It's been… hours, to put it lightly. Already, the sun has changed from a rising motion to setting. I take the occasional break when I can, only to massage my calfs and rest my feet. Kinda wish I wasn't wearing steel-toe boots right now, but there's not much I can do at this junction.

Notably, the forest has given way to far more marshy soil and knee-deep puddles, and I have to be careful to avoid tripping and slipping in the murk. Which has made my trip annoying to say the least. Still, I trek onward, hoping that I'll reach some sign of civilization. At the very least, marshy soil would mean readily available water and rich flora and fauna alike, so at the very least I'll be able to survive, provided the plant life around me is safe. Huh. Actually, is any of this stuff even remotely safe to eat?

"Would be neat if I could do something like make an {Insight Check} or..." I begin to mutter to myself as I lean against a tree, my eyes widening as I felt that familiar oomph behind those last two words.

A new black box popped up in front of my view, revealing an image of the tree my back was against, following a series of white letters.

{Great Lakes Willow: A unique species of tree found only deep beyond the Forest of Tob, within the marshy grounds of the Great Lake Wetlands. The bark, when dried, baked, ground, and steeped, makes for a great faintly cinnamon-like tea that treats stomach cramps and nausea (Status effect treatment: Mild Pain, Sickness). Would you like to learn the 'Lake Willow Tea' Recipe?}

Wow. Just, wow. This is by far the greatest cheat known to man. If real life worked like this, God only knows how more advanced things could have gone. Or how much more to shit, depending on your viewpoint. I scratch my chin, looking carefully at the recipe. Eh, fuck it, why not? Could be useful if I mess up cooking later. Sure as can be, a notification pops up telling me I've learned the recipe, though it did take a couple points from me. A new box rings up, showing me the ingredients for the tea. Ground bark, hot water… yeah, as simple as it gets. Still, I should probably make to gather a few cuts of bark right now.

I pull my knife out and cut along the bark, peeling it back. According to the instructions, the cambium underneath the outer bark layer is what I need. With the first layer cut, I slice away, peeling back a nice, small sheet of cambium. Certainly enough to brew a single cup at the very least, but I'll gather a couple more slices from nearby trees just in case. As I do this, I look at other plants in the area, thinking. If this tree provided a nice tea… would the other plants have something to offer? Walking to a thorny bush, much like the one I found in the clearing where I first came to. This one also had green, unripe berries on it, useful for another {Goodberry} if I felt the need. I grab a branch between thorns, and attempt an {Insight Check}.

{Hucklenut Briar: Despite their initially fruity appearance, the plant eventually ripens its seeds into bulbous clusters of nuts. It should be noted that while the nuts of the plant are poisonous, younger plants may have their stems stripped of thorns and outer bark to be boiled, softening them and making for a noodly, if somewhat bitter meal}

So the nuts are poisonous huh? Hmmm… noodly stems too… been a minute since I've had spaghetti.

{Two recipes unlocked!}

Two Recipes? Well damn, alright, color me curious. Let's see what's what.

{Recipe One: Green Spaghetti}

{Recipe Two: Mild Irritant}

Green Spaghetti? That's a… less than appealing name, but It would certainly be nice to have. And Mild Irritant? I bet that has something to do with the nuts themselves. Hmm… I don't have much need for a poison right now, best just stick with the uh, 'Green Spaghetti'.

{Warning! Insufficient data, recipe incomplete!}

Say what now? What am I missing?

{Ingredients: Hucklenut Stems, [?], [?], Water}

Huh… well shit. Guess I'll need to identify more plants if I wanna figure this out. Or maybe there's meat involved? Fish, or dare I say… bugs? I've eaten crickets and cicadas before, but God help me if grubs are involved. I guess there's no choice but to look for ingredients. I tap other plants in the immediate vicinity, as well as along my direction of choice.

{Frogmouth Lily: A fragrant black flower with long red pistils drooping out, like the tongue of a frog. Though the plant itself is not poisonous, it is not edible either. However, the Toadman tribes consider a bouquet of the flower as an offering for peace talks}

Toadman? As in, frogs that walk and talk like people? Alright, filing under future reference. Definitely gonna get a bouquet set up on stand by just in case I bump into some. Is there any way I can learn about them some more? Maybe their culture perhaps? I take a moment to look into the sky, hoping for an answer to drop in my lap, but none came. I sigh. At the very least, I'll know to keep a lookout for them.

{Chimera Cap: A meaty saucer-like cap, with spindly spore gills dangling underneath. This tea-cup sized fungus initially smells like a moldy gym sock that took a trip through the digestive tract of a particularly long basilisk, but when cooked it's odor changes to a succulent, saucy scent along with a strong, tangy taste. It is only good for flavoring however, as the mushroom completely comes apart into a mushy pile when cooked. Would you like to learn the 'Mushroom Sauce' recipe?}

I would very much like to, yes. Smelly or no, it sounds pretty good cooked. Also, hold the phone, fucking basilisks?

{Ingredient in 'Green Spaghetti' recipe unlocked! One ingredient remaining}

Frickin' bullseye and all, and while I wanna know what that last ingredient is I really wanna know why the fuck I got sent to a place with basilisks. I mean sure, the magic stuff probably helps, but what good is that at something that can turn me to stone with its breath? I sigh, shaking my head. At the very least, I doubt that I'd get dropped somewhere I'd survive less than a day. I resume my little explorative escapade, brushing my hand along a shin high plant sticking through the grass.

{Wetland Cabbage: A leafy, purple brown plant. Thriving in marshy, rich soil, though this plant is fairly bland, it still makes for a decent meal nonetheless. Would you like to learn the 'Swamp Salad' recipe?}

Huh… pretty basic, but alright. I'll keep that recipe off to the side just in case. I'd rather save my points for something else, and while I do have a good few built up, I'm not sure how many more points a 'level up' would bring, if any. Maybe I need to level up a particular class, or perhaps need to practice with known recipes? Lord knows, cause I don't. Er, Patron knows. What the hell do I call it anyway? Him? Her? They? Before I could continue my thoughts however, I hear a buzzing noise, and have just enough time to see a-

"AHAHAHAH SHIT SHIT SHIT FUCKITY SHIT FUCK SHIT!" I screamed out in a high-pitched, womanly fashion. I barely had just enough time to roll back and dodge a flying beetle the size of a bulldog. I pull my machete out as the beetle makes a wobbly U-turn, and I barely have enough time to see its vice-like horns openwide. I parry the bug around me with the back of my blade, as I prepare a spell.

"{FROSTBITE}!"

The spell takes its effect almost immediately, the beetle gets covered in a sheen of frost and immediately drops to the ground… and stops moving. I wait a moment, watching it from a distance, but it doesn't make a move. I take a step forward and stand there longer, before realizing this thing wasn't moving. I walk up to it cautiously, checking its body. I gingerly touch it with my hand, and awkwardly open my mouth.

"Uhh… {Insight Check}?" I mutter curiously, wanting to know if this would work on an animal.

{Shearjaw Beetle (Adult: Level 9): This solitary species of beetle is an ambush predator, falling from the trees above to use its powerful jaws on its prey's neck. Once clamped, it slices and chew through the flesh, often killing within seconds. During mating season, it will proceed to make a call to any nearby females to mate, and lay their eggs in the carcass afterward, particularly large prey like deer. This specimen is experiencing the status effect 'Cold Shock'}

I blinked before yanking my hand back and jamming down with my machete, killing it while I could. It makes a brief squeak, before I get an alert from the window declaring it dead.

{Would you like to learn the skill 'Game Processing: Insects'?}

Uhh… fuck it, yeah, color me curious. A notification dings off confirming my choice, and I'm greeted with a diagram on how to best peel back its chitin to get the meat inside, as well as avoid certain organs. Huh, this thing's actually kinda like a crab, juicy stuff in the claws… er, jaws. I shrug, figuring this spot's as good as any. I settle my bag down and stretch, before preparing my camp.

I stirred my newly obtained spaghetti as it cooked in the pot. As it turns out, the final ingredient was just 'Meat'. Whether that be bug meat or otherwise, it cooked just as well. Doing some additional poking, I found that other ingredients were replaceable, such as the sauce when I considered a more meat based option from the beetle. Peering further still, I saw this applied to multiple things in fact. When I'd butchered the beetle, I'd gotten a recipe for 'Bugplate Armor' which seemed to be pretty similar to what I suppose leather armor and gambesons would be. The more I looked, the more I noticed that the recipes weren't entirely locked on, and were actually prone entirely to the creative whim of the one wielding it. Once I realized that, a whole new avenue had opened up to me, and it had me considering other options to experiment on.

Cue my current project I was working on in the corner between stirs, a crude fiber sack. I had yet to 'unlock' a sack, and yet I was making one right now. Eh, kind of. I didn't have experience making a sack exactly, but I had enough experience with weaving to at least guess as to what I should do. The point of this experiment was to see if, through making something myself, whether or not I could unlock something without the need to spend points. How do I personally think I'll fair? Considering it's based on instinct and a very vague understanding, about as well as a drunk skunk trying' to reach top bunk.

As part of the experiment in seeing how this 'Crafting System' for lack of a better words works, I'd selected the Green Spaghetti and I felt an innate understanding of how to prepare it down to the last stir, and knew moments when I could afford to wait and do something despite absolutely zero experience with cooking completely alien ingredients. The sack however, carried no such sensation, and was prone entirely to my fumbling. I say fumbling, but it could be worse I suppose. I could be doing the whole thing slushed like snow.

Well, aside from my little experiment, this night has been fairly slow. I've been keeping an eye out for more of those Shearjaws, but thankfully the size of that thing must mean it had at least a somewhat decent territory. Or were they territorial at all? I dunno, it's not like a beetle the size of a dog has ever walked the earth during human existence back home, so there's no real precedent for such a thing. I just hope there's nothing else in this swamp as big as that bugwise, or so help me God. The big bastard better taste like chicken.

I take back to my sack now, with the base of it just now finished and set for me to start building it up. As I fiddle with the twisted grasses, I let my mind wander onto other subjects.

Speaking of alien fauna, I'm curious as to what these 'Toadmen' are like. I wasn't able to go off of anything other than the 'Frogsmouth Lily's description and the name itself, but it's obvious they're amphibians or consider them sacred at the very least. My main concern is how friendly they'll be when I bump into them, if it all. If not, then getting my hands on a bouquet is top priority should I bump into them. At the very least, I'd buy myself some time to think of way out of the situation.

Sighing, I place the ramshackle sack down and turn back to my pot, pulling it off of the campfire. I carefully drain the water out of the side into a glass, stir in some already prepped sauce, add some bug bits aaaand… done. Food prepared, nothing else to say but bone apple teeth. I bury my hard plastic fork into the sloppy greens and stir it up with the sauce and meaty chunks, pull up a glop to blow on, and take a bite. I chew and taste the flavors on my tongue. My chewing slows as the tastes finally register, and unfortunately this is not what the kids call 'umami'.

"... needs salt… coulda used a dash of butter in the prep… and parmesan… a lotta fuckin' parmesan…" I mutter through my full mouth, resuming chewing the tolerable food in my mouth. And honestly, I think the only reason I can even eat this stuff is ironically because of the mushroom sauce.

I finish my meal quietly, emptying the pot, and scrub said pot of any residual food particles before filling it up with the use of {Create Water} and boiling some more for drinking purposes. I sigh, at least content that it held off hunger pains. I stare into the fire, now content to take an actual mental break from everything that's happened in the last twenty-four hours. I couldn't help but grimace as I started to think about what happened with mom.

"It doesn't make any sense…" I muttered out loud, only talking to myself for the sake of hearing it. "She was a lot of things. Selfish, drugged up, a borderline sociopath, but even she had her limits… so what the hell made her snap?"

I give pause, almost expecting a response from anything, be it the bug carcass or some figure to roll out of the shadows. I knew that wasn't going to come however, so all I could really do was continue.

"... Maybe it was the drugs…? She was on a lot of medications… but she's been like that since we were kids… fuck, it just doesn't make any sense! Why would she do that?!" I shouted, tearing my hat off and whipping it through the brush outside of my camp. I breath in shakily, attempting to reign myself in, before that's completely snapped off by the fact that my hat was now lost in the brush… and the sun had just set.

"Great… fucking great… good job Nolan, you're about as bat-shit crazy and stupid as the woman that popped you out… talkin' to yourself like you're a taco short of a fiesta platter…"

I step up and stumble through the brush, hoping it didn't land in one of the puddles. Pushing branches aside, I squint my eyes and peer into the marshy night forest, before realizing something. There were fireflies, and there were a lot. They flowed smoothly through the air, flickering yellow-green lights like stars ball-room dancing. The sound of frog calls and insect chirps greeted my ears, as well as late night bird calls of avians announcing the coming of the night.

I feel the pressure on my chest release through my agape mouth, taking an easy breath I hadn't felt in some time.

I look on in awe, staring at the lights that moved outside. The sounds were so weird, I'd never heard them before but they sounded nice. I could hear my Pop chuckle, and I looked to him as he grinned and pulled out a jar in each hand.

"Wanna catch some fireflies?"

I hadn't remembered that in a while. It was my first time outside the city, never saw any green that wasn't in a planter box or the zoo. The first time I found out how much I loved nature. True nature, not the caged shit people showed off to sell shirts and coffee mugs at a gift shop. I chuckle sadly, remembering how much I cried when I found out I couldn't take any of the fireflies with me back to my mother's. A little kid that loved nature. That's what I used to be.

I trek more carefully, the weight of my frustration and confusion pushed off in a moment of nostalgic bliss. An old and almost forgotten respect for the nature surrounding me felt returned, making me chuckle more heartily in my realization.

"I really ain't on Earth no more…" I say aloud, spotting the shape of my hat in the darkness, resting on the branch of a bush. "But God damn it if I won't make it back"

I pick the hat up, and pull it overhead, tugging on the part of the brim that was worn out over the years from constant pulls. With it now attached to my head where it belongs, I went back to camp to set up something that could pass as shelter. A lean-to was really all I had in mind honestly.

{Recipe Unlocked! Would you like to learn 'Construct Lean-To'?}

Oh shut the hell up, if I didn't know how to make even that, I wouldn't have passed with flying colors on my Pops camping trip and made that old dog proud.

Nolan Potts, Human (Karma: +30 [Neutral]) [13/15 Spell slots used]

Classes: Brawler (4), Ranger (3), Druid (2), Clothier (2). Total Level (11)

Spells (Druid): Frostbite, Entangle, Create or Destroy Water, Guidance, Jump, Cure Wounds, Dust Devil, Protect from Poison, Hold Person, Spike Growth

Spells (Ranger): Animal Friendship, Speak to Animals, Ensnaring Strike

Gear: Canvas Clothes (Sturdy, Weathered), Oak-Handled Brush-hook, Canvas Coyote Pack of Holding, Bundles of Herbs (Medicinal)

Items of Note: {Humble Beginnings}

AN: Y'know, I know what I said about update speed and all, but I genuinely didn't think I'd pop this out today. Small blessings I guess. Still, I guess y'all can enjoy this much at least. Guess I'll reply to the one person that posted a review for now.

Raven Mordrake: To be honest, it kinda gets boring with the same 'lather, rinse, repeat' routine I've been seeing pertaining to following Ainz (Not that it's always a bad thing), but on the same note I didn't wanna make some Billy Badass Player-Character OC right off the bat. Figured this was a decent enough way to do that. I don't have any intentions of writing any alliance with Ainz, though I don't plan on my protagonist being on the warpath for him either (We all know how that would fair). Of course, aside from a few post-it notes lining out how I wanna write this out from start, climax, to finish, I'm mostly playing things by ear here.