Chapter Five - 005Turns out, a night spent in a pitch black forest full of hostile creatures was not relaxing.
Felix managed to fall asleep early on, as the day had exhausted him. But something that sounded like a mix between a hacking cough and a basso roar sent him stumbling to his feet. Adrenaline racing, he stood stock still, holding his walking stick and staring into the darkness.
It was almost completely dark. Where were those five moons he saw yesterday? It was almost like he was in a cave, the sky a dark plane above him. Then he noticed the tree beneath him.
The Kingsap was glowing. Softly, too softly to notice even on a moonlit night, but more than enough to stand out like a beacon in this dark. He studied the slashing patterns of the smooth bark beneath him, dragging his fingers across it's sloping surface and up one of branches that was as thick as his waist. Halfway up, he found a gash in the branch, a small jagged hole where a bird or something must have gone looking for bugs. The glow was brighter here, radiating off a drop of pale purple sap.
Felix pulled his hand back, fingers sticky and glowing as well now. It was oddly calming, this sap. It felt like a soft breeze, and smelled like fresh cut grass on a warm morning. Without thinking, he raised his fingers up to his tongue and tasted it.
Colors burst in his vision, like a kaleidoscopic rainbow and he tasted sunshine and morning dew and the deep dark loam of fertile earth. It was thick, like a dense honey. It reminded him of summer days, somehow. Felix sat down and settled against a thick branch.
This place was strange and wild and weird all rolled up with RPG game mechanics. He didn't know where to go, or what to do, and yet in this moment, he felt calm. Relaxed. Above him, the clouds thinned and small silver sparks twinkled in the black.
He fell asleep.
Blink.
Blink.
Felix woke the next morning bleary eyed and stiff from his position against the Kingsap branch. He rolled his neck, pressing down on his shoulder with his left hand, stretching out various kinks.
"Ooofa." He was tremendously sore. He hadn't worked out like that in...well, ever.
Then he noticed the "!" icon in the corner of his vision. It had been blinking at him all this time, and Felix toggled it as he sat with a muffled groan.
Congratulations!
Your Title Gourmand Has Garnered You Insight!
You Have Learned A Skill From The Sap Of The Kingsap!
Meditation (Uncommon), Level 1!
You seek the center, to become One with All. Increases Regen rates by flat percentage.
"Whoa." That burning sensation returned, in far greater force, as if something was worming its way into him. His breath caught beneath that pain, but it faded in seconds. Felix fell backward with a groan, panting.
He had completely forgotten about his Gourmand Title. It had netted him his first Rare skill from the Dread, and now an Uncommon skill from a magic tree. What did that Title say? He brought it up.
Title: Gourmand(Rare)
Eat Your Foes! Learn Their Strength! Knowledge Fuels You!
+1 to INT and WIL!
Learn their strength? So did that mean the Kingsap was particularly good at meditating? How does a tree meditate? He leaned back on his elbows, looking up at the swooping branches and fluttering purple leaves. It swayed slightly in the morning breeze, almost hypnotically. It made sense; at least as much sense as anything else in this world.
He blinked.
World. He had been avoiding that particular thought for the past day. He was very clearly on another world. Planet. Solar system? Probably. He was very, very far away from home. And for the first time, the weight of it settled on Felix like a suffocating shroud. His heart raced, he broke out in a flop sweat, and he was halfway to his feet before recognizing that he had no where to run.
He was stuck here.
No friends. No family. No people at all, at least none so far. Just angry beasts looking to eat him. He couldn't---
Breathe.
Felix closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Just breathe.
He felt the tree beneath him, smooth to the touch and oddly warm. He took a breath. The wind rustled across his face, pleasant and cool. He released a breath. He heard the tree creak as it swayed, moving ever so slightly to the rhythm of the breeze.
He opened his eyes.
Meditation is Level 2!
Felix huffed a surprised breath, half laughing. Shaking his head, he stood up.
"Day two."
His second day in the Continent was similar to the latter half of the first. After some quick, painful stretches that further confirmed how out of shape he was, Felix took off running. He made irregular laps around his small glen, leaping from rock to rock, holding his heavy walking stick.
He encountered only a few creatures, mostly more Tree Voles. The cat-sized rodents watched him from the nearby branches, steadily munching their way through the canopy. Whatever lived in the smelly dugout nearby wasn't there come sunrise, though the smell of musk and urine was even stronger. He figured it must range far afield during the day, hunting maybe. If he were lucky, it wouldn't come back until he was back in the Kingsap.
Throughout the morning, he used Analyze. After Level 10 it activated smoother and quicker, small blue boxes of Name and Lore and Properties appearing and disappearing all around him. He barely thought about it; it was like breathing.
At first, Felix held his stick close to his chest, throwing it out wide when his balance failed him. After a while he tried to hold it out in front of his chest the entire time. As the day before, his Stamina quickly bottomed out. Twenty minutes of resting and meditating and he was back at it. Rinse and repeat.
How much Strength is represented by 1 point in the Strength Stat? Is that an extra 5lbs of lifting weight? Felix considered the facts as he lifted several large stones, repeatedly. Now that he had a whopping Strength of 5, he was more than double his starting Strength, if that's how it worked. He wasn't sure, but he felt stronger than before.
As the day before, he scavenged was remained of the flitweed for Stamina regeneration, and ate a plant called dewcatcher he had spotted during his runs.
Name: Dewcatcher
Lore: Collecting water from the air and made of sturdy stock, it is a filling and nutritious plant eaten by local prey animals.
Properties: Contains enough water, fiber, and basic nutrients to sustain a small animal.
Alchemical Properties: Unknown
Without fruit or meat the dewcatchers were all he had to live on. The problem was, he was running out.
His glen was only so large, and his activities the day prior had stripped a good portion of herbs from it. His flitweed was basically gone, only a few scattered shoots here and there. With Meditation that was less a concern, but even still, his regeneration was not fast at all.
Felix would have to leave, soon. He had a day, maybe two left before everything useful here was gone.
Sweating and panting, his muscles were filled with a tingly warmth and he felt loose and limber. He had spent three hours on his exercises this morning, and he felt remarkably good. He shook his head. Felix would never have thought that back home.