Griffin found that rising a powerful wave of shifting sand was possibly the most exhilerating experience of his life.
“Fuuuuuuck Yeeaaaaaah, baby!” Griffin screamed at the top of his lungs as he sledgeboarded with the sand at the speed of a fast-moving motorcycle. Well, he didn’t have a sledge board, but that was fine as long as he kept his head above the sand and didn’t get drowned by it.
That exhilaration lasted for about a minute, before he groggily got back into his feet. Still reeling from the ride and pretty sure he was suffering from temporary vertigo, Griffin forced himself to do a cursory sweep of the surroundings.
The vertigo left him as his heart decided that he needed some more adrenaline. Right next to him were two, half-buried and dazed Sirocco Nibblers.
‘Jackpot?’ Griffin thought to himself, moments before he went to town on them. The sounds of pounding followed by squelching flesh disturbingly echoed out in the surroundings, Griffin’s armor being the only thing keeping him from being slicked in the blood he was so gleefully spilling.
[You have slain a level 6 Sirocco Nibbler.]
[You have slain a level 7 Sirocco Nibbler.]
[Status Upgrade in progress….]
[Name: Griffin Thorne
Age: 18
Race: Human
Calling: Apostle of Greed.
Class: Master of None - Novice (Unique)
Class Skills:- Analyze (Level 1), Skill Thief Level 1 Slot (Beast), Skill Thief Level 1 Slot (Martial Artist), Skill Thief Level 1 Slot(Alchemist), Skill Thief Level 1 Slot(Rogue).
Gifts: Gift of tongue: Common Verickan
Level: Level 5 (26.54%)-> Level 6 (0.54%)
Rank: E-
Statistics:
Physical: 5
Mental: 4
Proprioception: 1
Free points: 1 (New)]
Soul Essence: 14/14-> 15/15]
‘I guess I can’t keep pushing the Physical stat. It’s kept me alive so far, but that was only because the Sirocco Nibblers can’t pierce through my armor in one bite. That won’t always be the case,’ Griffin thought, still not entirely sure what the Proprioception stat did. Punching things harder and having more muscle density couldn’t have gone too wrong, but if his intuition was right as it usually was, then this stat would mess a little with his brain.
Better than getting his leg sawn off by a stronger variant of the Sirocco Nibbler, he supposed. Plus, there were few people who knew better than him when it came to the legendary myth that privacy was. In his old world, the NSA could keep tabs on how many times you brushed your teeth in a month and tabulate that data on a neat graph if some triple-valedictorian nerd was bored and disillusioned enough. In this world, cultivators could detect his presence from a mile away and probably overhead each one of his conversations if they wanted to. Same shit, different world.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
If the system wanted to optimize his brain and replace the HDD with an SSD, then fine.
An itch erupted in his brain the moment he confirmed his decision, followed by a tingling that felt like an almost alien sensation. It subsided a moment later and as Griffin moved his hand towards his head, he immediately noticed the difference.
“It really…,” Griffin trailed off as he moved around his hand, noticing the slight yet definite difference in how fast his own brain communicated the signal. He and an elite mixed martial artist were the same species back on earth, but Griffin would get pummeled in a one on one and likely lose a hundred fights out of hundred. That gap, he felt, had just lessened by a non-negligible degree.
“...works,” He marveled for the final time, before deciding that he ought to go and get a move on.
Griffin’s overall strategy hadn’t changed as he identified the tallest sand dune in the area that was stable enough for his purposes, before heading for it.
This time, there were no interruptions from the Sirocco rodents. Nibblers. Or whatever they were called.
As Griffin inched closer to the vantage point, careful to maintain his footing, a crunching sound in the distance startled him.
‘More rats?’ He thought, before the nature of the sound changed. A softer yet very distinctive tearing sound resounded in the distance, immediately causing Griffin to drop down into a crouch.
‘That sure as hell didn’t sound like a rat,’ Griffin thought as his heartbeat began to quicken.
Slowly, careful not to lose his footing, he inched forward towards the vantage point on the dune and then, without poking his head out too much, gazed at the source.
What he saw made Griffin’s blood run cold.
A short distance away from the dune lay a mutilated carcass of a Sirocco Nibbler. Feasting upon it, with it’s long, slender neck lowered, was a purple-skinned, dear-like creature with white spots dotting its skin. It’s razor-sharp, carnivorous teeth and four, clawed limbs were not what had surprised him so, though.
No, it was the crater-like formations running across the back of it’s neck in a straight line that gave Griffin goosebumps. More specifically, the steady stream of flames that were blazing out of them.
The right move here was to run. Griffin knew that. If he stealthily climbed down the dune and then began moving east, he should avoid running into it in this or even after the next ‘shifting sands’ event.
But he couldn’t.
His instincts told him that this was precisely what he had been looking for. Why Jun-Ra had bought him all that valuable armor and resources was to allow him to wait for an opportunity.
The flaming deer wasn’t even looking in his direction.
Griffin had the chance to pull off one hell of an ambush.
And most of all…
‘I want that flame skill, whatever it is,’ He thought, for that was what his heart desired.
Shit. He was really going to do this.
Griffin had a focussed expression on his face as he pulled out two pills from the pouch Jun-Ra had purchased for him. First, he downed the adrenaline pill.
His eyes felt like they had gone bloodshot moments later, his heart rate skyrocketing as energy flooded every pore of his body.
This would even the playing field a little.
Then, Griffin tucked away the healing pill under his tongue. It was a trick Jun-Ra had told him of, to crush it in the mouth as soon as he received an injury. Whatever the pill was made of, it would otherwise take a few hours to dissolve in his mouth normally.
Griffin only had a few minutes.
[8:54]
Eight minutes and fifty four seconds, to be exact.
If he missed this opportunity, he would lose the best shot he had at completing his calling quest.
He was sliding down the sand dune the next instant, his expression tense.
A few tense moments later, he reached the bottom on his feet and righted his posture, before breaking out into a sprint.
“Rune of Heat—Open,” He commanded under his breath, completing the final preparation he had under his belt.