## Chapter two, Pain and misery.

I woke up sometime later. So much time couldn’t have passed since it was still light. I hurt everywhere. I felt like a bulldozer had used me as a training object, and when I saw all the carnage around me I couldn’t keep my stomach under control and some stomach content came up although I have no idea what it was. Didn’t even remember when I ate last time and what I did eat. My HP bar was blinking in sync with my unread notifications.

*HP:*

*1/30*

But before reading them I needed to get my knife back and see if the Goblins had any loot. I tried to inspect every one of the fallen enemies in a way to get an inspection skill for living creatures, not just items. Nothing happened but it was worth a try. I got my knife back or sort of when I tugged it out of the dead goblin’s head it broke, only had the shaft left in my hand. Nonetheless, I put it in my inventory. All in all, it was quite a terrible loot but I got three Goblin Swords at level 1, low quality. And one level 2, with fair quality. I equipped that and put the rest in inventory. And at the same time, I equipped my shoes. Didn’t have the time to do that during the battle. They were a perfect fit although it felt strange to wear them without socks. I inspected the level 2 sword.

*Level 2 Goblin sword*

*Fair quality*

*Damage 8-14*

All done with that I opened my notifications.

*Damage is taken :*

*5 HP*

*Damage is taken :*

*7 HP*

*Damage is taken :*

*7 HP*

*Damage given:*

*2 HP*

*Damage given:*

*2 HP*

*Damage given:*

*2 HP*

*Damage given:*

*3 HP*

*Damage given:*

*2 HP*

*You have killed:*

*Level one Goblin*

*2 experience points received*

*Level one Goblin*

*2 experience points received*

*Level one Goblin*

*2 experience points received*

*Level one Goblin*

*2 experience points received*

*Level one Goblin*

*2 experience points received*

*Toggle switch to have enemies of the same kind and level be presented together Y/N after the battle.*

I thought yes in an instant, this was only one fight with five goblins, and man it was a lot of text to read.

*Congratulation you have reached level 1*

*You have 3 unspent points to spend on your stats. An additional 2 points for being from another world.*

*Congratulation you have reached level 2*

*You have 3 unspent points to spend on your stats. An additional 2 points for being from another world.*

When I read the notification for leveling up, a glow surrounded me and all my wounds and fatigue disappeared. All of a sudden I felt great. I stood up and stretched, feeling better than I’ve been for a long time, but then I realized I was hungry and thirsty. I needed to find food and water. First I wanted to see what I could do about my stats.

*Status:*

*Name: Green Raven*

*Level: 2*

*Attributes:*

*Strength 3*

*Dexterity 4*

*Endurance 4*

*vitality 3*

*Intelligence 7*

*Wisdom 0*

*Available points: 10*

*Health: 30/30*

*Stamina: 40/40*

*Mana: 0*

*Skills:*

*Skill that unlocks at level ten*

*Randomized skill from uncommon to epic.*

I thought about it for a short while then I put 2 points in Strength since I thought it couldn’t hurt to become a bit stronger, 2 points in vitality to bring up my HP, 1 point in Endurance, making Stamina go up to 50. 5 points were used and 5 left. Just for fun, I put 1 point in Wisdom to see if I’d get mana then. The remaining 4 points I saved, for now, when I was playing MMO back on earth I was always a bit cautious with points and it had served me well for the most part. So I’d try the same thing here. I closed the Status page. And wow! The pain I felt was almost as bad as when the Goblins hit me, but on another level, I heard and saw how my muscles changed and became bigger. Almost as fast as the pain started it was gone. Leaving me with only a lingering feeling in my muscles. And it felt good, reminding me of my time back in the gym with my friends.

Checking my stats again.

*Status:*

*Name: Green Raven*

*Level: 2*

*Attributes:*

*Strength 5*

*Dexterity 4*

*Endurance 5*

*Vitality 5*

*Intelligence 7*

*Wisdom 1*

*Available points: 4*

*Health: 30/50*

*Stamina: 40/50*

*Mana: 1/1*

*Skills:*

*Inspect item level 1/10*

*Skill that unlocks at level ten*

*Randomized skill from uncommon to epic.*

Hmm, so HP and Stamina go up by 10 points for every point I put in Vitality and Endurance respectively. But 1 point in Wisdom only gives me 1 mana? Strange but hey! I’ve got Mana! Just need to find some use for it! After going through all those notifications I saw that there was still one unread or more notification(s).

*Congratulations you learned the skill, Inspect being, it tells you basic information about the person the higher the level of your character and skill the more you will find out.*

Hmm, so it paid off to inspect the goblins, so it seems that if I can think about skill and do it a few times I’ll learn it?

Looking at my Skills page.

*Skills:*

*Inspect item level 1/10*

*Inspect being level 1/10*

*Skill that unlocks at level ten*

*Randomized skill from uncommon to epic.*

So I just needed to try my new skill. Inspect being, I tried it on one of the Goblins.

*Goblin level 1, dead, 1 rusty copper coin.*

So when I’d checked all of the fallen enemies earlier I could only see and pick up what lay on them or were stuck inside them or was on the ground next to them. Hmm, how to loot them? Yes, that’s it, let’s try it. I concentrated on Loot while looking at the Goblin.

*Loot one or loot all, nearby Y/N*

*Auto loot off.*

I thought yes.

*You have looted:*

*8 Rusty copper coins.*

*1 Water-skin, half full.*

*3 Smoked meat skewers.*

I looked at my inventory.

*Inventory Slots 9/10*

*1 Pants, low quality (Equipped)*

*1 Sweater, low quality (Equipped)*

*1 Shoes, fair quality (Equipped)*

*1 Knife shaft*

*3 Swords, level 1, low quality*

*1 Sword, level 2, fair quality (equipped no)*

*1 Water-skin, empty, fair quality*

*1 Water-skin, half full, fair quality*

*3 Smoked meat skewers*

So my inventory slots had changed from 5 to 15, wonder if it would keep going up by 5 at every level?

I shouldn’t but I was starving and my mouth felt like a desert. I almost annihilated the meat when eating it and drank most of the water. Felt much better after, and I know eating and drinking from an unknown source is not wise. But I felt like I didn’t have any other choices here. I tried the time spell or whatever it was, but since it didn’t show up as a skill I thought it must be a spell.

*Time*

*It's 28.78 in the evening*

Uh, WTF? Time is not the same as back on earth that’s for sure. Well, it seemed like it was a bit later because when I looked up and around it felt like dusk. Well, the time spell seemed quite useless at the moment. But that got me thinking of other spells or commands I could try.

*Settings*

*Not unlocked, you need to reach level 15 first.*

Huh, so it was there but was not for me yet. Interesting. Level 15 felt like a long way off for me.

I looked around one last time and then started walking in a random direction. Strangely enough, I didn’t feel tired or anything, more content than I had in a long time.

I had been walking in the woods for what felt like almost an hour when I heard something that made me stop. In front of me to the left, I saw something that looked like wolves but they were large as elephants. I used [Inspect being]

*Wood wolf, level 2*

All of them were level 2, but I used the skill to level it up, since the information I

got was pity full, at least I wanted to see how much HP they had. But even if I used it more than three times on each of the three Wood wolves, nothing changed. Probably needed to be a unique inspection each time to get experience from it or at least that made sense. They hadn’t noticed me yet, and since I only had a sword and no weapon for long-range I was thinking of skirting around and avoiding them.

But the decision was made for me when one of the Wood wolves looked up and probably smelled my scent. He wasn’t aggressive at first but was moving right at me. When he came closer he upped the speed and started running, and I saw his bright yellow sharp teeth when he opened his jaws. I nearly panicked but fast put my remaining 4 points in dexterity and by that brought it up to 8 points. Now he towered over me, I may be reached just over his knees.

Dancing away from him by side stepping to the right while wincing through gritted teeth while my muscles and blood vessels got accustomed to the new dexterity I barely missed his attack. I had a perfect chance of hitting him in the flank. But my pain overwhelmed me so much that I was just happy that I dodged his attack.

Confused, the Wood wolf turned at me again and jumped straight and bore down on me. I dodged once again, and this time my body had adjusted and I could attack him. I saw that I’ve hit him but got no notification, damn I probably toggled the damage too, too bunched up after the fight.

Well, I can't change it now. Just need to keep hitting him. I felt rather than see something coming up behind me. And jumped away. And it was at the last second, that I heard how two powerful jaws connected, it was the second of the three Wood Wolfs that had joined the fight.

*Damage is taken :*

*12 HP*

The first one took the opportunity to attack me, and his attack was true. Biting me on one of my shoulders. After that everything became a blur of me stabbing and they bite.

*Damage is taken :*

*8 HP*

*Damage is taken :*

*5 HP*

*Damage is taken :*

*4 HP*

The HP bar started to flash in red just as I killed one of the enemies.

*HP:*

*1/40*

Ok, I was in really bad shape, and knowing what happened last time I had only 1 HP I needed to do something fast. I remembered that leveling up healed me. Turned around and started running or rather limping while concentrating on the level-up notification.

*Congratulation you have reached level 3*

*You have 3 unspent points to spend on your stats. An additional 2 points for being from another world.*

Once again, a glow surrounded me and all my wounds and fatigue disappeared. I stopped and turned back and continued the fight with the now two remaining Wood wolves, both of them hurt. Now with both my health and stamina at max. I only took 3 more hits, bringing me down a total of 30 points, until they both were dead.

After that, I fell to my knees with a smile on my face, tired but happy that I survived. I sat like that for a short while until I started to go through my notifications.

*Damage given:*

*30 HP*

*You have killed:*

*Three level 2 Wood wolf*

*12 experience points received*

*Congratulation you have reached level 4*

*You have 3 unspent points to spend on your stats. An additional 2 points for being from another world.*

Instead of reading my next notification, I brought up my status page.

*Status:*

*Name: Green Raven*

*Level: 4*

*Coins: 8 rusty copper*

*Attributes:*

*Strength 5*

*Dexterity 8*

*Endurance 5*

*Vitality 5*

*Intelligence 7*

*Wisdom 1*

*Available points: 10*

*Health: 50/50*

*Stamina: 50/50*

*Mana: 1/1*

*Skills:*

*Inspect item level 1/10*

*Inspect being level 1/10*

*Skill that unlocks at level ten*

*Randomized skill from uncommon to epic.*

So I got 2 points for killing a goblin and I killed 5 and gained 2 levels for it. And for killing the Wood wolves I got 12 points, I’ve since leveled 2 times up to level 4, math isn’t my strong suit but even I could figure out that I probably wouldn’t gain any more levels from them.

I put 2 points in strength since I was still a melee fighter. Another 2 in vitality and endurance, to bring my HP and Stamina to 70, if I’d be a melee fighter I had to get both those stats up. The Wood wolves nearly killed me. I got lucky there. And I put 1 point in Mana. And saved 3 points for a rainy day.

Opened the next notification.

*Congratulation you have reached level 5*

*You have 3 unspent points to spend on your stats. An additional 2 points for being from another world.*

Huh, my math must have been off. Checking my status page once more.

*Status:*

*Name: Green Raven*

*Level: 5*

*Coins: 8 rusty copper*

*Attributes:*

*Strength 7*

*Dexterity 8*

*Endurance 7*

*Vitality 7*

*Intelligence 7*

*Wisdom 2*

*Available points: 8*

*Health: 70/70*

*Stamina: 70/70*

*Mana: 2/2*

*Skills:*

*Inspect item level 1/10*

*Inspect being level 1/10*

*Skill that unlocks at level ten*

*Randomized skill from uncommon to epic.*

I put 3 points in Vitality, bringing my HP up to 100, and saved the rest of the points.

Had no more waiting notifications so now it was time to loot! But first I endured the pain of growing stronger, not saying I got used to it but since I now knew the pain only came for a short while I relaxed and waited for it to be over. Huh, that worked, the pain wasn’t at all as bad as the last times I had added to my stats.

*Loot all*

*You have received:*

*3 Wood wolf pelts*

*12 Wood wolf portions of meat*

*1 Silver*

I immediately inspected what I had received.

*3 Wood wolf pelts, crafting material*

*12 Wood wolf portions of meat, cook for food*

*1 Silver, used for buying stuff*

*Skill level up*

*Inspect item level 2/10*

*Skill range increased*

On one hand, I was happy that my skill had increased but on the other, I wanted more information about it, not a larger range.

During my time going through everything, it had gone dark and I was quite tired. The Wood wolves were gone as in all games. So I was alone. I did not yet have any easy way to make up the fire. So I took my pelts and put them around me and promptly fell asleep.

When I woke up it was light and quite warm, I felt refreshed but hungry and thirsty, so I drank the last of my water. My immediate needs now are to find more water and make a fire to cook my meat before it turns bad. I was still in a green lush forest as when I woke up the first time on PAERD, but other than that I had no idea where I was. So I packed up my pelts or rather I put them in my inventory and wielded my sword, and started walking in the same direction I had before I fought the Wood wolves.

After I had walked for what felt like three or four hours I reached a small road. Not knowing what way to go I thought of flipping a coin, the problem was that I didn’t know how to get them. I knew I could see them on my status page, but not more than that.

So I tried focusing on one silver coin. And it worked, it materialized in my hand, and the coin looked like many other coins. One side ahead of a person I didn’t recognize and on the other was a dog? So I decided to go left if it came up with the dog. After flipping the silver coin and it came up heads I turned right and started down the road. I focused on the silver and my status page and it vanished. Felt the need to see that it was there.

*Status:*

*Name: Green Raven*

*Level: 5*

*Coins: 1 silver, 8 rusty copper*

*Attributes:*

*Strength 7*

*Dexterity 8*

*Endurance 7*

*Vitality 10*

*Intelligence 7*

*Wisdom 2*

*Available points: 5*

*Health: 70/100*

*Stamina: 70/70*

*Mana: 2/2*

*Skills:*

*Inspect item level 2/10*

*Inspect being level 1/10*

*Skill that unlocks at level ten*

*Randomized skill from uncommon to epic.*

So that worked, good to know. Harder to get robbed I thought too.

When I reached a bend in the road up ahead, there were a couple of trees that were laying over the road and a wagon with horses. I saw a man. It looked like he tried to get the trees out of the way. When I came closer the man turned around and shouted “Friend or foe?”

I shouted back “Friend for now” and moved in closer.