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From a distance, a family of scarlet apes were gathering in their territory. The recent batch of corpses caused concern within their members, resulting in them seeking safety from their Alpha.
A giant ape, whose size easily tripled the already giant apes, was looking at its subject with disdain.
Smashing the floor beneath it, the massive Alpha eyed each of its species furiously. Its size towered over the others, the fists alone the size of each of their full arm. Cowering behind the trees, the other apes looked at him in fear. This wasn’t the first time that the Alpha was furious, far from it, and every time it always murdered any apes that dared to approach it.
But the reason for its anger wasn’t because of the mysterious deaths. Frankly, The Alpha never cared about its subjects. As far as it was concerned, the reason for their deaths was simply because of their weakness; That is how an Alpha was chosen, after all. It was simply the strongest compared to all the other apes, and by quite a large margin, too.
No, the reason it was upset was that they were interrupting its sleep.
To make sure its peers understood the anger it felt, it released a mighty roar that pierced the sky.
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After my first comfortable ape kill, I took a small break on top of a tree, watching the moon rising from the horizon, welcoming the night.
My new strategy worked like a charm. Right before avoiding the ape’s aerial slam attack when it descended, I summoned a spear and plunged the blunt end into the dirt with the head of the spear pointing at the ape’s descending torso. The ape could not change the trajectory when it landed and with the massive momentum, my spear cleanly pierced its body, almost killing it in one strike. Afterwards, it only took another stab from my regular spear to end its life.
However, this strategy wasn’t without its cost. Summoning a spear cost 10 mana, and after a careful calculation, I surmised that at my current attributes, I only recovered about 1 mana every 5 minutes.
Not too bad. I smiled, glancing at the corpse of the ape.
“GROAAHHRR!!!” A massive, ear-piercing roar erupted in the forest.
The roar shook me from the tree I rested on as the cloud of shadows hugged my body tightly. I watched for any movements deeper into the forest, attempting to locate the source of that roar. It sounded very similar to the ape’s normal screeching, albeit in a significantly deeper and threatening tone.
Is it an elite? Images of the encounter with the colossal bear and shadow stalker replayed in my mind.
Settling down on the tree once more, I considered my next move. Naturally, I’d find more of those apes if I went deeper. I could gain more levels that way, but that roar made me second guess myself. While I am stronger than who I was a few days ago, an elite would still kick my ass.
The other option was to make my way back. The elite bear was threatening, but I was confident that I was fast enough to avoid a direct confrontation with it. With my strength, this might be a safe time to establish some sort of contact with the other players.
Also, it’d be incredible if I could find more of those obelisks. That required more exploration and getting even deeper into the forest, but the rewards of clearing a trial far outweighed the risk.
It wasn’t long before the forest turned pitch black as the moon settled in the night sky. Another day had passed. Using the night as cover, I silently snaked towards the source of the roar. I could get some easy kills if I found a sleeping ape. My enhanced vision allowed me to see almost clearly in the dark, which was a boon I’d never appreciate enough.
But my stride ended when the system delivered a message that I’d never seen before.
[New task added : Defend that gate. The wolf mother is planning to destroy the gate. A wave of enemies will strike the gate in 7 days. Defend the gate, or risk losing your only way out of here.]
What the hell? The wolf mother?
The system just won’t let us catch a break.
If it was in 3 days, I could make it back in time if I returned tomorrow night. I have a rough estimate about where the gate is, so it wouldn’t be hard to locate. The primary concern wasn’t the time, it was the enemies that awaited us.
The wolf mother sounded more than just an elite. There was a good chance that she was similar to The Ant Queen, which massively raised her threat level by several margins. The wolves’ primary advantage wasn’t their speed or magic, it was their insanely high IQ in battles and tactics. The battle with the queen was significantly easier due to her madness status, if I had to fight her in her prime… Let’s just say that I wouldn’t be breathing today.
Also, once you pair the wolves’ high IQ with an insane base stat line, you’d realize how difficult an organized group of strong creatures could be.
I need to get stronger before facing the wave.
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The progress of the construction in the encampment went swimmingly. It turns out that having a few engineers and construction workers as players helped quicken the pace of the building process. Everyone’s supernatural strength and speed reduced the need for typical construction vehicles and equipment.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Reghan stretched his weary arms and legs from all the hard work. He sat down on the podium he first built, watching the progress of humanity has made with an idle grin. Yawning, he opened his status window.
Player : Reghan Mortis
Race : [G - HUMAN]
Level : 6
Health : 170/180
Stamina : 30/180
Mana : 60/60
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ATTRIBUTES
Physical [7] :
[Strength] - 13 [base : 7] [sub + achv : 4] [equipment :2] [bonus 0% : 0]
[Dexterity] - 7 [base : 7] [sub + achv :0] [equipment : 0] [bonus 0% : 0]
[Constitution] - 16 [base : 7] [sub + achv : 7] [equipment :2] [bonus 0% : 0]
Mind [1] :
[Intelligence] - 1 [base : 1] [sub + achv : 0] [equipment :0] [bonus 0% : 0]
[Willpower] - 1 [base : 1] [sub + achv : 0] [equipment :0] [bonus 0% : 0]
[Capacity] - 1 [base : 1] [sub + achv : 0] [equipment :0] [bonus 0% : 0]
[Free Main Attribute points : 0 ]
[Free Sub Attribute points : 0 ]
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Classes :
[Guardian - uncommon (2)]
Skills :
[Sword mastery (2)] [Shield mastery (1)] [Warcry - uncommon] [Shield wall - uncommon]
Achievements :
[Gate seeker]
Affinities :
[]
Talents :
[]
A tiny grin appeared on Reghan’s face. He was happy with the progress he had made since the first day he got here. He, like very few selected people, was granted a class and a weapon before he entered this world. That special treatment had him believe he was destined to lead everyone else, becoming some sort of beacon of hope for mankind.
The attention and respect were something that he couldn’t get enough of. While his intentions were genuine, he couldn’t help but appreciate the warm feeling he got whenever someone thanked him.
However, that respect and admiration only lasted as long as he remained the strongest. He has done everything he could to remain the top dog, relentlessly hunting the wolves and other low-leveled creatures, eventually moving up to the deeper parts of the forest.
There was one person who caught his attention, a woman specifically, which was also granted a class as her starting gift.
Julie. The mage.
[New task added : Defend that gate. The wolf mother is planning to destroy the gate. A wave of enemies will strike the gate in 7 days. Defend the gate, or risk losing your only way out of here.]
Breaking Reghan’s thoughts, the sudden alert propped him up straight. He watched everyone’s eyes widen, the alert from the system rousing the night that was once been peaceful and serene.
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After a few minutes of deliberation, I decided to at least gain one or two levels before returning to where the gate was.
Wasting no time, I moved deeper into the forest, planning to slay every single ape I encountered on my way. The darkness of the night complemented the dark haze my cloak emitted, turning me almost invisible under the naked eye. It wasn’t the case for me, however, as my eyes could absorb more light under the darkness.
I stopped when I saw an ape sleeping peacefully below a tree.
Navigating the vegetation surrounding it, I shadow stepped directly behind it and delivered a fatal blow through its head, piercing my spear as deeply as it could go. It made a few attempts to struggle before succumbing to the embrace of death.
Luckily, it was the only one here.
[You killed lvl 13. Scarlet ape!]
No levels yet? Slightly disappointed, I continued my foray into the dark forest.
However, A massive crater surrounded by tree stumps caused me to almost turn around. The crater had similarities to the attack the other apes did, just on a significantly larger scale. At this size, even a shadow step was not enough for me to avoid the attack cleanly.
I gulped at the sight before me. The ape who caused this much damage was several magnitudes stronger than the ones I encountered so far.
The snores of the other apes snapped me awake. Hunkering down, I focused on my hearing, attempting to at least locate and count the number of apes that were clustered around this spot. There was no way to accurately determine their population count, but it definitely hovered above 20. At my current strength, I couldn’t take them on all at once.
But their threat paled compared to the one giant ape standing tall on the top of a massive cliff. Its fists thudded the ground as it paced around, making sure that each inch of its home was safe from outside predators. Our eyes appeared to meet, but apparently, the poor night vision meant that only one of us noticed the other’s presence. There was no way it wouldn’t spot me at this distance during the daytime.
[Lvl 19. Prime Scarlet ape - elite]
That thing was definitely the source of this massive crater. The fists that hung below its torso glowed dimly as it finally decided to rest while I caught my breath.
For a second there, I thought I was found out.
Sneaking my way out of their pack, a plan was formulated inside my head. The best course of action was to slowly trim the numbers of the ape during the night, killing them when they were at their most vulnerable.
An unfortunate member of their pack was happily snoring away at the outermost section of their nest. Summoning another spear in my left hand, I stabbed the ape with both of my spears, killing the ape instantly.
[You killed lvl.12 Scarlet Ape!]
[The Coveted Shadow class has leveled up! You gained : + 2 dexterity, +1 Capacity, +1 Intelligence, +1 Strength, +1 Constitution]
“Huh?” The new message caught me completely by surprise, The old familiar power surge makes its round over my body again, but I barely registered it as I was quite accustomed to it by this point.
I’d actually forgotten about it. I smirked, focusing on my current task of finding other stray apes. It’s nigh time to get more levels.