Surviving was hard.

  Harder than I ever imagined.

  It was one thing to think about being lost in the wild, imagining all the things I should do. It was another thing entirely to be here, starving, thirsty, and covered in scratches, trying not to die.

  But I wasn’t going to give up.

  Step by step, I forced myself forward, ignoring the hunger gnawing at my stomach. The stream was my lifeline—I followed its winding path, hoping it would lead me somewhere civilized.

  Or at least somewhere I wouldn’t die curled up in a bush.

  By the time the sun dipped behind the trees, exhaustion had settled deep into my bones. I needed warmth. The nights were cold out here, and I wasn’t about to test how well my body handled hypothermia.

  So, fire.

  Fire was necessary. Fire was life.

  I just had no idea how to make one.

  I sat on the damp forest floor, staring at the twigs and dry leaves I had gathered, rubbing two sticks together like a complete idiot. I had seen people do it in movies—it looked so easy.

  It wasn’t.

  Half an hour later, I had nothing to show for my efforts but sore arms.

  I groaned, flopping backward. “Okay. Fire is hard.”

  A small, chime-like sound echoed in my head.

  [Skill Available: Firestarting (Novice)]

  - Ignite small fires with basic materials more effectively.

  I bolted upright.

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  Finally!

  I mentally accepted the skill, and warmth spread through my fingertips. Nothing fancy. No grand whoosh of flames. Just a tiny, subtle shift in how I felt about fire.

  I tried again, using the same materials, but this time…

  Smoke.

  A spark.

  And then—

  Fire.

  It was small, flickering weakly, but it was real.

  A grin stretched across my face as the warmth licked at my hands. “Oh, hell yes.”

  I had made fire.

  And the System had helped.

  Encouraged, I spent the next hour carefully feeding the flames, warming myself as best I could. My body ached, my stomach growled, but I was alive.

  More importantly, I was learning.

  I could use the System.

  And that meant I could grow.

  With that in mind, I started experimenting.

  I found a flat rock and tested different ways to grip it, trying to swing it like a club. My arms felt weak, clumsy, but I kept going. If I had to fight, I needed something—even if it was just a rock.

  It wasn’t long before another chime rang out.

  [Skill Available: Improvised Weaponry (Novice)]

  - Gain slight effectiveness when using found objects as weapons.

  I accepted it immediately.

  Then, something else happened.

  [Attribute Increased: Strength +1]

  I blinked.

  That was possible?

  I hadn’t leveled up, but my Strength had increased. Just by swinging a rock around.

  Slowly, a realization settled in.

  I didn’t have to wait for some grand moment to get stronger.

  I could grind.

  Just like in video games.

  By morning, I was desperate for food.

  I had water. I had fire. But if I didn’t eat something soon, none of that would matter.

  The problem?

  I had zero idea what was safe to eat.

  The forest was full of berries, but I wasn’t about to test my luck on random plants. I needed protein—something more filling.

  Eventually, I found my target: a small, sluggish lizard sunning itself on a rock.

  Catching it was an absolute disaster.

  It took three failed attempts before I managed to bash it with my rock, and even then, I nearly lost it.

  Catching the lizard was one thing. Figuring out what to do with it was another.

  It was small, barely the size of my hand, and covered in shiny green scales. Its tiny claws twitched even after it stopped moving, which was horrifying.

  I swallowed down my hesitation.

  Food is food.

  Skinning it was… a mess. I had no knife, no real experience. I mostly just hacked at it with a sharp rock, wincing the entire time. By the end, I had a barely recognizable lump of meat.

  Cooking it over the fire?

  Even worse.

  The smell was awful, like burning rubber and swamp mud. But my stomach didn’t care.

  I took a cautious bite.

  Chewy. Overcooked. Tasted like a dirty sock.

  But it was food.

  A small chime rang in my head.

  [Skill Available: Basic Survival Cooking (Novice)]

  - Reduce chances of food poisoning. Slight improvement to taste and nutrition extraction.

  I laughed weakly. “You know what? I’ll take it.”

  By the time I finished my lizard dinner, I had a better grasp of how things worked.

  The System responded to effort.

  ? Making fire had earned me Firestarting.

  ? Using a rock as a weapon had given me Improvised Weaponry.

  ? Butchering and cooking (badly) had given me Basic Survival Cooking.

  ? Even hunting had improved something.

  [Attribute Increased: Dexterity +1]

  That was the second time I’d seen an attribute go up. First Strength, now Dexterity.

  I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant yet, but one thing was obvious:

  If I kept pushing myself, I’d keep growing.

  And that?

  That gave me hope.

  Satisfied, I let the fire burn low and curled up in my makeshift shelter—a little nook under the roots of a massive tree.

  It wasn’t much, but it was safe.

  Or so I thought.

  Sometime past midnight, I woke to a sound.

  Snap.

  I went still.

  Something moved beyond the firelight.

  A rustling, a soft shuffle of clawed feet against leaves.

  Slowly, carefully, I reached for my rock.

  A low growl rumbled through the darkness.

  My heart pounded.

  I wasn’t alone.