After taking a quick glance around, Gael said while turning toward the forest. “I’ll be back.” His figure vanished amidst the trees.

Although he didn’t like the idea of helping the camp because being a leader was not his type, he would have to take on some responsibilities and guiding them was one of these. Just the few instructions he gave were enough to make most of the people survive. If John did a good job in making the wooden spears, with a little bit of courage they could survive the attack that would happen tomorrow.

Gael ran through the forest. The camp was important and would serve as a shelter most of the time, however, the forest hid many secrets. Their camp was not the only one in the forest, but the other camps were not his objective. He was aiming toward something much more important, skills!

Because he could only have four skills, choosing them would be hard. He would have to choose the most powerful skills possible, and all aspects should be covered. However, it was easier said than done. “If only there were good skills left…” Gael sighted while thinking. Yes, his problem was not having good skills, but finding them. Although his sister and her batch disappeared seven years ago, many others disappeared after her, taking with them the best skills available on the tutorial.

Because others went through the tutorial earlier, they got the best skills from this place. With all the knowledge he gathered, there was only one way in which he could get some powerful skills. By doing something impossible, something that was never done before…

There were some options to choose from. He could kill a dragon, which would be a clear attempt at suiciding, he could kill the water Kirin, which was something even harder because the creature dewelled on the ocean, or he could go to the undead region and kill it’s boss.

In short, all his options were almost unattainable. Both the Dragon and the Kirin could kill him instantly, and although the undead lord was the weakest of them, and he could even attempt it, there were undead legions surrounding him, which would render the attempt futile.

“I have to think of some way…” Gael thought while running through the forest. “It doesn’t matter. I have to get stronger first before attempting anything…The herbs can be found around here...” The first thing he would have to do in here was to find the herbs which could enhance his constitution. His training pushed some of his status to Low (High), however, to get them to Low (Peak) which was the ultimate the human body could achieve, he would have to eat some herbs that could be found in the forest.

Gael slowed down, and began to quietly walk. He calmed the mana coursing through his body, and slowed down his breathing. This was a basic technique that he learned to survive in the jungle. After all, surviving was a necessity, and hiding was the best way to survive.

Walking quietly, he finally saw his target laying on the sun, over a rock that had no trees around, and just besides the target, the herb he was after. “I knew this would not be easy…”

Looking at the prairie tiger laying on the rock, he calmed down and began to sneak behind the animal. The prairie tiger was a fearsome creature. It was three meters long and almost 1,5 meters tall. It’s strength couldn’t even be compared to normal tigers on earth. It could play with them as if they were little kids. Its orange fur tinged with red spots was very exotic, making it look like it was stained in blood.

With rapt attention on his target, he slowly stepped forward. The Tiger had its back to him, and although he knew that his concealment was more than enough in the tutorial, a mistake could still kill him. He had experience and techniques from his training, but he could still die by making a little mistake.

After getting close enough, he crouched and jumped! While he was in the air, he concentrated all his strength on the sword and stabbed at the tigers spine, trying to kill it in one move. Unfortunately, just as he was about to kill the tiger, it sensed danger and moved to the side, avoiding a fatal blow. “SPLASH!”. Even so, the sword hit, and blood was drawn.

Seeing that things were not working well, and fearing the destruction of the herb, Gael jumped back and held his position.

The Tiger slowly got up. “ROARRRR”. And even with a heavy wound, its roar shook him. The tiger got down from the rock and faced Gael. It ignored its wound and gazed at Gael. Instead of running, Gael stood his ground. He knew that the tiger was a cunning creature, and the hesitation in attacking him showed that the wound was more serious than it looked.

The Tiger quickly realized that it had no option, it harnessed all its strength and mana began to circulate through it, it dashed toward Gael.

He knew that it would be a gruesome fight. Just as the tiger was upon him, he rolled to the side while avoiding its paw and slashed it. The sword only left a small wound on its torso.

The battle of attrition continued, He moved from side to side while avoiding direct combat with the tiger, leaving small but significant wounds on the creature while doing it. With each swing of his arm, the air became harder to breathe. It was like Gael was trying to breathe but something was stopping him from doing it. The only thing that kept him going was the will to live and the adrenaline running through his blood.

With time, both the tiger and him could barely move, and even though he could barely stand, it was because he was exhausted, while the tiger couldn’t properly move because of its wounds.

The tiger was not the only one wounded. Gael barely avoided the creature’s paw some times, leaving wounds on his shoulder and back. Thankfully, he avoided taking a full blow, because if he didn’t, he would be dead by now.

The tiger slowly closed its eyes, and collapsed to the side. Boom. The creature was so heavy that by falling on the ground, a loud sound was made.

Instead of approaching the tiger, Gael stepped back and waited a few more minutes. After observing that the tiger was not breathing anymore, and no movements came from it, he approached with caution. He walked to the back of the creature, and slashed at its neck, instantly cutting the nerves. When he did that, the tiger's limbs trashed for a few seconds before stopping. He released the breath he was holding, and took his loot.

He compared the experiences of this fight with the ones he had on earth, and saw how different they were. His mana circulation was still too crude, he couldn’t even properly apply it into combat. On earth, the creatures lacked mana, and because of that his superiority was obvious, but here, where every being had mana, things didn’t work out his way.

He knew that the advantage he held right now was temporary. He was skilled in combat and on mana utilization, both if he didn’t learn how to properly use skills, he would die.

He looked at the green herb that he just took from the rock in his left hand, and at the tiger's heart in his right, and without hesitation, he ate them together. After eating them, he laid on the rock and felt the effects on his body. A huge heat and cold began to surge all over him. The cold came from the herb, and the heat from the tiger’s heart. Both of them had different properties, and could enhance each other's effects.

“Arhhh...” He almost screamed for a moment, but suppressed it. the two energies began to temper his body, and after some minutes, it vanished, leaving only a satisfying feeling behind.

Gael looked at the star tattoo and said. “Status”

Name:

Gael Sidus

Strength:

Low (Peak)

Endurance:

Low (High)

Agility:

Low (High)

Stamina:

Low (High)

Mana:

Low (High)

Special ability:

Wind rose

Skills:

None

Seeing the changes in his status, he knew that he was on the right path. And even though only strength had broken through, he knew the others would soon follow it.

He looked at his body, and saw that the cuts left behind by the tiger had mostly closed. There were still some vestiges of it. But nothing that could heavily affect him. Gael got on his feet and dragged his tired body toward the camp. He would need to be fully recovered to face the invasion that would happen tomorrow.

After arriving at the camp, he looked around and felt satisfied by what he was seeing. John had kept his word and was making wooden spears. Some people ran around the forest while looking for branches on trees that had the ideal wood for making one, speeding up the process.

Gael didn’t interrupt the others, and just walked toward a nearby tree. He sat on the ground and laid on the tree. He closed his eyes and meditated.

After the sun had set on the horizon, Gael heard steps approaching him. He looked to the side and saw a huge shadow approaching him with a wooden spear on his hand. He looked closely and saw that it was John, whose shadow became even more imposing by having the sun on his back.

He sat beside Gael, looked into his eyes and said. “I feel that you know much more than you are saying, and that many more lives can be saved if you want to.” Gael didn’t say anything and kept listening. “I want to make a deal with you. Save as many people as you can and I will owe you. I can even be your subordinate. But please, save those people.” Gael saw the sincerity in John’s eyes.

Gael nodded his head and said. “I’ll do as much as I can.” He didn’t promise John that he would save those people, nor he said that he wouldn’t do anything.

John got up and said before leaving. “That’s enough, thank you!”

Time quickly passed, and the sun began to rise on the horizon. Almost everyone was sleeping on the grass, while some were keeping watch. Gael opened his eyes and saw that the people were organized, and not hazardly distributed. It looked like his attitudes had already greatly affected how the people of tha camp behaved.

After half an hour. Everyone was already awake and anxiously waiting for the attack. They knew that something was coming, but not when. Gael looked to the side and saw that John had assumed a leadership role in the camp, and even though Rude held some sway over almost half of the survivors, they didn’t contest for authority with John, at least for now.

Just when everyone was about to have a nerve collapse from the wait. THUUMMM! The sound of horn being blown reverberated everywhere and shadows could be seen around the forest.

Everyone in the camp nervously looked around, looking for the monster’s. “EVERYONE! READY YOUR SPEARS!” Gael shouted in order to make them concentrate on the weapon on their hands, and not forget to use them.

“GRAWWW.” The goblins madly dashed from the trees. The nasty green creatures dashed toward the humans, hunger clear on their faces. The goblins were armed with an assortment of different weapons. Just before the two sides clashed, Gael stepped forward and slashed with his sword, felling the first enemy.