With less than two days remaining until the world would be populated with multiple races, Daimon was under immense pressure to get stronger. When the Tutorial ended things would get much harder as he would have to find his people while avoiding the other races.

The key to completing the task in Daimons' mind, was gaining power as fast as possible. If the other races posed no threat to him, he would only have to worry about the monsters roaming wild around the lands. Giving the opportunity to gain a one-week head start was an enormous benefit to him in the long run, however, being segregated from his race was proving to be an even greater challenge.

Climbing the cliff face with Albert floating beside him Daimon thought about all of this. It wasn't his stat points that pushed him to do the things he was about to do. It was his unyielding determination to find his family and protect the ones he loved.

Daimon thought back to the memories of his childhood. It had been two years since he last returned home. He had come from a poor family and had grown up in Florida. His father was a fisherman and putting money on the table usually depended on how big the catch was that day. His mother had stayed at home to look after his little brother who had turned 6 years old the week before all of this happened.

Despite all of this, he still had a good childhood. His mother looked after him to the best of her ability, and sometimes she would have forgone food just to put food in his mouth, which was usually fish brought home by his father. Despite the lack of funds, his mother did not blame his father, they had both grown accustomed to a simple life and were able to afford a small house in a rundown area on the outskirts of the city. The problems began when he went to high school. Being from such a poor family who couldn't afford food and clothes had left him skinny with tattered clothes. This caused him to be bullied often, he spent more time in school running from the bullies than anything else. Coincidentally one day when he was running away, he was noticed by the coach of the cross country team. This was the moment his life changed.

After finding his way onto the school cross country team, he was provided meals by the school and earned small amounts of money from winning races. His younger brother had just been born and he gave 90% of his earnings to his mother while saving up the other 10% to buy himself a nice set of clothes.

Finally looking and feeling much better, he had earned himself a part-time job working in the school library. When he wasn't training he would spend his time reading books. Years passed, he was now the star of the cross country team and had gained good grades due to the time he had spent learning while working in the library. Due to this, he was granted a full scholarship to the university that he had now attended for several years. After arriving in South Dakota he found a part-time job in a local supermarket and sent that money back home to help care for his brother. The urge to protect them had become second nature to him.

While thinking about the past he found himself standing upon the cliff once more however this time he was prepared. With increased stats, a powerful weapon, and the will to survive, he began his first exploration.

Looking at his surroundings he was shocked to find that the landscape had transformed once more. Hundreds of Man-Eating plants dotted the surface all spread far apart from other fauna and signs of life were growing near them, seemingly existing in harmony. Activating inspect he found that one of the new creatures gave him a prompt

Level 25 Vine constrictor

"Ok let's avoid those Albert," said Daimon

Upon beginning his journey along the mountain top, he stretched his senses to the limit, hopefully, nothing could sneak up on him. The land was filled with noise, hundreds of different sounds reached his ears and most were of some form of bestial roar or snarl. However one stood out in particular, the sound of heavy footsteps approaching the crest of a small decline in front of him. Immediately activating stealth he hid in the tall grass growing along the side of the path.

It was just in time as a rock giant slowly crested the hill and walked in his direction. The few seconds it took for the giant to close the distance went by slowly as the giant made its way past his inconspicuous hiding place. Daimon held his breath and began to sweat profusely as it passed less than 5 meters away from his position . Thankfully it didn't notice him and continued on its journey.

"I have to be more sneaky. Hey, Albert how come it didn't notice you? questioned Daimon.

"Only you can see me" replied Albert.

"That's good, we would have been turned into pancakes".

Near disaster averted, Daimon decided to keep stealth active for a while. Unfortunately, the purpose of the mission was to train his skills, and that's exactly what he was about to do, hiding wouldn't always work. His first target was nearby. Noticing that his stealth skill had leveled up he felt ready to enact his plan.

Before hiding from the giant he had noticed 4 segregated Man-Eating Plants growing in the clearing 20m away from him. 2 were level 5 and the others were level 10, the size difference between the low level and high leveled species was massive. The difference in 5 levels equated to 8 meters in height, this was made worse by the fact the smaller ones were roughly 4 meters tall.

Not willing to back down, and pushing the budding fear aside Damion sneakily approached the first level 5 Plant, knife in hand he got right behind the target and slashed the knife through the stem of the creature. To his delight, it was a silent kill and the other Plants did not seem to notice.

Level 5 Man-Eating plant killed 500 XP gained.

Whispering to Albert he asked if there was any way to stop notifications appearing while he was fighting.

"Yes just will it and it will not appear again until you want it to". Replied Abert.

"Ok, hopefully, that worked" replied Daimon as he followed the instructions.

Moving forward with the plan Daimon did the same thing to the other level 5 Plant, the process went just as smooth. with two plants left Daimon made his move. Sneaking behind the first level ten he sliced out with his blade and tore the plant in two killing it instantly.

With one target left he slowly crawled towards its stem and slashed out with his blade however this time it only sliced halfway through the stem and got stuck. Stunned he froze on the spot, that was until the plant reared back and swung its head adorned with razor-sharp teeth at him. Thankfully it just clipped his side and sent him sprawling back. quickly recovering he sprang to his feet and rushed towards the Plants head, 2 quick jabs threw the creature's head upwards while he kicked the lodged knife deeper into the stem. Rolling to the side to dodge the incoming rows of sharp teeth, he once more stepped up beside the stem. Avoiding the vines reaching out to grapple him he struck the handle of the Knife with his fist forcing it clean through the stem until finally, the Plant flopped over dead.

"Dam Albert why didn't it work on the second level 10".

"A good lesson for you to learn is that all creatures distribute their stats differently. This one happened to focus on the constitution stat and your knife was too weak to fully slice it in two".

Storing the knowledge for future use he quickly looted the 4 corpses and received 43-star Credits which he put into a small pocket in his makeshift bow sling. Finally finished looting he snuck back into the tall grass to activate meditation to help him recover. Unfortunately, stealth which didn't take much stamina to keep active added up over time, not to mention the fighting which had also drained him. Daimon noticed that simply activating stealth didn't help that much it seemingly shrouded him in a light mist. To enable the skillfully he had to consciously crouch and reduce his movements and presence as much as possible. Albert informed him that as the skill level progresses benefits such as this would be included.

Continuing to scout the area he found 5 more lonely Man-Eaters and brought them down, in the same way, earning himself another 49 Star Credits. With the battle finished he rested up before heading over the incline.

"Look over there Daimon to your right" Said Albert.

"What is it" replied Daimon, however, Albert remained silent.

Activating inspect a blue glow started to radiate off several small plants in the distance. Deciding to slowly sneak closer a description appeared

Pasque flower - A flower native to these lands before the Integration. Can be consumed to increase mana regeneration.

"We're rich these flowers grow all over these mountains I have seen hundreds of them before".

"You can't access the shop yet" replied Albert.

"Dammit ok well they can help with my training speed, for now, let's bring a few with us and pick more on the way back".

Another few minutes passed by quietly until finally, he spotted a rabbit in the distance, using inspect he found that it was a level 7 ferocious rabbit. Not wanting it to escape or attack, he pulled out his bow and starts to channel a mana arrow into it while carefully aiming. With the arrow complete he released the shot and watched as it sailed right towards the rabbit.

Unfortunately, there would be no rabbit stew tonight the arrow hit its target, and immediately the rabbit which had been roughly 20 meters away exploded like a volcano had gone off.

"Damiit that was powerful" grumbled Daimon while also being excited inside". Saddened by the loss of his meal but excited by the power he had just shown, he continued down the mountain.

The journey so far had been incredibly slow, He had traveled roughly 500 meters away from his base and it would be nightfall by the time he returned. Deciding to head back he made his way towards the cave while collecting the Pasque flowers along the way. #

Having to avoid what Daimon assumed was the same rock giant he had hidden from before, Staring at the rock giant he decided that tomorrow he would really test the bow.

After an uneventful journey home, he consumed a small meal and decided to check his gains for the outing.

Star coins received x103

New skill unlocked Slash - Using a bladed weapon the skill slash can be activated Increases weapon sharpness by 20% for one attack.

Pasque flowers obtained x20

Stats gained Strength x2 Agility x1 Willpower x1 Luck +1

Skill levels

Stealth x4 Inspect x2 Mana arrow x1 Meditation x3 Mana Manipulation x1 Adrenalin Shot x1

Level up x1

Skill gained Weapon Mastery level 2 - 10% Physical Damage increase while using any Weapons.

The gains had been good and he had learned a new skill which would come in useful. Tired from the day's outing he said goodnight to Albert and went to sleep.