4 The Status Screen

Half a day later, Rendell was awoken by an intense feeling of pain. "Urgh!"

When he opened his eyes, he saw a cracked ceiling.

He looked around and saw the huge corpse of the giant rat blocking the entrance of the building. The blood on the ground has already dried up. "I'm alive?" He muttered, feeling slightly disoriented.

Rendell tried to sit upright, but the excruciating pain in his abdomen made him abandon the idea temporarily. "Urgh!" He groaned while looking at the gruesome wound on his body.

The wound hasn't closed up and moving was incredibly painful.

"I remember seeing some texts before I passed out. Where-" his words were cut off when something suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.

It was a translucent holographic white screen with colored text written on it.

Rendell Madrigal [Level 3]

Strength: 9 —> 12

Agility: 8 —> 11

Vitality: 8 —> 11 + 5

Stamina: 7 —> 10

Endurance: 9 —> 12 + 5

Mana: 10 —> 13

Available Attribute Points: 3

Gift: Regeneration (Epic)

"What's this?!" He was stunned when he saw the 'screen' appearing all of a sudden.

He furrowed his eyebrows and studied what was written. 'It's like a status screen similar to those in online games. How come something like this is here in the real world? Or am I merely hallucinating after losing a lot of blood? Don't tell me that I have finally lost it. No way!'

It took him more than ten minutes to realize that the status screen was real. During this time, he even managed to figure out how to make it appear and disappear. It turns out that he could control it by merely using his thoughts. He could navigate the status screen with his gaze. Wherever his gaze lands, he would receive a description of the stat. For instance, if he looks at the Gift icon, it automatically gives him a description.

"That's convenient…" He muttered.

Gift: Regeneration (Epic) ⭐️

- Boosts the body's ability to naturally recover health and mana.

+ 5 Vitality

+ 5 Endurance

The Regeneration gift on his status screen was written in orange letters. Even someone like him who wasn't a game addict could tell that it wasn't ordinary. As for the star emoji beside the gift, he didn't know what it meant at the moment.

'This gift should be the reason why I'm still alive despite having a wound like this.' Rendell muttered in his heart. With this gift, he won't die so easily no matter how hard he tries to kill himself.

"I have three available attribute points. The description says that I can add them to any of the stats I choose, but I can't use them to level up my gift. Which stat should I increase first?" He pondered deeply.

'My Vitality and Endurance are already higher than my other stats so there's no need to increase them for the time being. Hmm… Will my physical strength increase if I add these attribute points into my Strength stat?'

Rendell allocated the available attribute points to his Strength, increasing it to 15.

Just then, he felt a jolt all over his body. It felt like he was mildly electrocuted.

'Did it take effect immediately?' He couldn't tell if his strength had increased. He wanted to test it out, but he still couldn't lift his body.

"I'll take some rest first."

While waiting for his body to recover, he studied the status screen. He later discovered that there was an activity log that tracks the changes in his stats. By going through this, he found out that he had gained three levels after he had slain the oversized rat which was called Giant Rat. It was also at Level 5 so he jumped three levels in one go.

After a few more hours, he could finally lift his body with some difficulty. It was still painful, but he could manage it.

He stood up and used the wall to support himself to stand up. He then walked towards the corpse of the Giant Rat.

In online games, monsters would drop items after being killed so he wanted to check if the same logic applies in this situation. He knew that what he was thinking was absurd, but the fact that he had a status screen was already ridiculous enough.

He walked around the corpse and he soon discovered ten gray tokens. There was also a sword beside the tokens.

You have collected x10 Gray Tokens!

You have collected x1 Steel Sword!

Gray Tokens

- Can be used to purchase items in the Shop.

Steel Sword [Common]

- A sharp and durable sword.

"Shop? But I didn't see any Shop icon in the status screen…" He muttered with a perplexed expression. He went over the status screen again, but he didn't find anything. "I'll keep it for now." He then turned his gaze towards the Steel Sword.

It was one meter long and two and a half inches wide. The sword was double-edged so he was extra careful in handling it.

He weighed the sword in his hand and muttered. "I can't be sure, but it should be around two and a half pounds."

He carefully wrapped the blade of the sword with a dusty bath towel he found lying on the ground. He then tied it with packing tape to prevent the towel from falling off.

"I should get out of here before it gets dark." He muttered as he looked at the darkening sky through the window.

He grabbed the fire axe and left the ruined building through the window. He then searched for the backpack that he had abandoned earlier. Luckily, the backpack was still there and nothing was missing from the contents.

Rendell immediately searched for a place to hide.

It took him almost an hour to find a suitable hiding place. It was a collapsed supermarket. The first floor of the building was buried and the second floor was half broken and badly damaged. There were also burnt marks and ashes on the floor.

To his surprise, he found a room on the second floor which was still intact. 'I'll stay here.' He thought as he pushed the door open.

When he entered the room, his eyes lit up. "This…"