Emm pulled his hand back on reflex. The thing he had squished, despite being slimy, wasn't a snail unlike what he had first thought.

It was a large, pinkish mushroom the size of a baseball. The morning sunlight reflected off it in a way that made it look like it was shining.

Emm's eyes lit up in excitement, and he snatched it out of the ground.

God I hope it's not poisonous. Being able to eat something other than the snakes is going to be a lifesaver.

The monster flesh didn't taste horrible, at least not anymore, since Emm had mostly gotten used to it. But it was like chewing bland rubber. Even a pinch of salt would make a huge difference; Emm had never realized how much salt meant to him until he'd been teleported to this world.

His predicament reminded him of a silly game he used to play as a kid called Stronghold.

It was a strategy game where the player had to collect resources, grow their village, and manage the people's needs. Having a happier population meant you could tax them for higher amounts without them revolting, which was essential for financing any war effort. And the number one way to increase people's happiness was to provide them with a variety of different foods. Cheese, fruits, meat, and bread. Provide all four, and you'd become the most popular leader in the medieval world.

Thinking back at that time filled Emm's heart with warm nostalgia. The game was in German, bought by Emm's dad who worked abroad. Neither of them could understand any of it, and it was only through trial and error that he managed to figure out how it all worked.

Emm had found that silly at the time but now understood it perfectly. A single day of eating nothing but snakes, and he was already sick of them. Even the [Cook] would make their meals from the [Vinesnakes]. An extra ingredient would go a long way.

He salivated at the thought of eating his new prized treasure.

Or perhaps he could even sell it?

It would be an option, if the mushroom was rare enough. He didn't remember seeing a single one during their first excursion into the forest, and he had spent most of it carefully watching the ground.

He had stared at the tree canopies just as much, and he hadn't spotted any fruits either. Food appeared to be scarce.

Emm turned the tasty-looking mushroom in his hands.

I can't believe my eyes missed it earlier. It stands out so hard in the grass, I should've seen it from a mile away.

And if it could grow despite the ambient mana, that meant it contained mana as well. He wasn't looking forward to feeling any more mana burn. But it was probably only [Level] 2, which he could still handle. No worse than the snakes.

The world was very strange if both being underleveled or overleveled for your environment made every person take continuous damage. That would drastically change the way people lived. It had so many implications. Emm wondered how a society could even function like that. Were people forced to move every time they leveled up too much? It meant leaving their friends and family behind, leaving their entire community.

On the other hand, the folks in their camp were at least around [Level] 10, by Emm's guess. At least, that how strong the coffee was according to the old geezer. And they were still surviving in a [Level] 2 area, despite the mana differential.

Unless Emm was missing something, they had to constantly recharge themselves with mana, just like Emm's weapon. Furthermore, they were able to outheal the damage–if they even took any. As long as they stayed topped up, maybe their health wouldn't decrease at all. They had mentioned they had higher mana foods, too.

All of a sudden, Emm remembered how the Commander had bled through his nose at the end of his speech before leaving.

It fit. And he hadn't talked to them for longer than a few minutes. The fight against the metal gorilla demon had been over in an instant.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

What worried him the most, though, was what would happen once the others level up too much. Would they be forced to leave? Or maybe they could survive by continuing to use stronger and stronger monsters as food.

And of course, there was the whole other can of worms.

Not many summoned heroes survived for long enough to return to Earth. Emm had to find out why as soon as possible if he wanted to avoid their fates.

It was all too much for Emm, his thoughts were starting to loop around in circles. He'd get a headache. What he needed was more information, instead of just wildly guessing and trying to make sense of it all. He needed to talk with the others from Earth. They knew more than him, given how he'd spent a full day unconscious.

Emm pocketed the mushroom and stood up, ready to continue fighting his sworn enemy; the thick tree branch. The fact that his weapon was higher leveled eased his worries over damaging it. Emm hadn't noticed the blade start to dull yet.

He raised his spear and swung, hitting the sweet spot. The impact made a satisfying crunching sound. Emm hit it again and again, pacing himself. He was in no real hurry as it was still early in the morning. He made sure to breathe deeply and time his exhales with every swing; he heard that tip in some martial arts movie. Supposedly, fighters were supposed to exhale when taking a hit or dishing one out.

Soon, he entered a steady rhythm. Breathe in, breathe out. The V-shaped gash in the tree grew deeper and wider with each new swing. He was making solid progress.

Emm's arms were starting to hurt, but seeing how he was almost there, he kept going.

Soon the branch began to lurch under its own weight, and Emm pulled it down to crack the cut open even wider.

At this point, it was impossible to miss the mark, which made it easier to hack at the exposed wood. Emm struck it again and again. An axe would be far more fitting for the job, but his spear didn't disappoint.

In a few more minutes, the branch crashed down onto the ground and Emm dodged away from all of the smaller branches that threatened to poke his eye out.

He was sweating. It appeared that cutting down trees using nothing but a spear was a great workout. He was shocked at how quickly his stamina was recovering.

Smiling, Emm sat on top of the branch to assert his dominance. He needed a short break.

Miss Simmons saw what he was doing, standing all the way over near the edge of the camp.

She raised her chin, then slowly mimed cutting her throat open with a finger.

Emm gulped, annoyed. Her meaning was clear. Kill a monster, and you die.

He was struggling to take her seriously anymore. So he responded by showing her a big thumbs up. Totally non-sarcastic.

Her robes fluttered and her long hair jumped into the air as she forcefully turned around, then strolled away as if nothing had happened.

But Emm wasn't worried about being attacked by any snakes. He was standing outside of the actual forest. And last time, it took them a long walk before they had seen the first one.

At worst, he could just run away. They were rooted into the ground anyways.

He considered killing them too, but it made him nervous. He wouldn't really gain anything, except some raw meat, but he'd probably get caught trying to drag it back to camp, to cook. And that was under the assumption that they weren't watching him 24 / 7, of course. It wasn't worth the risk. There could be invisible [Ninjas] crouching right next to him, for all he knew. Anything was possible in this dumb world.

Emm sighed, and went back to work. He tried to drag the thick branch towards his tent, but all the smaller branches were catching on the ground and providing too much friction. It was practically a smaller tree in and of itself. Emm could barely drag it a few inches at a time.

So he started breaking it down into smaller pieces by breaking off all the smaller branches. He used his spear to cut off the ones he couldn't snap by hand; none took more than a few swings.

It left the thick branch bare, like a long log. This proved to make dragging it much easier.

He swung it over his shoulder, and slowly but surely made his way back to his tent. Nobody bothered him, and the camp was still quiet. No signs of Michael. By Emm's best guess, the time was around seven AM.

If he found a way to cut it up into smaller chunks, Emm felt like the single thick branch could keep a fire going for at least an entire night, if not way more. But he decided he could perhaps find a better use for it.

The thinner branches would dry much faster and burn more easily. They were also infinitely easier to collect. Cutting up the trunk was a waste of time without a chainsaw.

No, not a chainsaw. That's the Earth way of thinking.

Emm tried to shift his perspective. Perhaps somebody had a [Cut] skill, and could chop it with a single clean swing of a greatsword?

He left the piece of wood lying there and walked towards the centre of camp. He was going to find where the [Cook] worked.

It was time to get his cute mushroom appraised.