Chương 7: Death by Noodle

"They headed east from here," the elder said, gesturing off into the distance. The two of them stood at the edge of the village while a handful of villagers watched them from a respectful distance. Vin wasn't sure if it was because of how highly these people valued honesty, but not a single one of the onlookers was even pretending to be doing something other than staring at them with hope or interest in their eyes.

Granted it's not like these people had lawnmowers they could use to pretend to mow a lawn as they looked on.

"You wouldn't happen to have any sort of magical way of tracking them I suppose?" Vin asked, trying his luck.

"Some sort of magic rock you can give me that will lead me right to them perhaps?"

"We used to have spells similar to that which you describe, but our Shamans and Stone Mages suffered the worst from the Great Reset," the elder said, shaking her head.

"It will be some time before we have access to the same level of magic we once did."

"Sorta figured that would be the case," he sighed. Scratching his head, Vin thought about his next move. He could just wander aimlessly in that general direction. Try heading in as straight a line as possible and hope for the best. But if he were being realistic, that probably wouldn't work too well for him. But without magic, he didn't really have any other option. It wasn't like he knew how to follow tracks after all. Vin blinked.

Curious, he pulled up the System, focusing on his waiting skill point and taking a second look at the Explorer skill list. Sure enough, there it was, just ripe for the picking. Tracking Huh. Well how about that. Vin stared at the floating text, his brow furrowed in thought. It certainly wasn't as fun sounding as Spellcraft or Dungeoneering, but it was exactly the skill he needed in this moment.

Not to mention if he planned on spending the rest of his life exploring the great unknown, it was almost certainly a skill he'd get plenty of use out of. Shrugging, he focused on the skill, and his jaw dropped at the sudden influx of information that poured into his head. In seconds, he suddenly just knew the basics of how to track. But it was more than that.

He didn't just know the signs to look out for when tracking something or how to read a footprint in the mud, it was like he had secondhand experience stamped into his own memory. Like he'd taken a month long, hands-on survival course dedicated to tracking, but it had been a few years ago rather than fresh in his mind.

"Now that's a rush," he muttered, stepping forward and taking a closer look at the ground. Thankfully, the elder had informed him there hadn't been any rain within the last four days, which meant the tracks were still relatively fresh thanks to the dusty and rocky terrain. Despite his new skill, if it had been only one person, Vin may have been out of luck. But the group of four had been large enough that he thought he'd be able to follow them as long as he paid close attention.

"Alright, I think I can take it from here," he said, throwing one final look over his shoulder at the hopeful villagers.

"If I'm not back in a day or two, I guess you should assume whatever got them got me as well."

"Good luck to you," the elder said, smacking her cane into the ground one last time. Waving over his shoulder, Vin headed off in search of the missing scouting party. My first quest! He couldn't help but grin as he left the village. This was exactly what he'd hoped would happen when he discovered the Explorer class. Finding new people and cultures, seeing new sights, even helping where he could when possible. Yes siree, the life of the traveled vagabond was never dull.

Following the tracks was definitely slower going than just wandering around aimlessly, but at least he knew he was going in the right direction. His attention was now split three ways between making sure he didn't lose the group's trail, keeping an eye out for monsters, and trying to spot new creatures for that sweet, sweet experience. He wasn't having any luck on the creature front, but he did receive a nice surprise after about fifteen minutes of following dusty footprints through the rocky wilderness.

Tracking increased to lvl 2! 200 exp gained.

"Oh!" Vin started, his eyes flickering over the notification.

"So individual skills can level up, and that grants experience toward the class? Good to know!" He tried to determine exactly what had changed from leveling up, but the adjustment from Tracking level 1 to Tracking level 2 must have been fairly minute. If anything, he thought the tracks may have become ever so slightly easier to make out, but it might have been all in his head. At the very least the 200 experience had brought him closer to level 3.

The System seemed to track his overall experience rather than wiping the slate clean every level, so he was currently sitting at 2210/3000. According to the elder, the missing scouts had been planning on investigating the adjacent fragment, which was at minimum another 500 experience points coming his way. If he could just find a few more creatures or keep leveling up his new skill, he'd hit level 3 in no time!

Vin couldn't help but chuckle at the mental image of returning to Spur not only with news of other people and a brand-new alliance, but having also become the highest leveled person in the camp in less than a day. Who knows, maybe they'd make him humanity's newest king or something. Granted, that sounded absolutely terrible, but it was a funny thought nonetheless. With his attention so divided, it took him most of the afternoon to follow the tracks to the edge of the fragment the scouts had headed toward.

And while he managed to increase his tracking to level 3 in that time, earning himself another 300 experience, he hadn't spotted any new creatures. He had seen what looked eerily like that same goat that had glared at him earlier watching him from a distance, but he focused on avoiding eye contact and hurried along to the edge of the world. This new fragment looked much closer to the fragment the System had first thrown them down on.

Where the invisible boundary stood the rocky hills and sparse vegetation he was currently in once again transformed into thick, lush green grass. Yet rather than scattered forests, this new world fragment seemed to be dotted with the occasional giant tree; each one reaching between five to ten stories tall with monstrous canopies rivaling the size of an entire supermarket. After admiring one of the massive, far-off trees, Vin grinned in anticipation and stepped over the invisible line. New fragment discovered!

500 exp gained. Level up! Explorer Lvl 3. +3 Attribute points to spend.

"Hell yeah!" Vin said, pumping his fist and pulling up his System interface. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Vinnie Stone Explorer: Lvl 3 Titles: None Exp. 3040/6000 Strength: 13 Dexterity: 14 Endurance: 22 Vigor: 15 Focus: 11 Magic: 0 Attribute Points: 3 Passives: Mental Map, Polyglot Skills: Tracking lvl 3 Spells: None"Damn, no new skill point," he muttered, scanning over his information.

"Looks like the amount of experience needed for each new level increases by 1, 000. The amount I get from creatures or fragments isn't increasing, so the level ups are gonna start slowing down pretty quick unless something changes." Shrugging, Vin dismissed his information. While he was enjoying all the benefits the System had to offer, he'd never been one to sweat the small stuff or spend time agonizing over making the optimal decision.

He preferred going with his gut and dealing with the universe smacking him over the head with the consequences. It was probably why he'd been arrested so many times, come to think of it. Even if he couldn't really tell how much leveling his skill benefited him, he was thankful Tracking had already hit level 3 because the scouts' tracks became much harder to follow in this new fragment.

Dusty footprints had been replaced with stepped on grass, and a few days had proved plenty of time for the grass to right itself and erase nearly any sign people had been through here. Vin was practically bent over now with his face as close to the ground as possible, relying on the small tufts of grass that had been torn by the twist of a foot or bent too far to recover. His close examination of the thick grass ended up being what saved his life.

Carefully following the tracks, Vin's searching eyes landed on something big that blended in perfectly with the grass. It took him a second to recognize what he was staring at, and he barely had time to stumble backwards, his eyes going wide as the snake that had been lying in wait uncoiled and lunged forward, narrowly missing sinking its fangs into his calf.

"Holy-!" He yelled, scrambling backwards and putting some distance between himself and the green snake that looked to be about as thick as his arm. The snake was the identical color as the grass, and was easily longer than he was tall. New species discovered! 100 exp gained.

"Yeah, I noticed!" He shouted, heart pounding in his chest as he carefully watched the snake. The creature seemed to stare at him, its tongue flicking out to taste the air as it debated whether or not it should press the attack or try its luck with another unsuspecting target. After a few tense moments, it finally turned, sinking back into the grass and all but vanishing from sight.

"Seriously, screw this fragment," he grumbled, waiting for his heart rate to return to normal before continuing to follow the tracks, going even slower now that he had to keep an eye out for snakes as well.

"If I make it out of here alive I'm gonna make that old lady give me her cane as a reward or something." Following the tracks deeper into the new fragment he spotted a few more green snakes lying in wait that he so eloquently dubbed grass noodles. Thankfully, they seemed to prefer ambushing their prey, as none of them made any move to chase after him when he skirted their coiled forms.

He also spotted a family of small lemurs eating fruits up in the branches of a big tree, a pudgy bird that looked like a brown tennis ball hopping around as it pecked at fallen seeds, and a second species of snake that was much longer and thinner and looked like it somehow lived entirely up in the giant tree as it slithered its way between the branches. He had a feeling if he somehow managed to climb up there he'd find an entire ecosystem hidden within the foliage, but that was a task for another day.

It was while he watched another new species, some sort of rabbit creature with nasty spurs on its hindlegs, go to town on a few long blades of grass that a flash of red caught his eye. Carefully approaching the unnatural color that stood out in this sea of green, Vin looked at the dull red splotch of color that had splattered across some of the grass. He didn't need his fancy new Tracking skill to follow what was clearly a trail of blood, and in seconds he stumbled upon the source.

Lying face down in the grass was a woman; the thin rock armor she wore clearly marking her as one of the village scouts. There was a stone mace lying a few inches from her open hand and the body of a grass noodle with its head caved in right beside her. Despite the small swarm of ants and large beetles skittering all over her body, Vin was still able to make out the fang marks sunk deep into her exposed ankle, telling him all he needed to know.

Dismissing the new species notifications that must have come from seeing the insects eating away at the woman's decomposing corpse, Vin turned and began dry heaving as he fell to his hands and knees, his body trying to expel something it didn't have. Oh yeah, I haven't actually eaten anything yet today. I just seemed to have a full stomach when the System brought me here. The thought seemed out of place as the image of the woman's corpse refused to leave his mind.

Eyes watering, Vin crawled about a dozen feet away, not daring to go any further in case he ran into one of the hidden snakes and ended up just like the poor woman. It took him a few minutes to collect himself and stop retching, but eventually, he got it together. Taking deep, shaky breaths, Vin managed to get to his feet and gradually edge his way over to the woman. Careful not to look directly at her or breathe too deeply, he leaned down and snagged her fallen mace, beating a hasty retreat once he had it in hand.

He wasn't even entirely certain why he wanted it, but for some reason he felt better having collected something from the fallen warrior.

"I'll say it again," he shivered, eyeing the sea of grass all around him." Screw this fragment." Vin went to continue following the tracks deeper into the surrounding grass, but his legs refused to move. Every time he tried to take a step the image of the dead woman being devoured by bugs appeared crystal clear in his mind, locking up his legs and stopping him dead in his tracks. He couldn't shake the thought that the next step he took might end up putting himself in the exact same situation that had befallen her.

Remembering his recent level up, Vin pulled up his interface and looked at his three free attribute points waiting to be allotted. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if this was the right move instead of making himself stronger or faster. But in the end, he realized being stronger or faster wouldn't do him any good if he didn't see the threat coming in the first place. Not wasting another second, he dumped all three available points into focus, bringing it up from 11 to 14.

It was like the System had injected crushed up Adderall directly into his bloodstream, and Vin's breath caught in surprise as everything suddenly grew sharper in detail. His eyesight and hearing even seemed to improve a little as he realized he was able to hear a family of lemurs chirping quietly overhead before noticing something rather interesting about the grass a few dozen feet in front of him. The sea of grass was swaying in the slight wind, creating the illusion of waves before his very eyes.

But now that his focus had improved, he was able to notice that a few small spots of grass dotting the field around him seemed thinner and weren't moving quite as much as their surroundings. Carefully approaching one such spot, his suspicions were confirmed as he found one of the grass noodles coiled up in wait, its extremely effective camouflage not able to do much about the fact that it was sitting on top of some grass, bending the blades down.

Sending the System a quick prayer of thanks, Vin quickly returned to the tracks, picking up the trail where he left off and moving much faster now that he knew how to spot the snakes' hiding spots. His increased focus helped with his tracking as well, and by the time he stumbled upon what had to be a dirt road leading off into the distance, he'd increased his Tracking to level 4.

"Guess they found this road and decided to follow it," he muttered, looking at how the tracks led up to the road before vanishing. Unlike the dusty ground in the prior fragment or the sea of grass in this one, the well beaten dirt road didn't really leave any sort of tracks behind, meaning the trail had gone dark. There were a few sticks the warriors must have shoved into the edge of the road, no doubt to mark where they'd entered it, but that was the only sign that they'd been here.

According to the sun's position, evening was quickly approaching, and Vin hoped to be miles away from the snake infested fragment before night fell. Gripping the straps of his pack, Vin grit his teeth and began jogging down the dirt path in the direction the scouts had gone. He'd already come this far; he was determined to finish his mission for the village elder and would at least try to find the scouts before giving up. He only hoped he'd find the rest of them in better shape than the first one.