“How the hell am I supposed to unlock my status if you don’t give me any directions?!” I shouted in the air.

I spent the past few minutes trying multiple verbal and mental commands to unlock the status screen but nothing worked.

If it wasn’t for the fact my subconscious was part of me, I’d probably punch it square in the jaw or something.

Well for now I should do something besides stand around in the middle of nowhere. Maybe if I go for a nice job or something I’d wake up. The real question is what direction should I head? I looked at the sun briefly and decided I’d follow it until I woke up.

As I stepped into the forest, a bunch of noise suddenly rushed into existence. Birds, insects, and the whole nine yards of what you’d expect from a forest. I rested my new weapon on my shoulder as I explored.

I felt comfortable. I was warm and there wasn’t anything out of place here. At least it was like that for a few moments before I stumbled into another clearing.

This time I wasn’t alone.

A dark green deer was standing in the center of the clearing. It had a puff of brown hair on its chest and sharp brown antlers with some sort of yellow substance covering its surface. However, it wasn’t the deer that made me pause and stare…it was the corpse beneath it.

It looked like some sort of brown-furred wolf that was currently being devoured by the carnivorous deer. If the red stains covering its mouth or the pool of blood at its feet weren’t indication enough, clearly I was interrupting a fresh meal.

The deer raised its head and turned to face me before showing off a set of sharp teeth that smiled at me menacingly. There was no chance I could outrun that deer, its powerful legs dug through the earth as it got ready to charge.

Also luckily for me, this was all a dream so it didn’t matter how injured I became. Still, I didn’t want to test how my subconscious would produce the sensation of being stabbed to death so I got into a typical batter pose.

The deer huffed and it puffed before it pointed its antlers at me and charged. Striking head first would be dumb so I rolled out the way…or at least I tried to but I only ended up eating dirt and grass. Literally.

I gagged as I tried to return my focus to the fight, and the deer was already getting ready to skewer me with its antlers. I barely managed to dive out of the way of another charge and felt my stamina draining with each passing second.

I wouldn’t last long like this. I needed to do something different. The next time the deer charged at me instead of diving, I crouched real low and used all my strength to push forward while holding my bat sideways like a shield.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Although I managed to push the deer back, one of its antlers grazed me while it recoiled back. Shit, it was sharper than I thought. How can an antler even do that?

The deer briskly got back and stared at me with such hatred that it made me consider that I was the bad guy here.

“Hey, you attacked me, buddy!” I shouted at the deer, who replied with a more aggressive charge.

This time it went even faster and I only managed to dodge because I tripped on my feet. A large gash was left across my chest ruining my white t-shirt as I crashed into the floor back first.

Fuck. That hurt.

The deer haughtily stood above me and got back on its hind legs, kicking both front legs in the air like it was swimming.

Was it taunting me or getting ready to strike? Screw this. I remembered my skill Strong Strike and thought about using the skill like the status.

A dull light covered my bat as I swiped it at the deer, slamming into the deer’s chests like a hammer on a nail. The sound of bone cracking thundered in my ears, and the deer flew a few feet away before falling on the ground.

I gingerly got up and brought a quick hand to cover my chest, the sensation stinging from what I thought was dirt but the substance secreted from the deer’s antlers. I don’t know why this dream wanted me to murder this random forest creature, but both my dream and the deer screwed with the wrong guy.

I neared the deer as it weakly moaned out. It was still alive but barely. I saw it eye me as I approached and it started huffing more aggressively before it tried to stand up again.

The grip on my bat tightened as I swung on the deer again. And again. And again. Although my Strong Strike was able to deal more than enough damage, it took more effort for me to do some real damage with my normal attacks.

Eventually, it died but it took a lot of energy. I was exhausted but before I got a chance to breathe, blue screens came across my vision again.

Congratulations!

You have slain ???

You have completed a Quest!

You have unlocked your status screen.

Like last time after I fully read their contents, the screens went away of their own accord.

I summoned my status into existence and was quickly disappointed.

Status

Name – Connor Bishop

Class – Fighter

Skills – Strong Strike.

Great. I became some sort of crazed butcher for no reason. This system is nothing like the stuff I'd see in web novels.

As the adrenaline left my system, I became increasingly tired. The stinging on my chest wound seemed constantly irritate me and I started moving sluggishly. Was that sticky liquid on the antler's poison?

Using all my strength I managed to move behind some foliage and sat down against a random tree. I could only grit my teeth and close my eyes in an attempt to ignore the pain but found it difficult. My thoughts were getting increasingly muddled, I could barely focus on making sure I stayed safe. I tried to open my eyes but the world started spinning as soon as I did that, so I returned to the safety of my own darkness.

Was this really a dream anymore?

No more quests…just wake me up, please…