As they waited and survived attack-after-attack from the crafty beast, Noah’s arms had long become numb. He grit his teeth as exhaustion wracked his body. Everytime he shifted his spear to give his arm some rest, the monster would pounce right at that moment. It was trying to exhaust them.

Other monsters should have already arrived by now. Where are they? Noah thought.

He had the thought of slowly moving backwards. Maybe they could find somewhere they could fight? But he stopped that thought. If they lost focus for a moment, the monster that focused on high speed would have their throats torn out before they could blink.

Racking his mind to figure a way out, Noah thought back to the times within the gang. Joey, the bloody snake. The man was small in stature, even smaller than Noah, and was mocked constantly for it. They believed he wouldn’t be able to hold his own in a fight, but he showed them another way. Every fight he was in, the bloody snake would give up his own defence to land a brutal attack on the enemy. Focusing on any vital area he could get his hands on. He was injured, yes, but he made sure to always come better off in the exchange.

Noah’s eyes turned wicked. It was like something had clicked within his mind. They couldn’t wait any longer. He had to try something. If he was going to die, he would die with a fight. Taking a deep breath, he stood out of the formation.

“Are you crazy?” Thraz exclaimed.

Krall was about to move.

“Stay there, Krall.” Noah commanded.

He gazed into the beast's eyes. It lowered itself down to the floor, readying for a pounce attack. But it hesitated. It didn’t know why the human was suddenly putting himself at complete risk. He was no longer within the range for the others to help him. It waited for a while longer, but it became restless. It pounced.

Now. Noah’s eyes widened as he let go of his shield and spear. Using the experiences of back within the gang, he brandished his knife that was attached to his belt in only a second. He tried to dodge the full attack of the beast, but it twisted in mid air and lashed its claws across his chest.

The pain was burning, even hotter than the sun, it seeped down into his muscle tissue and raked across his very bones. Despite the injury, Noah had already planned for it. He had one opportunity. Heart pounding against his skeleton, he grabbed hold of the beasts body, and fell to his back with the monster on top of him. The beast thrashed around, but its legs were in the air. Before the feline could overpower him, he lifted his legs and tightened them around its abdomen. As he did so, the cat’s stray claws gouged into his legs, but he ignored the throbbing pain.

Blood dripped and dripped, but he didn’t dare let go of his death grip.

The monster’s maw was repeatedly snapping shut right beside his head. He made sure to tuck it to the side as he held its throat. He had often wrestled his dog, Hank, yet this was an entirely different experience.

Seething, and with spittle splashing out of his mouth, he stabbed the beast's abdomen again and again.

Noah yelled to the point that tears left the corner of his eyes. Then, for some reason, a crazed laughing chortled out his throat. Soon, the beast's struggles stopped, but he kept stabbing. Stab, stab, stab. He couldn’t stop himself. Noah continued to laugh until the adrenaline vanished within his system, all at once. His arms flopped to each side as he gazed up into the night sky above.

He ignored the System messages that filtered into his mind as four whole points of Strength and Constitution pumped through his body from his new Class. Yet he was still wracked with pain, blood spilled from his deep wounds.

The three moons shone through the tree-line. He was in a world where monsters wanted nothing more than to rip him into pieces and tear apart his flesh. He had Pathstones, Skill Essences, Krall… Noah gazed at the floating eyeball high within the treeline

This is my life now. Instead of a feeling of doom and panic, a content smile crept up onto his lips. I won, I'm free.

Krall rushed over and grunted while pulling the beast off of him. His System was going crazy, but he would wait until getting back to the cave to see what it was all about. For now though, the pain was unbearable.

With the threat over, the adrenaline that he was relying upon was washed out of his system. He reached into his pocket, but there was nothing. Blood was cascading from his leg. The monster had hit an artery and he could feel his already weakened body worsened.

Noah fumbled into his pockets, but his arm lost strength as the potion rolled along the floor.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Quick, take this.” Thraz took out the last potion from his pouch, it was the rare one that he had received. “You are a true warrior. You have my respect.” Thraz gazed at the dead monster in awe. Even he couldn’t best it.

Krall scurried toward the potion from Thraz, and placed it in Noah's hands.

“Thanks Thraz,” Noah said and took hold of the potion, however, his arm gave up. It fell to the floor.

Krall panicked. He picked it up, uncorked it, then helped Noah drink it.

Ignoring the rancid taste was a whole lot easier after an entire night's worth of vomiting. Somehow the taste was a minor improvement over bile. The wounds scabbed over instantly, yet the pain was still there. Despite the gruesome wounds, the Rare potion scabbed them over without effort.

It was no exaggeration to say that a rare health potion was a lifeline, especially so early on into the tutorial. It repaired wounds that had travelled far into the body, even internal injuries. Also, once a warrior reached a high amount of Constitution points, common health potions would no longer be able to keep up.

That was where healers came into play. Potions of rare quality and above were simply too expensive to rely on, so a healer's grace was of utmost importance within a team.

Noah watched the dead body of the beast. Come on you bastard, crackle and pop already. Noah prayed to whatever gods resided in this world for a reward, and it seemed they listened.

The usual crackling and distortion of the world occurred right above the beast. He was expecting some poor reward based on his luck, but what appeared made his eyes bulge from their skull. It glowed in a blue hue, the same blue appeared as veins throughout the Skill Essence stone. He was about to grab hold of it when Thraz opened his mouth.

“You seem to know a lot about all of this?” Thraz said.

But Noah understood the importance of taking it the moment it appeared. There was no way he would let someone steal a Rare Skill Essence. He stepped forward and grabbed hold of it.

You have obtained the Rare - Dexterity - Skill Essence - Shrouded Presence.

Dexterity based Skill - Shrouded Presence: The hidden bloodline Skill of the Dark Feline.

| Reduces footstep noise.

| Activate the Skill to cast a dark shadow around one's body, shrouding oneself from vision. The shadow will blend into your environment. Using it within light will make it easy for one to be detected.

Do you wish to accept it? This will take up a Dexterity Skill Essense slot. Y/N

“Yes,” Noah said without a moment to spare, he didn’t even get to read the Skill’s contents. “Let’s head back.”

He quickly used his blade to cut off the legs of the cat, before quickly leaving. He was starting to get hungry and he would rather eat a large cat than kobold meat. Krall might not be bothered about it, but it was a strange sensation to eat the body of his tamed monster's kin. Noah thought it was best to leave the rest as he was hesitant in staying much longer. Gutting and cleaning the corpse would take too long for his liking.

They all left the chaotic scene. The soil was disturbed and strewn around the place. Blood from the kobolds and pieces of their body parts lay littered all over the jungle floor. It was a sign of their victory.

Noah climbed onto Krall’s shoulders, his wounds were impeding his ability to walk and not only that, the illness was still with him. Combined with the hour long fight, he was fighting on borrowed time.

Thinking back to Thraz’s question, he asked in a drowsy state. “You don’t have any screens in your world to watch the Otherworlders?”

“Otherworlders?” Thraz enquired.

It looks like they have only just been introduced to the System. Well, this is the first time other races have been able to participate, although I thought they would’ve been already watching. Noah thought.

“Us,” Noah said.

“Okay–” Thraz thought for a second before looking at Krall. “And him?”

“No, he’s considered a monster in this world,” Noah continued. “Or at least I think so, anyway.”

Noah gazed down at Krall’s scaly head as suspicion arose. He didn’t actually know if they were part of the System–he, and the others, always assumed they were just another cog created within the System. After all, it was unsure if the previous world, Ubos, was created by the System Administrators. Or maybe it was an already formed world, and these were the unwilling inhabitants.

Noah could only guess the secrets of the System. The only thing he knew for certain was that they held no control over the lives of the contestants. The only thing that could affect their lives was the sponsors, but it was never detrimental.

“So can we get back home?” Thraz looked at him with expectation.

“No.” Noah shook his head. “I don’t know. No one has ever returned back to Earth before, but they might not have gotten far enough. Although this is a new world, everything might be different.”

Thraz looked down. “Oh.” Thraz looked around. “But we might be able to, right? As long as we work together, we can find a gateway, or something?”

“Maybe, Thraz, maybe,” Noah said. Although I wouldn’t join you, even if there was such a thing.

Krall kept his eyes peeled around them at all times. He may not be the smartest kobold in the world, but he was fervent in his efforts to please his master.

Noah couldn’t help but crack a smile at the thought of his desperate attempts to try and find him a cure, or maybe the little kobold felt his desire for the Grace Coins? He wasn’t sure, but one thing he was certain of, was that he was happy he was walking on the path of a Beast Tamer. He was happy he had Krall. He couldn’t imagine not having someone watch his back, or care for him as deeply as Krall did. Noah highly doubted others would try so hard to save his life.

It was one thing he had learnt during his life in the gang. People were selfish. Even if they didn’t want to admit it. In troubled times, it always seeped out of their clay mask.

Let's get to the cave, Krall. Noah thought in his mind as Krall picked up the pace. There were Levels to look at, and surely he received a World First Title for that fight...