After completing the quest, Ayren immediately felt slight muscle soreness all over his body, which quickly subsided.

"Good thing I made it," Ayren said as he retrieved the spear along with the fish from the river.

"I have less than twenty minutes left," Ayren contemplated how best to use the time he had left.

"Not much left until the next level," Ayren noted.

Ayren decided to try catching more fish to level up, which seemed more promising to him than relying on luck to find something valuable.

"Damn fish," Ayren commented on his latest miss.

Throughout the hunting session, Ayren noticed that among the fish, there were some individuals that were much faster than the rest. When they noticed Ayren, they would cover the distance of several dozen meters in just a few seconds and disappear from sight.

Although such unusual individuals were rare, after encountering them, Ayren could go almost several dozen minutes without finding anyone else, as if they warned the other fish in the area.

This time, when Ayren encountered one of these specimens again, he decided not to search for other prey here and quickly changed the hunting area.

"I have a few minutes left," Ayren arrived at another spot on the river.

This spot was slightly deeper than the ones Ayren had hunted in before, but not so much as to spoil the hunting. He quickly began hunting.

As soon as he saw a silhouette resembling a fish in the water, he without hesitation threw the spear at the dark silhouette on the water.

[Caught a fish, gained 4 experiences.]

[Gained 3 skill points for "Spear Mastery" and 0.3 experience.]

[Reached the experience limit, level increased to 2.]

[Gained 3 characteristic points.]

[Outdoor stay time increased by 1 hour.]

After the notifications that appeared before his eyes, Ayren approached and retrieved the spear along with the fish. He was glad he hadn't made a mistake and continued his hunting. He already had enough food for at least a week, and adding an hour to his outdoor stay was very beneficial.

He had no desire to continue hunting, so Ayren decided to set up a small camp and cook himself some food. On his way back to the spot he noticed earlier, he gathered some firewood for the campfire.

Starting the fire didn't take much time, nor did preparing the fish for roasting. Ayren already had similar experience from the times when all the kids and caretakers from the orphanage would go camping a couple of times a year.

"Things are getting better and better for me, but how much longer do I have to stay in this forest?" Ayren pondered while frying the fish.

"Are there people in this world?" Ayren asked.

"How am I supposed to reach them if they are not nearby?" Ayren was less concerned now, but a new question arose: what should he do? And how would he get to civilization?

"Although the nearest human settlement is not close, once you reach the minimum level of strength to survive the journey to it, I will tell you the direction you need to go," the voice replied.

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"What level of strength exactly should I have? Is it level 25 as you mentioned earlier?" Ayren continued to ask questions.

"As soon as you reach the required level, I will inform you," the voice replied.

Ayren realized he wouldn't get any more information, so he simply decided to finish preparing his meal. After that, if he had time left, he would go gather materials for crafting, and if he was lucky, he might find something valuable.

After finishing lunch and using the remaining time to gather various materials, Ayren waited for when he would return to his pocket world again. In the meantime, he pondered what he should do next time: choose another quest or perhaps improve his camp.

[Before the forced return

3…

2…

1….]

Upon returning, Ayren decided to focus on improving his crafting skill. He had not much experience left before reaching the limit of the first level. He postponed practicing alchemy as lying down for several days had tired him a bit, and he wanted to expand his horizons, so he was conserving valuable materials.

[Created "Stone Spear"

Quality level: Average trash

Type: Tool/Weapon

Characteristics: 2 damage.]

[Gained 5 skill points in Crafting and 0.5 experience.]

[Learnt better crafting methods.]

[Condition for skill improvement "Crafting" increased to level 2.]

"Everything seems to be getting better and better," Ayren commented on his newly created invention.

"Now I need 50 experience to level up, and that's quite a bit," Ayren realized that it would become increasingly challenging with each level.

After successfully leveling up his skill, Ayren decided to pass the time by sleeping since there was nothing else to do.

[Are you sure you want to exit the pocket world?]

[Yes / No]

Confirming silently, Ayren immediately opened the quest tab once he stepped out and chose one that suited his plans.

[New quest Goal: Find 35 spiritual herbs

Reward: 1 intelligence attribute

Time: 24 hours

Penalty for failure: None

Accept?

Yes/No?]

"I'm sure it used to be 30 herbs required for this quest," Ayren frowned slightly but still accepted the quest, confident that he could complete it.

Starting his search, Ayren quickly found several herbs that counted towards his goal, and he ventured further and further away from his improvised camp.

[Warning: You are on the border of the safety zone. Please return.]

"So, this is where the monster's territory ends," Ayren planned to explore the area to know his surroundings and avoid encountering the owner of the so-called safety zone.

"Time to head back," Ayren had no intention of leaving this territory to avoid encountering other creatures.

"Hm, what's this?" Ayren noticed something near the bushes.

It was a small creature, resembling an elongated rat with brown fur. Its appearance didn't trigger any alarm in Ayren; instead, he felt it would be perfect prey for him.

"Haha, lucky me," Ayren rejoiced.

He quickly retrieved a spear from his inventory and aimed it at the small creature. The spear flew swiftly towards the target but missed because the brown creature wasn't in its place. Just as Ayren thought he wouldn't be able to catch the creature, he noticed that instead of fleeing, the small animal was quickly approaching him.

"What?" was all Ayren managed to utter as the creature drew closer.

Instinctively grabbing another spear from his inventory, Ayren swung it, but the creature easily dodged and inflicted a serious wound on Ayren’s leg with its claws.

"Damn it," Ayren aimed his spear at the creature again.

This time, the creature didn't manage to dodge entirely, but the damage Ayren inflicted on it was so insignificant that all he achieved was grazing a few hairs on its fur.

"Lucky me indeed," Ayren commented on his earlier phrase.

Attempting another attack with his spear, Ayren noticed that the wound on his leg didn't stop bleeding, and he was losing more and more blood. Quickly analyzing the situation, Ayren realized that he needed to retreat and quickly stop the bleeding. However, the creature wasn't willing to let Ayren go so easily and launched another series of attacks. This time, Ayren was prepared and started to counterattack while simultaneously moving backward from where he came, hoping the creature wouldn't pursue him.

"Gah," Ayren couldn't block all the attacks and received a couple of hits, though not as serious as the first one.

Making an effort, Ayren pushed the creature back a few meters with his spear and quickly ran backward despite the pain in his leg.

[Received 4 points of experience in the "Spear Mastery" skill and 0.4 experience.]

"Phew," Ayren sighed with relief when he realized the creature wasn't chasing him anymore.

"Darn it, I need to stop the bleeding," Ayren tore off a piece of his shirt and made an improvised bandage.

"I better head back to the river," Ayren muttered, hobbling back.