#008 – Okay, I guess I’m supposed to grind now

#008 – Okay, I guess I’m supposed to grind now I spent another hour or so continuing to walk in a straight line from where I’d left off before I’d gotten distracted by the lake. On my way through the endless forest, I’d run into another pool of green slime, this one pond-sized. I honestly felt tempted to try eating the stuff. Stupid George, putting crazy ideas in my head... Other than that, I also found a rocky hill without much vegetation. I could finally test out the other skill I’d bought. Just as with heat vision, I could feel the mental switch and an instinct telling me what to do with my throat muscles to use the skill. The description said that it would grant me enough fire resistance that I didn’t need to worry, not to mention the blessing, but I still felt a bit apprehensive about this. Well, nothing for it. I’d already bought the skill, so not even trying it would have been a waste. So with that said, I breathed in, noting the warmth in my stomach, before gently breathing out like I was doing a breathing exercise or something. As expected, a surge of heat erupted from somewhere in my stomach and rushed through my airways and out of my mouth, forming a cone of flames that covered the rocks in front of me. It felt weird. Like a mix between vomiting and exhaling but not quite. The fire felt pleasantly warm rather than hot and dangerous, but I still couldn’t help but start instinctively choking. GeorgeDoshington: BUUUUURN FILTHY ROCKS FouxMoux: how hot is the fire? uptonMIKE: you alright? The fire in front of me quickly dissipated once I interrupted the breath, but the small patches of grass between the rocks still caught fire. I got the coughing under control, breathed in again, and touched my throat. It was warm. Warmer than normal. “...I’m fine, chat. It just felt really weird... No idea how hot the fire is, Foux. Don’t even know how I would test it.” I sighed, then breathed in, and tried to do it again, this time without choking. Just like before, heat flooded my airways and I spewed out flames that dissipated the moment I reached the end of my exhale. I managed not to choke this time. Progress. Hold on, were the rocks glowing a bit from the heat...? Huh, pretty dang hot fire breath, then. FouxMoux: how can you even do that? Do you have a new organ that stores and generates heat? trelipideliberitation: yoooo what up everyone? GeorgeDoshington: sup “Now, that’s a mighty good question Foux. I have no clue!” I looked down at my stomach and rubbed it. Then I smiled. “Hey! Welcome, Trelipe... Trelide... Tre...lipi...deli... ... Trelip! Welcome!” FouxMoux: do you feel colder now? “Not really, Foux.” I frowned. “It’s like the skill just made fire out of nothing... Although I do feel a bit more tired.” GeorgeDoshington: its using the ether thingy right? trelipideliberitation: are you burning down a firest? “Oh, yeah. Ether. Not that I know what that is, though.” I huffed. “No no, I’m not burning anything down! I’m just testing the fire breath skill.” I opened up the skill’s description, just so the newcomer could see. Then I saw that the fire was slowly spreading from the little patches of grass and quickly stomped on it before I turned into a liar. trelipideliberitation: oh cool its a vr game? GeorgeDoshington: naw its an ARG I let out a long-suffering sigh. “It’s neither a VR game nor an ARG. This is real life for me now,” I grumbled as I left the scene of the crime and continued trekking on. ”I’ve gotten isekai’d into this weird empty world and I have no idea what to do. Ugh...” I scowled. “But you’re gonna call it whatever you want anyway. Not like anyone would ever believe I was actually reincarnated in another world. So... yeah, whatever.” FouxMoux: well, it IS pretty unbelievable uptonMIKE: I don’t really believe it but I’m acting like it’s all real FouxMoux: but so far it’s been convincing trelipideliberitation: hmmmmm GeorgeDoshington: just wait til she gets tired and ends the stream lol “Yeah... thanks, guys... Not you, George. You suck.” My stomach then grumbled once again, making me let out a pathetic whine. “Ugh... This isekai adventure is going terribly so far. I can’t even find anything to eat...” GeorgeDoshington: eat the trees trelipideliberitation: you know what trelipideliberitation: I like it trelipideliberitation: its unique I eyed the various trees and bushes around me. As always, I couldn’t see any fruits or berries, but maybe I could try eating the leaves themselves...? “Maybe... I don’t know! I just want an apple or something!” I growled. “Thanks, Trelip... I guess?” Once again, I remembered the sweet-smelling lakes of suspicious green slime. I was honestly beginning to get tempted to go back to one of them and simply try eating the stuff since I didn’t have any alternatives. But not yet. I wasn’t that desperate yet. That stuff looked gross anyway. For a couple more hours, I continued to walk in a straight line while taking breaks here and there when I got too tired, hoping to find something other than more trees. I still hadn’t even seen a single animal or insect, and it was honestly beginning to feel unsettling. Despite walking through a forest, everything just felt so... dead. Paradoxically, the lack of living things only set me on edge. Like at some point, a giant monster would appear to compensate for the hours of dead silence. And then suddenly, as if to break things up on purpose, a blue screen popped up in front of me. ‘Baby steps’ achievement unlocked! +1 Skill point I jumped with a startled scream. “Wha–?!” GeorgeDoshington: wtf jumpscare uptonMIKE: it’s a horror game now? GeorgeDoshington: lmao “Stupid system...” I murmured, my cheeks going red. “What is this? Achievement? There are achievements?! And they give skill points?!” The system dutifully answered me by opening a huge window comparable to the skills one, this one split into five columns. Achievements: Complete arbitrary tasks to gain Skill points, unlock titles, and gain access to higher tier limit breaks. It took five squats before the loading finished and presented me with a new window. New quests generated: Find the culprit (main/side quest) Secrets of the world (main/side quest) Rookie dungeoneer (side quest) Don’t starve (side quest) “Okay! Let’s see it!” I exclaimed as I dropped on my butt, opened each quest in a new window, put them all side by side for better clarity and began reading through the details. Find the culprit: (Time left: 2h, 59m, 57s ) You have been inexplicably kidnapped, killed, and reincarnated into what looks like an entirely different world. You suspect the culprit may be a phoenix. Find out who it was for sure and confront them. Rewards(Main) - 50SP, Molten ash of new life skill for free Rewards(Side) - 20SP Pentalty for failure(Main) - 100SP debt Pentalty for failure(Side) - 38SP debt Accept as Main quest Accept as Side quest (1000 days) Decline Secrets of the world: (Time left: 2h, 59m, 57s ) You found yourself in a mysterious new world where things aren’t as they first seem. Figure out what this world really is and what happened to it. Rewards(Main) - 10SP, Appraisal with Psychometry for free, Refunded SP if already bought Rewards(Side) - 5SP Pentalty for failure(Main) - 20SP debt Pentalty for failure(Side) - 7SP debt Accept as Main quest Accept as Side quest (100 days) Decline Rookie dungeoneer: (Time left: 2h, 59m, 57s ) You’ve had your first taste of a dungeon, but you failed. Get your revenge on those pesky dungeons and clear one for real this time! Rewards - 2SP Pentalty for failure - 3SP debt Accept as Side quest (14 days) Decline Don’t starve: (Time left: 2h, 59m, 57s ) Oh no! You’re in the wilderness without any source of food! Find something to eat that won’t kill you! Quick! Before you die! Rewards - 1SP Penalty for failure - Death by starvation Accept as Side quest (3 days) Decline “Okay... This is a lot to take in. Hmm, I guess I have three hours to accept the quests before they go away again?” I speculated, seeing all the quests had the timer. trelipideliberitation: wtf that first one GeorgeDoshington: lol its the same skill FouxMoux: oh nice GeorgeDoshington: its spreading like rabies uptonMIKE: uh that last pentalty... I frowned. “What are you talking about, George?” GeorgeDoshington: the skill you get is teh same as the blesing thing “The skill...?” Oh, the ‘Molten ash of new life’... Yeah, he was right. The blessing said that the phoenix had used that exact skill on me to reincarnate me. “What? You think this is how this skill spreads? Someone with the skill reincarnates random people, and then they get a quest that gives them the same skill? And then I’m gonna have to reincarnate random people to keep spreading it?” GeorgeDoshington: dunno GeorgeDoshington: it sounds sus FouxMoux: first quest is best as main imo GeorgeDoshington: mb it mindcontrols you into using it I rolled my eyes. George was probably overthinking it. Although the idea of being taken over by a damn skill... “What does the skill even do, exactly?” I asked out loud. For the first time since I’d begun messing with the system, I didn’t get a straight answer. Instead, I got this. Molten ash of new life: [LOCKED] I blinked. No info at all. The system locked it out completely. I only knew the name. GeorgeDoshington: access denied GeorgeDoshington: im afraid i cant let you do that dave “Well then...” I slowly went back to looking through the quests until I noticed the penalty for failing the last one and I froze. “Uh... crap. Chat. Is this quest saying that I’m gonna starve in three days? Shouldn’t it be possible to survive longer than that? Why is it even a quest? Is finding food really that hard?!” uptonMIKE: you should keep moving trelipideliberitation: oh fuck trelipideliberitation: gogogo GeorgeDoshington: ur small so u need more food probably GeorgeDoshington: or its isekai bs “Yeah, you guys are right,” I said with a nod as my eyes rested on the last quest. “Actually... There really isn’t any reason to not accept this one, is there? I’m gonna die anyway if I don’t find food...” I suddenly felt cold. Dying to a giant killer robot was one thing, but starving to death somehow made it feel more real. People starved all the time. Who the heck ever got killed by killer robots? And that was what made it so scary for me. A simple timer that said ‘You’re going to die in three days’ was somehow more terrifying than a sudden killer robot inquisition. I swallowed. “Alright... Don’t starve. Accept as a Side quest.” ‘Don’t starve’ Side quest accepted! Main objective: Find something to eat. Side objectives: Find a source of food that will last you at least a week. Rewards - 1SP Penalty for failure - Death by starvation And wasn’t that a weird thought? Not starving being a side quest. With that, I continued walking while I decided what to do with the other quests.