(Third-Person Narrative View- all pages)
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"Adventure beginning"
Riven stopped at the base of a tall, weathered tree, its bark thick and twisted with age. The sun filtered through the canopy above, dappled light flickering across his face as he reached into his coat and pulled out a sharp, narrow-bladed knife. It wasn't much—but it had served him well so far.
Without a word, he drove the blade into the bark with a hard jab.
The tree didn't even flinch.
Instead, a soft shimmer rippled across its surface—an aura of pale light, subtle but undeniable. Riven narrowed his eyes. The Vita around it was dense, almost visible in the air like heat off stone.
He stabbed again. Nothing.
Again.
Snap.
The blade broke in half with a brittle ping, the tip dropping uselessly at the tree's roots. Riven stared at it in quiet frustration, chest rising with a breath he didn't bother to release.
Behind him, I stretched lazily and hopped up onto a mossy rock, tail flicking.
"Fun fact," I said, purring. "When a tree's Vita level is around 20,000, it means it's grown strong—deep roots, thick spirit, likely touched by the forest's flow. But if you ever find one with a Vita over 100,000?" I paused, blinking slowly. "That means it probably has a dryad. And trust me, not even a steel axe makes that easy."
Riven didn't reply, but I saw his shoulders relax slightly—maybe from the joke, maybe from the knowledge. He looked at the tree again, not with hostility this time, but with respect.
The forest doesn't give its life easily. And sometimes, it gives it only to those who listen.
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Chapter 1 – So Much Vitality
There's Vita everywhere.
In the grass beneath your feet, in the soil under that, in the trees that stretch high into the sky, and even in the air you breathe—it all pulses with life. Energy. Essence. Whatever you want to call it, it's real. And in this forest, it's overwhelming.
Riven could feel it the moment he stepped in.
Not just a tingling or a hum, but a full presence—like the entire forest was watching, breathing, awake. This place wasn't just alive; it was saturated with energy. Ten million Vita units, by his guess. Maybe more. Enough to make every leaf shimmer slightly in the wind, every root pulse beneath the ground like a heartbeat.
By comparison, even the mighty Stonebark Expanse—considered a legendary natural fortress—only held around five hundred thousand Vita. And even that was powerful enough to regrow entire sections after logging within days. But here? Here, the forest could probably undo a fire before it finished burning. Maybe even heal from a landslide. Maybe... fight back.
Kneeling, Riven reached down and brushed his fingers against the thick grass. Threads of green energy immediately swirled around his hand, like curious wisps responding to his touch. It was warm, not in heat but in sensation—welcoming, vibrant, wild.
He stared for a moment, quietly entranced by the motion of the Vita, how it curved and danced along his knuckles. But then, with a quiet grunt, he brushed it off. He didn't want to get attached. Not to magic. Not to mystery. Not to something that could so easily change its mood.
Standing up, he looked deeper into the woods.
This forest was alive. And he was a stranger inside it.
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Goldie's Vita and Natural Levels
Goldie wasn't just a glowing cat with a clever tongue—she carried power. A lot of it.
Inside her small, shimmering spiritual body pulsed around 700,000 Vita, enough to rival a strong, living forest all on her own. It radiated softly off her like invisible sunlight, surrounding her every movement with a subtle hum of warmth and presence. She wasn't just alive—she was rooted in nature, in spirit, in the deeper layers of the world. When she moved, the forest listened. When she spoke, even the trees seemed to lean in.
By contrast, Riven—human, practical, stubborn—had about 6,000 Vita.
Not low by human standards. In fact, that was a healthy amount. Enough for endurance, intuition, and a touch of resilience. Enough to survive. Maybe even enough to grow.
But nothing close to a tree.
Even the average forest tree held 10,000 Vita, and that was just the regular ones. A towering redwood could reach 70,000 or more, their colossal trunks packed with centuries of stored energy. Some trees—ancient, unique, or watched over by dryads—could climb even higher, becoming near-immortal forces of the wild.
It was a strange balance. Riven, a wanderer of flesh and thought, carried just a fraction of the forest's soul. Goldie, small and soft-footed, carried more than most regions.
And yet, they walked side by side.
The forest might have more Vita, but they had each other—and that counted for something.