Matheus yawned, Captain sleeping on his hood.

  The cat was always napping. Matheus at first thought that was because the animal was very fragile, but it had been many days since they’d first bonded, and the cat had been eating quite well.

  And still, every time they walked for more than 10 minutes, Matheus would find his little familiar snoring behind his head.

  In truth, he envied him. Between completing his quests and practicing with his skills, Matheus was ever busy. He was probably also being more productive than he ever was his entire life.

  He’d also noticed he gained some muscles, too. Finally, those strength stats were starting to show.

  It felt strange, but rewarding the same. He’d worked for them, after all.

  When they got to the cave, Matheus gently woke Captain up.

  “Radar.”

  There are 0 monsters on a thirty meters radius of your position.

  Expected. He’d never found a monster near the cave. But, it is always better to be safe than sorry.

  Entering, he put a sleepy Captain on the ground, who yawned. Then, the Cat started moving on his three legs, and with a smile Matheus noticed he was noticeably faster.

  So far, he had used all of Captain’s stat points to increase his agility, and it was starting to show.

  At this pace, soon the cat might not need to stay on his hood every time they moved to another place.

  Matheus walked into his now mostly empty cave, where for so long he had his improvised home.

  The comforts of the city, which offered him a soft bed, warm bath and free food made it almost pointless for him to come back here.

  Still, he was pleased he’d found a reason to come. Matheus still missed the silence and peace of those first days.

  Being surrounded by people only made him few alone.

  He found the old cooking pot on the same spot he’d left it, and took the CloudFlower from his Inventory. He hesitated for a second, wondering if he should put some common herbs with it.

  He decided to go for it. When he tried cooking a single herb before, the result was always burned trash. Common sense said more ingredients would always make a meal better.

  Or so he hoped.

  Matheus didn’t really know how to cook.

  Nonetheless, once he put the flower and the herbs, a timer of 30 minutes appeared on the pot.

  The System wouldn’t let it go for all this time just to be something uneatable, would it?

  He grunted. It definitely would.

  With nothing better to do, Matheus decided to run around, jumping from one boulder to another, trying to walk on walls and occasionally letting himself roll.

  He felt like an idiot. And probably looked like one.

  But he wasn’t about to waste half an hour without at least grinding a skill.

  He knew for practice that his bubble ball and his echo clap skill wouldn’t level up much outside of combat situations.

  So parkour was his best bet.

  Sadly, he didn’t get a single level by the time the timer was up.

  Maybe he needed to try jumping from high places to others?

  To be honest, he didn’t really know what counted as parkour training. He knew he couldn't do a flip and wasn’t confident enough to try it. He imagined himself landing badly, breaking his neck and being paralyzed for life.

  Matheus shivered. No point in risking it until he’d manage to level it up a few times.

  For now, he analyzed his new prize.

  Sticky Slop

  After eating double mana recovery for 2 hours.

  Now, that was very useful! Yeah, he only had one spell, and the only thing it did was splash some water on his enemies, but it had helped him a lot so far, and he would learn more magic eventually.

  If Matheus knew how to do a backflip, he would do one now in excitement.

  He also managed to get his cooking skill to level 3. His guess had been right, he needed to try new recipes in order to level it up more.

  Satisfied, Matheus got Captain and started the walk back to Tartaros.

  After they walked for some minutes, Matheus started activating radar again, and this time, the skill pointed to a monster just a few meters northwest.

  He started walking slowly to the pointed direction, and soon found his target.

  Another two-headed mantis. This one was level 6, which was three times more than the first one he fought all those days ago, when he’d first found the city.

  He didn’t have any heads of those creatures stored on his inventory. He would have to fight without any buff, and he had nothing that could protect him if it used that magic punch.

  Should he avoid a confrontation? With his sneaking skill, he could probably go around it with no problem.

  No. He needed the experience.

  And besides, a lot had changed since then.

  Taking aim, Matheus launched a Bubble Ball right into the Mantis.

  The small creature was completely engulfed by water and went sliding a full meter away.

  Matheus prepared to dodge when the monster jumped at him, but it slipped as it tried to get up, falling over and over. The creature was getting madder every minute, growling as it failed to attack him.

  Finally, it managed to throw itself into his direction in a furious jump, hands starting to glow.

  Matheus splashed it again.

  Bubble Ball has reached level 4!

  The monster started losing his shit, punching everything as it tried to get on his feet while all wet and soapy.

  Suddenly its fists flashed with a bright light and the ground around it exploded as the monster punched the small puddle he was in.

  The monster painted in fury, black blood dripping from it.

  It screeched and went towards him, doing a wide jump.

  Matheus took his knife and cut the creature in half as it passed.

  You’ve defeated a Two Headed Mantis.

  He started laughing. It had all been even easier than he expected.

  He pondered about taking the mantis’s heads. On one side, those would be the first two of this type of monster he would add to his collection.

  On the other, his inventory was already full, and it was pointless having a buff against a monster he could so easily kill.

  Choices, choices. Maybe he should just take one of the heads, as a type of trophy?

  Yeah, that totally seemed like a healthy thing to do.

  He shivered, remembering what the System had said when he’d first gotten the skill.

  He decided to leave the heads. No point in keeping what he didn’t need.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  It didn’t take him long to get back to the city.

  And to his astonishment, Rick was in the City Hall, waiting for him.

  “My dear ward! I’ve been looking for you.”

  “Look, there’s no way I’m partnering up with you again. You didn’t even do anything last time!”

  “Wait!” Rick said with a shriek when Matheus turned to go.

  “I really need this. Please.” He continued in a low voice.

  Matheus was taken aback. He expected Rick to try to keep bullshiting him, not to plea for his help.

  If he was being honest with himself, he also didn’t do much last time. Maybe he should give Rick another chance before making a final decision.

  Who was he to pass judgment so harshly?

  “Ok,” Matheus said, resigned. “But this time, we split the reward in half.”

  “Deal!” Rick exclaimed, his usual demeanor coming back to him. “We’ll do great things together, great things!”

  “Now, where is the apprenticeship fee?”

  Matheus turned and prepared to go.

  “I’m kidding, just kidding! Of course, we are way past that now.”

  Matheus gave him a skeptical look. Already, he was regretting his decision. But as usual, he would do the best he could with the cards offered to him.

  “Let’s go, then. I already know what quest I want now.”

  –/–

  Rick was his usual, incapable of spending more than a few seconds quiet. Matheus debated asking him to shut the hell up, but he decided to mostly ignore him.

  They were now walking northwest, exploring one of the few regions still obscured on his map.

  Occasionally Matheus would activate radar, trying to find monsters before they could find him. Unfortunately, it seemed this area was mostly empty.

  Rick must have been on his seventh story when they found their first monster.

  Porkulogos - Level: 9

  This little pig has been eating a lot of protein!

  Health: 22/22, Mana: 0/0

  Don’t try arm wrestling it. They love an opportunity to show their muscles.”

  Matheus wasn’t sure how to describe the creature. It looked like someone had picked a pig, mixed it with a human, then made it completely jacked. The thing could easily win a bodybuilder competition.

  Matheus smiled.

  Finally, easy prey.

  “I can handle it,” he said, while taking Captain of his hood.

  “Are you sure? The creature looks a little tough.”

  “I’m sure,” Matheus confirmed.

  He’d completely filled one spot of his inventory with heads from this monster. Only by walking towards it, he felt his skill activating and the extra strength coming.

  He had no idea how those monsters ended up deep below the Blue Lake, but he wasn’t about to complain.

  The Porkulogos turned and gave a loud oink when it saw him.

  When it approached, he splashed its head with water and used the beast's confusion to punch it as hard as he could on the face.

  The Porkulogos retreated a few steps, but to Matheus' surprise, it didn’t fall to the ground. When it looked at him, Matheus saw he’d broken some of its teeth and the monster’s mouth was blooded.

  It smiled. Before Matheus could react, it punched him back.

  He went flying, almost losing consciousness. He felt pain like never before. He was sure his face was filled with blood. How was that thing so strong?

  “Matheus” Rick yelled, coming brandishing his sword.

  He slashed with it, but with a swing of his hand, the monster hit it middle strike and the blade went flying away.

  Rick just stood there, dumbfounded.

  “Echo clap!” Matheus said frantically, slapping his hands before the creature could attack him.

  The monster roared in pain, turning to Matheus in fury.

  It leaped at him, not giving him time to escape.

  They stumbled and fell together, the monster on top of him. Matheus held its hands as the Porkulogos tried to get to his head, its big hooves getting ever closer to his eyes.

  Was his skill failing him? No, he felt the extra power. It just wasn’t enough. The monster was still stronger than him, just slightly.

  He didn’t have time to get his knife hanging on his waist. He should have started the fight with it in his hand. Now, he would be dead long before he could get to it.

  Trying to hug the creature to death would have the same problem. He didn’t have the time.

  There was no other choice. Matheus couldn’t hold back, he needed every advantage he could get.

  Already regretting it, Matheus equipped the King of Losers Title.

  The monster’s deadly hooves stopped their descent, mere inches from smashing his eyes.

  By itself, the title only gives him +1 extra Strength, however combined with his Skull Collector skill, it had been enough.

  Well, he wasn’t dying in the next seconds now. But what the hell should he do next? If he let go of the monster’s arms, it would crush him before he could do anything.

  A loud hiss was followed by a growl from the monster, which stopped advancing towards him. Matheus saw Captain laying next to it, falling down after scratching the Porkulogos.

  The beast turned, ready to strike at the defenseless cat.

  “FIREBALL,” he screamed, pointing his finger at it.

  The Porkulogos was engulfed by flames, and died screeching.

  On his finger, the Ring of flames started melting away, until nothing rested.

  Damn. What a waste.

  Scratch has reached level 3.

  Echo Clap has reached level 3.

  Captain has leveled up!

  Matheus ignored the notifications and went closer to his familiar, giving him a small pet on the head.

  “Thank you,” he said, and the cat meowed in answer.

  Even with his inventory carrying 5 of the thing’s heads, the bonus wasn’t enough for him to have the advantage on the fight. Had he been lucky so far?

  The Rockling, the creature living below the lake, didn’t stand a chance against him. But being underwater the monster didn’t need to be exceptionally strong, only enough to trap people until they drowned.

  The Koala Momma… her strength was in her army, not herself.

  He had been cocky. Even if he completely filled his inventory with skulls, he still wouldn’t be powerful enough to easily win against most monsters.

  He needed to find ways to increase his offensive power.

  “You…” Rick said, looking at him strangely.

  It took Matheus a few seconds, then he realized he never unequipped his title.

  Goddamnit. He’d been so careful. Now that Rick knew, his old nickname would surely make his way back to haunt him again.

  Then, to Matheus' complete bewilderment, Rick bowed.

  “Your highness. It’s an honor.”