Throughout history mankind followed water. So if I find water, civilization wouldn’t be far behind.

It didn’t take me long to find what I was looking for. Soon I left the normal brush of the forest and found myself in a rocky area with a wide river with clear blue water rushing from my right to my left.

Boulders and large rocks filled the riverbed stopping the forest from advancing towards the river any further. It was around 30 feet each side to get to the river from the tree line and the river itself was about 20 feet wide, so the clearing was quite open.

I didn’t immediately rush out of the brush hiding me though. Predators also hid around watering holes to capture prey drinking water, so I had to be careful.

After a few minutes of not seeing any movement other than the small bird’s overhead, I creeped out from the brush. As I walked carefully and silently towards the riverbed, I began to see small, multi-colored fish swimming here and there in its not-so-deep depths.

No predators appeared, so I continued my approach to the clear blue water.

As I gazed at the river, I remembered the last time I had tasted clean water. It felt like a lifetime ago. Seeing such clear water before me made me want to dive headfirst and take precious gulps of it.

However, my sixth sense was telling me that something was wrong, so I held myself back. Instead, I pulled out a canteen I bought and dipped it in the water. I felt the cool touch of the water on my fingertips as I watched the canteen fill.

Once full, I retreated back to my hiding spot in the bushes of the tree line and waited in case my movements caught the attention of any predators. Seeing and hearing nothing, I calmed down and cast another spell, Inspect.

I kept silent, used the mana in me and cast the spell according to my will. This time, it was my eyes that gathered the mana, not my fingers. The spell, completed, prompted a new screen to appear in front of me.

[Canteen: 16oz of fresh water.]

Impressed with the knowledge it gave and thankful that it was considered fresh water, I drank a small sip. It was cool on my lips. The chill it brought to my mouth and throat was refreshing and welcome. I then began to drink hungrily from the canteen until it was empty.

I let out a content sigh as a shiver ran through my body from the chill the water gave me.

How much I missed this taste. As I reminisced, a breeze pushed its way through the leaves of the trees. Watching the forest move gave me comfort and peace, until I noticed something that wasn’t supposed to move, moving. Across the river, the trees and bushes around this object moved from the wind, but something that looked like a boulder near them also began to move.

I froze, fear welled up inside of me, screaming at me to move and get out of there, but my sixth sense was telling me to stay put, if I moved now I would be dead.

These feelings wared within me before I decided that I would follow what kept me alive for so long on my world. So I stayed put. Immediately a blue screen popped up in front of me as if confirmation of my decision.

[Danger sense Leveled up!]

[Danger sense Leveled up!]

[Danger sense Leveled up!]

[Congratulations You have leveled up!]

I pushed aside the screens as I held my breath as more of what I thought were boulders moved until it looked like the entire riverbed was moving.

I didn’t understand what I was looking at until I saw its head. The rows of teeth were pointed and sharp. Its muzzle was long and hard. I quickly realized that I was looking at what might have been called an alligator from my world. The only difference was the fact that they looked like boulders or stones. The other large rocks were smaller versions of the massive stone alligator. I couldn’t see all of the big one as some of its tail was in the tree line, but from what I could see, it was over 20 ft long. The smaller ones were quite large as well at around 8-10 feet long.

What scared me the most was the fact that they blended in so well with the rock bed. I didn’t even know they were there! If I was on the other side of the river where they all were, walking amongst the so-called rocks, I would have died before my journey even started!

I stayed absolutely still as they moved around to get more sun. They settled back onto the ground a few seconds later thankfully.

The wind must have brought a chill on them. The big one itself was half in the shade of the trees due to the movement of the sun. Now however, it was closer to the river and facing towards me but laying down in the full face of the sun.

I swallowed my saliva and thanked my lucky stars that I wasn’t on the other side of the river. But then I widened my eyes and looked at the rocks in front of me. None of the rocks moved, but I didn’t know if they were rocks or not now.

I briefly wondered why my sixth sense didn’t tell me to run away, but then realized I was safe, hidden where I was, and I made no noise as I walked to and back from the river. Even the danger sense skill didn’t go off until they started moving.

Deciding not to look too far into it right now, I waited for them to fall into a better sleep before slowly creeping back into the forest.

‘Ok. Note to self. Stones can be deadly……’

I quickly found a quiet place beside a tree to catch my breath and review what happened and what I gained from this encounter. Other than the knowledge that stone alligators exist, I gained a level and a few skill levels.

Turning my gaze and my will, I looked back at the screens that pooped up earlier. Danger sense had leveled up 3 times before stopping. Then I had leveled up.

‘But how? I didn’t kill anything. Do I get experience from surviving monster encounters?....’

I then began to think of what I did before leveling up. But I couldn’t find anything that stood out other than danger sense leveling up.

I quickly opened my status screen to investigate.

[Name: John Phoenix

Age: 18

Race: Human

Title(s): Survivor

Level: 1->2(15%)

HP: 80

MP: 340

Vitality: 8

Strength: 7

Agility: 6

Intelligence: 34(mana brain)

Wisdom: 46(mana heart)

Unused Status points: 1

Skills:

Spells:

Mana Manipulation Lvl 1, Meditation Lvl 1, Chanting Lvl 1, Runic Language Lvl 1, Sense Mana Lvl 1, Extract Mana Lvl 1, Empower Spell Lvl 1, Inspect Lvl 1, Mana Shield Lvl 1, Mana Bolt Lvl 1, Telekinesis Lvl 1, Spell Break Lvl 1, Interrupt Spell Lvl 1, Clean Lvl 1

Fire Spells:

Flame Control Lvl 1, Burn Lvl 1, Firewall Lvl 1

Water Spells:

Water Manipulation Lvl 1, Fog Lvl 1, Breath of Water Lvl 1

Ice Spells:

Freeze Lvl 1, Frozen Dagger Lvl 1, Ice Wall Lvl 1

Earth Spells:

Earth Manipulation Lvl 1, Earth Wall Lvl 1, Dirt to Mud Lvl 1, Mud to Stone Lvl 1, Quicksand Lvl 1, Mud Shot Lvl 1

Nature Spells:

Plant Control Lvl 1, Growth Lvl 1, Wall of Thorns Lvl 1

Wind Spells:

Gale Lvl 1, Gust Lvl 1, Feather-Fall Lvl 1, Wind Arrow Lvl 1, Air Dome Lvl 1

Lightning Spells:

Spark Lvl 1, Chain Lightning Lvl 1

Light Spells:

Light Lvl 1, Flash Lvl 1, Cure Lvl 1, Mend Lvl 1, Purify Lvl 1, Heal Lvl 1,

Mind Spells:

Mind Shield Lvl 1

Shadow Spells:

Night Vision Lvl 1, Silence Lvl 1, Poison Cloud Lvl 1, Shadow Crows Lvl 1

Arts:

Dagger Arts Lvl 1, Bow Arts Lvl 1, Pugilist Arts Lvl 1, Siege Weapon Arts Lvl 1

Skills:

Tracking Lvl 1, Identify Trap Lvl 1, Danger Sense Lvl 1->4, Stealth Lvl 1, Running Lvl 1, Steady Hands Lvl 1, Precise Strike Lvl 1, Pain Resistance Lvl 1, Mental Resistance Lvl 1, Fear Resistance Lvl 1, Heat Resistance Lvl 1, Cold Resistance Lvl 1, Lightning Resistance Lvl 1, Poison Resistance Lvl 1, Soul Manipulation Resistance Lvl 1, Acting Lvl 1, Light Armor Lvl 1, Heavy Armor Lvl 1, Writing Lvl 1, Cooking Lvl 1, Herbalism Lvl 1, Architect Lvl 1, Mathematics Lvl 1, Measurement Lvl 1, Farmer Lvl 1, Hoe Arts Lvl 1, Sickle Arts Lvl 1, Hammer Arts Lvl 1, Cartography Lvl 1, Trapmaking Lvl 1, Cleaning Lvl 1, Trading Lvl 1, Appraisal Lvl 1, Decrease Price Lvl 1

First I noticed that I only had one status point to invest into my stats after leveling up. The second thing I noticed was a percentage was added to my level screen. 15% didn’t give me much to go on. But as this was all new and all I could work with was the fact that I had leveled up a skill before leveling up myself, I decided to experiment.

How? By repeating specific circumstances until I found the right one to gain the results I wanted. Specifically, trying to level up another skill to see what would happen. However, I couldn’t just cast any spell, especially with the stone alligators nearby. It had to be a silent skill that would be easy to do over and over.

Then it hit me, Inspect!

I turned to the tree next to me and cast inspect on it. The process was the same as before, mana entered my eyes and a new screen popped up in front of me.

[Tree]

‘well, that’s obvious….’

The only problem with that was the fact that I gained no useful information, nor did I level up the skill. I didn’t know how long or how many times it would take, so I continued over and over again. The same pop up appeared over and over again too. Tree, tree, tree, tree, tree, tree, tree.

I was going nowhere with inspect soon, so I thought about something else while I cast the spell again and again. Namely, mana costs.

I had not thought about it, but magic costs mana, right? If I found myself in a situation where I was out of mana or didn’t have enough to cast a spell, I could end up dying.

So then how much mana did inspect cost? And how fast did I recover mana? To find out these answers, I turned to my status screen.

When I looked, I found that every time I cast inspect, 3 MP would disappear from my mana pool. Then I watched in amazement as my mana pool recovered the mana I spent in a matter of seconds.

‘Hmmm……’

I looked at the tree and cast inspect again.

[Tree]

I then looked at my opened status screen and watched my MP. Again 3 was missing and I began to count in my head. When I regained the mana I spent I stopped counting.

’13 seconds to recover 1 MP, 26 seconds to recover 2 MP, and 39-ish seconds to recover 3 MP……how do I recover MP, through my wisdom stat right?......and its 46….how does that-wait! Count the 6…..plus the 4……so I will regain mana around 4.6 a minute?......I mean the math is close. I don’t have a calculator around, but I think that’s the case.’

[Congratulations! Mathematics has leveled up!]

‘Eh?! Wait wait wait, what?! I can level up the mathematics skill by just doing math calculations in my head? !!! The level percentage!’

I opened up the status screen and sure enough it changed!

[Name: John Phoenix

Age: 18

Race: Human

Title(s): Survivor

Level: 2(30%)

HP: 80

MP: 340

Vitality: 8

Strength: 7

Agility: 6

Intelligence: 34(mana brain)

Wisdom: 46(mana heart)

Unused Status point: 1

Skills:

Spells:

Mana Manipulation Lvl 1, Meditation Lvl 1, Chanting Lvl 1, Runic Language Lvl 1, Sense Mana Lvl 1, Extract Mana Lvl 1, Empower Spell Lvl 1, Inspect Lvl 1, Mana Shield Lvl 1, Mana Bolt Lvl 1, Telekinesis Lvl 1, Spell Break Lvl 1, Interrupt Spell Lvl 1, Clean Lvl 1

Fire Spells:

Flame Control Lvl 1, Burn Lvl 1, Firewall Lvl 1

Water Spells:

Water Manipulation Lvl 1, Fog Lvl 1, Breath of Water Lvl 1

Ice Spells:

Freeze Lvl 1, Frozen Dagger Lvl 1, Ice Wall Lvl 1

Earth Spells:

Earth Manipulation Lvl 1, Earth Wall Lvl 1, Dirt to Mud Lvl 1, Mud to Stone Lvl 1, Quicksand Lvl 1, Mud Shot Lvl 1

Nature Spells:

Plant Control Lvl 1, Growth Lvl 1, Wall of Thorns Lvl 1

Wind Spells:

Gale Lvl 1, Gust Lvl 1, Feather-Fall Lvl 1, Wind Arrow Lvl 1, Air Dome Lvl 1

Lightning Spells:

Spark Lvl 1, Chain Lightning Lvl 1

Light Spells:

Light Lvl 1, Flash Lvl 1, Cure Lvl 1, Mend Lvl 1, Purify Lvl 1, Heal Lvl 1,

Mind Spells:

Mind Shield Lvl 1

Shadow Spells:

Night Vision Lvl 1, Silence Lvl 1, Poison Cloud Lvl 1, Shadow Crows Lvl 1

Arts:

Dagger Arts Lvl 1, Bow Arts Lvl 1, Pugilist Arts Lvl 1, Siege Weapon Arts Lvl 1

Skills:

Tracking Lvl 1, Identify Trap Lvl 1, Danger Sense Lvl 4, Stealth Lvl 1, Running Lvl 1, Steady Hands Lvl 1, Precise Strike Lvl 1, Pain Resistance Lvl 1, Mental Resistance Lvl 1, Fear Resistance Lvl 1, Heat Resistance Lvl 1, Cold Resistance Lvl 1, Lightning Resistance Lvl 1, Poison Resistance Lvl 1, Soul Manipulation Resistance Lvl 1, Acting Lvl 1, Light Armor Lvl 1, Heavy Armor Lvl 1, Writing Lvl 1, Cooking Lvl 1, Herbalism Lvl 1, Architect Lvl 1, Mathematics Lvl 1->2, Measurement Lvl 1, Farmer Lvl 1, Hoe Arts Lvl 1, Sickle Arts Lvl 1, Hammer Arts Lvl 1, Cartography Lvl 1, Trapmaking Lvl 1, Cleaning Lvl 1, Trading Lvl 1, Appraisal Lvl 1, Decrease Price Lvl 1

I looked at my status screen in awe. It was like I had just figured out the secrets of the universe or something. But it was just something so simple.

‘You level up by leveling skills! Or at least that’s one way to level up. I don’t know because I haven’t killed anything yet, but it looks like you can level up like that.

However, mathematics only gave me 15% for leveling up. Why did Danger sense give me more when it leveled? Could it be because I’m level 2 now and things are weighted differently, or are there skills that are worth more percentage wise that others? Gosh there is just so much I don’t know!’

I shook my head and focused on what did know. What I have found was that I could level up by increasing my skills levels, and when you level up you get status points. I also now know and I need 70% more to get to level 3.

I then looked at the unspent status point. Deciding that since I was experimenting, I should add the status point as another experiment to gather more information on how stats work and what they do to you when they increase.

I quickly pulled up my status screen to add the point, but found a new problem, where do I place the status point?

Overall, I knew that my strength was less than the average of this world. My intelligence and wisdom stats were very high though thanks to the mana heart and mana brain. My vitality was probably average, but my agility was really poor. It was my lowest stat.

Deciding that it would be good to raise agility even if I wasted the free status point, I moved to add the free status point to agility. Besides, if anything helped me in the long term, being able to run faster, or at least react faster, could save my life.

Once I hit confirm, I felt a slight burning sensation in all my limbs and my ears and eyes. It was like I had completed a very strenuous workout and all my muscles were tired. It was weird having my eyes and ears feel tired, but thankfully the burning sensation left and my body felt refreshed.

I moved my hands side to side and tried testing my body quietly, but I couldn’t really sense any major differences.

‘It was only one point anyway, so I probably wouldn’t notice much.’

The only thing I could notice was that my vision had gotten a little better.

‘Does agility also include your senses?....I guess that would make sense. You can’t keep up with your body if your senses don’t adapt….interesting. Then if I increased my agility a lot, would I be able to spot creatures like the stone alligators easily?’

My thoughts froze when I heard a loud splash coming from the river.

‘The alligators! Are they coming to this side of the river? Or going down the river?....I cant stay here. I need to move.’

I remembered from my brief interaction with the river that, to the right where the water was coming from was a mountain range, and to the left was where the water was going. I made my decision quickly and walked slowly to the left of the river.

Humans needed flatland to grow crops and rivers were a great way to water said crops, so away from mountains was the only option for me.

I also stayed just out of sight of the river so as to not get too close to the stone alligators.

I thought about possibly fighting them to see how strong my magic was but decided that this was a battle I was better off skipping. Besides, fighting someone when you don’t even know your own strengths is dangerous. So, I continued to slowly and carefully move with the flowing water to my right.