Matheus wasn’t sure what his next quest should be .

  He had the feeling he had been lucky so far. It was only taking him a couple days to finish each quest, and his progress was steady.

  But if he decided on something too difficult or complicated, it could easily take him weeks to complete it.

  He was between two options this time.

  Hunt the Gold Deer

  Reward: +3 Stat Points +1 Soul Points

  Kill the Cave Guardian

  Reward: +1 Basic Spell

  The hunt seemed pretty straight forward and would give him a much necessary boost on his stats, but if he went for the cave guardian he would get another spell!

  He couldn’t go wrong with more magic.

  Nonetheless, it wouldn’t hurt to get some information first this time.

  “Any idea what this monster is?” He asked, indicating the second quest. On its flyer, it only said ‘kill the creature hiding in the northeast caves’.

  “No idea. Not a lot of people dare to get this close to that area, only during expeditions. Not because it’s particularly dangerous, but there’s something weird in that place. No one likes staying there for too long.” The city master answered, oddly friendly today.

  “What about this gold deer?”

  “Oh, there have been some sightings of it, near the Twin Rivers. The merchants are always willing to pay a good place for its pelt. Every year half a dozen people try hunting the creature, but most come back empty-handed. They are clever creatures.”

  Just what Matheus was fearing, wasting his time doing something that would take him nowhere. Still, he was feeling eerily about fighting this guardian. It sounded like something above his level.

  Hunting again, then. He could always try for a few days and then give up on it if he wasn’t making progress.

  The Twin Rivers were in a path Matheus hadn’t explored before, which would give him a good opportunity for some scouting.

  After all those weeks here, he was starting to have a general idea of the monsters he could find in each area. But he wanted a full map of the region.

  He’d always been a completionist.

  He thanked the city master and left, picking a waiting Captain on his way out.

  Now that was done, it was finally time to distribute his stat points. And he had a feeling there was another big upgrade coming.

  “Assign +1 Strength, +1 Agility, +2 Intelligence, +1 Connection, +2 Core and +1 Investiture.”

  Now that he had his first magic, it made sense to increase his intelligence. A higher mana pool would let him cast his Bubble Ball spell more often.

  Matheus grinned. Beware, monsters. None will escape the might of his water and soap.

  And of course, what he was really looking forward to was the increase to his Soul Stats.

  A higher Connection always helped, and It was time for him to start increasing his Investiture and find out what the heck that did.

  Core has reached level 5!

  You have a permanent upgrade available!

  Matheus was suddenly engulfed by a bright white energy, blinding his eyes. Yet, he felt conscious and aware in a whole different way.

  He could see the world and himself in a manner he had never experienced before. He watched as the small gears of his being moved, the atoms of his souls all working in syntony to make him who he was. Matheus understood, even if only for a short moment, what life really was.

  And he knew how to modify it.

  The options were limited in what they could do, yet the possibilities were infinite.

  He didn’t know how long he stayed in this state. He knew he read hundreds of different options, until finally finding one that was too good to give away.

  When he came back to the world, only a second had passed.

  With this new upgrade, he’d have to add another task for the plans for today.

  There was so much to do. He didn’t remember the last time he’d been this busy.

  He needed to go on, one step at a time. With some luck, his next stop would be a quick one.

  –/–

  “Thank you. You have no idea what you’ve done for me.” Dina said, her face irradiating happiness.

  Matheus was at her house, watching Daniel running with friends on the street. He’d had a very fast recovery, and Matheus was sure some type of magic was involved.

  The kid also got really popular after miraculously surviving for 7 days under a lake.

  “It was really nothing. It was my pleasure to help. And as I said before, I also received a great reward from the city.”

  Matheus couldn’t help checking on them. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt so proud of something he’d done.

  “I should be on my way. I need to visit the City Hall before going hunting.” Matheus got up and started walking away, but she gently held his arm.

  “Wait. There’s something else.”

  She got up and entered another room, leaving him alone. When she came back, there was a small wooden box in her hands.

  “What's that?”

  “It’s an item box. The last one my husband brought home just before he died. They are rewarded for services to the imperium.”

  You’ve completed a Hidden Goal in a Quest!

  Find the lost child still alive.

  Reward: An Item Box!

  “I’ve kept it, as a way of remembering him. I want you to have it now.”

  “I can’t accept it,” Matheus said immediately.

  “It’s fine, really. I have another one, given as compensation for his death.” She paused for a few seconds, a sad smile on her face. “I couldn’t make myself get rid of them before. It was too painful.”

  She then put the box on his hand, and her smile turned joyful.

  “Please, keep it. You have no idea how thankful I am for what you did.”

  “I…alright.” Matheus answered awkwardly. He never knew what to say in those situations.

  “Usually, it contains a Common Item, but you can never know until you’ve opened it, so the value is actually higher when it's closed.” Dina explained. “We’ve managed to get Uncommon Items before, and in theory, it’s possible to get something as rare as a Legendary Item, but I wouldn’t count on that.”

  “Thank you. It’s not really necessary, but I really appreciate it.” Matheus answered truthfully. He got his first spell and managed to increase a few levels, and those were enough rewards.

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  Besides, Dina looked like a completely different person now. Her smile was enough to make it all worth it.

  “In order to open it, you need to break the seal on the top.” Dina explained.

  Matheus did exactly that, and a bright yellow light radiated from the box for a few seconds.

  After it dissipated, the box opened by itself, revealing an orange ring.

  Ring of flames

  Effects: produces a level 5 fireball

  This is a disposable item. After it’s used, it’ll melt away.

  “That’s incredible.”

  “Those single-use items are not usually very powerful, but they can save you from a difficult situation. I hope the ring ends up being useful for you.

  “It will. Thank you, really.” Matheus said, while putting it on his middle finger. He already had his sect ring on his index. At this pace, soon he would be covered with jewelry.

  “As I told you before, I am the one who needs to thank you. This is nothing.” Dina said dismissively.

  He stayed there a while longer, talking about random things. She told him a little more about her life, and it was nice having something else he could focus his mind on.

  It was a small break among all the craziness of his new life.

  Matheus had never expected to find peace interacting with another human. And yet, he had been in no rush to go away. It was weird how things could change so fast.

  He finally left with promises to visit them soon. It felt good, having people waiting for him to come.

  With that out of his way, it was time to really start the work of the day.

  First order of business, test how cool he looked killing monsters with his new cloak.

  –/–

  The Grape Monkey shrieked and lunged in Matheus' direction.

  He ducked and splashed its face with a Bubble Ball. With his other hand he slashed, taking purple blood.

  The creature was fast, but not very bright. It got easily distracted and enraged. The Bubble Balls took only one HP, but gave Matheus the opening to keep attacking.

  And those extra Stat Points were great! It gave him enough for him to feel confident in his abilities.

  The Monkey picked rocks from the ground and started throwing them.

  Matheus quickly hid behind a tree. The monster was smart enough to use tools to attack, but wouldn’t think about ambushing him. And sure enough, Matheus only had to wait for a few seconds for it to appear screaming and shaking its hands.

  He stabbed it, splashed its face and stabbed it again. The knife felt easy to maneuver on his hands, his movements stable and composed.

  Even stabbing something to death started to feel natural after enough practice.

  The monster tried one last desperate attack, but Matheus side-stepped its lunge and used the Monkey’s own momentum to open a wide cut on its torso.

  Slash has reached level 2!

  Bubble Ball has reached level 2!

  The creature died, and Matheus stabbed it one more time on the back, just to be sure. Satisfied, he grabbed its hairy hair and started the beheading.

  He knew his knife wasn’t built to that, but buying another one just to cut heads off wasn’t something he was interested in.

  Captain came to his direction, with his slow walk.

  Matheu grabbed him and put on his hood, and the cat gave a little meow of appreciation.

  Matheus wasn’t a fool to try to fight with Captain on his back. He knew he wouldn’t always have the time to take him out before a fight started, but he would deal with this problem when it arrived.

  Besides, checking all the new notifications on his System he confirmed his plan would work.

  Captain has leveled up!

  There’s +1 Stat Point to assign.

  His bond as a familiar meant Matheus would receive less experience overall while trying to level up, but it had its advantages. Even if Captain didn’t participate in the fights, he would still receive his share of experience. Matheus could make him stronger without having to put his life at risk.

  With enough levels, the cat could end up as a very useful ally. Or at least, Matheus hoped so.

  The monkey had been easy enough to kill, and Matheus still had 12MP left. He didn’t want to become too reliant on magic, in case he found himself in a situation where he was unable to use it. Still, he needed to level it up as soon as possible, and that meant using it every opportunity he had.

  He decided to assign Captain’s Stat Point to agility.

  Anything that would make his life easier would work for now. Later, Matheus could come up with a better strategy.

  Matheus kept going with his hunt. He was mostly exploring the area, getting experience while hoping for a lucky sighting of the Gold Deer.

  So far, the only thing he’d managed to find were those monkeys. Not a lot of progress on his quest, but they ended up as the perfect candidates to test his abilities. He couldn’t complain.

  Besides, there was still one thing Matheus needed to do before going back to the city.

  Together with Captain, he went back to the Blue Lake.

  It was a calm place during the day. Close to the city, but far enough Matheus could feel at peace.

  “I’ll need you to wait for me here, alright? It’ll only take a few minutes, I promise.” Matheus said while putting Captain on the ground.

  He then undressed, put all his belongings on his backpack and swam to the hidden cave, this time unmolested.

  Once there, Matheus started organizing his collection.

  There were 37 skulls in the cave, only half of them being human.

  Currently, Matheus had a capacity of 9 slots on his Inventory. Minus 1 for his backpack, it left him with 8.

  With his new Core upgrade, he would be able to store as much as 5 of the same item and use only 1 spot . Which gave him a total of 40 heads he could carry at any given time.Each full group would give him a 112,50% boost against a specific monster.

  Skull Collector has reached level 4!

  Matheus grinned. A 118,75% boost now.

  For a few moments, Matheus considered also storing the human skulls.

  But he decided that was a step too far. It seemed wrong.

  He did scavenge the old bones searching for anything of use, though, managing a few silver coins.

  Of course he still didn’t have enough heads to fill a full group, with the exception of the Rocklings, a monster called Porkulogos and the useless Stuffed Koalas, but he would do what he could to change it soon.

  If every fight could be as easy as the one he last had on this lake, nothing would be able to stop him.