I decided to put eight points in strength and eight in dexterity to notice the differences. I confirmed that my HP, MP, and SP didn’t increase at all. Still, when I threw one of my knives upward, the weapon flew for forty meters before falling, spinning. Despite that, I was able to see the weapon spinning, and I was able to grab the weapon in the air without losing a finger in the process.


    ‘Not bad, huh? I bet that I can cause even more damage with my throws now… even through the armor of these monsters. Still, just solving everything with brute strength won’t work. What about you?’


    ‘Everything is set with me. Can’t wait for the next skill.’


    ‘It makes me wonder… If you have your own build, can you get different skills too?’


    ‘Who knows?’


    ‘... What are you hiding?’


    ‘Nothing, really.’


    The other guy was way too quiet… It felt like that every single time. I feel like he is getting better, but it is clear that he is up to something. Still, if he wanted to play this game, I could play it too and now that I knew how the system worked, I knew what I could do to exploit it.


    ‘I am going to test a few things, so don’t count on my help for a while.’


    ‘... What are you going to do?’


    ‘Lay the foundation of the next skill selection.’


    Before long, I was able to feel the other guy tapping into my mana pool… he didn’t like doing that before, but it looked like he could see the potential now. Even though I had more mana than anything else, I still couldn’t do anything with it. Hopefully, he could be useful for once and then give me some hints.


    I decided to resume the hunt in order to stock up pieces of meat for when night comes. Cooking at night and then getting ready to rest would be the best option for me and leave all the fighting for the day. Considering that my dexterity increased, I was hoping for a bit better food, but I wasn’t sure if that would be enough.


    ‘I guess I can make some barbecue… the restoring effects of the meals that I know of are good, but I prefer the buffs. Those would make the fighting a lot easier.’


    Things were still relatively easy for now, but with each new monster I encountered, I couldn’t shake the feeling that they weren’t just random challenges thrown in our way. Each creature seemed meticulously designed to exploit specific gaps in my abilities or force me to focus on areas I hadn’t mastered.


    The monsters seemed like they weren’t just there to kill me but to teach me, pushing me to refine my combat style and explore and learn new abilities. It was almost surreal, like being trapped in a virtual reality simulation, where the world around me was built with a clear purpose. The terrain often worked against me, requiring careful positioning, while the patterns of attacks from the monsters seemed to escalate in complexity the moment I adapted.


    This was quite unsettling. It made me wonder if this was all intentional, if there was a bigger plan behind my presence here. Was I part of some grand experiment or was this some twisted way of testing my limits, gauging how far I could go before I broke? Whatever the truth was, I couldn’t deny the results. With every encounter, I felt sharper, faster, and stronger. This place was forcing me to evolve, whether I wanted to or not.


    Aside from my own thoughts about the situation, I didn’t find any evidence of that being true, so perhaps I was just thinking too much. Still, what kind of technology would be able to put so many people in a game-like environment all of a sudden? I could only think of alien technology… but once I start to think along those lines, my thoughts will spiral endlessly.


    ‘I should just focus on what I can do… anyway, this should be a record. Almost two thousand EXP earned on a single day. It came at a steep price, though.’


    I looked at some of my fingers in my left hand. Aside from the index and thumb, they were purple. I messed up when I tried to block an attack, and that was the result. Although I ate something and that restored my health, my broken fingers were healing very slowly.


    I decided to try to gain at least ten percent more EXP tomorrow, but tonight I had to look for a place to camp. Although I had moved further south and reached the end of that area, I still couldn’t find the town that I was supposed to go to. I found another forest on the way and I didn’t want to camp in it at night.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    After cleaning up the monsters in an area of five hundred meters, I decided to camp there and sook some of the meat on a stick. I had no idea if armadillos were tasty… it didn’t look like the thing most people would eat unless they were in an emergency. Still, they left pieces of meat behind, so it should be edible.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    You received 06 EXP.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    ‘Not bad, I guess… a single piece can make one and half barbecues, so each drop grants nine experience points for the job. I can cook a bunch of them at the same time as well.’


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Armadillo Barbecue (Common)


    Restores 05 points of HP and 20 SP.


    Increases Toughness by two points for five minutes.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    It had a new effect… It was quite weak and fighting after eating was quite rough, but it was still pretty useful. I began to cook the barbecues until I finished all of the pieces of meat that I had found.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Congratulations! The Gastronomist Job leveled up!


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Dexterity +05, Wisdom +05, Adaptability +04, Vitality +03, Toughness +03, + 04 Free points.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    ‘Perhaps I should focus on increasing other parameters given that my job increases my dexterity so much… or perhaps I should just use this to steamroll some areas and fight stronger monsters and get better materials. This doesn’t sound like me at all, but the rewards should be amazing.’


    I probably still was the strongest guy in my town, but what about the other towns? Given that my mission was to check one that was in trouble, I could guess that some people were using their strength in unexpected ways. Perhaps someone with a screw loose was using the situation even more than me for their own plans… This kind of environment seems like the type psychos would thrive in. This said something about me… Well, I had an alter ego, so I couldn’t say that I was exactly normal.


    Regardless, after I was done cooking every single piece of armadillo’s meat. I decided to test them a bit… The smell was pretty good, at the very least.


    The taste of the barbecue was something I savored deeply, a perfect blend of flavors that lingered long after the meal was over. When I took that first bite, the crust gave way with a satisfying crunch, caramelized with the right amount of char from the grill. Each chew was a mix of textures and flavors, from the crispy edges to the melt-in-my-mouth interior. It was the kind of food that could make me a millionaire for sure if I opened a restaurant.


    ‘I thought that it would take a while for me to enjoy good food after the trial, but I guess I was wrong…’


    I wanted to eat more, but it would be a waste… it was better for each before some battles. Well, I had more than twenty of those, so it would take a while to eat them.


    I checked my surroundings once more and confirmed that there was no monster around or getting closer… I had no idea how come I was going to rest here, but I had to at least try. The surroundings were completely empty and dark, only my campfire illuminated the place. Despite that, I still could see the starry sky with clarity.


    ‘I didn’t camp even once since I came here, so I didn’t have the chance to see the sky at night… it is a bit scary, but quite amazing.’


    I had this weird feeling inside me… like I was in a place that I should be or felt more at home. Not in a forest of concrete, like the cities are nowadays. I was never much of a nature guy. I had camped a few times, but I never got the appeal.


    ‘I hope that everyone is all right…’


    While seeing the stars glowing back and forth, I couldn’t help but think about my family, cousins, and other relatives. I didn’t have many friends, so I was worried about them too. I couldn’t help but wonder if they were alone like me, trying to survive and gain the power necessary to understand what the hell was going on.


    I had to find them… one at a time, if I had to, and then work together to find the others. Each person would have other people that they worried about and wanted to find too. That would increase the workload, but it would be fine. We could help each other. That was how the human race survived all this shit since pretty much forever. We survived sabertooth tigers, grizzly bears and scary parasites without a system. There was no way we couldn’t survive this as well.


    ‘Hm?’


    While I was thinking about that, I blinked a bit when I saw some stars in the sky that looked familiar… The appearance was just too obvious. I wasn’t much of a star gazer, but I at least could recognize the Southern Cross.


    ‘... Is this just a coincidence?’


    I looked around, but I truly didn’t know much about stars. Thanks to that, I couldn’t recognize them. Still, when I looked further north, I could see three stars together in a line… wouldn’t it be Orion?


    ‘Was this place created to look like Earth and make us think that we are still there? Then again, Lain said that we are on the Atlantis continent, so…’


    The mysteries were increasing with every passing moment. Thinking about that wouldn’t help me. For now, I just wanted to get stronger and find the people that I cared about, and then I could worry about such things much bigger than me. Still, it was clear that something beyond my wildest imaginations was happening and it should be happening for a reason.