The situation was beyond common sense, and Diego didn’t even know how to react. He was currently in a cave, and sitting down against the wall. His magical bow was ready to shot at a moment’s notice.
‘If there is a way in, there must be a way out…’
The cave was around three meters wide, and three meters tall. To his right was a dead end, and the place where he mysteriously appeared. To his left, the cave continued.
No matter the causes for his current situation, Diego had to find a way out. Or, at the very least, a source of water.
‘The meat from the rats looks acceptable…but I don’t have water…’
The idea of eating the meat from a rat brought disgust to him, and would be considered only in a very critical situation. The fact that he didn’t manually skin the rat to take its meat made the whole ordeal a tad better.
Clenching his hold on the magical bow, Diego got to his feet, and started to slowly advance. The crystals offered a satisfactory level of light, but not sufficiently enough to accurately see what was tens of meters into the distance. Furthermore, the cave wasn’t perfectly straight, and had a rough contour even in the immediate location.
After a few dozen meters, Diego came across a crossroad.
‘Left or right?’
After some consideration, he decided to go to the left. There weren’t any clues at all indicating that one path was the good one, and the other the bad one.
‘I should leave some tracks behind. Going in circles in this area could prove to be a disaster.’
Like that, Diego started to leave marks on the walls, and on the floor: ‘This will be tunnel number one…’
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After a few minutes, he spotted another rat. This time, the creature was oblivious to his presence. This was proof that his stealthy movements were effective, and the right choice.
Aiming with the bow, he went for the kill.
25
The number was the lowest possible. The rat moved at the last second, avoiding a critical hit. It was purely due to luck. Giving off a frightening cry, the rat looked around for the culprit. By the time the rat spotted Diego, another arrow hit. This time, it was a fatal blow.
‘Am I good or am I good?’
Diego chuckled. His aim was better than expected. Slowly, but steadily, his fear started to vanish, and be replaced by excitement. Continuing, he came across another dead end.
Returning to the crossroad, Diego went right. This time, he marked the walls, and the ground with the number two.
Another rat made its appearance. After that one, another one came, and so on.
‘Go!’
An arrow swiftly flew through the air before forcefully getting stuck in the brain of an unfortunate rodent. This one was special. It was the tenth victim. Diego saw in front of him a few words.
Leveled up!
At the same time, he felt a wave of energy going through his whole body.
‘This is?!’ He felt stronger. A very bizarre, but wonderful feeling. Diego quickly pressed the button on the bracelet to check his status.
Level: 2 (0/300 XP)
Class: None (Available at level 15)
Hit points: 300
Attack: 25-50
Defense: 17
Strength: 6 +
Stamina: 7 +
Agility: 7 +
Energy: 11 +
Cooking: 2 +
Free status points: 3
Inventory
Store (Available at level 10)
Skills: None
Cooking recipes: None
Now, there were a plus sign after each stat. Diego’s finger moved almost automatically and put his three free points into strength. A wave of energy came from the bracelet, and extended throughout his entire body.
Diego felt stronger than ever. Getting down on the ground, he quickly did a few pushups. It was like he was weightless: “How is this possible?!”
He was incredibly puzzled. Such a thing was practically unheard of in real life.
“More! I need to kill more rats!”
For a moment, he felt an overwhelming desire to get even more power.
“Calm down! Calm down!”
It took him a few good minutes to manage to somewhat gain his cool again. It was adamant to remain composed in such a situation. Applying what you know is better for you, however, is not always that easy.
