“The relentless never give in.”

“Like I said. What are you trying to say here?”

“The tempting temptations try both the tough and timid.”

“Alright.

Well. I’m climbing this tree and sleeping. Keep an eye on things for me.”

“The night, like a blanket covers the land in a thin veil, only starlight pierces through.”

“My lord you’ve turned up the theatrics. I’m not going to complain though.”

“Our hero falls asleep after an entire day of continuous hiking. We don’t see many redeeming qualities in our hero but he does manage to sleep with ease.

Surprisingly the wildlife follows suit and quiets down to sleep.

Just us now. And the sky. And the old man that is trying to stay hidden.

Few things get passed our gaze.

Alright everyone we can’t exactly talk with an audience. We’ll take a break then. See you all tomorrow morning.”

…

…

…

“Mmmrm.”

“Look who’s about to wake up, like a defective baby bird. Nectar of the gods cascades out of his mouth.”

“Mrneg.

Mleph. Morning.”

“It is at this moment our protagonist notices the small rodent made entirely out of thim tree bark. He is surprisingly calm about the issue.”

‘…’

“Trying to act cute? Bark squirrels have no power over me.”

‘…’

“A bun for breakfast then we continue up the mountain.”

“The exquisite sight of our hero speaking to what is for all intents and purposes an inanimate object. Then again, nothing surprising about that.”

“Alright. I’m going to run to the top.”

“After Ji take off with enthusiasm we take in the sights. Keep up everyone, we’re going to take a quick journey into the air.

The higher we get the clearer it becomes.

The sanctuary with the portal was a meteor crash site all along! Who knew! Amazing right?

Off in the distance you can see what could still be considered Greenland and not dead wasteland like one would assume goes along with the undead.

The thing that people often misunderstand about the undying. Is that, while they may be dead they do not unintentionally contaminate their environment.

The undying are a form of magical life much like many we’ve seen so far. They can attain sentience and will almost always be innately malicious and violent.

Now the undying that reside in this quest’s world cannot be considered sentient but there are some that could be considered intelligent.

There are even some creatures that are not of the undead variety but still co-exists with the undead, and even prey on them.

But let’s get back to our hero before he loses his mind.”

“What the hell is going on!?

Why did you suddenly get all quiet? I heard you whispering stuff in the distance.

I didn’t know you could move around like that. Where did you go?”

“Once we cross this steep hill we'll be able to see into the area which is not under the protection of world.”

“Oh? I still want answers but it can wait.

Holy shit! Look at that!

More forest. I’m not sure what I was expecting. This is a bit lackluster.

No. bit of flatland off to the right there.”

“An experienced survival expert would make sure he has access to freshwater.”

“Ye. Exactly what I was thinking! Let’s follow the river.

The quest didn’t exactly say how to survive or where to go really. Just outside the sanctuary.”

“An experienced survival expert would take a bit more time to think through his decisions.”

“Eh? But. The river sounds good.”

“An experienced survival expert would think of all the creatures that sustain themselves by going to the river to drink. And make his decision after that.”

“Oh. Ye. Right! Screw the river, it’s going to be crawling with things!”

“An experienced survival expert would realize that the undying do not require water to sustain themselves so the river becomes a viable option.”

“Pft! What do you know? This is stupid. I’m throwing a branch in the air and whatever way it lands I’m going that way.”

“Our inexperienced non survival expert hero has now succumbed to his own idiocy, I fear the worst.”

“Shut up!

Okay, up you go!”

“One would expect our protagonist to be able to predict how the branch lands. Sadly this is not the case, his ineptitude is of course not surprising only disappointing.”

“I’m ignoring you from now. You are of no help. Do all narrators deal in hindsight?

Turns out it wasn’t even mountains.”

“The area outside the crater is only a few meters down. Compared to the insides of the crater it really can’t be considered a mountain.”

“When does a hill become a mountain?”

“Our hero starts making his way across the open terrain before closing in on the edge of the lush forest.

I’ll spare you the details of his inane mumblings, murmuring and rumor mongering.”

“It’s not rumors! There could be vampires in here. You don’t know! What else could eat the undead? Exactly!”

“The vitality draining, mana burning fiends that could be associated with vampires would never prosper in such a feeble environment.”

“Also werewolves. Right? Hmm. Maybe those little raccoon things. What are they called? They can transform into different things.”

“The day passes slowly as the young and inexperienced explorer Ji Aleksy makes his way through the luscious flora. Apparently not fazed by the lack of any of the alleged fauna.”

“Hmm. Now that you mention it. We’ve been here for what? At least a couple of hours. I haven’t seen anything.

Hello? Undead? No?

Maybe it’s the mist. The visibility isn’t exactly great. I need to find a place to stay soon.

Not saying I can’t stay awake for like a day or two. But you know, why would I?

Wait. How the hell am I going sleep safely while I’m out here? I have to be here for ten days!”

“One would start to assume our hero is intentionally ignoring the benefits he receives once a quest is progressed in any way. One would assume he would at least check his inventory once in awhile. One would assume.”

“Okay. I already checked. But! There was no way I could have known alright. Random stuff just appearing in my inventory I mean come on!”

|Camp stone|

Sets up a ten by ten unit area.

Area is invisible to outsiders.

Area is physically impossible to enter.

Camp lasts for twelve hours.

Pauses Quest progress.

Item is a quest item and will vanish once the quest is either completed or failed.

“He who brought the marshmallows.”

“So thirteen of these. Which is more than enough right? “

|Emergency supplies|

Satisfy hunger for up to twelve hours.

Item is a quest item and will vanish once the quest is either completed or failed.

“Eat and you will not starve”

“Like a billion of these. Okay not a billion. Three stacks of ten. The icon in the inventory is just a wooden box.”

“The world would not give people a too hard of a quest, not even a novice such as our hero.”

“I refuse to believe there isn’t a way to turn you off. I don’t know how, but I will find a way to silence you.”

“What you hear is not the maddening wails of the undead or their ilk. No, it also is not the howls of wild beast. No these are the incoherent cries of our hero.”

“Okay. What the shit ever man. I’m going to climb that mountain-hill.”

“The view from this small mountain can be considered far and wide and yet it appears dreary and without substance.

As far as they eye can see is an ocean of trees or gloomy mist that blankets the otherwise wide open fields.

This leaves our young novice explorer with few choices.”

“I was thinking maybe just keep outside of the forest and see If we can enter that area over there.

I think saw something moving there. Can't see it well enough but it might buildings. What do you think?

Not even a snarky comment? Alright. We’ll see.”

“The journey already on foot yet no beast to fight. Not dangers to brave. Like a hungry dog our hero has to search for his food.”

“Your analogies though.”

“The sun has already made progress towards the southern horizon and would soon leave our side of the equator.”

“The hell is an aykvaitor?

It looks like we’re running out of sunlight though. May as well try out this camping stone.”

“The area pulses for a split second before returning to normal, nothing would appear out of the ordinary but very few things would be able to enter this area with these defenses in place.”

“Great. I’m going to sleep. Wake me up if we get attacked or something.”

“Once the presence of our hero vanished multiple creatures start to make their appearance. They shuttle about in the darkness of trees, staying unseen.

Further ahead which, incidentally is the direction our hero has decided to venture towards, are some remnants of a former civilization that ruled this world in the past.

There lives a small warband of undying creatures. We pray for the fate of our hero.”

...

…

…

“The night felt rough. I should have brought a portable bed. Or a mattress.

I wonder what I can actually put into the inventory, does it have to be an item specially made by the world or just anything?

Can’t put this bit of rock into the inventory. So there is that. It’s nice that I still have this tent though.

You seeing those silhouettes? This is definitely not an illusion or hallucination. That’s probably and old city or a large village.

Oh. There are noises. Okay hundred percent sure we will find something here.

Aye? Narrator? Anything? What do you think is over there? I’m getting a bit nervous here.”

“If you look closely you can see the clouds slightly shifting, it may rain later today.”

“Use. Less.

It’s just me then. Let’s engage in sneak tactics.

The violent noises are getting louder as I get closer. I’m still not sure what they look like, can’t really see from here.

I can see something, it’s like a half-animal? I’m not sure what I’m looking at here. It looks weak. I’m going around it anyway.

Alright. I’m in one of the buildings by the outskirts. No sign of movement inside.”

“The undead can be considered intelligent, although majority of them are at their very best mindless animals.”

“Right? Hey! You're back. Alright buddy, let bygone be bygones. What’s happening around here?

I can see a few of these things outside. They look like they are in pretty bad shape. Would they even be able to put up a fight?”

“The strength of the undying is not usually not determined by their personal strength, but their quantity and near never ending endurance.

We would have to believe our hero be capable of at least taking out the weakest of scum trotting undying. Or are we too hopeful? Do we dare dream!? Stay with me for more!”

“Hmm. Alright. So you’re saying they aren’t dangerous unless there is a lot of them? I’m going to try and take one out.

Worst case scenario we take out as many as we can and then throw down a camp stone.”

“Wielding his supposed magical abilities in hand our protagonist rushes out with valor.

He may not be able to cast spells or efficiently swing a sword but he should be able to take out a few minor fiends with concentrated elemental power.”

“I should have trained in archery or something. What happened to guns?

Okay you brain dead bastards, try to survive this.”

“We can hear the near unheard sound from a tiny, near unnoticeable explosion.

The shattered remains of the poor defenseless undying beast now lay scattered on the ground, never to rise again.”

“Eh? What? They are evil right?”

“Who of us can truly say they know evil? Who among us can say they know true goodness? Are we righteous? Are we vindictive? One must look back at their actions to truly see who they were, what they are and what they will become.”

"But.

It was just an undead right?

Right? Hello?”