«You have killed a 'Wild rat'.»

«5 Experience earned!»

«5 Class experience earned!»

«0.5 Spirit collected.»

«You have Levelled up!»

«Your class has Leveled up!»

«5 stats obtained!»

«The class skill "Monster Encyclopedia" has been unlocked!»

«The class skill "Soul Call" has been unlocked!»

«The passive skill "Weapon Mastery" has been unlocked!»

«The active skill "Tough Body" has been unlocked!»

«'Level up reward' X1 has been added to your Inventory.»

Skipping through the messages, Damian left the careful reading for later as his eyes searched for anything related to healing. His dimming eyes shone with hope as they landed on the last message.

'Level up reward?' Immediately afterwards Damian opened his Inventory...

-----//-----

[ ‹Quest› «Inventory³» ‹Messages›

>----

‹Black T-shirt X1›

‹Black loosers X1›

‹Black athletic shoe X2›

‹Basic health potion X1›

‹1.5 litre water bottle X1›

‹Bread X5›

-----//-----

His eyes shone with relief as he saw the fourth item on the list. With the thought of taking the item out, a test tube sealed with a cork and containing green liquid appeared in his palm.

Even in pain, Damian couldn't help but marvel at the absurd storage system, but he didn't linger any longer. Biting the cork, he spat it out and examined the green liquid inside.

It had the appearance of regular water mixed with food colouring. It had no medicinal odour, and the only thing that set it apart from regular water was its unusual green sheen. Holding the container, Damian was at ease.

*Gulp!*

Without any further ado, Damian gulped the liquid down. To his surprise, it tasted like sweet lemon juice rather than the bitter medicinal taste he expected.

"Mmm.." A moan left Damian's mouth as he immediately felt his pain wash away, replaced by a warm sensation soon after.

Looking back at his legs, Damian was taken aback by the soft green light that surrounded them. Under the blanket of the soft light, his wounds started closing at an alarming rate. A minute later, all of his wounds had healed without a trace.

Damian had entered a trance. Witnessing something so extraordinary and fantasy-like, he couldn't wipe his surprise away.

'If something like this gets in our world, it would cause a world war.' Damian had this strange thought when he remembered that this was only a basic level potion. He couldn't imagine what an intermediate or advanced level would be like.

Unable to believe the complete recovery that would have taken months, if not years, made in just some minutes, Damian stood up and did a few jumps and squats.

But he couldn't deny reality forever. Not able to find a single problem in his body Damian soon came to terms with the fact that everything was possible in fantasy.

Landing on the ground and feeling his bouncing junior, Damian finally recovered from his shock, remembering the whole reason he was doing this...

"Clothes!" Back on Earth, Damian snatched some grass from the ground and used it as a rag to wipe the blood from his legs.

Done with his cleaning, he stood straight, thinking of wearing the clothes...

Instead of automatically equipped on his body as Damian had expected, they appeared in his hands.

'It appears that the System isn't all-powerful after all.' Damian laughed as he dressed in "normal people's ways." To no one's surprise, the clothes were a perfect fit for his size.

*Sigh!*

Dressed again, Damian exhaled a sigh of relief. He finally felt whole. He felt safe; he could now move freely without fear of his privates being poked.

Sitting under the shade of a tree, Damian looked up at the sun, which had risen on top of his head. He was ready to see his status window and new skills.

-----//-----

[ «Status» ‹Skills⁴› ‹Companions› ]

>----

[ Name: Damian Colt ]

[ Race: ??? ]

[ Age: 19 years ]

[ Height: 1.8meter; Weight: 69kg ]

>----

[ Level: 2 ]

[ Expression: 0/50 ]

[ Stats: 5 ]

[ Class: (???) Monster King ‹1›]

>----

[ Strength: 7 + ]

[ Agility: 7 + ]

[ Stamina: 7 + ]

[ Vitality: 7 + ]

[ Mana: 19 + ]

[ Spirit: 1 ]

>----

[ Water affinity: 0% ]

[ Fire affinity: 0% ]

[ Earth affinity: 0% ]

[ Wind affinity: 0% ]

[ Spiritual affinity: 100% ]

>----

[ Spiritual abilities: N/A ]

-----//-----

When Damian's eyes landed on the 4 on top of Skills and the 5 in front of Stats, he felt all of his tension from the previous battle melt away in relief.

'Let's save the best part for last.' Damian chose to invest his stats after checking his new skills.

He had a habit of saving the best things for last, which his sister took full advantage of by sneakily eating the ham of the burger until he finished the free French fries. Damian let out a chuckle, which was quickly followed by a sad expression as he remembered his family.

"No, no, don't start griffing Damian, you've got to get through this first." Shaking his head at the distracting thoughts, Damian opens the skill section, pondering the use of the spirit.

-----//-----

[ ‹Status› «Skill⁴» ‹Companions› ]

>----

[ «Passive¹» ‹Active¹› ‹Class²› ]

>----

[ Skill: Weapon Mastery ]

[ Grade: F (Upgradable) ]

-

[ Mastery for advancement: 0/1000 ]

[ Mastering weapons: N/A ]

-

[ Effect 1: Every time you use a physical weapon, your mastery of it grows dramatically. When the mastery reaches a certain threshold, it advances to the next level, deepening your understanding of the weapon.]

-----//-----

Damian was relieved, ecstatically relieved. He had been excited when the system mentioned monsters, a creature of fantasies, but he was also terrified of the prospect of fighting them.

He had no idea how to wield a weapon, let alone use it for killing. However, with this skill, Damian's understanding of stick-wielding would improve as long as he simply waved a stick, assuming there was such a thing as stick-wielding.

More excited than before Damian moved to the Active skill section.

-----//-----

[‹Status› «Skill³» ‹Companions›]

>----

[‹Passive› «Active¹» ‹Class²›]

>----

[Skill: Tough Body]

[Grade: F- (Upgradable)]

-

[Defence essence for next level: 0/10]

[Consumption: 0.25 stamina/second]

-

[Effect: Make the body a little tougher.]

-----//-----

A simple skill with a simple description, but a significant impact. Had Damian possessed this skill previously, he would not have been helplessly laying on the ground with bleeding legs. Damian was particularly enthralled by the upgradeable symbol in front of the grade.

'It is a tough body for now, but it would upgrade to steel, then gold, even a diamond body!' Damian was ecstatic at the prospect of standing scratchless, even after receiving a dragon's breaths of fire directly.

But then arose the question about the thing required to upgrade the skill, 'What is defence essence?' As Damian questioned himself, unexpectedly, he received an answer...

«Defense essence is a condensed form of defensive spirits that can be obtained by devouring monsters.»

Damian, taken aback, tried his luck once more. 'is monster meat edible?'

No answer.

'How do I use a skill?'

No answer.

*Sigh!*

Damian sighed for the umpteenth time today, having given up on getting an answer from the system. And he only asked the third question to test his luck; he already knew how to use the skills.

He knew he could activate it the moment he read about it. It was like you were hardening your abdominal muscles. You could do it, but couldn't explain how.

He wanted to try the skill, but the unknown consequences of stamina ran out, he held back his excited heart and moved on to the next section of skills, "Class."

-----//-----

[‹Status› «Skill³» ‹Companions›]

>----

[‹Passive› ‹Active› «Class²»]

>----

[ Skill: Monster Encyclopedia ]

[ Grade: B+ ]

-

[ Effect: Views the basic information of any monster from level 1 to 5 levels higher than you. Only information about monsters within a two-meter radius can be obtained. ]

>----

Damian was perplexed as to why he had received it so late. 'The basic and first skill of every transmitted protagonist,' he thought. But complaining was all he could do, as he looked at the next and last skill...

>----

[ Skill: Soul Call ]

[ Grade: S+ (Upgradable) ]

-

[ Requirement for next grade: Unknown ]

-

[ Consumption: Soul per grade and Mana per mass of the body. ]

-

[ Effect 1: Using the souls in the collection, call back and recreates the soul and body of a monster killed by you. The resurrected monster can level up and is inextricably bonded to you. ]

-----//-----

Damian was taken aback. He was left speechless when he read the grade and effect of the skill.

At the crossroad of his life, Damian could his path ahead. He had to walk that way because no other paths were diverging.

Damian's gaze was drawn to the Wild rat, who had given him a second chance at life. He knew his first step, as well as who was going to be the first soldier his... Monster Army.