A whole year had passed since my birth. Honestly, it went by so fast, and yet there are times where I think it really didn't. I don't know, time is weird.
At first, it was still hard for me to kill even a single rabbit. After all, the little white shits were pretty damn fast. Thankfully, the more I killed, the easier it became.
Around a month after my rebirth, I had shot up in stats. I could outrun most animals, and a single swipe of my claws was enough to decapitate them.
I admit that I got a bit overconfident then and decided to enter further into the forest then I normally do. However, when I did so, I was quickly reminded of my place in the world by a wolf.
The bastard almost tore off my arm, and he bit me in a number of places. He almost killed me, but thankfully, my high agility and ability to climb trees saved me, as I hid as high as I could and waited for the wolf to go away.
The bastard stalked around for a whole day before he finally decided to leave. My wounds were quite bad, so it took me the next week to heal them up after returning.
When I got back, things were different. A lot different. I was far more careful, and I only traveled between trees, jumping from one to the other.
After an hour of searching, I found the wolf that almost killed me. It was busy feasting on the carcass of a young deer, so it didn't notice me.
I sneaked up on it from above, and jumped right down on it, trying my best to avoid making any sound. I had been practicing how to best hide or camouflage my smell, and mitigate any sound my movements made for well over 2 weeks then, and it paid off.
The bastard didn't know what hit it. I stabbed both my claws into the two sides of his neck, struck my clawed feet into its side and bit at the neck of the wolf before furiously shaking my head side-to-side.
The wolf yelped and tried to shake me off, but there was no way in hell. Even when it tried to roll over me I refused to let go, and it eventually died by the furious scratching and tearing at its neck.
Honestly, it's fur was way harder than any other I had ever seen. Its skin was also very tough, so I was very thankful for having invested points into strength, which was crucial since it made my claws sharper and harder.
I still remember the elation I felt as I could feel the Anima flowing into me. That wolf alone had granted me 50 status points, which was amazing since it had become quite hard to get them by killing weak critters.
The next 11 months were spent more or less doing the same thing over and over. I hunted and killed whenever I pleased, rested when I was tired and chatted with the System when I didn't want to do either.
Of course, there were a number of times in which I came extremely close to death. However, I always prevailed or at least escaped with my life.
Now, I was more than 10 miles inland, and I could feel myself rising in power. I no longer was that weak little catkin that couldn't run a hundred meters before having to take a break.
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I grinned in pride as I looked at my status, basking in the feeling of power. Perhaps I had some sort of megalomania, but I didn't care. I loved the feeling.
Welcome to your Status Card Name - N/A Age - 1 year Strength - 64 Constitution - 1 Vitality - 34 Intelligence - 2 Dexterity - 112 Wisdom - 1
I laughed loudly from the safety of a 100+ meter tall tree. I had struggled so hard for so long, and I was finally reaping in the rewards. Of course, I wasn't satisfied. Not at all. At the very least, I wanted every one of my left stats to hit the thousands, and only then would I allow myself to be truly proud.
An hour later, after a quick nap, I jumped to another tree, and then to another, making my way further inland.
Sometimes, I would see some giant birds screeching in the skies, and sometimes they would see me. Unluckily for one cocky bird, it decided that I looked like I was worth a snack.
The 10-meter plus bird charged down from the skies in an attempt to grab me with its claws. The System claimed that it was a 'Thunder Eagle', but I really didn't care. However, the thunder part did make me worry a bit, so instead of attacking it immediately, I jumped around for a bit, always a bit too far for it to catch me, but never quite escaping fully.
After ten minutes of this, the bird got obviously ticked off, and it screeched loudly. Along with its screech came an extremely fast lightning bolt from its left eye.
However, I had long since expected something like this, so I simply jumped to another tree. The bird looked at me with pure annoyance and anger before trying to go back to the skies.
However, I wouldn't let it get away so easily.
I tensed my legs and catapulted in a straight line towards the bird, who was completely unprepared for the attack.
My claws pierced through the bird's feathers like they were cardboard, and even as it tried to struggle and throw me off like they always do when I attach to their back, I continued to rip off pieces of its flesh, trying to reach for it's inner organs. Soon enough, I found them, and I swiftly plunged my deadly claws into them and turned everything into a bloody goop.
The bird let out a final, pained screech before falling down from the skies. I tore off one of its wings before jumping off and landing on a tree, where I had to pierce my free hand into it to slow down my descent. The tree got one huge cut running through it, but at least I wasn't hurt.
I smiled sweetly as the System dutifully reported the Anima gained and the ten points that came along with it. It was a lot, likely because the bird was really strong, and could have likely could have killed me had it not been so careless as to turn it's back to me.
That was a lesson that I had quickly learned: The back is the most vulnerable position. My small frame struggled to reach 150cm in height, so compared to most monsters around me I wasn't even the size of their claws.
However, I was fast. And it was really, really hard to shake me off thanks to my own claws. Just like the bird, I was a master at tearing apart undefended opponents. Even if they don't turn their back to me, I'm still really good at constant sneak attacks, attacking from every side, including from above or below, depending if we were fighting above or below the trees.
I ate the flesh in my hand before throwing the rest away. I didn't need much food thanks to my high vitality, almost none of these monsters do. They hunt solely for the joy of it, and because of their instincts. Some even do it for training, but it's rare to find monsters that intelligent in this place.
I silently dumped all my points into dexterity before continuing on with my hunt. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be able to kill everything on this island? What will happen then?
I had to remind myself that thinking too much and looking too deeply into things would be counterproductive. I would only fall into depression, so I did the next best thing and swooped down from the treetops and decapitated a pair of tigers that looked as though they were hitting each other, but they didn't seem to be hurting each other. What's up with that?