Survive(2)

A day had passed since then, and Lin could be seen crouched behind a rock, short swords in hand. At that moment, he was stalking his prey, which was... some kind of rat, but it stood one and a half meters tall, was blue, and had blood-red eyes. 

Even Lin thought it was incredibly foolish to hunt rats, but when he tried to kill the first one carelessly, his only reward was a deep cut on his leg that still hadn't healed. 

Because of that, Lin began calling this type of beast "Demon Rats" and started using hit-and-run tactics to kill them while they were off guard. 

'Now.' 

Just as he had done every time he hunted the previous day, he waited for his opportunity and moved directly behind the rat, stabbing it with his short swords and killing it instantly. 

Using his method for killing rats, upon slaying the fifth, a strange sound echoed in his mind. 

It was a robotic voice saying: 

*LEVEL UP* 

*Reach level 5 to unlock the status panel* 

*Reach level 5 to unlock the status panel* 

*Reach level 5 to unlock the status panel* 

He didn't understand anything, but in his confusion, the only thing he could do was reach level 5 to satisfy his curiosity. 

However, killing the same beast too many times significantly decreased the experience gained, so he would soon have to move on to larger prey. 

Lin grabbed the fresh rat carcass and returned to the cave he had found and had made his residence the previous day. He tossed the body onto the pile of other corpses and sat down. 

Today would be his second day without food or water, but he was holding up relatively well due to the rich density of deep energy in the environment. Although he had 6 or 7 demon rat carcasses, he knew it would be foolish to eat them as they were now. 

The beasts' energy infused their bodies to strengthen them, and it was incompatible with humans, making it generally impossible to eat beasts unless their bodies were purified. 

People who ate unpurified beast meat had their bodies corrupted by a strange energy and eventually exploded. 

However, he could only hold out for one or two more days at most before he would have to eat. 

As his thoughts lingered, he made a decision: "I've already confirmed my resolve. There's no point in doubting any longer." 

After a couple of hours, Lin woke up feeling refreshed. As only a day and a half had passed since he stayed in the dungeon, he still had a relative sense of time. 

When he stood up, he looked at the pile of corpses he'd amassed and sighed. He didn't know if he could come back for them and felt it would be a waste to leave them. 

"Alright. It's time to go. This will be the first time I'll face real danger in my life." 

He continued deeper into the dungeon, surprised to discover that here and there, plants were growing. Although most of it was still desolate, there were still some. 

Lin was pleasantly surprised by this discovery; after all, it meant there was a chance of finding a water source somewhere in this dungeon. 

As Lin walked cautiously, he finally encountered his first prey. In front of him was a gray wolf, a bit shorter than the average human. 

Lin and the wolf stared at each other intently before the wolf made the first move, lunging at him. Lin jumped to the right and drew his short swords. Then he quickly leapt to the wolf's left side, disorienting it and attacking. 

The wolf howled in pain as a gash opened up on its side and tried to bite Lin; however, he had already moved to the wolf's adjacent side, repeating his previous maneuver. 

In its confusion, the wolf turned fully toward Lin, who disappeared from the spot and continued with his tactic. Three stabs later, the wolf collapsed to the ground. 

[You killed a level 9 gray wolf and gained 50 experience points.] 

"Hahaha..." 

*LEVEL UP* 

*LEVEL UP* 

*LEVEL UP* 

[Status window opened, unlocking part of the system's hidden features.]