The time drew closer when the first wave of monsters would spawn. Monier found himself a small clearing where he decided to stay for the time being. He had collected many smaller rocks and had broken off quite a number of branches from the trees nearby.

He gathered both larger and smaller ones as well. While moving around, he noticed that his stamina was much higher than it used to be, and he could move larger branches with minimal effort. It seemed the system had already altered his physical capabilities.

The only concern he had was the lack of food. Although he found a small river not far from the clearing, there was nothing he could consider edible. No berries, fruits, or even mushrooms. only trees, different kinds of bushes and flowers, and grass.

Although it had been almost eight hours since he woke up in this new area, and the last meal he had wasn't moments before he was teleported, he was just slightly hungry. Monier hoped that either the enemies he would need to defeat were edible, or he could find some animal roaming the forest soon.

The first thing he did with the branches was sort. The ones that were too light and too heavy, he tossed to the side so that they could be used for a fire. In total, he had about a dozen perfect sticks. So he grabbed the first one and instantly used his "Smith" skill and turned it into a club. Then he did it another two times, but then a new window popped up.

"Smithing 1->2"

A simple and dense message, just barely containing the necessary information. However, it was a perfect moral boost for Monier. He quickly grabbed the next stick and once again used his skill; however, much to his surprise, the result was different.

Although it was a wooden club, identical in overall shape and size, it was much smoother, and he felt that it had a better grip as well. And that was not the only difference he noticed. He felt that he now knew that he could alter the shape of the weapon as well.

The moment he grabbed the next branch, he closed his eyes and envisioned a different shape, and then the skill was activated. The shape he had in mind was a baseball bat. And so the branch took its shape up, though unlike the previous one, it was not that smooth, nor was it well-formed, but it had the overall envisioned shape.

It seemed he needed to increase his level to be able to make a smooth version of it, and maybe with higher and higher levels, he will unlock more interesting things as well.

Since he still had at least a dozen branches ready to be turned into weapons, Monier decided to play around with things. He made different shapes of wooden swords, despite knowing full well that they would not be that effective. A golf club, and even two longer maces as well, which seemed to be the most effective weapons he had.

When he finished making his last mace, he received another message. Although he believed it would take longer, it seemed that his smithing ability had once again increased.

"Smithing 2->3"

Shortly after that message, another one appeared, which was not that pleasant to see.

"The first wave of monsters will spawn in 0:59!"

He barely had a minute left. So he quickly stored his unnecessary wooden tools and grabbed one of his maces and braced himself. He stood in the middle of the clearing so he had a better vision of his surroundings, unless enemies had some sort of ranged attacks and were to hide behind the trees.

The seconds ticked by, and it felt as if they were ticking slower and slower, then finally it hit the dreaded number, and the message vanished. At that moment, a loud roar echoed in the area, and Monir instantly saw what he was up against.

A total of five enemies. Three skeletons and two wolves. The wolves seemed to be roughly knee-high, but that didn't make them less intimidating, especially since the five enemies appeared on the other side of the clearing and were grouped together.

It didn't help his case that the five of them started running towards him instantly, though it was clearly visible that the wolves were the biggest threat, as they were much faster than the skeletons. 

The wolves were running beside one another. Monier's eyes jumped from one to the other fast, trying to predict which of them would jump at him first, and when they got too close for him to wait any longer, he jumped forward, swinging both of his maces at one of them.

The maces made contact with the wolf. One hit its head, while the other hit its back, and Monir heard a loud cracking sound; however, he wasn't sure whether it was the monster's bones or his own weapons. Using his momentary pause, the other wolf jumped on him and bit his left arm. And instantly started drugging him back, causing even more pain.

Having his left hand rendered useless, he slammed his hammer against the wolf's side, trying to cause enough pain for it to let his arm go, but it clung hard. So he hit the beast again, and in the process, the mace split into two.

For a moment, he felt helpless, especially as he glanced at his blood-covered hand. But then he collected all his might and, using the broken weapon as a spear, pushed it with all his might against the wolf's ribs, piercing it. However, he was not done yet. He tore it out, then stabbed again and again, until finally blood splashed on his head. The beast was most definitely dead; it did not let go of his arm.

The skeletons were still away, so he yanked the stick back out and then pushed it against the beast's mouth, parallel to his hand. Though in the process he broke out some of the corpse's teeth and scratched his own arm, he was finally free.

He left the stick in the beast's dislocated jaw, then grabbed his other mace from his injured hand and rushed towards the skeletons.

He thought he was already finished with the hard part; now he needed to deal with the small fries. Although his logic was good, he greatly underestimated the skeletons. They were unarmed and went down with a single hit to their skulls, but the first two managed to cause deep cuts on their chests using their fingers.

Just as the last skeleton collapsed, he heard a growl. He stared quickly back to see the first wolf still alive, though barely moving. He collected whatever energy he still had and rushed over to it and broke his mace on its head.

"Strength 1->2"

"Endurance 1->2"

"Swordsmanship 1->2"

"Level 1->2"

"1:59:59 left until the next wave of monsters."