Chapter 2: The Chained Maiden

I groaned as I sat up from the cold floor I woke up on. I stared up at the ceiling that was dotted with various stalactites. Luckily I had not landed on a stalagmite, otherwise I might not be here to tell the tale. Regardless, It looked like I had been unconscious for awhile, considering how thirsty and hungry I was. That was also not surprising, considering I had fallen at least twenty feet from the roof to the floor. My clothes were torn in a few places from the rough landing and I could feel some dried blood in my hair and on my back. I wondered around a bit and finally saw a ray of light. I rounded a large column where a stalactite and stalagmite merged, and saw a relatively small cave entrance. I mean, it was not like a crawl space or anything. It was also not a gaping maw at the entrance of the cave either. The entrance was probably about 8 feet tall and only about 7 feet wide. Outside was a beautiful stretch of woods, with a tiny path leading from the cave entrance through the winding woods. My stomach grumbled slightly, leading me to try my luck in wandering through the forest.

Despite how hungry I was I tried my best to take it slow, considering I was now in an unfamiliar place with a near infinite amount of unknown factors present. After a bit of searching I managed to find a few low hanging fruits. Literally, not figuratively. There were some apple trees dotted around the area. I used my shirt as a basket and gathered up 10 of them and an 11th to munch on as I searched for fresh water. While Apples themselves contained water it was nowhere near enough to satisfy the human body's need for hydration. Fortunately, it did help to dull the pangs of thirst, even if only momentarily. After a few hours of searching and a few apples later, I managed to find a fresh water river. When I say fresh I mean it. It looked as if it almost glowed with vitality, which made me take a deeper look at the nature around me. It was vibrant, unbelievably so. The greenest grass and leaves, the clearest water, the bluest sky, the happiest and healthiest noises of nature I had ever had the pleasure of enjoying.

"Beautiful." I muttered to myself as I momentarily got lost in the exquisite nature around me. After a few moments of reverent observation I sat my apples down on the shore line and got into the foot deep water. I couldn't contain the sigh of pleasure at the cool and crisp water running past my now squeaky clean feet and ankles. I knelt down and started washing the dried blood off the back of my head and back, making sure I did not touch it too much or too hard so the wounds would not re-open. I rinsed myself off and made sure to clean my clothes as best as possible, after cleaning them I left them on the shore to dry under the sun and drank water and scrubbed myself to my heart's content.

After bathing and washing my clothes I laid down in the soft grass and stared up at the sky. It was definitely later in the day, at least past noon. I had no way to tell the exact time since My phone was broken in the fall and even if it was not broken I had no way to know whether it would be accurate or not in a completely different dimension. As much as I hated the goddess that abandoned me in the middle of nowhere, I could not deny the appeal of this natural purity. The air was as fresh as it could possibly be. The only strange thing was that I did not see many animals. I heard some insects and a few birds here and there. But there was largely no life forms in the vicinity of the cave. Not that it matters to me very much since there is plenty of fruit to eat.

With a grunt and some effort I stood up, gathered my remaining apples, and headed back to the cave. It only took a few minutes since I remembered the way back to the cave. I decided to use the large column as a hiding space for my food, placing it on one of the naturally formed shelves on the back side of the pillar. After doing that I went back to the river and gathered up as many stones as I could carry in my shirt without it ripping and took them back, placing them in a circle near the entrance of the cave for ventilation purposes. By the time the sun began going down, I had a nice little fire and a decent pile of sticks and logs to not only block wind from extinguishing the fire, but also keep wind from buffeting me while I slept. I sat behind my little wall of fire wood, casually stirring the fire with a long stick I found. I munched on an apple and stared at the flames dancing in front of me. As I was staring at the fire, almost in a trance, I was brutally brought back to reality by a rectangular box appearing in my face. I let an extraordinarily masculine scream and once I calmed down I took a closer look at what appeared before me.

Was a semi-transparent royal purple box, with intricate golden patterns on the sides and corners that looked similar to leaf designs used in Ancient Greece. The Center almost looked embroidered with golden text.

'You have gained a new skill- [Survivalist (E)]'

"That's right! I remember that stupid goddess mentioned something about saying a specific word when the others got to the place their portal led... I think it was 'System'" I thought out loud and smiled when I saw a familiar looking System panel show up. "Just like a video game!" I exclaimed, ecstatic that a long time fantasy of mine came true. After all, who wouldn't want to live their life like it was a video game. The panel itself was the same Royal purple as the alert box was, except much larger. It had a bunch of information listed as well.

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Name- Nicholas Steinberg

Level- 1

Race- Human

Age- 16

Blessing(s)-

Curse(s)-

Skill(s)- [Discerning Eye(E)], [Survivalist (E)]

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I decided to click on [Discerning Eye] to see if I got a description and surprisingly one popped up.

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Discerning Eye

Rank- E

You are able to pick up on small details others might miss. Due to your discerning eyes you can view some information about the things around you!

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With that description out of the way I decided to click on [Survivalist] as well.

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Survivalist

Rank- E

You are a true survivalist! Having accomplished the basics of wilderness survival: Food, Fire, and Shelter! You now have an easier time surviving in the wild!

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'Perfect. Both of these will help tremendously in making sure I can survive out here. I am guessing the skills in this world are based off of actions instead of just getting scrolls or books like in traditional video games. I will need to test it more though...' I thought to myself as I swiped away the notification boxes. 'I wonder what the significance of levels are in this world though. There is no experience bar that I can see, nor are there any stats. Well, I will have to figure that out at a later date. I need some sleep now.' I laid my head down on my hand and turned my body to face the fire. I slowly drifted off to sleep as the waves of warmth from the fire washed over me.

~A Few days later~

Over the past couple of days I had managed to turn my cave into a complete base. Using large leaves from trees in the vicinity of the cave I managed to construct myself a matt on the floor to sleep on. I gathered enough firewood for at least 2 days of keeping my small fire going, just incase it rained. I found a couple of sharp stones and used them to chip away at some branches to make some, admittedly dull, spears. The sharp end of the spear was not exactly razor sharp, but if I threw it or stabbed with it hard enough I was pretty certain it would be able to pierce some smaller animals. In addition I made a few small rope strands out of some bark fibers to help make a crude axe. I have to be careful not to damage it but it works alright. What was interesting to find out, is that like a game, things around me are considered items. Which means the things I make are considered items like in a video game. So essentially making anything in this world counts as crafting. Even the items use the same video game like interface.

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Crude Wooden Spear

Rank- E

A sturdy but crude spear carved using river stones and a strong tree branch.

Crude Wooden Axe

Rank- E

A crude axe made using a sharp stone, some rope, and a sturdy tree branch.

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Aside from the tools I created, I also gathered a decent amount of fruit each day. I even made a small bowl to drink water from. It let me carry back enough water to drink during the night, so that I did not have to go out during the dark.

Even over the past few days I had hardly seen any living creature other than myself around the cave. It really got me curious if there was something inside the cave warding living beings off. After all, animals do have a better sense of danger than humans do. The cave itself was under a giant mountain, so it had to have been something deep inside. Which lead me to where I am now.

I had decided to explore the cave with a torch I made. They did not last long so i made sure to move fast through the cave. There was only one way deeper inside, which also made it easier to find the end. It's just... I didn't expect to find an old and heavily weathered metal door with multiple esoteric looking magic circles carved into it. I leaned my torch against a wall nearby and tried pushing open the door. It didn't budge.

"Abracadabra!" I shouted. Nothing happened.

"Alecazam!" Nothing

"I, Nicholas Steinberg, Beseech the to open thy door and let this weary traveler enter your presence!" Even while kneeling nothing happened.

I spend a few minutes examining the circles, which didn't do any good. The symbols on the door looked similar to Nordic runes I had seen in some old history books I read and a few video games. I started tracing the runes and circles when I felt a stinging sensation in my finger. I jerked back and saw a little bit of blood flowing from my finger. I guess I had cut myself on a sharp piece of weathered metal. Instantly a bright light shone from the rune circle where my blood was left. I smiled and put drops of blood on each of the other rune circles, causing them all to light up and a small unlocking noise was heard. I smirked and gave the door another push. It opened with ease and inside was a large room with torches burning in even intervals across the circular room. In the center were two massive pillars made of a strange silverish metal. It looked similar to silver and iron, but it was strange. It radiated a strange power. Between those two pillars were chains with links as thick as a person's arm, with cuffs as thick as a man's thigh. Handing limply was a woman. Her skin had a deep and rich tan, despite being inside of a cave. Her hair was a deep black, that reached her waist, shrouding her face. Her legs stretched on for what seemed like miles, with thick hips and a perfect waist. She definitely had a smaller chest than the goddess I met previously, but it was no less astonishing. Poking out of her long hair were two long ears, similar to an elf's ears. I approached her cautiously.

I jumped back when she began moving. Her head raised slightly and her eyes opened tiredly. Her eyes were a rich and shining purple, as intoxicating as a drug. Her light pink lips curled up in a kind smile and her eyes shone with curiosity. "Who are you child?" She said, her voice quiet and slightly raspy.

"My name is Nicholas. What is your name?" I asked and used [Discerning Eye] on her.

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Name- ?????????

Level- ???

Race- ????

Age- ???

Blessing(s)- ????

Curse(s)- [Magic Syphon(EX)], [Immobility(SSS], [Physical Weakening(SSS)], [Immortality (SSS)]....

Skill(s)- ????

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"Firstly, it is not nice to take a peak at someone else's information." She said, a mischievous smile graced her lips as I backed up a step. "Secondly, I do not remember my name. I have been here for many, many years. My name was one of the first things I let go of. Now all that remains is the title I was given." She continued, the playful smile never left her face.

"What are you called?" I asked cautiously.

"Gluttony."