The first thing to wake Tom when he woke up was the stinging pain in his eyes from the morning sunlight. Ever since electronics had stopped working, alarm clocks had become much more expensive, and consequentially rarer. After he rolled over, and away from the light, Tom took a minute to fully wake up, and then started to prepare for the day. His original clothing made of synthetic fabrics had worn out years ago, leaving him with locally sourced materials, primarily soft leather in his case. While it was uncomfortable, few other materials held up to combat well, even under his armor. He did have a few shirts and pants made of a wool from a weird cowlike monster. Some people were working on domesticating them.

After putting on his under clothes, he started on the boiled leather armor. He didn’t actually have a full set, just vambraces and a cuirass. Once he finished, Tom carefully packed his travel supplies into his backpack. The bag itself was an uncommon item with a spatial enchantment on it, allowing it to hold about thrice what it appeared to. Enough to hold two weeks of rations and camping supplies.

After hooking his gauntlets to his belt, Tom checked his room for anything he might be missing. Once Tom was satisfied he hadn’t forgotten anything, he left his room, and locked the door. He then proceeded downstairs for breakfast.

After taking a spot at an unoccupied table, he patiently waited for a waitress. After showing her his key, his food was delivered a minute later. As he sat and ate, he started one of his hobbies, people watching. He was usually up early compared to the other patrons, so he got to watch others come in.

Today however was a fairly slow morning, and it took a halfhour or so longer than normal for people to start to arrive. Mostly it was the regulars, a motley group ranging from farmers to accountants. Most were uninteresting. A few however, did catch his attention.

Jessica for example, waltzed in practically glued to a man Tom didn’t recognize. Guess her husband is on a trip again. She was married to a fairly well-off merchant, who because his job had to take two week long trips to the nearby city. Jessica cheated with a new man almost every time he left, to the point it was an open secret. Tom had taken a few escort missions for her husband though, and suspected she wasn’t the only one cheating.

Another interesting individual was the town healer. One of the few people who could use healing magic and wasn’t part of a church, Vinny was a bit of an oddity. God only knows how, but the man had gotten his hands on angel blood, and used that to adopt his bloodline. After he had sprouted brilliant white wings and his eyes started glowing, the man took to wearing a black cloak to cover as much of himself as he could to avoid attention. Vinny kept to himself before the change, but the new look had made him downright antisocial. So, it came as a real surprise when he shuffled in holding hands with the baker’s daughter.

The mornings greatest and most welcome surprise however, was a face he hadn’t expected to see again.

Just as he was about to finish his hash browns, a tall elven woman pulled the seat opposite his back, “Is this seat occupied?”

After he looked up, the two recognized one another at the same time. The woman’s name was Hilda, and they had met shortly after the Assimilation, when humanity was still in confusion over the change. United by a mutual desire to survive, they had become friends over the three years they had worked together. They split up after she achieved 2nd tier and went looking for and elemental affinity.

“Hilda?!” “Tom?!” They exclaimed at the same time. While Hilda took a seat, Tom recovered from his shock.

“So how have you been Tom? It’s been a while.” Hilda inquired.

“About the same as always, just trying to pay the bills, how’ve been doing?” Tom replied jovially.

“I actually made 3rd about a month ago, and was heading to the capitol to celebrate. Figured I’d check here to see if you were still around.”

“Goddamn, you actually got to third? What element did you use?”

“Kind of a long story, actually; but the short version is that I found a cave of crystals in the desert, and got the crystal as my element.

“Well look at you, Miss Fancy Crystal Elf,” Tom snarked at her, “If I was half that lucky, I’d have a home in the capitol.”

“This from the person once called the Human Cockroach? The one who killed a dragon by going down its windpipe when it tried to eat him? That one?” She retorted, “I don’t think you have the right to talk about luck with that ridiculous survival skill you got before 50.”

“I suppose you have a point. But getting that was the result of a lot of hard work.”

“Hey, here comes the rest of my squad,” Hilda said, as she waved over his shoulder.

Identify Detected…

Resisting…

Failed.

Tom looked over his should, curious to know he had been rude enough to use identify on him. Heading towards the table was a female elf and a male human with dog ears. His skill marked the last one as the one who used Identify.

“You know its considered quite rude to use Identify on someone?” Tom asked.

“Hilda, what are you doing with this peon?” Dog-Ears asked Hilda, completely ignoring Tom. “I know you like helping the weak and less fortunate, but do you have to eat with them?”

“James, I suggest you apologize,” Hilda warned.

“Why? Its not like this guy could do anything to me even if he wanted to,” Dog-Ears arrogantly responded.

“Well, I tried. Good luck James.”

“What are you- “

“Dog-Ears, I challenge you to a Duel. Max penalty; if you lose, you keep your mouth shut while you’re in this town,” Tom quickly cut him off.

“Fine, I accept. If I win, you run around the town square saying ‘I’m a weakling’” James responded.

Duel Created

Tomas Williams vs. James Flindter

Win

James may not open his mouth in this town

Lose

You must spend the rest of the day in the town square saying ‘I’m a weakling’

Max penalty has been called

If a party breaks the agreement, they will be reduced 25 levels,

and their highest-level skill will be locked for 1 year.

“Come on Kats, we need to go get a healer for when the Idiot gets knocked out,” Hilda told the other elf.

As they walked out, Kats asked, “You think James is going to lose?”

“He doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell.”

Tom nimbly danced away as James swung his daggers at him once again. The duel had lasted almost half an hour by now, and James had hit him less than 10 times, despite his much greater stats. Tom was jus too slippery and evasive to get hit, and his skill made up for his stats.

James on the other hand, could barely stand. He had started out liberally using skills, thinking he could finish this in less than 30 seconds. After the initial rush, Tom had just patiently worn him down by draining his stats, and kept himself from tiring at the same time, using Essence Siphon.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

After James went for another slice, his exhaustion made him over extend. Tom slipped around as James tried to recover, and punched him in the back of the head. James went out like a light.

You have won the duel.

You gained 40,000 experience.

Level up delayed, level cap in effect.

Well, that was anticlimactic. Tom thought. James had barely put up a fight, despite being over double is level. He’d entirely relied on his stats, and it had shown against a veteran combatant like Tom. Tom had created his fighting style when he decided he would wait to find a high-quality bloodline or element. It had been refined in the year long war, when a group of psychos had started murdering everyone they could. Tom had been only the frontline, despite usually being 50 levels lower or more.

After Kats recovered James, Tom walked over to Hilda, who was watching from the crowd that had gathered to see who was stupid enough to fight Tom.

“Well, I’d stay and chat, but Dog-Ears ruined my mood, and I have a job.”

“I understand. He does that a lot. Thinks I’m going to sleep with him or something. Fortunately, I can ditch him once we get to the Capitol. Good Luck on the hunt,” Hilda replied a bit sadly. She had wanted to stay and chat with her old friend, but the mood had been ruined. “May we meet again.”

“May we meet again.” Tom turned and strode towards the gates.

Two days later, Tom had reached the Snake Tree Forest, where the mushrooms he needed were. He stopped at the tree line, and pulled a mask from his belt. The mask would allow him to mostly ignore the toxin for up to three days. While he should be able to gather the needed amount in two days, it never hurt to be careful. Properly prepared, he put his gauntlets on, and headed into the forest.

It was an hour later he ran into the spot he was looking for, where a small river intersected the road. The needed mushrooms grew along the riverbanks. Tom turned off the road, and walked alongside the river, keeping and eye out for bright green toadstools, or any hostile wildlife. While there were smaller ‘prey’ animals in the forest, their adaption to the toxin meant that it saturated their flesh, and made them poisonous to eat. On the other hand, carnivores would go after anything other than the small animals, attacking even humans and monsters.

About three hours later, when the sun was just starting to set, he readied for the bed. By this point he had gathered just over half of what he needed, and going down the other side of the river back to the road should provide the rest. After eating, he hung his gear from a branch 10 feet off the ground, climbed into a tree, and went to sleep. It wasn’t comfortable, but he didn’t have the money to by expensive ward stones that would hide and protect his camp.

In the morning, he was greeted to the sight of several green hued wolves at the bottom of the tree. Apparently, they had discovered him during the night, but the tree was too difficult for them to climb. After arming himself, Tom jumped out, and smashed two of the three wolves in the head as he landed, killing them, before the last could properly respond, he hit it with a straight, caving its skull in.

Level 83, 76, and 75 Poison Wolves killed

4,000 experience earned.

Level up Delayed, Level cap in effect.

After a moment the bodies started releasing a green fog, as some of the concentrated poison was expelled.

High concentration of poison detected.

Poison Wolf Bloodline detected.

Do you wish to adopt these?

Y/N

No. Tom mentally replied. Only giving commands mentally was a skill he picked up while hunting. Many people shouted or whispered their skills when they used them, and made audible confirmations of choices, which others could hear. So if you were experienced enough, you could react to a skill before it was actually used, causing the enemy to waste the attempt. It also made sneak attacks impossible.

After skinning the wolves, he through the rest into the forest. Something would eat it, and he didn’t have any use for anything other than the pelts. The pelts made good armor that helped resist poison. Not something he would use, with his survival skill, but they sold for good money.

Once the pelts were skinned, packaged, and stowed away; he crossed the river. The river wasn’t very deep, and the rocks sticking out of the water could be used to cross it. One had to be careful however, since some of the rocks were sharp and would cut you, while others were slimy. He very carefully made his way across, making sure not to jump to a bad rock.

Just as he landed on the last rock, a notification appeared distracting him at a crucial moment and causing him to slip.

You are the last First-Generation Human to not select an Element or Bloodline. The skill First Generation will now be upgraded to End of the Beginning.

End of the Beginning

Lv. 100

Unique

Fused

You are the last pure human of your system generation.

You mark the last original human, the closing of the opening act.

When the user uses their racial traits, the effect will be upgraded from 50% assimilation to 100%.

Select bloodlines may cause additional evolution.

Pure Evolution

What the fuck? Ah fuck! Were his last thoughts before he hit the water, and frantically started swimming for shore. Once he got to shore, he stripped as quick as he could, hoping he could dry off before the toxin soaked in. Fortunately, he possessed an ungodly amount of endurance for his level, so he dried off with no complications. He used a simple heat spell to evaporate the water, leaving behind a foul smell. After getting dressed again, he took a second look at the new skill.

This changes things a lot. Normally, a human assimilated half of a bloodline, or gained a 50% percent affinity. This caused minor changes in appearance, such as changed ears, a tail, or wings. But this skill meant he would gain the full bloodline, and there was no telling what might happen. He might completely change races, or lose his intelligence. So, no matter what, he had to choose something sentient. The element was a more minor thing. It also changed appearances, but was mostly limited to hair and eye color until second or third tier. Much less of an issue.

Ready for mushroom hunting once again, he started back along the river. Several minutes later, when he was bent over to pick a mushroom, he heard a strange noise from ahead of him. It sounded like a cross between a horse’s whinny and a dog’s bark. He immediately went into a defensive stance, experience having long taught that unknown always equaled bad. He quickly stowed the mushroom he was still holding once it became obvious that the source of the sound wasn’t going to come charging at him, and activated Unseen Passage. He then crept forward towards the direction he heard the sound.

After passing through a dense thicket of trees, he came to clearing. And what he saw made his blood run cold. In the center of the clearing was a red deer, or what looked like it. The animal was about the size of a bull moose, and its rack had more points than he could quickly count. It was bent over, eating what appeared to be the carcass of a Poison Bear. On closer inspection, he could tell that the animal wasn’t actually red, it was just covered in dried on blood, and the horns were stained with blood as well. Tom had never seen anything quite as disturbing as this animal. He gave the system a mental command, Identify.

Primal HellDeer

A+

Lv. 137

A species previously unknown to humans.

HellDeer are a carnivorous subspecies that is extremely aggressive and territorial. This individual has evolved into the primal variant, enhancing its physical form at the cost of mental capabilities.

Discovering a new species has given Survival levels.

HellDeer have been added to humanities Beastiary.

The moment he finished reading the result however, the monster turned and looked at him. Not even giving it a moment of thought, Tom started running. He didn’t care that it probably didn’t know he was there, and he wasn’t going to stay and check. When he looked into those bright crimson eyes, gleaming with madness, the only thought in his head was FUCK THIS.

An entire 3 or 4 seconds later the crashing through the brush alerted him to his correct decision. Tom was running deeper into the forest he noticed, but there wasn’t much he could do about that. Not with a massive deer from fucking hell chasing him. Tom kept running for about an hour and a half, when he noticed the sounds chasing him had stopped. During this time, he had been killing anything he could on the way to keep his stamina up. God only knew the deer had more than he did. During that time, both Survival, Unseen Passage and Essence Siphon had leveled, but he didn’t have an opportunity to check.

Now that he was able to stop and check, he found that Survival, Unseen Passage and Essence Siphon had reached milestone levels. And been differed, pending level up. He had to love that level cap, stopping everything. Well, if he didn’t find something soon, he’d take a trip out to the mountains and get the winter wolf and winter adaptions.

Once he was done checking his status, Tom took a look around. As he expected, he found himself completely lost. Following old world wisdom, he climbed to tallest tree he could find nearby. Other than featureless forest as far as he could see, there was a single gap in the trees, even further in to the forest. Well, I’m in deep shit already, what’s a few more feet? Tom climbed down, deactivated Unseen Passage and started towards the spot he’d seen. He ran into a few more wolves and a bear, but they were easily dispatched. Then Tom arrived at his destination.

The break in the trees had been caused by a marble building. Tom would have called it a temple from the design, but it was completely undecorated. No symbols or markings to show a faith, not even worn ones. Tom couldn’t stop himself from gasping. He had found ruins. Something that was well known was the fact the any form of ruins would have extreme treasures. Sometimes they were only valuable to a collector, but other times one could find an artifact or legendary item. Unfortunately, there was usually traps or monsters to fit the rarity. So, Tom had a dilemma.

He could enter, and risk his life for unimaginable wealth, or leave and report this. If he left, he would still get a finder’s fee, but that was nothing compared to what could be inside. Well, if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s not dying. Might as well. And so, his choice was made. He walked through the doors.