Boom!
***
Adrian was dreaming about some pretty stars.
Suddenly, he felt really damn hot.
“Ugh, it feels like I’m being heated along with milk in one of those trashy 1980s microwaves...” He grogged out, still feeling sleepy and practically seeing stars hover around him. Opening his eyes at last, he knew he was definitely still dreaming. Since when was there grass in his bedroom?
“Damn, Adrian. Can’t your goofy brain dream of something more... wait.” He stretched a bit, and realized there was a crater surrounding him. And the beams of light falling on him face felt a little, just a little too real...
“Ok, wait, I’m actually dreaming, right?” he spoke to himself.
And suddenly a sharp pain jolted him up and awake, and looking down, he saw a very weird looking bug had just bitten him, right on his inner thigh.
“OK, WHAT. THE. HELL. AM I LOOKING AT?!” He half yelled, again, to himself. If there was someone else, they’d probably think he’s long gone insane.
Shooting up, he quickly swiveled his head around, yanked the bug off his thigh, and his face probably paled, just a bit.
“This isn’t one of those prankster influencers pulling some crap on me, is it? I swear to God, I’m gonna bloody sue you when I’m outta here.” Again, he tried to sound threatening, but that just wasn’t possible, especially with the amount of clothes he had on.
Not that he realized that just yet.
“Crap... I don’t think there’s actually anyone here, is there? Hello? Hallo? Hola? G’day.... Namaste?” Still not getting anywhere, he finally started actually looking at his surroundings.
A low grumbling noise resounded through the forest he was in.
“Man... I’m hungry.” Again, he spoke to himself.
“I guess, I can at least take a look around? Explore a bit?” he mumbled, a dreadful feeling dawning on him.
“Ok first, deep breaths” Adrian stood still, and inhaled, In, Hold, Out, and exhaled. He was really trying to focus on something else.
“Ok, so where exactly am I? And, what kind of trees are these? Darn, they’re practically glowing...”
The trees in question were indeed something to be awed of. Already massive, the thick foliage was filled with luminous patterns, dark green leaves with a glowing yellow. The trunks too, were a kind of brown that practically screamed “Too good. Do not touch and contaminate.”
Heading forward to touch it, because who didn’t just want to touch cool looking weird things, that they found in a forest they just woke up in, Adrian tripped and fell.
Quite literally cycling down the tiny crater with headbutts and a practically comical plummet towards the bottom, Adrian landed flat on his sparkly blue butt cheeks, now tainted brown.
Successfully awoken!
Astral to Material realm transfer complete.
Innate magical info parser gifted due to unique circumstances.
Pulling Up Status:
Adrian Ateshi
Rank: Normal
Race: Ocalet
Bloodline: ???
Manifestation: Unformed
Blood Magic (1/8 Skills):
[Partial Blood Manipulation]
Ricochet Magic (1/8 Skills):
[Partial Ricochet Manipulation]
Attributes:
Body: Normal
Mind: Normal
Soul: Normal
“Ughhh... that bloody hurt- Dude? The hells this? Feels like some VR RPG game... Would the headset give amnesia to promote a sense of realism?”
Clutching his head, he slowly got up, and started climbing out of the little crater he’d fallen into. A minute of insane wackiness, and a display of uncharacteristic skill in climbing, and Adrian leapt out onto fresh grass.
“About time!... It's really hard to stay enthusiastic here, huh? Now what?”
A short pause, followed by a heavy gust of wind, and Adrian finally felt a bit serene, a little tension oozing away, enjoying the feeling of sunlight glancing off his face and the wind breezing along his face, his arms, his...
“Wait, where are my clothes? Hell, of course I’m not wearing clothes. How could things not get any weirder? Ok wait, I can totally imagine weirder things.”
Adrian took a look around him, opening his eyes, and took in his surroundings a little better, swiveling his head around. He could make out some more trees in front of him, an inkling of a pretty big river in front of him, and perhaps some birds chirping up ahead, a ways away from the crater.
“Speaking of which, what is up with that?”, Adrian spoke to himself, yet again. This time, a little justified, considering the sight behind him. There was a crater, but somehow, he woke right in the middle, and that too on a completely unharmed platform, grass still bustling. Besides that, the trees around the crater were also completely intact, there being virtually no damage to the surroundings at all...
“Things... can’t seem to stop getting weirder. Not as weird as the weirdest stuff in my head though.”
An uncertain expression flashed through Adrian’s face, but he quickly suppressed it, and got on with doing something again. Turning back ahead, he started moving forward, to the only distinguishable landmark he could find in a massive forest full of glowing trees.
***
It was farther than he thought. The sun had already started descending, and he didn’t feel like he’d even reached the halfway point to his destination. Alone with his thoughts, Adrian could only do his utmost to focus on what was in front of him, disregarding anything else his mind could conjure up.
That, in itself, was a pretty big folly.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Unbeknownst to Adrian, there was a rustle in the bushes nearby. This was probably the eighth time it happened, but Adrian still hadn’t caught on.
“It’s starting to get dark... I really need to find a place to rest.”
Grumble.
“And I’m hungry. Really, really great. I haven’t really met anything so far, so perhaps I could just rest here? Nothing else seems plausible for now, at least.”
Taking a look around, Adrian still didn’t really see anything close-by.
“Well, no time like the present, I guess. I am really hungry but can’t eat what I don’t see. And I’m not eating tree bark.” Leaning against a tree, and slowly sliding down, Adrian quickly started feeling a tad bit sleepy.
Grumble.
Adrian’s eyes shot open. That wasn’t him. And then out of nowhere, there was a roar from his side, and something quickly clamped onto his arm.
A high-pitched scream filled the forest, now that was him. Adrian, from sheer instinct, clamped his fist and smashed right at the position of whatever he thought was clamping on his arm. Right after, he opened his watery eyes, and swerved his head to catch a glimpse of his ambusher.
A small, crocodilian beast had bit onto his arm, looking like a normal baby crocodile, but with no eyes, and heavy scales protruding from its body. Surprisingly, the scales didn’t do much, or rather, looked too small to be covering its whole body.
There was a low squelch, and his ambusher quickly let go, that too after dragging its maw along his arm from the force of his punch, making Adrian leave out another scream, this time a little more low-pitched.
It wasn’t dead, though.
Slamming back onto the ground, it let out a low growl and quickly leapt for his neck. Adrian, this time having a better grasp of the situation, rolled away, quickly finding his footing, and seeing that his assailant was stuck biting the tree bark.
Finding his chance, he quickly dashed ahead and backhanded his better hand’s fist onto the crocodile thing. Another squelch, and it he felt like it was finally dead. It certainly looked like it, with an organ or two sprawled out of its mouth.
Adrian said a bad word.
“What. The. Hell. Is that?” Adrian asked, a little fear finally dawning on him.
Luckily, his mind got a better grasp of the situation instantly, and he quickly realized the threat was gone, and with it, the fear. Of the thing at least. His arm was still bleeding, but that looked better already, not too deep, he reckoned.
“Ugh, well... certainly don’t feel sleepy now. Adrenaline can be great.”
Adrian definitely knew it was going to make him even more sleepy later, but what choice did he have?
“So, baby crocodile monster things. Nice. What else awaits me on this journey of mine? Back towards the river, I guess.”
And back on the trek he went. Or, almost did. Adrian felt a slight tug on his conscience, and slowly swiveled his head to look at the direction of this tug, which he just... intrinsically knew. Spotting what he was looking for, he saw...
His blood? Focusing more on it, he could feel it even more... like it was another limb within his body, and suddenly, he tugged on it pretty hard, pulling it upwards, without even realizing that was his intention.
A drop shot up and hovered there in the air for a solid three seconds, before falling down and splattering.
“Finally, the fantasy kicks in. Like, about time, right?”
Playing with the blood a little more, Adrian started getting a hang of it, and was finally able to mold it, just a little bit.
“This... this is really damn cool” Adrian muttered to himself, lost in his awe.
His gears snapping back into place, he tried pulling the drop closer to him, and that also worked just fine.
“How could I use this, practically speaking? How about... making it a little sharper? Like a needle?”
That worked too, although Adrian finally felt a drain start hitting him, and instinctively stopped what he was doing to quickly let go of the drop of blood.
“Ok, that’s draining... in some way. Definitely usable though, will have to keep that in mind.”
And with that, he started walking back towards the river.
***
It was practically midnight at this point. Adrian could tell he was getting close, really close. A couple more minutes, and he’d be there. On his trek so far, he’d seen an increase in his encounters with the local fauna, and surprisingly, all of them were... rather amiable. Definitely not friendly looking, but not ferocious either.
His most recent encounter was with a cute black rabbit he saw poking its head out, until he saw the rest of its body crawl out, showing something like if you’d take the head and feet of a rabbit and paste it on a monitor lizard. After getting out of the shrubbery, it promptly squatted, then burst away into a tree nearby.
No sign of those crocodile things, which was always great. He really wished he knew what to call them, but to be honest, he really wished he didn’t see them again. His mind had perfected the art of ignoring unnecessary, mind-rending, anxiety-inducing thoughts. And at this point, he was only conscious of their presence, but even that was enough to perturb someone.
It was while silently mulling over his fate that he finally stepped out of the forest, and into a slightly cleared area. Looking around, he finally saw a pristine, blue surface, rushing along in front of him.
“Finally! That took so, so, so long! Now, for the next part. There has to be civilization around a water body, right? Only a question of walking up and down the place enough, I’d reckon.”
Grumble.
“Ugh... fate has other plans, it seems.”
Peeking at the river bank, where the noise had come from, Adrian could only gape at what he saw.
Two crocodile things. Two big crocodile things.
Perhaps a little larger than his height when it came to length, these beasts were probably a whole meter and a half long, and perhaps reaching till his stomach in height.
Standing in place, something he’d sorely regret later, while the beasts lumbered out of the river, Adrian formulated a plan to handle them.
No way I can kill them, right? My only means of fighting back is with my blood. Crap. My wounds basically closed now. Maybe try getting a not so serious injury from one of them? I don’t like how that sounds, but that’ll give me a source of blood at the very least.
From that, I’ll try to hurt them enough to run... wait. I literally walked all the way to get here, and now I need to turn back? These crapheads can stick their hunger up their a-”
Grumble.
That came from behind him. Adrian quickly looked back, only to see a third crocodile rush towards him from the back.
I don’t think running is viable anymore.
Quickly ducking down and rolling away, practically feeling the swoosh on top of him, Adrian narrowly dodged out of the way, only to realize he’d been surrounded.
Was that little one their child or something?! These things are smart... This doesn’t look good.
Fight back. He quickly surmised. That was the only way he had a chance of staying alive. Assuming a proper stance, derived purely from muscle memory, Adrian calmed himself down, and tried looking for a way to get a slight injury, enough to get a little blood from his system.
The beast on his right quickly started running up to him, and upon getting close, lifted its sharpened claw up and tried swiping at him. Adrian quickly ducked and took a step to avoid the blow and saw an opening to attack from his view.
Punch.
Getting beast got a decent smack to the area above its massive maw, it snarled. If Adrian had any sense of anything else at that point, he might’ve finally noticed the euphoria kicking in.
Hearing practically physical tremors from his back, Adrian quickly rolled away, only to come in front of another beast and take a strong leap upwards, with an angle away from all three. One of them – the one that had initially charged him, he guessed – went for another blow, and starting running towards where he had landed.
Time it right, try to get just a cut.
Adrian swerved to the right, as soon the beast lifted its claw, and carefully timed his hand getting in its way, slightly nicking his forearm. A curt “Tch!” later, and Adrian could feel a few dollops of blood pour out of his wound, nothing major, but enough.
Quickly grasping them, he held the dollops behind him, waiting for an opportunity.
He didn’t notice, however, that one of the beasts had disappeared.
Rumble
What’s that? Adrian looked around, and saw the two beasts in front of him, staying there and keeping their heads angled towards him.
Suddenly, the ground beneath him exploded, Adrian only able to hear a slight rumble beneath him a fraction of a second before it erupted, letting him dodge to the side. Not fully, though. The crocodile erupted practically vertically from the ground, and left a gaping wound across his back, beneath his right pectoral.
Bloody hell, that hurts. No shortage of blood at least.
Extracting the blood from his side, he realized that he heard thumps behind him, and quickly rolled to the side, powering through the pain. The beast that had burrowed and landed looked to be in a sort of daze. Capitalizing on his chance, Adrian vaulted forward, his drops following close-by, hovering behind him.
He kneed the crocodile in the chest, before willing one of his dollops of blood to sharpen, and pierce through the head of the beast. At least, that’s what he wanted to happen. The drop left a slight bruise on its head, after which it splattered, and he quickly realized it needed to be sharper... and denser.
The thing in front of him had other thoughts in mind. Coiling up like a horseshoe, it let loose and let its muscle-bound tail swerve towards Adrian. The latter, noticing it just before it was too late, went down on all fours, and only slightly rolled away to dodge the next swipe from its claw, getting a smaller wound on his shoulder.
Getting up and promptly launching himself away after realizing the other two must be closing in, he did a one-eighty mid-jump and realized again that one was missing. Adrian landed and at once started sprinting, realizing that it could be anywhere near him.
Wait.
Standing still for just a moment, Adrian quickly dodged to the side as the ground beneath him burst. This time, however, he had the advantage. Landing a solid punch on the beast’s underbelly, he willed a few dollops of his blood to merge and started sharpening it.
His run had already created some distance from the other two crocodiles, and while they were catching up, he willed the blood to sharpen until the beast landed, this time even more dazed due to its angle being shifted, leading to a messy landing.
That’s enough. Any more and I’m going to mess up.
He sent the makeshift magic needle flying toward the forehead of the beast, and after feeling some resistance, he saw it go in. The crocodile slumped at once, and Adrian could tell it was dead. A roar sounded out behind him, and Adrian quickly dodged to the right, still getting a decently sized cut on his thigh.
Letting sheer euphoria drive him, he quickly looked ahead and saw the beast turning. Vaulting forward, he landed a heavy blow to its side, feeling the impact. Extracting more blood from his wounds, he started sharpening them, but stopped midway. The ground rumbled from beneath him, and he quickly dodged to the right.
He continued sharpening, but was stalled again, when the first beast tried to gobble up a chunk of his stomach, and he had to dodge back. The burrower landed, and he again continued sharpening his blood, until finally he felt that it was enough, and sent it flying into the burrower’s skull.
Another slump. Only one left.
The beast in front of him roared and started running towards him. Adrian got ready to dodge but could feel the fatigue clawing at him. No pun intended. He only slightly missed its maw, but its right claw plunged into his oblique muscles, and ripped out the other side.
Adrian’s vision went black with pain for a chunky moment, before he came back to see the beast running towards him.
MOVE, DUMBASS.
Adrian swerved to the right, barely missing the beast’s claws. He landed a measly punch to its underbelly, enough to elicit a reaction, but nothing else. Adrian extracted more blood from his wounds, and quickly started sharpening the merged dollops.
The crocodile started staring in his direction, strange enough with it not having eyes, and then started burrowing into the ground. Within a second, it was gone.
Adrian desperately tried to move around, but abruptly, his legs gave out.
SHIT!
Putting his head down to hear the rumbling around him, Adrian tried to drag himself just a tiny bit before the ground beneath him exploded, while still sharpening his blood. He couldn't make it.
Rumble
Adrian desperately tried to claw forward, but his arms were too tired. He willed himself to do anything, just somehow make it a few more centimeters forward, at least make sure that he didn’t end up right on top of the thing’s maw. And then the ground exploded.
Adrian somehow flew off at an angle.
Feeling a heavy mental drain wash over him, but powering through it again, he saw the beast flying beside him, and even though the corners of his vision were completely black, sent his still sharpening needle into the beast’s skull, willing it to sharpen faster. Right as it reached the beast’s skull, he felt it pierce deep inside, and saw the beast’s body loosen midair.
Adrian felt the euphoria wash over him again while falling down now. He hit the ground with a heavy thud –definitely breaking something– barely holding on to his consciousness. He gazed across the now pockmarked area, and after seeing all three crocodiles dead, fell deep asleep.