WHOOSH SCHLICK
An arrow burst through the Feral Wolfs neck, it’s momentum carrying it back, away from Aaron.
Yet rather than shy away with relief Aaron’s mind was filled with rage. He had realised something.
He had died.
The memory flashed in his mind once more.
The headlights.
The unimaginable pain.
But now, he truly felt something. After so many years of wallowing in his own sorrow and doing nothing with himself he had finally gotten what he was waiting for all this time.
It hadn’t come in the form that he had expected, it wasn’t a hand that could help him out of the hell hole his life had become.
It was a spark.
Realisation.
One that could only be caused by one thing.
Death.
Only in death could you realise just how beautiful, precious and fulfilling life is.
He had died.
There was no other way around it. His body, or what was left of it was completely crushed, no way to even discern any of his organs. It was all just tissue, viscera and blood.
All but his head.
The fates hadn’t been kind to Aaron Wolf.
His head and in it his mind had lived for 3 seconds after the impact.
--
When people talk about hell, they imagine an existence of never-ending and impossible to grasp concept of pain. A torture only reserved for the most wicked of souls. Something that would end a mere mortal with just a fragment of it’s power.
Aaron’s predicament had caused a warp, his mind that refused to die was taken. Some might call it a rip in space-time a dimensional rift, but all it was to Aaron was…
Pain.
--
“AAAH!” A roar left Aaron’s tired lungs. Just like the wolf had jumped at him he now jumped at the wolf. His weak arms started wailing down on the barely moving body of the dying Feral Wolf. His bones brittle, his skin ripping. Yet he didn’t stop. He kept going for what felt minutes.
PING
-Killed : Feral Wolf - Lvl 4 Contribution 34.7%-
PING
-Level Up-
-Advanced to Lvl 1-
Aaron collapsed in a heap, completely spent.
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PING
-Skill learned: Strike I (common)-
-Skill learned: Block I (common)-
-Skill learned: Meditate (common)-
“Cough… Cough… what the hell is this…” Aaron’s exhausted voice filled the clearing.
“That’ld be te system ya just unlocked me friend” Aaron turned abruptly looking in the direction of the voice.
--
Stanislaw was getting old. Well at least in terms of his village, but don’t tell him that, won’t end well. He had just passed his fiftieth Suncrest, or was it his fifty first. He didn’t remember any more. Not that it mattered. Unlike the rest of the villagers he was one of the few that had picked a class that didn’t help with harvests or production.
No, he had become a hunter. This choice had made his current occupation, hunting, very manageable.
Who would’ve thought.
It provided him with more strength and endurance than the average villager, basically giving him more years to his life and making old age very manageable, just like the rest of his life. It hadn’t been easy, but if you asked him he would tell you it had been just like that “mengable”.
Oh yeah, he also spoke weird. Kind of happens when you spend most of your time in the forest with animals and limited human contact.
“Enough remnisin’” He murmured to himself. ”Status”
-Stanislaw Lowca-
-Lvl 7-
-Class: Hunter (uncommon)-
-HP: 227/230-
-Mana: 58/60-
-Strenght: 1.6 (1.7)-
-Endurance: 1.8 (2.0)-
-Dexterity: 1.3 (1.5)-
-Intelligence: 1 (0.8)-
-Wisdom: 1.4 (1.0)-
Passives :
Trained muscles I (common)
Natures wisdom I (uncommon)
Forest fortitude I (uncommon)
Condition Modifiers:
Old age (moderate)
Alcohol addiction (lower)
Skills :
Strike III (common), Block II (common), Meditate II (common), Bandage III (common), Powershot VI (uncommon), Tracking VI(uncommon), Forest Camouflage III (uncommon)
Stanislaw harumphed ”mod’ret a’ready, not like’ll get ta level ten aneytime soon te cancel dat out”.
His eyes narrowed as he activated tracking with a whisper.”Traken” They whipped to his left as he let out a satisfied grunt feeling a sliver of mana leaving his body. “Gotcha”
He readied his bow and checked his quiver, today he had with him 20 goose-feather arrows, bought from the villages fletcher, Dawid, at a discounted price due to bringing all but the heads to him.
“Ale ain’t gon pay fer itself”Stanislaw said as he started briskly walking to where his senses were leading him, a clearing. The potions in his potion pouch clinking silently as he walked.
--
Pain riddled Aaron’s muscles but right then and there he didn’t care. He rapidly struggled up onto his feet getting into a very amateur boxing stance. “Who the fuck are you?!” He screamed in the direction of the bow armed man coming in his direction. His emotions completely out of control, the near brush with death wasn’t something that he was used to.
Aaron tried to cal his breathing as he looked at the man coming in his direction. He wore a brown tunic and was holding a bow with a quiver on his back. “That’s where the arrow must have come from…” Aaron’s thoughts were spiralling he had no idea what to do. This man clearly had just saved him but he still had no idea what his further intentions were.
From what Aaron had gathered he wasn’t on earth any more. Or at least not in his home city. There hadn’t been a single forest anywhere near him when he had died.
LUB DUB LUB DUB
Aaron paused, blocking off all exterior stimuli, all he could hear was his own heartbeat.
“I died…” He whispered.
“What were det yong man? Ya do speak commen right? Yong man? Yong man?! The man’s voice started to emit a hint of worry.
“I DIED!” Aaron spluttered falling to his knees.
The archer hobo’s face scrunched up in annoyance. “ Ya nitwit I jus saved yer life ya obnoxious git.”
Yet after looking at Aaron’s blank eye’s again his tone softened “De feral wolfs dead now it’s safe.”
“Well at least ya got nuff xp ta getcha level 1” The smug grin from before returned. “And through combat too.”
Aaron blinked.
Grit his teeth.
That’s right.
He had just killed the wolf that was trying to maul him to death.
He had prevailed, against near certain death.
Some help was required for him to succeed.
But still this was the first thing in his life that he was actually proud of.
Aaron’s mouth started to curl up.
He.
Had.
Won.
--