Ch 7—People

Matthew sighed, glancing up at his humble shelter—little more than roots and moss, reeking of man-eater plant sap to ward off Black hounds that hunted at night.

Matthew was afraid to even consider the beast that could upend a tree of this size.

All the trees in the dark forest were big, but some were ancient, towering works of art. This one was one of the largest, home to some of the two tailed monkeys.

Matthew sighed as he fished for fatigue.

He felt strange, he couldn't remember the last time he used his voice.

He pulled up his Status:

——

Name: Matthew

Level: 2 (Spirit Coins: 5/12)

Health: 90/110

Stamina: 66/75

Mana: 10/10

Stat Cards:

Armaments: Old Cat

Traits:

Skills:

——

Setting traps, documenting behaviours and hunting routes. The first and most important thing he had to learn was where and when he could move around.

The taboos of the forest and the routines of his prey.

Like not peeing against some trees to not set the Black hounds into a frenzy. Or to notice the small changes in the environment when a Lurker is present.

Learning these things and surviving the aftermath was a unique challenge.

It had been the incident with the hounds that earned him his four spirit coins. After getting to level two he had been ready to slow down, but the fight came nonetheless. He paralyzed one using the Man eater's paralytic, then killed the other in a close fight.

His fifth came from a wooly bison he had deceived into believing he was a friend. After pulling it away from the herd, he fed it a poisoned fruit.

He had been exploring the next terrace, the jagged strata were a bit treacherous to climb down. Using a well rope ladder he got down to the next level.

The rope had come from the brave souls he had been observing, they had a lot of useful things. Fire Starters and even spices surprisingly.

The monsters of the second level weren't as physically imposing as those on the first, but they made up for it with mystical abilities.

This was proven worse for him, he didn't understand what was happening in some fights.

After three long days of documentation and fairly harrowing encounters, he had a basic understanding of some of the monsters here.

He also found another group of humans near the edge.

They hunted the horned horses of the plains that had ability to send out an arc of black light.

It had nearly killed one of them, they later came back at night when the beast slept to take the kill.

Matthew liked them more than the others, they were cautious—almost too cautious, but effective. Best of all they had girls, one of them was a really good archer.

He listened to their conversations and had a strange feeling of being inhuman. He'd just watched—learning their tricks, silently laughing at their jokes.

Matthew paused and tried to use his voice, it was strange to him and his voice felt unnatural.

He found them decent, so he even helped them a little, throwing a rock at some Carrion grass to warn them of the danger.

There were also these strange vines that pulled people into dark dens, waiting patiently around trees too that they had to fight off.

The next day changed everything however, when he came back from the lower terrace he had a single thought.

A grave and dangerous plan, one he determined would need some manpower.

So he studied and stalked monsters and people, planning and waiting two more days.

"That monster is too danger to rush, i have to plan something." he had whispered to himself

So on a dark day, with ominous mist obscuring the already dense and deadly forest. He appeared out of the mist to the small group of six people around a campfire.

It was understandably creepy.

They pointed spears at him threateningly. A tall boy with short black hair barked, "Who the hell are you?"

Matthew froze for a moment, meeting humans again was strangely scary. He wondered why they all looked so scared, then he remembered he still had Old cat on.

Dismissing the armament he replied, "Matthew, fellow survivor. I guess?"

They all relaxed seeing his face. There were five boys and two girls. The tall boy had a polished iron sword, another a strange blue scale-like shield.

The rest were armed with short pikes and random items like pipe wrenches and hammers.

One of the girls exhaled, "Thank god. Wait, what are you doing here alone?"

"What do you mean alone?" He asked innocently. She was the archer, her bowstring snapped—so she held a bloody pipe wrench.

"Most people enter monster-infested jungles in teams." A boy clarified, "You've been coming out here alone?"

Going back everyday is a waste of energy and I'd rather be here. Matthew nodded, glancing at their bags. There was a hound's head and a horn closeby.

The leader with the iron sword followed his gaze, "Today's spoils. Are you leaving?"

Matthew had a few more questions he wanted to ask. "You want me to leave?"

"It's just…" The swordsman frowned, "What were you doing out there?"

Matthew took a seat crossing his legs, "I was checking out the next level. You guys fought off a pack of hounds?"

"Just five, they were exiles…" Archer girl answered, eyes narrowing. "You descended to the next… floor, level. What are they called?"

" 'Terrace' is a simple term for it or broken strata if you want to be technical. Anyways, you don't want to know what's down there and I don't want to talk about it." Matthew said grimly

She flicked some blood off her pipe wrench, spinning a cigarette in her hands, "You can make ropes to go down though?"

He exchanged this information for a pike and details on how to make one. He asked about the eastern block of this terrace, he already knew but he needed to soften them.

They were easy going people, except the boy with the iron sword, his dark hair glistened under the fire's orange glow and his dark eyes stayed set on Matthew.

He was exceedingly quiet, while the archer girl anchored the conversation.

Not that he hadn't expected that, but he needed the boy to lower his suspicion of him just a little.

He glanced back to where he had come from, without Old cat his senses felt muted and dull. He knew what signs to expect though.

He had to find a way to bring up the temple.