I grab my spear and take one last drink of water before I start to explore past the creek. I leap across the creek after my drink and I start to walk away from the creek. I hope nothing dangerous pops out again. I cautiously make my way through the forest. Looking at all the different flora and fauna.
I see plants and leaves on the ground. Ferns being the plants that I walk through the most, densely packing the forest floor. The ferns are the green color on earth, not the mystical kind or Primoria. I see so many different colors in the forest. Pinks from the aspen trees, white from the birch and the bright blue from the pine trees. Oh! Speaking of pine trees I should look closer at them so I can get some pine sap. I will need to make it into pine tar to make glue out of it.
Once I see a blue pine tree I walk closer to it to see if there is any sap leaking out. I also look at the pine trees to get more information about them with my skill Identify. Even though it barely tells me anything, maybe if I can level it up it will tell me more information? I don't know but I will have to wait and see. Gathering more materials and surviving is the most important. Learning about my system comes second.
I get to the first pine tree that I saw and it's not leaking the amount of sap that I want. But I do want to know what my identify skill will say about the blue pine trees.
*Ding* [New Item Identified - Azure Pine Tree - A blue pine tree that leaks blue sap]
After learning that the pine trees are called a different type of blue. I'm still going to call them blue pine trees. Just easier to remember. I am curious what properties the sap has. Well I will have to collect some eventually. I move on to another pine tree to see if any sap is leaking.
I have gone to so many pine trees and they all barely leak any sap! Do I have to cut into the bark to make them leak? I really hope not. Maybe I'm just not lucky. I should keep exploring and keep the sap looking on the back burner. I move back the trail I was making so that I don't wander off and get lost.
I haven't seen many flowers on my exploratory walk. Could there be too much shade? I wanted to see how the flowers are on Primoria. That made me a little disappointed, but life goes on. My walk carries on for a long while mostly going in a straight line. Mostly in my thoughts and being cautious of my surroundings.
I did see some of the purple deer again. They didn't really spook when I walked near them. But if I got too close they bolted. They must not have been hunted much if they aren't too skittish. I can't wait till I get more tools and can start hunting them. Their fur looks so soft. Plus they are really big, some making me look small.... Well I kind of am small at the moment.
I keep walking and I hear rushing water. Way faster than a small creek, almost like rapids? I walk a little quicker wanting to see what the rushing water is all about. I get to the edge of the woods and see the rushing water. The water is the same color as some rivers in Alaska back on earth. A turquoise like color. The river is large with rapids running through. It snakes all over moving so much water.
I look around to see if there are any creatures around. There's not but the river clears out so many trees. I can look up from where it snakes and it just goes to the horizon. It goes so far that I lose sight of where it comes from. When I look at where the water is going it does the same. Goes so far that I lose where it stops.
When I follow the river I see different colored plants. Looking like ones that I know of earth but completely different as well. I make my way over to the plants to see what they are. One looks like a river cane but a dull grey almost shiny-like color. The normal color for river cane is a greenish yellow. The other being cattails. The normal color being green and brown. This one being fire-like colors. Reds, oranges and some yellows in it too.
I get close enough that I am a couple of feet away and wonder what identify will tell me.
*Ding* [Item's Identified - ???, ???]
Well shit, now I don't know what the properties of the 2 plants are. They must be similar to the rainbow tree back at base. The river cane looks like it covers a large portion on the side of the river. I take my spear and poke one of the canes hoping that it doesn't have a defense mechanism. I'm not trusting any plants that identify has as just question marks. Once I poke it nothing happens except a clunk with my spear. The leaves make a metallic like sound once they hit each other. I wonder if they have metal-like properties.
I hope they have metal like properties then I don't have to go looking for metal to smelt and stuff. I feel like that would be a real pain in my butt if I had to do that. I wonder what the cattail's are like. I'm going to assume fire related but I don't know unless I try. I first poke the cattail look alike with my spear. Nothing happens so I think its pretty safe. The little fuzzy parts are a good way to start a fire. I should see if I can gather some.
I reach down to grab one of the cattails. As soon as my hand wraps around it, my hand feels like it is on fire! "Ouch!" My voice came out due to the pain I felt. I pull my hand away on reflex and quickly look at my hand. I hope the damage wasn't too bad. I look and see that my hand is bright red. I move quickly to put my hand in the river to cool my hand down. Hoping that I don't get any blisters.
How could you be so stupid to grab a plant that looks like fire. Have you forgotten that this place wants to kill you and is not forgiving? I throw my head back and look at the blue sky. My hand still in the river water cooling down. The water is cool, almost chilly. I really don't want to fall in, I will get swept away and probably hypothermia in a few minutes. If I don't drown first from how rough the rapids are.
I look around again just to see what my surroundings are like and I spot something above the trees. It looks a little cloudy? Almost smokey? Wait, smoke?? I quickly stand up and try to get a better look. It is definitely smoke coming from above the trees. In the opposite direction to my base. That is not good, or could be good too. Might be humans and if it is they I have a chance back to a town. But if it's not humans and some bipedal creature like in video games then I need to prepare to fight.
Why couldn't I just have a relaxing adventure in the woods surviving off the land. But nooooo I had to be thrown into the thick of it.
'Sigh' I need to be more careful in the woods. I don't want to see any person or thing any time soon. But I should head back to base. The suns are going to set soon and I don't want to be out when it is dark out. Tomorrow I should bring some knife flakes and see if I can get the weird colored river cane. Might give me some interesting results to new tools.
I head back up the river to where I came out of and start making my way back to my base. I walk a little quicker trying to beat the daylight. As I make my way back I grab a few of the bitter cyan berries and snack on them. They are filling but so so bitter. I don't know how much longer I can keep eating them, I need to find another source of food.
Time moves quickly on my way back to base. Far quicker than I would like. It is getting darker and darker by the minute. I'm not sure how far I am from my base but it shouldn't be too long I hope. I start to do a very light jog not caring what hears me in the forest. I don't jog for long before I start huffing and puffing. I slow back to a walk. I guess it will be dark before I get back, but good thing I have the Darkvision skill. It should help me a little bit.
As it gets darker I see that the forest comes alive. Not in the scary way but the cool way. The trees are bioluminescent. I never noticed this before, I was always going into the cave before this happened. But I was out at dark after I fought the wolf. I wonder why the forest didn't come alive then? I'll figure it out eventually.
The pine trees radiating a bright blue color, the large oak trees green, the pine trees a cream color, and the pink aspen trees a magenta color. It's so bright that I can see everything around me fairly clearly. I pause and just take everything in. It's so beautiful. I would never have seen something like this if I was still living in the town. The universe works in mysterious ways.
"ROAR!!"
A roar rips through the forest from far away startling me awake from me admiring the bright and colorful forest. I instantly sprint back to my base, not stopping no matter how much my lungs burn. The roar of the creature woke me up and I have forgotten that I am not alone in these woods. I should have remembered but the forest was just too pretty. I break through the woods and see my creek. I don't stop as I jump over and dash up the steep hill. This being the fastest I ran up the hill.
I get to the hole and toss my spear just next to the hole. I jump down not using the ridges to slow my descent. I hit the bottom and my knees bent due to the force of falling. I crouch and go into the tunnel. I don't feel safe till I am all the way in. I get all the way in, taking a few minutes for my racing heart to calm down. Same with my breathing.
After calming down my body feels so tired. I forgot I fought the day before, still injured. Sleep should help me recover and not be as tired. I really need to not get complacent. I lay down and my eyes closed. I drift off to a dreamless sleep.