Chapter 3- Living on

Coming to with a start, I practically jump up from my prone position and whip my head around at speeds that could possibly cause me whiplash.

It's day time, the sun is up high in the sky and shining brightly; There's barely a cloud in the sky.

"Where..? What.. … " Then the memories hit me, and my body unwillingly freezes, the signals to my muscles not reaching through my mind and conscience that is working 200% trying to process the information dumped onto it.

A few seconds passes before my body starts relaxing once again and I find myself wobbling slightly and my left knee giving out; Resulting in me falling down onto my left knee to stabilize myself.

"Shit… I really managed to survive…" I mumble dazedly as my gaze wanders onto the corpse of the black razor tiger that lays dead just a half a meter away from my feet. As my gaze settles unto the corpse a prompt sounds suddenly.

*Ding!*

You may loot black razor tiger corpse: Do you wish to loot? - Yes/No

"Huh… looting, huh?" I muse aloud as I ponder the prospect. But quickly conclude that it couldn't hurt to try, could it? "Well… I might as well, right?" I say and select Yes on the screen before me.

*Ding!

You have looted black razor tiger!

You have received black razor tiger hide (x6)[regular, black razor tiger claw (x2), black razor tiger essence[Legendary].

‘… essence? And it's a legendary drop? What does it do?’ I ponder and open the inventory to see if the inventory gives any information about items. Luckily, it does it seems:

Black razor tiger essence [Legendary]:

This is the essence of a black razor tiger; If consumed, it imparts 5% of the killed creature's status points unto the consumer.

*Note: Extremely rare item, can only be produced through very specific abilities.*

**Caution: Extremely valuable; Handle with care.**

"Huh… 5%? I wonder how high it's stats even were… " I ponder aloud before I take crab the essence icon with a pinching motion and literally pull it away from the screen; As my hand leaves the floating screen, the essence just suddenly manifests out of nowhere in my hand. "Huh... that actually worked." I mumble absently as I inspect the small orb in my hand.

The orb in itself looks almost like a glass marble, with bright orange and blackness flowing throughout it; not unlike a lava lamp.

Touching the orb or letting it rest on the ground doesn't seem to affect the flowing patterns forming inside the small cube and after a few minutes of trying different things to see if it reacts, I get bored and stop.

"The description said if 'consumed'... Does that mean I need to actually eat it? …" I wonder aloud; Obviously, no one answers my question so I can only shrug my shoulders and pop the small marble like thing in my mouth.

It doesn't have a taste, and it doesn't suddenly dissolve once inside my mouth like magic, as I thought it would, either. It just… sits there on my tongue.

"... Seriously? I need to swallow this?" I exclaim exasperatedly. Nothing happens however, and I can only sigh and accept that I need to swallow it if I want its benefits. So I do just that.

A moment passes as I wait for a change to happen; You know like how suddenly an unknown power starts gushing up from within you kind of thing? Yeah, well, none of that; Nothing is happening.

A minute passes as I wait for something to happen, but I am left sorely disappointed.

"... What gives?" I grumble and bring up my status window.

*Ping!*

STATUS

Name: Kai Yuuki

Race: Human (Earth) [Variant X]

Level: 1

Exp: 0%

Class: none

Special Trait: Adaptability(Cerberus)

Status:

HP: 500

HP: regen 10/h

Stamina: 300

Stamina regen: 2/min

Str: 30 (+20)

Vit: 20 (+15)

End: 20(+15)

Dex: 30 (+20)

Reflex: 27 (+17)

Int: 12(0)

Wis: 15(0)

Willpower: 35 (+25)

Luck: 10(0)

Unspent stat points: 12

SKILLS:

Active skills:

-

Passive skills:

*New*《Pressure》 Your presence has grown to the point where you can exert pressure on your foes by focusing your intent. {Mind and Wis: +10%.}

Active abilities:

None

Passive abilities:

《Unarmed quick strike》

《Unarmed precision strike》

《Impact suppression》

《Martial-arts training》 (Unarmed) (Adept) {+5 Str, +10 Vit, +15 Dex, +15 reflex}[Damage done while unarmed increased by 50%]

《Unyielding》 {+10 willpower}

《Strong willed》 {+15 willpower}

《Strong body》 {+5 Vitality}

《Fearless》 {Cannot be affected by fear inducing skills or abilities.}

《Fear resistance》

《Elusive target》 {+30% moment control; Reflex +20}

《Unarmed warrior》: Various stats increased. per lvl while fighting unarmed.. : {Related stats +35%}

《Resonating blow》: Blows cause resonating damage. : Base damage + 16% of base dmg as resonating dmg.> [Additional hits have a cumulative effect.]

*New*《Endurer》 {Effects of endurance + 50%.}

*New*《Unfortunately lucky》 You are more likely to meet unfortunate circumstances, however while unlucky events happen to you, luck is increased. {Probability of misfortunate events happening to you: +10%, luck increase +10%.}

*New*《Grit》 You have shown true grit in harsh circumstances and shown your resolve to get through them. {Effects of Vit and Str: +10%.}

Gifts/Blessings:

Herculean strength (Cerberus){+15 Str}

"Woo…lots of new abilities." I say as I look through the new abilities.

Wait…

"What the hell is this 'Unfortunately lucky' ability? What freaking BS!" I exclaim heatedly. "FFS… I have enough problems to deal with as it is; Why do I have to get a skill that just makes my problems worse??"

Sighing I can only accept the situation and move on as I mumble "...FML." to myself as I sweep my gaze around my camp and over my immediate surroundings.

"Ok, before I decide where to go, let's out those unspent stat points and boost my health. Because last night sucked, a lot." I mumble to myself and assign one of the unspent stat points to Vit, since I can't assign points directly to HP, and then I check how it affects my HP stat.

One point in Vit increases my HP by 20 points, so with 12 points that is 240 HP. "Yes, please!" I exclaim and put all my free points into Vit.

My HP regen also Increases by 1 per 5 points, so that's an additional 2 regen which lands me with 12 HP/hour regen rate. Nodding to myself I then turn my attention towards what to do next.

"So… What now?" I ask aloud to myself as I gaze out towards my original destination: The woods. "Do I continue towards the woods? … Perhaps sticking to the river is a safer option?" I mumble thoughtfully to myself as my gaze switches back and forth between the woods and the river.

"... I'm gonna go with the river this time." I conclude and after quelling my thirst from the river, I start making my way along the river which leads me in the general direction of the forest in the distance.

------('±_±)------

A whole week of walking passes as I walk along the river by day and search for a campsite and sleep in as safe a place as I can find by night. Food and drink is solved thanks to the river, as there is a whole lot of fish swimming around.

Fortunately I haven't encountered any more monsters however, so it has been relatively easy going.

'Only problem is that I am getting quite tired of fish by now… But beggars can't be choosers so…' I muse tiredly as I trudge along the river.

'The sun is soon going to start setting…I need to find a campsite for tonight.'

However, as I start surveying the landscape for a campsite, I notice a glimmer in the distance.

Squinting my eyes, I can barely make out what seems to be a wall in the distance, with the glimmer coming from something on top.

"Huh… a fort? A city? I hope they are at least reasonably human… Oh, and friendly; I really hope they are friendly.

… I better wait until tomorrow so I can make sure they are human. And friendly." I conclude reluctantly as I make my way closer to the supposed structure while I search for a relatively safe place to sleep.

--------+_($'_')$--------

Once the morning sun rises over the horizon I set out from my makeshift sleeping spot, a small bed made of branches and leaves, and make my way closer to what I can now confirm is a solid stone wall.

-----------------/(-.-'/)--------

As I get closer to the walls, I realize that they are really high, surely 10 meters high at least, and most likely meters across: Basically a fantasy version of the chinese wall at its best.

Once I am close enough to the wall to be able to observe the patrols that are walking the walls, I stealthily sneak closer while keeping an eye on the guards conduct.

From what I can see, they seem human enough and don't seem to be partially aggressive or murderous, from what I've seen at least.

Just to be safe, though, I continue sneaking around and observing the guards for another 3 hours, I eventually work up the courage to leave my hiding spot and walk out into the open, so I can make my way to the enormous gate.

Once I leave my hiding spot, one of the guards quickly notices me and soon most of the guards closest to me and the gate have their eyes fixed on me.

Once I reach about a hundred meters from the gate, one of the guards calls out to me.

"Trail ru kanusa? Rasu ka!" He yells at me.

*Ding!

You have learned the human language: Gallion. :

You can now understand, speak and write elementary words in the language of Gallion.

'Well that's convenient… I gotta thank that duche Cerberus for that adaptability perk.' I note to myself before I try replying to the guard.

"Sorry? I not hear you" I say in broken Gallion.

"I said, Who are you? And … are you … here?!" The guard replies.

'So, who am I and what am I doing here, right?'

"I, lost man, I, come from there" I say in broken speech and point towards where I came from.

The guard just stares at me for a long and awkward moment. But then he shakes his head and does a strange gesture, which apparently means open the gate; As the gate starts opening a moment later.

'Finally… Civilizations!' I rejoice in my mind, as I walk in through the huge gate.

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End of chapter 3