On the ground is person of some interest. His muddied state is rather recent. Only a portion of the dirt has begun drying.

He has the strength to push himself up, yet what he is fighting to achieve doesn’t require it. Instead the trouble originates from the sporadic thoughts going through his mind.

These thoughts range from observing his surroundings. Questioning his existential place in the world. And attempting to distinguish between heaven, hell and Earth.

‘Why am I alive?’

One thought rises above the others, repeating without end.

‘Why am I alive?’

Every iteration changes slightly, from confusion to anger. In response, an overwhelming shadow settles down on his back.

This shadow is transparent in nature and difficult to see, impossible through ordinary means.

After the burst of angry internal screams, sadness follows. The shadow remains steady, finding itself a new home.

Despite this inner turmoil there lies a different danger. In the thick underbrush slides something ominous.

Near imperceptible movements. The grass moves in tandem with it. The soft wind, almost as if commanded to aid it.

Unaware, the youth continues his internal struggle. One step away from death.

Like the flicker of a frog's tongue, a slim shadow shoots towards its prey. The practiced movements feel effortless, it is hard to imagine anything but the blood soon to flow.

The figure goes from a blurred shadow to a pitch black snake. Its gaze filled with thirst, yet to realize it has been immobilized.

Somehow this muddied person has captured its assailant. The unhinged jaw gaping, ready to swallow mountains.

“What!?”

Confused. The youth has a split second to spill out a quiet shout. His hand tighten reflexively.

The predatory beast acts in turn and utilizes its tail, it flickers to strike its prey.

The youth shivers and before realizing what has occurred his other hand has gripped the other half the creature.

‘A snake?’

As the words cross his mind, he hears a light crack. His dominant hand has killed this frightening predator.

‘How?’

A bombardment of questions begin to rise, pushing his previous gloom aside.

His stomach growls. A feeling of weakness washes over him, his head spinning near fainting. This is a new sensation.

‘Hggh!’

A swallowing sounds out. He has moved yet again, without his will. His lower jaw red from the snake's blood.

“What is going on!”

Level increased by one!

You have killed a wild snake. It’s origin still unknown.

Killing snakes of the same type, will slowly gather information

Blasted by the glaring sheen of the holographic window, the youth skitters backwards.

“What is this?”

Perhaps burned out, his voice seems calmer, no longer shouting.

‘Increased by one? Is this a game?’

Having come to some understanding his expression becomes blank, clearly in deep thought.

‘If this is a game, do I have abilities?’

Abilities

Passive

Instinct

Active

‘Instinct?’

Instinct

Any increase in attributes will increase the instinct attribute with a one to one ratio.

It is impossible to allocate points to instinct.

“You specialize in surviving! You have developed greater instincts through a life and death experience!”

‘What the.’

Before his arrival in this world. This youth had cast himself off a towering building.

In that short moment he was falling, he felt true relief. He did not feel fear. Took no notice of the air bashing against him.

Eyes staring at the ground below, his mind elsewhere. He was free of any existential chains. Only resolve remained.

And now he was here, in this dim place.

‘Life and death experience!? Where is the death!’

The previous gloom returns, and the illusive shadow seems to hover above him. Its calm gaze on him.

This shadow is less a representation of a person’s temperament and more the projection of his instincts. Here to watch over him.

‘What do I do? Where am I?’

Finally, this young man takes in his surroundings. The wild flora giving him a sense of foreboding. The tree’s so large they disappear into a fog. Impossible to see their end.

After quiet contemplation. And further study of the dead snake in front him. He decides he might as well look around.

‘Worst case. I’ll die.’

The thought feels depressive yet when the words ‘I’ll die.’ crossed him, there is a sense of excitement.

After a short survey, the youth begins feeling the difficulty of traversing the wild environments.

‘Is this the amazon?’

Once in awhile his hands flicker out and slaughters without hesitation. Sometimes what follows that, is the animalistic feeding, a small portion of the prey is devoured.

This has the young man gagging. His eyes filled with disgust. Blood begins to accumulate on his clothing.

The blood doesn’t remain flowing for long and now is no longer red but a dark black. The stench of blood is attracting nearby beasts.

You have reached level three!

Attributes will be distributed for you until you reach level ten.

It is recommend you find a village or other survivors! It’s easier to fight in a group.

Note that fighting in a group provides less experience and distributes it evenly.

‘How am I supposed to find anyone in this god forsaken place?’

After numerous unconscious killings. The youth has stopped jumping in surprise and now only audibly sighs, lamenting his fate.

The previous gloom grows stronger with every failed assassination attempt.

‘These things are useless! Aren’t you a wild animal? Aren’t you all vicious killers?’

During his aimless wandering he begins scolding his attackers. Disappointment can be felt in his tone.

‘Am I not tasty? You come here to kill me but all you do is die! Are you mocking me?’

The stench of death grows strong enough that the attacks of the surrounding beasts lessen.

It is mostly scavengers following behind him now. Feasting on his fallen attackers.

“Stop following me!”

“Uuuuuu!”

“Don’t give me that look! You’re not cute! Look in a mirror!”

The pack of four legged scrawny beasts look at him with appreciation.

Even high above, on the tree branches, you can see ungainly but ferocious birds squawking at the young man.

With exasperation he turns around and continues moving through the unforgiving terrain.

‘Do what you want.’

Theses beasts, while not smart, realize their provider wants peace to hunt. They begin hiding themselves. This fools the young person into believe he successfully chased them away.

Even with the ominous aura of death, hungry predatory beasts continue to assail him. All comers are killed without mercy.

Not one creature is left intact, even beasts with thick hide. His fingers bore into their eyes in a brutal fashion.

Once he feels too tired to continue, he rests. The mysterious fog his blanket and the luscious tall grass his bedding.

His defenceless figure has an illusionary shadow hovering above him. More tangible than before. This has to do with his unconsciousness.

While in deep sleep his body acts without him and slaughters everything that threatens him.

Only the scavengers, bearing no ill will towards him are allowed to come close. They happily eat the slaughtered attackers.

Their expression no longer only carry appreciation but subservience as well. Their large number continues to stave of larger packs of beasts.

This happens because they are scavengers. They do not attack beasts. They instead live off the leftovers of others. These beasts are rarely seen in the open like this.

These days continue. His level increases steadily. It is only when he reaches level eight that he finds other people.

“Stay away from me.”

His first response is to warn them. He can’t assure their safety around him. He doesn’t forget to give them a charming smile.

A group of five stare at him. Three young men and two women. One similar ages as the men and the other just old enough to be their elder sister.

‘I can’t believe I found other people out here.’

“Why are you so scared? This big brother won’t hurt you.”

Two of the three men have a rather suspicious expression while the third seems timid. Similar to the two women. He stands a few meters behind the two men.

“Look at how dirty he is.”

A mocking laughter rings through the otherwise quiet area. The two men still haven’t noticed the herd of scavengers stalking the young man.

The scavengers know to be quiet, not wanting to spook away their providers prey.

The young man looks at his clothing. The blood dried up and mixed with dirt and smudged green from sleeping on the grass. It is easy to understand their misconception.

“We’re in a jungle. Want me to shower?”

From his perspective, they’re all dirty. But any outside observer would agree he looks proportionally more dirty, the filth near fusing with him.

He isn’t accustomed to being this filthy. Currently he is not his usual self. Even his charm seems lacking. Hidden beneath layers of dirt and dried blood.

“Oh? Angry? T. Is he angry at us?”

“He looks angry. What will we do?”

“Maybe we help him. Give him a shower?”

“What do you mean P.K?”

Baffled by their conversation the young man just looks on.

‘Are they trying to make fun of me? But we’re all lost in a jungle. Aren’t we? Who has time for this?’

The confusion only increases as they look on with what they think are innocent expressions.

“Seeing how dirty he is. Even pissing on him won’t be considered bad but good.”

“Oh! You’re a genius P.K. And there is five of us. If we all piss on him th-.”

“Exactly T! What do you guys think? Should we help him out?”

After the act ends the two look at their companions. Who in turn look away, either at their feet or into the depths of the jungle.

“What? Don’t feel like helping? T. I don’t think they want to help!”

“Ai. Brother P.K. Not everyone can be as magnanimous as us. Even after we took them in,feed them and help guide them through the jungle, they still act like this.”

Stopping, the man named T, sighs. His tone and expression desolate. His visage gives of the impression of a wronged hero.

‘Are they insane? Jungle fever? I was happy to find people. But what is going on?’

“Alright. Forget it then.”

“I guess one more to our party won’t hurt. What should we call you?”

“Brother T. Don’t we all have nicknames here? We should give him a name since we found him.”

“Oh? Like scientists discovering a new species? He certain fits the bill. He barely looks like a person.”

“How about brother Shitstain?”

“Fitting! I have never heard a more fitting name!”

It was up to this point that the blood washed youth silently turned and started walking away. It is obvious he isn’t welcome.

“Hey! Where do you think you are going!?”

“Brother Shistain! Don’t leave!

Seeing their new friend leave they chase after him. They need more people.

Their group used to have seven people. Two had been sacrificed for their survival. More fodder is required.

They keep laughing as they run towards him. In truth they were nervous. Everyone felt fear wandering this everlasting twilight.

‘Maybe the jungle makes people crazy? Is it the lack of sunlight?’

The young man steps aren’t slow but the two men easily caught up.

The fellow called P.K. a shortened version of Pareankth Kaen, a name too hard to pronounce it becomes impossible to translate. As it is a name and can only be translated to mean, River lilies and rivers align.

P.K. Reaches out, aiming to grab at his shoulder.

“Don’t!”

It is hard not to hear the two running towards him. And when he realized one is reaching for him. He shouted out.

It was too late. His silhouette blurred. When all movement ceased. Brother P.K collapsed like a bag of rocks. His neck broken.

“Huh?”

Baffled. His partner. Named T. Who was only a step behind, watched his friend die.

‘It happened as expected.’

Even if he had grown used to his body acting on his own. He had never killed a fellow human. He felt a tinge of nausea only thwarted by the pulsing pain in his hand.

“You fucker!”

Snapping back to his senses, T. struck out, this strike seems to be filled with more than just an angry man’s rage.

‘He’s dead.’

As the thought emerged. It felt lonely. Uncaring. But there was also blaring envy found in it. The disgust was fleeting, soon he felt as if nothing had happened at all.

And true to his thoughts, his body moved. Now two bodies were lying motionless, half buried in the jungle grass.

Originally the two groups had only been a couple tens meters apart. The other three people still saw the events unfold.

“Stupid.”

He looked at the three and gestured towards the two on the ground. They obediently nodded.

‘I hope they won’t be as stupid as them.’

After giving them a deep look, he turned around and kept walking. The look was a warning. But they were too far apart, it went unnoticed.

It hadn’t been but a few minutes before he noticed the three were following him.

It wasn’t that he had keen senses and felt them following. The scavengers felt the intruders were on their turf.

After being threatened by the flock of beasts looming in the surrounding they sprinted towards their saviour.

‘They’ll die.’

Thinking the trio was there to avenge their friends. He sentenced them to death with a calm gaze.

“Please!”

“Save.”

“Us.”

Deathly pale, the three, as if practiced spoke in turn.

‘Is this scripted? Because it’s a game? Is this a quest?’

He was still unsure of what to make of his surroundings. It all felt real. But it was real in a strange way. He felt dissociated with his actions and surroundings.

“From what?”

The words came out. The confusion arrived instantly. Behind them was nothing. The scavengers knew better than to intrude upon the killing field.

But the beasts were bound to be disappointed. The three newcomers weren’t slaughtered as expected. They instead tagged along.

Worst of all. Some of the beasts killed were cooked whole! This was considered stealing from their mouths.

What little intelligence the beast had was focused to a terrifying degree. Their minds spun faster and faster. Thinking of ways to rid themselves of their new rivals.

But even if they planned and plotted. They wouldn’t disgrace the almighty slaughterer and kill in his presence.

These days were the easiest the three had ever experienced. They were well fed and felt safe.

Even their defender didn’t demand their bodies as payment. They no longer suffered continuous humiliation. These days were considered good.