Michael found himself wandering into a grass hut village wearing only a disarming smile.
'Please don't stab me. Please don't stab the naked stranger'.
The women of the village took note of him and quickly rushed their children and themselves inside the huts. Soon, Michael was surrounded by men dressed in animal furs and carrying sharpened sticks that had been made into spears.
"Hello friends! I'm not dangerous. No need to get all stabby. I got dropped off by the Goddess Sara, and she told me to come talk to you." Michael said to the group of heavily armed and un-smiling men.
"You said the goddess brought you?" A voice said from behind the men. They separated and an extremely old woman strode forward and glared at him up and down. "This is the mighty warrior the goddess brought us? You don't look like much. You look like a tall earthworm. Where are your clothes?" Her rapid fire delivery was harsh and left a sour taste in Michael's mouth.
"I don't have any. The goddess said she didn't bring anything from my world. If you happen to have any spare clothes lying around, I'll gladly put them on."
She glared at him, making chewing motions with her mouth, like she had a chaw of tobacco. "What you think, we're just going to give you clothes? Pah! You must have brain like an earthworm too."
Michael ground his teeth, and thought back to Sara asking him to be kind. "Perhaps there's something I can do to try and earn clothes from you?"
"Pah! You want free things, go fight the spiders. They always stealing from our village and killing our warriors. Plenty of free out there." The old woman pointed to the west, towards the forest. Off in the distance Michael could see trees that were covered in spider webs.
'
Fantastic. Go fight spiders, butt naked. That's normal.'
"Can I at least get a spear or something? I can't exactly stomp spiders to death with no shoes on."
The old woman just waved and walked away. The men nearby closed on him forcing him back the way he came. They didn't look so aggressive anymore, now they almost looked like they felt bad for him. None of them offered him a spear though.
Michael stormed off towards the spider next grumbling the whole way. "Old bitch sending me off to get bit on the dick by spiders. Goddamn assholes wouldn't even give me a weapon."
He kept his head on a swivel while he made his way to the trees. He picked up several discarded sticks and branches that looked decent, but finally settled on one that ended in a big knot. He swung the improvised mace back and forth a few times trying to get a feel for the weight. It wasn't a flamethrower, but it'll have to do.
Way before he was comfortable with the idea, Michael was at the woods. Spider webs were absolutely everywhere. They hung from every horizontal surface like sheets. Brushing his hand along one, quickly made it clear that the webbing was strong enough that he would have to be careful, he could easily become hindered in the sticky mess and that was a quick way to end up with spider fangs in his ass.
Thankfully it was still mid afternoon, and there was no obligatory eerie fog over the area that seemed to pervade every other game he'd ever played. Nope. this was just trees, filled with webbing. Hiding murderous man eating spiders.
'
Yaaaaay.'
Michael crept through the woods, keeping an eye on the branches looking for anything that looked mean. As he crept deeper and deeper into the trees the webbing became thicker. Eventually he was forced to start pulling the webs apart instead of ducking around them. At the very first swing of his stick he heard rustling from the trees above him.
A brown spider the size of his head was climbing through the branches and making a beeline right for him. Even at ten feet away he could see fangs the size of his little finger. Michael backed up creating some distance and hoping to catch the spider on the ground.
'
Of course they're brown. Camouflage. Fantastic.'
Then the spider stopped on the lowest branch, bunched itself up, and lept straight for Michael's face.
He threw himself to the ground with a panicked scream as the spider sailed over his head.
"Fucking jumping spiders?! Thanks for the heads up grandma."
He quickly spun and saw the spider was already racing towards him. Adrenaline shot through his body and he brought the makeshift club down on the spider with all the force he could muster.
The spider was instantly crushed beneath the heavy stick, exploding like a bag of puss in all directions. The goo that was the spiders insides splashed all over Michael's legs.
'
Great, now I'm naked, weaponless, in a nest full of spiders... and covered in puss. Oh god I think I'm gonna be sick.'
DING
You have learned a new weapon: Club
An improvised weapon made from heavy lumber. It's good for whacking things.
Skill 1/100
DING
You have created a new skill: Bash
Bring a blunt weapon down with force on a foe, doing STRxWeapon damage. Requires 5SP
Skill 1/100
'
Huh. So thats how that works. Explains why Sara mentioned practice.'
As he was reading the prompts, Michael noticed a grey mist rise from the spiders husk and fly directly into his chest. He quickly looked to his health bar to see if he was poisoned, but felt nothing and saw no indicators.
'Maybe that's not how this game works. Maybe I'll only notice when my chest starts to rot.'
He then noticed something in his SP bar. It was empty earlier, but now it sat at 5SP. '
Oh! So that's like my experience! I gain soul power from the things I kill. Got it. Sweet. Time to level up and smash me some spideys.'
He didn't have to wait long. He turned to start heading back into the trees and saw that there were three more spiders scuttling across the ground. They were almost on top of him. With a cry, Michael whacked the first one and dodged as the other two went sailing through right where he had been standing.
