Byron’s sprint halted to a stop as he heard growling in the distance.

He crouched down and approached silently.

He tensed up as he heard another growl, this one was more terrifying than the previous.

His body refused to listen to him, fear overtook him for a moment before he shook out of it, he knew this was an Aoe skill of some sort.

What caused concern to swell up inside him was the fact that monsters had skills and were intelligent enough to use them in combat.

He dismissed all thoughts of getting any closer.

If he got any closer and whatever was fighting used a skill like that again, it would leave him defenseless in a war zone.

The ground shook, and Byron lost his balance and fell.

He could hear tremendous explosions in the distance. He scrambled to his feet, not even bothering to look behind.

As he dashed off, he glowed faint green as he burned his life force in exchange for speed.

His figure blurred as he as it disappeared into the distance, leaving faint green trails wherever his figure went. He soon shot past his previous home, he could hear the explosions coming closer and closer.

‘Shit! shit!’ he cursed inwardly. Byron burned even more of his life force as his figure glowed dark green and his speed skyrocketed.

Byron’s figure disappeared with a loud boom, in mere seconds he was nearing the base of the tree, he slowed down and bent his knees, and leaped forward.

He soared through the air, reaching higher and higher until he passed the clouds, It surprised him when he felt water building up on his skin as he passed through the unnaturally thick clouds, who knew clouds were mostly water and not pure magic made by the gods? Another thing he was lied to about.

Ding!

[Burn life-force is now level (5) MAX]

[Burn life-force may now evolve]

[You have exhausted your life force. You have lost 50 years’ worth of life-force]

[You have unlocked a hidden stat! Vitality! Massive amounts of life-force was infused into your being]

[Vitality represents your life force, age, and soul strength.]

[Race upgraded]

[Human (basic) to life human (rare)]

[Life-based skills enhanced]

[Super strength is now level 3]

[Drain life is now level 4]

Byron didn’t have time to read the system messages as he felt gravity act on him and he began to fall. He reacted quickly by coating his fingers with drain life and sinking them into the tree’s truck.

His abrupt descent slowed down significantly until he stopped. He sighed in relief, not feeling safe hanging on the truck of a random tree Byron used drain life to burrow inside the tree.

The skill had leveled up, so it didn’t take very long.

He settled in comfortably and began reading the system messages.

And was shocked by how he got so much for just running away from whatever was fighting in the distance.

Byron only saw massive shadows, he knew things that big shouldn’t move that fast, but the system made the impossible look like child’s play. The system wouldn’t tell him anything about his new race, but he’d find out eventually, he always did.

He did figure that his hair had grown out and was now green, and the color of his eyes had also changed, they now were emerald green.

He also wasn’t concerned about losing his 50 years of life, it was a small price to pay for being alive, Byron knew he could get it back.

‘Evolve skill’

Ding!

[Burn life-force is evolving…..]

[Choose:

Life reaper (Rare) :

“Life can be given, but also taken away.”

Embody the cycle of life and death become a life reaper.

Effects:

/Each life taken in reaper form will add extra life to your own.

/stack up to [10] lives.

/User will be transformed into a life reaper for 10 hours.

/Cooldown:

/10 days.

/Cost: -1 Vitality

……………………………………………………………….

Life titan (Rare):

Effects:

/Upon activation, the user will be transformed into a life titan for 5 hours.

/60 meters tall

/Earth’s blessing:

While in contact with nature or the ground, the user will be granted the skill [Regeneration]

/All damage received will be instantly healed

/Cooldown:

/5 hours

/Cost:

/20 MP

Byron Picked life reaper without hesitation, while healing from anything was nice, it wasn’t as good as the first skill.

Sure, he was losing part of his soul every time he used it, but all things that seemed too good came at an extreme cost.

He remained optimistic Drain-life hadn’t evolved yet after all. The ability to have extra lives was too good to pass up.

He was immortal unless he fought someone or something out of his league, but he wasn’t that stupid. He survived because he knew when to run and when to fight.

Byron wasn’t sure what was going on outside, but he knew it wasn’t anything good it was still fairly early in the morning, so he still had plenty of time to locate food and water.

He was upset about losing his house, though. Whatever was fighting was powerful enough to trash the area where he once lived. It was now devoid of life, Byron wasn’t sure how to describe it, but it looked like someone used reality as clay and molded it into confusing shapes.

Just looking at it had caused him to have massive headaches.

Ding!

[Skill evolved, Burn life-force (Common) to Life reaper (Rare)]

‘status’

[Name: Byron

Race: Life human (rare)

Level: 2

Str:20

Vit:10

Int: 20

Skills:

Life reaper (Rare) (lvl 1) Super strength (common) (lvl 3)

Drain life (Common) (lvl 4) summon shadow (common) (lvl 1)

Improved intellect (Common) (lvl 1)

sp: 0]

‘Nice, time to find a new home.’ Although Byron wanted to leave, he had no idea where to go, so he decided to borrow forward until he found the other side of the tree and start anew. Whatever awaited him on the other side, he would be ready for it.