The jungle was as scary as it was beautiful. Tall trees as far as eye could see, each one of them hundreds of feet high. So many that there was almost no sunlight coming through even in the middle of the day.

James could hear loud noises coming from multiple directions. They didn’t see him, but he noticed the creatures right away. He didn’t know what they were, but it was clear that they could easily take him down if they caught him off guard for even a second.

James was under the impression that he didn’t know how to climb a tree. But the feeling of impending doom was strong enough that his instincts took over and he climbed that son of a bitch in a second.

From the tree, he could see the creatures in the distance, the jungle was full of them. Dark green monsters, humanoid in shape, but clearly not human. Horns as big and sharp as swords adorned their skulls covered in shadows, while their eyes were glowing red, made even eerier by the lack of light.

He then quietly called Helios and Lunaris on his AetherPhone. At least he couldmake calls from this blasted jungle.

“Guys, I did something stupid, I'm sorry. I didn’t want to be a burden on you two anymore so I just found my way to the Hanoo jungle all by myself, without asking for directions. But as soon as I got here, there were these damn monsters everywhere, creepy little bastards enveloped in shadows. I had to scurry up a tree to avoid them.”

“Yeah, I saw that on the observer.” Helios started laughing. “You were like a scared cat, now I know why you chose that pet.”

“Don’t laugh at him, he’s in danger! There aren’t supposed to be Jungle Demons around him, I don’t know what went wrong. You shouldn't have sneaked off like that, James. There were plenty of things that we still needed to tell you. I bet you didn’t even take any weapons or supplies” Lunaris was worried.

“Oh I know what went wrong. He must’ve taken the wrong portal. There are two portals in Hedonia that can take you to the Hanoo jungle. One takes you to the entrance, and the other right to the heart of the jungle.” Helios explained, still laughing.

“Damn it James, why didn’t you at least ask us how to get there? You’re in danger now! The shadows that envelop those demons are the powers of the Darkness, they’re dangerous.”

James felt a little bit awkward now. He was used to being a loner and never asking for help. Those habits were hard to break. These two had already helped him enough so he felt uncomfortable relying on them so much.

“No worries, this is a great opportunity to level up. The Jungle Demons are a much higher level than him, so they’ll give a lot of xp.” Helios explained, in a serious tone for once.

“But what if he dies? Jungle Demons are usually level 10. He’s only level 1!” Lunaris was about to rush to the jungle to save him.

“It’s all right, I’ll be fine. This is a great opportunity indeed. I don’t want to take it the slow and safe route, I want to level up quickly.” That might have sounded brave, but James wasn’t brave as much as he was reckless and lazy.

Faster xp rates in exchange for the slight risk of dying was right up his alley. Anything to avoid hard work. Even though he wouldn’t mind working his ass off for the sake of leveling up, he was a progression addict after all.

But why work hard when you can work smart? Although it's true that most people wouldn’t consider the plan where you risk your life needlessly as the smart plan.

James had to think. He didn’t know any magic except [Fireball] yet. And he only had enough mana for one fireball. Over time, his stats would naturally increase, including his mana. But for now he only had one shot. What if he didn't kill the Jungle Demon in one blow? He'd be powerless with a pissed off demon in front of him.

Whatever, he had promised himself he’d be brave from now on. And he really wanted that xp as well. That didn’t leave room for hesitation. Now that xp and levels were involved, James entered a focused, flow state. It wasn't a matter of bravery, but of recklessness and a thirst for xp.

All he had was his fireball, his fists and his legs. And so that’s what he was going to use.

No more shy recluse from now on. Let the insanity begin.

Perched on his tree, he waited until a demon walked right below him. That’s when he unleashed his fireball, putting all his mana into it.

[Fireball has reached level 2. Damage increased. Chance to set enemies on fire]

The demon roared, the spell left it gravely injured. But it was still alive, the difference in levels was just too great.

Because he had waited until the demon was right below him, James was able to jump onto it, the force of his body dropping from that height delivered a powerful blow.

Without waiting for a single moment, James started pummeling the demon with everything he had.

But even in that extremely weakened state, the demon seemed to be almost immune to James’s punches and kicks. It was almost ready to attack. One hit and he’d be dead.

Perhaps recklessness wasn't a good plan after all. And what's with thig guy's hurry anyway, where's the fire? Couldn’t he have spent some time taking it slow, learning the ways of this world, maybe buying some equipment that could help him out?

But no, he had to jump into things without thinking. Just like on Earth, he never had patience, he didn’t want to put in the work to slowly, steadily progress. And he always avoided relying on other people. Now he might end up as demon food because of those childish traits.

But what's done is done. Recklessness got him into this, recklessness would have to get him out.

Before the demon could attack, James took his palms and put them over the demon’s face, quickly placing his thumbs over its eyes. With all the strength he could muster, James pushed his thumbs in as hard as he could.

The demon started flailing around with all its might. James was struggling to find his balance, but he kept his palms right on the demon’s face, thumbs jammed into its eyes.

The demon was already badly damaged, this brutal, disgusting move was the final blow.

That’s when James’s palms started glowing, and the shadows enveloping the demon were slowly leaving it, flowing into James’s palms.

[Your Half-demon Soul has absorbed some essence of the Darkness. The balance between the human and demon in you has tipped towards the demon’s side slightly. The power of spells imbued with demonic powers has slightly increased]

[You have gained x2 levels.]

[You have gained loot, demon horns.]

[You have gained loot, drop of Darkness.]

Two levels from just one demon, coming here was definitely worth it. But it was still reckless and stupid. It would've taken just one bite and he would've been dead. He’d definitely have to spend a lot more time on preparation in the future.

All’s well that ends well though. He leveled up now. Killing demons will only get easier.

Helios had informed James about how leveling up works. “It’s a fairly simple system. Leveling up automatically increases your attributes and stats, depending on how you trained. You could spend your time doing push-ups in your room, that would eventually grant you a level, and it would increase your strength and agility.

"But that wouldn’t be very efficient. Struggle, effort, pushing yourself. That’s the key to leveling up. The harder it is for you to do something, the more xp it gives."

Which isn’t exactly great for our buddy boy James here, who always chose the path of least resistance in the past. But perhaps his insane obsession with progress and levels will be enough to make him change his ways.

“Killing a strong monster gives you more xp. How you kill it matters, so if you took it down mainly using your physical strength or your agility, you’d increase those attributes.

"Stats and attributes aren’t everything though. Skills are the main source of one’s power. Learning a lot of different spells and skills is paramount. Mastering a few is essential.

"But that’s still just a basic summary. In reality, there are far too many exceptions to everything I’ve said. The world has a lot of mysteries, and that’s why everybody at Hedonia is so obsessed with researching magic. Just one rare artifact, one skill can completely change how the world functions.” James remembers Helios having a very serious face when he told him all of this, which was quite unusual.

"Later on, the leveling system gets more complicated. There are other systems you can unlock, and you'll have to make choices between different upgrades. But the low levels are fairly simple since there are no special unlockable subsystems."

Anyway, James was now level 3. He wasn’t the kind of guy that would become a warrior, or any kind of physical fighter. Although there were plenty of people at Hedonia that focused on physical powers, it just wasn’t James’s style. On Earth he spent his entire life avoiding physical effort. He didn’t even exercise at all, that’s why he died young.

Even though he was very motivated now and wanted to progress as fast as possible, you can’t change a lifetime of sloth that easily.

No, he’d much rather use his mind. He’ll become a mage, so he needs to learn more spells.

Luckily, his total mana, mana recovery and spell power improved as a result of leveling up. His dexterity also increased a little bit, I suppose that’s from the eye gouging.

[Mana: 200/200. Mana recovery rate: 0.1 mana/s.]

Two levels didn’t make a huge difference, but at least he can now cast two fireballs before running out of mana. His fireballs are now slightly stronger as well since he also leveled up his fireball skill.

It was now time to kill more demons.

He’ll have to repeat the process of killing demons over and over, until the demons don’t give much xp anymore.

James could use two fireballs one after the other to kill a demon, but that would be inefficient since it would double the amount of time he has to rest between kills.

So he’ll have to go with the same disgusting strategy as before, using a fireball to weaken the demon, then gouging its eyes. Well, at least his willingness to do this disgusting act proves that he's committed to improving himself.

James then found a piece of wood, cut down a vine, and created a makeshift weapon from the horns he received as loot. Using the horns to gouge the eyes will do a lot more damage than his thumbs so the process should be a lot smoother.

[Skill unlocked: Weapon crafting]

Having a new skill is neat, but would James ever put in the effort to learn how to craft stuff? On Earth he used to feel the need to create something with his own two hands, so it would be a pleasant experience.

But he understood the concept of opportunity cost. He’d much rather grind loot and then buy weapons from people who specialize in crafting, who dedicated their whole lives to it. Besides, being a madman gouging demons’ eyes out is probably a lot more lucrative, and definitely more fun.

James immersed himself in training for 3 days. It didn’t even seem like work to him, his gamer mind so addicted to the xp and levels. Normally, his recluse body would have been beyond exhausted, physically unable to train like this. But passion can push a man beyond what he thought was physically impossible.

He slept wherever he could hide, so that the prowling demons wouldn’t attack him while he was asleep. Even though up until now he had only slept on soft beds, he didn’t even mind the rough conditions. Such was his love for progress and levels.

This was all he ever wanted. This is why he came to this world.

After an exhausting amount of kills, James was finally done.

[You have reached level 10]