It's about noon now. I had been alone for about an hour in the forest. I had been walking in the direction death pointed towards and still hadn't found any signs of the camp he told me about. The forest looked alive but there were surprisingly no animals or monsters that I could find. I was glad for the moment because that meant that I wouldn't have to deal with a lot of danger. However, I kept my eyes peeled for any signs of movement. I was in a different world now.
‘I’m at the bottom of the food chain here. Everything will be trying to or can kill me. I also have that creature that death spoke of that I have to worry about. Although, thankfully, I think it was in the opposite direction of where I’m going.’
That was the direction death was looking at when I woke up. After a while of staying on high alert for any danger, my nerves had become shot. I needed a break. Then and idea popped into my head.
‘I guess I should look at my stats and see what I have and get the specifics of everything. Oh wait. Didn't I get notifications earlier? I’ll check them out first.’
“Notifications”
Immediately the Inbox(as I’m calling it) popped up. I wasn't startled by it this time. It looked the same as before, hovering in front of me. I started to look through all of the notifications I recieved.
[Congratulations! You have obtained the passive skill Pain Resistance! Through enduring enormous amounts of pain and suffering at death's door for long periods of time, you have come to peace with the fact that you will inevitably be hurt. Reduces Pain received by 10%]
[Pain Resistance is now Lvl 2. Reduces pain received by 20%]
[Pain Resistance is now Lvl 3. Reduces pain received by 30%]
[Pain Resistance is now Lvl 4. Reduces pain received by 40%]
[Congratulations! Pain Resistance is now Lvl 5. You have reached the halfway mark in this skill. You have decided that pain is all that you know. Your life hangs on a tread between life and death all the time. Because of this your life is all but excruciating pain all the time. Either you are an unlucky fool or a battle maniac who cannot live without pain. Hopefully you are the fool. Reduces pain received by 50%]
[Congratulations! You have obtained Godly skill Brand of the Reaper. How you obtained this is unknown. WARNING! You who have obtained this, dread your future. Death will come to collect what is his and he will not be merciful to your soul.]
‘Uhhhh. Ok. That last one is kind of creepy sounding, but the rest I can understand. I guess experiencing a crap ton of pain does help you. However, it states that it reduces pain recieved. Not damage. So does that mean that the amount of pain I feel when I am hurt is reduced by that percentage? ....hmmmmmm….maybe. If that's true then I don't even want to know how much pain I should have felt when I was getting the brand.
Hmmm…..how much pain do I feel now then? Could I get stabbed in the back and not feel it? I mean, I don't really want to hurt myself on purpose right now to find out, so let’s push that question off and check out the status screen.’
“Stats”
Nothing happened. I was confused.
‘What did I say wrong? Wait do I have to say status screen? Hhuuuuhh.’
I tried again.
“Status Screen”
Immediately a blue screen popped up in front of me.
[ Name: John Scythe
Title(s): Revenge Seeker, Worldcrosser, Champion of Death, One Cursed by Death, Marked One
Race: Human
Level: 1
Health/Health Regen: 50/(3 per hr)(2.5/minute)
Stamina/Stamina Regen: 196(40*0.15)(150)/(4 per hr)(2.5/minute)
Mana/Mana Regen:80/(4 per hr)
Strength: 8(100)
Agility: 9
Vitality: 5
Constitution: 3(150)
Endurance: 4(150)
Dexterity: 4(150)
Perception: 5
Intelligence: 8
Wisdom: 4
Carisma: 6
Luck: -1
Resistances
Mind: -25%
Fatigue: -15%
Pain: -50%
Fire: -15%
Lightning: -15%
Water: -15%
Ice: -15%
Earth: -15%
Death: -15%
Shadow: -15%
Holy: -10%
Affinities
Fire: 0%
Lightning: 0%
Water: 0%
Ice: 0%
Earth: 0%
Death: 55%
Shadow: 55%
Holy: 0%
Passive Skills
Pain Resistance Lvl 5
Active Skills
Fallen Army Lvl 1
Brand of the Reaper Lvl 1 ]
“Huh. I guess my high stamina explains why I could climb down that mountain without dying of exhaustion. The stat boosts by my clothes really are something. What is with all the tities though? And when did my name become John Scythe?.....hmmmm...Actually that sounds kind of cool. I’ll keep that.
Half of this stuff though death didn't even talk about. Huuuhhhhh...tch. I guess I need to learn this on my own.
Hmmm. He said that I could learn more from my status screen….do I have to tap them individually for more information?”
I try tapping one of the titles and another window pops up with a description of the title.
[Revenge Seeker: Someone who won't let even death stop them from gaining their revenge.]
[Worldcrosser: Someone who has traversed space and time to reach another world.]
[Champion of Death: Death has allowed you to represent him in this world.]
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
[One Cursed by Death: You have been unlucky enough to be cursed by Death himself.]
[Marked one: The powers that be have marked you as an invader of their world. You will be hunted until you die.]
“Oh shit. The powers that be? Well, Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
huhhhh…..Well, at least I’m not being ignored right?”
I sigh and then smile.
“These other ones sound cool though. Well, I could do without the cursed one. Let’s see, what do the others mean.”
[Strength: How physically strong and how powerful your physical attacks will be.]
[Agility: How quick you are able to move your body.]
[Vitality: How much health you have.]
[Constitution: The toughness of your body and the speed at which your body can recover from a wound.]
[Endurance: The duration of your physical limits.]
[Dexterity: How proficient your body is at following your commands]
[Perception: How efficiently you are able to perceive the world around you.]
[Intelligence: Your mental capacity and how large your mana pool is.]
[Wisdom: Your ability to use your knowledge in the world around you, how quickly you reproduce mana, and how strong your magic is.]
[Charisma: The initial attitude that beings, creatures, and objects of the world have to your presence.]
[Luck: The ability to have a higher chance at finding rare items, meeting the right people at the right time, and avoiding dangerous situations.]
“Ok. Ya those are self explanatory. Wait! Why is my luck at -1?!? Oh come on! My luck isn't that bad right?”
As if to spite me, I trip over a vine and fall on my face.
“OW!! Tch. ok. I’m not lucky. Noted. I’m guessing resistances are...well resistances. And affinities?”
[Affinities: Your magic is more powerful and it is easier to learn spells of the magic that you have a higher affinity towards.]
“Ok, cool. So I have a higher affinity towards death and shadow magic.
Hmm… what is shadow magic? Is it just controlling shadows? Lame”
[Shadow magic: The art of bending shadows and creating illusions.]
[Death Magic: The art of controlling and commanding death.]
“Hmmm...Ok. They both sound cool. But I don't have any spells right now or a grimoire so I can't really test my magic. Something to put on the backburner then.
Now my stats. ………..huh. Overall, my original stats suck. However, these clothes are a great boost.”
I breath in and then out.
“Now to tackle the big problems. My skills. What are they and how do I use them. Death didn't really give me a manual. I hope there is an explanation in the skills themselves.”
[Pain resistance: Passive skill. Reduces the amount of pain received when attacked.]
“Ok I was right. It's nice that it's passive. However, I would prefer not to reach level 10 on that. If level 10 means not feeling any pain at all when attacked then that could be very scary. I could be bleeding out and not even know it.
Now what is this one. If I remember correctly, I recieved you when I put on all of deaths blessed clothes. Hmm...did death know that he gave me this? Well, he did say he has never worn clothes. I’ll just keep it a secret for now. I hope it's something good.”
[Fallen Army: Active skill. A skill for those proficient in killing. This skill allows the user to obtain the fallen enemies slain by the user. Once obtained, it revives them with half of their stats and bounds them to the user where they dwell in the users shadow. Number of slots available is dependent on lvl and stats. Skill must be turned on when killing the enemy you want to obtain. Slots available (1)]
“Well hell ya! That sounds awesome. I’m definitely going to have to play with that later. I don't really understand it all and I’ll have to run some tests, but if I’m right then I think with this I can command my own personal army. Hence, I’m guessing the name. Super cool. Sucks that I only have 1 slot though. Eh. Who cares, that's just awesome. Thanks death’s clothes.”
[Brand of the Reaper: Active Skill. Skill bound only to death and his champion. This skill allows the user to bound the living to the user in eternal servitude. Number of beings user can bound is dependent on level. Bindings available (1).
Congratulations! Due to being deaths champion you have unlocked a hidden feature of this skill. This skill allows the user to obtain a percentage of the highest stat of those that the user kills. The unallocated stat points can then be used to strengthen either the user himself or those the user has branded. Stat allocations are final. Percentage of highest stat received is higher/lower depending on the level of creature killed compared to the level of the user.]
“Hell ya! This skill is even better than death said it would be. He wasn't kidding when he said it was an awesome gift. It really is! Hahah! It's going to take some time to get used to everything but with these skills I feel like I can accomplish my goals and catch back up to those bastards. 10 years? Ha! I hope you enjoyed these past 10 years, because I’m coming for all of you.”
Feeling refreshed and energized, I close my status screen and walk with purpose towards the neverending forest. This world might be a 1000 times more dangerous than my last world, but if I can survive this forest then I feel like I would be strong enough to make it in this world.
‘This forest is my cocoon, my training and strengthening period, and once I’m ready no one will be able to stop me.’
--------
The sun was starting to set and I had yet to find this so called camp death spoke of. The high of finding out I have powerful skills has begun to wear off. I had passed the time by looking at all of the different trees, flowers and plants along the way. They were all very interesting and all very foreign. I tried to remember what trees and plants looked like for later, just in case they became useful. I watched enough nature documentaries to know plants and trees have their uses.
Currently, my main problems going forward are going to be food, water, and shelter. The last one was a little higher on my list than it should have been due to the fact that I am not wild about staying on the ground floor of the forest after dark. With my luck I might get killed in my sleep by an overgrown rat or something.
My stomach suddenly grumbled loudly. I stopped and looked down at my belly and smiled. I then realized that I had not eaten in almost two days, well, 10 years and 2 days. Then, as if on cue, I heard a rustle in a bush a few meters to my left. I quickly crouched down behind a tree and stopped moving entirely. My focus was entirely on trying to find out the originator of the noise. This was my first encounter with a being native of this world. If I was killed by the first thing I met then that would be really sad.
The forest had grown quiet. No wind could be heard in the trees. The sun was barely above the horizon. The noise rustled again. I made my decision. I was going to find out what it was.
‘It is probably some animal, which means food. That will solve one of my problems if I can kill it.’
I tried walking as quietly as I could towards the noise. Each step was calculated, each step quieter than my last. I controlled my breathing, and scanned the forest floor. My heart was increasing its speed as I approached.
After almost 2 meters of silent stalking, I saw it. It was a rabbit about the size of a large dog about a meter long with a 2 foot long giant, sharp horn on the top of it. It was kind of cute if you got rid of the fact that it could probably kill me. So, trying to purge the thoughts of my impaled body on the rabbits horn, I creep towards it. Thankfully it hadn’t noticed me. I picked up one of the bigger rocks nearby in one of my hands and I slowly approached it's back. The rabbit was eating something that I couldn't see. Thankfully it was to engroused in it's food to look around.
I steeled myself. If this went wrong I might have to fight for my life against an overgrown rabbit.
This world was kill or be killed. If I’m going to survive then I need food. Sadly, food had to be a cute looking rabbit.
I was right behind it now. I breathed in and I jumped. I slammed down the rock in my hand as hard as I could on the back of it's head. I heard a loud crunch and a thud from the rabbit.
It was dead. I kicked it to see if it was still alive, but it was dead. I looked closer and I saw that I had caved in it's scull with my hit.
‘Wow…...one hit? It was that weak? Holy crap.’
“Haha! I killed it!”
Without thinking, I blurted out my self gratifications to myself for an awesome job. But I soon realized that I was a super idiot. I heard another noise to my right and I saw another one. This time it saw me.
“....shit”
Without missing a beat, the rabbit sprinted towards me at speeds I couldn't fathom. The next thing I knew I had been impaled by the rabbit in my upper right thigh. The pain was manageable, but my brain believed I was in agony, the shock of seeing myself impaled almost made me pass out.
“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! MY LEG!!!!”
The rabbit was trying to get it's horn out now. It started to buck its head around causing more and more damage to my body and more blood began to flow out of the wounds. My mind was a mess. I couldn't focus, I couldn't think. Then, a moment of clarity struck me. It drowned out all the voices in my head telling me that I was going to die. My instincts took over, with my left hand I grabbed the back of it's head and pushed the horn deeper into my thigh. I then took the rock I was still holding in my right hand and I brought it down hard on it's head. I continued to beat the rabbits head in with the rock over and over again, even after it was dead. My body, face, and hands became covered in the rabbits blood. I finally stopped when the horn broke off in my thigh, off of the mushed up rabbit head, and it's body slumped to the ground.
I looked down at the rabbit, or what was left of it, my adrenaline still loudly beating my heart in my chest.
Overkill. If there was a time to use that word it would be now. The head was complete mush, blood stained the ground, and the contents of the rabbits stomach began to flow out of the gaping hole that was once it's head.
When I regained some sanity, I looked down at the horn, bit my lip and ripped it out of my thigh. Thankfully the horn was still intact and undamaged. After confirming that, I threw up, or tried too. Without having eaten anything I only dry heaved.
I then feel on my back and crawled away from all the blood and gore before me. I then sat there, looking at my leg.
I had lost way too much blood. I should have been dead 10 times over. I couldn't understand how I still had any blood left in my body when a literal pool of my own blood surrounded the rabbits. I had no medical training in my past life. Sure I could heal small cuts with a band aid, or the common cold with some soup, but this. I had a literal hole in my leg. I could see my bone. I was so going to die, or at least I thought I was.
But the strangest thought passed through my mind.
‘It doesn't hurt that much. I mean, it still hurts like hell, but it mitigated enough to where I can stay conscious through the pain.’
I then immediately tried opening my stats. I needed to know how much health I had. I had the red dot in my top vision notifying me I had a notification waiting but I didn't care about it at the moment. I needed my stat screen.
Name: John Scythe
Health/Health Regen: 13/(3 per hr)(2.5/minute)
Stamina/Stamina Regen: 118(40*0.15)(150)/(4 per hr)(2.5/minute)
Mana/Mana Regen:80/(4 per hr)
Ailment: Bleeding. -1 health every minute
“13 health?! Bleeding!”
I felt like I was going to faint in shock. But then I realized that I would be gaining health even with the bleeding status. So I waited a minute to see what would happen.
Name: John Scythe
Health/Health Regen: 14/(3 per hr)(2.5/minute)
Stamina/Stamina Regen: 120(40*0.15)(150)/(4 per hr)(2.5/minute)
Mana/Mana Regen:80/(4 per hr)
Ailment: Bleeding. -1 health every minute
I sighed in relief. It was going up. As It went up I could feel the blood start to slowly leak out of the hole instead of a massive gushing that was before.
After 10 minutes the bleeding ailment went away and my wound start to fix itself faster. It was a strange process. I then thanked death for these clothes again because they saved my life.
‘If it weren't for the incredible health regen of these clothes I would be dying right now.’
I then continued to wait for my health to return back to 50 before moving again. The healing process was a strange and wondrous fanomina to me. To heal a hole in your leg after about half an hour was incredible. The stitching on the pants then began to reform and in no time at all, it looked brand new, except for the fact that I was covered in blood.
I then looked over my body to check if I had any more wounds. When I found none I smiled. I was relieved and humbled by the fact that I was almost killed by a rabbit. Relieved because I was alive, humbled by the fact that I had grown to cocky after knowing that I had, what I believed to be, great skills. This experience was a reminder, I can never be cocky or let my guard down. Once I do, I will die.
Pride cometh before the fall.
After getting up and stretching a little, I walked over to the two new corpses. I first gathered the horns and then tried to use said horns to cut into the rabbits and get their meat. It was a difficult and long process, but I managed to do an average job. I wasn't a survivalist but I knew that to survive I would need their meat. I held back my gag reflex as I performed these tasks. I then took everything of value from the rabbits, their claws, their meat, and two crudely cut skins. I used the skins to wrap the meat up for travel. I then left everything else for scavengers. When I was about to leave I noticed what the first rabbit was eating and saw that it looked like a fruit type substance. That was weird to me because I had yet to find any fruit on any of the trees or plants I had passed. Then an Idea struck me.
‘They must have gotten them from nearby. I think the second rabbit came from the same direction I was originally heading. That might mean that there are fruit trees close!.........and maybe even more rabbits.’
I shook my head free of any thoughts of running.
‘If I can't even kill a few rabbits then I will stay this weak forever. If that happens then I will never get my revenge.’
I then rapped the meat and one of the horns in the skins and carried them in my left hand. I kept the right hand free with just a horn so that I could defend myself.
After preparing myself, I slowly and silently stalked forward into the same direction I was heading before. As I walked forward, a line from one of my favorite movies popped into my head.
‘Lets see what's at the bottom of the rabbit’s hole alice.’