Dante was excited to interact with the system and figure out how to become stronger. He mentally requested an exchange of 200 combat experience for 2 ascension points, the process was rather straightforward, it seemed to just be a case of willing the trade and a prompt dinged into his head to acknowledge the transaction.

[ 2 Ascension points gained]

‘Ok, now how do I upgrade?’, He began to focus on his status and started thinking ‘Improve Stats’ nothing happened. ‘Uhh, Add Agility’ he mentally commanded. The system did not acknowledge his mental command. ‘Ok, let’s think more about this, surely it should be straightforward..’

Dante continued to throw various mental commands out into the ether, the system was like a stone wall not acknowledging his desire to improve and become stronger.

His frustration grew at the system's resistance to his attempts to improve, ‘Why didn't F teach me any of this? Why am I alone out here with no other humans or anyone around to help me out?’ Despite him naturally being a reclusive person, he had never felt more alone in his life.

Without anyone around to help him understand this new world, he felt exposed to the potential threats that were out in the wild. The fact that he was having difficulty interacting with the system increased his worries and frustrations.

The system didn’t make sense to him, he recollected fantasy novels with system’s in them and they simply allowed people to upgrade, it was intuitive and it made sense.

“FUCK YOU SYSTEM!” He shouted out at the sky, his anger getting the better of him. “Why does everything have to be difficult, I don’t expect the world to hand me everything but give me a break!” He was speaking out loud to himself, no longer caring about potentially being exposed to anyone.

The day went by without Dante realising how much time was passing. The Sun began to sink into the horizon, dusk was beginning to settle into the sky. Dante noticed his surroundings were eerily quiet. ‘Damnit, Come on! Why can’t I improve my attributes!’ Frustrated at not achieving much in the past few hours, he decided to give up for the moment, he would come back to it but he had more immediate concerns. He looked up and began to take in more of his surroundings.

Dante scanned the open green expanse, finding it difficult to see what was around him, things were starting to become mere silhouettes in his vision. He was standing in tall grass as high as his waist, there was woodland off into the distance. ‘It’s starting to get dark, I need to try and arm myself with something or find somewhere safe to stay’.

No longer receiving the respite of the sun on his skin, Dante was becoming more aware of the fact that he was starting to feel hungry, thirsty and cold. He made a mental checklist of things to do. ‘I need to find a source of water. Food, where can I find food, berries in the wild? Hunt small animals? Find civilization?’ He needed to meet his physiological needs or he wouldn’t survive long.

‘Damned F, leaving me in the middle of nowhere with no guide or information, what was he thinking!’ He was starting to shiver, his muscles spasmed and twitched due to the cold.

Dante settled on finding a water source, arming himself somehow and perhaps even finding shelter. He didn’t know where he was, he could be on a different planet for all he knew. So until he found his bearings he wouldn’t feel comfortable trying to find people.

Especially after his first encounter with someone that could speak, the enigmatic F sewed the seeds of mistrust in him. He was forced to accept a grand trial where failure meant death.

He swept his gaze around once again and couldn’t find anything that stood out to indicate it might offer any decent shelter, or point toward a source of water. ‘I’m not exactly a fucking survival expert, modern life doesn’t prepare you for this kind of shit!’ Dante’s teeth started chattering, he decided he had to get moving to warm up, he set off towards the nearest section of the wooded area before It got too dark...

****

Unmistakeable sounds of Dante's passage rang out into the night. Cracking twigs, the rustle of branches and the crunching of dead leaves. He was a beacon of noise, giving out his location away to any living thing within his vicinity.

He was not doing a great job of hiding his presence, the fact he hadn’t found any decent shelter or water caused him to cast aside any caution. Dante's initial attempts to be cautious, made him feel ridiculous. He tried crouching and scanning his environment for any danger, he felt like he was playing a game of hide and seek, or was merely imitating what he thought was the best way to be subtle and sneaky.

When most of the daylight had disappeared, he threw caution to the wind and just strode through the woods, feeling the occasional whip of branches against his bare skin. The only respite was the fact that it was a clear night and the moonlight allowed him to barely perceive his surroundings.

Earlier he had managed to find a 4ft stick, he found it to be sturdy and straight. He felt it would be good enough to act as a weapon. After sharpening the stick to a point on a stone, the system seemed to recognise it as a weapon, a prompt dinged into his head.

[ Crude Spear (Very common) - An improvised weapon created by sharpening a simple piece of wood. ]

[ Acquired: Crafting ]

[Crafting: Tier 1]

At the time he wanted to be surprised but his tiredness and thirst overrode most other thoughts. ‘How does this Crafting skill help me?’

[ Crafting - Tier 1: You have begun your journey to master the art of crafting items. You can create crude and simple items, as this skill evolves it will improve the quality of your crafted items and have a small chance to imbue the crafted item with additional attributes or modifiers

Crafting experience: 0%]

‘Great, maybe I can craft a dowsing rod that will help me find some water!’ His delirious thoughts clutched to any desperate idea that popped into his mind.

He was still looking for a water source, which accounted for his cranky thoughts and behaviours. It didn’t help that all sorts of strange noises called out in the darkness, none near enough to make Dante scared, but he was constantly alert and scanning the dimly lit environment, swaying his improvised spear back and forth.

‘Fuck, why did I decide to go into the woods as the sun was setting. I deserve to be called a dumbass’. Dante lamented the stupidity of his eagerness to explore the system and try and upgrade himself, it had caused him to waste most of the day, causing him to end up in his current predicament. He was just so frustrated about not being able to update his attributes he figured he would try and achieve something for the day. But now he was stuck in the woods, night had truly settled in and he was naked and vulnerable.

His dirty hands were desperately clinging onto his stupid stick, the pitiful weapon was all he had to protect himself from whatever was out there making those strange noises around him.

Dante had to acknowledge he was well and truly lost, it wasn’t like he knew where he was in the first place but it did cross his mind he could be walking in circles in this darkness. Fortunately, his stumbling around eventually paid off, he had managed to find a large tree with a slightly hollowed out opening that he could huddle inside. Squeezing his body into the hollow, his back against the inside of the tree and the bark rubbing against his shoulders, it was a very snug fit, he would take what he could get, it was at the very least some kind of shelter.

Dwelling on the possibility of being attacked, he figured that if any predators came at him, it would be from the front where he could stab with his improvised spear towards them and maybe fend off several predators. He squatted down listening for any noises, nothing sounded close but he thought he could hear something in the distance, he couldn’t quite pin down what the noise was, but it was far off to not be of immediate concern.

‘Status’, Dante Focused upon his status sheet trying for a second round to figure out how to update his Attributes. He stared at strength, trying to picture himself being stronger. If he could just figure out how to increase his attributes, Dante started to dwell on his interactions with the system, the way it responded to him when he focussed on his desire for specific pieces of information.

Recalling the tiny piece of advice he received from F, ‘You have to mean it.’

‘Maybe I’ve been thinking about it all wrong’ Dante palmed at his face, realising the key piece of information from F might answer more than he realised.

‘The system seems to respond to intentions and meaning. Perhaps I have been going about it incorrectly. From what I can barely recall of my previous life, my interaction with games and reading stories about systems was all I had to go on. I guess these memories skewed my expectations. What If instead, I try some mental exercises, perhaps try to imagine what I could do in the future, the feats I could achieve with the strength I will someday acquire!’

Closing his eyes, Dante started to mentally picture an exaggerated version of himself that was capable of lifting a gargantuan boulder that must have weighed many tonnes. The boulders size eclipsed his imagined body which he fantasized would have a shredded muscular physique.

He imagined this future self throwing the giant boulder miles away, this imagined version of himself would watch on pleased at his work. He would trace the trajectory of the boulder until it collided into the ground, then shattering into hundreds of smaller rocks and boulders which then bounced and rolled into hoards of monsters, absolutely decimating them.

Lost in his fantasy, a goofy grin spread on his emaciated face, a far shot from the person he had just imagined. ‘If I can figure this out and gain more ascension points, maybe that will be possible’. He continued his mental exercises.

Fixating on what it meant to be strong and have strength. How being strong wasn’t just about lifting things, how it gave him the physical ability to enact and enforce his will upon the surrounding environment. To be strong meant to be free, to have strength meant overcoming the constraints of the physical laws of the universe. To escape the suffocating feeling of being forced around against his will.

He fixated on these things until he felt a connection, he felt the sense of making contact with something greater than himself. Finally, he received the positive acknowledgement of what he desired, a ding in his head rang out before a system prompt was displayed in his mind.

[ Would you like to increase Strength? Cost 1 Ascension point.]

“Yes!” he yelled out into the darkness.

[ Strength increased to 2]

[Ascension points remaining: 1]

‘Shit! I was too excited’. The process of becoming stronger took a physical toll on his body. Dante felt his muscles tighten, they contracted and then expanded. The hole in the tree that he had wedged himself in suddenly felt a whole lot smaller.

The frame of his body started to fill out with more defined striations of wiry muscle. He had to crawl forward a bit, to accommodate his growing body. He suddenly felt a ravenous hunger, the last remnants of any body fat he had were consumed to help his growth.

“Hooooooowl”

Distant howling could be heard. Dante twisted his head towards where he thought the sound had come from, his neck tilted as he desperately tried to listen out for any other noise.

Due to his eyesight not proving of much use in the dark, he strained his hearing trying to fixate on all the sounds in the woods. He started trying to filter out the various sounds, the trees swaying and brushing against each other, the small sounds that rodents foraging in the dark made. The swift whooshing noise of predators swooping down and picking the rodents up, the sound of prey squealing out into the darkness, then helpless cries fading away as they were quickly carried away from him.

[ Would you like to increase Perception? Cost 1 Ascension point.]

‘Woah, it also works like that? Yes, I'm going to need it’. Dante thought to himself, he worried that his earlier outburst a moment ago might have caught the attention of the larger predators out in the woods. Any upgrade now might prove vital to his survival.

[ Perception increased to 2]

[Ascension points remaining: 0]

The darkness that previously plagued his vision, slowly receded as his vision improved a bit. The sounds of the woods became louder, he suddenly realised how much life was in these woods. The chittering insects, the cooing of birds in their nests. The rodents clawing at the earth, digging holes into the ground trying to burrow away from the predators.

‘Even 1 additional attribute makes this much difference!’ Dante was amazed, smiling and looking around, taking in the sounds of the woods, the silhouettes of creatures now more visible than previously. The grizzled furry creature that was slowly creeping towards him not too far in the distance. ‘wait, what?’.

Dante broke out of the trance, he quelled the excitement brought on by the changes in his body. He lowered himself into a crouch, his spear pointed forward as he tried to back further into the hollow of the tree.

The grizzled creature that he could just about make out had stopped in its tracks, it was staring at him from the distance. The creature panted, its tongue lolling out of its mouth, hot puffs of steamy breath kept bursting out from it. Its piercing eyes made contact with Dante’s, its predatory stare challenging its prey.

Dante continued looking back, not daring to lose the creature in his vision. They were at a deadlock staring at each other. Dante remained still, waiting for the wolf to make its move first.

The large grizzled creature lowered itself further, its stomach touching the ground, the piercing eyes were still visible through the underbrush. ‘I can still see you dumbass wolf,’ Dante thought, his hands clenched the spear as he readied himself to be attacked at any moment.

The wolf didn’t move. Beads of sweat dripped down Dante’s forehead, sliding into his eyes slightly obscuring his vision. He rubbed his forearm across his face, smearing away dirt and sweat. This one movement proved to be his downfall.

A shadow barely visible in his periphery launched itself out of the darkness from his left, jaws clamping on Dante’s spear. He was too slow to react, the spear was suddenly torn from his grip and the shadow disappeared back into the darkness.

Dante lost his focus looking at what he thought would be his only assailant, the grizzled wolf. When he looked back to where the large wolf was, it was nowhere to be seen.

More howls from all different directions could be heard. Dante clenched his fists mad at himself for his earlier outburst due to his excitement, he was now feeling incredibly vulnerable in the darkness. Even his enhanced perception made him realise that perhaps it wasn’t so easy to pierce through the veil of darkness. A notification popped into his head.

[Trial started: Survive the night]

[Rewards based on performance]