Chapter 8: Finally the Exit.

Daniel jumped out of the tunnel and leaped forward, only to discover, to his surprise, that there was no exit leading to another stone ledge shaped like a tongue, another fork in the tunnels, or a Safe Zone, but a descent downwards. He rolled down the smooth stone surface, which resembled an ordinary slide. Despite sliding down on his stomach, he didn't feel any pain. It was even a little fun. At least he was no longer being chased by the Mountain Macaques, and there was no more terrifying creature growling from below or ground collapsing beneath him.

`How did I even survive there? Maybe I have a hidden skill called Plot Armor? Does that mean I'm the main character?` As soon as he thought about it, Daniel suddenly felt an unbearable and cutting pain in his genital area.

`Huh?!` Although sliding down a smooth stone slide was indeed quite safe, Daniel forgot that he wasn't wearing any clothes. He had become so accustomed to walking naked that he forgot that sometimes clothes could protect your most precious body parts from quite unpleasant pain. Because now Daniel's organ was rubbing against the stone surface, like a carrot against a grater.

Daniel wanted to scream, but he couldn't make any loud noises because of his condition. It was painful. Very painful. Even more painful than all the bites and attacks from the macaques combined.

Daniel tried to lift himself up and turn over, but he couldn't because he was rolling down at a tremendous speed. He tried to swing and slow down slightly, but it caused even greater pain in his genitals.

`I changed my mind again. Maybe being eaten alive by a bloodthirsty monster isn't the worst thing that can happen.`

Daniel tried to cover his dignity with his hand, but his body, which was tightly stuck to the smooth stone surface, didn't allow him to squeeze his hand through and cover his genitals.

`Damn! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! At this rate, this damn slide will grind my dick to powder!`

Daniel couldn't twist or cover his scepter with his hands. He could try to claw and grab onto the stone surface with his nails and hands to slow down a bit, but then he would tear off his hands, and there was also a slight chance that his body might flip over during sudden braking.

But solving the problem was even easier than Daniel thought. He simply tightly closed his thighs together, slightly lifted one leg, and put it on the other, thus covering and protecting his junior with his thigh.

Now he could descend calmly. Although those ten seconds of excruciating pain would never be forgotten. This pain would always remind him of the importance and significance of clothing.

Daniel had been rolling down for about three minutes. The only thing he hoped for was that he wouldn't encounter a horde of Needletooths, Mountain Gorillas, Macaques, or lava at the bottom, and it would be desirable if there was a mattress or something soft there because he was hurtling down at a tremendous speed, and it was quite difficult to slow down.

Suddenly, in the distance, Daniel finally saw light. He was approaching it faster and faster, and finally, the slide ended. Daniel flew out of the tunnel with the slide and was flying at full speed towards a pile of sharp rocks, but just a moment before his face touched them, he jumped up three meters high.

Daniel flew out of the pit with a pile of sharp rocks and landed on the flat and smooth stone surface with his buttocks.

Daniel was shocked, although his face remained indifferent. He firmly grasped the edge of the stone surface, stuck his head out from behind it, and looked down. There really were sharp and long big rocks piled up below. However, just a centimeter above the rocks, a red arrow was hovering in the air, pointing upwards, and slowly started to disappear.

"What is it? Could it be that famous Boost Jump from Mario Kart?"

Daniel took a deep breath and then turned around abruptly. He had finally reached it...

Daniel immediately recognized where he was. It was the cave he flew through and got stuck in several times when he had a ghost body. The same cave at the bottom of the volcano. The same cave that would finally allow him to leave this damn volcano.

Daniel carefully looked around. He tried to see if there were any monsters hiding somewhere else or if anything had changed after the game started, and to his surprise, he did find something new. In the corner at the end of the cave, in the darkness, there was a small box or something similar to it.

Apart from the box, Daniel didn't find anything new in the cave. On the left was the exit from the cave, with rays of light peeking through. Daniel was eager to leave the damn volcano, but the box caught his attention.

But first... he needed to check his status. Daniel needed to know how much worse everything had gotten. The status window immediately popped up in front of him.

Status Window:

Name: Daniel Grey

Age: 19

Level: 1

Experience: [30/100]

Points: 110

Class: Undefined

Health: 41

Energy: 88

Strength: 9

Constitution: 9

Agility: 11

Reflex: 12

Proficiency: 16

Intelligence: 10

Accuracy: 10

Luck: 12

Wisdom: 11

Willpower: 9

Skills:

Active: ___

Passive: [Cheater]

Inventory:

[Small stone x3], [Gnawed bone of a mountain macaque]

Condition: [Mask]

Fetish: [CBT]

Sense of Hunger: 54%

Sense of Thirst: 78%

Sense of Desire: 61%

Sense of Cold: 8%

Sense of Heat: 4%

Bleeding: 12%

`What the hell, why did my desire suddenly jump almost twice as much?! What is this? It was going pretty slowly before, right? Could it be because my member went through hell when I was sliding down? If that's the case, then I need to protect my scepter even more than I protect my head... What else...`

`Bleeding increased by two percent. That's not good. Thirst is already on the edge. I urgently need to find water.`

`This time, killing the Macaques only gave me stones, no meat, right? Quite sad.`

`Huh? I got 100 points for killing two Macaques?! I must have missed that. 100 points for what? We didn't even have a real battle with them, like the first one. Maybe it's because I killed them without taking any damage? Then why did they give me 50 points instead of 100? Well, never mind, it's not that important.`

`What's important is that I now have 110 points, woohoo! Maybe I can actually craft a short sword now. I don't need as much material as before... Okay, never mind. I need to get out of here as soon as possible. The bleeding and thirst issues are bothering me a lot... But first...`

Daniel shifted his gaze towards the box in the distance. There were no boxes in this cave before, so there was a small chance, or maybe a big one, that there could be something valuable inside...

Daniel would have been very grateful if some monster didn't suddenly jump out of the box and lunge at his face. Daniel moved towards the box.

His footsteps echoed in the enormous cave. Daniel's heels were throbbing with pain. After the adrenaline wore off, the pain returned. His heels were heavily cut by the sharp protrusions of the volcano, and now they were making their presence known again. His face also burned with pain; the scratches and cuts inflicted by the Macaques were quite noticeable. And they weren't just on Daniel's face; they were scattered all over his body—multiple wounds and cuts on his legs. In many places, the blood had dried, but in some places, it was still flowing. Not to mention the abrasions on his toes from kicking the stones and the bruises on his body.

`Oh God... if you exist... Please, heal me... Or at least give me a first aid kit, please... Otherwise... I won't last long. ` Daniel took a step closer to the dark, dusty box in the corner and cautiously touched it, immediately jumping back just in case. However, instead of a monster, a message appeared in front of Daniel.

[Player Daniel Grey discovered a hidden chest.]

[Total chests discovered: 1/37.]

The dusty little box in front of Daniel suddenly transformed into a luxurious and large chest. This time, Daniel approached with less caution and opened it. However, it was empty inside. Instead, four messages appeared in front of Daniel.

[You have obtained an item.]

[You have obtained an item.]

[You have obtained an item.]

[You have obtained an item.]

[Your inventory is full!]

[Choose the item you want to summon.]

"All of them." Daniel calmly said. All the items immediately appeared in front of him on the ground. Although his face remained calm, inside Daniel was ecstatic.

In addition to the three stones and the gnawed bone, there were four new items on the ground.

The first item that caught Daniel's attention the most was a small flask wrapped in dark green bandages. A message appeared in front of Daniel.

Item: [Canteen.]

Item Type: Drink.

Contains: 1L.

Fullness: 71%.

`Hallelujah!` Daniel wanted to shout, but instead, he simply pressed his lips to the canteen's opening and calmly started drinking the water. The water was very cold and refreshing, soothing Daniel's throat. Although he initially wanted to gulp down the water greedily, the condition didn't allow him to do so. Instead, he drank calmly and evenly. The canteen's fill level decreased from 71% to 27%. However, after everything Daniel had been through, he felt like he had earned at least this much.

Daniel immediately stored the canteen in his inventory and shifted his gaze to the next item that pleased him no less than the canteen.

Item: [Bandages x2.]

Item Type: Medication.

Item Description: [Reduces bleeding by 10 to 20%. Restores health by 30 to 50 points. An item that helps the player recover health and stop bleeding. The player needs to bandage any wounds on their body, after which the bleeding will slow down and health will gradually begin to regenerate. If after bandaging with the bandage, not all wounds on the player's body disappear and the bleeding is still above zero percent, in such a case, the player needs to bandage themselves until the bleeding drops to zero and all wounds on the player's body heal.]

`Thank you, God! I had some questions for you before, but now they can all go to hell!`

Daniel immediately used one of the bandages and started wrapping his heels with it. After he completely bandaged them, the bandage disappeared abruptly, and Daniel was enveloped in a golden and pleasant warm glow. All the wounds on Daniel's body instantly began to heal. The searing pain in his heels disappeared. The wounds on his face vanished, leaving only a small scratch on his cheek and a few scratches on his body, but otherwise, Daniel felt brand new. He immediately opened his status to check for changes.

Name: Daniel Grey

Age: 19

Level: 1

Experience: [30/100]

Points: 110

Class: Undefined

Health: 74

Energy: 88

Strength: 9

Constitution: 9

Agility: 11

Reflex: 12

Proficiency: 16

Intelligence: 10

Accuracy: 10

Luck: 12

Wisdom: 11

Willpower: 9

Skills:

Active: ___

Passive: [Cheater.]

Inventory:

[Canteen.]

Condition: [Mask]

Fetish: [CBT]

Sense of Hunger: 55%

Sense of Thirst: 34%

Sense of Desire: 62%

Sense of Cold: 9%

Sense of Heat: 3%

Bleeding: 0%.

"Great. There is no need to use the second bandage." Daniel nodded and put the remained bandage in his inventory. With each passing moment, the news got better and better. Daniel even began to believe that karma existed, otherwise, it couldn't be explained.

His gaze fell on the third item, which was the best item for Daniel among all the others. In front of Daniel lay something he didn't even dream of seeing in this world - shoes. Of course, Daniel had never worn such shoes before, and he wasn't sure how comfortable they were, but they were shoes nonetheless - they were rectangular Japanese wooden sandals.

Another message appeared in front of Daniel.

Item: [Geta.]

Item Type: Equipment.

Durability: 100%.

Daniel felt as if it was his birthday. With internal joy, he touched the wooden sandals and wanted to try them on quickly, but instead, another message from the system appeared in front of Daniel.

[Do you want to equip the item "Geta"?]

"Yes."

The geta immediately appeared on Daniel's feet. They put themselves on him and fit him perfectly, as if they were made for his feet.

Daniel instantly stood up and tried to walk. Of course, walking in them was a bit more difficult than he thought, but it wasn't so hopeless. After walking a few laps around the cave, Daniel thought that he would gradually get used to them. At least it was a hundred times better than walking barefoot on the ground.

After thoroughly exploring the cave, Daniel finally approached the last new item that was lying on the ground. An ignorant person would immediately say that this was the most useless item among all the items obtained, but Daniel knew how valuable this item was. On the ground lay a small piece of stick and next to it were three stones.

Daniel fell into deep thought. His eyes were cold and calm, although his heart was squeaking with indecision.

Item: [Piece of Stick.]

Item Type: Material.

"Menu." A menu with a shop suddenly opened in front of Daniel. However, at the moment, Daniel was most interested in the materials section. In addition to the small stone, it was now possible to purchase a piece of stick.

[Piece of Stick.]

[Cost: 50 points.]

Daniel quickly switched to the crafting section.

[Stone Knife.]

[Crafting Cost: 50 points.]

[Required Material: 3/3 small stones, 1/1 piece of stick.]

[Do you want to craft the "Stone Knife"?]

[Yes. | No.]

Daniel shook his head.

"How difficult." he said calmly.

`I only have 110 points. To purchase a short sword, I still need 7 more small stones and two piece of sticks. If I buy another 7 small stones, I will have 40 points left in my account. Not only will I not have enough for the craft, but I won't even have enough for another piece of stick, which costs 50 points. So I only have two options, either craft the knife or wait for the short sword, killing monsters and earning points... Hm...`

Daniel was in a small quandary. After all, he had never fought with a knife before; his father and older brother had only taught him the basics of a sword. The knife was different in size and weight... Daniel only had a vague idea of how to handle it.

`On the other hand, it was still better than trying to defend himself against monsters with bare hands and feet. In hand-to-hand combat, I'm clearly worse off than with a blade. And if I leave everything as it is, I'll have to throw something away because I only have one slot left in my inventory. And the most important argument for me is that a knife can be used not only as a weapon but also as a utility tool. In the wildlife, a knife is an essential item for survival. Although it still doesn't change how painful this is for me...`

"Yes." Daniel calmly said with a heavy heart. The stones and stick that were lying on the ground suddenly disappeared. Daniel expected the knife to appear in his hand immediately, but instead, another message popped up in front of him.

Crafting time remaining: [59 minutes 59 seconds.]

`Oh, hell no! I wasn't warned about this! Are you kidding me? What's with the complications? Why can't I just craft it right away... Ha... Damn... Screw it. My shoes won't disappear because of this. The damn crafting won't ruin the pleasant surprises I received. I don't care. It's just an hour. If I'm careful, nothing will happen to me in an hour. Right now, all I want is to leave this damn volcano.`

With a calm expression on his face, Daniel finally left the volcanic cave and stepped outside.