When I regained consciousness, I found myself inside a capsule. My whole body was wet, and the temperature was pretty low.
'Where am I? What happened?'
The last thing I remember was the hit I got from my grandfather. Everything was a mystery after that.
I pushed the capsule's door open with the little strength I had left. It opened. The surroundings were unique to that of a spaceship, so when I looked around, I knew the answer.
My mother and my grandfather placed me inside the spaceship I saw next to the cabin. Frustration took over me. It meant that they were still on Earth suffering from the invasion, and I was there, safe and sound.
Tears dropped from my face. I stood there for a while, not knowing what to do. That's when I saw a letter on a table. It was from my mother.
In the letter she said that she loved me, and the reasons that she did what she did. The most shocking thing I discovered after reading the letter was that my mom and my grandfather were powerful!
The letter stated that they had an SS level physique, which, according to the information I had, it was extraordinary.
"I love you, sweetheart, and don't worry, we'll see each other again. I can protect myself, but you are still weak. Be careful."
It looked like my mother had written the letter a while ago. Could she know about the invasion before it happened? My mind couldn't help but think about that.
Anyway, I found a safe place inside the spaceship to store the letter. Then I looked around to see the mess I was in.
The capsule I woke up at had frozen me! That was the reason I survived for so long. But if I was out of the capsule, then it meant the spaceship landed somewhere.
So, I moved toward the spaceship's exit. The metal ramp opened, and the first thing I saw was a massive forest. It was hard to see a thing or to move through the vegetation.
I searched through the spaceship for anything useful. There were tools there, including a machete, and with it, I cleaned the vegetation around the spaceship to have a better look. It was bad.
"Fuck! The spaceship is damaged!"
The spaceship had hit the trees and the ground — a forced landing — and it was not in an operative state anymore. So, if I wanted to leave the planet, I would have to repair the spaceship.
Did I know how to do that? No, I didn't. I didn't know how to repair it. I didn't have the necessary tools for it, and there was a high chance that the planet didn't have the right materials for it.
It was bad. I sat on the spaceship's ramp and stood there, thinking for a while. What should I do? The information about the planet was non-existent, so it could be even more dangerous than Earth!
Then, I finally recalled about my awakening, and the system! No one knew how the system worked, but all I had to do was think about my status, and they showed up in front of me like an invisible screen only I could see.
[Level: 1]
[Physique Rank: D]
[Attributes:
[Strength: 2]
[Agility: 1]
[Vigor: 1]
[Intelligence: 1]
[Faith: 4]
The stats looked pretty normal for a level 1 person, except for Faith. I had seen it on the news. Most people had a lower faith stat, like 0 or 1. The only people who had a higher faith stats were devoted priests who could harness the divine power — another mysterious energy, like mana.
But why did I have a higher faith? I wasn't religious, and sure as hell wasn't a devoted priest.
The attributes increased after each level according to one's physique rank. Mine was D — one of the lowest — but the physique was something anyone could upgrade given time.
Most people had a F or D physique when they turned 18, but with hard work, talent, and a bit of luck, anyone could grow stronger.
I believed in that. I had to. The thought of exploring a mysterious planet was daunting, and I wanted to believe that I had what it took to survive.
The first thing I did was gather everything useful inside the ship. I saw a leather backpack, and plenty of different tools. The machete I had used, a hunting knife, flint, and a fishing rod, as well as its accessories.
I placed all of it inside the backpack. There was no food in the spaceship, though, and that was bad. The only food I had was a fluid attached to my body when I was inside the capsule. That was what allowed my body to survive while frozen.
But I couldn't take it with me.
The wooden box my grandfather gave me was there too, and when I opened it, and saw a rusty old key inside. I had no idea why he gave me a key, but I turned it into a necklace with a vine I found outside.
After grabbing everything I could, it was time to hide my spaceship. The surrounding vegetation was dense, and the place I landed didn't quite look like it had civilization around.
"How can I even hide this thing?"
The spaceship was huge, and hiding it with only vegetation was not optimal. What if someone found it? My strength was mediocre, so fighting for my spaceship was not the best thing.
"Zephyr, how can you be so stupid?"
I felt stupid. Most ships had mechanisms which allowed them to hide. It was a common feature when exploring other planets. I knew about it, yet because of the whole situation, I didn't remember.
The spaceship's control panel had lots of buttons which I had no idea what they did, but the button to hide the ship was pretty obvious, so I clicked it.
It was even better than I expected it. The spaceship turned invisible, and it dug a hole on the ground using a mechanism built underneath the spaceship.
I kept looking around to see if anything would approach the spaceship while it did its thing. The noise was loud, so if anyone was around the area, they would certainly hear it.
Gladly, no one did. The spaceship hid itself underground, and it was also invisible. It would be quite hard for someone to find it, including me.
That's why I spent the next twenty minutes creating many markings around the area, so that I remembered where it was in the future.
So, it was finally time to explore the area. With the machete in hands, I cut the verdant vegetation, making my way through the forest.
I felt like I was the person who first discovered a continent! Because of my mutated physique, cleaning the path wasn't as tiring as I thought it would be.
The mosquitoes tried to get me while I was in the middle of the vegetation — those damned things were on all planets; it seemed — and after one hour; I found a mud road.
A road was a good sign. Not only a road, but I saw a river next to it. If there was any civilization on that unknown planet, it had to be around the area.
So, I followed the river. It took me two more hours to find anything different from trees and bushes. A village.
'A village? Is this world primitive?'
I feared going into the village. Were the people living there strong? Were the people living there even…people? It could be any race.
My movements were slow and methodical. I wanted to get a better look without getting noticed by the people who lived there. When I saw the people in the village, I froze.
'H-Hot!'
I saw women wearing close to no clothing, showing their curves. There was one showing her boobs, too! For a man who just turned 18? Well, it was hard to control my body.
But before I could do anything, a group of 4 women came toward me. They had wooden spears and one of them had a bow aimed at me.
While they spoke in a different tongue I didn't know, all I could do was look at their almost naked bodies. It could be my mind, but I felt like they were looking at my body, too.