New World Day 10

I laid there at the bottom of the steps powerless to do anything for over five hours before I gathered up enough strength to drag my body over to the bucket of water next to the steps. I had just enough strength to raise my head over the bucket before it left me and my head fell right into the bucket. I drank as much as I could, and the sweet water going down my burnt parched throat felt like heaven. That feeling lasted until I realized I didn’t have the strength to raise my head back out of the bucket of water. At that point panic began to set in. Wouldn’t that be a way to go? I survived a swarm of mosquitoes of unfathomable size followed by a fire in an enclosed space only to drown in a five gallon bucket filled with water. I sure as hell wasn’t going to go out that way! I couldn’t raise my head back up, but I struggled and wiggled my body and neck until I managed to tip the bucket over the side. As the water went rushing out of the bucket and soaked into my burnt black clothes, I gasped for breath, and started to laugh my head off.

Isn’t this just great? I had that realization about my stubbornness and refusal to leave myself in embarrassing situations, but now I was laying on my back at the bottom of the stairs in burnt clothes from a fire that I started gasping for air with a bucket on my head after I nearly drowned myself trying to get a drink of water. I wanted to just smack my forehead with the palm of my hand and hide in a corner out of shame. This was one part of my story that was going to be left out when I told people about how I survived out here. That was for damn sure.

It took over ten minutes for this spell of laughter to get out of my system, and when it did a thought struck me. When I had first fallen to the bottom of the stairs, there was smoke filling the stairway and even along the ceiling of the bedroom, but now there wasn’t any to be found. The smell lingered, but the smoke itself had disappeared. Where had it all gone? Vents! There were air conditioning vents in the room that must have filtered it out of the room, and if there were vents then that meant more of those mosquitoes could get into the room. That was an unpleasant thought, but the panic left as soon as it had arrived. It had been over five hours since the mosquitoes entered the house, and not one of them had come through the vents yet. I didn’t know if they just didn’t know how to navigate the vents or if the smoke from the fire suffocated the ones that entered the vents, but whatever the case I was safe for the moment. Even if I had the strength to move at the moment, I would hesitate to cover the air vent. I already restricted the air flow in the bedroom by blocking all three of the doors. I didn’t want to take the chance of blocking it all by putting anything over the vents.

Since I wasn’t going to block the vents, then I at least needed to make myself less of a target and give myself a chance to see them coming. Right now all I could see was the sides of this damn bucket. I summoned all of the strength and willpower that I had left and started to wiggle my head in order to shake off the bucket. Success! The bucket was off of my head. Now I needed to get to a sitting position. I didn’t have the strength to make a complete roll. So instead, I rolled just a little to each side and built up momentum until I rolled onto my stomach. Just two more rolls until I reached the wall and then one half roll to get my back to the wall. It took a lot of time and effort, but I managed to reach the wall with a soft bang that sent a wave of pain coursing through my body. Ouch. I guess I was starting to get some feeling back into my body if bumping into the wall caused me that much pain. Panting from both the growing pain and the expended effort, I inched my back up the wall until I was in a sitting position. I’d done it! No more bucket and now I could see anything coming my way.

Thanks to the clock on the nightstand by the bed, I noted three hours go by waiting to see if any mosquitoes came through the vents into the bedroom. I didn’t dare to train my mana since I might miss the arrival of a mosquito if my attention was centered on my spiritual world. As a result, those three hours were absolute torture. More and more feeling returned to my body as the minutes passed by, and as feeling returned to my body so did the pain. It was easy to withstand at first. Nothing compared to the creation of mana veins or even what I felt while putting out the fire, but it didn’t stay that way. As each minute ticked by the pain increased. Tick, wince, tick, wince and so on as time passed and the pain mounted. When I received the skill Pain Control, I had wondered to myself how often I would get a chance to train it. If the past day was any indication there was no need to worry. I would have plenty of chances to train it. Far too many chances I suspected.

At the end of the three hours, my body was soaked not from the bucket of water but from the sweat my body excreted as it fought against the pain. Feeling returned to my entire body, and the slightest brush of air against my burns would send a wave of pain through my body. I couldn’t go on like this. I needed to get these clothes off and treat the burns. I had stashed medical supplies in the bathroom including a few rolls of gauze. With the sheer amount of burns covering my body, I was certain that I was going to use it all. I slapped both cheeks to psych myself up and started to use the wall as a lever to force myself onto my feet. I left a streak of black on the wall as I slid up it and onto my feet. Step one finished. I was on my feet. Now for step two. I took one step forward and slammed my left hand against the other wall at the bottom of the stairwell to keep from falling flat on my face. The pain and exertion caused my face to contort and my breath to quicken as I fought to keep going. I felt that if I could see myself in the mirror at this moment that I would look like a demon that had crawled out from hell.

When my breathing evened out, I pulled my entire body forward and leaned against the stairway wall. Then while still holding the wall with my left hand I took one step to my left. I wobbled left and right as I strained to support myself with my left arm. I felt that even a light breeze might be able to send me tumbling to the ground at this point. Then a thought struck me. Why bother to walk the rest of the way? Let’s use gravity to my advantage. Nodding to myself, I let my body start to fall forward just far enough that my right arm could reach the doorway to the bathroom. At that point, my right arm snaked forward and latched onto the edge of the doorway. I used that handhold to hold myself up and hugged the wall. The cool wall felt marvelous against my burns, but the longer I procrastinated the worse things would get. The pain continued to increase bit by bit, and sweat poured from my body faster and faster. At this rate, I might die from dehydration there was so much sweat coming out of me.

I counted to three and then pushed off the wall, spun into the bathroom, and crumpled to the floor with my back against the bathroom wall. I had stacked the gauze and other supplies to the left of the cabinets between them and the toilet. Things had just barely worked out. I could reach them without moving so long as I leaned forward just a bit. It took a bit of work to get my clothes off and wrap the gauze around my burns, but it was nothing compared to the pain and effort it took to get to the bathroom in the first place. Once I finished bandaging myself, I looked up and could see my head and shoulders in the bathroom mirror. A giggle slipped out of my mouth as I saw myself and realized I looked like a mummy from a cheap horror flick. As I got used to the sensation of the gauze on my burns, the pain began to fade just a bit. Enough that I was able to drift off and get some well deserved rest.

Stupid Fool ( C ) leveled up!

Basic Disease Resist (B) * leveled up!

Basic Parasite Resist (B) * leveled up!

Basic Poison Resist (B) * leveled up!

Pain Control (B) *** leveled up!

Name: Jason Silver

Job Name: N/A

LVL: 7 84%

Job LVL: N/A 0%

Job Points:

N/A

N/A

N/A

Titles:

Survivor (B) LVL 7 73%

Fool (B) LVL 7 90%

Swarm Killer (B) LVL 8 55%

Beast Killer (B) LVL 8 48%

Risk Taker (B) LVL 5 97%

Repeated Risk Taker ( C ) LVL 6 14%

Compassionate Fool ( C ) LVL 1 78%

Curious Fool ( C ) LVL 3 71%

Stupid Fool ( C ) LVL 4 81%

Extremely Stubborn Fool ( C ) LVL 2 97%

Uncommon Mana Wielder (UC) LVL N/A

Title Points:

*

*

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*

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30

Stats:

HP:

MP:

Mana Regen:

Endurance:

Strength:

Speed:

Spirit

Bonus Points:

7/125

19/42

7.50 per min (-2.75)

13

9

9

6

24

Status Effects:

Regen, Spirit Regen, Disease Resist, Parasite Resist,

Poison Resist, Blurred Vision, Burns x30

Skills:

Basic Axe Mastery (B) LVL 7 56%

Basic Gun Mastery (B) LVL 4 78%

Minor Regen (Passive) ( C ) LVL 5 1%

Basic Spirit Regen (Passive) (B) LVL 9 5%

Basic Disease Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 7 32%

Basic Parasite Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 7 49%

Basic Poison Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 6 90%

Minor Mana Control ( C ) LVL 4 26%

Lesser Mana Vein (Passive) (UC) LVL 1 0%

Flexible Mana Lake (Passive) (B) LVL 1 0%

Pain Control (B) LVL 2 73%

Basic Close Combat Footwork (Active) (B) LVL 1 83%

Basic Ranged Combat Footwork (Active) (B) LVL 1 92%

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*

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*

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*

*

*

*****

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