Surrounded by a warm and invigorating sensation, Matt felt joy fill his body, but at the same time, his brow furrowed in confusion.
Because once that sensation left his body, all that remained was...
Nothing.
Of course, he hadn't expected anything truly great after receiving a single point in perception, but at least he expected to feel a slight change, even if just in the way he perceived the world, but instead...
A deep disappointment grew in him.
Shortly after, the mutagen emerged from his body and stationed itself right in front of him.
Without paying attention to it, Matt invoked the system quickly, seeking to confirm that what he had seen wasn't just a simple hallucination.
[Matt]
[Vitality: 10]
[Strength: 10]
[Dexterity: 11]
[Perception: 21]
[Energy: 11]
'It really increased!' he thought, relieved. This marked his beginning, his first step on the path of strength. Therefore, he was also excited and eager to discover how far this new power could take him.
But then... his eyes lit up and a big smile formed on his face.
Not only had his perception increased by one point, but his dexterity and energy had as well!
His heart beat strongly with excitement.
'But how?'
He hadn't seen any notification from the system or felt any change during all this time. Could it be that the increase in perception came with an increase in dexterity and energy?
'Impossible.' That couldn't be true. After all, the system itself would have notified him.
Instead, he had only received a notification for one point in perception.
Was there another way to increase his stats without consuming the blood of his victims?
But how had he done it without even realizing it?
His mind was filled with the memory of the moment when the creatures broke their petrification; the terror of that moment had made him run until his legs gave out.
His face lit up with a big smile.
'So I can also increase my stats that way.'
Even though in the world of cultivation everything revolved around energy, one always had to train their body, reflexes, and mind to achieve some improvement in them. So, why would he be any different?
The answer was so simple he hadn't realized it.
That day he had run until his legs gave out which, for his weak body, was like an intensive training which increased his energy and speed stats.
So, if he wanted to increase them even more, he had to try running much more, or even lifting heavy things to increase his strength.
Under this new understanding, Matt felt that a world of possibilities was opening before him. Because not only would he have to hunt beasts to grow, but he could also do it by training his body, which increased his growth speed.
His smile grew as he closed the system.
Then, his smile faded, giving way to a shiver that ran through his body.
The Mutagen raised its tentacle over its viscous surface, observing him as usual, but this time, a small crescent opened at its center escaping through the sides of the tentacle. From them, small perfectly white pearls formed a bright and completely unnatural smile.
"W- what!??" Matt took two steps back at the terrifying smile of his companion.
The Mutagen instantly imitated him by taking two steps back, its smile disappeared and gave way to a grimace of fear identical to his own.
Matt stared at it in complete silence for several seconds. Then he turned around ignoring it completely.
"I need to get more blood points."
After that, he received a point of speed from the gigantic bird and went through the forest destroying every weak statue he found.
The forest became denser and the trees much taller as he went deeper in; on many occasions he found statues in the middle of a fierce battle, others destroyed into dozens of pieces with fierce bites, claws, and torn chunks on their bodies as if they had been killed just before the petrification, leaving their bodies lifeless.
Matt had tried to claim the blood of these bodies, but unfortunately, the system couldn't obtain points from them.
It only did so with the creatures he killed with the help of his mutagen.
He was also disappointed to learn that after killing three creatures of the same race, the system stopped benefiting him with new attributes.
Which didn't mean he couldn't analyze them.
Taking advantage of their inert bodies, his Mutagen took the opportunity to collect genetic material from each of them, achieving a deeper understanding of the creatures and, above all, of the blood.
He didn't know if it was thanks to his senses having improved from the constant increases or thanks to the knowledge obtained, but he could tell where there was blood just by smelling it.
The same thing happened with water, he could know its exact location no matter where it was, as if each one of his senses led him to it.
Curiously, there were only two places with water in the gigantic dome.
One was the river through which he had arrived and the other, a small lake from which enormous reptiles and gigantic petrified worms escaped, making his skin crawl just by looking at them.
After drinking water from it he moved away as much as he could, afraid of being consumed.
When the trees stopped glowing, the statues began to crack, and their eyes lit up with a golden glow before escaping their petrification.
By then, Matt had found refuge in the highest point of a Tree.
His eyes looked down while the bright eyes of the creatures passed like a wild golden flash in the dark.
The blood and incessant howls of the creatures fighting each other to survive flooded his senses and, drove away his sleep.
He didn't want to sleep either, the terror of being found and devoured tormented him at every moment.
Luckily, he found refuge in his thoughts.
The mysterious forest seemed to hide too many mysteries which had caught his curiosity.
One of them was the creatures themselves. Each one of them was strange in some way.
Of course, in a world where the catastrophe of the 100 years replaces entire biomes with an unknown one full of new creatures, it was common to not know some of them, but even so, it was normal to see the same creatures.
But here… he had never heard of any of them.
They even had strange names, each one had "Desert" in their name when clearly the golden forest was far from being a desert zone.
Perfect and completely hollow inside. The bushes were full of delicious-looking berries that invited consumption.
The vast majority of creatures seemed to enjoy these delicacies, even the most carnivorous ones.
Because of this, Matt almost gave in to the desire, but his intuition told him he should avoid them at all costs.
As a result, he was still starving. He even feared that the growls of his stomach would alert some nearby creature.
His hands tightened, clutching the rope to his body.
Who would have said that the rope they used to kill him would now be used by him to secure his life against a fall from the great tree?
Matt yawned.
Then, he closed his eyes and extended his connection with the Mutagen; his companion was resting deep in his soul.
It had fallen asleep a long time ago due to the excessive work he had imposed on it. But each effort had been translated into precious attribute points or valuable knowledge.
After checking on his companion, he continued observing the surroundings.
A gigantic wolf was in the middle of a fierce battle against a group of strange birds.
He decided to look in another direction for fear of being found; it was then, when he turned his gaze toward the treetops, that his sleep vanished.
On the branch of one of the trees rose a humanoid figure covered by darkness while it watched him from afar, its golden eyes flashing with murderous hunger.