Pulling up the new title, he was surprised to see the description.

Progenitor of Combat: Be the first of your new planet to defeat a worthy opponent in a fight to the death. +10% effective Str, +10% effective Dex.

He was slightly frustrated at the lack of information he had, but this gave him suspicions. Was he the only one taken? He saw armor that looked like it was made for humans in the scorpion’s lair, but was it? And what did it mean by new planet?

With even more questions, he decided to check out the general skills that he had neglected to check until then.

Explorer: Higher system-generated rewards from trials sought out.

Al-----s C-o---: ???

Identify: Gives information about other creatures based on proficiency.

… Maybe he should just forget about trying to figure out the system for now.

The second skill just looked glitched. Some of it was obscured with the same blue of the system, and the description was just three question marks. Having an idea, he used his new Identify skill, but as expected nothing happened. What could he expect from a skill that called that tentacled thing a stabber. He sighed, but truthfully Devon was a little excited to see what else the system had in store for him.

Approaching the stabber he was a bit more careful. While he trusted that it was dead, he didn’t know if it was toxic or if there was some horrifying alien reproduction thing going on in there. Slicing it more with his branch, he was able to see the sparse anatomy of the creature.

Obviously, it was completely alien, but it also made no sense. There were a few tubes near the tentacles from what his poking could reveal, but no brain or intestines, just blueish black blood that was only slightly more viscous than water. The three tentacles themselves were hardier than the main body, standing up to Devon’s prodding-stick until he tried a little harder to take one of the talon things off.

The talon itself was very sharp and strong. It was about the size of his hand and was colored light grey. He didn’t test it, but he thought that it might be stronger than stone, and it came pre-serrated. He wasn’t sure if that meant it would make a good spearhead, but it at least looked cool

Devon carefully held the talon in place as he started to cut away at the skin and tendon-like tubes attaching it to the main body but startled in surprise when a system prompt came up. He had to get used to that.

Loot Juvenile Stabber? Y/N

Devon chuckled. Of course the system would allow him to loot it. He confirmed, and a singular talon landed on the ground in front of him. Devon groaned, expecting at least a little more. The corpse was gone, only a few blueish-black blood splatters remaining. Still, this was enough for what he wanted it for.

The claw was neatly severed and already cleaned, and all Devon needed now was something to attach the claw to his stick. He saw some plants near the riverbank, but approached slowly, knowing that with this world’s logic literally anything could be a monster.

Thankfully, the plants didn’t come alive and attack him, and he was able to find some relatively strong grasses that would hold the claw-thing in after he made a groove for it. In fact, everything in this world was a little stronger than his world, which he assumed was due to the influence of the system or maybe mana.

The stick he had used to kill the stabber was too small for a spear, but with a little effort he was able to find a bigger one. However, carving it was a harder task than he expected. The first end he tried he accidentally cut out a too big notch, and he had to cut some branches off of the other end and try again.

Devon did love the outdoors, but he had never been a minimalist. He never learned much about shelter or even making a fire, instead opting for a nice 90-liter backpack and a small gas stove.

However, he at least knew how to make a spear because of one weekend of boredom when he went out to the mountains. Unfortunately, he liked his modern comforts to do more than that, but now that he was dead he didn’t really blame himself for enjoying his sheltered life while it lasted.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The second wedge went much better, and he was able to secure the spearhead pretty easily. This brought to another notification blinking on the side of his vision.

Made Makeshift Spear (Common)!

Crafting +1! (1)

Devon didn’t test it apart from making sure it would stay in, but he trusted it enough to move on to the second task he wanted to do before setting out.

Mana Manipulation was an active skill, but the only issue was he had no idea how to activate it. Bravery had activated automatically, but he didn’t think the skill he was most excited about would do the same. Mana was always described as a sixth sense in games, so maybe he had to just kind of feel it?

Devon didn’t close his eyes, feeling a little too exposed, but he tried to calm himself. He didn’t expect it to be easy and to his immediate surprise he felt a heavy feeling settle around him when he focused on his surroundings.

Reaching out, he found he was able to influence the mana, and waved his hand around, feeling the “weight” change even though there was no physical weight on his hand. He tried to compress the mana with his hands, but it just slipped through his fingers. However, he saw the blinking of a notification on the side.

Mana Manipulation +1! (1)

He went back to it, trying to compress the mana again. He made some progress using just his mind but couldn’t do anything past moving it around. Devon felt a little disappointed. While he didn’t expect immediate success, he didn’t think he would get stuck this early on.

Mana Manipulation leveled two more times before he had a breakthrough. As he sat on his rock waving his hands about madly, he suddenly remembered something, cursing. The glowing crystal was still by the river, and it was surrounded by a thick cloud of mana.

Going over to it, he immediately felt a difference in his attempts to use mana. Without even focusing on it, he was able to create two balls of mana using his hands as a visual aid. Finally trying something harder, he picked up the crystal and brought it and his mana over to a tree, attempting to carve into it.

The tree pushed back at his mana. At first he was scared, but he soon realized that it was just a natural defense mechanism. Inspecting the tree, he was surprised to see that it was at Level 8, the highest thing that he had successfully identified thus far. Maybe non-sentient creatures didn’t have to kill to level?

He pushed more with his mana, now feeling a strain on his mind. A notification suddenly appeared, the scorpion icon he had created lighting up. He stopped... training to check the notification.

Your aura has dealt damage to Tree’s aura!

Title acquired! Progenitor of Aura

Apparently his “training” actually was useful for something! Obviously he had to check the title, so he did just that.

Progenitor of Aura: Be the first of your new planet to use aura. +5% effective Cu, +5% effective Int.

That gave him almost no information, but that was a-okay! Even though it was less powerful than the combat one, it was still a direct upgrade with no downsides.

He hadn’t gotten a Progenitor of Crafting title, but there probably just wasn’t one. The only other possibility was that someone else had gotten it already, and he thought it was unlikely that someone else had been transported with him.

Devon continued to attack the tree with his mana, feeling a slight give. He pushed harder, but suddenly got lightheaded. Sitting down, it felt like he had been breathing out for a long time and for a second, he was worried he would black out.

However, the feeling soon passed, and he was able to check his status to see what had changed. The first thing he noticed was his notifications on the side again, so he quickly opened those, finding a notice he had not seen before.

Mana Manipulation +1! (4)

Int +1! (Training)

Devon smiled. This was a great notification for many reasons, the most prominent being that he didn’t really need any resources to train to increase his stats. He then looked towards his status window, frowning when he realized the reason he had almost passed out.

Mana: 2/160

He poked at it a bit and was a little annoyed that he couldn’t check his mana regeneration. Maybe something he’d unlock later? Anyways, he saw it was ticking up around once every 3 seconds, so he didn’t worry too much. He sat back on the rock, enjoying a bit of peace while his mana slowly went up.

Devon

Human (100%) (+1 Free Points)

Level 4 [World Traveler]

Stats:

FP: 0

End 10 | Cu 10

Str 12 | Dex 13

Vit 12 | Int 17

Resources:

Mana: 15/160

Stamina: 150/180

Health: 76/100

Titles:

Brawler (1), Lost, Progenitor of Aura, Progenitor of Combat, Spear Master (1), Thief (3)

General Skills:

Explorer (Passive)(0), Al-----s C-o---, Identify (Active)(2)

Class Skills:

Bravery (Active)(N/A), Crafting (Passive)(1), Mana Manipulation (Active)(4)

Items:

Sneakers (+1 Dexterity)