I, The Anomalous God

Chapter 7 General Learning: Survival

Name: J¤•■ A¤<□♡□$

Level: 1 (Exp. 3.26%)

Race: Human

Class: Worm

Age: 1 week, 4 days

Health: 12100

Mana: 15460

AP: 4380

DP: 8623

Strength: 15 (+300)

Dexterity: 10 (+300)

Intelligence: 100 (+508)

Vitality: 100 (+505)

Wisdom: 50 (+290)

Agility: 10 (+302)

Active Skills: Telekinesis (Lv.3), Float (Lv.3), Divine Light (Broken), Sprint (Lv.1), Force Shield (Lv.1), Meditation (Semi-passive/Level 2), Parkour (Lv.1)

Passive Skills: Universal Language (Max), Fear Resistance (Lv.1), Pain Resistance (Lv.1), Memory Bank (Semi-active/Lv.1), Illusion Resistance (Lv.1)

Title: Anomaly (Awakened), Tatiana’s Son, Contracted, Reborn, Coward, Worm

Title Skill: Danger Sense (Passive/Lv.1)

Status points: 0

“Oh, Memory Bank, this skill must be the reason why I remember everything the Grand Scholar said.” Reborn checked his other new skills as well.

“Parkour, grants 15% movement speed and 40% terrain mastery.” The voice said.

“15% increase in movement and 40% terrain mastery? What is terrain mastery?” Reborn whispered. He noticed that his experience increased a little. “Does doing some tasks and acquiring skills add to experience?” he thought.

“Reborn, why are you still awake?” Tatiana came to his room.

“Mother, I am going to sleep in a moment.” He said.

“Alright, don’t be up too late, okay?” Tatiana reminded him and went out of the room.

Reborn sat up from his nest bed and took out the Sprite Magic scroll Val gave him. It was a task given to him and he has not read it once yet.

“Sprite Magic.” He read. The introduction on the scroll said that Sprite Magic is a race exclusive magic available only to sprites. It stemmed from Shacanna, the Mother Tree.

“An exclusive magic? Other race could not learn this then.” Reborn muttered. He continued reading the scroll and after an hour or so, he finished the entire scroll. It was an introductory to Sprite Magic. “Why did Grand Scholar Val ask me to read this? There is nothing about weakness and strength of sprite magic here.”

His brows scrunched up in thinking. It does not make sense at all unless the Grand Scholar wants him to learn Sprite Magic. But he is human. What is the point? “Whatever! I am going to sleep.” He said.

=================

“Good morning, sprites!” Val greeted them. “Today, we will be doing some group tasks. If you are ready, then get down and do the breathing exercise!” he said.

The sprites did as they were told. Grand Scholar Val used his Fae Mist skill and the sprites went into their dreams. This time, though, they appear in the meadow in groups.

“Ah, hi!” Reborn greeted his teammates.

“Oh, man, I am grouped with you?” A male sprite with red spiky hair complained.

“Hello!” A female pinked-hair sprite greeted back.

The other two sprites, one with black wings and the other with triple-eyed wings just glanced at Reborn.

“Alright! Did you introduce yourselves already?” Val asked as soon as he appeared in front of the group.

“Sir why am I grouped with him?” the spiky-haired sprite said.

“Why should you not?” Val stared at him. He shut his mouth and did not speak anymore.

“So, I guess, you did not introduce yourselves yet. You, spiky-haired kid, start introducing.” Val ordered.

“Yes sir!” Then he faced his group mates, “The name’s Jess. Son of Billeka. Nice to meet you!” he introduced.

Then the pink-haired female sprite introduced next, “Hi! I am Fran. Daughter of Teeko. I am from the Magician class, nice to meet you.”

“My name is Burron!” The black-winged sprite said.

“Khal!” the sprite with the triple-eyed wing said.

“Ah, hello, I am Reborn. My mother is Tatiana and I am from the Scholar class.”

“Great! Now, let us proceed with today’s lesson!” Val said. “You will be spending an entire night in the forest!” Then he handed them each a scroll.

“What is this?” Jess asked.

“Survival! You all must survive a day in the forest full of monsters!” The Grand Scholar’s answer.

“What?” Jess, Fran and Reborn exclaimed. The two other sprites just shrugged coolly.

“Oh, do not worry. The task will be happening here in your dreams. But do not get comfy. You will experience pain when wounded, you will get hungry and thirsty, all that everything you can feel in the real world except death, you will feel all that here. You die, you wake up and you will fail.” Val explained.

“Is this still General Learning and History? This feels like a military drill!” Jess complained again.

“Everyone needs to learn survival! That is General Learning.” Val smiled. “Alright, let us start!” The Grand Scholar snapped his finger and the five of them were transferred to a forest.

Different sounds of animals and beasts echoed everywhere. “So, what now?” Jess asked his companions.

“Find a safe place to stay the night?” Reborn suggested.

====================

“Okay, gather round everyone!” Jess called. “Grand Scholar Val said that we need to survive a day in this forest. So, we must survive!”

“What do we do?” Fran asked.

“We will divide some work. Reborn, you are the only giant here, you take care of the camp. I mean, we can stay inside the trees, you are the only one who can’t.” Jess said.

“That’s true. Okay.” Reborn agreed.

“And your food too. We can eat nectar and pollens from flowers. You are a giant; I do not know if it would be enough for you.” Jess added.

“That is a bit rude, Jess!” Fran scolded Jess.

“No, it is okay, Fran. I can get my own food.” Reborn said.

“Next, we need someone to patrol the area. Will you do it Burron?” Jess asked the black winged sprite.

“Why should I listen to you? I can survive on my own!” he said to Jess and flew away.

“Hey! Hey!” Jess called out.

“Heh! Smug! I can survive by myself too!” Khal said and flew away as well.

“Not you, too!” Jess complained. “Fine! Us three will stick together. I will scout the area. Anyone of you learnt a warding skill or something?” he asked Reborn and Fran.

“I have no skills like that.” Reborn said.

“We are still on introductory in Sprite Magic. I still have no skills or spells like that.” She said.

“Frackles!” Jess cussed. Reborn tilted his head and thought, “What is frackles?”

“Okay, let us go up the trees, first! Find the tallest tree!” Jess said. “In the soldier class, the second lesson is Survival. We need to secure that tree. That will be our base and lifeline.”

The tree of them carefully walked in the forest, looking for a tree to camp in. “Is that tree okay?” Fran asked pointing at a tall tree.

“Yeah, that is good enough.” Jess confirmed. “Let’s go up!” Jess and Fran flew up. Reborn activated his float skill and floated up the tree.

“Okay, let us check the scrolls Grand Scholar Val gave us then I will go scout the area around this tree. Reborn, you gather our food supply.” Jess suggested.

The three of them opened their scrolls. “This is a task!” Jess exclaimed. “What did you get?”

“I got a task, too.” Fran said.

“Me too!” Reborn said as well. “I need to gather 50 Catwhiskers! What is a Catwhisker?”

“Oh, that is an herb used for Blood potions.” Fran said. “I have read about it in our class.” She informed.

“Oh, what does it look like?” Reborn ask. He will not be able to gather them if he does not know what it looks.

“It looks like a weed, but you can distinguish it by its bright blue flower and long cat whiskers around the petals.” Fran said.

“Got it, thanks! What task did you get?” Reborn asked.

“I… I need to list… 20 monsters around the area.” She frightenedly said.

“Why did you get the cool task?” Jess complained.

“Why? What did you get?” Reborn asked.

“I have to draw a map of the area.” He said. “Okay, we know what to do. I am going to scout now and draw a map.” Jess flew down from the tree.

“Be careful!” Fran said. “I will be staying here. I will see if there are monsters passing by here.”

“Okay but how would you know the name of the monsters?” Reborn curiously asked. He did not think she has an appraisal skill.

“Oh, this came with the scroll.” She took out a glass, a monocle. “It looks like an imbued item.” She said.

“Imbued item? What is that?”

“An item imbued with a skill. This one seems to be imbued with appraisal skill.” She answered. “Check your scroll, you have a gathering task, there must be an imbued item in there too.”

Reborn quickly took his scroll and spread it open. Then, a monocle dropped on the branch. “I did not notice it earlier.” He picked up the glass. “I am going to look for food now, be careful and watch out for monsters.” He said.

=================

Reborn took out the monocle and wore it. He looked around and some words popped out in the glass. “Weed, a common grass found in forests.” It said.

Reborn slowly walked around the forest, looking for flowers and his task. “Appraisal skill is handy. I wish I can learn this.” He muttered. Then he heard an alarm rang in his head. “Danger from behind?”

He immediately activated Sprint and bolted forwards. “s***h!” The ground where he was earlier got slashed.

“Grrrrhh!” He saw a monster from where he was earlier.

“Level 5 Silent Cat,” popped in the monocle. When Reborn saw the level of the monster, he immediately decided to run away. He activated sprint and parkour and jump from branch to branch, from tree to tree.

The monster cat followed him closely, slashing and swiping its claws at Reborn’s back. On the last tree he jumped from, Reborn used his float skill to stay in the air. He turned around and faced the monster cat which followed him.

He raised his hand, aimed at the monster cat, and activated Force shield. The monster cat slammed face first on the shield and was blown back to the ground. Reborn saw a boulder and used telekinesis on it. The boulder slowly floated. He slung it towards the monster cat on the ground.

However, the monster cat was quick to evade the boulder. Reborn used telekinesis on some stones and broken branches and hurled it towards the monster. This time, the cat found it hard to dodge all the flying debris. Soon, wounds appeared on its body.

The monster cat decided to flee and Reborn noticed it. When the cat turned around to flee, Reborn yanked it back with telekinesis.

“Ting! Telekinesis skill leveled up to 4.”

“Ting! Float skill leveled up to 4.”

Reborn floated higher bringing the cat along with telekinesis. “My skill leveled up here, even though, this is just a dream. Will I level up too if I kill this monster?” he thought.

The monster cat struggled from Reborn’s telekinetic grip and it was giving a hard time to Reborn’s control. “Stop moving!”

“Ting! Telekinetic Bind skill acquired.” The voice sounded. The cat stopped moving as soon Reborn heard the voice. However, after 30 seconds, the cat started struggling again. That is when Reborn lost control of his telekinetic hold on the cat.

The monster was dropped down from 15 meters off the ground. “Kaboog!”

“Ting! Silent Cat killed. 0% exp. Gained.”

“0% experience gain. Its useless to kill monsters here then. But it is great for grinding skills.” Reborn muttered.

After killing the cat monster, Reborn continued looking for the Catwhiskers. An hour passed when he finally found a patch of Catwhiskers near the river. He thought of catching some fish. “Wait, can I eat them?”

In Sprite Village, all they eat are fruits, pollens, and nectars. Reborn was confused how he thought of eating fish. Anyhow, he tried catching some using his telekinesis.

Several minutes passed and he caught four fishes. That is when a familiar sound echoed in his head. “Ting! Fisherman title acquired. Title skill Fishing acquired.”

He took some banana looking leaves and wrapped the fishes in it. He walked back to the tree camp carrying a leaf wrap and two bouquets of flowers, one is the Catwhiskers and the other is Jess’ and Fran’s food.

“Reborn, you are back!” Fran said.

“Yeah. How are you here?” He asked.

“I am fine. I already listed 6 monsters.” She told Reborn that four monsters passed by on the ground while two winged monsters passed over. She listed a Wooly Boar, Spiky Armadillo, Long-armed Sloth, Red-tailed Chikoree, Blood Raven and False Phoenix.

“That is great! Where is Jess?” he asked.

“He is not back yet. I wonder if he is fine.” Fran said as she helped herself with a flower. “What are you going to do with those fishes?” She asked.

“It is my food.” He said. Fran was confused. “Can you eat them?”

“Well, I have not tried it yet, but I have a feeling they taste good.” Reborn said.

===============

In a different corner of the forest, Jess flew fast. “Frackles! Why is there a level 5 monster here? How am I, a level 1, supposed to fight it?” he complained while swerving from tree to tree, hoping to confuse the chasing monster.

“Kree!” the monkey-looking monster jump from branch to branch, getting closer to Jess.

“Dive down!” a voice ordered Jess. He looked up and saw a black silhouette. He followed the order and dove down. Then a black spear flew over his head and hit the monkey on the chest.

“Thanks!” Jess shouted at the silhouette.

“Where are the other two?” said Burron.

“They are in our base camp. What was that?” He asked.

“None of your business. Get back. I will take care of this monkey for you.” Burron dove down and another black spear appeared on his hand.

“Hey wait! That is a level 5!” Jess tried to warn Burron but the guy already started fighting the monster.

One half-a-foot sprite and a 3 feet tall monkey fighting each other. It was an amazing sight. Jess hovered in the air with his mouth hanging open. Soon enough, the monster was unbelievably killed.

“How…how did you do that?” Jess was stunned.

“Lead me to the other two.” Burron said flatly. Jess nodded and flew towards their tree camps direction.

===============

“Reborn, Jess is back.” Fran called Reborn who was grilling the fishes over the fire.

“Great timing.” He said.

“Oh! Burron is with him.” Fran added. The two landed on a branch.

“What are you doing?” Burron asked when he saw Reborn.

“Oh, this? I am grilling some fish.” Reborn’s answer.

“Right. You did not think that would invite monsters here?” Burron pointed.

“Ah… I… did not think of that.” Reborn glanced at Fran. She shrugged. “That might not necessarily happen, though.” She said.

Burron sighed, “This is why I do not want to be in a group.”

“Then why did you come here?” Jess asked.

“Task.” He answered. The trio looked at him. He sighed, “My task is to stay with the group until the end.”

“Oh!”

“Heh!”

“That is great!” The three simultaneously reacted.

“Let us go up the tree and put off that fire.” Burron strongly said and flew up the tree.

“You go, I am going to finish this; it is almost cooked.” Reborn said. The three sprites left Reborn alone and flew up on the higher branch.

After a few minutes, Reborn floated up to where the three sprites are. He carried the grilled fish over and placed it on the branch. The three sprites were eating some flowers. Reborn started to eat the fish. “Oh! This taste nice!” he said.

“You are seriously eating that?” Jess pointed.

“Try it! It really tastes good, though, I feel like there is still something missing to its taste.” Reborn suggested.

“No, we are good, thank you.” Jess refused and continued munching on the petals of the flower. Fran looked at Reborn curiously.

“What are your tasks?” Burron asked the trio.

Fran answered first, “I needed to list 20 monsters.”

“I must draw a map of the area.” Jess said next.

“I need to collect 50 Catwhiskers. By the way, I already collected mine.” Reborn said.

“What? That was fast!” Jess exclaimed.

“I found them near the river, there are so many of them there.” Reborn said. “Hey, what about Khal? Have you seen him?”

Burron shook his head.

“Well, since I do not have any task anymore, I will accompany Fran.” He said.

“Accompany me?” Fran wondered.

“Yes. You will not finish your task waiting for monsters to pass by.” Reborn pointed it. “So, Burron will go with Jess.”

“No.” Burron refused. “My task is to stay with the group. We will do your tasks together. We survey the forest. We look for monsters while Jess draw a map. Reborn and I will be on guard.” He said.

Jess and Fran nodded to that suggestion. “Well, that is a great idea!” Reborn agreed as well.

================

The four of them stayed together. “Monster on your left, Burron!” Reborn whispered. His Danger sense skill played a major part. Every time a monster is nearby, Reborn warned the group. They sneak on the monster and let Fran identify the monster with her Appraisal Monocle.

“That skill of yours is awesome!” Jess complimented.

“Yeah. Second lesson in Scholar class, building foundation. Passive is important.” Reborn said.

“Alright! There are only 5 monsters to go and my task is done.” Fran said.

“That’s great! My map is almost finished too.” Jess pitched in.

“Good. It almost evening. We should head back to our tree camp.” Burron suggested.

“Where could Khal be?” Fran suddenly said.

“You go back to the camp. I will go look for him.” Burron said.

“Wait, I thought you said you have to stay with the group.” Reborn pointed.

“Well, we are not a group if we are missing one!” Burron exclaimed.

“Then, we go together!” Fran suggested.

“What? I am tired.” Jess complained. They spent hours flying around the forest, well except for Reborn; he was walking and sometimes running.

“You have not finished your map yet, and Fran needed 5 more monsters to complete her list. Burron here needed to stay with the group and that needs Khal to be completed.” Reborn enumerated their circumstances.

“Ah! Fine! Let us go and find that guy!” Jess said feeling wronged.

==========

Somewhere in the forest, inside a deep hole, Khal lay down quietly. His wing is broken and so is his left leg. “Damn that monster!” he grumbled.

When he left the group following Burron, he encountered a Level 3 Winged-Stone Ape. He barely escaped the monster with his life intact. Luckily, he fell into a hole. “I would have failed if I died!” He thought.

“Ah!” He stretched his hand up and aimed at the sky. “Flare!” he weakly said. A red ball of light came out from his outstretched hand and exploded in the sky.

“I hope they can see that!” he prayed. He was losing blood and the pain was so painful, he was struggling to keep awake. He checked his status.

Name: Khal

Status: Bleeding I, Weak I

Level: 1 (Exp. 5.78%)

Race: Sprite

Class: Soldier

Age: 1 week, 4 days

Health: 267

Mana: 316

AP: 220

DP: 440

Strength: 18

Dexterity: 16

Intelligence: 14

Vitality: 42

Wisdom: 13

Agility: 17

Active Skills: Focus Punch (Lv.1), Flare (Lv.1)

Passive Skills: Warrior Heart (Lv.2), Pain Resistance (Lv.3)

Title: Athulie’s Son, Triple-eyed

Title Skill: None

Status points: 0

==================

“Whoa! What is that?” Fran asked the boys as she pointed at the sky.

“A flare!” Jess answered. “Khal is in trouble!” He said and quickly flew towards the flare’s direction.

“Hey wait! Jess!” Fran called out.

“Follow him!” Burron urged. Fran chased the two sprites while Reborn sprinted to chase.

“Hey, Burron, what does that flare mean?” Fran asked.

“It is a skill handed to all soldiers. It is a distress signal. If you see that, it means a soldier is in trouble and needs immediate help.” Burron explained.

“Hm. I will go on ahead then!” Reborn said and sprinted even faster. He simultaneously activated his telekinesis, float, parkour, and sprint skills. The meditation skill held them together.

“Ting! Meditation skill leveled up to 3.”

Reborn passed by Burron and Fran quickly. He was so fast that he was gone in a matter of seconds.

“How did he…” Burron was about to say when Fran interrupted him.

“Let us fly faster!” she said.