“Okay, I’ll get out now, fight the bats again to test my new skill and then try to go for the end of the cave.” Matthew decided, excited about his swift progress.

“Exit.”

In the next instant, Matthew was back on the street, next to the gate.

—

Marco had called Frank and they had been waiting at the corner of the main street, watching the portal gate from a distance, when Matthew suddenly got out.

"See? I told you! I told you I saw someone getting in the portal!" Marco told Frank, as they observed Matthew who had just come out of the portal. 

"Yeah yeah I saw. You think he's a new player?" Frank asked back.

"Well duh! Why would anyone come here if not for that! But what is he doing? Getting in and out alone…" 

"Right, right, so what should we do? Should we call the boss?" 

"Let's take pictures for now and follow him when he leaves." Marco decided, before getting his smartphone and taking some pictures before Matthew went back in. 

—

Back in the cave, Matthew lit up the lantern, put it down, and pulled the tennis racket. When the cauldron appeared and rushed toward him however, he decided to wait and only covered his eyes and face with his free hand.

“Ouch ouch ouch!” he yelped, feeling the pain from each bite.

After a few moments, thinking he had enough, Matthew went on the offensive.

“Tornado smash no jutsu!” he screamed as he rotated and moved the racket around him rapidly.

In an instant, more than half of the bats were killed. Matthew could feel his pain subside and the wounds close for the most part.

“Wow, the skill is really powerful!” he said, awed.

He then finished the remaining bats without any trouble.

Ring

[You have gained a level]

“Nice, all done. Just one level up though? I guess I was on the verge at the beginning and barely over at the end, last time…” he figured, slightly dejected.

“Anyway, doesn’t really matter. Let’s go see how I fare against the saber-tooth at the end of the cave.”

He picked up the lantern and started walking. On the last turn before what was described as the saber-tooth room, he stopped and prepared a throwing hatchet.

‘I’ll have to be careful, it’s supposed to have poisoned canines…’ he reminded himself.

He stepped forward, sighted the sleeping beast and immediately threw the hatchet.

Ring.

[You have unlocked a new skill: Weapon throw.]

[Skill: Weapon throw (Lv.1)]
When throwing weapons, accuracy increased and lower probability of wrong hits.

‘Nice! A clean hit!’

The hatchet buried itself in the side of the lying predator. It roared from the surprise and bounced at its attacker.

Matthew pulled his knife out of his inventory and dashed to the side, evading his opponent, before stabbing at its side next to the hatchet, and pulling it out with his left hand. He then backed up to create some distance and threw the hatchet again, hitting it in the leg.

He then dashed forward. The predator did too. Matthew managed to stab its eye with his knife and dashed back.

“Ouch, fuck!”

As he pulled out, the beast managed to graze his left arm with its teeth. The skin around the wound quickly darkened.

“Shit shit shit, it burns! I have to finish this quickly!”

Matthew tried to throw another hatchet from his inventory, but this time missed. The monster jumped toward him and Matthew escaped to the right, trying to take advantage of the blind spot from its damaged eye. 

Not quick enough, One of the canines penetrated his stomach.

“Ugh!”

He quickly stabbed his knife at the side of the beast where it was already bleeding profusely from the previous attacks and made it retreat.

‘It hurts too much, and I’m getting more and more exhausted… I can’t go on like this. Looks like it’s about to collapse as well… Just a bit more!’

As he thought that, he opened his status window and put all the remaining points he had into endurance.

‘I feel a bit better… This should be enough, let’s go’

His target was gauging him. Both of them were badly wounded and the next exchange would most likely be the last.

Matthew decided to rush to the right and quickly tried to stab at the monster’s throat. The beast did not react quickly enough and he succeeded. The beast turned its head blindly and violently, trying to inflict a last wound on Matthew, but he evaded and it only made its throat wound worse.

Matthew stayed at a distance and observed the beast bleeding before it ultimately collapsed.

Ring Ring.

[You have gained a level]

[You have unlocked a new skill: Poison resistance.]

[Skill: Poison resistance (Lv.1)]
Low poison resistance.

“Oh wow, it could hardly have gone better. Thanks to the level up, my wounds are now gone, and it seems like the poison in them also disappeared. And I got a poison resistance skill! Should I consider myself lucky? Anyway… Since I could put the wolf body in the inventory back then, could I take this one too? I might have a use for the poison later.”

Matthew walked to the body and, as he touched it and thought about putting it in his inventory, the body disappeared.

‘Huh? I feel like my energy diminished. So it requires mana to move larger things in the inventory? Alright, it had to have limits anyway. But it worked, that’s good. I definitely got much stronger, should I go see if I can take on the wolf pack?’

Matthew turned around and started walking toward the cave entrance.

‘They should already be inside by now… There was no information on what they did inside though, would they sleep like the saber-tooth monster?’

Careful not to make any sounds, he arrived at the entrance where he finally arrived upon the pack. Some were lying down resting, while others sat and watched outside the cave.

‘What are they watching out for in the portal? Oh, right, last time, the alpha seemed to have noticed me from my smell. Can’t I do something about that to ambush them?’

Matthew thought for a few seconds before coming to a realization.

‘Right! The wolf body!’