Chapter 10

Alex awoke the next morning and saw the two women were still lying on the wall quietly sleeping. He stood up and walked outside of the shack. He went through my normal ritual of working out which took a little over an hour.

Each day I seem to be getting stronger and stronger. Are the nanites causing the increase or is it that this world and this body are allowing me to continue to get stronger and faster? It doesn’t matter why or how as long as I get stronger to survive and get out of this hell hole.

Alex sat down cross-legged on the ground and began trying to summon the small bit of ki energy deep in my abdomen. He used his will to pull the energy from its location. Something around the energy fought hard but my will was even stronger. He continued to pull against the resistance. Once again Alex began sweating all over as he felt like he was in combat fighting for his life. Little by little whatever was resisting him was defeated and then he was able to gain more control of his ki and move it away from what he called my ki center. The energy felt light and pure as he moved it around my body.

Alex stood up and opened his eyes and concentrated on the feeling of moving my ki. He felt it moving all through him. He could feel it invigorating his entire body. He felt stronger and lighter than ever. He felt like he could lift a car and toss it.

“Alice run an analysis of my strength while using my ki.”

“Affirmative”, replied Alice.

Alex walked towards the closest tree and clenched his fists. He threw the hardest punch that he could into the trunk of the tree. The tree vibrated with the impact. Numerous leaves began to fall from the branches above.

My hand, it…. Its…. It's fine. I can’t believe it. My hand is completely fine and this huge tree shook from the force of my attack. This is crazy. How can I be this powerful? This is unreal.

Alex threw two more punches before he saw the tree beginning to crack all through its trunk. He looked at his fist in awe.

Do I even need weapons anymore? If I hit something with this kind of force there is no way that it won’t be injured.

Alex continued staring at his fist then suddenly the power left him. He could feel that his ki energy was no longer under his control.

I must have exhausted the amount that I have. Well, I guess I can’t get rid of my weapons just yet. I was only able to throw four punches but their destructive force was extreme. I have to find a way to increase the amount of ki I have.

“Spartan, calculations are complete. With your ki circulating through your body, your status increased dramatically. Your physique was 6.5, speed increased to 5.2, and none of your other stats increased.”

“Fantastic, now I just have to work on increasing the amount of ki I have access to so that I can remain in that state longer. Alice do you have any data on how to increase ki through training?”

“Searching database…. Nothing found. Currently, the only way to increase your level of ki energy will be to increase your physical ability whether it be speed, strength, or stamina. In short, you must increase your physique or speed.”

“Hmm and the only way to do that is to increase my level to get an allocation point. Well for now I should at least train so that I can use it more freely.”

Now that my ki training was over for the day, it was time to get into my plan of subjugating or rather exterminating the goblins. Maybe in their cave are weapons or armor to help increase my odds of survival. Maybe there are other players that were captured, that I can release to help me on my journey. I don’t know what will be there but I need to go in order to continue to get stronger.

Alex walked back into the house and opened the door. The moment he entered he smelled the rabbit meat cooking. The women were inside working. Eve was inside cooking while Bella was using a rock and some water to sharpen the blade of the short sword she was using.

“Finished your training?”, asked Bella.

“Yes, after we eat the three of us will head out to hunt. You two will do most of the fighting as I’m already a bit higher in levels than you. You also need some fighting experience so that you are not a liability in combat. Bella, we will look for some sort of animal for you to tame. Do you have any preference?”

“Honestly, I was a dog and snake lover back home. I believe a wolf or some kind of snake would be best. I haven’t seen any of either though”, replied Bella as she went back to sharpening the edge of her sword.

A cold chill went down his spine as he remembered the giant snake that came out of the river to kill that deer and the snake that bit him causing him to have to sever his own arm.

“I haven’t seen any wolves but I saw snakes and they are definitely no joke. If we find any of them make sure you two stay behind me. I don’t want to describe how dangerous they are and what happened to me the last time I ran into one of them.”

They both nodded as Alex sat down on the rug and waited for the food to be done.

“Spartan, you now have 11,258 nanites in your blood. At this point, we can begin to upgrade your equipment. I suggest you start with your shield to give you greater protection from attacks.”

“How many nanites will it require and what will the upgrade do?”

“It will require 3,500 nanites and it will give the shield increased protection as well as a self-healing ability like you. The wood it is composed of will gradually be strengthened to be at its strongest. It will not be as good as steel or mithril but it will definitely be much stronger than it was.”

“Alice, go ahead and upgrade the shield.”

Alex felt the shield begin to tremble on my arm. He couldn’t see the nanites but his skill let him know they were moving. He smiled as he knew his A.I. and nanite manipulation ability was good but he had no idea it would be this good. Once the upgrade was complete, Alex waited for Eve to finish with the meat. When she finished they all ate thier fill before getting our equipment ready and heading out.

After a short trip, they made their way to the lake with the waterfall.

I wonder since this world operates a lot like a game does it have a party system so that I can form a group and add them to it?

Alex thought the word party in my head and sure enough, a blue screen appeared before my eyes.

[Party] [Do you wish to form a party?] [Yes] [No] [Select Members to add]

[Select members to add]

How do add them? Do I just think their names or is it something else? Well I guess I just need to try it. Add Bella and Eve.

Just then both of them paused and turned around to look at me.

“How did you do this?”, asked Bella.

“What does this mean?”, asked Eve.

“I assume it allows us to join together and share the spoils of each battle from experience to items.”

Both girls nodded and went back to looking at their screens.

[Eve level 2 has joined your party] [Bella level 2 has joined your party]

As I thought they are both level 2. This is going to be more difficult than I thought but they should level quickly at least.

“How did you get to be level 5?”, asked Bella.

“Well, I have been surviving here for almost a week. Each day I go out and fight to survive. I hunt, trap, and kill anything I can to eat. By killing those things I earned experience which led me to be able to level up.”

“So we just keep killing things and getting stronger?”, asked Eve.

“That’s what I gathered so far. It seems pretty simple. Now in combat we will have a very simplistic battle formation. I will lead in the front. Eve because of your magic you will stay behind me and try to attack at distance. Bella your job is to help me with the doing damage to our enemy. You will try and get to our enemy’s sides and attack. Aim for the vital spaces like the torso, neck, or eye.”

Both ladies nodded and moved into formation. Eve was about 5 meters behind Alex and Bella was about 2 meters behind and a meter off to his right. He readied his sword and shield before moving out towards the area where the large rabbit creatures reside. As the newly formed group moved from the wooded area he could see a couple of the creatures moving about. Alex counted a total of 3 of them.

“Alright, ladies look alive! From now on you will fight with me. You will fight hard and follow my orders. You will retreat only when I say so. Follow me and you might just survive this place. Here we go!”, Alex yelled as he charged forward towards the rabbit creatures.

I had no idea why I charged into battle like this. Killing at a distance and being careful was what had kept me alive. For some reason though this felt good.

The two ladies followed behind me staying in formation. The rabbits’ ears perked up as they saw us coming. All three began baring their rows of teeth at us and snarling. The first of them rushed towards me as planned.

“Eve get your spell ready. As soon as it smashes into my shield you cast your spell and impale it. Bella, if it doesn’t die from being impaled you finish it off with your blade.”

“Got it!”, replied both women.

Alex heard her begin saying some words as she stopped in place. He readied his shield to block the attack. The rabbit's body smashed into his shield driving me back 2 meters but to his surprise, the shield held fast. It didn’t crack or show any signs of damage from stopping such a strong force. As soon as the two of them stopped, he felt a small rumbling in the ground beneath his feet. Before the rabbit had a chance to react a 1 meter long spike of solid earth exploded up from beneath it piercing straight into its soft underbody. It froze in place. Bella followed by jumping into the air and thrusting her spear piercing the bunny’s head. Its body stayed on the spike just as the next two entered the fray.

Alex quickly slashed the first one and then rolled out of the way of the second one’s attack. The other rushed towards Bella but was met with an earth spike exploding from the ground. This one didn’t pierce through its abdomen, it pierced through its rear leg. The rabbit creature howled in pain as Bella quickly took advantage of the rabbit's debilitating injury by quickly moving to its side and stabbing in the torso. The creature screamed again and Alex diverted my attention back to the rabbit coming after him. As it leaped at him, Spartan smashed it in the face with his shield. The impact was so great that some of its teeth flew out. He followed up by thrusting his sword at it but it quickly dodged and opened its mouth. Alex remembered the last time one of the rabbits opened its mouth at him like this. He quickly backed away.

I know what you’re doing. You are trying to use that wind attack. Too bad for you I’ve already seen it. That won’t work on me again.

The rabbit creature stood on its hind legs and opened its mouth preparing to release the mana-based wind attack.

“Activate hypercognition!”

The world slowed down as he looked at the rabbit. He could see its lungs expand as if it was drawing in a deep breath.

That’s it! That is the secret to the attack. It has to breathe in to take in the energy and when it exhales the attack comes forth. I just need to move when it starts to exhale.

Alex smiled slyly as he continued watching the creature. The inhaling paused signaling that it could not take in any more air. As soon as this happened he quickly used all his strength and threw himself to the side. Just as Alex landed, the ground where he was previously standing had a deep indentation. He grinned again before dashing towards the monster. Alex lowered his body and placed his shield in front of him. He turned and used his shield to turn his body into a battering ram. Alex charged into the creature. With his strength and speed combined, the impact was incredible. The rabbit’s head was smashed open and it fell backwards rolling several times before coming to a stop. Before he could move closer, Alex saw another earth spike come out and pierce straight through its head ending their fight.

Alex looked around and said, “Is everyone ok?”

“I’m good. I have a few scratches but nothing serious”, said Bella.

“Huff… Pufff…. Casting my earth spike this many times is tiresome. Other than my mana being a little less than half, I’m fine as well.

“You two take a rest for a minute so that we can be at full strength for the next attack.”

The two girls laid on the soft grass while Alex began skinning the three rabbits for the meat and leather. The gory process lasted about an hour. When he finished there were 3 bloody carcasses lying on the ground. He picked up two of the carcasses before I heard something. He paused and began focusing on his hearing.

There are several things heading in this direction. Crap! They must be attracted to the smell of the blood. We’ve got to get out of here. I hate to abandon all of this food but we don’t have much choice.

“Something is coming. Quick fill your water skins in the falls and let’s get out of here now.”

“What?! What is it?”, asked Bella.

“I don’t know but I don’t want to be here when they get here.”

“I’m with that!”, yelled Eve as she was already to the falls filling her water skin.”

Bella rushed out to the falls and they quickly filled the water skins.

“200 meters Spartan!”, yelled Alice in his head.

“Hurry you guys they are closing fast!”, Alex yelled.

The two women rushed away from the falls and into the forest. Alex left two of the 3 carcasses lying on the ground and picked one up on my shoulder then he rushed off to the forest behind the girls. As they traveled he began to relax as he realized whatever was chasing them had stopped.

“They are not chasing us anymore. You can stop running”, Alex said.

Their girls stopped and began gasping for air. Eve began leaning against a tree panting heavily while Bella placed her hands on her knees gasping for air. Alex was barely out of breath his physique gave him far greater stamina than the women. He only stayed behind them because he wanted to stay between the creatures that were chasing the group and the girls. He gave them some time to rest before escorting them back to their shack. When they returned to the shack they were met with a bit of a surprise.

As soon as the group walked up to the shack, they found a small snake sunning itself on a rock outside. Alex held out his hand showing the girls that this thing was dangerous.

It’s the same type that made me sever my arm the other day except it was about a third of the size.

He placed the carcass he was carrying on the ground then he pulled out my sword and readied his shield for battle.

“Wait, Spartan! It is young I think I may be able to tame it”, yelled Bella.

“Be careful that thing’s venom is extremely dangerous. I almost died from the venom it produces.”

Bella nodded and then he saw her walk closer to the snake. As she walked closer the snake coiled itself and got ready to strike. Alex gripped his sword and moved closer but she held her hand out to stop him. He stayed about 2 meters behind her watching carefully. He saw her staring directly into the snake’s eyes as she moved closer. The snake raised part of its body up trying to intimidate her but Bella would not back down.

The staring contest continued on for nearly 10 minutes. Bella never made a sound but Alex could tell she was concentrating very hard as she was perspiring heavily. She continued to stare but now she was within a half meter of the snake and she stretched her hand out. The snake stopped hissing and it lowered its body down in a less threatening manner. Bella moved in and placed her hand on the snake. Suddenly, Alex saw a snake tattoo begin forming on her arm. The head and body began coiling around her arm until it stopped with the head near her shoulder and the tail coiling around her bicep, elbow, and forearm with the tail stopping at her wrist.

[Party member Bella has tamed a mutated black mamba]

She really did it. She tamed it. I hope that it doesn’t take that long every time. That was crazy yet really sexy at the same time.

“Pretty good Bella. It seems you were successful.”

“Yeah but now I’ve got a massive headache.”

“I’m scared of snakes keep it away from me.”

“Capone says that you should be afraid. Oh yeah that is his name, Capone.”

“Oh like the famous gangster, Al Capone?”, Alex said

“Yeah”, replied Bella.

“It understood me? How is that possible?”, asked Eve.

“Oh that’s simple. It’s one of the perks of taming an animal is that I can understand it and it can understand those who speak the same language as me. I know it’s weird but I’m not going to argue about it”, said Bella.

“Alright everyone let’s go inside”, Alex said.

Everyone went inside as he picked up the carcass of the rabbit monster. He followed them inside and placed it on the table. As Eve began working, on carving up the body of the monster Alex sat down against the wall and had a large drink of water.

“I gained a level now I’m level 3”, said Bella.

“Me too”, said Eve.

“Well that’s good now you should have gotten some points to allocate.”

“Yes, I put mine into Mental Ability and as soon as I did I felt the amount of mana in my body increase”, said Eve.

“Yes I put mine into speed as I want to be able to dodge attacks from my foes. That rabbit today let me know that I really need to work harder on that aspect of fighting.”, said Bella.

“Both sound like good choices. You two did fairly well out there today. After you guys get another level then we will work on going after those goblins”, I said.

With that, Alex went into the other room and began working on crafting using leather I was able to obtain from the rabbit corpses. With great difficulty, he managed to fashion two shirts. One for each of them with Bella’s being a bit larger than Eve’s as she was larger on top. After Spartan finished I noticed the smell permeating the room. He walked and saw the ladies were already eating their fill. He quickly tossed the shirts to them.

“What is this?”, asked Eve.

“It is something to help you cover yourself up.”

“Really it’s a shirt? How did you make it?”, asked Eve.

“Well at level 5 I got more than just another point to improve myself. I also got access to gathering and crafting skills. I chose leatherworking and skinning. So now I’m able to create things from the leather we find.”

“So you’ve been letting…. Nevermind thank you Spartan.”, said Bella biting her tongue from what she really wanted to say.

The two put their leather shirts on and amazingly enough they actually fit really well. The two looked at each other giggling as they turned in each direction showing off their new clothing.

“What’s so funny?”, I asked a bit annoyed.

“Well these fit really well and ….”, said Eve bashfully.

“Well what?”, I said with more than a little bit of irritation.

“Well… Don’t take this the wrong way. We don’t mean to offend you or anything. Also, we are not upset with you at all. We are actually really appreciative. It’s just that you got our measurements almost perfectly. We just thought that you must have been looking very carefully at us without our shirts”, Eve said with a smile.

Alex's face turned flush with redness.

They were right. There were many times when I was staring at them. I hadn’t been with a woman since my wife died two years ago. Looking at these two women one with big breasts and the other with the most perfect ass I’ve ever seen. How was not to look at them.

They stared for a moment to see if he would lash out in outrage from their comments but nothing happened. He simply laughed heartily and rubbed the back of his neck. Alex laughed so hard that he had tears coming out of his eyes.

“Ladies I’m sorry but I have been in prison for the last 2 years. I’ve been looking at nothing but dirty sweaty guys. Then you two walk-in with your breasts hanging out and what are nothing more than leather panties on, what do you expect from me? I made the shirts for you to have some modesty. I apologize for being a bit perverted and staring when you weren’t looking.”

“Bella and I were ok with it. We knew you were looking the entire time. You may be good at survival but you are not good at trying to catch a sneak peek”, Eve said with a smile.

Alex's face turned even redder as he listened to the laughter from the two girls. Thankfully, he could drown his shame in food and that was exactly what he did. He scarfed down all of the meat on the entire torso of the rabbit creature. The two girls each took a leg. Bella shared her portion with Capone. Once he was full I went out and baited his two traps. The sun was still high overhead so there was plenty of daylight left.

I’ll wait out here and see what I can catch before going back inside. I've had enough embarassment for a little while.

This time as he waited a familiar sound crept into his ear. It sounded like footsteps. Quickly he jumped to his feet and looked off into the distance. There he found several dozen pinked-skinned things. They were too far away to make a proper judgment on their height or weight as he couldn’t compare them to anything. They were moving together like an army. Luckily, they were not moving in his direction so he did not have to worry about them for now.

“Spartan, they seem to be moving away from you but based on my reference points near them. They stand between 2 and 2.25 meters in height. Weight is unreliable as they are wearing equipment. From the shine off their clothing it appears to be metal most likely iron or studded leather. Many were using metal weapons as well.”

“Good analysis, Alice we must be wary of these things moving forward.”

“I concur with you. In your current state, it is most advisable for you to run if you come in contact with them, run away as fast as you can.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence”, I said sarcastically.

Alex waited in the tree for a few more moments before some familiar prey appeared in front of me. A bunch of those rats were just about to start gnawing on the meat from the rabbit leg. Just as he was about to strike he noticed the door to the shack opening.

They have the worst timing. I have to go right now. I can’t avoid this.

As the two girls opened the door the rats saw them and squealed before charging. Alex landed on one of the rats and bashed another with his shield knocking it to the ground. The girls had no weapons when they walked out so when they looked at the dozen rats running towards them they froze.

“Get inside and get your weapons quick! I’ll hold them off out here.”

The two snapped out of their trance and rushed inside closing the door behind them. The rats rammed into the door but it held firm. They didn’t even notice that Alex was right behind them until it was too late. He slashed and bashed his way through the swarm of rodents. Each one that he struck was gravely injured or dead. Those that he hit with his shield got themselves back up and began to charge toward him. Alice activated his hypercognition ability and the world slowed down once again. He was able to analyze their movements allowing him to fend off the first four. Unfortunately, the remaining 3 managed to break through his defense and bite down on his right arm, left calf, and right thigh. Their teeth felt like knives as they pierced his skin causing him to scream out in pain.

As he screamed out still trying to resist the rats, he felt a rumble in the ground. A sharp spike rose from the ground and pierced the rat that was biting his thigh. It fell off his leg and went limp. Alex swung his sword at another but it dodged causing him to miss. As he tried to catch himself the pain in his leg surged causing his leg to buckle. Alex saw another rat lunging toward his face and he was filled with dread knowing he couldn't dodge it even with my hypercognition working.

Is this the end? Is this how I die?

The rat bit down on my neck and Alex felt its teeth sink in. He thrust his sword through its neck severing its head. The teeth released his neck and its head fell to the ground with a thump. Alex fell back against the wall of the shack grabbing a hold of my neck. He felt his blood flowing out.

“Spartan, your life is not in danger. The nanites are already repairing the damage to your veins and arteries. The rest are healing the skin from the same wound. Retreat into the house before your wounds actually do become critical.”

“Under….stood”, he said holding onto his neck as blood was coming out between his fingertips.

As Alex tried to stand, his leg buckled once again. Another rat lunged at him, this time be heard a hissing sound and saw Capone grab it out of midair. His strike was extremely fast. Even with his hypercognition it seemed like it was at regular speed. As soon as his fangs struck the rat, Capone coiled himself around it preventing it from attacking. The rat immediately started convulsing and died within seconds. That gave Alex the opportunity I needed to crawl inside the door. Eve helped him inside as Capone finished off the last of the rats.

“Spartan…. Spartan!!”, I heard Bella’s voice.

I couldn’t reply. His body felt cold and he was quickly losing consciousness.

His vision was cloudy but he could clearly see that Bella was holding her hand on his neck and Eve was trying to place pieces of leather on his legs. Alex wanted to smile but his body would not cooperate. Everything began moving in regular speed again and then the world went black.