Dimensional upgrade

The fog lifted as he moved forward seemingly all at once and he looked behind him confused, it was not that there was a wall of fog behind him but it clearly stopped and grew thicker from a certain point, out here the fog had lifted as the sun grew hotter but where he had encountered the zombies looked perpetually shrouded in it.

"An undead zone? I'll have to remember to warn others when they come over, but why would it be constantly foggy? As a warning or because of some peculiarity of the mana in the area keeping the undead from, well, dying?"

Any illusions he may have had about the undead being unable to leave the fog bank however were soon dashed as one burst from the fog further down and pummelled a helpless slime there, confused, he watched as the slime struggled vainly before melting away and the zombie stooped down to scoop up its core and eat it with single minded vigour.

"What the hell?"

Curious but also seeing this as an ideal chance to gain some easy exp now he was out of the fog bank he jogged over to the zombie and immediately used his Flame to burn it to death.

It seemed just the same as any other zombie he had fought so far but the slime core was definitely gone.

This zombie like most others he had killed again dropped something, a few copper this time which he happily scooped up before heading further away from the fog and the undead waiting within.

Most of the zombies he had killed as he made his escape he had been unable to loot as there were always more coming; he resented leaving the loot behind but he knew he'd only really escaped through luck.

"I think most of them dropped something but there'll be plenty of time for material gains once I'm stronger, I have to be cautious for now"

Opening his interface he scanned it quickly before upgrading Dimensional Transfer to level 2

Hermes: Level 3

Exp: 29/300

HP: 120/120

MP: 2/15

Strength - 4

Endurance - 4

Agility - 3

Intelligence - 3

Wisdom – 4

Free Attribute points: 2

Free Skill points: 2

*Transfer energy – 112

Skills:

Dimensional Transfer LV 1

Storage space LV 0

Flame LV 1

"Transfer first, attributes after"

Dimensional Transfer LV 2

"… The description is the same? How has it changed?"

[Dimensional Transfer energy accumulation efficiency increased]

"But to what extent? Give me some figures, ok, as before, how long would it currently take to save up enough Transfer energy to come back here from Earth"

"Assuming no external factors"

"From within the beachhead or on Earth itself"

[29.3 days]

"Nice! So my basic charging speed has about doubled! If I get lucky today I could head home tomorrow night and get back here after a week. Time to work"

While he'd been in the System interface he'd been walking parallel to the fog bank killing slimes without much thought, now he moved with more purpose only stabbing the slimes in his path.

He needed wood for a fire, as comfortable as he was right now with the sun out he could still feel the breeze through the ripped cloth clothes and the damp pervading his sock shoes.

"Even if tonight is calmer I need to thoroughly dry out and look after my body"

He figured from his previous exploration that if he continued to head south from here he should meet up with the river from yesterday eventually and could then trek alongside it eventually looping back to base.

He was hoping to find some trees on this side of the dome so he didn't have to confront the goblins in his closest forest.

"Even if the zombies are stronger they at least don't hunt with the same intelligence, hopefully something less organised is guarding the other forests"

He was currently to the south east of the Dome, to the south he expected to find the river and hopefully something useful beyond it, the south west is where he first found the river, the west seemed mostly open, north west was the forest where he encountered the goblins and this stretched across to the north east where he could see the mountains connecting to the hills he had originally come here to investigate.

The biggest unknown was certainly the south, if the river kept its course he expected to cross it before finding anything new but was hopeful that beyond it he would find a safer wood supply.

"If I don't find wood today I'll have to try buying it from the store panel, probably trade in my chisel, if I change my thinking and become less reliant on those safety nets I can change this from a survival game to a pure RPG grind"

Instinctively he just couldn't bring himself to do that though, he felt too vulnerable to rely on his level up speed especially given how little he knew about his surrounding area.

"Oh, while I'm thinking about it"

Agility - 4

Intelligence - 4

"Faster to travel and more MP to rely on, my character is really well rounded now which is kind of satisfying"

Spending his ability points and finally being able to simply focus on the task at hand he started to lightly jog along, with his higher endurance and agility stats he was perfectly comfortable where before he would have been spent within a few minutes.

After an hour he decided to start heading west, he could see some patches of trees that direction and he had become thoroughly convinced that the river must have split off before now, the speed he was travelling left little doubt in his mind.

The journey remained uneventful with Slimes visible in every direction, it seemed this side of the dome was the larger expanse God had intended for his low level grinding, it was reassuring to have such a large safe area for whoever he brought over first.

"It will have to be Melissa won't it? Or maybe Tom"

Part of his desire to get back as soon as possible was to explain the situation to Melissa, they'd been together for years and although they weren't a couple any longer they were still as close as they always had been.

If he wasn't around when she got back in the country on Monday she'd start to worry and any hope of hiding this whole situation would be gone.

"I'll have to tell her either way, no way can I hide such long absences from her even if she believed I started crash dieting and fitness courses"

The stat points and the continual activity were already having an effect on his body, he hadn't noticed it at first but there were definitely changes that couldn't be explained from just the lack of food.

"If I go from beer gut to abs in a week she'll notice"

Arriving at the trees and being able to make out the rivers line to the north west he started to pay attention to the here and now again, slowing down to a cautious walk.

Sparse birch like trees stretched out a considerable distance with bushes scattered throughout, nothing as thick as the woods he'd met the goblins in and he felt confident that nothing substantial could be hiding within.

Almost as if to mock his confidence he immediately heard the scuffling of something large coming from further ahead, staying still and preparing his spear he watched as a large, light brown boar rooted through the debris ahead, slowly coming into sight.

"Now you show up!"

Creeping forward he was preparing to charge out when the sharp beady eyes of the boar turned toward him, it snorted while turning its body.

Not wanting to lose the opportunity he charged forward to make his first stab, the boar, shrieking angrily, charged towards him practically impaling itself on his spear as it charged forward. The immediate weight and resistance as the spear was lodged no more than an inch into the boar's shoulder pushed Daniel back and he felt the spear shaft bow and snap, releasing the pressure and making him stumble forwards off balance.

The boar, having barely missed his legs, turned and changed again, still shrieking as it came, only to be met by a burst of flame and a fresh spear.

As the boar sunk down, its fur singed and the spear shaft in its shoulder gently burning Daniel finally relaxed and caught his breath.

[10 exp received]

"Why was that less exp than the zombies? It was at least as strong and a lot tougher"

[Magical creatures have a higher mana density and release more upon death; this allows more mana to be siphoned]

"I guess so, their whole body disappears after all, same with the slimes"

[Additionally the {Loot drop} chance is greatly increased with mana rich creatures as their mana is more likely to condense upon release, the majority of the reabsorbed mana lingering within the corpse of stable creatures such as Boars]

"Right, ok, I guess the question now is do I try to carry this beast home or leave it here? Would be a waste to leave it but I would prefer fire over food right now"

Deciding not to think on it any further he got to work collecting deadfall, bark, moss and gathering it up by the boar.

Finding a couple of fallen trees as he worked he stripped them of what he could carry for now and went about binding the branches.

With what rope and string he had he was able to fill his storage space and pouch and strap all the bundles to his back with his remaining spears. It looked to be about noon now and the skies were clear, he resolved to take his haul, boar included back to camp and then head back with the hack saw and some fresh rope from the Store panel immediately after.