Rain stared at the glowing words in front of him. He had reached level one faster than expected, but that wasn't necessarily good. From Iraven's explanation, it would have been better to delay reaching level one to increase his base stats as much as possible. But now, that was impossible. There was no point in mulling over it—it was done.

Rain thought about seeing his attributes and the glowing words before him dissolve and slowly reform to show his status.

Name: Rain Forrest

Race: Anurasapien

Current stat limit: 1/25

Strength: 5

Agility: 12

Dexterity: 11

Constitution: 4

Intelligence: 15

Willpower: 14

Charisma: 2

Skills: N/A

Talents: Sewing 2, Cleaning 5, Cooking 3, Tenacity 3, Pain tolerance 4

Blessing: Minor Blessing of Kyma

Rain stared at the status screen in front of him. Everything seemed right for the most part. He expected high agility and dexterity, but the fifteen intelligence caught him off guard. He hardly went to a proper school, and most of what he knew came from doing research on his aunt's computer while she was away. However, what irritated him the most was his incredibly low charisma. Sure, he never got out much, but a score of two seemed a little too low.

There also didn't seem to be a way to increase charisma in this place. His talents made sense; they reflected what he did in his past life. However, tenacity and pain tolerance were unexpected but not unwelcome additions to his talent list.

The rune of dexterity obviously came from the owl thing he had just eaten but he was most curious about what the Blessing he got from Goddess Kyma did, just as the thought passed through his mind the screen rearranged being replaced with information on his blessing.

"Minor Blessing of Kyma: Grants the holder the ability to create and manipulate a small amount of water, with the amount increasing as the blessing's level increases."

Rain looked blankly at the information provided to him, this was useful, and if he could control it the way he thought he could it was beyond just useful.

Rain lifted his palm and imagined what it would be like to create water. Energy surged through his body, and a stream of water flowed from his hand, about the length of his sword blade. He focused on the water, making it rigid. Aiming his palm at a tree, he thought about firing it, but the water fell to the ground instead. His blessing wasn't strong enough yet. However, Rain had another idea.

Rain projected the water around the blade of his sword and made it spin. He focused on making it faster, forming a vortex around the blade. The point of the vortex was at the tip of the sword, turning it into a spear of water. He stabbed it into a tree, puncturing a large hole through the trunk. After the water dissipated, Rain felt like he had just run a marathon; he was heaving for air. The power came at a cost, but it was still useful.

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Rain fell to the ground to catch his breath, the wound across his side aching slightly. It finally set in that he was really here; this wasn't just some strange dream—he had really died. Rain wasn't sad about it, though. There was nothing for him on Earth. Now, he had an actual goal, a purpose. But before he could start worrying about that, he needed to find a way out of this strange, artificial forest.

Rain stood up and grabbed the small creature he had hunted. He began skinning the monster, saving its pelt for something he might need soon. He picked up the remains of the animal and gathered some sticks from the ground. Placing the sticks in a pile, he created a small disk of water and angled it above the sticks. Using the sunlight shining through the lens, he managed to ignite the pile of sticks after some time. Rain got back up, grabbed the sticks he needed to make a spit, and cut the monster's body into usable chunks, making sure to declaw the creature.

Rain placed some meat onto the spit to let it roast. He might be a weird frog thing now, but there was no reason to eat raw food if he didn't have to. While waiting for the meat to roast, he began stitching using the monster's claw as a rudimentary sewing needle. He turned the fluffy monster's pelt into a shoulder bag and used the leftover pelt to make a water pouch.

While the meat continued to roast, the smell wafted through the forest, attracting the attention of many creatures. However, the less intelligent creatures stayed away. This was intentional; Rain wanted to attract more intelligent monsters and try to gain information from them in exchange for food.

Rain waited for some time, then removed the meat from the spit and placed the extra pieces in his bag, loading more meat onto the spit. As he did this, a being began to approach him. Rain locked eyes with the creature, holding his sword at the ready. The creature stood easily above six feet, looking mostly human but with animal ears, paws instead of hands and feet, and a long, striped orange tail. It resembled a humanized tiger. The Tiger-man approached with his hands raised, but Rain's focus was on the bo-staff affixed to his back.

Rain slowly placed his sword back on the ground, his hand still raised slightly above it. He motioned for the tiger-man to sit, and the tiger complied. Rain offered him some meat from his bag before finally breaking the tension in the air. "What is your name?" Rain asked, apprehension clear in his voice.

The tiger-man grabbed the meat from Rain and spoke, "Rajan of the Emberclaw tribe. Your name?"

Rajan apprehensively licked the piece of roast and then stuck the entire piece in his mouth. Rain spoke up, "It's Rain. I was born in this place."

Rajan seemed taken aback by Rain's words and spoke. "A member of the proud Frogmen born into bondage? That's humorous, though most of those battle maniacs would slit their own throats rather than serve a master."

Rajan locked eyes with Rain. "It is unfortunate that you weren't born among your people, but I can sense your Frogman pride boiling within you. You will make it out of this place, unlike me, cursed to walk this man-made forest for the rest of my natural life."

Rain looked up at Rajan, and a smile crept across his face. It had been a while since he had heard encouraging words from anyone, and it felt good. "Thank you, Rajan. I'm glad someone believes in me." Rain pulled the next batch of meat from the spit. "Why are you stuck here anyway, Rajan? You seem strong enough to escape just fine."

Rajan's expression turned sour before he spoke. "It's a pitiful story, honestly." A smile returned to Rajan's face. "I am a Pantera warrior of the powerful Emberclaw tribe. I left my homeland to build strength as a warrior for hire. I took a job to slay a powerful magician slaver, and when I arrived to kill the man, I was beaten senseless and magically bound to wander his coliseum trials."

Rajan removed the Bo staff from his back. "Now I've been wandering around looking for a worthy student in this place."

Rain's expression brightened as he spoke. "Why not teach me? I need a formal weapon teacher instead of just swinging this thing around wildly, and I've never really liked swords anyway."

Rajan let out a booming laugh. "Me? Teach a Frogman, why not? Once you reach level five, come find me, young one. I'll teach you well." Rajan took the bo staff and snapped it cleanly in half, handing Rain one of the pieces. "Use this while you grow. I would prefer a student with some experience."

Rain took his half of the staff and gave Rajan a polite nod, offering him a handful of roast meat before watching him disappear back into the forest.