The chasm yawned before me, a deep scar in the face of this strange world. The wind howled through it, a low, mournful sound that carried the distant echoes of shrieks and guttural roars.
I took a loose rock from the cliff face and dropped it, its clatter growing faint and then vanishing into the depths. The impact was inaudible.
It is deep.
My mind, still rooted in the logic of my past, began to calculate. The sheer cliff face offered no obvious handholds, no gentle slope. It was a vertical drop of hundreds of feet, covered in loose rock and scraggly, half-dead vines. A normal human would have sought a path, a bridge, anything to avoid a fall. My purpose was different. My purpose was to endure the fall.
I took a running start and launched myself over the edge, aiming to land on an outcropping of rock about 30 feet below me.
The fall was a dizzying rush, but it ended abruptly as I slammed into the narrow ledge feet first, but my momentum carried me forward, my head and torso tucking into a roll and slamming into the cliff-face with a sickening crunch.
But the impact still wasn't enough to eliminate all the momentum. My body ricocheted off the rocks, tumbling and spiraling into another patch of loose scree. Bones snapped, muscles tore, organs ruptured or collapsed, it was guaranteed death for just about anyone, but before I passed out, my regeneration kicked in, healing everything at a rapid pace.
[All leg bones have been broken by the ground]
[Your brain has been inflicted with Hemorrhage]
[Your lungs have collapsed]
[10 ribs have been broken]
[Host's [Impact Resistance] has increased greatly.]
[You have acquired the skill [Impact Resistance I].]
[Host's [Impact Resistance] has increased greatly.]
[Host's [Impact Resistance] has increased greatly.]
[Host's [Impact Resistance] has increased greatly.]
[The Skill [Impact Resistance I] has been upgraded to [Impact Resistance II].]
I took a moment as I laid there. I had very nearly died. But the payoff...
My fists clenched and unclenched in awe. The strength coursing through my limbs was unlike anything I had experienced before. Yes, my original body had been durable. It could take a beating from just about anything. But it didn't possess strength like this. This, was a new sensation.
It seems Impact Resistance strengthens the body's internals rather than it's defenses. This is good. Yes.
I stood up slowly, now perfectly whole, and looked further down. There was still a long way to go, and that would only be the beginning. After reaching the bottom, I would need to traverse through miles of this danger-filled terrain, then find a path back up to the other side of the ravine, and only then will I be able to find people.
The next jump would be about 20 feet, less than the first, but still plenty dangerous.
I took a breath and jumped again, plummeting into the darkness. This second impact was indeed different. I was able to remain relatively upright, sustaining only a few fractures on my legs and wrists. And like clockwork, the pain faded within moments.
[Your wrists have been fractured.]
[Your legs have been fractured.]
[Host's [Impact Resistance] has increased significantly.]
As I recovered and stood up, my new joints protesting, I became aware of a new presence. While the wind still carried those strange calls from far below, there was something else in close proximity to me, a collection of low growls.
My head swiveled about in circles in an attempt to identify their source, and from the shadows of a large boulder behind me, walked a pack of four sleek but grotesque beasts, badger-like creatures with three glowing red eyes, their claws long, sharp and dripping with a sickly green fluid.
Based on the tones of their growls, I was fairly certain that they were far from pleased at my intrusion. I attempted to back away slowly, but they attacked as one, a flurry of motion and sharp edges.
Razor-sharp claws slashed across my torso, my thighs, my arms, and my back. Each swipe was an explosion of a new kind of pain, a searing, slicing agony that left deep gouges in my flesh. A strange warmth, a new kind of unpleasant sensation, spread from each wound as the green fluid entered my bloodstream.
[Your thigh has been sliced by a Three-eyed Badger]
[Your arm has been sliced by a Three-eyed Badger]
[Your torso has been sliced by a Three-eyed Badger]
[Host's [Slash Resistance] has increased significantly.]
[Host's [Slash Resistance] has increased significantly.]
[Host's [Slash Resistance] has increased significantly.]
And then, as a new kind of dull throb spread through my body, another prompt appeared.
[Your body has been inflicted with weak Poison.]
[Host's [Poison Resistance] has increased slightly.]
I didn't try to fight back. Clearly this would turn out to be beneficial. I had discovered a new source of danger as a result of my exploration---poison. And I was sure there could well be many more undiscovered sources of harm.
So even though I could have defended myself at the very least, I allowed the onslaught to continue, my body becoming a canvas of slashes and seeping green fluid. But the three badgers were not tireless. They began to slow down, their attacks becoming weaker and more sporadic. They were running out of stamina, while I was simply collecting data. By the time they stopped, panting heavily, they were too exhausted to even run. My body, meanwhile, had recovered almost completely, its wounds now nothing more than faint, pink lines.
[The Skill [Slash Resistance I] has been upgraded to [Slash Resistance III].[The Skill [Poison Resistance I] has been acquired.]
I looked at one of the badgers, its red eyes narrowed with impotent fury. I decided it would become a test subject. I reached down and grabbed the beast by the scruff of its neck, lifting it into the air. The badger, in a final act of defiance, clamped its jaws around my forearm, but its teeth, though sharp, could do nothing against my skin, that had been strengthened many times over in such a way that combated the threat of piercing attacks perfectly.
The beast's teeth scraped uselessly against my hand, as if they were merely blunt pencil nibs slipping across paper.
My defenses had improved significantly, but I wanted to see what kind of force this body could output. I wanted to see how much power I now had at my disposal. With a simple twist of my hand, a loud snap echoed in the stillness of the ravine. The badger went limp, its life extinguished.
The two remaining badgers, seeing the fate of their companion, abandoned their defiance and fled, scurrying away into the darkness. I had no malice for the creatures. I merely wanted more data. I managed to catch one more before it escaped, snapping its neck with the same simple motion. The other two were allowed to escape. Because in the end, the fact was that I had intruded on their territory. It was only right for them to defend themselves.
That is a strange thought. Why have I had that thought? This... must be what the humans call "empathy".
I wasn't one to waste time. I turned to walk over to the edge of the platform, but then, a new, alien sensation coursed through my body. It was not a sharp agony, nor was it a dull ache. It was a profound emptiness, a deep, gnawing pain that seemed to originate from the middle of my torso. My adaptive regeneration did nothing to heal it. I wracked my brain, going over all my system logs for any previous mention of this kind of internal damage. My body, which had been so quick to repair its own flesh and bone, was doing nothing. It was frustrating.
But then, an all too familiar prompt appeared in my vision.
[You are starving.]
I had acquired more information. I had already known of this body's limited stamina, but this implied the need for energy. While my previous body could simply be charged in my docking station, I knew not how Humans recharged themselves without the required components.
My gaze instinctively wandered down to the two dead badgers at my feet.
I see.