Accidentally Smithing Chapter 5 - The River

The journey down proved to be far less interesting and less relaxing than the ascent. Nik did enjoy the sensation of going down. A slight force pushing him in the direction he wanted to go like tailwind in a way. But he realized that extended periods of him walking downwards would not be beneficial to his knees. On the other hand, he imagined it would be interesting to see what would happen if his knees actually got hurt. Passing the pond he had taken a swim in earlier he considered learning [Tracking] just to get back here at one point. Then he remembered that he wasn't going anywhere and stopped himself. It wouldn't be hard finding the way back. The river at the mountain base was a sufficiently sized landmark and ignoring that the mountain itself was fairly well recognizable due to being the smallest around.

After he had passed the pond he quickly claimed as 'his pond' in his mind, he turned right. Away from where he had started out in this world and towards new horizons, well to a new river in his case. He saw a few more groups of bergams and made sure to keep a safe distance. A safe distance in Niks' opinion was out of the line of sight, and with both [Stealthy Movement] and [Energy Veil].

When Nik eventually reached the forest line he was ravenous. He hadn't found any bushes with berries, or plants above the treeline that had looked edible. Thinking back to when he last had a meal proved difficult. It must have been yesterday. Due to the lucky circumstance of his size, he wouldn't have to worry too much about starving in the near future but an adequate nutritional supply would have to start at some point.

He went through the forest looking for food. A guidebook - telling him which plants were edible - would be useful right now. His thoughts drifting towards the different types of plants available. Maybe he could find some root vegetables or fruits growing on the trees. But he hadn't seen any of the latter in the last three days. He wasn't sure why that was, but maybe the seasons were not right yet. Yet when considering the berries this seemed odd.

The forest had a sufficient amount of berries bushes, so many that Nik chose to not consume any of the berries he initially came upon. None of them seemed palatable to him. The origin of that feeling was his intuition and he suspected that the related skill had to do with the intuition.

The first bush that didn't give him a bad feeling was blueish-purple in color, reminiscent of the blueberry bushes back on earth. In complexion rather pale but the form fit well enough. They did not [Identify] as blueberries. A sad fact really because those had been his favorites.

Berry Bush - Carries blue berries

The bad feeling still hadn't appeared once he had the berries in his mouth so he started eating. Contrary to his expectation the flavor didn't remind him of blueberries. It differed in an almost unsettling way. When blueberries had a sweet taste this had a full taste, not fresh, not old, steady. The mouthfeel differed greatly as well but was more difficult to put to words. The closest thing coming to his mind was having a stone on your tongue. It could be described as a rock in a surge of waves, slowly being whittled down.

Since they were not particularly bad tasting, just not like berries he started eating more. Expecting [Digestive Herbology] to help with any residual effects the berries might have and gain him some information. Information could prove useful. Eventually, after a handful or so of berries [Identify] gave him some.

Blue Blossom Berries - a herb and hearty berry. Mild hallucinogen and mana poison.

That was a mistake. Nik thought accompanied by an annoyed grunt. It just had to get worse. Why couldn't this be easy? I need an action plan fast. I have no clue what mana poison means, a quick glance at his status told him that he was sitting at 98/100 Mana, that is not too bad, well it might, I don't know what happens when I reach zero. Hallucinations are most likely going to be an issue. Ok, sit down by a tree - maybe that will hide me from the wildlife -, and focus on [Energy Veil]. If I keep [Energy Sight] on I should realize it if [Energy Veil] turns off. I can't think of anything else right now, but I need to sit down and not move.

Vowing to himself to always only eat one berry at a time he collected some branches to hide behind and sat down. With a rock firmly between his hands in case something should approach him, he started calming his breathing and focused inwards. If he had to hide he might as well check out his energy skills. Nik didn't know what was in store for him, as he had never experienced hallucinations but if the movie's depictions were any indication of what to expect he could be in for a bad ride.

Moving his focus inward he tried understanding what exactly his veil was doing and why it worked. The first thing that he realized was that when the veil was off his mana strands running through his body had a fuzzy texture at their edges. The veil made the textures more defined as if the mana was now flowing through a glass tube. At some point, he had lost all sense for time, exceptions appeared. Weird structures would grow out of his mana tubes. Staircases and skyscrapers, birds and butterflies, whales and walruses all plopped out of his mana, sometimes slow and majestic, other times violent and explosive. It had to be the hallucinations he told himself, anything else would be unrealistic, he had never witnessed anything like it before in his mana network, but that didn't mean much. The frequency with which his observations were interrupted seemed to get greater or so he felt, not that he could really tell.

At some point a boar with tusks half as long as the rest of its body appeared, seeing that quickly Nik retreated into the real world. Maybe his subconsciousness had meant for him to pay attention to his surroundings again. He heard a branch snap, looked around, and was utterly disgusted by what he saw. A creature of hip height, in some ways humanoid looking, but also so very wrong stood off to his side looking at him. It did not have a head, but it had a neck. The rest of its head was on its chest. There were two eyes staring at him from where he would place the nipples of a human, the bellybutton was replaced by a mouth with teeth - not canine teeth but the broad teeth of a herbivore similar to those of humans just larger. The arms had an extra joint and reached to the floor, each ending in three fingerlong needles.

After that observation, Nik placed his rock into his sweatshirt, something he had refashioned into a sling and bag hybrid on his way down the mountain, and started running. The sound coming from the creature however did not stop or get quieter. Unsure whether that were the effects of the Blue Blossom Berries or not, he was definitely running away. He ran back towards the mountain. During his walk earlier towards the river, he had spotted a tree that he was confident in climbing. Up there he would at least have a better position for defending himself.

Jumping and reaching towards the lowest branch he got a hold of it. If only barely. He managed to pull himself further up. In mere seconds he was already reaching for the next branch and went climbing on higher.

The creature approached cackling at the tree but instead of jumping it just smashed its hand point first into the wood and climbed up. Exclaiming a bunch of obscenities he got up to a thicker branch and prepared his sling. Focusing on [Lesser Hammer Strike] he tried to tell it that his sling also was a hammer. Almost immediately it registered and he felt himself be able to strike at the monster.

It slowly approached carefully judging Nik's capabilities and level. It found both lacking. Approaching at a fast pace the area around the mouth grew more purplish in color. The next second it charged up the tree. Coming for Nik in a straight line he prepared himself. He had to get high enough of an impetus with the stone to rebuff the monster.

Raising his arm he activated the skill downwards. His whole upper body reinforced itself through the use of Stamina. At first, the chest and neck, followed by the shoulder and his arm. He felt his triceps expand and his chest twist, the rock was accelerating at an impressive rate, additionally supported by gravity.

The low stiffness and high flexibility foiled Niks plan. If the stick had been attached to a more stiff material he could have hit the monster perfectly. As it came to be however the rock flew right towards the beast while Nik tried to get his hand out of the way. Mildly successful he heard something in his hand snap. To his relief his hand was not the only thing that snapped and quickly repaired itself. The now flying rock sweatshirt combination had flown further towards the monster after hitting one of its hands to also hit it square in the chest - right between the eyes. Sadly he had disarmed himself with that stunt, but the monster did not seem to realize that immediately.

The reaction to the hit came fast. A purple glow started emanating from the beast and its movements almost blurred. Reluctant or not able to use the hit hand anymore, it stabbed with the remaining three limbs at the tree to propel itself out of Niks field of view. Gone for less than a second and Nik heard scratching on the opposite side of the trunk. Quickly the sounds moved further up and around the trunk.

It had climbed above him. Now Nik was out of tricks. With his limited options he did not expect to win a fight while facing an opponent that was above him, so he had to get away. Reaching down he grabbed a branch and swung himself down. Half of his previous height down he repeated the procedure aiming for the stone he had dropped seconds earlier, all the while a snickering approximation of a laugh sounded down. It had him and they were both aware of it.

Standing with solid footing on the ground he looked up with the stone bundle in his hand again and saw a mouth flying towards him. With little time to think he took his stone bundle - grabbing it just where the stone started - and swung, all while flipping the switch in his mind that represented [Lesser Hammer Strike]. He swung his arm upwards toward the approaching face with appendages. And slowly, just as a hammer would follow the guiding hand, the stone overtook his hand.

*crraaaaaackkkk* resounded through the forest as Nik shattered one of the claws approaching him. Following was the crunching sound of something larger. Almost instantly later a heavy weight landed on Nik. He and the assaulting creature were both thrown to the ground. Adrenaline fueled Nik separated himself from the monster and jumped up, still clutching the sling in his hand. He turned back towards the monster, grabbing the stone in his hand, and started using [Lesser Hammer Strike] several more times. Only stopped by the new box of information appearing in his mind.

His health had dropped by a bunch during the fight. After falling on him the creature had still managed to pierce him with two of its claws. His health down to 137 but it was fine. After all, there was nothing else around - he hoped.

Slowly calming down again Nik realized that not everything was fine, the fight was over, but he felt off. Worse than before the fight, his body less damaged now that his health had dropped. Quickly he noticed what was bothering him, his whole body was fuzzing. That's it. It is fuzzying just like my mana channels when I don't have my Veil up. Looking inwards he found the culprit. His mana channels were bursting. Nik was not sure why and had no intentions of finding out. He activated [Stealthy Movement] his only skill that used mana, trying to drain the excess mana his body was flooded with. The cost was too low.

The mana in his body was still increasing and he was scared of what would happen if it went on for much longer. He tried to push mana into the construct that appeared in his mind every time [Stealthy Movement] activated. It wouldn't budge. Just like when he tried to do the same thing to his running. There had to be a difference to be found somewhere, [Stealthy Movement] took in mana initially. There had to be something he could do to make it accept more mana.

The good thing was that his efforts caused his mana channels to stop leaking everywhere. Sadly, it appeared to be of no help whatsoever. Worriedly he glanced at his Health 115/380. Damn, how is this damaging me that much, it's been like 5 minutes since I last checked? Getting more regen will slow it down not by much though, should I go and put everything in strength? Probably the safest bet. Wow 87 Strength now, I must have leveled quite a bit.

Focusing back on his current issue Nik focused on his immediate issues. Switching [Stealthy Movement] on and off he tried to understand what made it use mana. Slowly but surely he thought he saw a connection from his channels to the skill construct. Stamina affected the physical aspects of the skill. He left shallower footprints in the dirt because he distributed his weight better, but that was not everything. Mana was involved in reinforcing the structure he was stepping on. The sounds were lessened because of his more skillful steps and better foot placement. Again it wasn't the whole effect. Mana isolated the area of impact causing the soundwaves to stay put. His Healthpool read 62/380, come on, you got this think faster.

Trying to figure out the last part of the skill proved the hardest. It had to do with light since it reduced his visibility. But it did not actively reproduce the colors behind him, that would be invisibility. His skill worked differently. It swallowed or created light depending on the surrounding light level to make sure he fit in better. In great distances, the skill might work like invisibility but anything remotely close would see him. That's what had to change, reducing the working area further down. So he had to get his mana to amplify the effects [Stealthy Movement] was currently producing while increasing the difference in color over a certain area. That also meant the skill would need to get more information from somewhere and he was not sure how to go about that.

First things first. Amplify the effects. He had learned previously that mana did not like to be pushed. It was the stubborn child that wanted to keep sitting on the couch you had to motivate it to move, incentivize it. There were no cookies for mana though which really was a pain. Asking the mana to work did nothing, slightly scratching away at the surface of his mana channels did nothing. The only way he knows how to affect mana was with his veil. But it wasn't even directly affecting his mana, just the structure that held it. He tried creating a drift in his body, shake it up, and told it there were mana cookies.

It did not work, nothing worked. As a last resort, Nik tried to make himself throw the berries up which proved unsuccessful. It really wasn't that hard to figure out what you wanted the mana to do. It had to make a perpendicular line to the infinitesimal surface, go through the body, and imitate the radiation of the first thing it came across. But I can't just tell mana that. You can't just tell a type of energy what to do. It is worth a shot.

It worked, well somewhat. The area around his kneecap, to which he had paid the most attention, shifted in color, more and more imitating the ground behind him. The more the color adjusted the further the pressure on his veil reduced. Soon, once his whole leg was covered by the skill, his Mana pool actually had to provide the mana for the spell upkeep. 27 Manapoints per Minute for his leg, one body part. This is bollocks how is anyone supposed to pay the upkeep for that? He whined all the while grinning inwards, he was actually quite happy with the development. His leg was invisible and his health was no longer draining. It had been close. He had come down to 22 Healthpoints. His skin was irritated as if he had a sunburn and while the fuzziness was gone, the effects of it on his body - like a pounding headache just spread over all limbs - could still be felt.

Once Nik had calmed down enough he was actually pretty surprised about not being dead. Any of those weird face people could have come up and killed him in two seconds during his mana crisis or any other type of creature for that matter. Nik took his sling and moved to climb up the tree he had fought on earlier to get a headstart on any approaching wildlife when the stone fell through his repurposed sweatshirt and landed on his foot. It hurt, and another two Healthpoints were gone. Which put him solidly back at 22. He had regenerated 2 while calming down. I really need to get quicker about my reactions and actions after a fight. I can't just stand around while being so low on resources.

Starting his climb up he reevaluated his decisions of the day. He still wanted to go and check out the swath in the forest. It looked like something created by humans, well sentient people at least, who knows what lives here. Let's hope the face thingies are not responsible for that. The river was also a good place to go until he felt ready to approach the swath. Food was another issue. While the decision to eat a handful had not been detrimental to his life, it hadn't been smart. It almost got him killed.With proper preparation, this could prove to an excellent way to level his skills. [Digestive Herbology] had leveled twice and both [Energy Veil] and [Energy Sight] had leveled as well. The Veil thrice and Sight once. In addition to that he leveled up and [Stealthy Movement] had gone insane, gaining him another four levels. There were also a bunch of extra numbers now on his status page he would have to inspect once he was safe.

Sitting on the tree he mused about building a treehouse. It was one of the sad facts about growing up in a city with no yard. Being done with contemplating his earlier life he took a look at the boxes in his mind. Interestingly enough there was a new number behind [Stealthy Movement], similar to what was behind [Lesser Hammer Strike]. He could only guess at what that meant.

You have slain [Dreknor][Lvl. 31]. Extra experience awarded for killing an enemy 20 or more levels above your own. 2401 Experience Points gained.

Nik Thems: {Smith} Level up! Stat points have been allocated.

Nik Thems: {Smith} Level up! Stat points have been allocated. You have unlocked a skill slot.

Nik Thems: {Smith} Level up! Stat points have been allocated.

Nik Thems: {Smith} Level up! Stat points have been allocated. You have unlocked a skill slot.

Nik Thems: {Smith} Level up! Stat points have been allocated.

Nik Thems: {Smith} Level 8. Current progress 84/800

"At least something good came out of that fight," Nik said barely keeping his eyes open. He hadn't noticed it before but he had grown increasingly tired.