The dot was moving toward him quickly. I closed his map, hoping it would maybe remove his own dot and make him harder to find, but it wasn't a guarantee. Just as he was trying to figure out what his next steps should be, a notification sounded.
__________
[New Quest]
Survive
[Reward: +1 Unassigned Skill Point, +5 Unassigned Stat Points, +100xp]
__________
'That doesn't seem good…'
After he read the quest name, he felt paranoid and decided the best course of action was to use his mind palace. After he thought the activation word, Matt was suddenly in a grassy field once more. He tried to take a breath and calm down but it wasn't really working.
'So… I have a hostile beta tester heading right for me.'
He was still trying to process his situation. Just a few hours ago, he didn't even know that there were other beta testers. He probably should have assumed so, but it just didn't occur to him. He started realizing he should've prepared more for this outcome sooner.
'I can't stay in here forever, so I should think of something.'
He considered just running away from the other player. With his agility and boots, he was probably faster.
'But, if the player is at a higher level, he might have a lot more agility. And my shoes have a cooldown. Also, what if he has a power like flight or paralysis?'
He realized that there were too many unknowns. Confronting the player would probably reveal a lot more, but it would also be a death wish. He realized what he had to do.
'I guess I should just stay here. I'll drill skills and try to use them to escape.'
He wasn't sure how long he would be stuck here, but he was prepared to do anything he had to, to survive. He went into the small hut he had created earlier in his mind.
He saw the pile of books he had collected before and sat down next to them. Matt dug around and tried to find anything that seemed useful.
"Cooking probably won't help. I don't think career advice is useful here either…"
He dug around and kept chucking books behind him until he finally found a few that could be helpful.
[How to Run: From Zero to Olympics]
[Parkour for Cool Dudes!]
'Hmm, these will probably help. But I'm not sure if they'll be enough. There's no way to tell what level the other player is…'
He realized that maybe he was overthinking it. Right now he had the speed boost shoes and evolved agility. Not to mention he got 3 points just running here.
'Usually in games, the aggressive players would spec into strength and defense. Unless they're an assassin type, they probably don't have a lot of agility. But that's assuming they are around my level. And it's way too risky to base everything off of a guess like that.'
He checked his menu again just to confirm his own level. He was level 3.
'Did all beta testers get the system at the same time or at different times? If they did get it at the same time, then I might be fine. I basically trained my stats nonstop the past few days since I got the system.'
Matt sighed. This was all starting to feel real now. Normally, this kind of stuff wouldn't happen if he just lived a normal life.
'I'm probably not gonna catch a break. It's all downhill from here.'
This situation really solidified his goal to get strong enough to protect himself and the people he cared about. Right now, he had some strength and maybe knew a few fighting moves, but it wasn't much.
'I wish I had an offensive magic skill or something.'
He was just complaining to complain. In reality, the system was just a boon, regardless of fancy magic spells or not.
'I really do think I'm overthinking. Well, it's a matter of life or death so it's fair. I'll just grind some skills and then make my escape.'
He realized he could always activate the mind palace again if whatever he tried didn't work. With that comforting thought in mind, he sat down and started reading. He wanted to at least learn these two skills first, and then maybe grind a few of the skills he already had.
After around an hour in mind time, he finished the first book from cover to cover. He put the book down and waited for a skill popup. But nothing came. But he felt like he knew why.
'So, I learned the martial arts through videos and those skills are all physical. Then I learned the social skill through a book, but that's mostly mental. So, I probably need to always act out physical skills to learn them like I thought.'
He stood up and headed outside the hut.
'Now the question is, can I learn a new physical skill mentally? I know I can practice my existing physical skills in here, but maybe they draw the line at learning new ones?'
Matt remembered everything he had read in the book about running. It talked about proper running form, how to conserve energy while running, and much more. He visualized what he needed to do and then started sprinting around the field. At first, he was a bit sloppy, but then he felt like he had it down.
'Well, I guess I'll keep doing this and if it doesn't pop up in a couple of hours, then I'll assume it's not possible in the mental space.'
But after only a few more minutes of running, he heard a notification.
__________
[New Skill]
Running [LV.1]
__________
'So it does work!'
After he received the new skill, his running form instantly improved and his speed increased greatly. His legs felt very steady and he felt like he could run forever! Once again, he seemed to now have the prowess of someone who had trained running for around three months.
Matt realized that if he collected a ton of books, he really could just keep grinding skills mentally.
'If I really wanted to, I could stay here forever and get really good at random stuff. But I guess I would run out of books at some point. Also, I'd actually go insane or become a hermit.'
With that thought, he decided to start reading the next book, which was the parkour book. He went back into the hut, sat down, and started the grind once again.