Archie was currently walking through the forest looking for something to hunt, sadly for the past few minutes he had yet to find anything other than trees and snow. Well, he did find some berries, but a quick Identify revealed them to be poisonous.
Just as Archie was about to take another step, goosebumps flared on the back of his neck. Archie swiveled around with his shield raised, just in time to avoid an attack at his unprotected back.
The shield blocked the attack aimed at Archie, but as a result, it was cleaved in four, with the pieces falling onto the snowy ground.
Archie took in the creature that turned his shield into ribbons, Is that a fucking saber-tooth tiger? Archie mentally shouted, both mouth and eyes wide open.
The saber-tooth tiger had white fur with black and grey stripes along its body and red-amber eyes and nose. Two large sharp upper teeth protruding out of its mouth that glinted both blue and white, looking about ten inches long. It stood confidently at a height of five-foot-three inches, body rippling with muscles with each step it took.
Backstepping, Archie dodged yet another swipe at his unprotected chest. Just as Archie dodged back, he Identified the saber-tooth tiger.
[Swift Frostiron Smilodon Lv ??]
Archie tightened his grip on his hatchet, adrenaline moved from a lull, and began to pick up speed.
Archie activated Adrenaline Rush at 35% and Savage Charge, and in an instant, red-hued steam rose from his body as his adrenaline surged. With a burst of power, he vanished from his previous position, moving faster than the eye could follow. Archie angled his hatchet to cut into the Smilodon’s neck, but just as it was approaching its neck the Smilodon reacted.
It caught Archie’s hatchet in its jaws, stopping the force of Archie’s swipe. Panicking, Archie channeled more mana and stamina into his Adrenaline Rush as well as activating Unstable Power Strike into his hatchet.
The sound of metal grinding against each other filled the forest, Archie's hatchet and the Smilodon’s teeth were at a deadlock.
How the hell am I not able to cut through its teeth? Archie questioned, sweat started to coat his body alongside the bits of blood that started to leak from his skin. I have a 35% boost.
Both the Smilodon and Archie were in a deadlock, both unwilling to back down. The Smilodon’s jaw strength evenly matched Archie’s full power combo, but a cracking sound echoed throughout the forest.
Both Archie and the Smilodon became unbalanced and fell on their sides, both in opposite directions. Archie looked at his hatchet and saw a large chunk missing and cracks appearing across the remaining parts of the blade as well as the handle.
The Smilodon spat out the pieces of steel from the hatchet it chomped out of and began to circle Archie.
Archie sent the hatchet into his spatial ring, remembering the self-repair enchantment on the hatchet. Activating Savage Charge, Archie launched himself at the Smilodon with his right fist cocked back and smashed it across the side of the Smilodon’s skull.
The Smilodon took the hit head-on and angled its head to get into the guard of Archie, once in Archie’s guard it swiped its claws into Archie’s torso.
Archie’s torso started to spill blood onto the snow below, his inner organs being held in by the remaining strips of flesh across his torso, Warrior’s Resilience automatically activating at the maximum health regeneration.
The adrenaline coursing through Archie’s being kept him from most of the pain, but the small bits of pain that he did feel almost made him drop to his knees. Tears fell from Archie’s eyes and rolled down his face and he shouted, unintentionally triggering his Taunt.
The guttural shout stopped the Smilodon from lunging at his neck and caused its body to lock up. Archie’s brain went a thousand miles a second; he took out an Effigy of Health and cracked it with the same mana string, rapidly filling his almost empty health reserves.
Archie then activated Retaliation and cocked his fist once more at the Smilodon’s head activating Unstable Power Strike into his right fist. The sound of Archie’s fist smashing into the Smilodon’s skull produced a sound akin to a thunderclap.
The sheer power into the strike launched the Smilodon ten meters away from Archie as well as causing a cracking sound from the Smilodon. Getting some breathing room, Archie quickly took out his Effigy of Healing and activated it while placing it in his back pouch.
His muscle fibers in his torso were healing at a visible rate, due to the combination of his large Vitality and Endurance stats as well as both the Effigy of Health and Effigy of Healing.
Archie shot out the Hex of Enfeeblement at the Smilodon’s torso. Upon hitting the Smilodon’s torso it looked winded, giving Archie an opportunity.
Archie quickly opened his status page and allocated twenty-five points to Strength and Vitality each. Needing the free points he placed on the back burner now.
After allocating the stat points, Archie dismissed the status page and looked back at the Smilodon and saw it staggering, but slowly picking itself up. Blood and what Archie assumed to be pieces of cracked teeth, fall from the Smilodon’s mouth and stain the snow beneath it.
Archie activated Savage Charge at the Smilodon, using Taunt once more, causing the Smilodon to lock up once more, and Archie’s vocal cords to strain.
Smashing his right fist into the face of the Smilodon, Archie then immediately uppercut the Smilodon with his left fist, lifting both its head and upper body into the air. But Archie did not let up, activating Unstable Power Strike into both of his fists, he started to pummel his fists into the torso of the Smilodon.
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Blood started to erupt from the torso of the Smilodon, its rib cage cracking, blood and bone shards coating both the snowy ground and Archie.
Archie felt his fists destroy the Smilodon’s ribcage as well as its lungs, but he did not care, he kept punching. Archie heard the dings from the system, but he did not care, he kept punching into the Smilodon’s body below him.
After what felt like hours, Archie was on his knees atop a mangled bloody flesh blob. Blood and pieces of fleshy mush coated the area around Archie, leaving not a single unbloody stain within a five-meter radius around him.
Archie ran out of energy to keep punching what remained of the Smilodon, his Adrenaline Rush ending long ago. The adrenaline that rushed through him slowed to a lull, causing the dopamine that flooded his brain to come to a halt.
With bleary eyes, he looked at his status page and saw he had only seventy-one stamina points remaining in his reserves, his Effigy of Healing had long since finished healing him to around 90%.
Looking at his fists, he saw the gauntlets were barely attached to his fists, his skin peeled and bones showing. He took out an Effigy of Endurance and activated it, using the same mana string that took it out to place it back into his back pouch. What felt like cold water trickling down his back, Archie slowly got up from atop the mangled corpse of the Smilodon and started to head back to his cave home.
Along the path toward his cave home, bloody footprints followed his every step.
Pushing aside the door to his home, and closing it behind him, he fell to the floor, completely exhausted from the fight with the Smilodon.
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Walking up bleary-eyed, Archie was greeted by the small rays of light that came out of the door. Looking at his naked torso, he saw it covered with dried congealed blood and bone shards.
Swiping the congealed blood and bone shards aside, Archie felt the raw skin beneath, relieved that his inner organs were no longer at risk of spilling out. He let his hand flop into the ground, the anxiety he hadn't realized he was carrying dissipating into thin air.
Looking to the side Archie saw the notifications that he ignored.
Skill Evolved: [Unstable Power Strike (Uncommon) → Unstable Consecutive Strikes (Rare)]
[Unstable Consecutive Strikes (Rare)]:
With a surge of strength, you continuously charge large amounts of stamina into multiple, devastating strikes. Unstable Consecutive Strikes is the embodiment of unyielding destruction, designed to overwhelm foes in head-on confrontations. The skill can be channeled throughout your body as well as the weapons that you hold, however; if the weapons cannot handle the large amount of stamina coursing through it, it will shatter.
Skill Gained: [Basic Martial Combat Mastery (Initiate)]
Basic Martial Combat Mastery (Initiate):
When without a weapon, what other weapon can you rely on except your body? Grants knowledge of basic martial combat.
*[Swift Frostiron Smilodon Lv 53] has been slain – XP has been given. 530 Tutorial Points given*
*Your Class has reached Lv 42 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
***
*Your Class has reached Lv 45 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
*Your Race has reached Lv 43 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
*Your Race has reached Lv 44 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
“Level 53, huh… I’m gonna assume that level 50 is the level I need to reach to become an E-Grade.” Archie said, his voice barely audible, his throat still sore from using Taunt twice in a row.
Opening his status page he saw:
Archie Gracefield
Race: Human F-Grade Lv 44
Class: Warrior Lv 45
Profession: Shaman Lv 36
Health: 1858/1858
Mana: 630/630
Stamina: 1000/1000
Stats:
Vitality: 177(185)
Strength: 187(196)
Endurance: 100
Agility: 148
Intelligence: 149
Wisdom: 63
Willpower: 63(66)
Perception: 132
Free Points: 6
Skills:
Basic One-Handed Weapon Mastery (Uncommon)
Basic Light-Shield Mastery (Common)
Identify (Initiate)
Savage Charge (Rare)
Adrenaline Rush (Epic)
Warrior's Resilience (Rare)
Nature's Meditation (Epic)
Mana Manipulation (Uncommon)
Spirit Link (Epic)
Effigy-Carving (Common)
Material Insight (Uncommon)
Retaliation (Uncommon)
Hex of Enfeeblement (Uncommon)
Unstable Consecutive Strikes (Rare)
Taunt (Uncommon)
Shatter Spirit (Common)
Basic Martial Combat Mastery (Initiate)
Bloodline:
Adrenaline Junkie (Unique) [+5% to Strength and +5% to Willpower]
Affinity:
Greater Nature Affinity (Epic)
Titles Collected:
Bloodline Progenitor [+10 Vitality and +5% Vitality]
Tutorial Points:
8,104
“Man, I gotta figure out how to organize my skills, 'cause it looks like shit, to be honest.” Archie criticized, hoping that the system would give him a hint on how to organize it.
Sadly, no response came.
Picking himself from the ground, Archie pushed aside his door and saw that the sun was showing that it was around noon. Looking at himself, he desperately needed a bath.
“When was the last time I bathed? Is the reason why I can’t find anything to hunt is because of my scent?” Archie questioned himself.
“Whelp, off to the river then.” Archie shrugged while walking towards the river.
Suddenly his eyes widened, “I should repair my hatchet along the way,” Archie said as other than his fists, he had nothing to fight with.
Pulling out his broken and cracked hatchet, Archie began channeling mana through it, slowly repairing its broken state.
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Looking around the river, Archie saw many creatures surrounding the edges of the river, some familiar. He then used Identify on one creature from each group.
[Stout Marmot Lv 13]
[Charging Elk Lv 13]
[Springed Hare Lv 12]
[Snowveil Fox Lv 14]
[Swift Pika Lv 11]
[Iceclaw Eagle Lv 16]
“I take back what I said about the marmots, they aren’t roided squirrels, those Pikas are,” Archie mumbled to himself while chuckling.
The pikas looked like a crossbreed of a squirrel and a bunny, but densely packed with muscle. They had light blonde fur, black eyes, square-shaped noses, and small paws, but their head and torso were connected, without a neck. Quite jarring in his opinion.
The foxes looked like normal snow-colored foxes but with green noses and five eyes. Squinting slightly, Archie then realized the other creatures didn’t seem to notice them at all. Do they have the ability to passively camouflage? Can I see them because of my high perception stat? Archie thought.
The highest level between the groups were the eagles, they looked like normal bald eagles, but judging from their name, Archie assumed that their talons were probably metallic.
Archie went into the river, ignoring the fact that the other animals constantly stared at him. Sinking into the water, Archie started to take off pieces of his armor and started to clean them from the dried blood and bits of bone.
After cleaning his armor, he then tossed them onto the riverside and started to clean himself.
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Feeling refreshed, Archie got out of the river and eyed the fat hares beside him. After putting on his armor, he stared at the elk and started to feel his hunger come back in full.
Archie took out his dagger and quickly launched it at an elk, easily tearing through its neck and producing a circular hole with a diameter of at least four inches. The elk fell to the ground, causing the rest of the herd to run into the forest, afraid of the sudden death of their strongest pack member.
*[Charging Elk Lv 13] has been slain – XP has been given. 26 Tutorial Points given*
Upon reaching the dead elk, Archie sheathed his dagger, hoisted the elk onto his back in a fireman's carry, and hung it on a sturdy tree branch.
After it was drained of most of its blood, Archie hoisted it onto his back once more in a fireman's carry and made his way back to his cave.