Twice night had fallen, and still not much had happened.

  After surveying the glade for a while, Matheus found he was very near to a cave and decided to make it his base of operations. Part of him was horrified by the idea of the cave being a lair of a frightening monster, but he was more scared of staying in open grounds. He needed walls and a feeling of safety.

  Inside the cave, curiously, he found a pot stuck to the ground and some herbs growing on the walls. They all gave the same System Message.

  Common herb.

  This item can be used as an ingredient for recipes.

  Picking some, Matheus soon realized if he put them in the pot, a new message would appear.

  Ingredients found! Start cooking?

  Then a small time would appear on top of it, between 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the herbs he mixed. After some tinkering, he unlocked a “Recipe” tab on his System, but so far he only had two recipes.

  Burned Trash.

  Uneatable.

  Simple Herbs Mix

  Recovers 2 HP

  Matheus figured more would be unlocked as he experimented with different ingredients.

  The end result always tasted like crap, but was enough for him to not starve. Unfortunately, the System wasn’t letting him store neither the cooking pot, nor the meals he prepared. He could store the Herbs in his soul, but what was the point of that, if they were all right next to the pot? It was a waste of his limited space.

  For the moment, Matheus could only store 4 items in his soul. An extremely low quantity in his opinion, but he saw no reason in leaving an empty spot.

  Begrudgingly, he Analyzed everything he could, from the dirt on the floor to rocks and small insects, and had reached a few conclusions.

  First, the information given was different depending on what he focused on. He received different texts if he analyzed a full tree, its branches or even a singular leaf.

  Second, the text wasn’t exactly a text. Now that he was practicing more, he realized he wasn’t really reading it, but absorbing its words.

  Thirdly, and it took him an embarrassing long time to realize, it wasn’t really necessary to say the commands out loud. He was capable of analyzing things just by thinking really hard about it. It was like screaming inside his own mind.

  And lastly, half the time the objects wouldn’t be available to store in his Soul. It depended on many different factors, such as weight, mass, size and other things that he was still figuring out. With such a limited capacity, Matheus had passed the last few hours constantly replacing what he had. For now he had:

  Small Rock.

  Just a pebble, really.

  Green Leaf.

  From a silver birch.

  Old branch.

  Not very firm.

  Big Rock.

  Has some fungus on its button.

  He practiced putting them in and out of his Inventory a few times, and noticed they would appear either on his hand or on the floor just next to him, according to his will. He was already thinking about different ways to use it in his favor.

  But one thing kept bothering him during all this time.

  Matheus couldn’t remember the last time he stayed so long without a shower. He had got used to the smell by now, but it annoyed him. He felt dirty. Especially because there were only leaves for him to use as toilet paper.

  The stories never mentioned how disgusting it was not properly cleaning its own ass.

  There was a very small pond on the cave, which Matheus was using to drink water from. It was the only source of water he had, and he was too afraid of contaminating it to try washing himself there.

  On the bright side, Matheus also noticed he could get new abilities and level up the ones he had just by repetition!

  So far he had:

  Cooking - Acquired Skill

  Skill Level: 2

  Effects: Shorten the time of food preparation by 1 minute and 15 seconds.

  Climbing - Acquired Skill

  Skill Level: 1

  Effects: Strengthen your grip and balance while climbing or holding yourself in high structures by 20%

  Hiding - Acquired Skill

  Skill Level: 1

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  Effects: Higher instincts to decide on good hiding spots.

  The first he got after preparing some food, the second after he climbed some trees, and the last was for all the time he spent on his little cave. It didn’t take him long to advance to level 2 in cooking, but after that it seemed to get stuck. Maybe he had to prepare different dishes in order to keep leveling up.

  But he couldn’t lie, it was a very good feeling having true skills that he could level up just by repetition. That was just the motivation he needed to practice and train!

  Matheus wished his first life had been like that. Wouldn’t everything be easier if he could literally follow his progress and watch the numbers go up? It was addicting!

  Matheus had to control himself to not spend every waking minute checking his stats, checking if there was any change he missed. He still hasn't figured out what his Triumph Stat was and couldn’t find any way to use his mana, even though he’d tried for hours.

  For some reason, it also didn’t matter how many times he tried Analyzing things or checking the System and his Inventory, it seemed like his Soul Stats never leveled up. Frustrating. How was he supposed to increase his “Connection” and understand his abilities better, like the Entity said, if practicing with them didn’t work?

  Well, he was just beginning. There were still many tests for him to do.

  Preferable, in the safety of his cave.

  He had explored some of the nearby areas, but he didn’t dare go too far away, afraid he wouldn’t be able to find his cave again. His situation was already complicated enough, and he didn’t want to imagine what they would be like without him having his regular meals and a safe place to sleep.

  And he knew he wasn’t alone in here.

  Matheus was certain there were…things in the forest. Creatures like animals, but he was sure they weren’t any kind of animal he’d known.

  Not that he managed to have a good look. At the first sign of danger, Matheus ran and hid. He wasn’t about to start any type of confrontation without being fully prepared.

  Especially with him being barefoot. His feet had gotten somewhat used walking on the grass the past few days, but he didn’t like his chances trying to outpace a monster coming after him.

  Besides, what could he do without any weapon, spell or any kind of offensive skill? Was he supposed to punch them to death? Kick and bite?

  Matheus tried throwing rocks around, punching trees and kicking bushes. Unfortunately, the System didn’t reward him with a single new skill. Maybe it would only unlock when he used them in a real fight. But that was too risky for Matheus’ liking.

  A much better strategy was to take it slowly, get used to the System first, see what other kind of skills he could get then find a way to lure and trap whatever was there in the forest with him.

  You’ve met the prerequisites to a new skill: Procrastination. This is a conditional skill.

  “What…” Matheus was incredulous. He was getting used to the System popping messages out of nowhere, but a procrastination skill? And this notification was slightly different from the others.

  He quickly read the System description.

  Procrastination - Conditional Skill

  Why go do the big important thing when you can focus on the smaller less scary ones?

  Don’t worry, you’re sure to finish on the last day what you’ve been avoiding all week.

  Skill Level: 1

  Effects: You’ll recover +0.5 Health and +0.5 Stability every hour you spend avoiding doing something you really should be doing.

  This skill is granted to all Champions that have spent the first three days of training without gaining a single level.

  “Hey, I’m not procrastinating! I’m strategizing.” Matheus complained to the heavens. The skill didn’t look that bad. He still wasn’t didn’t know what was the point of Stability, but Health points were essential. A faster recovery could save his life.

  Still, it was insulting. He wasn’t afraid, he was being careful.

  Damnit, he wasn’t fooling anyone. He’d spent the last hour deciding between keeping the green leaf or replacing it for a red one.

  Was it really his fault he didn’t have any useful skill? He’d never been in a fight in his life! Barring beatings, but he felt those didn’t truly count.

  It was only natural to avoid danger. Basic human survival.

  “God damnit” Feeling judged, Matheus picked his few belongings and went deeper into the forest before he gained a new level to his new skill.

  It was time to start hunting.