Gourmet

A list of hardly legible options presented itself to him and immediately confirmed his wildest dreams.

Roc Egg - Boiled – 3 silver

Horned rabbit skewer – Roasted – 40 copper

Snarfler trunk – pickled – 1 silver

Gorge root – raw – 30 copper

Silk vine – raw – 40 copper

Meckle Juice – cold – 80 copper

Even before changing the listing to price ascending he bought a Horned rabbit skewer and laughed upon receipt.

"It's actually the little squares! This is exactly what I always imagined in games!"

It was delicious and the perfect pairing to his first purely joy filled activity in this new world.

"Anime meat, no"

"Meat on bone? No"

"Oh! Steamed buns in a basket, yes! Aww, 1 silver? Come on!"

The fantasy of eating those cartoon foods was finally within reach and he knew exactly how he was going to wind down this evening.

"I'm going to need to bring something back to sit on… I guess I should go"

Before leaving he spent the last of his copper on a water pouch for 20 copper and one of the cheaper items on the list.

"This is not trail mix…."

For 10 copper this world's equivalent seemed to be made up of strange kernels and shrivelled blue and purple berries

"I should have got the Kepler corn. Ok, 6 copper left. If I want to eat tonight I better find something, some pigs… to hacksaw… with no access to water…."

As he stepped through the shimmering dome heading directly towards the closest crop of trees he considered just avoiding the Slimes.

"There are so many of them but they're so directionless I could just walk right by"

Thinking it through however he decided to at least harvest the ones in front of him as he went

"If God chose this place specifically I suppose he knows what's best, I don't want to take any risks with my life by ending up in a higher level zone by accident"

As he went he added each of the tiny stones to his storage space and considered their value. They may not be worth much in currency but perhaps they have some other uses.

"They are magic after all"

He said while gently poking one of the slimes with his spear tip to examine it again.

"… Supposedly…. Oh damn it"

The end of his spear was now slightly charred and smoking. angry with the equivalent of a Horned rabbit skewer being wasted he stabbed the Slime with actual intent and destroyed its core, scooping up the red gem for his storage.

[Congratulations Hermes, you are now level 1]

"Let's see what we get for level 1, I wish it would stop pushing the user name thing though."

Hermes: Level 1

Exp: 0/100

HP: 55/55

MP: 5/5

Strength - 2

Endurance - 2

Agility - 1

Intelligence - 1

Wisdom – 2

Free Attribute points: 1

Free Skill points: 1

*Transfer energy – 39

Skills:

Dimensional Transfer LV 1

Storage space LV 0

"Alright! Got a point in Agility!"

Looking down at his body he had expected to see a noticeable difference in his physique but couldn't really see any change, his stomach was still there as evidence to the life he had led so far and the explanation of his starting Agility stat.

"Well it's not like I'm fat, I'm just letting that 0 in Agility from before get to me. It's weird though I don't feel twice as strong or intelligent, I expected to feel different"

Without any real idea of how the stats worked he had intended to quiz the System information page but then looked at what it was already trying to tell him and wondered how his own hang ups could be so distracting.

"Ok so I have MP now, I guess because of the Intelligence stat. MP is Magic points or maybe Mana points in this world? Either way I should be able to cast spells now, other than those cheating ones God gave me"

"Attribute points and Skill points? So I can increase certain stats artificially and basically plan my character build which I didn't really think would be possible and then Skill points are how I'm increasing my transfer capacity and storage space I guess"

"Will everyone have Skill points or just me for the transfer Skill? I just assumed it would grow alongside my Level but if there are other Skills I can learn and improve I'll have to be even more careful about how I balance this"

Thinking about the skill points Daniel was starting to worry he might actually be at a disadvantage when everyone else arrived, skills were more important than attributes in most games and having to sacrifice his would be a big blow.

"Wait, Why am I even thinking about that? I'm doing this to save humanity not for some power trip or my ego. All that matters is getting everything ready so people can survive this convergence event, besides, even if I don't stay on top for long I'll definitely be the strongest for a while with this head start"

Having come to terms with this new information he was planning to get a better idea about the stat values when he saw a glint from the trees ahead.

"I'm sure I saw that before, what could be glinting in there? It didn't look like metal…"

He kept moving forward, side stepping the slimes as he went and keeping his eyes on the tree line ahead of him. Before closing on the trees themselves small bushes were sprouting up more frequently as the slimes became less abundant.

"I wonder if the Slimes eat the bushes? They don't seem to hurt the grass at all. Maybe there's some other connection"

Walking over to one of the bushes to investigate the berries growing on it he froze as he heard a rustling and saw the bush move.

Crouching down immediately and gripping the spear in his hand even tighter he steadied his breathing and cautiously moved forward.

Four metres from the bush he was sure he could see a brown shape in the branches

"That can't be a boar, it wouldn't fit, it's definitely not a Slime though"

When his spear tip was just two metres from the bush a shrill squeak sounded out as a dark brown rat larger than a cat burst from the bush.

"Jesus!"

Although it was smaller and doubtless less powerful than a wild boar would have been, the inherent wrongness of something usually considered a pest being that size and charging towards him was enough to unsettle him. Stabbing out with his spear and missing miserably he also realised how dangerous it could be.

The Giant Rat had dashed past the point of his spear and was clearly intent on fighting back, letting go of his spear as he jumped backwards he fell landing in a sitting position, it was only blind luck that allowed the Sword he was drawing from his belt to connect with the Giant Rat as it jumped for him.

The noise this connection made was not the satisfying slice he had hoped for but a dull thud as the rat landed a few metres away.

However "Fine" the wooden sword was it was clearly going to take more than one hit to kill something with it; The Giant Rat charged in again but this time Daniel was able to strike out as it jumped and use his full strength in the connection. At this point he would have preferred to impale the little monster on a spear but didn't feel he had the time and instead opted to hit it over and over while it was on the ground.

[8 exp received]

The little notice in the corner of his vision he had been waiting for gave him the reassurance that he was safe to stop attacking and look at the thing more closely. Unlike the Slimes it did not dissipate or melt away but simply lay there, its skin depressingly untorn by the wooden sword.

"It's just a shaped club! I couldn't even cut a rat's fur!"

As the adrenaline died down he was incredulous that he had almost been killed by a rat when he was thinking he could hunt for boars.

"To be fair, I didn't take any damage and maybe it wouldn't have been able to hurt me all that much but looking at those teeth I really wouldn't want to test the theory"

Retrieving his spear and making sure nothing else was sneaking up on him he inspected the rat's body.

"Well, given how that went I'm less inclined to try hunting for bacon than I was but this might be a step too far…"

He picked the rat up by its tail and couldn't deny it was a pretty ideal size to take back to his camp and still be worth it. With a sigh he tied its tail to his belt and resolved himself to try it if no better option became available.

"This is survival, if I can't even eat a rat for the sake of my whole species then we really are doomed. Having said that let's hope it doesn't come to it"