Stalking his prey, Lucas reminisced about the first time he went hunting with George and his crew. It took them ages to prepare for the battle against a single beast—hours just to craft the weapons. There was even a long-range fighter, and Lucas carried his axe, anticipating the possibility that the beast might surprise them, rendering the other’s spears ineffective.

Now, he observed the clash of two beasts closely from atop a tree. One resembled an odd mixture between a wolf and a hyena, with threatening numerous teeth as it attempted to bite the tiger-looking beast it faced. They had been engaged in combat for a good ten minutes, covering a few miles in their pursuit.

Having spent two weeks in the woods solely hunting, eating and sleeping, Lucas had learned that observing beasts in battle was an effective way to understand their movements before facing them. Watching them fight provided insights into how they reacted to various attacks and which muscles tensed up before each move, making it easier to predict and evade. Since he was alone, he had to utilize every hunting tactic to his advantage, he was still a beginner in this field after all.

This encounter between the two level 12 beasts was no lucky encounter. Lucas had spotted both of them a few yards away from each other and used a few pebbles to make them meet. It was only natural for them to start fighting, being territorial beasts like the majority in those woods.

This is a good show, Lucas thought. But soon I’ll have to make my appearance, he smiled. He had no confidence when it came to aura control, magic and many other things that this world had yet to show him, but he had learned to be confident when hunting, even with his body that could break at any minute. If he doubted himself in the middle of a fight, it would only put him in even more danger, because in a life-and-death battle every millisecond counts; there was no room for hesitation.

Lucas had prepared for this moment. He had already eaten; hunting the smaller fish was no problem now. He had made another spear, even though a bow would be better; he was not yet ready to surrender to the bow, despite its clear advantages. His axe was sharp and he had even selected foes that didn’t have a shell; otherwise his weapons would be useless.

Even with all his preparations, he still knew he was being a little reckless, wanting to face two higher leveled foes at the same time, all by himself. But he couldn’t help it; in the last days, he began to enjoy the thrill of the battles, and some time had passed before he met any real danger.

Looking down, he saw that the tiger-looking beast was taking the upper hand with its fast speed and reflexes, but its attacks caused less damage than the bites from the other. Lucas was extremely focused now. When he saw the cat jump for a grand attack, his spear left his hand.

Before the spear even hit its target, he was already climbing down, directly jumping the last part, making use of his 2 points in Toughness. It probably still wasn’t enough for him to jump from all the way up, but two feet was okay, and it made the descent faster. When he reached the ground, two enraged beasts were looking at him with surprise on their faces.

Tereon — Lvl 12

The tiger looked at him angrily after having snapped the spear in its body, leaving only a small piece sticking from its hide, pretty close to one of the legs.

Sarchus — Lvl 12

The other beast seemed to have momentarily forgotten about the Tereon. Lucas had a feeling that it was within its nature to avoid fighting beasts on the same level and that it prefers to prey on the weak. That would explain its sudden interest in him. Lucas waited at the foot of the tree, holding his axe. A smile crept up on his face. The Tereon was the first to move; its anger was palpable, but its speed had also decreased due to the spear Lucas had thrown at it.

He knew the tiger-looking one would be the most troublesome for the simple fact that it was faster than him. His thought process behind which one would get his surprise attack took that into consideration; the strength wasn’t really an issue as he wasn’t planning on getting hit, so he discarded hitting the Sarchus first. However, speed could prove fatal, and the spear had the desired effect of slowing his enemy down, so the Tereon was the obvious choice.

He saw the Tereon’s hind legs tense up as it prepared to jump and he dodge to the right, sending his axe to his left. The axe hit the wounded beast that was sent a couple of feet away.

Lucas had no time to celebrate as the Sarchus approached. It wasn’t a jumping kind of beast; it just charged. Lucas jumped towards the tree, pushed his legs against the wood, and came back, passing over the rampant beast that caught by surprise, didn’t had time to stop and crashed into the tree.

He had expected this attack, so he was prepared, however, the beast didn’t seem the least bit injured by the headfirst charge it into the tree, proving the hardness of its bones, and it faced him again, growling. The Tereon was already back up, despite a grievous wound that was dripping blood on its side.

Lucas didn’t wait for them this time around; he ran. He knew he couldn’t outrun them, so he went straight to the tree closest to him and climbed really fast. He was practically a monkey by this point. The Tereon quickly followed him, with the Sarchus looking helpless down below, only able to growl with rage.

The Tereon climbed faster than expected after him, and with this, Lucas had no time to put into action the plan he had made seconds ago. He didn’t know what to do, so he kept on climbing until the situation became even more desperate; there wasn’t much tree left, and the climbing abilities of the tiger beast were out of the ordinary.

He racked his brain with plans until he ran into some wild idea. Could he use his aura during a battle? He had never thought of that before; he barely knew anything about it, but he knew one thing: the death aura was good to keep beasts away.

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A moment of hesitation was all he needed, but he would have to get close in order to reach the beast. Once he decided, he acted; he pretended he was slowing down because he was getting tired, and the beast approached. As it was almost ready to bite him, he released his death aura; the beast stopped immediately, but Lucas didn’t. He couldn’t use the aura while moving yet, but that second of hesitation was all he needed.

Lucas jumped to the back of the Tereon; the beast tried to shake him off, but it was too late. He firmly gripped the fur, and his axe hit the neck of the creature, making blood gush out. It didn’t die immediately, but it had to cling to the tree to keep itself from falling, so there was nothing it could do when the second hit came.

*You have killed Tereon – lvl 12. Experience earned.*

Lucas jumped off the beast and onto a branch the next instant, letting it fall to the ground, much to the Sarchus surprise. Lucas couldn’t contain his excitement. For the first time, he had used something supernatural in a fight, and the effects spoke for themselves.

Previously, his plan was to end this battle quickly, but now, as he looked at the Sarchus still waiting for him at the foot of the tree, he had other ideas. This is a good opportunity to practice, he thought.

He climbed down, jumping over the Sarchus again and waiting for him. When the creature was about to arrive, Lucas death aura emanated outside his body again, and the beast froze. This time, however, Lucas didn’t strike; he wanted to test the limits of this aura. 1, 2, 3 seconds. The beast seemed to consider if it should retreat; after two more seconds, it decided that Lucas wasn’t so threatening despite the aura; it could still feel his level, after all.

However, as it came to attack again, Lucas noticed that it didn’t give its all. He had seen the Sarchus attack previously; he knew its strength and speed. But, now the beast seemed almost injured. This time, Lucas decided to attack; the axe hit the back of the beast, but it wasn’t a fatal injury. The Sarchus hide was way stronger than the Tereon’s.

Nonetheless, what followed next was akin to an adult playing with a child, with the beast limited by an innate fear of his aura every time he stopped enough to emanate it; the whole fight became a mere formality, the winner was already decided, and Lucas took this remaining time to learn the best ways to apply his newfound power.

*You have killed Sarchus – lvl 12. Experience earned.*

A battle that was supposed to be a challenge became easy with his new methods, but he wasn’t disappointed. He stopped to look at his status after finishing off the beast and noticed he had gained a level:

Status:

Lvl: 10*

Name: Lucas Romano

Race: Human

Class: N/A

Health Points (HP): 230/260

Mana Points (MP): 200/200

Stamina: 160/180

Stats:

Strength: 17

Agility: 21

Toughness: 2*

Perception: 15

Vitality: 16*

Magic: 6

Distributable points: 3

The first thing he saw was the asterisk next to his level, and a slightly faded tone on it too. That left him slightly concerned. If that meant what he thought it meant, then he was capped out. In this last fight, he had killed two higher-leveled beasts than him but only received a single level, and then the asterisk next to his level appeared; that couldn’t be a coincidence.

But why? Did I level up too fast? No, that can’t be it, it doesn’t make sense… He could hunt a few more beasts just to be sure, but he didn’t want to divert his thoughts from his death aura, so he let it be for now.

The next thing he laid eyes on was his Health Points. They were lower than he expected. But I didn’t even get hurt… is it the aura?

Fortunately, this was an easy thing to test. And five minutes later, he got his confirmation: the aura would eat away at his Health Points with the passing of time. He didn’t know if there were variations in the speed of consumption when doing different things, but he would soon find out.

He wasn’t going to complain, however, as he found this fight much easier with the use of his recently found death aura, and it seemed like a fair trade: a few Health Points in exchange for a great intimidation power. However, it did make him wonder why he hadn’t received any skills from his aura training.

Previously, he had received an ability for just trying to clean an animal, and now, even after hours of training, nothing. Is it because I’m still too bad at it?, he wondered. To him, what he did was impressive, but maybe it was just the most basic level of whatever that was.

Wanting to test this theory, he decided to figure out how to distribute his points later, and started looking for ways to improve this skill. The first thing that came to mind was being able to use the aura while moving; he only needed to be careful not to lose too many Health Points. He wiped the blood from his axe and prepared; he knew it would take a while.

…

Two hours later, Lucas was finally able to use the aura while walking, even if very slowly, but that wasn’t enough to gain any skill to his disappointment. He fell to the ground exhausted. He had no idea walking could be this tiring; sweat was dripping from his body.

The concentration and sheer will needed to accomplish this feat were no small amount, but he wasn’t discouraged; on the contrary, he was glad that it could be done because it told him it was only a matter of time and practice. However, he noticed that the Vitality consumption had increased while moving—not by much, but he needed to keep an eye on it to not run out.

“All right,” he said, standing up thirty minutes later. “Now, it’s time for a stroll.”

He started running, and three seconds later, the aura was gone again. He clenched his teeth, and started running again, then stopped, then started again…

Two days later, a man running at full speed with a smile on his face could be seen in those woods, but no creature dared to approach him. These last days were spent in devilish training; it had required every ounce of will in his body, but it had paid off. He hadn’t received a skill yet, but now he felt that he was edging closer and closer to it.

He was looking for something that could challenge him. Something that wouldn’t freeze immediately after sensing his aura. And he found exactly what he was looking for when he entered an area that looked like a swamp with a lake in the middle. Out of the lake came, together with a very disturbing sound; one of the weirdest creatures he had ever seen.

Vodyanoy — Lvl 15

If he had to compare it to something, it would be a hybrid between a human and a frog; on his face he could even see something resembling a white beard, and black scales covered his whole body. The most frightening thing, however, was the look on its face, not one he would expect to see in a beast: it was intelligence.

Lucas wasn’t sure what to do. Despite looking for a challenge, he didn’t think he could provoke an intelligent being just for something so silly as that. However, as he stood there thinking, the creature jumped towards him, its claws penetrating his shoulder before he could fully dodge.

Lucas didn’t even had time to curse; the thing was coming at him again. This time, as he dodged, he left the axe protecting his shoulder, but that didn’t seem to be a problem for the frog man, as it moved behind him in a second and slashed his claws this time at his back.

“Ahhh!” Lucas yelled in pain. The monster went for the second consecutive attack when Lucas remembered his trump card. The aura was released, and the frog-man froze. Lucas took this time to move away, but he was surprised once again when seconds after the creature followed him, giving him no time to breathe.

This is going to be hard.