Matheus' hunt was taking him nowhere. Only once had he managed to find the deer, after hours of exploring the woods.

  Slowly, he approached from behind, trusting his sneaking skill to hide him until he got close enough to attack.

  He didn’t even manage to get in range to analyze the creature. The monster noticed him coming right away and ran, disappearing in seconds.

  He didn’t know if it was because of his low skill level, if the creature had used some type of spell, or if it just had incredibly good hearing.

  Either way, he needed to get at least some information from the system before trying anything.

  He could try setting traps, but who knew if that would work.

  In truth, he had no idea how he would be able to catch it.

  Still, he wasn’t wasting his time.

  The trick of getting the upper-hand in most games, in Matheus’s opinion, was simple.

  You needed to grind. Grind every time you can, for as long as possible, until you’ve leveled up so much, you can just pass through your enemies like they are made of butter.

  He had been the type of person to spend hours, even days killing the same monsters to get to the boss being almost able to one hit them.

  Now that his life looked like a game, he had no reason to change strategies.

  And that’s why he welcomed the monkeys attacking him now. Not only were they giving great experience, their movements were getting very predictable.Plus, they were helping him increase his collection.

  The monkeys ran after him, screaming in rage. Matheus adjusted the grip on his knife and lunged.

  Luckily for him, those had been the only type of monster he’d found in this area.

  Unluckily for them, it was starting to get pretty easy, with 5 monkey heads filling his inventory. Even two at a time were proving to be no problem for him.

  His knife cut them like butter, one slash at a time. Matheus was careful to aim at their bodies, not wanting to damage their heads. Twice they had too many holes and cuts and the System didn’t let him keep them.

  Matheus splashed the face of one monkey who got too close, cut the arm of the other, spun, and craved his knife directly onto its neck. He pulled, and the monster dropped to the ground convulsing.

  When he turned, the first monkey was still taking water off its face, so Matheus splashed him again and repeated the butchering.

  He sighed. still not receiving the notification he was waiting for after all his work.

  Should he push it a little further today? He still didn’t have any real challenge in this region, but it was getting late and he wasn’t looking forward to going back in the dark. Maybe just one more kill?

  “Matheus.”

  Matheus startled, his heart in his mouth. Turning, he saw Dylan waving at him, accompanied by two others.

  He quickly unequipped his King of Losers title, hoping he’d been fast enough. He still wasn’t ready to deal with the nickname again.

  “You scared the shit out of me, man.” Matheus said, seeing them walking over to him.

  Dylan gave him a funny face, looking like Matheus had said something odd.

  “I’m sorry if we took you by surprise. Please, let me introduce you to two of the bravest men we have in Tartaros. This is Nikolas, also known as Eagle Eye. I’ve yet to meet a person as fast and sharp with a bow.” Dyan went on, pointing to the person on his left.

  Nikolas gave a small nod with his head. He wore a black bandana keeping his long hair away from his eyes. Matheus nodded back, quickly looking away.

  Those eyes weren’t normal. To look at them felt like looking to a predator, analyzing your every movement, waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack.

  “And the big guy here is Derek. I tell you, there’s no one you’d better have guarding your back.”

  “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, little one!” The giant beamed, walked to Matheus' direction and gave him a suffocating hug.

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  Matheus was too slow to react, and now couldn’t gather enough breath to speak. In fact, the pressure was so strong he couldn’t breathe.

  Was this what felt like, being hugged to death?

  Those poor monsters he’d killed. No wonder karma was catching up to him.

  “Derek, I think that is enough.” Dylan thankfully said a few seconds later.

  Matheus took a few seconds to recover, and quickly analyzed both of them.

  Nikolas - Human

  Eagle Eye

  Level: 12

  Derek - Human

  No Title

  Level: 11

  Not incredibly strong, but as strong as anyone else around here.

  “You are also here on a quest, I presume.” Dylan commented.

  “Yes. I am looking for the Gold Deer.”

  “Ha. That’s certainly a way to make some fast money. If you can catch the creature, of course. And that is a big if, no offense,” said Derek.

  “None taken. What about you guys?”

  “We are hunting for Skeelar’s pelts,” Dylan answered.

  The name wasn’t unfamiliar. Matheus remembered reading the quest, and deciding not to go for it for some reason.

  “Any luck so far?”

  He gestured to Derek, who opened his coat to reveal dozens of pelts hanging from it.

  “It’s easy when you have people helping. Much faster, too.” Dylan said, offering a friendly smile, “my offer still stands, you know.”

  “I know. And I appreciate it. But unfortunately, for me nothing changed.” Matheus said, not able to hide the bitterness in his voice.

  It was so freaking unfair. If only he’d failed in catching that stupid bunny, everything would have been way less complicated.

  Dylan again nodded and didn’t question him on his answer. Derek for some reason started laughing, like Matheus had told a very funny joke, and Nikolas kept quiet, his penetrating eyes wandering around, more interested in their surroundings than in the conversation.

  With discomfort, Matheus realized Eagle Eye still hadn’t said a single word.

  “Well, we were just about to finish for the day. Do you want to head back with us?” Dylan offered.

  Matheus felt uneasy. Those guys had been nice to him, but there was no guarantee they wouldn’t change it after a while. The only way to not risk it, was to keep his distance.

  Besides, he still needed to take off the heads of his new trophies. And he had a feeling people would find it a little weird.

  “Thank you for the offer, but I am not done. There are still some areas I wanted to check.”

  “As you wish. Be careful not to stay for too long. Those parts can be dangerous at night,” Dylan said.

  The group said their goodbyes and went away, Derek waving until Matheus couldn’t see them.

  When they were out of sight, Matheus beheaded his fallen prey, got a sleeping Captain back to his hood and started the walk back to the village using the longer path.

  Yeah, he already had a slot full with 5 monkey heads, and technically he shouldn’t be keeping more of them, but those slots were empty for now! In the meantime, he would welcome the extra 47,5% bonus.

  He still didn’t know how to feel about Dylan. The guy looked genuine, but Matheus had been fooled by similar people in the past.

  Either way, he couldn’t recruit him as his Vassal nor start any type of partnership with him, so there were zero prospects of him becoming a long term ally. There was no point in letting him get closer.

  Matheus noticed another monkey, sleeping on the top of a tree.

  Well, he needed to get going, but he wasn’t about to waste free experience.

  He analyzed the creature again, just to be sure.

  Grape Monkey - Level: 7

  Like a regular monkey, but purple and with grape running through its veins

  Health: 14/14

  Mana: 0/0

  You better not try fighting it on the trees.

  Nothing different. Matheus took Captain from his hood and put him safely behind a tree.

  “Just one more time, alright?” He whispered to him.

  Matheus got closer to his enemy, aimed and shot his Bubble Ball right onto the monkey’s face.

  Bubble Ball reached level 3!

  Well, still not the notification he was looking forward to, but he wouldn’t complain.

  The creature woke up startled, almost falling down. It managed to hold itself on the branches and turned with a snarl, showing all its teeth.

  Matheus smiled and waved.

  The monster jumped straight at him. Matheus could feel his skill activating, the extra strength going through him.

  He stabbed the monster in middle-air, impaling it through the left eye.

  Matheus was barely pushed with the impact, and stayed still, the monster hanging from his knife.

  “Dammit. I fucked with its head again.” Was all he said, lowering his arm and letting the lifeless body fall to the ground.

  Captain has leveled up!

  Captain has reached level 5.

  You’ve acquired an evolution stone.

  Do you want to use it now?

  “Yes, fucking finally!” Matheus couldn’t help shouting.