When I had finally come to I was laying down upon a bed. The sheets were clean and the time was what I could only assume as night. Whilst I had no understanding of the day-night cycle of this weird planet I was more than welcome to take a stab in the dark.

As my eyes began to phase open I saw a girl sitting down next to the bed, I couldn’t see her face but I could most definitely make out her dark brown hair. She seemed to have her face set down upon the bed, I had never been the best with social enigmas but it would seem that she had recently been crying.

The reason I could only guess at, but regardless when I tried to get up I was hit violently with a large headache.

“A-are you awake?”

I was startled at first but that soon began to fade as I gave a quick nod, this however turned out to be the wrong move as my head began hurting all the more chaotically.

“I’m really sorry about hitting you before, its just I didn’t know who you are and this town has been deserted for a while. I thought you were a looter!” I could see her moist eyes begin to tear up once again.

“I-its fine, I understand I must have looked suspicious rummaging around your house, truth be told I thought this place was abandoned.”

She made a quick wipe at her eyes and exclaimed, “It is! Well at least, all but me.”

“Why didn’t you leave?” I asked unsure of the answer, “This place seems like it would be low on food and well, sorry to say but you don’t look like a hunter.”

The girl shook her head, looking me up and down as I layed on the bed, “T-that’s why I need you, I have no food left, and the only place to get it is from the wild.” I began thinking for a quick second, afterall I had never attacked any wild animal, heck I loved animals! “I know it’s a lot to ask since I hit you, a few times but please!”

How could I refuse a person in need, “It’s fine, I’ll do it.” Thus began the journey of wrong choices I made in this life.

About two hours into our conversation I realised two things. One, the girls name was in fact Melody. Two, she apparently did not need to breathe, what I mean by this is that by the time two hours had passed and the sun risen, I had a far worse headache than what I could have imagined.

“Anyway, do you like flowers, I like-”

Before this got any worse I decided to headout and find an animal to eat, “Hey you remember when you were talking about your father's sword, where was it exactly?”

And with this small amount of information I decided to head out in search of food. Whilst I had never killed an animal before, and probably will do less than favourable at the task, I can be certain that I will eat today, one way, or the other.

The forest was very different to what I was use to back on Earth as in contrast with the blue grass, the leaves of various trees were also tinged a dark shade of navy. However, what I considered most strange was that bark still maintained a dark brown colour.

“Hey Flow, why do you keep staring at the grass and trees?” I heard Melody ask in bewilderment.

That’s right, it must seem strange that I have been studying these things, “Do you have any skills Melody?”

“Only a few I got after repeating the action thousands of times, why?”

“When I looked at these trees earlier I got a neat passive skill out of it.” I stated back, as I continued to examine the insects on the trees.

[Adult Tree-Hopper]

[Description; A widely seen insectoid that uses leaves for nourishment. They are largely hunted by Ground Spiders for food.]

It seemed that using Examination on it will give me information, maybe it can be upgraded by increasing my Intelligence.

“Wait, you got a passive skill from just looking at trees a few times?!” Melody exclaimed back in shock.

“What? How long would it take you normally? Surely it isn’t that bad.”

I could barely hear Melody whispering under her breath, “a year or two….”

This realisation ended the conversation for a while, since we were both very hungry we decided to just focus on finding something to hunt.

But when roughly 30 minutes had passed I couldn’t keep my mouth shut, “don’t worry Melody, I’m sure you will get a passive skill soon, maybe it is based off what you are interested in.”

“I doubt that, my father had taken me to many tutors to try and learn skills, it was hard for me, no matter what I tried.”

“Well, if you want, I could teach yo-”

It took my brain too long to think about, but out of the corner of my vision I saw a hand swiping at me. My head was racing ‘what the hell am I going to do! It’s moving so fast.’

The golden paw made its way towards my eye, till I saw the world go black. It was cold, so, very cold. When my eyes opened I was surprised to see my body still intact. However as I gazed over at my hand I saw a dark black, that was encompassing my hand begin to crawl back to the tips of my fingers. Finally leaving as soon as it had appeared.

The first thing I noticed was a distinct lack of breath, I was struggling just to breathe, whether from the extreme cold or the lack of oxygen, I felt as if I had been drained.

After regaining my sense of balance I heard a high pitched scream, it seemed to be coming from behind me, I turned around to see a golden lion with a mane of red. The lion wasn’t looking in my direction, it seemed to be scratching the ground, looking for something, or someone.

I knew this chance wouldn’t come again, I had to stop this lion, I had to….

I grabbed Melody’s hand, ‘I can’t bloody fight a lion are you crazy!’ I asked myself. I sprinted off into the forest with Melody, back to Loam Lake. I ran, I just ran, but no matter how much or how hard I tried I knew I wouldn’t get away. The second I had made to run with Melody I hadn’t gotten very far till I could hear a distinct growl emerging from behind me.

The lion was catching up, it was too fast, there was no way we were going to outrun it. When these thoughts of despair gripped me it faltered my steps, ‘maybe I could let Melody go, that will save me right?’ My hand began to slip, my thoughts went elsewhere.

‘Wait’, I thought to myself, ‘now is not the bloody time to be thinking that, get your head back in the game Flow!’ But it was too late, Melody had been taken from my grip, I didn’t notice until now but she had tripped, had been screaming for help.

“Wait, Melody I'm coming hold on!” I turned back, the lion was already practically on her as it made to swipe at her with a single paw. I darted faster than a arrow from a bowstring as I made my way towards Melody, the lion was a looming figure but I had no choice. Unsheathing the sword from its holster, I made to attack at the lion, this time I wouldn’t hide away.

The sword cut smoothly into the lion’s neck, I don’t know whether it was from blood or exhaustion but I ended up having a hard time keeping my eyes awake. To hear an animals bloody screams, is something I never wanted to experience. But I was given no choice, it was him or me.

[Rewards for killing Monster Class D |Crimson Lion|]

[Calculating]

[Strength Gained, 2.21]

[Agility Gained, 3.56]

[Endurance Gained, 2.45]

[Passive Gained, Swordsmanship |Common|]

Basic Level 1

[Allows the user to more effectively wield the sword in combat, granting bonuses to form and ability. Strength and Agility increase with level.]

[Displaying Current Statistics]

Stats;

Health: 100 (100)

Mana: 0 (0)

Stamina: 60 (15)

Attributes;

Strength: 12

Agility: 14

Intelligence: 11

Vitality: 9

Endurance: 10

Luck: 10

Charm: 5

Abilities:

Minor Void Shift |Rare| Level 1

Passives:

Pioneers Instincts |Exotic| Level ??

Examination |Uncommon| Level 1

Swordsmanship |Common| Basic Level 1

As me and Melody walked back to the village, a trickle of blood seemed to follow, we decided it was best to cut off a piece of meat from the lion instead of carrying the entire corpse. Sure it was a waste of meat, but I believe I speak for both of us when I say we were too tired.

It took a while to get the fireplace going however a few slashes of the flint with a sword and the job seemed to be done, I left the cooking to Melody whilst I went upstairs to lay down.

I couldn’t imagine life like this as ordinary, or what these people have gone through to think that a lion as strong as that could be normal, the thing was literally strong enough to break trees, I know because I was the guy with Examination.

Fighting monsters like that sounds like straight out of a fairy tale, and I have no intention to be a courageous knight.

“Hey Flow, the meat is ready.” Melody called from downstairs, after a quick meal without much talking we both had decided to head to bed, “U-Uh Flow, sorry to say but I only have one bed… The rest are broken. I-Its fine I will just sleep on the floor.”

“Stop Melody, it's okay, I’m more than happy to share, if anything I should be sleeping on the floor since it’s your house, so hurry up and get in the bed so we can sleep.” Suffice to say, it was a pain getting to sleep, but I managed.