As Darien rode east, he wondered to himself if it was even a good idea to do so.
He was right to think as much and to doubt his destination, because he had no clue what he was going to encounter, or where he was going specifically. The only lead he had was that he was moving toward the Finelands, and just like the Waterlands, the Finelands was an assemblage of several dukedoms in the central-west of the world, Valurion.
That is to say, the Waterlands, Finelands, and other provinces weren't necessarily regions bounded by visible borders. They were denotations used to simply classify the dukedoms in their varying climatic regions.
The Waterlands was constituted of four Shires: Darksea, Salt River, Driftpoint, and Cuckhold. All were dukedoms headed by powerful families. And Darien's family, if he could call it that, were among the commonfolk of the Driftpoint dukedom.
Darien didn't know which was ideal: continuing his journey, or turning around and returning to the Waterlands, which he was more familiar with.
'I'll be a fool to tromp past that forest again with all those corpses and blood…'
Darien remembered the mage and his sad death. The fresh memory churned his stomach with discomfort.
He remembered the assignment the mage had given him as his last death wish. Darien resolved that he would carry it out when he safely reached his destination.
'The merchants were taking me east to the Finelands too. So, this definitely means the Finelands is a more prosperous place. If they were dragging people east, there would be buyers. There would be a city, there would be wealthy people, gold, and better civilization.'
It was a long journey for him, and he survived on his fruits to never get absolutely hungry. He craved starch and meat on his very first day in the wilderness, and by the third day, he was salivating for it.
The steed even appeared quite palatable in his vision, but Darien shook it away and decided to hunt for something truly edible instead.
With the 10 Attribute Points he acquired from slaying the mage, Darien assigned half of those points to Strength and the other half to Intelligence.
His decision was made under duress, as his body was almost flung away on regular occasions while on the horse's back. To prevent that and also avoid any shortcomings in the near future, Darien had to invest in his Strength. Alas, if he hadn't, he wouldn't have been able to snare this squirrel right through its skull.
No system info followed because he had killed a Rank 0 creature, something pathetically on the same rank as he was.
'I killed it for the food anyway.'
Darien skipped triumphantly to his game and picked it up to immediately begin skinning it. He couldn't help but realize how boosting his Intelligence to 19 truly helped him with the cognizance of certain things an average human wouldn't know.
For example, he was able to craft his own catapult right there in the wilderness using a twig and a single strand of vine. With a pebble, the makeshift hunter was able to fire the shot at the roosting squirrel to get his game.
Now, he also had the basic knowledge of starting up a fire, so he got right to it in order to have his meal cooked. Darien really resisted the heathen act of devouring the game raw.
"Stay here, Delilah. I'll just move over there to get some fuel. Neigh loudly if you need me."
Darien instructed his horse before venturing out deeper into the taiga.
From his observation, the density and type of forestry had changed drastically from that deep mangrove to a more coniferous biome. Perhaps he was truly arriving at his destination of the Finelands after all.
Consequently, since the biome had changed, it was quite difficult to ferret out some firewood. All Darien was stumbling into were damp logs covered in moss, damp branches, and sticky limbs from the conifer crops. His miraculously imbued survival instincts told him that the majority of these were actually more dangerous with fire than useful.
'I guess I'll head deeper. There must be some ideal firewood to cook this squirrel with..'
With a sigh, Darien glanced back at his horse, which he had named Delilah, before venturing deeper, barefoot on the light green, needle-covered forest floor.
He eventually arrived at a thinning portion of the forest. His gaze went far through the remaining small clusters of trees to see an endless land of low, pale grass, easily treadable and navigable to one's destination. Only a few trees dotted this landscape, and from afar, he could see one lone animal striding in the wilderness under the sun.
'Why does this remind me so well of those nature documentary shows?'
Darien could travel on this path, but he chose not to because it was open to the naked eye, and anyone—man or beast—could spot him. Therefore, he stuck to slithering into forest after forest during the day and locomoting to the outer landscapes during nighttime.
To maintain his routine and prevent danger to himself, Darien ceased his search right at that edge of the forest. But luckily, he came across a tree species that gave him confidence he was getting roasted game today.
'Hardy pine!'
Standing defiantly amongst the other popular trees of this biome that didn't support combustion was a sequestered Ironbark Pine tree. Unlike the other trees girdling its territory and beyond, it had deep gray bark and branches so high and proud. It was tough, upright, and most importantly… dry.
'Finally!'
Darien proceeded to snap the lower branches, each emitting a satisfying crack. But as he harvested his firewood, Darien heard voices and he froze in the middle of his actions.
The voices appeared faint, so he stayed calm, knowing he had a head start if someone was coming toward him. But as he stood still to listen closely, Darien realized they were voices of laughter, happiness, and quite noticeably, a mix of feminine sounds.
'Women? Out here? I must be closer to the city than I think!'
Darien's heart raced out of fear and confusion, but after a short while, he realized there was nothing in their tone that screamed danger or warning. They actually sounded like people at ease and without troubles.
'If they are bandits, they aren't doing a good job of hiding.'
Truly curious, Darien decided to move toward the voices, carefully and silently. He didn't mean to brag, but since they were elated feminine sounds, he saw no reason to fear drawing forward to take a look.
'I also don't remember seeing any girl or woman in this world except Madame Sansena. I wonder how they'll look like.'
Step after step, he crept forward until the trees thinned completely to just a select few sturdy ones. He stopped in his tracks, crouching next to one tree when he saw a sudden drop in the earth's topography.
There was a steep dip of terrain just 15 feet from where he crouched with an expression of inspection. The drop was actually a hole in the ground, one of those natural wounds like a vertical cavern.
Darien wondered how deep it was, because the feminine voices were resonating louder now, placing his guess around 30 feet deep.
Furthermore, it turned out it wasn't just a hole, but a sunken spring with a circumference of random stones and pebbles. Darien could see steam drifting out of the large hole like exorcised spirits, and he also began to hear splashing water.
'They are taking their baths....?'
As the girls in the cavern laughed, teased, and showered, Darien looked down at his filthy body.
The dress of a bastard that he wore was hardly a dress anymore. He had about five large patches and countless smaller ones that revealed his tiny body. His knuckles were scraped, his breath was horrible, and even his snow hair was sullied.
Darien had yet to even see his own appearance, not even a pond reflection, because most dirty water he drank was at night, in a haste, eyes up with caution for attacks.
'I need a bath… gods, I need a bath more than I need food.'
'Should I join them?'
Darien's eyes moved to the side at one edge of the cliff. There, he saw a bundle of clothes stacked neatly, further affirming the idea that some women or girls were bathing down there.
Darien licked his lips and looked around him before he rose to his feet, though his back remained bent.
His eyes stayed fixed on the ledge as he prepared himself to perform a very mischievous act. And finally, he decided he was going to use some of his 2,000 Skill Points he hadn't touched for three days now.
He found a good reason to make a new skill. Darien's lips curled.
"System, create this skill…"
[Analyzing concept… Calibrating potency… Weighing cost…]
[Ding!]
[Skill frame established]
[Name: Stealth]
[Description: An active concealment skill that reduces the user's sound, and physical presence. While active, it temporarily enhances Agility by 100%, making detection by enemies significantly harder. However, beings of higher rank especially those with heightened perception or sensory skills may still be able to detect the user despite concealment.]