009

I have been here too long. I have honestly lost count of the days. I’m not even joking.

And why do I feel as if I’ve been here so long? It’s simple, I feel like I’m becoming similar to them.

A few days ago, I couldn’t even tell if there was a huge elephant-sized beast standing right behind me without looking back, but now, now everything was different.

I think so, at least. After all, I did manage to sense that slight figure hiding among the thick spread of trees, quietly making its way here. I honestly don’t know how I should feel about this.

I don’t mind being similar to them, all of this makes no difference to me as my one and only goal right now is to figure out a way out of here.

I do say out of here but I don’t know, there is a part of me that is fascinated by all of this, this power, the place, the different beasts, everything, but along with that part there is one more which is terrified of everything that has happened to me since the start.

I am very conflicted as to whether I want to go back to earth or not. I don’t have much of a family back home and I was always the loner kid, so I didn’t have that many friends either. I wasn’t socially awkward but a little shy if I say so myself. Whatever decision I make doesn’t matter though, I’ve yet to make it out of this forest, forget escaping this world.

I opened up my status.

Name: Grant Steele

Lv.4 [244/600]

HP: 38/96

MP: 0/0

BA: 0/0

QI: 183/183 [0.2/sec]

DEF: 40

Skills: Sprint Lv.4, Cold Resistance Lv.3, Qi Manipulation Lv.2, Qi Regeneration Lv.2, Quick Dash Lv.-

At least my Qi is full.

“I can fight.”

I don’t know how or when but a warm something rose up in my heart as I watched the beast get closer.

For a second there, my surroundings almost blacked out and all I saw was the beast. The trees, the surroundings, nothing could hide the wolf from me.

[Condition satisfied.]

[Skill: Awareness Lv.1 has been acquired.]

[Qi has increased by 5.]

The moment I got this skill, my mind just cleared. I could feel relaxed, like the weight of the stress that had been haunting me left all of a sudden.

I felt more refreshed, now I don’t even need to look in the direction of the wolf to tell if there is something there, I know because my instincts have become sharp enough due to sense these things confidently.

I wait for the beast to get a little closer, I can tell when it is going to attack.

I purposefully pick up a piece and start eating while also keeping one of the antler knives in my other hand.

And like it had been waiting for this moment, it jumped out of hiding and tried to pounce on me.

The trajectory of its attack is so simple, I can easily intercept it with the knife and it would be dead before it even knew something happened. But what would be the point, I’ve yet to increase my level in some time, so I just dodged the attack that I could’ve very easily countered.

I rolled back in the same sitting position I was, the beast missed, but before it could attack again, I activated [Sprint] and with the Qi flowing inside my legs, I somersaulted and kicked its head with the momentum.

The wolf let out a wail as its head was kicked in. I had now gotten up, so I pressed my feet down hard as I used the ground to build up momentum to kick the belly of the wolf as hard as I could. Which worked as it landed far away from me, now struggling to get up.

I didn’t give it that chance. For the first time, I consciously used [Qi Manipulation] and moved a huge amount of Qi to my right hand.

I was trying to simulate the similar feeling of moving Qi in my legs when I use [Sprint].

It worked as the muscles on it tightened and new found strength flowed through it. I used this punch to then attack the head of the wolf that had gotten up now.

This punch carried a lot of power as my hand that had punched the head was covered with blood.

It still wasn’t dead though, so I continued punching the thing until it was dead.

[266 EXP gained.]

Lv.4 [510/600]

The experience counter had finally filled almost all the way through. One more of these wolves and I would be able to level up.

I cleaned up my hands that were now covered in the blood of the wolf, and I sat back down to eat.

I could’ve used the knife to finish off the wolf but that wouldn’t have helped me get the proper experience. Right now, I needed all the experience I could get no matter how gruesome the method I needed to use. Take the deer for example, it was way stronger than this wolf here, but I only got about 200 EXP for it, which is nowhere enough the pain that I went through to kill it.

I was not going to wait here that long anyway, so I didn’t bother to move the corpse away, I can just eat and then leave, whatever beast that comes over can have these things if it wants.

I looked at the wolf carefully now that it wasn’t going to attack me. It was a snow wolf, with white fur covering its entire body. Its teeth looked like they could cut through flesh as easily as bread.

Thankfully I hadn’t let it bite me, I would’ve definitely lost an arm.

As I finished up another piece of meat, I was just about to go for another one but my [Awareness] picked up on something and I could only frown.

I reluctantly get up and kick dirt in the fire to put it out as well.

“Resting time is over.”

I say as I feel dozens of eyes focusing here, looks like I forgot that wolves like to hunt in packs.

Now I could either try to outrun them, which considering I know nothing about this place is pretty much pointless or I can fight.

QI: 102/188 [0.2/sec]

I can only fight.

With this much Qi, I can continuously use the [Sprint] skill for about 7 minutes.

I try to perk up the [Awareness] skill, which worked as I could see the entire pack spread out trying to surround me.

There are roughly twenty wolves surrounding me, thankfully they are spread out quiet evenly, so I can run around quite easily.

Without wasting much time, I activate my [Sprint] and while holding two of the antler knives in both my hands, I start running.

[120 EXP gained.]

The message arrived as soon as I removed the knife from the head of the wolf. I didn’t stand by and I quickly moved towards the next one.

[90 EXP gained.]

And the next.

[180 EXP gained.]

This continued until there was no more wolves left around me.

In the end I walked away with a total of 2280 EXP, which was a huge amount as this was more than all the EXP I had earned before.

I also levelled up twice.

[Level up.]

[Condition satisfied. HP has increased more than 100.]

[DEF increased by 10]

[Skill: Sprint is now level 5]

[Qi increased by 10]

[Skill: Qi Manipulation is now level 3]

[Qi increased by 20]

[Level up.]

[Skill: Qi Regeneration is now level 3]

[Qi increased by 20]

[Skill: Awareness is now level 2]

[Qi increased by 5]

Name: Grant Steele

Lv.6 [990/2500]

HP: 42/117

MP: 0/0

BA: 0/0

QI: 40/286 [0.3/sec]

DEF: 50

Skills:

Sprint Lv.5

Quick Dash Lv.-

Cold Resistance Lv.3

Qi Manipulation Lv.3

Qi Regeneration Lv.3

Awareness Lv.2

I wanted to rejoice looking at my status, but my happiness didn’t even get a chance to come out as my [Awareness] which was now level 2, sensed something in the distance.

This time, I turned and I ran, I didn’t even try to fight.

The reason was simple, I cannot fight a pack that huge.

There were hundreds of them making their way here. And since my skill wasn’t that high levelled, the range was low, so I could even see them running here from a distance.

Even if I could theoretically fight these wolves with [Sprint], that I could now keep going for as long as I wanted as the regeneration could keep up with the expenditure of 15 Qi per minute that the skill used.

But my HP which was already low, couldn’t.

Soon, the fatigue of using too much [Sprint] would kick in and instead of fighting I would just be burning out my health.

And who knows if this is the only amount they have, what if more come even if I do miraculously defeat all of them.

So, I just ran. With hundreds of wolves behind me trying to rip me to shreds, I ran.