This was not going great, at all.

Larry hobbled as fast as his broken leg allowed him to. Sweat soaked his white shirt, and every breath he tooked dried out his mouth more and more. The bandages around his feet constantly tangled up with twigs and roots, slowing him down even further. He limped through the long grasses and the low hanging branches, which made it almost impossible to see where he was going. He stepped on a root, and his foot slipped, landing in a unfortunate position where the splinters of his bones scratched his flesh. He felt his stamina hit rock-bottom and collapsed, his hands hitting the ground, whirling up clouds of dust. He dug his fingers into the earth, to distract himself from the pain.

Somewhere behind him, the loud crunches of trees being ripped apart echoed through the otherwise silent forest. He stood up and limped further. At this point, his muscles ran on adrenaline and willpower alone. He didn’t dare look behind him. If he’d see the monster and hesitated even a second, he wasn’t sure if he had enough mental strength to start moving again. Without hesitating, he limped through a tall bush, pushing aside its thorny limbs with his arms. The thorns ripped his skin and clothes. Once he was on the other side, he threw himself on the ground, and crawled towards the broadest tree he could find. He used his arms to lift himself up, and leaned against the tree. Its bark poked into his back. He touched his head.

Welcome to Status.

Larry used his thoughts to open the inventory tab. Motivated by pain, he made a few clumsy gestures with his unoccupied hand. Jorg had shown him how to use the inventory. When he finally got the gesture right, a red flask manifested in his palm. He drank the contents and watched the gashes on his arms close by themselves. He felt the bones in his foot grind together as they healed, and he nearly blacked out. When his body was finally restored, he pulled another bottle out of his inventory. The fluid looked like slightly green water. Jorg had told him, that this stuff would stop monsters from finding him, though Larry had no idea how it worked. Maybe it covered up his smell or something. He opened the bottle and poured it over his head.

Thank god Jorg gave me some of his supplies.

Carefully, Larry observed his surroundings. He didn’t see any signs of the monster, but he knew he wasn’t safe. The first time it attacked, no one had been able see where it came from either. It had been quiet, hidden between grass and bushes, when suddenly from one moment to the other, it attacked, and all hell broke loose. When Larry couldn’t spot the creature, he decided to check out his Status. He touched his head.

Status had a pretty minimalistic design. There was a inventory tab, which showed everything he had currently stored inside it, an information tab, where he could see his stats, and a tab for old notifications, in case he wanted to look at them again. Larry opened the information tab.

Larry Foulery Level: 1 Species: Parasitic Human Title: Non Mystomorphosis: Unaffected Stories: Uninvolved Strength: 5 Intelligence: 7 Agility: 7 Thought: 5 Durability: 5 [LOCKED] Willpower: 6 Senses: 3 Instincts: 3 [LOCKED] Regen: 1 (V)

There were a lot of things in his information tab that he was familiar with. Things like strength and intelligence were relatively self-explanatory for someone like him, who used to play RPGs as a kid, but then there was stuff like Mystomorphosis. What in the world was that supposed to be? Status wasn't giving him any information on it. Also, no matter where he looked, he couldn’t find health or stamina stats.

Makes sense, in a way. How would you calculate the HP damage someone takes from, say, a ripped of arm?

Then there were the locked stats. He remembered the Status saying something about how these stats were locked for his species specifically. The fact that durability was locked, filled Larry with a sense of dread. Traditionally, it was one of the most important stats, if one planned on surviving. Larry concentrated on his species and just as expected, more information popped up.

The Parasitic Human is a Human-type variant, created to better resemble the original species of the reincarnated user. Some attributes have been locked/unlocked. Locked attributed still effect the user, but cannot be increased. Your species is able to gain different abilities than the regular Human species.

Larry sighed.

That god must have had a really bad opinion of earth. Parasitic? Come on, we weren’t that bad. Maybe a little selfish, but calling us parasites is over the top.

Larry closed Status and checked his surroundings again, but the longer he waited for something to happen, the more anxious he became. There was definitely something fishy going on. He hadn’t heard or seen any animal ever since the thing had attacked. This was the kind of silence that said: Hey, make one wrong move and you are dead! He was tempted to check out his Status again, to kill some time, but he knew it’d be a bad idea.

The monster is still out there, and I'm just sitting here, waiting for it to attack. I should at least do something.

Larry stood up, meticulous trying to keep himself lowered and hidden behind the bushes. He took a step, and when nothing attacked him, he took another. Gradually, he crept towards the place the thing had attacked Jorg’s group, always ready to jump and make a run for it, just in case. When he arrived at the scene, he hid in some tall grass. There, a few steps in front of him, was the corpse of one of Jorg’s friends. That woman had been killed first. He wondered if she had even noticed when the giant hand had hit her like a wrecking ball. From the way her head was angled, the monster had broken her neck. She looked straight at him, with open eyes, as if she’d just straighten her neck and come back to life any moment now. Larry stroked his bullet scar. Maybe she had survived the initial impact. Maybe a healing potion would have fixed her right up. There was no way to know. Now, she was dead without a doubt. Larry walked up to her.

Let’s see. How did Jorg explain it again? If you kill a monster, touch its head to empty its inventory. Should work on humans too, right?

Larry put his fingers on the head of the dead woman. Her skin was smooth. She hadn’t been long with the group, according to Jorg. She was a mage, ordered by her master to learn about fighting in life and death situations. Today, she had definitely learned about the death part. Her body was wrapped in a bright blue robe, with pale stars and symbols on it. It had looked beautiful on her when she was still alive, but now the dress was ripped into shreds and covered in blood. Larry felt a weird sensation in his fingers, almost like some sort of barrier gave away. Flasks, crystals and other things appeared out of thin air, dropping on the chest of the dead mage. It didn’t feel right to take her stuff, especially when he took it straight out of her inventory, but she had no more use for it anyways. He pocketed the items. Before he he left, he gently closed her eyes.

After some walking Larry heard a loud sound in the distance. This had to be the monster. He ran towards the sound, while still trying to stay behind covers. There, between fallen trees and trampled grass, it stood. It looked like a giant gorilla, with green, camouflaging fur and three eyes. It was covered in vines and dirt, and Larry could smell it even from his hiding spot. Rotten meant. It’s mouth hung open, countless shark-like teeth dripping with blood and rage. In its hands, it held Jorg, who struggled against its grip without much success. Compared to the gorilla, Jorg looked like a child’s puppet. The creature tightened its grip, and Larry could hear the bones break.

Jorg stopped struggling. Weakly, Jorg raised one hand towards his head, and motioned with the other. A health potion came into existence, and dropped into his hand. For a few seconds Jorg tried to open the bottle with his trembling fingers, but his broken shoulders and the pain made him too weak. Instead, he shoved the bottle into his mouth, and bit down. The bottle broke. Larry watched in shock as Jorg swallowed the healing liquid together with the glass shards. His gaze grew more concentrated again, and he coughed up blood and glass. This man wasn’t ready to give up yet, Larry realized. He clenched his fist. Larry had decided. He had a new life, and he'd not waste it by idly sitting by. He had seen what would happend if he did not act when he had the chance. This was his chance.

I will save you.