Rohan was lying on the ground with his eyes closed. He was stirred awake by the pungent smell and quickly opened his eyes. Laying on the cabin floor he looked around and saw the dead satyr in the corner already attracting flies. Nothing had changed since he had passed out, except that he felt weird. His muscle soreness has completely disappeared and felt completely full of energy.
Standing up he felt some slight changes, as if he had more control of his movements and his stamina would hold on longer. 'Is this caused by the system? Or because I killed that satyr?' Feeling confused as he thought of the system he checked the one thing that the system provided, his status. 'Seems like my status has changed, as well as the system itself'
[Status]
Name: [Rohan Hughen]
Species: [Human]
Realm: [Awakened]
Mana: [33/33]
Level: [3]
Experience: [56/76]
Skills: [ ]
'So it is very similar to the RPG games with leveling systems, but the only thing that is different is that the system itself has also changed. But that might be a feature or something and I still don't know if everyone has the system' quickly going over the change in status in system and thoughts Rohan came to a simple conclusion.
"Gaining experience will cause a level up, which increases mana, and also changes the system, seems simple enough. And gaining experience will be caused by killing other monsters, indeed similar to RPG games."
"The Realm: [Awakened] is still a mystery as well as how skills can be obtained."
Taking the provisions in the cabin Rohan also checked if the satyr had anything with it. 'It didn't even have any armor, just a loincloth. It looks like this one was a younger one, as its horns are way smaller… but I'm not sure if I'm qualified to determine that.' Looking at the shortsword on the ground Rohan picked it up and felt the weight. It was around 30 centimeters in length and didn't have any special engravings. The scabbard was lying on the ground next to the dead satyr. Putting on the scabbard and sheathing the shortsword Rohan left the cabin and packed his bag.
'This amount of food should last me at least long enough to reach the city. It's a 2 day hike after passing the bridge to get back.' Rohan took off and went further south. Within an hour he managed to cross the river and landed on a path that would take him to the city in a long route.
It took Rohan more than a day until he noticed that the city might not be a safe place at all. He could see smoke rising in the air as he came closer to the outskirts of the city and deep vibrating sounds could be heard that sounded like parts of mountains crumbling apart.
Setting up camp in the evening something felt off for Rohan. 'It's too quiet, there is no sound nor any movement of animals.' Getting out of his tent he stared in the darkness, but nothing happened and it stayed silent.
The moon was almost full and provided more than enough light to see outlines of animals and walk through the forest. The current camping place was in a dense forest area with lots of trees and shrubs. Walking around his camping side with the shortsword on his side Rohan scouted out the area, but couldn't discover anything amiss.
Returning back to his tent Rohan stayed awake for a while, just sitting on his sleeping bag and keeping his shortsword on hand. Going through his [Status] Rohan saw no change in either mana level or his experience. He had tried to test if experience could be earned by killing insects, mainly ants, but it didn't earn him anything. 'Killing a bird might earn some experience, but I can't catch those. Just like I won't be able to catch any rabbits or boars… better get some sleep while I still can.'
The next morning Rohan woke up when the sun started to rise. Getting out of his tent he stretched and made breakfast that was another tasteless MRE. Every MRE was infamous for its bland taste, most would claim that even cardboard had more flavor and would add spices to up the taste. Rohan was used to the boring taste and only ate them for it's nutritious worth.
Finishing his breakfast he put his tent and sleeping bag in the backpack again and walked to the walking track. Since leaving the wooden cabin the forests had changed and the temperature was warmer. The pine trees that were very abundant near the higher parts of the mountain were now less common and deciduous trees were the most abundant, until the start of the outskirts of the city started when trees would become a rarity. Checking the map Rohan determined that it would take another 5 hours of hiking to leave the valley and reach the first suburbs/outskirts of the city. Hopefully there was still something remaining.
Another couple of kilometers south on the path Rohan took would meet up again with the river until it reached the city. At the river there was an deserted tourist center for hikers that Rohan had checked out but did not have any possible use. Emergency phone or anything electricity related wasn't working, even the doors had been difficult to open. But it did offer a good view of the city, skyscrapers could be seen and it seemed that the smoke and deep sounds had stopped long ago. Following along the river the path had become paved and car accessible, but no car had passed him for the whole journey and that would not happen until deep in the city.
Looking at the approaching city Rohan could see what had happened, many skyscrapers were damaged to the point that he couldn't recognize them. And even the more recognizable skyscrapers he couldn't find them on the horizon. Fearing the worst Rohan kept moving closer. Even if he did not want to return to the city, there was no other way since going north, east or west were all impossible, filled with mountains and glaciers that had yet to be mapped out.
Looking at the skyscrapers on the horizon his worst fear came truth, the highest skyscraper he had seen just 5 minutes ago had disappeared and was replaced with a giant dust cloud.