"I didn't really take them for much before, but now…"

Finally, after several hours of preparation, Theo started to progress along with the main task. Even if only in a way as simple as digging up, to the surface.

Right now, Theo had several tasks in mind, all of which - however - started with him returning to the surface.

First was the most obvious one that Theo had missed before.

'If I can dig so easily… why not just dig my way back, over the gate?'

Taking a short break from the digging, Theo sat down on the highest step of his upward mine staircase before reaching with his hand for his necklace.

While extremely faint, he could now sense some sort of…

The young man gritted his teeth.

'It's really hard to put into words, how it feels,' he thought, clasping his hand on the crude artifacts over the cloth of his simple shirt. 'But there's certainly something weird about it.'

Theo sighed.

"If not, why would it be the only thing besides clothing that I would be wearing?"

Theo shook his head before standing up and fixing his grip on the pickaxe, all to then slam its blade down on the face of the nearby stone.

[Mining: 22%]

[Mining: 44%]

…

…

…

[Mining: 88%]

[Mining: Completed]

[Obtained: Stone Block x1]

By now, Theo had long since adjusted the last notification to auto-close, a convenient detail added by whoever the hell created his whole system.

The important part, however, was how it took Theo two swings less to complete the mining process!

With the level of his main subroutine rising, his abilities also grew by a certain, relatively small margin. But once Theo extrapolated those small margins over the size of his designs, those small differences would quickly add up.

But that wasn't the only boon from his recent advancements.

While far less noticeable than the literal progress bar, his swing now… became somewhat easier.

Theo didn't need anywhere as much strength to swing the tool, allowing him to better control the inevitable rebound of striking it against the stone's surface. And while still a far cry from the 40% promised by the system, Theo didn't dare to complain.

Not when the reduced delay between the progress tick translated directly to the ease of using the tool. A change that further reflected Theo's hunger, nearly eliminating the added cost of calories of hard, manual labor.

With all of those changes and a slight boost from his newly obtained zone ability, Theo managed to build a staircase out from the bottom of his base all the way to the surface in just a few minutes.

The further up Theo went, however, the more attention he paid to the very part of his system that saved his ass before.

[Threat Level: No threats detected]

At the top of Theo's vision, the name of the area remained exactly the same.

Thankfully, even upon breaching the top, the threat level didn't change, allowing Theo to emerge from under the ground… Only to realize that the bright morning has long since passed, and judging by the position of the sun…

He only had an hour or two, at best, to begin his project.

First, Theo took a look around, trying to draw a mental blueprint of the whole area and position the upper end of his stairway within the greater area between the ancient gate and the forest itself.

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And it just so happened, that Theo had quite the luck with his directions, given how just a few meters off, he would end up digging up the slope of the cliffs that the dam-sized gate was sitting on.

Still, positioned roughly in the middle between the two, it offered pretty much no benefits to either building the trap or…

Testing whether or not Theo could just dig his way out of this place and save himself the needless effort of fighting the boss monster.

'Other humans might still be a problem,' Theo thought, fully aware that using his voice while on the surface wasn't the best of the ideas, 'but I would take dealing with them over dealing with that rat, no matter how many times I would get to choose.'

Still, with Theo's hunger meter falling below the mid-point, he couldn't afford to test out his most optimistic theory right from the get-go.

Not if there was even the smallest chance that this theory would prove to be a dead-end, just like trying to force his way back to civilization on the surface.

That's why, Theo used his building vision to move back in the opposite direction his staircase faced only to then turn ninety degrees towards the forest and then… start his earlier scheme all over again.

Every three to four steps, Theo would excavate three blocks of earth, only to leave it behind and repeat the process, all the time making sure to keep his hiding holes perfectly aligned with each other.

'Fourteen…' Theo thought as he approached the forest, diligently counting the distance.

If he wanted to return to his base as opposed to just searching through the nearly endless expanse of the underground, his best bet was to return to the mined-out staircase.

'Fifteen…'

Sadly, while his main subroutine perks applied to the process of shoveling, it hardly mattered for Theo still needed two full swings to undo one block of dirt. Using the shovel rather than digging with his hand, on the other hand, came with the convenient perk of Theo being able to dig out all three blocks for the next hideout… without actually going down into the hole to get the range for digging out that last, third block!

In the end, the distance that Theo could leisurely conquer with half of a minute of peaceful stroll took him around ten minutes to conquer, sapping at what little daylight time he had left.

'As much as I would love to start building right away, let's cover my basics fists.'

Even with the Oilrat still roaming around, there were several resources Theo absolutely had to secure. Especially now, that he no longer underestimated the scope of the project he set out to complete.

'First, bushes.'

While it wasn't possible to turn sticks into planks, rendering the bush-gathering obsolete in terms of gathering wood, it was Theo's easiest way to obtain berries.

And while he didn't really test them yet…

'Beggars can't be choosers, huh?'

Theo took a breath and calmed down, rising up from above the last of the holes and reaching out with his hand towards the nearby bush.

Then, finally, something other than stone or dirt entered his inventory.

[Gathering: 17%] > [Gathering: Completed]

[Gathered: 2 sticks, 1 foliage, 1 berry]

[Gathering: 17%] > [Gathering: Completed]

[Gathered: 1 sticks, 4 foliage, 3 berries]

[Gathering: 17%] > [Gathering: Completed]

[Gathered: 4 sticks, 2 berries]

'That settles this area…' Theo thought after taking a look around, only to confirm he harvested all the bushes within his range.

Normally, that's where Theo would give up. But with just a few steps further into the forest, he could gain access to like ten more of those!

And now that he could quickly build an escape path and had no plans to move further away than just a single step from his hiding hole…

'No, man, what's the point of greeding after those bushes if I can't even tell if those berries are worth anything at all?'

Squinting his eyes, Theo gave up on his excursion attempt and slid right back down into his hole. A moment later, he reached out with his hand palm up, only to summon the first of the few berries he had gathered.

'Wait, woah!'

Expecting a small cluster of even smaller fruits, Theo nearly dropped the huge, apple-sized, violet berry that appeared in his hand instead.

'Wait, if this is any good for its size…'

Theo gulped his saliva down, only now realizing just how much his stomach lusted after this full, juicy fruit.

'Well, you only live once, huh?' Theo thought, smirking at the hypocrisy it took for a reincarnator like him to think that, before bringing the fruit over to his mouth and taking a greedy bite.

The sweet, slightly acidic juice exploded in his mouth, filling every nook and cranny with its refreshing, soda-like taste.

'If I could bring it back to earth and carbonate just this juice…'

For a second, with his brain struggling to comprehend this level of tastiness, Theo nearly moved back to earth, with nothing but a dream and miraculous berry the taste of which he would use to take over the whole soda industry on the planet!

Then, he realized the bitter truth.

This full bite, for how juicy and tasty it was, regenerated a noticeable part of Theo's thirst, washing off his parched mouth… But hardly contributed to his hunger meter at all.

'So it's like… watermelon?' Theo thought, attempting to example the remaining party of the berry… Only to realize it pretty much vanished from his hand, leaving nothing but its outer layer behind, with all the mist just… vaporizing away into the air.

'So that's why it was so big, huh?' Theo thought, staring with grief at the empty shell of the fruit. 'One has to hurry the hell up while eating it, I guess.'

Still, this one simple test confirmed one thing.

While not exactly optimal, those berries could be a source of sustenance. And while risky to gather… Just a few of them would buy him at least a few more hours!

'And that means…' Theo's eyes turned over to the next gathering of the bushes, just a few steps away.

The taste of the fruit still lingered on his lips…

Yet, just as he grabbed the edges of his hiding hole, ready to venture out, the most crucial notification out of Theo's whole system flashed as its content changed.

[Threat level: light]