Fire was the first thing I learned how to make.

I depended on it for light, survival, and sustenance. It was an indispensable resource in all aspects of surviving out here in the wilderness.

Speaking of which, it was time to turn the meat. I gripped the side of the cooking spit I’d prepared earlier and rotated it 180 degrees.

The campsite I had prepared was humble. A shelter made from the surrounding foliage, a small campfire, and that was pretty much it. I wasn’t an expert in survival here or in the world before, so it was really the best I could do.

Also, I say “meat”, but “three pigeons on a stick” was far more accurate of a description.

The only monsters I managed to encounter during the day were slimes. Honestly, it wasn’t that surprising. Slimes were basically the “default” isekai monsters, after all. A real staple of the trope.

But really, couldn’t I have at least fought a wolf or something!?

Anyway, after I killed my first monster, a new section appeared on my statistic block.

Levels.

I should’ve seen this one coming. It was just as much a staple to the genre as slimes were. However, instead of the usual leveling system that I saw in novels or anime where characters would simply increase in general power by leveling up, this system actually hit a lot closer to home.

Instead of your leveling representing your overall prowess or your progression in a certain class inside the system, levels were more like currency here.

Not only did I discover that people could exchange levels for goods or services, but there were two types of levels: Active Levels and Potential Levels.

According to the rulebook, whenever someone gained a level, they gained a Potential Level which could then be exchanged or used to strengthen yourself.

How?

Well, goods and services weren’t the only thing that could be purchased with levels. In fact, classes and skills were normally only obtainable through a special device located inside each major city’s castle. Levels used to purchase classes or skills then became Active Levels which could no longer be exchanged.

After learning that, it wasn’t too difficult to figure out how the politics of this world worked.

There were four major factions, just like your classic fantasy setting. Even before reading about them, I was pretty sure I would be familiar with them already due to how closely this world adhered to the tropes I’d seen thousands of times before, but I went over them anyway.

There was the Kingdom of Ardene which was essentially an empire that included all the various Human nations which dotted the central areas of Celatria, a massive landmass in Paresica where all the other nations were located.

Then, there was the Sylphid Alliance. Anyone who was familiar with these settings could tell by the name that they were the Elven nation. The alliance was an oligarchy of four major tribes and the tribes that served under them. They apparently lived in a kingdom shrouded by magic deep within the Trysdale Silverwoods to the west of my current location.

Next, there was the nation of Brul’adur. It was located on the opposite end of the continent where there was an endless snowfall and dangerous mountain ranges. Of course, it was to no one’s surprise that Brul’adur was the nation of the Dwarves.

Lastly, there were the barbaric nations of the east. They had no official name as they were various tribes composed of a whole slew of races which lived separately and had separate cultures. 

A large fissure separated them from the other three nations, but apparently, they would cross over to conduct raids from time to time.

Despite the cultural differences between these factions, all of them aside from the barbaric tribes used the same method to control their populace: levels. The ruling family and the lords had complete control over the device that granted classes, only allowing the loyal to grow in strength.

Unfortunately for them, [Rulebook] was ultimately a rulebook that emulated actual tabletop role-playing game rulebooks pretty similarly. As usual, there was a character sheet in the back of the book. Normally, these were blank, but this time it was completely filled out.

A single glance had told me that it was mine. I ended up fiddling around with it after killing a few slimes and quickly discovered that [Rulebook] also allowed me to make changes to my statistics so long as they were within the rules of the system. It was pretty much the same as leveling up in an actual tabletop role-playing game.

In other words, I was completely free from the control of the western nations.

More importantly, there was something extremely vital that I discovered after reading about the tribes.

According to the rulebook, the demon lord would appear in two years to unify the tribes and bring about the end of the world. 

At last, I had learned the exact date of when this world was scheduled to be destroyed.

It was just too cliche. I mean, really?

Of all the ways It could end the world as a God, It chose the absolute lamest one. Just how many stories followed this trend?

Surely it was too many to count.

But because of this utterly banal plot that God had devised, it made my life easier.

All I’d have to do was unite the barbaric tribes before two years passed.

It was my good fortune that the barbaric tribes valued strength above all else. I wouldn’t have to play politics or complicated mind games. And to achieve strength in this world, the only thing I needed to do was what I already planned to do.

Grind.

A smirk grew on my face as I stood up and dusted myself off.

I didn’t camp next to a dungeon entrance for no reason.

“Alright. Let’s get this motherfuckin’ show on the road.” I cracked my knuckles and stepped forth into the cavernous abyss that awaited me, snapping my fingers and producing a spark of flame that hovered in the palm of my hand.

The dungeon walls were rugged, and a thin veneer of dust coated the stone. It was clear that I was the first to visit in a while, meaning that the monster population inside had probably grown rather sizeable.

In other words, the insides of this dungeon had become the perfect environment for me.

Heh... Looks like the God of Transmigration set me up for a banquet. Well then, let’s FEAST!