Satisfied, Tai stopped punching the corpse of the creature, laying down on the ground as he was covered in blood. As he was laying down, he remembered that he got a few notifications when he killed the creature. He spent a few seconds reading the notifications.

"Ki Manipulation, and Ki Augmentation? What's that?"

Answering his question, another message appeared.

Ki Manipulation

Create, shape, and manipulate Ki. More Complex uses depend on the level.

Ki Augmentation Channel Ki through the body to enhance physical abilities.

"Hmm, interesting. This will definitely be useful in the future, but how the hell am I supposed to get out of here?"

Tai was bleeding and if he didn't stop the bleeding soon, there was a high chance that he would die in the desert and become an afternoon meal to some monster.

Knowing what he had to do, Tai spent the two points he got from learning the two skills on his endurance, bringing his total up to 18. This, in turn, brought his max health to 180 and also his current health, albeit only a small amount. He was still bleeding and without taking proper measures, he would still die.

Taking off his shirt, Tai tied it around his bleeding stump, making sure it was tight and wouldn't fall off.

"Well, that's that taken care of. Now it's time to get out of here," he said, which was easier said than done since he was missing a whole leg.

Standing up on one leg, he started walking, err, hopping in a random direction. The tree that was in the distance was now so far that he couldn't even spot it anymore so there was no point in trying to find it.

You have learned a skill: Heat Resistance

+1 status point

Walking in the hot, and scorching desert, it made sense that he got Heat resistance. Tai spent the status point on Endurance, hoping that if it reached a high enough level that he would regrow his leg, the same way a lizard regrew its tail.

It wasn't easy traveling the desert with one leg. Tai fell many times, and his one leg would get tired fast so he would have to sit down and rest. He got around this problem by using Ki Augmentation to strengthen his leg, allowing him to take shorter rests and travel a larger distance since his leg was stronger.

Seconds passed, then minutes, then hours, and by the time he knew it, the sun was going down. Tai was frustrated. He had been traveling in the desert for god knows how long and he's gotten nowhere, but there was one good thing. His Heat Resistance skill leveled up to 10, giving him 9 more points which he spent all on endurance. This made his bleeding stop and his health stabilized, but his leg showed no signs of regrowing. If he doesn't find a solution, he would have to live all his life without a leg.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

His Ki Manipulation and Ki Augmentation also leveled up to 10 due to constant use. Spending all his points on endurance, it went from 27 to 45.

The sun was going down at a steady pace, and it would be night soon, and Tai didn't have anything for light. It would soon be pitch black in the desert with only the small light from the moon, which was now different and looked farther away, shining down on the desert floor.

After a few minutes of hopping the sun had gone down and it was now pitch black, so Tai decided to stop and camp out at a somewhat flat place.

He sat down on the sand and looked around. "Shit, I really can't see anything."

As he was trying to look around, a light bulb appeared in his head as he got an idea. "Right, couldn't I use Ki? If I can manipulate it to what I want, then how about I manipulate it to be bright?"

Sticking out his index finger, he concentrated his Ki to the point of his finger and manipulated the Ki's properties to be bright. Nothing happened at first, but the red Ki turned white and became brighter and brighter, lighting up the area around him. The light reached up to 2 meters, giving him enough light to watch his surroundings.

Tai smiled at his achievement. "That's right. I'm a Ki genius."

He looked around at his surroundings and saw a pack of hyenas with their glowing eyes, circling him. Seeing this scene, the smile on his face faded away. "I just can't catch a break."

Even though the smile had faded from Tai's face, deep down, he was smiling. Killing the monster that bit off his leg made him feel good. Maybe he was a psychopath now, but he didn't care. If anyone messed with him, they would pay the price.

"Well come on now! What are you all waiting for?!" Subconsciously, he used his Ki while talking, giving him another skill.

You have learned a skill: Ki Enhanced Roar (Kiai)

+1 status point

The Kiai scared away some hyenas from the loud sound, but the bigger ones stayed. They too had been evolving with the system and seeing a crippled human, they weren't going to pass up this chance for more food for their pack.

After a few seconds, four hyenas pounced on Tai, their jaw open and ready to bite him. Seeing this, Tai dismissed the Ki light that he made and concentrated his Ki on his arms to give him more power. Having the light on and Ki Augmentation at the same time was too complex for him, so he had to fight blind, only relying on sound to detect the hyenas.

Remembering where one of the hyenas where, he swung at its direction, his fist landing clean on its head and killing it instantly as its corpse rolled away.

The other three hyenas weren't just sitting around while he killed their friend. One of them bit his leg, one of them bit his right shoulder, and the other bit his side. This caused Tai to yell out in pain. Although his Pain Resistance was high, it only gave him the ability to easily tolerate and ignore the pain, but he could still feel it.

The hyenas were stuck on Tai's body, trying to tear off chunks of his flesh, but the points he'd spent on Endurance was now helping him. Although they did bite him, his body was now much tougher and it would take a significant effort to tear off his flesh. Tai hypothesized that he could probably survive a bullet, provided it didn't hit anything major.

Grabbing the hyena that was biting his arm, he brought it up to his mouth, biting its neck and killing it instantly. Dropping the corpse on the ground, the hyena that was biting his leg backed away, seeing the corpse of his brethren.

Meanwhile, Kai grabbed the other hyena that was on his side. He yelled as he pulled the hyena away from his body, ripping parts of his flesh off in the process. The hyena whined as he concentrated his Ki on his arm and threw the hyena at the glowing pair of eyes in front of him.

The force of the throw killed the two hyenas. It was truly killing two birds with one stone.