What was that? A narrow escape from death?

A narrow escape from death? Damon didn’t know what that was all about, but he had just received a clue on how to unlock the special stat. 4 more narrow escapes from death until he unlocked it. Since that wasn’t going to be happening anytime soon, he didn’t linger on that thought.

The next day, Leon commented on Damon’s appearance.

“Is it just me or did you get some muscles?”

“Did I? Even if I did, I didn’t notice,” replied Damon, clearly knowing about it.

So the stat increase did do something. Will my appearance change entirely if I upgrade my stats a bit more?

They headed towards their class in a hurry, not wanting to be late. After school ended, Leon invited Damon over to his dorm room, but Damon declined.

“Why not? Kalli is there too so why not come as well?” whined Leon.

“I got things to do,” replied Damon. He wanted to hang out with his friends, but he had more important things to do. It wasn’t like this was the last time he would see them right? He and Kalli had been hanging out for years, and Leon wasn’t lonely anyways. That allowed Damon to not feel guilty about his choice.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, I’ll come over on another day,” said Damon as he turned his back and waved goodbye.

“Ok,” muttered Leon with a dejected face.

Damon wasn’t heading home, but actually towards the Level 1 hunting ground from before. He wanted to increase his stats as soon as possible, so he could challenge the other hunting grounds that were higher leveled.

A few strides later, he was in the park, having crawled through the hole from last night. This time though, he headed in another direction, an area that was isolated and couldn’t be seen by the guards.

A group of monkeys with black fur were jumping around through the trees, but when Damon arrived, the phenomenon happened again. He didn’t let it go to waste, and just killed them. Another 8 monsters killed, leaving him with one more needed to level up.

Suddenly, while Damon was wiping the blood off the knife with a leaf, a girl appeared out of nowhere. She had purple hair, and was wearing the same uniform as Damon.

“Why the hell are you here?” demanded Damon towards Rachel.

“Ew, can’t believe I found a commoner in these parts,” said Rachel, clearly intending to insult Damon. She had immediately recognized Damon, his silver hair was one of a kind after all.

“What are you doing here?” Rachel directed the question right back at Damon.

“I’m hunting monsters! So get the fuck away from me before I mess up your nose.” Damon was not trying to hide his hostility towards the noble girl, he didn’t need to. Rachel knew he hated her after all.

“Do you even have the entry pass? I thought I saw you crawl-“

“Shut up!” yelled Damon in anger.

“Or what? You’ll kill me?” mocked Rachel. “I bet you don’t even have the power to do so, idiot. How did you make it into Class-S anyways?”

“Want to see me try, asshole?” retorted Damon.

Just like that, the two began a fight with their pride on the line. Damon didn’t know why Rachel was here, but all he did know was that he wanted her gone as soon as possible. That’s why he started this fight, if he showed his dominance, maybe she would stop ridiculing him all the time and start treating him like a real human.

Damon activated stealth, while Rachel started chanting a spell. He disappeared from Rachel’s view, but the skill she used allowed her to increase her perception, therefore enabling his skill useless. The moment Rachel spotted Damon, who was flying towards her with knife in hand, she dodged while preparing another skill.

She couldn’t win in close combat, she wasn’t oblivious that she would lose physical ability wise against the boy. Thad why she chose to fight with long range combat, throwing offensive spells at him until he lost.

Damon’s only skill was stealth, so if that failed, he wouldn’t be able to get close and land some hits. An unfavourable situation, that’s exactly what it was like.

With accuracy and speed, Rachel hopped from one place to another, keeping distance from Damon. She used many skills like fireball repeatedly, and finally, her magic supply was beginning to run out. One could say the same for Damon though. He was getting tired from the repeated chasing and dodging. He wouldn’t be able to last another few minutes before he got hit by one of Rachel’s attacks.

His went on for another few minutes before Damon finally let his guard down, and got it by a fireball. Both of them were panting, sweat dripping down from their faces. There was a burn etched onto Damon’s right arm, causing severe pain to him. The pain was unimaginable for him, he even wanted to cry out, but he couldn’t show weaknesses in front on that noble brat. That’s why he stayed silent, trying to tend to the burn.

“You said you wanted to kill me right?” said Rachel while panting. “Well, guess I’ll be the one to kill you instead.”

The nobles in England weren’t particularly fond of violence. Unless they were acting against commoners or someone who insulted them. Damon fit into both of here categories, which gave Rachel enough reason to want to kill him.

Rachel walked closer and closer. Time seemed to stop for Damon as he watched a massive fireball around the size of a car form in her hands.

Am I really going to die here?

Damon could only watch in horror as he waited for his impending doom.

Fuck, I’m not going to lose do this damn girl.

The thought of losing to the person in front of him once again sparked his desire to win. With all his strength, he tried to get up, but the burn was causing him to fail.

Dammit.

He didn’t expect he would end up dying today, he didn’t want to. With difficulty, he pushed his pride away and yelled for help.

“Someone, HELP ME. I AM GETTING KILLED BY A CRAZY GIRL!”

Nothing happened, Rachel gave him a smirk containing pity.

“No one is going to help you commoner. You may as well just give up and accept your fate.”

Suddenly, something burst out in front of Damon. It consumed the massive fireball that Rachel had aimed at Damon like it was nothing. It even sat down with a loud burp.

What?! Why did a panda just save me?

“What the hell was that,” said Rachel with surprise. “A panda? Why is something like that here? And trying to save you nonetheless?”

Damon was speechless at the sight in front of him. A panda, a darn panda had saved him. It wasn’t even a human being.

What is it then? A normal panda couldn’t have survived that attack? Is it a monster that looks like a panda then?

“I don’t care, but I’ll kill you too, damn panda,” shouted Rachel ruthlessly.

She started preparing another attack with the magic power she had left, but the monster panda made a move. It ate Rachel whole, blood splattered everywhere and Rachel’s remains were now in the creatures stomach.

Damon didn’t even know what to think anymore. He did want Rachel dead, but a panda doing the killing? Also, why did a monster like that respond to his call anyways? Was it similar to what happened with the monster he had met so far? Now that Rachel was dead, he would have to deal with many questions from the authorities, and her family. All cause of a damn panda.

Ughhh, someone just died and I don’t care. I guess my ruthless side has come out again.

His alter ego has made an appearance once again, this time, with more seriousness. With care, the panda moved closer to Damon’s and sat down. Anyone would think it was cute if they hadn’t experienced what it had just done.

What do I do with this guy now? It’s not like I can take it home just because it seems friendly. It’s a monster for god sake!

After contemplating what to do, Damon decided to just leave it here and head home by himself.

“Thanks monster panda,” said Damon. The words sounded weird coming out of his mouth. “I’ll come back some other time,”

Before Damon could leave, a notification popped up.

[Level Up!]

Wait, what? Why did I level up!?