Richard tried not to scold himself, but the feeling persisted. It made sense that he should save something like healing ability for bigger problems. He tried to internalize this information. Don’t use your healing ability if a potion will suffice. It was hard to remember that when everything hurt so much. Even now, he still felt some pain, while Izzy made it seem like being stabbed through the hand was a typical morning for her.

  She was a guard, though. Perhaps it was typical for her.

  Richard brushed himself off, flexing his fingers to get used to the instant healing, then went back to killing some mudlings. According to his timer, he had a little less than two hours to do this slightly monotonous job so that for the rest of the day he could have his healing ability back. Who was he kidding? With how unsettled Marcus looked, they would not stay here long.

  He focused on the mudlings, doing his best not to get distracted. He hated feeling like he was a weight on everyone’s shoulders because of his inexperience. Richard already knew what Elias would do to him because of his inexperience. He made a mental note not to be near Elias alone today.

  After the mudling attack, there weren’t as many in the mud, but Richard remained focused. He was all about learning his lessons, and he planned on surviving long enough to do better next time. He also assumed that the next time would not require a trip to the darker parts of the forest.

  When his cooldown timer read 1hr23min, Marcus, Savannah, and Elias returned to the lake. Izzy walked over to greet them before pulling Marcus aside. Richard was relieved to see them all. It certainly would have made things worse if they had been missing for so long. He was the most likely one to die, but it didn’t mean that things would be devastating if the others died, too. He hated thinking about this. But after his life here on this new planet, how could he not?

  Marcus gave a grim nod at Izzy’s update. He walked over closer to Richard, smiling. “How much mud did you collect?”

  “My stacked are full.”

  “Good. Do you have any space left?”

  “Two.”

  Marcus took two items out of his inventory and handed them to Richard. Richard placed them in his own inventory, seeing two advanced plants filling up those slots.

  Elias folded his arms. “You sure it’s wise to give him those? We worked hard for them.”

  “Yes, I’m sure,” Marcus said. “Because of Savannah’s sharp eyes, we’re going back to the safer part of the forest.”

  Richard didn’t question the “safer” part, even though he remembered two weeks ago he was cautioned against going in the forest at all if he wanted to live. He felt his inexperience, and when Marcus said they were heading home, he was eager to get going. Now. His life might depend on it.

  He stayed firmly between Izzy and Marcus, sensing where base camp was and feeling grateful for every single step he took in that direction.

  “Has your loot or inventory upgraded yet?” Marcus asked. Richard shook his head. “I didn’t think it would. Though we have never brought a freshie this far into the forest before. I was curious.”

  He was thinking of some conversation to keep Richard from constantly checking his healing ability. Richard was thankful for the distraction but was still nervous about it all.

  “Do you smell that?” Savannah whispered, her voice strangled.

  Richard forced his nose to work, and when it did, he smelled death. There was no other way to describe it. Decay and rot filled his nose so much that he lifted a hand to cover it. He wasn’t sure if it was the actual personification of death, or if this was something else. Either way, Richard was glad when Marcus picked up the pace. It wasn’t long before Marcus threw his hands out to stop Richard. Richard was too scared to even ask what was happening until he looked over and saw it. Two skeletons picked clean, their bones scattered in a pile. Matter and other things scattered around, and Richard recognized the cloth torn to pieces around the roots of the trees. His entire being froze up, then all at once he could feel every bead of sweat as they instantly turned cold. His knees quivered, and his vision turned blurry.

  “Hey, Richard.” Marcus’s face filled his vision.

  Don’t feel bad for them. They tried to murder you. This is what they deserved; this is the punishment everyone was warned about if they ever tried to kill another survivor.

  It still didn’t stop Richard from collapsing to his knees and throwing up his breakfast. It was one thing to see Dennison and Ike being thrown out of base two. Quite another thing to see the evidence that every single survivor was low on the food chain out here in the apocalypse.

  “Can you walk?” Marcus asked.

  Pull yourself together. You’ve got to get out of here. It’s clearly not safe.

  Richard nodded, forcing himself to his feet and going purely on instinct at this point. He did not look down when Marcus guided him around the skeletons. He focused on his ability telling him where base two was. No one spoke. All of them were silenced by what they saw, and Richard did his best to calm his mind. Instead, his mind shut off. Richard focused on keeping his breathing steady and placing one foot in front of the other.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  A dark, rotting growl echoed through the trees. Richard didn’t even realize his arm was slung over Marcus’s shoulder until he felt every muscle stiffen. The growl brought Richard’s attention enough for him to bring his brain back into focus, though all it did was scream danger!

  “Sit this fight out. Understand? You are not in a position to fight a creature of the dark forest. Leave this to us. Hide behind a tree.”

  Richard nodded because that’s what his brain told him to do, but it took him an embarrassingly long time to realize Marcus had spoken to him, let alone what Marcus’s words meant. He had to pull himself together, because this could get him killed.

  He slapped his face a few times before slipping behind the tree nearest Izzy. He wasn’t sure what to expect, but his brain wasn’t working enough to do anything remotely functional, anyway.

  The ground underneath him moved, and he almost lost his footing. “Izzy?” Richard held his hand out. He felt like he was trying to keep his footing in an earthquake as a giant hill rose from the ground near where he stood. He toppled to the ground, his back hitting a tree.

  “Wraith wolf! Kill it now!”

  Marcus was not talking to Richard, but everyone else. He was still struggling to get back on his feet as the hill finally stopped moving. It was covered in rotting leaves and bark, and Richard gasped as two eyes opened up and an enormous jaw revealed rotten teeth. Richard was frozen on the spot as he stared into those black fire eyes. His brain screamed at him to run, but his body could not move.

  Izzy shouted, slamming her spear into the creature’s side. The enormous rotting forest wolf howled in pain, which was enough of a jumpstart for Richard to scramble to his feet and start running. Once he started, he couldn’t stop. The swiftly fleeing logical part of him told him not to run too far, because he couldn’t get lost and return home on his own. But he also didn’t want to be around that wolf creature knowing just how weak he was.

  Richard slowed down, gripping a tree as he struggled to breathe. The ground shook again, and he spun around. He then froze as his brain tried to comprehend what he saw. Despite the dense forest, this enormous wolf was sprinting at full speed. Its body was made of the same material as the forest, and as it ran through the trees, the trunks melded into the body before jumping away as it moved past. Richard was in this monster’s domain, and he would die in it.

  “Richard! Drop!”

  He had no other choice but to obey whoever said that. There was no way he could have outrun that monster. Not in this forest. Richard landed on his stomach and knew this was it. Dropping to the ground was a stupid idea. He was going to get trampled. Or the wolf would simply pull to a stop and start tearing him apart.

  The wolf leapt, its jaws open and ready. Richard wondered how bad it would hurt for a wolf to eat him alive. Would he die well before that? He hoped so. Despite the system, he hoped he was granted this mercy.

  Richard closed his eyes, bracing himself for the pain when his skill trees shot into his vision without him calling them up. In his scavenger’s skill tree, toward the top corner a few spaces above the tree itself, something burned. His one level point disappeared, and with that, new words came into being like a wind was blowing away the ash.

  Quantum Immortality

  A sharp pain dug into Richard’s neck. He didn’t have the strength to scream, but then it was gone. He touched his neck to feel it whole. Wind ruffled Richard’s hair as if something big barely missed him. Richard’s eyes snapped open as he saw the wolf trip and stumble to the ground. No, that was impossible. His neck had burned with the pain of teeth grabbing hold and snapping it. The wolf had come right for him. He should be dead. Or eaten. He felt the pain, then the strange way it cut off.

  What the hell was quantum immortality?

  Richard closed his eyes again, pulling up this new ability. There had to be some clue what it was.

  Quantum Immortality (passive)

  (If you die, you leap into a different timeline)

  Chaos Curse: 10%

  Richard stared at the ability, his heart sinking. Different timeline? Chaos curse? What could that possibly mean? From what he could gather, he shouldn’t expect anything good.

  “Richard?”

  His eyes snapped open, and Marcus was leaning over him. Richard stared, his eyes widening. He was the same old Marcus, except for one minor difference. His hair wasn’t cropped anymore. Instead, it was long, brushing his shoulders.

  “Richard? Are you okay?”

  He tried to open his mouth, but weird noises came out instead. Hair didn’t grow fast. The stubble on his chin was a testament to that. So how…? Was this a different timeline? And exactly how different was it? The answer came to him fast. It was different by ten percent.

  “Stay there; don’t move.” Marcus ran after the wolf with his crossbow out.

  Richard was more than happy to remain on the ground as he processed what had just happened. Chaos had warned him to keep a level point, and so he did. Chaos then used that point to get him an ability in chronomancy. An incredibly strong power. He may not remember what quantum meant, but he knew the definition of immortality. Somehow, Chaos made it so that the wolf just missed him. Richard expected jumps in time because that’s what he sensed before he chose his class. This was something he hadn’t expected at all.

  The ability itself differed from Order’s. As Marcus and the others worked on killing the wolf, Richard remained slightly curled on the forest floor as he came to terms with his newfound ability. A passive one, meaning that it would happen every time he almost died. He’d jump to a timeline where he wouldn’t die, but things would be different. There was no cooldown, just the Chaos curse. He hated the sound of that. The entire thing made him deeply uncomfortable.

  Richard didn’t know how long Savannah, Elias, Izzy, and Marcus were staring at him, but Richard became aware that they were all leaning over to stare at him.

  “Is it… dead?” Richard asked.

  “Yep,” Izzy said.

  Elias seemed to glare at him. “You are one incredibly lucky son of a bitch.”

  “Can you stand?” Marcus asked at the same time.

  “I don’t know, but I do want to get out of here.” That was what Richard wanted to say. Judging by the concerned looks everyone shared, including Elias, what left his mouth was not the cohesive sentence he made in his head.

  Savannah glanced at Izzy and Marcus. “I don’t know if Lucy can fix this.”

  Izzy changed her spear from one hand to the other. “Lucy can fix anything as long as the brain is still working.”

  “Then I guess it’s a matter of deciding if Richard’s brain is still working,” Elias said.

  Savannah elbowed Elias in the gut, who did little more than grunt. Marcus held out a hand to Richard, who took it.

  “Come on. Let’s head back.”

  Richard didn’t think he had heard a more beautiful phrase.

  will be some time loops, but I also hope you get the impression that this is more of a slow-ish burn OP power leveling story despite it being in an apocalypse.