Chapter Four: Emergence

I look around at the bodies for a few heartbeats, as if waiting for something to happen due to my realization. Unexpectedly, nothing does.

No point in wasting time thinking about how many alien creatures I killed. Better them then me, I guess.

Turning back to Pawl, he seems as unbothered by the situation as myself, so I don’t think any more on the matter and instead focus on my shackle. Since I am healthy now and have the super cool magical power of sunglasses at my disposal, I guess it is time to get out of this cave.

I carefully lift Pawl off my lap and shift my position to get a better grip on the shackle. With my mighty BDY value of 3, I yank on the shackle with my entire force behind it.

Surprisingly, the shackle does not budge at all.

I surmise that the metal must be comprised of the strongest material in the world or something and instead focus on the end that is embedded in the wall. I notice Pawl laying on his side next to me, casually watching with half-lidded eyes. It doesn’t seem like he is very interested in helping at the moment.

Realizing I will have to use my brain for this specific challenge, I grab the chain with both of my hands and brace my feet against the wall. Feeling a small grin on my face, I enjoy the sensation of my body moving fluidly at my command.

I take a deep breath and yank with all of my strength while I push my feet against the wall. Eventually becoming perpendicular with the stone surface, I even hold myself slightly above the ground due to the force at which I pull, but nothing happens.

I let out a sigh and lower myself to the ground. Scooting back over to the wall, I inspect the small metal plate that holds my chain. I could be imagining things, but I think I see a slight gap between the wall and the plate that wasn’t there before.

Sweeping my hands across the floor of the cave, I grab the most solid rock I can find and quickly get to work slamming it against the gap as best I can.

I work at it for multiple minutes to the point where my hand that holds the rock is completely numb due to the repeated impacts. Shaking it out to get the blood flowing, I re-inspect the plate. One of the corners is thoroughly scratched up, and I managed to get it to curl into the wall a good bit.

Utilizing the little amount of physics I know, I drop the rock and get back into my original position with my feet braced against the wall. Pulling the chain taut, I raise myself from the ground once again and hear a satisfying creak of the metal in response to my weight.

Waddling over to the opposite side of the damaged plate, I continue to pull on the chain as sweat starts to collect on my brow. Finally prepared, I suck in my breath and abruptly swing myself to the other side while I pull with all my strength and plant my feet on the wall and push.

A loud squeal of metal rings out but the plate does not budge as much as expected, and my shoulder swings into the wall with all of my force behind it. Crumpling to the ground, I breathe heavily but luckily my shoulder doesn’t seem to be broken from the impact.

I shakily get up and do a couple of arm circles. A few crackles and pops sound out, and I can definitely see some swelling already showing, but other than that it is perfectly fine.

I tug on the chain a bit and notice a good amount of give coming from the plate. It looks like one more push should get it. Resuming my position and beginning the action, just as I am in the middle of my swing, the plate comes free and I awkwardly hit the ground with a grunt. This time I manage to catch myself with my chained hand for the most part.

As I push myself back to my feet, happy to be free from the wall, my right wrist collapses underneath my weight and I skid my knee trying to keep myself upright. After fully standing up, I raise my still chained wrist to the light and notice that it is bent in the wrong direction.

Maybe I didn’t catch myself as well as I thought.

Attempting to bend my fingers with the hand, I only partially succeed. Hmm, that could be a bit annoying.

Using my bare-bones medical knowledge I gained from the hospital, I use the chain that is now just hanging from the shackle and tightly bind my wrist and fingers to hold the hand in place.

Smiling at my handiwork, I notice that the hand is beginning to turn an angry shade of purple, and I can feel a pulse in my fingers.

It’s probably nothing.

Turning my attention away from my personal health, I let out a small whoop to celebrate my freedom and begin to walk around the room. Facing the wall, I can see that it is only around six feet tall, so I quickly search the bodies near me for any gray loot.

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A few minutes later, I am left disappointed to find that none of the bodies had anything of use. This discovery is fairly distressing to me, as I’m worried about the quality of this System overall if they do not even know the cardinal rule of providing starter gear for a freshly spawned player. It’s bad enough that most of the creatures were only wearing loincloths that were completely soiled in their filth.

It’s only then that I realized that I’m not much better than them, as I’m only wearing my hospital gown and mooning everyone that is at my Six O’clock. How terribly perverted of me.

I cast a glance at Pawl, but he seems to have fallen asleep at some point during my escapades. I quickly turn the gown into a very crude shorts/diaper hybrid using some of the straps and my own creativity. Now instead of mooning strangers, I would just be showing them an anorexic man in a tasteful diaper. Much better.

Just as I’m about to wake Pawl so we can start our climb over the wall, a better thought crosses my mind and I walk over to one of the corpses with the most wounds. One of their legs looks to be held on by just a few strands of muscle and flesh, so I use a nearby rock to saw off the rest of it and grab the leg. It’s only about a foot and a half in length, but it’s a better weapon than my mangled hand.

Finally, I walk back over to Pawl, and he slowly opens his eyes and stretches as if he was awake the entire time. I bend down and put him on my shoulder before walking up to the wall. If I stand on my tip toes, I can almost see over the wall, but for now, I just raise him up and let Pawl scramble over the top. Tossing up my weapon, I follow shortly after, struggling a bit due to my right hand’s condition.