The rain stopped, and Derek stepped out of the cave, choosing a direction he had not yet explored.
After walking about 100 meters, he spotted a dark flower. Activating "Examine", he looked at the label.
[Flower]
"Of course," Derek sighed.
Carefully cutting the flower with his spear, he placed it in his inventory.
[Dark Flower "Elon"]
Type: Poisonous
Description: A highly toxic flower, material for poison crafting.
Without much hesitation, Derek decided to exchange it.
[Exchange Dark Flower "Elon" for 0.5 King's Points]
[Confirm]
[Yes/No]
Now, Derek had 4.7 points—just a bit more, and he would have enough to purchase a technique.
Continuing on his way, he came across a tree bearing strange fruits that resembled peppers. Picking a few, he decided to check if they could be exchanged.
[Fruit "Zachin"]
Type: Spice
Description: A food seasoning.
[Exchange 2 "Zachin" fruits for 0.1 King's Points]
[Confirm]
[Yes/No]
"Not bad, there's plenty of this spice here—enough for a couple of points, at least," Derek thought happily.
After 20 minutes, his inventory held 56 pieces of this spice. Exchanging all of them, he now had 7.5 points.
Feeling good, he continued deeper into the forest. After two hours of wandering, just as he was losing the will to go further, he heard a squeaking noise in the bushes.
Approaching, he saw a snake strangling a rabbit.
"What luck," Derek thought.
Pulling out his spear, he quickly struck the snake's head with its tip.
[Dark Snake Hatchling killed]
[Gained 4 XP and 0.4 King's Points]
Derek wanted to get experience for the rabbit too, but it was already dead. Placing both corpses in his inventory, he decided it was time to head back.
After 20 minutes, as he was nearing the cave, Derek suddenly heard a noise behind him. Turning around, he saw a massive 1.4-meter-tall wolf. His face went pale.
Spinning around, he sprinted toward the cave entrance. Behind him, he could hear the wolf's footsteps closing in fast.
As Derek squeezed into the cave and turned back, he saw the wolf standing behind a rock, blocking the entrance.
"Damn it," Derek muttered, stepping away from the entrance. Finding some stones, he began reinforcing the boulder to ensure the wolf couldn't push it aside.
When he finished, he peered through a small gap and saw that the wolf was still there, its eyes full of bloodlust. A chill ran down Derek's spine.
Grabbing a pelt from the ground, he covered the entrance, blocking the wolf's gaze.
Derek threw more wood into the fire and occasionally glanced at the entrance. After some thought, he opened his inventory and exchanged the snake and rabbit corpses, earning 1.4 points, bringing his total to 9.3 King's Points.
He was one step away from buying the "Barbarian" technique.
As night fell, Derek didn't even think about sleeping—he could still hear noises outside. He was sure the wolf was waiting for him.
"Damn wolf, it won't let me go. I need to level up and kill it."
Opening his Skills menu, he converted experience from the Examine skill, gaining 2 XP. He now had 17 XP in total.
Next, he converted experience from Stealth and Evasion, gaining 1 XP from each, as they weren't maxed out yet.
Then, Derek checked his Counterattack skill—and smiled.
If he exchanged its experience, he would level up.
[After conversion, you will lose 3 skill XP and gain 1 User XP.
Conversion is available once per level.
Do you confirm?]
[Yes/No]
Derek quickly pressed "Yes".
[You have reached Level 2]
Opening his Status, he decided to increase:
Constitution by 4
Agility by 1
[User: Derek]
[Race: Human]
[Ruler's Title: None]
[Level: 2]
[XP: 0/30]
[Development Stage: None]
[Health: 28/28 HP]
[Stamina: 22/22 SP]
[Spiritual Energy: 0/0 EP]
[King's Points: 9.3]
[Stats]
Agility: 12
Stamina: 11
Strength: 14
Intelligence: 13
Spirit: 12
Free Points: 0
Feeling a surge of strength, Derek was thrilled. He practiced with his spear, getting used to his increased power, and then finally decided to sleep.
"If that wolf is still there in the morning, I'll have to fight it," Derek thought.
Lying on a pelt near the fire, he struggled to fall asleep, but after a few hours, exhaustion took over.
When he woke up, Derek immediately checked the cave entrance.
As expected, the wolf was still there.
Derek sighed. He had to fight it.
But before that, he decided to upgrade his spear skill.
Opening his Status, he was shocked—his King's Points had increased to 10.3.
Realizing that he gained 1 point daily, Derek quickly opened the shop and navigated to the development techniques section.