Free Fall

Sunshine shone as snow caps of Karosa mountains gradually melted, replenishing the Great Qun rivers. Life displayed its vibrance under the morning sun with horned rabbits frolicking among trunks of ancient trees reaching unimaginable heights.

*Crack*

A split in space opened up just between the crowns of those majestic trees. It spat out Anit still seated on his scooter and vanished abruptly just as it appeared.

*Whooosh*

'... the vehicle can be used to soften the fall...'

Anit emotionlessly decided, entirely unperturbed by his current predicament.

He shielded his body by using the scooter to block off extending branches between the two towering trees, which in turn also softened his fall.

*Crack-Crack*

The branches kept splintering and breaking as the vehicle in its fall crashed past them. Tensed, Anit kept looking down, past his ruined ride, at the ever closing forest floor. As his ride crashed past a branch at a not so dangerous height, he jumped off it, effectively abandoning his scooter and took hold of the splintered end of that branch.

After finding a foothold and pulling himself on top of the branch, Anit lied there hugging the branch to mitigate as much damage possible from what would happen next.

*Boooom*

The vehicle exploded the moment it crashed on ground. Plumes of explosion reaching Anit's position within seconds and all he could do was hold on tight to not fall to his death.

The tree he took refuge on was unaffected by the mundanity of that mana-less firework, having long been witness of catastrophic lifeforms the mountains hid.

[Unregistered discovered...]

A translucent cyan screen obstructed Anit's vision.

[Registering the lifeform to CRADLE...]

[Registered!]

Wary, Anit remained tensed for the follow ups of this sudden intrusion in his mind.

[Displaying Status...]

[NAME: Anit Mahajan

HP: 88/90

MP: 2/140

CLASS(Lvl): Scholar(7)

SUB-CLASS(Lvl): Athlete(5)

TITLE: Nerd

STATS:

-STR: 11

-AGI: 12

-END: 11

-VIT: 9

-INT: 16

-WIS: 17

-WILL:14

SKILLS(Level):

-PASSIVE: Stick Mastery(4), Unarmed Mastery(2)

-ACTIVE: Focus Boost(2)

STUDIES: Basic Science, Languages(English, Hindi, Sanskrit)

TALENT: .... Searching...]

[TALENT: Enhanced Mind]

[Alert!]

[Outer identified!]

[Stripping functions on accounts of suspected invasion...]

[Interface functions:

-Experience collection

-CLASS and SKILL Lvl up through Interface

-SKILL shop

-SKILL activation through Interface

-STATS upgrade through Interface

-TITLE boosts

Removed successfully!]

[Current CRADLE connection in view-only mode!]

[Displaying Status...]

[TITLE: Nerd

HP: 88/90

MP: 4/140

STATS:

-STR: 11

-AGI: 12

-END: 11

-VIT: 9

-INT: 16

-WIS: 17

-WILL:14

SKILLS(Lvl):

-PASSIVE: Stick Mastery(4), Unarmed Mastery(2)

-ACTIVE: Focus Boost(2)

STUDIES: Basic Science, Languages(English, Hindi, Sanskrit)

TALENT: Enhanced Mind]

'...'

Anit scrutinized it seriously, not dwelling much on the important functions his new toy lost because of some anomaly. His brows scrunched at the lack of information this panel displayed, including the lack of his name.

The panel as if reading his thoughts, overlapped the current screen with a new one.

[TITLE: Nerd: You are a N.E.R.D]

[HP: Congratulation! You are still alive... VIT*10]

[MP: Aabra-Ka-Dabra... WILL*10]

[STATS: How well your body can survive...

-STR: How much of an itch you can be...

-AGI: How irritating it would be to swat you...

-END: How hard it will be to crush you...

-VIT: How long it will take to crush you...

-INT: How much faster you can learn...

-WIS: In how many different ways you can be an annoyance...

-WILL: How you can be more annoying...]

[SKILL: Things you can do...

-PASSIVE: Can always do...

-ACTIVE: Needs conscious thought to work and puts strain on MP...]

[Stick Mastery: After years of hard work and practice, you can now wield your stick quite well...]

Anit was not at all amused by such a crass way of explanation. After giving a side glance to his badminton kit in which his racket lay, he continued reading.

[Unarmed Mastery: You are good at pounding someone...]

'.....'

[Focus Boost: You won't be multitasking if you want...]

[STUDIES: Dive down the rabbit hole you did...]

[TALENT: Enhanced Mind: You learn fast and your senses are keen, but you can be much more...(Permanently active)]

Anit skimmed past those pathetic excuses of introductions and gazed down, past the branch's cover, towards the lush flora surrounding the trunk, only a bit scorched by his ride's demise.

Now a predator's pack gathered below, infuriated by the sudden disturbance in their territory.

Anit tightened his badminton kit on his back and crawled towards the branch's stump.

'... Engage or not?...'

'Not...'

Deciding as such, Anit reached out for an adjacent branch, a bit more higher than his own. Pushing himself up, he made his way through the intertwined branches of the ancient trees, away from the wreckage of his once beloved ride.

He kept on crawling stooping branches, swinging by vines when necessary until he was at a seemingly safe area up among the trees, having a stable foothold made by years of natural extending and intersecting of branches.

Now somewhat safe from land predators, Anit sat on a part of foliage strong enough to support his weight and started planning for his survival in the primeval forests he now finds himself in.

'... the coming days will be long'

Anit gazed absent-mindedly at the looming verdant covering above him, entirely unaware of the chaos his presence caused to some beings at the top of their food chains.