August sighed at the comment and then set off to the north, following the shoreline. There were only really two options to avoid going through the forest—to the south, where the trees actually wrapped around the lake, or the north, which had the same problem, but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad. It was almost a straight shot from the camp to the ridge, with only a slight angle to the northwest to clear the trees. He wasn’t really sure which way would end up taking longer, but the south was nothing but a cliff facing the ocean. The north ridge of the crater would give them a chance to see more of the island from a different vantage point than he’d already seen before.
“You said you were an alien, right? From another planet?” Boko said, folding a pair of hands behind his head as he walked. “A human—why do you think you were brought here?”
“I have no real way to discern the truth of that,” August admitted, tapping the base of the spear against the ground as he walked.“The general consensus seems to be that I’m some kind of Gaian experiment—I woke up in a hole on the ground, in what Rittan thinks might have been a Spatial Gate.”
“I heard about that,” Boko said, humming. “Spatial Gates doesn’t really work like that.”
“So I’ve heard,” August agreed, “But as far as I’m aware, I was asleep in my bed on another planet before I woke up here—so either they figured out how to teleport people across planets, or something more bizarre is going on.”
“What’s more bizarre than dragging aliens out of bed?” Boko wondered.
“The Spatial Gate, or whatever it is, was abandoned and half buried in the ground—it was there for a while, and there’s nobody here except us,” August said, kicking the base of the spear to send it up to land against his shoulder. “That makes me think it actually started doing its thing on its own, so maybe it malfunctioned in a way that brought me here?”
“That doesn’t really account for the whole floating words, mana manipulation, or the other abilities you have,” Boko said, “Did that stuff just come out of nowhere?”
“I didn’t have these powers when I went to sleep in my bed, but I had them the second I woke up here,” August admitted, “That pretty much means that the process of arriving here was what did this—more simply, the gate changed me when I came through it.”
“How sure of that are you?” Boko asked.
“I can’t really be sure of anything, but the alternative is that the Gaians stole me from my bed and experimented on me personally before dumping me in a hole in the ground,” August said, “They might be sadistic enough to do all that, but I have no idea what the purpose of it would be.”
“We need to try and figure out what this gate actually is,” Boko said, “It’s somewhere in the forest we’re going to, isn’t it?”
“I could probably use [Analysis] on it to find out what it’s called,” August hedged, “It’s pretty deep inside the forest, though; it would probably add another hour to our travel time.”
“It might be the thread that unravels the entire mystery,” Boko said, shrugging. “Probably worth a shot.”
“That’s a good point,” August said, “Alright, but there were some pretty terrible noises coming from in that deep, so we should probably be ready to run—”
August stumbled as the range of his [Predator] skill abruptly doubled, suddenly swallowing Boko and jamming the man’s mental render straight into his mind. Boko caught him by the shoulder before he could hit the ground, and for a moment, he was stunned, trying to figure out what exactly had happened—
Predator has reached proficiency level 2.
“You alright, boss?” Boko said, frowning.
“I’m fine, I think,” August managed, straightening up. “The range of my sensing technique suddenly got bigger—let me just check something real quick.”
“Sure thing,” Boko said.
August brought up the menu and then found the skill in question.
Predator(Lv2) – 1/1100
Analysis passively detects lifeforms within 4 meters. +2 meters per level.
The skill itself had the same description as the skill inside the Survival tree—there were two different ways to level it up? Either trading in up to four more points in the tree or using the skill enough that it actually levelled up. The mental pull towards every one of Boko’s movements actually felt a few shades easier to deal with than before—was the proficiency actually something more than just a range increase?
“It’s probably going to keep increasing over time,” August murmured, “That means I’m going to be forced to get used to it whether I like it or not.”
“You want to cancel our trip?” Boko asked. “We can do it after you’ve had time to figure it out.”
“No, you’re the only one in range besides Ladybug, so nothing has really changed out here,” August said, shaking his head. “Sleeping is going to be a pain in the ass, though—I’m going to have to make a new hut further away from the group.”
August started forward again, intent on continuing the expedition; Boko fell in step with him again.
“What’s the rate that it’s growing?” Boko asked.
“Two-meter radial increase every time it levels up,” August said, “I don’t know what the max level is, but it’s eventually going to start overlapping a pretty large area.”
“That is an issue,” Boko said, “You could try sitting around a few of us for a short while every day to try and build up a resistance?”
“That might just make it level up faster,” August said, chewing on his lip. “It does feel a bit easier now, though, so maybe gaining proficiency with it actually makes it easier to process.”
“In that case,” Boko pointed out, “Levelling it up faster would actually make it easier for you to function in the long run.”
“You might be right,” August admitted.
They reached the edge of the forest and then started the journey upwards, fighting the incline. The grass was tall enough to use as a handhold, and August pulled himself upwards with his arms in an attempt to take some of the pressure off his legs. They made it to the first flat section, roughly halfway up the crater wall, and at that point, his ankles were already burning from the effort. Boko, of course, looked like he was taking a stroll, entirely unbothered by the task.
“Hey, Boko,” August said, struggling to keep up. “When we were talking about who to summon next, Haiko brought you up—but she called you Boko the Dancer.”
“Figures that name would follow me around, even after I died,” Boko said, glancing back for a moment. “You want to know what it’s about?”
“I’m curious,” August admitted. “But you don’t have to tell me if you don’t feel like it.”
Boko fell silent after that, and August just nodded, taking it as a sign that he didn’t, in fact, want to talk about it. August breathed a sigh of relief when they finally made it up to the lip of the crater and then turned back to look at the lake for a moment—he could see the camp, a series of brown lines striking up out of the ground, the distance robbing them of clarity. He could see a small amount of movement—a figure that might have been Rittan was standing near the half-finished garden. August turned back and followed the slope up to the peak, coming to stand beside Boko.
“I’ve seen things like those before, although they didn’t have teeth like that,” Boko said, staring down at the field below. “Those are the Otrogon you were talking about?”
Three dozen of the creatures milled about across the hills, not unlike cows in a paddock, if not for the fact that they were savaging just about every tree, bush and plant that crossed their path.
“Yes,” August admitted, “You can see a lot more of the island from here—I didn’t realise there was a way to get down to that beach, but it looks like there’s a path in that valley.”
“You think that’s worth checking out?” Boko asked.
“Not right now, but that would give us access to the ocean,” August said, “There is fish in the lake, but the ocean probably isn’t full of Mitikos, so fishing would be easier down there.”
Boko stepped past and then turned to look to the west, across the chasm and up to the cliff face that was looming over it. August followed his gaze for a moment before turning to watch the Otrogon—the big one he’d seen wasn’t present, which worried him quite a bit. August moved east, following the lip of the crater. He turned his head to look down at the forest by the lake, searching the green for specks of red, but finding nothing at all. Boko caught up to him a minute or so later, apparently content with his own search of the area.
“Odd shapes island, isn’t it?” Boko said. “Slants from up high to the east, all the way down to that beach at the west, with that big chasm cutting it into two pieces—makes me wonder what’s right up at the top.”
“I had the same thought,” August admitted, “I imagine the view from up on that cliff would be good enough to see just about everywhere on the island—maybe we’d see the mainland if we’re as close to Solarvorn as the others seemed to think.”
Ameliorate: Intersect is now live! If you're interested in a first-person, apocalyptic urban survival scenario where 99% of humanity has developed superpowers and then gone completely insane, go check it out. It has sex, cool powers, and damaged characters.
Reroll: Shatter is now live!
If you like my work and want to see more of it, you can find links to all of my books on my website:
Elbowsnapper
If you want to show some support, go check out my Patreon:
Elbowsnapper is creating Original Fiction, NSFW Fiction, Web Serials. | Patreon
Love you guys, keep on keeping on!
Patreon Early Access:
Contention - Mondays & Fridays.
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 2 - Mondays and Fridays.
Recent Releases:
Ameliorate: Intersect
Reroll: Falling & Shatter
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 1, Audiobook.
August sighed at the comment and then set off to the north, following the shoreline. There were only really two options to avoid going through the forest—to the south, where the trees actually wrapped around the lake, or the north, which had the same problem, but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad. It was almost a straight shot from the camp to the ridge, with only a slight angle to the northwest to clear the trees. He wasn’t really sure which way would end up taking longer, but the south was nothing but a cliff facing the ocean. The north ridge of the crater would give them a chance to see more of the island from a different vantage point than he’d already seen before.
“You said you were an alien, right? From another planet?” Boko said, folding a pair of hands behind his head as he walked. “A human—why do you think you were brought here?”
“I have no real way to discern the truth of that,” August admitted, tapping the base of the spear against the ground as he walked.“The general consensus seems to be that I’m some kind of Gaian experiment—I woke up in a hole on the ground, in what Rittan thinks might have been a Spatial Gate.”
“I heard about that,” Boko said, humming. “Spatial Gates doesn’t really work like that.”
“So I’ve heard,” August agreed, “But as far as I’m aware, I was asleep in my bed on another planet before I woke up here—so either they figured out how to teleport people across planets, or something more bizarre is going on.”
“What’s more bizarre than dragging aliens out of bed?” Boko wondered.
“The Spatial Gate, or whatever it is, was abandoned and half buried in the ground—it was there for a while, and there’s nobody here except us,” August said, kicking the base of the spear to send it up to land against his shoulder. “That makes me think it actually started doing its thing on its own, so maybe it malfunctioned in a way that brought me here?”
“That doesn’t really account for the whole floating words, mana manipulation, or the other abilities you have,” Boko said, “Did that stuff just come out of nowhere?”
“I didn’t have these powers when I went to sleep in my bed, but I had them the second I woke up here,” August admitted, “That pretty much means that the process of arriving here was what did this—more simply, the gate changed me when I came through it.”
“How sure of that are you?” Boko asked.
“I can’t really be sure of anything, but the alternative is that the Gaians stole me from my bed and experimented on me personally before dumping me in a hole in the ground,” August said, “They might be sadistic enough to do all that, but I have no idea what the purpose of it would be.”
“We need to try and figure out what this gate actually is,” Boko said, “It’s somewhere in the forest we’re going to, isn’t it?”
“I could probably use [Analysis] on it to find out what it’s called,” August hedged, “It’s pretty deep inside the forest, though; it would probably add another hour to our travel time.”
“It might be the thread that unravels the entire mystery,” Boko said, shrugging. “Probably worth a shot.”
“That’s a good point,” August said, “Alright, but there were some pretty terrible noises coming from in that deep, so we should probably be ready to run—”
August stumbled as the range of his [Predator] skill abruptly doubled, suddenly swallowing Boko and jamming the man’s mental render straight into his mind. Boko caught him by the shoulder before he could hit the ground, and for a moment, he was stunned, trying to figure out what exactly had happened—
Predator has reached proficiency level 2.
“You alright, boss?” Boko said, frowning.
“I’m fine, I think,” August managed, straightening up. “The range of my sensing technique suddenly got bigger—let me just check something real quick.”
“Sure thing,” Boko said.
August brought up the menu and then found the skill in question.
Predator(Lv2) – 1/1100
Analysis passively detects lifeforms within 4 meters. +2 meters per level.
The skill itself had the same description as the skill inside the Survival tree—there were two different ways to level it up? Either trading in up to four more points in the tree or using the skill enough that it actually levelled up. The mental pull towards every one of Boko’s movements actually felt a few shades easier to deal with than before—was the proficiency actually something more than just a range increase?
“It’s probably going to keep increasing over time,” August murmured, “That means I’m going to be forced to get used to it whether I like it or not.”
“You want to cancel our trip?” Boko asked. “We can do it after you’ve had time to figure it out.”
“No, you’re the only one in range besides Ladybug, so nothing has really changed out here,” August said, shaking his head. “Sleeping is going to be a pain in the ass, though—I’m going to have to make a new hut further away from the group.”
August started forward again, intent on continuing the expedition; Boko fell in step with him again.
“What’s the rate that it’s growing?” Boko asked.
“Two-meter radial increase every time it levels up,” August said, “I don’t know what the max level is, but it’s eventually going to start overlapping a pretty large area.”
“That is an issue,” Boko said, “You could try sitting around a few of us for a short while every day to try and build up a resistance?”
“That might just make it level up faster,” August said, chewing on his lip. “It does feel a bit easier now, though, so maybe gaining proficiency with it actually makes it easier to process.”
“In that case,” Boko pointed out, “Levelling it up faster would actually make it easier for you to function in the long run.”
“You might be right,” August admitted.
They reached the edge of the forest and then started the journey upwards, fighting the incline. The grass was tall enough to use as a handhold, and August pulled himself upwards with his arms in an attempt to take some of the pressure off his legs. They made it to the first flat section, roughly halfway up the crater wall, and at that point, his ankles were already burning from the effort. Boko, of course, looked like he was taking a stroll, entirely unbothered by the task.
“Hey, Boko,” August said, struggling to keep up. “When we were talking about who to summon next, Haiko brought you up—but she called you Boko the Dancer.”
“Figures that name would follow me around, even after I died,” Boko said, glancing back for a moment. “You want to know what it’s about?”
“I’m curious,” August admitted. “But you don’t have to tell me if you don’t feel like it.”
Boko fell silent after that, and August just nodded, taking it as a sign that he didn’t, in fact, want to talk about it. August breathed a sigh of relief when they finally made it up to the lip of the crater and then turned back to look at the lake for a moment—he could see the camp, a series of brown lines striking up out of the ground, the distance robbing them of clarity. He could see a small amount of movement—a figure that might have been Rittan was standing near the half-finished garden. August turned back and followed the slope up to the peak, coming to stand beside Boko.
“I’ve seen things like those before, although they didn’t have teeth like that,” Boko said, staring down at the field below. “Those are the Otrogon you were talking about?”
Three dozen of the creatures milled about across the hills, not unlike cows in a paddock, if not for the fact that they were savaging just about every tree, bush and plant that crossed their path.
“Yes,” August admitted, “You can see a lot more of the island from here—I didn’t realise there was a way to get down to that beach, but it looks like there’s a path in that valley.”
“You think that’s worth checking out?” Boko asked.
“Not right now, but that would give us access to the ocean,” August said, “There is fish in the lake, but the ocean probably isn’t full of Mitikos, so fishing would be easier down there.”
Boko stepped past and then turned to look to the west, across the chasm and up to the cliff face that was looming over it. August followed his gaze for a moment before turning to watch the Otrogon—the big one he’d seen wasn’t present, which worried him quite a bit. August moved east, following the lip of the crater. He turned his head to look down at the forest by the lake, searching the green for specks of red, but finding nothing at all. Boko caught up to him a minute or so later, apparently content with his own search of the area.
“Odd shapes island, isn’t it?” Boko said. “Slants from up high to the east, all the way down to that beach at the west, with that big chasm cutting it into two pieces—makes me wonder what’s right up at the top.”
“I had the same thought,” August admitted, “I imagine the view from up on that cliff would be good enough to see just about everywhere on the island—maybe we’d see the mainland if we’re as close to Solarvorn as the others seemed to think.”
Ameliorate: Intersect is now live! If you're interested in a first-person, apocalyptic urban survival scenario where 99% of humanity has developed superpowers and then gone completely insane, go check it out. It has sex, cool powers, and damaged characters.
Reroll: Shatter is now live!
If you like my work and want to see more of it, you can find links to all of my books on my website:
Elbowsnapper
If you want to show some support, go check out my Patreon:
Elbowsnapper is creating Original Fiction, NSFW Fiction, Web Serials. | Patreon
Love you guys, keep on keeping on!
Patreon Early Access:
Contention - Mondays & Fridays.
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 2 - Mondays and Fridays.
Recent Releases:
Ameliorate: Intersect
Reroll: Falling & Shatter
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 1, Audiobook.
