William left school feeling extra tired for some reason, possibly due to the fact that he had been going extra hard in gym class to see where he stood.
He was slightly stronger than before, allowing him to squat nearly two hundred and fifty pounds.
Being a rather scrawny young man this would normally be impossible but the sudden addition to his strength put him to about the middle of the school in terms of pure strength while his stamina which was already outstanding reached a new level allowing him to beat just about everyone in terms of long distance running and/or jumping.
He walked home with brisk steps, somehow, he could already taste his mom's cooking, and it was now all he could think about.
Turning the last corner to reach his apartment he saw his sister Shelby leaving the building with a couple of her friends and waved them off to have a fun but safe time before entering the mediocre apartment building.
"Hey mom, I'm back!"
He heard the shuffling of movement in the other room and a head poked out with a matronly smile on her face.
"Food is on the table, it should still be warm but if it's cold you can just nuke it!" She said with sleepy eyes before going closing the door and leaving William alone in the apartment to eat.
"YAWN!"
He grew unbearably sleepy and finished his plate before rinsing it off along with his face before heading to bed for a well-earned rest.
As William's eyes drooped uncontrollably, he thought he hallucinated the shadow on the wall winking at him, but he was too tired to think much about it and his eyes finally closed.
Once again William awoke in a clearing in the middle of some unknown woods although this time it appeared to be morning although there was a mist in the air giving the surroundings a somewhat eerie vibe.
William's bluish green eyes scanned the surroundings and the first thing his eyes fell on was the cold and lifeless corpses of the goblin's who had attacked him before, and he suddenly fell on his ass in response!
"Why... why is this here, this is a dream isn't it?" His voice shook audibly due to the shock but after a few minutes of nothing happening William casually approached the corpses with a stick he picked up off the ground and began poking the corpses to make sure they were really dead.
"Squelch!"
William accidentally poked the open eyeball, and a green and smelly gel fell out in clumps causing the young man to nearly vomit.
He finds the slightly rusted weapons they used, unfortunately the spear was snapped in half by what appeared to be deadly jaws, leaving him with a pair of daggers and a short bow that to the goblin was actually a long bow and wrapped the quiver of twenty useable arrows around his shoulder before putting the daggers along his waist using the clothes the goblin wore and some mild mental gymnastics to create a makeshift leather loop for the blades to hang loosely from.
(Ding - Handicraft Lvl - 1 Exp - 0/100 (Common -> Upgradeable) skill gained - Effects
(Passive) +10% Improved Item Durability.
+5% Faster Crafting Speed.
+15% Aesthetic Enhancement to crafted items.
(Active) Cost - 10 Mana per Activation.
5% chance for items to create perfect item. (Zero Defects)
25% Chance to create a superior-grade item)
William was slightly startled when the screen appeared but remembering the previous night he soon came to his senses and started thinking about what he would do now.
He soon noticed the large tree in the middle of the clearing he was in, he remembered waking up with his head resting against its bark.
"I'll climb up there and get my bearings, I'll take it from there!" He began stretching before
His hands grasped onto the gnarled surface of the tree, and after a few minutes of climbing and nearly falling he reached the top of a rather large limb of the tree to poke his head from the canopy of leaves.
"WHOOSH!"
He was nearly knocked off the branch by a sudden burst of wind but managed to hold on clutching the limb of the tree for dear life.
In the sky hanging in the gaping void of space was pair of binary stars with one small blue celestial orb orbiting a much larger yellow one.
In another part of the sky a massive moon with a large chunk of mass of its surface missing that would explain the chaotic ring of dust, ice, metals and stones around the planet.
William's gem-colored eyes sparkled as he witnessed one of said chunks of moonrock falling into the planet and into the distance with a dull rumble.
After the rumbling subsided a thick pillar of black smoke rose into the air creating a low hanging cloud of black smoke over the general area casting a long shadow over the forest around it.
"WOAH!"
William had never seen a meteor falling so closely before and was naturally astounded by the event.
After a few seconds of gawking at the pillar of smoke in the distance he turned his head to search for more potential landmarks and found a decently sized river flowing down a mountainside before flowing serenely into the forest where he currently resided.
He searched hard but he couldn't find any direct evidence of human settlement and a somewhat dark expression appeared on his face as he pondered if he could make it out of the forest alive.
"If the goblins from before are any indication this strange place is filled with potentially all kinds of strange and deadly creatures!"
His sat with his back to the large trunk of the tree as he pondered his next move and coming up with effectively nothing he eventually descends from the large tree and walks toward the goblin's corpses but when he reached within fifty feet of them before the sickly smell of decay reached his nostrils.
"UAH!" William gags in response to the sudden assault on his nostrils and backs up with his hand to his face to block the smell.
After collecting himself he then walks towards the direction of the discarded spear and skillfully removes the blade from the warped wooden shaft granting him a slightly shorter blade he tucked under his waistband.
He takes one long look back into the clearing he woke up in before departing into the forest towards the direction he saw the river.
"Strange to feel thirsty in a dream, isn't it?
William couldn't help but think as he trudged through the dimly lit forest unaware of the very shadows around him seemingly falling away in response to the presence of the creature hiding within William as if the very shadows were bowing before a higher being.
"If I feel thirsty it's only fair to assume I would feel hungry eventually as well!"
He pulled out the bow and pulled the taut bowstring until he felt like he had sufficiently tested the suppleness and tautness of the short bow, his eyes scanned the surface of the bow looking for any discernable weaknesses and after a few seconds of doing so a screen appeared over the weapon itself.
(Ding - Goblin Long Bow (Short Bow) Common Grade - Durability 95% - Dmg 25 (x3 for sneak attacks)
William did the same for his other weapons with shining eyes.
(Ding - Goblin Short-Swords (Daggers) Common Grade - Durability 78% - Dmg 10 (x5 for sneak attacks)
He nodded fervently, anything goblin related could never be too good in terms of quality, as is common in most forms of fantasy novels or books.
"SHHKKSHHK!"
Nearby some brush began to rustle causing William to suddenly nock an arrow and point the weapon at the still moving underbrush.
"Clop, Clop!"
A strange deer-like creature bounded forward from the brush and attempted to impale him with a strange golden horn.
William dodged to the left and with a twist of his body he fired off the arrow toward the creature who was attempting to circle back for another charge.
"CHK!" The arrow struck the horn and shattered on impact, but the attack itself seemed to trigger a slight rage in the creature who increased its pace.
(Ding - Focus - Lvl 1 (0/100 EXP) Attained - Common -> Upgradeable - Active Effects - Use 20 Stamina to slow down your perspective of time allowing you to plan ahead in times of need)
William only glanced at the screen that had appeared before being forced to jump to the right in order to dodge the incoming horned beast.
He nocked another arrow into the bow and activated the new skill he had attained as he pulled the taut string back, he felt a bit of his energy seemingly leave his body as his blue eyes suddenly glowed slightly yellow.
The Beast was still attempting to circle back but it suddenly slowed down in William's perspective and William precisely lined up a shot before firing.
Focus was still active so he could see clearly the arrow as it shot toward the beasts, as the skill slowed down his perspective of time to a point he could somewhat even see the vacuum created by the arrows passage through the air.
"THKK!"
The arrow struck the beast cleanly in its neck and a jet of blood shot out as the beast reared back and bounded off into the woods.
"Sigh!"
William strapped the bow to his back with a somber expression and with a thought opened the system screen to see how much experience he earned for using the skill.
(Focus - Lvl 1 (20/100 EXP)
"Hmmm, makes sense I guess!"
He looked in the direction the deer like beast disappeared into and saw a thin trail of blood which he followed as he could feel hunger beginning to reach its claws into his belly.
William dashed into the woods with a steady pace and his bow at the ready as he followed the thin trail of blood the grew in size as he moved through the woods, at some point the blood seemed to thicken into a clear trail leading towards a body of water.
He nocked an arrow and pointed it at the creature while activating the (Focus) ability to farm experience from two sources.
"THKK!" William launched the arrow with purpose and the beast had only just turned its head when a second arrow penetrated through to its heart and struck the organ true.
"WREEEE!" The beast cried out in pain before collapsing as the last breath left its body in one final defiant huff.
William looked at the amount of exp he had gained through the system for a moment and was pleasantly surprised.
(Ding - Name: William Conwell
Age: 16
Race: Human
Class: Unassigned
Title: Chosen by Phosphorus
Level: 2
EXP: 100 / 200
HP: 75 / 163
MP: 146 / 146
Stamina: 60 / 169)
"Eighty experience for a deer creature isn't bad at all, but that being said I should use my skills sparingly!"
He could tell that his stamina had a direct impact on his hunger and thirst levels as immediately after using the skill he had felt hungry and parched.
"Good thing there is a pond!"
He walked over and pulled both arrows from the flesh of the deer creature, the fur was soft and warm, and the horn gleamed with an otherworldly energy causing William's eyes to go wide when he laid eyes on it once again.
Willam began to prepare and skin the deer as best he could give the current tools available and managed to create a somewhat passable poncho out of the fur.
As he was doing the skinning he activated his (Handicraft) skill and it allowed him to not only increase his pace without giving up quality and he came out with an item that was better than expected.
He held the fur poncho and waited for the inevitable screen to pop up and didn't have to wait long.
(Ding - Fur Poncho - Uncommon -> Upgradeable - Durability 100% - Armor 15)
(Passive Effects - Silent Stride: Reduces noise when moving making it easier to sneak up on prey or avoid detection)
(Weatherproof Hide: Grants resistance to rain and cold, keeping the wearer comfortable in harsh environments)
William's eyes sparkled when he saw the upgrade due to his skill (Handicraft!) he immediately threw the poncho on and marveled at how nice it felt.
After putting on the new outerwear he noticed a small screen when he regained his vision.
(Ding - Handicraft Lvl - 2 Exp - 20/200 (Common -> Upgradeable) skill gained - Effects
(Passive) +12% Improved Item Durability.
+7% Faster Crafting Speed.
+17% Aesthetic Enhancement to crafted items.
(Active) Cost - 10 Mana per Activation.
6% chance for items to create perfect item. (Zero Defects)
26% Chance to create a superior-grade item)
After confirming the information, he put the screen away with a thought and proceeded to cut choice pieces of meat, unfortunately he didn't have a bag on him so he would have to make camp so as not to waste any food and the pond looked fresh enough.
He went around the pond gathering sticks and twigs along with some dry leaves as kindling before setting up a small personal camp near the pond and set up some noise making twigs in key areas of approach in order to warn him in case of someone sneaking up on him.
Soon a brilliant but calm fire bloomed near the pond making the gem-like surface of the water sparkle in the shadow of the woods and the smell of cooking meat wafted downwind.
The meat was beautifully marbled, and the fat practically melted in his mouth as he took his first bite.
"Delicious!"
He said out loud before digging in and soon the steak was gone leaving William wanting seconds but before he could grab a second helping—
"Woof!"
A small black puppy was sitting next to William and staring longingly at the meat as the fat flowed across its surface.
The puppy had ruby-like eyes and a reddish diamond mark on its forehead.
Feeling the sting of the creature's cuteness, he couldn't help but give the small creature a helping of the meat.
"GRRRR... NOM!"
The small puppy struggled to bite into the meat and growled in struggle as he pulled the meat apart and ate with clear happiness on display from its tail wagging uncontrollably.
After finishing its morsel, the small puppy walked over and laid down between on William's leg and to add insult to cute injury the puppy let out a tired yawn which effectively sealed the deal for William, he officially loved this puppy!
William made sure to eat his fill and when he was done, he noticed the dog had vanished causing him to frown for a moment before he sighed.
"Guess it went back to its parents or something!"
He went out and scouted the surroundings from a high point in his position and discovered that he had travelled at least five miles before diverting to the trail of the deer and reaching this pond which took him in the direction of the meteor that fell recently.
"I wonder if it is still there?"
He moved in the direction of the meteor while leaving himself a trail of marked trees.