Name: John Graham

- Rank: 1

- Department: The Hunter Division

Branch: The Patrol

- Status: Debtor of the temple

Hunter? Debtor to the temple? Is this temple a bank or some kind of organization?

"Hold on, the plate doesn't matter. How could the text suddenly change its language?"

He held the plate close to his face, flipped it, and scrutinized every detail. He noticed a small snake pattern coiled in a circular shape, biting its own tail.

It doesn't look special at all. It's just a piece of metal.

He couldn't find anything peculiar about the tag that made it special. It didn't seem to be made from special material either.

So why did it change? A magic trick?!

Wait! His eyes widened, seemingly realizing something. "This must be the reason...it gotta be."

He pulled up his interface and read: "Ability."

***

**Ability:

[Locked until reaching Rank 1]

***

Rank 1? What does that mean?

"Can you give a brief explanation?" He asked, but unfortunately, no new window appeared. " Isn't there a user catalog guide or something helpful to understand how this thing works, damnit!”

With each passing moment, his frustration grew. He didn't know what was going on nor why it was happening specifically to him. No, that's not exactly true. A certain thought surfaced in his mind that could explain his situation to some extent. The idea was so bizarre and unrealistic to the point that he didn't want to believe it due to how crazy it was. So he buried it deep down, not thinking about it again to keep his full focus and avoid distracting his mind.

I guess I'm on my own then.

Since the interface didn't provide any explanation, he could only rely on himself to slowly explore how it functioned, or find someone who could.

He paused. Is there someone else who has something like this in the first place?

He didn't know whether there were more people like him with similar abilities, but the chances of it being common were pretty slim.

If this was a common phenomenon, there would have been rumors on the internet. No matter how much the governments tried to hide something, it couldn't possibly hide something this.... ridiculous!

He sighed and massaged his temples, all this thinking brought back the headache.

What is worse, I don't have my pills with me. He clenched his teeth, enduring the pain, and brought his attention back to his interface.

Since the ability section is locked, that means it's not the reason for the text change. That just leaves the next section.

"Skills." He called.

***

**Skills:

- Language Adaptation

***

"Language adaptation? Is that what caused the strange writing on the tag to change?"

He mentally thought of an explanation for the skill, but nothing new came up.

Figured. He sighed, already anticipating the result. From the look of the name and what it did to the text on the tag, I can guess its effects to some extent. It changes any language to one I'm familiar with, in this case it changed from whatever that language was to English.

Things started to get weird. Seeing a hologram was strange, but still acceptable to a certain extent, but changing a text into another language was a bit too much. He couldn't just accept it, as this phenomenon was more supernatural in nature.

With this kind of skill effect, there are only three possibilities that can explain what is happening to me.

Eric wasn't sure, but he wanted to get a better understanding of the interface, so he divided the cause of this strange phenomenon into three theories.

First, there is a chip in my head that is showing me these things. This wasn't exactly great news, if anything, it only filled him with dread. Who planted the chip in him? Did he get experimented on while unconscious? Countless questions emerged from his mind, only for him to bury them. This was only a possibility, not a certain thing, but it made him stand on his toes.

The second option is that this interface is a supernatural thing.

Even though he believed in some supernatural stuff, they were only limited to ghosts and not to absurd video game interfaces. But he could still accept it as it was much better than being someone's experiment subject.

The last option and the least likely one is that I'm in.... He shook his head to get rid of the ridiculous idea he just thought about.

"I can't afford to be distracted, not in this dangerous forest. So don't think about it and focus on what to do now instead of what already happened."

Eric breathed in and out to calm his pounding heart that threatened to burst out of his chest if he kept overthinking about depressing thoughts.

"Let's see what's next on the list... Oh, inventory!"

A window appeared, dominated by an almost empty grid of icon slots. There were five spaces down and ten across, for a total of fifty.

“Can I put stuff in here?”

He raised the dagger in his hand and tried putting it into the inventory. His first attempt was just shoving it into the screen, which surprisingly worked. It vanished from his hands and reappeared as an icon.

"Can I take it back, though?"

He stretched his arm and plucked the icon straight out of the screen. The icon vanished, and the dagger appeared magically in his hand.

“The whole situation looks more and more like a video game.”

Now he was pulling objects out of thin air. He scratched the chip option of being planted in his head out of the realm of possibilities as such a thing was impossible. This would leave two options.

Either a supernatural power or, ....the other option.

"Now with everything mostly figured out, I should probably keep moving." He looked up at the sun, which was still high in the middle. " It would be dangerous if night arrived and I'm still inside this forest."

He closed the inventory and looked left and right, still trying to figure out which path he should take.

But before that…

He looked at his feet where he only had socks, before glancing at the man's corpse beside him.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Sorry buddy, but I need them more than you do." He took the boots off the corpse and wore them. They were quite tight, but not to the point of bothering him too much. He couldn't exactly ask for a size change at the moment.

"Thanks for the shoes. Sorry, I can't give you a proper burial..." He paused. " But perhaps I can take you with me!"

Let's see... he paused and looked thoughtful.

"Do I have to carry it and shove it in the inventory? No, not necessarily, the interference works on command as well. "

He put his hand on the body and thought of moving it to the inventory, which it immediately did. the corpse disappeared from his vision. He pulled his interface and took a look at his inventory.

"Would you look at that, it worked." One of the icons showed a picture of a man's body that had just vanished.

"Things started to feel more like a game. It Couldn't be that I'm inside some kind of simulation?" He speculated.

He then sighed and shook his head trying to clear it from the distracting thought, but couldn't fully control himself from coming up with realistic theories from time to time while suppressing one particular idea.

"All set, I should get going." He picked a random direction and started walking, but not before picking up the squirrel corpse and putting it in his inventory. " It may come in handy. who knows, maybe a mad scientist would pay a heavy price for it!" He mused.

***

"Just die, you little bastard!" Eric cursed as he held up another 'corrupted' squirrel, stabbing it repeatedly in the gut. The little bastard, as he called it, was quite resilient, even with multiple stab wounds in its body, it was still alive and kicking as it kept struggling to free itself from Eric's clutch.

How could it be still alive with a hole in its gut?

Eric couldn't understand how such a thing was possible, and could only speculate. Maybe whatever disease it was suffering from, increased its vitality and made it quite resilient. But even if it became ten times more resilient, there were still some vital points he could target. Eric lifted the dagger and stabbed the creature in the neck. Blood spurted out, and with a final squeeze, the squirrel's lifeless body fell limply to the ground.

"Why do these creatures keep coming after me?" He muttered, shaking his head.

I have never seen them fight each other before. Do they only attack humans, or is there something special that attracts them and makes them attack me? This was the fifth creature to attack him in the last hour, so he was naturally curious how they found him.

He wiped off the blood on his face and looked at the system messages he had missed during the battle.

You have killed [Squirrel, Level 1]. (corrupted)

You killed [Squirrel, Level 1]. (corrupted)

[Level Up].

These windows appeared every time he killed one of these creatures. It didn't contain much information other than what kind of monster he killed and its level, but as he continued to read, he noticed something different this time: there was an additional message besides the usual ones.

"Level up," he whispered.

As if he knew exactly what that term meant, he quickly pulled up his interface sheet to assess his updated stats.

"Sure, it changed!"

He looked at his stats and noticed that each of them had increased by a single point. He also got two free stat points, which he could distribute to any attribute he wanted.

Does this happen every time I level up?!

"I wonder what the level limit is, it couldn't be unlimited, right?"

According to the updated statistics, leveling up had brought him a modest improvement but he couldn't feel any immediate difference. He didn't know if his physical condition had changed since the increase was only slight. Still, it was a welcome accomplishment that brought a smile to his face, whether it was real or not.

While he was distracted by checking his interface, a sudden rustle in the bush was preceded by a furry creature leaping out of it and attacking. Startled, Eric didn't have time to dodge and could only minimize the damage. Raising his arm, he used it as a shield to block the creature's bite.

He felt like he was stabbed by a small knife as the creature's teeth sank into his skin. Fortunately, the area where it bit was his elbow, preventing the teeth from going any deeper after hitting the bone. Without wasting a second, Eric grabbed the creature's long tail and yanked it violently from his arm. A guttural grunt escaped his mouth as he felt a chunk of his flesh ripped away, but he maintained his grip.

He slammed it to the ground. The creature, stunned but not unconscious, struggled to regain its footing, its paws moving frantically.

Unconcerned by its cries and futile struggle, Eric lifted the dagger and shoved it into the creature's vulnerable neck. Black blood spurted as the dagger pierced it, making the creature let out a high-pitched scream. A few Moments later, the cries subsided as the creature's life force drained away, and it lay lifelessly on the ground.

You have killed [Level 1 Raccoon]. (Corrupted)

Eric sat down on the ground and took slow, deliberate breaths, adrenaline still coursing through his vines. After he calmed down, he thought of what just happened and realized his mistake.

Careless.

He let his guard down while checking his interface, which was a fatal mistake that could have cost him his life if it was a stronger monster who attacked instead. It was a very dangerous and careless mistake on his part.

I should be more careful. I won't make the same mistake again.

Luckily, he hadn't suffered any serious injuries that would have rendered him immobile, otherwise, he would have been in big trouble. He shuddered at the thought of the horrible fate that would await him if that had happened - being eaten alive.

Examining the wound on his elbow, he noticed a bite mark with a chunk of flesh missing. Blood dripped on the ground. He winced as he touched the wound.

"I hope that raccoon didn't carry any diseases or I might get an infection." He shook his head and managed a slight smile. Who was he kidding? What kind of animal feasting on human flesh could be considered healthy? Besides, the window had already confirmed that it was corrupted. And even though he still didn't understand its full meaning, he was sure that it wasn't a sign of good health.

He used his shirt to carefully wipe away the blood from the wound on his elbow, but it was still bleeding. He took the aid kit from the inventory and tended his wound. Only a few bandages were left, which made him entertain the idea of going back to the place where he woke up, but he quickly dismissed such thoughts. Aside from the wolf pack that might still be there, just the thought of accidentally meeting that monster bear made him shudder. It was too dangerous and unnecessary to return, he just had to be more careful and avoid being injured.

After bandaging his wounds, he looked at the interface, hesitating for a moment before he added the two free points to his vitality. He was hurt and his injuries would take a long time to heal if he stayed alive long enough for it to happen. But if he increased his vitality, it might speed up the healing process. Even though he was still speculating about the system's credibility, he had no other choice but to take a leap of faith. Besides, there was nothing to lose.

"Well, time to go," Eric muttered, feeling sufficiently rested. He dismissed the status screen, picked up his dagger, and rose to his feet. After brushing the dust off his pants, he picked a random direction and started walking. This time he was careful not to walk too close to the bushes, making sure not to repeat the same mistake.

***

Eric cut down the large leaves that obstructed him. There wasn't a clear path without something blocking the way, so it was up to him to pave it.

It must have been at least 2 hours since I entered the forest.

During this time, he was attacked several times by various creatures. Squirrels, raccoons, rats... But they were all level 1, so they didn't pose much of a threat to him.

After scolding himself for letting his guard down the first time, he didn't repeat the same mistake and managed to kill everything that attacked him without suffering any injuries.

While killing those creatures, he noticed something strange.

My level hasn't increased at all.

Since reaching level 1, he hadn't gained a single level, even though he killed three times as many creatures as he needed to go from level 0 to level 1.

Either the number of creatures you need to kill increases tremendously every time you level up, or it's no longer effective to kill creatures that have the same level as you. According to his guess, if he wanted to level up, he would need to hunt creatures that were higher level than him.

I wonder if these monsters can level up as well.

He was tempted to capture a squirrel and help it kill other creatures to test his theory, but he knew that this was neither the time nor the place to experiment. He could test whatever he wanted once he got out of here.

If they could increase their strength by consuming other creatures, then this jungle must be filled with strong monsters. Such thoughts made him alert as he became more cautious while dealing with the monsters he came across. He tried to end the battle as fast as possible while making as little noise as possible. He didn't want to deal with a monster similar to that bear, as he wasn't confident to survive a second encounter.

While wondering how high the monster bear's level was, Eric's train of thought was interrupted when he heard noises. He stopped his steps and surveyed his surroundings with vigilance. the grip on the dagger tightened and his ears perked as he tried to follow the sound and locate its source.

That sound... Water?

As he focused on the sound, he managed to hear a loud sound of water splashing.

A waterfall?!

He took slow steps towards the sound while keeping an eye on his surroundings.

If I follow the river, I might meet someone... Alive.

Dangerous monsters might be there as well, like the one he met. It was a risky gamble, but he couldn't overlook the fact that a river might allow him to meet someone.

As they say, where there's water, there's life. If I can follow the river, I'm sure I'll meet someone eventually.

After five minutes of careful walking, the sound of running water became louder and clearer, before he finally caught a glimpse of a wide river with a strong current.

Eric quickened his pace when he spotted the river as he was thirsty. Just as he was about to reach it, he heard rapid footsteps coming from his left. Alarmed, his head snapped aside, and the first thing he saw out of the corner of his eye was a large mouth full of sharp teeth, ready to bite.

"Damn!"

Eric jumped forward, narrowly avoiding the open maw that could have ended his life. He rolled over the ground, heart pounded. Knowing this wasn't the time for useless thoughts, he scrambled back to his feet, finally getting a full look at the creature that attacked him.

It was a furless wolf-like carnivore that had six legs, a lean, powerful torso, and four eyes.

What the hell is this thing?

He never imagined that such a creature existed.

"An alien?"

A new message appeared above its head.

[ViperWolf- lvl 9]