2 The Escape

John heard the 'ding!' notification again, and his eyes darted back to the top of the system's screen. It now read 'Idlers: 3/3'.

Checking over the skill indicators, John confirmed that it was already at 0/99, with the level indicator reading Level 2/2159. Without wasting any time, John placed all three of his Idlers back into the skill and the countdown sprang up to 4m, 30s. Each level so far was three times as long as the previous level.

'The lower levels won't really make too much of a difference, but what about the higher tiers like Level 1800 or Level 2000? Scouring his brain, John tried to recall the old saying with English pennies. If you give me one penny at the start of the month and double the amount each day, on the 30th day of that month, you'll be giving me over 500 million pennies.'

In this case, however, the timer didn't start at one. There was also the fact that the amount tripled instead of doubling. John tried to calculate how long it would take in total, but found the answer too large to get an exact number. 'We're not just talking about years here, but decades… maybe even centuries.'

The minute passed by too quickly, and the sound of another 'ding!' broke John's concentration. Deciding to focus on speed instead of quantity, he placed all four of his Idlers into the skill called 'Idlers Speed'. With this skill, each Idler would knock an additional second of time off per skill level acquired. With four Idlers, he could cut his time down by eight per second.

As he placed all four Idlers into the skill category, however, John went pale at the time to complete it.

Idlers Speed - Idlers 4/99, -1 Second Per Idler - 0/9, Time - 1d

A day at the first level! Thank god, he didn't decide to go into this skill right off the bat! With four idlers in the loading dock, it would only take six hours rather than twenty-four. But six hours was still too much at this point, and John knew it. In that amount of time, he could have earned another ten or more Idlers depending on the load time after the tenth. Taking a deep breath, he tried to remove his Idlers from the skill.

The display flashed red for a moment, and John's stomach sank.

'Fuck… So you can't take them out until the skill is complete? Why wasn't THAT in the Introduction, somewhere with a big WARNING sign?!'

Frustrated, he sighed and closed the display. His vision returned to normal as the grey box minimized back into the corner.

Once again taking in his surroundings, John decided to figure out a way down this cliff. He needed answers about where this place is and how he got here. He didn't even know if he had the same face or not, which wasn't as much of a concern as it was a curiosity.

The roar of a nearby waterfall lured John closer to the edge of the mountainside, where he could peer down and get an estimate of how steep it was. For all he knew, the drop could only be a few feet from this point—as opposed to the thirty-something-foot cliff where he woke up.

"Don't look down, don't look down…" Nervous mutters escaped John's clenched jaw as he approached the edge. He stooped down onto his stomach and slowly made his way over the side just enough to get a view downward.

A two-hundred-foot drop met his gaze, and John went pale for a second time. Carefully scurrying backwards, John backed away towards the river where it was safe. He shakily brought himself to his feet and his attention was drawn back to the place where he initially woke up. After a moment of contemplation, he drifted aimlessly in that direction.

'There's no way I can survive that two-hundred-foot drop, but this other drop is shorter, so it's a better gamble. I only saw the canopy of the trees so… there's a chance it could be covering up a landing of some sort. Then again, it could be just as far of a drop on this side, too. I can't risk it.'

Attention diverted once more, John took a look at the boulders that he saw earlier. They were slightly taller than him, and climbing up might give him a better vantage point. He decided to go for it, and after a few minutes of struggling, he finally got into the right position. He tried to peek over the boulder, only to be met with more rocks and a clear blue sky.

With a grunt, John heaved himself up on top of the boulder. He lay on his back on the rocky surface and took a moment to catch his breath, wondering at the state of his current body. He was panting and out of breath… maybe he wasn't in as good of a shape as he would have liked to be.

After a moment's respite, he picked himself up and got onto his hands and knees. He tentatively approached the edge of the boulder and peered down.

More rocks. Great. Except these ones were in an array of sizes and shapes, ranging from huge boulders to tiny pebbles. Looking closer, they were arranged in a way that could almost resemble a path, leading all the way down the side of the mountain and disappearing into the trees.

There was no way of telling how far they went, but John figured it was better than that two-hundred-foot drop.

While debating between climbing down and searching for another way, a mélange of countless howls and irritable squeaks broke his train of thought. A bit startled, John's attention was driven toward the source of the eerie sounds: the cave.

As his eyes rested on the dark hole in the mountain, a bat the size of his arm erupted out of the cave, followed by another, and another! A whole swarm began to pour out from the side of the mountain. John had to act fast. He quickly climbed down the opposite side of the boulder to hide himself from view. Watching the swarm overhead, he stood as still as possible. He. Didn't. Even. Breathe.

Minutes passed, and the majority of the bats were out of sight. Thinking the coast was clear, John released his breath in a heavy sigh. This, however, caught the attention of one last straggler bat as it flew overhead. With a shrill chirp, the creature dove right for him!

In a flurry of panic, John swatted the bat away with his arms—surprisingly meeting his target. The bat was thrown off-course, and it dove head-first into the boulder just inches away from John's head. It toppled down onto the landing next to him as he grabbed the beast's head and bashed it against the boulder. He hit it again and again, adrenaline coursing through his veins. It was only when the skull of the bat was cracked open that John slowed to a stop, releasing his bloody grasp and letting the corpse fall back onto the landing.

Without any question, it was dead.

Congratulations on your first beast kill with the system in place! We have given you the reward of 1 Skill Point to place in the category of your choice.

WARNING: If the point is placed into a skill that is currently being levelled, the time needed to complete the skill will increase to the next level.

The system's notification rang out, and John took a moment to process the message. As an afterthought, he bent down to take a closer look at the bat.

The creature had no eyes, small ears, a snout, and large pointed teeth. Feeling a bit foolish for holding his breath earlier, John recalled that bats use sonar vision to hunt. At least, the bats back in his world did. These bats were much larger than the ones he was used to and had sharper teeth. Along with the fact that it attacked him directly, John concluded these were a much bigger threat than the bats back at home.

'But why was it out in the middle of the day? John frowned, deep in thought. Aren't bats supposed to be nocturnal?'

A shiver went down his spine as the gravity of his situation sank in. The teeth on this creature had only come inches away from his neck. Not to mention, the massive swarm of these things that only just barely missed him. The bat that lay on the floor was smaller than most of the bats John saw earlier, which meant the sky currently held far worse creatures than this one.

Trying not to panic, John hurriedly started climbing down the mountainside. He shakily made his way over the boulders and rocks, searching for the quickest path to the bottom.

'If I go too fast and trip, I could sprain an ankle—maybe even break it with the way my luck is going. With careful footing, John eased his descent a bit. It's best to keep a steady pace, fast enough to get me out of danger but slow enough to keep my footing.'

With this in mind, John continued downward. If anyone could observe the scene, they would have got a kick out of the sight of a young man jogging down the side of the mountain, chanting "Don't slip, don't slip," as if it was some kind of mantra. Occasionally, he glanced upwards at the sky and switched his chant to, "No more bats, no more bats…" at almost regular intervals.

Upon reaching the canopy of the forest below, John pushed a few branches to the side and continued his climb down. He moved a few of the thicker branches out of the way to unblock his vision.

The trees in question were taller than houses, but the boulder path led all the way down. The rocks seemed to become flatter as they went down, which was good news for our weary rock-climber. In the distance, some shrubbery decorated the forest floor. John could also make out a couple of the bat creatures, feeding on a large rabbit-like animal. He estimated the rabbit to be about two feet tall and four feet wide.

Climbing back into the coverage of the trees, John decided it best to stay out of the bats' way. Taking advantage of the resting period, he glanced up at the system in the corner of his vision.

'Open.'

Name: John

Age: 15

Idlers: 0/4

Skill Points: 1

HP: 10

Attack: N/A

Defence: N/A

Stamina: N/A

Misc List:

Idlers Speed - Idlers 4/99, -1 Second Per Idler - 0/9, Time - 22h 54m 15s

Maximum Idlers - Idlers 0/99, +1 Max Idlers - 3/2159

Maximum Workers - Idlers 0/99, +1 Idler Workers - 0/2061

Analyser Eye - Idlers 0/99, Basic - 0/1, Advanced - 0/1, Godly - 0/1

??? - Idlers 0/99, ??? - 0/1 (unlocks after Stomach Acid 1)

??? - Idlers 0/99, ??? - 0/1, ??? - 0/1 (unlocks after thinking Speed 50)

??? - Idlers 0/99, ??? - 0/1, ??? - 0/1 (unlocks after Senses 8)

He eyed the skill point that he just earned, remembering the warning that the system gave him. Increasing the wait time for his Idlers Speed skill wasn't something he wanted to do, even if it was a tad accelerated. Mulling over the rest of the categories, John considered the Maximum Idlers skill, eyes darting over to that section of the display. The system registered his thoughts and the number changed from 3/2159 to 4/2159. At the top of the display, John saw its now read 1/5 Idlers. Satisfied with his decision, he placed the last Idlers into the Maximum Idlers category, and the skill adjusted.

Maximum Idlers - Idlers 1/99, +1 Max Idlers - 4/2159, Time - 40m 30s