The following day I gathered up my supplies and headed down to the docks. It took me an hour to find a decent ship with all of its rigging and sails intact. After storing my skins and jerky within the cabin, I set sail, heading south. My new knowledge of the planet let me know the direction I was facing.

The fascinating pink Sailapods showed up again as I cut through the waves. They seemed to enjoy themselves speeding alongside the sailboat. The soft pinks of their bodies were a stark contrast to the azure blue of the sea. Watching them was cut short sometime later as they began to change direction and away from the sailboat. Though this time, they left with no sounds of panic.

Looking up, I could see green on the horizon. I figured the Sailapods probably avoided the shallower water. As I got closer and closer to land, I darted about the ship slowing her down and turned her towards the east running parallel with the coast. I was looking for any signs of civilization as I sailed, hoping to spot a coastal village or at least smoke in the distance.

After a few hours following the coast, I spotted thin streaks of smoke far over the forest’s canopy. I lowered the mainsail and allowed the front sail to pull me in towards the beach slowly. Seeing the sandbars coming up, I dropped the front sail and secured the riggings. Dropping the anchor over the railing, I pulled the rope tight and tied it off, hoping it would keep the ship from drifting away.

Swimming ashore was nerve-wracking. I half expected one of the Gobie land sharks to greet me at any moment. Once ashore, I removed my clothing to dry in the sun. While they hung from sticks I had stuck in the sand, I studied the forest at the edge of the beach. The trees looked about the same as on my planet. The critical difference seemed to be that the leaves’ undersides were brilliant shades of colors, while the tops were the same shades of greens from home. Photosynthesis seemed to emerge on just about any planet.

With my clothes dry, I slowly made my way up the beach towards the forest, sword at the ready. I wanted to have the mace, but I feared its weight would have drowned me if anything were to happen. I stopped at the edge of the forest in front of an interesting trunk. Looking at the white-barked tree in front of me, I could see the bottom of its leaves were a vivid color of turquoise. I made a small cut into the tree’s trunk and was greeted with the same shade of turquoise sap slowly leaking out of the cut.

Dipping my finger into the sap, I waited to see if it caused any kind of interaction with my skin. After a few moments, I raised my finger to my mouth and licked the sap from my finger. It tasted sweet with a hint of a spice I couldn’t place. I wondered if they had pancakes and syrup on this planet.

As I slowly picked my way through the forest again, I made mental notes of the different kinds of plant life. As well as watch for any sign of predators. If the land sharks had taught me anything, it was to be wary of my surroundings at all times.

I was able to catch a few glimpses of the local wildlife as I made my way deeper. I spied something that looked like a rabbit but with the horns of a rhinoceros. Miniature versions, to be sure, but still, rhino horns.

Next, I came across a larger herbivore with six legs, two sets in front, with one behind. One creature had three massive antlers coming off its head. The other had bones or maybe chitin plating running along its back and lacked a neck between its head and body. Each one ran at the slightest noise I made.

As I walked deeper, I watched as one of these neckless armored animals became alert, looking in the direction to my left. The neckless creature then ran off in the other direction. At that point, I became aware that the sounds of the forest had become silent. I scanned the trees in the direction the neckless watched but saw nothing. As a precaution, I raised my sword in front of me while placing my back to a massive tree nearby. I listened and scanned the forest for any signs of movement, but nothing came.

I dove to the forest’s floor as a whip-like sound sounded from above me. I scrambled to my feet and looked above the spot I had just vacated to see an ant the size of a god damn pony clinging to the trunk of the tree. The location where my head had been had the end of an arm similar to that of a praying mantis’ from back home stuck into the trunk.

The ant’s head turned towards me. Its compound eyes glared into me. It wrenched its arm free and hopped off the trunk. Wings came out from under its back, helping the creature silently float down to rest on the ground. Without warning, the beast lurched forward. Its arms flew out, knocking me back a couple of meters, my sword flying from my hands.

Whelp back to the altar, I thought, before I heard a ‘twang,’ ‘swosh,’ and ‘crack.’ I looked up to see a part of the ant’s head missing, ichor dripping down its angular face and mandibles. I heard the sounds again a moment later, and this time its head disappeared into a mist of ichor and chitin shards.

To the left of me, I heard someone speaking in a language very foreign to my left. I was rendered speechless as the speaker came from behind a tree. I could instantly tell she was female by her leather-wrapped breasts. She had a head that looked like a panther, with deep dark purple fur covering her head, four arms, two legs, and broad shoulders. Just below her neck and down to the leather-looking pants was bare skin. I could also see her palms were furless as well. One of her top arms held onto a massive bow, possibly taller than myself.

She pointed towards me again and spoke. I raised my hands in a surrendering position and shook my head, hoping the meaning was universal. She barked a laugh and placed the bow over her shoulder, and removed a knife from her side. I backed away but relaxed a bit as I realized she was headed towards the corpse. I watched in fascination as she removed each wing, then severed the front of the praying mantis-like arms to remove the blade-like portions.

As she finished butchering the giant insect, she moved everything under one of her arms and waved for me to follow her as she headed deeper into the woods.

We walked for a while before she stopped and waited for me to catch up. She pointed towards a plant with vivid red flowers and light yellow spots inside the pedals. She barked out a word and waited. I tried to mimic the same word but failed. She repeated the word until I repeated it right. She then mimicked eating it, then flopped her tongue out of her mouth and remained still as she played dead. I understood what she was trying to convey clearly. Don’t eat that, or you’ll die.

As we walked towards her destination, she would point out and name things before conveying their uses. One such plant had pure white petals with an orange stigma at its center. She mimicked cutting her arm and chewing on the white pedals before spitting them onto the arm where she had faked cutting herself.

I removed a bunch of these pedals and began chewing on them. They tasted like a cross between ginger and mint. Her eyes went wide as I made a shallow cut to my arm before spitting the mixture onto the wound.

I was surprised at the warmth and then the tingling feeling. I was immediately torn from my thoughts as she grabbed my arm to wipe away the paste. She gasped as she looked where the cut had once been. She barked and chuffed, looking into my eyes, but I could see her frustration when I couldn’t understand what she was asking.

I had a feeling my small cut should not have healed as fast as it did. I grinned at her as I shrugged my shoulders, hoping again it was a universal motion. I could tell she knew what it meant but still wanted a better answer. With no way to communicate a better response, we headed out again.

After what seemed like a few hours, we came to a village with a wooden palisade. From its size, the town had to be pretty significant within its walls. We followed the wooden wall until we came to a large gate. Leading away from the entrance and into the forest was a dirt-pact road. She knocked on the side, and the gate began to move a moment later. I followed her through the gate and felt my brain freeze from an overload from what I saw.

The people within the village were a bunch of various species of humanoid-like animals. I looked on as a massive ox man pulled a wooden sled full of cut stone blocks and wood planks further into the village. The amount of weight that must have been on that sled blew my mind away. There were even animal heads for which I had no reference points back home. I was shaken out of my gawking as the lady panther nudged my shoulder. I looked up at her as she shook her head and waved for me to follow her again.

We weaved through the dirt-packed streets as the locals gawked at me, and I, in return, gawked at them. We arrived shortly after at a log house with a strange smell coming from its interior. The panther knocked on the door and waited. A few moments passed before she huffed and began to pound on the door quite a bit louder.

Moments later, the door opened to reveal a man with the head of a goat, yawning. His eyes were bloodshot, and he began chewing on something, his mouth doing some kind of sideways grind. The panther said some words, and the goat finally rested his eyes on me, those same eyes going wide. He began to nod his head, and the panther waved for me to enter the log cabin behind her.

The inside of the cabin smelled worse than the outside. Looking around, I could see this was some type of apothecary. There were clay pots and glass containers filled with various dried leaves and flowers all over the cabin’s interior. The goat sat down in the corner on one of the many pillows around what I would describe as a type of hookah. He waved for the both of us to join him, the panther sitting down opposite of the goat, I being forced to sit in between the two.

The goat offered the pipe to the panther, but she declined. I followed her lead. The goat, shaking his head, leaned over to a small table with a handful of glass vials filled with colorful liquids. Picking up an orange vial with flecks of blue floating inside, he handed it to me and motioned for me to drink it. I turned to look at the panther and waited until she nodded to me.

I removed the wax-covered stopper and downed the orange liquid. It tasted of berries and earthy mushrooms. I waited for something to happen, but nothing changed. I gave the goat a tilted head look, but he just began talking to me. I had no clue what he was trying to say to me. He turned around and began rummaging through a small stone chest. As he turned around, he swung a large fish through the air, smacking me across the face before I could register what was happening.

[ System Notification ]

Obtained the trait Spoken Common.

“What the bloody hell was that for?!” I yelled.

“A sudden shock is sometimes needed to help the brain click and learn the ‘Spoken Common Trait,” he said before checking his fish over, then tossing it back into the stone chest and taking a puff from his pipe.

“I can understand you!”

“Yes, yes. The potion has a magical property that helps people learn the language, normally referred to as Common. It’s normally given to those at an early age to speed along their development. You should have had something similar from the village you hail from,” the goat said.

I had to think carefully about what I said to them. I knew I shouldn’t speak of my island or the ability to respawn. “I’m not from around here. I washed ashore after a Mana Storm suddenly overtook our cargo vessel a few days ago. I have been wandering the forest before that monster attacked me.”

“Then you are as a newborn pup,” said the panther as she shook her head before asking, “what class did the system give you? You look old enough to have received one, yes? I’m sure the smooth skins also receive their class at puberty.”

“I chose Classless. I wasn’t given a class.”

Both the goat and panther looked at one another, their facial expressions a mix of awe and shock.

“Oie! What’s that look for?” I had so many questions.