Author's note: To readers who have either downloaded this story as an .epub or similar; or read this on other sites, I urge you to go read this story on RoyalRoad instead! It has better formatting and it gives me dopamine numbers. Thank you and enjoy the read:)
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Late at night in a small apartment
That was too much reading… Why do I always read until I almost pass out? Boredom is a bitch. I'll just go to bed.
After closing the book and leaving it on the table, Liam decided to go to bed. “It’s been 2 hours… Why haven’t I fallen asleep yet?!” he wailed. That's one of his problems when he's addicted to something.
Oh well, I guess I’m just going to play something on my phone. But I don’t have any new games at all! Every game I play gets boring after 20 minutes.
After browsing around a certain online arcade game site, he found something.
Is this the new popular genre? What is it called, a clicker game I think? Seems boring. I’ll just play this to bore myself to sleep…
It was indeed boring. He fell asleep after an hour of playing the game.
The next day
Huh?! Why is it so bright… wait what time is it?! Oh nouu, my boss is going to kill me! I’ve not even been there for a week!
He rushed to get up from his bed, only to realise there was no bed to begin with.
… What? Why am I in a field? I just paid the rent though?! Even if I forgot to, isn’t this just too cruel?! Forget it, what time is it?
After checking for his belongings, he quickly discovered that he was left in this field all by himself.
Damn, of course I don’t have my phone with me. I always charge it before I go to sleep. Luckily I still have my trusty watch with me. But seriously, where is this? I can’t see a city anywhere on the horizon. Have I been kidnapped?!
He quickly checks his body and is relieved to see none of his organs have been harvested.
If I have not been kidnapped, then who the hell brought me here? Even though I consider myself a heavy sleeper, ther is no way I wouldn’t wake up from being moved here. From the looks of it, I’m also hours away from any city. Should I have a look around?
After looking around, he found a large river running downhill.
I’m in the mountains? Who the hell brought me this far? I think I should follow the river, though. There must be civilization near the water!
Several hours after following the river down, his stomach began to grumble.
That heavy dinner last time was worth it. I could probably go without food until dinner tonight. But I should prepare myself.
Although Liam has no experience living in the wild, he's picked up a few nifty tricks from his reading addiction.
I should have read more educational and scientific books… Reading web novels all day hasn't been good for my health… Anyway, I’m going to try and find some fruit that's has been eaten by animals. Chances are high that they are not poisonous. Hopefully I will be lucky and not find any poisonous eaten fruit. I’ll beat whatever animal that was in hell!
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Minutes later, he found a bush full of red berries.
Berries! Let's have some - wait, what's that rabbit doing there? Why isn’t it moving? Is it dead? I should poke it for a bit. Or should I catch it? No, that won’t do. I don’t have anything to catch it with... Wait, I have hands…
Slowly approaching the sleeping rabbit, Liam quickly aimed for its neck, hoping to suffocate it.
Hehe, you won’t see it coming! You’re dinner!
Haap! Liam now had the rabbit in a chokehold. Unfortunately, the rabbit was already dead.
Oh wow, it’s really dead. Hmm, what’s the cause? It can’t be of old age. It looks like a young rabbit from its size… Oh! Why is its mouth red? It can’t be right? Is the red berry poisonous or is it the rabbit’s blood? Either way, it doesn’t look good.
He put down the dead rabbit and picked a red berry from a nearby bush. Then he found a sharp stone to cut the berries in half.
Okay, last test. I’m going to put some on my arm and wait. I’m going to rest here until I get a reaction from my skin.
Seconds after he spread the red belly’s insides on his arm, there was a reaction.
You’ve received an effect: Minor Poisoning
-1 Health
OUCH! OUCH! THAT BURNS!!
-1 Health
Assaulted by pain, he doesn't even have a chance to think. He quickly runs to the edge of the riverbed and washes the poisonous jam away.
-1 Health
FUCK! To think that it would hurt so much! The reaction happened so fast too! Did I just stumble across the most poisonous berry or something?! Thank goodness there’s a flowing, clean river nearby! I probably would have died if I hadn't washed this forbidden jam right away! As he was washing his hands, a notification appeared before his eyes.
You’ve lost an effect: Minor Poisoning
He had missed these notifications earlier when he was crying in pain.
Caught off guard. He jumped back from the edge of the riverbed.
Huh? What is this? Have I finally lost it? That damn red berry. It tried to murder me and now it’s giving me schizophrenia?!
Looking at the interface in front of him, Liam's eyes were dead. He is seriously considering turning himself in to a mental hospital when all of this is over. But after it automatically disappeared, he remembered all the web novels he had read before!
Hang on… Wasn’t that a system? I’m not into system novels though. But why did my alleged newly developed schizophrenia take the form of a system? Well, no harm in trying. System! Are you there!
Good day, Liam Whitman
Ugh, that last name of mine… I was always called racist just because of my last name! I’m kinda used to it by now, though. But I digress… is what I’m seeing correct? and not just schizophrenia? From what I’ve heard, schizophrenia demons tend to be less cooperative than this though? Alright then, if you’re really not a schizophrenia voice, let’s try this. Status!
[ Status ]
Name: Liam Whitman
Lvl: 3
HP: 62/100
Mana: 3/100
Energy: 24/50
Exp: 35/100
Gold: 0
[ Attributes ]
Strength: 8
Agility: 7
Vitality: 7
Intelligence: 13
[ Inventory ] [ Skills ] [ Quests ]