Second Chance

Sink or Swim

     I woke to the sort of gritty sleepiness that was caused by oversleeping after crying. When I glanced out the window, it was dark out. Had I seriously slept for over 24 hours? I checked the calendar on my Stats screen. No, I'd slept for less than four. I still felt really well rested. Well, I suppose there was no reason for my body to repair itself at night or anything, so it was more surprising that I needed sleep at all. I felt fully refreshed and more optimistic about my life here now that I'd slept too. I could still make a difference; I would just have to go about it in a less normal way. My stomach growled, reminding me to save the philosophical thoughts until a more reasonable time. What would I do with my spare time? I'd planned on swimming today, but it was too dark out. I wouldn't be able to find NPCs for my teaching in beginner skills yet, they kept normal hours, and I needed to eat but didn't have any edible food. No two ways about it, I would just have to spend my newly acquired skill point on [Cooking]. It was the only way to tell if something was edible without just eating it and hoping for the best. I still hadn't discovered what would happen if I died in the game, and until I did so I wasn't going to do stupid stuff.

     I switched to the Skills menu and bypassed all of the Skills I had been hoping for with a sigh. [Cooking] was not what I'd been thinking of getting, but I was glad I hadn't immediately spent the skill points. I confirmed that I wanted to spend my hard-earned skill point, and then switched to my inventory to look for items that could be food. Almost everything in my inventory had {Unknown} in front of it. I took out a piece of {Unknown Meat} and looked at it hard. A loading wheel appeared, and after a moment the item's real name appeared. It was {Boar Meat}, huh. I guess I shouldn't be surprised after all. There was forty pieces of that, which left 23 pieces of {Unknown Meat}. I appraised the meat I got from Talbot, the seeds I'd gotten, and then the herbs that I'd picked up. They turned out to be {Life Herb}, {Bitterwort}, {Plain Seed}, and {Bird Meat}. I didn't know what either [Life Herb] or [Bitterwort] did so I tasted a section of the leaf. Not surprisingly, {Bitterwort} was incredibly bitter. {Life Herb} was pretty tasty though, and I decided to try cooking the {Bird Meat} with it. I didn't have any other spices after all. The {Bitterwort} was definitely out and I'd only had one of those anyways. I didn't have a {Farming} skill so I couldn't plant the seed I got either. I wonder if it's called {Plain Seed} because it's not pretty, or if it was because it was harvested from a plain.

     Immediately after I made my decision, I found that there was a problem. I had nothing to cook my meat with. I tried activating the skill; I tried holding the raw meat in one hand while I applied used [Flames] on it with my staff. It took a while that way, I was immune to my flames but not to the heat of the meat, but it was doable. I burned the first piece, which disappeared in a burst of light. It seemed the game got rid of something the instant it was deemed unusable. I focused all of my attention on not wasting the meat, and by the time the sun began peeking through my windows I had three pieces of [Cooked Bird Meat (+2 dex +50 HP)]. The health attribute came from the {Life Herb}, which had a (+5 HP) by themselves, and which, when dried or cooked, became much more potent. One leaf could be stretched over several pieces of what I privately just called chicken. I ate a piece of the meat while I padded out to the lake, barefoot. The chicken smelled better than it tasted, and I would have given anything for some salt and pepper, but the faint hint of thyme that the [Life Herb] imparted saved the meat from total blandness. I dipped my toe in the water. It was cool, but not freezing. I unequipped my shirt, pants, and boots, leaving me in nothing but the unequippable underwear and bra. These I took off manually and draped over the willow tree. If I put them back in my inventory they would automatically be equipped. I didn't really look forward to swimming naked, but it was better than having to wear wet clothes or go all day without underclothes.

     The water was incredible. The instant I dove under the water my [Swimming] skill leveled up, and I felt the difference. It felt like the water was no longer fighting me. I breached the surface for a new gulp of air, and then dove further down. There was some instinctual reaction to swimming, and I found myself spreading out my toes when I kicked, and curling them under when I was getting ready for another kick. Soon enough I felt myself settling into an easy rhythm with my hands and feet. I had never swum so smoothly in real, and for the first time, I felt that this world might have parts that were equal to or better than real life. I found that I was gradually increasing the time I could hold my breath underwater, and could already hold it longer than I ever had in real. I could also see more clearly underwater, though that was probably because of [Far Sight]. It was a mostly passive skill. I wasn't really sure what could be collected and what couldn't, but some of the plants and rocks had a very faint glow, which I took to mean they were important. I collected everything I could, especially of the lakeweed. It dropped {Unknown Fruit}, which I thought might be edible. It looked a little like a wrinkly red plum, with some sort of firm, but juicy meat. Though I hadn't bit into it; that was just my observation from squeezing the things. When I picked up the fruit, I also got some [Unknown Material] which I assumed was the lakeweed itself. There were also quite a few different types of stones and ores which were useless to me but that Smythe might like. I went back to the surface for a quick breath then dove back down. Time to see if I could get any fish.