Chop, slice, pull, tear. Knife comes in, guts come out, that’s what this story is all about.

‘Hmm. I never did that to a dog, so I honestly can’t tell if it’s different.’

She gazed upon her work. The first one was a terrible job, slow and ugly, but the third dire wolf was neatly divided into portions.

Ding!

{Acquired a General Skill: [Dismantle]}

{[Dismantle.] You have started to enjoy disassembling various things, including corpses. This skill will help you understand what you are doing. Do you wish to learn it?}

‘Sounds useful. Let’s take it.’

Irena felt thirsty. It was still night, but she would have to find water quickly, as her bottle was all but empty. She didn’t throw it away. It still had a filter, even if just a small one, but even if it didn’t, Irena would never just throw junk into a forest.

On the contrary, she beat the shit out of people trying to dump their garbage where it didn’t belong several times.

I mean, what would they even do? Report her to the police?

,’I was just trying to commit a felony, but some crazy ass child half my size broke my jaw out of nowhere,’

And they were trying to throw out their garbage mostly at night, so the only way they could later describe the person lightly braining them with a club, was ‘short’.

There are no cops in the forest.

She covered the fire with dirt, took as much roasted meat as she could carry with her hands, and started travelling down. She figured it to be the best way to maybe find a water source.

She strolled through the darkness, The only reason for not nibbling at her food being that she wasn’t hungry.

‘Oh, maybe I shouldn’t just carry something that smells this delicious through a dark forest. Aren’t I gonna get attacked?’

She continued walking, shifted the meat from her right, to the left hand, and drawn the machete, just in case.

‘Come to think of it, why hasn’t this thing gotten dull?’ She identified her tool, and gotten a result.

[Great Machete. [Rare] A bonded item.]

‘Bonded to who? Oh, wait, that was a dumb question.’

Of course it was bonded to her. It was her constant companion for how many years?

‘Okay, better one. What does bonding means?’

{Bonded items are those that can only be used to their full potential by their owners. Some can be repaired by users mana, some can’t be destroyed if the user is alive and nearby.}

‘Mana, here, mana there, mana f… everywhere.’

This was a problem. With wisdom of 5, Irena couldn’t use most of her new abilities to their full potential.

‘Flame manipulation? Mana

Size manipulation? Mana. (Although, who knows how much. I need to try it out.)

Self regeneration? Also mana, if I want to speed it up. Actually, I need to try it out, but I would have to get hurt first. And I don’t want to cut myself. Obviously.’

She heard rustling up close, and shifted her attention to her surroundings.

[Dire Rat]

She ignored the critter, and continued walking, until she heard a shimmer of water.

The dawn came, and in its light, a stream could be seen. She was thirsty, so she immediately got to digging.

Why digging?

Drinking straight from the water source isn’t a particularly good idea. It’s better to filter it a bit, and there is not many better filters in the wild, than earth.

She dug, and dug, and got pissed off.

‘Those damn rocks. This is gonna take a while.’

She complained, and focused on her shovel.

‘Maybe I can push mana into it and make it move like the fire?’ She came up with a brilliant idea, and acted upon it.

‘Just like the fire…’

The dirt remained heavy, but some of the scratches on her shovel disappeared, and it got visibly sharper. She continued digging, and the hole got to the point where water started to appear in it.

‘Nice, is this bonded as well?’

Identify revealed it to be a correct assumption.

‘Neat, I wonder which of my things are like that.’

She inspected her clothes, bottle, pocket knife, boots and a sandwich.

Only the sandwich wasn’t a bonded item. “Oh, my sandwich.” She exclaimed, and sniffed the thing. Strangely, even after all this time in her pocket, the thing still appeared fit for consumption.

She got to eating it in order to not let it go bad.

It was beaten to the point where it appeared to be already eaten once, or at least chewed on, but that didn’t mean she would let it rot.

She had drawn some water from the hole using her bottle, and thrown it back into the stream.

Like with wells. You need to use them for them to be usable.

She continued to do so until the water got clear.

Then, she finally got to drinking, still through the filter of her water bottle.

‘Ahh, that hits the spot.’

She sat down, satisfied.

Ding!

{You are eligible for a class choice.

Choose from below.

[Colossal Wrestler]

{Confident in his strength and size, Colossal Wrestler charges forward to meet the most humongous of opponents, face to face.

Requirements: Defeat a foe of extraordinary size and 20 or more levels above your own before gaining a class.}

‘Sounds alright.’

[Giant Longhunter]

{The Giant Longhunter finds new paths, walking down them without missing a single sign of their prey passing.}

‘Nice!’

[Trickster]

{Trickster exist to pull pranks, and have fun. Make them dance to your own tune, both opponents and allies.}

‘Dunno how that got here’

++++++++++++++

Irena didn’t have to think a lot. Colossal wrestler sounded amazing, but rather than ability to charge and grapple, she now needed something that helps her find her way to civilization, and if that turns out to be a bad idea, get away from it.

[Giant Longhunter] sounded acceptable. Maybe it would even get her a navigational ability?

‘Longhunter, I choose you!’

Ding!

{Congratulations, you have gained your first class.}

{You have gained additional 10+ points for every stat.}

{Would you like to select class skills? You may choose up to three.}

‘Fuk yes I would’

[hunter’s perception]

[tracker’s sight]

[Animal handling]

[Camouflage]

[Untouching stride.]

[Ranged weapon proficiency]

[Ethical strike]

‘Okay, I need some explaining.

From the top, please’

{[hunter’s perception] (Passive) All your senses are sharper, even those you didn’t know you have. }

‘oh, that could be useful. Next’

[Tracker’s sight] (Active) Is a skill that enhances your vision to see the where your prey went, and chase it even when no physical tracks were left. Not even birds will escape.}

‘That sounds amazing. Next’

[Animal handling] (Active) Will let you communicate and bond with non sapient creatures.}

‘This may sound cool, but I’ll pass.’

[Camouflage] (Active) Will help you hide from your prey until it’s time to strike.}

‘Next.’

[Untouching stride] (Passive) will let you move without disturbing your surroundings, making your stalking silent, and your tracks harder to follow.}

‘Disturbing your surroundings? Does that mean surroundings will disturb me less as well? Next.’

[Ranged weapon proficiency.] (Active) Will help you with shooting or throwing any projectiles with accuracy and power.}

‘Next’

[Ethical strike] (Active) It is inhumane to make your prey suffer by letting it escape after wounding. This skill lets you gather mana to release it in a powerful impact. }

‘Okay, Let’s start with elimination.

[Animal handling] is out. I mean, what am I, Aquaman? Besides, taming a dragon sounds super cool, until you have to feed it. Then it’s just a nightmare.

[Ranged weapon proficiency] I don’t want as well. It’s cool, but I can do that stuff myself. The hardest ranged weapon to get the hang of that I know of, is a sling, and I already learned using it as a kid

[Camouflage] is a bit better, but I already have something like that. Wasting my skill slots on something so similar to [Fae’s Shyness] doesn’t sound like the best idea.

Let’s take both [Untouching stride], and [Ethical strike.] Both sound super useful, both of them I want.’

Ding! {Congratulations, you have learned class skills [Untouching stride] and [Ethical strike].}

‘Now, it’s the choice between [Tracker’s sight], and [Hunter’s perception]

The first one is an active skill, and very practical. I mean, following tracks that aren’t there? Over powered. But, it’s only useful when I’m the one doing the chasing. It won’t warn me of danger. And it would be useless if my eyes got somehow damaged.

[Hunter’s perception] is a bit more versatile. It should tell me the way towards anything that smells, makes noises, etc. And I’ll have an easier time telling whether food in my hands is edible.’

In the end, she chose [Hunter’s perception]

[Name: Irena Bestla

Race: Fearie Giant.

Class 1: [Giant Longunter]

Class skills:

[Hunter’s perception] LV. 1

[Untouching stride] LV. 1

[Ethical strike]LV.1

Innate skills:

{Size manipulation} LV.1

{Faes’ shyness} LV.1

{Self regeneration} LV. 2

General skills:

{Identify} LV. 1

{Maata Standard language, LV 3.}

{Linguistic Leap, LV 5}

{Flame manipulation. LV. 1}

{Dismantle LV. 1}

Stats:

Vitality: 30

Endurance: 16

Strength: 60

Intelligence: 10

Dexterity: 16

Wisdom: 15

Health : 300/300

Mana 150/150

Stamina 160/160]