As if to answer my question there was a sound almost like a string instrument being plucked that caressed my ear at the same time the tome in my chest pulsed with warmth. It wanted to be pulled out, while I just wanted my thundering heartbeat to slow down, for my breath to calm. If it wanted me to look then it was just gonna have to float itself out of my chest.

  And then, it did.

  i didn’t even realize my eyes were closed until they snapped open. There, floating in front of my face, was my tome. It was open to a new section.

  Kill Log:

  Forest Rollaroo (Juvenile)…x1=10xp

  Rollaroo? What kind of name was rollaroo? That had to be some kind of joke, right?

  The pages flipped to another new section.

  Bestiary

  Gain more knowledge for every encounter with a creature that you have whether positive, negative, or neutral.

  There was only one entry since I’d only encountered the rollaroo, but all it had was the creature’s name and the suggestion to interact with them to learn more. It seemed like a familiar game mechanic, but paradoxically I couldn’t remember playing any games in particular. How did I know such trivial nonsense, but nothing of real importance?

  I was brought out of my thoughts as the tome once again turned pages on its own. This time it went to the Insight page with all my stats and skills on it and one in particular was blinking

  Stoneshard Armory(Active/Summons)-Level 0 (10/100)

  Huh. I’d gained experience, but was that just from using it? If I summoned it again after the cooldown would I gain experience? Or did I need to kill something using the skill?

  At the thought of killing something, I looked over at the rollaroo. It was still stuck on my spear like a prime piece of meat on a kebab. The buttend of the spear was sticking up from the ground like a tilted flagpole with dark blood glistening on the jagged spearhead.

  I’d killed something. Sure, the creature had attacked me with the intent on making me dinner, but maybe I could have gotten out of the situation without killing it. Maybe I should have tried.

  The rollaroo’s body slid down the haft a little and I looked away. Then again, maybe it wasn’t that deep. Maybe killing things like this wasn’t a big deal in this world. If so, then I needed to get used to it, especially if part of being a sentinel was protecting others from creatures like this rollaroo.

  It took a little while longer before I felt recovered enough to sit up. There was a strange weight on my arm and I looked down to see what it was. I groaned. I’d already forgotten about the shield being there. It hadn’t exactly been in my thoughts while trying to recover.

  “How do I get you to go away?” I wondered out loud.

  Apparently, all I needed was to think about it. The shield and spear melted into energy again and flowed into my chest. For a moment there was a subtle warmth in my core and then everything was normal again.

  Except for the tome that was still floating in the air. I snatched it and was about to close it when I noticed there was a new section under my previous skills.

  Learned Skills

  Gain proficiency in a wide range of non-magical skills as you use them. Discover new skills by doing them and earn bonuses as you rank them up.

  Combat Skills

  

  
• Spears (unlocked)


  
• Shields (unlocked)


  

  Huh. That just made me wonder if there was a skill for everything. Was there a skill for walking? If there was, I should have already earned something for how long I’d been trekking through the forest.

  I looked over at the dead rollaroo again and wondered if I should do something like skin it or harvest anything from it. I had no idea what was useful from it, if anything. Hell, its meat could have been poisonous or something. The only way I’d know is if I killed more of them and I didn’t exactly feel ready to go hunting.

  In the end I decided to leave the rollaroo alone. It didn’t even have anything to use for harvesting anyway and no, my claws weren’t going to count. I didn’t feel ready to go ripping and tearing things apart. Not yet anyway, but I did need to remember that I had them and could use them for defense if I needed.

  I needed to get used to being a gargoyle. I needed to find out what it even meant to be a gargoyle, especially in this world.

  With no other idea what to do, I continued following the stream to wherever it was going. My theory was that if I kept going upstream then I’d eventually come to the source which would hopefully lead to civilization of some kind. Hopefully a friendly one, but I’d take a neutral one if it meant safety.

  I came across a big, full bush with branches that were laden with plump pink berries. My stomach had been growing increasingly plaintive as time passed and they smelled invitingly sweat. I still didn’t know what gargoyle’s were supposed to eat. My belly was telling me to just eat something please, but I didn’t want to eat the wrong thing. I didn’t need to find out what indigestion was like for a gargoyle.

  I really wished I had some kind of identifying magic. I didn’t need to know all the details, I just wanted to know if things were edible or had medicinal potential. Anything to learn more about this world.

  In the end, I didn’t eat any of the berries. It just wasn’t worth it and though I was hungry, I wasn’t starving. I could wait until I found a city or something.

  I had to find one eventually, right?

  Not exactly. I did come to a very low, very basic bridge of sorts. It was really just more of a platform made of thick planks of wood. I was more interested in the road that went over the platform.

  It was wide for one thing, way wider than what seemed normal. There were deep ruts cut into the dirt in chaotic criss-crossing weaves that indicated frequent use by something with wheels. Wagons or carts, maybe? Maybe even carriages?

  Whatever. It didn’t matter what made the marks. Roads meant people and people meant civilization. And civilization meant some place I could set a new respawn location. Hopefully.

  Of course, I didn’t have any idea which way to go. The road across the stream disappeared around a bend a little ways beyond the crossing point while the other direction was straight and clear as far as I could see. It was really noticeable just how clear cut the road was straight through the forest too, like an archway that was well-maintained.

  I stood at the platform for a little while, just considering my options. I could keep following the stream and see if it led somewhere desirable. It seemed silly to consider that when a road would, at some point, lead to a town or something.

  That meant the choice was really to either take the road around the bend or go the straight way. I didn’t see any inherent reason to go one way or the other.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  What I needed was to have some idea where each direction led. I needed to see things from higher up, get a lay of the land as it were. It was probably something I should have thought of earlier, but better late than never, right?

  I looked at the trees around me, really taking them in for the first time. There were different sizes of course, different growth and all, but by and large they were massive things. The stump of one of them could have served as the foundation for a small family home.

  The trunks twisted and wound upwards to a height that I couldn’t even guess from below. The limbs and branches were almost as wild as the trunks and not a single one of them started within easy reach for me to grab. At least, not any of the ones close to me. I didn’t exactly search the whole forest.

  Standing at the bottom of the closest tree and looking up at the intimidating height, I debated if I really wanted to do it.

  I heard the sound of pages turning that I knew meant I had a new quest so I pulled out my tome to take a look.

  Quest

  Limb It To Win It

  Goal: Climb the tree to observe your surroundings

  Reward: Unlock skill, maybe more

  Status: Pending

  Accept quest? Y/N

  Maybe more, huh? That definitely got my curiosity up. I did notice there was no flat experience gain for completing quests so that could be the “maybe more”. I’d just have to accept it to find out.

  So that’s what I did, but before I put the tome away I decided to try something. So far it seemed like I could customize quite a bit about my insight vision, what with the icons and bars. Could I get some kind of notification system going? Nothing obtrusive, but maybe just some icons or something to let me know there was something new.

  It probably shouldn’t have been a surprise at that point, but the tome reacted to my want. A new icon appeared near the top left of my vision. It was a book with an exclamation point. When I focused on it, the icon extended out to a banner.

  Notifications will show here. Further information requires the tome.

  Very interesting. I wondered just what all I could do as far as customization went. Immediately, the notification icon blinked at me and I focused on it again.

  Functions section added.

  Since the tome was still in my hand, I willed it to open to the new section. There turned out to be a number of options. In fact, it seemed like I could customize just about whatever way I wanted to.

  I closed the tome and put it away. I could take the time to really dig into it whenever I finally got to civilization. Or just someplace to rest where I didn’t need to worry about things like rollaroos jumping me.

  Then, I turned my attention back to the task at hand. Speaking of…

  I glanced at my hands and, more specifically, my fingers. They were weird, or at least they felt like they should be weird to me. I didn’t have claws per se, more like my fingers just tapered to very sharp, very strong points. The last few inches looked like smoky glass, like they could break easily, but as I flexed them I could feel that wasn’t the case.

  Looking back to the tree, I sized it up as I walked closer to the trunk. The twisty, curvy nature of it looked like it provided lots of hand and footholds. I could also see knots and holes, at least one of which appeared big enough for me to crawl into. All told it seemed like the shear towering height would be the most difficult part of the climb.

  Or, as I would find out, I really just lacked imagination.

  The climb started fine. It was pretty easy to go between the grooves that the twists in the trunk created. One of them was even big enough for me to rest in for a few minutes and look to see if I was close to any of the branches.

  I wasn’t.

  I looked at the ground far below me and expected to feel uncomfortable or something, but instead I just felt a sense of peace, of rightness. Tension I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding released in a rush and I smiled. This was where a gargoyle belonged, up where I could observe the world and act, or not, how and when I chose.

  My climb continued until the next time I took a break. I was getting closer to the first branch now, but I wasn’t close enough to reach it. I needed at least one more rest first.

  I was leaning against the tree, my palm flat against the trunk and my eyes closed, when I felt a kind of tickling sensation on my wrist. My reflex was to pull back to see what it was, but my hand didn’t move. That of course really caught my attention and I looked to see what the hell was going on.

  There was something brown and viscous that had somehow already covered my hand without me feeling it. I thought it might be sap and just tried a little harder to pull away. My hand came off the trunk that time, but the sap and some bark came with it. It was when I tried to shake it off that I realized something was actually wrong.

  Not only did the sap not come off, but it started creeping up my arm, which was definitely not sap-like behavior. The stuff was still attached to the tree almost as if it was some kind of tentacle and it gave an insistent tug as if to pull me back. That was when I followed the line of sap up the trunk to the source. At first all I saw was so much tree that I still needed to climb, that is until something moved.

  Yellow eyes appeared over the edge of the branch I was trying to get to and glowered down at me. The sap on my wrist seemed to squeeze and then yanked harshly. That’s when I saw that the sap actually led straight up to the owner of the eyes.

  I pulled back against the sap, but this time I put all my strength into it. I didn’t break free, but I must have surprised the creature because there was suddenly some slack from above. The yellow eyes disappeared again but I saw what looked like feet dangle from the opposite side.

  “Let go of me!” I yelled at my attacker.

  The creature responded by leaping off the branch. For a moment I just watched it fall towards me, super confused by what the hell it was doing. Why would it do that?

  I found out very quickly.

  The rope of sap didn’t just go taut, it hauled me up at a startling speed. Every joint in my arm burned in protest and I flailed very unhelpfully. It all happened so fast that I was shocked into inaction.

  I’m embarrassed to say it took me longer than it should have to realize that if I was going up and the creature was coming down then we were getting closer to each other. It wasn’t until it grabbed me that I snapped out of it.

  It tried to dig its claws in, but it couldn’t pierce my tough skin. I, however, could. I sunk them into the creature’s shoulders at the same time it grabbed me with another set of hands and its back feet. I just dug my claws in deeper and the thing practically screamed in my face.

  That gave me a pretty good look at the inside of its large maw. Two sharp fangs dripped with something that could have been venom while the rest of the teeth were a mix of flesh-shredders and bone-grinders. A big pink tongue vibrated with the force of its fury and I could see down its throat, which made me wish I had something to throw.

  “You really don’t want to try to eat me,” I said as we struggled with each other.

  In response the creature used all its limbs to drag me closer to it, and subsequently, to its mouth. I tore my claws down its front arms and while they did release me, it didn’t stop the thing from closing its mouth around my neck.

  I didn’t take the chance that its fangs would break the same way the rollaroo’s teeth had. For the first time, I triggered my fluorite armor skill. Warmth rushed out from my core and spread to my already pretty tough skin all over my body.

  Now, I’d kind of expected the armor to form over my body in some way, like a shell or something. Instead, my skin actually thickened and grew out into spiky crystals. It was an odd sensation unlike anything I can possibly describe.

  I didn’t feel it when the creature tried to bite down, but I heard the crack of at least one of its fangs. Its whole body spasmed and in one motion it opened its mouth and tossed me away from it, or rather it tried to. I still had a hold of it with my claws, which was why it couldn’t swallow me whole in the first place.

  I got my legs up and drove my feet claw first into the creature’s stomach and tore them down, slicing it open. It felt the rush of blood and other things, but I didn’t look down. I didn’t think I could handle seeing the gore of it, or risk being distracted while I was still fighting for my life.

  Or one of my respawn tokens. Whatever.

  It turned out that having its entrails become its extrails was a pretty good way to end the fight. It tried to use its second set of arms to hold everything in, but it was already too late. Its struggles to get away from me got weaker until it stopped completely.

  I got a flash of notifications, but I didn’t think that looking at them while I was hanging very, very far from the ground was a good idea.

  “Now how do I get out of this mess?”

  As soon as I voiced the question, I got an answer. The sap rope that had been holding us up melted into nothing more than a viscous goo. I yelped as both the dead creature and I fell.