As we were walking deeper inside the forest, I notice that the majority of the men around were looking at me like they were here to hunt me and not the wolves. Curious, I approached the village chief and said to him.
"Chief, why does everyone look at me like that?"
"Because you're sleeping with Anna. She's at the age where she has choose a mate and the majority of them had their eyes on her."
"Oh, I see, but I'm just sleeping in the same bed as her, not doing anything else."
The chief looks at me like I was an idiot and said.
"So, you didn't mate with her?"
"No…?"
"Why?"
"Why..? I just met her, like a week ago. Why would I mate with her?"
"Hmm.. When she took you in she said she chose you as her mate. That's why I approved you to stay in the village."
"But.. She probably only did it so I won't die of cold."
"That's all good but you should hurry and mate with her, because if not, the whole village will try to kick you both out. Until the age of twenty all woman in our village must give birth to at least one offspring or they will get kicked out."
"Huh? What's with this rule?"
"Our village keeps getting smaller and smaller so we had to introduce harsher rules to maintain our population."
"I see.."
'Ai, can I even reproduce with this avatar?'
[Ethan, all the functions of a normal body are available so yeah, you can reproduce using the avatar body.]
'That's great and all but what am I supposed to do? I can do it now but what if I leave this village and reach another one with the same rule? I can't just go around all the villages and spread my seed. Ai, any suggestions?'
[You could always leave the village.]
'Do you know how long it will take to climb down from this mountain? What about any other village close by?'
[To reach the base of the mountain it should take around two months but the time may vary depending on additional factors like weather, food requirements and others. I don't have any other information about other villages.]
Hearing Ai's words, I turned towards the chief to try to fish for more information.
"Chief, did you ever think about going down the mountain?"
"Our village tried a long time ago, but there's an sarik tribe further down the mountain and they will kill and eat all that pass by. After loosing a great number of our villagers we stopped trying."
"What's a sarik?"
"A large monster that eats humans. They resemble humans but are bigger in size."
'Ai, do you know what the is?'
[According to description it should be an ogre.]
'How many people are required to beat an ogre?'
[Depends on a lot of factors, but three of them should be enough.]
"Chief, how many ogres are in that tribe?"
"I don't know but probably more than people in our village. Don't get any idea or you will die before you even know it."
"Can't you leave any other way?"
"That is the best path. On the other sides there are always big snow falls and steep cliffs."
'So avalanches. Ai, any idea?'
[The wolves you are hunting should also provide experience points. You could try to level up while hunting wolves.]
'That seems to be the best way, the problem is that I probably won't be able to kill even one wolf. Well, we'll see how it goes.'
While we were talking, the party finally reached the area where the wolves usually hunt. Everyone started looking more serious as we slowed down our advancing speed. After walking for a while, a sudden howl came from our right, putting everyone on alert and making my heart skip a beat. The chief immediately shouted toward the other men.
"They spotted us and already alerted the pack. Everyone, get ready to defend and don't forget to aim for their throats or belly." After that he turned towards me and said "Ethan, you are with me, guarding the right side."
After I got my instructions, I followed the village chief, holding tightly onto my spear as we made our way towards the right side.
'Ai, any advice? The most I did related to fighting in my previous life was to play video games.'
[Stay one meter behind the chief and let him take the blunt of the attack. Also, move your left hand closer the the end of the shaft to make it easier if you have to switch hands after a successful thrust. Other than that, try your best.]
I changed my position and my hold on the spear according to Ai's instructions and got ready. Suddenly rapid footsteps could be heard from all around and the chief's voice came soon after, "Get ready!".
As I tightened my grip on my spear, I could actually feel my heart beating fast inside my chest and sweat starting to build up on my forehead. This was my first time fighting and I had to do it against fucking wolves. This tutorial was a bit too hard but there was no way around it.
Three wolves appeared on our side and a sudden fear gripped my heart, making me take a step back. I was already prepared to turn around and start running, when the chief's voice sounded in my ears "If you turn back and run they will immediately leap on you."
That was enough for me to freeze on the spot, looking at the wolves that were slowly approaching. As the chef was in front of me, the three wolves just pounced on him, ignoring me. The chief took a step backwards as well to escape the pincer and thrust his spear towards the head of the leading wolf. That wolf used his mouth to actually bite on the tip of the spear as it pierced it's throat, making the chief unable to retract his spear for a moment. The other two wolves pounced from the side, one towards me and the other towards the chief. As the chief took a step back earlier he was now not that far away from me.
I could actually feel death closing in on me, when time around seemed to slow down and Ai said inside my mind.
[You already died once, so, is there any need to be afraid of dying again? Also, remember the reason you are here, the reason you are doing all this. Now, jump towards the wolf attacking the chief and plunge your spear inside it's belly while it is still in the air from the pounce. Ignore the one attacking you, it will at most cause a light wound and the chief will be able to deal with it right after.]
Hearing Ai's words, I suddenly realized she was right. Ignoring my fast beating heart and the fear I was feeling, I jumped towards the other wolf that was close to bitting the chief's throat and pierced it's belly with my spear mid jump. The wolf that was pouncing towards me missed it's intended target but still managed to take a bite our of my right leg.
As I grunted in pain from the bite, the chief, finally freeing his spear, used it to pierce the throat of the wolf that was munching on my leg. As all the wolves on our side were dead, the chief crouched down next to me and used a piece of leather to wrap around my leg, stopping the bleeding..
"You did good, kid. Even managed to save me from a serious wound. Good job."
I wanted to feel proud, but when I looked down I realized that I pissed myself during the fight. Ashamed, I just looked down at the yellow snow under my body, refusing to reply.
"Haha, you are not the first to have an accident like this on their first hunt."
I ignored the laughing chief as I asked Ai 'How's my exp after that?'.
[Experience 4/100]
'You got to be kidding me? Only four exp for that?'
[That was just a normal animal. The monsters that are made completely our of the energy of the world will provide more experience, while animals and people, who just absorb energy in a passive way since birth or by killing don't give that much experience.]
'Fuck. How am I supposed to hunt down 24 more wolves when just one of them managed to wound me this bad?'
[You will need to practice more and increase your combat experience.]
While I was speaking with Ai, the chief rounded all the other warriors and started getting ready to carry the killed wolves back to camp.
"We killed 21 wolves and lost only one member. Considering we were ambushed, this is a pretty good result. Let's carry our pray and go home."
All the other men got riled up and started tying the wolves together, preparing to drag them home. On the way back, the chief carried me on his back. After the fight was over and all the adrenaline gone from my system, I managed to fall asleep on his back.
When I woke up, I was back in the igloo I lived together with Anna and she was busy slowly cleaning up my wound and bandaging it.
"Thank you, Anna."
She was startled by my words and turned towards me. Her eyes moistened a little as she said
"I'm happy you are alive, Ethan. I heard from the others that you managed to kill a wolf and even helped the chief out."
I was a bit proud when she started listing up my 'achievements'. Puffing out my chest I said with pride "Did you expect anything less from me?" choosing to ignore my own shameful display.
A crisp laughter escaped her lips as she replied "My hero.", and grabbed one of my hands.
After hearing the chief's words, I would be an idiot not to notice her feelings anymore. I didn't really understand why she was so attached to me, but I felt the need to clear some things up. Sighing out loud, I said to her.
"Anna, I'm sorry but I already have someone else in my heart and I can't respond to your feelings." It's not that I was not attracted to her, just that I felt like I was betraying my girlfriend if I let it go further.
Her head drooped down a little as she release my hand and said "Can't you be with me as well?"
"Huh?" I was a bit confused by her question.
"I don't care if I have to share you with someone." Said Anna, blushing a little.
"Huh?" I asked again, my mind blanking out again as I said inside my mind 'Ai?'
[Ethan, judging by her words, in this world polygamy seems to be the norm.]
'So that's how it is..' Now things made a little more sense, but used with the life on Earth, polygamy was not a normal things for me.
"Anna, in the place I come from, people usually only have one husband or one wife."
"So, does this mean that you will not accept me?" said Anna, tears threatening to fall from her eyes again.
It was like she knew what my weakness was. A conflicted feeling appeared inside my hear, on one side, I was actually grateful for everything Anna did for me and even a bit attracted to her. On the other, accepting her felt like I was throwing away and betraying Alison.
Sighing once again, I said to her "Anna, I'm new to this place so give me some time to get used to it. I don't know what will happen in the future but I can promise that I will think about it and give you an answer soon."
She nodded meekly before standing up and saying "I will go grab some food."
Watching her leave I asked Ai again 'Ai, what do you think?'
[I have no opinions on this matter, Ethan]
'If I manage to save this world, what will happen after? Do I have to leave this world and abandon Anna here? If so, is there any point in accepting her?'
[You will be able to link this world with the Nexus, making accessing this world not that hard, but you will only be able to visit this world from the Nexus. To be able to visit her whenever you want you will need to absorb the Nexus inside your soul. For that you will need a whole lot of points.]
'Can I make that many points while inside this world?'
[It's not possible. The number is a lot higher than you would expect.]
As we were talking, Anna came back, passed me the soup and walked out again without saying another word. She was obviously a bit down but I couldn't do anything about it.
Picking up the bowl of soup, I started eating while contemplating about my future plans.
'I should find someone in the village willing to train me in spear combat, but that will have to wait until I'm healed. Ai, do you know how long will that take?'
[You should be able to train in two months or so, as for full healing, it should take about one an a half months.]
'But two week is too long, do you have any idea what I could do until then?'
[There is the option to simulate combat inside your soul space. This will drain your spirit slowly tho.]
'At what rate?'
[You will use around 10 spirit per hour, so you should be able to use your soul space for twelve hours. Your spirit can only be recovered while sleeping and the rate is the same as the consumption rate. Also, getting hurt in that space will also drain your spirit so it might decrease the time that you can spend in there further.]
'How do I go about entering the soul space?"
[You just need to tell me and I will transport your soul there. The same goes about exiting.]
'Can you do it now?'
As soon as I asked, a while light obscured my vision and when I could finally see again, I was in an wide white space and my entire body was transparent. I looked around for a moment before asking out loud.
"What happened to my real body?"
[You will appear asleep to anyone who checks on you. Do you wish to simulate your fight with the wolves again?]
"Yes". The entire white space started changing, becoming a forest that looked similar to the one I fought earlier. After the entire forest materialized, a wolf also appeared followed by a spear near where I was standing.
[The simulation will start as soon as you move to attack.]
As soon as Ai finished speaking, I grabbed the spear and charged towards the wolf. The wolf moved swiftly to a side before pouncing towards my neck. I tried to block it's attack but I was too slow and he managed to bite my neck. A sharp pain spread through my entire body, a pain a lot worse than the one I felt when it bit my leg in the real world. The wolf disappeared immediately after bitting me and Ai's voice resounded again in the surroundings.
[Any damage you sustain here is damage to your soul. That one drained 40 spirit from your total pool.]
"Couldn't you have warned me before?"
[You didn't ask. It wouldn't have changed anything anyway. Tell me when you want to restart.]
"I feel like you must really enjoy messing with me."
[I don't know what you're talking about.]
"Tsk.. Fine, start again."
I fought the wolf a couple more times, not managing to wound it even once, before my spirit reached critical levels and I returned to the real world.
'Ai, how come I didn't even manage to kill the wolf once? I killed the one in the forest in my first try.'
[That only happened because the wolf was focusing on attacking the chief, not paying any attention to you. While the wolf is fully focused on you, killing it would be a lot harder.]
'I guess it makes sense. Anyway, I'm going to sleep now.'
I never felt as tired as I did now. Closing my eyes, I drifted to sleep right away.
When I woke up the next morning, Anna was snuggled close to me again, completely naked. Not wanting to disturb her, I went back inside my soul space and fought the wolf again. After getting my ass handed to me again, I went straight to sleep to recover my spirit. When I opened my eyes in the evening, Anna was hugging me tightly and crying on my chest. Confused, I asked her.
"What happened, Anna? Why are you crying?"
"Ethan!" She immediately raised her head and tears started falling from her eyes even harder: "I thought you were going to die.. Waa."
I hugged her and started petting her on the head before asking "I was just sleeping. What made you think I was going to die?"
"You were asleep the entire day and when I tried to wake you up you wouldn't react at all."
"Oh.. Don't worry, there is nothing wrong with me."
"Then why wouldn't you wake up?"
[You must not reveal anything about me or the Nexus.]
'Don't worry, I wasn't planning to.'
"It's a secret. I can only tell you that I will be fine. Do you trust me?" After she nodded, I spend half an hour consoling and assuring her.
This entire routine continued for two weeks and eventually Anna got used to me sleeping all day. One week ago I finally managed to kill the wolf once, prompting Ai to add another one. Fighting two wolves was basically torture. Now after two weeks my wounds are finally healed enough for me to start moving around.
Early in the morning, after I just recovered my spirit, I walked out of Anna's igloo and made my way towards the Chief. Today was the day I would ask him if he could help teach me how to fight with a spear.