I finally feel the weight of what had happened to me. At first it was sort of emotional detachment, with a sprinkle of believing this was just another lucid dream. I loved anime, light novels and the like. I was very familiar with isekai, I had even had such dreams before. However, the hunger, the itchy feeling of sweat on my skin. They broke the illusion this was a dream. I stare up at the canopy, not a star in sight. The light came from the mana vent itself, orbs of light gave the illusion of a starry night against the bck underbelly of the tree canopy.

  I wept, my life was just gone. My home, my pets, my family and even my beloved fiancée. They were all gone, I had dropped back onto my survival knowledge. Surface level as it was. I just went down a few too many rabbits holes, watching video after video te into the night. With a bit of basic scout experience, basic military training that was rusty at this point. I finally took stock in my situation, I was 36 years old. I drifted from passion to passion, becoming a bit of an all rounder. Lived with my mum and fiancée, mostly because I couldn't leave my mum on her own. Her family were the definition of toxic users. I couldn't believe I was the one to be sent to another world, I had things back home I cared about. I would never have volunteered for this.

  After my tears had run dry, my eyes itchy and sore. I decided it was time to shift to survival. I would mourn, but I had to survive. Just in case there was a chance to get home.

  After getting my act together, I make sure to eat my portion of wolf meat to boost it another 5% bringing it to 40%. My Butcher had leveled up to 2 at the end of my session of preparing the meat. I then set the meat up in my smoker and added some more brush, the low ember style fire was perfect for smoking.

  I smile as I leave and unsealed my oven to remove my new toilet bowl. The cy was set and the dirt inside kept the internal shape. I would coat the whole thing in tree resin for water proofing.

  "Nice, this will be great."

  I use my knife to cut some bark into shape and using vines and a branch I made a toilet seat, I hade purposefully made holes in the cy to make it so I could secure it to the ground, once fitted I realised without water I was screwed, since I didn't want water wrecking this part of my camp I made a few canopies from leaves and mud, by the time I was done canopies took up more than half of the clearing, but thankfully those bramble bushes of death were already about the height of my hip and were keeping beasties away.

  I had already noticed a massive difference in my physique, my stomach was nearly ft and there was nothing but muscle on my arms and legs, it was only my second day in this world. I took my next portion of meats boosting their progress by 5%.

  After a day of prep and pnning, I decided to get some sleep. Rest was extremely important in this kind of situation.

  I woke up in my hut, the bed was softer than the ground, but the furs were needed. Leaves and moss did not equate to comfort.

  I get up and head over to the safe zone, the briar wall was not tall enough to make a tunnel yet, but it was nearly there. I head around the side and get through the opening I left for now, I would fill this in once I got the tunnel up and running.

  I check on the hides and meats I left smoking and they were all done, the furs smelt a bit like they needed a wash, but that would need water.

  Taking the pnts I found yesterday and tasted bits of them, I had found around six pnts and berries, I did of course test with my consume, but they returned inert like the rabbit grass. Ghenji berries, stink weed, fire leaf, oil root, throth berries and wolf wheat. They didn't offer me any stats, which was mostly due to their category of food stuffs, it seems only the pnts that have defenses actually grant me anything through ingestion. Ghenji berries were sweet, almost like cherries with a hint of citrus. Stink weed was almost garlic, but with a pungent taste of onion. Fire leaf was spice like fked chilli, there was an undertone simir to mint. Oil root tasted soapy, as did throth berries, they both smelt nice, but they were definitely not food grade, they may be useful for making soap. The wolf wheat seems to be a heartier buckwheat in fvour, with a chewyness higher than common wheat, it had a much higher gluten content than even bread flour. I used to buy it as wheat from farms to make my own flower blends. Wolf wheat was actually pretty nice, I would definitely make flour with it. I take the couple of berries from the oil root I had and taste it.

  'Olives.... gross..'

  They were olives pin and simple, even though I hate olives, I did need a source of oil as a preservative. Olive oil was good for cooking though

  "I really hate olives."

  I sigh and start peeling the stalks of the Wolf wheat, showing the tough fibers inside.

  "Now I can start sewing."

  I smile, then I take a smoked steak and some rabbit, finely chop some stink weed and mash some berries. Mixing them together, it tasted nice, but needed some heat. I scrunch then chop some fire leaf adding it in, then take a smoked steak and throw it on the sb of rock, I light the fire pit and start cooking the steak. I keep and eye on it and make sure I get a nice crust I then pour over my mush until it creates a sticky sauce. I slice the meat and use my knife to eat it.

  "Damn this is good, not like eh good enough, but really good!"

  [You have unlocked Cook.]

  "Makes sense."

  I finish my steak and satisfied with my new job, after all every job was a boost for me. I get up and head back out looking for water.

  I went in the opposite direction from yesterday I made sure to store some viper, wolf and rabbit meat. I made it around 3 hours before I found something, it wasn't water, it was a massive and very dead nest. An armoured hornet nest. I climp the tree and get to the nest, it was unstable. It had been dead a while. I couldn't figure out how though. I look around the hive and find their garbage area, there I find something familiar. My first spear, the one the hornet took.

  I see the honey pool, it was starting to crust. I tasted a bit and felt my resistances kick in.

  "The poisoned rabbits, they wiped out their hive! How potent is that toxin!"

  I sigh and look around I find a hornet, its jaws were melted

  'consume, focus on leaving the hard armour and the stinger.'

  My shadow fills the hornet and a few seconds ter 5% extra to my hornet powers. Since I had some space in my storage, and since I got to level 2 it gave me a bit more space. I put the armour away, I would use that ter. I look around a bit more and find the royal jelly room, that too was contaminated.

  "Where is the queen?"

  I looked around, but there wasn't one, there was not many grubs here either.

  "It isn't a dead hive, it's abandoned."

  I head back to the waste pit,

  "Ok leave any pelts, armour or stingers consume the rest."

  I release my ability and after a few minutes the shadows recede, there was nothing left except the rabbits they didn't eat and dead wasps. It left quite a bit of armour.

  "Wait can I just eat the poision from the honey and royal jelly?"

  I scoop some honey from the pool and give it a try. After tasting it.

  "It's gone.. the poison is gone."

  I look at the clear honey in my hand.

  "This is a game changer. I can purify the berries."

  I look at the berries and check what I consumed, I sift through the information and isote the seperate parts. I see the compounds and try to compare them the best I can to things I knew.

  "A neurotoxin...Tar... Cyanide.... Arsenic... hydrogen, chlorine. Wait Hydrochloric acid! Shit, death berries ARE death berries..."

  I sigh and look at my pocket full of death.

  "I am literally using the worlds most potent suicide pill for hydration."

  I let out a morbid chuckle. I sigh and I find a branch, it lookes more like the trees I see everywhere. I sit there for a while and carve it into a rough shape of a person.

  "I wish I was better at this."

  [You have unlocked Carpenter.]

  "Thanks? I guess.."

  I eat some rabbit, wolf and snake meat to push my percentage up. Using the strange branches and Hornet stingers I make some gnarly looking spears. The using the sharp mandibles, I made some daggers. I stayed in the hive a while going room to room, I found a room full of dead and dying hornet rvae.

  "Well this should help me get to 100%."

  I hear something move, before anything I eat a 5% portion of rabbit, viper and wolf meat.

  Forest rabbit :80%

  Dex & Int +24, increased movement speed [B], spring step [B], reduced fatigue [Medium]

  Barbarous wolf :60%☆

  Str+24, hunting instinct boost [C], intimidating aura [C]

  Shadow panther :5%

  All stats +2

  Armoured Hornet :17%

  Con+7,

  Acid Viper :10%

  Str, Int, Wis & Cha +1

  I look towards the sound and see a type of monkey.

  "Shit, I really don't want to deal with a monkey... it looks like a baboon and a chimp had a baby.... that has a horn.."

  I watch the monkey looking around, then its eyes lock onto me and it lets out a call.

  "Shit!"

  I curse, I throw a gnarly spear at the ape and it strikes its arm, it lets out a panicked cry. I move in close and using my two daggers I strike its throat. It kicks me away and it hurts like a bitch, I thing I broke a few ribs and at least my arm. Then the monkey colpses, gurgles and dies.

  [You have levelled up Jack of all trades level 5.]

  [You have leveled up Hunter level 5.]

  [You have leveled up Explorer level 5.]

  [You have leveled up Butcher level 5.]

  [You have leveled up cook level 5.]

  [You have leveled up Carpenter level 5.]

  [Jack of all trade cap removed, jack of all trades is now level 7]

  "What the fuck was that!"

  I get up and focus on the monkeys skull, brain and tongue.

  'Consume just those.'

  I get the notification

  Horned ape :10%

  Dex, Str & Int +1

  I consume it's bowels then a couple of fingers, it capped out at 20%.

  I stored the rest of the body and retrieved my daggers and spear.

  I check my stats and see that I only had 1 hp.

  "Shit I nearly died! From a kick!"

  I tie one of my long vines to an anchor in the nest and slide down, I hear more apes. I run, fast, I get back to my safe zone and instantly see my health start going up, I turn around to see apes, they were gring at me.

  "Yeah, your guy started it."

  I smile since none of them want to come into my safe zone. My face drops as they start throwing sticks, stones and poop though, I throw my spears and hit a few. After a tense and frankly disgusting battle they decide it isn't worth it and leave. After an hour, I collect the 13 horned ape corpses.

  I look at my level.

  [You have levelled up Jack of all trades level 10.]

  [You have leveled up Hunter level 10.]

  [You have leveled up Explorer level 10.]

  [You have leveled up Butcher level 10.]

  [You have leveled up cook level 10.]

  [You have leveled up Carpenter level 9.]

  "Fuck... that is a lot of levels."

  I clear up the debri and throw it out of my zone. I then start to dig a rge pit, I was making a pond, eventually it would rain, then I would have water. Real none poisonous water. I roll the moss up and put it over the canopy, I dig the soil up and pile it high then pack it down the best I can. I coat the bottom in cy and stones, once done half the safe zone is sunken down, I then build up with the spare rocks to make my other area raised up. This was to just make it be above the water level of my new pond in waiting. I used cy as cement and heavy stones. I finally rex enough to go out and start looking at more pnts, I did get some more pnts while I was out today, so I studied them intensely, I cut them apart and tried my best to catalogue them all.

  [You have unlocked Herbologist]

  "Makes sense, studying pnts. Get the job that studies pnts."

  I smile and organize my pnts a bit more. Which by the end of the day gets me to level 6 in Herbologist, I smile as the knowledge I didn't know, is fed directly into my mind. It was a good feeling, like being given a helping hand by the universe. It feels good to get some help, like a guiding hand helping me survive.

  I head over to my underground hut, I throw the pelts onto my bed and get comfy.

  "This is so good.."

  I decide to get a nap and rest, I was still having world g, I just wasn't used to the 60 hour days. That and these furs that had been airing out all day, still smelling of smoke. Were incredibly comfortable, I easily fell to sleep.