Adrin chuckled. He was kicked out not even a week after awakening. According to the man, he had to prove himself to be a hunter as he had claimed to be. The father wouldn’t even accept the fish bones as proof or listen to his own daughter.

It only showed how small and pitiful the man really was.

They could sneer and smirk as much as they wanted, but today wouldn’t turn out to be as they thought it would end. He just knew it. Despite what others perceived as a death sentence, it was actually refreshing to be out in the Wilds.

He hadn’t planned any of this but it still would be in his favor.

The look on the old man’s face was worth it when the man had found out what had happened behind his back. The girl told the father herself after explaining everything to Adrin. Emi had rebelled against her father in the most painful way possible.

Sweet revenge felt great, and he didn’t think they could stop enjoying it again. Adrin called out his status screen as he walked out from the gate. He didn’t even look back when the gate closed behind him with a bang.

Name: Adrin || Age:17 || Villager [level 0]

Life: 20/20 || Stamina: 30/30 || Mana: 6/?

||

Strength: 5 || Intelligence: 5 || Agility: 3

---------------------------------------------------

Willpower: 14 || Perception: 3

||

Bodybuilding [2], Arithmetic [1], Melee weapons [1], Spearfishing [1],

Mana Sense [1], Marksmanship [1]

||

Hack [1], Throw [1], Aim Assist [1]

To make himself appear to be fair, the village head had to let him have an ax, a knife, and a set of bow and arrows. The tools needed to prove that he was able to bring back meat like other hunters. He wasn’t in a group like others, but he wouldn’t use it as an excuse. He was always a lonewolf and it worked best for him.

Adrin was required to bring back prey on his own or suffer the consequences. One hundred lashes because of breaking the village rule. However, he wasn't the same stupid kid anymore. The threat was nothing but a scare tactic that was supposed to make him nervous and risk failing even more.

Regardless, he was doing this for Emilia and not because the village head told him so. Adrin didn't want anyone to call her a liar. He had no doubt they would still try to punish him if they could find any excuse. He had to bring something big, not a fowl or something.

The old man was just pissed off because his plan was ruined. Now he could no longer claim that her daughter was a virgin. He was planning to use the fact to hike up marriage offerings, and Emi hated the fact she was treated like an object to trade for coins. The girl only figured out the fact after she was awakened last year during her seventeenth birthday.

To make matters worse, the girl couldn’t find a man who would be on her side against her father. She didn’t want to use him at first, but their different situations had come together perfectly.

This whole cast-out thing worked fine for him as he would want to get out of the village eventually. It had worked for the best because this way he didn’t need to ask for permission to leave the walls and lose even more ground.

Getting out of the safety of the walls was important to him. He would need to learn to fend for himself if he was going to survive the yearly recruitment.

No one really knew what happened to those who were recruited because no one had ever returned to tell their story. That was one of many reasons no parents wanted their kids to be recruited. It was understandable as it seemed like sending their precious child away forever or even to their doom.

As the village head, the old man had to keep relative peace, and that was why he made an orphan like him volunteer. He was sure the same thing would also happen in every other village like this one.

Adrin hadn’t witnessed himself, but according to the rumor, the village head loved to spare girls from being recruited. It wasn't a simple thoughtless move or because the goodness of the man's heart. The village head usually selected orphans like him so no one would hold a grudge which, a lot of times, could be deadly for a tiny figurehead.

He also selected youth that had the potential to forcefully replace him when they were old enough. As a result, only weak men were left in the village.

Before the awakening, he would have been scared shitless when cast out from the safety of the wall. However, Adrin was awakened, and he had a spirit who had been living in the woods for who knows how many decades.

There was a huge difference between the woods back then and the Wilds right here, but at least he had the basics right. The first thing to do was to find a good place to make a shelter and knowing the dangers around him, a treehouse was his best bet. Adrin walked around, looking for a place while avoiding the dead branches or anything that would make any noise.

Food didn't worry him much because of the [Aim Assist] skill. Safety was a huge concern, but after years of living inside the walls, the only real threat had every pest the villagers were the goblins.

A small brown or green human-like creature with sharp teeth and nails. It had long pointy ears and usually traveled in a group to either hunt for food or raid villages.

Another reason why these goblins became a problem because not everyone had the guts to go through the awakening ceremony. Not everybody had the guts to stab themselves with a wicked-looking blade and bleed until their spirit awakened.

He didn’t think a village full of awakened would be easily pushed around by goblins as the weak monster’s only advantage was their number. This creature wasn't a real threat because they usually ran after one or enough of them died.

The real threat he had to watch out for was the gnolls. The dog-headed creature didn’t have much resemblance to humans other than walking on two feet.

These creatures rarely ever attack but if they did, the whole village could be wiped out. He had heard it from rumors as no one had come forward admitting to being a survivor.

After almost an hour of looking around, Adrin found the best place for him to make a treehouse or at least a place for him to sleep tonight. The branches were thick and dense, and it had a large clearing below. It also was far enough from the village to be hidden from plain sight, but not deep enough into the Wilds to attract unwanted guests.

In order to make a shelter, he would need ropes, and sure enough, his spirit, or himself in the past had made them plenty of times. He was grateful again. An orphan with no one to teach him would have long shit himself if he was in this situation.

Adrin couldn’t find anything close to hemp, but there were a lot of tree saplings around for his project. He would use the bark’s fiber to make ropes and the peeled sapling could make the impromptu flooring or walls.

He got to work immediately by cutting the saplings, skinning the barks, and mashing them with rocks. The real challenging part was weaving the fibers into ropes as it took both skill and patience to make something dependable.

He had to make sure the ropes weren't too thick or too thin as he didn’t want to waste material while making sure the ropes were strong enough. The fibers here were a lot sturdier from the spirit’s memory for whatever reason, and the fact had made his work much easier.

Adrin spent about two hours gathering and weaving ropes until a surprise hit him. He was so excited that he almost forgot the other best thing this world could offer after awakening.

Crafting ability obtained.

Crafting [level 1], + Dexterity.

Craft recipe recorded: Rope.

---

Dexterity observed, base Dexterity: 2.

Dexterity: 3

The dexterity upgrade was much more subtle than others but the effect was very apparent when he continued to make more ropes. He was much more skillful at weaving the fibers and the recipe had further improved his productivity.

Adrin only needed to mentally activate the recipe for his hands to move almost effortlessly to make rope until the fiber ran out. It was great because he could keep an eye out for any trouble sneaking its way towards him.

He was kicked out right after breakfast and by afternoon, he already completed an impromptu platform in between branches high in the tree. The hardship was worth it. The view was great as he could see an expanse of endless green with a few reds and purple on one side. The other side had a mountain range dominating the view under the slightly purple sky. There was endless water further away which should be called the black sea.

After waiting around, doing nothing for almost an hour, lunch had presented itself. The creature announced itself by the snotty sounds it made. A huge groundhog-like creature came sniffing around the place he had cleared out of tree saplings.

The large brown ball of fur had six legs, each brandishing thick sharp nails that might make a hole through his body easily. Too bad for it, he already had the higher ground.

A red dot appeared on its head as it was sniffing the ground. It looked up just in time to be pierced by an arrow right through the skull.

[Class level up!]

A new message popped up but he swiped it away for now. There was something else more important to address.

The bow’s pull felt too heavy for a young man to use. If he didn’t have any increase in strength other than his base, he might not be able to pull the shot off. It made him wonder whether or not the old man was trying to pull another one right under him.

Adrin shrugged and climbed down the rope he made with knots, designed especially for climbing. He skinned and gutted the creature before using the skin to contain its guts.

He prepared fire next before he planned to throw the guts much further away from his treehouse while looking for a water source. The fire pit was contained with whatever rock he could find to avoid forest fire. He cut the huge creature into several parts, wrapped them in huge leaves before burying them.

The meat would be cooked underground where it would be safe from predators. It was hard work to dig a large enough hole but he knew it would be worth it.

Finding a creek wasn’t that hard because the village itself was already built close to the river. It took him mere minutes before he could hear raging water from afar. Adrin threw the guts into the river before he hurried back to guard his cooking meat.

After working almost all day, his stomach was already willing to kill anyone for food. He breathed in relief when he got back and no one had dug up his first wild kill.

The meat should be ready after almost two hours of waiting. He knew the large rodent was cooked with another notification.

Cooking ability obtained.

Cooking [level 1], +1 Dexterity

Adrin got the skill easily because his spirit had already been cooking for himself for so long. The earthen oven was one of the best ways to cook meat. It was difficult to burn meat cooking it this way. He could also have smoked the meat but it might be dangerous to do it here.

He climbed up the simple tree house and enjoyed his meat-rich lunch far from any threat. An hour after finishing his meal, one of the said potential threats came sniffing around his campfire.

The breeze above the trees was stronger than the ground level, and because of that, he should be safe if he didn’t make any noise. Three bald brown and green heads appeared out from the bushes with sticks in their hands as weapons. The creatures took a good half an hour looking around before they disappeared back into the jungle without a trace.

Adrin breathed in relief when they were gone, and he had to reconsider spending the night in the Wilds on his own. There was no need to take any unnecessary risk when he already had his ticket in. He was never a try hard kind of guy.

As much as he wanted to boast his ability to live on his own, he still valued his life more than anything else, let alone his ego. It felt like he was already too old for that.

Name: Adrin || Age:17 || Villager [level 1]

Life: 20/20 || Stamina: 30/30 || Mana: 6/?

||

Strength: 5 || Intelligence: 5 || Agility: 3

Willpower: 14 || Perception: 3 || Dexterity: 4

||

Bodybuilding [2], Arithmetic [1], Melee weapons [1], Spearfishing [1], Marksmanship [1]

Mana Sense [1], Crafting [1], Cooking [1]

||

Hack [1], Throw [1], Aim Assist [1]

||

One inspiration point rewarded.

He wondered what the point meant as he packed up what he could. Adrin chose the long way back to the village as the last thing he needed was someone in the village finding his camp.

Whatever this inspiration point used for, he would surely find out later.