When the man stopped, he stood about 5m (16ft 5") away from the duo.
"Hi, my name is Gorden. I saw a fire and thought you are cooking something, so I wanted to take a look and ask if I could have a meal with the two of you."
Gorden was wearing the same clothes as Elo and Lara, which looked a little bit silly, but also very impressive because his well-built body was clearly visible thru the tight clothes.
He had a buzz cut and dark hair, which made him look like one of those soldiers who were the main characters in old action films.
-"He looks like someone I want to have on my side of the battle. Even if we would try to defeat him, I am not sure we would win."-
"Yes, of course, everybody who doesn't want to kill us is always welcome."
Elo was very proud of himself, it was his first day as a leader, and so far, he had been doing ok.
"Hi, I am Lara, and this is Elo. We are a Team, and he is the leader."
She pointed at Elo.
"Normally, I would have been the leader, but he has a skill that makes his teammates stronger when he is the leader. I…"
"He already has a skill?"
Lara seemed to be very impressed with the newcomer. If Gorden had not interrupted her, she most likely would have spoken for much longer.
"I also have a skill, do you not have one?"
She sounded kind of proud.
"No, I don't… this situation is pretty odd."
The newcomer was looking kind of angry.
"I think the system said something about stats, so I think it should have something to do with your stats. What are your stats?"
Elo was interested; he really wanted to know more about the system he was most likely to spend the rest of his life with.
"I have 2 points in strength, 2 in endurance, and 1 in speed."
"And what are your stats, Lara?"
"I have 2 points in strength and 3 in stealth. What about…"
"So either you get a skill when you have 3 points in any stat, or it's something entirely different. We will have to find out.
I guess that we get stat points when we level up, so just take any stat to 3 when you level up, and then we will see."
-"I do not want to tell them that I put all my stat points into Charisma. I don't even know them, they could take advantage of my lack of strength, and I don't want that."-
Suddenly Lara locked as if she had remembered something.
"Gorden, do you want to join our team? You would also get Elo's bonus."
"I guess it's easier to survive with a team than alone, so yes, why not."
"Ding"
"Gorden is now following you.
[Team] 3/10"
At this point, the rabbit meat was cooked, and the three ate in silence. Elo hadn't realized it bevor, but he was starving.
Even though they neither had salt nor spices and the rabbit meat was somewhat tough, Elo felt like it was the best meal he had in years.
But even when there was nothing left, the three of them still felt hungry.
"Are you two also still hungry?"
"Yes!"
"Yes!"
-"Damn, it feels like I haven't eaten anything in the last ten years. But at least it seems like I am not the only one who feels like this."-
Elo stood up.
"Ok, then I think we should go hunting. Lara, you should be good at hunting animals, right?"
"Yes, at least my skill says so. But I don't have any experience. You two will need to help me."
"Then let's go!"
**
When they found their first animal, the sun was already low on the horizon. The whole forest seemed to shine with a red light as if the leaves themselves where miniature suns.
That was when Elo saw it. It was a majestic white deer with a pair of antlers, which seemed to be composed of pure silver. Its fur reflected the red sunlight and made it look even more majestic. Its blood-red eyes were staring into the distance.
Elo tried to be as quiet as he could while he snuck back to his teammates. The team had divided to maximize the chance of finding a wild animal.
They had noticed that they could see each other as glowing green projections of their teammate's bodies, as long as they were not more than 100m (328 ft) apart.
The three met at the big rock, which was as tall as the trees surrounding it, even though it was half embedded in the ground.
"I have found a white dear, follow me."
Even though the deer was pretty far away, Elo only whispered. He was afraid that if he didn't whisper, his meal would hear him and escape.
Usually, nobody would think of such a majestic animal as food, but Elo was so hungry that he probably would even eat his teammates if he wouldn't get something to eat soon.
They silently walked back to the place Elo had seen the white deer, but when they arrived, the deer was already gone.
Elo was about to curse when they suddenly heard a high-pitched, which was similar to the one they heard before when Elo punched the rabbit.
Without speaking, Elo and Lara started running in the direction of whatever had screamed like this, while Gorden had no choice but to follow them.
As Elo ran, he suddenly saw something green jumping at him from the bushes.
He jumped back just in time to not get hit, only to collide with Lara, who was running behind him.
The green thing was about to jump at the two falling humans when a big fist hit it on the head.
Gorden had rushed in front of his newfound companions to protect them.
When the little green thing fell in the ground, Elo could take a proper look at it for the first time.
What he saw was a small, human-like creature with green skin. Its head was a human head with neither a nose nor ears. It only had two little black eyes and a massive maw with hundreds of small yellow teeth.
Its muscular body seemed to be too small for its big head and there where deep cuts all over it.
"Forest Gnome has been defeated.
The resources are transferred to the leader of the team."
"You resaved:
-3 gnomes' teeth
-1 soul gem (rare)
- 1 small stone dagger
Out of the inventory:
-4 deer meat
-1 silver antler"
"I have great news; it seems that this gnome had killed the white deer. It gave me four deer meat, which means we will have something to eat."
-"This thing also had an inventory. That means that we are not the only ones who can interact with the system."-
"Ding"
"You received one Power Stone (very rare), gifted by Melady800"
-"This again? Who might those names belong to? Is this possible? Could they be…
…some kind of GODS?"-