You hesitate for a moment before you mercilessly thrust the spear into the creature's head. It twitches for a moment before it stills and a box appears in your vision.

Gicko Goblin defeated; 670 experience acquired.

If it was a person, you probably would have hesitated a bit more, but it wasn’t. It was a monster, one that would kill you without the slightest bit of remorse.

You let out a breath as you sit down on the ground next to the fire. It’s still going despite the fight and you’re thankful for the warmth its letting off in the chilly air.

You shudder a bit as you think back over the battle. It was only thanks to the Gicko Goblins wanting to cook you while you were alive that you’re still breathing. You need to get stronger. Strong enough that you no longer have to worry about being some creature’s meal.

But to do that you’ll have to kill things. Like the Gicko Goblin. You can do it. You have to do it.

“Chapter 1.” You call out and the box appears in front of you. You look it over, planning what you need to survive.

Chapter 1: The First Steps.

Reach Level 10.

You try touching it, but your hand simply goes through it. You read the words out loud, hoping for some change, but still nothing.

Shrugging to yourself, you continue on.

“Status.”

Another, bigger box appears in your vision, this one slightl different than you remember.

STATUS

Level: 4 (89%)

Title(s): NA

Health: 150/150

Mana: 100/100

Attributes

Strength: 15

Agility: 19

Vitality: 15

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 10

Perception: 10

Charisma: 10

Luck: 10

Skills

The Perfect Body:

Increase Strength, Agility, and Vitality by 50%. Cannot be upgraded

Power Strike (Level 2, 70.83%):

Deliver a blow that deals 165% physical damage. Costs 10 Mana.

Your first priority should be to find a stable supply of food. Definitely not mushrooms. They were probably the source of the blank spots in your memory.

You pull out a single berry and look at it. It seems harmless enough, but there’s no way to know for sure. Perhaps you should have kept the Goblin alive long enough to feed it one and see if it was safe? Too late now though. And besides, you’re not sure if you could be that cruel, even to a monster that was trying to eat you.

Hesitantly you put the berry in your mouth. No time like the present, right? You bite down and are surprised at how delicious it is. As hungry as you are, you’re tempted to have more, but your reason wins out in the end. It’s best to wait a couple of hours or so and see if it’s safe for consumption.

Your second priority is to level up. The increase of a single level might not seem like much, but you’re pretty sure that without your increased speed you would have never been able to fight off the goblins. You’re still determined to increase your Agility, after all, being too fast for your opponents to hit is going to be a major help in surviving future fights. The problem is your strength. You might not have enough power to kill some of the creatures you come across.

Like those spiders.

But then again you might have a solution to that; Power strike.

While you’ll be limited in the number of times you can use it, you’re pretty sure that it’s the only way you’re going to be able to fight without compromising on increasing your Agility. And the higher level the ability gets, the more damage it appears to do.

The only problem is how to increase it? Do you need to hit a creature for the skill's level to increase or do you simply need to use the ability?

“Power Strike.” You call out as you experimentally swing the spear. You bring up your skill to check its progress.

Power Strike (Level 2, 70.83%):

Deliver a blow that deals 165% physical damage. Costs 10 Mana.

No change. Right, you realize. The ability doesn’t discharge unless you hit something. You hit the ground, and this time your ability activates as the spear sinks deep into the earth.

You look at your skill but frown as it again shows no progress, but this time the ability has expended itself.

Maybe if you hit the creature? You swing with your ability at the creature, but are disappointed to see your skill progression remaining the same. Apparently it only counts if you hit something living.

You sit back down dejectedly. It looks like it’s the type of skill that can only be increased in combat.

You let out a sigh. That’s troublesome. A tweeting sound draws your attention high up to a nearby tree and you watch as a small bird cocks its head curiously.

As it begins to prune its feathers with its beak, you wonder if you could hit it if you threw the spear.

Probably not, but you shrug to yourself. You can always climb the tree to retrieve it if you miss and the chance of something to eat isn't easy to pass up.

Standing up, you quietly whisper the name of your ability as you cock your arm back.

You let the spear fly and are awed by how fast it leaves your hand as it whizzes through the air. You’re disappointed however as your shot goes wide and the spear sinks deeply into the tree causing the bird to take off in a fright.

Sighing you climb the tree and recover the spear before making your way back to the ground.

Sitting near the fire, you begin idly going through your Status once more to pass the time when something catches your eye.

Power Strike (Level 2, 75%):

Deliver a blow that deals 165% physical damage. Costs 10 Mana.

The skills progression went up! But how? You didn’t hit anything … unless?

You quickly jump to your feet and test your ability as you swing at the tree with your spear. Checking your skill again you can’t help but feel an immense joy as it increases once again!

Power Strike (Level 2, 79.16%):

Deliver a blow that deals 165% physical damage. Costs 10 Mana.

You were right in your assumption that you need to hit something living. You just didn't expect that a tree would count. You can use this!

Smiling for the first time in days, you begin swinging the spear at the tree and, after using your ability five more times, you’re rewarded as it increases by a level.

Power Strike (Level 3, 0%):

Deliver a blow that deals 180% physical damage. Costs 10 Mana.

You still have enough Mana for three more swings and you notice that it’s enough to bring the skill progression up to 8.33%.

You sit down and let out a laugh as you look at your status. Your Mana seems to recover over time as you now have four out of a hundred. After watching it for a while, you come to the conclusion that it recovers at about one mana a minute. You can definitely abuse this.

You let your mana recover a bit before you use your ability and you can’t help but grin as the progress goes up.

Several hours later you’re greeted by another increase in the skills power.

Power Strike (Level 4, 0%):

Deliver a blow that deals 195% physical damage. Costs 10 Mana.

You’re determined to keep this pace going even if the skills progression seems to be getting slower with each level it gains.

Unfortunately it seems there are other plans for you as a sudden pain wells up from your stomach. You grab your stomach with both hands and curl up in a ball on the forest floor as the pain assaults you.

You begin to throw up and your body spazzes violently.

You have no idea how long the pain continues, but you’re sure that it must be the berry. It was the only thing you’ve eaten since you woke up.

Eventually you pass out as the blissful darkness takes you.

You wake to the early morning sun making its way through the trees, the fire from the night before little more than embers now.

You shakily get to your feet, your stomach hollow and empty. Your clothes that are little more than burnt rags from the fire are now covered in dried vomit and you wrinkle your nose in disgust as you vow never to eat another one of those berries.

You need to eat something though as you’re starving. You get yourself ready to set out in search of food, but decide to first look around and see if the goblins have stashed anything you can use in the surrounding area.

Your diligence pays off as you’re rewarded for your efforts. Underneath the same bush that one of the Goblins had pulled the spear from is another crude looking spear and a small knife, similar in size to the one you had when you entered the forest. The real treasure, however, is the small stash of semi-cooked animals. Several squirrels and poultry are stacked in a pile and, more importantly, several small pouches of water! They appear to be made out of some kind of animal's stomach, but that doesn’t matter to you as you drink heavily from them, emptying several in one go and finally managing to quench the thirst that had been with you for the past few days. Several of the animals carcasses look like they’ve been half eaten as you notice several bite marks taken out of them, but that’s good news for you as it means they’re probably safe to eat.

Unable to hold back anymore, you dig into one of the squirrels and, despite it being cold and rather tough, you find it’s not half bad.

Finally finished enough to sate your stomach, you sit back and consider your options.

You have enough food to last you for a couple of days, so that problem is settled. Water might be a bit of an issue, so you’ll have to set out at some point and you need to gain some levels if you want survive. The real question is if you’re ready? Do you leave right away, or raise your ability for a bit?

What do you do?

1) You can train Power Strike as you go. Set out immediately.

2) Train Power Strike for a bit before leaving. Everything in moderation.

3) Train Power Strike as much as possible before leaving. There’s no such thing as too much preparation.