You have increased Endurance by 1 level (Lvl 5).

"Ughhh," I say breathlessly, for no one but the trees to hear. I have been walking in a random direction for about an hour now and begin to realize that I may have made a somewhat hasty decision. My legs burn with exhaustion, and my lungs refuse to fill to capacity. Although I knew that my stats were weak, I didn't think I was this weak. What's worse, I doubt I've made any progress; everything looks the same, and I have yet to see any trace of people.

At least I have been leveling up Endurance. It's a small gain, but at this point, I will take anything I can get. I decide to sit on the log next to me so I can find my bearings. After a couple of minutes of catching my breath, I contemplate what I should do. It looks like it might get dark within the next few hours, and I have no shelter, food, or water. I figure that I should try to find a source of water first, as I can easily succumb to death within a couple of days without it.

With a small heave and a little help from a walking stick I had picked up along my walk, I stand up and survey my surroundings for the first time since coming here. The flowers have long since dissipated, and the trees have slowly started to spread out a bit. Instead of a densely packed forest, it is more like a plains biome resting on a slight downhill. I start to think that I should walk downhill because I know that water flows downhill.

This being my best (and only) plan, I start heading downhill. Before I take three steps, an abrupt and high-pitched guttural sound echoes toward me. I swivel sharply in the direction from which the sound emanates, my grip on the walking stick faltering in panic, but I don't see anything. I bend down to pick up the walking stick I had dropped, and when I look up, to my dismay, a group of diminutive creatures stands before me, each characterized by greenish-grey skin and peculiarly distorted facial features.

"Are those... Goblins?"