Bharat was, for the last 10 minutes or so was just sitting in the same position and staring at the far wall in silence. The realization that he almost died was a bit difficult for him to digest.

Sure, he could say the same about his last two deadly encounters but they were too tame in comparison that they could almost be disregarded. None of them slapped him in the face with cold hard facts about his near death.

‘And to think I would have kicked the bucked without an even ounce of progress to show for it.’

As an individual that was the very definition of ‘Average’ throughout his life till now, whether it be in sports, academics, or even plain looks, the fact that he may have lost the opportunity to get rid of this stigma irked him.

A traitorous part of his mind tried to soothe him, saying that he did win in the end, but he didn’t want that kind of shallow victory that was not a result of his own effort.

And he couldn’t help but cringe at the childishness in which he’d been approaching this whole hunting thing. He was so obsessed by the thought of levelling up that the idea of dying never hit him till now, and now that it did, he was stumped about how to move forwards from here.

*Sigh*

Regardless, moping like this has never solved any problems for him and that wasn’t going to change. He knew he could only do two things from now on. Either he accepts his reality that he would always be a person fated to be the bare average or he start putting extra effort into changing his situation.

He was already sick of choosing the former his whole life till now and the latter never worked for him but maybe he could believe that one last time and put his faith into this System.

That’s what it was after all wasn’t it? An opportunity to grow beyond what the universe decided for you?

‘But how do I actually go about accomplishing all that. How am I going to convince myself at every failure to move forward again? Things will only become more dangerous over time and I’m not naive enough to think that this will be my last failure.’, he thought to himself in frustration.

Then he remembered a promise he made to himself a few days ago. He only made it as a jest, to stop himself from going on a tangent on useless topics and was used by him as a way to focus on the immediate situation instead of daydreaming. But maybe that was the thing he needed all this time.

“Just walk it off huh…?”, he muttered wryly to himself as he gazed at his clenched fist which still had signs of dry blood on it from his earlier fight as if warning him of the dangers that would come if he walked this path. Not disregarding the risks involved, but not shying away from them either.

He wryly chuckled to himself and slowly stood up, still gazing at his hand. Probably not the best motivation and arguably in the worst five but motivations was subjective anyways. And if disregarding his life to overcome setbacks gets him moving again, then so be it.

From now on, only he’ll get to decide how he dies and not anyone else.

‘But first I’ll need to do something about my current state', he decided as he looked down at himself. All that blood from his wounds and some that likely came from the rabbit was starting to get dry and giving him an irritating sensation so he went outside to clean himself.

Discarding his tunic, as its state was beyond salvageable now, he was about to start cleaning himself when suddenly in the distance, he saw 3 very familiar creatures enter his “camp”.

They were still too far away from him to notice his presence yet but it was only a matter of time as he saw the trail of his blood they were following, which lead directly into the cave. For a moment he thought about hiding inside the cave till they lost interest and went back but he was done being a coward now. Also, he couldn’t deny that a part of him called for revenge at the sight of these red-eyed creatures.

‘I need a plan. Sure I told myself to not care about dangers anymore but there is a difference between bravery and stupidity and I don’t want to be the latter by rushing in without a plan.’, he thought while crouching behind some shrubbery and watching the rabbits cautiously.

A part of him was confused about why these rabbits left their territory as the other creatures he had seen never left theirs, but he knew there was no time to think about such things.

Remembering his previous fight with one of these creatures, he knew that fighting three of them wasn’t going to be easy but there was certainly a way he could make the situation a bit favourable for himself.

In his earlier bout, the main reason that the rabbit got the better of him, apart from it having a higher level, was its sneak attacks. The forest was an excellent place for such small creature with many hiding spots but he could circumvent that by steering them into an open space where he could keep an eye on them at all times.

But that still left the issue of their speed. He wasn’ t sure if he could defend against 3 of them at the same time. But then he remembered something, and a plan started to form in his mind. It was reckless, crazy and he was probably in over his head by thinking it could work but it was the only way he could see himself succeeding if it did work.

At least he was reasonably sure that he could take 2 of these fuckers with him even if he died.

In the meanwhile, the 3 claw-foot rabbits were halfway to the position of Bharat, curiously following the trail they had found in the forest. They didn’t know why, but something about this blood and the scent it gave off was very appealing to them. They instinctively knew that consuming it from the source would be very beneficial for them.

Suddenly, the ears on their heads shot up when they heard a shrill sound from somewhere, Looking up, they saw a two-legged creature waving at them and shouting in a language they couldn’t understand.

“Come here if you want a piece of me, you little fuckers!”

They couldn’t understand why, but hearing the weird creature’s words pissed them off for some reason. Their eyes flashed with violence as they charged at the creature at once, from which the appetizing scent was coming.

Back with Bharat, he started his next part of the plan as he saw the rabbits take his bait. Running back into the cave he immediately picked up the dagger, once more feeling grateful that he, even in his injured state, remembered to bring it back.

Holding the dagger filled him with mixed feelings as he realized that he hadn’t had a chance to use it till now except for that one failed attempt at skinning. And now, his first weapon could likely be his last weapon as well.

He just hoped he actually uses it for once and not just losing its grip first contact.

This was also a test for him, to see how much a level improved him. Plus one to all stats sounded amazing but he wouldn’t know the actual improvement unless he compared his previous performance with his upcoming one.

Looking ahead from his position at the far end of the cave, he saw the three rabbits enter the cave and used [Appraise] on them.

[Claw-foot Rabbit - Level 4]

[Claw-foot Rabbit - Level 5]

[Claw-foot Rabbit - Level 4]

Two level 4 rabbits and one level 5. A bad matchup for someone who just recently reached level 1 but he didn't care now. The only thing he cared about was victory or death.

The moment the three rabbits entered the cave, they charged at him at once. They were clearly impatient, as the scent they were following was strongest inside this cave which confirmed that their target was right in front of them.

They didn’t feel danger for even a moment as the instincts they had honed living inside this forest told them that the prey in front of them was weaker than them. And not by a small margin either.

Looking at the rabbits charging at him, he felt relieved of his decision to lead them into the cave, which had zero hiding spots for them. He wouldn’t have to worry about them performing hit and run tactics now at least. Some of the effects of levelling up also became clear.

Charging at them, with the dagger in one hand and a big rock in the other, he could also feel that he was faster than previously, his movements were more graceful and his legs had more strength in them.

He likely wouldn’t have noticed these things if he was a great runner beforehand, with excellent form, but he knew his limitations. So noticing these changes wasn’t a hard thing for him. When he was almost about to clash with his opponents, he enacted his plan, or gamble, and prayed.

‘Let's just hope it works', he thought as he used up all his additional points, putting them in strength, agility and perception. His original intention was to put one point in luck instead of perception, which was still unknown to him. But he changed his mind at the last moment after he noticed that, instead of only seeing a hint of a blur as he had thought, he could actually follow their movements somewhat with his eyes.

It wasn’t a vast improvement by any means, but if it functioned like his other stats, then he felt that perception was his best option.

The next moment, Bharat felt a rush of power as the world around him slowed down to a crawl. Everything, including him, was still moving but it was very slow as if watching a slow-motion scene in a movie. His sight, hearing and smell were all scaled up to eleven in that moment as well as the blurred forms of the rabbits became clear, their light steps echoing in his head and a strange scent bombarded his nose that he realized was his blood.

The level 5 rabbit, which was ahead of the other two, likely due to its higher agility was slowed down mid-leap with its clawed paws glinting as they aimed for his face. Deciding to kill the higher levelled one first, he raised his dagger, which was, amazingly, moving faster than the rabbit due to the agility boost he received, and stabbed it right through its eye and reaching the brain, killing it before it even had a chance to retaliate.

The sharp sound of system notification rang in his mind but he ignored it as there were two more targets left. The other two rabbits started to halt in their charge, likely noticing the fate of their “leader” but Bharat wasn’t going to give them a chance to get back their bearings and think, as their higher than normal intelligence was still a threat.

Leaving behind the dagger stuck inside the first rabbit’s head as he felt removing it would take too long, he raised his other hand with the big rock and brutally brought it down on the second one’s head while it was still frozen in surprise, smashing it into bloody bits and getting a second kill notification.

Now getting excited and getting ready to kill the last one before his boosted state ended, he turned around to kill the last one but widened his eyes in surprise at the scene that greeted him when he turned his head.

The third rabbit it seemed was quick to collect his bearings and instead of halting in surprise, it made a sudden leap while his head was turned the other way. Dodging it was impossible for him at this point as the rabbit was too close to his head.

It was guaranteed that he’d lose at least one eye, regardless of the way he moved to dodge and he wasn’t too keen to find out if the HP potion could regrow his eyes.

But he was unwilling to die now that he was close to victory, so instead of dodging it, he decided something else. Before it could reach his face, at the last instant, his hand shot up with ridiculous reflexes and gripped the rabbit by its head, halting it in mid-leap but getting scratched by the insanely sharp claws of the rabbit on his arm in the process.

Feeling that his boost will end soon enough, he twisted his body to get momentum and threw the rabbit with all his boosted strength at the far wall of the cave, instantly kicking up dust and debris from the impact.

Before he could confirm the kill though, his body lost its strength and he collapsed on the floor in a heap. A sharp pain shot up in his body and a sudden headache assaulted his head as he lay there. Thankfully, before he could panic about the last rabbit suddenly pouncing on him, the crisp sound of system notifications made him relax.

“It worked!”, shouted with delight and suddenly started laughing before a sharp pain in his limbs rudely reminded him of his current state

“…Ow.”