The beast shook in pain as it lost one of its eyes and turned to face the man. It stood back up on its hind legs and attacked again. Silas blocked with his arm, but the claws made him bleed and hit his torso.

He was left with a giant scar on his arm, but the fight wasn’t over. He moved to the side and tried to get close. The massive bear's legs came close again, almost reaching his face. He jumped again and tried to take the other eye.

The bear recognized the attack and changed his position, but the attack never came.

"You’re smarter than you look, but you are still too predictable." The attack was a feint made to control the bear's movements. He jumped much lower than before to touch the ground faster and then pierced the beast.

Using his own claws against him, he pierced the thick fur and left a massive slash on the bear from its gut to one of its legs. The beast roared in pain, but he wasn’t done. He kicked him in the leg and got another slash in the side.

One of the legs came from above and slammed him against a tree.

"Ughhh!" he vomited blood and looked at his opponent. They were both on the edge of death. "Hehe, since you aren’t an NPC, you should go away and take your chance to live another day. This is my last warning."

The bear moved his wounded body and charged at him. It wasn’t going to back down. "Good!" he said, taking posture and waiting for the moment to dodge.

Bang... Something hit the bear in the back. His single eye shone for a moment before going dark forever.

A man came from the back with a gun. He was wearing a jacket, and his hair was dark. "Uff, lucky you. I found you right in the nick of time, buddy." He smiled and his gun dissipated into the air.

Silas had only one thing to say to him. "Kill steal..." After that, he went unconscious.

***

His body hurt, and he didn’t want to move or open his eyes, but the smell of meat made his stomach hungry. With great effort, he opened his eyes and looked at the stars in the sky. Were those the same stars that destroyed his home and threw him into this strange world? He had no way of knowing.

The only important thing was to eat. He got up from the small bed of leaves and looked at the fire. It was warm, and the man was sitting on the other side, eating a piece of the bear he stole from him.

"Oh, you woke up already? I thought you would be out for a whole day at the minimum. Don’t move too much, your wounds are serious."

He looked at his body. The blood was dried, and his clothes were dirty, but he was alive. Vines and leaves were wrapped around his body in a crude way, trying to imitate some bandages.

"Did you make this?"

"Yes buddy, I know it's not the best, but what can we do in this world? I only have this ability and my hunter instincts."

"Yeah, is the minimum you should do after you stole my kill."

"Stole kill?"

"You show up at the last moment and kill him. Have you no respect for another player?"

"Player?"

Ah, he doesn’t look like he gets it. I thought maybe all the people who got transported here were MMO experts like me, but it doesn’t seem like that is the case. He shook his head and extended his hand.

"Did you cook one for me?"

"Sure thing, buddy, the bear was giant. If we had a refrigerator and some tools, I could skin it and prepare a whole meal for a town full of people." He gave him a piece of meat.

It had a strong odor and was just cooked over a fire. He had to eat. There was no salt or other condiments. It almost made him gag. "Ugh, I hope there is someone with a cooking class or something because I can’t spend all my days eating like this."

"You’re the type to be picky about things, aren’t you, buddy?"

"No, I’m just used to living in the modern world of the 21st century. I’m supposed to just accept that some System took me from planet Earth and threw me here without telling me my class or my powers."

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"That System thing, what do you think it is?"

"Well, I would say some type of AI made by aliens that went rouge and killed them and then traveled around the universe looking for new species to use as slaves for its games."

"Uh... so like a robot?"

"Yes, like a robot." He didn’t want to talk with him, but there was no one else. "How come you get to keep that gun? I lost my items when I woke up in the meadow."

"Oh, this isn’t my usual gun. It looks like it, but it just appeared when I thought about it." He made it appear and disappear a few times. "See, it's like a magic trick. I can pull it out of my sleeve."

"Is that your power? Or maybe it’s had something to do with your class? What were you doing before you were transported here?"

"I was drinking a nice cold beer while watching the sky and counting the stars. I had my guitar with me and played some of my dad's old disks. When suddenly this rain of stars crashed all over the farm. Next thing I knew, I was talking with this robot thing and then I woke up in this strange forest."

"Oh, sorry, where are my manners. I’m Jacob." He grabbed Silas’s hand in an enthusiastic handshake.

"Mmm, I’m Silas."

"Is good that we have each other's backs. If there are more creatures like a six-legged bear, we need to be careful. I can take the first shift. You rest and recover your strength."

Silas wasn’t convinced, mostly because of the words of the System about how killing other players was allowed. This world comes with PvP by default. I can let my guard down around someone I don’t know. But I can’t fight with these wounds. There is still too much I don’t know. Is my power copying the body of my enemy or maybe I can turn into animals and I thought about a bear because he was in front of me? There is also the question of his power. A gun, but how far can he shoot? Does he need to reload, or is ammo infinite?

There were too many questions to engage in a battle right off the bat. He had to pretend he trusted him, but he was going to only fake he was sleeping, in case Jacob tried to kill him in the middle of the night. Never let your guard down around people you don’t know. It is one of the basics of PvP MMOs.

He stayed awake all night until Jacob woke him up right as the sun came out. "Rise and shine, Silas, we have to move. Don’t worry, we don’t have a rooster, but my body always tells me when the sun is coming out."

"I thought you were going to wake me up."

"Oh, you look hurt, so I thought that taking the whole night to rest would be better for you. I can go a night without any problems, but now we need to look for more people. In this situation, grouping is the best course of action."

He didn’t get any sleep since he had to keep his eyes on Jacob. Now he had to pretend he was rested as they went across the forest looking for more people.

With Jacob's hunting skills, they made sure to not disturb the animals around them. A couple of times, they took another route to move away from potential predators. This was a whole different world, but things weren’t entirely alien.

"The shape of some animal tracks is strange, and I don’t recognize the trees around us, but it’s still nature. You can count on me, buddy." He was trying to reassure him, but Silas didn’t care enough.

"Sure. Let’s just keep going and then eat some of the meat." Since they didn’t have a backpack, they stuffed their pockets with some of the bear meat for later. He thought about carrying the whole bear, but it was too big and impractical to move a corpse like that in unexplored territory.

After a few hours, they still haven’t found another person. Jacob looked back at Silas, who was dragging his feet and with baggy eyes. "Let’s stop here, buddy, and have some of the bear for lunch."

"Ah, ah, are you taking pity on me? I have more energy. I got plenty of rest last night."

"Is okay, you don’t have to push yourself. Those wounds are pretty serious. I would like to help more, but I only know some basics in first aid, and we don’t have any kit or medicine."

Dammit, he already knows I’m super tired. I’m practically putting a giant target on my back. He’s going to have it easy when he tries to kill me. Should I try to make the first strike? Yes, after lunch when he’s not looking is risky, but I can last two days without sleep. It would be game over right there.

They took their time eating for completely opposite reasons. Jacob was worried about his health and Silas was planning to kill Jacob to eliminate the potential threat.

Suddenly, the plants moved from behind, and Jacob took his pistol. With masterful precision, he stood up and took a posture, aiming at the thing coming closer. "If you understand me, come out with your hands above your head!"

His tone was commanding, and Silas took a step back. I didn’t notice. Is there some kind of assassin or rogue class, or maybe a mage with invisibility? He had to prepare for the worst. His wounds were hurting, but in PvP, anything goes.

"Wait, don’t shoot!" A man came from the bushes with his hand above his head. "We are humans like you. We were kidnapped by that strange voice too."

There were two others behind the man, but they didn’t have any intention of fighting. "We have a bigger group not too far from here. You should come with us. We are trying to find a refuge to hide from the animals. It is better if we all work together."

"Uf, sorry for the scare partner, but I wasn’t sure if you were a beast trying to eat us. We have been looking for more people too. You can count us in—" Silas stopped him with his hand.

"How did you find us? You talk like you already knew we were around here." There was a possibility that they had some tracking skills, but he wasn’t sure. The only way to obtain information was through asking or combat.

"Ah, one of the people in our group did it. Do you remember how the voice said it was going to give you some power? Well, it turns out it is real. We have seen some strange powers, but we still don't know how they work. In any case, the person who found you can see through the vines and into the forest. She told us that a couple was nearby."

The man didn’t appear to be lying, but he wasn’t that good at reading the expressions of people. The only thing that mattered was the possibility of surviving. Option A: I refuse and flee. They could pursue me and capture me, or they could kill me. Option B: I try to fight. I can't win. Three or four against one is suicide, even if I wasn’t wounded. Option C: Join them and attempt to gain their favor. Everyone is a noob, so forming guilds and alliances is natural. Only those with a broken power or class would think of killing other players so early.

"Silas?"

"Sorry, you’re correct, Jacob. We should go."