Aarav's P.O.V :

I heard a buzzing sound in my ear and then suddenly I could feel my body again. There was a blue window in front of me. Aaaannnd again everything else is complete darkness.

Hello participant! The following are your missions:

1) Mission - Survive 365 days in this small dimension.

Rewards - You will not be killed by the company after the mission ends.

2) Mission - Hunt 100 Level 5 creatures before you reach Level 10.

Rewards - All attributes +5.

3) Mission - Hunt 1000 Level 20 creatures before you reach Level 25.

Rewards - All attributes +10.

4) Mission - Be one of the first four people to complete the highest number of hidden missions.

Rewards - Become master of a small dimension and one of the four defenders of your planet.

Please say/click/think YES to enter your small dimension.

YES NO

Looking at this mission table, I am glad that I was mentally prepared for this type of stuff. I feel like if I focus on completing just the fourth mission, I can complete all the other ones pretty easily. For the first 3 months, this will be my planned course of action. Let's see if it survives on contact with my enemies.

The mission table clearly tells me that there are other participants in this....survival game? But are they in the same small dimension as me? Well, no point in thinking about it right now. I need to scout my surrounding and prepare basic stuff for survival.

I focus on YES and my surrounding breaks apart as if it is a piece of glass. It seems I am in a forest. I can see large pine-like trees. Their leaves and body structure look the same, but that's where the similarity ends. Instead of the normal green-brown combination, the colour scheme is more varied. All of them have black leaves and white trunks. And they are very tall as well as very wide. I don't think even 3 of me can wrap our hands around it. This sure is a creepy forest.

The sun is directly above me, so I think I should have enough time to have a proper look around and build some kind of shelter. Just as I turn around to have a better look my foot hits something hard. I jump back in surprise and focus on it completely, but all I find is a sharp piece of rock. This could work as a temporary weapon, at least it is better than nothing. I choose the direction where the least amount of trees are growing, seems like a trail to me.

I had only walked for 10 minutes before I saw it. It looks like an slime. I thought some kind of observe window would open but it didn't. I even tried saying observe but nothing happened. Seems like my initiation gift doesn't turn everything into RPG or it is just very low levelled.

I carefully observe the slime. It is translucent but there seems to be some kind of sphere in the centre of its body. Is that the fabled slime nucleus? Should I try to kill it? All the slimes I have read about are generally corrosive by nature, so I will treat this one as if it is corrosive. I don't have any magic or any long-range weapon, so it is not possible to safely sit back and snipe it.

I think I should focus on trying to destroy its core. What if I throw a heavy rock on top of it? Well, this place does have many heavy rocks that I can use. I mean I might completely fail and maybe make it go berserk and die, but I have to risk it for Valerie. As long as it's for her I can do anything, and as long as she stands behind me I will never be afraid of anything.

I move slowly and gently pick up the rock nearest to me. Although it is very heavy but I can manage somehow. I walk slowly and gently towards it to make myself look non-threating. I think it works because the slime is still lazily sitting there doing whatever slime do. I am now less than 50 cm from it. I gather all my strength and throw the rock at its nucleus, as graceful as an elephant trying to jump.

*Ding*

I hear a sound similar to my message notification and then I see a blue exclamation mark at the corner of my eyes. I focus on it and a new blue window opens up.

You have killed a Level 2 slime. +25 Exp. You have levelled up and you are level 1 now. +1 to each attribute because of first level up. You have levelled up and you are level 1 now. +5 free attribute points.

Wow! that was a lot to take in. I can almost feel the difference in my body. It seems like I just changed my body with a little bit better version of me. I think it may be because all my physical attributes have at least 5 points now.

"Status"

Name - Aarav Winehouse Race - Human Level - 1 Experience - 5 / 40 Health - 50 Energy - 110 (Locked) Health regen. - 0.05 / s Energy regen. - 2 / s Strength - 6 Intelligence - 11 Agility - 5 Wisdom - 9 Flexibility - 5 Willpower - 11 Endurance - 5 Soul - 2 Free Attribute points - 5

Now that was tiring but fulfilling. I will hold on to my free points for a little bit. I want to have a better understanding of the world before I start messing with my status.