While waiting for the meat to finish I decided to check out the status screen some more. Maybe I had missed the stats tab and not going to lie, I was kind of curious what my stats would be! Ok, quite a lot here: There was stats, events and what looked like a real time combat log.
I was never really into number crunching, but I’m sure that combat log would be just the thing for that. I had a silent chuckle, at the thought of a DPS parser for the afterlife. A quick look told me that the koala looking monster I had battled was called a dropbear. That the deciding moment was when i critically plunged my improvised bone dagger into its brain through the eyes, and that I got experience from the kill!
Thinking back there had been a small boost of feeling awesome when the dropbear died, maybe experience came with a small infusion of endorphins? Seeing the life and death situation reduced to numbers like that was weirding me out and I quickly focused on some numbers that were more fun… stats!
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 4
Vitality: 3
Perception: 5
Willpower: 5
Intelligence: 5
Without any frame for reference, I couldn’t really say if this was good or not. But I was not entirely surprised by the distribution, it aligned with the self image I had before the cancer invaded my body.
These numbers would probably go up in the future, at least if this reality followed litrpg rules… I had always envied people with well toned bodies (Hey librarians can be shallow too!) and the strength, grace and mobility that often went along with that body type.
Maybe this second chance at life would be a chance at experiencing that? I guess I would know soon enough if that was the case. Before opening the event tab and going through that, I decided to try my grilled dropbear dinner and boy was it awful!
The meat tasted gamey, it was dry and hard to chew, no seasoning or anything didn’t help either, but I was ripping through the meat with a shiteating grin on my face, this was the first real meal I had in more than two years, it was absolutely horrible, and I loved it!
With some food in my belly, it was time to check out current events for Limbo!
Events:
Active Quests:
Quest: Welcome to Limbo
Duration: 30 days (29 days, 14 hours 23 minutes 12 seconds)
Objective: Survive
Reward: Access to Limbo Gate / Class selection
Quest: The bare necessities
Duration:3 days (2 days, 14 hours 23 minutes 12 seconds)
Objective: Obtain source of food, water and secure shelter
Reward: Skill selection
There was also a tap for completed and failed quests, but right now I had two active quests, and both were covering stuff I would have to do anyway. Getting access to skills and class would be fantastic!
There was mana in this world so maybe I could get a skill or class that could do magic! How awesome would that be! I mean throwing fireballs or healing or flying would be little Mike's dreams coming true!
I was also very curious to experience the skill selection, the only skill I had now was Improvised Weapons (Novice) and that was not a skill I had selected. There had to be better and more interesting skills out there, although looking down at my bone dagger maybe the Improvised Weapon skill was if not optimal, then useable?
Ok, let’s see if I had completed any quests…
Completed Quests:
Quest: First Blood
Duration: Completed
Objective: Slay a challenging opponent
Reward: Improvised Weapon (Novice) assigned
Huh? Ok so that’s how I got that skill, wonder if it would have been a different skill if i had choked the dropbear to death? Guess I would have to pay close attention to how these rewards worked in the future.
On to the failed quests, although I had been here less than a day so probably not anything here… ahh, of course there was! Fuck me, If I had not been so ecstatic about my functioning body I wouldn’t have been such an idiot!
Quest er not in hindsight yelling and dancing in a strange forest was not my finest moment, but I dare anybody to say they wouldn’t do the same after years of being a prisoner in your own body!
Failed Quests:
Quest: Silence is golden
Duration: Failed
Objective: Manage to avoid the attention of nearby predators
Reward: Stealth (Novice) not assigned
I would have to pay attention to updates on the event section, stealth would have been a great skill to have if I was going to hunt and survive in this forest, but nothing I could do about it now, so I decided to try and use some of the remaining daylight to search my immediate surroundings.
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I figured that the tree with the dropbear was relatively safe at the moment, after all if more than one koala monster had been living there, they probably would have dropped by already – haha the puns were killing me!
Ok maybe the situation was getting to me a bit, but with my bone dagger held tightly and eyes darting up and down and all around I searched the remains, of what I can only assume to be earlier victims, scattered around the tree.
After a little hour of disgusting digging in bones and moss I looked at my treasure: A large femur that could be used as a sort of club or hammer, and two semi intact skulls that could be used as containers. I had read somewhere that you could transport embers and a skull would be great for that, so portable fire check!
It was probably too late in the day to go searching for water, but I spent some time walking a wide perimeter around my temporary bush shelter (unfortunately not good enough for a quest update), the forest continued on all sides and as far as I could see it all had that creepy oversaturated color palette I associated with AI.
While I was watching a tree with an almost translucent tree crown and admiring the way the evening sun shone though the leaves, I noticed something watching me! I immediately tightened the grip on my dagger and lifted the femur in the other hand, as I turned slowly towards the watcher, it was the fox again…
It looked at me with amber eyes for a second and then darted away into the bushes. I just stood for a minute waiting for my beating heart to slow down, not too proud to admit that it had scared me, I spotted it a few more times on my walk and after the third time I spotted the little stalker my heart barely skipped a beat.
I did not manage to find water, nor could I hear anything that could clue me in on a direction. But it looked like the terrain might slope downwards to the south and since water flows downhill, I decided, that first thing tomorrow, that would be the direction I would go.
With the light rapidly dimming in the forest, I wondered if I had collected enough firewood and if the light would attract unwanted attention and how I was going to survive in this unknown world. I huddled closer to the fire and listened to all the new voices and sounds of the forest – None of them answering my questions and all of them terrifying!
But I was no stranger to nights full of terror, so before too long I drifted off into sleep, emotionally and physically exhausted.
I dreamt of home, of better times and my uncle’s dog that always slept at my side, when I visited as a kid. When I woke the fire was out and there was a morning chill in the air, my body hurt and was cold and stiff, except the small of my back where the memory of my dream about my uncle’s dog lingered.
Did dreams have power in this world? For a second, I was thrilled with the possibilities and then I saw some tufts of fur – It looked like I had spent the first night in Limbo with a stalking fox monster!
I quickly checked my status, all healed up! Incredible! I looked under the bandages and sure enough the bite marks were faded scars, this world was weird. I got the fire going and reheated the leftover meat from the dropbear in one of my new skulls – The kitchen utensil of choice for the stranded barbarian!
Ok, maybe not but I passed the time thinking of commercials for the entire bone line of kitchenware, it took the mind of the thirst and that was beginning to be a factor. So as soon as breakfast was finished, I packed my meager belongings, made sure to gather some embers and pack it in one of my skulls – And then I started my quest (hah literally!) for water!
I made my way through the forest, the bright green leaves of the trees, the oddly smooth bark of some of the trees, translucent leaves, the snarling dropbear falling toward me… Ahhh for fucks sake! I swung my femur hammer up to block and it latched onto it like the moronic koala monster it was, it seemed like it had difficulty releasing its grip and I took advantage and went full on murderhobo with my bone dagger.
My second fight in this world was almost anticlimactic. It managed to rake me with its feeble claws once and then it was over – The shock of the sneak attack being worse than any actual damage and that shock was soon exchanged by the rush granted by gaining experience!
I briefly wondered if the endorphins induced were related to the amount of experience, because if so I might get addicted if I ever managed to hunt larger monsters. At least I had secured todays dinner, and as if summoned by that thought I saw that my private stalker – the fox had returned.
“Hey – you little stalker you” I said, “This is my kill!” I held up the dropbear and the fox licked its maw and started growling softly – But this time I was not near dead, and I was not taking any of its guff, so I took a quick step towards it and the little coward disappeared into the bushes.
I chuckled slightly and continued into the forest, but this time with an eye towards dropping bears. I had not gotten any new quests and I figured that I wouldn’t until I cleared “the bare necessities” quest, which was fine, I was getting thirsty and all that mattered was finding something to drink.
So, I didn’t have time for some “kill 10 dropbears” quests or “befriend the local stalker” Although I wouldn’t mind a companion, someone to talk to now that I could, a friend to pull me out of the dark thoughts and memories that sometimes would… “No no none of that Mike, new world fresh start!” I said to myself, as I continued my search.
The soundscape of this forest was strange, at least I thought so with my meager experience from earth forests. It sounded like somewhere between a tropical jungle and a more temperate forest, the sounds of birds and insects filled the air and I had seen some really disgusting oversized bugs flying around.
Every now and then it was broken by sounds from larger animals or monsters fighting, once a roar sounded that silenced the entire forest for a second or two. Luckily the roar came from the opposite direction I was going, and the silence actually allowed me to hear the first sounds of water!
I was getting closer. But closer in a foreign forest turned out to be still two hours of painful searching and walking until I finally almost stumbled upon a small creek that flowed into a tiny pond, just a bit better than a waterhole really.
The water looked like the most delicious liquid ever – Or maybe that was just my thirst talking. I was not the fastest learner in the world, but I managed to hold back and observe the pond for a little while – No stacks of dead animals around it, always a good sign I thought, some pretty flowers, soft red and long stalks, didn’t recognize them, but then again not an outdoor or garden guy and after a few more minutes I saw no visible monsters near it.
There was a small rise with some rock outcropping on the other side of the pond, and from here it looked like there might be a small cave! I would have to check that out, it might be the shelter that I was looking for. but after I took some water and quenched my thirst!
Quickly I moved towards the pond and was getting to the edge of the flowers surrounding it, when a warning growl and high pitched barking stopped me in my tracks...
