Come together

Nice, I hit one! 

Cannot relax though. Earlier, I've seen at least fifteen people in the camp. Supposing at least two guarding our friends and the eight. If they can still send five people, given that they are hurt … I hope they still hear me. 

"Let's flee. We cannot beat everybody — More people are probably coming. "

I think Daniel was already ready to fall back. José seems pretty unhappy … To be honest, I get it. Why is this Isekai so hard? Shouldn't this be like a video game, and aren't we supposed to beat NPCs for experience? There wasn't any mobs in the forest earlier, and I didn't get any points for hitting that guy — Although he probably isn't dead, that was just a stick.

"God, this world is boring! I already feel tired. Ya gotta be real, Daniel, I kicked some ASS out there."

While taking some distance from the camp, he starts re-enacting what he did, while narrating it. Daniel doesn't seem interested.

"Got that first from behind … Stealth Stealth, huh? […] Those others came running, I just demolished that red head freak in a 1v1. GG no Reee [...] I got so nervous when that last guy was outmatching me in strength, I felt my muscles vibrating. I wouldn't have held it for a second more, but I didn't need it, I just saw the dude falling on his back. Hahahaha"

"Did you get any XP, José? I didn't get anything."

I ask, when close to a fallen trunk, while sitting in it. Might as well stay here, it is already getting dark. I can see those yellow colors of a setting sun between the dense foliages of the very high trees.

"I don't remember getting anything, lemme see … I got a new skill point. You probably didn't get it because you were useless with your stick shooter. Hahahah"

Tsk, does that mean I have to actually beat some of those guys to raise levels? I remember Lily saying specifically that this Isekai was chill. How is it chill beating people to a pulp to get points? DAMN IT. It is so frustrating picking a wrong build to start, and I don't even know if I can reset. What do I do? What do I do? 

"Hey man. I was just teasing. Are you alright?"

"Yes, I was just thinking about what to eat. We didn't get anything there."

The hell I am. I am actually very anxious about this, my heart is pounding and I feel like I cannot breathe enough. What will I do without any combat skills? I never picked a fight in school or nothing. How the hell am I going to survive and thrive here? I need to calm down!

"Yeah. You're right. We need actually need food — What a pain, this game is terrible. Why did we choose this door? Also, don't we need something to live under?"

"Lets split up and look for useful stuff. We decide where to go from there in … I don't know … 1h?"

Daniel seems hurt, his back is stiff, and he is a lot slower than earlier. José seems a lot less hyped about doing this kind of tasks, but both of them start moving. The unfruitful battle must have shaken their spirits too. If only I could've helped more, we'd probly have got at least some useful stuff. Beating all of them would probly award us a huge amount of bonus XP, and we could use their food and shelter.

I HAVE to make up for it! I can somehow sense in my gut when certain things would be more useful. That must be due to getting the basic gathering and basic crafting skills. Things that I never studied before simply come to my mind concerning quality and usefulness of various kinds of what I would previously classify as trash. 

There are LOADs of leafs on the floors, but most of them seem very wet. I need dry stuff to try and make a fire. It is also not as easy to find rocks, I honestly feel so icky moving all of this wet foliage to look for it. There is a lot of some kind of vine too, probably gotta be useful to make some kind of string. 

Most of the large vegetation are bamboo and some kind of palm tree. I can see small purple clusters of some kind of fruit in them, but it is a quite tall tree. Those stems also seem long and flexible, maybe I can try and use it for a make-shift spear? I just need to find some on the ground.

It was certainly worth it to get keen audition from the skill tree, the sheer beauty encased in the natural variety of sounds I can feel right now is somehow soothing enough to calm my heart. I stop, breathe and try to hear it. I can see some bird's loud, piercing squawks and screeches, others doing series of high-pitched “yelp-yelp-yelp” or croaking sounds. A water stream not too far away and deep bangs against wood, as if something is trying to bring trees down. Not to mention the constant frog croaking and cicada screaching.

Oh, finally. I find some of those purple berries. I can almost feel the sweet, grape flavor just by looking at them, although … they aren't really alike. Whatever, I'll eat some and take some back for the guys. 

Bleh! Oh god, is this bitter? And such an earthy flavor, what is this? I mean … It is the only option for now … I should bring this back, but I really hope there are other berries around here …

I find José already back, besides a mountain of wet leaves, some loose bark, and sticks while looking at the sky, contemplating. 

"What is it? we need you to help too, you know?"

"I have no idea what I am looking for! Man, this game is terrible."

"Yeah, to be honest. It doesn't even feel like a game … Look at this that I brought. It is from one of these palm trees. Just look for these, full of berries. With you focused on getting a food source, maybe I can focus more on something else"

He gets up slowly and takes some berries. He seems to like them a lot more than I do.

"Oh … This earthy taste is so rich, and the slight bitterness elevates it to a whole new level. It is such a complex taste. I'll definitely look for more of these! Gladly!"

Wow, this 15 years old seems to have a more refined taste than I do, I guess … I'll try looking for drier stuff. Everything is soooo moist around here. We'll need dry tinder for a fire. There is so little light left, but I cannot just go back without dry tinder. 

Even though it is getting harder are harder, I have to do it. I have to go on. I have to survive.