Chapter 1: Awakening

        After what it seemed like to be a moment, I started gaining my consciousness back, opening both of my eyelids slowly, as I wasn’t fully awake yet. The first thing my eyes captured while the light shines towards them and my body, was the surroundings; it was not on monochrome anymore, but rather a bright, vivid colors of green…

        Wait... green...?

        I jolted up as soon as that realization struck my mind, the place of what I remembered once filled in gray now was replaced by these vibrant colors of what it seemed to be a forest.

        I was bewildered to a huge extent. How can a once empty land filled of disaster suddenly become a nourished grounds with plenty of life?

        As my mind is still processing the thoughts of my surroundings, my legs instinctively pushed me up the ground I’m sitting at, and another thing came into my realization; wasn’t I gravely injured back then? I thought as I stomped my right leg which had previously retained a fracture.

        What in the world-

        Disbelief filled me when there were no pain coming out from the area of the wound, which only meant one thing: was it… healed?

        I was wide-eyed when that thought came to my mind. I then came to recognize that, even all of my injuries that I possess prior to blacking out were all no more, spotless, like they were never there in the first place. Yet I was still in complete stupefaction, even after testing out parts of my bodies which were before in a bad state. After some time of checking out the condition I’m in, I eventually accept the truth of my state.

        Still, how did this phenomenon happen? I mean, I’m pretty sure that it’s only a few days or weeks since I’d blacken out-

        Wait… was it really just a few days and weeks for this case, indeed?

        The fact that there were the livings inhabiting this once barren place does not seem to add up at all. Unless…hold on. It couldn’t be, right? It couldn’t be that, have I actually have been unconscious for more longer than I thought I would be?

        Uncertainty flooded my mind, I decided to get out of this forest to find some clues about the questions floating inside my head.

        And so, I attempted to find a path to get outside this thick and lush area of plantation. But while doing so, I quickly take notice that the place I’m currently in was more of becoming some sort of labyrinth of green rather than an easily expected way out from it.

        Oh boy, I guess I wouldn’t be exiting this place so hastily as I expected…

        What’s even more, there were creatures existing in this forest, and I’m not talking about those regular-looking animals that I used to see on my home planet; although they might look similar to the ones back there; the ones here were… huge, some even colossal compared to the ones on Earth, all the more that they had mixed traits from one or more animals. And add it to the fact that I’m currently unarmed, that will make surviving more difficult, let alone finding the way out from this bizarre place.

        To my conclusion, I cannot rush about going out from this forest, as I will need a plan to ensure my survival against the harsh conditions that I’m in. So, I had to do what most people do during the time trying to be alive: avoid danger, search for daily sustenance, and provide myself something to fend of upcoming danger.

        I’d say that searching for food and water will be quite simple, as there are a bountiful number of fruits inside this forest that my eyes could catch sight of, and the river water itself was crystal clear, indicating their freshness.

        However, the main problem concerns that I have nothing to defend myself from any coming danger. And with those creatures being larger than an average human like me, I will be needing to find or make some sort of weapon as soon as possible.

        That said, I don’t exactly know how to make weapons real much, since I am, from a peaceful and undisturbed family, although this forest had an abundant of materials to make one.

        So, there are two options for me to do: first is to actually create a weapon from the materials of this forest, and the second one is to gamble my way throughout the locations, maybe having the possibility of finding a discarded weapon somewhere in the area, though the chances of doing so was probably low due to the clean environment, but it is a more convenient one rather than attempting to make one without proper knowledge.

        Still, maybe creating one wasn’t a bad idea either, since I will be using it for my own survival here.

        With that was set in mind, I trailed off and began to search for some materials to make a weapon of, while also keeping my attention to any visibly discarded weapons if any. Either of that, it was not easy trying to gather materials as the giant creatures roam here and there, as I hid behind a huge trunk of a tree whilst waiting for it to go away, since one of the materials that I needed was somewhere around its parameters.

        After waiting a while, the creature finally made its path away from the surrounding area that I need to reach in order to obtain the required object, which were vines, and these are some sturdy ones too.

        Next, I foraged some sticks and branches, searching for the strong but not too thick one as I rummage the ground below.

        I stopped for a while afterwards for a small break of fruits that I picked along the way, sitting down below a tree as I munched on the round-like fruits. To be honest, they don’t taste that bad, really; they have the taste of more to an apple with a hint of citrus, at least that was what my taste buds were telling me. Quite an interesting fruit, I must say, and luckily, they grow on bushes so they require almost no effort to collect, and might be the easiest one to do so, because the other ones are either out of reach, grown in trees guarded by abnormally large insects, or they are suspicious looking, like that bright purple looking one over there which had a bizarre shape of a pear but with two hollow rounded rectangular looking holes on its smaller, upper side of the fruit. Ugh, I don’t think they were meant to be eaten. Really, as it gave me a ‘poisonous’ kind of feeling from it.

        Continuing on after having my stomach filled up, I gathered some rocks by the river, making sure to look for the one with a sharp edge on it, or at least I could sharpen it by whetting two stones together. Fortunately enough, I didn’t need to do something so troublesome by my opinion, as I managed to find a stone with both edges sharp, perfect enough to meet my requirements. I picked up the stone carefully, and brought the materials I had collected to a spot near the river by the bushes, as I placed all of them to the ground, ready to make a temporary weapon for myself.

        First, I gathered all my knowledge when I was still in the Earth, trying to remember how those people created a weapon of some sort. Eventually remembering bits by bits, second, I placed the stone right at one of the end of the stick, and brought them together. Third and finally, I wrapped the vine to tie the branch and the stone together, and with that, I actually succeeded on making a “stone spear”, as I held up the object high into the air with my right hand.

        All of the sudden, a voice appeared without my consent on doing so,

  “Skill: Minor Creation unlocked.”

        What the heck?

        My heart almost jolted out of my body when my ears heard that voice. A skill, said that monotonous, female-like voice that resides inside of me?

        Obviously, I was bewildered about what just happened, as so far as I know, there was no one residing in my body except for me. It makes me wonder that what in the world is happening to me, as this kind of thing really makes me recollect those moments watching these ‘anime’ things back when I was still in Earth?

        Wait… could it be that, the world I’m in had something to do with these kinds of unordinary stuffs?

        Curious, yet puzzled, I decided to check on where I could find that voice again. A second later, I attempted on so many different motions, however, nothing took place from the end result of whatever I’m doing.

        Struggling to finding a way to make this work, without a thought left, these words escaped my mouth, as I grew frustrated with the problem I’m facing,

  “Ugh, come on, how do you check this?!”

        As then some kind of screen instantly popped up in front of my face without any warning at all, jolting my skin from my body. Goodness me, what just happened?

        But as I stared into the interfaced screen, my eyes took the recognition of two particular words that I merely heard several minutes ago:

  “Minor Creation”

        My eyes widened while locking on to the two words set right in front of me.

  “I-it’s here…” I mumbled softly while still in awe of it.

        I shook my head to the left and right swiftly to regain my senses back, as I know that I at long last achieved what I was looking for.

        While I thought that that was my only accomplishment and was ready to exit, my eyes caught some more intriguing words that me and my mind agreed upon checking it out. The words sat on the top left of the rectangular interface, with three sections divided into it; the words that were resting there read out as:

  “Titles”,

  “Abilities”,

And,

  “Skills”

Which was the one I’m currently in right now.

        Well, since there were another two, might as well see them out, don’t we? I thought with a mind eager to know.

        As I did, I lead my right index finger to the screen towards the “Abilities” section, and proceeded to push down the screen right on that position. I was thinking that it wouldn’t work at first, but to my surprise, it did open the section that I was pressing on.

        Oh wow, this felt like using a touchscreen tablet back in my world…

        Anyway, I was hoping that there was or were something listed inside it, nevertheless, nothing was scripted there, much to my curiosity. I took a sigh of disappointment, and proceeded to check the one last section of the screen, - the one named “Titles” -, as my finger hovered towards its direction, before pressing down on the interface. I wasn’t prepared for this one however, because… what I saw on the screen, was one, yet disbelieving word:

  “Immortal”

        I shook my head once more then locked my attention to that particular word. Immortal…? How and when in the world do I come to have that one inside here?

        Wait… Does that mean that, I was really here for a longer period than I had thought I had?

        Now having knowledge of what might had occurred, my question became answered, or should I say, partially answered, the eagerness to find out whether if my theory was true or not burns brighter than the other things that I wanted to do. Needless to say, I absolutely have to get out of this forest, and quick, if that’s a possibility.

        With that, I closed the interfaced screen that floats in front of me, and surprisingly, it was easier to be done than I have anticipated. But, how do I open this again? There must be some kind of word as a ‘code’ that my mouth must utter in order to meet the interface once more… Now what was that word, however, as I thought back what had I said prior to the respond of the interface.

  “Uhh, open.”

No response.

  “Look.”

No response.

  “Skills.”

No response.

  “Abilities.”

No response.

  “Ugh, there must a word that I had said before that will trigger it…” frustrated once more, trying to figure out what word is it.

  “Check.”

        And suddenly, the interfaced screen popped up once again. Ah, so “check” was the word that triggered it to open, and now that I know, a sense of relieve passed through my chest as I can open it anytime and anywhere after this.

        But saying a word like that seemed like it will attract attention from other beings… so what if… I closed the screen once more, then attempted to say the opening code, but this time, in my own mind,

  “Check.”

        And to my surprise, the screen did spawn back right in front of my eyes. Oh, so it was still possible to run the screen up without saying anything out. Thank goodness that that was an option to do so, as I sighed in relieve.

        Now then that I got what I needed to know, it’s time to get the escape plan to the motion, as my determination grew wild for the real answer that I was searching for. I began to tread the wide land of emerald diamonds attached to the elongated umbers, wandering with a hustle while taking small breaks of meals and rests, before continuing the journey to leave this lushed land.

        And then here comes the good news and the bad news; the good news is, that I can reach food that were slightly higher than me, giving me new options to choose with, one of them being a fruit in shape of a spheric octagon, which had a single pyramid-shaped seed inside of it. It has a more to a sweet, sugary taste, almost as an over-ripened fruit, with a hint of spiciness, not to the hot part, but more to the spiced or seasoned one.

        Another good news was that I discovered on how to use the “Minor Creation” skill that I recently just acquired; apparently, “Minor Creation” lets you to create an object or item, like it was supposed to say, but with a single casualty in it, that is, the materials required to make certain items should be provided first, otherwise the skill won’t work at all.

        Man, talk about foraging the forest for these kinds of stuffs… If only that I could create items directly, without in need of any materials to create them… but oh well, I guess this is better than nothing.

        Now, the bad news is that no matter how long nor days I journeyed across the land of green, I had always felt like I have been passing the same route over and over again, like being trapped inside an endless encirclement of viridescent woodlands. Even when I did attempt to climb a tree, I’m either not strong enough to reach the top due to the high heights they had, or yet when I did climb a tree, there will always be another one towering the one I’m at, thus nothing from the outside could be grasped by both of my eyes.

        Hmm, I’m starting to feel like the only way to see the direction I’m supposed to go is by getting something that could fly above these canopies… But will it be possible with me being the case that I couldn’t possibly achieve that, hence I was just a mere human?

        Anyhow, the only thing to do now is just to persevere in this multitude of walking inside the thousand woods that were laid surrounding me, hoping that by maybe, by a stroke of luck, I might be able to actually get out of this cursed green boundary.

        Seeing that there was no way to find a way out by the trees, I decided to climb down from the one I’m at. But the tree I’m at was a bit slippery, as I was caught off guard with the sap it excreted, my hands failing to take a grip of the trunk, as my body fell down to the ground.

  “Ow…!” I cried as I reflexively stomped my bottom to the ground.

Although surprisingly, it didn’t hurt so bad even when the tree was standing quite tall to the sky.

  “Ability: Lesser Pain Resistance unlocked.” the same, previous voice ringed to my ears once more.

        Oh, a new… ability? Looks like this one gave me tolerance to a small amount of pain… though I’m not exactly sure if that will be too useful for now, as maybe a greater resistance might be better?

        The next day, I tried to walk up some more, still persisting on getting out of this infinite emerald shelter.

        Passing on a few giant trees, my eyes caught something that its color was off than the typical surrounding. I paused to examine, as my vision gazed to the contrasting color lying below a tree, by the side of its roots, as I eventually got onto my digits, heels raised, walking slowly and quietly into the view I grasped.

        When I finally made it to the place, I gulped in concern, watching my distance from the unknown thing, as with my sweated palms I grabbed my spear and pointed it out to it, being wary as I don’t have the knowledge of it being something living or not, as I have to look out for the predators lurking inside this forest.

        Stopping nearby, I used the spear held in both of my hands, I prodded the unknown thing with the sharp end of the weapon. Nevertheless, there is no response coming from the said object, and with that in mind, I now have the courage to finally go even closer to check it out with my own hands.

        Now with the distance of merely centimeters away from the object, my eyes can at last discern the silhouette better, as it stared at the somehow long, olive-greyish with hints of brown object. I held the spear away, and decides that it was something not from the living, now extending my right hand towards it, grabbing the object from the ground.

        When I lifted it up, eyes examining on the said object, I realized that the object I just found was a dagger of some sort, which could be useful for cutting things, yet the issue is that the dagger was rusted as it seemed to be left right here for a very long time, meaning that I cannot cut edibles with this, unless I want to poison myself…

        If only I could get rid of these nasty rust from the dagger, then this will prove useful for me in my journey...

        My attention was then taken hold from the sounds of the rushing river close by.

        Hmm, I wonder if I could cleanse the thing with river water?

        Not that I hope that it will work though, but it’s best to try things out since I’m in a different world right now.

        So, I made my way towards the flowing river, with their crystal-clear water flowing alongst the long, shallow bed. As my sight gazed at the translucent liquid of life, I felt guilted to wash the rust directly on the river, knowing the fact that it will pollute the ecosystem in some way. But what else can I do to get rid of these rusts? As when I almost given up on cleaning the dagger, my mind sparked an idea inside of me, saying that,

  “What if I take some of the water, and clean it somewhere else?”

        With that in mind, I need to find a material that could handle water easily, as my sight averted below, to the land I’m currently standing. I noticed that the soil was soft and mushy, which makes me think of getting clay from there.

        I bend my legs down enough for me to crouch, as I put both of my hands there, digging throughout the dirt. I know it’s dirty and feels weird, but I have to manage in order to get what is necessary. Though it’s a coincidence that I’m lucky enough for being used to tending the nature way back when Earth’s still home.

        My hands continued to dig for a few minutes, until my view perceived a color different from the surrounding land.

  “This must be it!” words spewed from my mouth.

        Now having found what I searched for, I dug the material out from the small hole my hands created, and set it to my side while I resumed for the amount I needed. After a while, the quantity required has been fulfilled, as I carried them on near the river water, and splashed some water into the said material. Afterwards, here comes the part where I have to use my skill towards it, but how the question is, how do I make it work? Do I only need to say the skill’s name in order for it to activate, or is there something else that I was required to do?

        However, there is no time to think of that, as the clay will slowly harden over time. So, I do what I can only can: close my eyes while extending my hand, with an image of a bucket being displayed in my mind.

        As I was about to utter the words of the skill, I heard a glimmering sound seemingly to emerge from right in front of me, while my closed eyelids can discern a bright radiance from the same direction. Curious, I opened my eyelids so that I can view sight on what’s going on, and what I witnessed was something truly unbelievable and magical; the clay that was on my front, was coated in a radiant light not too bright, and began to form itself as it molded into a certain, cylindrical shape with a large opening by the top, as what it seems to be like something that I could recognize…

        Within a few seconds, the formation was completed, and what lies in front of me was… a bucket made of clay, just like the one that I imagined. I was astonished by the works of this skill, as it was my first time seeing how it works. And it seemed like you don’t have to say anything out loud to activate it either. Huh, pretty handy, if I would say.

        Now then, since I had obtained the item that I needed, I proceeded to carry the clay bucket and scooped some river water into the held object, as it was immediately filled with it. To be honest, I thought that the bucket would possess any cracks, since it was made from clay and probably not in its best state, but turns out, the quality was better than I had my expectations on; there were no issues upon after high amount of water being held inside of it.

        With the bucket now full of water, I sat down near and beside the flowing blue, in case I require more of it, and with the rusted dagger on my right hand, began to submerge the weapon into the water, my left hand trying to scrub the rust off the nasty rust out from it.

        Nevertheless, as predicted, no typical water can get rid of rust just like that, as another substance should be necessary for the completion. I sighed as the results don’t match what I had anticipated, though it was supposedly logical for it to do so anyway.

        Aware that there’s no reason for me to continue my ‘experiment’ anymore, I slowly pull the dagger up from the water… yet in all of the sudden it shone a radiance, enveloping it as was still held on my right palm.

        Of course, panic rushed into my mind, as I have no understanding for the current, sudden occurrence. My palm holding the dagger trembled, and I pulled the object out immediately via reflex.

        By the time I had fully pulled it out from the water inside the clay bucket, the light had dissipated, revealing what shocked my mind from what my eyes witnessed; the once rusty dagger, now all cleansed, spotless without a trace of rust left, like it was never there in the first place.

        My body stiffened as I was bewildered by whatever I’m seeing right now. While I was still astonished and in awe of what had occurred, a voice rang inside of my head,

  “Skill: Purification unlocked.”

… Seems like I had obtained a new skill from that. Still, it surprises me of how such typical river water can help me obtain a skill…

        After some time, eventually I snapped back into reality, as any more of zoning off will just waste my time whilst I was hasting my way out of this canopied emerald woodland.

        Since I got a dagger now, several actions can be done more easily, like cutting wooden materials or and edible foods. Or even more, I can finally hunt knowing that this will make a good weapon or tool to either slice nor cut meat from wild creatures.

        Good. I had been eating fruits for days long, and were craving for the taste and juiciness of meat already.

        However, there’s no time to hunt today, as the sky had turned blue and gold with a hint of blazing red, indicating that night is going to start any hour from this moment.

        With the time I had for the rest of the day, I gathered some sticks and fallen leaves, along with wood for fire, and made a small camp by the thick trunks of trees. Luckily, I happen to know the way how to lit fire up in case of the need for survival, and I was taught about it from my mother and father; in fact, all of us ten siblings were taught of the ways of survival in the wilderness for a reason or more that we don’t know of…

        *Hmm, I wonder why though*?

        And with that, I fell into a slumber from the black, starry sky hovering way above me, and before I know it, it was already bright once more.

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