Chapter 3: Surviving. 

All of Trent's introspection might just be pointless! 

If he couldn't find food and water in a day or two, he would just unceremoniously die of thirst. He was already a little thirsty, and all he had found so far was an immaterial cloud that while good for experience, was quite useless at providing sustenance. And he had barely reached the foot of the mountain, if it could be called that. The only change was that the ground had started sloping up a bit. There was nothing else of note in the blank landscape. 

Wait, there was another cloud! A bit further up the incline, a condensed blob of fog drifted around. It was hard to see, but the surroundings were so featureless that it stood out. Trent watched a bit as he debated whether to fight it or try to sneak around. In the end, it wasn't a real choice. Their life drain wasn't really painful, and he seemed to recover quite quickly from it. And the exp was too sweet to pass up. 

He really hoped that this would play out without any surprises. 

He slowly walked towards the monster, ready to activate Voiding the moment it reached him. When he got to around 30 meters away from it, the ghostly blob started swiftly gliding towards him. It was daunting to see an otherworldly creature charge him down, but he held his ground. As it was about to touch him, his aura blasted out and stunned the creature. Trent focused and empowered his Skill, stopping the enemy from even reaching him. It eventually overcame its shock and suppression to lunge at him and start draining, but by then it was much weakened. The monster died soon after. 

*Defeated Morel Finisis (Lv. 7). Bonus experience is gained for defeating a monster 5 or more levels above you.* 

There was no level. It seemed that the reward for killing something at level one was quite significant. He would have to see how many further victories it would take to get to level 3. He hoped it wouldn't be too many. The feeling of being drastically stronger than before was almost intoxicating. 

3 more. Thats how many it took to get to level 3. And 12 of them after that gave him a fourth level. It was getting rather boring, but at least he hadn't ran into any trouble. 

*Defeated Morel Finisis (Lv. 6). Experience is gained for defeating a monster. *

*Defeated Morel Finisis (Lv. 7). Bonus experience is gained for defeating a monster 5 or more levels above you.*

...

*Defeated Morel Finisis (Lv. 8). Bonus experience is gained for defeating a monster 5 or more levels above you.*

Level up! You have reached level 3. +1 free stat points. +1 Mind and +3 Perception(phys) from Affinity. +1 Vitality, +2 Endurance, and +2 Strength from Sub-affinity. 

Level up! You have reached level 4. +1 free stat points. +1 Mind and +3 Perception(phys) from Affinity. +1 Vitality, +2 Endurance, and +2 Strength from Sub-affinity. 

He had put his free points into agility once again, keeping it up with his other physical stats while neglecting his nonexistent magic. It seemed that the stat gains from each level wouldn't change, although with slowing levels and a higher stat total, the effects would be far less. Unless the system had more complex stuff for level milestones, or he was being penalized for fighting the same enemy. Which wasn't his fault! There was just nothing else around here. 

Also, he had made a lot of progress on Voiding. The strength he could output had increased and he felt that he was getting closer to the possibility of creating more Skills. There was only one real problem. 

He was thirsty. It had gotten to the point where his mouth had dried up, and he was feeling a bit light-headed. Although that could be the placebo effect. He knew the human body could survive three days without water, but he wasn't sure if that was the absolute maximum or a safe estimate. He leaned towards the latter.

Either way, he didn't want to have to find out. It had been a bit less than a day—he thought--since he first appeared, so he was starting to get worried. There was a chance his enhanced Endurance would help with that, but it wasn’t a solution.

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As he experimented with flexing the monumental cosmic power inside of him, a ripple of dark energy echoed across the land. The shock of real stimulus shook him out of his concentration. Suddenly, a huge presence pressed down on him. It was as if he was being stared at by a god. 

The incomprehensibly vast existence searched through his very being, judging him. Terrified, Trent attempted to defend himself in the only way he could. With the last of his willpower, Voiding stuttered into being. The presence was utterly unaffected. 

At last, Trent felt a sense of approval from the god. The presence vanished, and a wave of the same dark energy flowed through him, eliminating his thirst and hunger. It also seemed to remove a minor feeling of lingering cold from the ghosts, which he hadn't even consciously noticed. 

Trent collapsed, vainly attempting to process what he had gone through. Whatever that... thing was, it had liked him. Because of Voiding? Or because of his affinity? Actually, that would make a lot of sense. Either way, it wasn't going to hurt him so he could just ignore its mind-melting level of power. Unless he needed to fight it to get out of this place... nah, that was a bit too pessimistic. 

God damn it. He never thought would be laid so low by something just looking at him, but that feeling... it was like he could halfway understand the sheer power of that being. Did the thing actually intentionally impress its power on him? Or was it somehow the being's nature? That didn't make sense. And his perception wasn't at all that high. 

There was no point worrying about it. He just had to try his best to ignore it and be thankful that his thirst was gone. Although... would this happen again? And if it didn't, would he find food in time? Probably not. Damn it. Was he hoping for another religious experience? Well, survival trumped trauma. 

He finally forced himself to stand up. Nothing else to do except move forward. Wait, did the religious experience change his status? 

Name: Trent

Species: Human

Lv: 4

Affinity: Abyss

Sub-affinity: Opposition

Stats: 

Physical: 

Vitality: 6

Endurance: 9

Strength: 9

Agility: 6

Mind: 6

Perception: 12

Magical: 

Capacity: 0

Regen: 0

Power: 0

Control: 0

Connection: 0

Perception: 0

Skills: Voiding 

Nothing changed since he last leveled up. Although... wow. He now had at least double all of the stats he had when he first appeared. And Perception had quadrupled. He could definitely see farther in the fog, which did seem about 4 times further than when he first woke up. He thought so at least. Ok, he wasn't a human measurement machine. 

He moved on towards the mountain. 

The ghosts were definitely getting stronger and more numerous as he climbed the mountain. It was also possible that more were appearing the longer he existed here, but that was such a self-centered thought that it was immediately dismissed. 

It was just after he had lost sight of where the huge slope began that he encountered something new. It surprised him when he first picked it out in the distance because it almost looked like another person. When he got closer it became even weirder. The creature looked fully physical, unlike the Morels. And it walked like a human with a crisp and haughty march, like an important businessman walking to a meeting. It would be hard to catch up to, except it was moving at normal human speed and Trent had double that agility. 

Its appearance clashed with the way it walked. It was human in proportion but with leathery burgundy skin, and demonic claws and horns. Its face was asymmetrical and grotesque, with a zombie-like expression on its face and drool dripping down its front. 

As Trent watched it, he felt an uncertainty and hesitation that he hadn't felt with the ghosts. Obviously, he wanted to fight it. He couldn't afford to skip out on levels, and he was coming to like the idea of coming out of this place as a powerful warrior. 

But it wasn't like the ghosts. His only Skill probably wouldn't harm it, and considering the fact that it appeared higher up the mountain—and thus the logical progression would be that it was stronger-- it could be up to level 10. And if its stat growth was anything like his... well, it would just tear him to pieces. Its slow movement could well be a trap, and even if it wasn't he would still have to get into melee to kill it. Unless... 

He could see a few Morels within his 'render distance', they were just out of the way enough that he would normally rather continue going up the mountain. He could pause his aimless trek to level up, see if there was anything special about level five, and possibly even make a new skill to help with physical contests... 

There was no reason to rush this. He wasn't going to fall prey to the protagonist mindset. He headed towards one of Morels, keeping the demon in the corner of his eye. Grinding time! 

...Actually, that's not a good thing.