I traveled along the border of the old forest. With each step I took, thanks to the Terrain Reader skill, I accelerated more and more before ultimately reaching my top speed, almost as fast as a horse. Grass and flowers bend toward me merely from the low air pressure created behind me by my speed. The tress stopped being individual and fused together into a nearly black wall with only a few bright spots.
Bree was a few days out, at least if one was walking but it was still a good distance even on horseback.
I didn't take breaks, if I didn't feel like I needed them. Food and water were plenty, thanks to the amassed Vouchers. Better yet, with each Kilometer I ran, I gained exp for my class. That was, until I at one point pulled up the system Interface and noticed that I hadn't gotten even a single Exp for the last three kilometers. I spent a few minutes thinking about it and figured that the exp only came, if I was traveling towards my goal. That meant I had to figure out where they had headed to, or in which cardinal direction they were currently. Then, over in the distance, I noticed a few foot prints in the grass, if only noticeable by the broken twigs and scrunched and dragged leaves on the ground.
+5 Exp
Okay, that was.... good. Let's go in that direction. Only it pointed right into the forest along a footpath that was overgrown and barely noticeable. I decided to follow it. Trusting my own speed to be quicker than the trees would react and communicate with each other.
"Oh fuck! Shit! Why couldn't I just wait?"
[+ 10 Exp]
"Oh right. That's why." I said, squinting my eyes at the notification while I dodge another branch aiming for my head only for it to pierce through where my head has just been and crash into another tree to my left.
Pretty soon after I had entered the woods, the trees had grown active, trying to hit me, bind me and then probably crush me.
So how I was running for my live, my passive skills working and improving at a noticeable rate. Terrain, one that was beneficial for acceleration, was easier found. My breathing remained steady, even as I was running and dodging.
[+10 Exp]
The trees were not letting up. Worse even, I began to notice how the trees in front of me became more and more active, their communication had finally outpaced my speed. Fuck.
I couldn't continue down the path, not like this. The trees were probably already setting up a trap of in the distance, one that I wouldn't be able to dodge. I couldn't risk slowing down to change direction either.
So I did the most stupid and incredibly dangerous idea I could possibly think of. The next tree that appeared in my way, I didn't dodge it. Instead I jumped at it, turned around in the air and launched myself off of its bark, away from it and the other active trees.
I managed to land in a full sprint and continued on without losing much momentum. Soon I reached a river. Its waters were deep and fast. It wound its path through the forest like an oversized snake that had caught the scent of prey. I didn't dare stop in front the river, instead I chose to jump over it as far as I could.
My momentum carried me about a third of the way but then I crashed into the currents. For a moment while my head was underwater, I lost orientation. The Trees on the shore seemed agitated once I surfaced. They were the only thing that gave away where I had come from. The Trees on the other side of the shore were unresponsive, almost dead compared to their cousins across the river.
I swam as fast as I could to the shore but not without being dragged further down the river. Once I stood up, drenched and cold, I knew I would desperately need a fire to dry my clothes and avoid freezing to death. Problem was, I had never made a fire before and none of my equipment was fit for it. By now, even the sun had gone down again and the moon shone through the leaves. Talking about fire, wasn't there a mission that involved it? That though lead me to check on my missions and I was right. There, as a bonus objective, it said I would need to set the old forest on fire, at least three trees. Now, the forest was old and the wood was dry. Just like their leaves. But where to get the spark from? And how would I set off the fire from across the river?
It was then, when the silver rod behind my ear shuddered again before vanishing into thin air.
Had 24 hours already passed? That would mean I have been in this world for an entire day already. And I spent most of that day running. What was my current class level?
[Class: Courier]
Level: 05
Class-Skills:
1. Runners' Breath (Passive)
2. Terrain Reader (Passive)
3. Momentum Flow (Passive) {NEW}
4. Anchored Slide (Active) {NEW}
Description: Momentum Flow
Maintaining top speed becomes easier and stamina drain is reduced. Movements become more efficient. Sudden turns and stumbles, or general interruptions of your running position do not hinder you, as this skill allows for you to quickly find your optimal footing and return to top speed rapidly.
Description: Anchored Slide
This skill allows for you to drop into a controlled slide under and past obstructions and attacks even tight gaps at full speed without losing most of your momentum.
Slides per minute: 3
Cool-Down: 10 Minutes
New skills? Awesome. Those will come in handy soon. It makes running a lot easier, too. Now where did that damned rod go?
Eventually after I had once again checked every pocket, fold and even my shoes, I spotted it sticking to the underside of my arm. And as soon as I held it in my hand, it elongated into a glass vial full of a brown and thick liquid. Then the system pinged again.
[Vial of Napalm]
A nice little surprise for some unsuspecting trees. Might be good for a fire, too. (Don't use it for a campfire!)
Well, I guess I will have to just.....ignore the warning label. Otherwise my clothes and I will never dry.
And with that I did the one thing every firefighter in the world would advise against. It would probably make them cry, too. I began gathering some sticks and leaves, placed a few good stones around the intended campfire and then placed most of them into the middle. No reason to try any specific ways to make the fire last. After all, a little bit of napalm would make sure the fire wouldn't go out anytime soon. Then I unscrewed the top of the vial, carefully let a bit of it fall on the sticks and leaves without getting any on my hand or clothes, which I had stripped of by now. I was freezing my ass of, by the way. And then I screwed the vial shut again before I chucked it over the river, hitting a tree and watching as glass shards and liquid spread over the nearby wood.
Now I had something to start both fires, but nothing that would make a spark. That was until I decided to just.....shoot it. The friction caused by the impact ought to be enough to cause a spark and light the napalm.
*Bang
*Bang
Two shot later and there I was, with a small campfire burning in the woods, sitting naked on the ground, with a shoulder bag set down next to me while my clothes lay a few meters away from me, being dried by the fires warmth. I felt the earth and air around me heat up, especially behind me, where the forest fire I just started spread from one panicking tree to the other. Their panic causing the fire to spread faster and to more and more trees. Luckily, no fire and no spark made it over the river and the trees themselves seemed unaware of the river that might have been their salvation.
If anyone were to see me now, they would think me insane. They would see a young child, no older than seven sitting naked in a forest known for its dark creatures, those that ate humans, children especially. And yet I just sat there, fire in front and a possible forest fire behind me, unbothered and almost hypnotized by the flames movements.