The Legendary Fool

Tom realized that he was in a deadlock of sorts as he marked the forty-second, or perhaps the forty-third tree with the tip of his [Ankra Bone Dagger]. A simple, albeit broad cross demarcated his presence, stretching across the face of the tree. This way, if he was forced to retreat, he’d atleast have some method to ascertain his location. Mostly though, Tom’s actions were motivated by a desire to do everything he could, leaving no stone unturned.

Two hours or thereabouts ought to have passed since he’d killed the [Symiril Tusker] and during that time Tom’s pace had slowed to a crawl. He moved from tree to tree with the utmost caution, making an active effort to minimize his sound footprint. During that time, he’d heard a distant howl that had made his blood run cold, and he could’ve sworn that the rustle in a shrubbery behind him wasn’t a trick of the mind.

That was when the first pangs of thirst began to claw at his psyche.

He had thought about this conundrum as he walked deeper, or perhaps away from the heart of the forest—he had no real way of knowing, coming up with three solutions. The first was to find, or fashion a container that could bear the pressure of his [Water Propulsion] card. He could also practise with it until he could regulate its pressure to drink directly from the card… well, if it was drinkable in the first place.

If he was creating the water through magic in the first place, would it satiate his thirst? Tom… didn’t know. But atleast, the odds of it killing him seemed low.The only downside was the SP cost and the attention it would attract.

The second option he had… was a far less desirable one. The [Ankra Beast Meat] he’d received from the [Divine System] had inadvertently ended up being immensely useful to him, and the intention in giving it to him seemed even more obvious— it was definitely intended for consumption.

So did the same logic apply to the [Symiril Tusker Bone Marrow Extract] in his possession? Tom had taken a peek at his inventory earlier, and it had turned out to be a transparent vial of azure-coloured liquid. Would drinking it kill him? Tom’s instincts said no, but it could still have unintended side-effects. But… if the meat of this world was rancid to his kind, he wouldn’t last long anyway.

The third option, of course, was to find a water body, but that option seemed less likelier with every passing moment.

He’d devised a solution to his… ‘awareness issues’, and the answer was quite laughably simple. He just needed to scale a tree to its highest point, and he’d get the lay of the land within seconds. But that wasn’t an option Tom was willing to resort to just yet.

To begin with, he still had the dexterity of an average human. Climbing a tree that tall… well, it was possible, but if a beast somehow caught scent of him or if there were aerial beasts flying above the forest, Tom was as good as dead. On land atleast, he could fight. But a fall from that height? That was not something [Earth’s Vitality] could cure.

No, he hadn’t reached that stage of desperation yet.

Paradoxically though, that left Tom where he’d begun.

The past two hours had been incredibly dull, but that had given him time to explore a question that had been eating at his mind.

Could he use multiple cards simultaneously?

Tom had tried, or rather, attempted— he’d tried activating [Earth’s Vitality] and [Water Propulsion] at the same time, the latter pointed towards the sky, only to be met with disappointing results.

The only thing he’d gotten was a sharp pang of pain in both his arms that had almost made him drop the cards. He’d immediately ceased his attempts, taking his body’s reaction for what it was— a warning.

No, Tom supposed healing at the same time as he was firing jets of water would be a little too much for [Common] cards.

That had caused him to revamp his strategy. Tom had wisely chose to keep the dagger in his right hand, for it was a weapon he could use without any cost or restrictions. [The Flame] card, his most powerful weapon, was clenched in his left hand. [Earth’s Vitality] was safely stored in his left pocket, which made it the more accessible of the two. [Water Propulsion] went in his right, making it a little harder to get to, but it was also the card he viewed with the least degree of importance, besides its role as a portable water source.

It sucked not to have a healing card on hand, but Tom knew it couldn’t heal fatal or near fatal wounds. More than that though, he couldn’t allow himself to slip into a mentality where getting injured was considered acceptable. He didn’t want the [Earth’s Vitality] card lulling him into a false sense of security.

He’d thought of keeping all three cards in his left hand, but with the restrictions on dual casting, the odds he would blow himself up seemed more likely.

More than likely, there was a far more efficient way of using multiple cards, but try as he might he couldn’t seem to figure it out. Unlike his soul card, the cards weren’t really tethered to his soul— weren’t really a part of himself. So he couldn’t simply place them inside his soul and start belching fire, unfortunately.

A rustle interrupted Tom’s musings.

He pivoted on his foot with surprising alacrity, just in time to see a shadowy figure blur deeper into the shrubbery. The reason his reaction had been so blazingly quick had nothing to do with his reaction speed or instinct— the reason instead, had been quite simple; Tom had been on edge this entire time, back when he’d heard a rustle the first time an hour ago.

His brain had tried to convince him that it had just been an auditory hallucination born out of anxiety, but Tom knew better. If he was destined to go insane, that would have happened a long time ago, back on Earth— because there had been some points in life where that possibility almost seemed relieving.

No, he had been right all this while.

[Analysing….

[Monster Species: Elfinclaw

Soul Card: The Shadow [Common]

Soul Card Level: 3]

Tom’s heart lurched, and it took every bit of willpower he had for him to not break out into a run.

His gaze refused to budge from the ‘[Level 3] that was scrawled upon the blue screen’s surface, as if staring at it long enough would make the number go down.

It wouldn’t.