Gar knew you are supposed to boil water first but it had been a long day he had done a lot of walking and killing and he still had more to do today before he could stop. So he scooped up some water in his hands and drank deeply. The water was cool and refreshing, he hadn’t realised how much he had needed it before then. He took a break then, just five minutes sat relaxing, as he sat he turned off mana sight and observe. They had been on for a couple of hours now and it was starting to strain, so just sitting watching the water without really seeing it was good. He couldn’t take too long though he had things to do before going onwards. He followed his path to the last tree, mana sight and observe back on just in case, he picked up the dead as he passed, hanging the new ones with the rest. He picked out the two biggest and strapped them to his waist to take with him. He would have loved to have taken them all with him but they would just slow him down, he couldn’t preserve them anyway. He figured he might come pick them up once he found a place to stay, he also figured predators and scavengers would probably eat them in the night, which if there were any would mean they were here and not wherever he was that night, so Gar figured he would take that as a win as well. Returning along his path and getting to the river Gar started to follow it up stream his next goal was the lake it was one of the few prominent locations in the area so he figured it would be good to check it out, it was also against the cliff walls surrounding him and he was hoping to find a cave or something to act as some shelter. The uneven ground of the riverbank slowed him down a bit but it was still faster than going through the grass.

  As he got closer to the lake the land started to slope down the surrounding changed from tall grass with dotted trees to clusters of wiry, thorny shrubs and short grass Gar wasn’t quite sure of why the change but was happy about it as it meant that those things weren’t hiding behind every blade of grass, he could feel a tension he hadn’t realised he had been carrying just seemed to fade away the further he got from that long grass. It was a bit over a kilometre before he got to the lake, it was big with a waterfall falling into it dark water from the shade of the cliff, the banks here where just bare rock, some small boulders with stones scattered around, it was much nicer walking than the stones further down the river. It had been a long day and Gar knew if this world was anything like earth then he wouldn’t have much daylight left particularly in this hole, so he started to hurry round the lake wanting to find some shelter. The lake was large enough that it still took over half hour to get round it to the cliff face even at Gars hurried pace. It was getting dark by the time Gar got there, he had barely noticed as his dark vision had kicked in automatically he could still see same as day time at least at closer distances, longer distances where a bit more muddled and harder to make out but it would work for now.

  Gar started working his way around the cliff face looking for any sign of a cave he could use for shelter. He had only gone about a hundred meters or so before he came across a, well to call it a cave would be a bit grandiose for what it was, it was a divot in the rock face maybe two meters deep at most not even tall enough for Gar to stand up in but it should be big enough for him to sit and lay down in, enough roof to keep the weather of and should block most of the wind, not that there was much wind that he had noticed. It had been a long day for Gar he wanted to just sit and stop, rest for a while, but he knew if he did that he would struggle to get going again and he had a few more things to do yet. First he went to the closest tree, he had to climb it a bit to find some small enough, but eventually he half cut with his knife half broke off a number of branches before bringing them back to the little divert. He then made his way back to the lake to gather a few stones in particular he kept an eye out for some flint, he was kicking himself realising he should have been keeping an eye out for flint on his journey up the river, he was sure he remembered seeing some but hadn’t picked it up he had been so focused on keeping an eye out for threats, it hadn’t occurred to him he would want it later. It took a few trips to bring back enough rocks and a bit of searching but he did find some flint. Laying out a circle of stones to contain the fire and hold some heat he stacked a small pile of the smallest twigs, then started striking the two flint rocks together, but no matter how he tried he couldn’t get the sparks to land on the twigs and light, the twigs where too young and green they weren’t going to light.

  Chucking the flint down in frustration Gar started looking around what else did he have, his shirt would probably burn but then he would be topless and if it didn’t work he would be even colder with a ruined shirt, as he shifted the Conrex bodies still hanging from his waist bumped him. Looking at them gave him an idea, untying his knife from the stick, he used it to cut a chunk of the grass like hair off the creature, feeling it in his hand it did feel dry, he hoped this would work, clearing the twigs out the way he placed the clump of green hair in the middle and started striking the flint. It took a while but eventually the sparks landed in the hair and they started to smoulder, a bit of gentle blowing later and he had a flame, as the flame burned he cut another chunk of hair and added it to the fire, he did this a couple more times before adding a few of the smaller sticks, slowly building until he had a nice fire going. The temperature had dropped with the last of the light but it hadn’t bothered Gar much, the fire’s warmth was a great feeling though and after getting it going he just took the time to sit and relax, pulling couple of sticks towards him he absentmindedly sharpened both ends of them with his knife, once done he stuck them into the ground next to him.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  After a break in his mindless whittling he grabbed the conrex body, the one he had cut most of the long hair off. He had been thinking about this since he had killed the first one, he was hungry and this was his only food. How was he going to cook it? He had decided that the conrex was basically a head with legs, and from what he had seen that head was full of all the organs so not much meat there, but the legs they were all muscle, so meat he could hopefully eat. Taking the tip of the knife he inserted it in at the top of the leg where it joined the body and ran it all the way round then with a sharp tug and a twist he was able to separate the leg, repeating this with the other leg. He then had two smooth skinned legs which he stabbed one onto each of his sharpened sticks before reposting the sticks so that they were stuck in the ground with the meat above the fire, not sure what to do with the remains he shaved of the rest of the long hair and bundled it up, it could be useful to start another fire, before just dropping the head in the fire to hopefully burn up. With all the things he had done that day done, and waiting for his food to cook, Gar did something he had been putting off. He levelled up, finally giving the flashing icon in the corner of his mind the attention it wanted and opened it.

  “Level up you are now level 2”

  “As a Gargoyle you gain 1 point to constitution, 1 point to strength and 1 point to perception, along with 3 free attribute points per level up. You may also choose a skill to advance a level”

  The grin on Gars face made it look like it was split in half, this was what he wanted this is the feeling he wanted from this world, the advancing. If he was honest with himself the day had been fun he had enjoyed himself, it was challenging and hard work but now he was sat here by a warm fire, food cooking a place out of the weather to sleep, he was happy in that moment. He opened his character sheet

  Race: Gargoyle

  Name: Gar

  Level: 2

  Experience to next level: 88/150

  Health: 136/136

  Stamina: 112/112

  Mana: 62/62

  Constitution: 12         Endurance: 8

  Strength: 13           Agility: 5

  Dexterity: 5           Willpower: 8

  Wisdom: 6           Intelligence: 6

  Charisma: 3          Perception: 8

  Luck: 5

  Free attribute points: 3

  Abilities

  Racial

  

  
• Grotesque: The Grotesque of a gargoyle is its strength, add monster parts to you to truly strike fear into others.


  
• Dark vision: As a creature of the dark, born to stand guard in the night you have excellent vision in the dark


  

  Personal

  

  
• Mana sight: able to see the mana flow inside of objects and beings


  

  Skills

  

  
• Observe, Level 1: allows the user to see details of the world around them


  

  Free skill points: 1

  It was rewarding to see the numbers in his status going up. He wasn’t sure what to do with his free points but ultimately decided he didn’t know enough yet about what everything did to distribute it wisely so he closed status and looked to his food, the legs looked quite charred by now being licked by the flames, but it actually smelt good. Picking up both sticks, sticking one back in the ground but so the leg was no longer over the fire. Then with a rumble from his belly he took a bite, or tried to anyway he just got a mouthful of tough burnt skin, taking his knife he was able to run a slice down the leg and peel of the skin, his fingers where a greasy mess by the time he was done but it appeared the skin had protected the meat from most of the burning. Trying again he bit into it this time he was able to get a mouthful of meat. It was bland and overcooked but Gar had wanted to be cautious, he might not survive getting sick eating undercooked meat in this situation. Having not eaten all day he didn’t have any complaints the first leg was quickly demolished and then the second one swiftly followed. Now with a full belly and nothing else he had to get done, he started to realise what a long day it had been, he was so tired, throwing a few more sticks onto the fire to hopefully keep it going, before crawling to the back of his little cave, it wasn’t particularly comfortable but he was full and warm and had been through so much that day it didn’t take him long to fall asleep.