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Friday, XX/XX/XXXX | maybe morning |

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Ivan groaned as he crawled towards a tree. He still couldn't get up thanks to this world's stupid system. Why on earth would physical skill cost MP instead of stamina or something similar?

The anger swelling inside him erupted as desperation took over his rationality. This damned world and its inhabitants... Ivan couldn't forgive them all. They took him away from his mother, his only family, robbed him of his home, and threw him away to die.

He wouldn't forgive them, especially that woman... that priestess bitch...!

Gritting his teeth, Ivan opened his inventory and took out raw wolf intestines. The anger and hatred that consumed his soul blinded him. In his eyes, the intestines were the High Priestess' head.

He bite them.

Ivan gagged at the horrendous taste. His stomach screamed in protest as he ate the raw meat garnished in dirt. The urge to puke grew stronger the more meat he chewed, but he wouldn't falter.

This wasn't simply a mindless act fueled with anger. If he could stomach this horrid taste and sight, he would certainly came out fine killing people. He wanted to prove to them all that he wouldn't die. He wouldn't die before he killed them.

And also restoring his MP by any means necessary. Even if he didn't have potions or something similar, food certainly has regenerative effects even when raw. If there wasn't, he could still leverage the positive buff when resting to hasten his recovery.

Please, make this true... make this true!

Ping!

Ivan breathed a sigh of relief when a medical cross icon appeared underneath his status bar. A wave of serenity slowly enveloped his body, as if a great weight has been lifted from his shoulders. It started from his heart and made its way to the surrounding body parts.

1 MP per five seconds.

Ivan didn't understand what was considered a normal mana regeneration speed in this world. He played various game and encountered many regen system--some were good and some were outrageously maddening.

Level: 1

HP: 37/200 (+512)

MP: -20/120 (+158)

Damn... 278 MP, with minus at that.

One mana regen per five seconds meant he needed approximately 1500 seconds, around 20 minutes or maybe 25, to have full MP.

This was bad. > needed 30 MP and this awful regen system was forcing him to wait 2 minutes to use it?

Wait.

This was an assumption, but could he eat multiple meat to produce a stacking regenerative effect? No, this was too good to be true... but he couldn't resist figure it out.

He grabbed another raw meat in his inventory. His stomach retched painfully just by looking at it, reminiscing the taste about to come.

He bit into it.

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Friday, XX/XX/XXXX | maybe morning |

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Level: 1

HP: 37/200 (+512)

MP: -12/120 (+158)

Nothing changed. Nothing popped up in the system and the regen icon remained the same.

A sigh escaped his lips as he nestled into a comfortable position. The uneven tree bark that scratched his back once again reminding him of his fate.

He brought his knees closer to his chest as he stared into space, feeling melancholy and depressed now that his anger had subsided. Being summoned to another world didn't interest him in the slightest and he felt homesick. He had a loving mother, fun life, friends, peace, electronics, and Wi-Fi. He wouldn't trade all that for some measly fantasy world meant to satisfy some shut-ins' desire.

He wanted to go home...

He missed his normal life...

The strong emotions caused his eyes to burn and tears flowing down his cheeks. He couldn't just accept this easily like those people in webtoons. He was a normal teenager, not some kind of overpowered main character of a story! What did he do to deserve this? One glance was enough for him to tell that this forest was cursed! There was no escape!

He was doomed to die!

Why did he act like a tough guy back then and even vowed to take revenge? How he was supposed to do that to a being clearly more powerful than him? If the priestess was not enough, then what? Would he aim for the innocent people that didn't take part of that accursed ritual? Would he also satisfy his desire of revenge by hunting down the Gods too?

Ivan looked at the sky. The foliage was so thick he couldn't even see blue, adding more weight to his already burdened mind. Was this how depression taste like? The feeling of hopelessness and fatigued mingled into one demoralizing obstacle...

Sometime later, a realization crashed into him, offering him a thin, battered rope of hope.

Maybe... maybe there was a way out somewhere...? Like... like some kind of key items used to... unlock whatever it was that made this forest look cursed?

Maybe it was guarded by a monster... like those... in RPG games...? Then he needed to get stronger, right? Get stronger to kill the boss...

Ivan stood in an awkward manner, a hand covering his face. His tears stopped falling and eerie madness took over his once rational eyes.