Curled within the ashes of the Deadwood Tigress, I woke. And was greeted by the most brilliant sight of pinks and oranges and yellows and blues. Never had I ever seen the dawn sky as such a beauty.
When I rose, ash fell from my hair and my skin. I shook it a few times to rid myself of what remained. Frost decorated the blades of grass, dead and alive alike, within this small clearing. Perhaps it was early spring. I had no way to confirm.
I stood there, naked yet somehow not cold. I was in full health, with no indication that I had ever been close to dying the night before, save for the scarring on my arm and upper back. They were faded as if they had long been healed, but the skin was raised in such way that announced just how deep those wounds had been.
I shivered as I recalled the moments they had been given to me. The Tigress, however, was no more. And I had become stronger at her death. Not only had this increased strength been quantified in the form of that itch in the corner of my mind, but also, I felt it.
And the tigress I consumed last night, her presence was still here within me. Perhaps, she now floated in that void-like place, but contained within my physical body.
I stretched my bare limbs out, reveling in my newfound control. With my eyes, I scanned the edges of this clearing. It was unusually quiet. The humming insects from the previous night were silent, and the little creatures you would find in any forest were absent.
I was fearful still. I did not know what I would do if another predator like the tigress came. Then, one glance at the blackened circle beneath my feet reminded me of my single defense mechanism.
My blood. I did not know what to make of it.
If I had learned anything from the screams of tigress and from the decomposed plants, it was that contact with my blood was instantly fatal. I had never seen such a horrific phenomenon. Then again, within this empty template of a human mind, the only blood I knew was red and did not do such things.
I would have spent more time pondering. However, a fog that I now recognized rolled over my thoughts once more. I understood nothing of this hunger, save for the necessity of relieving myself of it. I could not think clearly, and my body moved as if of its own volition.
However, there was nothing nearby, nothing substantial at least.
Clumsily, loudly, I stumbled to the edge of the clearing and began making my way through the thick underbrush there. Obstructions in the form of uneven ground, prickly burrs, thorns, and rough leaves cut through my skin.
>> DAMAGE TAKEN
>> HP [ - 2 ]
>> HP: 88 / 90
Still, I persisted. The fog greatly overshadowed those stinging scratches.
>> DAMAGE TAKEN
>> HP [ - 3 ]
>> HP: 85 / 90
One of my feet landed on a small hard rock, and then the other caught onto a thin vine. All at once, I lost my balance, careening into a very lush bush. Its foliage cushioned my fall well, and I suffered no damage.
Then suddenly, as sharp as those claws had raked into my back the night before, clarity cut through the fog. There was something I could eat here.
The bush.
My gaze never drifted from the empty sky directly above me, as I grasped for then devoured the bush. Gradually, the verdant green that embraced my body wilted and darkened.
As I slowly drifted downwards and away from that pale blue color, I realized that gap in the forest canopy had been the reason for this plant’s success. The direct sunlight gave it an advantage over all the others.
>> STAT GAIN
>> INT [ + 1 ]
>> INT: 8
Again, there was ash in my hair. Where there once was a thriving green, now there was dead ground. The bush now only existed within me, like the tigress.
The fog had cleared, as well as the minor scrapes on my body.
>> HP: 90 / 90
As I lay there, in complete health, I decided that I wanted to live. And I wanted to do so in peace and comfort.
I did not like the pain brought to me in the attack that occurred just moments after I woke. Even a bush could deal damage to me fairly easily. I did not know what else in this forest would hurt me.
It might have been the increase in intelligence, along with the clarity of mind once again that drove me more to realize two new objectives.
One. I needed to find a safe shelter.
Two. I needed to find a constant source of food.
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Even if I found shelter, how could I guarantee its continued safety? As for a constant source of food, that likely meant exposing myself to potential unknown dangers on a regular basis.
I realized one last objective.
Three. I needed to become stronger.
>> STAT GAIN
>> INT [ + 1 ]
>> INT: 9
The death of the tigress from the previous night saw an overall increase in my strength, quantified in the form of stats, levels, and skill gains. These constant INT gains, as well the skill gain in Physical Prowess, seemed to stem from fulfilling specific requirements through my actions.
However, the action that delivered me the quickest and greatest net gain was… the defeat of the significantly stronger predator. It was that bizarre toxic characteristic of my blood that saved me then. It would be my strongest asset, at least for now.
I could not have my peace and comfort if I lived in constant fear.
I rose to my feet and brushed the clinging ashes off my skin.
Then I set out with purpose, in search of shelter and also of more predators to make me strong.
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It hurt when their sharp teeth broke through my skin. But I endured it so that they could taste my blood and die.
Their screams had not become any easier to hear. It was the clear sound of suffering until the end. Soon, I might want to find quicker and more painless ways to defeat the other predators.
>> DEFEATED Deadwood Wolf [Lv. 3]
>> DEFEATED Deadwood Wolf [Lv. 2]
>> DEFEATED Deadwood Wolf [Lv. 3]
>> INFLICTED RAGE on Deadwood Wolf [Lv. 5]
>> INFLICTED TERROR on Deadwood Wolf [Lv. 2]
On witnessing the writhing and crying of his allies, one of the last two surviving predators cowered then fled. The other…
Her snarls grew in volume and in viciousness, reverberating unnaturally within her ears and throughout her entire body. The Deadwood Wolf stood directly between her and a sort of structure, made of an arrangement of large stones and hardened dirt.
It was an entrance of some sort, and this predator refused to move from it.
My breaths came out heavily and visibly in the cold air. My body suffered multiple lacerations throughout, at an ankle, a shoulder, and one dangerously close to the back of my neck.
>> HP: 54 / 90
While the creatures that dealt them to me no longer lived, I still bled. The adrenaline was the main thing that kept me from dizziness. That and the distracting itch in the corner of my mind – LEVEL GAIN, STAT GAIN, SKILL GAIN…
I shook my head in my effort to ignore it, but that only disoriented me more. Fortunately, the wolf before me, though evidently hostile, learned from her fallen comrades. She made no attempt to attack.
She was only a cornered animal now. Intelligent enough to keep her distance but apparently not enough to flee. She remained firmly at front of the structure. I was curious as to why.
I took a few swaying steps forward, and in response, the wolf’s fur bristled even more. Her snarls increased further in volume.
>> INFLICTED TERROR on Deadwood Wolf [Lv. 5]
I now stood only a few paces away from the wolf, whose rage and fear were now palpable. However, she still did not move, even as I trailed death behind me. I could see in her intelligent eyes that she understood what would happen if she did not yield.
A wave of dizziness had me stumbling to my knees. In my peripheral vision, the wolf flinched backwards to avoid the few drops of blood that flew in her direction.
With one hand, I curled my fingers around a dying weed. With the other, I reached out and grasped the fur of one of the fallen wolves.
As he turned to ash and my wounds knitted themselves back together, the enraged snarls of the wolf quieted. Strength and clarity returned to me. I looked up to see the predator, now subdued.
Her eyes were wide, fur still bristled, but her teeth no longer bared. I wondered what was going through her mind. Then, from within the structure, the quiet cries and whimpers of young creatures reached my ears.
It was a den.
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RACE Fleeting Spirit LEVEL 5
HP 120 / 120 MP 40 / 40
CON 9 DEF 7 STR 8 AGI 13 INT 13 WIS 8
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ATTRIBUTES Keen | Toxic
SKILLS Physical Prowess ( Lv. 3 )
TITLES The First Of Its Kind