time. The reason I forgot about Misha, aside from being immersed myself in training, is because Misha has gradually gain independence since the smell wears off. At first she would be gone for an hour then came back sticking to me again which didn’t happen the first week we are together, I don’t know where she goes, since I didn’t notice her missing at first, maybe she went off exploring the place or play around the house. After that she would be gone from time to time but she always came back after some time. I totally forgot her when I learned the skill, which was the third day after the day the old man left, which supposed to be the day he would return for its already the fifth day since he had left.

Like I said, I used the skill like there’s no tomorrow, which nearly became a no tomorrow for me ever again. This immersion skill doubles up the negative effect I receive, I don’t quite understand what will I receive, so I disregard it. I used it continuously that I even forgot to eat, I don’t even know what’s happening around me since I was to immersed in shooting my bow, all I know is my skills, the bow, the arrow and the target. I didn’t notice that Misha was sneaking up on me, I just notice her, when she was already tackling me from the left side which was my blind spot since I hold the bow with my left hand and draw with my right hand. I flew three meters from where I was, hitting the ground with my right shoulder and rolled two meters more, that was a good tackle, I lost consciousness for a couple of hours, I woke up dazed for a moment and hurting all over my body, I assessed the condition of my body, right shoulder dislocated, right foot sprained, bruises all over my body, and worst of all, I got cold.

You got a status “Mild Case of Cold”

You got a status “Dislocated”

You got a status “Sprained”

Mild Case of ColdA status receive by being sick or doing some stupid action that will led for being sick.

-5% to all resistance

-5% to all Stat

You are likely to get worse when not treated immediately

Can be remove by buffing recovery or waiting till your body is healed

DislocatedA status receive when a hard blow to the joint has occured

Dislocated parts cannot be used till it healed

Dislocated: Right Shoulder

Hurts a lot when the Dislocated parts are hit

Can be remove by buffing recovery or waiting till your body is healed

SprainedA status receive when the ligaments around the joint has been stretched too far

Sprained parts can be used but hurts a lot till it healed

Sprained: Right Ankle

Hurts a lot when the Sprained parts are hit

Can be remove by buffing recovery or waiting till your body is healed

I was wondering how I receive this injuries, when Misha growl beside me, then I remembered what happened and how I got this injuries, it was not Misha’s fault but the skills fault, I don’t want to blame myself for being immersed and I don’t want to blame Misha because it’s my fault for forgetting about her, so I blamed the skill, stupid skill. Because of the skill I got this terrible injuries, if I don’t have the skill, even I put myself in immersion and Misha tackle me, I would be instantly released from my immersion and I won’t forget to defend myself when I fall and only receive a minor scratch and bruise, but because of the skill which doubles the negative effect I receive when suddenly released from being immerse, it doubles my shocked when I was hit by Misha, making my stun state longer which led me to do nothing to defend my body when I fall and rolled into the ground.

As I lie down there, Misha who sat beside me looks really worried, I pat her head my left hand that it was okay since it was the skills fault. I sat up slowly and cautiously, making sure that I don’t move or used my sprained and dislocated parts, it hurts a lot even if I move it a little bit, but I need to move now or else, my cold gonna get worse, I search for my bow and found two meters away from me, I drag myself towards the bow using my left hand and the left side of my body, I feel like I’m swimming into the snow using only the half of my body. I reached my bow and tuck it inside my quiver, there’s still arrows scattered around the place, I didn’t mind them because it’s easy to make arrows than making a bow.

I tried standing up but it was hard and a tiny movement sent pain in my head, so I asked Misha to bite my cloak and drag me towards the house good thing I taught her some tricks, as I reached inside the house, I asked Misha to fetch my pack, she bounded off inside the room and fetch my pack, she returned to me dragging the pack, in the pack was the herbs I collected, I chew some of the herbs so I can remedy my cold, this kind herb is serve when boiled, what can I do, I can’t stand up to make some fire, so I just chewed it and hope for the best. I grind some of the herbs with my hunting into the floor using my left hand which is quite hard, I’m not used in using my left arm, after grinding them, I gently applied them in my dislocated shoulder and sprained ankle, then I lie down onto the floor, don’t have any strength left to go to the bed, and I was hoping old man Silan would be coming back today since its already the fourth day since he left.

I woke up the next day feeling a little better, old man Silan didn’t return yesterday, because if he is, I won’t wake up in this kind of situation. Thanks for Misha sleeping beside me, I didn’t felt quite cold even I slept onto the floor, I chewed again some herbs and reapplied some herbs on my now swollen and purple dislocated and sprained injuries, I was hungry and thirsty, and there was nothing to eat but raw meat in the storage, good for Misha she can eat raw, how about me? I’m really hungry and felt weak, but there’s no one to help me but Misha, so I decided I must act or die of hunger or thirst. I drag myself into the kitchen and ask Misha to fetch some meat into the storage for both of us, I was so thankful to myself that I taught Misha some tricks, so genius. As I reach the kitchen with so much difficulty, I immediately grab the water skin and drank hungrily, now thirst clenched hunger next, I said to myself. Misha return with some meat I patted her because of her job well done, she handed my share and started eating hers, I was so envious when Misha started munching her own meat, now what will I gonna do to this meat, it was hard to stand up when I thought of a great idea.

“Misha, breath fire to this meat now.” I said to Misha

“Raawwwrl?” Misha said while tilting her head.

“Stupid Misha, you don’t know how to breath fire?!” I said aghast

“SLAP” I was shocked! Misha hit me with her paw, I immediately curled my body making it smaller.

“Misha scary” I said in a whisper, Misha ignore me and continued eating her meat.

Damn that old man! Im sure he was behind this! He taught my cute little Misha how to do that, I didn’t remember teaching her that. Hope you trip your foot, I prayed. Nothing to do but to endure my hunger, I just slept.

I woke up, someone was shaking my body, I thought it was Misha, but it was the old man, thank the Gods and Gaia, the old man returned. I was barely conscious, I just said help to the old man.

I woke up the next day in bed, all bandage up and feeling better, the old man came up to check on me when he noticed that I’m awake already, he gave me some soup and water which I devoured in a second. He asked me what happen and I explained that some bad skill came up and beat me. He didn’t quite believe me because he thinks I’m becoming delusional. He gave me some strip of leather. I was bewildered why he gave me that.

“Bite it” said the old man

“Huh? Why?” I asked

“Just bite it, tightly okay then closed your eyes.” He ordered. So I bite the leather tightly and closed my eyes, then I heard some shuffling. Then the old man in one swift motion grab my right hand and pulled it fast.

“CRACK” I heard then

“ARRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH” I shouted while biting the leather

“Why “Pant” Didn’t “Pant” you “Pant” warn me “Pant”” I said in between breath, with tears in my eyes, damn that hurts like hell!

Status Dislocated has been removed

You got a status “Sprained”

SprainedA status receive when the ligaments around the joint has been stretched too far

Sprained parts can be used but hurts a lot till it healed

Sprained: Right Shoulder, Right Ankle

Hurts a lot when the Sprained parts are hit

Can be remove by buffing recovery or waiting till your body is healed

“If I warn you, you might tense up when I pulled it, making it worse. Now rest up, well talk again later” He said. Tired with the exertion I made, I just slept and rest.

I rested the rest of the day, waking up for a while to eat, drink, or to use the privy, the old man would support me when I went to the privy, I was so thankful and grateful to the old man but my debt is piling up so fast and I have no idea how to repay it. The next day I woke up, the Cold status was no more, but my body is still aching, so I just stayed in bed, I was worried at Misha at first but the old man was taking care of her, now I’m more worried about myself. In the afternoon, old man Silan went to visit me in my room, with the things he bought, he told me that it took two days to buy and sell all the things he brought and to find what we need then he waited for another day for my clothes to be repaired to fit my size, that’s why he was a day late, the cloaks would be finished in two weeks’ time, since it was a rare material, the tailor wants to make the best out of it.

He gave the clothes which is mostly dark green in colors, don’t let a hunter choose for your fashion, and gave me some books, mostly crafting books like the basics of smith and tailor, since I have the skill but I don’t know how to fully utilize it, there are some books about beast that roam the land, the books about people of Gaia and there language, and some history of this kingdom and other kingdom and this continent, there’s about 20 books in total, I asked him why so many since it was a village, he said that there was a merchant in the village, too early in this of the year, but the right time for us. Some of the books where from the villagers who bargain for the meat. He also bought me a new boots, mostly for heavy traveling, since I plan to travel where his master is. He also bought me some leather armor, since the money won’t be enough for a metal armor. After that we had some talk because I was curious.

“Mr. Silan why does some of my skill wont advance a grade?” I asked curiously

“It’s easy to advance a skill till it reach to Journeyman, then it started to slow down from then on, and much harder when it reaches to Journeyman Grade 6. For example, I reach Master Grade 1 in my Focus skill from Journeyman Grade 6 within 15 years of continuous use.” He explained,

I was shocked on what I heard, it will took me that long to level up my skill? Wait I have a short method but it was quite deadly and decided to seal it till I deemed it safe to use. Is I used my deadly skill, it will take me much shorter time than them, right? I asked myself, because I’m not sure if it is the best method and if it will work. Better to thought it up later.

“Even if we are long lived people, few of us reach Master Grade and fewer reach the last stages of the Master Grade and none in the recent 300,000 years reach Grand Master Grade.” He continued

I was speechless of what I heard, is that really that hard to level up the skills, then how about active skills, which is not like passive skills that can be used anytime. Speaking of active skills, why does I don’t have one yet? I thought that I would be learning some active skills in bow since I trained it every day.

“Mr. Silan, why does I dint have any active skills?” I asked

“Like I said about stealth, you need mana manipulation skill so you can learn any active skill, and active skill is not like passive skill that you can learn by just action, you need imagination, mana manipulation, projection, and most of all to try over and over again till you gain the skill.” He explained

“Why so many and looks hard to do. Why?” I asked

“For example, the shot I used to pierce the bear’s right arm was not physical strength alone, it was a skill called “Piercing Shot” it was taught to me by my master, maybe I can pierce the bear’s arm with just physical strength alone, but I don’t want to gamble since it was a matter of life and death. He taught it like this, ill explained the gist of it, first I need to imagine that my arrow was coated by wind element, then project what I imagine to the physical arrow, to do that, I need mana manipulation, lastly, I do it over and over again till I learn the skill, by then I don’t need to imagine, project, and manipulate, all I need to do is to think that I want to use the skill, some skills like the mages have need chanting not just thinking, simple skills like I have is activated just by thinking.” He explained

“You need to be cautious though when learning a skill, sometimes mana became uncontrollable during projection, if that happens your lucky if it just disperse, but when it exploded, you may lost a limb or worst your life. So it may be better to learn a skill from a master or someone who can teach their skill than to create a new one by your own. You better remember this before you try it on your own, especially now that you had gain a strong skill that can kill you.” He said it with force

What the old man mean is, now that I have immersion skill, then try to create a skill while being immersed, there’s a high chance that I can create a skill, but the downside is I may die if I got it wrong, but since I decided to seal it, and only use it if I deemed it safe to use. Oh well, since most of the things I want to know has been answered, I better use this chance to ask him some personal question, since I barely know the person who I owed so much debt.

“By the way Mr. Silan how old are you?”

“Don’t you know it’s rude to ask someone’s age? I don’t remember, I stopped counting when I reached 300.” He said

Isn’t that answer only applicable to girls? Wait a minute, did he say 300? Wah! He’s really damn old. I thought

“Wow, you look quite young at your age” I said

“Really? So that’s why the village girls still wink at me.” He said murmuring, I heard that!

“Then Mr. Silan can you show me your stat? I want to know how strong you are. I know this is rude of me to ask, but I just want to have some guide on how strong I need to become, so I would be ready to face it.” I said

“If you put it that way, then it would be bad of me if I don’t show you, you may think your strong enough and challenge someone leading to your death, then it would be my fault for not showing my stats to you.” He said

“Show status window except title, status, and additional stat to everyone in this room” he said

Status WindowNameSilan DitentTitleNAStandingsNobility Grade 6StatusNAStrength2153 (+NA)Agility 3510 (+NA)Dexterity3352 (+NA)Constitution 1968 (+NA)Intelligence1674 (+NA)Wisdom 1300 (+NA)Luck2200(NA)Leadership 952 (+NA)Endurance3001 (+NA)Fighting Spirit 3952 (+NA)

I was so speechless, I’m sure that my mouth is hanging right now and my eyes wide from I see. Dammit this old man! How can I achieve that? I don’t want to grind all my life! Nobility Grade 6?! He can have a Nobility position. What accomplishment did he do to achieve that? I thought.

“Okay, I would be off now, take a rest, if you want anything just call for me.” He said and left me alone.

It would take me two weeks to heal my ankle and a month for my shoulder to heal since it’s been dislocated, said the old man, after he showed me his stat, I decided to double, no triple my efforts in training even in my bed, why in bed? Because I can’t use a crutch, I can if I sprained my left ankle instead of my right. But since it was in the right, I can’t put a crutch in my right shoulder because it’s injured, using a crutch in the left would be pointless, it would only out balance me. I did some stretching in my lower part of the body so it won’t turn weak for being disuse, and I do some weight lifting and some things that can increase the reflex of my left arm. I read the books old Silan brought when I take a rest, which gain me some intelligence and wisdom. I learn a lot of things thanks to the books, I have much more basic idea about this world now.

Misha my cute cat, was being trained the old man! Damn you Misha, why did you betray me? I was praying to all the Gods and Gaia that please don’t let the old man teach Misha anything that can traumatized me. I prayed every night which gain me some wisdom. Since they started training, I tried my very best to be kind to Misha, to the point that I almost spoiled her. I don’t want to have a spoiled companion but I also don’t want a companion who can traumatized me, this is quite a dilemma I got myself to. The old man told me that we would start traveling after my foot healed, there’s no point waiting. The old man already plan everything, first we will go to the village but the old man will be the only one to enter to get our cloaks, get something, and buy a horse, me and Misha would bypass the village and meet him on the other side, then head on, that was the first part, the second part is just to travel. Damn preparation! But that was a long way off from now, I still need more than a week to heal.