Finding Civilization - Checking Out Skills

It's been about five days since I've been transported to this unknown world. I still couldn't find any signs of civilization anywhere.

From the five days of venturing and scouring the dense forest, I have only encountered small animals or rather, monsters, specifically the horned rabbits with their gleaming red eyes.

They are the only source of food I have. There are berries occasionally, but I couldn't bring myself to eat them since I don't know if they are poisonous or not.

To be honest, I wish there was a way for me to tell if the berries and other fruits I had encountered were poisonous or not.

"Sigh... I'm getting sick of eating horned rabbit meat for five days straight."

They're not bad but they're not great either. Probably because there are no seasonings and I've only been cooking them barbeque style.

I hope I can find civilization soon.

~~~~~~

Roar!!!!

I narrowly dodged the claws of a beast that looked like a black panther.

Its size was about two meters tall.

"<Rapid Slash>"

Squeal!

Using <Quick Step>, I instantly closed the distance between me and the beast. By using <Rapid Slash> I cut one of its legs, causing it to release a high-pitched cry and fall.

The black panther-looking beast tried to get up but I went straight for its neck and stabbed it before it could do anything.

When I first encountered the monster, it was so fast that I had barely enough time to react.

I was surprised that it was able to get close enough to me without me detecting it while releasing so much bloodlust.

There's one thing when the battle between me and the beast began. I had become quite weaker compared to me back from earth.

The monster wasn't particularly strong, at least if it faced the me from the earth. But ever since I've been mysteriously transported here, I noticed that every single physical attribute I have are lower.

I hate to admit this but I had a hard time facing the beast at first since its not giving me time to recover because it kept hurling attacks at me.

However, since the panther-looking monster is a monster in the end, the way it attacks are limited. After a few minutes of purely defending and dodging, I was able to grasp its attack pattern and managed to counterattack, causing the monster to get injured.

Perhaps it had a hard time trying to kill me, it became furious, causing it to hurl more attacks at me, making it more predictable.

At the end, I cut one of its legs using <Rapid Slash> and put and end to the monster by stabbing its neck.

~~~~~~

[Level Up!]

[You are now Level 10]

[You have gained the skill <Appraisal>]

[All attributes increased by 5]

"I'm finally level 10"

For the past few days, I have been leveling up. But lately, it felt like it was getting harder to level up. At least when I only kill horned rabbits, it takes me longer to level up. But when I hunted a different monster, like the red-bull I encountered a few days ago, I leveled up at least by two.

"It looks like I have gotten another skill."

I feel happy. I thought leveling up only affected my attributes but when I hit level 5 a couple of days ago, I acquired two skills - <Quick Step>, and <Rapid Slash>

<Quick Step> is a mobility skill that allows me to rapidly move in short distances. <Rapid Slash> is a skill where I launch a series of attacks, or that's what anyone would think. Rather than it being a series of attacks at high speed, it's more like a buff since when I use <Rapid Slash>, it coats my katana with magic power, making it lighter and sharper, allowing me to attack with more speed and firepower.

<Quick Step> doesn't use magic power. However, <Rapid Slash> requires magic power to use.

Every time I level up, my becomes lighter and my senses become sharper. In terms of magic, I still have a hard time grasping the flow of magic in my body.

"Well, I never really used magic since back on earth, I never was able to use magic."

It's not like there's any rush in getting a hang of it. Let's just take our time. After all, if I try to rush things, I might never progress.

~~~~~

Name: Derrick

Age: 21

Level: 10

Title: Drifter

Strength: 90

Vitality: 100

Agility: 80

Sense: 85

Magic: 140

~~~~~~

Active Skills: Appraisal (NEW), Rapid Slash Lv. 1, Quick Step

Passive: None

~~~~~~

"Ah, right. I forgot to check <Appraisal>."

Although I know what <Appraisal> is since I've read and played a lot of fantasy novels and games.

[<Appraisal>. A skill that allows you to identify or assess your target. <Appraisal> is dependent on user's overall strength. Limited information on the target are shown if there are information from the target that are outside of the user's authority. You cannot use <Appraisal> on targets that have a big gap of strength between you and the target]

"Yeah, this is pretty useful."

If my hunch is right, I can use <Appraisal> to assess not only people or monsters, but also other things like weapons, and probably even food.

"Still, limited information will be given if it is outside my authority?"

I can understand that I cannot use <Appraisal> on target that have a big gap in overall strength than me....

"Argh... Whatever, it's not like it's something to be worried about..."

Thinking too much about something that I have yet to understand is burdensome.

Using <Appraisal> on the berries similar to what I found a few days ago, it seems like they are poisonous.

They're called Killer Berries and they are extremely poisonous to anyone eating them.

I smiled wryly.

Good thing I have a habit of being cautious about everything. If I had eaten them right off the bat, I would've died.

"Hmm, <Appraisal>"

~~~~~~

Name: ???

Weapon Type: Katana

Description: ???

Abilities: ???

~~~~~~

I tried pressing the description but...

[Unable to proceed. Outside of user's authority]

"I see..."

It was the same for the abilities section and the name.

"Yep... I don't understand how this works at all."

No use in pondering over it. Maybe in due time I'll be able to find out.

"Still...."

I hold out my katana in front of me.

"My katana sure is mysterious, huh."

I smiled.

The same katana I used back on earth.

It just appeared in front of me one day when I was fighting against hordes of monster during a rift outbreak. I was in death's door at that time but when the katana appeared in front of me, I was then able to kill all the monsters that came pouring out of the rift.

Since then, this weapon became my most precious comrade I have in the battlefield.