I have survived the avalanche, but my body is in a bad state. I am covered in bruises, and Mr Analyze tells me that I have multiple fractures and a broken leg. The leg is my biggest concern. I have plenty of food and water in my storage, but I am a full days run from the safety of my home. Getting home will take a long time, and involve immense risk. One thing at a time. I make a splint for my leg and summon a stick to use as a crutch.

I quickly reconsider walking down the gravel covered sloop. It isn't too steep but it is not the sort of surface you can limp down. Instead I bring out a large sheet of bark and turn it into my personal sled. Using the stick as a break I carefully slide down the mountainside. It is a nerve-wrecking journey, as too much speed could easily make things a lot worse. It is getting dark by the time I reach the tree line. I need to get to safety. Since animals here aren't particularly afraid of fire, tree climbing is my only option.

Limping to the nearest good tree I try to work out the best way of getting up. First I tie a rope to a spear and throw it over a sturdy branch. I consider just tying the end around my waist, but considering my bruised and fractured body I create a harness with my rope, before I start pulling myself up the tree. When up I revisit the days where I slept tied to a tree until morning.

I wake up even more stiff and sore the next morning. I bring out the new crutches I made last night while up in the tree. With two underarm auxiliary crutches I should be able to make better speed. I check my splint and broken leg. Still no major complications. The bone is still in place and the splint should keep it that way regardless of a long limping journey.

Days later I am still not back, but I am getting pretty skilled at taking down forest rats and other aggressive animals with one bowshot while standing on one leg. Should have made this part of my training regime a long time ago. I am much more optimistic now than when I was at the bottom of the mountain. Guess you can get used to just about anything. I continue my monotonous trek home.

By the time I arrive, I have lost track of the number of days. Bambi greets me as I get to my front door. "Don't get too friendly, I might eat you one day". My comment lacks malice, as I have already gotten used to talking to the baby deer. Inside my tired body welcomes the bear pelt carpet and my rat skin pillows. I settle into a deep sleep.

The following morning I take stock of how my skill have been affected by the long journey. Regeneration has finally broken through to level 6 even though the leg has yet to fully heal. Normally a broken leg would take months to heal, but the progress so far seems to indicate that I might be fully healed in a couple of weeks. Looks like my archery skill broke through to level 8 while I was standing on one leg at some point in the last few days. With my unique skill I am now a level 10 grandmaster of archery. I just made up the title, but I am looking forward to seeing what level 10 looks like in a hunt.

Other archery related shots have also gone up by a lot; accurate shot and critical shot in particular. Looks like skills go up faster then you are forced to learn to survive. Since I won't be able to train my physical skills while I am healing, I work on improving my crafting. My bow making skill hits the magic level 8 and maxes out, but despite all efforts, my crafting skill is stuck at level 7. Guess I need a new challenge to raise it further. The effort needed seems to increase exponentially as the level goes up. Wonder how hard it would be to reach level 9 and 10 without my cheat skill?

Just over a week after getting back from my long trek my regeneration skill hits level 7 and I am fully healed. Again I dread to think what I would need to go through to get to level 8. However, it looks like level 7 heals broken bones rather quickly. Since my level increased throughout my recover I don't know exactly how long, but it is still abnormally quick. Also, my leg feel as good as new. The skill might help avoid complications as well. Time to get back to hunting.