The Stranglevine thicket bought me seventeen minutes. Not of safety—there's no safety here—but of relative calm while the Gloomvermin dissolved and I planned my next move. My HP had regenerated to full, the claw marks on my back now just pink lines. The system's healing was brutally efficient.
I needed gear. Information. A weapon that wasn't a rock.
Anything that wasn't a rock.
[LOOT SENSE] pulsed as I scanned the corpses' remnants. Two of the three had left something behind besides Essence. Small, glowing fragments that looked like jagged tooth shards.
[GLOOMVERMIN FANG FRAGMENT x2 OBTAINED] [COMMON MATERIAL: DAMAGE 1-4 WHEN IMPROVISED] [DURABILITY: 8/10]
Better than the flint. I lashed one fragment to a sturdy branch with some vine I'd carefully harvested from the non-carnivorous side of the thicket. The result was crude, but the system recognized it:
[IMPROVISED WEAPON: GLOOMVERMIN SPEAR] [DAMAGE: 2-6] [DURABILITY: 12/15] [SPECIAL: +10% BLEED, MINOR POISON]
Poison. Nice. I finally had a DPS upgrade.
The forest around me was waking up. My enhanced perception—thanks to the Intelligence boost—picked up on details I'd missed before. The way the moss pulsed rhythmically, like a heartbeat. How certain fungi only grew in patterns that suggested ley lines. How the shadows themselves seemed to watch .
[PERCEPTION CHECK: SUCCESS] [YOU SENSE 4 HOSTILES CLOSING IN. ESTIMATED TIME TO CONTACT: 90 SECONDS]
Four. I could barely handle three with a trap and luck. Four in the open? No chance.
My overlay flickered, pulling up a topographical map based on what I'd seen. The settlement—River's Reach—was east, following a stream that cut through the wilderness. But streams attract predators. And I was leaving a blood-scent trail a mile wide.
Option two: climb. The trees were massive, their trunks like skyscrapers. But those glowing vines... I wasn't testing if all of them were carnivorous.
Option three: hide. But my Stealth skill was nonexistent, and my Luck was a cosmic joke.
The growls were closer now. I could see movement—low, slithering shapes this time, not wolves. Something else.
[ANALYSIS: BLOODLEECH SERPENT - LEVEL 3 BEAST] [THREAT ASSESSMENT: ABSOLUTELY DON'T GET BITTEN] [RESISTANCES: PHYSICAL DAMAGE (SCALES)] [WEAKNESSES: MAGIC, EYES, UNDERBELLY]
Magic. Great. My MP pool was a whopping 5, and I had no spells.
Four serpents, each bigger than a python, slid into the clearing. Their scales were the color of dried blood, and their eyes were milky white, blind. They smelled me, forked tongues tasting my sweat and fear.
My spear felt like a toothpick.
One coiled, preparing to strike. My overlay screamed EVADE! But evasion just meant another would hit me. I needed to break their coordination.
I did the dumbest, most desperate thing possible.
I charged.
The serpent lunged. I saw the green window—now —and dove under it. Not away. Under. My spear thrust up, guided by Absolute Calculation's predictive paths. The tip caught the soft underside of its jaw, just as the system hinted.
[CRITICAL HIT! X1.5 DAMAGE!] [BLOODLEECH SERPENT: 48/55 HP]
Not enough. The serpent thrashed, ripping the spear from my hands. I rolled, coming up with the second fang fragment in my fist.
The other three were on me.
[HP: 25/30] A grazing strike across my leg. The serpent's scales were like sandpaper laced with razors.
I was going to die. The math was clear. Probability of survival: 3% and dropping.
Then the forest saved me.
Not out of kindness. Ecosystems aren't kind. But they are opportunistic .
The moss on the trees flared, blindingly bright. The serpents recoiled, hissing. Light was a weakness. The moss pulsed again, and I saw why—a larger predator stalked the edge of the clearing. Something that made even the Dark-tainted beasts nervous.
[WARNING: ALPHA PRESENCE DETECTED. ADVISE IMMEDIATE EVACUATION.]
The serpents scattered. I didn't waste time. I grabbed my spear, ignored the pain in my leg, and ran the direction they weren't going. East. Towards the stream.
Behind me, something roared . The sound was physical pressure, a wave of sonic dominance that made my bones ache. I didn't look back. Looking back was for people with more than 1 Luck.
I ran for what felt like hours, my overlay tracking distance, stamina drain, regeneration rates. My Vitality was already paying dividends. A normal human would have collapsed. I was merely very tired.
The stream appeared suddenly, a ribbon of silver under the dual moons. It smelled clean, which in this world probably meant it was lethally toxic. But my thirst overrode caution. I drank anyway.
[WATER CONSUMED: MINOR MANA RESTORATION] [MP: 5/5 → 8/8] [DEBUFF: MINOR TOXIN RESISTANCE BUILDING]
The water was toxic. But my body was adapting, treating it like a vaccine. The system didn't just heal me—it evolved me.
I followed the stream downhill. Settlements were always downstream. That's where the water was usable, where trade flowed.
My perception pinged again. Not hostiles. S