Dave

Fallen Jungle

54th of Cycle 2, 1015

Jason wanted to test if my survivalist skill gave me new skills when my life was in danger, so we had been wandering around looking for a specific poisonous plant.

When we finally found it, I asked, “Hey, are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Not really, but worst case scenario you end up on the verge of death with blood leaking out of your eyes. When that happens I’ll give you the antidote.” He said, handing me a red leaf from the plant.

“That doesn’t really make me feel any better, but here goes nothing,” I said as I put the leaf into my mouth and started chewing.

Nothing happened at first, and I was starting to wonder if Jason had picked the wrong plant. Then, I felt a sharp pain in my throat and started coughing blood onto the ground.

“Let me know if you need the antidote, Dave,” Jason said in a mocking tone.

“I need the antidote.”

“Too bad.”

“I’m going to *cough* murder you *cough* one of these days, Jason,” I said as the sharp pain in my throat started to make its way down towards my chest, and I felt my heart pounding like a jackhammer.

This continued for a few minutes when all of a sudden the pain felt like it had been reduced significantly, and my heart rate had returned to normal.

“I think it worked,” I said as I pulled a skill stone out of my pocket.

Name: Dave

Race: Human?

Class: Scout(rare)

Class Skills: Sneak(basic) Lv4, Fleet-footed(basic) Lv5, Archery(basic) Lv1

Class Skill Slots 2

Skills: Hypnosis resistance Lv1, Survivalist(unique), Hyper-Accelerated vision(basic) Lv1, Poison Resistance Lv1

“I got poison resistance,” I said, wiping off the blood around my mouth. “Does that mean we can safely say your theory about survivalist was correct?”

“While I would love to run more tests, I think that this is sufficient evidence,” Jason said with a grin. “Now that we know what it does we can start using it during your training.”

“I don’t like where this is going.”

“Oh, come on, don’t be such a wuss. You have an amazing unique skill, and you’re not going to use it to its full capability?”

“If that ‘full capability’ involves running into near-death scenarios in hopes of getting a new skill, then yes, I’m not going to do that.”

“You’re so boring, Dave! Where’s your sense of adventure? Don’t you want to be a heroic underdog, taking down enemy after enemy in unfavorable situations?”

“That does sound cool, but I’m a little upset that the only things that get you this excited usually end up with me in pain.”

“Well I’ll be hunting with you from now on if it’s any consolation,” He said as he handed me his dagger. “Let’s add hyper-accelerated vision to your class skills. You’re going to need to level it up quickly if you want to see the silver panther's silhouette as he swipes your head off.”

I groaned as I pricked my finger, and Jason mumbled some gibberish with his hand raised towards me. The world went black as a familiar screen appeared in front of me.

New class skill candidates:

Hyper-accelerated vision(basic)

Survivalist(unique)

I scrolled past one of the repeat messages.

The scout class doubles the efficiency of all skills related to stealth, dexterity, and perception. Current skills under this effect include: Sneak(basic), Fleet-footed(basic), and Archery(basic).

Skills you have that could benefit from this effect are: Hyper-accelerated vision(basic).

Please note that making a skill into a class skill will return the skill to level 1.

Would you like to change a skill into a class skill?

“Yes.”

Which one?

“Hyper-accelerated vision.”

Hyper-accelerated vision(basic) will be reverted to level one, and moved into the class skill category, are you sure?

“Yes.”

Will that be all for today?

“Yes.”

Happy hunting, scout.

“Are you going to do that every time now?”

Maybe.

My eyes shot open, and I saw Jason’s back turned to me, so I decided to try my luck at sneaking up on him again.

When I moved a little closer to him he threw a rock straight at my head without turning around, and I activated my vision skill. Everything started moving in slow motion, so I caught the rock with ease and threw it straight back at him with all my pent up anger from the poison experiment.

He dodged it with the slightest move of his head, “Nice try.”

“I’ll get you one of these days, Jason.”

“I’m looking forward to it. Let’s head a little farther north before we set up camp.”

“Why are we still heading north?" I asked, "We’re not leaving the jungle anymore are we?”

“There’s a dark elf village to the north,” He answered. “I had originally planned to pass through there on my way out, but now I’m hoping that they can help us with some of our training.”

An elf village? Hell yeah! I’m finally going to get to meet some people!

“That’s if they even let us through the gates. Our village is on... less than amicable terms with them.” He said solemnly.

“Did something happen between your villages?”

“It’s nothing logical like that, it’s more of a long-held grudge between dark elves and high elves. We only ever speak to each other when one side needs something. I wish it weren’t true.” He seemed sad for some reason, so I decided not to press further.

Jason led us to a stream, and we set up camp near it just as it was getting dark.

“You take first watch tonight,” He said. “It’s been a few days since I’ve gotten any proper rest.”

“You sure about that? You might wake up to some poisonous plant being shoved down your mouth.”

He let out a laugh, “Good night Dave.”

“Good night.”

Rea

Fallen Jungle

55th of Cycle 2, 1015

“Wake up Rea, it’s time to move.”

“Give me five more minutes big sis.”

“I’m not your big sister Rea,” Came an ice-cold voice from Lola.

I jumped up out of my half-awake state and reddened up to the tips of my ears, “I-I-I’m sorry!” I stuttered out as I clumsily made my way up to my feet.

Rory and Jack were laughing, and I noticed that Lola had a smile on her face. My embarrassment faded quickly, so I pouted while I prepared my gear.

“Let’s get going, we need to move a lot faster than the spies if we want to catch up to them,” Lola said.

She led the way, following tracks that were invisible to the naked eye. I could just barely make them out if I focused on them with hunter sense, but Lola could detect them without putting in any effort.

She put her hand up to stop the rest of us, “There’s a lot of screechers in the area. Move carefully and only fire if you have a clean shot, Rea.”

“Yes ma’am.”

I had given up on being the team leader. Lola was much more experienced than I was, and trying to take the position from her would only hurt the team.

“Screechers? Maybe our spies caused a stampede. That would make following their tracks a lot harder,” Rory speculated.

“Perhaps,” Lola said. “But it’s going to take a lot more than a screecher stampede for me to lose their trail. Tracks aren’t the only way to hunt prey.”

Lola opened her backpack and took out a small blue stone. She took her dagger and started carving some elven runes into it, causing the stone to glow brightly.

“Show me the path,” She said, and the stone disappeared. “Let’s move.”

We slowly made our way through the screecher infested zone, and Lola killed a few that were directly in our path with headshots to stop them from making any noise. Then, I noticed a screecher that Jack had gotten a little too close to. I drew my bow towards it but didn’t have a clear shot. Its beady red eyes started glowing, so I knew I didn’t have much time to think.

“Move!” I shouted at Jack, who was startled but made a quick step to the side. I loosed my arrow and just barely heard a sound escape the screecher's mouth before my arrow pierced through its skull, killing it on impact.

There were a few seconds of silence as everyone stopped moving. I wondered if my yell was enough to start a stampede, but luckily the rest of the screechers didn’t seem to mind.

“Nice shot Rea,” Lola smiled at me.

“Thanks,” I said, averting my eyes.

Jack let out a relieved sigh, “I’m glad you didn’t try to shoot through me, I know that’s what Lola would’ve done.”

“I still might,” She said. “Watch where you’re going you dolt, or you’ll get us all killed.”

“Don’t be too hard on him Lola,” Said Rory. “He’s just a natural idiot, there’s not much he can do about it.”

“That’s right! I’m a natural idio-,” Jack stopped himself. “Ha, ha, very funny Rory.”

“That’s enough. Let’s move before the screechers decide to charge at us,” Lola said.

After another half hour of sneaking through, we were finally out of the screecher zone, and I put my bow onto my back.

“Don’t put your bow back yet, there might be some stragglers out there,” Lola admonished.

I quickly drew my bow again, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, be better.” Lola pointed to a large boulder in the distance. “Let’s take a break over there, I’m sure everyone’s nerves are a little jumped up right now.”

Jack perked up, “A break? Who are you, and what did you do with the real Lola?”

She only glared at him in response. We walked over and climbed up onto the boulder.

We sat in silence for a few minutes before Lola turned to me and said in a warm voice, “You remind me a lot of Jess. She was always clumsy and childish, but when the time came to fight she always did her job.”

I was stunned. That came out of nowhere, and I couldn’t think of anything to respond with. “Thank you?”

Rory laughed, “Take it as a compliment, Rea. Jess was one of the best rangers in our village. Maybe one day you’ll be as good as her, or even better.”

“I’m certain you will be,” Lola said without a hint of doubt in her voice.

I felt warm in my stomach, and my face was even warmer, so I stood up and clapped my hands together, “I-I think that’s enough of a break. We should get moving, right Lola?” I started climbing down.

“You’re right Jess, let’s get going,” Lola said, causing me to lose my footing and fall flat onto my back.

I heard the laughs of three mean elves above me.