I looked at the bird carefully and examined its body. The softest and weakest place is its chest, the feathers are small and soft. I crawled on the branch and positioned myself near its chest and grabbed the dagger backward with both hands, I raised my hands above my head then down with a fast movement and stabbed the bird’s chest.

The dagger pierced through the skin and flesh with little resistance, I kept my grip firm on the dagger and moved it in a straight line for about forty centimeters before turning to the left and continued until I made a square.

I grabbed the skin in one corner then started to cut the skin with the dagger until I managed to remove all the skin from the square area which I cut beforehand. When all the skin was gone, red meat was revealed.

While I was trying to cut a piece of meat to take down with me, an idea popped into my head, why take only a piece of meat if I can take the whole bird with me. So, I immediately switched from trying to cut a piece of meat to store the whole bird in my inventory.

I returned my dagger into its scabbard and put my hand on the bird and started to focus all my mind on imagining an inventory. After a minute or so, I managed to have a clear picture of an inventory. After that, I focused on my desire to put the bird inside the inventory.

I kept on trying and failing for what seemed like ages until finally the bird suddenly disappeared and a beep sound echoed in my mind.

I breathed a sigh of relief then turned my hand into a fist and shot it over my head while shouting “Yes.” I laughed happily and proudly at my achievement and the benefits of having an inventory, especially in the middle of the forest.

I mumbled “Inventory” and a transparent screen appeared in front of me, it contained many squares like icons with the bird inside the first one of them, and the last one has a plus mark written on it.

After checking for a few minutes, I discovered that I can create many pages and name them and arrange the things inside according to my well, which is convenient in the long run when I have many things stored inside.

I closed the inventory’s interface screen and enlarged the map and located the nearest stream then checked my new location, thankfully, I was still in the same direction and even closer to the city that I was planning to go to.

I climbed down the tree and started to walk, it wasn’t safe to stay on the ground near the vines so it was better to find a safer place before taking the bird out and prepare a fulfilling meal for the first time since I left the village.

While I was walking, I collected some fruits and ate a few too, even though I was dying for a proper meal, the area was still full of crazy plants all around me, so I couldn’t stop.

In the late afternoon, I reached a cave in a relatively small hill, the entrance was about a meter high and half a meter wide with some roots from a tree covering half of the entrance. It was perfect as a shelter if it was empty.

I tried to check it out from the entrance but it was dark and impossible to see the inside. I contemplated for a while whether to enter it or not and finally, I gathered my courage and decided to enter it but not before I make some preparations.

I looked around me and chose a long and strong stick then carved its top with my dagger and made it sharp as much as I could, while making sure that it’s not very thin otherwise it would break easily, I swung it around and thrust for a few times to make sure that I can control it without difficulty.

After I tested out my handiwork, the makeshift spear, I proceeded to stage two of my plan, to make a fire. I needed fire to see inside the cave and to cook the meat, so, I collected some old and dried branches from the ground and arranged some of them near the cave’s entrance and stored the rest.

I grabbed a piece of wood and tried to focus on using fire magic to lite it. I tried for about an hour but it was futile and I could guess the reason for my failure. Deep down inside me, I was afraid that, if I started the fire, I would end up burning myself because I still couldn’t manipulate the mana, so I couldn’t muster a strong desire to initiate the magic.

I moved my hand through my hair in frustration and decided to try another way instead of wasting time on magic because the night was approaching fast, so, I gathered some dried grass and put them in a hole in the ground and grabbed a smooth stick and put one of its ends over the grass then started to roll it in between my palms as I saw once in a TV show.

I scrubbed, rolled, blew and cursed for a while until I finally saw smoke rising from the grass, so I quickly and carefully added some more grass and some very thin sticks. When the fire was burning brightly, I added some thick pieces of wood and waited for them to burn.

While I was waiting, I collected some more wood and grass and started to make some experiments on the types of grass and wood until I found one that the fire last longer before it turns into an ember. I collected and put a few in my inventory to be used as torches until I can find a better option.

I added a few more branches into the fire to make sure that it was going to stay burning and made sure that the fire will not spread into the forest, then I grabbed the burning piece of wood as a torch with one hand and the spear in the other and entered the cave carefully.