The corpse of the Moss-Rat lay at his feet, but the promised Epiphany Point had not materialized. Kael stared at his interface, expecting the number to change from 2 to 3. It remained stubbornly at 2.
A cold knot of understanding tightened in his stomach. The notification from yesterday—"Epiphany Points (EP): 2"—hadn't been for a single kill. It had been the culmination of an entire day's labor: the herbs he'd gathered, the snares he'd set, and finally, that first rat. It had all added up to a single, miserable point.
This rat, alone, was worth less. A fraction. Perhaps he needed to kill five, or ten, or twenty of these things to see that number tick upwards again.
The sheer, brutal mathematics of his path threatened to overwhelm him. He looked from the tiny, bloody creature to the vast, silent forest. To earn 10 EP, he might need to slay a hundred of these things. A thousand. The mountain wasn't just made of sand; each grain had to be painstakingly carved from the stone of reality itself.
He knelt, his movements slowed by his intentionally lowered Agility, and retrieved his knife. The work was messy and unpleasant, but the rat's hide and meat, meager as they were, had value. A few coppers at the general store. Coppers that could buy him better cord for snares, or a whetstone for his knife. It was all part of the grind.
He spent the rest of the day in a state of focused, monotonous labor. He was a machine, his body a temporarily configured tool. He found and picked more herbs, their faint magical glow visible to his heightened Spirit. He checked his snares, finding one empty and another containing a second Moss-Rat. This time, the fight was slightly easier. He anticipated its dodge, herding it against a tree root before dispatching it with a clumsy but efficient thrust.
Still, his EP remained at 2.
As dusk began to paint the sky, he felt the familiar internal click. His daily reset. The heaviness in his limbs vanished, and the world snapped back into its normal, sluggish pace for him. The heightened perception from his Spirit point faded, leaving the forest feeling dull and muted.
[Daily Essence Reset Complete.]
[Reallocate Essence?]
[Current Distribution: S:4, A:2, V:6, I:5, Sp:2]
[Reverting to Base Distribution: S:4, A:3, V:5, I:6, Sp:1]
He was back to his pathetic baseline. But he had learned invaluable lessons. Vitality and Spirit were a good combination for survival and gathering. Tomorrow, he might try Strength and Agility to see if he could hunt more effectively.
He trudged back to his hut, his pouch heavy with herbs and two small rodent carcasses. He was exhausted, covered in dirt and dried blood, and he still only had 2 EP.
But as he walked, he did the math. Two days of work. One EP gained. At this rate, it would take twenty days to complete his quest. Twenty days of brutal, unending labor for a single perk. The thought was simultaneously daunting and… steadying. It was a timeline. A plan. It was no longer an abstract infinity, but a concrete, if grueling, short-term goal.
He reached the village and bypassed his hut, heading instead for the general store, a cramped building smelling of dried meat and leather. Old Man Hemmer looked up from his counter, his eyes narrowing as Kael approached.
"The Null," Hemmer said, his voice raspy. "What do you want? I don't need any more dirt swept."
Kael didn't flinch. He upended his pouch onto the counter. The herbs and the two skinned Moss-Rats tumbled out.
Hemmer's eyebrows rose slightly. "Sun-Kissed Thistle. Not bad. And Moss-Rat... stringy, but edible." He poked at the goods with a gnarled finger. "Two coppers for the lot."
It was a pittance. An insult. But it was also two coppers more than he had yesterday. Kael nodded silently.
As Hemmer counted out the coins, a new prompt appeared in Kael's vision, its light a stark contrast to the dimness of the shop.
[Skill Formed: Basic Survival (Lv. 1)]
Through repeated action, you have internalized the fundamentals of wilderness sustenance.
Effect: Slightly increases the yield and quality of foraged materials and small game.
It wasn't EP. It wasn't a stat increase. But it was progress. A tiny, permanent efficiency in his grind. A better snares might catch two rats instead of one. Better foraging might find rarer herbs.
He took the two coppers, their cold metal a tangible reward for his effort. As he turned to leave, another prompt, the one he had been waiting for, finally shimmered into existence.
[Epiphany Points (EP): 3]
The second day was done. The third grain of sand was in place. The mountain remained impossibly high, but the path to its base was becoming just a little bit clearer.
---
Kael's Status
Name: Kael
Race:Human (Latent)
Titles:None
Health (HP): 26/30
Mana (MP):5/5
Attributes:
· Strength: 4 (Below Average)
· Agility: 3 (Deficient)
· Vitality: 5 (Average)
· Intelligence: 6 (Average)
· Spirit: 1 (Crippled)
Essence (Stat Points): 0 (Daily Reset Available)
Epiphany Points (EP):3
Skills:
· Basic Survival (Lv. 1): Slightly increases the yield and quality of foraged materials and small game.
Active Quests:
· The Grind Begins: Earn 10 EP. Reward: Pathweaver's Insight Perk. (Progress: 3/10)
---