As I turn around to the source of the noise, I see 3 gray wolves stalking through the trees. Looking at me with hunger in their eyes, they growled and bit at me. As I stand here, looking at the 3 predators, my blood seems to turn ice cold, and my stomach turns into a pit of dread.
I guess this is how I die…
No, I can kill them!
Am I fucking kidding myself? I’ve never fought anything before!
SHIT FUCK DAMNIT!
I don’t wanna die…
Maybe it’ll be best if I just lay down and accept it…
I mean, how would I even kill a damn wolf?
Why are they even here? This is a whole different world, and there are still wolves?
I take a deep breath as these thoughts and a million more circle through my brain. “Ok, ok, just… cal-“
A wolf takes my freezing as a sign of weakness and leaps at me, claws bared, as I think in a weird split second of calm; It was pretty stupid of me to expect wolves to wait for me to calm down. Just as I finish with that thought, I perform a pitiful attempt at dodging to the left as the wolf’s claws rake down my right shoulder. I collapse as the wolf steadies itself from its plunge, I was lucky enough that it didn’t sink its teeth into me but-
“SHIT FUCK OW FUCK OH DAMN, THAT FUCKING HURTS” I scream.
The pain burns through my right shoulder, all but taking over my mind. Again seeing my panic, another wolf leaps for my grounded self, and then… the world seems to slow. In a fit of instinct, I strike with all the force my fist can bring to bear, and as my fist smashes into the wolf, it goes flying into a tree, where I think I hear a snap… not sure. The world speeds back up as a myriad of new thoughts rushes through my brain… because I clearly haven’t fucking learned.
Oh, right [Temporal Magic], I uhh… maybe I can do this- OW FUCK MY HAND SHIT THAT FUCKING HURT! As my hand throbs from the pain and my body begins to feel drained, I realize three problems; first, I just used a shit ton of mana, Second, That punch fucking hurt, and I have to do that 3 times. Of course, third, another wolf just jumped at me. The world slows again, but this time for only a split second as I manage to roll out of the wolf's way. I ready myself for another punch, but then I see the second wolf leaping at me from the right. Oh, right, pack tactics. Time slows for a third time, again for a split second, as I lash out with all my might and hit the damn pup right in its jaw with a right hook or my pitiful excuse for one anyway. The wolf flies across the ground, its face bleeding from the strike, but I have no time for that as I use my new technique to kick the damnable first wolf right in its stomach. It flies back, rolling on the ground as I leap at it in an ironic twist of fate. I land on top of it, speeding up my body every time I’m about to land a punch or trying to anyway. It whimpers as blood flies from its maw, staining me and everything around me.
As I continue to whale on my opponent in an adrenaline-fueled rage, I hear a growl behind me. Before I can even think to panic, I feel a sharp pain as the wolf’s claws tear through my back. And again, before I can even think, I feel a sharper pain in my right shoulder as the wolf’s teeth sink into my shoulder.
“ARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” I scream louder than I ever thought possible, near tearing my vocal cords. I reach around and grab the damnable thing before I have a second thought; time seems to slow to a crawl as I activate [Temporal Magic] and shout in a fit of pure rage, not even stopping to think whether or not being faster would matter in this situation. I tear the wolf off my shoulder; it takes a bit of me with it as I slam the thing down on the ground, punching and kicking with all my strength in a blind rage. As its whimpers fade, I stop… and collapse to my knees, huffing and puffing all the way.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
*Beep*
Congratulations! You have leveled up!
Congratulations! You have leveled up!
Congratulations! You have acquired the skill [Brawling LVL 1]
Congratulations! You have leveled up the skill [Temporal Magic Lvl 2]
Please distribute stat points.
STR: 10
AGI: 10
END: 10
INT: 10
Free Points: 10
As I see a new skill, I brace myself for a sharp pain in my head again… but nothing. Even as my entire body throbs with pain of increasing intensity as the adrenaline winds down, I feel nothing new; I don’t feel as if I’ve been boxing all my life or anything. As I ponder the peculiarity of the system and its skills, my body moves almost instinctually, not to stand. However, the mass seems to shift over my bleeding wounds, they still hurt, but at least they aren’t bleeding anymore.
My eyes are unfocused as thoughts rush through my brain a mile a minute, and nausea racks my body; I take deep breaths in a vain attempt to stop the flood of thoughts or to calm my raging emotions. “That was *huff* too close… way too close,” I mutter to myself as I unpack what just happened. Ok, so… that whole distribute stat point screen… isn’t going away… I just killed 3 wolves… and I leveled up twice. I gained a new skill, but… what does it do? I can’t tell, and what was with those punches? Should I have been punching that hard? I guess force is mass times acceleration, and with [Temporal Magic], I was hitting pretty damn fast… maybe too fast that hurt like a bitch… and stats, what exactly do they do? Which ones should I invest in-
*GRRR*
My stomach growls as the adrenaline finally seems to wear off. I feel drained from what I presume to be mana loss and extreme starvation. I look over at the body of the wolves hungrily. I don’t know how to start a fire, but I have disease immunity; I wouldn’t die from a bit of raw meat….
As I ponder devouring the wolves raw like a wild animal, I hear a rustling behind me… “Why me?!” I exclaim as I look up to the sky, hoping for some deity to answer me; that doesn’t happen. I look behind me, and as I squint through the blue light of the system screen, THAT IS STILL THERE. I see a tall man, about 6 ft, with short brown hair, in full-plate armor, a short sword on his hip, a pavise shield on his back, and a monocle on, of all things. He's a lot closer to me than I could’ve ever expected. And before I could even ponder the weird attire of the armored man or the fact he just opened his mouth, time slowed. As my eyes cut back into focus, the last vestiges of my adrenaline kicks in, and I punch out with more force than ever. My first whistles in the wind as I put all my mass and more into the punch; it lands as I swear I hear a small explosion right into the gut of the armored man. Before I can even applaud myself for a punch well thrown, my arm creaks from the strain, nearly breaking from the sheer force of my strike, I attempt to scream out my pain, but as my mouth opens, only a wheeze can be heard. My mana drains as I internally scream in silent agony, leaving me swaying in the wind, no more energy to be had. Ignoring my plight, the armored man barely reacts, his form only hunching a little as he takes in the force of my punch.
Seemingly ignoring all the pain he should be feeling, he speaks, “Ough, that was a good punch, lass, don’t worry, I’ll forgive the transgression in light of your talent. Killing 3 level 5 Gray wolves without a scratch at level 3 is pretty impressive. And that punch! You’ll have to try harder to hurt me, but that was a damn good effort.”
Why the hell is he calling me lass? I think, seemingly forgetting my current form, as pain streaks through my body, nearly taking hold of my mind. My body feels empty and exhausted as I use the last bits of it to merely stay awake, trying to decipher the situation and fight through the pain. And why the hell did I think it was a good idea to punch a man in full fucking armor?!
“Lass, this is the part where you respond…. You uhhh ok?” He questions, concerned with my silence and unfocused eyes.
“Yeah… yeah, no, sorry, no, I’m fine” I exhaustedly reply, barely even thinking as I do so. “Who are… are…. why… what’s with the monocl-“ I tap the side of my right eye tiredly as the world around me darkens, and I sway with the wind.
“Oh shit, that isn’t good,” Is the last thing I hear before the world around me turns black, and I collapse.