Gasping for air, Aaron shot up from the ground and started to feel around his body to make sure he wasn’t hurt at all. After a few seconds of panicked breathing and frisking himself, he slowly calmed down his breathing and looked around, getting a grasp on the reality he was in.
The sun seemed to be just rising over the treeline, blinding him as he looked at it on accident and causing him to block out the light with his hand. He still remained in the same clearing that he was in before and by looking at the smoldering fire with a little bit of cinders sparkling inside of it, everything seemed to be as he left it.
Breathing out a sigh of relief, he picked up a few sticks and placed them on the fire, making sure it didn’t die out. After this was done, he finally sat down and got to the elephant in the room.
‘I have a question Trishta’ he thought, hoping that she would give him a straight answer instead of beating around the bush and trying to be vague.
[Ask away, I have nothing better to do anyways, your head is really empty you know?]
Completely ignoring the rude remark, he went straight to the point, “Did you have a brother?”
[Well yes, I thought that was a given with the whole ‘Twin’ thing and all but I understand, some people are a little slower than others.]
He began to recall all the events he saw in his dreams as the images of what happened came back to his head, Trishta crying, her brother dying, and his last words about how he will return. The events were still fresh in his mind, not being able to forget any of the things that occurred in it unlike normal dreams where you forget most of it the moment you wake up.
[...It is going a little faster than I thought it would go…]
“What does that even mean? If this is concerning myself then I would rather know something than not!” He was really starting to get annoyed by her, and justly too. All she has been doing is just giving him snarky replies while he is actually trying to survive and live through this world he found himself in.
[Give it time, I did say it is going faster than I previously thought so I mean it. I’m done talking to you for now.]
“Don’t give me that, just tell me already!” Giving up on trying to force the answer out of her, he began to plead to her just wanting to know something. Though it was all for not as she ignored his pleas and went back to her own isolation inside his head.
Clicking his tongue and putting this discussion off for another day, he decided to try to do some testing of how the skills worked in the system. He did a real quick stretch to prepare to start running and after five minutes, he began.
At first he jogged around the edge of the clearing, trying his best to unlock some sort of skill but when nothing popped up, he decided to full on sprint with all his power. He could feel himself being faster than he was before, not being too active before he came to this world but it seemed that the skill levels he gained, especially Agility, seemed to have improved his speed by a decent amount.
Beginning to breath heavily after ten minutes of intense running, he finally got what he had been working towards, making him stop in his tracks and bend over while trying to catch his breath.
Skill Received! Sprinting: Lessens the amount of Stamina used while running, allowing one to run further distances. Stamina consumption lessons with each level.
He pat himself on the back when he received that notification, being proud of himself for accomplishing something other than getting bitten by a wolf and nearly dying. He walked over towards the pond and cupped some water into his mouth, allowing himself to feel rejuvenated as the liquid poured down his throat.
Name: Aaron Cyprus/???
Level: 3 (200/300)
Race: Akrian
Ideology: The Twin
Class: Shadow Weaver
Health: 45/45
Stamina: 61/75
Mana: 80/80
Strength(STR): 9
Vitality(VIT): 12
Endurance(END): 10
Spirit(SPI): 13
Intelligence(INT): 17
Agility(AGI): 17
Perception(PER): 10
Charisma(CHA): 14
Skills: Shadow Control(C)(1), The Twin’s Gift(L)(3), Pain Resistance(C)(4), Identify(C)(1), Survival Skills(C)(1), Sprinting(C)(1)
Titles: Underdog, Underdog II, Survivor
Stat Points: 0
Looking through his Status, he felt pretty good about himself and his attributes, seeming to be pretty well built but after looking at his name, his eyes opened wide! What does it mean by ???, my name is definitely Aaron… is accounting for Trishta? Staring at it for a little longer, he decided to just brush it off for the moment as there were countless more important things that needed to occupy his head at the moment.
Waiting for another few minutes until his Stamina was back at full, he decided to start sprinting again trying to get as many levels as possible.
*****
Sprinting(6)(C): Lessens the amount of Stamina used while running, allowing one to run further distances. Stamina consumption lessons with each level.
Endurance +1
Looking up at the sky with a hand covering the bright midday sun, he started to smile as he finally was able to prove his last theory. Not enough though… I should test out my shadow control skill, it might work wonders, thinking of this, he began to think back on the skill, trying to gain some knowledge on it just like the Cooking and Survival skills that he acquired.
Putting out his hand, he looked at the shadows produced by the trees in the densely knit forest and began to imagine the shadows moving while his finger wiggled, making him stop for a moment due to how ridiculous he must look while doing it. Though after realizing that Trishta had yet to talk since their last conversation so he considered himself in the clear from the scrutiny that she brought with her.
Beginning to wiggle his fingers again, he suddenly felt a feeling in his chest, almost as if it were filled with a nondescript gas of sorts, which made him panic a little but not enough to stop what he was trying to do.
Bringing the knowledge from the skill to light, he began to move the gaseous substance from his chest to his arm. Then after this was achieved, he moved it to his hands, and began to push it per say. His initial push didn’t seem to do anything, only building up a pressure in his hand and so he pushed even harder, trying to push it out of his body.
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Shoving the energy out his hand, he felt like something was wrong and tried to stop the action. Though it was too late as the build up that he caused breached past his hand and shot out, blasting through his skin and hitting a tree in the distance.
Pain Resistance +1
You are bleeding! You will slowly lose health until you fix the injury!
“FUCK!” He yelled as his hand began to pour blood onto the floor from the mana he let out of his body. Hand shaking, he grabbed the Felly’s Herbs and put some in his mouth and began to chew quickly, trying to fix his hand. His hand slowly healed as the bleeding slowed down. Putting a little bit more of the herbs into his mouth and swallowing them, his hand healed more and after a minute, it slowly returned to normal.
He calmed down a little and looked at the tree where his rogue mana landed. Upon the impact of the mana, it seemed to have shot through the tree, hitting the one behind it and dissipating by the looks of it. Lifting his hand to his face, he looked at it in awe due to the sheer fire power of it and smiled to himself, feeling all giddy that he could do all that damage. Though it didn’t take long before he frowned as he thought about failing to actually use his skill. Putting some Trillians in his mouth and swallowing he again did what he did before though he was interrupted by an annoying voice in his head.
[Are you stupid? Just activate the skill instead of trying to kill yourself by mana exhaustion!]
‘What do you mean by that?’ He replied with curiosity, he really thought what he was doing was the correct thing but apparently to her, he definitely was doing it wrong, and based on her previous history she hasn’t been wrong whenever she actually gave him a genuine response.
[Just activate the skill! Stop using preconceptions about how you think mana works to try to use a skill, that’s not how skills work in this world!]
Gaping his mouth due to his own stupidity, he thought about the skill Shadow Control and when he thought about it activating, he could feel something in his body click. Giving it a try, he looked at a shadow and almost willed it to move and in response, it did!
‘...thanks and I guess that was a little stupid of me.’ He thanked her meak voice because he really didn’t want to thank the she-devil in his head but he did feel that it was needed in this situation. On top of that, he had to admit that he was stupid!
[You are welcome %&*@^*@]
The Twin’s Gift +1
Upon seeing the jumbled up letters and then the level up in the skill he got from her, he opened his eyes, ‘What happened to the end of your message.’ He inquired but after a minute of no reply, he gave up on trying to find an answer, knowing that if she didn’t want to give an answer she really wouldn’t.
Time to test out the limits of this skill I guess… he thought to himself before finally decided to immerse himself in trial and experiment to figure out his strengths to better prepare himself for the future and the battles he may have to face.
*****
After two grueling hours of moving shadows, testing his limits, and eating Trillians, he finally got a handle on his skill. It seemed that with the skill, he is able to move shadows, shift the amount of light it blocks to a certain extent, and grab something that weighs less than one kilogram. The skill all in all seemed to be about stealth. Being able to move shadows to allow someone to blend in with the darkness better, make shadows a darker or lighter shade to more fit the person trying to sneak, and a way to pick up something from a long distance away without having to actually walk up and grab it.
Though the skill did have some down sides, such as the longer the caster was from the shadow they were trying to control, it would use a larger amount of mana to compensate for it. Another limitation of course was the size of the shadow or the amount of shadows that one tried to control. When trying to control too much at once, it would give him a head splitting headache and make him stop everything he was doing just to deal with it. Size was just a matter of mana consumption though, so as long as he improved his skill level and mana capacity, all of these issues would be able to be dealt with.
Wiping the perspiration on his forehead, he looked back at the forest and let out a deep breath. All of this testing was leading up to one thing and that would be going into the unknown!
Even though he was safe in the clearing, that most likely wouldn’t stay true forever and he needed to start exploring outwards to hopefully find some semblance of civilization. Even though he had someone to talk to, this someone was in his head and had a really bad habit of going silent for a long time and degraded him like it was nothing.
Looking at the sun, he saw that the position was around two in the afternoon, giving him around four hours before he would have to come back. Though he could be wrong because his knowledge was just based on what he remembered about on Earth but this world could have a completely different way of day and light cycles.
Once he got everything he would need for his trek, including the plants that he collected, he walked into the forest quietly and began to push through it. Walking as stealthily as someone could without a skill in it, he slowly walked passed different trees, keeping up his inspect skill as he pushed through it in hopes of finding any new plants he hadn’t seen yet.
Identify +1
Well that was fast… he thought to himself as he carefully pushed past the thorny bush that he last identified and tried to not get pricked by it as to avoid any unnecessary damage. Continuing deeper and deeper into the forest, he began to pay more and more attention to his surroundings, knowing that a sneak attack from a monster could spell the end of him, so when he saw a bush move and the sound of movement, he stopped dead in his tracks. After a minute of looking at the bush in utter silence, he saw what looked like a skunk with super long claws out from the bush with its eyes slowly darting back and forth between the trees around him as he repeatedly sniffed the air.
Name: Drevier
Level: ???
Description: Native to the Felgrab Forest. It is known as a predator and even though it is smaller than other animals, it’s fierce claws allow it to tear through flesh with ease and will target anything that it deems as weaker than itself.
Using his Shadow Control ability, the shadow of the tree next to him slowly got darker as to trick the eyes of the predator he happened his way across. His breathing started to slow down as he forced himself to try to make as little noise as possible as to not alert it and sat there, watching it carefully as to make sure that he would know if he got noticed.
It’s eyes suddenly shifted to his direction, causing him to panic but he caught himself before he did anything rash and calmed himself down. The creature slowly walked in his direction, still sniffing in the air like it was trying to find something. It kept stepping forward until it reached just in front of him as it stopped moving again and just stood there motionless.
After a few moments, something scurried out of the bush next to him and the devrier instantly lunged at it, grabbing it with its sharp claws.
Skill Achieved! Stealth: Sometimes the best way to fight is to not fight at all and instead hide. While the skill is active, you use more stamina while moving. Every level makes it easier to move while in stealth and increases the proficiency.
Activating it immediately, he slunk down in the shadows even more while watching as the creature started to shove the rodent that it caught into its move. It was a horribly gorey scene but he couldn’t even turn his head away from it in fear of the drevier seeing him. So he sat there, holding back the urge to gag as the monster tore at the rodent like it was nothing.
Should I try to attack it while it's distracted? Looking at the creature, he went through what would happen if he decided to try to attack it. It's now or never I guess… Finally coming to a decision he slowly picked up a sharp stick he noticed a while ago and moved slowly as to keep his stealth. Watching his stamina drain due to his stealth skill, he began to pace himself accordingly to make sure he would be able to keep up the skill until the moment he struck. Including the shadows he was moving to give a boost to his stealth, he didn’t have much time before he would run out of steam.
Stealth +1
He inched his way forward until he reached within striking distance of it and preparing himself to strike, he brought his hand up and aimed for the central mass of it to make sure he killed it in one blow. If the monster didn’t die in one hit and counterattacked him, he would most likely die in the exchange. Those sharp claws that it had really worried him because he knew if that thing even slightly touched him it would definitely draw blood from them.
Stealth +1
Breathing in a slight breath, he propelled his hand forward that held the stick, and it quickly went to where the drevier was sitting while enjoying its meal. To his surprise, the creature seemed to not have noticed him at all and just kept digging into the rodent in its clutches.
Thunk! The stick he had in his hand entered into the monster's chest as a crunch was heard upon the impact. Aaron just ignored it as his stick plunged deeper and deeper into the drevier, pushing past its bones, muscles, and tissues. The monster began to squirm as the stick pierced further and further into it. All it’s attempts were futile though as the stick finally reached its mark and blood gushed out of the wound. In a final attempt to hold onto its life, it flung one of its claws toward Aaron’s hand that was holding the stick and grazed it slightly.
Feeling his own hot blood begin to drip from his hand, he pushed the stick even harder into it and finally the monster began to slow as more and more blood poured out of the wound and now its mouth. Giving one final breath, its struggle finally ended and it stopped moving.
Stealth +1
Skill Achieved! Sneak Attack: Deals an attack while being hidden from the target. This attack does more damage than it would normally but it costs more stamina to use it. The amount of damage dealt will increase with each level.
Monster has been slain! Calculating experience… Monster’s level was 20 levels higher than you, +200 experience, first time slaying bonus acquired, +200 experience! Total of 400 Experience!
Level Up!