I used inspect on the animae as soon as I saw them running at me.
Hydralisk: Level 5
An Animae made from the Systema.
Zergling: Level 3
An Animae made from the Systema.
Still does jack shit for me.
I braced for impact, trusting in John and Maolei on my flanks to protect me. Richie fired arrows from her seemingly unending quiver, striking the incoming zergling. One of them slouched over, dead.
Wow, how did she get so much better at shooting so quickly?
I braced for impact from the other 3 zerglings, adrenaline bursting into me. This time, as they slammed into me, I held my ground, allowing John and Maolei to slice and beat them to death. Everything was going well until a Hydralisk shot a spine out of its mouth, hitting John in the shoulder.
“Fuck!” He collapsed onto the ground.
I quickly moved in front of him with my shield and yelled “Get behind me, now!”
I felt spines piercing through the shield, one even nicking my hand. I advanced with Maolei behind me towards the hydralisks, but they started to slither backwards, still firing upon me.
Shit this is bad. We’re getting kited by these things.
Panic started to settle into me, and my brain went into a frenzy trying to figure out what to do. Just then, an arrow flew past me striking a Hydralisk in the eye.
Holy shit, I completely forgot about Richie.
Seeing hope, and even feeling giddy, I quickly told Maolei to advance backwards with me, so I could cover Richie while she fired shots. The hydralisks readvanced, shooting spines at me, a couple grazing my shoulders and decemating my shield. Still, they were eventually peppered down by arrows, and eventually, we won the battle of attrition.
Fuck. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this. Finishing these life or death battles are such dopamine rushes, though. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that either.
A Blue box was flashing in my peripheral vision, prompting me to call the system. Before my usual stat sheet came up, I got a
Level 1 → Level 2!
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Congratulations, Kai Yu! When you level up, your stats gain a higher rate of increasing. Remember, you reap what you sow. May fortune follow your footsteps.
KAI YU
| Level: |.| 1 → 2 |
| Species: Human |
| Trait: Masochist |
| Class: |
| Boons: |
| Skills: Swimming |*| 2 ' Meditation |.| 3 ' Focus |:| 9! |
Strength: |.| 6 → 7
Agility: |.| 4
Endurance: |.| 7 → 9
Perception: |.| 6
Intellect: |.| 6
Willpower: |.| 7
Looks like my endurance and strength went up. Cool. Still have no idea what that does. Probably makes me harder to kill and hit harder if I had to guess.
While I was scrolling through my screen, Maolei had rushed over to John, calling out for the rest of us.
Shit I completely forgot he was injured.
I quickly ran to them, with Richie and Arjun behind me. John looked terrible, he was trembling, and hyperventilating like crazy.
“That hurt like hell…” He managed to mumble out. “Try to make me a bandage to stop the bleeding.”
Maolei nodded, ripping off some of her t-shirt like John had done for me. She gestured at the spine, looking at me. I nodded, reaching for the spine and looking at her. She nodded once, readying the bandage. I pulled out the spine as hard as I could. John grunted in pain, but managed to hold still. Once it was out, Maolei slapped on the bandage and tied it firmly.
Is blood going to become common in my life now? I’ve probably seen more in one day than I have in my entire life.
That wasn’t a very pleasant thought, so I shoved it aside for now. John grumbled something about getting rest, and all of us agreed, making camp, which was just us laying down, with all of us trying to get some sleep. I offered to stay on watch, and everyone thanked me.
Four hours later everyone was wiped out, and my head was drooping back every couple of moments. I almost fell asleep until I heard a rustle on my left. Adrenaline flooded my system.
What the fuck was that?
"Hello? Is anyone there?" I called out into the darkness. Silence was the only response. I grabbed my damaged shield and tried again. "I said, is there anyone out there?" This time a man responded me.
"We come in peace." A deep, firm voice said. "We were travelling and happened to catch sight of you. We wanted to compare notes and have you consider joining forces with us."
He's asking the wrong person. Also, why are they travelling at night? Isn't that kind of weird? I got a bad feeling about this, I should probably wake the others up. I need to distract them.
"Sorry, I'm slow to trust strangers. Could you tell me why you're travelling at night?" I asked, dropping my shield silently and crawling to Maolei.
"We mean you no harm. We were intrigued by the message that said, loot has been placed. We thought it would be best to go look for whatever that loot is." He called back.
Yeah right. Travelling at night just to meet others? Fat chance.
I realized that I couldn't buy any more time, so I dashed to the others and shook them awake quickly. The strangers cursed and started rustling through the forest. My teammates were panicked when they were woken up by me, hearing all the noise the strangers were making. They quickly grabbed their weapons and formed up behind me, ready for battle. Three people emerged running from the forest, weapons raised rushing towards us.
The fuck are these guys' problems?