Chapter 01: Where the heck am I?

At an unknown location in the middle of a dense forest, a single human male is laying face up and sleeping soundly. He has an average-looking appearance, if he standing in the middle of the crowd you probably can't recognize him immediately from far away.

He has short black hair, an average body build, and probably is in his middle age of 20s. He wearing a white long-sleeve shirt with long black pants and a pair of brown sneakers. After a few minutes, the human begins to toss and turn in his sleep before he suddenly wakes up from his slumber.

"*gasp*!! Hah...hah...hah..." I woke up from my sleep and the first thing I did after waking up was gasping for oxygen, trying to calm myself down from the nightmare that I just have. " hah...hah...hah... What... Is..." After calming myself, I immediately looked around me and notice that I don't recognize the place where I was laying. Everything that I looked at around me is a tree and more trees.

Is this in the middle of a forest? "where am I?" I try to recall what happens to me, to end up in the middle of a forest. First thing first, what is my name? Yeah... My name is... yeah it's Tanaka Nakamura, I am a normal salaryman at XB Company, I am 24 years old, single and I live alone in a cheap apartment in Tokyo for convenience because of work.

Today, just like any other day I woke up and get ready to go to work...and... after that... I... "huh?" that's strange, I try to remember what the heck happened after that but nothing comes up in my memory. It's like it didn't exist at all "What the heck is happening? " I once again looked around me, trying to find a clue to where I am right now. I check my pocket to search for my smartphone, but there is nothing in my pocket, not just my smartphone but my wallet and apartment key are also missing.

"Where did all my stuff go?" I start to panic a little bit. *Whoosh* suddenly I heard some leaves rustling inside the dense forest and I immediately become alert and put my guard up while looking at the direction of the sound, after a few seconds, a squirrel jump out from the bush and run toward a tree. After a minute, I breathed a sigh of relief while looking in the direction that the squirrel had just gone.

Once again, I looked around me but I found nothing but trees in my surrounding, I spend a few minutes thinking about what I should do right now, and come to a conclusion: "I guess, I should start walking until I found a road or something. It is better than standing here and doing nothing" I immediately picked a direction randomly and started walking.

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After one hour of walking through this dense forest, I still didn't find a road, "hah...hah...hah, how...deep... am I inside this forest?!" After a few more minutes of walking, I stop under a tree to take a little break. "hah...hah...hah... a cool drinking water is great to have right about now". I don't understand, why I am in the middle of this forest anyway? Did I get kidnapped?... Nah, that can't be right, if I have been kidnapped where the heck is my kidnapper, when I woke up earlier my hands and feet didn't get tie-up.

*whoosh* "Hm...what is that sound?" I looked toward the nearby bush, where that sound are, and thoughts that maybe it was another squirrel but... What comes out was a single wolf "Grr..." The wolf makes a growling sound while it looked at me hungrily. "What the heck!" I immediately backed away from it and looked around me to find something that I can use as a weapon, I spot a thick branch near me, and without much thinking, I grab it right away.

I face the wolf while holding the branch that I just grab nearby as a weapon. I stare at the wolf with a branch in hand and it also stares at me while making a growling sound, none of us move a single muscle. *Whoosh* Suddenly, I hear another sound nearby the wolf and I immediately curse my rotten luck, there are two other wolves started appearing beside the first wolf, and now there are three hungry wolves in front of me.

This is bad, I can get away from one single wolf if I am lucky enough but with three hungry wolves out for my blood, I will surely die if my back is turned right now. I have a better chance of surviving when facing them, I don't want to kill if I can help it but... I looked at three hungry wolves in front of me. "*sigh* Why did my luck always the worse," I said while looking around the area and starting to make a plan in my mind.

The three wolves already losing their patience and getting ready to jump at me at any time. I looked into each of their eyes and immediately ran toward them with a branch in hand, they also ran toward me. I throw my branch at them with all my strength, seeing that the three wolves spread out to evade the branch. I immediately run toward one of the wolves the most far away from the group while picking a rock on the ground with the size of my fist and using all of my weight and strength to hit the wolf's head, crushing it in the process. The wolf dies instantly and falls, not moving.

I looked at the other two wolves, and without wasting a single second, I throw the rock that I just use to kill the first wolf, at the other two wolves. The rock hit one of the wolves, and I quickly started running toward the wolf that the rock I throw just hit, while grabbing the branch that I just throw the first time, using the knowledge I get when I was in the baseball club during high school. I swing the branch with all my strength and weight behind it like a baseball bat toward the wolf's head, "When swinging use your hip!!". The branch hit the wolf's head, hard. The wolf flies a few hundred centimeters away before dropping to the ground, also not moving.

Now, there is just a single wolf left. I immediately throw the branch I hold toward the last wolf, but it dodges the branch and ran toward me. The wolf jumps to attack me with its jaw open to bite my neck, I panic and instinctively dodge the attack by rolling to the side. The wolf warily looks at me with a growl before it started running toward me to attack me again, without thinking much I quickly take a single rock the size of my fist that was on the ground. The wolf jumped toward me again, and seeing that, I immediately throw the rock that I pick earlier toward the wolf while it was still in the air. The rock hit the wolf's body in midair and it begins falling, I quickly ran toward the place where the wolf will fall, and before the wolf touch the ground, I kick the wolf hard as if my life depended on it.

The wolf flies a few meters away before slamming into the tree. I looked at the last wolf, hoping that was enough to kill it, but my luck has run out, the wolf got back up. Looking at the wolf, I put my guard up and get ready for the next wolf attack but the wolf just looked at me while growling before it runs away into the forest with its injured body. After seeing that, I breathe out a sigh of relief before my knee gave out.

I am thankful for the experience I got from one of the XB Company events, even though it was a garbage company that force its employees to participate in the ridiculous events, and one of the ridiculous events that they are hosting is hunting. Why? I don't know! Go ask the higher-up, I am just an employee!

Anyway, when I was participating I have to hunt at least one animal, if I can't hunt one, I will get fired. On that day, I experience the first time killing a living being directly. The first time I did it, I vomited all my breakfast that day. I thought that I will never get used to the act but human is an adaptable creature. Just on my third time, and I already don't feel anything after I kill an animal, but after that event, I feel so horrible and disgusted at myself that I have to take a vacation because of my depression. Right now is also the same, I still feel depressed when I kill a living being, even though they are out for my blood.

*ting* "Hm... What does that sound?" it sounds like a notification alert from a smartphone. Wait, is there someone here? I quickly get up and look around me but there is nothing but trees around me. Suddenly, a transparent screen appears before my eyes, and there is the word [ LEVEL UP! ] on it. With a shocked expression, the word that comes out of my mouth are... "Eh?"