Nathan was fixated on the single word, "Portal." It didn't seem that important, but at the moment it bounced around in his brain.

Portal

The damned apocalypse was shipping creatures to Earth with portals, which, if Nathan was being honest, seemed like something straight out of a fantasy book. Grudgingly accepting his new reality, he did a once-over on the system notification.

Incursionist Camp discovered.

New quest is available.

1. Destroy Incursionist portal (0/1)

The quest the system had assigned him had Nathan feeling a little suspicious, there was no way he was going to walk into the camp and tell whoever was in charge that he wanted to destroy their portal and they'd let him, which meant blood was probably going to be shed.

However, taking away the influence of the system, these guys were certainly a threat to Blood Rock. A disaster just waiting to happen—this many creatures on an island with only him as the single opposition didn't sound good to Nathan.

They already had patrols up and running. How long would it take them to decide to start expanding their operations? More importantly, how long before they'd come for Blood Rock and then him? With a grim smile, Nathan realized what the system was trying to protect him from.

As a basic rule, he had to have it on the back of his mind that anything not human was probably going to be hostile. Heck, even fellow humans were going to be hostile too, but Nathan could try to reason with them rather than creatures who'd seen Earth as a harvest ground.

Nathan dismissed the notification and focused on the Incursionists as best as he could. The way they'd set up in the open with temporary shelters made Nathan suspect that they hadn't been on the island for more than a couple of days, two at most. That meant that they probably hadn't really hit the ground running.

He stared at gremlins and dwarves alike leaving and entering the caves, some with wooden crates filled with something Nathan couldn't identify from this far out and others carrying pickaxes, presumably to mine whatever was in that cave.

Suspicious.

It really was, but he couldn't dwell on the feeling. He had a quest, and even with all the logic in the world telling him that he should handle the threat as soon as possible, Nathan's morals were winning the battle of his next course of action.

Unless any of them attack me, I'll let them be.

There wasn't any need to go all murderhobo on creatures that were clearly sentient. If they stayed away from him, he'd stay away from them. The island was big enough for both parties to thrive. After all, if he went down this path of senseless killings at a system prompt, what exactly did that make him?

With his mind made up, Nathan took a good look at the camp, making sure to memorize any detail that would help him if push ever came to shove. He looked up and tried to form a rough longitude and latitude in his head using the little part of the summit of the mountain he could see peeking out from the high trees.

Bingo!

Very carefully and slowly, Nathan started backing away from the camp. He'd gotten all the information he needed at this point, and from what he could see, he couldn't complete the quest at the level he was at right now. They far outnumbered him, and their individual quality was probably going to be on par with his.

When he felt like he'd put enough distance between him and the camp, he ran. Heading for Blood Rock, his navigation skills getting better and better with each exploring session. Soon enough, Nathan was at the Western gate of Blood Rock, the sky already having hints of purple splotches.

With a sigh of relief, Nathan went through the gate, making a beeline for the only building in the stronghold—the cabin. A simple sigh wasn't enough to showcase his relief at the outcome of his exploration today. He'd managed to get away unseen and without any fights, which was kind of a first for him.

A step in the right direction, and definitely something that he was grateful for. A level seventeen gremlin and a level fifteen dwarf—he'd have struggled against those two alone. They were just miners, not even the real guards. Their levels were probably so low in the commander's eyes that he'd sent them on patrols hoping that they'd be killed by creatures of the Forest.

Shaking his head at the cunningness of the commander—whoever they were—he sat back against a wall, resting his body from all the running he'd just done. Taking out his bag of holding, he took out a fruit and plopped it into his mouth.

He munched on the fruit as his mind began to whir, different thoughts and strategies already bouncing around in his skull. Yes, Nathan had said he wasn't going to stay out of their way, but it didn't mean that he was naive enough to assume that they'd stay out of his.

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He needed to be strong enough that they'd be too discouraged to even try attacking him. Like he'd been when he'd been attacked by the bunny. Nathan let out a chuckle at the thought, almost choking as a piece of fruit went in the wrong direction.

One for the history books.

It certainly was, but Nathan had way more important things to think about, like figuring out exactly how he was going to level up and level up fast. The quickest way was a dungeon, but while it was fast, it certainly had high risk attached to it as he couldn't even try to escape before fulfilling clearance requirements.

Freestyling in the forest had turned out to be a hassle on its own, with random monsters that were higher-leveled than him starting to pop up. The system was already gearing up for the end of the tutorial, releasing creature after creature into their world to wreak havoc—and mine. If you counted the bunny's actions too, you could add bullying to the list.

Taking out a second fruit, he bit into it absentmindedly, juices flowing down his chin. After heading out into the forest with hopes of free-balling it and getting some actual food, he was left with the opinion that dungeons were way safer than the free forest.

Dungeons were still dangerous, yes, but it was the kind of danger that Nathan could work with. The system would provide him with some kind of information before he would step in, allowing him the luxury of deciding if he wanted to go in or not. The opportunity to pick his battles was an advantage he'd lose out on if he decided on free-balling it in the forest instead.

Decision made, Nathan got up on his feet and, for the first time since getting into the cabin, decided to take his bath. He had zero idea about where the water in the cabin's bathroom came from, but he wasn't really interested in finding out. He undressed and got into the shower, the cool water washing away all the grime, blood, and dirt that coated his body.

When Nathan stepped out, he felt fresh and relieved, his skin neat and his body probably smelling nice. He wore his pants and was about to go to sleep in the bare bedroom before he realized that he'd been forgetting something.

My dungeon rewards.

He had been too busy running away from the collapsing dungeon at that time to really pay attention to what he'd been given. Instead, he'd chucked them into the bag of holding, running for his dear life.

Changing directions, he made his way to the receiving room—or what he was probably going to turn into his living room at some point—and sat down cross-legged, pulling out the three items. He placed them before him and analyzed them for a second time.

Stat Crystal (Grade: Minor (+1 free point))

Stat Crystals appear randomly in reward chests across all dungeons. They are an alternative source of free points.

Health Potions (Minor)

Health potions help to regain lost health. The lowest tier is the minor grade, which grants +25% health per vial consumed.

Flask

Store item for later use.

The flask's description was the funniest amongst the trio. It was also the easiest to piece together, though.

Picking up the stat crystal, he stared at it. The information given about the crystal was also straightforward. It was a really lucky find, and Nathan wouldn't take it for granted.

Right now, he just needed to find a way to utilize it, so he stared at the information on the crystal, hoping to find some clue on how to use it. But he didn't see anything.

That didn't mean he was going to give up, though. The system seemed to have a very easy-to-use interface or something like that anyway. Nathan decided to try using the stat crystal like he used his free points. Only this time, he envisioned moving the point in the stat crystal to his free point stat.

Free point: 1

A triumphant grin spread across Nathan's face at the notification informing him that he'd successfully transferred the free point. He glanced at the stat crystal, which had already started to glow. Nathan considered chucking it out the window before it dissolved into motes of light.

Poof!

Nathan stared at his palm in childlike awe. He wondered if he'd ever get used to things like that. With a half-shrug, he focused on the health potion. The 25% refill seemed valuable, as he could imagine a couple of scenarios where it could come in handy. Blood Rebellion was a nice skill to have, but it put him closer to death's door than he'd rather be. He chucked the potion into his bag of holding before moving on to the last item before him—the water flask or just the flask, as the system said.

What to do with you?

Even as the question popped up in his head, Nathan already knew the answer. Regardless of what the system claimed it was, it wasn't more than a water flask, and he'd treat it as such until such a time that he could use it for something else.

The first order of business with the flask would be quite easy to solve. Getting on his feet, he made his way to the bathroom, turning on the faucet and filling up the flask. While some would argue that it was unsanitary, Nathan couldn't care less. He was lucky enough to get fresh water instead of the salt water he'd had to drink at the shore.

He wondered how people without strongholds would survive if they were in a similar situation. Thankfully, he'd not have to find out as he currently owned one—Blood Rock. The name brought a smile to his face even as he turned off the faucet, closed the flask, and put it in his bag of holding.

He'd gone from leasing a rundown apartment downtown to having his own little cabin. Sure, it was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by creatures he couldn't identify, and had been delivered to him by a system that had brought a literal apocalypse to Earth, but yet Nathan didn't care much.

He'd develop this place as best as he could. It'd be his home. Home was a word that Nathan hadn't used in a long time, but he'd finally found a place worth the label and he'd do everything in his power to protect the place, morals be damned.

With the task with the flask done, Nathan headed to the bedroom, lying on the floor as he watched the sky from the bedroom window. Clear purple sky. He knew it was an alien sight, but still, it was beautiful, even without a moon.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring?