Drawing my Iron sword, I positioned it in front of me, wielding it with both hands. Moving my right foot a step beyond my left foot, I activate and stare at the Wild Dog, awaiting its next move. Perhaps because I held no enmity towards the dog, I could only conjure up enough blood thirst to reach 1% of the gauge and since it was also higher level than me, it was barely affected.

Turning my off, I was distracted for a moment and in that instant, the dog bent its body and pounced straight towards my neck for a bite, I managed to hastily dodge to my left and tried to swing at it but due to my lack of balance, I was unable to put any force into my stroke, causing my sword to just brush past its glossy fur.

It landed a distance away to my right, snarls loudly and pounced yet again. This time however, I slipped on a stupid rock and its claws found its way to my chest, digging parts of my flesh, the pain causing me to reflexively howl.

(My GOD! No wonder everyone else is teaming up, it hits like a truck! How is this a beginner's mob?)

Just one slash and it dealt 10 damage, 12 of that and I would be lying on the floor and I hadn't even accounted for critical hits, not to mention I had to endure the pain every time that stupid dog hits me, this was much more than I bargained for.

Due to safety regulations, the game was not allowed to let us feel the actual pain that would have been dealt to us, instead, it generates a shock to us which is toned down to a maximum of 50% of the pain our minds can tolerate, anything beyond causes us to go entirely numb. Still, the shock generated from the slash at my chest was far enough for me to cringe.*Shiver*

Anger and for some reason bloodthirst as well started to surge inside me thanks to the pain inflicted on me by my adversary, I wanted to tear its limbs and feast on its flesh. From the corner of my eyes, I could see the gauge slowly fill up to 20%, hoping it was enough, I reactivated just as it tried to take a bite off my arm. My sudden empowered caused the stupid mutt to waver for a moment as its instincts of fear suddenly kicked in. That short window of opportunity was enough for me to take a good jab at the dog's eyes and it let lose a bloodcurdling scream. A big red-coloured 30 appeared above the dog's head, contrary to the usual yellow, signifying a critical hit had occurred.

Too bad for me, having one eye stabbed was enough for it to be even more cautious and so I could not find any more openings. Thankfully, its attack and movement speed was slowed due to fear, I made use of that to unleash a torrent of blows onto its face and body, more-so its face of course. Even if I could not cripple its other eye as well, I figured hitting the face was always more painful and that was proven true by how I dealt 7 dmg to its body while its face suffered 10 dmg from every strike.

The reduced speed of the dog did not put it at too much of a disadvantage though as it fought hard with its life on the line, trying to as much as possible return my every slash with a bite or slash of its own. With great effort in a back and forth slug fest, though with swords, claws and teeth, I was able to finally terminate its life, barely surviving by 10HP. With a golden glow, 10 copper coins appeared next to its corpse, along with a dog pelt and some dog meat. I considered it good loot for my first hunt as I had expected just 3 copper coins or so from the drop. My EXP bar had also climbed to 45%, the Wild Dog was truly a generous adversary considering how much trouble it gave me.

"Status"

*Ding*

StatusName:RippleRace:HumanLevel:1Class:NoneAflliationNoneFamilyNoneTitleMaster PincherFame:1Money:0G 0S 60CHP:120/120MP:100/100Attack:12 (+2 when pinching, +3-5 when wielding sword)Defense:10STR:7 (+5)DEX7 (+7)INT:10 (+5)LUK:20 (+5)Sadism:2Charm:1Endurance:2Affinity:0%

"Show Skills"

Skill Name:Skill Rarity:Skill Level:Skill Proficiency:Blood ThirstUnique160%The user emits his blood thirst to surroundings, exerting his savage viciousness instead to instill fear into beings in the vicinity. Possibility of dominance over enemies. The area of effect, possibility of fear and possibility of dominance grows with skill level as well as Blood Thirst gauge. Weaker beings will be more easily influenced. Feared beings have lower attack and movement speeds, dominated beings will seize to attack and may even be controlled while duration of blood thirst lasts.Skill Effect:Area of Effect: 5m around user

Possibility of Fear: 5%

Possibility of Dominance: 1%

Skill Cost: 5MP per second

Skill Name:Skill Rarity:Skill Level:Skill Proficiency:Sword MasteryCommon180%The expertise of using a sword, the more one masters the use of the sword, the greater expertise one can use it with, enabling one to strike faster and stronger. Speed and Strength of sword strikes increases as skill level rises.Skill Effect:Attack Speed (with sword): +1%

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Damage (with sword): +1%

(Just a bit more to level up myself and my skills. I need to use my more often to level it up, a high level will allow me to solo mobs easily.)

Perhaps due to the adrenaline rush from engaging in a close life and death battle, I had been fully focused on the fight and paid little detail to the damage of my body and the pain that follows. Now that the fight had ended, the surge of pain repeatedly struck throughout my body like ocean waves pounding relentlessly against the shores. I restlessly dragged my body back to a safe area near the town gate and found myself a nice tree to lie against. Slumping down, I found that my satiety was reaching 30%, the fight had dragged out far too long.

Taking out my water canteen and taking a few gulps full of cool refreshing water, I began to "feast" on my stash of rock hard bread. The dull and bland taste left a numb feeling to my tongue , yet as horrible tasting as it may be, it was my only lifeline at the moment, so I pinched my nose and downed it. If my satiety were to fall below 30% my movement speed and attack speed would drop by 50%, considering that my previous fight was far too close for comfort, I was not willing to risk death over some bad-tasting food.  

Finishing my quick meal, I closed my eyes to ease my tensed mind and body while letting my HP and MP continue to recover. A cool breeze brushed past my face and I slowly found myself struggling to stay awake, deciding that a quick nap would not hurt, I let my already drooping eyelids fully enclose my eyes from the afternoon sun.

Resting for what seems to be half an hour, I felt a slight disturbance and was woken up to a heart-pounding sight, literally heart-pounding. A big burly beastman was squatting down at my side, leaning in for a kiss with his thick and massive lips. He had fuzzy black hair with similarly black cat ears mounted on his head instead of human ears, a big bushy black furrowed unibrow, big black slanted eyes, a square nose with two big nostrils. His mighty muscular frame was clothed in beginner leather and he held an axe at his side. I screamed for help as I crawled backwards away from this monstrosity, though truth be told his appearance was not that bad but the situation I was in did not allow me to think rationally.

My actions shocked him greatly as he jumped back with wide open eyes, seemingly looking teary-eyed and shrinking his body afterwards.

"Wwh...wwha...WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" I screamed at him.

"I'm really sorry! Please forgive me! I had thought you fainted and wanted to do CPR [Cardiopulmonary resuscitation] ."

The mere thought of being kissed and furthermore having my first kiss to be stolen by him sent goosebumps crawling all over body and I hunched over with a hand covering my mouth, fighting to hold back from barfing out my meal. I secretly cursed, wishing to have been woken by Ecila than this fiend. Nearly having be defiled sent a mental note to my brain to stay clear of this man as he was dangerous, very dangerous.

"Are you crazy? Couldn't you tell whether I was breathing?"

"Hiiihh! I'm really sorry, please don't be angry. I really couldn't tell. Your chest didn't seem like it was moving."

*Sigh*

A wave of nostalgia hit me. His actions replicated my childhood friend Linda, well ex-childhood friend. She was a quiet girl who was quick to misunderstand, always making mistakes and always apologising. Her timid aura made me feel like petting and taking care of her, and perhaps that was why we got along well, at least we used to get along well.

She would always for some reason find herself in trouble and I would always get bruised up in her antics. The first time I met her, was exactly the same situation as this, of course removing the macho man and inserting a cute girl with a blonde ponytail. The 7 year old me, was taking a nice nap under an oak tree in the nearby park. The 7 year old her, who for some reason knew what CPR was though I doubt she knew the proper process, dashed right to me upon seeing me lying under the tree and came to the conclusion that I was unconscious. Maybe my chest really doesn't rise and fall as distinctively as others. In any case, she discarded any other possibilities and solutions and immediately leaned in for some mouth blowing action.

Since I was and still am a relatively light sleeper, I was easily awoken by the disturbance and noise she made in moving. Opening my eyes to see soft supple lips nearly enclosing mine, I jumped back, causing her to narrowly miss. Seeing me staring wide-eyed at her, she immediately bowed her head and with teary eyes apologised "I'm really sorry! Please forgive me! I had thought you fainted and thought of doing CPR." Thinking back, it was a good chance for me to get a cute girlfriend and have my first kiss, but of course the young me was naturally air-headed and innocent.

"HUH? I was obviously breathing, can't you tell if you look at my chest moving?"

"Hiihh! I didn't know, I couldn't see your chest moving, I'm sorry, please don't be angry."

Even the young me could not help but shrug back and console the girl, she meant no harm after all and I had been quite mean to her too. I stretched out my hand and did my signature clockwise hair ruffling followed by a few pets on her head.

*Sigh*

"I'm sorry too, I didn't mean to be so loud and angry."

And that marked the start of our friendship. We met almost everyday at the park and would play around. One day, it all came crashing down. She told me we could not be friends anymore and just disappeared. I did not understand what happened and felt sad, perhaps even heartbroken. Since that day, I never came into contact with her ever again and since I was still young and experiencing many things, I gradually moved on, forgetting about her.

Unconsciously, while reminiscing these past thoughts, I had stretched my hand out, carrying out my signature clockwise hair ruffling followed by a few pats of the beastmans head while saying "I apologise for being so overbearing, please try to pay more attention next time." For an instant, the beastman's eyes widened in surprise but I was too preoccupied to notice.

Immediately retracting my hand when I noticed what an awkward and disgusting thing I just commited to a big burly beastman, I bowed and apologised "I am really sorry, I was lost in thoughts and did not mean to do that."

The beastman waved his hands frantically "No no, I don't mind at all, it actually feels good, AH! I mean I'm sorry as well!"

I unconsciously took a step back, hearing that dangerous reply of his.

The beastman scratched the left of his head with an anxious look, throwing out a sudden bomb "Please be friends with me!".