2 Kill
As the notification arrived, he cast a glance at his body and noticed a slight itching sensation. Despite this, he felt a sense of calmness in his mind and perceived that his physical strength had slightly improved.
'Is this psychological?' He thought. There was only one way to know.
===
Lucas Garde
Sex- Male
Level 1
Origin- Planet Earth
Exp- 4/20
Strength- 6
Intelligence- 8
Stamina- 4
Dexterity- 12
Mana- 10
Free Points- 3
Skills- Shelter Generation(rare- level 1), punch(extremely common-level 1), unarmed combat(extremely common- level 1)
===
'I have become stronger!!' Lucas thought with excitement and laughed inwardly.
His gaze went toward the newly formed construction, the named 'shelter' had stopped glowing, and a single small four-walled construction greeted his eyes. Lucas went toward it, the walls of the small house were made of wood, it looked like fine work that could not have been made in just a few minutes. There was a line of stone at the end of the walls, it looked like decoration. There was no door, just a single opening.
Lucas went inside and was satisfied.
'It may be small, but better than sleeping on the ground.' Lucas thought.
The area was only five meters, there was no bed, a single window, just four walls, and a roof. Enough to survive in a jungle with no known civilization to depend on for now.
There was a single black dot on the right wall, and with curiosity, Lucas went to it. When he was close enough, a prompt opened in front of him.
"Ah, shit! They show so randomly…. random enough to give me a heart attack."
—
Shelter
Rare- Level 1
2nd Upgrade requirement- 500 planks, 80 kg stone, 10 Life cores- common quality, 90 Plant fiber rope
Skills- Landlord (rare- level 1), military power (rare- level 1)
Members- 1
Description- A Small yet finely built shelter in the middle of a forest. Capable of protecting against blizzards, rainfall, and solar radiation.
—
In the dimly lit shelter, Lucas voiced in shock, "What in God's name?" The only thing clearly visible to him was a blue prompt.
"It appears that these materials will allow me to upgrade the shelter. And what's the deal with these skills?"
Lucas thought for a moment, then attempted to click on the two skills. As he did so, two additional prompts opened up in the corner.
—
Landlord
Rare- Level 1
Description- You are the owner of a land in a desolate dense forest filled with dangers. With each level-up, the land will increase in size under your name.
—
Military Power
Rare- Level 1
Description- When the skill is activated, a buff of +10 strength and a barrier are erected around the shelter's territory for two minutes.
—
'These skills are awesome, heh as long as I am here, no shithead can do anything.' He said and chuckled. A strong metallic taste came in his mouth, he moved his tongue around to see if his mouth was bleeding but now a strong smell of blood came to him.
Lucas's eyes went wide, he went out and saw the body of the Vixenox on the ground, blood was pouring on the ground from its mouth.
"S-Shit"
Now that he realized, the smell of the blood could make other creatures come toward his shelter. With urgency, he grabbed the Vixenox's corpse and threw it inside the shelter.
He looked at the patch of blood on the ground which was giving off the blood's smell. With a little consideration, he started taking out the soil and mixing it up so that the smell would vanish.
"I can only hope nothing took a whiff of it." Lucas talked to himself and went inside the shelter. With so much to think about, he didn't know what else to do but rack his brain to think.
A thought of wanting to talk with his loved ones came into his mind, he wished for them to be safe.
[Error! Cannot contact anyone till the 2nd phase!]
The message came again in front of his eyes.
Lucas furrowed his brow in confusion. He wasn't even sure if there had been a first phase, let alone what the next phase might be.
As he opened up his system once again, a notification caught Lucas's eye. His curiosity piqued, and he clicked on it, revealing a new stat that had never been there before. It was labeled "Free Points" and displayed a number "3" next to it. It reminded Lucas of the skill points that were often given in role-playing games to level up and strengthen characters.
As soon as Lucas allocated one of the three points to his strength, he felt a sudden rush of energy surging through his veins, almost as if his body was reconfiguring itself. His muscles tightened and his skin felt taut, and just as he was about to marvel at this newfound power, an insistent itch began to build from within.
The sensation was maddening - it was like his entire being was crawling with invisible insects. He tried to ignore it at first, hoping it would fade away on its own, but the itch only grew more intense. Lucas gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, desperately trying to fight off the discomfort, but it was no use.
As he closed his eyes, Lucas realized that the itch wasn't just on the surface of his skin - it was emanating from deep within his body. The feeling was so intense that he couldn't help but scratch at his arms and legs, hoping to alleviate the irritation. But the more he scratched, the worse the sensation became, until he was practically writhing in agony.
Finally, with a deep breath, Lucas managed to regain control of himself. He forced himself to focus on his breathing, and gradually the itch began to subside. He opened his eyes, and to his surprise, he saw that the number next to his strength had increased to seven.
Lucas looked at his arm, the veins popping out lightly. He was surprised because he had tried for many years to get these kinds of veins naturally yet it felt impossible. But now, after placing just one point in the strength stat. His body's muscles were highlighted a little.
As he rose to his feet inside the shelter, Lucas unleashed a series of punches and kicks into the air. His body moved with a practiced grace, honed by the self-defense classes he had taken at school, as well as the countless hours he had spent studying various fighting styles on the internet.
His jabs felt stronger than before yet the speed had decreased. A thought came to his mind as he placed the next point in dexterity.
This time, there was no itch but irritation all over his body. Lucas felt the need to bite on something and tear it off with his teeth.
As he contemplated, he couldn't help but notice a subtle difference. "I remember earning a single point in each stat after leveling, but something feels off this time," he mused to himself.
Alas, there was no one around to answer such questions. He could only steel his will and adventure the unknown.
'It was better than before…' He thought and punched, kicked in the air again. This time, he could feel his attack becoming faster than before.
He didn't know whether it was psychological or not, but it felt real.
'I don't know if this all is just in my mind, all I can hope is to do better….' Lucas thought with a long sigh, things became quite unbelievable.
As the negative thought crept in, he knew he had to push it away. He was starting to feel invigorated, with the adrenaline coursing through his body and excitement building up within him.
His excitement bubbled over and he began to pump out push-ups with fervor, continuing long past his usual stopping point. Once he had struggled to reach 60, but now he pushed himself to 100 without even breaking a sweat.
'I can do more, I can feel it but my stamina is not keeping up.'
It was a very logical explanation as his body's strength had abnormally increased than before and it was not used to the extras he was doing. The one last point went to stamina.
It didn't feel much at first but he started getting very suffocated in the shelter, he went out and tried to take deep breaths yet he could only take in a little air inside.
'Something is definitely wrong this time..' He thought as he feared for his life. With the feeling of someone choking his neck, he regretted his decision of doing something so risky.
It lasted for around a minute when finally he could breathe normally, he huffed in psychological exhaustion and went inside the shelter again.
'What should I do now?' he thought. With no one to talk to or share his thoughts with, it had become a little boring and lonely.
Exploring the forest felt like a lost cause. He did not even know what actually his purpose was in this place.
The thought of his family getting another skill than the shelter made him worry, with nothing to stay in and being protected by, he felt like it would become very difficult to survive.
'No matter what happens, the next phase has to start quickly. It feels like the only feasible way to meet my family.'
RUSTLE…. RUSTLE….
Lucas's ears perked up, he could swear that he heard footsteps outside the shelter.
Lucas quickly grabbed his weapon, a sturdy stick he had found earlier, and approached the door of the shelter cautiously. He peered through the opening and saw nothing. After stepping out, he scanned the area for any signs of movement.
Lucas listened intently, but all he could hear was the gentle rustling of leaves and the distant howls. He let out a sigh of relief and lowered his weapon, knowing that the howls had been a regular occurrence for a while now. As long as the creatures stayed away from him, he was fine with it. The reality of his privileged upbringing hit him hard, as he had no survival skills to speak of. Now, he was paying the price for his sheltered life.
As he turned to head back inside, he heard the rustling again, this time coming from behind him. He spun around and could swear he saw something move near a bush, only a few meters away.
"Who are you!? He shouted thinking of what he saw was a head of a humanoid figure.
"English?!" A high-pitched shriek came from the bush which made Lucas literally jump straight.
He looked at the figure emerging from the bushes, his mouth agape from the scene.
As Lucas's gaze fell upon her, he couldn't help but admire the beauty of the woman before him.
She had an athletic build, standing at an average height of around 5'7. Her skin was fair and slightly tanned, but her anxious expression betrayed her inner worries. Her hair, a curly and slightly messy black, fell in loose waves around her shoulders. Her brown eyes, set in an oval face with a normal nose and pink lips, gave her a look of a woman in her twenties.
Her clothes consisted of a blue-colored short showing her medium-sized slender legs, it had white vertical stripes on the sides, with a dirty black top showing off all her curves perfectly.
Lucas wasn't giving off many emotions on his face, but he was inwardly screaming happily.
'Now I just need this dream to become wilder.' He thought while closing his eyes.
The sound of howling came again, and the woman's face became pale, she came running to Lucas's side.
"Come in for now, we will talk inside," Lucas said and looked at the surroundings with vigilance. The howling had become clearer each time as if the creatures had reached closer.
Lucas quickly ushered the woman inside the shelter. He looked at her with concern as she trembled with fear.
"Are you okay?" he asked, she looked to be terrified. Staring at her, Lucas thought of his family's situation right now. If they were okay or not.
She nodded, but her eyes were still wide with terror. "I've been running from those sounds for a while now," she said, her voice trembling. "I… I thought I was going to die for sure…"
Lucas felt a pang of guilt as he realized that he had been living relatively safe in his shelter, while this woman was struggling to survive out there.
"You're safe now," he said, trying to sound as reassuring as possible.
The woman looked up at him with gratitude in her eyes. "Thank you," she said softly.
Lucas felt warmth in his chest as he realized that he had finally found a companion in this wilderness. He smiled at her and said, "My name is Lucas, what's yours?"
"... Sarah," she replied.
"So Sarah, do you know anything about what's happening here?" Lucas asked.
Sarah shook her head and spoke softly, "I'm not sure what's going on. One moment, I was at my friend's place, and the next thing I knew, I was in a forest. I was so confused and disoriented that I passed out for a while. When I came to, I just ran for my life until I stumbled upon you." Her eyes darted around the room, taking in her surroundings with curiosity, until they landed on the lifeless Vixenox. At that moment, she regarded Lucas with a newfound light. Yet it was not in a good sense.
"You killed this thing?!" She asked, her eyes begging to cry any minute. Lucas nodded, he was embarrassed by her reaction which was not out of the expectation. There was a dead animal in his house.
"Those warnings in the hovering messages are real," Lucas said, shaking his head. "I learned that the hard way when this thing attacked me. It's a lot to take in at first, but the sooner you accept that this is your new reality, the better your chances of survival... I think."
'I don't think this is a dream now, everything is so real…' He thought while looking at the damsel in distress.
"Uh… I don't want to sound stupid, but… messages? What messages?" Sarah asked making Lucas think he had gone insane.
