Within the darkness of the cave a chest glimmered. Unlike every other chest Atlas had previously witnessed this one wasn't wooden, but rather bronze. Raising an eye upon witnessing it, the young man began to feel some excitement.
'If wooden chests held such overpowered items, imagine what a bronze chest might contain.' He then approached the chest and in a practiced motion reached his hand towards it.
[Ring of Enhanced Senses F-Grade]
Reading the prompt Atlas couldn't help but smile. F-Grade! And it was his first item of that level. He'd played enough video games to know that this item was likely exponentially better than anything else he'd obtained thus far.
The ring itself was made of bronze, and had lined engravings. Grabbing it, the young man placed it on his finger. 'Hmm it doesn't seem like-' Just as Atlas was going to ponder on its functions he noticed the walls of the cave, and then the floor beneath him.
"Ch Ch Ch"
He could hear the leaves rustle outside the cave. The stench of blood on his body, and the wolf's corpse then assaulted his nostrils, and even his body seemed to move in slow motion. As his brain began to adjust, he was amazed by the effects of this new item, but simultaneously overwhelmed.
Fortunately after a few minutes his body adjusted fully, his senses returning to normal. Although now if he so willed them to, they could enhance in prowess dramatically. 'This place is truly mysterious. Its time I leave the cave and I should try find somewhere to wash off. The stench of blood might attract the Ogres.'
Atlas then walked past the wolf corpse and out of the cave. He tracked back to a lake he had found previously upon arriving there he washed his sword and wiped the blood off his body. While he humored the idea of just jumping in and bathing, he avoided doing so for fear of the Ogre's attacking him.
'Now that I think about it, I am neither hungry or thirsty.' Despite having found the lake some time ago the thought of drinking the water never crossed his mind. Now of course the water was rather dreadful, but upon initial discovery it was actually rather clean.
'The thing is initially I definitely felt hunger and thirst but at some point it inexplicably disappeared. Maybe it was an item I found? But I doubt it as the only one that might meet that criteria would be the Amulet of Strength but that was well into my exploration. Maybe its the work of the tutorial itself? After all it never stated finding a water or food source as a suggestion, also besides the wolf which was guarding treasure there is no source of food. Unless of course we were expected to eat the Ogres.'
Atlas continued to analyse as he washed himself off. Obviously he couldn't get rid of all the blood, since he wasn't going to wash his clothes for obvious reasons. He just hoped that this would be enough to lessen the scent, and maybe with the application of some dirt and rubbing some leaves on himself he could mask the scent entirely.
Once he was done Atlas made his way back into the greater forest. 'I guess now I'll just wait. Its not like I am going to hunt the Ogres or something. Maybe I should hunt for more treasure chests? But at the same time the mental and physical fatigue is going to catch up to me eventually even with these supernatural items.' With this in mind Atlas decided to head to another nearby cave.
He had found many by now and made sure to hide his tracks as he headed towards it. 'Its better to rest for now I can always search for more treasure chests closer to the end of the timer.' There was still around 18 hours left after all, so Atlas could always spend about 8 to 10 hours resting and then continue searching for the final 10.
Naturally the only issue now was he was left alone. Just him and his thoughts. Of course he'd been like this for most of the tutorial, but before he at least had tasks or goals. Escaping the Ogres, hiding his presence in the forest, searching for treasure, washing off the blood.
Now he was simply still. You could say a calm washed over him, but he had an odd calmness all this time. Even when he was initially panicked upon witnessing the Ogres, wasn't Atlas the one who made the rational decision to run. Not to mention the quick decision to change direction when encountering the barrier. Even the fact that he controlled his pace when escaping so as to not tire. Atlas himself noticed this. While typically he was a clear headed individual this was out of the norm even for him.
'Maybe the tutorial or the System is effecting me weirdly. While its ridiculous to use fiction as a basis, its not uncommon for people in these system-esque situations to gain odd powers and abilities. I mean I found a literally weightless sword, boots that make you faster, an amulet that allowed me to crush a rock and a ring that gave me super vision all in a few hours. It would be weirder if this place couldn't effect me oddly.'
Thinking to himself Atlas watched the timer tick down. Well figuratively that was, since unfortunately it didn't show the countdown to the second, at least not yet anyway. He suspected it might when there was an hour left, but he'd figure that out later.
Eventually his wandering thoughts led him to relaxing further and further. He listened to the soft sounds of the wind, and his eyes shut as he drifted off into sleep. This was naturally extremely unwise at this moment, but his body was already well beyond its limit at this moment.
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"THUMP!"
"THUMP!"
"THUMP!"