Okay. Now there was food.
There was water.
That meant the next step was obvious.
"Train my body," I said quietly.
In a world like this, strength wasn't optional. It was capital. Without it, everything else—skills, planning, even luck—meant nothing.
I cleared a small space near the cave and started with what I knew.
Push-ups.
Sit-ups.
Planks.
Simple. Brutal. Effective.
My muscles screamed almost immediately. Sweat soaked into the dirt beneath me. My arms shook violently as I forced out one more rep… then another.
And then—
A familiar warmth spread through my body.
Exercise – Lv 1 (Ordinary Class)
I froze.
The sensation wasn't pain relief. It was refinement. My muscles tightened, fibers aligning, movements adjusting as if invisible hands were correcting my form.
More information surfaced.
Exercise (Ordinary Class)
Function: Increase muscle density and strength, tendon flexibility, organ efficiency, and bone hardness through optimized physical exertion.
"…This is insane," I whispered.
With this skill, effort wasn't wasted. Every movement counted.
"If I keep this up," I said slowly, "I'll get strong fast."
And I did.
A week passed.
The jungle stopped feeling completely alien. Not safe—never safe—but familiar enough that I could breathe without panicking every second.
Every day followed the same brutal rhythm.
Train.
Hunt.
Forage.
Craft.
Sleep.
And every day, my body answered.
The system updates stacked quietly, efficiently.
Spearmanship – Lv 3
Running – Lv 3
Exercise – Lv 2
Foraging – Lv 2
Identify and collect usable materials in the wild.
Sleeping – Lv 2
Relax muscles and promote accelerated recovery and growth.
Craftsmanship – Lv 2
Use gathered materials to create tools and functional items.
I stared at the list one night, breathing slowly.
"This isn't luck anymore," I said.
Within a forty-meter radius of the cave, I had mapped the terrain. I'd killed small prey—early mammals, fish, reptiles small enough that my spear could handle them.
My body felt heavier.
Denser.
When I moved, the ground responded.
"I survived a week," I muttered.
That alone felt unreal.
But survival wasn't the goal.
Growth was.
I tightened my grip around my spear and looked toward the deeper forest, where the trees grew thicker and the sounds heavier.
"My strength has grown," I said calmly. "And my ability to save myself is… acceptable."
A faint smile tugged at my lips.
"It's time to explore."
I stepped forward.
And the jungle opened its jaws