Tutorial Day 18

  “Okay, you husking Selfless piece of shit! What in the world was that?” Gavin shouted, as he stood up and snatched his sword up. Seeming to get ready to defend himself. He didn’t move toward me at least.

  I hoped that meant he wouldn’t be charging at me with the thing. The others didn’t seem to be doing anything overtly hostile or defensive. Well, except for Jacky, who stepped behind what remained of the Boar corpse.

  I held up my hands toward Gavin, showing him not only that I didn’t have the Skinning Knife in them anymore, but also that the Scales were almost totally gone. The backs of my arms only had small dots that looked like moles.

  “It was a Skill, I was testing it out. It increases some of my Stats!”

  Gavin lowered his sword, and then looked at Sarah and London. “Did that feel like a Monster was right behind us?”

  “It definitely husking did,” Sarah answered while shivering.

  “Yea—” London started to answer but a shout from behind the Boar stopped him.

  “Dodge!” Jacky shouted.

  The noise got my attention, and I found two ice spears forming about the Borker’s butchered corpse. I leaped sideways, just as they both crackled and shot forward. Every hair on my body stood on end.

  “Son of a witch!” I shouted

  Or—tried to shout that, but the impact with the ground drove the air from my lungs, causing me to likely slur. I was just starting to roll over my shoulder, when a wave of cold air, snow, and ice pellets blasted into my butt and face, primarily. The sensation of cold grew stronger, going from a mild winter morning to frigid, dangerous chill, before landing somewhere near sub zero.

  How did I know this?

  Well, I left some of my skin from my neck and shoulder on the ground behind me as my momentum continued forward. My face and butt instantly lost all feeling—and I’m pretty sure I got instant frostbite in some of my toes and fingers.

  Between one blink and the next, I was seeing trees and underbrush, then a sky through the canopy. However, I was pretty sure by the pain in all my limbs and the placement of the branches that it was a different tree than I’d been under before.

  I hadn’t realized that I’d lost hearing after the massive ice crackling explosion—but I must have, because the world was deathly silent. Surely, the others would be shouting at Jacky. Or at least running toward me to see if I was alive.

  I heard a rustling, though?

  Slowly I turned my head, and found a Boar about two hundred meters away. I blinked, stupidly at it. There hadn’t been any Boar in the vicinity of the group when I’d set out the skins to work…

  My stomach screamed its displeasure at me as I sat up. Had the explosion flung me that far away? Surely the group was behind me. Since I couldn’t turn my stiff neck, I couldn’t immediately check. Keeping an eye on the rustling Borker, I fought my own body to get to my feet.

  Thankfully, it didn’t suddenly take note of me. Once standing, I carefully placed my feet to not make much noise and checked behind me. There was clearly a site where a crater was dug into the ground—and even a half butchered Borker—but no group.

  In fact, there was even a Borker eating the corpse!

  My heartrate skipped, and then jacked up, humming in my ear. What in the world was going on?

  I blinked my eyes and felt a cold tear run down my cheek. A couple more blinks cause more tears to flow. Only then did I register that my eyes didn’t feel normal. Everything I was looking at had a kind of rough, almost misty quality, as if I was in a dream.

  Each blink cleared more and more of my vision, eventually allowing me to feel just how cold my eyelids were. Had my eyeballs essentially frozen?

  Maybe that’s why I couldn’t see the group!

  No.

  Even as my vision cleared, I discovered nothing ‘new’ to the scene. Same hole in the ground from an icy explosion. I could even see snow and a few icicles on its edges. They were also melting in the shade of the many suns.

  I say also, because I was pretty sure I, too, was ‘defrosting’. My stomach growled noisily once again, and I realized that the ‘pain’ I’d thought was from sore muscles was actually a level of extreme hunger that caused my nearby muscles to twitch and convulse. Hurriedly, I navigated through Demonic Vault and then had a choice to make. Mana, Force or Stamina Apple.

  Knowing that my life may depend on Mana supplied to Reptilian Body and the stats it supplied, I chose the Mana variant after a quick deliberation. The only other option was Stamina, but I had no guarantee if the System wouldn’t destroy the item, instead of it becoming something that would help my Qi regeneration—plus I didn’t exactly have complete confidence in my control of Qi.

  A wave of emotions attempted to overwhelm me at that message but I beat them back and mentally selected ‘yes.’

  The Apple appeared in a reddish blue cloud and vanished down my throat nearly as quickly. This time, I kept the core—and, for a confusing moment, didn’t know why. Thankfully, my sluggish thoughts caught up to my actions. I might be able to grow something from the seeds.

  I scanned the Apple core and remembered why I hadn’t thought of that before. There weren’t any seeds. Still, maybe the thing acted like a potato?

  Either way, I put it into my Necklace, and thanks to my stomach calming down, I got my first chance to truly think about the situation. Had the group thought that I’d died?

  That spawned another horrifying thought. Would I have died if I didn’t have Recovery?!

  My legs went a bit weak under me and I might have collapsed if the terrible fear I felt didn’t summon my Qi. The Qi reinforced every muscle and fiber of my body, allowing my legs to stop wobbling. Pain slowly bloomed hot across my entire body, and the numerous cuts on my arms, legs and face became evident, as they flared with a searing sensation.

  Liquid flowed from them too, as the frozen blood that had sealed them closed, warmed enough for the blood to move. The momentary reinforcement of Qi slowly disappeared, and I sucked in a breath. Was the Mana Apple not enough?

  I didn’t want to waste mC to purchase another–not with only a hundred and twenty-five thousand remaining.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Mental Fortitude clued me into the truth of the matter when it floated the thought about my wounds. They were closing with a speed I would have called insane, but was definitely witnessing. Did Qi supercharge the Recovery Skill?

  My body continued to feel better and better, even as my muscles lost the insane strength that Qi offered until my Pool ran dry, leaving behind a few lingering pains in my arms, back, legs and butt. I assumed the aches were probably a result of bone fractures that needed more time to heal, or joint damage that didn’t get as much blood flow.

  At least those were always the injuries that took the longest to heal on TV.

  With my Qi depleted, the next thing I looked for was a way out. If I was careful I could probably sneak out of the forest. Yet instead of Borkers my eyes caught on a leaf and vine pail that must have been shot off in an odd direction from where I’d left it beside me.

  Well, that and it looked partially destroyed. I crept over and checked on it. I sighed. It didn’t look great. The flower inside didn’t look completely frozen, at least. It did, however, seem to have a layer of morning frost on its petals.

  The pail, on the other hand, was missing an entire side, but thankfully the dirt there was frozen, and thus holding the roots all inside. The shards of ice had also left numerous fallen leaves and a few vines scattered about—so I repaired the bucket as best I could.

  When I was finished, I deemed the Borkers sparse enough to make another. Before I placed the Apple core inside. It was time to try to sneak out of here. Then I could address how or if I should confront London and his group—

  They clearly left me for dead, out here…

  I easily snuck between two nearby Borkers on the way to the forest edge when I realized something. Well realized was a strong word. I was so focused on escaping that I didn’t even register the plant until I walked over a red plaque.

  The Herb made me freeze, and look around again. Was it just me or were there far fewer Borkers then there should be. Still feeling sluggish, I decided this plant I could Harvest or Garden.

  Pulling out my Gardening kit, I quickly cut as instructed from my Harvesting Skill, and placed the herb atop the bucket with the Apple core. Then I scanned the underbrush and saw five other plaques that were entirely free of Borkers.

  I scanned the surroundings again, truly unsure why there weren’t any Borkers. Could I make it to those five, like I had with this Orchid?

  It looked like it would be child’s play. I could maybe even whistle a tune. Then I recalled the groups farming in the Forest. The Herbs they had left behind. Was this a product of their hard work making my ‘life’ easier?

  As long as I didn’t have the ability to trigger Reptilian Body, then I would be fine. Still without that Skill available, I likely wouldn’t have even chanced it—but somehow, the confidence of having that Skill in my pocket let me turn around and approach the plaques I could see.

  After the first twelve, which included three Rock Lavenders, I considered my haul, and then wondered if I should keep going. I could definitely see others that should be accessible, but now I was getting into areas that Borkers were ‘patrolling.’

  In the end, I chose to get out. The group had mentioned that Monsters got stronger or ‘scarier’ at Night, and I had to assume I was flirting with that deadline.

  My second bucket, and even some of my first, had numerous plants piled atop it. I hadn’t risked putting them in my Necklace yet, in case the freezing property ruined them. Still, as I snuck between Borkers I started to fret. I was going to have to possibly chance it when I passed whatever group would be doing taxes today.

  As I walked, I considered everything that had happened today. Jacky had attacked me! Sure, I knew that it took her a long time to charge that Skill with her Mana, but that didn’t mean she had to release it—or did it?

  Either way, I thought. She didn’t have to release it at me.

  I didn’t think I would ever be going out with them again—but that left a rather large problem. If I didn’t go out with them—who would I go out with?

  Surely, I needed to go out and Gather to make Tp, or I’d end up falling further and further into debt with Maelstrom. Yet, hadn’t I just gone out on my own and collected around half the herbs we had during the day with the group?

  The question was, could I continue to do that? Or had today been a total fluke?

  Since there was no way of knowing, I put off that decision until later. There was something else I should be focused on. I could tell Mental Fortitude was attempting to tell me to get over it.

  The group had abandoned me. The people I’d trusted just left me out in the forest, frozen—I shivered as I realized just what would have happened if I had actually been dead. Likely a Borker would have come by and eaten me—removing the evidence.

  Had they even come to check on me? Surely I had a pulse.

  Mental Fortitude again tried to sweep away my concerns—with the logical thought of, ‘what’s done is done.’ My brain was literally at war with itself. I could have died, probably was dead in the group’s minds, and my brain was just ‘over it’.

  I felt like I should be a blubbering, vomiting mess or something. Instead, I was walking toward the Town, sure in the fact that I was never going to forgive London, Sarah, Gavin, and Jacky—but also considering their actions as potentially somewhat reasonable.

  What would I have done in their situation? ‘Clearly’, Jacky had a Skill misfire—or at least that’s what she would claim. The other member was already ‘dead,’ so the option was to run away with Jacky and keep the group at four—or lose two members…

  It was infuriating logic. Yet, it was also mostly right—

  The gates of the Town were in view, and I hadn’t run into a group that was taxing people.

  What the hell is going on?

  My eyes scanned back and forth, my thoughts focused on one thing as I continued to walk. If I saw someone, I needed to be ready to place the buckets in my Necklace, quickly. I was suddenly at the crowd that was milling about the gate and no one even bothered glancing at me.

  Once I hit the paving stones and felt the wave of cleansing magic sweep over me, I breathed a sigh of relief. Was I later than I thought?

  The sconces held sunstones and sure enough—they were darkening toward dusk. Had I just discovered another way to earn more?

  I considered all the ways to possibly exploit that as I made my way back to my room. It was time to try my hand at Pill Making—actually it was officially now or never—since I wasn’t going to be going out with London’s group anymore.

  Once back in my room, I pulled up the Alchemical Pill Cauldron in the Demonic Vault Shop.

  Since the Lab was a million points, I gave up on it some time ago. This truly was the only option…

  Never in a million years did I think I would have missed Smegma and his far from robotic questions confirming my purchase. However, for the second time that day, I found myself slightly homesick thanks to the reminder. Mentally I clicked ‘yes.’

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