Chapter 13

When Rob’s crab meat was finished, he was once again presented with a system prompt. It was quite handy, actually. It was like a more effective and precise kitchen timer.

Rob once again passed up on choosing a Vocation. It was getting harder and harder to say no, though. He was crafting so much, he was getting so many different invitations. Still, he wanted to hold out. He wanted to see if he could find a Vocation with a much higher rarity than what he’d seen so far. Based on his older brother’s advice, Rob believead that was the best way forward.

And besides, he could still craft the things he needed without the Vocation. The Vocation would probably just make his crafting better and more efficient; but alas, Rob wasn’t ready to specialize just yet.

Rob dug into his cooked crab meat and found it incredibly tasty and delicious. The meat had no seasoning on it, but Rob figured it must have been because he hadn’t eaten all day. Or maybe the system jazzed up the food one cooked for themselves. He could only hope.

He felt very happy to be eating food, but he was doing it more out of routine, than actual overwhelming hunger.

He was growing more and more confident his lack of hunger and tiredness had something to do with all the levels and stats he was gaining. It was possible that if his stats stayed the same, he might actually be craving sustenance in a day or two, but so long as he kept raising his stats, there might not necessarily be a practical need to eat. Or, sleep for that matter.

He felt a nice feeling overcome him as he finished the crab meat. A new message appeared.

Rob grinned. Now he was seeing a real practical reason to keep eating.

He was planning to cook some of his lizard meat that evening, but he was going to save it for the morning. Lizard meat would be the perfect breakfast before his hunt.

He was pleased that he had some short to medium term plans for the next few days. He wanted to hunt more Jungle Lizards and craft a full-set of Jungle Lizard armor. Level up. Maybe unlock more skills; and begin gathering more information needed about the Jungle Lizard Queen so he could hunt it effectively.

Rob couldn’t help but feel a rising excitement as he thought about hunting the Jungle Lizards, and even moreso, the Jungle Lizard Queen. Something about the challenge, the initial fear he felt when first seeing it, and desiring to overcome and defeat it, filled him with an insatiable bloodlust. He couldn’t wait to take it on.

The urge to fight was primarily driven by the challenge and excitement and the thirst he felt inside of himself, but there was also a curiosity. He couldn’t help but be excited about the new skills he might get at level 10 or what happened when he completed his Jungle Lizard armor set or what happened after he defeated a monster like the Jungle Lizard Queen.

He might have to change his plans if he encountered other participants, but he would deal with that, if and when it actually happened.

Rob took a deep breath and stared into the fire. If he wanted it to keep going, he would have to put another log on it soon.

He felt a nice feeling of contentment. It was such a strange feeling. For many others, Rob could only imagine that they were living through their absolute worst nightmare right now. For Rob, however, this day, on this island, hunting Jungle Lizards, and crafting—it might have been the best day he’d had in a very long time.

* * *

A few hours later, Rob’s eye twitched.

Something snapped nearby.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep for, but something had broken his trap.

Rob grabbed his spear and jumped to his feet. He had been only half-asleep all night long. It was hard to rest on an island full of deadly creatures and potentially hostile humans.

Yellow eyes glowed out.

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A Jungle Lizard had snuck up on him.

Rob’s first thought was, thank goodness for my vine traps. His second thought was, I need to get a better shelter.

He quickly identified the creature.

Rob held his spear out, keeping the lizard at bay.

He could see in the lizard’s eyes that it hadn’t wanted to fight Rob. It just wanted to silently devour him in the night. It hadn’t planned on taking an enemy head-on.

Rob jumped on the balls of his feet and actively triggered Battle Instinct.

The creature’s left side sparkled.

It must have been injured already; probably explained why it was going for sneaky kills.

Rob feinted and then thrust his spear right in the sparkling bit that his Battle Instinct had told him to.

He felt the increase in Strength from his Jungle Lizard-Tooth Necklace and the extra stats from leveling up his race.

The metal tip plunged in and the Jungle Lizard cried out. It ripped its body free and started to retreat.

Hell no, Rob thought. You sneak attacked me in the middle of the night and now you’re bailing on the battle!?

Rob followed after it, clutching the staff of his spear. He couldn’t get a good hit from right behind it, but as soon as it swerved, he could.

He did a long thrust to the creature’s side. It was enough to send the lizard off course.

Now, Rob thought, pulling back his spear and thrusting it once more.

The spear tip burst through the lizard’s side explosively, finishing the monster off.