Chapter 6: Hunting Shadows

Three days passed. Three long, boring, and uneventful days, two of which were spent traveling. The last, when we reached the fall, was spent setting up a camp at the foot of the mountain. There was in fact a sizable lake it spilled out into, which we learned very quickly was home to countless fish and reptiles, some of which were dangerous.

I spent most of my time between cutting down trees explaining what I learned about the System to Martin. I told him about it responding to my emotions and how I unlocked a 'talent' because of it.

Today was day four of our seven-day trial. By now, everything was second nature; we explored, studied wildlife, gathered resources, levelled up, and completed achievements. With the rewards, we bolstered our small encampment even more. We earned leather waterskins and a kettle, which meant we were not only able to

At this point, survival was easy. We made torches to completely wipe out all the shadows within our camp. We fished with spears and nets we earned from completing achievements, hunted with bows and arrows, and I cut down trees to gather wood for the massive bonfire we lit every night.

I lounged around the camp, stretched out on bed fashioned from leaves. Martin was out hunting, which left me with no one to talk to and a mind in need of entertainment.

Player stats. After playing around with words and phrases, I learned that the System could respond to a wide variety of them. In doing so, I earned a talent that increased something called "System Proficiency."

My level was twelve, nearly double Martin's, but he was slow to learn about the System and its limitless potential. I didn't expect him to understand—nonetheless, it was quite impressive he managed to retain the information he did. The elderly weren't exactly known for stalwart adaptability.

What truly amazed me was how quickly his archery improved. He attributed it to a life of hunting and having served in the armed forces. Despite being a lower level than me, though, his archery skill far superseded any of mine. He had talents that made him more likely to critically injure something when using a ranged weapon, some that made it easier for him to level marksmanship related skills, and had quite the number of titles.

Needless to say, I left the hunting to the person who could hit their shots.

I checked my stat menu and was impressed, as always, to find them so horribly askew. Most of my points were in constitution and strength, two of eight stats. The rest were dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, charisma, perception, and luck.

I scratched my cheek. At this rate I'll end up a tank. I was rarely fond of tank playstyles in games; of all the classes, tank was the most boring. Healers kept everyone alive, and so to play the game well was stressful. Damage dealers were always embroiled in competition, trying to dish out as much as possible with the smoothest, most effective combos. Supports gave everyone buffs and had to make sure they cycled through them properly so the damage dealers would be better prepared for DPS phase. What did tanks do?

They took a beating. No tank had flashy moves or an ultimate that made the class worth picking. Tanks were slow, sluggish, and always had to take the beating so everyone else could have fun.

Well, at least my health is stacked. I stood up and stretched, bringing my hands down to my toes. This is real life, not a game. Fights aren't about whether or not they're exciting—they're about if you live or die.

Being a tank wouldn't suck because it wasn't fun. It would be horrible because I'd get hurt. However, if I could pump everything into constitution and strength, I'd be unstoppable.

I opened my inventory and took out the axe, which I'd taken to calling Shadowsplitter. I wasn't going to sit around doing nothing today. If these stats and attributes carried over to the next Trial, then it was best to grow as much as possible in the allotted time while we were safe.

The trees stood no chance at all.

I cut them down, absolutely devastating them without mercy or so much as a second thought. They fell, and some of them collapsed on one another. For the most part, they simply rolled off, damaging the other trees a little in the process. Some were uprooted, however, and there was the occasional domino effect.

I was amazed at the thickness of the forest. I cut down tree after tree, my experience growing. When one fell, I set about chopping it into logs, then threw them into the inventory.

Back at the camp, I made a chopping block out of the trunk of a particularly thick tree. Whenever I finished cutting down trees for the day, I would bring back the thick chunks and split them into halves, then into quarters.

By the time Martin returned, my level had grown to fourteen. The talents I earned grew stronger the more I slaved away at cutting down trees. Whenever one of my talents or titles grew or evolved, the stat bonuses provided were also increased. It was marginal, only a single point usually, but it would inevitably add up in the end.

Martin approached me while I was reading up on a new skill I unlocked, [Logger's Fury]. It increased my strength shortly after cutting down trees, which made it easier to cut down the next one.

"You've cut down quite the number," he marveled.

I turned to look at my progress and froze. It was...alarming, to say the least. So much of the forest was left in complete and utter devastation. I'd seen things like it before, back home. Entire rainforests devastated; woodland habitats destroyed. Never had I seen one and realized that I alone was responsible for it.

Whole chunks of trees were gone, completely eviscerated by my axe. I felt remorseful looking out at all the trunks, a sea of graves that only hinted at the former beauty of what once was. It wasn't just that the trees were gone, but that I had destroyed something without needing to for selfish gain.

I closed my eyes. Everything had a cost, no matter how small. Even though it was beautiful, it had to be done. I wasn't in the position to feel sorrowful about what happened to the trees. I had to keep destroying them to guarantee our survival.

"I suppose I have." I put a hand on my hip and sighed. My gaze wandered to the sky, which by now had turned into a thick blanket of dark, swirling greys. "How did the hunting go?"

"Two rabbits," Martin answered. "One has already been cleaned, so we'll save the other for the morning."

I nodded. We turned back and wandered over to the camp, sitting down on the small logs we used as seats. We sat in silence while Martin prepared our meal for the evening, a rabbit stew with nuts and what he believed were wild vegetables. I listened to the sound of Martin chopping meat and the hissing of water dumped onto heated iron.

There were only three days left. Three days, and then the second trial would begin—whatever that meant. I only hoped it would be less eerie than surviving alone in a forest.

Beep.

My head snapped to the System notification.

THE MOON SWALLOWS THE SUN.

"Isaac."

THE SHADOWS SWELL. THE NIGHT IS COLD AND FULL OF LONGING.

Everything went dark. Martin grabbed me and dragged me closer to the fire. My eyes darted around. The forest had changed; night came upon us suddenly, and in the darkness countless lumps formed. They churned about, moving slowly in random directions between the trees.

Trial Update: Slay [King of Shadows] in 3 days.

Shadowsplitter was in my hands immediately. The familiar strength that swept through my body quelled my trembling. I watched the shadows aimlessly throw themselves at tree stumps, dissolving them into their slimy mass.

They were growing.

"What do we do?" Martin panicked. He turned to me expectantly, but all I could do was flounder for answers.

Quickly, hastily, before either of us could fall too deeply into fear, I examined the situation. They couldn't see, otherwise they would've gone straight for us. Since that was the case, we, at the very least, stood a chance.

I squeezed Shadowsplitter nervously.

That's when I realized something.

"We need to...kill them."

Martin gawked at me. "What? What do you mean? There's too many of them!"

I explained the situation as calmly as possible. If they couldn't see, the chances that we could kill them without complications was high. We needed to test it first, though.

"We need to understand their behavior, Martin."

He shook his head. "It's too dangerous."

"Sorry, Martin," I laughed. "Someone must do it. If anything dangerous happens, make sure to put that bow of yours to good use."

My trusted axe began to glow in the darkness. I gave the old man a subtle nod before walking away, blocking out his incessant pleas that I turn around and 'return to safety.'

I had a feeling like a small itch at the base of my neck that, no matter how safe I thought I was, the only way to really become safe was to put myself in harm's way and become stronger. Though the System helped us survive our first four days, it had proven itself capable of changing whenever it felt necessary.

I wasn't going to die because I wanted to be safe.

I inched close to one of the blobs and the System flickered to existence.

[Minor Impurity]

Level: 3

A lesser impurity borne from the Deep Heart of the Shadow King.

I pulled the axe back and then slammed it down, crushing the blob instantly. It erupted into a geyser of black filth that covered my face and clothes, but an alert from the System told me that I'd just levelled up.

I stood there, hesitating. Was the filth going to burn me? I waited nervously, expecting the very real possibility that, at any moment, my skin could begin tingling.

It never came, so I moved on to the next target. It was just as easy to defeat.

I kept crushing, slashing, cutting, and destroying until a concerned Martin shouting my name drew my attention back to reality. He was standing close to the fire, gesturing at me to come closer. I did so without even checking the fields of defeated impurities surrounding our camp, ignoring the piles of notifications in my peripheral.

"I saw something at the foot of the mountain," Martin stammered, his voice shaky. "It was much larger than those other ones. I don't know where it went, but...no. No, don't tell me you're going to try to find it!"

My hands trembled. For some reason, I couldn't stop thinking about what might happen if we didn't finish the quest. The threat looming in the distance concerning Earth became more and more real every time I thought about all the things the System could do. If there was even a chance at saving Earth, I had to take it.

"Martin, we need to get stronger."

My words were meant for myself as much as for him. I had to steel myself and start taking risks. I turned to head to the mountain, shouldering past Martin, who managed to catch my arm just as I walked past.

"Do you hear yourself? It isn't safe out there! You need someone to help you if you're going to kill so many of them. And just—just listen to yourself! This isn't a game. If you die, there's no coming back."

"We die anyways if we don't do anything." Martin's grip loosened. His shoulders slumped. I had no choice but to go forwards. "If you want to follow me, stay close."

Not long after I set off in the direction of the mountains, I heard footsteps coming from behind me. Martin sprinted to catch up, his quiver hastily tied onto his belt and bow in hand. He muttered insults under his breath about brash, ignorant young men, but I smiled to myself