14 Chapter 13

When Leon woke up, he decided to do something different. He chose to mark on the nearby trees the number of days he had stayed on the island. It wasn't like because he felt like a prisoner in that place, but because he wanted something to remind him of his time lost on that island… he wanted something to give him a sense of urgency. Thus, he marked the tree where he built his shelter.

"One week, huh… Time sure flies."

Congratulations! The skill Mental Fortitude has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

It was weird to receive a notification at that moment, but that only showed to Leon that he was succeeding in not letting the situation get the better of him. Regardless, before anything else, he decided to finish his fish trap. He created a path large enough for a single fish pass with some difficulty, but once again, the moment he got too close, the fish jumped from the water toward him. Leon managed to fall back and avoid being hit by the fish and only saw the fish struggling near his feet again.

"Phew… that scared the crap out of me. Come to think of it… I didn't receive any notification after killing the first fish. I don't see a level in the screen, so I guess I can't level up, huh."

However, Leon did notice a change when he brought a rock to smash that fish's head. He checked his status screen and saw the very moment that his coins increased. Now, he had four.

"Mmm? I had decided to forget this since there was no way I would be able to kill a monster… but I guess I can obtain coins while killing even those fish… but how can I use those coins?"

Leon tried to click on the coins and concentrate his vision on it, but nothing happened. That meant he had to find a place where he would use those coins. However, he wouldn't be able to use it on that island.

"I guess I will put this aside again."

Maybe it could be useful later, but since it couldn't help Leon to leave that island, he decided to put that at the bottom of his list of priorities.

Now that Leon had found a way to increase his strength, he had also to find a way to make good use of that strength when the time came. He considered a few possibilities; he could learn martial arts. Although he had no knowledge of how even punch properly, using the muscles of his back and things like that, he was pretty sure he would learn a skill related to it if he punched and kicked a tree a few times.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Martial Arts.

You obtained 01 status points.

As expected, Leon's guess was right. Although it was another skill he could use to obtain a few free status points quickly, it wasn't something he could use against monsters like those fish. Leon didn't really want to put his defenseless limbs near those things while they were alive.

"I guess I will make a spear… and a staff."

Wood wasn't much used to cause damage to the fish flesh, but if Leon made a thick and heavy spear, it would be durable and more powerful. A staff would be more convenient to use because it could cause blunt damage and because it could be used with more ease to block attacks.

"It will take a while, but it will be worth the hassle."

The older the tree, the more durable its materials would be. However, Leon didn't have the means to chop down a big tree, so he looked for a few small ones. He also could raise a few until they become of the size he wants using his mana, but he decided to spend all his mana training Earth Manipulation alone.

Leon found a few trees that looked pretty good quite quickly, but he decided to chop them slowly. He only had a single improvised knife, and he didn't want to waste time looking for another similar stone any time soon.

After chopping the trees, Leon brought them to his camp. It was at that moment that he noticed that the fish bones had disappeared. A tree didn't appear in its place, of course, but the area around seemed more green than the surroundings… as if it was full of life force or, in that case, mana.

"I guess I can use the fish bones to make the trees I plant to grow faster… but I can also use their sharp bones and increase the power of my arrows."

Leon was aware that using the bones had a few limitations, but by breaking them in pieces, he could use those pieces at the tip of the arrows. However, he wondered if that would be fine, he didn't notice that before, but if he tried to kill the fish from a distance, he would have to approach the other ones to pick the dead fish…

"I will be safer if I use the spear."

Leon spent the entire day cleaning and making the surface of his new weapons flat; those could be his lifeline one day, so he couldn't afford to make any mistake while using them. An uneven part could make him lose the grip of his weapon, and that could be fatal.

After cleaning those thin logs, Leon spent the rest of the day doing push-ups until his strength went up once again. Leon had the impression that the push-ups got easier thanks to the fact that his strength increased, but he also felt that he had to do it for a longer time than the previous day.