*huff* huff*huff*
Sounds of a naked man's rough breathing echoed throughout the island. It was john. Today was the 2nd week of his workout routine. On the first day he found out that he didn't need to sleep as long as he had a full hunger bar. He had long ago stopped questioning the oddities in his body the moment he discovered he didn't need to poop. His inability to defecate and urinate was realized by John as his body's complete absorption of everything he ingests. Was it freaky? yes. Useful? absolutely.
The ingame chracter didn't either so why should he? Anyway back to John's nonexistent sleep schedule. He would work Tirelessly doing sets of excercises until failure before he would eat and work again. He made dumbells out of stone that he carved.
An interesting application of his powers was that he wasn't limited to the game. He could make stone by putting cobble in the furnace and then carve cubic meter sized stone into different shapes. Naturally John experimented by making tools like hammers and chisels on the crafting table, he had failed. After a multiple series of trials and errors John finally succeeded, the conclusions were as follows;
1.He had to make something by hand before the crafting table could make it. He had to introduce a new recipe for the crafting table by making the finished product personally.
2.Anything created through the crafting table was better than the ones he made. If he makes a stone sword with a new design the crafting table will make the sword with better sharpness and durability while keeping the design.
With the newfound knowledge he found, John created Stone armour. It served no purpose but hinder his movements and scratch his skin. Not even the weight contributed since it would lose its weight when equipped. John could only sigh helplessly and store his stone armor.
John was currently on his 3rd lap around the island. Compared to his first time of two laps he could now do seven laps. There were no drastic changes in his physique aside from his ribs being less visible. Although There were no visible changes to his muscularity, his body posture didn't look as fragile as it did before. He ran with a proper form and muscles continously shifted under his skin. John was running at a comfortable speed of 3 meters per second and he would continue at this speed until he passes out or until his legs feel like jelly. At least that was the plan.
*huff*huff*huff*hu- AAHHHH!~*
John's scream of pain echoed through the island, scaring the birds resting in it. His little toe stubbed on a hard object in the sand. It was something he didn't see coming, He had never encountered any stubs on the sand even when there was driftwood lying around. After rolling on the sand while holding his foot, John stood up to find the source of his greatest enemy since he had come to this world. The suspect was a protruding spine of a book buried in the sand.
"Holy shiet!" John shouted with sparkles in his eyes. He had developed a lisp due to him not speaking verbally for days.
John's excitement wasn't unjustified, to him, the book was a most probably a book for enchanting. Like addict looking for a new fix, John scrambled towards the book and dug it up. It was thicker and smaller than what John had expected. He opened the book slowly Just in case he damaged it when he stubbed his foot.
John's blue pupil shrank. The book wasn't an ingame item for the simple fact of it having a portrait in the back of the front cover. It was an image of a young man in his 20's wearing what John assumed to be a scholars outfit. The image was captured in black and white but the detail on it was superb. On the first page was a single line written in the center,
"Alhaela flokken esventaures mishkal labak"
-Rhancm HLI, OCOL
The sentence consisted of multiple lines and John didn't recognize the characters, Mouthing off only what they looked like to him. He was going to flip towards the next page to find more clues when the lines on the sentence started moving and arranging themselves. John blinked multiple times before screamed,
"Hauly shiet!" his lisp got even worse this time.
Was he a secret demigod? John discreetly thought to himself before he threw the idea. He wasn't dislexic in any part of his life. The words finally formed to something that John understood,
"Travel journal towards the black mist"
-March 3, 877
The line allowed John to confirm his suspiscions when he saw thr portrait on the book. It was finally confirmed that there were people outside the mist. Not only were there people outside the mist they were also actively trying to enter the mist encircling the island. Outside was a society capable of capturing high definition black and white photos, capable of manufacturing books and ships. What would such society composed of intelligent creatures do to the mysterious black sclera'd John? containment and experiment.
John had to get strong enough to protect himself of the dangers outside the mist. He was already on his way to becoming a supraphysiological man and the book would give him information on the outside.
30 minutes later, John closed the book and meditated on what he derived from it.
1. the owner of the book was a scholar or a researcher.
2. the people were informed of the mist by a prophet, but since pophesies were commonly accepted as bogus they sent an expedition to prove that prophets were liars.
3. the mist was bigger than he expected.
4. they were only supposed to confirm the existence or non-existence of the mist but they went inside to investigate due to a commanding officer.
5. something happened in the mist that made the owner lose this book, or possibly this book losing it's owner.
There were some things that piqued John's interest such as the line "..my light's ethero.." implied either a different way of naming some form of energy or battery. There was also mentions of "..royal navy.." and "...researchers association..." that indicated their Gorverning structure and institutes.
Finally John came across "... anti-daemos weapons..." the line implied the existence of something inhuman that they were at war or protecting themselves from the "daemos". The daemos were probably a people from a different place who developed a special wartime technique deserving of it's own anti counterparts. Maybe the daemos were allergic to a specific substance which was why it was called anti-daemos weapons, John didn't know. John could only hypothesize.
John stored the book in the inventory. He didn't have much time. The mist protected him from the outside, but how long until the "enemy" started sending naval battleships. The journal's owner mostlikely only road expeditionary ships not designed for battle. John couldn't leave the island whatever sank the journal's owner's vessel would probably sink whatever John makes to travel through the mist. For now he must eat, work and probably terraform the island.
_____________________________________________
"....ember that I love you both with all my heart..."
*tzzzt*
the sound of a recording reaching the end of its message echoed through a wooden room. A woman was holding a golden pendant on her hand while tears fell down her cheeks.
This lady was Arie Coldwater. A seamstress from a town in Highlenberg. A few weeks ago the necklace her husband gave her lit up and changed color. The necklace's change broke her heart, it meant that her beloved husband had died and that she should leave their home as soon as possible. Without arising suspiscion, she took as much coin from their estate and took her 7 year old daughter to a sand surfer. The sand surfer was a trusted friend who was paid to keep her mouth shut if ever questions arrived. Travelling on the shoreline allowed the sand surfer to use her abilities to the maximum and allow them to travel far enough from the pursuers.
Arie Coldwater's husband was a strong and powerful man which caused him to gather many enemies during his lifetime. Many sought to seek revenge but found no weakness to him until he married his wife. An Auren, A woman of natural beauty given by the heavens. Arie's charm was curse her entire life. Her silky dark hair, thick eyelashes and well proportioned body took away freedom and rights she deserved. It was only her husband who managed to make her feel like a real person and now he was dead.
Arie was currently in the outskirts of Bascaly, a country dead center of the continent. It was a beautiful country and the citizens were focused on their nation's imrpovement. The only issue here was that the general populace was extremely racist towards outsiders. It took many years for Arie and her husband to forge fake identities for their immigration. Since the documents were yet to be completed the now family of two could only reside to the edges of the kingdom.
Arie was currently mourning the loss of her husband. Her eyes puffy from the buckets of tears she shed and her hair was in a mess. Her daughter had passed out from crying and was now sleeping at the other room. Her husband Marthen, died in an expedition in the sea. She was sure that it was a venomous plot designed by the filthy men of that kingdom. The recordings in the pendant showed enough evidence that Marthen was forced to enter the mist. Although she thought Marthen could've made better desiscions, the stress and pressure Marthen experienced affected his already slow thingking.
It was a blurry future for the mother and daughter duo. Their next steps were limited, Arie wanted to take revenge but she had established no connections during her life as a seamstress. Her ethero control wasn't aimed for violence and she didn't want her daughter to live a life for revenge. Arie's daughter, Bell, greatly adored and admired her father. The moment Bell finds out about the details of her father's death she would most likely seek justice. The grieving mother didn't want to lose any more of her family, but she didn't want to lie to her daughter either.
Arie gathered her resolve to teach her daughter how to be smart and strong, something she had learned naturally to protect herself from lustful people. She hoped that her daughter would have the tools to protect herself from the enemies she would face.
For now... the necklace would be kept until the proper time arrived.