The screen faded, and the rush of getting a new Skill flooded through his body. The energy was refreshing, but not enough to hold Quick Healing off for long. Conall's body was now absolutely ruined. His left shoulder and arm were nothing but lumps of diced and charred meat. His side had gotten slightly better, but he could still see the pulsing of his organs through the thin layer of scabs. Small lacerations from the squirrels covered him head to toe, and burns were just as widespread.
His blood painted the ground and his body red. But everywhere else in his limited line of sight was green. Green lines swam through the trees by the tens of thousands, converging in fallen branches and leaves. They traced a web through the red stains caused by both the man and the monster. The green lines could even be seen in his own veins, clumped up around his numerous wounds.
And they called to him. Something in his mind, likely Drain, told him to pull. To take the lines and make them his own. To Drain them. So he did.
Conall placed a finger against the bark of a tree, and pulled. Slowly, far too slowly, a single line fled from the tree into his finger. It was just a fraction of a fragment of a sliver of all that the tree possessed, but to the man lying on the ground it may as well have been a feast. He jerked himself forward, and shoved his whole hand against the bark. More lines swam to him, a dozen at a time.
It was as they coursed through him that the man realized what they were. Vitality. Health. Hit Points. Whatever you wanted to call it, he was seeing and stealing life-force. Admittedly, a very small amount. It was barely enough to keep ahead of Quick Healing, but hopefully the cost would go down as his wounds healed. He readjusted himself so that his forearm was pressed against the bark, and started to Drain even more of the lines.
The exhaustion was the first thing to go. It lifted slowly, but energy seeped back into him just like when he first got the Skill. A fog disappeared from his mind, letting the thoughts rushing through it finally become clear. His breathing slowed and his aches evaporated as the tree he was hugging slowly paid the price of his mad dash through the woods.
After that were the scratches and burns. Tough Skin had an interesting interaction with Drain. It seemed like Conall's own vitality preferred to bunch up at his skin, likely what gave it that extra resistance. But now all of the life-force in his body rushed to the surface, drowning the small wounds in enough healing energy that they only took half an hour to heal. Soon his body was healthy save for the damage done in his first fight.
And recovery from that was slow. Some time in the third hour of the Drain session, he had to switch trees. The one he had been using was entirely drained of vitality. It had turning into nothing but a sculpture made of dead and rotting wood. That fact that it didn't collapse on him was a wonder. As it reached sunset, the skin over his ribs finally smoothed over. He had assumed that it would take days to heal, but apparently Quick Healing could be made faster by having more vitality than he was supposed to.
His arm was still a mess. With the extent of the damage done to it, even with Drain, it would take days to fix. He was certain that staying in the same spot in a monster infested forest for days on end was an amazing way to meet his maker. To, back to the tent he trudged, bracing himself against all the trees he passed for support and some extra vitality.
As it turns out, the 'green line vision' was toggle-able. Which was nice, as it could be a tad bit distracting. Even with a range of only a few feet, having an overlay over his vision was not something he was at all used to. The millions of billions of lines within the forest would have blinded him if the range was unlimited. Small mercies.
Conall had run far further than he had thought. It took him almost two hours to arrive back at the tent. Over that time, the sun had begun to set, and his shoulder had become recognizable as a shoulder. Drain was fast enough at stealing vitality that he had a small buffer built up when he arrived back at the tent, so he stepped inside. His resources were limited. All the rope he had taken with him had been shredded by the squirrels. The knife never got a chance to be used, and had been lost somewhere in the forest. His mind hadn't been fully there as Quick Healing took effect, and he had honestly forgotten he had it.
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Inside the tent, he had only slightly more. In his mad scramble to survive, he had completely forgotten about the outside world, abandoning his phone. That proved to be redundant, as only a small pile of dust was in the pocket where he kept it. The same could be said for his flashlight and compass. By his best guess, anything considered 'technology' was just gone. The dust had the consistency of sand, and was a dull gray in color.
How much chaos would the disappearance sow? How many people had been flying on a plane, hooked up to life support, or otherwise reliant on modern invention? How many had died? How many still would, with this veritable apocalypse. Conall had gotten lucky. He had woken up the moment the System appeared and been attacked right after. The five free Levels and Quick Healing had saved his life, even if the latter threatened it soon after.
It only evoked one thought in the man's mind. He needed to get stronger.
SYSTEM STATUS NAME: Conall Jeffries RACE: Human TITLES: LEVEL: 7 PROGRESS: 18/80 XP SKILLS: Tough Skin Lv.2, Quick Healing Lv.3, Drain Lv.0 SKILL POINTS: 0
Not enough.
Quick Healing was already hard enough to keep up with, and Drain could cover that in a pinch. There was a slight advantage to upgrading either of them, but he would rather save up enough to keep them at the same level, as they only really worked with each other. But could he afford to use two Skill Points on Drain? The Levels were getting more expensive, going up by ten every time. Tough Skin seemed a more reasonable choice, for one main reason.
It could cover the other two. He wouldn't need to heal himself or regain vitality if he just couldn't get hurt in the first place. He would increase all three Skills eventually, but Tough Skin should be his priority. Survival was everything. He would need to go hunting soon. And soon after that. And soon after that. Until he was strong enough that his life stopped being in danger.
That was all dreams for the future. For now sleep. Shedding the bloodied rags that were at one point his clothes, Conall got changed and went to sleep.
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Congratulations Humanity, for surviving your first full day of Integration!
This is only the beginning!
Over the next several weeks, System Integration will finish.
Expect stronger Monsters and more unique variants.
Good hunting Challenger!
What a great wake up call.