The pleasant sound of birds chirping entered his ears as the light breeze sent a chill over his bare feet.

The cold he felt through his feet was enough to jolt the man awake.

‘Cold? Why?’

The man opened his eyes wide open and was immediately forced to close them as the sunlight passing through the tree leaves blinded his vision.

He slowly stood up and, covering his eyes with one hand, felt his legs being rather wobbly.

He didn’t need to look down to know he was stepping on grass blades, the familiar prickling sensation on his feet was rather comforting.

Slowly recovering his vision, the man took in his surroundings. He was inside a forest and a really foggy one at that. Maybe it was due to humidity? As the veil of fog was rather dense. Impairing his vision as he couldn’t see more than ten meters inside the canopy.

‘Where is this?’

He glanced around but the only thing greeting him was the foggy forest around him. The trees were not only tall, but the foliage on the upper part was so thick and intertwined, that even the sun was blocked from reaching the forest’s soil.

Strangely enough, the place he woke up in was an opening in the forest. A place where sunlight managed to breach the forest canopy and warm the ground around him.

‘Why am I here... Wait..’

The man looked down and noticed the white and thin linen clothes he was wearing. Panicking for a moment, he touched his private area and let out a sigh of relief.

‘phew... Of course, I am a man... That was scary... What was I thinking?’

The confusion on his face didn’t seem to disappear though.

‘Why does it feel like this is not my own body?’

And another big realisation hit him.

“Wait... Who am I?”

He couldn’t help exclaim out loud as his breathing sped up.

‘Calm down. There has to be an explanation for this. Panicking will not help anyone.’

*Ding!*

The man was less startled than he should have been as a yellow exclamation mark appeared mid-air out of nowhere.

‘Now what the heck is this?’

The man took a step backwards and the exclamation mark seemed to follow alongside him, floating leisurely.

Moving his hand towards the floating exclamation mark, a yellow window popped up as his finger touched it.

[Quest: Exit the forest.]

Reading the message, the man pondered.

‘Quest? What is this, a video game or something...? Wait, a game?’

The man pondered a bit more as realisation quickly came to him.

‘It seems I have no recollection of who I am and where I am but part of my memories... No this isn’t the right word... Knowledge maybe? Anyway, the point is some things are still here?’

*Ding!*

Another exclamation mark appeared in front of him as he quickly reached for it.

[You gained a new title!]

[Quick to adjust.]

(You need but a moment’s time to collect your bearings in complicated situations.)

[Mind +2]

‘A title? This does seem more and more like a game... Then maybe? Status.’

The moment he thought of the word ‘Status’, blue windows appeared one after the other in the field of his vision.

The man was thoroughly checking each and every one of them, the glimmer in his eyes only for him to see.

[Status Screen]

Name: Reizel

Level: 1

Skills: 0/1

Skill points: 1

[Attribute Screen]

Body – 1

Mind – 3

Soul – 1

Attribute points: 1

[Title Screen]

[+]

The first two screens were pretty much self-explanatory while the third one had a ‘+’ mark that probably indicated for him to expand the screen in front of him.

He quickly clicked on it and wasn’t surprised to find his newly acquired title.

[Title Screen]

Active titles: 1/10

[Quick to adjust]

(You need but a moment’s time to collect your bearings in complicated situations.)

[Mind +2]

The man quickly dismissed the title screen and his gaze fell back at the first two again as he pondered.

‘Reizel? Is that really my name? Hmm... Well it does give off a familiar vibe. But then again, can I trust this screen? Well whatever, it is better than having no name I guess.’

Reizel accepted the name imposed on him as he paid attention to the attribute screen.

‘Body, mind and soul? No strength, dex, con and the like? What about my health and mana points? Baaah.. So much for this being like a game... I wonder how each of them works?’

Even though he was not aware of it, a grin was forming on his face as he read through the status screen.

Reizel was immersed in the status screen, when a sudden rustling sound came from inside the foggy forest. Snapping out of his trance, Reizel focused his attention towards the place where the sound came from.

Preparing for the worse, he slightly lowered his posture getting ready for fight or flight.

And even though he was unarmed, for some odd reason he felt rather confident in his abilities to fend off whoever or whatever approaches him. His status screen would probably disagree with him, if it had a mouth that is... But he would rather listen to his gut feeling than an unfamiliar screen.

The rustling sound came from the bushes inside the forest, as whatever approached his location stepped on the fallen twigs rushing towards his place.

‘Whatever is coming probably knows I am here... Should I attack before it gets the chance to?’

The bushes rustled a bit more as a foggy silhouette appeared at the edge of the fog. Reizel couldn’t clearly see what it was, but the hideous grin on its face sent goose bumps down his spine.

‘A ghost?! No, no way ghosts actually exist...’

“Ha...Haaa.Hahaha!”

The mixture of huffing and laughter coming from the ‘ghost’ didn’t really help to ease Reizel’s worry.

‘What the heck?! I am not actually scared of ghosts and the like right?! Shit!’

His instincts overtook his logic as he rushed towards the ghostly figure that was now almost out of the misty forest and into the clearing.

‘Here goes nothing!’

“Finally, the exi~~ Ehh? Bwaaaghh...”

Reizel kicked towards where the ghost’s head should be. His eyes were closed as his foot reached its target.

‘Bwagh? Since when did ghosts learn how to speak? Wait a moment...’

Reizel opened his eyes only to find a girl in similar linen clothes, square on the floor. From a single glance, her long blond hair and well-proportioned figure would be enough to categorize her as a beauty, but all Reizel could see was the swollen spot on her face as it was slowly turning into a dark shade of purple.

‘Now I’ve gone and done it... Quick to adjust my ass! What type of rational person even thinks that ghosts exist?!’

“Sigh..”

Reizel let out a sigh as he glanced at the unconscious girl in front of him.

‘Okay, let’s make a run for it before she wakes up.’

With a thought that many would find quite a few flaws in it, like ‘Why would you leave an unconscious person inside a forest?’ Or ‘How about apologizing maybe?’

Disregarding the girl completely, Reizel picked a random direction and went searching for the exit of this god damn ‘ghost’ possessed forest.

Five minutes after leaving the clearing in search for an exit.

‘Man, talk about annoying... This fog is such a pain.’

Reizel could now understand part of what that girl must have felt. Being lost inside a forest where the mist is so thick it blocks your vision and muffles your sense of direction was rather intimidating.

“How am I supposed to navigate through this, huh?!”

He couldn’t help shouting to no one in particular. At his shout though, the leaves from some bushes rustled in the distance.

‘Is this déjà vu I am feeling?’

The rustling didn’t stop as whoever made the sound didn’t feel like coming out. Reizel looked towards the moving bush and said.

“Hey, I know you are there... Why even hide in a bush in the first place?”

No one answered him. Feeling helpless, Reizel sneered and approached the bush.

“Man, come out of there. No need to hi..aiii..i...? Ahh-”

His voice suddenly fell at the sight in front of him. A bear was eating what seemed to be the remains of a rabbit as it turned its annoyed gaze towards Reizel.

“Sorry for... Interrupting your.. Meal... I’ll be on my way, don’t mind me...”

“RRROOOOOOOOOAAAAARRRR”

Reizel’s instincts of survival seemed to kick in as he stepped backwards and turned around to make a run for it. Even if he was confident in his abilities to fight, his humanly instincts whispered to him that a bear is supposed to be way out of his capability.

The moment he turned his back on it though, the bear took the chance and swiped at him with its paw grazing his back.

Reizel almost stumbled and fell as the pain assaulted his system. Staying there to fight against the bear was not an option, therefore he made a run for it.

He run aimlessly inside the forest for over 10 minutes. Adrenaline was subduing the pain coming from his back as he run through the forest. Tripping on a tree root, Reizel fell down as he turned his head to look back, the bear was nowhere to be seen.

Not that he could see a lot of things inside the fog, but it was still better than having an angry and even worse hungry bear running behind you.

Thankfully for him, the bear was too preoccupied with the rabbit to chase after him.

Reizel’s breathing was heavy, the adrenaline rush was nearing its end and the pain he didn’t feel earlier was coursing through his back.

Reaching with his hand, Reizel traced the wound on his back. The backside of his white tunic was now in tatters and drenched in blood. Removing it all together, he salvaged what he could and turned it into a makeshift bandage for his wound.

Reizel grimaced as the bandage pressed tightly around the wound on his back. The bleeding didn’t stop but from the looks of it, it seemed to slow down a bit.

Drowsiness overcame him from all the blood loss, but he did let out a sigh of relief. Resting on top of a fallen tree, Reizel couldn’t even put his back against it. The stinging pain coming from it a constant reminder of the whole ordeal.

The good thing though is that pain helped to keep him awake, if you can even call that something positive.

Well, he couldn’t really fall asleep in the middle of a forest where predators like bears and who knows what resided in anyway.

‘I hope she wakes up before a bear gets her... Man, now I feel slightly bad.. Just a little though.’

“Who told her to go out of her way and play the ghost on me!”

Reizel felt frustrated at both himself and the girl but his mind didn’t linger on that thought for too long.

After all, finding an exit out of the forest, or at least a place where he could temporarily recuperate was by far more important than a stranger’s life to him.

*Ding!*

One of the happiest sounds he had ever heard (literally) resounded.

He clicked the yellow exclamation mark in front of him and read through the new message.

[Through your actions you have unlocked a new skill!]

[First Aid (N)]

(Even without medical supplies you can at least put a makeshift bandage on.)

Wounds heal slightly faster. You are less likely to get infected.

[Skill slot available. Would you like to purchase [First Aid]? Purchase cost 1SP.]

Reizel didn’t even need to think about it. If it helped his wound close faster and prevented infection, then why on earth would he refuse such a skill?

‘Earth? Another strangely familiar word.’

Sighing in pain, Reizel clicked the [Accept] button and immediately added the skill on his arsenal.

‘Strange... I don’t feel my wound closing any faster, but I now know how I should have wrapped the bandage on it. Truly a strange thing.’

Having neglected his status screen for a while, Reizel decided to take a better look at it. Not that he had too much of a choice in it, with all those events happening in succession.

[Status Screen]

Name: Reizel

Level: 1

Skills: 1/1 [+]

[+]

Skill points: 0

[Attribute Screen]

Body – 1

Mind – 3

Soul – 1

Attribute points: 1

Swiping away the title screen Reizel wondered where the quest he received was displayed at?

Almost immediately at the thought of it another screen popped up.

[Quests Screen]

(Active quests)

[Quest: Exit the forest.]

With a move of his finger the quest screen went away and Reizel thought of an inventory. After all, if this was like a game there should be an inventory system, right?

‘Inventory, Backpack, Storage...’

No matter how hard he thought of possible words no inventory screen popped up.

‘Well that’s sad.’

Focusing back on the status screen Reizel clicked on the [+] mark next to the skills bar as a new message appeared.

[Would you like to purchase more skill slots? Purchase cost 2SP.]

Reizel declined as he didn’t even have a single skill point on his name and turned his attention to the attribute screen where he still had one point available.

He didn’t bother with the other [+] mark as it would most probably just show him his current [First Aid] skill.

‘Hmm now what is this? Even if I click on them no more information pops up... Most probably, the Body one is related to physical strength... As for the other two… Mind maybe has to do with magic, but Soul? Hmmm.. Well, whatever, a stronger body is the way to go anyway.

Reizel didn’t feel that now was the best time to ponder over things he couldn’t understand, so he added the single point he had onto his Body stat and quickly placed it in the back of his mind.

‘Now now...’

The pain coming from his back had somewhat subsided. The wound was not a lethal one as the bear didn’t manage to cut in too deep.

‘I should get going.’

And with that thought in mind, Reizel’s journey through the foggy forest began.