After admiring my new flower dress for some time I decide that I should probably look for a source of water and food, based on my sketchy knowledge of survival situations, am slightly regretting not purchasing that survival pack now!
Consulting my internal map I deduce that I am well and truly lost! I don’t even remember which direction I came from let alone which direction will take me out of the Forrest. So seeing as I any direction seems better than going nowhere I set off in what I believe to be north.
Whilst walking through the woods I try to keep track of where I am going this time instead of getting lost trying to figure out magic. I also notice that whilst I can definitely hear wildlife I have yet to actually see any animals big or small, it’s not exactly surprising as I’d imagine me semi stomping through the undergrowth might scare off most animals but still, I’d have at least thought I’d see some birds or something by now no?
I continue to meander through the Forrest and eventually come across another clearing which houses a few berry bushes along one side. With a smile I rush over to give them a look.
The bushes are quite large being nearly my height and are covered with inunerable purple berries. I don’t immediately pluck them but instead I squint at them trying to see if I can unlock an identify type ability, after almost going cross eyed from the attempt I figure that I won’t be so lucky in that regard. Nevertheless I do pluck a singular berry off and give it another once over.
The last thing I want is to rush and accidentally poison myself, and dying for the second time before achieving anything here. Once more failing to unlock any identify skill I hesitantly take a small nibble from the berry, being delighted at the tart taste that is somewhat reminiscent of a blackberry. But I don’t rush it and instead find a place to sit down nearby and wait to see if that small but will cause any issues.
As I’m waiting I decide to play around with my magic some more, first starting with my dress. I quickly figure out that I can cancel the skill at any time which results in the flowers wilting away and falling to the ground only the dissolve into small motes of mana that dissipate into the nearby environment. Re summoning the dress I instead try out the reinforcement aspect. Thinking about trying to add protection to my arms I watch in fascination as vine like tendrils expand rapidly from the main dress up over my shoulder and down my arms before forming into a bracer which begins to bloom in muted shades of purple. The whole process only taking a second, I do notice that there is now a small but noticeable drain on my mana from this so I quickly stop it and watch as the bracers dissipate much like the dress does.
Next I try out my vine whip spell and practice aiming at a particularly low hanging brace of a nearby tree. Turns out that when I cast it a vine will simply pop out of the ground nearby whatever I target with a certain range and will lash out at the target, it also seems to have quite decent damage seeing as the branch I aimed at ends up snapping off after the first hit!
Continuing on for about half an hour I stop and concentrate on how it feeling, noticing nothing wrong I return to the berry bush and pluck 2 berry’s and pop them into my mouth. Reveling at the taste I happily munch them down and once more return to sitting nearby determined to play things smart.
After another half an hour with no noticeable effects from the berry I decide that they seem safe enough so proceed to go on quite the berry feast till I am starting to feel satiated.
By now the azure sun in the sky has fully separated from the yellow sun and appears to be getting ever so slightly larger. Thinking on the knowledge of this world I know that the azure sun actually rotates around the yellow one once every 4-5 hours, with each day lasting 24 hours the same as what I’m used to thankfully! It is also starting to get well into the afternoon and thinking back it seems I first arrived hear relatively early in the day.
Getting back to my feet I proceed to continue on my journey northwards.
Some more time passes in relative peace until I suddenly realise that the woods around me have gotten particularly quiet, as soon as I make that discovery I feel a shiver go up my spine and I stop walking and quickly look around to see if I spot anything. Not seeing anything immediately I raise my guard and focus being ready to cast my vine whip at a moments notice.
Turns out this was the correct decision as not much later I hear the snap of a branch to my right and quickly turn my head only to see a ugly face looking right back at me. It has beady yellow eyes on a thin and animalistic green skinned face. As it walks out of the undergrowth I focus fully on it readying my spell incase it charges.
The goblin for that’s what I’m assuming this short ugly creature is stands around 3ft in height and is holding a club like branch whilst grinning at me, showing off its crooked and stained teeth. My heart rate picks up as I struggle to decide what to do, do I attack first, do I run away? My mind races trying to think up what I can do here.
However it turns out that decision was about to be taken away from me. I hear a rustle of leaves from behind me and spin around in time to see another of the green menaces charging at me with another wooden club raised and in a panic I cast my vine whip towards it managing to land a blow across its chest, with a resounding slap and an accompanying hiss of pain the goblin is thrown back several feet with a nasty looking slash across its chest where the vine hit.
Momentarily surprised at the damage I caused I almost fail to hear the first goblin charging at me from behind. Quickly I dive to the side so as to prevent being stuck between the two monsters and spin around to keep the goblin in my line of view. As soon as I split it I again case vine whip this time aiming for the hand that’s holding the club. A resounding crack is heard once the vine make contact and the goblin releases a howl of pain and drops the club and holds its wrist with its good hand. Seems that managed to break the goblins wrist with that hit!
I slowly back up away from the two not wanting to let them get any closer however they don’t seem to care what I want as the second once more charges after releasing a short battle cry with the first following not long after with a crazed look in its eye. Thinking quickly I summon another vine intending to hit the second goblin in the head and send it back in the first. I let out a yell of my own as the vine hits perfectly and the goblins head is jerked back at an unnatural angle accompanied by a sickening snap of bone. The now corps is thrown back in the direction of the first goblin who stumbles out of the way but still charges at me. This time I don’t have time to cast again so I instead go for a kick.
Saddly for the goblin my aim is quite true and lands solidly between the creatures legs lifting it off the ground as it releases a sharp gasp of pain. It proceeds to roll around on the ground some more groaning in pain. Despite feeling bad for the little fellas destroyed gewles I aim one more vine whip at the creatures head and am greeted by yet another stomach churning snap as its neck is also broken.
I stand there in a numb haze for an indeterminate amount of time staring at the two now dead creatures, before my mind catches up to what I did and I hurl up my berry lunch as the sound of the necks snapping plays on repeat in my head.
Its several minutes later than I finally get my self under control that I get greeted by a few more notifications from my system.
[you have killed goblin scout x2 experience has been awarded]
[Quest
Goblin scouts have been spotted in the area. Investigate the surrounding area and discover their base.
Reward - minimap unlocks and a new skill will be offered depending on future choices]
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Ok first bit of combat here, don’t plan for combat to be a mainstay but it will play a part.