- Ch. 5 - (Sera's POV)

[Character Menu]

– Status

– Abilities

– Skills

[Talents]

– Maps

– Quests

– Personal HUD

– House(s)

[Everything Below This Is Currently Locked]

I scroll back up once again and return to my character menu. 'Next up are talents, maps, quests, my personal HUD, and the house(s) sections. I doubt that there's going to be anything in them; besides my personal HUD that I'll need to customize to my liking, but it can't hurt to check.'

{1 hour and 30 minutes later}

With a nod and a shake of my head to get used to my new way of seeing things, I thought to myself, 'This will definitely take some time to get used to.'

'There wasn't anything in the talents section, maps, quests, and the house(s) section; besides an indicator saying…'

[House(s)]

– Log Cabin (Unnamed) – Lv 1 Safe Haven

Clicking on it didn't show any other information besides what I've already found out for myself. My personal HUD though, now that's what took me a lot of time to configure to my needs. I've got the beginning of a mini-map on the top most right of my vision, a timer counting up to help me keep track of time; because apparently my powers don't come with a clock, at least not yet, a beginning of a quest list under it that'll update me on any future quests that show up…

'I'm so glad I was able to color coordinate things.'

High priority quests are in red, mid priority are yellow, and low priority ones are blue. I've also left the brightness, clarity, and other options that have to do with my senses to it's normal setting.

'It makes sense that changing any one of them will constantly drain my mana. Plus, I'd rather improve them naturally or with other ways somehow. A constant drain on my mana like that might just end up killing me.'

[For a wise and insightful decision, here's another "+1 INT & +1 WIS."]

'And getting that after my decision was a bonus.'

The mini-map and coordinating the colors to what I want took awhile. 'Too bad I don't have a compass or something to set up a compass rose to go with my map.' The representation I chose of myself on my mini-map is the generic arrow head, but I colored it a deep purple. The area I'm looking towards has a sort of cone that narrows outwards from myself and my arrow follows the direction of the cone. I'm glad I've figured out how to attach my representation on my map to the area I'm facing. 'That was a b**** and a half to figure out.'

Any updates and notifications that pop up will accumulate on the very bottom left of my HUD with an exclamation point and a number indicator telling me how many updates I'll have to read over when I'm not in a combat scenario or life threatening situation of any kind. I decided that a soft sound will accompany it when I'm not occupied fighting for my life. Otherwise, it'll show up in miniature in the same area and it'll be almost transparent unless I focus on it. It took me a bit to configure it to where If I haven't read it yet, then it'll add itself to the accumulation if it exceeds 5 updates or notifications and the latest update & notification will be at the very top.

The cool thing about having finished exploring my character menu was getting this message.

[Status Screen Update:]

[Thanks to having gained more knowledge about every available information about your character menu, you've gained an additional measurement system of how much experience you've accumulated.]

[Status]

Name: Seraphina 'Sera' O'Grady

Level: 1 – 0% – {0/100}

Date of Birth: 15th of August, 2000 {Month of the ****, Year of the ******.}

Biological Age: 24 years

Race: Human

Title(s): None

Introductory Bio: I was just your average, run of the mill, recently graduated journalist, hoping to make it big in the world. I had everything going for me, until I was pulled into this weird and strange new world. If those mysterious beings' words are to be believed, then I'm stuck here and I have to find a way to survive. What do I do?

Primary Stats:

Accumulated Status Points: 0

STR: 8 AGI: 10

DEX: 10 VIT: 10

INT: 14 WIS: 14

LUK: 7

[Secondary Stats: Currently Locked]

'I was expecting it, but I'm glad to know that I've got a benchmark to work towards now. Being level 1 isn't so bad and knowing how many status points I'll accumulate after I grow in strength will serve me well.'

With a gesture, I close the screen updates. 'It's time to scout.'

With a skip in my step, I walk out of the cabin and close the door behind me. When I took in my surrounding, I was slightly awestruck. The forest I saw before me was like something out of a movie. The leaves swayed thanks to a gentle breeze. The air was slightly cold as it brushed my exposed skin, but it's the type that can simply be described as revitalizing. I don't know how to describe the trees in detail; since I didn't know anything at all about trees besides basic knowledge and common sense, but they looked taller than normal. But then again, I don't know how tall trees can get. Wandering the forest at night was way different than seeing what I was seeing right now during the day.

"It's as different as night and day."

I paused to myself with a grin at that clever pun. With a sweeping gaze, I look at the grounds of my new home in a new light. There's too much grass all over the decent clearing around the cabin. There's a few sticks, rocks, and bits of metal here and there.

After my look around, I patrolled the area of the clearing near the trees and saw what I expected to see. 'Different small game animals that look like squirrels, some different types of birds, rabbits, hares, and that's a beaver.'

"Cool, a beaver.", with a nod of my head I walk over near a few of the small bits of metal in the ground to try and gather them and store them in one of the rooms in the cabin before I stop.

I slowly lower myself to the ground and crawl against the nearest tree and try to spot the furry brown creature I saw a moment ago. 'There.'

I slowly and quietly adjust myself to not attract it's attention. 'If there's a beaver here, then that means that there's a body of water nearby.'

I follow it's movements with my eyes for awhile and look at the trail it leaves behind. 'I can trace it's game trail… sort of. And then I can find where it lives and that'll be my 2nd source of water. The water from the bathroom sink within the cabin is my 1st. It's good to have multiple sources of food and water that's essential for my continued survival just in case of future complications.'

[!]

'What's preventing me from being all gung-ho and tracking it's trail back to where it lives right now are a few facts. Fact #1: I don't know this forest at all. I have a mini-map I can sort of follow, but I don't know how to mark locations yet. Plus, I haven't figured out all there is to my HUD and I don't have a weapon. Fact #2: I'm alone; as far as I can tell, in a deceptively peaceful looking forest. I've read enough stories, books, and I've seen enough TV shows and movies to know that that won't always be the case. Fact #3: I need to somehow hide my tracks, hide my cabin more thoroughly, and set traps only I know the locations of. I also need to hide my future activities from external forces. I don't want to start a fire knowing the smoke will lead others to my location. And the smell of the food I'll be cooking will definitely attract unwanted attention.'

[!2]

Some in my current situation may think I'm overthinking things, being paranoid, or not enjoying myself. Others might say that I'm not showing my emotions because I'm heartless and/or a loner for looking like I'm enjoying myself. What I'll say to that is that they're not thinking enough. A healthy bit of paranoia can help you, and I'm not trying to open up my emotions at this moment because it won't help me.

Survival is my current goal. Food, water, protecting/hiding/and securing my shelter, and also making sure that whatever or whomever else steps in this forest will barely find a trace of my presence.

[!3]

With a shake of my head to rid myself of those distracting thoughts, I go back to the bits of metal in the grounds and start digging them out.

{30 minutes later}

[!9]

After I patted down and covered the last hole I dug with my hands over with the dirt I upended trying to get at the last bit of metal, I placed and brushed off some dirt off the grass to make it look as if I haven't just been digging a small hole in my now relatively clear looking clearing. I quickly gathered what I had and went back in the cabin and placed it in one of the rooms in the 2nd floor that I'll come to name as the storage room. With this new piece of scrap on hand that I've wiped the dirt off of and cleaned as much as I could with the edge of my now dirtied shirt, I've now collected a total of 14 random bits and pieces of metal for future use.

I've also got a good collection of small rocks stacked outside and against one wall of the cabin and next to it is a good stack of branches, sticks, and small twigs.

'With my clearing looking pristine; besides the broken down wooden fences that I'll have to take care of later, it's about time to look for that river.'

After taking a few calming breaths, I ventured forth and walked slowly through the area of the forest I last saw the beaver at and tried to follow what I think looks like it's game trail.

My slow trek through the wilderness was going splendidly, and thankfully I had enough sense to slowly map out the area before I kept on moving. My mini-map was slowly and surely getting updated thanks to my methodical sweeping and assessing gaze. Plus, I didn't want to be caught unawares.

Thankfully I was cautious, because when I passed through some bushes, I spotted my first otherworldly monster.

It took me no time at all to use the sudden adrenaline that coursed through my body to hide behind the nearest tree without making so much as a peep. With agonizing slowness, I peered around the tree and took in the view of this… whatever it was; approximately 15 meters away from me.

The first creature I saw that wasn't an animal that belonged in the forest was a small green humanoid creature that looks like it's height only reach up to my knees. It had a very ugly and scarred face, small tusks jutting out of its small mouth, tiny beady black eyes, and it was wearing what looked like a tiny leather jerkin and dirty scaled shorts. It had scrawny twig-like arms and legs that looks like it was glued onto it's emaciated body. It had a dead rabbit in one hand and a bloody stone dagger in the other.

'I think I'll call that for what it is, a damn goblin…'

'I'm hoping my accumulated fantasy knowledge from video games, books, and movies prove helpful. I'm still a newbie in this world, so I don't think I'll be able to handle a single goblin. I don't know how fast, strong, and intelligent it is.'

'My fantasy knowledge lead me to believe that their stupid yet quick as well as relatively weak. With those limbs, I'd say their weak, but it was able to catch a rabbit with just a stone dagger. So it must be more clever than it looks and fast enough to kill a rabbit. I don't see any traps, there's a small amount of blood in the grass, and the blood on that dagger looks fresh. So it must have just recently killed it.'

I made sure to back away slowly while I swept my gaze around my surroundings. I made sure to keep at least one eye on the goblin that was slowly walking away with its' catch. 'Fantasy knowledge states that if there's one, then there must be more around. I've got to get away unscathed. I don't have a weapon, no helpful knowledge about the goblins of this world, and there could be more of it's kind out here.'

As I released my breath and felt safe after sneaking away from what felt like a dangerous encounter, I felt a sudden chill go up my spine.

'I think I made a mistake.'

I swept my gaze around and after confirming what I thought, I swallowed some saliva in anxiousness and released a breath in frustration.

'F***, I snuck away in a straight line…'

From the bushes, behind a few trees, and from the path I used earlier, was a group of…

'5'

'6'

'…'

'…'

'…'

'13…'

"13 goblins… just my luck."