“…Salty.”

A brilliant fire blazed on that small island. Dancing around and waving in the wind as the moon slowly rose into the sky, the sun slowly setting into the darkness.

Is the planet rotating or is it the sun and the moon moving around?

How should I know? This isn’t Earth.

The seas were calm. Small waves were crawling up onto the sand, before pulling back into the waters. The cold breeze blew through, moving through the quiet air.

There, on that same island in the middle of this huge archipelago, Alex was slowly eating his meal, sitting around the fire he managed to light with a stick and a log of wood he conjured.

What was he eating, you ask?

The crab, of course!

After hearing his stomach growl, he used his magic and lit a fire. Conjuring a couple sticks and a light metal plate, he made something closely related to a grill.

Conjuring a small knife to aid him, he cracked open the shell of the crab and took out the meat. He placed the bare meat on the metal plate and hanged it over the fire. After waiting and turning the crab around, his dinner was ready!

Although, he cringed as he realised that the crab was insanely salty! His tongue practically screamed for this taste to go away. But he continued eating, for survival!

He didn’t care how much salt was in this thing, he needed to eat!

After he finished the last bite on that crab meat, his muscles were screaming to move. Was this an effect of the crab’s meat? He wasn’t sure. Whatever it is, he needed to move!

Randomly, he picked up the empty crab exoskeleton and threw it into the ocean. He was about to move on to something else, but then, he saw something novel.

As the crab made contact with the water, it skated beautifully on the night sea!

“…What?”

As he looked further, he noticed that it was surfing, not skating. The back part of the body was dipped slightly into the water, while the front part was sliding above the water.

Eventually, it began to pick up speed and crashed onto another island.

…………

And so, that was the end of that night.

Since he didn’t have anything to do, and his back was still stinging slightly, he decided to sit around the fire until he felt tired enough to sleep.

He conjured a small bed by tracing a huge rectangular prism, big enough for him to sleep on, wrote the word ‘Cotton’ and let go!

And so, for the first time since he got here, he slept on something somewhat comfortable.

I say ‘Somewhat’, because midway, his bed crashed and he eventually just slept on the sand.

As the sun began to rise, he was woken up by a familiar sound coming from the ocean.

“Pii…”

“?!”

Rising out of his broken bed, he looked to the right, and there it was!

The crab!

Noticing his presence, its gaze locked onto him and it slowly approached him. Getting up, he took the large machete on his right and pointed it at the crab. The crab suddenly hesitated.

“Die.”

He drove the machete down and cut off one of its claws. “Pii?!” Crying in shock, the crab backed away as quickly as it could, watching its claw fly through the air.

Taking the machete out, he drove it once more onto the crab’s arm, cutting off the other claw it had.

The claw danced gracefully in the air before dropping onto the sand. Defenceless and powerless, the crab could only await as Alex prepared to drive the machete down one last time to ensure the kill.

With his newfound energy, he plunged the machete straight into the sand, impaling and nailing the dead crab down onto the sand, unmoving.

Food is secured!

Pulling the large blade out, he picked up the dead crab and prepared his breakfast. Using the same technique as last night, he spun a stick as quick as he could, and a spark lit.

Fire ready, he prepared his hand-made grill once more, and cracked open the crab with the knife he conjured yesterday. Setting down the meat on the plate, he hanged it over the grill, and the cooking process has begun!

“……”

As the meat was cooking, he decided take a look at the crab’s empty shell.

After seeing what happened after he threw it into the ocean, his mind was intrigued! And he’s not backing down without a result!

To survive, you must know your surroundings!

So, what to do?

“Hmm…”

After thinking about it for a while, he came upon this conclusion.

“Can’t I just use my magic?”

“If an effect can be used, can’t I just write something like ‘Appraises’ or ‘Decodes’?”

And so, he decided ‘Why not?’. Tracing a rectangle with his magic, he finished it off with the word ‘Appraises anything touched’, since, once again, ‘Why not?’.

Also, apparently an effect doesn’t only mean one word. Cool!

*Thud*

And there, sunk partly into the sand, was the object he drew. Just like he drew, it was a perfect rectangle, just made of stone instead of air this time.

The crab’s shell in hand, he tapped the stone tablet with the shell.

And then, the magic occurred!

The stone’s face started shining brightly! Squinting his eyes, he managed to make out that something was moving on the stone tablet!

As the light slowly dimmed, he realised that those moving objects were actually words!

They arranged themselves beautifully, from simply a jumble of letters, to a jumble of words, and then to arranged sentences. And then, with one final flicker, the light died out completely, leaving behind a description for the crab’s shell!

“Let’s see…”

[SeaSurfer Shell]

A shell used by the [SeaSurfer Crab]. Its special quality lies in its ability to surf on water.

“…Huh?”

To his surprise, although he had seen it with his own eyes, these crabs were able to surf on the sea!

That’s incredible!

*Psshhh*

“Ah. Its ready.”

Putting that aside for now, his breakfast is ready! If not slightly burned.

Taking the metal plate in his hand, he slowly ate the hot crab meat with a fork he conjured. Once again, as the meat came in contact with his tongue, a huge surge of salt invaded his mouth, and his body cried to move!

Cringing from the pain, he continued to eat the hot crab meat, his nerves pumping in anticipation as more meat went down his throat!

With the last bite done, his energy levels skyrocketed into space!

His body shivered to move!

“AAAHHH!!!”

With a resounding shout, he did a literal marathon around the coast line of the small island. His legs moved like sound as he trotted through the sand as clouds of sand were left behind. His figure blurred into the dust!

This lasted for 3 hours.

“Hah…hah…hah…”

His hands on his knees, Alex panted heavily as he felt his nerves calming down. Sweat rolled down his forehead and his hands. His shirt was wet from sweat.

He wasn’t very sure where all the water came from. Was it from the meat?

Still panting from exhaustion, he brought up his status to check up on himself.

Status: Damian Alexander Lv 2

Health: 40/40

Mana: 47/60

Strength: 9

Intelligence: 21

Resistance: 11

Agility: 15 (+0)

Skills:

{Illustrator} Rank 1 (05%)

[Agility] Rank 1 (06%)

Titles:

“Hmm?”

As his eyes scanned through the wall of text, he felt that something was different about it, and something was different about himself too.

And then, he found something different in his skill list.

“What’s this?”

[Agility]

Rank 1

The speed of the user is slightly increased.

Agility is increased by 0.25 based on the level

6% to Rank 2

“………What.”

His eyes turned into dots as he read the description for this new skill. His mind blanked out for a moment as an error just occurred in the search engine.

…Did I just get a new skill?! On the second day?!

What the hell?! Is the system broken?!

That’s way too fast!

The cogs of his brain got jammed as his mouth dropped open in shock, and slight excitement. Without his knowledge, the corner of his lips slowly lifted upwards.

And then, the thought finally got through.

Why should he care?!

If the system’s in his favour, he should be grateful!

But putting that new skill aside, something struck him as odd as he read through his status once more. If he recalled, the gap between his HP and MP wasn’t that big. How did it suddenly become a gap of 20?

Is the system broken? Or is it he that’s broken?

Whatever it is, doesn’t matter! It still helps!

Besides that, looking at his stats now, it’s practically begging him to use magic with such a high magic stat. After all, it’s over two times his strength!

Not that he had any other magic skills besides his {Illustrator}, but hey, a man can dream!

“…Phew…Alright.”

After all that was done, he walked over to his Stone tablet and picked it up. This thing was an essential for his survival, so he’ll gladly take this.

Also, the writing seems to have disappeared from it, leaving it blank just like it had been before he tapped the shell onto it. Convenient!

He conjured a small leather backpack with his magic and carried it on his back. Using his spare hand, he put the stone tablet comfortably into the bag. He didn’t want this thing to break!

Hmm? What was he trying to do?

After strapping the backpack safely onto his back, he activated his magic. His finger lit a brilliant white light as he traced an object in the air. He drew arcs in the air, shaping the curved object. Before letting go, he wrote the word ‘SeaSurfer Shell’.

Do you get it now?

He’s going to leave this island!

Why?

To get closer to that big island of course!

Exploding into a bright light, the object he drew slowly formed and then, *Thud*, a dull sound was heard hitting the sand. Taking up the object with his two hands, he smiled happily as the object turned out as he wanted it to be.

The SeaSurfer shell was shaped as a surf board!

On the description, it did say that the shell was able to ‘surf’ on the water. Well, he took that description literally and actually drew a surf board!

With the board in hand, he turned towards the large island in the far distant. His eyes gazed there, holding both fear and determination.

He knew, that if he wants to leave this archipelago, he needed to jump right into the lion’s nest. There won’t be any escape. He can either sit here and wait until death comes by, or he can try to secure a chance of survival by leaving this place.

Even before diving in, he could already feel the dangers lurking deep within. Although he knew that there will be those surfing crabs, but he knows that there will be more monsters lurking inside this ocean.

One species lives here? No way!

He’s smarter than that! No ecosystem lives on with only one species inhabiting in it!

Taking in a long breath, he stepped back once. With the surf board on his chest, he ran towards the ocean and jumped in!

“Please work!”

Saying his prayers, he closed his eyes as he waited for the board to make contact. And after what felt like a century, the sound of splashing water was heard, along with a strong torrent of wind!

“Yes!”

His lips curved upwards as he realised that he hadn’t sunk, and he wasn’t only floating, but he was surfing along the waters! His legs were slightly dipped into the water, but he was very far from sinking!

Looking past the board, he slowly turned the board to point it towards the closest island. He let out a sigh of relief as the plan actually worked!

But then, just as he was getting comfortable with the water splashing around him, a chill suddenly creeped up his spine.

No, it was not because the waters were cold. Instead, he felt something watching him from afar, as if a predator had set its eyes on its prey.

Actually, it wasn’t just watching, it was chasing after him!

He quickly turned his head around to see what was chasing him, and his face froze and paled in an instant. His eyes became dots as he saw what was behind him.

Besides the obvious waves, he could see a group of crabs! They were all surfing on the waters, just like he is!

Seems like they caught onto the waves he was making and made chase!

This was bad! Really bad!

But then, he felt something else as he got closer to the island.

*Wuuuuusshhh*

“What?”

Not far behind him, he could feel something chasing him, fast. It was as if a torpedo had locked onto him and was now chasing him!

Actually, never mind! It was a torpedo!

“What the hell?!”

From below, a figure slowly emerged from the oceans, breaking through the waves even faster than he is! As it got closer to the surface, his eyes became blank once more.

The thing chasing him, besides the crabs, was actually a dolphin!

It looked just like any dolphin he had seen in his life, but this time, it was a first real experience!

But then, just as its eyes finally creeped out of the water, it began to speed up drastically.

It was heading straight towards him!

“W-Wait! Don’t co-“

*BOOM*

“AGH?!?!”

It quickly dived into the ocean, and struck his board from under, exploding him up into the air! His board easily broke into two!

His body was flung high into the air, and with the already fast speed he had when surfing, he was coming down at an insane speed!

“…F*ck.”

And then, his eyes darkened in despair as he realised where he was heading.

*BOOOM*

And so, face first, his face dove right into the sand. His mouth was filled up with mountains of sand as his backpack was flung away before hitting a palm tree some distance from him.

Hey, at least he reached the island, right?

“Pii!”

“Piii!”

“Pi!”

“…Scwiiht.”

Mouth still filled with sand, he cursed to himself as he watched 4 crabs come up to the island he was on.

And then, just like a switch, his brain kicked into full gear! The cogs of his brain rotated quickly as his hands drew long arcs in the air, leaving behind the tracing he knew all so well.

Writing it off with the word ‘Steel’, he conjured a weapon he wasn’t even sure he could lift. Seeing this, the 4 crabs hesitated to come closer to him as the light slowly died down, to reveal a weapon much bigger than himself.

“……”

Oddly, Alex was silent. His eyes were fixed onto the 4 crabs, his gaze alone for some odd reason sending shivers into their shells. His hand coiled around the long handle of the sword he conjured.

Something felt different about him, but he couldn’t put his finger on it, nor did he care.

With some force, he managed to lift the weapon, larger and longer than he is!

This was the berserker sword!

Totally not a reference to berserk.

*SWISH*

His eyes staying emotionless, he swung the sword in a huge arc, slicing back the 3 crabs in the front. The last crab was terrified as it saw the huge marks that sword left on the 3 crabs. Their shells were heavily damaged from just a single slice.

“I just survived from a meteor impact. Just die already.”

He commented jokingly with his emotionless face. This time, picking up the sword was much easier as he felt a huge surge of strength coursing through his whole body. Raising the sword in the air, he swung it down with intense force.

*Bam!*

“Pii!”

2 crabs were sliced cleanly by his large sword! Blue blood spurted out like a fountain! The remaining 2 shook in fear as they watched his eyes slowly turn towards them.

His eyes seemed to glow red as he raised the sword once more. “……Die.” He said lowly as he swung down the sword, killing off one of the crabs.

“P-Pii…”

“……”

His eyes never looked away from the crab. His eyes opened wide, blood pulsing through.

The glow of red, signature of blood.

Under the light of the glowing sun, his berserker blade shined radiantly. The metal reflecting back the coming light, shining white.

“P-Pii..?”

“……”

And then,

“Fall into the blazing fires of hell.”

*Bam!*

The sword was brought down. A loud bang sounded as the crab’s shell broke open, and blue blood came gushing out. It wailed and cried out desperately, before dropping dead onto the glittering sand.

“……”

In a daze, his eyes turned up to see the clouds. His hand lost strength and let go of the sword, dropping it onto the sand.

“……”

Status: Damian Alexander Lv 4

Health: 40/50

Mana: 52/75

Strength: 14

Intelligence: 26

Resistance: 17

Agility: 22 (+1)

Skills:

{Illustrator} Rank 1 (06%)

[Agility] Rank 1 (07%)

[Cleaving] Rank 1 (02%)

[Blood Hound] Rank 1 (00%)

Titles:

“Ah…That’s why.”

……

Wasn’t he supposed to be a magician?