Chapter 04: First Encounter

As I walked into the cavern light could be seen faintly illuminating the area. All kinds of stuff could be seen laying around. This must be where they had put up camp.

Looking around it looked abandoned, with no signs of life whatsoever. In the middle...

They lay a huge carcass. What it was...

I had no idea, still... whoever was residing here weren't friendly, they would kill me in an instant.

Hmm... hmm...

Walking around I found something odd...

This Cavern... isn't it way too big?

I hoped to have found the exit by now...

But to no avail... climbing up towards a more open area I noticed movement far away in the darkness. Something crept closer in the distance.

Having only used my <Observation> skill on objects around the area and myself, wouldn't this be the perfect opportunity? To be on the save side, let's first climb up a little so most creatures won't be able to reach me... quietly and slowly I climbed up the wall when I heard the voice announce something most useful to me.

"Enough experience has accumulated

<Climbing lv 1> Advances into <Climbing lv 2> due to the increase in level you have obtained one skill point. You now have a total of 03 skill points."

High above the ground, I turned my head, looking into the darkness of the distance I activated my Observation skill, something unexpected happened. Because I couldn't see what I was observing, my skill automatically gave information about every single thing in the area.

Being flooded with information it became too much for me to bear. Aarrrgghhh my head!

Make it stop, make it stop!!

I deactivated Observation which instantly sure a level.

This in turn gave me another skill point, now I only needed one more to acquire the Poison skill I had seen. <Acid Spit> Still... I wasn't certain if I should go for that skill right away, but that's a matter for later.

Now I needed to collect my thoughts and process the information that had previously flooded me.

An insane amount of creatures were hiding in the shadows, bats, frogs, spiders... even bears, wolfs, and snakes. But the weird part was, they didn't look completely like the animals of the earth.

Getting used to the darkness it all became clear.

The animals had a crystal embedded inside their bodies, but that was not all... the bats had four wings.

The frogs had bloodred skin and seemed to have black horns behind their heads.

The spiders were twice the size of a tarantula,

you could say they were the same size as me.

But don't get me started on the bears... although similar in look, their chest, paws, and belly were entirely covered in what looked like armor. Even their face was partially covered.

Oddly enough the wolfs looked entirely the same.

Oh... wait... no they don't... they have two tails.

I think I should find smaller or similar size prey, as they don't pose too much of a threat.

If I'm supposed to hunt most of those,

that would be insane right? What is this?

A "Hardcore" difficulty level game?

Back there is Reptile Chaos and here is a plate of insanity... talk about having an unfair start...

Being a lizard without a shootable tongue I have to fight most of my prey head-on... damn...

It sucks to be me...

"Due to the undetected observation, you developed an affinity to the <Stealth> skill. Would you like to acquire it by spending 1 skill point? [YES] / [NO]"

Hmm... Stealth? Would this give me somewhat of an advantage to get the first strike in? Thinking about the insanely high difficulty level the first strike is what weighs the most. Having this would be a huge help.

[YES]

"The system finds that you have put in enough effort to hide from danger resulting in the unlock of the chosen skill. You have obtained <Stealth lv 1> this skill allows one to blend in with their environment moving around undetected."

Yippee!! Now I'm getting all excited.

I should try this out when I go hunting right?

Thinking about the most basic moves,

I should be able to learn them just by executing them during the hunt, like a bite, scratch, and tackle haha.

While slowly climbing to the ground I noticed most of the animals had gone their separate ways. It seemed the coast was clear.

Phew... glad I didn't get trampled there...

It's best if I had a place where I would be saved,

A place to call home.

Finding a small hole in a rock on the ground I quickly settled in. This wasn't all too cozy,

but it was something...

Laying down I noticed my body temperature dropping as the hunger grew unbearable...

*Growl*

Uh...oh... This is bad...

The Hunger is taking me over...

Thinking about it I only ate that mushroom which turned out to be poisonous... apart from that I haven't eaten anything yet... think... think Mira, think...

Aren't there any smaller prey you could snack on for now? Like flies or other small insects?

Climbing seemed to have taken a lot out of me, not to mention that I had to run for my life not too long ago... man... I am famished...at this rate, I would starve to death before catching any prey...

Looking around I couldn't find anything edible...

Given up on hope I lay there motionless staring out in the distance when suddenly a fight broke out between a frog and spider I had seen before in the distance.

The spider shot webs at the frog, missing as the frog hopped away just in time. Quickly the frog shot acid from its mouth trying to hit the spider.

But it was too missed.

Looking around they really where the only two around. Wait... isn't this a wonderful opportunity?

Their creatures are fighting one another and haven't noticed me yet, right?

I should let them finish each other off and attack the one standing in the end, that way I'd have plenty to snack on for now.

The two kept fighting, the spider had devices a strategy against the frog shooting webs on the ground, restricting the frogs' movement and effective range. The frog didn't see this coming and tried to escape shooting his acid on the webs.

In turn, this distracted the frog allowing the spider to attack him head-on. Caught by the spiders' webs the frog was unable to move, flailing endlessly in a futile attempt to escape...

But he couldn't... in one last attempt, the frog shot acid towards the spider hitting its sensitive butt.

Nature is one cruel mistress, but then again...

it's kill or be killed out here. If you don't look out you end up becoming someone's dinner.

The spider flailed in agony as the acid burned through its flesh. It seemed both had fallen victim to one another... So now was my chance to sneak up on the frog and finish it off quickly. The spider fell to the ground motionless as its heart was dissolved by acidic fluids.

The frog hadn't noticed me and slacked a sigh of relief. Thanks to my <Stealth> ability I could sneak upon him. Now in his blind spot I quickly jumped him and put through the thread he was trapped in.

*Screeeee*

The frog screamed in agony as it tried to move in desperation. In the last attempt, it shot acid at me which landed on my back. Failing to escape I firmly bit through his neck ending his life.

I had done it... I had caught my first prey...

But at what cost? I too had almost died...