After making a full check of my status and inventory, I began my first real journey in this world.

Quickly reaching the stream after checking my, again, empty trap, I began following the current.

From my observation of the sun path, I was more or less sure that the direction of my movement was towards the North. At least if the astronomy laws from Earth apply here.

Every thousand or so steps which should be about 500 meters, I stopped and activated 'Life Radar'.

For the first few kilometers, I did not see or find anything different neither in wildlife nor the forest, still, as soon as I had moved about 10 kilometers and stopped to take a rest, I noticed that the surroundings had changed slightly. Overall it was the same forest as before, full of trees that would normally grow in a temperate zone, well, maybe a bit taller. But now plants that did not look alike to anything I had seen on Earth began to appear. Most noticeable I saw a few purple fern-like bushes hidden between a pair of trees.

"Poisonous broadfern?" I muttered as the 'Status Screen' managed to confirm the plant's name. Albeit it wasn't the cheat-like ability I initially requested from Sepyre, the fact that it was connected to the knowledge I had, gained, or would gain made it possible for me to already find out something like this. After all, this 'Poisonous Broad-Fern' was a herb mentioned in both the survival and medicine books.

As the name implied, it was a poisonous plant. Naturally, its poison was not really dangerous, provoking diarrhea and vomit. But if the leaves were dried and ground into powder, then it would be far more effective. Strangely, its roots were medicinal. Having the effect of provoking appetite and lowering fever if correctly prepared.

Even though I had no use for it, a resource is a resource. I quickly summoned a small shovel made of mana and harvested the three plants.

From that point on, such lucky finds appeared every few steps.

Being someone who always hoarded whatever I could in games, I decided to keep up the tradition and so proceeded very slowly, gathering every herb I could identify.

Between my usage of mana to scan the area around and to harvest anything I could find, I was forced to take a pair of extra hours to rest as well.

And so when the sun began to set down, I had traveled about 30 thousand steps, or something about 15 km.

No animal bigger than a fifth of my own radar signature had yet appeared, but I still decided to be cautious and so chose a tree that I could climb and repeated my bondage trick sleep.

The night was mostly peaceful, with the only disturbance being the appearance of insects.

Thankfully they were not bloodsucking, but...

Awakening several times during the night 'cause you feel something crawling on you is not a good feeling.

Continuing with the plan I started moving along the stream again.

The day before, I did not pay attention, but there was a strange thing going on with it. How the hell a stream could remain the same size for such a distance?

And indeed, from where I discovered it and until now, it never got wider from the initial meter nor deeper than 30 or so centimeters!

In the end, being no naturalist in my previous life and having no knowledge of such things in my current one, I could only add it to a list of questions that I would like to solve someday.

Anyway, I quickly forgot about the question as only 3 kilometers from the tree I place my night on, I sensed my first mana disturbance!

When I first sensed that something was slightly off, I was about 300 meters from its origin, but with 'Life Radar' showing no living beings nearby, I decided to go investigate.

And I did, though I have to admit that I was sweating like crazy while slowly and carefully moving a few branches after approaching enough as to see.

What are the chances of suddenly finding an extremely rare resource without searching? Well, before I would have said that... near 0.

But, now... I would say that there were far more chances than that!

After all, who if not me was standing near a small hole full of 'Earth Blood'?

Even without the identification by the status screen, I would have immediately recognized it. It appeared in two or three books about ingredients and was considered a very precious resource indeed.

Its value came from two qualities. First, 'Earth Blood' would remember any shape given to it by using mana. Second, 'Earth Blood' would restore itself to the last shape if some mana was infused into it.

Basically, it was... magic clay.

Making sure that there was no one and nothing around, and maybe even muttering a few words of gratitude to Sepyre and the randomness that made me appear nearby, I began harvesting it.

This magic clay as I called it was a natural resource, meaning that it would appear randomly in the wilderness if the ground and mana conditions were right. Even a single stone worth of weight was extremely valuable, at least if the books were to be trusted. While the hole that I first took as a very small one, was almost a full square meter in size.

Being pretty heavy because of its nature, after spending the entire day and emptying the hole, I was sure that my harvest neared a hundred kilograms.

Speaking of harvesting, using mana was a bit dangerous as it may make the clay harden, and so I initially used my bare hands. After digging enough, I used my 'Shaped Mana' to make a form and created a shovel. Granted, hardened clay was not the best material, but it perfectly served the task at hand. Plus, even if it broke, I only needed to walk a few steps away and use mana for it to restore itself. And if a piece or two broke apart and could not be retrieved, there was enough material at hand to get it back in shape.

Another great thing about finding a natural, mana-related, resource meant that the mana flow in the zone was better. Something that I began to sense after harvesting more than half. How did this affect me right now? Well, it meant that my mana was being recovered far quicker.

I was forced to sleep practically at the spot as such labor made me tired and I could not continue my journey, but... what a lucky find!

Blessed with another mostly peaceful night spent on a nearby tree, I did not meddle and returned to the stream to restart my way towards the 'North'.

I did not encounter anything valuable during the day, but in turn, I advanced about 25 kilometers. The stream also began slightly widening, which was a good sign. After all, this meant that sooner or later, I would find its destined water body. And be it a river or a lake, it still meant that possibly there would be some kind of life around. I hoped that it would be something civilized, but even if not, finding at least something different from the small animals and insects that I have been seeing around until now would be a welcome change.

A fact that I noticed while setting up myself on yet another tree was that I had yet to see a single bird. I knew that there were not many birds living in deep forest, but they should be at least some, shouldn't they?

Such a strange and uneventful journey continued for two more days. Even today I felt like not recording anything, after all, what was there to record if absolutely nothing happened except waking up, eating, and moving? Still, while setting down for the night on, again, a branch, an event occurred.

It could be not described as epic, but at least it was something worthy of adding to my already dull journal.

I could not even call it an event, just a small but nice occurrence. A few moments after I climbed the tree and set down on the branch, but had not yet tied to it, a few animals akin to the first kill I had, a capybara, exited the undergrowth bushes and parked beneath the tree. Being someone that preferred hoarding and would not say no to such a free addon, I proceeded to silently turn over and crawl a bit on the branch to place myself over them.

It was a 'family' of four, with two adult animals and two smaller, maybe cubs, ones.

After making sure that I was right over them, I called out four stones from my small inventory stash and threw them in quick succession. I did not expect a 100% hit rate, and so when three of the animals were downed, and one of the cubs escaped, I was almost happy. And why not? About 8 or so kilos of free meat and a pair of pelts were always a welcome addition to my growing stash.

With the night approaching and being tired, I decided against moving to find a spot and butchering them, deciding to simply store the three into my storage. Afterward, the day turned night, and I spent another, uneventful if not for the insects, bed (or branch) time.

On this 7th day of travel, as well the 12th day counting from my arrival, something grand happened.

Well, it was important enough for me to consider it grand.

The stream became a river! Or to write it down currently, the stream that I had been following all along flowed into a river.

This river, which I will consider unnamed as I have no maps of the place, was not very large, even so, it was the largest body of water I had yet to see. About four times my height, which meant a bit less than 8 meters wide, and deep enough for me to bathe.

The last remark makes it obvious, I did wash in it. Even if the 'Clean' spell allowed me to maintain my clothes tidy, it still could not be applied to a living body and so I had been resorting to simply wiping myself with a leaf and the stream water until now. This logically meant that I was already smelling and looking like a hobo.

I also decided to spend the entire evening near the river. I revised my findings from the last days, and for the first time during the last week checked my status.

Changes to Status, Equip and Inventory, 12th day on ?????.

Basic Stats (Attributes)

NAME BEFORE → NOW DESCRIPTION (NEW) NOTES Mana 22/?→28/? - - Strenght 12/?→13/? - Still not feeling any difference. Body (Constitution) 21/?→22/? - Still not feeling any difference.

Stats (Skills or Abilities)

NAME BEFORE → NOW DESCRIPTION (NEW) NOTES Plants 9/100→14/100 - I do not understand how does it affects me truly, but... I have been having an easier time when harvesting. Labor 7/100→11/100 - I felt less tired, and my Stamina status confirmed it while doing physical work. Seems that I found the effect of such skills! Terrain: Forest 3/100→6/100 - I have been feeling more comfortable while moving in the forest... Orientation 9/100→11/100 - Felt that finding directions has been easier. I still do not know if they are right, but at least I do not need to spend time locating my "North" each morning. Identification 11/100→13/100 - Correctly identifying my findings may have something to do with the increase. Albeit I cheated, after all, the Status Screen is the MVP! Poisons & Antidotes 3/100→4/100 - This small increase may be thanks to the 'Poisonous Broad-Fern' that I harvested.

Magic & Spells

NAME BEFORE → NOW DESCRIPTION (NEW) NOTES Utilitarian (Common) 16/100→18/100 - - Mana Sense 10/100→11/100 - - Life-Radar 3/100→5/100 Sense living beings in a zone. Mastery affects the zone's size (900 mt). 2 levels = 200 meters increase! Shaped Mana 3/100→6/100 Simple and transparent mana construct. Can take any form. Mastery increases size and durability (<30000 cubic cm, =Copper+). Twice the size! I have been checking, and it seems that size refers to the overall volume. After using it to the maximum, I can create an object about 3 square meters (if it's thinner than paper). Flint 2/100→3/100 Small flame created from mana, can be used to start up fires, lit candles, etc. Mastery affects flame intensity (Torch) I do not know about temperature, but the size slightly increased.

Equipment

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Inventory

NAME NOTES Medicinal Plants A varied assortment. About 50 pieces in total. Poisonous Plants Three entire sets of 'Poisonous Broad-Fern' (stalk, root, and leaves). Special Materials 'Earth Blood', Between 90 and 95 KG. 'Earth Blood' Shovel First "real" tool. Easy to chip as it's basically hardened clay, but can be restored with the infusion of mana (if all pieces are found). Animal Corpses Local Equivalent for Capybaras

Adult x2 Cub x1

As for other things in my inventory, my supply of cooked meat had decreased sharply, but today I spend part of my rest cooking all the fresh meat I had, and so my reserves are about the same as before. Same situation with water (filtered some from the river).

On a side note, I thought it wise to record what plants (medicinal) I got, and their uses. I doubt that I'll forget anything because of the cheat-like memory Sepyre granted to me, but... Anyway:

Medicinal Plants

NAME EFFECT (USE) Spotted Lace flower Calming (boiled). Mild sleeping drug (fermented). Horsetail Bitterweed Digestive (raw). Chigger Bay Combats fever (boiled). Virgin's Colwort Coagulant (if applied as a paste), Blood restoring (boiled and distilled). Early Rock Horse Nettle Anti-inflammatory (paste for external, fermented for internal). Herb Scrambled Huckleberry Anti-nausea (raw).

Anyway, this should be everything that merits to be recorded.

Tomorrow I start my journey along the river, and I hope that I will, at last, find something that is not a rodent or an insect. But may lady luck spare me from monsters!