I don't know how long I had been out but when I opened my eyes again the sun was low in the sky, indicating it was evening.

My bones were tired. I don't know how but I could just feel them being tired. That is how tired I was.

Good news though, I wasn't thirsty. Well, I was, but my thirst was overruled by the lingering figments of pain throughout my body.

I had woken up on my back looking up at the sky. The tree branches were protecting me from the evening's light.

For a moment I forgot where I was, the scene was just so surreal that it felt like a dream. But after a few seconds I remembered.

I remembered everything.

'I got to stop waking up like this. It's definitely not good for my health.'

I groan and turn my head to look around. When I did, I found no trace of the wolf leader or the snake's body.

'I'm pretty sure I killed the snake, but the wolf? What happened back then? Why did that happen? The tattoo just glowed on its own.'

I sat up quickly causing some minor dizziness.

Once up I tried looking for the body of the wolf leader and the snake. I couldn't find either.

'....hmmm...not good. If the wolf survived and got away it could be calling for reinforcements. I don't know what happened to the snakes body. That's weird...

But first things first, need to get up and find water. I can’t live without it for much longer. My body is barely listening to my commands as it is and my mind is practically tearing itself at the seams from dehydration.'

I try to stand up but my body doesn't respond. I had used a lot of energy just to sit up earlier. Even so, I knew I needed to get up now. If I didn't get moving soon I knew I would be dead in no time.

'Need to find water. Come on. Get up and find water!'

I felt a slight tingling on my hand for a moment. Puzzled at the sensation, I stop everything and bring my hand up to my face to look at the tattoo, but once I start looking at the tattoo, the tingling stops. I continue to stare at the tattoo though, wondering what happened before I passed out earlier; however, I get no response from the tattoo nor do I get any answers on why it did what it did. It looked the same.

I then shake my head and try to focus on the task ahead. I slowly try to stand up from where I was sitting and when I finaly do, I slip and fall back onto my back.

'OW! what the hell?'

I turn my head around to look at the ground I was laying on and I find that I had been laying in a small puddle of blood. Behind me was a larger puddle of blood with pieces of what I can only assume as the snake from earlier. All that was left of it though was its head and a bit of its spine. The rest was gone.

'Oh. That's why I couldnt find it, but I don't remember it looking like that. What happened to the rest of it?...'

I shake my head of needless thoughts and then look at the puddle of blood I slipped on and the dribble of blood still coming from the dead snakes head.

'I wonder? I mean, ew that's disgusting, but blood is like 90% water right?........I mean....I would never do this if I wasn't desperate......

I need to survive............ Just try it....It won't be too bad right?

Just this once.'

I shuddered at the thought of drinking the blood of the snake, but the longer I thought about it the more I feel like it was a good idea.

My desperate thirst was growing now that the pain was fading.

'I mean, I haven't found any water sources and I doubt I can find any before sundown. Plus, that wolf might be coming back with more to kill me. I want to survive...no....I need to survive. Even if it is grose, I need to do it if I want to survive.'

The song 'stayin alive' started to play in my head now. I think I was becoming delirious and loopy. Don't know. Never been this dehydrated before.

It might have been the song, the extreme thirst that I had, or my delirious state, but I was starting to seriously lean toward drinking the blood.

'eh.. fuck it. Just get it over with!'

In the end, I couldn't stop myself. My desperation overruled my disgust and I took and cupped my hands, bringing a small amount of the blood to my lips, and drank.

I drank it all down in one gulp.

I waited for a moment to see if I would barf it back up, for the taste to make me gag, but to my surprise, I didn't. In fact, I felt, marginally, better. It tasted like iron and a bunch of other things I don't want to know, but at that moment, I didn't care, my thirst was being quenched, if just a little.

At that moment of realization, I lost all reason and sanity, my desperate thirst taking over.

I drank the blood, gulping it down until my thirst had been quenched. I didn't stop there though, I kept going, drinking all that I could from the pudles. It didn’t taste good, but I was finally able to quench my thirst.

When I came back to myself, my mouth and my body were covered in red stains from the blood. I knew I should have been ashamed and disgusted with myself, but I couldn't stop myself from smiling.

It was a crazy, wild smile. A smile of a beast. And maybe, in that moment, I was.

I couldn't stop myself from smiling because I realized one thing about this whole horrible experience; I would survive.

I would not let myself be bogged down with what was right or wrong or what was disgusting or not. I would do everything I could to survive even if that meant becoming a beast.

I finally confirmed in my heart that I had changed and shed the feeble man I was in the past to survive now in this new world. No matter what.

Finally, I had satisfied my thirst.

After wiping the blood from my mouth, I stood back up, stronger and more refreshed than I was previously. I had a clearer head now that I wasn’t completely dehydrated. I could focus.

When I regained some clarity I noticed the red flashes in my vision. I groaned upon realizing I forgot about them again.

I opened then up to see what I had missed.

[Congratulations! You have leveled up to level 9!]

[Congratulations! You have completed the requirements to obtain a title!

For defeating a group of enemies that were much higher leveled than you while being melted alive, poisoned, delirious from dehydration, and bleeding out, you have gained the title Survivor.

Survivor: Allows the user to gain survival skills faster.]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up to level 10!]

[Congratulations! For reaching level 10 you will now obtain +1 extra stat every time you level up!

Previous +5 stat points per level. Current +6 stat points per level.]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up to level 11!]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up to level 12!]

[Congratulations! You have successfully branded the Silver Wolf Pack Leader!

For receiving submission from the SIlver Wolf Pack Leader you have been given the authority to brand the Silver Wolf Pack Leader to yourself.

Through branding the Silver Wolf Pack Leader with the Brand of the Reaper, the Silver Wolf Pack leader has been forced to evolve.

Congratulations! Your Silver Wolf Pack Leader has successfully evolved into a Shadow Wolf!

ERROR!

ERROR!

Requirements not met for evolution.

Calculating solution...

Solution found.

Warning! Due to the fact that your Shadow Wolf did not fulfill the requirements to evolve correctly it is forced to devolve to the weakest form of the Shadow Wolves, a Shadow Wolf Cub.

Due to the devolution of your Shadow Wolf into a Shadow Wolf Cub, all stats have been reset to the baseline for this species.

Congratulations! You have branded a Shadow Wolf Cub!]

[Congratulations! For allowing your Shadow Wolf Cub to constantly consume your mana until depletion over and over again for 8 hours your Shadow Wolf Cub's stats have increased:

+5 Vitality

+10 Endurance

+10 Wisdom

+3 Luck]

[Congratulations! Your Shadow Wolf Cub is very lucky! It has learned one of your skills from constantly consuming mana from your mana pool!

Skill learned: Focus]

'Well, shoot. So thats what happened.....now its branded to me right? Cool! This should help out a lot..maybe. Its a cub now. Does that mean its weaker? Uhhh.. so confusing with this evolusion stuff. But what happened to it? I don't see it around?'

I began looking for my newly acquired companion, but I could not find it.

I looked around the clearing and under the snakes head. I looked around the dead wolves and I looked around the edge of the clearing.

'Hmmm....weird. I'll figure it out later. That also means that reinforcements won’t be coming soon so I have time to relax. Thank god! I needed the rest. hmmm.... I leveled up right? I should to check my stats!'

I open my status page excitedly.

[ Name: John Scythe

Title(s): Revenge Seeker, Worldcrosser, Champion of Death, One Cursed by Death, Marked One, Survivor

Race: Human

Level: 12

Health/Health Regen: 200/(13 per hr)(2.5/minute)

Stamina/Stamina Regen: 196/(7 per hr)(2.5/minute)

Mana/Mana Regen: 30/(4 per hr)

Unallocated Stat Points: 22

Unallocated Stolen Stat points: 11 Strength, 16 Intelligence

Strength: 25(100)

Agility: 29

Vitality: 20

Constitution: 13(150)

Endurance: 4(150)

Dexterity: 7(150)

Perception: 10

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 4

Carisma: 6

Luck: -1

Passive Skills

Pain Resistance Lvl 5

Sneak Lvl 3

Focus Lvl 4

Dodge Lvl 1

Active Skills

Fallen Army Lvl 1

Brand of the Reaper Lvl 1

Self Poison Lvl 1

Iron Skin Lvl 1

Identify Lvl 1

Sense Aura Lvl 1]

'Nice! I got a big hall this time!'

I felt a wave of relief seeing all of the stat points I could allocate. However, I was concerned I did not receive a skill when strength passed 10 on my stats.

'Maybe I haven't reached the threshold yet. But that's weird. Why is strength the only one that's different? Or was agility different too and I just not realize it due to how many stat points I allocated at once? Hmmm...I don’t know.'

I shook my head and decided that those kinds of questions can be asked later. Right now was the time for me to allocate them.

Before I did though, I noticed another tab on my stats page.

It was the Shadow Wolf Cub's stat page!

[Name: N/A

Race: Shadow Wolf Cub

Level: 1

Health/ Health regen: 70/1 per hr

Stamina/ Stamina Regen: 110/2 per hr

Mana/ Mana regen: Locked (mana needed to unlock) Mana Consumed 800/40,000

Strength: 1

Agility: 2

Vitality: 7

Constitution: 1

Endurance: 11

Dexterity: 2

Perception: 1

Intelligence: 3

Wisdom: 11

Carisma: 20

Luck: 7

Resistances

Fatigue: 0%

Pain: 0%

Fire: 0%

Lightning: 0%

Water: 0%

Ice: 0%

Earth: 0%

Death: 5%

Shadow: 30%

Holy: - 20%

Affinities

Fire: 0%

Lightning: 0%

Water: 0%

Ice: 0%

Earth: 0%

Death: 5%

Shadow: 45%

Holy: - 10%

Passive Skills

Consume Mana Lvl 1

Focus Lvl 1

Active Skills

None]

'Oh. That's interesting. Why does it have an affinity and residences like that? And why is it so weak! This won't help me at all!'

I clicked on each and read the descriptions to learn more. Everything was the same as mine except the resistances and affinities. It seems that they appeared that way due to the shadow wolves species traits.

'Interesting. So different species have different traits which allow them to be stronger or more inclined with different things. It also shows the weaknesses of the species. Say that I want to kill a shadow wolf, holy magic would do the most damage to it I think. I mean, if that's how it works.

Well, I guess I could have guessed that from it being called a shadow wolf it would have an affinity to shadow magic. It is interesting that it takes more damage from holy magic though. I will have to watch out for that, especially in the monsters I will fight in the future. If they all have a weakness then I should exploit it to achieve victory faster.'

'Why is its mana locked? What's with it needing 40,000 to unlock! That's an insane number!!! I guess consume mana is what the cub’s been doing to me while I slept. I guess it needs mana to grow? Weird. I don't understand any of this. At least it got one of my better skills, focus. What is consume mana's description though?'

[Consume Mana(Passive) Lvl 1: A skill most young monsters have. Useful for giving young monsters energy and mana. Mostly used to help them evolve into a stronger form. Higher level allows it to consume more mana at faster speeds from other sources. However, due to its low level the only mana it can consume is from its mother/master.]

'Ok cool. That explains a lot. So I'm like its mother now. Great. So that’s why my mana is so low. I'll have to study this more later, but for now, stat points!'

I then look at the unallocated stat points I have and the stolen stat points I have. Interestingly, it now gives me the option to send my stolen stat points to my wolf. It wont let me send any of my regular stat points though.

Currently, I'm very unhappy with the cub's stats so far and I will need a strong partner in the forest, especially something like a wolf, to survive. So I decided to send all of the stolen strength stat points over to it.

I then turn to study my stat points.

'What was I thinking? I waisted those 5 stat points in strength last time. Why? I have the boost from the clothing. I don’t need any more strength.............oooohhhhhh wait. I see.'

I remembered my rash decision. Thankfully I was somewhat competent during my dehydrated state.

'I think I was worried that my clothing may have melted too much off to still give me the bonuses.....ah. I see. I really need to find out though when I loose the bonuses from the clothing. It is worrying to not know what that point may be. I'll have to test it out later.'

I then turned my attention to my decision for the rest of my stat points. It took me a little while of thinking and debating to make my final decision.

In the end though, I put 5 into luck because I really needed all the help I could get. I put 10 stat points into wisdom to help with the influx of intelligence stats I will get from the stolen stat points. Then I put the remaining 7 stat points into agility.

I could have outrun that snake if I was faster. Speed can get you out of a lot of bad situations. I'm hoping that the increased wisdom will help me make decisions and the increased luck will let me never have to deal with another situation like that again. I was tempted to add more to vitality but I realized that I needed these more right now.

I was also tempted to raise all of my stats to 10, but something was telling me I needed to spend my stat points this way. Something in my gut was telling me that with these stat points in these positions I could be able to survive longer and gain more stat points from my next fight.

I am nervous about adding all of the stolen intelligence stat points to myself though. I don’t know what will happen but I'll gamble on it being a positive outcome. I'll take all the help I can get out here.

Once I hit confirm I felt the familiar pleasure again. It was stronger and lasted longer this time.

'I could get used to that'

Once I came down I saw the flashing lights again. This only mean one thing. I hit a threshold.

[Congratulations! For reaching a milestone in your agility stat you are awarded a random skill. Random skills are chosen based on your luck. Choosing now.]

[Congratulations! You have received the active skill Stampede.

This skill, when activated, makes you sprint at your max speed, regardless of your stamina, in a strait line for a period of time. Leveling it up can increase the time and reduce the amount that it costs to activate.]

[Congratulations! For reaching a milestone in your wisdom stat you are awarded a random skill. Random skills are chosen based on your luck. Choosing now.]

[Congratulations! You have received the active skill Mana Bolt.

This is the most basic attack magic for an aspiring mage. Range and power dependent upon intelligence, wisdom, and level of skill.]

[Congratulations! Your Shadow Wolf Cub has reached a milestone in its strength stat! It will be awarded a random skill. Random skills are chosen based on luck. Choosing now.]

[Congratulations! Your Shadow Wolf Cub has received the active skill Bite. This is a basic attacking skill for a Shadow Wolf Cub. The amount of power in the bite is dependent upon the strength stat of the cub.]

'Nice! So I got some good skills and so did my cub. I still can't find the thing but it’s still good. I didn't pass a threshold in my intelligence stat so I'm guess 30 is the next threshold after 10. Strength is the only different one though. How odd. But that’s beside the point! I can use magic now!!! Hell ya! My first magic attack. This is going to be great. I'm going to have to test you out for sure.

Now the big question.

Do I feel any different now? What did the increased intelligence do to me?'

"hmmmmm.....I don’t feel and different with my increased wisdom stat or my increased intelligence stat. I am not suddenly brilliant and all knowing either.

hmmmm......I guess intelligence is just a thing that you need to gain on your own. No stat can suddenly make you smart I guess."

[Wisdom +1]

'what the hell? haha. I guess that means I'm right. Weird. I didn't think you could gain stat points like that. I guess anything goes here.'

I then close my status screen and my notifications.

Now I had to focus on the one thing that was missing, my cub.

I look around myself for the cub that supposed to be bound to me, but I still can’t find it. Then a thought came into my head. I turned around and tried to identify the dead snake's head.

[(Deceased)Forest Viper Lvl 26: Deadly hunter. Intelligent in killing. Prefers to hunt weaker opponents and single enemies. It is not good at fighting groups.]

'Oh cool! I can read more of it now. It's interesting that I can identify the dead too. It seems you don’t need the full body either to identify.

I guess my increased intelligence lets me see more from my identify skill. Either that or I can only see more when I identify it after its dead. More testing required'

I tried identifying the wolves and gain the same result I received when I identified them when they were alive. I then identified everything from the trees to bushes. I identify everything in my surroundings. Not one thing holds any information regarding the cub though. I had hoped that I would have been able to identify the cub in a bush or something.

Then I try activating Sense Aura. It worked without a hitch which was nice.

It was weird at first. It felt like I could see and feel colors. The dead had no colors on them while the trees and bushes were all greyish. I could sense everything within around 3 meters of me even if it was behind me or bushes.

There were no animals or anything else around me to sense so I decided to move around in the clearing to sense everything around the clearing into the forest.

It took me awhile but I had managed to scout 3 meters into the forest around the entire clearing.

Still though, no cub.

I decided to keep sense aura on while I went back and harvested the fangs and anything else of value from the snake and the wolves. Thankfully I was able to just pull out the fangs. They made for excellent cutting tools to harvest the skins and meat of the dead wolves. I probably botched the skinning of them but I was slowly learning how to do it.

I had been in the clearing now for about 2 hours skinning and preparing my makeshift bags out of the skins to store the meat of the wolves. As I was getting ready to leave I felt a different color coming from behind me. It was coming towards me from the woods. I immediately turned around and readied myself to face it.

I could not make out the shape of the thing. All I could see what that it was green in color.

I waited for it to arrive.

Then it burst through the bushes.

I was startled at first because I was expecting anything from another snake to a rabbit, but it was my cub!

I watch it approach excitedly towards me. It was small, all black, with tiny eyes. It's size reminded me of a puppy from home. Except this one had two tiny fangs protruding from the corners of its mouth. Its eyes were dark brown, with a tiny little tail and its mouth was all puffed up and full of something.

It was so cute! If I was in my world, women would flock to pet it.

It ran right up to me and looked at me happily and then opened its mouth. When it did, water came out of it and fell to the ground.

The cub looked almost like it was smiling at me. It didn’t look like it was hostile and death said that anything branded to me will be an ally and wouldn't hurt me. So, confused and nervous, I reached down to pet it.

It was super weak so I wasn't too worried of it hurting me.

I was still confused as to why it had water in its mouth though, but that didn't stop me from petting it's head.

It was soft! Really soft! I thought my hand was on a nice pillow or fluffy rug. I couldn't help myself from smiling.

"Hey little guy. How are you doing? I had missed you. Where did you go?"

The cub liked it when I petted its head, and when I asked him where he went he pointed his nose at the little puddle of water he dropped out of his mouth.

I looked at him funny for a minute.

"Wait. Did you go and get some water for me?"

The cub looked up at me with its small eyes and nodded its head while smiling.

It looked like a small child completing a task for its parent.

My face must have been full of shock to not only have the wolf cub react to my words, but to find out it had found water!

I groaned and then laughed.

"Of course. Right after I finished drinking the blood I find out that there is a water source nearby. Of course! Just my luck. Haha. So little guy, you think you can take me to the water?"

The cub nodded again and began to run off into the woods. I grab my makeshift packs and followed after him at a leisurely pace. The cub was going slow to me but very fast to him. In the end, I was easily able to walk next to him.

He led me to the edge of the clearing and through the destroyed path where the snake and I came through to get to the clearing. It then took us a while to get to the area where the snake and I first met. Before we kept going though I called him to stop and wait. I wanted to get the meat and the horn that I buried under that one sapling.

I walked around looking for it for a few minutes before finding the sapling. It looked a little bigger now but I could still recognise that it was the sapling I buried my stuff under.

'Ah. There you are.'

I walk towards it, but my cub stopped me. He jumped in front of me and started to growl at the tree sapling.

"What are you doing little guy? I need to get my horn. It won't be but a minute."

I checked the area just to make certain that it was clear with sense aura. I found nothing. However, the tree sapling was green compared to the rest of the gray of the forest.

'Weird. But maybe it’s because I put some of my stuff there. I guess it won’t hurt to keep sense arua on for now.'

I get about a meter in front of it before the cub jumps in front of me again, but this time it starts attacking the sapling. That’s when the green of the sapling turns bright red.

The bark on the sapling immediately opened up and roots shoot out of the ground and grabbed the cub and threw it on the ground. Roots start to latch onto me as well.

'The hell?'

I start to rip off the roots easily with my hands as the bark opens up to reveal jagged teeth. I immediately identified it again. It had changed a lot from before!

[(Variant)False Tree Lvl 6: By consuming the blood and the meat of other creatures this tree warped itself and became a flesh eating tree. It disguises itself as a regular tree and when prey gets to close, the tree captures them to eat. Sustains itself on the meat of others. Very dangerous if left alive to grow.]

'oh....I guess that means my meat and the horn is gone.'

The plant wasn't able to move me at all with its roots. I was just too strong. My cub however was struggling to survive. He was being dragged towards the tree's mouth. I was tempted to help the cub but then I decided that it would be a great opportunity for him.

"Hey .....uh...cub! Bite the roots!"

'I really need to name this thing'

The cub looks at me standing there perfectly fine as the roots try to grab me and pull me to no avail. Then he nods and starts biting the roots in earnest.

It takes him awhile, but with his increased strength he is able to bite through root after root. Once he is free, he starts to attack and bite at the roots trying to attack him. He dodges one root heading to bash him against the ground and another that tried to pierce him in the stomach.

This goes on while I watch, looking at how the little cub progresses in fighting the small tree sapling. The cub takes a few hits here and there, nothing to serious but enough to make it a challenging fight. I almost step in a few times thinking the cub would have died only to be surprised to see it jump back up and fight harder.

'Wolves really are a ferocious species'

The fight lasted no more than 10 min. The sapling ran out of roots. The cub, bleeding and bruised, leaps at the sapling and bites down hard on the bark, just under the mouth around the base of the sapling. The sapling starts to sqweel and thrash as the cub continues to bite down. The bark of the sapling cracks and breaks. Then with one last bite the cub breaks the sapling in two.

Smiling, the cub turns to me and lays down, licking its wounds.

"Good job little guy! You did it!"

I walk over and pet the wounded cub. He smiles under my touch. Then the red flashes start to appear.

[Congratulations! Your Shadow Wolf Cub has leveled up to level 2!]

[Congratulations! Your Shadow Wolf Cub has leveled up to level 3!]

[Congratulations! Your Shadow Wolf Cub has leveled up to level 4!]

"Good Job.....cub! I think I should name you because I'm getting tired of calling you cub and little guy. What do you say?"

The cub looks up at me, smiles and nods. I then think about what name to give him.

"How about sparky?"

He growls.

"uh...ok. How about spot?"

He growls again.

"Ok. How about Carl? No wait. I hated a guy named carl. Uhh....I guess it should be somthing cool right? Hmmm.....shadow? No. That's too cliche. What do people normally base their names on?

Hmmmmm...Oh, right! duh. Heroes, myths, and gods right?

Ok. How about using some of the ancient gods of my world then. That way your name will be really unique and it will mean something too.

Now, wasn't the greek god of darkness named Erebos? Hmmm...I could do something with that. Don't want it to be the exact same though. Someone from my world might recognize who you might be then.

Hmmmm.....How about Rabos? It combines the egyptian god of the sun, ra, with the greek god of darkness and shadows, Erebos.

Bos means place or being of darkness. It will be a testament to your place as part of the shadows.

Ra means leader, head, or ruler. Since you were the leader of your pack it shows a testament to your leadership capability.

Combined together it means leader or ruler of the shadows.

So, Rabos. What do you think of that? A play on words between the god of the sun and the god of darkness of two different religions that don’t exist here."

The cub thinks for a moment before nodding its head in approval. I smile.

"Alright then Rabos, it is. So, have you placed your stat points yet? Wait...did I receive any stolen stat points from that thing? I think I get stolen stat points from your kills too. It would just be a smaller amount because I didn’t physically kill it right?"

I open up my stat page.

[ Name: John Scythe

Title(s): Revenge Seeker, Worldcrosser, Champion of Death, One Cursed by Death, Marked One, Survivor

Race: Human

Level: 12

Health/Health Regen: 200/(13 per hr)(2.5/minute)

Stamina/Stamina Regen: 196/(7 per hr)(2.5/minute)

Mana/Mana Regen: 200/(15 per hr)

Unallocated Stolen Stat points: 6 Perception

Strength: 25(100)

Agility: 36

Vitality: 20

Constitution: 13(150)

Endurance: 4(150)

Dexterity: 7(150)

Perception: 10

Intelligence: 26

Wisdom: 15

Carisma: 6

Luck: 3

Passive Skills

Pain Resistance Lvl 5

Sneak Lvl 3

Focus Lvl 4

Dodge Lvl 1

Active Skills

Fallen Army Lvl 1

Brand of the Reaper Lvl 1

Self Poison Lvl 1

Iron Skin Lvl 1

Identify Lvl 1

Sense Aura Lvl 1

Stampede Lvl 1

Mana Bolt Lvl 1]

'Nice. I did get some stolen stat points. Wait. Why is my mana down so much? Oh! Were you using consume mana on me to give you more energy to kill that thing?'

I then click over to Rabos' tab.

[Name: Rabos

Race: Shadow Wolf Cub

Level: 3

Health/ Health regen: 38/1 per hr

Stamina/ Stamina Regen: 42/2 per hr

Mana/ Mana regen: Locked Mana Consumed 860/40,000

Unallocated Stat Points: 10

Strength: 12

Agility: 2

Vitality: 7

Constitution: 1

Endurance: 11

Dexterity: 2

Perception: 1

Intelligence: 3

Wisdom: 11

Carisma: 20

Luck: 7

Passive Skills

Consume Mana Lvl 1

Focus Lvl 1

Active Skills

Bite Lvl 1]

I then look at Rabos.

'Huh. I didn't even notice it. I guess I just have to be in the vicinity and he can use consume mana on me to absorb my mana for energy. It doesn't really bother me right now so I think it’s fine and he used it to help him level up. All in all, he did a good job for his first fight. He also knew that the tree was an enemy before I did. He has some good senses even as a cub.'

"Nice. So I did get some stolen stat points. Good job on the fight rabos. So how are you going to allocate your stat points?"

Robos then looks at me and tilts his head like he is saying 'what do you mean?' I look at him weird for a minute trying to figure out how I will make him understand what I'm saying.

"How do you want to get stronger from leveling up? Do you understand? Maybe you are too young to understand. Do you want me to try and allocate your stat points for you?"

Rabos, still tilting his head at me in confuzion, just nods his head.

"Um. Ok. For now I guess I'll try to do this for you. I hope I can do this. I might be able to since your bound to me now."

'Hmmm.. that raises more questions though. Can monsters even allocate stat points? Or do they just get stat points automatically allocated to themselves when they level up?

Is rabos different because he is bound to me? Is that why I can see the unallocated stat points? Is it because he is bound to me that the unallocated stat points can be allocated to where I want them to be? Uhhhh... this is too confusing. I'm just going to roll with it and allocate them as I want.'

Rabos just sits there looking up at me, wagging his tail.

"Uh. Ok. Sorry. Got caught up in my head there for a moment. Let’s do this. How about 3 into agility, 3 into vitality, and the rest into constitution. It makes you a little faster, a little healthier, and able to heal faster/more."

Rabos nods his head again happily. I also add the stolen stat points to him to allow him to perceive better.

'Having a wolf that can perceive what's around you with their heightened senses is probably better than what I would be able to use it for. I would probably keep him and me alive longer too.'

I then hit confirm and watch as the little cub pants approvingly at the stat allocation.

Afterwards, we wait awhile for robos to heal up before setting out again for the water.

The rest of the trip to the water was mostly uneventful. I primarily was identifying everything around me as we walked. We found another rabbit but rabos sneaked up to it and killed the rabbit easily with one bite to the neck. It was only level 6 so it wasn’t as strong as the others. In fact, he didn't even level up from the kill. I did get some stolen stat points from it though, 3 agility. I took those for myself. I noticed that every time I increase agility I feel like some weights are falling off of me, allowing me to walk faster. It felt nice.

After the rabbit we didn’t meet anything else. It was only after the sun had set and the last lights of the day were still showing that we found the water. It was really only about an hour walk from where I first met the snake. We had to stop here and there because rabos had to rest from the fights. I used that time to practice Iron skin a lot. I began to get used to the sensation of iron skin. I was training so that I wouldn’t have to deal with an acid attack unprepared. My plan was to one day be able to sleep with Iron skin on so that I could be protected from attacks while I slept.

I didn’t mind the trip, even if it did take a while. I mean, if we didn’t fight anything it would have only taken us about an hour to get to what I now see as a small creak in a clearing ahead of us.

"Wow! Finally! Fresh water. Haha"

I run towards the water, passing rabos in a flash, and immediately dunk my head into the water and drink happily from the creek. It was fresh cold water. It felt great after all of that blood and fighting. I could see some, what I believed to be fish, swimming around in the creek. None of them really bothered me though.

Rabos arrived shortly after me and, wanting to copy my movement, dunked his head into the water too. He slipped though and fell right in. The current wasn’t strong but rabos started to flip out and tried to swim to me. I realized then that he wasn't a great swimmer as he didn’t really make any progress towards me and the side of the creek.

I laughed a little and reached out and pulled him from the creek and placed him on the ground. He began shaking the water off of himself as I look up and down the creek bed for dangers.

'It seems that the creek comes from the mountains and flows deep into the forest. Cool.

Now I have water, but I'm starting to get really hungry. And where the hell is this mythical camp death told me about!!'

The night was starting to close in fast and I needed to find a place to sleep for both of us that was safe. I looked around for a good tree, even though it was not a great bed, it was safe-ish.

It took me a while but I found a tree that was big enough for both of us to sleep on one of its branches. I buried the skins, meat, and the fangs away from any tree and grabbed rabos.

Rabos was small enough that I could just hold him in my arms and we were able to fall asleep without a problem.

Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day, I could just feel it. I was starting to get my bearings in this world.

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"Where am I? Who dares disturb me! SPEAK!"

Silence. A window then pops up.

[You have been tasked with the duty to kill an individual in your area for breaking the laws of the system. You have been relocated to the area where he generally is. Kill him and you will be rewarded handsomely and transported back to where you were taken. Failure to complete your task will result in your subsequent hunting and death. That is all.]

"What...? You dare order me around!"

Silence. The darkness of the forest covered the rage in his eyes.

'Damned system. Right when I was so close to completing my work. I knew it would try to impede me somehow, but not like this. Damn it! I will get my revenge, system.

Hmmmm. Wait. I could use this. Whatever this thing is, has defied the system so much that the system itself has broken its own rules and transported me to this place to kill it. If the system is this worried about one being, then I could use this being to my own advantage. hehehHAHAHAhaha.

Ok system. I'll play your little game, but I will be the one who wins in the end. Nothing can force me to do its bidding.'