Kaito ran to the center of his territory, where the core was located, and collapsed to the ground.
He looked at his arm. It was bleeding heavily, and the wounds were deep.
With few options, he tore a piece of his shirt and tied it around his forearm to stop the bleeding.
Only a few seconds passed before he lost consciousness.
When he came to, he felt incredibly weak. The sun was already high, so he had probably slept for around four hours. He hadn't eaten anything and couldn't move his arm.
He opened the system window to check the chat, but closed it right away.
Most of the others were in the same state as him: injured, hungry—some even claimed to have died. Although they had revived, the experience of dying had been horrible.
Reading all that only made his mood worse. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, he chose to focus on how to improve.
He approached the summoning tower and used the 15 gold he had earned from killing the wolf to summon a human fighter.
In front of him appeared a man at least 1.90 meters tall, muscular, with a battle aura that demanded respect. To be honest, he looked like a berserker.
Kaito focused on him, and an information window appeared.
[Name]: None
[Race]: Human
[Level]: 1
[Specialty]: Melee Combat
[Loyalty]: 100% (Locked)
His stats weren't extraordinary, but at least he excelled in melee combat. If he had been an expert in any specific weapon, Kaito wouldn't have had anything to equip him with.
"Can you speak?"
He asked, curious about the man's silence.
"I can" the summoned replied, then went silent again.
"I see... I guess it doesn't matter much. How well would you do against a wolf?"
Kaito sighed. If he didn't want to talk, that was fine. All he needed was someone to help him earn gold and experience.
"I can kill them easily. I'd have trouble if there were five or more."
That strong...?
Kaito couldn't help but be surprised. He had almost died fighting just one, and this guy could handle four at once.
"Then your orders are simple: go hunt wolves. Be careful and come back if you can't handle them."
The man nodded respectfully and headed into the forest.
After a while, Kaito received a notification.
[Your unit has slain a Wolf!]
[+1 EXP, +10 gold, +1 wolf pelt, +1 wolf meat]
"I see..." he murmured.
Looks like when my unit hunts for me, the reward of gold goes down... but not by much.
Even with that reduction, it wasn't worth risking his life again.
He gathered some dry branches, a bit of grass, and prepared a small campfire. Fortunately, the items in his pockets had come with him, so he had his lighter.
Once the fire had grown a bit, he took the wolf meat out of his inventory. It was a simple system with 50 slots, arranged in 5 rows of 10.
He had about a kilo of meat. Considering the wolf's size, it wasn't much, but enough to eat. Using a branch as a makeshift skewer, he started cooking it.
Minutes later, the meat was ready. It was tough, flavorless, and honestly bad... but enough to make Kaito feel better.
As he ate, he reflected.
'This is the second time I've been teleported to another world this year... and again, it doesn't seem like there's any trap.
The ROB is really messing with me.'
After eating, he simply fell asleep again.
When he woke up, he checked his notifications.
His unit had killed twelve more wolves. He gained 120 gold and 12 experience points.
Upon checking his status, he noticed his level was glowing slightly. He touched it, and more information appeared, along with a button to level up. He had 14 experience, above the 10 needed.
He didn't understand why he had to press a button to level up instead of it happening automatically, but he ignored that and tapped it.
He immediately felt his body improve. He felt stronger... but best of all, his arm was healed.
What had been a pale arm from blood loss, with deep wounds and unbearable pain when moved, was now completely normal.
He opened his status window.
[Name]: Takayama Kaito
[Race]: Human
[Title]: Territory Lord
[Level]: 2 (4/100)
[Base Stats]:
HP: 2000
MP: 10
Strength: 10
Agility: 10
Constitution: 10
[Skills]: —
[Stat Points]: 5
[Skill Points]: —
[Gold]: 130
His HP had doubled, but the rest remained the same. When he touched the stat points, "+" and "–" buttons appeared, along with a confirm button.
Each point increased stats proportionally... except for HP, which increased by 100 per point.
Remembering his previous fight, he decided to invest 3 points in agility and 2 in constitution.
Agility improved speed, reflexes, and reaction time. Constitution strengthened the body, making it more resistant, healthy, and tough.
He pressed "confirm."
He immediately noticed the changes. His body felt much stronger.
He moved around a bit to test it. His speed was comparable to that of an Olympic athlete, but completely controllable. Even if he ran straight at a tree, he could dodge it at the last second. His body was more flexible and capable of acrobatics that had once seemed impossible.
He was also more resistant. After running for half an hour, he barely felt tired. He punched a tree with full strength and didn't feel a thing—not even a scratch.
That was when his unit returned. The sun was beginning to set, so he had withdrawn as Kaito had ordered. At night, wolves came out in packs and it was more dangerous.
Under the moonlight, Kaito noticed something he hadn't seen before: a blue dome surrounded the clearing.
When he focused on it, information appeared.
It was a beginner's protection barrier that would remain active until the first floor of the Tower of Worlds was cleared.
Kaito sighed in relief. He wouldn't have to stay on guard all night.
He looked at his unit. Thanks to him, his arm was healed. Feeling grateful, he decided to give him a name.
Due to his berserker-like appearance, he chose something fitting.
"From now on, your name is Ben... Ben Serker."
Yes... Kaito is terrible at naming. But since he had no idea and Ben looked happy, the matter was settled without issue.
The moon was high in the sky. Kaito lit another fire and lay down. He figured it was around eight o'clock in the real world. Early to sleep, but he had nothing else to do.
He closed his eyes, ready to rest, but the ground felt harder than usual.
Around him, he heard surprised exclamations.
When he raised his head, he was back in the classroom... the one he had disappeared from that same morning.
"Again?"
Kaito thought, exasperated.