Chapter 45

  I took my and Coa’s dinner out of the cooker. I placed Coa and her platter on the small fold out stand. “Lynn, how much longer until the car gets here?” I asked.

  “Approximately seventy more seconds, Mistress.” Lynn answered.

  “Ahh, good.” I really wanted to get this bag of stuff sent off as soon as possible. I was curious about what Lynn would discover from examining them. I plopped a meatball into my mouth. Delicious. The food here wasn’t bad, but I definitely preferred the taste of my own supplies.

  “Mistress, why don’t we make use of the ‘Spirit’ identity to get what we need?” She asked after a moment of silence.

  “No.” I bluntly refused. “There’s too much room for uncertainties cropping up using that method. Plus, don’t forget what happened the last time we got mistaken as ‘Gods’.” I countered.

  Lynn groaned. “Right. That was most definitely not an experience I wish to relive.”

  “I’m definitely aware of the fact that it might provide us with benefits, but I just cannot bring myself to trust religious fanatics in any way. I think the demerits would rapidly outpace any positives to be gained from it. There’s also the little detail that I don’t know if I could adequately prove my spirithood. You mentioned that one of the methods by which spirits were identified is them possessing a non-standard class. Back at that first town and at the fortress, I was scanned, but my classes didn’t appear on the result. I don’t think my powers or strength alone would be enough. I think it would be hard to demonstrate that I was a spirit without showing the people Lullaby, and I have no intention of ever revealing her to anyone, if I can help it.” I explained.

  “That’s true. With Lullaby’s current state, we wouldn’t be able to fend off a determined assault and some of our munitions and other goods would be extremely dangerous if they got into the wrong hands.” Lynn responded.

  “Lynn, to be fair, I don’t think anyone on this world could match you for counting as ‘the wrong hands’. You’re pretty undiscriminating once you get going in causing widespread destruction.” I said.

  “Mistress! That only happened the one time! The. One. Time. I never did it again!” Lynn cried.

  “Are you sure? Let’s see. There was the time with the syndicate space station.” I started ticking off my fingers. “The time with the cartel on that water world. That group of mercenaries that you chased through eight systems while leaving me behind on an asteroid. Or how about the time you ended up assisting a rebellion by blowing up the seat of a corrupt government? Oh, yeah there was also-”

  “Stop!” She interrupted. “I admit it! I go a little overboard at times.”

  “Only a little?” I laughed.

  “Okay, maybe a lot overboard, but there were extenuating circumstances in all those cases!” She stated.

  “Yes, yes. It is surely just coincidence how often these ‘extenuating circumstances’ lead to massive destruction when it comes to you.” I teased.

  “Mistress, you’re being very mean!” Lynn accused. “By the way, the car is directly overhead.” She said it a lighter tone.

  I guess that puts an end to our banter. “Well, bring it down.”

  The car came down and angled its way through the trees before stopping about four meters above me. It’s appearance scared the blazes out of Coa, and she left her plate of food behind and shot back to my neck. I briefly chuckled at her reaction. I picked up the pack and then hopped up to the car door, slid open the door and placed the pack down while exchanging it for the tiny case that had been on the seat. I glanced at the devices Lynn had prepared.

  As expected, she had chosen the perfect tool for my current situation. One was a surveillance device that viewed the world in a few different ways at once, including detecting the fluctuations from psi use. In addition, the device came with a way of cloaking itself. I wasn’t sure how that would stand up against magic, but I was pretty sure it would be effective. With its small size, it wouldn’t be difficult to place it with psi without it being noticed.

  The other item in the case was not something I had expected though. It was a security weapon. Just seeing it next to the camera, I knew Lynn had definitely already linked them together. She had done something unnecessary. If the camera detected a hostile this weapon would ‘neutralize’ them. With Lynn having made it, that would range between a limb getting sliced off, at minimum, or more likely a laser straight through the heart.

  “Lynn, I think the security laser is a bit much. If the intruders are killed entering my room, there might be problems. Not the least of which being that I can’t interrogate dead people.” I pointed out.

  “Don’t worry, Mistress. I took that into account! I’ve configured it to only target locations that will guarantee that they’ll live at least a few hours. More than enough time for any interrogation. After that they’ll probably succumb to their wounds and die, but that can’t be helped.” Lynn said proudly.

  I sighed and took the security laser out of the case. I returned it to the car and shut the door. “Lynn, I don’t need such a thing.” I dropped back down my campsite.

  “Fine.” Lynn said moodily. The car rose back up into the air and then after it clearing the trees, it shimmered becoming practically invisible.

  Coa was still nervous, but when I placed her back at her food, it seemed like her fear was forgotten and her appetite took over again. I’m slightly worried that if someone tempted her with food that she’d gleefully let herself be kidnapped.

  “I think tomorrow, I’ll finally make the time to visit an information dealer in the city. I’ll just use the visit as another way to spread the word that I’m interested in doing business with that Ghost group. For now, I guess it’s time to sleep before going back to the city in the morning.” I said.

  “Mistress, don’t tell me you forget about that guild job you took?” She asked.

  “Oh right, there was that huh? I guess I’ll go swing by those southern farms in the morning, ask a few questions, take care of those elk things, and then head back to the city. Should be done by midday.” I reasoned.

  “Mistress, aren’t you taking an unknown beast too lightly?” She scolded.

  I perked up. “Are you telling me that the elkans might be a decent fight?”

  “Well, no. From the information in the books they’re only a bit stronger than your tamed wolves, but it’s still not good to let your guard down!” She said.

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  “You’d think a fantasy world would have more interesting and exciting stuff. Other than that sabretooth, nothing else has even close to being a challenge.” I complained.

  “Isn’t gathering the materials we require enough of a challenge?” Lynn pointed out.

  “That’s true, but it’s not really the kind I can get excited about.” I sighed.

  Coa interrupted our conversation by letting out a burp, followed by a satisfied purr before coiling up to sleep on the now clean plate.

  “Coa has the right idea. It’s definitely time for bed. Night Lynn.” I said with a yawn.

  “Good night, Mistress.” She replied

  I packed away the cooking stuff and then crawled into my tent. I laid Coa down on the blanket, set my proximity alarm and then went to sleep.

  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

  The alarm went off, so I immediately swept out of my covers with my knife in hand. I stopped stunned when I saw what had set it off.

  One of those sloth lizards was wandering around my campsite, chewing on plants. It came up to my tent and smelled it a bit before plodding around it, obviously uninterested. I was going to go back to bed, but I realized I had no idea how strong one of these things were. Due to this idle curiosity, I pulled out my scanner and aimed it at the beast.

  Level 71!? That thing? I was frankly astonished. I hadn’t expected them to be nearly that strong.

  I glanced down to the device in my hand. I should probably be using this more often, but it would be really hard to hide its bizarre appearance to anyone of this world, especially any that knew anything about mechanisms. I also don’t really need it all that much. I mean, learning something’s level and a brief description rarely if ever gives me useful information. I can generally tell if something is actually a threat too without relying on this gizmo.

  Whatever. Let’s just go back to bed.

  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

  Once I awoke, I glanced around, but I didn’t see any sign of the sloth lizard. It had probably wandered off to find a tree to sleep in. I quickly prepared breakfast for Coa and I before packing up my camp and leaving. Since I was playing the role of an adventurer, I had set my main class as hunter and taken my bow and quiver out of my pack.

  Like I had said the previous night, instead of wandering the forest without a direction, I’d first go talk to those southern farmers. Surely they could at least give me some kind of reference for where to search.

  When I reached the farms at the south edge of the forest, I was a bit confused. I had expected there to be crops, but instead it seemed like the area was filled with livestock.

  I called up the keyboard and typed out a brief question which got an immediate response from Lynn.

  “Correct, Mistress. Elkans are carnivores.” was Lynn’s answer.

  How can they be like elks if they’re meat-eaters!?

  I trudged the rest of the way to one of the nearby farm houses. This farm in particular seem to raise pigs. That brought to mind an interesting observation. Wasn’t it odd that the variety of livestock was so normal? I looked around and only saw animals that I could have seen back on Earth. I wonder why there aren’t any farms raising actual monsters for livestock? Maybe they just aren’t around here? Didn’t that book in the library mention breeding sloth lizards? That guard captain mentioned raising serpent dragons too. Possibly monsters just weren’t treated as simple livestock and more as valuable commodities then? That made sense. Are there merchants that sell them or possibly a guild of some kind for beast masters?

  Ahh. I’m letting myself get sidetracked. I stopped at the house and knocked. I tried to hurry the conversation with the inhabitants along, but once they understood that I was here to take care of their monster problem, I got an earful of complaining about the knights being no help and other such comments. Was it really okay for seemingly commoner farmers to say this kind of stuff?

  Eventually, I managed to escape with the simple directions they could provide and I returned to the forest. According to them, the elkans always came from the treeline directly south and they believed the beasts were likely near some spring that was not too far from there. It was definitely a good place to start.

  It was a jackpot. When I made it to the spring, a group of five creatures was there. Upon taking in their features, I felt forced to make a remark. “Lynn, how do those things look like Earth elks!? I don’t even know where to start.”

  Lynn had been right that they were vaguely elk like at least when looking at just body frame and size, but then the rest was definitely not! The face looked more like that of a wolf and they had four eyes! Two in the front and two on the side. They also had four antlers rather than the two an Earth elk would have had and all the elkan here had them, though one in particular had extremely huge and more elaborate ones. That one was probably the male leader of the herd. The clawed hooves were definitely out there too.

  “Mistress, they have four hooved legs and they have antlers. An Earth elk was the closest beast I could compare to on short notice to be of help to you yesterday in that conversation.” Lynn stated calmly. “They are about to attack.” She added.

  Right.

  I readied my bow and fired a quick shot at the closest monster’s leg. The beast was thrown off balance right at the start of its charge, which had the bonus effect that it also threw off the others that had been next to or behind it. I followed up that first shot until the whole lot was dead. It was a pretty boring fight. Only the large male even got close to me and that was because it managed to somehow shrug off the arrow that burrowed into its head.

  Of course there was a tiny problem that arose after I killed the adults. The last assumed female had tried to cover them, but there were two small kids. I had sensed their more simple minds, but this was the first look I had gotten at them. Probably newborns by the look of things and likely the reason why the elkans had been raiding the farms nearby so often. I might like kids, but that didn’t really extend to monsters. I at least showed them some mercy by ending their short lives by putting them to sleep first.

  Now I just had to slice off the antlers of these things to show I had gotten rid of them and I’d be done out here. I did that from afar with my one of my knives while I used the other to cut tidbits out of one of them to feed Coa. She was quite pleased with these unexpected offerings and I made a short game of floating the small chunks of meat around her as she snapped them out of the air. It was a short game because it didn’t take long to collect my bounty.

  “Mistress, I was thinking. It’s not something we’re used to, but on this world, beast parts seem to have value beyond just being trophies. It is possible that a piece of a monster could be utilized in our ship repair.” Lynn said.

  I laughed. “You think we could use dragon scales or something?”

  “Yes. If they work for our purposes, why not?” Lynn countered.

  I was taken aback by the notion. I really hadn’t considered options other than gathering the actual metals we required. Why would I have? Beasts themselves weren’t worth anything where we came from. This was a world with magic and true monsters though. That meant the possibility was there.

  One flaw with this idea is that I have no idea how to accurately harvest from a monster. I’m sure that I’d most likely damage anything I practiced on or was working on for the first time. The other would be that I don’t think it’s likely that we’d find any monster that had something that could truly serve as a replacement for what we were missing.

  “I suppose I’ll have to add learning how to properly take apart monsters to my list of things to do and finding out the properties of them. Thanks Lynn, I really appreciate the added workload.” I muttered sarcastically.

  “Any time, Mistress!” Lynn quipped.

  I stored one pair of antlers away in my pack and then bundled up the others as best I could. I had forgotten the obvious necessity of rope at the market. There was no way I could use the cable in my pack for that mundane task, thus I was forced to carry them until I reached that earlier farm. Apparently they had seen me trudging out of the forest and came to check on me. They were ecstatic that I had solved their problem and only too happy to provide me some rope, especially when I told them they were welcome to what was left of the beasts back at the spring, which I used to tie up the antlers so I could easily carry them back to the city.

  It wasn’t midday yet, but it would probably be later than that by the time I got there. I just sighed and started moving.

  Spoiler: Re: Kitty 2

  I flailed around and screamed as I fell through the air. The scream was more like a long meow type sound though. I regretted my inability to properly curse aloud at this moment.

  What the hell was wrong with that mother cat!? Had I made a mistake somewhere? Did she get rid of all of my siblings like this too? If I ever see her again, I’m going to make sure to give her a piece of my mind!

  Oh god, I’m going to die aren’t I? I watched the trees below me get closer and closer.

  Wait.

  This is just a dream. Why was I panicking so much? If I die, I’ll just wake up or move to another dream. I was enjoying this one though. Since it’s a dream, I should be able to do crazy things and be alright.

  I stopped my flailing around, eased the tension in my body, and examined my situation again. I took a moment to right myself by twisting my body so I was falling body down belly first.

  Neat, but not especially helpful at this point in time. I was still looking to hit a very dense tree canopy. I don’t think I can grab onto a branch as I fall without hurting myself and if I hit a branch, that would be game over too. I don’t think I’ll land on my feet from this high either. Do I have any options at all? The tops of the trees were getting uncomfortably close now.

  Well, if all available options lead to likely death or injury, then let’s try sacrificing my claws for the greater good. I’ll try grasping a branch with only my claws. Maybe I’ll lose a claw which will probably hurt, but I think I can survive. I might be able to slow myself down enough to not die on impact with the ground.

  I finally passed through the tree canopy and was shocked to see that the ground wasn’t even visible yet. These trees were tall. There was a likely branch coming up right on my left, so I stretched out my paws and claws and got ready to grasp it.

  I sped right past it. What the hell just happened? I know I saw my claws hit the branch, but they cut through it cleanly without any resistance. My sharp claws are sabotaging me!? Oh fuck. What do I do now?

  I repeated the exercise a few more times, and I think I noticed a slight slowing of my body with each branch I went through. I was still falling, but I wasn’t at that total freefall speed anymore. I decided to take the risk and actually grab the next branch.

  The branch was small, but it was still bigger than I was. As I got close, I got my paws ready. I kept them away from the branch until the right moment. Unlike the other times with just my claws, I needed to accurately grab the branch at the correct moment.

  There! I quickly shot my paws out and gripped. I felt a searing pain in my front limbs.

  It hurts. I tried to hold on, but I felt my grip weakening out of pain. I was not going to fall again! I held on as hard as I could and tried to pull myself up. It was tough but I was making slow progress. Once I got on the branch I could rest and then figure out how I was going to climb the rest of the way down.

  It felt a little easier holding on now. Thank you game system world! Come on extra strength. Show me what you got!

  I got one paw up on top of the branch and with that paw, I began bringing my body further onto the branch. I managed to get my back paws to make contact with the branch and with that little extra grip, I was finally able to climb up the rest of the way.

  I immediately flopped down. Phew. That was difficult. My front legs hurt so much. I hope I didn’t overstrain myself. I glanced over the side of the branch and blanched at how far up I still was. These trees are seriously tall. With how small I am, it’s hard to judge distance accurately. Especially when I don’t have the slightest idea how big I actually am. Am I house cat sized? Smaller? Bigger? Am I tiger sized and Mother was just that gigantic? I wish I had the slightest clue.

  It looks like underneath me was some kind of pond or pool. It’s hard to judge how big it was with all these leaves and lives in the way, but it’s definitely water. Water. I don’t like the idea of being in water. Was that just some kind of cat instinct acting up? Or something else?

  A more important question is, how am I supposed to climb down?

  Huh, I thought I just heard something. I pricked my ears and focused. There it was again. A cracking sound. A cracking sound? Oh no! I tried to get up quickly, but the branch broke right under me. I was once again in free fall. I started looking for some other branch I could use.

  There was only one available. It was the branch directly above the pool. So either I grab it or I’m going to get wet. As I prepared, I noticed my course had me on a collision path with the branch. I wasn’t going to pass by it, no matter how I twisted my body. Fuck. All I could do was brace myself.

  I stuck the landing! Oww, it hurts. This is the first time in my dream that I’ve lost this much HP. Almost a third of my health is now gone! Sure, I got nicked and wounded in some of the fights with my siblings, but that was only a few HP lost at most.

  I really wanted to rest, but I wasn’t going to repeat my earlier mistake. I slowly made my way to the trunk of the tree. Once I got there I laid down and surveyed my situation. The tree I was on, was growing out of the pool of water. I can’t climb down without going into the water. The branch wasn’t long enough to reach the edge of the pool either. If I went along the branch and jumped, I’d still have to swim about twenty of my lengths to reach the edge of the pool. I’ve never swam in this body either. I’m still frightened of that water too, for some reason.

  I absentmindedly started grooming myself. It was relaxing and felt like it helped me focus. I might be a cat in this dream, but I’m not solely a beast driven by instinct. I have my human intellect to help me out. First things first, I can’t stay up in this tree. There is no way for me to get any nourishment up here. I might be able to use a vine as a makeshift fishing line, but I lack anything to use or even a way to put bait on it. I don’t even know if there are any fish down there. Also, I might get a bite and end up pulled down into the water instead.

  No, I think my best bet is getting to the shore. Could I swing using a vine? Probably not. Even putting aside the fact that I’d have to hold onto it with my mouth, none of the vines are in good positions to even consider that as an viable option. What do I have to work with here? I only have my sharp claws and some vines that are in reach. There’s nothing else on this tree branch.

  What about the tree branch itself? It’s a large branch, but ultimately it’s just a large piece of wood. Wood floats and I know my claws can cut into it since I was slicing into these trees on the way down. I could try to carefully cut the branch and let it drop into the water. If I hopped down afterwards, I could use it like a raft and paddle with my paws to ride it to the shore. My paws would get wet, but that was better than the alternative. Cutting trees can be tricky though. If I only cut from the top it will just bend down into the water and be useless to me. I’d need to go out along the branch to a thin enough section where I could reach down with my paws to cut and weaken the bottom section too.

  I slowly padded my way back along the branch. I was being very cautious. The branch had barely quivered when I had made impact with it, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t give way at any moment. Every so often, I laid down on the branch and checked to see if I could reach the bottom adequately. I was too small though, so it wasn’t until almost the tip of the branch that I could do so. I took a moment to cut off the small side branches of this part. I wasn’t sure if they would get in the way later. I gripped each one with my mouth and then cut it with a quick swipe of my claws. After that, I would take it back the way I had come and drop it at the trunk of the tree where the branch was widest. There were thankfully only a few of them, and they weren’t that large or I might have had problems carrying them.

  My stamina had dropped down to half, so I took a short rest. Once I started cutting, I wouldn’t get another chance until I was on the shore after all.

  Once my stamina was recovered up to about 75%, I immediately went back to work. I slowly whittled around the branch, not going too far in on any side. My claws were sharp enough to not have problems digging into the branch, but this was really the first time I had ever used them to actually cut something like this. It felt like I was carving rather than cutting. I could probably consider picking that up as a hobby if I need one. It was difficult to trim the underneath portion, but it was steadily progressing.

  Finally I reached the point where I heard the branch start to crack and break. I retreated away to watch the result of my handiwork. My pawiwork?

  No. That was horrible. I am ashamed of myself.

  The tip of the branch cracked again and fell into the water. Success! It seemed like it was floating alright too. Now I just needed to jump down. I was a little hesitant to do so, but I don’t have a choice. This was part of the plan I came up with after all. I bit the bullet and jumped.

  The branch dunked a bit into the water when I hit it, splashing me with water which caused me to flinch, but otherwise it stayed above the water line. I felt disgusted by the water on my fur, soaking through to my body. I really didn’t like being wet.

  I stretched my front paws down to the water and slowly started moving them back and forth to simulate a rowing motion. My makeshift raft started into motion toward the shore.

  It was when I was only a short distance away that something smashed into the bottom of the branch, throwing me off. Due to surprise, I hadn’t gotten a chance to grip the wood. I landed into the water. Thankfully, it was shallow here and I managed to barely swim or more accurately crawl the rest of the way.

  Once I was on the muddy shore, I couldn’t stop myself from shaking to try to get as much of the water off me as I could.

  I became aware of sounds behind me, so I turned around to check the water. It was bubbling and then I saw a head pop up out of the water. It resembled a bullfrog. It came further out of the water. Scratch that. It looked like a bullfrog crossed with a fish.

  It focused on me and croaked. I hissed at it in response. It started to open its mouth as it croaked once more. I found myself jumping to the left without a thought. I just knew something bad was about to happen. I heard an impact from where I had just been standing and the fishfrog’s mouth was closed again. I spared a quick glance to the side and there was a groove gouged out in the dirt. Did that thing shoot its tongue out at me and cause that in that brief instant? That was fast! I don’t think I’d enjoy being on the receiving end of that.

  It croaked again, but I was already dashing forward as I felt something stir the air beside me. The best defense is a good offense! That thing shouldn’t be able to use that tongue launch attack as effectively up close. I hope so at least. I can’t exactly fight at range. My claws should provide me an advantage.

  As I got nearer I grew uncomfortably aware of how big the fishfrog was. It was probably double the size of one of my siblings and they were all twice as big as me! No! It doesn’t matter! It’s the law of the jungle now! I’ll teach this fish to not mess with a cat!

  It took a step back and tensed as I closed in. I was getting ready to pounce when it sprung up into the air. I had to hurriedly change direction and get out of the way. There was a splash of mud and water as it landed. On the bright side, the thing seemed slow. I took advantage of the opening to jump and latch onto its side. I bit into its fin with my fangs to anchor myself while I lashed at its scaly side with my claws. I felt as my claws sheared the scales off its body, but I couldn’t seem to cut deep enough.

  I, on the other hand, was taking a lot of damage. Just not of the physical kind. With my fangs embedded in the thing, my nose was pressed close to it too and damn did it reek. The smell was so strong that I had to constantly override the impulse to let go so I could retch. Curse my enhanced nose!

  The fishfrog was trying to shake me off as it stood back up. It didn’t seem that urgent about it yet though. That seemed to confirm that I was not actually accomplishing anything here. I had to find some kind of weak point or I’d have to dig through its side all the way to its organs. I released the fin from my mouth and climbed up onto its body. It was tensing again like it was going to once again jump, so I hurriedly clamped my claws down right behind its head. I felt my claws dig into something softer that didn’t feel like scales.

  It let out what could only be its version of a scream. I looked at what my claws had cut into and they were in some kind of opening that was slightly flaring up and down. I hadn’t noticed this before, but was this the fishfrog’s gills? Weak point discovered! I dug in even harder with my front paws.

  The fishfrog was struggling wildly to get me off and I was barely holding on. I leaned forward and frantically bit into its head to anchor myself even more. I felt my fangs puncture something, but I was too preoccupied to care at that moment. It shrieked again and started bucking, while hopping into the air. I was still connected, but I felt myself lose contact with one of my paws.

  Then the fishfrog flopped its back against the ground, crushing my paw under its mass.

  I let out a cry of pain and then the frog followed up by bucking once more. It finally managed to get me off and I flew a distance and landed on my feet. Thank you Balance skill!

  Oh fuck me. The frog was glaring directly at me and it’s mouth was already mostly open.

  It felt like a rock had hit me in the side. There was something stuck to me and I was being dragged toward the thing’s mouth. I attempted to dig my claws into the ground, but it was too soft for that to succeed. Without any other option, I started flailing around. I was already close to its large open mouth. I reached its mouth and sunk my claws into its lips to stop being pulled in. I’m not going down easily, you bastard!

  It had become a contest of strength. Could the tongue pull me in or could I keep myself locked at the opening as I clamped down my claws. The tongue was moving around and I was trying to catch hold of it. I wanted to cut that cursed thing off if possible.

  Success! I felt my claws make contact. I pushed them down as hard as I could with all the energy I could muster. I was suddenly free of the dragging pressure. The sticky rock that was the thing’s tongue fell off my body. Not sure why that happened, but I was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth!

  The fishfrog seemed stunned and I took advantage to bite it in the face. My fangs pierced its right eye and I applied pressure to my jaws to jam the fangs even further in. The thing was shuddering weakly and was dragging its body to retreat back into the water, but I definitely wasn’t going to let it escape. Not after all the abuse I had suffered. I released my hold on its mouth and climbed up onto its head and then again onto its back. I resumed my earlier attack on its open gills. The fishfrog trembled and collapsed. Right on the edge of the water.

  Haha! Eat that you stupid fish!

  I rolled off it and collapsed myself. I was exhausted. I leveled up huh? Let’s see how that looks. Check status.

  That is a large improvement. I think?

  My brain isn’t functioning well at the moment. I dragged myself over to the carcass and dug in. Wasn’t as good as some of the meat Mother brought, but it tasted delicious to my weary body. I felt slightly more energized after eating my full. Another glance at my status showed me that my Stamina had risen to 10. Eating wasn’t enough, I needed actual rest as well.

  Now that all the excitement had ended, I became aware of all the noises coming from every direction. Oh right, I was in a jungle wasn’t I? I can’t sleep on the ground here by a half-eaten fish. That’s just asking for trouble. I’m too tired to get far from here though, and I might just end up running into something else. I required a spot nearby to hide in. I craned my head this way and that way looking for anything that would suit my needs.

  There. It was the perfect spot. I dragged my sore body toward the tree. When I reached the base of the tree, I got down on my belly and crawled into the tiny hollow at its base. It was a tight fit, even for me. It was a slightly larger on the inside, but not by much. There was no sign that anything else was using this either, thankfully. I also had to admit to myself that a tree hollow had a touch of extra security for me. The smell of the wood was similar to the tree I had been living in up until now.

  I curled up and passed out instantly.

  Admin Edit: There, fixed the spoiler tag for you - Kanadaj