Hunt and Shelter

Chapter 2: Hunt and Shelter

This was way too cold! Why did he have to reincarnate on a mountain, jeez! The tutorial even ended before he had a chance to check out his shop Skill and everything! So annoying!  Also, these SP were absolute bullshit! One of them was consumed every 5 minutes of running or 30 minutes of walking! This was way too penalizing! This system was unfair, he wanted a refund! This dumb SP system made his progress even slower. He couldn't run down the snowy hills since it was too dangerous anyways, but it was still annoying to also have to manage that. He had to get down quickly so he wouldn't starve! Luckily for him the snow was half frozen over, so it made moving easier to some degree.

[Random Quest: 

"Escape from the Bullet Eagle." added.

Reward: 50 Exp] 

What was that sou- aaahhhhhh! Just when Steve stopped to read, he slipped on the frozen snow and started rolling down the hill in a bundle of fur, while an Eagle barely grazed his tail with its claws, grabbing at the spot where he stood just a second earlier.

With every collision on the floor Steve yelped out again, his Hp falling a little bit with every time he dropped further. 

"M-Meow…" he yelped, after his fall finally stopped, though two new windows quickly covered up his Status. 

[Random Quest "Escape from the Bullet Eagle" completed. You have received:

50 Exp.]

[Level Up!]

Huh? Quest? Eagle? What? Steve was highly confused for a moment, before a rush of energy went through his body, quickly regenerating his wounds while he opened his Status.

Status:

|Unnamed|

Lv.: 1 -> 2

Species: Common Mopaaw 

Titles: <Tutorial Completer>

Hp: 8/13

Mp: 4/4

Sp: 11/17

Strength: 4 -> 5

Vitality: 6 -> 7

Dexterity: 7 -> 8

Agility: 8 -> 9

Intelligence: 3 -> 4

Wisdom: 4 -> 5

Willpower: 2 -> 3

Luck: 8

Ability points: 3

What? What what what? Whaaaaaat? All his Stats increased from a level-up?! And he got 3 Ability points? This was incredible! Even his Status seemed to have somewhat recovered, as his Sp and Hp were almost depleted before. <Appraisal>, please explain levels to me.

[Lv.: Short for level, this value shows the player's growth state. It will increase as experience is gained. Upon leveling up some Stats will automatically increase and 3 Ability points will be granted as a reward. Additionally, half of the players Status will be regenerated. Experience is shared among Parties.]

What! This was amazing! Some Stats would be increased and it got all except one for him? That was incredibly good luck! He really hadn't expected that! So essentially, he really needed to level-up if he wanted to survive. His Hp were still far too low. He also still needed to find a good source of food. Though, speaking of that, he stopped rolling downward. Could it be? Had he reached a non-snowy spot? 

Thinking about it, he soon realized that the area around him was, in fact, less cold than that he had been in before. And while getting up he saw that he had reached some sort of overhand in a grassland area. A little further down there was a forest, but to the left and right of him there was an open field. Thinking about it, wasn't this the perfect place for him to be? He might be able to catch a mouse or two in the forest to eat and he could use small recesses in the floor to sleep for the night. Yeah, this was probably a good area to stay in. At least his fall brought some good with it! 

Though, thinking about it, this was probably the time to decide what kind of character he wanted to play. Looking at the Stats, there were physical and magical types. He could probably pull off a Warrior or a Thief with many different kinds of weapon combinations. If he spent his points on magic abilities he might be able to use Spells. With some hybridising there would be the possibility of a crafting build. Then again, without thumbs crafting was near impossible and physical types usually require close combat. Who would wanna go get close to the kind of monsters you see in a game?! No, he would definitely run some sort of Mage type. Best case scenario would be something like a summoner or beastmaster so he never had to get into the thick of things himself. 

Though before he even got to spend his points his stomach let out a growl, signaling the need for food. Hunting first, magic later, in that case.

These cat-eyes were more handy than he first expected them to be. It took him a little to spot a small mouse scurrying along the edge of the forest, though after he saw it, it was easy to track. It seems that there weren't that many big predators around, so the mouse ran around fairly carefree. Little did it know, it was just about to get got. Steve grinned and he lowered his body to the ground, sneaking closer towards the mouse while it was smelling the air. This was doable. Now,  just one quick jump and…

And the mouse sprinted away immediately. He didn't even stand a chance at catching it.Then again, he was still a kitten. Ugh, this was too hard! Wait, didn't he still have some Ability points? Status!

Status:

|Unnamed|

Lv.: 2

Species: Common Mopaaw 

Titles: <Tutorial Completer>

Hp: 8/13

Mp: 4/4

Sp: 8/17

Strength: 5

Vitality: 7

Dexterity: 8

Agility: 9

Intelligence: 4

Wisdom: 5

Willpower: 3

Luck: 8

Ability points: 3

So he did. For now, he needed speed to catch some food. Starving wasn't a great way to live after all, so, three points into Agility, please.

Agility: 9 -> 12

Okay, this wasn't bad. Time to try this out then. Though first he'd have to find another mouse. The grassland also seemed to be too open for them, so he might have to look in the forest. Yeah, that would be his best shot. Time to go on a hunt.

After a bit of quiet strolling, he finally saw a hint of movement again. A mouse, this one a little bigger than the last, was sniffing the air on the search for food itself. Perfect prey. Steve snuck closer while hiding between the trees, carefully avoiding sticks or leaves on the floor and when he was within jumping distance, he carefully made sure of his landing, when he remembered yet another thing. Dash. Alright, increased Agility and Dash, time to put these two to the test. Use <Dash>!

In the blink of an eye the kitten jumped forward, its claws extending in the air and quickly boring themselves into the mouse, holding it in place while it struggled to escape. It was finished off with a quick bite to the neck.

[Killed a mouse. Get: 5 Exp, 1 Gold]

He had done it! He had killed his first prey! This should help with his hunger for now, time to snacc! The mouse actually tasted surprisingly okay. It was no 5-star meal, but it was thoroughly edible, except for the fur, of course. Still, for now this was good. Now he only needed some water, though he wasn't as thirsty as before, since the meat also had some blood with it. This was also good. All he really needed was a place to sleep. And he needed to find one fairly soon, with the sun currently setting. His surroundings didn't seem to go as dark as he would expect them to, though. Oh yeah, cats were nocturnal, weren't they. Well, that still didn't change his need to find shelter though, so time to go searching.

While he walked, Steve couldn't really read through his Status or Skills, it was too hard to focus on that without tripping or falling. Though he could still check his surroundings as he walked. For now he would use the top of the mountain as his orientation point. Looking from there, he was walking to the left, without covering too much ground up- or downwards. There didn't seem to be too much wildlife around, except for the occasional startled mouse and the innumerable insects buzzing above. Until he came across a small pond, with a stream flowing into it from above, that is. 

There was a bear there. A hugeass black bear. Seriously? A bear like that in a beginner area? This was stupid! Steve immediately turned around and snuck back towards where he came from. It just wasn't worth the risk. No chance he'd try to get past that bear. Nu-uh, not happening.

[Acquired the Skill <Quiet lv.1> through a specific action.]

He quickly gazed at the notification before it disappeared, freaking out a little innerly. This Skill could not have appeared at any more perfect time! And it was a passive Skill, too! Amazing!

With this he was able to escape before the bear noticed him and after a while, his heart rate started to drop a little again. He let out a deep sigh, coming out as a stretched "Meooooooowww…" This was too stressful. He wanted homeeee. Couldn't he have been reincarnated as a max level dragon or something like that? Being super powerful sounded frigging awesome! He could have an army and reign over stuff and shit like that! No, wait. Ugh., Focus, Steve. You gotta find shelter. Shel. Ter. This was important. Don't zone out.

After finally commanding himself to get his shit together, the kitten walked through the forest again, soon finding a suitable hiding spot. It was an old, hollow log lying flat on the floor, hard to spot with all the grass above it. It wasn't exactly luxurious, but at the very least it would keep him safe from rain and hidden while he slept. This was good enough, for now. It was close enough to a source of water, too. He'd have to scout the area around though, to make sure he wouldn't be surprised out of nowhere. For now he'd just check some stuff with his Skills though. Alright, time to check out some more about the system! Status!

Status:

|Unnamed|

Lv.: 2

Species: Common Mopaaw 

Titles: <Tutorial Completer>

Hp: 9/13

Mp: 4/4

Sp: 13/17

Strength: 5

Vitality: 7

Dexterity: 8

Agility: 12

Intelligence: 4

Wisdom: 5

Willpower: 3

Luck: 8

Ability points: 0

Seems like he recovered some Sp and Hp from eating before. He could probably fill them back up by resting or something the like. For now that didn't matter though, he just checked to make sure. He really needed to figure out some stuff. He leveled up after all, so he should have some Skill points, right? Skill Shop!

As soon as he thought of it, a new window popped open, this one a little different from the ones before. It had multiple symbols above, as well as a search bar just below those. In addition to that, he could also scroll down. It was a seemingly endless list of Skills stacked upon each other and at the bottom edge of the window he saw the number he was looking for.

Skill points: 100

He had 100 points for now. Luckily, most Skills were priced at exactly that. Unlucky, most Skills didn't quite have the effect he would have liked. He was an RTS fan, not an RPG nerd and after having seen that bear, he did NOT want to get close to enemies. It was a simple principle to follow, really. Pain bad. Pain very bad. Essentially, he only considered a few types of Skills: escape abilities, buffing-type Skills, ones suited for creating an army or crafting related ones. He found a few movement Skills and even a handful of buffing ones, but as for crafting and indirect combat there were only two within his price range: <Beginner Beastmaster lv.1> for combat or <Beginner Runecarving lv.1> when it came to crafting. He couldn't exactly speck into blacksmithing or alchemy without thumbs and even beginner-level necromancy was currently far too expensive. 

And even if he could afford it, he wouldn't get it for now.

The reason was simple. To get units for his army he had to beat them. Mice weren't exactly his perfect image of soldiers. No, what he needed was something far different from that, what he needed was security. So, he chose the <Beginner Runecarving> Skill, as he could build an army after having secured his livelihood.

[Acquired the Skill <Beginner Runecarving lv.1> from the Skill Shop.]

Now, <Appraisal>! It was frustrating, but he couldn't use <Appraisal> on Skills within the shop. Yet another BS part of this, but whatever. By now he might have grown a little numb to it.

[<Beginner Runecarving> (active): This Skill allows you to carve runes which you know into objects of your choosing. The more advanced the rune, the higher the probability of failure. You can learn new runes by studying ones you see on objects or by learning them from another runecarver.]

Interesting. <Appraisal>, look up runes!

[Runes: Letters of an ancient magical language. When carved into objects and filled with magic, it can enhance the object's properties. runes are categorized using grades and levels. The higher the grade and level, the better the rune. Grades range from 1-10 while levels range from low-high. Example: A low 3rd grade rune. The individual currently knows the runes: <Reinforce 1st grade>, <Sharpen 1st grade>]

So runes were created by carving them. He could choose the level from low to high within a grade as he wanted, though higher levels are harder to pull off. Interesting indeed. This seemed like an ability that was his style. He could definitely use this! Now, as a trial-run he was gonna carve a reinforcement rune into this log of his. For now he could only use his claws, so it was time to get to carving then. Though first he would have to decide on the  level… Was there a way to check probabilities? Probably not, huh. This was troubling, very troubling indeed, though he had only just now unlocked the Skill. This system was way too unforgiving for him to immediately be able to use mid- or high-level runes. A low-level it would have to be then. The rune was simple enough this time and the Skill automatically was used when he started carving the rune. After a few minutes of slow and careful carving, making sure that each and every line was passable, another pop-up appeared and along with it, he could feel his energy being sucked up by the rune. For just a moment, the rune gave off a gentle light, before returning to being nothing but a carving.

[Successfully carved low 1st grade Reinforce rune. Get: 10 Exp.]

Yes! This should make his log a little more sturdy. Perfect. Now to check how much mana it had drained. Status!

Status:

|Unnamed|

Lv.: 2

Species: Common Mopaaw 

Titles: <Tutorial Completer>

Hp: 9/13

Mp: 0/4

Sp: 12/17

Strength: 5

Vitality: 7

Dexterity: 8

Agility: 12

Intelligence: 4

Wisdom: 5

Willpower: 3

Luck: 8

Ability points: 0

Huh? It had cost him all his mana? And one Sp too? What? Seriously? This was such bullshit again! Ugh! Okay, so to prepare his base he needed more Mp, to hunt successfully he needed more power, speed and even vitality to ensure his safety. He was basically lacking in every single aspect! This was so unfair, what the crap! Just when he got a little excited it had to be ruined instantly! How could he even recover Mp? <Appraisal>.

[Mp: Short for mana points, this value shows the amount of magical energy in your body, which you can utilize to cast spells, or use other magical abilities. It regenerates passively by absorbing mana from the air. The maximum capacity is based on Intelligence. The rate of regeneration is based on Wisdom.]

So it didn't even tell him his regeneration rate? Okay, at the very least he knew that the mana would return over time. Fine. Time to move on to his second objective then, figuring out his <Shop> Skill. Shop?

Immediately a new window was opened. This one appeared to be fairly similar to the Skill Shop, with multiple tabs and a search bar at the top as well as a scroll bar to the right and his currency at the bottom. Currently he held an incredible, jaw-dropping, gobsmacking and utterly shocking amount of 1 Gold.  There was one difference though, being a shopping cart to the right. Ah, so it must be drag and drop then. He immediately gave it a try and moved a random item over the cart icon, after which he was asked how many he would like to buy. So he could choose as many items as he wanted and then pay for them at checkout. This was convenient, at the very least. Now, what were the tabs? 

Consumables, Ingredients, Armor, Weapons, Tools and Miscellaneous, huh? A fairly large sortiment, really. This Skill was looking surprisingly decent, so time to check out the items now, right? For now, they were sorted after the alphabet, so this should be ok- WHAT?!?! Every single item on the first page was above 100.000 Gold. This was absolutely unaffordable! How the fuck was he supposed to get that much?! Okay, stay calm. Sort them by price, let's go with descending. The lower you scroll, the more expensive. In all tabs thank you. Ah. AH?! Steve's eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw that the cheapest item in the entire store was a minor health potion for 100 Gold. It healed 5 Hp. That was about as good as a few scratches, not much more! And that was worth 100 dead mice?! Fuck this stupid overpriced Skill! What the hell! This unique Skill was such absolute garbage, Jesus! In his rage, Steve punched a wall of the log and instantly regretted his decision, as it ended in him losing another precious Hp. This was just way too unforgiving, man…

Though at the very least he felt a bit better after venting his anger. It was pointless to get frustrated anyways, as he would have to live with this unfairness for now. And if he already had to live with it he wanted to be familiar with the rules at the very least. So, time for some research!