Cough, cough, cough.

Stanis woke up in a fit of coughs, wheezing loudly as he tried to breathe in. His whole body hurt. There was not a single part of his body that wasn't in pain, not a single limb that wasn't damaged. After coughing out a fair bit of blood and phlegm, he then tried to cry. Only that tears wouldn't come out, instead he vividly felt how raw his eye-ducts were, and more importantly how much they stung. Due to the pain, his body tried to subconsciously cry more, which only caused him even more misery. The pain spiralled upwards until his body just lost all energy to move, instead opting to lie there on the ground in perfect stillness.

Stanis Volkov

Age: 18 years

Mana capacity: 18 (regeneration is capacity/4 per hour)

Level 9 (Progress to the next level is 17%)

Unallocated points: 2

Strength: 18 [15]

Dexterity: 18 [15]

Constitution: 16[15]

Intelligence: 12[12]

Wisdom: 12[10]

Tenacity: 16[14].

Skills: Layman's Rush

Please spend your unallocated points.

Unable to move his body and unwilling to move his mouth, Stanis expanded Constitution within his mind.

Constitution: The attribute that determines the tenacity of the body, how tough and hard-wearing it is, and the stamina one has. Upgrading this attribute will allow you to take more punches, for a longer time, and still be able to get up faster than others due to your increased recovery.

He immediately willed his two points into Constitution. If he needed anything right now, it was the power to recover.

Constitution has been increased from 16 to 18. It is above your species' average of 15.

Stanis Volkov

Age: 18 years

Mana capacity: 18 (regeneration is capacity/4 per hour)

Level 9 (Progress to the next level is 17%)

Strength: 18 [15]

Dexterity: 18 [15]

Constitution: 18[15]

Intelligence: 12[12]

Wisdom: 12[10]

Tenacity: 16[14].

Skills: Layman's Rush

What proceeded this was hours of consistent pain as Stanis simply lay there. Over time, the pain did begin to dull, allowing him some simple movement with his limbs, well most of them anyway. Stanis wasn’t sure of how many hours had passed, but he was definitely getting better.

Stanis forced his right arm up, lifting it to eye-level, before allowing it to drop back down. He then brought both his legs up, before dropping them too. He would have done the same for his left arm, or at least tried, however he couldn't even feel it. It was almost like he didn't have a left arm, his sense of feeling was cut by the shoulder. It was as he touched his left arm that he noticed the chilling cold, a deathly cold…

And so Stanis went back into his depression, brooding for the countless hours at the situation he found himself in. Not only was his body close to breaking, his left arm had fully broken and left him with just memories of having four limbs. He loathed this new world: it had ruined the effort he had made to remake his life on past-Earth, and now it gave him a death sentence by taking away his arm in a kill-or-be-killed world.

"ARRRRRRRGHH!"

He wailed in anger, followed by sobs of grief. There were only the two critically injured people left in the Injured Tent, and so Stanis's actions were unseen for the most part. This was apart from Jayesh who had just come across the tent, before listening in, and then walking off. Sometimes time was the best remedy.

On the other hand, Stanis felt lost and angry, why did fate love tormenting him so badly? It was a repetition of violence, death and agony over and over again, with only fleeting moments of calm before the cycle restarted. The pain and misery he had gone through when casting away his old life and friends had been large, but he had still done it as he had hoped. Now he hopeless; he was handicapped in a world where progress was the difference between life and death.

He began pounding the ground with his right arm as his misery grew, apathetic about the extra pain he was causing the healing fist. He was sick of this life, sick of always being on edge, sick of constantly wondering whether he was the next one to die or whether it was the person next to him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

A howl of a mixture of anger and grief escaped his lips. After releasing his emotions, his body felt exhausted, and he once again became incapable of moving…

****

****

A fair distance away from the camp stood the Russian man who had been against Juan for leadership, alongside his subordinate who filled him on everything that had happened in the camp.

"It seems Juan is basically the full leader now; there is now a clear power structure and people follow his word."

The Russian man raised his eyebrow at his subordinate, who was a large, muscular man who had a very wide chest. His face seemed to be a constant scowl and thus was loosely known as Scowly by the others. Scowly felt the need to explain this to his leader as he saw the expression,

"He has set it so that he is at the top of the chain, followed by the Dead 4, and finally the rest of us. It seems all the loot from last battle has already been used up by the Dead 4, and Juan."

The Russian man placed his knee in front, before taking on the thinkers pose. It made sense to him that Juan would sneakily take some of the loot without telling anyone, in fact he doubted anyone from the camp was surprised by this. What was more interesting was the fact that Juan had placed himself so high up the pedestal, without the power to maintain it. Self-power was the most important factor here in the apocalypse, and Juan did not have enough of it to put himself above everyone else.

Wondering of ways he could topple this fragile structure Juan had just set, the Russian man thought of something he had recently heard.

“I heard some boy brutally murdered a large Wolf, bigger than any on Earth, with just his bare hands yesterday. I then heard that the Wolf actually had a skill scroll in its Storage Stone, which Juan took for himself.

You think that boy is worth standing up for? He is definitely strong, and will be grateful if we help him.”

Scowly responded, “Ahh that story. The boy was strong, that’s for sure, but I’ve heard from the nurse girl that his left arm is now broken. Like so cold that it’s just not part of his body anymore. I reckon it’s too much of a risk to do for a cripple like that: he might be strong now but everyone will be past him in a week.

But it’s your call…”

The Russian man thought for a while before coming to a decision: “Naa, you’re right. Far too risky when things are so volatile like this. Worth reconsidering though if the kid survives the next battle…”

****

****

Meanwhile in the Headquarters Tent was Juan. His hands were shivering with excitement as he looked at what was in his hands. When he had gotten his first skill, he had been hopeful. However, it was within moments those spirits had been crushed: his skill had turned out to be that he could amplify orders by enduing mana into speech. It was effectively useless in a hyena's den like this; who cared about team strength when he didn't even have the personal strength to stand above the others?

But this could change that. It was the skill scroll that had been taken from Stanis's kill. Juan read it once more to make sure that it was the real deal.

Frozen boundary

In an area, depending on how much mana is used, freeze everyone in it for a second or longer. The shattering of frost will cause injury on release.

A simple skill all in all. But this was enough, even the fucking Dead 4 that lorded over him would fall to him now. This was because if they did fight him, they would quickly get the advantage and follow it up. But what if their actions became frozen for a moment? It was enough for him to lunge forward and stab them, enough to instantly turn the tables.

This skill would become beyond strong if he used it at the right moment. Juan only thought about the people he could surpass with this skill. He gave no thought to Stanis who he had stolen the skill off, after all who cared the opinion of a liability?

A short distance away from the Injured tent sat Jayesh. He was staring vacantly at his open, calloused palms. Having been through serious stuff himself, Jayesh knew that time was a necessity as it would cause people to calm down and become more rational. But what if Stanis was set down the wrong path, which was easy in a crazy place like this, would he not just keep going down that path with no one to advise him?

Jayesh felt it was his duty to at least help out his young friend; they hadn’t known each other for long, but Jayesh knew that this kid was too nice and naïve to survive in a hellhole like this. And so the kid would either die, or have a massive personality shift without anyone there to help him.

Jayesh forced himself up to his feet, and was just about to march towards the Injured tent when another thought struck him. Considering how cruel this world was, he would be incapable of looking after Stanis in short time. From what he had seen so far, Stanis seemed sensible, and had already made the right choice to fix himself up in his previous life. Could this situation not act as a catalyst to further mature the kid?

And thus he sat back down; he trusted Stanis. And more importantly, he hoped his decision was the right one…