"It's bullshit that I can literally regrow flesh and do magic, and I still need to eat…"
- I mean, it's kinda standard for living things to need to eat, and sleep, and breath one way or another. You probably could have skipped that with the basic robot-core body, but you took the human aspect, those basic needs must be the reason for the cheap price.
"Yeah, would not have liked to be all machine. I guess I need to find food and water"
Outside the canyon looked the same as last night, rocky vertical cliff for something like 40 meters up. It continues in two directions. If the sun works the same as on earth, I'm guessing north that way, so.
"Two directions, East or West ?"
- Three, you can go up
"It may have seen fun from your side, but believe me when I say I don't want a repeat of last night, plus I have no idea how to climb"
— You have 20 effective agility and 19 cons, you probably don't need a climbing skill to go up a rocky cliff like that one, believe me. But still, probably not the best idea right now, don't think a repeat with the bear would end well.
"Yeah, I'm saying west, it seems to go down a bit, so more chance to find water maybe ? I knew I should have looked at more survival show … "
I start walking toward the West, the rocky ground uncomfortable on my bare feet, but not cutting me thanks to my Constitution.
"What are skills anyway ? How do they work ? "
- Skills condensate your knowledge and abilities, to progress a Skill you have to practice and increase your understanding of it. Skill don't seem to have a cap, but each ten of levels are big step up in the power of a Skill, but only rare experts are able to attain level 20 in a Skill.
"OK, so if I'm looking for food and water a lot, I will become better at it ? Like supernaturally better ? "
- At low level, it's more about fixing your skills, making you more consistent with it, and level up are usually coming with some knowledge.
While we're talking I'm approaching the end of the canyon, opening on a massive valley, full of greenery and a central lake. A 15 m drop is in front of me, probably an old waterfall descending into the valley. I can see birds flying around the hidden valley.
"I'm guessing I will find food and water down there, but I will have to climb to get out, and I don't see any smoke or something, so probably no civilization. Or do I go East ? I don't know what's safer "
- Like I said, you shouldn't have too much problem climbing back up, and we have no clue if there is anything in the other end of the canyon. From up there we didn't see a lot more than rocks…
With a sight, I approach the cliff, and start trying to climb down, there are a lot of rocks to grab, and my superhuman strength and endurance help me to take it slow. I have to take a detour in my climb, as there is a cavern at the base of the cliff.
Finally, I'm at the bottom.
The cavern seems a bit bigger than the one from last night, I will probably take a look later when it's time to find a place to sleep, for now, I will go toward the lake.
I'm entering the forest, and it seems almost peaceful, I never had the chance to leave the city, and nature seems nice like that.
Aaaaah, fuck, why is that thing biting my leg !
I kick, and the beast went flying against a tree, releasing a squeak.
It looks like a fox, with orange fur and a long face, blood, my blood, all over its face. It's going up, visibly, with difficulty.
- OK, it's a bloodhunter Fox, level 1. You should be alright.
While keeping an eye on the fox, I check my leg, the wound is already closing. OK, I can do it, let's go.
I charge the fox, and kick it in the face, I hear a loud snap, and the body of the fox fall on the ground behind a bush.
"Oh, I think I felt the Skill thing you said, I wanted to kick it and my leg almost moved by itself, going the right angle for the kill."
"But killing a little beast like that doesn't seem so nice, it's the size of a cat. I will probably need to level up, but I will really prefer to find peoples to heal for that. "
- The amount of exp is increasing exponentially with the level of your target, for killing at least, otherwise it depends, but generally to level up quickly you should challenge yourself. Your class should allow you to face higher level foes, and gain more exp, at least on the beginning. The area doesn't seem to be particularly high level, the bear could be the higher level around. Which mean even if you're lost, you should be more or less safe.
"Yeah, that's that at least. A bit sad I don't have anything with me, I don't really want to eat that raw …"
- Your unending soul includes poison suppression, so you can eat it without fear.
"Yeah, not going to do that, there should be some fruit or something somewhere, it feels like spring. "
OK, that forest suck, in the two hours it took for me to reach the lake, I was attacked by fox 6 times, all between first and third level, the third level one was pretty fast, but with my passive boost I still have more agility than them and can catch them pretty easily. And with my strength they are as brittle as sticks.
From that side the lake has a little dirt beach, I can see a few deerlike creatures and a few little critters drinking water while eyeing me carefully.
- Be careful, none of them have a dangerous name, but the big deer is level 8.
I watch a little bit carefully the deer, its woods seem particularly sharp, and I can feel his attention never leaving me. I make a show to seems as unmenacing as possible, and I drink the fresh water, cupping it with my hands. I may need less water with that body, but it feels wonderful anyway.
The deer scream makes me rise up just in time, the jaw of a beast jumping out of the water, closing on my right arm instead of my face.
Oh shit, can't I go 5 minutes without something trying to kill me.
The beast looks a lot like an alligator, maybe a bit longer ? Half my arm is inside his jaw and when I try to back away I can feel my flesh coming apart.
"Leave me alone, bastard !"
I hit it once or twice, but I can't manage enough strength, and he seems to ignore me totally. His claw start to slash my thighs, and his weight is dragging me to the ground.
- It's level 8, you need to hit it harder !
I punch it a few more times when his tail hit my ankle, sending me to the ground, and it still didn't let go of my arm. I feel the pressure increase and my bone crack.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
And now his rear claw are tearing apart my leg and his front are going at my belly.
The pain make it very hard to concentrate, and I panic completely, I keep punching and screaming but fighting with my left arm is harder and the Skill don't give me any clue.
Ouh, that hit me like morphine.
OH I'm so stupid, I have magic.
I double the mana into warrior magic, feeling my magic point starting to drain, and my strength increasing, the increase in constitution make me a bit more resistant to the pain.
And before hitting again, I put as much as I can in Soul strike, feeling the death mana covering my hand.
This time my punch does something, my fist pierces the flesh and I can feel his blood on my hand.
He keeps clawing and biting me, and I keep punching.
After what feel like hours, but maybe more like one minute, I feel the force on my right arm reduce, and the beast go limp.
One more point to Mana, and a new ability. I will need a few minutes to get up, but at least I can feel my regeneration hard at work fixing me up.
Name : Jessica Malone
Classes : Soul warrior 5
Species : Godling (Soul body manifestation)
Titles : Isekai / World traveler/ Born elsewhere, Bug Finder 3, Death witness, Reincarnate, Unique specie, Legendary trait, Rule breaker
Traits : Unending soul, Human adaptability, Godling , free will, soul mana
Experience increase : Your Soul warrior class gain exp when you kill creatures with a soul, when you heal a creature with a soul, and any time your action help the cycle of souls to function.
It is knows that some particular achievement are recognized by the System, giving an 'achievement' and awarding experiences. These specials way of acquiring experience seems to be proportional to the experience needed for the current level. It's also given equally to all the classes.
Most Build maker tend to split into one of two opinions regarding achievement : Either to get them early to pass some hard level of difficult classes, or to get them as late as possible so to get a significant boost to as many classes as possible.
Which philosophy I adhere to is not the subject of this class, and books detailing the advantage of each strategy are available at the university library.
- Course on experience acquisition. Carthage University.
Full sheet