Hiding behind a tree, Jason managed to heal himself up. The injury to his shin was healed perfectly with no sign of any scar, but his shoulder was another matter. Even after fully healed, those chunk of flesh he lost was hard to recover with only about fifty percent of his flesh was recovered. His shoulder looks deformed when compared to his other normal shoulder.

Shit, my shoulder is freaking ugly.

The state of his shoulder made him downcast. The fleeting joy he felt while getting the chance of choosing a job was gone the moment he was struck by the sudden ambush. Jason rested his head over the tree trunk as he finally could take a breather, but then the ear-piercing crackle returned. Jason winced as the tree bark was smashed as something shot through the thick tree. Splinters rained all over him as he closed his eyes out of reflex. Prickling sensation stabbed over his exposed skin.

Damn it.

He cursed at the attacker that was targeting him. His hands brushed off the dust and wooden pieces from his face as he disappeared into nothingness. He didn’t run like a coward as he took higher ground on top of a tree branch. While under the guise of his invisibility he scanned the surrounding searching for that damnable attacker.

Once again, that annoying sound came rushing through the air. Jason saw how another one of those crossbow bolts toppled down a single tree, the tree he previously hid behind. One thing for sure, the attacker didn’t know his current whereabouts. He traced down the trajectory of the attack and it came from behind the line of the stampede.

Got you.

A silhouette jumped over from behind and landed on top of a Bumi Bison. It was getting impatient waiting from behind the line. Jason saw who it was and it was no doubt a kobold. Under the lenses of night vision, it looks slender while retaining its superior huge body. It was reloading another crossbow bolt while standing on top of the bison. As the stampede coming closer to where Jason was, he saw the face of that kobold.

It’s grinning.

Seeing that look on its face, infuriated Jason.

Freaking mutt.

Jason took out the compound bow from the bag and nocked an arrow. He aimed his sight down at the head of the kobold, bidding his time waiting for the right moment. His breathing slowed down as his mind was focus on the target.

Stay there little dog and don’t-

The kobold gazed right into the eyes of Jason.

Shit!

The arrow went loose and dived right at the head of the kobold. It jumped forward on to the ground as the arrow hit an unfortunate Quadhorn Yak. The kobold rolled on the ground before steadying itself in a crouch position. Its eye aimed down through the crossbow and shot another bolt. Jason leaped off the branch as he heard the tree bark behind him exploded. He looked up and saw the upper half of the tree falling down. He turned invisible once more and aimed another arrow at the moving kobold.

Jason lost his chance as the kobold knew how to move within the forest as it took cover behind a tree. Its hand was nimble as it was quick to reload another more bolt, within seconds it was readied. The kobold peeked out from the side of the tree but an arrow flew by. It jolted its body back behind the cover, not before a slight pain over its furry cheek. Its hand brushed against its cheek and saw the tint color of its crimson blood. It grinned as this prey of it was pretty fun.

The arrow shot by Jason merely grazed the kobold. He immediately turned invisible and rushed at the tree. His hand glowed in green as he unleashed a swarm of wind cutters. The buzzing sound of the wind cutters didn’t escape the sensitive ears of the kobold. Out of instinct, the kobold leaped to the side as the tree fell down on the forest floor, it rolled itself on the ground and prepared to run. Yet a slight pain radiated from one of its legs, as a huge cut wound was on its ankle.

Then things were about to get uglier. An arrow struck the kobold right at the shoulder as it howled out in pain. It glanced at the sight of the human who was crouching on the forest floor who was nocking another arrow. It had enough of playing hide and seek, the kobold rushed at Jason as it shot its crossbow. Jason rolled, dodging it as he sent another arrow as a reply. The kobold raised up its arm and blocked the incoming arrow. The arrow lodged halfway into its forearm before stopping. It didn’t care being injured as its motive was to kill the human.

Jason turned invisible fleeing away from the kobold’s sight, but he froze in place as the howl of the kobold sprang up in the air.

Shit, cursed Jason, as even his eyeball couldn’t move. He couldn’t see what was the kobold was trying to do. He had forgotten about that stun skill that these species have, but it didn’t matter as he was still invisible. Then he heard another howl of the kobold, he couldn’t see it but he had a bad feeling about it.

The kobold activated one of its special abilities, Arrow of the Wild. Its whole crossbow was glowing in dense blue light. It pulled the trigger and dozens of bolts came flying through the air. It was like a machine gun spewing out crossbow bolts with just a press of a single trigger. The kobold was laughing with its hideous laugh that was like a mashed up between a wolf’s howl and an old man’s cackle.

Jason could hear the air being ripped apart but he couldn’t see what it was. The moment the stun was lifted he bolted as fast as he could but it was too late, a few bolts pierce through his legs as he fell to the ground screaming out in pain. His face was contorting to a ridiculous degree as the pain was unlike he had ever felt before. It was way worse from the previous shot at his disfigured shoulder. In the absence of energy guard, feeling the pain was like a bitch. He looked at the kobold who was approaching him in a casual manner. The crossbow returned back to its previous state as the kobold rested his oversized crossbow on its shoulder. This action alone showed that it was the victor between their deathmatch.

The glowing blue bolts embedded in his legs disappeared leaving numerous gaping holes. Blood poured out like crazy from every major artery in his lower limbs was pierced. Jason reached out with both of his hands as he healed those wounds.

Minor Heal+ level up to level 7

A welcoming notification but the situation wasn’t the time for him to celebrate. The upgraded skill hastened the rate of his leg healing yet danger was still in front of him and the back. The stampede was behind him and this humanoid wolf was at the front. Then it stood right in front of Jason staring from on top as if looking down at this puny human in front of it.

The kobold saw the glowing green light as it knew Jason was healing himself up but it didn’t mind as it chuckled. Jason saw this kobold laughing at him as his mood soured. This kobold behaved similarly to a human who looked down on the weak. Jason saw how it was toying at him and it only burned the light of revenge inside of him. While glaring at this kobold who was still laughing at him in its obnoxious howl like laugh, Jason was deep in thought thinking up of a way to get out of this situation.

If he turned invisible the kobold would just do the same as before, stunning him and then released a barrage of bolts at him. Going in for a sudden ambush with his sheathed daggers might be possible but was he faster than a crossbow bolt? At this distance, he wasn’t sure since this kobold itself was a pretty good fighter. Then he was only left with one chance but it was too risky unless.

“Die, freaking monsters!” a familiar voice rang inside his ears.

Jason heard the sound of a submachine gun flaring with bullets flying in the air. He saw a soldier shooting with his submachine gun at random and then he threw a grenade at the stampede.

BOOM.

It exploded as dust and dirt flew up in the air. The soldier spotted the kobold from afar as he was equipped with the military high-grade night vision goggles. He aimed down his sight and shot at the standing kobold. It hit right at the head, but the bullet merely sparks and deflected upon contact with the fur skin of the kobold. Even the stampede wasn’t affected by the explosion as they came out unscathed as if nothing had ever happened. It showed how terrifying the effects of Terrain Aura.

The kobold turned its attention to the sudden entrance of the soldier. It recognized the green streak clothing and it knew this one was the enemy force of this world. It aimed the crossbow at the soldier and prepared to fire but as it tried to pull the trigger the bolt didn’t come out. It wondered what just happened. Then it felt odd as if its body was tilting sideways. Then it spurted out blood from its snout, then it realized something went wrong.

It turned towards Jason who was still lying on the forest floor. It saw this man grinning while showing his middle finger at it, then it knew it had made a mistake. Its vision blacked out as it fell and turned lifeless. It didn’t even know how it just died, yet Jason knew. The moment the kobold turned its eyes away, Jason unleashed wind cutters as it cut apart this kobold into pieces and with this distance, it never knew what just sliced it apart.

Jason, on the other hand, escaped death due to a perfect diversion from a soldier he shooed off and he wasn’t happy about it. The fight against this Archer Kobold made him realized how unprepared he was. He got up and picked up the compound bow in his hand. His grip over the bow tightened as he knew this victory was a mere fluke.

“I’m an Awaken!” the voice of the soldier rang in the air as something must have happened.

Yet for Jason, something else caught his eyes.

It can’t be.

That night he was very lucky, a scroll was floating on top of the Archer Kobold’s carcass. Jason didn’t hesitate and picked it up. He looked back at the incoming stampede but tonight he had enough. He ran back to the soldier as the soldier caught was surprised by the sudden appearance of Jason. As if it was reflex, the muzzle of his submachine gun was already aiming at Jason.

“Don’t shoot,” said Jason.

“It’s you,” said the soldier, “you’re okay?”

The soldier noticed how banged up Jason look. Holes riddled all over the clothes with bloodstains everywhere on his clothes, and the deformed looking shoulder was a gruesome sight to behold. From what he saw, Jason didn’t have a great time out here.

“I’m fine, thanks to you,” said Jason.

“Me?” the soldier didn’t realize how he had saved Jason, yet for him, that didn’t matter since there was a bigger thing he had obtained.

“Listen up, I don’t know how I did it but I just turned into Awaken. How cool is that?” the soldier was elated as if he hit the jackpot.

Something cross Jason’s mind as he had thought that the army probably didn’t know about the experience sharing system.

“Let’s go, the stampede is coming,” said Jason.

“Oh, yeah. I’ve forgotten about that,” said the soldier.

Jason grabbed on to the soldier’s waist as if it was natural and the soldier gave him a wary look.

“We’ve got to move quickly,” he said.

The soldier gulped down as he knew his future fate.

“Fine but you need to stop three hundred feet ahead,” said the soldier.

“But why?”

“I’ve got something for these monsters,” the soldier said as he grinned.

Jason did as he was told and stopped after reaching three hundred feet. The soldier was puking a bit before regained himself quicker than before. Jason wanted to ask why they were here but then the soldier took out something from his pocket. It was some sort of button and without warning the soldier pushed it as he saw the stampede went past a virtual border in his mind.

A loud deafening explosion came from the front. Jason covered his ears as he watched the dark forest exploded with dust and dirt rising up in the air. It was just a hundred fifty feet away from them and he could feel the heat and the shock wave. He glanced at this soldier and thought he was a mad man. He saw the soldier was smiling from ear to ear as if he had accomplished something. Jason had to break the bubble of this man.

“You do know that this isn’t going to do anything to them,” said Jason.

“I know, I’m just hoping I can slow it down with a trench from the explosion,” said the soldier.

A clever idea.

This soldier was rather different than what he saw. It seemed he should never judge others by appearance.

“Okay, I’m ready now,” said the soldier as he was nervous for another round of being lugged by Jason.

Jason stared at this soldier for a while before he disappeared once more. The soldier noticed it and was confused.

“Again?” being left like that really tested one’s patience and the soldier wasn’t having fun experiencing it another time. He kicked the dirt with his boots but a minute later, his vision was bombarded by numerous blue windows.

“What the heck is going on?” said the soldier. He read through the text and all he saw was just messages about leveling up.

Then another minute later, Jason appeared.

“What did you do?” asked the soldier, as he knew whatever that just happened to him was related to this unknown Awaken.

“A gift,” said Jason.