Tree bark that has been warmed by the sun through the day can be very comfortable. Its texture may be rather harsh for some people and it’s uneven yet hard surface may turn even more people down but for those who aren’t afraid of the unknown and for those who anticipate new and wonderful experiences, tree bark’s unique comfortableness will come as a pleasant surprise.

While I am thoroughly indoctrinated into the bed camp, I shall admit that while bed is still the best, a good branch high up in the air is something worth exploring.

I also must commend the magnificent natural scenery of the woods.

Nowadays we, the human race, have begun forgetting our roots and are steadily drifting away from our natural origins. Can you, dear readers (because my situation definitely says it – another transported to another world web-novel by some no-name author), tell me when was the last time you had the opportunity to appreciate the splendor of the forest in the middle of the day?

That’s why, I took my time to appreciate the way the rays of light play among the leaves and the branches, painting an expressive landscape full of shadows and dramatic contrasts. It’s unforgettable how some leaves reflect the sunlight and it makes them look as if they are coated with liquid gold. It’s also unforgettable how when the wind stops blowing, the entire picture freezes and even the most feeble of the blades of grass feel as if it’s been carved from stone.

And, I must repeat myself, I am definitely not escaping from the big huge problem of my poor and unfortunate person being stuck twenty meters up in the air with no obvious way of getting down. No, not at all. I’m just an intelligent man doing intelligent-seeming things.

Yes, that’s right.

*Whoosh*

“Goodness me!”

Well, the downsides to being stuck on a lonely branch up on a very tall tree are that you don’t have any means of supporting yourself from the fierce winds, threatening to blow you off to kiss the ground and become one with it, till death do us part.

Except for embracing the lonely branch with all of your being, sharing its loneliness.

If you are wondering if Ralph could do anything in this situation, well, I’ve already called him.

“Do your best to overcome all the challenges that fate throws your way. That is the one and only way of growing as an individual, my dearest friendpet”

What profound wisdom. As expected of Ralph. He’s such a wise mandemon.

Well, even though my physical abilities are a bit lacking in comparison to other individuals I’ve known, I must say that I am not a feeble enough person to succumb to such a challenge.

So, I part with the branch. It was not a tearful parting. I’m sorry, miss Branch, but Lady Bed is still the only one in my heart.

And I hug the trunk and slowly and carefully crawl down to a lower branch.

*Whoosh*

“MOTHEFU-”

…

Contrary to your expectations, I didn’t fall to my doom.

It’s a horrible idea to ever underestimate human tenacity. At the very last moment, I was able to grab on to a relatively thick branch. Though now my shoulder is hurting a lot. And I doubt I’ll be able to continue climbing down like that.

It’s about fifteen meters to the ground. A rather formidable distance.

What do I do now?

…

After resting for a while, my shoulder began to hurt with new vigor

I wonder if I could use some healing magic on me?

I mean, technically it’s not impossible. I have the affinity to the life attribute, maybe it has a spell like that there.

“Ralph, how do I invocate a healing spell?”

“Um, let’s see… How much mana do you have?”

“I don’t know?”

“Check your status”

“How”

“Hmm, you should be able to roughly sense it. Try it”

“…”

“So?”

“No can do”

“Alright. I’ll help you with this one. Ramp up the strength of the mind link”

“…Ready”

“Here we go”

Status:

Name: Victor Norman

Race: Human (Otherworlder)

lvl: 0

Current Class: None

Second Class: Locked

HP: 9/11

MP: 243/251

ST: 11/20

VIT: 1

STR: 1

DEX: 1

END: 4

INT: 5

Active Skills: None

Passive Skills:

Demon's Blessing (Unique, Unranked)

Nesse Language (Common, lvl 6)

Resistances:

Corruption Resistance (Advanced, lvl 3)

Mental Fortitude (Common, lvl 8)

Titles:

True Demon Ancestor's Messenger (Mythological)

Otherworlder (Outer Realms) (Unique)

“Do you see it now, Vic?”

“Yes. I have 251 MP, is that enough?”

Once Ralph took over my body for a short moment, he… I don’t know how to describe the feeling… well, he opened my status page for me. It comes naturally and I wonder why I couldn’t notice something like this. I should be able to use it again easily now. Anyway, I don’t know how good or bad my stats are, but I seem very weak. But my MP, which I guess means “Magic Power” or “Mana Points”, seems (seem? Let’s not delve into semantics) pretty high and I’m confident it should be enough to heal a bruised shoulder.

“Yes, it’s more than enough”

See, Ralph said so.

“It’s not a spell per say, but my observations of this world led me to the conclusion that the inhabitants of this world that are connected to the system are able to use their mana to speed up their natural recovery. It’s very well pronounced among the more powerful ones or the ones having talent for magic”

“Can the people outside of the system not do the same?”

“No. In fact, what you call mana is a bit different than what you probably imagine. Demons like me feed of off the lifeforce in the world…”

…

“Anyway, the witches call what you call mana Aether sometimes…”

…

Several dozen minutes later the unexpected lecture came to an end, finally.

“And, based on those observations as well as other things that would be a bit hard for you to understand”, - I understood nothing out of what he has been talking about, honestly – “they claim that Aether, or mana, is an immaterial, incorporeal, immutable, absolute and most metaphysically fundamental existence that reflects the true nature of that which we call reality. And what you and the system call mana, therefore, is the approximate numerical measure of your ability to utilize the only possible way for a living being to interact with the material world - through the Astral Mind, at the given moment. So, no, it’s impossible for living beings outside of the system to spend their mana in the same way as those within, in order to speed up the process of recovery. It’s not so different to thinking yourself from the dead”

Well, I guess it answers my question. Note to self, be careful when asking Ralph about things.

And the only thing I took out of Ralph’s explanation was that living beings use their souls, or how he called them, Astral Minds, to do magic. This information might come in handy when I begin to learn magic. For now I need to fix my shoulder up though.

Ralph also taught me how to do it, which is quite simple – to wait. Apparently the body does the repairs automatically. The stronger people need no food or water to survive because of it, as Ralph said, though to me it seems a bit outside of the possibilities of self-recovery.

There’re also ways to do it more efficiently. There’re entire schools dedicated to that. The most basic and well-known method is to feel the injury and imagine the process of the recovery.

So, I waited.

After a few minute I was ready to go at it again.

Which I did.

And then I fell again. Thankfully, I was seven meters aboveground, so the fall didn’t hurt as much as it would’ve had I fallen from just a few meters higher.

Still, I got hurt again.

By the time I recovered my stats were as follows:

HP: 10/11

MP: 193/251

ST: 4/20

I was exhausted. Mana wouldn’t recover fatique, in fact, the more of it I used, the more tired I became.

The Sun was already setting and the forest was already dark. I didn’t have the strength to get up from the ground and hunger and thirst were killing me.

I was sweaty and dirty, my hands were full of calluses and my torso had many scratches.

Mana didn’t recover those. I mean it did, but very slowly.

This forest was devoid of any monsters, as Ralph said, but there were some predators. I entertained the possibility of sleeping on the tree but I needed to come down eventually. And doing it during the night is by far not the brightest idea.

My body was sore all over and I knew it was going to get even worse when I woke up, lest a wolf snacks on my lanky body, but at this point I didn’t care.

My eyelids were full of lead and I didn’t have the strength to open them.

So I just let the sleep take me.

…

…

…

It’s a cold morning. I might catch a cold. Well, if it comes down to it, I have my mana to rely on.

How is it doing anyway?

HP: 10/11

MP: 189/251

ST: 13/20

Not bad. I may be able to survive here for a few days. My mana recovery exists, if anyone is wondering, it just gets overwhelmed by the consumption, creating a vicious circle that’s draining me of my stamina.

I’ll be honest, I hate humans. Hypocritical of me, a human, but those pesky parasites annoy me to no end just by the fact that they exist and the way they destroy the world and themselves while existing.

But I would cry tears of joy if I got into the first human settlement I could get into.

Let’s go strictly into the direction of the first human settlement. Ralph provided the direction.

So tired.

…

…

…

So hungry.

And thirsty.

And tired.

The only reason why I still haven’t given up is because of my skill “Mental Fortitude”, which stands at level eight, and an occasional talk with Ralph.

We talked about the additional skills I had when I transmigrated as well as my huge amount of mana and came to the conclusion that it all came from the bath experience, as I like to call it. Or the time when Ralph hammered the knowledge and understanding of the Ness language inside my mind.

I gained the Corruption Resistance, which is the advanced skill derived from Mind Magic Resistance, completing my first long-term goal in this world before I even started.

I gained Mental Fortitude, at level eight. For reference, veteran soldiers, mercenaries and adventurers usually have it at level eight. Basically the people who need to deal with A LOT of stress. So I’m already a lot tougher than I was before I transmigrated. My mentality is similar in some ways to people who have spent decades killing others for a living.

My soul got stronger, hence the ungodly amounts of mana in me. It will only get better as I level up. Only the high nobility of especially rich countries who get to enjoy high-quality rare elixirs and herbs in the womb and all their childhood have such mana at level zero. Or strong monsters but those start at a level different from zero. And the nobles don’t have the same degree of increase of mana that comes with levels because the medicine messes with their bodies.

All of this, for a moment of hell.

How luxurious.

5/7, would never, under no circumstances, not even if you pay me, do it again.

…

I have been walking in the forest for several hours now.

My mind might be strong, but my body is feeble, so I need to stop. If I try too hard, it will only come to bite me in the future.

No predators spotted.

I climb up a not very tall tree just in case and lie on its branch. It’s not as strong as the one I was transmigrated onto, so I feel a bit apprehensive about sleeping on it. My mana and stamina are:

HP: 10/11

MP: 161/251

ST: 12/20

I need to get to the town quick. Or is it a village?

I hope it’s a village. The town guards might just drive me away.

Good night.