She was quite pumped up. For the first time since forever, she had an excess of both food and time. Aside from hunting and gathering, there was nothing to do. Everything was plentiful, and most of her day could be spent lazing about.

That obviously wouldn’t do. Which is why Irena was left with little choice. She had to broaden her culinary horizons. How?

Through eating random plants and mushrooms, of course.

This was stupid and she would never do it before getting those wiggly ears, but right now, she could either improve or die. No getting hospitalized for life, not with [Self regeneration].

……………….

Irena rubbed an interesting looking fungi on her skin, to see if it wasn’t overly poisonous.

(If it causes a rash, consuming it would be… rash.)

She would rather not eat anything that could immediately kill her with a smallest dose.

Her skin remained smooth, so she took the mushroom into her mouth, and rubbed it all over her tongue.

‘Decently spicy’

She moved to another fungi, happy to find a spice of sorts, when she was interrupted by a sudden stomach ache.

Ding!

{You have been poisoned by a [gutear dinganug mushroom]

Her HP took a dip.

Ding!

[Biological poison resistance] reaches level 2. }

Ding!

[Self regeneration] reaches level 5 }

As usual, the pain lessened the second [Self regeneration] improved.

Irena suspected that since pain is supposed to warn us of danger, it lessens once the danger is lower. That made it work a bit differently from how it should work normally, but Irena wouldn’t complain.

She waited for her HP to top off completely, and picked up another mushroom. This one was dug out from below the ground. It looked like truffles, smelled like truffles, and upon closer inspection, tasted like truffles.

‘If it looks like a duck…’

Ding!

[Hunter’s perception] reaches level 11

Irena was suddenly very happy.

‘Am I a truffle hog now?’

She laughed. ‘oink, oink! Let’s try digging them out with my nose now, haha!’

Ding!

{You have been poisoned by a [Lagotto romagnolo truffle]}

Ding!

{Acquired skill: [Chemical poison resistance] You have sniffed one mysterious cloud too much, or maybe eaten too many gummy bears from back alley thugs. This skill will help you resist those kinds of things, but please, be more careful regardless.}

The artificial happiness ended as soon as it appeared.

Irena looked at the rest of truffles, and thrown them away. Drugs were really not her thing.

Instead, she picked more gutear dinganugs, and chomped down on them. With how spicy they were, using them for some nice flavoring would be possible once her biological poison resistance shot up sufficiently.

Ding!

{You have been poisoned by a [gutear dinganug mushroom]

Ding!

[Biological poison resistance] reaches level 3. }

Ding!

[Self regeneration] reaches level 6 }

Ding!

{You have been poisoned by…

[Biological poison resistance] reaches level 7}

[Self regeneration] reaches level 10}

...

Ding!

{You have resisted the poison of a [Gutear dinganug mushroom]

‘Aaaand, done!’ She could now use it as a spice.

Also, her [self regeneration] was visibly better. Something she was quite happy about. After all, it helped her with injuries, both major and minor.

And lately, Irena experienced a lot of those. Why?

Because aside from doing stupid shit that would give any mushroom enthusiast a stroke, she also happily offended all personal trainers.

The frequency and intensity of her efforts would make any powerlifter who happened to see it lose their appetite.

She was pretty sure she got a hernia once or twice, and her back popped dangerously from time to time. Nothing self regeneration couldn’t improve, especially now that it leveled up.

It was quite funny, and a bit worrying. The best thing she could do to heal injures was hurting herself more.

Irena hoped this wouldn’t make her start enjoying self harm. Being a giant in a fantasy world was one thing, but becoming clinically insane could be inconvenient.

That being said, sweating blood and old fashioned training was pretty effective. Irena was kind of worried she would have no choice but relentlessly murder any random creature she stumbles upon in order to get better at anything, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case.

And so she he was steadily eating through her food, and training like a madwoman.

Her strength shot up to 80 already, her dexterity going up 5 points, and endurance increasing to 30.

………..

‘Enough! What the shit is this, cultivation novel? I’m getting out of here!’’

Irena decided to stop her seclusion. The dryad was nowhere to be seen, so the best Irena could think of was talking to her own reflection in the water.

But, of course, easier said than done. There was a lot of work that went into making her little hut, and she didn’t want to abandon her own efforts

Everything changed when she chased another animal. Because of course it did. Everything happens for a reason.

…………………

Ding!

[Hunter’s perception] reaches level 12

Ding!

[Untouching stride] reaches level 7

Irena picked up her pace. The tracks she could see right before her belonged to a small to medium sized cervid. It was incredibly similar to roe deer tracks. She would know, those things were everywhere back on earth, and she lived in a place where deer were more plentiful than people.

So yeah, she was nostalgic.

‘I wonder what it’ll be called. Probably |something, something small deer|.’

Then again, there was that moose she saw the other day, and it was pathetically small.

‘Yeah, whatever this thing is, It’s bigger than a moose. It might identify as |Something, something large deer.|’

Irena snorted.

The name didn't matter as much as taste anyway.

The tracks started to get kind of faint and inconsistent, their owner probably realising it was being chased.

A vain effort.

Irena continued pursuing Her prey ocasionally sniffing air.

Ding!

[Hunter's perception] reaches level 14

'Wait, why'd it Skip 13?'

Irena shrugged, and started running.

Once a strong scent filled Her nose, she slowed down, and started sneaking up on Her prey.

Ding!

[Untouching stride] reaches level 8

She identified Her prey as {[Megaloceros giganteus] level ??}

'Latin, huh?'

It seemed animal names didn't follow any easily recognizable pattern. Sometimes they soundeded scientific, sometimes fantastic, and sometimes stupid.

The cervid was wary of something, but it looked like it didn't notice Irena. She pulled out Her machete, and charged it with [Ethical strike], before throwing it in a practiced movement.

It tried to dodge, but too late.

Ding!

{You have slain [Megaloceros giganteus] for hunting down prey ten or more levels above your own, additional experience has been granted}

Ding!

{[Giant longhunter] reaches level 11. Stat points awarded}

'Nice'

She approached the carcass.

The antlers of the oversized deer were so wide, Irena was surprised this thing was capable of moving as swiftly as it did.

She'd thrown the corpse over Her shoulders, and began walking in the direction of Her hut.

Suddenly, she felt something moving behind Her. She quickly turned around, and fired [Identify]

[Giant Lynx level ??!]

It was glaring, and It's fangs were bared in an expression which Irena suspected to not be a smile.

'Shoot. Guess I wasn't the only one craving venison.'