Gothra took out her goblin meat for a very bad idea she actually wants to go through with, and then paused midway through.

"What's this? Hesitating? Fufufu..."

"No, no. Ummm, it's, well... how do I get the fire? Or well, how do I cook this?"

Oh... that.

"Actually, what even are the cooking mechanics for this game?" I asked, turning to Ciraphim whose always just floating at my side.

"Some fundamentals may or may not have corresponding skills, but for the most part, it is based on the player's actual skill."

"Well, shoot. I always order, or have The System prepare it for me... Aha! I can actually summon Bereo in a physical form!"

Bereo turned towards her and responded, "I am afraid my capabilities are limited in this game, specially when it comes to my reflexes and accuracy, otherwise I would have an even better version of the user Fira Dragonir's Unique Skills."

"So it's something we should do ourselves? Got it.

"Yes..."

"But how do we even start cooking without fire?" This time the question was directed at me, like I actually know how to cook. Well, I can fry shit, and I have one soup that I can make, as well as rice... Enough to survive in modern pre-system earth, but definitely not in the wilderness!

"Hmm, well... does this game have like mechanics for starting fire with branches?" I paseed the question off again to Ciraphim

"That information cannot be shared as of this moment."

Ah, of course.

In response to this, Gothra got up and picked up her mace. "Well, nothing more to it. I give up. Let's just kill more monsters and finish up those quests before we go go back to the village!"

"Alright," I said, following her.

We moved through the forest with no particular destination in mind, just exploring. There wereplenty of goblins around for some reason, and then there were also the classic wolves.

We had no trouble with the goblins, specially as we kept getting stronger and stronger.

The wolves proved more of a challenge as they were faster and a lot more coordinated, employing strategies that went beyond just rushing head on.

One such pack split up, so we had Bereo pin down the three coming from the right with his gunfire.

I, on the other hand, met the two rushing in from the front.

Smash! Bam! Smash!

One wolf I sent flying over to the side, while the other I kicked away before smashing it down to the ground.

The first wolf then rushed at me again, so I took the opportunity to sweep aside the second one as I faced my newly rejuvenated enemy.

Smash! Smash!

That one wolf died, while the other one actually ignored me and went for Bereo. Must be because of the aggro.

Actually, now that I think about it, are we encountering so many monsters because...?

Nah, that'd be...

Hmmm...

As I came to some realizations, I attacked the remaining wolf from the back as it caught up to Bereo and actually managed to get one attack in.

Smash!

Consider it a final gift before you succumb.

Gothra for her part opted to allow the two wolves coming from the left to go towards Bereo. The moment they went to attack him is when she smashed one away, then also attacked the other. This briefly turned their attention towards her, which she answered by... running away. Because of the constant gunfire, their attention was easily steered towards Bereo again, and that's when she'd attack once more.

It was a nice loop, but it'd take too long so I helped her out.

"Oh my, what a hero," she said with a chuckle.

"I'm carrying you, right?"

"Yep! Though I've spent all my stat points for now actually, but I'll stop eventually."

After making some small chatter, we went and finished off the rest of the wolves. Which wasn't that difficult as Bereo's gun load was focused on them. That knockback is broken, I tell you.

We also came across other monsters, like a wild boar of about 4 meters tall. Its fur was brown colored, and its eyes shone an eerie red. A very typical boar.

"ROOOOAAAHHHH!!!" It roared as it charged forward, straight towards me. I easily leapt out of the way then struck its side with my hammer, sending it tumbling into the ground.

Trtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrt!!!

Gothra quickly took this opportunity to command Bereo to commence his attack while she herself jumps into battle!

However, the boar is not giving up! It's not completely suppressed by the gunfire and can still move around. It charged forward right into Bereo!

But Bereo's stats are that of tank, he survived the hit easily! This gave Gothra the opportunity to jump on its back and pummel the creature.

CRASH! CRASH! SPLAT!

Blood flies everywhere as the boar tries to throw Gothra off its back! Bereo tries to hold him down, but his strength is not enough!

However, I come just in time and smashed my hammer down on the boar's head!

THUMP!

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Its HP is hanging only by a thread. 10% at most!

"ORAH ORAH ORAH!!" Gothra took this opportunity to hasten her pace and focus all her smashes into the boar's head, crushing it until it exploded like a watermelon!

SPLAT!

And the boar's dead. We received a system notification that we were already at level 6. Things were going great.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Gothra once again laughed like a maniac, bathing in the blood that she could've very easily avoided with a few commands.

"You never get tired of that, do you?"

"Nope!" She said shamelessly.

Ah, well, as long as she's happy.

"What about this boar though?" I asked, "I have my reservations about goblin meat, but this is making my mouth water."

"Hmm... Well, I was thinking of buying some fire spells so we can get to roasting our prey."

"Well, it'd be a nice investment, but I wanna try doing camping stuff. I bet there's some wilderness skill or something. It'd be even easier once we get some proficiency."

"Ohh, yeah. My damage increased since I got my [Mace User] Skill. Maybe starting fires would become easier next time."

"Eh? Wait, you already got a skill like that?"

"Yeah. Haven't you gotten one for your weapon yet?"

"No..."

"Hahahaha! Pathetic!"

"Grrr... but why!? We both have bonus proficiency!"

"That's just the gap between you and me! Gahahahahaha!" Gothra laughed, "But well, it's probably because I've used my mace a lot more."

"Eh? We started at the same time-- oh wait, I get it. You've attacked far more times. You progressed faster because you're weaker than me, then. It is hard to climb when you're already high up."

"It's more like the pompous prince versus the hardworking commoner. We all know how that ends."

"The prince wins in real life."

"Gah! Well, with the system--"

"Everyone wins if you're bringing that up! I meant like in light novels and shit, fiction. where there are actual stakes. Unlike in our world. Which is a good thing of course."

"Hmmmmm, yeah it definitely it is!"

"Uuuhh, duh. Why would you even hesitat there...?"

"Don't worry about it! Anyway, the audience will still root for my hardworking self."

"I walk the lonely road of strength."

"Oooohhh wow," she said sarcastically, "Maybe take out that last part and I'd believe it, hahaha!"

"Ouch! Low blow! Critical hit!"

"Hehehe. So we doing the camping thing or what? I've never done it, actually."

"Oh, I haven't either. Not in real life at least. But I've done it in games. With a proficiency based system like this, and a semi-realistic setting, we should be able to start a fire by rubbing some sticks together."

"Oooohhh, I'm great at rubbing things!"

...

I'm gonna ignore that...

"You are too, don't lie! You like to rub sticks!"

Nope, don't take the bait me. Keep quiet, calm like a monk. A monk...

We then sat down and collected some dry wood, and began rubbing the sticks together.

"You sure this will work?" Gothra asked on minute 1...

"Nope."

"Ehhh???"

"But well that's where the adventure is, right?"

"Tsk, I like those words so alright!"

We kept rubbing the sticks until spontaneously, there was a spark and the sticks were set on fire!

< The [Camping] skill has been acquired! >

< The [Wilderness] skill has been acquired! >

< The [Survival] skill has been acquired! >

"I did it!" Shouted Gothra. We managed to light a fire at almost the same time.

We started roasting the boar while sitting under the shade of a tall tree. We were in the middle of a forest, so there were plenty of these around.

"It's almost sunset..." I observed.

"Yeah, what do you wanna do? I was thinking of just keeping on grinding."

"Yeah, me too. I'll join you."

"Alright! Honestly, I think our builds are already too OP for the starter area. Must be because of our unique skills."

"Yeah. Though doesn't everyone have one?"

"Well yeah, but I doubt many got these many permanent stat boosters. We've been very good kids. The System is santa!"

"Hahaha! We barely do anything though, we just laze around..."

"Hey, speak for yourself! But yes, you're right. I also just kinda laze around and let the system do everything. I mean we got free money too, and I never really lived through a time when that wasn't a case. Kinda. So I don't really have any experience with it other than maybe in games."

"Oh, you were born post-system?"

"Yeah... not that I long for the prior days or anything."

"Well, yeah. There's nothing to long for. It was all... so hard."

"Hehe, yeah. I know. Games like this didn't exist either."

"Oh, no. Full VR is only possible because of The System."

"Hahaha. All hail The System! Do we get another unique skill now?"

"I wish... but let's just enjoy what we got."

"Yeah..."

We stared at the roasting boar...

"Wait, shouldn't we have skinned it first?" I asked. "It's literally on fire..."

Yes, the entire boar was on fire. We just surrounded it with multiple campfires because we didn't have anything to hold it up. It was so big.

Crackle, crackle!

Its fur caught fire, and then even the meat. The fire had grown so big, it produced a large smoke cloud above, and its light illuminated a very large area...

"Eh!? I thought you knew what you were doing!!" Gothra pointed at me, "How would we even skin it when we don't have blades?"

"Oh... don't we have any drops from the goblins?"

"Ah, yeah! I think I got some swords and daggers! Alright, we can still save this!"

Gothra immediately ran towards the large burning boar, grabbing it by its burnt tail and attempting to pull it way from the campfires.

The boar itself is on fire, I don't know how much that will help...

"Ouch, ouch, ouch!" She cried. Her HP was going down! Though it shouldn't really hurt, at most we'd feel something akin to a very light pinch just to alert us of trouble.

"Burn!?" She asked in utter surprise! "But why!?"

"What do you mean 'but why!?' Why'd you think!?"

"Hehe, just kidding! Bereo!" Bereo suddenly appeared and helped her in carrying the burning boar corpse away.

Meanwhile I kicked the campfires away with, and gave Gothra a judging look. She didn't seem to get it...

"This is what you should've done to begin with!" I shouted, as a sudden burst of red and orange flashed behind me!

...

Gothra looked so disappointed.

Eh? But why? Whatever could have happened?

I slowly turned my head around in a very robotic way.

Crank, crank!

I could swear I heard my neck cranking...

Oh hey. The forest is burning. Hahaha.

< Proficiency Acquired! >

< The [Arsonist] Skill has been acquired! >

"Wow... I cannot believe it... such little respect for nature..." Gothra rubbed her eyes, as if wiping her tears.

"It's a game! It will... fix itself!"

And just as I said that, little blue and green children suddenly appeared. They were semi-transparent, and resembled spirits. The blue ones looked more like slime people than anything, and the green ones looked a lot like dryad or druid kids with leaves and branches covering their body.

The blue ones quickly summoned a large amount of water above their heads, and threw them like water balls all over the burning trees. The fire quickly went out, and then the dryad kids touched the ruined trees with a pained look on their faces.

Wow, they're AIs for maintaining the game, but look at those expressions! Well, their faces were devoid of any feature, but still! Somehow their expressions still come across! It really hits me in the heart, making me feel guilty...!

Green light emanated from the green spirits' bodies as the dead trees quickly regained their vigor, regrowing, and spreading out splendidly.

Bravo! Amazing! I couldn't help but give out an applause.

"See, Gothra? I told you it'll fix itself."

In response, she pointed her fingers ahead of me, towards the blue and green spirits.

And then I saw them. I looked at the spirits as they all stared back at me. They had no face, but somehow I could tell that they were gravely saddened, disappointed, and even angered.

"Tsk, tsk..." They shook their heads slowly in contempt. Back and forth, back and forth...

Please stop.

Gothra put her hand over my shoulder as she nodded along. Her serious expression did not help.

I can't even quip back... I have no excuse...

...

After a while of ganging up on me, the spirits disappeared and Gothra got back to taking care of the still burning boar. She took out a sword dropped by a goblin and started cutting it up. Monster weapons actually stay as items or equipment we can use, neat system this game has. It's like an extra drop, on top of whatever else might be generated that they would 'drop' over their corpse.

Gothra cut thick steaks out out of the body, and then slammed them on rocks until the fire went out.

Thud, thud!

Honestly, that was a good idea. You're not gonna put out that entire fire... well not at our levels, and without any magic skills to speak of.

She cut off the charred fur, or rather a good chunk of meat around it, and then handed the remaining meat to me. Without a plate or anything. Cos we're poor, and nothing gave that as a drop. "Here. Eat this, cheer up, and and help me take care of the rest of this boar."

"Hmm, alright!" I said, wiping my eyes as if I was really crying.

< Proficiency Acquired! >

< The [Cooking] Skill has been acquired! >

Wait, we did that? I hardly ever noticed...