Name: Natasha

Race: Mandrill lvl 6

XP: 10

Size: 70

Type: Beast

Faction: Unaligned

Armor: 0

HP: 35/36

Strength: 5/Speed: 10/Endurance: 5/Magic: 2/Plasticity: 1/Luck 6

Senses: Vision 3, hearing 4, smell 2, taste 1, touch 2

Abilities: Balance 2, omnivorous 2, aposematism 1, innate magic 2

Skills: Bite 1, strike 2, grapple 2, throw 1, climb 2, sneak 3, hide 1, dash 1, dodge 1, block 1

Spells: Bluster 5 MAX, windfury 2

The spider crept forward slowly, stuck to the side of a tree trunk, it looked like it was just as big as I was. I stood stock still, almost frozen in place. I wanted to move, obviously, but just couldn’t. It was like I was instinctively trying to hide but I was out in the open. The spider was clearly looking right at me. I had to force my hand to move. It was like trying to push a truck just getting my hand into my bag to pull the knife. I really hate spiders, and seeing one as big as I am was the stuff of nightmares. Given how I’d searched the previous two days for something to hunt and hadn’t spotted one of these before tells me either that they’re nocturnal, or very stealthy, but either answer didn’t make me feel any better.

I could try and break for the clearing around the other monkeys, but really how much would they help here? That besides I traveled a few hundred feet, so they are pretty far from me to try and run for it. I could probably kill the spider if I needed to, but I do not want to get close to it. I would much rather get as far away from it as physically possible. Man I really wish I had a reliable ranged attack. I pushed myself onto my hands and feet slowly and the creeping spider raised two front legs like it was trying to rear up to make itself look larger, baring its fags and tensing.

BOOM

The impact shook the ground, the shock harsh enough to bounce me off the ground, making me stumble backwards, nearly falling back into my fire. I didn’t know what happened, the sheer force of the impact was disorienting. I turned my head swiftly back to the spider but it wasn’t on the tree any more, and in fact where it had been, the wood was splintered. Did the spider do that? Was it that strong? I swiveled my head around quickly, trying to look for it, only for it to catch my ear. The sound of crackling and crunching. I looked to my left and saw the spider about fifteen feet up, stuck between what looked like two branches. Though it sank in a moment later as the branch moved, what had just happened. My eyes trailed up higher and the face of another insect much, much larger than before.

A twenty foot tall, yellow and seemingly camouflaged as the trees surrounding it, but once you spotted the head it was obvious what you were looking at. A giant praying mantis. The mandibles pierced the spider, biting into it and callously ripping it apart. There was some sort of instinctive feeling I got looking at this creature. Though unlike looking at the spider, which was just a natural fear, this was a sort of respect, like it was ingrained into me that this creature was important. This creature was the boss of the Autumn Vale, and I knew it. It must be the strongest creature in these woods, save for possibly the guy at the end of the dungeon.

I very clearly was outmatched. There was no way I was going to be able to kill this thing. It was definitely higher than level 10. It killed that spider in one blow, and ripped a groove out of the tree it was standing on. That’s speed and strength that beat mine, and then some. I looked up at the triangular face, the two large bulbous eyes cold and almost robotic in how alien they were. Lucky for me it was clearly preoccupied with its current meal. I shuffled backwards at a snail’s pace, trying to keep its attention off of me. I circled around my fire, eyes never leaving the mantis as I backed away towards the tree line. I watched the mantis closely, looking for any sign of having alerted the monster. It made me, in my shock, wonder whether that thing had been hidden there the whole time, silently watching me and for some reason sparing my life, or more likely and also more disturbing, it had crept up on me completely silently, in the same way the spider had.

As soon as I was beside the nearest tree, I circled around behind it, only peeking around at the mantis as it eventually finished its meal. One good thing about that massive thing being the boss of the woods means there isn’t going to be more than one at least. I really do not want to see more of those things running around. My heart was pounding in my chest, constantly reminding me of how close I’d come to dying yet again. Maybe I should stop thinking long term for my plans and instead try to focus more on the here and now. What I really need to be doing is figuring out how to heal, cause I get a sinking feeling that I’ll be needing it sooner than I’d hoped.

I watched the mantis straighten up, raising its head high up in the air and holding out its arms to pretend it was a tree again and I almost blinked and missed it, cause if I didn’t know it was there there was no way I would have noticed that thing. That’s more than a little frightening. I, on the other hand, turned and started moving silently away to head back to my monkey troupe. If I’m going to wait for the sun to rise, I may as well do it back where it’s at least relatively safe. Or supposedly so. Though there’s no way I was going to be able to lay down for a nap after that. Also I really wish I’d have had the time to douse my fire, but that wasn’t really an option. I built the fire far enough away from anything else that it should just die down eventually, but still I really don’t want to go out on whatever plans I make, only to find out I burned the forest down. Though there is the off chance that mantis might die, and I could get the xp from killing it, so there’s that. Or would that even count?

I snuck through the brush for a few more minutes before coming back to the gaggle of sleeping simians, waddling my way around the bundles and flopping down, back against the tree in the center of the clearing. I shivered a bit at the thought of the giant bug, still being not so far away, but it didn’t follow me at least. It seemed content to just pretend to be a tree for the foreseeable future. That baseline level of anxiety now increased, I should probably think instead about… anything to distract me from that thing. Now, how do I waste a few hours of time while I wait for the others to wake up? Stinks not being able to browse the internet any more. I crossed my arms behind my head and kicked up in the open air. I’m finally out of ideas. I’m just going to have to faff around and be bored for a while. It’s like waking up first at a sleepover.

So That’s all I did. Laid there in the grass, being lazy, laying on grass and keeping my eye open for the trees to move at the edge of the clearing. Last thing I wanted was to turn my eyes away and just BAM disappeared just like that spider. I spent something like twenty minutes after my eyes readjusted to the dark, attempting to memorize the treeline, but really it was fruitless. They are almost all the same kind of tree, the one that drops the kipples, and the only reason I could tell any of them apart was because I knew which way the cave was from here.

The next thirty minutes I laid there, trying to focus on my hearing some more, listening closely to the area surrounding. Though really, all I was doing was making my anxiety worse, thinking every little snapped twig was a new giant spider. After a while I tried to tune it out with my own thoughts, musing about a few ideas I hadn’t really explored all that well. Firstly being our nature as a monkey troupe. If I’d assumed correctly with us, then that means we are a swarm mob. Great, but that means that we should be able to work together. Given that during the last fight, Boris is the only one involved, either I was wrong about that, or it means that they stay out of fights like that one. Now, only attacking weaker targets, totally normal for animals, but I have yet to see these monkeys do anything other than grooming and eating. How would you get them to fight? Or if they did fight, how would they even work together?

I pondered this for a long while before eventually deciding to add that to the list of things to do. First follow Boris, second learn to heal, third follow monkeys and learn their monkey ways. Your simian secrets will be mine… I may be going slightly mad from isolation. Though it’s only been just over two days. So maybe it’s the multiple close scrapes with death instead. Either way, I can see this being quite unhealthy. Mental health however comes a distant second to survival after all. Fourth, figure out how to make a torch. Fifth, figure out how to get more xp quickly. Sixth, training montage. After that it just gets fuzzy.

I huffed, looking around the clearing again, trying to think of ways to pass the time before the rest of the monkeys got up. Of all the enemies I expected to be facing, somehow boredom is less expected than the giant mantis was. After ten minutes of literally just counting as high as I could making it all the way up to 1,983 before I sat up and shook myself off. I needed to think of something, anything to do instead. Taking another deep breath, but this time eyes closed and keenly aware as to what I was smelling. The forest is always very loud smelling, filled with dozens of mixing scents. Though I just so happened to finally get a whiff of myself. I predictably smelled like a monkey. I hadn’t washed myself in two days, and a lot of my fur is a mess. A shame there are no brushes or soap in the woods.

I could still at least clean myself up a bit, but I’ve just reminded myself how much I’m going to miss showers. Still, there is a creek that runs into the watering hole that I could clean myself off in, but I do worry about wandering around any more tonight with the risk of gigantic spiders running about. Man I need to get stronger so I don’t actually have to be scared of other monsters roaming the woods. All I would really need to do is gather food, and try to figure things out, like how the system actually works. Actually, come to think of it, what is the system anyways? I kind of poked at the idea but mostly just skirted around it. The fact that I entered a new world, and the world has an in-built numerically based RPG style system to it is odd. Also odd is the fact that I can understand what it says. All my stats and stuff are written in english. I suppose that it might just be translated so that I can understand it, but nothing else in this world seems so convenient as that. Would a system like this imply something in the measure of balancing? Is there some sort of god or entity that is above, dictating the rules of this game, or is it that the universe itself simply recognizes the system as one of its basic rules, like gravity?

In that line of thought, what if I never really died like I thought and my bus just got into a car crash and someone decided to hook me up into some super powerful super secret virtual reality? While interesting to think about, there’s no way. Technology strong enough to remake something like this, as high quality and dynamic, nothing pre-scripted. A computer this strong would be being used for something or someone far more important than me. It would be a massive waste of money, not to mention there’s no way anyone would be able to keep this thing secret for very long. It would be assuming a lot in terms of competence of average people. I threw my hands up at the thought. Somehow being reincarnated into a fantasy RPG world as a monkey is more believable of the two options.

Though, then again there’s no doubt some third “halfway” option I’m not thinking of. After all, the Catholics are here. Maybe this is just purgatory? Though this would be one really odd way to go about it. Especially given the fact that I’m one of the only two people I know of that came here. Clearly not everyone is reincarnated into this world. So what is it that could be the “selecting factor” here? Some random catholic and me. I’m not particularly notable for much. It could be that it’s something that I couldn’t even know about. Like some spiritual lottery. Would this mean I won or lost to become a monkey? I certainly don’t feel lucky. Though it is a better option than hell. This is of course assuming the catholics are even right in the first place. I was always more of a protestant myself anyways.

I mulled about on the subject, pondering my existence for longer than I’d care to admit before eventually seeing the pinks and oranges of the morning sky. My mind however was more focused on being thankful, both that I could properly see incoming giant spiders and was not followed by a twenty foot tall mantis creature… oh, and that the woods did not burn down. That would have been troublesome.

I rose up, still not quite relaxed, but at the least calmer now. One thing I was now realizing I had taken for granted was in leveling up, it wiped out all of my injuries, but also left me feeling refreshed and destressed. A shame I couldn’t keep that saved up separately from the heals, cause you could bottle that up and sell it for a fortune. Actually wait, no that’s just alcoholism, never mind. I shall instead turn my attention back to the plan at hand, following Boris around all day.

I waited for the other monkeys to start waking up, watching what they would do, but the big lug slept longer than most of the others, so I just mingled around a bit, trying to see if I could make sense of any of the mannerisms or markings of the others. Though unfortunately they all looked and acted too similarly for me to tell. There were one or two I could recognize by their markings, like one with a scar on his nose, and another with a longer beard than average. Which I took to calling Lao Tzu, because of the beard, and Tony “the nose” Luciano, cause he looked like a mafioso with his grumpy mug. I spent most of my time with Lao, which mostly consisted of him sitting around, eating up little bits he could find laying around. Mostly either the kipples, or he would pull up these little roots that grew around the bushes. I pulled up a few and chewed on them but they didn’t taste great. Kind of like the peel of a potato. I’ll have to remember to show them the other foods I found later.

I noticed one thing though, another thing I hadn’t really thought about. After the others started waking up, just like with my arm just fading into being after being severed, a few monkeys just started to fade into being in the clearing. It reminded me of the fact that when I first poofed into being here in this world, I was already a full grown monkey. Something I just took for granted, assuming I had just suddenly gained my memories back or something, but no I must have literally just been born. These monkeys must be spawning today after the cat things killed some off. I suppose that either means there is a constant spawn rate, or some sort of natural equilibrium that the jungle maintains. Does that mean that monsters and animals are two different things? Wait, that brings another question. None of these monkeys have babies, does that mean they physically can’t have babies? In which case, are there no females or males at all? I spare a glance at the awakening Boris, who upon closer inspection, rising up to a sitting position, is very unmistakably male. Which is even more confusing.

My brain was practically smoking out of my ears trying to figure out what this even meant. I wasn’t a very great puzzle solver before, when I was human. Any time I was stuck in a game I would get frustrated and just search the internet for what I was supposed to do next. A practice I never thought would come back and bite me until now, trying to divine the way this new world works, I may well be more accurate in trying to read tea leaves. I wrinkled my nose at the thought before standing up and walking over to the general area of Boris, but not invading his personal space. All the other monkeys don’t avoid him, but they do keep their distance. I watched as he got up, swaggering around like he was untouchable. He was a very confident monkey. Chin up, chest out, looking down his nose at the other monkeys. He walked up to one of the smaller monkeys and sat down, grooming the much smaller figure. It almost looked like a dad sitting down to braid his daughter’s hair. That is if instead of braiding her hair it was eating bugs out of it.

Several of the other monkeys started lining up around them. I had never seen monkeys form a queue before, but hey, I’ve never been a monkey before so I suppose I wouldn’t have. I sat back and watched as he groomed them one at a time for a good long while before eventually standing again, which caused all the smaller monkeys to scatter away. I get a sense that Boris’ position in this group is more than just the biggest baddest dude, and more like a group dad. Which was comforting at least. He wasn’t just some dumb brute. Though I suppose I should have expected that much, if mandrills are a swarm monster they would have to be pretty social. Though I have yet to see what exactly a mandril swarm does. I looked around, trying to get a basic head count of monkeys, but after I counted to forty I couldn’t keep up with them any more. There must be at least fifty here.

After about an hour or so of meandering about and snacking on little bits around the clearing, I watched as Boris got up and started walking out into the brush, and I hopped up to run after, darting up a tree to follow him. Though half of my attention was being diverted by making sure that the tree I’m climbing isn’t secretly a gigantic mantis. Boris strutted through the brush, in no hurry at all, completely lacking in stealth as he stomped his way through. He clearly believed he had nothing to fear, regardless of if that is true or not. I followed from branch to branch until he came up to the watering hole, and he wasn’t alone. The frogs were still there as always, as was a snake, and one of those flat beetles.

Boris hunched down to drink his water, and the others didn’t really disturb him, save for the beetle. As he drank, the beetle skittered closer, and I assume that it simply had poor eyesight. Boris’ nose wrinkled as the beetle got closer, hefting one arm up and simply swatting it away with a backhand. I remember trying to move the beetle, as it was light enough for me to lift with some effort, but he acted like it was made of paper. Now I could see with my new skill, discern weakness, a number of things that the beetle had that weren’t as obvious as before. Firstly, they clearly aren’t too bright, they are weak at all their joints, their underbelly is much weaker than their back, and they have bad eyesight.

The beetle tumbled over, rolling onto its back, a dozen needle-like legs wriggling about before it could roll itself over. It moved surprisingly quickly as it darted back over and snapped at Boris’ right leg. The first one missed as Boris moved, but the second one lunged for the foot, scoring a bite with its ant-like jaws. Boris did not take too kindly to this, but unlike me who targeted the weak points, like the belly or the eyes, Boris just reared up and drove his fists down into its back. It wasn’t very effective, but it did more than I had literally leaping out of a tree with my knife. There were no visible injuries but you could hear the crunch of the impact. The beetle bit the leg again, but this time Boris grabbed one hand on the shell of the creature and the other onto the head, pulling with a snap in two different directions like one might tear cardboard. He made it look like more of an annoyance than it was a fight, holding the head of the beetle in one hand and chucking it away into the brush. His fight with the beetle made my previous fights look like children squabbling. It was both impressive and a bit demoralizing frankly.

The fight, if you could even call it that, ended, and Boris simply went back to drinking from the watering hole just as before, the others all leaving him be. As awful as it might be to say, I am kind of lucky that the beetle was so dumb, cause now Boris needs to heal that bite, even if it’s just superficial. Which means I just might get to see how I can heal without needing copious amounts of dead rats or centipedes. Boris finished drinking, dipping his hand into the water and splashing it on his own face. Is he washing up? I suppose it’s not unheard of, but it’s not something I expected him to care about.

As soon as he’d finished, he turned to start walking again though this time towards a direction I hadn't gone yet. Assuming the cave is to the east, and the town is to the west, I have traveled a bit north before, and obviously east and west, but I had yet to go south. He was traveling south east. I hopped from one tree to the next, following along after the larger monkey for a few minutes before he came up to a tree. Now, unlike all the other trees that have yellowish leaves, this is the first really green tree I’ve seen, and on it there were a number of orange fruits hanging from the trees and dotting the ground around it. Boris walked by, picking up the pinkish-orange fruits and eating them in nearly one bite. He grabbed one at a time, walking around the base of the tree until he’d had his fill, and only after he’d finished did I notice his leg was totally fine.

So it’s not that you can just eat anything. Certain foods grant certain bonuses, and these fruits heal you, presumably. I climbed down the tree, walking over to the area around the tree to pick up one of the fruits when I actually recognized this one. This isn’t a fantasy fruit like the kipples are (I think), this is a persimmon. I’ve had one of these before. I bit into it, and it tasted exactly like I remembered, kind of like a mix between honey and peaches. Frankly I’d probably want to eat a bunch of these even if they didn’t heal me.

+1 hp

Well, the only downside is I don’t know how much it heals now, since I was only missing 1 hp to begin with… I huffed slightly in a bit of frustration at my lack of foresight, but at least now I can test it in the future, and I am in significantly less danger now that I can actually heal wounds. I grabbed one and… well darn. I only have room in my bag for one. Right now, I have my gloves, my knife, my bone knife, and my flint, and I really don’t want to give any of those up. I really need a bigger bag. Well, I suppose that only having one with me will be my “in case of emergency” healing, otherwise I’ll have to come back to the tree instead.

I tucked the persimmon into my bag, turning and having a sudden panic rip through my spine as I only then recognized the red and blue face less than a foot away from mine, Boris had just been standing there that whole time, looking at me and I was just off in my own little world. I’m lucky it wasn’t something else. He huffed out a breath in my face and I flinched. He didn’t seem angry, so much as he was giving me the “why are you here” look. Which made me think that perhaps this might be his place and he doesn’t want to share.