We awoke way too many times in the night to consider what we did sleeping. With every crack of the fire or a rustle of leaves, I went on high alert. Buddy didn't fare much better. By the end of the night, I would have bet he licked a bald spot on his front paws. Fortunately, morning came without injury.

"Alright Buddy, it's time to stop pretending like we're asleep and get up"

"If you say so," Buddy said with a giant yawn.

The first thing I did was add more sticks to the fire. Laying on the ground all last night chilled me to the bone. My flannel and jeans didn't do anything to stop the chill of the night. After the typical morning routine, we felt safe enough to walk to the stream.

You gain status effect - Hydrated - you gain +1 to SP regeneration

"That is like a morning cup of coffee without the poops!" It was surprising how awake I felt, this was just simple water. Does it have any extra perks? Was that the right word, maybe other side effects I didn't know about? I guess time will only tell.

While most definitely not crying from fear last night I decided today I need to make a weapon. I had my pocket knife but that wouldn't do much against a larger animal. Finding a mostly straight tree, roughly an inch in diameter at the top and 5 feet tall. I attempted to cut it down. What happened is I chopped, pulled, and pushed it until the roots snapped off. Taking it back to the campsite I used my knife to strip all the weird ring bark off of it and made a point at one end. Following that I ran the length of the pole back and forth over the fire, trying to get out the moisture and fire harden it. Finally, after an hour or so of this back and forth, I got a new skill.

Congratulations you have learned the skill Crafting Improvised weapons: You now can use inane items to craft a weapon suited for a child. "If it's heavy it'll work"

Crafting Improvised weapons is now level 1

0/100 to next level

You have made: Improvised Spear

"Hawt damn, I'm on a roll. Two skills in as many days!"

Looking at my new weapon, a mini screen appeared above my hand holding the spear.

Name: Improvised Spear

Damage: 2-5

Type: Polearm

Quality: F

Requirements: N/a

"Quality F! This is some fine craftsmanship, thank you very much," I said with indignation. Indignation based on a guess that F was a sign of poor quality, for all I knew F stood for fantastic. That did not stop me from being belligerent though. I am an American and that is my right!

"It looks like any other stick to me"

"I didn't see you doing anything last night when that bird thing was in the tree screeching at us! With this bad boy, we can take that thing out." I was used to getting annoyed by Buddy but this was different, this time I knew what he was thinking because HE CAN TALK. Back home I considered myself a ‘Role with the punches’ kind of guy, not much phases me. Yet, getting used to a talking dog isn't going to be as easy.

"I am going to DIE if I don't eat soon" exclaimed Buddy.

"Ahh, there it is."

"Where is what?!"

“Even though you can talk you’re still a dog at heart”

With a face that reamed obviously Buddy asked. “When are we going to check the strings you put out last year?”

“Yeah. We should head out now, I have my pointy stick to protect us!”

Making our way to the traps I was amazed by how alive the forest was. It sounded more musical than back home. It was as if every animal was singing their song. While being swept up in the music I finally saw my first bird. It was about the size of a fat guinea pig, with two sets of wings and a long string-like tail. It was the color of a massive oak tree in late fall, a burnt orange on the cusp of being red. It flew from one branch to another collecting sticks, for what I assumed was its nest.

Slowly approaching the first trap we realized the sneaking wasn't necessary. The trap was completely gone, even the branch it was tied off to had been snapped clean off. “Great! I hope the other trap did better because if not we're going to have to risk it with the plant life.” Moving on, we heard the most awful screeching coming from the direction of the second trap. Doing the best we could we snuck up to a ridge line that overlooked the game trail. Lo and behold we had got something! Laying on my stomach roughly 50 yards away from the snare I saw the largest rat ever. I mean ‘rodents of unusual size’, it had to weigh 30 lbs. Its back leg was caught in the snare.

Whispering to Buddy “How in the world did that big of a rat get caught in my little snare?”

“Food is food, doesn't matter where it comes from.”

“Umm, yes it does. You wouldn't eat random food you found on the street. No, wait yes you would. Nevermind.” Neither of us wanted this creature to escape but were too afraid to go up to it. We stared at it, hoping it would tire out. After what felt like an hour of looking at the beast a new prompt appeared before me.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

Congratulations you have learned the skill Identify: you may now identify items and living creatures up to level 5

Identify is now level 1

0/100 to next level

"Heck yeah!" I said way too loud. So loud the rat thing looked straight at me.

"Uh-oh," said Buddy

"No kidding" Trying to understand how to use my new skill, I did the same thing as I did for my character sheet. Thinking to identify, a small window appeared.

Name: N/a

Race: Cave rat

Level: 2

Type: Beast

"Now this is awesome! That thing is called a cave rat and it's level 2."

“I don't care what it's called, can I eat it?”

“We will see,” I said as I approached the Cave rat. The poor thing was screaming something fierce. It was pulling on the snare attempting to charge me.

“I don't think this is a nice rat,” said Buddy.

“Neither do I”

With my spear in hand, I looked for the best spot to stab this thing. I decided on the area behind the front shoulders. Assuming that Cave rat anatomy is the same as animals on Earth.

You dealt 9 damage to Cave Rat.

“Ahh, crap I missed”

Critical Hit! You dealt 26 damage to Cave Rat.

“Why aren't you freaking dying already!” I screamed as the rat was thrashing around. With a final stab, I saw the prompt I was waiting for.

You dealt 7 damage to Cave Rat.

You killed Cave Rat

You gain 60 XP

Congratulations you have leveled up!

You are now Level 1

10/100 XP to Level 2

Gained +5 stat points to be distributed

“Meat's back on the menu, boys!” I said, in my best Uruk-hai voice. Looking at the damage prompts, I internally wondered how the system came up with those numbers. The last line in, what I'm calling my ‘notification log’ expanded showing me.

You dealt 7 damage to Cave rat

(8+(3))-(4)=7

Strength: 8

Weapon damage: 3

Enemy Constitution: 4

“NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! I love a good algorithm.” Upon further reflection, I can now admit that I may have been a bit nerdy. In my defense, math was a large part of my college major. With that being said, Strength seemed to be my main source of damage and since all I had to hunt and defend myself putting those new stat points into it seemed like a good idea. Yet, I had always played a balanced character. Putting all your stat points into one stat typically made you a one-trick pony and I ain't no pony. Therefore to appease my OCD I opened my character sheet.

Next to each of my stats was a small box with a plus sign in it. I mentally clicked on the plus sign for strength and the number went up. After doing that though another box appeared next to the first. This time it was a small box with a minus sign in it. The system was pretty simple, it was close to many games back home. Ignoring the similarities for my sanity. I put two points into strength, 1 into endurance, and finally 2 into mana. After putting my last stat points in, a prompt appears asking if I would confirm my choices. With a mental assent, the prompt disappeared. It just felt right to have all my stats at a baseline of 10.

What happened next was hard to describe. I felt as if my muscles were getting bigger but at the same time becoming more dense. On top of that, my stomach area felt on fire, like someone blowing up my stomach as if it were a balloon. As quick as it started though it was over. Wanting to see my new stats I pulled up my character sheet.

Name: Abner Hanover

Level: 1

Race: Human

Title: Catalyst

Health: 100/100

Stamina: 90/90

Mana:90/90

XP: 10/100

Strength: 10

Constitution: 10

Dexterity: 11

Endurance: 10

Intelligence: 12

Mana: 9

Talents:

All-speak - "As a Catalyst you are given this rare gift, use it wisely."

Firemaking - "With this, you can light a candle or set the world ablaze."

Shelter - "Warm, dry, and safe is the recipe for a good night's sleep"

Skills:

Trap Making - Level 1 - 25/100 Xp

Crafting Improvised Weapons - Level 1 - 0/100 Xp

Identify - Level 1 - 0/100

Profession: N/a

Class: N/a

Status effect: N/a

Regeneration rate

* Health: +1 HP/minute

* Stamina: +1 SP/minute

* Mana: +0.9 MP/minute

Resistance: None