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Friday, XX/XX/XXXX | maybe morning |

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I need to get away from this place...

But it was easier said than done. The huge beast was overwhelming. Its size kept reminding Ivan of how sluggish it must be, but his guts screamed no.

No... don't panic... Let's calmly find how to escape...

Ivan observed the creature carefully, wary of sudden attack. The gecko-like monster answered his gaze with an air of power; indifferent, yet there was a slight of curiosity in those red slits. It was as if it was making out what he was, as if he was some kind of creature of a myth.

Yes, it was angry that something invaded its home, yet it was also curious of the culprit. Who on earth naively assumed that its cave was empty and made himself at home in its territory? What kind of fool carelessly made a meal right in front of its cave?

Ivan made sure not to make any sudden move as he stepped back. His eyes were still glued to the majestic lizard. True, a part of him was in awe, but another side of him was desperate to stay alive.

Think, Ivan, think... is there a way for me to escape?

Then all of a sudden he remembered something. He... he had a new active skill, right?

Slowly, while still maintaining eye contact, he summoned his status and took a glimpse. Yes, he had one active skill called >. But why it was called Lesser? Could that mean there was a Greater version out there?

No, stop it! This isn't the time to think...

Ivan gulped as he felt the continuous ruptures in his chest. His breathing became erratic and cold sweat formed on his forehead, painfully slowly made its way towards his cheek.

What if things go wrong?

No, stop overthinking things!

He gathered his courage then pointed at the sky, yelling, "Look! UFO!!"

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Despite not knowing what the human said, the lizard understood his gesture. It was quite intelligent. With a gruff it looked at the place the human was pointing. Its eyes gradually adjusted to the see through past the fog and then the foliage.

What was the human pointing?

The lizard became confused when it couldn't find anything interesting past the fog. But maybe there actually was something?

It became curious and meticulously scanned the foliage, oblivious to the fact that the human had already escaped.

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Friday, XX/XX/XXXX | maybe morning |

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Ivan gasped for breath as fatigue consumed his whole body and he collapsed face first to the ground. The fatigue was no joke. His whole body wasn't alright; his legs felt as if they were jelly and his arms were trembling. Not only that, his head hurt so bad he felt like he was Zeus giving birth to Athena!

Inwardly he summoned a simplified version of his status,

Level: 1

HP: 37/200 (+512)

MP: -22/120 (+158)

Damn, he should've known better not to overuse that skill, but it was better than being ended up in a monster's belly...

That > skill was quite a shocker. He thought it would freeze his stamina (like a certain juice in a hunting game) when he was running. No! Then what did it do?

It made him run faster. Sure, speed was good, but what good it would be if he couldn't even control it? He almost died crashing into a tree there!

That skill made him relate soo much about that meme cat 'and in that moment... I swear we were infinite'!

But it wasn't all bad. True it cost so much MP (30 MP) for his level, but it last ten seconds. Those ten seconds spelt the difference between life and death. Not only that, it has no cooldown! Meaning he could spam it however he liked!

Ivan somehow felt proud of himself. Despite running for his life, his mind wasn't entirely clogged with fear. He even managed to find out more about his only skill.

Now all he had to do was figuring out how to solve his minus MP...