Lazarus left the cave. He looked around and realized that once he had come out of the cave the entrance became invisible to him, but not to his newly unlocked skill. That meant that Lazarus would be able to make camp at the entrance to the cave. After finding the place that would be his new home, the first thing he did was analyze the local wild life.

Squirrel

Level 15

Lazarus was a little embarrassed that the squirrel was a higher level than him, but embarrassment faded once he realized that anything bigger than a squirrel would likely be higher level as well. As if it was listening to his thoughts, he heard a deafening roar. It reverberated off the trees and frightened the wildlife. Lazarus hurried back to the cave. Within a few moments a large bear wondered into the clearing. It was munching on a squirrel. Lazarus was shocked at it's size. It was the size of his truck. Lazarus analyzed it and grimaced. This was going to be one tough grizzly to take down.

Forest Bear

Level 68

The bear was 7 times his level. He wouldn't be taking this one on anytime soon. The bear eventually decided to lay in the clearing. Lazarus realized that he couldn't hear the bear. Luckily, it seemed that the barrier at the entrance blocked both sight and aound.

Lazarus considered his options. He either had to go back into the dungeon and attempt to survive or go back to the grizzly and just die. Yeah, fuck that.

He didn't want to die today. Lazarus prepared himself for what would be his first official attempt to level up and get stronger. He tied the waistband of his sweatpants and took off his shirt. He tied the torn rag of a shirt around one arm just in case he needed to bandage something. Then without further consideration, he set off into the cave.

At first, he only encountered level 25 Cave Rats but as he went deeper the rats got larger and higher leveled. When the rats hit level 30 they were no longer Cave Rats, but Blood-Soaked Rats. The rats were considerably stronger and when one bit him it gave him a wound that wouldn't stop bleeding. Calmly Lazarus backed out of the cave to the tunnels he'd already cleared and investigated his status. It showed that he had a bleed effect that did 5 damage per second and lasted for 1 minute. Lazarus realizing that, unless he wanted 3/5 of his health to be lost he would have to heal himself. Lazarus used Restoration for the whole minute and found that it seemed to use very little mana. He checked and it appeared that it restored 5 health per one mana. That was almost 1000 health that he could restore at one time.

After the bleed affect wore off he realized by looking at his status that he'd gained a new resistance.

Resistances Pain Tier 1 Level 4 Blood Magic Tier 1 Level 2

Apparently, the bloody rats knew blood magic, what a surprise. On the other note, it appeared that the perk Resistant was working. He was pretty sure that he should have gained only one level in pain and Blood magic resistances. That meant that he would be increasing these resistances fairly high in the coming weeks.

Entering the cave again, Lazarus decided that he would begin his first grinding session. He calculated how many bites he would be able to survive with the bleed effect. He allowed himself to be bitten 3 times before he killed the rat and escaped. Lazarus retreated to an alcove and focused on healing himself. He repeated this kill and heal process until the bleed effect didn't take place. By this point he sensed that it must be close to night time. He went back to the entrance to the cave and went over the days earnings.

Lazarus Gallows Health 500/500 3% Survivor 22 Mana 250/250 1% Class 2 Stamina 500/500 3% 690lbs 6’6” Stats* Resistances* Titles Perks* Skills*

Lazarus first distributed his stats from 12 levels as he would unlock more perks from which to choose from.

Strength 75 Willpower 25 Constitution 75 Intelligence 50 Endurance 75 Charisma 14 Dexterity 44 Luck 50

He checked to see if the pattern held true. It did. Lazarus got to work on selecting his 3 options. This time he had leeway. He didn't need immediate strength but instead he went for long term growth with some good powers mixed in, all according to his gut of course.

Perks Unlocked(Choose 3):

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Forceful(Strength over 25)- Grants General Skill: Musculature

Overwhelming(Strength over 50)- Doubles carrying capacity, double chance to maim, If strength exceeds opponent then directly halve their health upon blow

Crushing(Strength over 75)- Fixes muscle imbalances. Makes all muscles equal.

Hulking(Constitution over 75)- Grants additional 2 lbs of size per point of Constitution from this point on. Distributes weight over an area. Controllable.

Vigorous(Endurance over 25)- Grants General Skill: Vigor

Tireless(Endurance over 75)- Allows you to use Health in exchange of stamina when at zero

Nimble(Dexterity over 25)- Grants General Skill: Acrobatics

Smart(Intelligence over 25)- Grants General Skill: Learning

Enlightened(Intelligence over 50)- Grants General Skill: Mana Pool

Baffling(Luck over 25)- Grants General Skill: Daredevil

Stubborn(Willpower over 25)- Grants General Skill: Meditation

Lazarus chose Crushing, Enlightened, and to his chagrin, Baffling.This really was an apt name for this perk. Who would choose this perk? Especially when there are other options? Only him. That choice was purely based off of his gut. He'd trusted his gut before, it's the only reason he is even still alive.

Back on Earth, Lazarus had been outcasted from his few friends. He'd been on a trip to Hawaii one time. That plane crash he was the only survivor. He'd had a hunch to go to the bathroom. He had no idea why, just that he had to go. That trip to the toilet had saved his life. Unfortunately, his friend and everyone else had died. The authorities found him huddled in the wreckage of the bathroom with several injuries and a few broken bones, but nothing life threatening. Since then he had always listened to his gut.

His other choices were based on conjecture and guesswork. Enlightened was chosen because of the skill called Mana Pool. He assumed that it was meant to give him more mana which was something he desperately needed. His damage and regeneration were dependent on his mana. If he ran out of mana in a fight then he was dead. So he used Identify, on the two skills that he now had.

Mana Pool- Tier 1: Level 1- Increases amount of mana gained per point to 11 mana. Based on Skill Level.

Daredevil- Tier 1: Level 1- Suicidal actions are more likely to have a favorable result

Mana Pool did exactly what he hoped it did, expand his mana pool. In fact from what he can see, this skill had great potential. It had the potential to increase his mana pool by a great amount in the future. In fact if the skill was retroactive, he’d have 550 mana which is 50 more than he would have without it. The skill would get more valuable the higher level he got and the higher he increased the skill.

Daredevil, on the other hand, was most likely going to be useful sometime in the future when he challenged the forest bear. It had no definite effect, but it would likely come in handy soon.

Lazarus looked at his last two categories at once, Resistances and Skills.

Resistances Pain Tier 1 Level 6 Blood Magic Tier 1 Level 6

Survivor Class Skills Active Passive Ruin Tier 1: Level 5 Survivor’s Body Tier 1: Level 6 Restoration Tier 1: Level 7 The Art Of Survival Tier 1: Level 5 Survivor’s Stand Tier 1: Level 4 Awareness Tier 1: Level 2 Eyes of Life and Death Tier 1: Level 1 General Skills Identify Tier 1: Level 2 Ascetic Tier 1: Level 2 Daredevil Tier 1: Level 1 Mana Pool Tier 1: Level 1

He identified his new skill and came up with this.

Active: Eyes of Life and Death Tier 1: Level 1- Enables you to view the signs of Life and Death

This was very interesting to him. He tries to use the skill and found that his vision became faded. He looked around and noticed that everything was a ghostly white. Nearby was a rat carcass that he had killed. He noticed that the rat was pitch black. He guessed that he must have the ability to view life and death, similar to heat vision.

Lazarus, ready for the pain, finalized his status. Instantly, he felt his spine lengthen just a little. His back crackled all at once. His shoulders jumped up a size. He felt his muscles bones and tendons compress instead of thickening. Lazarus clenched his hands and felt enormous amounts of power. He laughed, his guess had been right. The perk Crushing had evened out his muscles to the point where his grip was just as strong as him squatting. His muscles, no matter the size, all exhibited the same amount of power. He felt his mind get sharper. The points in intelligence making him think faster and smoother than he ever had thought before. He became aware of an increase in his mana. He was aware of himself and saw his mana converge into a sphere just over his heart. That must be the skill Mana Pool at work. He also felt a sudden surge of recklessness come about. He felt like he could do anything with no ramifications. Lazarus spurred by the feeling charged out of the cave and at the sleeping Forest Bear.

His first move was to punch the bear right in the eye. The bear woke quickly and roared, swatting at Lazarus. He experienced a sharp pain in his stomach, but he'd tightened his abdominals to lessen the damage and immediately began to heal himself. Ruin was already in effect on the bear’s eye. He activated his new skill and realized that he could see a golden light in the shape of the bear. At certain points of the bear he noticedplaces where the light was particularly blinding as well as the dark spot on the bears head that corresponded to the decay he'd left.

The bear, deciding that the man was no threat, charged at Lazarus. Lazarus stood his ground and began to battle it out with the bear. He was barely able to take direct hits and instead preferred to stab his strengthened hand into the bear at points where it's life had concentrated leaving behind arterial spray and rot. Lazarus took multiple near fatal blows in the fight. There was even one time when the bear had chomped directly into his stomach and rib cage that Lazarus realized he had no health left. About 2 seconds passed before the bear realized that he was still healing and hadn't fallen.

However, despite many close calls, time was on his side as the bear slowed and grew weaker. It became disoriented and eventually just fell over and couldn't get up. His vision revealed that the rot from his eye had spread throughout the brain and resulted in death. Lazarus dragged himself back to the cave, bleeding and crying out in pain. Deep inside however, he found himself to be shaking in excitement rather than fear. The feeling of power and sensation of victory filled him like a drug. He lay on the floor and slept for the first time in this new world.