“Huff.. Huff...”

‘Just how big is this damn forest...’

The silhouette of a man wearing white linen clothes similar to those Reizel first wore paved his way through the misty forest. His exhaustion was self-apparent from all the huffing coming out of his mouth as he stumbled from one tree to another.

His luck wasn’t looking that great either, as he had yet to find any signs leading towards an exit. Being on his last straws, his throat was dry and his stomach empty as he hadn’t eaten or drunk anything for quite a while. He didn’t know exactly how long it had been since he was first stranded in the mist but, if his estimations were correct, it should have been about a day or so.

At that point, a *ding!* resounded as a blue screen informed him of his condition turning a little worse. His ‘Very thirsty’ debuff turned into ‘Extremely thirsty’. Gulping a mouthful of dry saliva, he moved on.

The man knew he didn’t have a lot of time left, he either had to find a way out of this forest preferably before the end of the day or, at the very least, find a source of water to quench his thirst.

His circumstances were miserable, and yet his hopes for a better future had yet to be extinguished. He didn’t want to give up, his life had just started. There were so many new things waiting for him to discover. If he stopped trying now, then that would be the end of the line for him. And so, he kept going on. One step at a time, he would constantly tell himself ‘there has to be a way out’ as he made his way through the misty forest.

His prayers didn’t go unheard as a ray of sunlight made its way through the mist. The man looked up and saw the sun's rays passing through the thick foliage. The excitement he felt right there and then could be seen through the light reflecting off of his grey eyes as he awkwardly rushed towards the exit.

Blame it on exhaustion or the fact that he was quite the tall individual, he managed to stumble upon a root and fall flat on his face. He slowly stood up, as a hot liquid left his nostrils and began dripping on the floor.

The man let out an irritated grumble, but it only lasted for a mere second. His voice was cut short as a yelp escaped him. His back was instantly covered in cold sweat as he looked down below.

A lake stood before him; a lake similar to the one Reizel had been to before. The sight before his eyes was magnificent in its own way, but he couldn’t care less at the moment.

The man felt glad for stumbling upon the tree’s root as it forced his rush out of the forest to end there. A few meters further and he would have found himself falling over the edge of a cliff!

‘Holy sh*t that would have been an ironic death! Jeronimo style... Wait what’s that?’

With another word to ponder over, the man took in his surroundings. The view was quite something from up here, but he had to find a way down. As he looked around for a way closer towards the lake, the sound of faint laughter made its way in his eardrums.

‘Laughing? Is there someone else nearby? I better be careful.’

With those thoughts in mind, the man walked closer to where the laughter came from. He moved along the cliffside so as not to lose sight of the lake. He would feel quite foolish if he lost sight of the lake just to find out who was laughing... Anyway, as he got closer to the person laughing, the cliffside he treaded along receded and he found himself closer to the lake’s surface.

As for the person laughing? Judging by the tone of his voice, it sounded like a man... But not just any man, a madman.

When he got close enough to clearly hear him, he slowed down his pace and took a stealthier approach, fumbling his way around the forest bushes. Taking a peek out of the bush he hid in, he saw the figure of a naked man kneeling above the corpse of what seemed to be a giant frog, manically trying to butcher... Yes, that’s right, butcher the corpse before him. With each swing, frog blood splashed everywhere turning his figure into a grotesque mess. He didn’t seem to be bothered by the blood as he kept laughing ‘almost’ in a trance.

‘Damn it... Why is my luck so bad? It just had to be a madman... Great!’

Cold sweat fell from his forehead as he glared daggers at Reizel. The water he desperately needed was so close that he could almost smell it, but the danger accompanied by a madman holding onto a butcher’s knife overtook his reasoning.

‘Ohh? Is he done?’

At that moment, the naked butcher ceased his actions. He tried to wipe the blood off of his face but it only made it look worse. Reizel huffed and puffed as he stared at the bloody mess before him.

‘Cr*p he is done! Better get out of here.’

Having witnessed Reizel’s butchering session he didn’t want to stay there for even a second longer as he turned and slowly made his way out.

*Snap*

Sadly for him, he just had to step on a particularly crunchy twig.

“Who goes there?!”

⚔ ⚔ ⚔

“Aha.. Haha... Phew..”

‘Quite the tough bastard for a frog...’

With the slowly setting above his head, Reizel finally finished breaking down the frog’s corpse and turned it into edible parts. Well, ‘edible parts’ seemed a little bit excessive, if one were to consider the bloody mess before him.

With the adrenaline rush reaching an end, he clicked the yellow exclamation mark after a failed attempt at wiping the frog blood off of his face. Almost instantly, a bunch of windows popped up in the field of his vision.

[Warning! You have sustained a severe injury!]

[Congratulations! Giant Toad Lv.4 has fallen. Experience points will be awarded.]

[Level up!]

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

[Butchering (N)]

(Hack n slash to your heart’s content! It won’t go anywhere.)

Your technique when cutting things is more precise.

[Skill slot unavailable. Skill will be transferred to the skill bank.]

He hardly had any time to read through the notifications, when a sharp crunch resounded.

*Snap*

“Who goes there?!”

Reizel’s reaction was almost instinctive. The words escaped his mouth so quickly, that he didn't even think them through.

‘Cr*p, good job Reizel, you just had to shout...’

[Quick to adjust], the title that enabled him to better respond to unexpected situations, kicked in, but it was a tad too late for it now. Be it his happy go lucky butchering session, or his shout right now, he had already made whatever was hiding in the forest aware of his presence.

Thinking this through, weren’t his actions quite foolish? Who in their right mind would start butchering anything right next to a forest? The scent of blood alone was enough to attract other predators straight to his position. And if that wasn’t enough, he just had to be laughing for as long as he ‘worked’ on the frog’s corpse...

‘Please let this not be another freakin’ bear..’

Preparing himself for the worst, Reizel pointed the edge of the blood-covered butcher’s knife towards the lush greenery. He had no clue as to what was hiding there but, since it had yet to attack, it could only mean two things. It either wasn’t strong enough and bided its time, waiting for Reizel to tire himself out, or it had just arrived and he was lucky to notice it right there and then. There was a third option as well, but under the current circumstances, he found it unlikely for it to be another rabbit hopping from one bush to another.

Asking for a second time seemed a bit outstretched, but he didn’t want to go anywhere near the bushes to check it out either. A spark of inspiration flashed across his mind as he kneeled down and grabbed a chunk of meat with his broken hand before throwing it awkwardly near the bushes.

He didn’t say anything as he patiently waited for a reaction from the other party. If it was an animal smart enough to know what was the better option, it would take the meat and go back to wherever it came from. If not, he would just have to fight it out.

Amidst the silence, the bushes ruffled as a figure with hands raised above their head slowly emerged out of the forest.

An individual one head taller than Reizel slowly walked out of the lush greenery as he said in a crackling manner.

“I mean you no harm. I didn’t *cough* mean to surprise you!”

The only word that could describe the other party was ‘exhausted’. His shoulder-length dark red hair was a jumbled mess, dirt and mud covering the clothes he wore, as a pair of tired grey eyes with dark circles right below them pitifully stared Reizel in the eye. If anyone saw him in his current state, they would most probably feel pity for this guy.

Even the agitated Reizel could see the person before him was on his last straws. Seeing as to how the other party appeared to be human similar to him, his expression softened but he didn’t lower his guard yet.

“Who are you?”

The other party hesitated for a moment before answering Reizel’s question.

“Even though I am not exactly sure of who I am yet... You can call me Zeke. I don’t know why, but I seem to have lost my memories *cough*... Please believe me, naked stranger.”

Zeke averted his eyes as he reminded Reizel of his nakedness. Looking down, Reizel recalled the fact he wasn’t wearing any clothes and cursed inwardly. Covered in frog blood, he would have to take another dip in the water if he wished to shake it off. Giving a side glance at Zeke who was intently staring at the lake’s clear water, he could only sigh as he said.

“Sigh... Drink some water for now. I’ll clean up first and we’ll talk later.”

Zeke nodded and with quick steps went towards the lake. Reizel on the other hand picked up the frog chunks and placed them closer to his belongings before jumping into the lake once more. This time around, he didn’t go into the deeper parts of the lake. Opting to stay near the shore seemed like the better option. That way, it was easier for him to check for possible threats while washing off the blood.

It was quite a struggle to clean up. The whole ordeal took him a little more than ten minutes. With only one hand available he had to be careful not to stab himself with the knife while washing up. Thankfully, the blood had yet to dry up on him with most of it flowing away the longer he stayed in the chilly water.

‘That should be enough.’

Reizel came ashore and headed towards his belongings as he glanced towards Zeke’s direction. From where he stood it wasn’t exactly clear, but he seemed to be up to something. Whether it was something good or bad? He just had to check it out once he dressed up. But before that? He opened up his status to check and change things.

[Status Screen]

Name: Reizel

Condition: (Hungry) (Severe Injury)

Level: 2

Skills: 1/1 [+]

[+]

Skill points: 1

[Attribute Screen]

Body – 2

Mind – 4

Soul – 3

Attribute points: 1

Since his thirst had been quenched and his hangover was done and dealt with, the conditions of ‘thirst’ and ‘hangover’ had long since gone away as well. As for the newly acquired ‘severe injury’? Seeing how it was blinking, he just had to click on it to get a better understanding.

[Right arm is broken.]

‘Well color me surprised! How could I tell without you Captain obvious?’

The barely bearable throbbing pain coming from his arm was enough for him to know that something was broken but the more he knew about it the easier it would be for him to treat it.

Seeing as the system didn’t provide him with any extra or useful information, he placed his only attribute point into his body attribute, turning it into a beautiful 3, and closed the windows. As for the skill point? He didn’t have a use for it yet. He would need another one to unlock a new skill slot and yet another one to purchase his new skill. So why bother?

Having checked his status screen and put his clothes back on, he observed Zeke in the distance striking two rocks against each other. A pile of sticks and twigs lay before him. Sneaking up on him he asked.

“What are you doing?”

“Ohh.. You done? I am trying to start up a fire.”

Reizel’s eyebrows were raised and his interest was picked. He had no clue as to how you start one up, but if they had fire in their possession, most of their problems would instantly go away.

“You know how to start a fire?”

Without missing a bit Zeke answered.

“Yea, I used to be... A scout!”

“Scout? How do you know?”

“...Just a feeling...”

With an air of unease, Zeke didn’t explain anything else, as a pair of sparks flew out of the two stones and onto the twigs he had gathered. Blowing softly on them, he tried to get the fire going but failed none the less. Reizel shook his head and walked away. He didn’t have any expectations in the first place so he just did his own things.

“Where are you going?”

Seeing as Reizel was headed towards the misty forest, Zeke couldn’t help inquiring about it. With a lift that looked more like a flail of his right arm he answered.

“Need some sticks to fix this.”

“Ok, we should do something about this bloody stench or who knows what will be attracted to it...”

Looking at the bloody mess he had created, he couldn’t help nodding at Zeke’s suggestion. The frog intestines and ‘inedible’ parts were all over the place. If left alone, they would either rot or just attract danger.

“Just throw the inedible parts into the lake. Let the fishes have a feast.”

“Ehh..? Why don’t you do it instead? I don’t wanna touch those...”

Disgust was apparent on Zeke’s face as he pointed towards the frog’s remains. Not that anyone could blame him, even for veteran butchers this was too gory of a sight to behold. Much less to clean up... Reizel ignored his reactions, said it was too hard to deal with one hand and left him on his own in search for some good sticks.

While cutting down some sticks with his knife, he heard a disgruntled grumble coming from the campsite. A grin formed on his lips as he thought of Zeke tossing out the frog parts.

A few minutes later he felt he had gathered enough and sat down on a tree root as he worked his way around the sticks he gathered. Most of them turned out to be useless as they were too weak and broke easily but a bunch of them turned out to be sturdy enough for his plans.

Reizel took out the remaining bandage strips from his pocket and further cut them to fit his purpose. Next, he placed his broken arm in between two of the sturdier sticks, shuddering in the way and wrapped them up tightly with the bandages. He wasn’t exactly sure whether his actions would be helpful or not? But his gut instincts told him it would be better if he didn’t flail that hand around too much for a while. To further assure him of his way of thinking a ‘ding’ resounded.

[First Aid has reached Beginner level 2!]

Satisfied with his actions, he went back to the lake’s bank where a nice surprise awaited him.

“You actually managed to start up a fire?!”