[Welcome to sector #78904]
[New task added : Complete the tutorial.]
[New task added : Find the 4 keys to open the gate leading to the exit, located in the safe zone]
My eyes strained as the direct gaze of the sunlight blasted my retinas, peering through the holes between the overgrown trees above. The quiet sound of the rustling leaves and the forest critters welcomed my ears as I felt my palm sinking slightly into the dirt when I pressed into them.
After I got up, I scanned my surroundings briefly.
It looks… normal?
Other than the fact that I was alone, nothing from this forest seemed to be out of the ordinary. The trees looked normal enough to me, though I didn't have enough knowledge of the forest to determine if they actually were.
Scanning the area one more time, I ensured my safety before verifying all the items the figure gave me. Once that was done, I picked up the spear that was below me, gripping the handle as if my life depended on it.
The scent of the forest was abundant; the combination of the dirt and dung saturated the scene with its unique aroma, which I quickly acclimated to as I paced around the spot I woke up on, struggling to get any semblance of purpose or direction. I have little to no survival skills, so I couldn’t tell which way was north or south.
The sun is from the east, right? I mused to myself, fully aware that this wasn’t the earth.
“Help!”, A sobbing scream came from quite a distance to the left, echoing its way to my eardrums. I went on full alert as I attempted to pinpoint the direction of the scream, but it ended way too soon before I did so.
Whoever she is, she was too far away for me to see or locate.
Her screaming was not the only one, however, as a sea of screams erupted around the forest, following one after the other.
What once was a serene scene turned into an atmosphere of screams and terror. A squeak was heard from my spear as my hand unconsciously gripped the handle hard while my pores exuded a tiny layer of sweat all over my body. My instincts told me to book it, perhaps to find solace up on a tree somewhere.
I trusted my instincts and ran in the direction with the least amount of human shrieking. The thick vegetation and bushes made it a complicated task; navigating a forest wasn’t a skill that I was trained at, but with a bit of effort, it was more than doable.
A few minutes of running later, the vegetation thinned out; the view became clearer as I kept my pace steady.
I stopped when I saw multiple moving silhouettes on my right. Partially clouded by the trees, a dark, 4-legged beast was hunting a group of people running for their lives. Their speed was nowhere near how fast it moved and it cleaved the head of the slowest one with both its claws in one swing.
The rest of the group failed to notice his death in their manic escape, falling to the beast’s attacks one by one within the span of seconds.
For the first time in my life, dread seeped into the deepest corners of my heart. My gaze focused squarely on the beast, unknowingly triggering the system’s automatic scanning feature.
[ Lvl 42. Shadow Stalker - Elite ]
Lvl 42? No way…
I stopped running and hid behind the biggest tree that I found. Leaning my back against the tree, I calmed my legs which had almost collapsed from the manic fear that was instilled in my heart. The forest then turned deathly quiet, as if the horrors of the previous encounter never took place.
After what felt like an eternity, I snooped around the tree.
It’s not there anymore?
The calm between the storm momentarily relaxed my senses, which ended instantly when a shadow formed behind me.
For a split second, the hair behind my back stood upright with an icy chill running down my spine. By some godly luck or miracle, I recognized the slight disruption in the air as I picked up the lightning-fast swipe of the creature’s claws aimed at my neck. The entire muscle from my abdomen flexed and strained, curving my torso downwards, dodging the attack by a hair’s breadth. The momentum caused me to roll forward, creating a distance between myself and the Shadow Stalker.
The beast stood still, its purple eyes now opened fully, amazed that I successfully avoided its attack. Our level disparity meant that it was several magnitudes faster and stronger than I was. The only saving grace I had was my quick reflexes, and the beast was severely underestimating my abilities.
Cowering under the beast’s massive frame, I finally got a good look at the monster, despite me wishing otherwise.
The jet-black fur surrounding the creature swayed while the beast calmly repositioned its stance. Its purple eyes gleamed brightly after it found its next target. There was a thin smoke emanating from the Stalker’s body, covering its stature while it stood still, unmoving. The head of the creature strongly resembled the features of a Sabertooth, with its sharp teeth and tiger-like features.
It’s unnaturally fast for its size. The torso alone towers over my figure, almost doubling my height even when it wasn’t standing upright. Its purple eyes were a dead giveaway that this thing didn’t exist on the earth, and the black smoke emanating from his claws more than confirmed that theory.
I was under no delusion that I was able to kill this thing. But no matter where I go, the creature would chase and kill me with ease. The last dodge I made was a fluke-
[Shadow Sabertooth placed a Dark mark on you. It can see you through any physical object within 10 meters.]
I guess I’ll be joining the others soon.
“Help me!” The scream of another person broke the tense silence. An opening showed up when the beast turned its head to check the source of the noise.
Should I run? How far off a distance can I make before the beast caught up to me?
No.. He’ll rip my head off that way.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
With my instincts and a mix of the acceptance that I would die here, I raised my spear, thrusting with all my might towards the beast’s right eye.
If I die here, it’ll be on my own terms.
To my surprise, the stab landed. A squishy sound emanated from where my spear ripped through its tender eye.
The beast staggered, pulling its head backward and its paws madly wiping its wounded eye. The surprise attack gave me an infinitesimally small time for me to get the hell out and I used that opportunity immediately, bolting out of the creature’s presence with a mad sprint.
“GRAHhH!!!!!!!”, Frenzied cries escape the beast’s maw, its anger evident from the way it sounded. It then dashed in my direction with a manic frenzy with its tongue hanging outside its jaw.
Weaving between the trees, it cut down the distance I gained in the manner of seconds. I recognized the difference between our strength and speed, but what it showed was just purely a display of hopelessness and dominance.
I looked back again one last time, quickly taking note that the creature always stumbled on objects from its right.
The wounded eye. I can use that. But how?
In the right corner of my eye, I spotted a tall, sturdy tree, akin to the one I hid behind before.
I drafted a plan as I began swerving right to get closer to the tree. The beast noted the direction I was going and kicked the floor with all its limbs, leaping high in the air. A violet haze flowed from its claws, lighting its originally dark fur with a purple tint, as it prepared for another fatal swipe.
Its descent was near-instant. The slight movement from its shadow and the gust of wind from its momentum alarmed me of my impending beheading and I rolled at the apex of his descent, dodging another death. The moment my legs hit the ground, I pushed with all my might and dashed to the right, almost colliding with the tree in the same motion.
On the other hand, the beast didn’t fare so well. Its partial blindness and mad fixation on me caused it to collide directly with the tree. A huge clash resounded in the forest as it smashed the tree head-first, snapping the tree apart in two.
My legs continued running, determined to gain every single inch of distance while I still could.
I ran another few meters before turning my head back again. The Stalker shook its head, still stunned by the impact.
Stay there.. Please!
I kept running, remembering the 10-meter distance from the beast’s Dark mark.
Just a little more.
My leg muscle burned as exhaustion crept in.
“Rooarrrr!!!!”, the beast’s roar flared up again. I looked back one last time.
[Dark mark has been removed.]
A smile peered its way into my exhausted face. Perhaps I could live another day.
My pessimistic self expected the creature to go after me. But instead of that, it looked around, wincing from its wounded eye. The beast then growled, frustrated that it let its prey escape.
It attempted to find me for a few seconds, then shook its head with annoyance.
Thank goodness I went to the right.
I never looked back after that.
[You survived an encounter with an elite, 40 levels above you.]
[Achievement added : Death’s door. With your courage and your cunning, you turned a sure death encounter into a close one. + 1 physical attribute. +1 Dexterity.]
Now’s not the fucking time.
I didn’t bother to read the message, even though I felt the same rush of energy when I leveled up.
———————————————————————————————————————————————————
“Haaa… haa… haa…”
I stopped by a tiny river patch after a few more arduous minutes of running. My legs trembled, as the intense cardio was too much for me to handle.
I couldn’t sense the stalker since the last time we met. Along the way, I heard a few more cries of help, but the frequency of that dropped off as I got further from my starting point.
“Fuck…”, I massaged my legs, getting as much blood flowing as possible. As much as I would like to keep running, the limits of my human body deemed that impossible.
Stuck with nothing else to do, I opened my status page.
Player : Zane Black
Race : [G - HUMAN]
Level : 1
Health : 70/70
Stamina : 5/70
Mana : 50/50
———————————————————————————————————————————————————
ATTRIBUTES
Physical [2] :
[Strength] - 2 [base : 2] [sub + achv : 0] [equipment :0] [bonus 0% : 0]
[Dexterity] - 4 [base : 2] [sub + achv : 2] [equipment :0] [bonus 0% : 0]
[Constitution] - 2 [base : 2] [sub + achv : 0] [equipment :0] [bonus 0% : 0]
Mind [0] :
[Intelligence] - 0 [base : 0] [sub + achv : 0] [equipment :0] [bonus 0% : 0]
[Willpower] - 0 [base : 0] [sub + achv : 0] [equipment :0] [bonus 0% : 0]
[Capacity] - 0 [base : 0] [sub + achv : 0] [equipment :0] [bonus 0% : 0]
[Free Main Attribute points : 0 ]
[Free Sub Attribute points : 0]
——————————————————————————————————————————————————
Classes :
[]
Skills :
[]
Achievements :
[Death’s door(1)]
Affinities :
[]
Talents :
[]
Death’s door. The achievement I got when I escaped that monstrosity. It basically gave me a level’s worth of attributes.
I sighed, recognizing that my escape was mostly because of stupidly exceptional luck. If another encounter like that happened again, my head would roll on the floor within a few seconds of that fight.
Well, the spear helped too. A bow would’ve been too slow, and a sword would’ve been too short.
I pondered if I should keep running, but I scratched that idea since my measly 5 stamina meant that I couldn’t go much further, even if I wanted to. Like it or not, I have to rest.
My decision was made. I looked around the river patch again for safety before approaching the stream of clear water.
Is it clean?, I stared at the water, believing I could see the pathogens with my bare eyes. Strangely enough, even though I’ve sweat buckets, I didn’t feel thirsty in the slightest. But it would be nice to freshen up.
[Clear water. Safe to consume.]
Thanks, the all-knowing system.
I walked beside the river, splashing my face and neck with the cold water. My hands and legs were still shuddering, not from the exhaustion, but mostly from the release of adrenaline that came from that encounter.
Once the trembling subsided, I found a tree nearby to sit on, thanking the lucky stars that I didn’t end up like the others.
Some kind of tutorial this is, huh?