I jogged down the side of the road. The office had been a bust, nothing but a few filing cabinets and refrigerated food. None of which would do me any good, I had been hoping for some dry foods, or canned goods to help round out my meager supplies. Oh well, I was making good time and should be able to make it into the nearest town within 2 days if I could keep up this pace and I wasn't attacked.

The road made for an easy run and I remembered reading that trained soldiers could make 20 miles a day on a march. Well, I sure as hell wasn't a soldier, trained or otherwise, and had no intention of running myself ragged., setting an easy 10 to 12-mile pace, mainly because I wanted to get into the town early tomorrow. I also needed to find a safe place to set up for the night. After about 10 minutes I made it to the main road heading south towards my destination.

Looking up and down the road I could see quite a distance, the land was relatively flat in this area of the state and I didn't see any cars or people. I had hoped to spot some survivors making their way like me, strength in numbers and all that. The fact that there was nobody in sight didn't bode well for the population count. I mean it wasn't the most heavily traveled road but still. I guess it could be partially explained by the early hour, I think it was around dawn when I first got the messages.

Pausing I took stock of the rest of my surroundings. There was forest on each side of the road, dense old-growth forest set aside as a preserve. The forest was dominated by pine trees with a smattering of Maple and other trees mixed in. This mass of greenery ended just 10 feet from the graveled edge of the road. I knew this stretch of road was known for accidents caused by hitting wildlife which was abundant this far north. There were bears, wolves, deer, and even large feline roaming these woods. I saw what happened to a bear after the system changed it and did not want to run into an ambush predator like a cougar.

The closeness of the forest made me feel slightly claustrophobic playing on my nerves I made my way to the middle of the highway to give me a clear line of sight if even just for a few extra feet. Now I only hope some yahoo didn't manage to get a pre-fuel-injected car to run and hit me while I was walking down the center of the road like I didn't have enough to worry about. This was really my only option of travel since it wasn't like I could sneak about. For one it would slow my progress immensely and I didn't have those types of skills even pre-system. Nope, I could try and get them later if the system allowed that sort of thing, right now it was about speed and perception.

Of course, with my luck, I didn't make it another mile before I heard something crashing through the underbrush on my right. Quickly I cast Giant Strength buff and my Shield, Wind Walk was still active according to the icon floating at the top of my vision so I didn't have to worry about that spell. I still needed to adjust the notifications and even look over the combat logs but now was not the time.

Gripping my staff tightly I prepared for the enemy, knowing I was unlikely to outrun any beast. Three odd-looking beasts appeared from the forest 15 feet ahead of me on the right side of the road. They had 4 legs and odd bulbous heads with two red eyes on either side. The bulbous head tapered down to a point, like a flower bud. I didn't see any ears but I did see a hole behind the eyes. The one beast let out a hiss and the other two started to circle. Their mouths? Split open like the petals of a flower displaying rows of tiny sharp teeth and three tentacle-like appendages snaked their way out.

"Hell no, I've seen enough anime to know where this is going," I said to the lead beast. My propensity to be flippant in stressful situations rearing its head.

I didn't wait for them to surround me, instead, I lunged at the one to my left swinging my staff. The beast leapt back just out of range of my strike and the other two took the opportunity to attack. I wasn't quick enough to get my staff back around to prevent injury as the rightmost one latched onto my leg with its tentacles and started tearing at my flesh with its sharp teeth.

I screamed from the pain but managed to stay on my feet as the beast yanked on my leg. The beast's teeth were tiny but sharp as needles. I gritted my teeth and managed to jab out with my staff into the Alpha's mouth. A satisfied choking sound accompanied my staff sliding down its throat. I quickly cast Rejuvenate. While the spell couldn't heal the wound as the creature was still attached, it did seem to numb the bite area reducing the pain I was feeling. While the bite didn't do that much damage, I felt it prudent to have the heal over time effect in place as I expected I would be taking more damage soon.

While I was momentarily distracted the beast on the left tried charging in again but I used my staff buddy to club him in the side sending him sprawling across the road. The Alpha was still very much alive and trying to eat his way up my staff but was not having much luck with his feet dangling off the ground. My arms were beginning to burn from the exertion of holding the beast aloft.

"Geez at least buy me dinner first," I shouted, slamming the beast on my staff into the pavement with an overhead strike.

The other beast was still trying to devour my leg so I pulled out the pistol and shot him in the head. It let out a squeal and retracted its teeth from my leg tearing my flesh more. I winced and stumbled a bit as the pain shot up my leg but the pain was quickly numbed as my spell healed the damage. I kicked the wounded creature in the side of the head with my wounded leg and it slumped over, blood gushing from its head wound.

These creatures were not all that tough. They reminded me more of plants than animals.

I ignored that beast, turning my attention to the alpha. I yanked my staff from the dazed alpha and with a quick roundhouse swing bashed the bullet-ridden beast a good ten feet.

That must have been enough to kill it because I saw an experience notice. I was about to finish off the alpha when I was tackled from behind by the third creature. Luckily I was still wearing my pack and these things didn't seem all that intelligent. It was, after all, trying to eat my pack. I struggled against the weight of the animal as I slipped the pack off. Once free I turned around and jabbed the staff into its eye causing it to release the material from its jaws. Before it could recover and attack me I smashed it over the head, the beast fell to the ground and didn't rise. I turned to the final creature,.The alpha looked to be recovering from my attacks, I took a golfing stance.

"Fore!" I yelled, putting all my strength into the swing.

The meaty thwack was all I could have hoped for as the beast bounced down the road a good fifteen feet spilling blood and guts.

"Ok so maybe I hit it a bit too hard," I groaned, as the foul smell of entrails assaulted my nose.

I looted the corpses gaining 3 seed pods. No idea what those were but I stuck them in storage anyway. I needed an identify ability or something. I looked down at my pants that were now a shredded mess on one leg. Looks like jorts are back in fashion.

This attack had been a chaotic melee, I needed to be more mindful of my attackers. Although these creatures seemed like relatively weak beasts, they still managed to cause me over eighty damage in a short amount of time and that was with just one getting a hold of me. That fight had also exhausted a third of my mana, even though it lasted less than 30 seconds. With just those few spells cast I wouldn't even be able to cast my Area of Denial ability for another minute and a half in a battle and that was with my improved mana recharge rate from my second level. I just sighed and moved on.

I also felt that same nebulous thrill I felt after fighting the bear. I wondered if it was the gaining of experience that caused this feeling or if it was just the rush of battle. I had never been much of a thrill seeker but if this is what an adrenaline high felt like, I could definitely see the appeal. Either from experience or adrenaline, I enjoyed it.

Most people would have broken down, and really who could blame them, this whole System thing was insane. No not ol Paul here, I was a pragmatist or at least I liked to think I was. To me, this whole system was just another ill-thought-out project dumped on me by upper management that I had no say in. While I had no say in the matter, it didn't mean I had to take it lying down either. I only had to make it work for me in whatever way was possible. If I could have a little fun along the way and take out my frustrations on some fantastical beasts then so be it.

With my injuries healed and my mana recovering I headed down the road, with a skip in my step and a wordless tune on my lips. Despite all the horrors the system brought, it also brought along strength and growth, a change to a world that sorely needed it. There was no longer any room for half measures or pussy footing about on decisions. I needed to react fast and if needed suffer the consequences later.

Doing some mental math while I jogged down the road, I figured it would be more efficient for me to refresh all of my buffs right after a battle and anytime the cooldowns came off, rather than before. This would hopefully give my mana enough time to charge before a fight broke out. This still left me a few buffs I would have to cast on the fly like Giant Strength and possible Shield but there was no getting around that. If the buff ended mid-fight it would cost me the same as if I cast it right before a fight anyway. Not having to cast it right before the fight would leave me with more mana to work with during the fight.

Looking back, I really should have put another point in Intelligence but with so little armor I was still glad I had stuck the rest into Endurance. With those thoughts over I refreshed my Wind Walk and Shield. Giant Strength was still on cool down.

The more I leveled in this class the more I realized it was a class built for the battlefield and group combat, not just these little beast fights. Buffs that lasted minutes if not half an hour, that could be cast on an entire group at once, without costing extra mana mind you.

While the healing spell was kind of lackluster, it was almost an instant cast, used little mana, and had a short cool down. I couldn't complain and was still glad to have the spell as it had already proven its worth. I was also glad I wasn't some stupid cleric, bound to some dumb oath or god. Hell, who even knew if gods existed, maybe they did now that mythical creatures did. I would have to check into that, and perhaps try to avoid annoying them if that were the case.