Eklil had left out a flask of tea for me. The old iepurran was still asleep, surrounded by a pile of grandchildren, when I closed the door behind me and made my way towards the village gate.
Aside from myself and the late—or were they early?—revellers, only the guards still prowled the dew-wet streets. The two at the gate saluted as I passed by, and wished me hale travels.
The best place to get a good view of the entire surrounding area was, oddly enough, the hill where I’d woken up originally. I climbed all the way back up to my original spot, feeling the sun grow hot on the back of my neck as morning broke properly.
At the summit, there was no sign left of my arrival. The grass had popped back up, taking away any markings of where this whole thing started.
“Right, then,” I grumbled as Eternity drifted on on some air current above my head. “How do I see the other dungeons?”
“Same as you use any other function of your interface,” the dragon answered. “Focus and ask for it.”
I did. And, to my surprise, my MP bar immediately started going down. Not as aggressively as when I used [ADRENALINE SURGE], but still enough that it was noticeable. I made a note of it in my notepad to investigate this if I ever got a hang of the [DETECT ENERGY] skill.
Notifications popped up in my field of view, complete with pointing arrows.
One arrow led back to the village square, showing where Carmill Hill’s dungeon lay. Two other arrows aimed at points in the far distance. And a fourth one pointed behind me.
I turned and found that dungeon was somewhere over the sea’s horizon. It wasn’t likely I’d be going for that one anytime soon, unless I could somehow circle around the sea on foot. According to Eternity, there were countless dungeons on Oresstria, so not having access to one wasn’t going to be any tragedy as far as my plans were concerned.
But the other two? One was deep within the Brightleaf, and the other appeared to be within that twisted structure far on the horizon.
While I’d have to rough it to either one, both were within reasonable distance. I could cross the Brightleaf or I could head over the naked hills towards that alien structure. Eklil had called it a labyrinth and I had a momentary flash of a minotaur prowling through narrow, dark passages.
On one hand, it was definitely the easier trip. On the other… scary place.
“Which of these is a better choice?” I asked Eternity.
And I answered my own question together with the dragon, “I cannot say.” Eternity grumbled something that I didn’t catch, and I chuckled.
“Yes, yes,” I said, feeling a smile spreading across my face, “you’re sorry for your limitations. Let’s get some of those off you, shall we? It can’t be fun to be this tight-arsed.”
If I had a coin, I would’ve flipped it to make up my mind. As things stood, the dungeon in the forest looked to be somewhat closer. The trip would take me outside Carmill Hill’s area of influence, but that was fine. I wanted this, so I was going to set out and get it. I set a marker on the map in the general blank space where the dungeon seemed to be.
Shifting the pack on my shoulder—and taking a moment for the assorted clanging and clacking to settle—I turned my back to the village and followed the hill’s ridge towards the forest.
“No time like now,” I muttered my grandfather’s old saying.
I walked for a while across the hills, up and down, marvelling at my own endurance. I had gotten a taste of this earlier on, when chasing the squawker, but that had been an intense, short-term effort. This, now, was something I hadn’t been able to do… ever. Even back in my early twenties, when in college, I could barely keep up with the group when going on hikes—I’ve been carrying extra weight ever since puberty. Now, even with the heavy pack on my back, I felt as if I could walk to the ends of the world and back, uphill both ways.
“Why did you age me down?” I asked, more to spark up conversation than anything else. Walking felt a bit boring if I wasn’t spitting out a lung. “You could’ve just made me fitter.”
“You have been adjusted to better integrate on Oresstria,” Eternity said. “Your species variant achieves maturity early, so your body was reconstructed accordingly.”
It was always a gamble with the entity. Would I get an answer or the wall to the face? So every time I did get the former, it took me a moment to absorb the information.
To better integrate? What did that even mean? Younger and fitter worked better for this world? I wasn’t sure I liked that line of reasoning.
“And why me?” I tested the waters, hoping for a slip.
“I cannot say.”
“Of course you can’t.”
I sighed and shifted my pack as I walked down the final hill before the forest took over the landscape. It seemed much more imposing without Eklil at my side.
There was no rush, of course, but I still wanted to try and train as many of my skills as I could while travelling. Thus, I made it a point to keep a steady, jolting pace, picking the more difficult routes up and down the hills.
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My balance was better than it’d ever been and I knew this was an effect of that traversal skill I’d trained. But even so, I felt I could do better if I just applied myself a little more, like there was a deep ocean of knowledge and skill to dive into and master.
I felt this with regards to every one of my new skills and it was at once a liberating feeling, and a huge pain in the ass. This sort of potential chasing had been exactly why my mid-twenties had gotten me mired into a soul-destroying career, always wanting to do more, be greater, be better, achieve more to my name. My then-girlfriend, later-fiancee, ultimately-wife had been a saint for putting up with me through all of that.
And here I was again, chasing the same high. It had taken me to a great mental place the first time around.
At least now I was only doing this to myself… and I smothered that line of thinking before it spiralled into other things. Instead, I turned my attention to the forest just as I was about to step into its shade.
Brightleaf lived up to its name. With the morning sun climbing higher to the side of Areestra, the forest shone. It sparkled and glittered as I got close, light reflecting off the silver leaves to break apart into rainbows as it passed through some spider webs that hung like drapes among the trees.
I’d been keyed up on the thrill of the chase when hunting with Eklil and I hadn’t noticed, but the Brightleaf really didn’t smell like any forest I’d ever smelled before. Where I expected earthy, musty scents to fill the air—moss and lichen, cracked wood, wet turf and mushrooms—I was instead greeted by a whole concert of floral aromas. There were no flowers anywhere to be seen, which made it doubly weird.
“Are there flowers atop the trees?” I asked.
And before Eternity had a chance to answer, something dropped from one of the trees. Right atop my head.
Thick, rough legs wrapped themselves around my skull before I had gulped in enough air to scream. Sharp, black claws dug into my cheek, and a reek of spoiled meat hit my nose.
I instinctively raised my hands and grabbed hold of the thing currently clutching the top of my skull.
Revulsion wracked me as I realised I was being head-crabbed by a giant fucking spider. It was warm to the touch, the carapace on its back oddly soft and yielding. Something wet and cold slathered against the back of my head, followed by pressure as things gripped on to my neck.
I activated [ADRENALINE SURGE]. The image of a literal headcrab cracking open my skull with its mandibles flashed through my mind, the horror as sharp as when I’d run into my first zombie in Half-Life way back in my early, early teens. Except that was a game, and this thing was drooling down my back.
The world slowed. Sounds drifted away. The creature’s grip slackened slightly, as if in surprise. With a heave and a scream of terror, I gripped harder and yanked it off my head. Thick, bristly hair scratched at my cheek and I realised how close it had been to a proper grip.
The claws moving in slow motion above my eyes were hard not to stare at.
The creature was easily the size of my own head, its legs long and thin. It only had four of them, not eight like a proper spider.
I arched my back and threw the blighter away. It sailed lazily through the air at an arc and I got an uncomfortable look at its underside: a gash of a fang-filled mouth slit its belly and a red, wet tongue splashed drool in thick drops as the creature spun in slow motion through the air. Moments later it smashed against the nearest tree, turned on impact, and skittered back up into the glittering canopy, the skill’s slowing effect glitching for a moment.
I drew my sword as I wearily stared up at the leaves. Nothing moved. Birds sang, but they were all distant, prolonged sounds. The webs I’d seen originally were just a taste of the real horrid nest stretching above me like a grey blanket, now that I was actively searching for it .
“B?ga-mi-a?,” I groaned.
I fucking hate spiders and crabs and anything that bears even the slightest resemblance. I hate them with the fire of a thousand suns. And it unfortunately seemed like the edge of the forest offered up a whole nest of spidery creepy crawlies.
A shudder ran up my spine as I imagined what could’ve happened if I didn’t have the system skill.
Taking advantage of the time I still had until the surge deactivated and normal perception resumed, I crept forward. A shaft of light flickered as I stepped under another tree. It was sheer luck that I turned aside before another black headcrab nearly dropped on me. Time resumed its normal flow just as my boot hit the gross thing right in the side of its stupid, six-eyed head. It flew off into the depths of the forest, not even having the decency of letting out a decent squeal of pain.
There would be more, I was sure of it. I backed up slowly, trying not to touch whatever it had been that triggered the first ambush. My MP would take some minutes to refill. “Figure out MP regeneration rate” got scribbled urgently into my to do.
Hairs on the back of my neck pricked. I turned and slashed upward blindly. My sword cracked into a hard shell like a baseball bat hitting a home run, splitting the falling crab in two on a diagonal. It fell to the ground and spun in place, body spasming, belly mouth filling with dirt as it thrashed. I stamped down on it and felt something crack under my heel. Reddish gore splattered my jeans up to my knees.
It expired with a rasping low moan.
[CONGRATULATIONS]
[YOU HAVE DEFEATED: BRAIN HUNTER JUVENILE x1]
[YOU HAVE TRAINED: INSTINCT REACTION - INITIATE]
[THIS SKILL IS NOT PART OF YOUR CLASS BUILD]
[LEVELLING THIS SKILL WILL NOT COUNT TOWARDS YOUR GROWTH]
Before I had a chance to gloat over my success, the air filled with shapes, now falling everywhere.
“Futu-i!” I croaked as I realised I’d just brought down the entire fucking colony on my head.
Is a spider group even called a colony? Or a clutter?
Are you fucking mental?! A more pragmatic part of me grabbed the scruff of my neck and sent me hurtling among the trees at a dead, breakneck run. I slammed against a tree and spun in place, lost my orientation for a moment, then somehow managed to push off into a new direction.
Looking back felt like a bad idea. The things were large and could leap. I didn’t want to—
SMACK!
I heard something crack against a tree to my right as I ran.
SMACK!
Another impact to my left. I realised they were leaping after me. Fuck! I changed direction suddenly and heard a crack against the tree I had been running towards.
Fuck! How far would they chase if I kept running? Spiders weren’t supposed to be collective creatures. I knew that much about the creepy fucks. So why were they chasing me?!
CRACK!
Something crashed through the canopy above, coming down in a cacophony of splintering wood. Twigs and silver leaves dropped down together with a big, black, gnarled body. It was much bigger than my head and it was coming straight at my face.
I stared right into the belly of the beast and screamed as its mouth yawned open. Fangs glistened wetly. The red, muscular tongue lashed out like a whip.
My whole head would fit in that mouth and there would still be enough room to chew. Screaming for dear life, I swung my sword.
And it dug straight into a tree, arresting my forward momentum and sending a shuddering shock up my arm.
Then the headcrab hit me. It was so fucking gross!
Enjoy Klaus's bumbling journey across beautiful Oresstria. What's the worst a guy with no luck stat could possibly run into?!
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