Chapter 5: Chapter 5 – Testing Theories

Although humans were short-lived in comparison to the elder race, they were as numerous as the trees in the forest and were almost as ferocious as the barbaric orcs of the Long Hills. The League and the Old Empire ceased their endemic wars, united with the promise of gifts of powerful elven artifacts and mithril bullion.

- On the Cataclysm by an unknown Quassian Scholar circa 103 AC

Looking at the night sky I saw a veritable ocean of stars shimmering down like a bright tapestry, with a single large moon as an ephemeral counterpoint to their shining light. For all of its beauty, however, something was wrong. Though no student of astrology, I could not see a single familiar constellation or guiding star. This emphasized an unexpected feeling of homesickness and loneliness that only compounded my misery.

The plan was to stay awake for the rest of the night to keep watch on the pond below.  However this intent shattered when faced with the cruel reality of my tired body. Exhausted, my eyes felt like lead as the exertions of the battle rush left me cold and shivering. Slowly and inexorably, like the turning of seasons, I closed my eyes and faded into a troubled sleep.

I slowly awoke as morning sunlight played across my eyes between the bows of the tree. Rushing then to panicked wakefulness, I looked around with wild eyes searching for threats. There was nothing but an endless sea of grass as far as the eye could see under a cloudless sky.  Sometime in the night my robe had dried out, and I was at least no longer shivering.  The warm sun shone down on me as I attempted to gather myself toward some semblance of calm.

The rough lesson I had learned so far was that this was a world that taught in pain and suffering. Those that did not stand up to muster would die.  Checking my notifications it seemed that I had gained another point of Constitution. I hypothesized that this was the reason both my maximum Health and my Stamina had increased. Perhaps there was a threshold where increasing my basic attributes improved my Health, Stamina, and Mana?

Muttering to myself, I swore to increase my Constitution as often as I could. I simply did not want to feel the awful pain anymore. Checking the rest of my stats I noted I had gained a new skill 'Rest,' which was at level one. It appeared I could gain skills from the most innocuous of things. I registered that my Health was just under the maximum and my Mana was now full. I needed to know more about the world I was in. I needed more data. It was time to experiment.

STATUS

---