‘Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! SHIT!’

That was the only word that kept reverberating in his mind as Bharat found himself, annoyingly enough, in very familiar circumstances. Those being, he was fleeing with all his might from a creature who was after his blood and was several levels higher than him.

Granted, the last time he was in such a situation, his would-be killers were far higher levelled than his current pursuer but he wouldn’t exactly call it an improvement.

It made up a very hilarious scene from an outsider’s perspective. The sight of a grown man being chased by a creature one fifth his size would have anyone taking a double-take at first but the hint of claws and the bloodthirsty look that the rabbit was sporting would dissuade anyone from making any jokes.

Bharat knew that if he used his pre-system mentality to make decisions, he would sooner drop dead before he knew what happened. No creature was weak anymore now that everyone has an equal opportunity to grow as hinted by the 'system description' earlier. The sight of those extra levels also deterred him from confronting it.

He still had no clue about what levelling up represented. He knew that it meant an increase in power, but he didn’t know on what scale would the power increased and he wasn’t keen on finding out what five of these levels would mean.

His encounter with the wolves was too short to derive any reliable data about the differences between different level beings. It could be very small, insignificant even, or it could be so substantial that even thinking about confronting someone at a higher level should be laughable.

The only thing he had from the encounter was that his ‘luck’ stat seemed to affect his encounter with the wolves.

He knew he could his ‘luck’ this time too. It worked on the wolves, so chances are that this would work on the rabbit as well and he still had one unspent attribute left which he had kept in case of emergencies.

But one thing stopped him from taking that action, the thing that sometimes compels him to make stupid decisions.

His Pride.

‘Am I always just going to be running away on the first sign of danger that I face, and rely on luck? If something comes up in the future that can’t be countered by the effects of luck stat then I will be nothing more than a sitting duck!’, Bharat thought in frustration as the scene of that dragon emerged in his head. He strongly doubted that such a level of power and destruction could be countered by a mere luck stat.

The only thing that can counter-power was power itself, the power that will not be achieved if he continued to rely on these shortcuts at every hurdle, but through overcoming them through his own effort. So, with these thoughts in mind, he came to a stop and turned around with the dagger clutched in one hand.

For a moment, he stared hard in the direction from which the bloodthirsty rabbit was likely to emerge. His breaths were coming in short bursts from the running he did earlier, and his hands shaking from nervousness from the looming encounter but a small hint of determination in his eyes showed that he was prepared.

Alas, in his unwillingness to run away and resolve to fight, he wasn’t aware that the existence of the 'System' gave everyone a chance to advance, not just in physical aspects but in mental aspects as well. This is why, it came as a sudden surprise when instead of charging from the front, the rabbit instead charged at his right flank while his attention was fixated on the front.

“What the-”

Bharat pivoted to his right when he caught sight of the rabbit charging at him from his flank but it was too late by then. He tried to defend himself but it was futile as his opponent was already in range. The next moment, it made a sudden leap and Bharat got a full-powered tackle to his abdomen and got the wind knocked out of him.

After the surprise attack, which resulted in Bharat losing his grip on the dagger, the rabbit followed in his fall to the ground, made two long gashes with its claws on his chest and sprung from its position on his body all before his back could make contact with the hard ground.

Before Bharat could catch his breath from the surprise attack, the rabbit executed another attack while its target was incapacitated, this time pouncing on his position at aiming at his face. But Bharat, in his adrenaline rush, managed to catch the rabbit just before it could gorge out his eyes and with all his strength, threw the rabbit in the direction of a tree.

The rabbit flew through the air and slammed against the tree with a sickening thud and fell to the ground. Meanwhile, Bharat was trying to re-collect himself and get back into a standing position but a sudden pain in his chest made him drop to a knee in pain.

“Shit!”, Bharat cursed in pain and trepidation at the sight of his ruined tunic and the long deep gashes he could see on his chest which was dripping with blood and died the tunic red. A quick look at his status made his blood run cold.

HP: 80/111 [Bleeding]

<< Alert! Alert!

Status ailment [Bleeding] detected for the first time

Description: The host will continuously lose a small number of health points depending on the severity of the injury until proper aid is administered.

Remark: Duct tape isn’t going to fix this one. >>

31 points. One attack took away about a third of his health. And if that wasn’t enough, he now had a bleeding effect on him. Because apparently, status ailments were a thing in the system.

‘This was a mistake. I need to run! NOW!’, he shouted in his mind after he realized the precarious situation in which he found himself. Just 3 more attacks and he would be done for. Before the rabbit could regain its bearing and pounce on him once mor-

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‘Wait, where is it? I swear I threw it at this tree’, he thought with nervousness as he looked towards where he threw the creature earlier. There were no signs of it in his sights but he couldn’t let his guard down. That little display of intelligence scared him more than he would like to admit.

While he was hunting during the past days, he was cautious of them and he also recognized that most of these creatures inhabiting these woods were stronger than him physically but he was not overly worried about how he could face them.

Humans were superior species back in his world after all and the main thing that contributed towards their position on the food chain were their minds and their ability to think and innovate while animals were guided by instincts. So while they were physically stronger than him, he felt like he could reasonably counter them with enough thinking.

But if every creature out there had an improved level of thinking than their earth counterparts, with further possibility to grow, he wasn’t so sure about his chances anymore. So, with such thoughts running through his head, he stood up from his position.

HP: 78/111

A glance at his status alerted him of his still depleting HP. He saw that the rate at which it was decreasing wasn’t dangerous by any means. He could safely make it back to the cave and drink one of his Hp potions and do something about his wound. But that was if he made it to the cave in time.

And it seemed that the rabbit had no intention whatsoever of letting its target escape as it charged at him again, this time from the back where he couldn’t see and the pain from his wounds made hearing anything other than his heartbeat a difficult task. The only thing he did felt was a sudden weight on his right shoulder before a ripping sensation filled his head with sudden whiteness.

Then the pain came.

A horrifying scream echoed through the forest as all the pain from the vicious creature ripping off his ear filled his mind at once. It was too much for him. It was worse than stubbing his toe or breaking his nail or felling down the stairs or any injury he had sustained in his whole fucking life.

Each thought left his mind. The levels, the system, this whole training operation or his still depleting hp. The only thing that occupied his mind at this time was pain! pain! pain! pain! pain! pain! pain! paIN! PAIN! PAIN!!

His mind, not used to feeling such an unbearable sensation, shut down and his world went black. Next thing he knew, he was looking at the ceiling of his cave while lying on the ground

He sat up with a start and looked around in confusion, wondering how did he end up back here.

‘Was all that a dream?’, he thought anxiously, but instantly shook his head. He could still feel a dull ache in his ear despite it being intact. Also, the sight of his ruined tunic, dyed with blood and the empty potion bottle a few feet away told him that all of that was very much real.

He opened his interface and saw that his status screen was buried under a bunch of notifications. He started reading them one by one and dismissing them at the same time.

‘What?’

<< Stat Description updated

Strength: 15

Description: Numerical indicator of how much power your body can apply. Provides a temporary boost for a short while after manually adding a point. Explore for more functions

Remarks: A personal favourite for muscle-headed maniacs >>

<< You have eliminated a Level-5 [Claw-foot Rabbit]. Experience is awarded according to your contribution. Bonus experience awarded due to perks of the [Newbie] Title. Additional Experience bonuses from the ‘First Find’ Achievement stacked. >>

<>

<< Race [Human (Tier 0)] has reached Level 1! Stat points distributed as specified in your Race description. >>

<< Race Description Unlocked! >>

<< Race: Human (Tier 0)

Description: The weakest civilized race ever recorded in the history of the multiverse with the lowest starting point overall. This race is known for their delicate body constitution with their only saving grace being their stubbornness and willingness to adapt to any situation that comes their way. Levels up with each level gained. +1 to all stats except luck and +3 to unspent points.

Remarks: They may have pitiful bodies but they got heart. >>

<< HP potion consumed. 130 Health points recovered. All status ailments and injuries have been healed due to reaching maximum health. >>

Status

Name: Bharat Kumar

Race: Human (Tier 0) (Level 1)

Age: 27

Level: 1

Titles: [Pioneer Of World], [Newbie]

Health: 126/126

Mana: 102/102

Stamina: 90/90

Stats

+Strength: 15

+Perception: 11

+Endurance: 12

+Constitution: 9

+Intelligence: 11

+Agility: 9

+Luck: 3

Unspent Points: 3

Abilities:

General:

[Basic Translate (Common)]

[Appraise (Common)]

All those notifications told a story that Bharat couldn’t recall clearly but reading them one-by-one he started getting flashes of the fight that happened between him and the rabbit that resulted in its death.

He remembered the red haze that fell over his vision as anger consumed him at being hurt so severely by a creature smaller than him by a large margin. He remembered the actual fight which mainly involved him trying to catch the rabbit and beat it into a bloody pulp and the rabbit inflicting injuries upon his person at every chance he got.

He remembered finally catching the critter and beating its head with his fists to finally kill the creature but to no avail. He recalled putting his final point into strength and smashing the rabbits head into bits with a rock he found nearby.

Everything after the conclusion of the fight was a blur of stumbling back to his cave, consuming the potion and finally collapsing in exhaustion. In the midst of his recollection and browsing through his notifications, he saw one little detail that terrified him.

He clearly remembered that he had 111 HP before levelling but the HP he recovered 120 HP.

‘Does that mean, without that extra level up, I would have died before I could even reach here?’

That was a terrifying thought, knowing that he was so close to his death and only survived due to the killing of the very thing that was responsible for his condition.

Anger and despair filled him and the excitement that he should have felt at his first level up was overshadowed by the realization that he almost gave up his life in achieving that.

He wondered if he should just give up. He clearly wasn’t cut out for this whole training program and whoever thought that sending inexperienced people in the middle of a forest filled to the brim with predators with a fucking knife of all things was clearly high when making that decision.

‘But what can I do anyway. I am too much of a pussy to even think of taking my own life.’

----------------------------------------

While Bharat was absorbed in his thoughts of self-pity, in a small clearing, not far from the location of the cave, a badly mangled carcass of a rabbit lay with its head smashed in. Its fur, which was previously dirty yellow coloured was dyed red with blood, with only a small amount of it belonging to itself.

Suddenly, some bushes a few feet away from the corpse started rustling despite there being no signs of strong wind in the area. The next moment, three small creatures with long ears and stubby feet exited the bushes and entered the clearing.

Spotting the badly damaged carcass, the three of them approached its position but one of them paused in its steps for some reason and sniffed the air curiously.

It went past the carcass unlike its companions and sniffed a patch of land that was covered with a large amount of blood, along with a small trail leading into the forest.

The next moment, three pairs of red eyes flashed with malice in the dim lighting of the forest.