“Mana’s arse!” After reading the new system message that replaced his previous skill evolution panel, Byron couldn’t help but curse, the system had fixed his get powerful quick bug.

It had also changed its method of sending its messages.

Felling, slightly annoyed, he called up his status screen.

‘Status’

He sighed in relief when he saw that nothing else had changed, he poked at the new status screen in front of him curiously, and his finger passed right through.

He studied it from all angles and was impressed with the new status screen, it looked better and cooler to him, the old one was hard on his eyes as well.

He taped the new titles section only to see what he did but got nothing, Byron knew titles were fancy names people would get for doing anything on a grand scale or something a lot of people recognized you for.

He looked at the giant red fruits hanging on equally giant branches overhead and licked his lips, he didn’t know what was in them or why he felt he needed them but it couldn’t be a bad thing.

He infused his feet with a little life force and sprinted to the base of the tree, he reached there in a few seconds as the current tree wasn’t as big as the one that nearly killed him.

Byron covered his hands and feet with drain life and began his climb, he would occasionally infuse his body with life force and leap great distances.

He quickly reached the nearest branch that had a fruit on it, he climbed down via the stem and took a bite out of it.

Byron waited a moment to see if any significant change would happen or if he would feel any change.

…

Nothing happened, he sighed and continued eating until he felt full, it had a strange texture that Byron couldn’t quite describe but it tasted good.

It confused him why he behaved so strangely when he first saw the fruit, maybe it was another strange thing with his new race? Byron made a mental note to remind himself to research his new race thoroughly when the test was over.

It was critical to know one’s strengths and weaknesses so he could compensate for them with a skill or something similar.

He also needed to know how much life force his body could take before it exploded, Byron wasn’t going to stuff his body full of life force right now, but he was going to later.

He wasn’t stupid, he knew he might die, but such was life it had risks in everything.

He used his fit to cut out large chunks of it and stored it in his inventory so he didn’t have to come back unless he ran out.

With that done, he leaped off and landed on the tree’s trunk and made his way home he tried collecting some of the spirit water using his inventory but it didn’t work.

Byron sat down in his home, contemplating.

He knew the test would be over soon considering how many people died on day one, he had no weapons or armor so he planned to look for chests containing them before the end of test 1.

There were probably a few at the bottom of the lake, but he couldn’t swim, growing up in the middle of a desert didn’t give him the ability to have such skills he didn’t know how deep it was either.

He could stay and train his skills until the test was over, but that was boring, Byron didn’t like boring, he liked fun and interesting things.

Things had been fun and interesting since he got here, unknown monsters chasing him, nearly dying of oxygen deprivation, claiming an angry spirit.

Byron having fun made life easier, doing what one wanted made life enjoyable.

As a person who never got to enjoy life how he wanted to, now that he got the chance, he was going to enjoy life to the fullest, even if that meant death.

The system had given him a chance, he took it and he was glad he did.

Byron sighed and got up, dusted off himself, and walked outside, it was time he got some gear.

He didn’t know where the system classified as areas with high ambient mana but he knew it would look strange and out of place or if it didn’t look too blended in with the environment.

Byron started looking between the numerous roots that were beside or over his home, around the lake, and in the grass that surrounded it.

He found nothing, he decided to head to the other tall trees in the distance, he estimated it would take about three hours if he ran at full speed without using his life force Byron wanted to use that sparingly, just in case.

Byron looked at his hollowed-out root one last time and then set off, he wasn’t coming back until he found loot or something enough interesting to bring back.

As usual, he cleared his way using drain life and managed to level it up to level three halfway through his search for chests, he was quite happy about this, it felt easier to use like it was becoming part of him.

Byron knew skills didn’t do that before the update or whatever happened to the system, before, skills just became stronger and easier to use.

Now each level up felt like he was getting closer to the skill somehow, while also making it easier to use.

The system kept baffling him over and over, it was such an interesting thing and he loved it.