4 Steve, use <Throw>!
Chapter 4: Steve, use <Throw>
Finally, the evening came again. Steve slowly regained consciousness, blinking and stretching his way out of the land of dreams. His sleep had been surprisingly deep, actually. He was just about ready to have breakfast and head to wo-
Oh. He was still a kitten. So that wasn't a dream, huh? Whelp. Fuck him I guess. Still beats not waking up at all. That was a subtle metaphor for death, in case anyone didn't pick up on it.
Now, time to check his status. While his ribs did still hurt a bit, it was definitely manageable, it was only a small injury by now. Maybe they had actually cracked before… hopefully there weren't any adverse effects. Status?
Status:
|Unnamed|
Lv.: 4 -> 5
Species: Common Mopaaw
Titles: <Tutorial Completer>
Hp: 14/17
Mp: 15/15
Sp: 16/25
Strength: 6 -> 8
Vitality: 7 -> 8
Dexterity: 10
Agility: 14
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 6
Willpower: 3 -> 5
Luck: 8
Ability points: 11
Skill points: 450
Gold: 203
This was another really great level-up then. He now actually had passable health and strength, though it probably still couldn't compare to the strength of like bears or wolves. He was still a kitten. Well, he could have used his saved up ability points though. Nah, who was he kidding, if he used them now what was the point of saving up, lol. Those were for when he was in a pickle, really. Though with him having 450 Skill points checking out that shop again might be worth it. Skill shop!
Immediately on command the column of text appeared, Skills and their prices neatly arranged atop each other. Though as if now, he was really only interested in two abilities: ranged combat abilities or offensive traps he could place. That was all. Something like telekinesis or spider thread. Those two were a good place to start at the very least. So, he quickly looked them up and turns out both skills existed. With one spectacular drawback: They both cost 3.000 points each. Well, shit. The only ranged ability he could find that he could afford and probably somewhat use was <Throw>. 300 Skill points for the ability to throw something. Well, he did miss yeeting stuff soooo… the time to relearn it has apparently come.
[Acquired the skill <Throw lv.1> from the Skill shop.]
Well. It was still better than nothing. At the very least he would be able to deal some damage from a distance. Now to check it specifically. <Appraisal>!
[Throw: A Skill allowing the user to throw objects. Object velocity and maximum weight depend on Skill level and Strength stat of the user. Consumes Sp depending on weight of the object.]
Huh. This was… useful. Though the true question really was just how it would work. He couldn't exactly pick stuff up, so time to try it out then. He quite simply walked out from the log with a large yawn another stretch, feeling a slight, dull pain at his ribs. It would pass anyways, so no need to pay it any mind. He walked forward a few steps before he found a chip of bark on the floor, barely bigger than his own paw. For a moment he just looked at it, before letting out a slight sigh. His best idea was really just to put his paw on it and use the Skill, so probably time to try that out. <Throw>!
In a moment the piece of bark levitated out from under his paw and flew forward in the direction he was facing. It actually flew quite far, probably at least ten meters. Having said that, it wasn't quite the distance he would have liked, especially given that it was wood, which would do hardly any damage when thrown. No, he needed to be able to fling rocks at least that same distance, if not further. Well, this gave him two opportunities actually. He could use <Throw> on his log to test out the strength of the runes and level it up, while then craving more runes and meditating while waiting for his Sp to regenerate. He would need to collect some practice ammo for that though…
Time to go collect rocks then, or so he thought when his stomach started growling. Luckily, he needed to free his inventory slot for ammo gathering anyways, so he took out the mouse and quickly gobbled it up without much hesitation. Seems like time was nearly frozen in there, as the mouse was still in the exact same state he had collected it in. While he was still a little hungry after his snack, he decided to kill a mouse only if he found one while collecting rocks for throwing practice. And with that plan in mind, he scoured the nearby area, using his inventory, mouth and <Throw> itself to get some rocks back to his base.
After a while he had finally produced a fairly big hill of rocks - from a cat's perspective of course. And so, for the first step he would have to check his Status.
Status:
|Unnamed|
Lv.: 5
Species: Common Mopaaw
Titles: <Tutorial Completer>
Hp: 15/17
Mp: 15/15
Sp: 11/25
Strength: 8
Vitality: 8
Dexterity: 10
Agility: 14
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 6
Willpower: 5
Luck: 8
Ability points: 11
Skill points: 150
Gold: 203
It seems that in the time he had spent collecting rocks his Hp had regenerated a little further, though his Sp had actually decreased. Well, then again, he did use <Throw> to transport his armada of rocks so it really only made sense. Whelp, with this pile of pebbles here there was really only one thing left to do, so he placed his paw on one of them about a meter from the log itself and issued his command.
Immediately, the rock was slung towards the tree trunk, while Steve was squeezing his eyes shut, scared that his temporary home would break. Soon after, he could hear a short thump and a rock falling onto soft dirt. When he opened his eyes again to look at the log he was surprised by the amount of reinforcement the runes actually provided. The log wasn't undamaged, but the only consequence of the rock being flung at it was a small dent in the wood. Of course, if something big stepped on it or tried to break it, this little home of his stood no chance, but it was calming to know that it wouldn't break at the first sight of adversity. At the very least it wouldn't fall apart from a bit of rain.
Steve turned back around with a sigh of relief. His home would hold up, so he didn't have to push it. Instead, he should probably throw the rocks at normal trees instead. It might be a good idea to practice accuracy too. So, he slowly moved the pile over in between two trees so he could throw the rocks back and forth, before scratching targets into both of them. Thinking about it, he should also reinforce those with runes so he wouldn't break them too much. He still also wanted to reinforce his base, but right now, this took priority, so time to put those Mp to use.
By now the low 1st grade reinforce rune was easier to carve since he didn't fully rely on the Skill to mark out the movements for him. Instead he has memorized the rune and carved it himself, using the skill only for the magic infusion. This didn't have any specific reason, actually, it simply felt like more solid work to him. After carving two of them, one into each tree, he decided to check his Status to see his Sp.
Sp 12/25
He had regenerated a single point, though that was to be expected. After all, he did move all the rocks over to the trees and then carved some runes, so it was understandable that his regeneration couldn't surpass that easily. Though for now that didn't matter as much. He would simply throw things until he couldn't anymore, then meditate, carve runes and throw the rocks again.
He repeated this process for a few hours. By the end of it, he had carved six more runes, three in each tree and gotten <Throw>, <Beginner Runecarving> as well as <Meditation> to Level 3. By now he could actually throw the rocks quite well, he guessed about eight meters or so. His accuracy training had probably helped with that as well, since he felt the Skill had improved faster than <Runecarving> or <Meditation> for that matter. And even though he was panting at the end of the day, he had stuck to his regime and kept throwing rocks. Thinking about a kitten throwing rocks was definitely funny in any case. He would have probably found it strange back in his old life, but that hardly mattered right now. What mattered was his never-quiet stomach and the fact that he didn't know how effective rocks were against mice. The only solution was to try it out, of course.
So, with a rock in his inventory, he searched for one. Luckily, their number seemed to increase every day and it was only a few minutes before he saw one scurrying along the ground. He waited until it sniffed the air before he threw his rock at it. And, according to the dead mouse he then ate, rock didn't just beat scissors.
Just like that Steve went to bed in his log. With a full stomach and a rock in his inventory.
When he woke up the next day, the weather had changed for the first time. Outside of his comfortably dry log the grass was more than moist, with a silver sheet of mist floating in the air, growing thicker the further he looked. When he listened closely he could faintly hear a handful of tiny raindrops falling. He tried checking the sky, but with the dense fog he couldn't make a guess on how the rain would develop at all. Inwardly, Steve sighed. Sure, he enjoyed rain occasionally, but he sure wasn't a fan of getting soaked, especially when every bit of his cat-part screamed at him to run the hell away from the evil liquid coming from above. In shorter words, he really, really didn't want to go hunting that day. Sadly, his stomach didn't exactly leave him much of a choice, as it immediately grumbled when Steve considered not going out. He sighed once more, far longer this time.
He decided to, in fact, go hunting after all, but when he sat a foot outside of his housing he heard footsteps rapidly coming closer as well as heavy panting. But… something was off. The steps were more constant than those he was used to, splashing through the mud one after another. No, he didn't mishear. Those were two legs he heard. He stared into the fog, trying to figure out if what he had heard just now was really a human. When he started to peek out of his home to check if what he heard was really a human he heard a deafening roar, marking the end of his short scouting mission. Something was out there in the fog and it was very big and very unhappy. It didn't sound like anything supernatural, just a highly, highly displeased animal.
After the roar he could also discern a second set of footsteps, these ones actually louder and far heavier than the first one. They also came from something with four legs. Well, the roar he had heard also wasn't exactly humanoid. After a few more seconds he suddenly heard something hit against his log, followed by a human yell and a wet splash. Looks like someone just fell over his house. Didn't they know kicking someone else's house was rude? Jeez.
For a moment there, Steve was pouting, but he soon lost his chances to continue doing so when he heard another roar and something big breathing heavily somewhere close. Okay. Seems like some dumb fucking idiot decided to piss off a bear and was chased here. They then fell over and landed square on the floor and were now being approached by it. Great job, mister human. 10/10 work. Incredible. Congrats, really. This stupidity was actually remarkable. Just wow.
Another sigh from Steve followed when he heard the slow footsteps and the growling of the bear. This was a dilemma now. He really didn't wanna go outside since it was raining and the human probably deserved to fall on its face a little, but he also couldn't just let them lie there… would he be able to outrun the bear? Maybe he could climb on a tree? Ah, fuck!
At a moment's notice Steve stepped outside, the rain now pattering onto his fur. For a second he looked at the carefully approaching bear, the view of the human blocked by its massive figure. It was just as he thought, that was the same black bear he saw drinking at the pond. Was it really worth it to make enemies of that thing for someone he didn't even know? Ugh, he already got a migraine. If he thought any longer his head might burst, so he simply ran over to his pile of rocks and activated <Throw> on about ten of them as quickly as he could, all of them shooting forward and hitting the bear's sides and ass.
The black giant stopped for a moment. He paused, thought and slowly turned his head towards the disturbance while gnashing his teeth and growling. And just then, another rock smacked him square in the teeth, chipping one of its fangs. The bear didn't take even a second to roar out in anger at the kitten who dared throw those things at him and immediately and stupidly charged at it. Steve himself simply dodged behind a tree, leading to the musclebrain bashing his head against it. That would have worked usually, but this time he was unlucky. He shook the tree, but couldn't break it. There was one simple reason for that. runes. After shaking its head the bear roared out again, this time even louder and angrier as his eyes darted around again and looked for the kitten. He found it a little in the distance, seeing it dart away as soon as he set its eyes on it. Of course, he chased after it without hesitation.
Steve on the other hand was scared shitless. He never thought the bastard would be strong enough to break a tree. He literally got lucky to have picked the right on or it might have fallen on him. Then he got lucky again with it confusing the bear. He wasn't gonna take any more chances, so he went far enough away as to where he could barely see the thing and waited for it to notice him before he started running.
He immediately darted off at full speed. There was no fucking way that thing was slower than him, absolutely no chance at all. That thing needed to take one step for every five of his. He didn't have the luxury to even think about stopping for a damn second. Even if his Agility was higher his total speed might be slower. He didn't even have time to look behind himself as he darted between the trees, taking the most difficult curves he could manage and not even thinking about stopping. He was already panting heavily when he heard the menacing roar behind him again. It wasn't far. Not far at all. A few steps maybe. Had their distance… shrunk? He had already activated <Dash> too!
Steve's eyes widened in fear as he yelled out for his Status. His only hope was it reacting to voice commands. '10 points into Agility!', he screamed in his head. Then there was a small 'Ding'. And from the corner of his eyes he saw it.
Agility 14 -> 24
In a moment, his speed increased explosively, so much so that for the first second he almost lost balance from his legs not keeping up. For just a moment he staggered. Then stumbled. He saw the ground rushing closer to his face when time slowed down to a crawl. If he fell here, he would die immediately. End of story, just like that. He… he didn't want that. He didn't like that thought at all. And with that moment's resolution, Steve kicked the ground as hard as he could, flinging himself into the air and forward. And when he landed, he had regained his balance.
He dashed forward then, nearly twice the speed of before, rushing forward so quickly he kicked up more than enough dust behind him. With the first step he could practically feel the bear behind him being stunned. With the second, his anxiety fell a little. By the third step he knew he was faster than the bear and from the fourth onward, their distance rapidly increased. The black giant could only watch as that small thing he thought was insignificant outran him and disappeared into the white mist.
Steve didn't stop running then. His blood was rushing in his ears, his heart pumping louder than it ever had before as he squeezed out every ounce of strength he had. Even when he had left the bear behind him, his anxiety didn't disappear. He thought he could still hear the steps behind him, thought he was still on the verge of death, thought there was no way he could escape- until his Sp ran out just a little further ahead and his run forcefully came to a stop, ending in the ground coming closer to his face once more. This time, there was no kick and his face really kissed the ground for a short moment before he toppled over, sliding and rolling his way a few more steps forward.
His panicked breathing didn't stop. He painfully pushed himself up again, but his bruised legs gave in as he crumpled to the floor again. Was this it? He squeezed his eyes shut then and tensed up every muscle he had in full anticipation of the pain of death. But then, it didn't come. As he waited on, seconds turned into minutes. And then, he finally realized it: He had escaped. He had managed to shake off that huge, scary thing that made him shiver even now.
Then, the pain finally set in and Steve winced. He had taken a hard fall and the wet dirt specked with splinters and rocks had not been gentle on him. His fur had been torn out in some places and he had more scratches and bruises than he cared to count. In addition, he now felt his legs shake terribly from overusing them. Shit, and all of this for someone he didn't even know and probably wouldn't see again. Ugh, damn. For now he needed to know how bad things were. Status.
Status:
|Unnamed|
Lv.: 5
Species: Common Mopaaw
Titles: <Tutorial Completer>
Hp: 5/17
Mp: 15/15
Sp: 0/25
Strength: 8
Vitality: 8
Dexterity: 10
Agility: 24
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 6
Willpower: 5
Luck: 8
Ability points: 1
Skill points: 150
Gold: 204
Damn it, with his Hp this low it would definitely take more than a day to heal. Fuck. He needed to get to a save spot to rest, he couldn't just fall asleep in the middle of the forest. He had to patiently endure until he had at least one singular Sp and could walk back to his log. At least he thought so when slow steps gently approached him. Then, when a pair of hands reached out to him, his sight blurred and his consciousness faded away.
