My name is Erik, and I like to think of myself as a demigod. I could give you reasons for that claim, like claiming kinship to some god or being the offspring of a deity. But in all honesty, I'm none of those things. I'm just better than most people, plain and simple.

I'll admit, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. Intelligence has never been my forte. But what I lack in brainpower, I make up for in my Greek god-like physique. I've put in the work, you know? School never interested me. I was the star of the football team, naturally, but it was wrestling that really grabbed my attention. Not the flashy WWE stuff, no, I mean the real sport of wrestling. That led me to explore jiu-jitsu and a few other things, which eventually led to MMA.

Let me tell you, there's nothing quite as satisfying as pummeling your opponent into the ground, especially when you get paid for it. Don't get me wrong, I don't take pleasure in hurting people weaker than me. But when I step into that ring, I know my opponent is there to hurt me. Suddenly, it's a life-or-death fight, or at least that's how I see it. Those moments make me feel alive.

That was my life for a long time. Training, eating, fighting—repeat. I loved every minute of it. My only complaint was that finding challenging opponents was becoming increasingly difficult.

And then I woke up in this hellhole. Maybe there's a god out there listening after all.

I didn't mind being naked. What bothered me was that I was no longer in my crappy little apartment. Instead, I found myself in another equally dismal room. Honestly, it wasn't much of a change. Everything seemed old and rundown. At first, I thought maybe I had been abducted and dumped in some kind of role-playing village or something.

When I finally stumbled my way out of that dark room, I ended up on a dirt street, surrounded by people wearing strange clothes. I frowned, squinting in the bright sunlight, and grabbed a stranger by the arm. "Where am I?" I asked him, and the man paled. He was a pretty small dude, actually. Come to think of it, everyone around me seemed kind of short.

Being the demigod that I am, I surpassed the two-meter mark in height a long time ago. Usually, there are at least some people of decent height around me, but not here.

The man stammered, and I refocused on him. "Salin... You're in Salin," he managed to say.

I raised an eyebrow. "Where the hell is that? Somewhere in Asia or what?’’ I'm not the best with geography. I mean, I know how Europe is pieced together, mostly, but beyond that, I'm pretty clueless."

The man looked confused. "I'm not sure what that is... I'm really sorry!"

I sighed and released my grip on the man. Just then, I heard someone shouting, and a group of burly men came marching toward me. I assessed them quickly; a few of them wore what looked like medieval armor, but they seemed quite rough around the edges as a group. Well, at least they were better dressed than I was, considering I was still naked.

The leader, a large man, though still smaller than me, with a bald head, scarred arms exposed to his shoulders, and a few missing teeth, shouted something while waving a club in my direction. "Hey, you naked giant! You better watch who you grab around here. This is our turf! Otherwise, you might find yourself bleeding in a ditch!"

I smirked at the man. "Oh, it's your turf, huh? Well, why don't you come and try to stop me then?"

Did I say I like to fight, I might have mentioned it, but let me just make sure it is clear to all. I love to fight, and some asshole like this one threatening me for asking a few questions, he was fair game as far as I was concerned.

The man laughed nastily, and his cronies laughed with him. ‘’Oh, I was hoping you would say something like that.. Come on boys, let’s.. UF!’’

He made a fun sound as I stepped up and jabbed him in the face, then I followed up with a straight right, his head snapped back and blood spurted from his face, and then he just crumbled. Lesson one of street brawling, always throw the first punch, that will allow you to set the tempo of the fight. The cronies were gaping at their friend, then at me, but I was still moving.

I front kicked the nearest guy, and he actually flew for a little while before crashing to the ground with a groan. That seemed to wake the others, and 4 men came at me with their stupid weapons. A skinny man with a long knife swung at me, but I just stepped back and let the knife pass. Then slapped him open handed, and his head snapped to the side. His eyes rolled up into his head, and he collapsed

I sighed, and sidestepped a wild swing from a rusty sword, an elbow to the face was all that was needed for him. The last 2 were more cautious, that is to say they were scared. I looked them up and down, then pointed to the largest of the 2, ‘’strip!’’

He looked surprised and asked, ‘’uh.. What?’’

I pointed to my naked crotch, ‘’I need clothes, so either you strip and give me your clothes, or I break your bones and take it.’’

The man hesitated for a few moments, he looked around at his unconscious friends, then over at his last friend to remain standing. They exchanged a glance, and made the wrong decision. They charged at me together, and I did as I had promised, I broke a few bones.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

After the admittedly lackluster fight I stripped the largest man, and managed to at least cover my privates. The largest of the men was still at least a head shorter than me, and so the clothes were not a good fit. The street had completely emptied, and so I went through their pockets. There wasn’t much, but I found some strange coins, and I reckoned that might be the money in the strange place.

Those men had used weapons and I picked up a rusty knife, it was real enough, although it wasn’t very sharp. I shrugged and dropped the knife, then I began walking down the street, only pausing to kick someone beginning to wake up in the face.

I walked for a while, and everywhere I went was just more of the same. Rundown wooden buildings, dirt streets, and people who stared like I was some kind of rockstar. I reached a large market of some kind, and saw a few small booth selling meat on sticks. I walked over, and the people selling food gaped at me.

I looked around, ‘’so, is this some kind of kebab or something?’’ I asked the old man grilling meat, or he had been grilling meat, he was just gaping at me right then.

He shook himself and shrugged, ‘’it is meat on a stick init giant? Not sure what a kebab is..’’

I shrugged. "Good enough for me. How much can I get with this?"

I emptied one of the small coin pouches I found on the table, and the man's eyes widened. It mostly contained what looked like copper coins, but there were a few silver ones too. "You can eat as much as you want for that amount, giant," the man said.

I smiled at him. "That's what I like to hear. Let's see how much I can devour, eh?"

The man grinned, and thus began what would later be known as the giant's eating frenzy over the next few days. The man kept placing grilled meat in front of me, and I just kept devouring it. Soon enough, they brought other things—large potato-like items with butter, fried breadsticks, and more. It was all simple food, but it tasted pretty good, and I've got quite the appetite. When you weigh 135 kilograms and have a body fat percentage below 8, you need a significant amount of fuel.

Finally, when I had eaten my fill, a crowd had gathered around me, and I was grinning at the people cheering me on. This place was truly bizarre, but I wasn't worried. I was confident in my ability to find my way out of here in due time. Plus, I was getting sleepy, so I approached the cheerful old man and asked if he knew a place where I could sleep. He gladly closed his store for the day and led me to a friend's place—a sort of hotel. He used a few of my copper coins to pay for a room.

It was a small, smelly, and quite filthy room, but somehow it felt like home. I laid down on the small bed, my legs hanging off the edge, and closed my eyes. That's when I noticed something—an annoying tickling sensation in my eye. I tried rubbing my eyes, but it didn't help. Then, as I focused on it, a damn screen appeared right before me.

Notice:

Rewards

You have defeated 6 street thugs

6 Essence points (EP)

Notice:

Available abilities:

Reward:

You have learned Expert brawler

None

3 Essence points (EP)

Expert brawler

Cost

New ability learned:

Crushing strike

2 essence Points

Notice

Rewards

You have earned a new achievement

First brawl

You have won your very first brawl..

2 Specialization points (SP)

5 Essence points (EP)

I tried to look around the screen, but it moved with my vision. I couldn't help but grin. "Awesome! Am I wearing some high-tech lenses or something? Expert brawler and Crushing strike. Sounds pretty cool!"

I waved my hand to dismiss the screens, and to my relief, they disappeared. The annoying sensation in my eye was gone, so I let out a deep yawn and promptly turned over, falling into a long nap.

I was abruptly awakened by someone smashing my door in, and I jolted up in bed, only to be struck hard on the nose. Let me tell you, the nose is a sensitive spot, so the pain was enough to snap me wide awake. My vision focused, and I saw a large, burly man swinging a hefty club at me. Turns out, it wasn't a punch but a damn club.

I growled in anger, catching the club as it came down. It hurt like hell, but that only fueled my rage further. I wrested the club from the man, who was actually decked out in thick armor, making him appear fat. He reached for the sword hanging at his belt, but I was already on the move.

In a moment of inspiration, I remembered the screens—it felt like a dream, yet I knew exactly what to do! I knew how to use "Crushing strike."

As I launched a straight right at the man, I knew that this ability was most effective when aimed at the chest. When my strike hit the man's armor, it crumbled under my fist. He was sent flying backward, crashing through two walls before coming to a stop. Silence filled the air for a few moments. I looked at the havoc I had wreaked and couldn't help but grin. Then, I noticed the other armored warriors peeking in through the hole I had created, and my smile widened. "More prey has appeared, it seems!"

The men paled, and that's how I found myself chasing a group of armored guys through the narrow hallways of an old, dirty inn. It was during that chase that I encountered her...