All Nate could see was darkness around him. Am I dead?

No answer came to his question. He just continued to float in the darkness. Then suddenly, Nate had a feeling that he was falling in the darkness.

[‘Bleeding Resistance’ has increased to Level 33]

[Level has increased by 1]

[‘Sleep Resistance’ has increased to Level 13]

[Health: 51/130]

[‘Dark Vision’ has increased to Level 26]

System alerts broke Nate from his unconsciousness. He felt a throbbing pain in his neck. Then, the neck pain was quickly replaced by the various other pains throughout his body. He hurt.

Nate sucked in a breath of air and tried to sit up. However, he could barely lift himself up off the floor of the cave. What the hell happened?

With a rush of adrenaline, he answered his own question. The beast. His [Identify] skill didn't work. His [Survivor's Awareness] didn't give him any warning. He was certain that the beast had been dead. But it wasn't. Then, he was attacked. A shiver went through Nate’s body.

[‘Fear Resistance’ has increased to Level 19]

What type of beast was that? Nate tried to remember what had happened. Remembering the clamping jaws on his neck, he touched his neck with his one good arm. His hand felt a few small punctures and dried blood. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that bad of an injury.

I'm not dead yet. Nate looked around the darkness but he didn't see the beast that had attacked him. He didn't see much of anything. It appeared that this space had so little light that even his [Dark Vision] skill was having trouble. Nate could only see about ten feet around him in the darkness.

Nate's pack was still strapped oddly to support his broken arm but his trusty knife was long gone. The bone knife was still hooked on his belt though. It’s my only weapon now.

Nate pulled up his status to take a look at his health. No bleeding. No infection. No constant health loss. His class bonus still seemed to be active which gave him hope and worry at the same time.

He didn’t have time to look at much more because he suddenly felt danger around him. Nate tried his best to see what was in the darkness around him.

[‘Survivor’s Awareness’ has increased to Level 27]

[‘Dark Vision’ has increased to Level 27]

With the alerts, Nate started to stand up to protect himself. His knees wobbled a bit as he stood. But as soon as he had steadied himself, an impact to his side sent him falling to the ground again. It wasn't a hard hit but it was a hit none the less. After rolling on the ground, Nate looked around the dark cave again but didn't see anything.

He pulled the bone knife from his belt and tried to stand again. However, something knocked him down before he could even get upright.

Nate crashed into the ground feeling pieces of rock grind into his face. He couldn't get his injured leg to work right to stand a third time. He just breathed with his face down on the ground. Bones poked his face. Bones?

The things he had originally thought of as rocks were actually the broken bits of bones and skulls of various creatures. Fuck.

Nate felt a pain in his ankle as something grabbed him and drug him across the ground. He glanced back to see a beast that resembled a [Forest Lion] but was completely black. Is this the same beast that attacked me?

Trying to figure out what he was dealing with, Nate initiated his [Identify] skill once more.

[Shadow Panther Cub - Level 17]

[Energy: 42/120]

Both pieces of information didn't help Nate's morale as the beast gave a biting tug to his leg once more. He slid across the stone floor.

After messing with Nate for a moment, the beast retreated back into the shadows of the cave. Nate was alone again on the cold stone floor amongst the bones. I don’t think this is the beast that attacked me.

[Identify] worked this time but he did not know what had happened to his stored energy. Nate caught a glimpse of the cat right before it came out the darkness and swatted him with its paw. The beast's paw didn't really hurt him at all. It was like the claws were retracted. After it smacked Nate, the beast disappeared immediately into the darkness.

It's playing with me. 

During one of his past hunts, Nate had seen a similar behavior once with a pair of [Mountain Lion] and a small [Wild Boar]. The larger of the cats had caught the boar and kept it from getting away. The [Mountain Lion Cub] basically played with the boar for an hour while Nate watched. It was like the young cat was learning how to kill. Nate had been amused seeing the cats play with the pig.

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But it wasn't amusing when he was filling in for the pig. 

The beast came out of the darkness and playfully hit Nate again.

As he sprawled on the ground, Nate's mind tried to remember the past scene in an attempt to anticipate what was going to happen. Bloody visions of the end result flashed through his mind.

[‘Recall’ has increased to Level 5]

Nate had an idea of how this situation would play out. The beast would continue the same game of knocking him down and dragging him around. Nate would attempt to fight back or run, but in his weakened state, he would have no chance. If he did manage to get away, the adult beast would wrangle him back for the little one to play again. The beasts wouldn't move in for the kill until he was completely exhausted of strength. Then, it would be over. There has to be a larger beast around too. The large dark mass in the crevice flashed into his mind.

[‘Bleeding Resistance’ has increased to Level 34]

Fuck. What can I do? Nate really wished that he had a poison berry concoction with him. But he hadn't been able to get any strong poison berries back at the tribe. What else do I have?

Lying on the floor of the cave, Nate mentally ran through the items he had left in his pack. He had some bone dust but He wasn't sure it will work on an animal that lives in complete darkness. He had some fire starter packets left. And he also had three beast cores in my pocket. His mind continued to think of his options.

Nate must have stopped moving for too long because he felt another tug on his leg and he was tossed across the cave again. The sliding impact to the ground caused his broken arm to hurt even more than before.

Skidding to a stop on the ground, Nate knew that he needed to give the animal something to distract it. Anything to take its attention off of me.

Nate tucked his tightly gripped bone dagger back into his belt and reached into his pocket.

He threw one of the beast cores onto the ground in front of him. Maybe the beast would be interested.

After a few seconds, the [Shadow Panther Cub] came out of the darkness to sniff at the beast core. It tapped the core slightly with its paw before its rough tongue extended and pulled it into its mouth. Then, the beast got excited.

Nate had not wasted the few moments the beast was distracted and had pulled something out of his bag. However, before Nate could do anything the beast had grabbed his leg again and tossed him across the cavern.

Nate crashed into a pile of bones with a few broken pieces scratching his body. His broken arm hurt like hell but he held on to the packets in his other hand. He had what he needed.

The beast was looking at Nate like it was waiting on something and let out a growl when Nate didn't move. It wants me to throw out another core.

He pulled one more core out of his pocket and threw it off into the darkness across the cave. It sounded like it hit a wall. The beast immediately ran after the core and into the darkness.

Nate needed to act quickly. He knew the beast would be back soon. He also knew he only had one core left. Nate had a feeling that when he ran out of cores some bad things would happen.

He took the three fire packets he had in his hand and prepared to ignite them. He would only have one chance at this plan.

A few seconds later the beast playfully came back to toss Nate around again. The moment it opened its mouth to bite his leg, Nate ignited the fire packets and threw them into the beast's face. The packets exploded and flames rained down on both the beast’s face and Nate's legs. The [Shadow Panther Cub] immediately started whining and pawing at its face. The flames started to burn across its fur.

[‘Burn Resistance’ has increased to Level 11]

The system alert and burning sensation on his leg didn't stop Nate from surveying the surroundings.

He was in a large cavern. There was no other beast in sight, but bones littered the space. Nate could see a few holes in the cavern walls that could offer a possible path to escape.

But he didn’t think he could outrun the beast. He needed a place to hide.

The beast wouldn't be able to get to me in that one. Nate could see a narrow crack in the cavern wall that was just big enough to fit his body inside. If he was just safe for a moment, then maybe he could make a better plan.

Nate could hear the beast whining and flopping on the ground as the fire continued to burn its face. The light from the flames still provided illumination in the cavern.

He gathered his strength, stood up, and tried to move toward the large crack in the cave wall. However, his legs didn't quite work as expected and after a few steps, he fell onto his knees. His legs were badly hurt from all of the beast’s attacks. Nate tried his best to hobble and crawl to the crack in the wall.

The light in the cabern started to dim.

Feeling the attack coming from behind, Nate turned trying to defend himself. But his actions were too slow to be effective.

The beast cub bit into Nate's shoulder. The only thing keeping Nate's injured arm from being ripped off was his backpack.

With his good arm, Nate struggled to pull the bone dagger free from his belt as the beast thrashed him around.

In a quick second, the dagger came loose and Nate repeatedly drove it into the neck of the beast. Every ounce of strength he had went into each stab. He wanted to live. He wanted to see what else this world held. He stabbed and stabbed until his arm could no longer move.

[Level has increased by 1]

[‘Bleeding Resistance’ has increased to Level 35]

Nate couldn't get himself free of the beast’s mouth. Nate's struggled to get free for only a few moments before he was completely void of energy. His body couldn't move.

Nate just laid there exhausted on the ground. Damn, I'm going to die. Nate was sure the commotion would send the other beast running his way.

[Health: 29/130]

His consciousness was starting to blink in and out. System alerts continued to ring out but Nate couldn't focus at this point. I need to get into the crack in the wall. He knew that another beast was out there somewhere. He needed some sort of safety.

He tried to remember where the crack was at. His recall skill gave him flashes of the layout of the cavern. Nate started to drag himself in the direction of the crack.

His body started to feel numb. Nate felt like he falling apart. He could feel a slow stream of energy was leaving his core.

He didn't want to die. He had so much more he wanted to see. Nate tried to grasp for whatever he could to get to safety.

After what seemed like an eternity, Nate made it into the crack in the rock wall and slid his body inside. With his remaining bit of strength, he scooted himself deeper into the crack.

The beast can't get me now. Nate stopped moving as the thought brought him a flood of relief. The elation he felt from making it to safety almost overshadowed the pain in his body. With a series of system alerts still echoing in his head, Nate knew that he would live to see the next day.

He was exhausted and injured but he was still alive. None of the system alerts were enough to cause his life to end.

Nate smiled at his situation. Since escaping Newcomb City, he had been on so many adventures. His mindset had shifted. Originally, he had just wanted to have the freedom to do what he wanted. But over the last month, his goal had expanded. He wanted to wander around the rest of this crazy world. Weird tribes, aggressive women, and the wilderness itself. Nate wanted to see all the weirdness that existed out in the world. Among the system alerts, one in particular caught his attention.

['Inhuman Wanderer' Class Obtained]