‘It’s a great day to start an adventure!’ He cheerfully thought as he rose from his makeshift bed.

He was exited to see what he could find in the vast woods. All he needed to do was chose a direction and start moving, so he ate a small breakfast of acorns and stuck a few extra to the quills he could reach on his back. They were a snack for the road.

Finally, out of his nook he took in the view. ‘Ok, the adventure begins! Now let’s see, which way to go? I can cross off heading south, because I want to explore and have fun, not commit suicide. East and west seem nice but I can feel the north calling to me. Yes! The north is calling me, and it’s not because it’s the opposite direction of south. That has nothing to do with anything!’ He fearlessly thought, as he made his way down the tree.

Once on the ground he screamed out with his loudest squeak and thought ‘TO THE NORTH!’ He then began slowly running forward.

As he made his way forward, he soared over large tree roots, made his way past small bushes and would sometimes stop to pick up acorns that had fallen from his back.

After some time had passed, he chose to climb a tree to look at his surroundings. From up there he had a longer line of sight, but even then, he couldn’t see his old tree base anymore.

He wondered how much time had passed, since his only way to tell time in the past had been from his skill cooldowns. Unfortunately, since you never know what might happen, he couldn’t risk the skills being on cooldown. That also meant he couldn’t level them up, for now. The only good news was that they had both become level three yesterday, before starting this adventure.

Haste+ Lv.3

When in use, will boost your agility by 30% of your Speed Stat for 15 Minutes

Cooldown Time: 50 Minutes

Iron Skin+ Lv.3

When in use, will strengthen your body by 30% of your Defense Stat for 15 Minutes

Cooldown Time: 50 Minutes

He was happy that his theory, that it rose 10% every level, seemed to be true.

After his short break he keep moving, stopping every now and then to have a break. Then, after hours had passed, he could see that the sun was above him and that he was going to have to turn back soon, if he didn’t want to be out during the night.

He decided to climb one last tree and see if there was anything interesting around him. If not, he would head back home.

He was in luck, because from the top of the tree he saw a lake in the distance. He was exited that he finally had a destination and chose to keep moving forward until he reached the lake.

While moving towards the lake he abruptly stopped and hid in some bushes.

‘So, the first of my many adversaries has reviled himself, has he! Well, I will never cower, so come at me!’ He bravely thought, as he hid in-between the bushes and watched, what appeared to be a beaver, continue walking towards the lake. While looking at it, its stats appeared.

Race

Long Tailed Beaver

Level

2

Titles

N/A

Power

4.5

Speed

2.4

Defense

4.7

Soul

0.8

Skills

Active: Heavy Blow Lv. 2

Passive: N/A

After seeing its stats, he felt a lot better and decided to follow it. He knew that since it was a higher level then him it shouldn’t attack him, but even if it did, he could still run away if necessary.

As he followed the beaver, they got closer to the lake which had lots of shrubbery surrounding it. The beaver just walked through it without a problem and eventually broke through a bush that gave way to a meadow where the lake was located. Not wanting to risk being out in the open, he looked for a tree to let him check what was in the meadow.

There where two trees nearby he could use, but he saw that one was occupied.

Race

Sharp Tooth Woodchuck

Level

2

Titles

N/A

Power

5.2

Speed

2.9

Defense

4.2

Soul

0.5

Skills

Active: Bite Lv.3

Passive: N/A

‘That’s ok Mr. Woodchuck, I’ll just use the other tree. By the way, why are you on a tree? Aren’t you more of a Ground – Hog?’ While chuckling to himself, he started climbing the empty tree. He was halfway up the tree before he felt it, a feeling that something was watching him. He stopped and looked around but couldn’t find anything. That is until, when he was looking over some branches, a status screen appeared.

Race

Sneaky Chameleon

Level

3

Titles

*****

Power

*

Speed

**

Defense

*

Soul

*

Skills

Active: *****

Passive: *****

‘Don’t mind me Mr. Chameleon, I’m just an adorable little porcupine passing by’ he frantically thought as he stood very still.

Eventually, the feeling vanished as the chameleon ignored him. He took that as a sign that the chameleon didn’t mind sharing the tree and continued climbing up.

‘See, Mr. Chameleon is a nice lizard, I had nothing to worry about. Ok, almost to the top! I’ll see what’s so special about this lake that it attracted three strong monsters. Maybe it’s treasure! If it is, I might even have the chance to steal…’

As he reached the top, what he saw left him so utterly terrified that his mind stopped and he started trembling. Below him, in the large meadow surrounding the lake, were dozens of monsters all just hanging out.

The thing that truly terrified him, was that apart from the first three monsters he saw, the rest were all level ones.

‘Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!’

The thought of all those monsters noticing him and chasing him like the woodpecker almost scared the shit out of him.

He was already moving back, when he noticed that all the monsters seemed to be focused on something in the lake. He couldn’t help his curiosity and looked. At the center of the lake, floated a beautiful light blue lotus.

Clearwater Lake Lotus

-Not in Range-

Unripe

-Not in Range-

‘So that’s why they’re all just standing there, they’re waiting for the lotus to mature. That also explains why I haven’t encountered many monsters in my short life, most of the monsters in the area have been attracted here.’

Finally understanding the situation, he decided it was time to leave. There was nothing of value here, to him this was just a death zone and he needed to leave quickly.

While carefully climbing down, misfortune struck. Three ducks just so happened to fly over the tree, with one of them spotting him. It then started flying right at him, which caught the attention of its two buddies’ causing them to also see him and start chasing him.

Hearing loud quacks above him, he looked up only to see three wacky ducks flying right at him.

Race

Duck

Level

1

Titles

N/A

Power

1.9

Speed

2.3

Defense

1.1

Soul

0.3

Skills

Active: N/A

Passive: N/A

Race

Duck

Level

1

Titles

N/A

Power

1.7

Speed

2.2

Defense

1

Soul

0.2

Skills

Active: N/A

Passive: N/A

Race

Duck

Level

1

Titles

N/A

Power

2.1

Speed

2.4

Defense

1.6

Soul

0.5

Skills

Active: N/A

Passive: N/A

‘God Damnit! Fuck! I need to get off this tree, fast!’ he urgently thought as he activated both his skills.

Speed Up!

3.1 ---> 4.03

Time Remaining: 15:00 Minutes

Defense Up!

2 ---> 2.6

Time Remaining: 15:00 Minutes

He could see that he was much faster than them, but not if he was climbing down a tree and they could fly. The worst thing was that if he didn’t hurry, the ducks might attract other monsters with all the noise they were making and that would really screw him.

He had gotten halfway down the tree trunk when the ducks reached him. They tried biting him with their bills, but to him, they were moving slowly and he simply avoided them. The problem with that, was that when they missed, they hit the tree and made a loud noise. So, he chose to stand still and let the next attack hit him. And the plan half worked.

When the duck struck him with its bill, he barely moved and only felt a bit of pressure, while no noise was made. That is, until the duck started to madly shriek in pain as quills covered its face.

‘COME ON! I really should have seen that coming’ he thought, exasperated.

While thinking of what to do next, he failed to notice that he wasn’t the only one getting irritated by the noise the ducks were making.

He only got to see a light blur, before the heads of all three ducks suddenly exploded.