~Two weeks of laying paralysed on the seabed later~
A body lay on the seabed. Facedown; it was being rocked by the currents.
Fucking jellyfish!
Skill gained: Salt Water Drinking
Poison Resistance has levelled up to Lv. 20
Cold Resistance has levelled up to Lv. 3
Waterbreathing has levelled up to Lv. 5
Waterbreathing has reached maximum level
Title gained: Dedicated
Title gained: Specialist
Fisheye has levelled up to Lv. 20
Fisheye has reached maximum level
I would have been death without [Waterbreathing] and [Salt Water Drinking].
Since he wasn't able to do anything else anyway Adam decided to open his status screen and take a look at his new titles.
Name Adam Xavier Witt Race Human(Evolution Requirements not met) Age 25 Status Starving, Fully Paralysed(Estimated 2 minutes remaining) Titles Outsider, Survivor, Amphibious, Unconventional, Dedicated, Specialist Classes N/A Equipment N/A Skills
Skill book War Throw Mastery Lv. 1 Skill book Body Swimming Lv. 3/10, Waterbreathing Lv. 5/5 Skill Book Assistance Fisheye Lv. 20/20 Skill Book Resistance Poison Resistance Lv. 20/100, Pressure Resistance Lv. 2/100, Cold Resistance Lv. 3/100
Stats
Strength 7 Dexterity 6 Intelligence 6 Willpower 10 Vitality 9 Endurance 10 Wisdom 2
Common title: Dedicated, given to those who reached the maximum level of one of their skills, +1 endurance
Rare title: Specialist, given to those who reached the maximum level of a rare skill, +1 willpower, + 20% comprehension towards rare skills
The title he got two weeks ago: [unconventional], had given him + 1 [Wisdom]. So it seemed his basic Wisdom was 1. With nothing else to do he had made himself angry at the fact the world only evaluated his wisdom at one point which seemed to be really low when compared to the other stats. But soon his anger faded and was replaced by a feeling of hunger. Which in turn slowly became a feeling of utter starvation.
The hunger seemed to seep out of his eyes as his hungry gaze swept through the sea. With his maximized [Fisheye] he saw through the water as if it were just normal air. Close to him an unsuspecting
Those who eat others should be prepared to get eaten themselves.
With that justification, Adam grabbed the
After the third bite, the poor fish stopped moving. And Adam was shortly distracted by a couple of notifications.
Skill gained: Bite Mastery
Title gained: Predator
The distraction lasted for only a few moments. Soon the fish' mutilation continued. Adam's teeth tore through the scales and snapped the fish bones in his grotesque act befitting a shark, not a human. Those fish bones that weren't swallowed together with the edible and kind-of-edible parts of the sea bass were taken away by the currents to serve as the silent witnesses of the bass' short existence here on this strange planet.
After most of the fish was gone, Adam finally stopped. He was out of breath from devouring the sea bass in one go, without taking any underwater breathers. A bloody mist had started to surround the remains and Adam had started thinking straight again. He finally let go of what remained of the poor sea bass. Slowly, the remains sank to the bottom of the sea. Leaving a red trail of bloody mist behind.
I have no idea if sharks exist in this place, but I’m not waiting to find out.
With that idea in mind, Adam surfaced and searched for a nearby island. To his astonishment, he discovered that he had never drifted off too far from the goblin island and that he could still see the island in the distance.
Adam started swimming towards the island while trying to think of a way to deal with the goblins.
He was halfway when an all too familiar white blob drifted by and a luminous idea started to form in his head. Counting on his 21 levels of poison resistance to finally resist the paralysis poison he hesitatingly reached out with his hand and grabbed the blob. A slightly numbing sensation immediately flowed through his arm but it seemed that he could still move his arm fairly well. Encouraged by the lack of total paralysis Adam decided to catch a couple more jellyfish and after a while, he continued swimming towards the island while clinging 10 jellyfish to his body.
While swimming he decided to check out his new title.
Title: Predator, given to those that do not behave like civilized beings but rather like animals and eat their prey alive, +1 strength
It seems this world does not have a high opinion of me, luckily it’s mutual. I became a pilot because I wanted to leave my old world, but it seems this world hates me too.
After reaching the shore and looking around the goblins did not seem to be around. So Adam carefully approached the bushes beyond the shore. After a short rustle, a child-like being sprung from behind one of the bushes and rushed towards Adam.
It's green face seemed delighted for a moment, but soon it was met with a certain denizen of the sea. With its inertia halved and its body paralyzed the goblin simply fell face first at Adams' feet. Rage dwelled in Adam when he thought back to the hellish month he had experienced and without care, for the possible sentience the being, he started to furiously kick and stomp the green man.
Skill gained: Kick Mastery
It took him 10 minutes to calm down and take a look at the now mutilated corpse of the goblin.
Actually, what is a goblin even?
Curiosity got the better of Adam and he kneeled down by the corpse to study its mangled form further.
Skill gained: Identify
He looked at the notification and when he looked back the words above the goblin’s head changed.
With that in mind, he looked at the wooden club the goblin had with him.
Well, it’s better than nothing since my gun is laying on the bottom of the sea at the moment.
Armed with the most advanced weapon he encountered in this world he continued landward. Soon he entered a fairly sparse forest. Although it was full of trees, the trees were far apart and there seemed to be almost no other vegetation. Because of this, it was possible to look quite far ahead in this forest and Adam decided he would advance in stealth mode. So he started to crouch through the forest, hiding as much as possible behind the trees.
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Skill gained: Sneak
It did not take long for Adam to discover a small figure sleeping against a tree. Slowly Adam approached it while trying to use identify. When he was two meter from the goblin the required information finally appeared together with a notification.
Sneak has levelled up to Lv. 2
Although he gained a level in sneak it clearly wasn’t enough as the goblin suddenly opened half an eye. It did not take long for the eye to open completely when she saw Adam and in a single moment her other eye opened to be followed by her mouth, clearly indicating that she wanted to scream but Adam didn’t give her the chance to as he, as fast as lightning, punched her in the face, while holding a jellyfish. Parts of the jelly flew into her mouth and made their way to her lungs. She coughed once and went limb.
Skill gained: Fist Mastery
His anger had largely subsided with the death of the first goblin but Adam knew this was a kill or be killed situation. He refused to believe that there would not be dangerous creatures in the sea. It was almost impossible for such a big body of water to not house predators that could finish him and in the water he would have no means to fight back. This was the only piece of dry land he could find and to survive he knew he would have to kill the previous owners first. It was cruel but it wasn’t like Adam was cold-blooded, the rage and pain he felt every time someone dear to him died would prove otherwise. It was simply that the ideals of humanism had left him years ago and that what was left was simply... selectiveness. Without the ideals of the 21st century, he reverted back to the mindset of the ancients, passionate but cruel, intense in both love and hate. Perhaps this was his way to cope.
Decisively he raised the wooden club and smashed it down.
Skill gained: Blunt Weapon Mastery
He took a last look at the dead goblin and used identify just to be sure.
Identify has levelled up to Lv. 2
And at that moment the text changed.
Adam looked around, checking if he had been discovered, but there seemed to be no more goblins in the surroundings. So Adam simply continued to advance deeper into the island.
The sun began to set and a red glow filled the sky when Adam reached a large clearing in the forest. Stopping after reaching the edge of the forest he peered out into the open and discovered that in the middle of the clearing there seemed to be a camp. Torches were lit at the edge of the camp and shabbily made huts seemed to make up the larger part of the camp.
Adam was looking at the camp when suddenly a high-pitched screech resounded behind him. He turned around to discover a small green man standing just a few meters behind him. After a very short period of astonishment, Adam started running towards the goblin, his hand with the club held high. The goblin also moved his club and tried to engage Adam, but before it could defend himself a white blob landed cleanly on its chest. Numbness spread through its body and a moment later a small motionless green body fell on the ground. Adam started smashing down his club on the goblins head until he was certain it was dead and that earned him another point in [Blunt Weapon Mastery]. Adam wanted to use identify to confirm his kill but before he could do so he heard another screech. Adam looked up to be greeted by the sight of dozens of goblins rushing towards him.
Being vastly outnumbered Adam started to consider his escape routes. The goblins were coming from the forest before him and behind him was the camp. With no other escape routes available he decided to take a gamble and started running towards the camp. As he started nearing the camp he could still not distinguish any life forms in the camp. The torches were lit so there should be some residents at least nearby. But when Adam finally reached the camp there was still no sign of life inside the camp.
He started to fear the goblins would catch up with him while there would be no one in the camp to save him. He took a quick look behind him, but did not stop looking behind him, because the goblins were gone. They should have been close to him since he could hear their footsteps just a few seconds ago but now they were all gone and everything was eerily silent. It was not just the lack of footsteps, it was the lack of any sound. The silence was absolute; there were no birds, no animals, no wind, even the fire was eerily silent. A fear started to grow inside Adam, the silence seemed to creep into him, find its way into his pores.
“Do you hate this world?”
Huh?
“Do you hate this world?”
What is that voice?
“Do you hate this world?”
“Who are you?”
“Do you hate this world?”
“Who are you?”
Adam’s fear started showing on his face and cold sweat started the flow down his back.
“Do you hate this world?”
“Why should I answer to someone who isn’t even going to show himself?”
“Do you wish to change this world?”
Huh?
“Who are you?”
“Do you wish to change this world?”
“Where are you?”
“In the middle of the camp.”
As Adam turned his head to the center of the camp an invisible pulse of power not of this world seemed to come out of the small temple in the center of the camp. Warily Adam started to approach the small temple. It was against his better judgment. Probably out of an unwise hope that the voice would really bring about the change he so badly desired. The change for which he even left his own world. The temple was only a few meters width and seemed to be a square. There was no door and because of that Adam could see the insides when he approached.
A coffin in a darker shade of black than should have been possible appeared in his sight. As soon as he saw the coffin his mind started to grow hazy and he did not even notice the never ending stream of notifications.
Skill gained: Mental Resistance
Mental Resistance has levelled up to Lv. 2
Mental Resistance has levelled up to Lv. 3
Mental Resistance has levelled up to Lv. 4
Mental Resistance has levelled up to Lv. 5
Mental Resistance has levelled up to Lv. 6
Mental Resistance has levelled up to Lv. 7
Mental Resistance has levelled up to Lv. 8
....
Mental Resistance has levelled up to Lv. 100][
Mental Resistance has reached maximum level
Skill [Mental Resistance] Evolved in Skill [Absolute Mental Resistance]
Absolute Mental Resistance has levelled up to Lv. 2
Absolute Mental Resistance has levelled up to Lv. 3
Absolute Mental Resistance has levelled up to Lv. 4
Absolute Mental Resistance has levelled up to Lv. 5
....
Absolute Mental Resistance has levelled up to Lv. 100
Absolute Mental Resistance has reached maximum level
Title gained: Indomitable Spirit
Title gained: Legend
After the last notification, his mind started to clear up. But at that time he was already inside the temple and he had already removed the lid of the coffin. There he stood eye to eye with a being. Its pupils were like a universe surrounded by a fluorescent purple circle, outside the circle, where normally the eye white would be, was only blackness. Its skin was gray as ash and its semi-long hair was so dark that it seemed as if your hand would disappear if you tried to touch it. Long elvish ears pointed slightly down and seemed to almost reach the sides of the coffin.
Almost as if by reflex Adam used [Identify] on it and saw the skill’s level max out in an instant. But he did not look at the notifications as he focussed on the text that showed up above the head of the mysterious being.
Is it dead?
As Adam looked at the text he suddenly felt a cold sensation on his wrist. He looked at his wrist and to his horror saw the dead being’s hand clasping his wrist. His vision went black and a question appeared.
Warning,????? has activated divine skill: [?????], do you wish to accept?
Warning, you will die if you do not accept
I die if I do not accept?!
Then why does it even ask me? Does that mean that dying is possibly less bad than accepting?
I should have ran away when I still had the chance!
I don’t have a chance now, do I? I don’t want to die, so what else can I do but accept?
Unique Skill gained: The Eyes of The Demiurge
For a moment his vision returned and he saw the arm that was holding him break off as if the arm was made of brittle pottery. Very quickly the rest of the being started to crumble and the coffin started to rot at a visible speed. Everything soon turned dark and Adam’s mind sunk away as his consciousness left him.