Before Rewrite, Chapter 3: Incarnation of Recklessness

POV Tori:

*Grunt* I don't know who this is, but they need to stop shaking my bed.

[Tori, wake up]

'Don't wanna' Seriously, I wanna sleep more.

[Tori must wake up and look around him, NOW]

'Fine, fine. I will look around. Just let me sleep after' I thought as I opened my eyes.

I heard a noise below me and looked down. I saw a buck slamming his antlers on a tree trunk.

It has antlers as monstrous as the other deer from yesterday, they were bigger, and the tips were more pointed though.

Maybe they are like reindeers, where both male and female have antlers, but males have the bigger ones? Or that the one from before was a young buck? Food for thought.

Its fur is a chocolate shade of brown. Its neck was covered in a light mane of light caramel fur that was shallow but just enough to be seen from where I am.

Its legs were covered with similarly colored fur near the hooves.

Its snout was narrow a little and its nose was strangely white.

I realize 'Wait, did I not sleep on a tree last night?!' I look back at the buck. It is slamming into the tree I am on right now. *panik* Would the tree withstand its actions? *kalm* Oh, wait, this tree's trunk is thick enough to brush this off, hopefully. *Huff* Had me scared for a little there. *snap* *rustle* I feel something wrong and look down. * HEAVY PANIK* THE TREE IS FALLING!!!

'Nonononono' I thought as the tree went TIMBEEEEEEER.

I took the most logical action I could think of in the spur of the moment. I straddled the buck's back and held its left antler firmly. Not so logical now that I think about it.

As I slept while holding onto the club I made yesterday, I still held it now. I started going ham on it, bonking it on the face and, sometimes, on the neck. After the first few hits, it made a noise.

*Wheeze-snort* It made the sound that they normally make when angry.

"Fine then. BRING IT ON" I said to it and went back to hitting it. I was hitting it on the head when it hit me, I could target its eyes. And target its eyes I did.

I took out two of the wolf's fangs from last night and stabbed them to his eyes. Then I took out a claw to drag it across all of the buck's face and neck, trying my hardest to cut the artery on the neck or cause enough bleeding to kill it.

This went on for what seemed like half an hour. The buck was trying and failing in getting rid of me. It was slamming to everything it finds in its path. Bad for it that I wrapped my legs around its neck and dangled there hugging it, still holding to an antler to secure my position.

I kept stabbing and slashing, if you could even call it that, until it slumped on a tree and fell slowly to the ground unable to move. Sadly, I did not have anything that could relieve the animal of its misery and pain, so I waited.

While that happened, I thought to myself 'What would incite a buck to attack me even though I did nothing to him? and why would he be alone at the edge of the forest to begin with?! Unless his brand of deer is smarter and the one from yesterday identified me as a threat, I see no reason for them to attack me'

I looked back at my attacker, and he was dead by now. I got near and poked it with a stick I found around. It was dead now. First thing I toke was the meat for my breakfast. I then took the antlers to dismantle into smaller stabby action tools. After burying its remains, I started my trip back to camp.

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After breakfast, it was time to search the forest again. Since the deer population on this island seems weird, I decided not to look for the one from yesterday for the moment.

'Maybe I should see if I can find anything useful in my quests inside the forest' I searched inside the forest for a while until I saw a multitude of shrooms and weird looking plants. Luckily, I located a bunch of apple trees. The apples looked malnourished, pale and out right inedible. If you consider the temperature here, then yes, it is possible to have apples this bad.

Leaving all that, I focus on what part of the apples would help me. Do you know what time it is? Yeah, it is cyanide time. After collecting a large quantity of apples, I went back to camp again. looking at where the sun was in the sky, it was sometime before noon.

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After a 'few' more trips back and forth, I gathered a grand total of 283 apples. The process of extracting their seeds was long, so while I was going through it I was striking a conversation with Sora.

'Hey, Sora' I inquire to see if she up and ran away.

[Hmm?]

I think with a blank face, still getting them apple seeds, 'Is that all you have to say after such a long time with no words? It has been the entire morning and now it is noon. That is too long for me'

[Are you that lonely?] She said in a teasing voice.

'Are you trying to kill me from loneliness here?' I thought with a fake hurt tone.

[Tori do not get Sora wrong. Sora was ordered to not aid Tori or even talk to him unless asked to specifically, or in emergencies] She tells me with a mildly annoyed tone.

I am going to do it one day. For now, though I need to focus on what she said. 'Do I get the chance to teach the one who told you that a lesson?' I asked her with a big tick mark on my face.

[Yes. Yes, Tori can] For some reason she sounded happy.

'Since you were instructed to not talk to me till asked, then I ask of you to talk to me whenever you want. I would appreciate any talk with you' I thought smiling a little.

[Aye aye, captain] Did she just throw that joke in there?

'I ain' no cap' yet lass' Jokes on you, two can play your game.

[Hmph]

[What is Tori going to do with all these apples?] She asked me.

'Don't you have some sort of knowledge about apples?' Does she not know?

[No, Sora does not. Not what Tori wants of them that is] Oh, that is why.

'Amygdalin. A material if ingested reacts with certain digestive enzymes producing cyanide. I am planning to kill my first dragon using it since I am weak' Such a shame. What would I tell my future children? "Hey kids, your father was afraid of facing a dragon head on so he used poison" that would kill my image. Okay, new plan. Do it and prevent the kids from knowing about it.

[How do you plan on getting it into the dragon's digestive system then?] She asked concerned.

'Are you concerned abought me?' Let's see your reaction.

[Of course, Sora is concerned]

'Well, you can wait and see about that' I tell her.

[Meanie] Heh, she is cute.

'I'm not going to spoil the surprise' Hopefully she won't pursue it.

At the end of dealing with all those apples, I got an idea. I got multiple large rocks and logs to dry them upon for later.

The total number of seeds I got from all of them is 1545 seeds. Now that is taken care of, it comes down to crushing them into powder, which can be easily done if using the stones and rocks lying around.

So, while grinding the seeds I asked 'Sora, do you recommend adding stat points from the beginning or later?' I am curious about stats functioning here. Do stats become harder to get the further I go?

[Sora thinks it is better to start adding stat points later. The physical stats are not set in stone, their effects have the capacity to become absurdity incarnate] Did I hear that right?!

'What do you mean by that?'

[Take strength for example. If Tori can lift 1kg at 1 stat point in strength, then Tori can lift 2kg at 2 stat points. If Tori becomes able to lift 2kg at 1 point, then he can lift 4kg at 2 points. The problem here is that the stat's inner value gets fixed once Tori put a point in it. If Tori increases his strength before adding points it becomes beyond broken later]

'Say I increase my strength to the level of lifting 5 tons easily. Does my strength increase by 5 tons for every stat point?'

[Correct. That is why Sora recommends adding points either when Tori thinks enough is enough, or if he is desperate for strength. But beware, once Tori puts a point in any physical stat, the only way to increase it would be through adding points]

'That is too broken. Would I be able to blast Kaido into Oblivion if I wait on my stats long enough?'

[Impossible, for now. Unless Tori acquires a space related ability] Did she not catch the joke? really? She said it too seriously.

'You and I both know that I didn't really mean Elder Scrolls' Oblivion, duh'

[Sora thinks that Tori ground the seeds enough] That was an obvious attempt at evading the subject coming from her.

'Huh?! Now that I think about it, you started using my name instead of a pronoun. Are you trying to mellow me enough to avert my eyes when you do your thing?'

[N-no, not at a-all]

Hmmm, hmmmmm, hmmmmmmmm. 'Well, I will try the daily quest now then'

[GOOD IDEA] That was too fast an agreement it sounded weird.

The seed powder was wrapped with my shirt as I didn't have any other thing to use. I took it off before the quest since sweating while wearing the shirt will ruin the powder, once it was wrapped in it that is.

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{Daily Quest - Baldy Training

New world, new dangers. You need to be stronger before it is too late. Beware of fallen hairs.

Objectives:

Push-Ups (100/100)

Set-Ups (100/100)

Squats (100/100)

RUN (10km/10km)

Rewards:

- First Time Completion Rewards: 5 system points, Full Status Recovery

- Second Time Completion Rewards: 10 system points

- Third Time Completion Reward: one Roulette Ticket

- Fourth Time Completion Rewards: 10 system points, Full Status Recovery

Failure Penalty:

- 5 Fail Points (5/15)

- - Full Status Recovery could be kept until needed for however long it is, you can keep up to 10 Full Stat Recovery at a time. After accumulating 10 of them the rest will either be used the same day of completing their Daily Quest or disappear by midnight

- - Fail Points persist through following Daily Quests

- - After completing the Daily Quest, you have the choice of spending your rewarded system points to reduce Fail Points. One system point for one Fail Point

- - If Fail Points go higher than 15, there will be a penalty}

"Huff... huff... huff" It was effing tiring. Keyboard warriors like me are not meant for this but I must do it to avoid the penalty. The 5 points I earned from the quest were spent on removing the 5 fail points from yesterday's daily quest.

'Dearest Sorami, can you lessen that penalty for me? pretty please?'

[N-no can do. The penalty is not set by S-Sora. *inhale**exhale* It could not be changed by her] How does she breathe in and out without a physical body?! Huh?! Guess I will ask her later.

I must think about this carefully. Do I save the FSR (Full Status Recovery) for after the fight with the dragon or use it before the fight? Using it after the fight, if I lose, may alleviate the effect of the weakness period of the skill's loss penalty. On the other hand, if used before the fight it could make the fight easier. Wait just for a moment Tori, I can use it mid fight if I am pushed far enough. That is it. I am going with this option.

I look at the time. It is nearly evening now. I ate the remaining meat from before, then made sure that the drying apples are not in a place where forest animals will be noticing them soon.

Once all that was done, it was time to try my luck with the side quests. I found the same branch I slept on last night and tied myself there. Here goes nothing.

"Elden Suffering"

[...]

"..."

[Pffttt....] This is the sound of suppressed laughter I am hearing now. Is she really laughing at me right now?! [Ha hah ha, HAHAHAHA] My face becomes blank. She is really laughing at me. I will tease her to death whenever I get the chance.

'You meanie, don't laugh at me like that' I "reprimanded" her while pouting.

[Aww, how cute of you] The tone of her voice annoys me.

'Then tell me oh great lady. Teach this little man how to do this'

[That was fun, Sora and Tori need to do it again. As for the activation chant, Tori just has to say next phrase "I challenge you, oh mighty dragons from beyond the fog"] (AN: I wanted to write it in Japanese, but nooooo. Webnovel decides to slap my desire to the wall)

'...'

'Are you sure this works?'

[It should]

'And why is it cheesy?'

[It was provided by the skill]

'I did not see it in the skill though'

[Must be Tori's imagination]

I open the Skills menu and see the chant in the skill's description. 'I am very sure this wasn't there before. Isn't that right? So.Ra.' I ask her with a tick mark on my forehead.

[Must be Tori's imagination]

I feel like if she had a face, it would be turned away to hide something.

[Sora must mention that she is going to be muted while the skill is still active]

'Sad'

"I challenge you, oh mighty dragons from beyond the fog" I say to activate the skill.

Space starts to warp around me. Yellowish-golden mist covers my vision and clouds my senses. It looks like a teleportation effect that lingered from the game design. After what felt like a fleeting moment went by, my vision was clear once again.

Before me stretches a grassy meadow. The grass was lush and a healthy green, except for one spot. The grass on that spot was squished a little and evidently cut in places where the grass blades seemed to have met a sharp object.

Since I will not die for real in this space, I decided to check it up close. As I got closer, I got to see a weirdly shaped dirt colored rock laying in the middle of the flattened area. I got a closer look at it. Suddenly *CRACK* the assumed-to-be-rock started cracking. it went like this for a while with the sound going higher as cracks spread all over the thing. Now that I think about it, I am in a place where I will fight a dragon. I am in a flattened area in the grass. In front of me is what I previously assumed to be a rock. Yep, it checks out. This seems more of hatching egg than a simple rock. While I was having my detective moment with myself, the little dragon hatched.

The hatchling has emerald-green scales for starters (AN: RGB values are 95 red, 187 green and 156 blue). Its scales are crystal-like in texture to some degree, they looked like actual emeralds. They had the same transparency levels.

What I could see from the nary exposed hide was quartz grey (AN: RGB values are 108 red, 105 green and 096 blue).

Its snout was consistently wide, narrowing a little near the end. The nostrils were located at the front of its snout, rather than on top. There is a pair of budding horns on the back of its head.

It has four clawed limbs, as opposed to the norm of two hind legs and two wings for the front limbs in the game. The hind legs looked normal enough. It was the front limbs that are quite peculiar. They had similarities to both human hands and an animal's clawed paw. (AN: for those who saw ARK: survival evolved Aberration map; you can imagine his front limbs to resemble those of a Rock Drake's)

It had four tiny wings with membranes of a cyan color (AN: RGB values are 112 red 255 green 255 blue).

It had jet-black nails. They are not sharp enough for me to call them claws right now.

Its tail was relatively large for its size (AN: imagine it being 60% of its total body length). It had tiny spikes going from neck to the end of its tail.

For some reason, it also has small hairs on its neck and back. they were focused on the spine.

Once it was completely out of the egg, it made a cute attempt at a roar. It was a high pitched and small sound. Then it opened its eyes.

When it opened its eyes, I was mesmerized by them. They are like the night sky where they have dark purplish-black sclera, red vertical slits for irises and had bright yellow vertical slits for pupils. There is this strange looking phenomenon in the sclera of its eyes. They have bioluminescent lights of different colors flashing in and out.

I have been having a bad feeling about something for a while now, but I don't know what is.

The little hatchling sat straight and looked around. Once it noticed me, it stumbled towards me while producing *cue* sounds.

I turned rigid. What is it trying to do to me?! Does it want to kill me?! It was then it reached me and snuggled to my legs.

Wild Dragon Hatchling used Cute Act; it was very effective.

I fell to my knees and picked it up. It cued happily *cueeee* "Who is a cute little dragon? It is you. yes, you are" I said then I hugged it and almost didn't let go.

{Side Quest - First Tame:

Seeing as you have seen your Skills already, it is time to familiarize yourself with them. What better way than to use them?

Objectives:

- Try taming your first creature before leaving the island

- Succeed in taming from the first try

Rewards:

- Trying reward: 1 system point

- Completion Reward: 4 system points}

{Quest Completed} Two panels appear one atop the other. I dismiss them both.

Since the soul trap skill allows for pets to be stored, I decided to store the little thing in the skill space and return to the real world.

"..." I waited and nothing happened.

"..." I waited more and still, nothing happened.

"..." Okay, I'm starting to feel a twisting feeling in my stomach here.

*flap*

*THUD*

Maybe because the wind was blowing wildly, but I didn't notice what was coming my way.

It then released a hot breath on the back of my neck.

"Oh, dear lord"

*flap* A different flap from the one before was heard.

*THUD* Another one landed behind me.

"Oh, dear lord. Have mercy"