After the shocking revelation of how much time had passed, Dante curled up into a ball and fell asleep in the old abandoned home. Even though he had come to accept that this was his new reality, he didn't have the energy to do anything about it now, he would deal with it in the morning. “I’ll leave it to future Dante to deal with it, this messed up new world” He mumbled to himself. He couldn’t help but think that it was a world full of amazing and frightening new possibilities. Dante finally passed out from exhaustion, he lightly snored, his mind was dead to the world.

It was his hunger that woke him up, he just couldn’t ignore it anymore, it was something he would have to deal with today or he could very possibly starve to death. Dante stood up after an uncomfortable night's sleep, he was still better rested than previous nights. Dante had rejected the system’s offer to update his date and time to the Ascended Universal, he wanted to retain some semblance of his old life and something he was familiar with. Perhaps in future if it was necessary he would update the date & time in the system, until then he would occasionally look at the new date and shudder.

Dante made his way downstairs from the bedroom, his mind was fixed on his new goals. Most important was to find food, secondly was to find anything useful, he would be very grateful if he could find some clothes. He started to search the house for any useful things. Most of the clothes were ruined and aged beyond use. He found some old sports clothes that fit him, ‘Good old spandex’ he laughed, finally having a full set of clothing. When he tried to put them on, some holes ripped in them due to the age materials. It was still better than being naked, he no longer had to run around with only the protection of his Grey wolf fur Cloak.

He found a backpack and stuffed it with similar sports clothes, some plastic drinking bottles to fill up later and other supplies. He had searched the kitchen cupboard but found the food that had rotten to dust, rusted old cans and nothing salvageable in terms of something he could eat. Having ransacked the house and packed everything that might be useful to him, then he sat down in the living room and decided to see if he could upgrade his attributes.

‘I’ve managed to upgrade my strength and perception. I believe the trick is having an underlying understanding of the attribute and a strong desire to improve the attribute. The system doesn’t seem to streamline this process. What a pain in the ass.’

After purchasing an ascension point, Dante meditated on improving his intelligence. He figured it would help him make sense of his situation, utilise his resources better and perhaps in future allow him to accomplish great things. Thinking about what intelligence was, to him it was the ability to acquire and apply knowledge, extrapolate things from limited information, memory, attention span, the ability to calculate and process information faster. Dante imagined what it would be like to improve these things, to be able to think through his situations better, to plan out and strategize. To learn and understand things faster. He pictured how it would improve his survival.

[ Would you like to increase Intelligence? Cost 1 Ascension point.]

‘Fuck yes I would!’ Having learned from his previous mistake in the woods, this time he managed to internalise his excitement.

He felt that he finally understood the process, he believed that it was something to do with the system requiring the user to have a deeper understanding of what the attributes stood for, and the desire to improve them. He felt ready to upgrade the other attributes. He purchased more ascension points with plans to upgrade more attributes. Dante went through a similar process of meditating upon vitality, agility and constitution. He thought about things like recovery and longevity, speed and coordination, resisting injuries and survival. How he would like to improve them, how they would benefit his chances to endure this harsh new world, to conquer adversity and become stronger. Every time he was successful, he would receive the much-desired notifications for improvement. Each time he would undergo the unusual sensations that the sudden change in his attributes brought upon him and his body.

He increased several of his attributes, spending 7 ascension points. Still dwelling on the two occasions the system spent points on his behalf to help with his miraculous recovery, how they helped him recover when he was on the verge of death. He decided it would be sensible to keep some points in reserve, he wasn’t ready to risk spending them all just yet.

[ You have reached system level 2]

‘Status!’

[ Name: Dante]

[Species: Human]

[ System Level: 2]

[Title’s: Reject of Earth, First Kill, Natural Born Killer, Tree Dweller]

[Mana: 5 / 5 (max)]

[Mana Mastery: 1]

[Strength: 2]

[Agility: 3] 1 → 3

[Intelligence: 4] 2 → 4

[Perception: 3]

[Vitality: 4 ] 2 → 4

[Constitution: 4] 2→ 4

[Total System Attributes: 21]

[Combat experience: 474]

[Ascension points: 0]

[Abilities: Mana claws - T1]

[Skills: Hand to hand combat - T1 - 10%]

[Production Skills: Crafting - T1 - 0%]

[100% bonus barehanded melee modifier]

Dante reached the threshold of greater than 10 achieved attributes to level up again, but he still didn’t notice if his level improvement had changed anything inside him. He spent some time thinking about what the significance of levels might be, he recalled how the automatic recovery stopped working at level 10. ‘Perhaps there’s something to that, what happens when I reach level 10?’ With the prospect of something exciting happening at level 10, he hoped that when he reached that level threshold it might come with some tangible rewards. On the other hand, after having his Agility, Intelligence, Vitality and Constitution increased he felt the improvements throughout his body. His mind was running faster, his coordination had noticeably improved, and despite his hunger, he felt healthier than ever before.

Dante was feeling much better, mentally he thought he could deal with the new changes in the world, he was more excited about the prospect of improving and getting stronger. He was ready to… *Gurgle*…find some food!

He left the house with almost nothing on his mind other than the sole motivation of finding food. Upon stepping outside, he looked around to check he was safe. Then he closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. He breathed in air that was fresh and crisp, unpolluted by human civilization. The air had a clean and revitalising quality to it that he had no recollection of experiencing in his vague shattered memories.

He spent some time adjusting and becoming accustomed to the new sensations of his improved attributes. He felt rays of warmth from the sun gently warming his skin, the wind rustling past him and causing his fur cloak to flutter. He spread his senses, his hearing started picking up all sorts of sounds. Dante heard the vibrant variety of creatures that were making their way about their daily lives, unaware of the desperately hungry predator that was nearby.

Dante broke out of his trance and started stretching his muscles, feeling more limber and agile than ever in his life. He was capable of reaching down and touching his toes while his legs remained straight, he reached further down until the palms of his hands touched the floor. A feat he was never capable of in his previous life. Smiling to himself, he did some more stretches before loudly exhaling.

“I’m ready, I can do this!” He spoke out to the world, a re-affirmation of his newfound confidence and acceptance of the changes in the world.

Earlier he heard some rustling of what sounded like a moderately large creature. He decided to check it out, it might be something he could hunt.

Dante snuck through the streets, benefiting from the stealthy properties of his cloak. He made his way near to where he believed he heard the creature, his back placed against the wall of a building. He peered around the corner and saw that not too far in the distance was a deer, It had brown ruffled fur and small antlers. It appeared oblivious to his presence, the deer bowed its head to take more bites out of the grass. It would occasionally raise its head to look around, flapping its ears before going back down for more grass.

‘My luck is starting to turn!’

Dante left his position behind the building, making his way to a crouched position behind a car. He then moved over to some tall grass, constantly keeping the deer in his sights. He was faster now, he could probably run-up to a deer before startling it, being able to run faster than 30km an hour if the attributes could be believed. He had all the advantages, he had his cloak which helped reduce his noise and leave no scent. His claws would allow him to quickly incapacitate the deer.

His recently increased attributes gave him a kind of high, a strange consequence of the way the system stimulated people when they became more powerful. The only thing that held him back was his inexperience when it came to hunting. He would just make it up as he went along, he just had to get close enough to land a strike.

He began to slowly creep forward through the grass, he would occasionally check his surroundings. He would observe himself and ensure that he remained out of sight. An unusual aspect of his increased perception was how he wasn’t quite used to it yet, every sound he made sounded so loud to him. He was worried about giving himself away.

He started slowing his breathing, making gentle slow movements towards the deer. A brief thought sparked into his mind, he was worried his rumbling stomach would give him away, but so far it had not made any more noises. It was like his stomach acknowledged that this meal would satisfy it, so it had shut up and stopped complaining, just for the moment at least.

He crept ever closer, his heart rate increasing at the exhilaration of the hunt. He had never hunted before, he felt it came naturally to him, his hunger didn’t allow him to be picky about what he ate and how he obtained his food. This was the wild now and he would do what it took to survive.

Ever so slowly he was making his way forwards, not wanting to startle the deer. The deer, still seemingly unaware of his presence, continued to blissfully eat the grass. Oblivious of the fate awaiting it.

Dante grew his mana claws, he was so close now, mere tens of meters away. Lowering himself to the floor, moving forward at a crawl, he was making as minimal movements as possible, trying not to disturb the grass. Readying himself to strike, he began to psych himself up, simulating his approach in his head, the run-up, the tackle, slashing its throat. Quick, easy and as painless as he could possibly make it.

Dante moved to a position where he could spring forward and launch himself at the deer. He started a mental countdown ‘5..., 4.., 3… 2… 1…GO!’.

He sprung forward, launching himself at a speed he had never felt before with his own body, he was in a low crouched run still trying to minimise his appearance, the wind blowing past him. He ran so fast the deer didn’t have time to see him. His hands reached forward, ready to take his prey.

The next moment a black shadow launched out of the grass opposite the deer. Its mouth spread wide open, rows of teeth glistening in the sun, chomping down on the deer's neck. The deer's bleats were quickly stifled as a Black wolf with white forepaws had successfully caught its prey. Shaking the life out of the deer, the wolf's white paws were holding the deer to the ground.

‘You have to be fucking with me right now!’ Dante was furious, he just had his prey snatched away from him at the very last moment. His eyes widened in recognition. ‘This is one of the wolves from the other night!’.

Dante poured more mana into his claws, strengthening them until they became empowered and changed to a shade of orange. He was taking no risks right now. Revenge and meal, it was too good an opportunity to give up.

He roared and shouted as he charged at the wolf. The wolf made eye contact with Dante, he thought he could see surprise, excitement then eventually fear run through the wolf's face.

****

Waya had been following the hideless for the whole day, the sun had set so she rested, when the sun rose she kept searching. She had made some guesses as to what might be motivating the Hideless and where he might be going. Hideless were pack animals, they stuck together and lived in tough structures with big sharp trees around them. There were no Hideless territories nearby, but as she followed this one, she recalled an old abandoned territory where the now extinct hideless used to live. ‘If this Hideless is lonely like me and Maikoh, maybe he would look for others of his kind there’ She was pleased with her deduction and set off towards the town.

As Waya prowled through the streets, she started to feel a little hungry. She hadn’t eaten properly in the past few days, especially since the failure of the other night where she encountered this hideless. She drooled in recollection of the taste of the blood when she bit into the man’s arm, then shook her head. ‘That’s not why I'm searching for him!’ She shook her head at the memory and hoped this hideless didn’t hold it against her too much, It was just the natural order of things.

Sniffing the air, she smelt prey. ‘A deer, it’s a deer! That will satisfy me for some time. My luck seems to have improved since the other night’

Waya stalked the deer for some time before getting ready to pounce. She slowly crept towards the deer, she remained downwind of it so her scent didn’t blow towards it and scare it off. Eventually, she found herself in the optimal position to strike. She didn’t normally hunt alone but she was confident in her abilities and usually, it was just her and her brother who had to fend for themselves, the Grey wolf pack never liked to share.

She readied herself, noticing the deer had paid no attention to her. ‘Now!’ She sprinted forward. Deathly silent strides, she was the deer's reaper ready to collect its life.

Waya was close enough now, she jumped forward with her mouth open. Her jaws latched onto the deer's throat, the vibration of the collision rang through her bones. She started shaking her head to take the fight out of the deer and choke it faster. She used all of her weight to pin the deer down, her paws clawing into it, keeping it still. She shook her head trying to choke out the last few breaths from the deer.

A roaring noise suddenly startled her, she released her mouth from the deer's throat and looked up. Her surprise must have been obvious, of all things to encounter, it was the Hideless man that she had been chasing after, and he was yelling at her.

‘Oh no! Not like this!’ She thought as she saw that he was charging towards her, his deadly claws raised, they were orange now and radiated more danger than before. The man bellowed a sound that was somewhat similar to when she and her brother had first attacked him.

“Fuck you! Fucking wolf! Fuck you, you’re mine! Think you can take my prey!”