The sight of him dashing towards me with a sword stunned me. I stood there staring at him without realizing what was going on until he was merely a step away. I almost managed to voice out a single word while stepping back.

"Sto-"

Instead of stopping, my voice seemed to make him feel more fear towards me as he swung his sword a bit faster, aiming for my neck. I barely managed to dodge it as I stumbled upon a rock and fell on my back, with the sword slashing right above my head. That seemed to surprised both of us.

Seeing that he wouldn't stop his assault, I thought of the only skill that I could use on him.

StatusName:Chris BleufostTitle:NoneRace:ElfGender:MaleLevel:7Experience:37.8%Class:SwordmanHealth:130/130Mana:130/130Health regen:1.95/sMana regen:1.95/sStrength:24Intelligence:12Dexterity:16Wisdom:13Vitality:13Willpower:12Attack:14-26Defence:15

Skills

Class Trees

Swordsmanship[Level 13](locked)

-Sword Mastery[Passive]

-Slash[Active]

-Stab[Active]

-Parry[Active/Passive]

Racial Skills

One with Nature[Passive](locked)

Looking at his stats, he doesn't seem very strong. Although he was still stronger than me in every aspect with the exception of my passive enhanced wisdom. He also has a passive skill to aid with his attack skills which I am sorely lacking in. I was also interested in his Racial Skill, but did not have enough time to check it.

I figured that I couldn't possibly win upfront against him due to the stats different and my lack of experience. I also ruled out the option of running away as I knew that I couldn’t possibly outrun him, which was why I had to think of a way to reverse the situation.

His sword definitely has a larger reach than my bare fist, so I first need to get rid of that range advantage. Getting rid of his weapon seemed possible as it wasn’t easy to swing a sword at full strength without hitting the trees in this dense forest.

I set my plans to motion as I scrambled towards the tree behind me and faced him after standing up. He rushes towards me for another slash but I dived towards his right, causing his sword to miss me and cut deeply into the tree. While he tried to get his sword out of the tree, I scrambled to his front and gave him a headbutt to his face by standing up.

He stumbled backwards and tripped on a rock like what I did before and fell flat on his back. Before he could get back up, I jumped and did a body slam on to his guts and he roared out.

"Uugh!"

I got off him and prepared myself to face him once more but he seemed to have been knocked out, unmoving on the floor.

I went closer to take a look just in case he was faking unconsciousness. After determining that he was really knocked out, I opened my status screen to check on my body’s current condition

StatusName:???Title:???Race:???Gender:???Level:1Experience:79%Class:Spores MasterHealth:87/100Mana:360/360Health regen:1/sMana regen:7.2/sStrength:10Intelligence:10(6)Dexterity:10Wisdom:10(30)Vitality:10Willpower:10Attack:8-12Defence:0

Skills

Class Trees

Spores Controlling [lvl 20]

-Spores Emission(Active)

-Spores Detection(Toggle/Passive)

-Spores Identification(Passive)

Other Skills

Unique Passive Information Processing(Passive)[200]

“Oh? I got some experience points from defeating him, I did not think that that would happen considering he is still alive and all. That helps though. It was the first time that I got experience points since I woke up in this body.”

I decided to tie him up for questioning after searching his body for items which could be used to escape or attack me with.

Just as I was reaching towards his unconscious body, two sounds rang, followed shortly by a shout. When I turned towards the shout, I seemed to have vision of myself jumping down from a tree, axe raised, aiming for some kind of humanoid creature with a very weird head. The head looks something like a mushroom that opened up in middle to form 4 sections, spreading some mist-like particles into the air.

The axe then went into the mushroom’s head, cutting the head cleanly into two. I experienced a sharp pain and started losing consciousness.

-----

"...Hey, wake up"

"Chris, wake up"

I woke up to the sound of a dwarf in front of me and replied subconsciously.

"Hrmm?"

"Oh Aston, what happened?"

The dwarf in front of me is Aston Redhill, a companion that I had been travelling with since I left the forest I grew up in. We had been together for so long that I had total confidence in leaving my back to him even if we are totally surrounded.

"That's what I want to ask you, stupid. What was that thing attacking you and how did you get knocked out like that? Are you alright?"

I looked over at the corpse of the mushroom headed man and remembered what happened. I then said to Aston,

"Oh, I'm fine. No other injury beside this bleeding on my head, which was what caused me to lose my conscious. I don't know what that thing is. I stumbled upon it and in my shock, stepped back and tripped. Did you kill it?"

"Yeah, I believe so, I cut it right in the middle of it's head. If it can survive that, it must be a monster. You sit down and rest here while I go over to take a look at it's corpse."

"OK, be careful"

I said that as I thought, “Yup, that is a monster alright”, since it was me.

When I regained consciousness just now, my mind was in a mess and I couldn't think back clearly on what happened; Words just came out of my mouth. I suddenly remembered experiencing a sharp pain, before arriving in the weird dark empty space. I woke up shortly after feeling a strong desire to control.

Looking back, I didn’t find the elf’s reaction weird anymore. From the dwarf’s vision that I saw, there was no doubt about how creepy I looked. That could easily explain why I was attacked right after he saw me.

Thinking about it, I must have experienced the same thing now and then, meaning that the body that I was in wasn't mine originally. I opened the windows that I didn't managed to read before dying and noticed the following changes:

For the continued usage of spores controlling skills, you have gained a level in [Spores Controller]. [Spores Controller] is now at level 21. For reaching level 21 in [Spores Controller], you have unlocked a new ability [Spores Identification].

Spores Senses(Toggle/Passive)

Enables the caster to receive the five senses of the target(s) as if it was his own.

You have taken fatal damage and died.

For having died yet still having a strong desire to control, you have temporarily gained control of a creature with active spores in it. As you have not unlocked the skill, there will be limitations. As your level in the skill is too low for the creature you possess, you will not be able to use the skills that the creature controls and a stat penalty will apply.

StatusName:Chris Bleufost(???)Title:None(???)Race:Elf(???)Gender:Male(???)Level:7(1)Experience:37.8%(79%)Class:Swordman(Spores Master)Health:100/100Mana:100/100Health regen:1/sMana regen:1/sStrength:24(19)Intelligence:12(10)Dexterity:16(12)Wisdom:13(10)Vitality:13(10)Willpower:12(10)Attack:9-22Defence:15

SkillsClass Trees

Swordsmanship[Level 13](locked)

-Sword Mastery[Passive]

-Slash[Active]

-Stab[Active]

-Parry[Active/Passive]Racial Skills

One with Nature[Passive](locked)Effect

Possession(3 hours 18 minutes)

Not bad, although my strength and dexterity only changed by a bit, it is still higher than before. I pressed the possession effect on the pop-up screen to see what it said.

The person is currently possessed. Depending on the strength of the possessor, the stats and skills of the person may change accordingly.

I felt sad that there are limitations to the possession, but that should be expected. Furthermore, I should be happy that I’m still ‘alive’ although I ‘died’, though I still couldn’t figure out if I’m actually dead or alive in the first place.

Next, I opened up the information window for the racial skill [One with Nature], as I have the time to find out what it does now. I’ll leave the rest alone as they seem easy to figure out.

One with Nature[Passive]

For having a high affinity with nature, you’ll have increased life regeneration and mana regeneration within a forest.

“Ah, that explains why he had more than average regenerations.”

After satisfying my curiosity, I looked over to the dwarf and saw that he is still examining my previous body. I took that opportunity to search my current body for items for things to use in the current situation. What I found was some ropes, which I'm guessing is either for climbing purposes or used to tie things up for easier storage. There was also some dried meat, some variations of metal coins, and a few bottles of liquid which I assumed was potions.

A plan formed in my mind regarding what I could do with the items and I smirked.

-----

PS: The 'Class Trees' thingy is supposed to mean something like skills within skills, skills will be unlocked as the 'Class Tree' levels up. That is what the 'Class Trees' are supposed to mean, since there might be more than 1 'Class Tree'(possible spoiler?).

Constructive criticism will be appreciated.