The one upside to living in a world with a stupid stat system is that you can use it to rationalize things. For example, you can use it to rationalize why the hell you are dragging a massive damn hammer through the dirt.
"I'm just testing if you can gain Might from training is all, not because I have no choice, not at all!" See, like that. Easy.
I had started walking again, turns out you can only look up at the sky in awe for so long. One mind can only be so blown, so walking seemed like a good compromise instead.
The forest had opened up into plains, with only the odd tree here and there. It was nice actually, there was a cool breeze, and it wasn't too hot. The sun was warm, and slowly reaching down to the mountain range, which wasn't so good, but it sure was pretty. Though the amazing air of the forest had dissipated, which made me unreasonably sad.
Something that I hadn't realised about this place was the fact that the sun didn't move. In fact, it stayed entirely stationary just slightly off centre in the sky, at least from this point of view. What that did mean, though, was that the other planet that was slowly moving to cover the sun from my view meant that night was coming.
Not ideal conditions by a long shot.
My legs are burning like hell, my shoulders were too. My shoulders were always at an odd angle because I wasn't strong enough to hold the handle at a good position. You have to understand, it isn't only the head of the hammer that's heavy. The handle of the hammer is also made of the same metal. Only good thing is that it is long, so it gives me more leverage when dragging the head through the dirt.
Other than that, it was still stupid.
I kept scanning over the little hills, and soon enough I found what I was looking for. A river.
If you've ever watched a survival TV show, then you'll know that a river is excellent news. Not only is it a source of water, which is vital to survival if you didn't know, but it is also a good marker for civilization.
Villages are usually built very close to a water source or sometimes even surrounding it. The reasons for doing so are obvious, but we don't care about the reasons, we care that they do, that it's predictable.
So, If I follow this river downstream, I'll find civilization before nightfall. It at least gives me more hope than walking around in any direction does.
With a new spring in my step, I started to walk towards the river. I could use a good drink of water. All the dragging of hammers makes a man quite thirsty.
Back to the topic of how my body is going. I'm starting to see improvement in my physical capabilities. To be honest, the only physical attribute I had going for me before this was my height, which is around 6'2. Which, in the modern era, only served to reduce my legroom in transport. Though it did make me extraordinarily useful when grabbing things from the top shelf.
In other words, I'm not exactly the pinnacle of physical performance. There had to be trade-offs for a sedentary bookworm and gamer lifestyle, right? Regardless, I went from 7 Might to 10-
[In for the Long Haul: Pulling heavy objects long distances is amazing for your muscles! Might +1]
Make that eleven, I guess. Anyway, my Might went up four points in the matter of a few hours. Truthfully, The more time I thought on it, the more I found this system stupid. There was no clear baseline, no help to understand and apply the numbers. It was all a mess, which you'd think would be hard when you only had three lines of text to express the statistics with.
I was starting to believe that you could only gain statistics from the achievements. Does that mean training is useless and won't give you anything? Will I need to go gallivanting across the world to force some obscure achievement?
I shook off my pet frustration as I saw a curving river that swept through the landscape.
I dropped the hammer's handle and rushed to the water. It was wide for a river, but not that deep, only going up to my hip in depth. It was quite cold, not freezing, but unused-swimming-pool cold. It was nice after waking for so long, having cold water on your overworked muscles. I submerged myself in the water for a minute, letting myself float without using any of my muscles.
Feeling the gentle current tug on me I was a state of bliss, I almost wished it wouldn't end.
My glorious reprieve was rudely interrupted by a shock of pain from my headache. For hours it had been pulsing with pain whenever it pleased, making my brain feel like a soggy bowl of cereal. I sighed underwater.
I had to get things done and letting myself float into oblivion wouldn't help me, nor would it keep me alive very long.
I burst out of the water, taking a deep gasp of air before trudging the few metres that I'd floated to the riverbank. However, not before stopping to quench my thirst. As I cupped my hands and lowered them into the water, I looked at myself in the reflection. I wasn't changed physically in any way, which I'll call a blessing. I'd always considered myself handsome enough, short brown hair, brown eyes and a good jaw. Nothing close to a male model, but handsome enough to be proud of. I quickly slurped a few handfuls of water to satisfy my dry throat, then turned away from the water.
I walked over to my hammer and picked it up, muscles complaining with pain. The soak in the water had only really helped momentarily, as the fiery pain returned with a vengeance as soon as I started to move again.
Thankfully, walking along the bank of the river was a whole lot easier than walking over hills. For one, it was pretty flat alongside the river. So I didn't have to worry about crushing myself by losing control of my hammer going down a hill. I can't imagine that having that hammer land on your toe would end well.
I could see that the other planet was slowly covering the sun. It was only eclipsing a small part of it at the moment, but it wouldn't be long before it was night.
And everyone knows that all the bad beasties come out in the night.
Also, the water source was also a point of interest to those same beasties as well as humans. That the only chance that I have of finding any sort of civilisation is also the most dangerous place to be.
Anxiety started to set in. I knew it, I'd been too well composed up till now, even with that god-damned headache. I could feel my anxiety level start to raise, my headache rising to match as the sun was slowly eclipsed. Suddenly my mind was in overdrive, I was looking over every hill I could, checking all the shadows twice. I could feel that night would bring something bad.
The planet orbiting this one travelled slowly, its mass restricting the light further and further, its darkened sky slowly subsuming the sun its entirety. Leaving me…
Alone, in the darkness.
To be honest, I don't think I've ever been so afraid. A mix of the dark, the sounds of the wilderness and being in another world with monsters, makes for the most terrifying experience of my life.
Great thing is, terror is a great motivator for walking really fast. And walk really fast I did. With a total disregard for how tired I was, I rushed as fast as I physically could along the side of the river, eyes wide and scanning.
I was making tonnes of noise, but I didn't have much of a choice while lugging the stupid hammer around. If something caught me, then I'd just have to look threatening, which hopefully wouldn't be too hard with this hammer.
Every step that I took coincided with a beat of my heart, every shuddering breath desperately trying to keep up with the physical exertion.
Until I saw it, drinking at the riverside.
It was massive, as tall as me easily. Its outline was stocky and muscular, and the outline of its head had two wicked looking tusks adorning its mouth. I stood stock still, hoping beyond hope that whatever I had seen didn't hear me.
The only thing that I could think of that fits the outline of this monstrosity is a boar. Its facial structure is so different that it probably wasn't even close to one. Regardless, it scared the fuck out of me. My mind went into overdrive as I stood entirely still.
I examined the little silhouettes of ears that I could see on top of its head, as they twitched ever so slightly. I was so scared that I even held my breath. If that thing saw me then I was dead, there was no way that I could make myself look scary enough that I could scare it off. It would eat me.
I stood so still that I didn't dare to even blink. My hands were sweating and tingling from the amount of adrenalin pumping through me. The only sound being the beat of my own heart.
I saw the massive creature move ever so slightly, sending a shock of fright down my spine. It scanned the landscape, it's mighty breaths loud in the quiet night. Somehow, it managed to miss my form in the dark, standing there frightened still. After a long moment of observation, it turned its head away and started to trudge off into the distance.
I stood still like a statue for what felt like an hour, waiting, hoping that the monster's head wouldn't pop back up over the hill it had disappeared behind. But even when I was sure it was gone, I couldn't help but go from a complete stand still to as close to a run as I could possibly achieve.
I ran and ran and ran, blindly following the curves of the river, looking at the ground, afraid of seeing anything I didn't want to see. I listened only to the thumping of my feet on the dirt, the sound deafening to my terrified mind.
Before suddenly, a sharp snap of the fingers and a stony elderly voice called out, accompanied by a flash of bright light.
"What are you doing?"
[Boo!: You endured extreme fright, a real test of the Mind. +1 Mind]
I could only reply with a blood curdling scream.