Aethelgard: The Survival Game (Chloe) novel Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Nightstalker Tent

Maybe Chloe’s luck stat of 4 was pulling its weight, because despite being in rough shape, she managed to avoid hooking anything dangerous.

Her haul came out to two units of wood, a small bag of bread, one unit of iron, a box of matches, and a chest. She blinked at that last one. Apparently, even treasure chests could be fished out of the water.

The lighter items came in much faster than the slime had, which was a welcome change.

Her body was running on fumes. She set the rod down, took a long drink of water, and tore off a piece of bread. The brutal heat from earlier was finally letting up, and overhead, the sun inched its way toward the horizon.

Chloe cracked open the chest.

[Congratulations! You received: Nightstalker Tent

[Nightstalker Tent: Provides a quiet, sheltered sleeping environment. Boosts energy recovery during sleep and reduces external disturbances.

[Quality: Premium

[Durability: 20/20]

Night fell fast. The sky dimmed, then went black all at once, and a crushing wave of fatigue slammed into Chloe without warning. Every muscle in her body was begging her to lie down and pass out.

Within minutes, the darkness swallowed everything around her. Total, pitch–black nothing. Not a single point of light in any direction.

The world felt like it had gone blind. The void yawning beneath her tiny 6×6–foot platform only made it worse, turning the dark into something that pressed in from every side.

Chloe struck a match without thinking. That was when she noticed them. Just beyond the reach of the flickering light, pairs of blood–red eyes stared back at her from the darkness.

The sight sent ice straight down her spine.

The match was already burning low. She grabbed the log she had fished up earlier and touched the flame to it. The wood caught in an instant, and the fire swelled into a proper light source.

As the glow pushed outward, the red eyes retreated one by one until the darkness around her was empty again.

Chloe let out a long breath.

That was when she spotted a straggler. It was a rabbit, pitch–black from head to toe, and wrong in every way a rabbit could be wrong.

Its teeth were razor–sharp, the kind that could punch clean through a person’s hand, and its fur was stiff and coarse like a wild boar’s bristles.

The fire seemed to have the thing frozen in place.

It was trapped inside the invisible wall that bordered her 6×6 ft plot, kicking its hind legs in a frenzy but going absolutely nowhere.

Chloe set her jaw and made a choice. She raised the hoe, crept forward on quiet feet, and brought it down hard on the creature’s skull.

One hit wasn’t enough. She swung again, and again, and again before the rabbit finally stopped twitching.

Its head had gotten wedged against the invisible barrier, pinning it in place. Without that stroke of luck, she never would have pulled it off.

[Congratulations. Chloe Bennett has slain a Dark Creature: Mutant Rabbit.

[Acquired: Bronze Chest x1]

She blew out a shaky breath.

1/3

Chapter 3 Nightstalker Tent

If the barrier hadn’t trapped it, killing that thing would have been next to impossible. The hide alone was absurdly thick, and by the time she finally wore it down, her arms ached so badly she could barely lift them. ‘So this is what a strength of one feels like, she thought.

Her mind drifted back to the slime she had killed that morning, and the tome fragment it dropped. The desire to complete that skill book burned hotter than before.

Monsters weren’t just threats. They were walking loot, and right now, loot meant survival.

She needed to get stronger, and fast.

Chloe cracked open the bronze chest. Even at a glance, the contents looked a clear step above the wooden

ones.

[Acquired: Raw Rabbit Meat x3

[Acquired: Rabbit Fur Earmuffs x1

[Acquired: Carrot Seeds x2

[Acquired: Wooden Logs x5

[Acquired: Iron Scraps x3

[First Kill Mutant Rabbit Bonus: Basic Arcane Dew Collector Blueprint x1]

Her eyes went wide the moment she read the collector’s description.

[Basic Arcane Dew Collector: A device invented by an unknown mage during a rare afternoon off. Channels ambient magic to automatically gather purified dew.]

[I am sick and tired of hand–picking morning dew for alchemy ingredients. It’s high time magic started pulling its weight around here. -Unknown Mage]

[Quality: Premium / Rare (varies by materials used)

[Trait: Gathering tool. Automatically collects dew.]

A spark lit up behind her eyes. ‘Drinkable water, on autopilot, she realized.

Chloe tapped the blueprint, and a prompt appeared on screen. [Learn this blueprint?]

She hit “Yes” without a shred of hesitation.

The moment it registered, a brand new option appeared in her crafting panel.

[Basic Arcane Dew Collector

[Quality: Premium

[Crafting Requirement: Crafting Table

[Materials: Iron Scraps x3, Stone x2, Wooden Logs x2, Magic/Spiritual Medium x1]

Chloe blinked at the screen. ‘Spiritual medium?‘

She was about to check the Trading Post for something like that when a small checkbox appeared next to the Spiritual Medium.

[Slime Ooze owned. Requirement met.]

The item description she’d skimmed earlier clicked into place.

[Slime Ooze: A spiritually attuned biological material with innate magical affinity

[Quality: Premium

[Properties: Spiritual Medium / Alchemical Ingredient / Catalyst / Binder]

Well, she would need to pay closer attention to item properties from now on.

A struck match caught the wood on the first try. The log burned far slower than she expected, which was a welcome surprise.

2/3

Chapter 3 Nightstalker Tent

She set it on the ground, and the eerie crimson eyes lurking in the surrounding darkness began to retreat, one pair at a time.

So fire kept the night creatures at bay.

Chloe pulled up the Trading Post and found the rest of the server in full meltdown.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify