Survival, Revelations and Explosions

It was already the next morning since Tenma had hidden in that trunk. It had heard an explosion that it had preferred to ignore due to time constraints at the moment of fleeing.

The canine was crossing the forest in search of some food, as it had again become very hungry. It needed to find some food, perhaps some berries or nuts. It still didn't accept the idea of having to hunt.

It walked along a path that crossed the forest and led it, possibly and hopefully, to the city where Miss Rotenmeyer would be. Everything around it looked calm. It had already passed the area of tall trees, but now there were only weeds and many damp bushes.

It often found some insects, and occasionally thought it could eat one. But for the moment, it refused.

The moisture of those bushes bothered it as it had to pass through them, but it told itself it was just a matter of enduring and surviving.

No one seemed to be following it, fortunately.

And around midday, it took a break. Sitting on a warm rock, its stomach growling with hunger.

Despite that, Tenma was happy. It had been a calm day, it hadn't encountered anyone, and therefore it wasn't in constant danger like before.

The questions of how it was still alive still crossed its mind. It theorized that it might have regenerated from its head, or even a bone. But that would probably be too exaggerated. Something had to do with its slow regeneration from before probably.

It simply lay down, and soon fell asleep. It wouldn't be long before finding a way out, and that calmed it.

"I wish I could see how much I've progressed... if this were like a game, of course..."

[Experience points collected: 1 pt]

Tenma opened its eyes, sitting up a bit. Its thought had triggered some kind of command, or so it believed. Because in front of it, another pop-up window had opened just like a few days ago.

Thinking about how it could take advantage of it, it wanted to check if it was carrying anything.

"Inventory"

[Inventory: ; no items found]

Its inventory was empty. It didn't waste time and thought about other things.

"Health"

But nothing appeared.

"HP"

Out of nowhere, a pop-up window appeared, positioning itself above the others, showing the canine's life bar.

And contrary to what it would have believed, it did have an HP limit.

[HP: 20]

And a very low one.

"What? 20? Only 20? But I've gained experience even by exploding a dragon. How is this possible?"

Another pop-up window opened, this time going through several more windows in search of the answer to its question.

Then, a different window opened, it was red.

[Insufficient points to level up. The HP limit increases by leveling up. You don't have enough XP]

The canine lowered its ears, seeing how things were.

"Give me food"

A good attempt on its part, but nothing happened. So it simply lay down again, yawning.

Perhaps its hunger would pass by resting... like in video games. At least, that's what it thought, trying to take a nap.

Although, not far from it, a squirrel would approach.

Dave, that squirrel from before, jumped onto the canine, startling it awake.

It started to squeal, trying to get up as quickly as possible. Tenma simply didn't want a squirrel bothering it, trying to shake it off. But it seemed scared.

Tenma stood up, turning to see what was happening.

And it heard another loud explosion, not far from it. Causing a shockwave to hit it, moving the nearby trees and shaking the bushes with a strong wind.

Something that would surely kill it as soon as it reached them. Tenma stood up quickly, somewhat uncomfortable for not being able to take its nap, but now it understood how it was so easy for it to die all the time.

Whatever was causing explosions clearly would lower more than just 20 HP!