[Congratulations! Stealth has leveled up!]

‘Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit….’

When that screen popped up I froze. I had been walking along for a few hours now, as silent as I could while inspecting every tree bush, grass, root, etc. to try and level up inspect. However, after 2 or 3 hours of almost constant use, it hadn’t leveled up yet! While I walked I also kept quiet and tried to raise the stealth skill, but that hadn’t leveled either!

That is, until now. Which meant either one of two things. One, it’s really hard to level up stealth, or two, and my sixth sense was also pointing in this direction, I need to be stealthy around something or someone to raise it.

Meaning, there is something around me that doesn’t know I’m nearby, and, according to my sixth sense, is dangerous.

I began to slowly scan the environment around me, noticing even the smallest of details in case I found myself dealing with another creature that could camouflage itself like the alligators.

‘Nothing on the floor, no disturbed bushes, nothing walking above the bushes, I can’t hear any footsteps…’

I then looked up at the treetops and branches. Normally all that I had seen upon the branches were small animals like squirrels or rat-looking things. This time was no different either, I didn’t see anything other than one or two of them sitting on the branches. I didn’t think I missed anything until I heard the hiss.

Something too fast to see moved from the shade of the tree branches and grabbed one of the small furry animals.

SNAP! CRUNCH!

A mouth with sharp fangs appeared and grabbed a critter and crushed it in its mouth!

The first thing that came to my mind was that it was fast. Faster than my mana bolt. The next thing that came to my mind was the fact that it was huge!

When I got a good look at it, I realized what it was, a snake. However, it didn’t look like any snake I had ever seen. It’s eyes were solid black. It’s scales were brown and green, allowing it to hide in plain sight in the treetops keeping it from my notice.

But it was too large to fit on one branch. It’s head alone was the size of a dog. The rest of it’s slithering body was wrapped around a bunch of branches and the tree itself so I couldn’t see the end of it. But worst of all, we made eye contact.

[Congratulations! Danger Sense has leveled up!]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

I remained frozen by it while it continued to feast on its lunch. The snap and breaking of bones of its swallowed prey snapped me out of my haze quickly though. What happened to me when I looked into it’s eyes felt weird, like I couldn’t move or think.

[Congratulations! Fear Resistance has leveled up!]

It was going to attack me. I could feel it. I couldn’t outrun it. Not after seeing its previous attack. I needed a plan.

‘Arrows? No. Dagger? Hell no. Magic? Yes.’

I was then overwhelmed with what spell to cast. I had so many of them, but I didn’t know the specifics of them or how long they took to cast.

Deciding on a spell, I began to cast it. The massive snake must have felt me preparing an attack because it pulled back and coiled its body, ready to lunge at me. With no other option, I cast the spell while jumping back. The snake lunged at me at the same time. One second it was on the tree branch, then the next, it was in front of me with its mouth open wide, fangs the size of small children dripping venom ready to bite.

But the snake, in doing so, accidentally opened itself up wide to my mana bolt, which I juiced up with as much extra mana as I could. I quickly released it and it shot straight into the snake’s defenseless mouth.

Pain assaulted me immediately while my ears rang from a loud BANG. I didn’t have time to wonder what was going on. I immediately pulled out my dagger and was ready to stab at the snake’s eyes. Ready to fight it to the death if I had to.

The only problem was, the snake had no eyes to stab. In fact, other than its lips and fangs, the entire backside of the snake’s head was gone. Eyes, brain, top of the mouth, all of it was a bloody mess or just gone.

The snake was dead. I survived.

But I was unable to celebrate my survival, adrenaline pumped through my young body causing it to shake uncontrollably from the fear of death. What’s more, the pain I felt from one of the short swords the snake called a fang had stabbed into and through my leg, nailing me to the ground.

I was used to pain on my world after all those years, but my 18-year-old body was not. My mind couldn’t control my reactions and I made a mistake, I cried out in pain.

I was a mess of panic for a moment until the screens popped up, distracting me from the pain, and giving me the focus to reel my mind back in. My hardened will clamped down on my mouth as I used the adrenaline in my body to get mad.

Pain makes you sloppy and uncontrollable. Anger focuses you. So I got mad. I didn’t focus on the pain, I focused on how this stupid piece of crap tried to attack me but couldn’t take even one bloody mana bolt. I thought of how this overgrown snake almost killed my race, my family, my friends, my wife. I thought of how this snake almost caused this world to die. I thought of how pathetic an end from such a disgustingly weak creature would be. I thought of so many different things that really pissed me off until I got so angry I wanted to scream!

I then used that anger to push away the prompts and grab the fang in my leg. Once I was stable, I wedged my other foot onto the base of the fang at the roof of the mouth of the snake and pushed as hard as I could on what was left of the roof of the mouth.

The fang came out slower than I wanted. Inch by inch it moved. Pain assaulted me with every movement. It hurt so much, but I couldn’t stop! I gave one big final push and it popped out of the ground, out of my leg, and fell back onto the ground beside me. Finally, it was free from me.

I wasn’t done though. I immediately pulled up the heal spell from my mental library and began to cast it through the pain.

I thought the pain was bad when it was in, but it was so much worse after it came out. The pain was crushing. But I kept focusing on my anger to push me through the spell. I was already compromised with the sound I made earlier, so I started to chant the cast of heal to give it more power.

“Grace above, bring your love

Bless those who are hurting

Bring them peace, restful sleep

Healing abounding”

As I finished the chant, I felt a big chunk of my remaining mana move into my hands over my leg. I watched as the bloody hole in my thigh stitched itself back together. Muscles reconnected, blood vessels mushed together, new skin grew visibly from the naked eye, until it looked like there was no wound there in the first place.

I was drenched in sweat from the whole ordeal, but thankfully I didn’t feel the pain anymore.

However, when the pain faded, the adrenaline started to wear off too, replaced by exhaustion and a headache. More screens popped up, but I brushed them aside. I had more problems to worry about right now.

I was covered in blood, absolutely spent, and I could feel my mana recovering, but I knew I was really low. If another predator came to see what was going on, I would be dead. I needed to move. My sixth sense was already telling me that danger was coming.

I rolled a little away from the snake, tested my leg gingerly, and slowly got up. The snake was dead, and blood and guts and brain matter were everywhere. Thinking quickly, I walked over, stored the snake into my inventory, to try and minimize the smell of blood, and leaned on a tree for a moment.

I couldn’t go anywhere yet. I still had the stench of blood on me. So I waited for my mana to replenish a little bit. The heal spell cost a ton of mana, over a hundred or two at least. I had never felt something leave so fast from my body. I felt drained for a few moments as I waited. My sixth sense was getting stronger. Danger was closing in on this area.

But I couldn’t move yet. I would just be leading the danger right to me if I ran now. It took quite a few moments for my mana to replenish enough for me to cast another spell. But it was necessary.

I took a deep breath and looked into my metaphorical library in my mind and pulled the one spell I knew I needed right now, Clean. It was a simple spell that I cast silently. It only cost a fraction of the heal spell.

My body immediately glowed for a moment, not bright, but I still glowed. I was surprised by this until the glow disappeared and dust began to fall off my body. Gone was the blood, gone was the sweat, grime, and spit. All that was left was clean, hole-filled, clothing that looked fresh.

Hell, even I felt refreshed. Like after a nice shower.

Satisfied that I wouldn’t be tracked easily by the smell of blood on me, I reoriented myself to the river and moved quickly but quietly, as far away as I could get from the spot of the attack.

I didn’t stop for over an hour. I pulled out some water from my inventory to keep me hydrated because I was afraid of the river, but other than drinking water and checking for predators, I did not stop moving.

When I was far enough away and calm enough to not have my heartbeat running a mile a minute, I stopped to rest.

‘huuuuuh……I think I’m safe for now. My sixth sense isn’t telling me I’m going to die, so let’s calm down and think….’

I took a rest by a tree and just calmed my mind. I almost died again. Facing your own death is difficult. But having faced it a few times, I was able to push past it mentally and focus on what mattered, the blue screens.

I then began to pull up the screens that I had pushed aside during the fight.

[Congratulations! Fear Resistance Leveled up!]

[Congratulations! You leveled up!]

[Congratulations! Empower Spell has leveled up!]

[Congratulations! Mana Bolt has leveled up!]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[Congratulations! Mana Bolt has leveled up!]

[Congratulations! Pain Resistance has leveled up!]

[Congratulations! Poison Resistance had leveled up!]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[Congratulations! Heal spell has leveled up!]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

I was shocked by all the prompts until I noticed one that wasn’t there. There was no prompt saying I killed something. Nor do I know if I gained any experience from killing the snake or if it was all the skill level-ups.

Another thing I noticed was the fact that Mana Bolt leveled up twice even though I only cast it once. I didn’t understand why. I could guess exactly when I leveled some skills like pain resistance and poison resistance. The Heal spell leveled up and I gained an entire level it seemed when it did too.

I then opened my status screen.

[Name: John Phoenix

Age: 18

Race: Human

Title(s): Survivor

Level: 2->6(80%)

HP: 80

MP: 340

Vitality: 8

Strength: 7

Agility: 7

Intelligence: 34(mana brain)

Wisdom: 46(mana heart)

Unused Status point: 4

Skills:

Spells:

Mana Manipulation Lvl 1, Meditation Lvl 1, Chanting Lvl 1, Runic Language Lvl 1, Sense Mana Lvl 1, Extract Mana Lvl 1, Empower Spell Lvl 1->2, Inspect Lvl 1, Mana Shield Lvl 1, Mana Bolt Lvl 1->3, Telekinesis Lvl 1, Spell Break Lvl 1, Interrupt Spell Lvl 1, Clean Lvl 1, Silence Lvl 1,

Fire Spells:

Flame Control Lvl 1, Burn Lvl 1, Firewall Lvl 1

Water Spells:

Water Manipulation Lvl 1, Fog Lvl 1, Breath of Water Lvl 1

Ice Spells:

Freeze Lvl 1, Frozen Dagger Lvl 1, Ice Wall Lvl 1

Earth Spells:

Earth Manipulation Lvl 1, Earth Wall Lvl 1, Dirt to Mud Lvl 1, Mud to Stone Lvl 1, Quicksand Lvl 1, Mud Shot Lvl 1

Nature Spells:

Plant Control Lvl 1, Growth Lvl 1, Wall of Thorns Lvl 1

Wind Spells:

Gale Lvl 1, Gust Lvl 1, Feather-Fall Lvl 1, Wind Arrow Lvl 1, Air Dome Lvl 1

Lightning Spells:

Spark Lvl 1, Chain Lightning Lvl 1

Light Spells:

Light Lvl 1, Flash Lvl 1, Cure Lvl 1, Mend Lvl 1, Purify Lvl 1, Heal Lvl 1->2,

Mind Spells:

Mind Shield Lvl 1

Shadow Spells:

Night Vision Lvl 1, Silence Lvl 1, Poison Cloud Lvl 1, Shadow Crows Lvl 1

Arts:

Dagger Arts Lvl 1, Bow Arts Lvl 1, Pugilist Arts Lvl 1, Siege Weapon Arts Lvl 1

Skills:

Tracking Lvl 1, Identify Trap Lvl 1, Danger Sense Lvl 4->5, Stealth Lvl 1->2, Running Lvl 1, Steady Hands Lvl 1, Precise Strike Lvl 1, Pain Resistance Lvl 1->2, Mental Resistance Lvl 1, Fear Resistance Lvl 1->2, Heat Resistance Lvl 1, Cold Resistance Lvl 1, Lightning Resistance Lvl 1, Poison Resistance Lvl 1->2, Soul Manipulation Resistance Lvl 1, Acting Lvl 1, Light Armor Lvl 1, Heavy Armor Lvl 1, Writing Lvl 1, Cooking Lvl 1, Herbalism Lvl 1, Architect Lvl 1, Mathematics Lvl 1->2, Measurement Lvl 1, Farmer Lvl 1, Hoe Arts Lvl 1, Sickle Arts Lvl 1, Hammer Arts Lvl 1, Cartography Lvl 1, Trapmaking Lvl 1, Cleaning Lvl 1, Trading Lvl 1, Appraisal Lvl 1, Decrease Price Lvl 1

I smiled at the changes. I leveled up to level 6 and gained 4 more status points to use. The increase in skill levels was great too, but I was shocked when I saw that I was already 80% of the way to level 7. Heal must have given me a ton of experience when it leveled. I didn’t even bother to wonder why right now. I had other things to worry about, namely, where to put my unused status points.

Originally I was thinking about saving them until I learned more, but after that fight, I knew that I couldn’t be conservative with my status points.

I pulled out a food bar from the food I had in my inventory while I thought.

It was a dry thick bar that looked like oatmeal but didn’t taste anything like oatmeal. I needed to recover my strength, and this was all that I had right now.

I was healed sure, but I was still incredibly tired and hungry. It was a hunger that only food could satisfy, not a spell. It seemed that the heal spell couldn’t recover stamina, another piece of information I filed away for later.

That being said, I found that after a few bites from the bar surprisingly, I was full.

Back to my stats, I began to think that increasing my agility was the answer so that I could run away from danger easier and notice danger faster. But after this fight, I had to rethink my options.

The only way I survived was due to my magic, but if another monster was around or if I had to fight two of them at once, could I have survived? Would my magic have held out or would I run out of magic and be at the predator’s mercy?

I thought I had a lot of mana with how high my intelligence and wisdom stats were, but now I was not so certain. Mana bolt was an easy and quick spell that didn’t cost that much mana. But heal almost cleaned me out. What about the other spells I had?

I only received one status point per level it looked like. So every decision mattered. I hadn’t even looked at vitality or strength too.

‘How do I manage this going forward? It’s not like I can increase all my stats…..’

My head perked up, my eyes went wide, as something that I had forgotten returned to my mind.

‘The Enhancement Potions! How could I forget them?!!’

Honestly, I had been going through a lot emotionally when I entered the world, and then the stone alligators and then the big snake happened. I shook my head as I reminded and berated myself about forgetting them.

‘They are not a consistent way to constantly increase stats but increasing all my stats by 10 would bring about a massive increase to my survivability. The only thing is, I won’t be able to gather and empower ten-strong subordinates afterward, only 9….

Hmm….That’s fine. Increasing my personal power will increase my survivability too.

I think I just became a hypocrite from my earlier decisions……eh. I was right both times, so technically I’m not a hypocrite……maybe’