Chapter 23 - Hunter-Gatherer module.

[Hunter-Gatherer professional module available, does Host want to use it? Y/N]

Bilal looked around him, now only that he did notice, everything was still the same, no phenomenal changes in the environment, nothing. Even the time seemed to be the same, although late because of the fight.

He was damn sure he had spent many days in that cursed white space, but everything looked normal like the time itself had dilated within that space, something was terribly wrong.

"System, I clearly remember I've spent more than a month in that white space, how come only several minutes had passed here?" Bilal asked the System demanding an explanation.

[System's Research, module experiments run on 3D reality engine, it works on the principle of varying time perception difference. It accelerates the time perception for system users so that their mind can process huge amount of data and training safely without experiencing a brain crash.]

[System can also send the data directly to the User's mind, but adjusting to the new data may take time and it's not recommended due to the dangerous risk factors.]

[Does user want to change the method of module transmission? Y/N]

"No, use it as default"

[Setting 3D reality engine as default]

Although he couldn't completely understand what all that jargon was, the words 'brain crash' and 'dangerous' echoed into his mind. He didn't want to harm his brain because of his stupid suspicion. And he had bigger issues to the play right now.

He looked up at the sky and noticed the sky turn orange, it wasn't good at least not for him. The sunset was apparently very close and the night sky is gonna fall anytime soon, and definitely not in the mood to encounter another wolf pack he quickly wanted to find some shelter. But he wasn't equipped with the proper knowledge required to find one in this lush forest.

Ignoring his skepticism and stupid questions he decided to use the module.

"System, start Hunter-Gatherer professional module"

[Initializing module ...40%...84%....complete]

And then again the same scenario repeated itself, his vision blurred and before he could even do something he arrived at the white space once again. Just like the previous time, there was a person standing before him, the difference between them was just the clothing they were wearing.

The person in front of him was about 165cms tall and muscular, he was wearing a commando jacket along with jungle camo pants. A complete contrast to the slim guy from last time who was draped in a karate outfit.

But what happened next completely surprised him, the blur on that man's face disappeared that very second, allowing Bilal to view his face.

The man seemed to be in his mid-20s, he had dark blonde hair and hazel green eyes, his face matching with his body radiated a special aura of command and muscularity, the experience was completely different from the last time, it felt as if the person was in front of him itself.

The man opened his mouth and with an emotionless expression, he spoke in a rough voice.

"For those of you who don't know who I am, my name is Jacob the Survival specialist, the one who wrote the 'Preparation Guide' for the survivors"

'So he's that guy' Bilal thought and continued watching the man with great interest.

"As I said in the preparation guide, the next guides aren't going to be free, and here you are paying Mission stars for the module. This module is gonna be 50 days long, where you'll be trained to be able to become a beginner level Hunter-Gatherer, you'll learn the basic observation skills, fire starting techniques, making primitive weapons, navigation in various biomes and finally tracing animals for hunting and foraging food"

Jacob snapped his fingers and bam just like last time, the landscape changed and this time it was an oak forest instead of a dojo.

"This training is a practical one, not a theoretical one. True and long-lasting learning comes from experience and experimentation"

------------------------------

50 days later…

"And that's it, at this point, you can survive in the wild and call yourself a Hunter-Gatherer and continue the tradition of the old" Jacob slightly smiled and vanished off his vision.

And Bilal returned back to reality with an aching head.

[Checking condition…45%...87%...complete]

[Rest recommended]

System analysis was right he really needed some rest, but before that, he had to find some shelter. Unluckily though he didn't know where to find one, there was only this lush forest on the system map, nothing else.

"System, how much time has been passed in the module training?" Bilal asked.

[Host only 4 minutes have passed]

'Only 4?This System truly is an enigma' praising the system Bilal decided to stop daydreaming and started thinking.

Pondering what to do, his gaze landed on one of the elite wolf that whom he beheaded, suddenly the clogs in his brain started moving, a great idea came to his mind.

'They wouldn't be living on trees or inside the bushes right? Their den must be somewhere around here!! I just have to counter track it' Bilal thought and started moving East from his location.

Even though the Hunter-Gatherer module taught him various things he still couldn't produce food magically, could he? So he wanted to procure himself some wolf meat, the only problem was the time delay it would cause. He neither had the energy nor confidence to fight another wolf pack at night time.

Sighing he left the bodies there to rot and continued ahead walking into the east. Along the way he saw animal footprints of various sizes and shapes, some were small and with less gap in between, most probably from small animals like rabbits, some appeared to be from a herd of deers and some were very similar to wolves he was counter tracking, probably coming from a dangerous creature.

Surely these forests had a huge diversity of wildlife within, but strangely they didn't appear almost the whole time. And the module was truly worth doing the Mission for, he was blind as a bat before at least he can now navigate properly in this forest by tracking the footprints.