The light of day assaulted Ryan's eyes as he opened them. The sun was hovering above him.

  "Aargh, god damn light.."

  Ryan grunted, sitting on his back.

  'wait..light?. I am still alive? I am still alive !!'

  Ryan placed his hands all over the parts of his body, checking if he was still in one piece. Fortunately, he still was. And he wasn't inside the stomach of some predator either.

  'What a relief! Although... How did I manage to survive for this long? I mean I passed out in the middle of the brutal and savage Doom Forest for crying out loud ! It would have made more sense if I found myself in heaven , assuming I got eaten by something...or probably hell , considering the despicable things I've though of back on earth'

  A blue screen abruptly appeared in front of Ryan's eyes.

  "Huh? What energy?"

  "Wow , that's so helpful."

  Ryan's sarcastic remark was met with silence from the system.

  'At least I managed to keep my life thanks to that energy I was emitting, It was probably mana leakage from mana drive. Speaking of which , had the system always been this responsive and talkative? And also... where did the wounds I previously had go? And why do I feel more..stronger than before ? What the hell is going on??'

  " System, what happened to me when I was asleep? I feel weird. "

  "Throw them at me.."

  "Oh my god, I mean yes. Tell me about the gifts."

  'This system is so dull, the world has committed an injustice by giving me this thing, even if I am considered a villain.'

  'Oh , that explains where my wounds went to and why I feel stronger now, that's because I actually am.'

  Ryan felt as if he had attained half of the power, he had attained from < Mana Drive> during the first 15 minutes he had used it against the gorilla.

  "Is that all I received? You sure made it sound like I turned stone to bread by listing my achievements."

  'Mana Prodigy ?!'

  'Holy fuck, I take it back - this sure as hell doesn't sound like an injustice. Did the heavens finally acknowledge my suffering?'

  Ryan thought. He had been weak and strength deprived for so long that the title and stat boosts which would have been pathetic in someone else's eyes were like grace from the heavens to him.

  'Time to actually test how strong I've become'

  Ryan stood up , picking up his pale wyvern dagger.

  'I also feel hella lighter now , must be from the agility stat. Let's test my speed'

  Ryan dashed right in front of him , traveling 8 metres in just 3 seconds.

  'Damn, I am a lot faster now. The past me is a snail compared to this!'

  Ryan rejoiced - being faster and more agile meant he could dodge his opponent's attacks more swiftly... and of course it also meant he could manage to make a run for it if the situation called for it.

  "Now then, let's test my strength, shall we?"

  Ryan folded his hands, making a fist. He then punched the nearest baobab-looking tree.

  Baam!

  A sound resonated as his fists violently smacked the defenseless tree. A loud enough creak sound followed as the tree fell over. It would've fell over faster if Ryan has used all of his power and reinforcing the attack with mana, but using such power in the middle of Doom Forest wouldn't have been a bright idea , since it might have drawn some unwanted and self-destructive attention.

  "Okay, I think that's about it... anything else I got system?"

  Ryan asked. To be fair, the boosts he had gotten already were enough to make him sleep with a smile on his face, but it didn't hurt to be a little greedy.

  'Appraisal? Appraisal ! I-Is..is this what I think it is?!'

  Ryan's eyes slightly shook as he read the contents of Appraisal presented before him on the blue screen.

  'Who cares If I am at level 1?! I actually got appraisal! THE appraisal !!'

  Ryan felt as if he was on cloud nine. Appraisal was a rather crafty and useful skill almost every MC had in one way or another, it was basically part of the 'overpowered skills' package.

  It felt as if he was finally making lemonade out of life's sour lemons.

  'Great! Now I just have to figure out something to analyze..!'

  Ryan began shuffling around, looking for something worthy enough to analyze.

  His eyes finally fell on a rather large red bush which looked great for a hiding place.

  He quickly activated appraisal, it took longer than he expected for the information about the bush to be collected and presented in front him. It was probably because of his low level.

  " System , can this plant launch offensive attacks at it's prey ? "

  Ryan finally dropped his guard.

  " Oh thank god.. never imagined I would one day have to keep my guard up against plants, this world is just too wild... "

  " Hmm? "

  A second screen popped in front of Ryan.

  " Second what?! "

  Ryan's face slightly paled. There was a second entity inside that blood bush? Then didn't that mean that entity was intentionally hiding inside it ? And the only good enough reason for anything in Doom Forest to do a stake out -

  'is If it is hunting prey.'

  Ryan glanced at the large bush , it no longer seemed that pathetic and harmless as it had been just a second ago. If Ryan hadn't had appraised the bush, who knows if that thing hiding there wouldn't have launched a surprise attack right at the moment he least expected it, had his back facing it.

  What was behind the bush? Ryan feared finding out.

  Would it be a small thing which was simply hiding to preserve its own life or a monstrous creature on a man hunt patiently waiting to ravage him? The latter would certainly explain why it hadn't bothered to make a run for it all this time Ryan had been oblivious to its existence.

  Was Ryan a small mouse and the creature a cat in the situation?

  'I can never know.. if bad turns to worst , I can always use mana drive to flee'

  Ryan finally opened the template as he began being flooded with information.

  'Oh....'

  Ryan thought, quickly reading the contents of the appraisal.

  He certainly hadn't expected this.

  * * *

  The scaled crocodile had always been a quick and deadly predator to any prey foolish enough to wonder around under its gaze.

  This scaled beast was amphibious in nature - yet another advantage adding to its ability to hunt prey. Being amphibious meant it could look for prey both on land and in water, an advantage land creatures could only dream of having.

  Despite being amphibious, the scaled crocodile's favorite meals were always the ones on land - they always had more meat, plus tracking and patiently waiting to strike them like the cold-blooded reptile it was always made eating them taste all the more better.

  Which was why the scaled crocodile was hiding inside a plant, patiently waiting to eat the two-legged creature that was right in front of it , which was oblivious to the crocodile's existence.

  The crocodile had patiently waited for its prey to wake up, it was now so close to snarling and chomping the creature with one of its large toothy bites that it could almost taste it. Now all what was left to happen was for the two-legged creature to turn its back and drop its guard, and the crocodile woul..

  " !!! "

  The crocodile's blood ran colder as the two-legged creature suddenly glanced at where it was hiding, had it already been discovered? It couldn't be!

  Only when the creature looked away from it did the crocodile finally stop being anxious. ( And if it was human , it would have made a sigh of relief)

  The crocodile couldn't continue waiting for any longer, it's hiding spot had been compromised just a minute ago - and if it had really been discovered then it needed to strike first!

  Kacha, woosh

  The crocodile launched itself at the prey, its mouth opened as wide as a blooming flower.

  But alas, luck was not on its side.

  The two-legged creature leaped higher than the range of its chomp, and the crocodile missed by a large gap as the creature landed behind it - outside the range of its tail, another shame.

  "Wyt tiok ytu lom hing" (what took you so long?)

  The crocodile heard the two-legged creature make a sound behind and it became immediately alarmed, was the thing calling for more of its kind? The crocodile had to finish the prey before that happened, it had staked out for too long for it to flee now.

  The crocodile twisted to face the two-legged creature behind it, preparing for a second assault.

  "Ihs thaum thu thst moo fill sgreth" (it's time to test my full strength.)

  That was the last thing the crocodile heard before it was pummeled to the ground, one second it felt its head being crushed under the brutal force of the attack and the next - everything turned black.

  * * *

  'Hehe, lady luck , you sure are smiling at me a lot today...'

  Ryan's smile had curved to form a grin.

  Who would have expected that the last thing on his list would land right in front of him!

  When he had read the scaled crocodile's info on appraisal he had been hit with severe goosebumps of joy, that he could have hugged the hiding beast for making his job easier.

  "La~La~La"

  Ryan found himself humming with joy. His pale wyvern dagger ran through the crocodile's skin and scales, a struggle ensued between the dead scales which defended against the dagger like titanium plates by halting its movement, however Ryan's strength was superior, and the wyvern dagger finally pierced through the scales as a knife would to a pineapple.

  'I've really underestimated myself at how strong I've gotten, huh..'

  The image of Ryan literally punching the lights out of the crocodile replayed in his head, and he found himself grinning yet again.

  Now the items on his list were all collected: the horn of a wild pig ; an arm of a silver haired gorilla ; the leg of a horned rabbit and finally the skin of the scaled crocodile.

  After 3 minutes spent skinning the crocodile, 2 more in dismembering the silver haired gorilla , and 4 minutes in finding a way to carry everything in one go - Ryan finally started his journey back to his home.

  Life had never felt so fulfilling before.