I looked at the bird carefully and examined its body. The softest and weakest place is its chest, the feathers are small and soft. I crawled on the branch and positioned myself near its chest and grabbed the dagger backward with both hands, I raised my hands above my head then down with a fast movement and stabbed the bird’s chest.

The dagger pierced through the skin and flesh with little resistance, I kept my grip firm on the dagger and moved it in a straight line for about forty centimeters before turning to the left and continued until I made a square.

I grabbed the skin in one corner then started to cut the skin with the dagger until I managed to remove all the skin from the square area which I cut beforehand. When all the skin was gone, red meat was revealed.

While I was trying to cut a piece of meat to take down with me, an idea popped into my head, why take only a piece of meat if I can take the whole bird with me. So, I immediately switched from trying to cut a piece of meat to store the whole bird in my inventory.

I returned my dagger into its scabbard and put my hand on the bird and started to focus all my mind on imagining an inventory. After a minute or so, I managed to have a clear picture of an inventory. After that, I focused on my desire to put the bird inside the inventory.

I kept on trying and failing for what seemed like ages until finally the bird suddenly disappeared and a beep sound echoed in my mind.

< The spell ‘Inventory’ had been added into the ‘Dimensional magic’ section. >

< Inventory: Creates a special space in another dimension where time is frozen. Objects can be stored and restored directly or by using the inventory’s interface screen. The interface screen can be summoned by using the magical word ‘Inventory’. >

I breathed a sigh of relief then turned my hand into a fist and shot it over my head while shouting “Yes.” I laughed happily and proudly at my achievement and the benefits of having an inventory, especially in the middle of the forest.

I mumbled “Inventory” and a transparent screen appeared in front of me, it contained many squares like icons with the bird inside the first one of them, and the last one has a plus mark written on it.

After checking for a few minutes, I discovered that I can create many pages and name them and arrange the things inside according to my well, which is convenient in the long run when I have many things stored inside.

I closed the inventory’s interface screen and enlarged the map and located the nearest stream then checked my new location, thankfully, I was still in the same direction and even closer to the city that I was planning to go to.

I climbed down the tree and started to walk, it wasn’t safe to stay on the ground near the vines so it was better to find a safer place before taking the bird out and prepare a fulfilling meal for the first time since I left the village.

While I was walking, I collected some fruits and ate a few too, even though I was dying for a proper meal, the area was still full of crazy plants all around me, so I couldn’t stop.

In the late afternoon, I reached a cave in a relatively small hill, the entrance was about a meter high and half a meter wide with some roots from a tree covering half of the entrance. It was perfect as a shelter if it was empty.

I tried to check it out from the entrance but it was dark and impossible to see the inside. I contemplated for a while whether to enter it or not and finally, I gathered my courage and decided to enter it but not before I make some preparations.

I looked around me and chose a long and strong stick then carved its top with my dagger and made it sharp as much as I could, while making sure that it’s not very thin otherwise it would break easily, I swung it around and thrust for a few times to make sure that I can control it without difficulty.

After I tested out my handiwork, the makeshift spear, I proceeded to stage two of my plan, to make a fire. I needed fire to see inside the cave and to cook the meat, so, I collected some old and dried branches from the ground and arranged some of them near the cave’s entrance and stored the rest.

I grabbed a piece of wood and tried to focus on using fire magic to lite it. I tried for about an hour but it was futile and I could guess the reason for my failure. Deep down inside me, I was afraid that, if I started the fire, I would end up burning myself because I still couldn’t manipulate the mana, so I couldn’t muster a strong desire to initiate the magic.

I moved my hand through my hair in frustration and decided to try another way instead of wasting time on magic because the night was approaching fast, so, I gathered some dried grass and put them in a hole in the ground and grabbed a smooth stick and put one of its ends over the grass then started to roll it in between my palms as I saw once in a TV show.

I scrubbed, rolled, blew and cursed for a while until I finally saw smoke rising from the grass, so I quickly and carefully added some more grass and some very thin sticks. When the fire was burning brightly, I added some thick pieces of wood and waited for them to burn.

While I was waiting, I collected some more wood and grass and started to make some experiments on the types of grass and wood until I found one that the fire last longer before it turns into an ember. I collected and put a few in my inventory to be used as torches until I can find a better option.

I added a few more branches into the fire to make sure that it was going to stay burning and made sure that the fire will not spread into the forest, then I grabbed the burning piece of wood as a torch with one hand and the spear in the other and entered the cave carefully.