Chapter 3: Hello World

Chapter 3: Hello World

Jack had finally managed to process all the information. Not completely, but enough to proceed. Hed also killed a goblin, though he didnt like to think about that.

Gradually, a plan formed in his mind:

Leave the cave; Explore the natural reserve; Find water, shelter, and food, in that order; Survive until someone found him or kill the Dungeon Boss to escape.

It was a good plan, assuming that everything really was game-like. The largest doubt he had was about the environment outside.

Before the Integration, as the blue screens had called it, Jack had been in a small, hidden cave in the middle of the Greenway nature reserve. The System had called the dungeon Forest of the Strong, and given that the natural reserve was a forest, it was reasonable to assume that the entire reserve had been dungeonified.

On one hand, that was good, because Jack had been to this reserve many times. On the other, it was a dungeon; even the best of dungeons sounded worse than, say, his house.

Regardless, Jack now had his bearings, a way to fight, a basic awareness of the situation, and a plan. He was ready to survive harder than anyone had ever survived before.

However, before leaving this cave, there was one last thing to do. He set his sights on the ice pond.

Ice Pond (E-Grade)

A hidden resource of the Forest of the Strong. The piercing cold of the Ice Pond can heal and forge a cultivators body. The deeper you go, the more painful the cold, and the more effective the forging.

It promised a forging of his body, which sounded suspiciously nice. If he was going to fight for his life, he couldnt let this opportunity go. Moreover, it mentioned something about healing, and his entire body was still in pain and sore from the goblin fight. His right fist was also bruised and bloated.

Jack reached the pond in two steps. It was nine feet wide and stretching around fifteen feet back, by Jacks estimation. A short waterfall was at its end, supplying cold water from a crack between the rocks.

From this distance, the cold was staggering. Jack thought he was standing by a glacier. The water was still and extremely clean, letting him easily make out the rock bottom. He could even see his green eyes staring back at him from the surface.

Jack stood beside the pond and gulped. The smooth incline of its bottom made it seem inviting, but the cold was forbidding.

What if I get pneumonia? What if this water is full of bacteria?

Many doubts crossed his mind, but at the end, he was in a game-like situation. Mundane things, like pneumonia, felt distant and inconsequential. The goblins waiting outside were a much more immediate danger, and the pond could help him live through it.

He took a deep breath and removed his clothes, leaving only his underwear to feel safe. He then stepped into the pond with his right foot.L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøv€l--B1n.

He instantly thought he lost it. All feeling disappeared, leaving only a numbness and ten thousand frozen needles. His instinct screamed to remove his foot, which he did, and the caves humid air felt heavenly compared to that blitzing cold.

Holy shit

Jack took a few breaths to regain himself, then inspected his foot. It was fine; no, it was more than fine. It felt rejuvenated and sturdy as if brand-new.

It was an odd feeling, but he could only equate it to taking a comfortably cold shower, except the rejuvenation was much more intense, and so was the cold. A magical equivalent of a cold shower.

It was clear that the System hadnt liedthis was healing and forgingand Jack, having recovered from the cold, decided he had no choice.

Fuck me.

He decisively stepped into the lake, this time enduring the cold. He waited there a moment, and the feeling gradually receded, stabilizing at a level that was cold enough to be painful but not enough to be harmful.

It was safe.

Taking another deep, trembling breath, Jack put his other foot inside too. When he got used to the cold again, he even kneeled in the water to submerge more of himself. His teeth were already clattering; he didnt dare take more steps as he remembered the Systems warning that the cold increased the further he went. He could already feel a freezing current coming from the depths of the pond; a single step would increase the cold substantially, and he was already at his limit.

Jacks body was spasming. The cold was so piercing that it caused him physical pain. His body demanded to get away, but his will resisted, holding himself steady. He could tell it was safe, at least for a little bit. It wasnt too cold.

The cold spread from his legs to his entire body. He was pale, but he could also sense a new sturdiness seeping in, enhancing him. His skin, flesh, and bones were filled with that cold; they were all shivering in pain and anticipation.

Finally, the cold settled. He got used to it, and through gritted teeth, he took a deep, deep breath. He couldnt help grinning. This pain was so self-improving it was almost addictive.

Almost. He somehow felt that hed gotten what he ought to, and he should leave or go deeper, but the cold there felt forbidding.

That is, unless the System had anything to say. Jack hoped it wouldnt.

His current shelter was a crack in the rock, seemingly shallow but actually leading to a hidden cave underneath. It wasnt easy to find; maybe thats why the System placed the ice pond inside it. A hidden bonus, of sorts, for those willing to explorea bonus that would save Jacks life.

However, it was time for him to finally see the outside world.

The first thing he did was take out his cellphone, an old Samsung model, and give it a shotthere was no signal at all. He shook his head. Yeah, thought so. Like the System would let me call the police. After placing it, his electronic car key, and his wallet in a hidden crevice of the rocks, he looked around.

Seeing no animal or goblin nearby, Jack took a tentative step outside his cave, then another.

The air smelled the same as always; wet grass and crisp breeze. The grass parted easily under his feet, and the tree barks were uneven under his hand. Insects buzzed in the air, animals yelped from afar, and leaves fluttered in the windone even flew to his chest. Everything was as he remembered.

Was it all a hallucination? he wondered. Did the earthquake release gasses in the cave?

A blur shot past his sight, darting from bush to bush as it quickly ran away. Jack caught a glimpse of its bushy, orange tail and triangular snout.

Fox, Level 1

Foxes are mostly harmless omnivores that inhabit forest areas.

Not too talkative now, are we?

Compared to the goblins description, the foxs was tiny. It was clear that the System either didnt know or didnt care about themprobably the latter.

Regardless, even this bit taught Jack many things.

His communication with the System was still on. It was aware of the local wildlife. And, most importantly, foxes were Level 1or somewhere around there. This was interesting, because understanding the Level classification was crucial to Jacks survival.

The goblin was Level 2 and could threaten an adult human. The fox was Level 1 and could possibly threaten an adult, but not quite as much as the goblin. Then, were adult humans between Levels 2 and 4, with the average at 3?

It sounded elegant. Of course, for every problem, there was a solution that was simple, easy, and wrong.

Jack himself had been Level 1 when he beat the goblin, but that couldnt be accurate. He had been stronger than itnot by much, but stronger nonetheless. It didnt make sense for the goblin to be higher-leveled than him.

Am I on a different scale than everything else? Is it because I can level up while they cant? Or, maybe, everything can.

He shook his head. The more he considered the issue, the more questions he hadwhich was good, because thats how knowledge was supposed to work. If he could see through the System at a glance, it probably wouldnt be a good System.

Thankfully, he didnt need to know much right now.

After my power-ups, I can fight Level 3 creatures and should probably run away from Level 4s. I need more samples to understand the power curve, though.

Insects and a squirrel didnt trigger the Systems response, giving at least a good estimation about the lower bounds of Level 1. Armed with that knowledge, Jack set out to explore.

Well, explore was a generous term. He had to find water, shelter, and food. He already had the second. As for water, the reserve had plenty of creeks to choose from. It wouldnt be too difficult.

However, before even that, he wanted to escape the nature reserveor, at least, confirm that dungeons were as inescapable as they sounded. If he stayed here for a month and then someone came and said, oh, why didnt you just walk away, Jack would feel like an idiot.

Angling himself to the south, which was the closest edge of the nature reserve that probably overlapped with the dungeon, Jack set out. In the process, he kept his eyes open, not only for goblins, but also for everything else. The wildlife was abundant in the reserve, letting him make several observations.

First, plants didnt register with the System. The weakest animal he found at Level 1 was a big crow, and the strongest, a boar he saw from afar at Level 4. He was getting a hang for what Levels meant, though it wasnt easy to set in stone.

Thankfully, his forest experience came in handy. It allowed him to cross the terrain stealthily, not raising the ire of any creatures. He knew when and where to hide, which animals were aggressive and which werent. There werent any natural predators in the reserve, at least not for humans, so it was smooth sailing.

Being a biologist had its perksJack focused on insects, of course, the testbed of evolution, but he knew a bit about everything.

That excluded goblins.

Luckily, he could get to know them quickly, as three were already approaching. He could hear them through the bushes.