《The Hive Lord》 Chapter 1: No time for Damn Blue Boxes. Timothy, or Tim as he preferred, sat on the public bus rather calm, but a smile still prevalent. This was the bus that was to take him out of state, right to his new job, to his new life away from home, completely on his own! Such an exciting time in a young man''s life, and he felt it. He idly looked out of the windows opposite to him, showing the black of the highway and sky at the same time, the light roughness of the road feeling rather calming, at it already lulled some of the other, older passengers to sleep. The trip continued in the almost contradictory calm of the night highway, until it was interrupted by the bus driver ever so briefly honking the horn of the bus. Then, around three or so minutes later, again, and longer. This pattern continued, until after the fifth time where it stopped. The sixth time, the horn didn''t stop, the sleeping driver no longer letting it stop him. The Bus careened wildly as the driver''s body fell to his left, his face dragging the wheel with him, and the bus crashing into the underside of a concrete bridge, speed rapidly rising beforehand. In a matter of moments, everything was overturned and smashed together, and Timothy was violently, brutally brought out of the calm he once felt. Weight, a loose seat on top of him making it impossible for him to move, perhaps he might have been able to if not for his other wounds. His arms hit the floor violently, he felt as though something had broken, but he wouldn''t know what. His shirt felt damp with already cold blood, adding to the weight, and the small shards of glass that fell, puncturing his throat and remaining there, giving his blood another means to escape his limp body, and turning what could have been last words of some meaning into a horrid gargle, suffocating on his own blood. As his vision faded to black, he felt far too many emotions to ever give justice with any number of words.
Awaking with a start, Timothy breathed in and out deeply and frantically, feeling his throat as though it shouldn''t be there. Given his previous experience, he was right to feel such after observing himself, his body seeming to have, healed perhaps? Warily, as if the wounds might reappear, and make him choke on his own words rather literally, he spoke softly, "What the Fuck." After looking at himself and his no longer bloodstained shirt, he looked around himself. Trees, vines, a muck filled lake, and bugs he could not remotely recognize, and is that the sight of some kind of boar? All he could tell is it seemed like some kind of jungle, from what he remembered about learning of them in middle school, it was rather humid as well. He slowly got up, the dirt feeling odd beneath the man, so used to suburban life. His knees felt weaker than usual beneath him, and a stupor came over him, he internally asked and questioned himself on what he should do. As he wondered, something took up his sight all of a sudden, "What? This makes no sense." He said, looking as the box took up a solid portion of his sight.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Select Your Path
Warrior
Mage
Rogue
Cleric
Before he could read further however, he was interrupted by the boar creature from earlier violently ramming into his leg, it jerking away like a hand to a hot stove, just barely enough that the boars tusks only left a gash, as opposed to his leg being fully impaled. He jumped away just barely, and after briefly hoping the blue box wasn''t there, it seemed to minimize like a computer application or tab, giving him a full view of what left that now bleeding wound on his leg. It looked almost like a boar, it''s tusks looking more of hardened, worn copper than of bone. It''s other features shared that same coloration of copper elsewhere, except for only its soft stomach. The two looked at eachother for but a brief moment, before the ''Boar'' sniffed the air, smelling Timothy''s blood, and rushing to his leg. The ''Boar'' rushed with a brutal speed, Timothy barely able to react, trying to lift his leg away, only for the boar to jump and him to fall to the ground. The Boar''s teeth kept only grazing near the wound as Timothy deperately flailed, reaching for anything to save him. The Boar soon enough got lucky, and sank it''s teeth around the already deep wound, creating new ones. Timothy screamed out, "Agh Fuck! Fuck!" and other angry shouts and yells. Perhaps by luck, Timothy found a large rock within his reach while flailing, and he refused to go down without a fight, throwing all his force into bashing one of that damn Boar''s tusks off. The Boar tried to shake its head, whether is was trying to take a chunk of his leg, or dodge the rock is not known, but with life on the line and the rush of adrenaline, Timothy managed to break off the Boar''s tusk. Reaching forwards he snatched it quickly, and put every last bit of power into flipping himself and the Boar over. Almost failing, he took the Boar''s own tusk and stabbed it through it''s now exposed soft stomach, using it almost akin to a shovel, trying to kill the thing by making it''s innards into outtards as soon as possible.
Through much struggle, Timothy barely survived. He unclamped the boar''s mouth from his leg, and walked over to the lake covered in sweat, dirt, and blood. As he spotted leeches, he gave a bittersweet smile, only faintly. At least something was familiar, and right now helpful. He was fairly certain that if he applied leeches to his wounds quickly, it should help prevent them from getting infected. He gathered some leeches, and stood, looking between the remains of the dead boar, the Muck filled lake, and the small minimized box at the bottom of his vision. He muttered to himself, "I can give a shit about all this some other time, when I know I''m safe. I must survive, no matter what. I must survive, no matter what." He chanted to himself at the end. "I. Must. Survive." Chapter 2: To Survive Timothy groaned, the feeling of having your blood let by a leech was not pleasant, and not something one wanted to repeat. Being honest with himself, he wasn''t totally sure if applying the leeches would help prevent infection, but it was worth a try to him regardless. While he let the leeches work briefly, he used what strength he had to rip off a large piece of his shirt, showing his mostly average, if skinny and broad, physique. After about a minute at most, he removed the leeches, flicking them off, and his wound''s bleeding renewed. He made haste with applying as much pressure as he could to the wounds, wrapping one of the pieces around all of the open part of the wound a few times, making it tight enough to be uncomfortable, but just avoid cutting off circulation. He would need that to heal at some point, he was certain of that, and a lack of bloodflow wouldn''t help. Having calmed down, slightly, he noticed a few things. Firstly, he was hungry, and thirsty, and after being thrown into a life or death situation with that boar, that was rather expected. Second off, it felt rather cold when he had the shirt on, and needing to use it as makeshift bandaging, rendering it unwearable, didn''t help. Finally, it was just after midday, so it should have been at the days hottest, and he also seemed to have nighttime encroaching on him rather worrilingly. He had the water nearby, he just needed to purify it and remove anything hiding in it, he had a full boar to eat, so that could last a day or two, all he needed was fire. Fire to boil the water, cook the boar, and provide light and warmth in the night. He walked around, staying within where he could keep an eye on the boar''s corpse, and gathered all the dry twigs and leaves he could making a good few trips. Once gathered, he started a fire using the old two sticks method right between two trees with low branches, feeling slightly uplifted that he remembered how to do so from those scout lessons as a kid. With the fire started near the boar, he gathered more rocks, and formed a pit around the now decently sized fire so it wouldn''t go out of control, and added some twigs to keep it going. He took the broken tusk he still had, and got to work on the boar, trying to skin it best he could with the tusk, but leaving the seperated meat inside the hide, except for the intestines. Timothy still barely knew anything about what was and wasn''t safe to eat, and didn''t want to risk any kind of disease. The intestines tossed aside to the forest floor, he took the cleanest leaves aside and set the meat he believed was edible on top, as though a caveman''s first cooking counter. He took the tusk, stabbed it into a piece of meat, and began roasting it over the fire, he needed some food, he felt like he could starve almost any time. The boar was rather tough meat after being cooked, and was extremely lean, with next to no fat. Having eaten a little bit of food to tide him over, he got to work with the tusk on cutting off some of the vines that were hanging to the ground, hoping they weren''t poisonous. With the vines anda newfound appreciation of how the boar tusk refused to get duller any time soon, he tied the vines in knots around the branches, two vines to a side.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Taking the tusk he made four new holes in the boar hide in its corners, or the closest to those. He putthe other end of each vine through the holes, and tied them so the hide would be able to serve as a ''pot'' of sorts. With that out of the way and the fur of the boar now burning off, he was just in time for night time to fall. Laying down, only leaves between him and the ground and facing the fire, he let himself drift into sleep after such a long day.
An hour after the sun rose, Tim also woke up to the fire on its last legs, and an itching feeling in his wound. He knew that the last thing he should do is itch his wound, and he had more pressing matters at hand regardless, such as the swarm of bugs that resembled some mix between ant and fly eating the meat he left for that day which he elected to call ''Scavaero'', as well as some plump maggot-larvae things also enjoying the meal. By the way the two interacted, he''d bet the maggots were the Scavaero''s offspring. His stomach growled, and he felt a pain from it, before mocking himself for his stupidity and looked at the maggots rather carefully, before figuring it would take them a long time to leave the meat and the area. He chided himself once more on realizing that while he had a place to boil water, he had no way to transport it. He took some solace however in that he still managed what he did while hungry, confused, wounded, and exhausted. Tusk now in hand, he set out to find another one of those boars to hunt, if he could attack first he might be able to kill it quickly before it can cause further wounding. As he walked he observed what he could around him, finding the trees to have nearly no leaves, but more interestingly they upper branches intertwined many times, creating a wooden web out of the forest''s canopy. Timothy''s best geuss was a natural death. No other boars in sight, Timothy decided to learn from example, and take the reward in the form of the dead boar. As he approached the boar, he noticed some other bugs already trying to take the boar, but Tim managed to get to it, just in the nick of time. Slinging the Boar over his right shoulder, opposite to his still wounded left leg, he slogged back to his camp of sorts to ''process'' the boar there. The process went mostly the same, except when he saw the lungs, he could see part of one of them wasn''t the usual color, but a sickly dark green color. The change from normal coloration to green was quite gradual, the edges blending with the flesh, to the point where the only location that would''ve been completely dark green was the centers of the patches. From the white emerged a spindly leg, followed by another, pulling a small, black and dark green body with it, fully revealing a spider with long legs, and a small body and mouth. Upon seeing this Tim got up, and used his still shoe-wearing foot to kick the spider off and step on it quickly, making certain it was dead. Looking into the lung further revealed the same dark green material all throughout it, making a web. ''Lung Lurkers'' Time would call those, they certainly earned the name. He processed this boar the same as the last, without the intestines and also without lungs this time. Putting the meat on some other dry leaves, he started the fire once more, took the skin over to the lake, filled it with water, ad poured the water into the hanging skin so it could boil. Removing the new boar''s tusks, he speared it''s meat on it, and began cooking his meal for the day. The sun was already beginning to set, and the Scavaero maggot-larvae still hadn''t managed to disperse from his campsite yet. He ate and ate, and managed to finish the Boar after a few hours. He thought he must''ve just needed more food after these long days, clinging furiously to life in the unfamiliar jungle. Chapter 3: To Live Tim got up from his slumber, having fallen asleep soon after finishing the boar with water on the side, and felt hunger once again. Well, perhaps hunger is the wrong word, near emptiness might be better. He could have sworn he shouldn''t have felt so hungry, after having eaten an entire boar, but the hunger persisted regardless. He looked to his campsite, some Scavaero and their maggot-larvae were picking anything Tim left on the bones. Getting up with the Tusk now in hand, he left again to hunt for boar. Walking around with the cold sending shivers all along his back and front, he desperately hoped he could keep finding boars, he would need their skins to keep him warm he figured. Not so much as a speck of fruit appeared within his search either, it foolish to hope for fruit in the winter, but it was all he could do with this hunger in his stomach. He searched and searched, but nothing edible seemed to appear for however far he walked. How far he walked he couldn''t remember, but he simply knew he searched, his head jolting and twitching everywhere to find the sight of some kind, any kind of food. Yet, it appeared by some miracle, he found it. Food, fruit in a tree! The Tree''s thin but numerous roots completely covered the ground all around it for about ten feet or so. The fruit was a beautifully colorful red and purple stripe coloration, and so was the tree, with its own red and purple leaves among the white bark. It was quite relaxing to look at, as Tim walked towards the fruit he was certain was quite juicy. It looked so juicy and ripe, hanging so low. But once he walked halfway to the fruit, where he was on top of the roots, they moved spontaneously down from beneath him, sending him falling twelve feet. From what he could make out after he recovered from the fall and his eyes adjusted to the little light available, beneath the tree was a large pit sloped near the edges at a steep angle. Inside of some very thick roots holding up the tree, the higher parts had been eaten partly, most likely by the Scavaero swarming near the hole. He''d guess they''d made nests down here in the pits, and also by the fact they hadn''t moved on him, they were strictly scavengers. The skeletons of other boars to have fallen down as well. There were also two boars that died more recently, and their rotting corpses were being eaten through by Scavaero maggot-larvae, the Scavaero themselves remaining near to their roots. Looking at the maggot-larvae and considering carefully, he knew he couldn''t light a fire at risk of the tree crushing him and trapping him after it falls down. His stomach rumbled again, loudly, the pains hit him once more. As they hit him, he looked very closely at the Boar corpse and the Maggot-Larvae. The hunger kept hitting him, and nothing could distract him from it, the hunger, he could feel it tip-tapping at the sides of his stomach, almost constricting it slightly. Kneeling on the ground, he would lean to the boar, pick up one of the maggots, and take a leap of faith in putting in his mouth to chew. By the time it hit his tongue, still writhing, the smell of the boar truly hit him, and in that moment he had turned his head away, and vomited profusely.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. His vomit was naught but bile, and some other strands of something that he knew he didn''t eat. Looking closely, he realized what it was, and nearly vomited again. It was the same species as the ''Lung Lurker'', in his bile. He realized the creature didn''t restrict itself to dead animals or lungs, it must have managed to sneak into his stomach while he slept, partially eating his food as he digested it. No wonder he always felt so hungryand felt those pains, its legs had to tap the side of his stomach every now and then. He figured if it meant to kill him, he''d be dead. For now, he would have to live with it and simply provide it with enough food so it wouldn''t eat him instead. Bracing himself far more this time, he leaned down over the boar again, pausing to get somewhat used to the smell, picked up a maggot-larva, and put it into his mouth. Even as he chewed, it still writhed in his mouth and around his tongue, the taste of its skin and near mushy blood was wretched. Every leg brushing against his throat from the inside as he swallowed it while the blood stained his teeth and found itself a place between the front of his teeth and lips. He repeated this process, going rather slowly, and only speeding up by seconds at most by the twenty-eighth maggot. At this point, he felt mildly content, but he knew he needed to feel as full as possible to wake up, and not be starving. So he continued and kept on until he was unable to eat anymore under any circumstances after the seventy-ninth maggot-larva, the area near his mouth stained with maggot-larva blood. With that, he lay down against one of the steep slopes and lay to rest. Well, if you could call the bug induced nightmares, ''Rest''.
Earlier two days ago, outside of the Bloodweb Forest, Elven Village of Xaolem. "Ranger Instructor Faolong! Look, look! There''s smoke rising in the Forest!" A young elf, about nineteen with shoulder length golden blonde hair tied into a braid, said as she lowered her bow, completely forgetting about the archery practice assigned to her by her mentor. "I suppose this time you aren''t making it up, good job spotting that from here little Meifeng." Her Instructor Faolong had said. "I think I''ve come up with an assignment as your ranger initiation." "You have! Can I please have it, please! You know how much I want to be a ranger!" Meifeng said. "Yes, I know. Your initiation assignment is this, Investigate the smoke and bring back anyone you find. Determining how far into the forest it is, how much food to bring, anything of that sort, is completely on you, and I will give you no help. I will go and ask for the elder rangers approvals of this as your first assignment immediately. If they approve, good luck." Faolong said, smiling at her student. "Thank you so much! I won''t let you down, Instructor!" Meifeng said, already rushing to get together her equipment as well as to figure out how many days into the forest the smoke was located. Chapter 4: Symbiosis ( Same day as the discovery of the Stomach Lurker.) Meifeng had been going through the forest for almost a day now, and she persevered. She made haste atop the web of tree branches leading towards where she saw the smoke. She rushed for what she could, hoping that it might have been a ranger from out of the village. That hope was dashed when she saw the smoke rise again from the same place, they must be stranded. Why they didn''t just climb the trees like any other elf, she didn''t know. It''s not like it''d be hard for anyone given their hollow bones. That wasn''t her matter though, maybe they had been badly wounded by a Tuskore and were stuck on the ground. How someone would escape a Tuskore when wounded she didn''t know, but by the smoke, they must have. That, or perhaps they managed to use their bow in time to shoot it, but before it died it got off a hit. Regardless, she had to keep forging on atop the treelines, to find the camp and get them back to shelter soon. They must be miserable, hopefully, she would find them quickly enough. She had brought two and a half months of provisions, so she should have time to reach them, given they were about a month away, then they could split the provisions on the way back.
(Just after eating the maggot-larvae and resting.) Tim woke up after a long rest, only seeing that it was day by the slight amounts of light shining through the small gaps in the otherwise tightly packed roots. Again, hunger struck his entire being. He felt near starved, and it seemed the maggot-larvae had left anywhere he could reach. He simply lay there, keenly aware of the tip-tapping against the sides of his stomach, making the Lurker''s presence ever so known. After ten minutes, the Scavaero started resting on top of him. Sadly, he knew he simply wasn''t quick enough to catch any, even if he tried. He remained like this, hungry without so much as maggot-larvae to eat, for what felt like hours on end. Hours did pass, the only sign of it being the tip-tap of the Lurker''s legs, the movement of the Scavaero, and the little light slowly passing by through the cracks of the roots. After hours like this, the roots above shot down again, this time causing another boar to fall down, this one had more irongray tusks than the others and a generally bulkier build it seemed. As soon as he saw it fall, Tim took his chance, rushing it with the very first boar''s tusk and stabbing it directly through the neck. It provided some resistance but wasn''t able to wound Tim, even in his current state. After it died, Tim, his hunger consuming him, began to furiously tear into the boar, using the tusk to rip out chunks of meat where he could and eating them as soon as he could. The raw hunger he felt was insurmountable and agonizing. He kept this up, his mind too clouded to care about how it was raw, how it tasted rather bad this way, the pieces of skin that occasionally found their way among his meal, or the now drying blood all around his mouth and on his hands. He ate until he could eat absolutely no more, no matter if he wanted to. After the large meal, only a fifth of the boar remained. Removing the skeleton and separating the remaining meat and hide, he held the meat in the hide and kept the hide closed, remaining vigilant in assuring no maggot-larvae or Scavaero could have any of the meat. Hours passed, and he felt hunger again, so he opened the bloody hide, and ate the rest of the meat, caring nothing for any form of delicateness or manner. Time passed on, flowing like a raging river as though Tim had never existed, did not currently exist, and never would. In time, Tim felt a tiredness creep over him, as well a bone shivering cold. Putting the skin over himself, or as much as could fit, he lay down and slept.
As Meifeng continued her travels towards where the campsite was, Tim would continue to barely survive off of the few Tuskore that fell down into the same trap as him, as well as the maggot-larvae that would occasionally attempt to steal his meat, his food. For the sake of avoiding others feeling the same wretched monotonous cruelty of those weeks, I shall summarize the Important parts of the three weeks. Tim had a slowly growing collection of Tuskore pelts. Over the month, he managed to kill twenty of them, twelve copper tusked boars, six iron tuskedboars, and two new boars with golden tusks. They were what he sustained himself on, and he had meals of maggots between the times the boars fell down. They all tasted the same raw.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Meifeng had reached Tim''s camp and looked around from above. Seeing the fire pit and the boar hide she said out loud, "Someone was definitely here, but there''s been no smoke since those first days. I hope they''re okay." Noticing tracks, she set out to follow them atop the trees, getting ever closer to Tim. She rushed her footsteps, even leaving the provisions atop a tree near the camp.
Tim sat, in the dim light again. His stomach rumbled, and he felt the taps of the stomach lurker again as well. Getting up, from his sizable pile of hides he used as a blanket, he grabbed a maggot-larva and swallowed it, and did so with a few handfuls. However, today they were especially active, and a few writhed and flailed as they fell. One of them, very close to being a full Scavaero, ended up hitting the side of Tim''s stomach as it fell, cutting through it with its mandibles. He clutched at his stomach area and wondered if after all of that, he would die then. He was near certain of it, and the Lurker''s tapping didn''t help. Until, it actually did. Where he felt the wound open, he felt as though someone was creating some kind of bandage there. It was then he realized, the lurker was closing his wound, and the web was healing him and making itself apart of him. It would take a while, but eventually it would feel completely natural. As the realization of this hit him, a small blinking caught his attention, the window! That little window that distracted him the first day, it was blinking like how a minimized window would when it had a notification. Being rather surprised when it came back up just from him willing it, he read it again.
Select Your Path
Warrior
Mage
Rogue
Cleric
However, another thing caught his eye,
Hive Lord
Qualifiers: Lived in a bugs nest/hive for a prolonged period of time, Lived off of primarily insects for a long time, Achieved Symbiosis with an insect or bug.
He selected that option and felt something change about him, but it felt natural somehow. A new screen briefly Popped up, reading,
Base Skills Living Hive 1,Bug Tolerance 3,Bug Resistance 3,Hive Accustomization2
Earned Skills Symbiosis(Bug)3, Bug Tolerance 4,Hive Accustomization3
Bug Tolerance 4 and 3 Will be merged together intoBug Tolerance 7, as willHive Accustomization2 and 3 intoHive Accustomization5.
After this went by, Tim giving it a quick read, a new, more permanent looking screen appeared,
Name, Title Path Tim Allens, Tenacious Hive Lord
Hive Size Singular
Hive Locations Stomach (Web)
Hive Occupants Corpsetaker Arachnid
Important Items "Copperwound, The Will To Live (Copper Tuskore Tusk)",
Current Skills Living Hive1,Bug Tolerance7,Bug Resistance3,Symbiosis(Bug)3,Hive Accustomization5
Possible Skills Hive Control, Hive Mind, Rapid Recreation, Improve Hive, Dominate Hive, Regal Aura (Bug), Attract Insect, Create External Hive, etc...
Remaining Skill Points 65
As he observed this, taking in every detail, the roots came down, a rock falling through. Looking up, having to shield his eyes from the midday sun, he saw perhaps the most beautiful woman he''d ever seen, at least it felt as such after living among rotting boar corpses, ant-flies, and maggot-larvae while his only friend or companion of sorts was a spider living in his stomach. When she tossed down a rope that must''ve been tied to a tree not all that far off.
When Meifeng looked down at the poor man who fell for the Pitroot Tree''s Trap as he managed to barely pull himself up the rope, she felt a massive amount of guilt at not being able to get there earlier. He seemed to be just barely skin and bones with minimal muscle left, his hair was long and shaggy, and his face was also covered in sideburn and beard. Her wonder of how he survived quickly turned to shock and amazement at the sight of both the Tuskore and Roteater Maggot blood, stuck deep into his hands and soaked into his facial hair. Whoever he was, he had no intention of dying, not anytime soon. Chapter 5: Return Once Tim had managed to pull himself up, Meifeng attempting to help pull the rope but finding it too difficult, she was able to get a full, proper view of him. He was a fairly tall man, taller than her at least, he stood at around six foot three inches, and his uncut shaggy black hair grew until it reached past his shoulders, partly covering his moss green eyes for the moment. His frame was wider than any of the other men''s in the village and most certainly larger than hers. His breathing was ragged, and he slumped over naturally for the moment. Despite the size of his frame, there was barely any muscle there, hunger and starvation having robbed him of what strength he did once have. Tim looked at his savior in return, and after so long in the pit and the wild, he was certain he was looking at an angel. It had to be, her golden hair braided and to her side shining like light off of the sun, her kind face and sky blue eyes complimenting that rather well. Her light skin nearly flawless, apart from some remnants of past marking by her forearm, the ''Archers Tattoo'' as some people back on earth called it, mostly gotten by inexperienced archers holding the bow incorrectly, at least he figured that''s what it was by the bow and quiver she had slung on her back. He noted the pointed ears, but it was nothing important at the time. "Are you o-" Meifeng would begin asking but then stop herself before continuing, "No, you can''t be okay, not after being stuck in a Pitroot Tree''s pit for so long, sorry for taking so long. Once we get to my village I''m sure we can help you!" Tim would listen carefully and, after noting that there didn''t appear to be a language barrier, say "No,-" He himself pausing at his own voice, he wasn''t the kind of guy to talk to himself or think out loud so after not hearing it for a month, it''s usual lower intonation mixed with the new harsh hoarse sounds were quite surprising, and a touch unpleasant. Continuing after pausing he said, "No, rather, thank you so much for coming to rescue me. It''s been far too long since I''ve seen something thatwasn''t one of those damned boars or bugs." Meifeng said, "Boars? I suppose you mean the Tuskore, and those bugs in there were Roteaters and their maggots. More importantly, come on, I have enough rations for us to split on the way back to my village, I''m sure the elders will want to talk to you. I also have some basic medical supplies, so I can do what I can for your leg." Hearing this, Tim''s mood and face lightened quite considerably, beneath the bloodstains of course. Meifeng lead the way back, walking with Tim on the ground. In mostly silence, they returned to the camp Tim had set up. Once they returned, Meifeng climbed up one of the trees and searched through a large pack, made from some kind of leather Tim didn''t have the ability to recognize, and retrieved a smaller pouch filled with berries Tim didn''t recognize either, as well as some large leaves and some thin ropes. After hopping down from the tree, with a simple but graceful landing, Meifeng handed Tim the pouch. Removing Tim''s makeshift bandage, she quickly applied the leaves to cover as much of the wound as possible, they stung like hell to Tim, before holding them in place by tying the strings around his leg and the leaves. "There you go," said Meifeng, "Sorry about the sting, but the Eldertree those leaves came from is known for it''s healing properties, so it should heal in time. Given how deep it was, I''d say it should take a few days after we get back to my village for that to completely heal." "Thanks," Tim said, "Well, I say we get back as soon as possible, lead the way." Meifeng Said, "Are you sure, don''t you need some rest-" Tim said, "I''ve had plenty enough rest, that''s all I could do between, meals, down there. So yeah, I''m quite certain I want to get to your village as soon as possible." After that, as much as I''d like to tell a tale of how interesting the journey back to her village was, I would be lying if I said anything that masked or eluded from the truth, being that they only encountered two Copper Tuskores, which had been promptly shot lethally from a respectable distance, and later cooked and eaten when they stopped for the day. Yes, perhaps the only few odd things that happened during the trip was firstly Tim''s large appetite, which would''ve run them out of rations had it not been for the Tuskore. The reason for his appetite being brushed off as ''He''s lived off of raw Tuskore and Roteater maggots for thirty days, why wouldn''t he eating so much, and his size also counts for that as well.'' While those were indeed valid reasons, they left out the whole ''Corpsetaker Arachnid in the Stomach'' thing. The other odd thing, which wasn''t odd at all once given some thought, was that during the second to last day on the trip back it snowed lightly, given that it felt like winter, this wasn''t all that odd, as I said this very sentence. The only thing making it remotely odd in fact was that this forest definitely seemed more similar to a tropical rainforest, where it should have rained as opposed to snow. However, this posed no real issue, as Meifeng had a pair of warm, if well used before, blankets in her pack for the nights it snowed or was particularly cold.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Meifeng looked out at her village, the familiar two-story buildings with some built into or around some trees, being a welcoming sight. Not quite as welcoming, however, as seeing instructor Faolong waving to her and most of the village, including the elders, standing nearby. Well, it was a welcoming wave, for a few moments, before she saw the ragged, unshaven, blood still in his hair Tim trailing just behind Meifeng. Even after having had the time to somewhat recover from muscle atrophy and a diet only meant to keep himself alive, he still certainly didn''t look to be in the best shape. Seeing Tim, Faolong held a hand up to her mouth before turning to some of the other rangers in training in the crowd and said, "Someone get him inside, quickly! Town hall will do, now hurry!" At this, two villagers ran over to Tim and began showing him the way to Town Hall. Meanwhile, Meifeng would rush over to her Instructor. Faolong said, "That poor man, just from the look of him alone he had a hard time surviving in the Bloodweb forest, I''d hate to think of what might''ve happened had you arrived later. On better news, Welcome back Meifeng." Meifeng said, "Thank you, instructor. It''s good to be back." "For now, go home and rest briefly while I talk with the man you rescued, but I expect you to come over to my home later, for a full report on everything that happened, and then dinner. Alright?" Faolong said, ruffling Meifeng''s hair briefly. "Alright Instructor!" Said Meifeng, quite cheerful.
In Xaolem Town Hall sat Tim, no longer in his half of a t-shirt, but instead in the largest spare clothes they could find, still being somewhat tight. The blood was also no longer stuck in his hair or on his skin since he had been given a bucket and rag and was able to get pretty much all of it out. All of this changed his description a decent amount, going from Ragged to more, Rugged let''s say. So one vowels worth of cleaning himself up later, Faolong had arrived and sat across from Tim, who was currently seated at one of the smaller tables to the side. Faolong began, "Hello there, my name is Faolong, and I''m the instructor of the girl who brought you here to the village of Xaolem. I''d like to talk to you." Tim said, "Ah, sure. I''m Tim Allens, what do you want to talk about?" "Firstly," said Faolong, "I''d like to ask why you were in the Bloodweb Forest to begin with." "To be honest, I don''t know. I just remember being transported somewhere, then we crashed, and next thing I know I wake up and have to fight for my life against some Boar thing, what did she call it, a Tuskore I think." Tim said. "Alright, I''ll have to trust you there, more importantly then, how was Meifeng, the girl who brought you here?" Faolong Asked. "Huh?" Tim said, rather confused. "I mean," Said Faolong, "How was she as a guide, did she seem to know her way around? Did she use her bow and arrow? Was she accurate? Did she bring enough rations? As her instructor, I want to hear it from you before I hear it from her as well." "Oh," Tim said, "Yes, she knew her way around much better than I did. She only used her bow twice and both times she killed a Tuskore in one shot, once through the eye, the other in the neck and it died shortly after. If it weren''t for those we might have needed to go a day or two without food, but given my size and my,condition, I would hardly say she wasn''t prepared." Faolong said, "I just want to know as well, what happened before she got there, and how did it lead to you having an important item?" Tim said, "Well, Firstly I fought a Tuskore to the death after it interrupted me while I got some sort of ''Choose Your Path'' message, it nearly killed me before I was able to get a rock, break off a tusk and kill it, then I got a rudimentary camp set up where I had a fire for a night. The next day I ended up trying to get some low hanging fruit off of a red and purple leafed tree with white bark, when the roots fell out from under me, and then for about, thirty or so days I lived off of the Tuskore that fell down and what I later learned were ''Roteater Maggots''. Then I ended up choosing a path, which showed me a different message that told me my Name, Title, and Path, as well as ''Skill Points'', Earned and Base Skills, Available Skills, and as you asked Important Items." Faolong shuddered as he finished and said, "By- You survived in the Pit of a Pitroot Tree and on the ground of the Bloodweb forest, Pathless, for around thirty days, and then given how Meifeng hadn''t mentioned you use any path related skills, made the journey here without using anything either. That-" Faolong stopped, pulling out a Copper Tuskore Tusk, "That explains on its own how this item got its name." For in Faolong''s hand was Copperwound. Faolong handed it back to Tim, and said, "Thank you for talking with me, why don''t you join Meifeng and I for dinner, is that alright?" Tim smiled and said, "That sounds perfect."
So, onereport by Meifeng later, and a more proper introduction between her and Tim, and they soon sat down for dinner. When Faolong had brought up the fact that Tim had been pathless and that he only recently got his path, Meifeng couldn''t help but ask Tim, "Why haven''t you spent any skill points?" Tim said, "Well, I want to talk to someone else with the same path, and see what they went with." Faolong said, "That is a rather good idea, have you tried reading through your available skills descriptions first?" Tim said, "Wait, you can do that?" Meifeng giggled and said, "Yes! You didn''t know?" Faolong, also having stifled a small laugh said, "It''s fine, he only got his path not long ago and likely hasn''t checked his status since. I''m sure someone would be glad to help you with this, even the elder with the path would be happy I imagine. What''s your path?" Meifeng added, "Actually, why not tell us the whole introduction, Name, Title, and Path!" Tim scratched the back of his head and said, "Alright, alright." He got up and made a grand bow, amusing both of them, before saying, "My full Name, Title, and Path are, Tim Allens, Tenacious Hive Lord!" At this, Meifeng said, "Wow, I''ve never heard of that before, I don''t know if we have one of those here! You''re one of a kind here in Xaolem!" Before returning to dinner. Meanwhile, Faolong had stopped for a few moments, her food halfway between her and her plate, before continuing to eat.