Tim felt detached as he looked down at the hole in his body. The boar had ripped through the left side of his abdomen in it's charging attack, but his body didn't give him the signals until now. It didn't hurt as much as he thought it should, but he had lost a lot of blood. The dizziness though was getting overwhelming.

At this point, the only gambit he had up his sleeves was to kill the boar and hope it gave him enough experience to level up. It was still stuck in the tree, desperately struggling for freedom.

Tim rammed his rapier into the ground, and used it for support to try and stand up. The distance between him and the boar was merely a few steps, but in his present state it felt like it was miles away. He would have preferred to jump further and not get gored to near death, but he didn't see how he could possibly defeat the boar in a battle of attrition with it's natural defences and ridiculous speed.

He managed to get himself upright, somehow. But he didn't have it in him to walk without the rapier's support, and every second that passed he lost more blood.

Out of options, he dislodged the rapier from the ground and hold it to the side. Inclining forward, he decided to fall. To fall face first into the direction of the boar, this insanity of a master plan was all he could consider in his state.

Tim felt his nose cave in, and his whole face started to hurt.

" Good, at least I feel pain again" he hoarsely managed to croak out. After crawling a bit, he was right next to this devil's spawn."

"How the tables have turned, my friend. You are about to be slayed by Daoist Earth's Vengeance, be honored." Tim was saying whatever random thought that came to him at this point, anything to keep him conscious.

Taking more willpower and grit than anything he had done before in his life, he repeated the arduous process of standing up with the rapier's support, only this time it was ten times harder.

The boar saw the bloodied human rise. The bloodied human that was matted in his own organs as if it were some kind of decoration, the bloodied human that refused to die. As he saw him rise, the boar's madness dimmed and basic survival instincts kicked up. It felt his life at threat, yet he could do naught but stare at the human from his left eye.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

A second later, it could not see from that eye. The human had impaled his sword through his eye, but it seemed that he was out of strength. He could not drive it any further in, a little bit more and the boar would perish. The man gave him a wide grin, angled his sword near his chest while it was still impaled in the boar's eye and fell again. Fell like the time it had thought the man died. And that was the last thing it ever saw.

[ You have killed the Level 6 Cosmic Tusker ]

[ Congratulations, you have reached level 3 ]

[ Congratulations, you have reached level 4 ]

[ Congratulations, you have reached level 5 ]

[ Congratulations, you have gained insights into the Minor Dao of Wind! Aspects of speed and sharpness. Please meditate to consolidate your gains ]

[ Congratulations, you have received the Limited Title: Dao seeker (7/10). Requirements: Be one of the first 10 people on a planet to gain a dao ]

[ Congratulations, you have received Unique Title : Between life and death. Requirements: In your pursuit to temper yourself you throw yourself against insurmountable challenges that even you doubt are accomplishable.

You are the trailblazer, while others can only admire your glory from a distance. In the mystical realm between life and death where even the mightiest of cultivators have their spirits shattered, you had the audacity to use it to temper yourself and seize the understanding of all creation for yourself! A spirit that looks down others with disdain, only peak heavenly geniuses can enter your sight as equals! ]

[ You have received a drop: Cosmic Tusker's Hide x 4 ]

[ You have received a drop: Cosmic Tusker's Tusker x 2 ]

[ Congratulations, you have received x 10 Silver Rank 1 coins ] 

Tim was lying face first (again) in the boar's carcass perhaps minutes or even seconds away from dying. The spiritual energy had finally come to reinforce him, and this time it was as if a river of energy was directly channeled into him. His wounds started rapidly healing, and the rest of the energy concentrated near his stomach region.

He was feeling refreshed and energetic, standing up and patting his trusty rapier thankfully.

[ Daoist Earth's Vengeance has become the first person on this planet to acquire a Unique Title! ]

..... Is what Tim saw when he opened his system notifications.

" Oh Lord, what did I just do. First person? Really.... I guess few people would be dumb enough to take a trial that included the words die in it. Of those, I must be a special kind of idiot. "

For the first time in a long, long while, Tim was genuinely happy. He was the first in the world! He had done something no one else would even dare doing. His parents could finally be proud of him....Well maybe. Or scared shitless. Oh well doesn't matter, cuz this guy right here is number fuckin' 1. Top dog. Yeah that's right. "

"Maaaaan, that feels good. Has my luck finally taken a turn for the better?" he mused.