Coming back to the house, it was filled with laughs and plenty of mocking jokes at Ren's expense. Although he wanted to refute these remarks, there was really nothing he could say to correct them. They were all near the mark and some of their misconceptions were even putting him in a better light than what actually happened.
'At least there'll be something to eat soon. I'm starving, not to mention exhausted. I haven't worked this hard since I was in high school, and that was just my parent's backyard.' With a few awkward and soar stretches, the group finally cleared the fields and came in front of the house itself. In the light, the large wooden structure looked an odd mixture of picturesque and completely poor. Much of the house's wood and roofing was coated in the mosses and grasses that Ren had noticed on his first outing through the village, but in the harsh light, the cracks and aging wood that accompanied said moss was a lot more prevalent. It looked like the house must regularly spring leaks, especially with a few noticeable patch marks of overlaid wooden planks, or what appeared to be some form of clay plaster.
Surprisingly, Liv's house seemed to be one of the few that stood atop a foundation of stones rather then the half sunken huts and halls in large parts of the village. Probably because the fields were almost a marsh in this early morning, so having a sunken house so close to the river would be even more wet then what it appeared.
The family was gathered on various benches and the dryer ground in front of the main building. Brenna was up near the front door serving out the food to each of the people coming in to eat. A shorter older woman, helping her that Ren assumed was the grandmother of the group. Liv was already seated on the porch and digging into the meal which appeared to be a type of steaming soup. His bowl looking like a large teacup in his massive paw of a hand. Kendrin and the other guys from the field were already all lined up and waiting their turn while there were even more guys and women chatting to the side. There were even several kids running around the corner of the building.
The line soon thinned and Ren received his bowl of soup with a smile "Here you go hun. Though, you might be wanting to stop by the river to splash the mud from your face. Unless you enjoy the taste of dirt. Don't worry, we'll be a while before heading out for the next round of chores." His sheepish grin eliciting a smirk from Brenna's kind face before she shooed him away
He wasn't going to refuse and quickly trotted down a well beaten path to the riverside to see if he could quickly wash up and eat. The river and water was sparkling under the sun and the shade of the many trees along the banks only added to the color and sparkle of the water. It was a definite feeling of nature at its most pristine. Nothing like the rivers he had seen back in the old world. Even in nation parks and reserves there was often still plenty of pollution from overgrowth or random bits of trash from irritating tourist. But here, there was just flowing deep blue water with some flowing mud along the sides between the numerous rocks that stuck out. The river was actually rather wide. Cutting straight through the forest and surrounding hills, you would need at least a large suspension bridge to consider crossing here, but the river wasn't too fast and seemed rather stable and deep so it was at least safe to swim and fish here.
He even saw a number of boats all listing back and forth with people on board and a number of them with heavy nets and boxes that looked to be moving. He set down his bowl and hiked up his pants before wading into the river a ways to wash up. He soon felt refreshed and cooled off as he waded back to the shore to finish his meal. It wasn't particularly good, more like a heavy broth, but it wasn't bad either. It reminded him of those scam canned soups that often came with plenty of water and food dye but little in the way of seasoning or actual meat.
Truly, the soft sounds of the river and the breeze on his sun burnt neck was all he needed to feel a little wistful as he relaxed after such a long day. His thoughts running through the number of things on his mind and shoving them to the side as he just tried to enjoy the moment.
Unfortunately for him, the moment didn't last long as he quickly found a sharp pain emanating from his foot and he jumped up with a yell. Kicking his foot to try and get whatever stabbed him out. Soon, looking down he found a large insect like thing clamping down on his foot with a large claw. It was somewhat like a crab with its claws, but more like a strange dragonfly with its body elongated and large head. Ren couldn't help but go wide eyed as he grasped the scythe on his belt and stabbed at the creature. Luckily, the thing was nowhere near as fast as the grubs in the fields and was a bit preoccupied with trying to clasp his foot with its other claw as well.
His scythe stabbed into the creature, but didn't cut through it like with the worms. It only stuck halfway through and brought forth a loud his from the creature. It luckily let go of his foot, but tried to clasp his hand holding onto the scythe to make him remove it from its back. Ren held the scythe out at arms length and tried twisting the the cat sized creature around and away from him. It struggled and kicked up the mud and sand around it, but was eventually unable to maintain its position. This allowed Ren to quickly step down on its back and tug his scythe across the things body and sever it from the spine up.
Ren fell back in a stumble as he tried to prepare for another swing, but soon saw the creature crawling forward on its forelegs and claws before it stopped moving entirely as the two parts of its body finally stopped moving. A low hum sounded in his ears before the familiar text at the corner of his eye.
Notice: Awarded fifteen experience for the slaying of another creature and absorbing it's vital essence.
These buggers were worth a hell of a lot more than the damn grubs. Though, given they had actual weapons and were far harder with their shells, it kinda made sense. He shook his scythe and looked down at his foot. It was bleeding rather badly, and now that he looked, there was a large gash all the way across his foot and rather deep in the fleshy side. The pain suddenly all at once flared as the adrenaline subsided and he truly felt the new pain that assaulted him.
"FUCK!!!!!!" He screamed before lifting up his foot to try and hold in the blood, only to fall on his ass and cause himself more pain. He gritted his teeth and stifled another yell. Ren finally pressed his hands against his bleeding foot and held the gash a bit back together, but given he was still bleeding he wasn't sure of what entirely to do. He scrambled on the ground and moved towards the river to try and wash away the blood to hopefully clean the wound and soothe some of the pain. Unfortunately, the pain seared into him as the cold river water pierced his wound with silt and cold water, causing a burning sting up his leg as the water washed away the blood.
Ren heaved and breathed as best he could while trying to clear the wound to get a better look. His pants now rather soaked as he washed frantically. He then remembered his status and checked his HUD. His Health points were down to 83/100 and were still slowly falling. His stamina was barely at 50/100 and also falling with each ticking second. 'I'm not in fatal danger or anything, but fuck, this shit hurts, and just from a fucking mutant crab. Goddammit, why can't I get some goddamn cheats or something. This is fucking bullshit. Even in *Cloudrim* the main character wouldn't lose so much health to a damn crab in the newbie village.'
Soon, Kendrin came jogging down the path and saw him half in the water and the red trickle of blood flowing down the river. He looked around but saw no major animals nearby, but did spot the bleeding carcass of the crab like beast. He sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Ah, you got caught up by one of these things. Were you really that unlucky or are you just slow?"
Ren couldn't take it and said "That...that thing came out of nowhere and nearly chopped my foot in half. How was I supposed to know...gahh....that kind of thing would be out here?" His pride hurt at being mocked for exactly his own shame, though the thing was huge compared to most insects or creatures that would be near rivers in his own world.
Kendrin just held his hands up in sympathetic easing as he approached Ren and said "Alright, alright, I get it, Clawrakers definitely leave a nasty wound if you're not careful, I get it. I got myself a nasty cut when I was a kid myself. It's just most adults usually spot the slow buggers before any harm can be done as they scuttle along the ground. Guess you were just unlucky then.
Here, lemme help you up, and lets get you back to the house for a quick wrap before more of the bugs come crawling out from all the blood you're leaving around." He helped hoist Ren up from the water, practically lifting him off his feet as he dragged Ren's arm around his neck and stood up to help him walk.
It took them a lot longer, with a lot more grumbling to get back to the house, but at least Brenna was more then willing to help Ren bandage his foot up with a mother's tender touch. And by that I mean soft words, and a tight, and painful wrap job around his foot with a somewhat clean cloth and a few very painful stitches. It wasn't anything near what Ren imagined he'd need to keep from getting infected, but the lower blood flow at least dulled the pain, and his health wasn't falling any longer, stopping at around 74/100.
"There you go hun. All patched up. Though I have to say, most kiddos don't have such a messy day as you when they first start working. I guess you're just one unlucky bug to end up like this with the day barely half over." Ren just groaned at being called a bug when all day he had to deal with new ones that threatened his sanity, which only brought out a few giggles from Brenna and the old lady. Kendrin just watched from the side with little expression, but soon said "I'll leave him here with you then ma. I doubt he'll be any help with that foot." Then leaving for the fields once more to do even more chores.
Ren looked up at Brenna and asked. "What should I do now? That thing isn't poisonous right?" Though his steady health bar would tell him he wasn't dying at least. Brenna just chuckled and said, "No no, you're gonna be fine. Just a few days of light chores off that foot and you'll be back to work in no time. For now, just wait here while I grab a few people and reorganize things. I think we'll have you stay in the barn tonight as we can't let you reopen that wound walking back to the village. Yes, just rest a bit, and I'll be back." She then walked off to do what was needed while the old lady chuckled and hobbled back into the house.
Ren was just left dumbstruck. This kind of wound would at least get him a couple days off, but here, he was expected to work through it like was a small cough. He placed his face in his palms and wiped the sweat from his eyes as he tried to think on how he was going to survive in this blasted death trap of a world. He heard some rustling in front of him and wondered if Brenna was back, but instead saw a number of kids probably no older then ten and most of them less. They just stared at him for about half a minute before the tallest spoke.
"Hey, you're the new guy that came from outside the village right?"
Ren just nodded in response to the kid, unsure how to look dignified or respectable while his foot was double its original size in a wrap.
The kid just looked at the others before turning back to Ren and smirking "Guess outsiders like you ain't so smart after all if you coulda got grabbed by a bigClaw. Even little kiddies know to look out for those right?" He asked in a condescending tone, only to have a number of kids pipe in with high pitched voices of "Yea~" giggling at Ren's expense. He stuttered on how to respond to the backward hick kids but his stuttering just caused more giggles before the kids ran off as Brenna finally came back.
She looked at the giggling kids and the red face Ren and sighed before saying "Alright, I've got some soft work for you hun. Let's go"