The streets filled with wandering groups, and sights that reveal how correct Ethan was about the dark side of the human hearts’ soon come to view. bodies appear in the streets hidden in corners and alleys or even plainly disposed in the middle of the road. The luckier ones just got robbed and quickly got killed.
Picking a zig-zag like walking pattern they lead a way to hide the less dressed and less sightly views from the children.
The more they saw the injustices of this world they understood what a cruel fate they were saved from thanks to Ethan, the man whose current accountant displayed his anger and disappointment towards the true face of humanity.
The night had taken its toll on those who were not lucky or wise enough, but what truly made him uneasy were the blood stains that had but remnants of humans in them, making his assumptions regarding a wolves den gate nearby.
At some point the pond game to sight on his left, the water although distanced looked blue and clear, hopefully they could utilize it later on.
As they were about to leave the private housing area, a shout came from an alley, holding his hand in ‘Stop’ gesture, “you can handle a gun right?” Ethan asks his dad.
John nods, “had a security gig once, I know how to load, aim, shoot and clear the barrel”.
“That’s enough for now, have this,” he passed one of the handguns to his father, “this one has 13 bullets in the clip, it’s not loaded” keep it for emergencies only.
Letting the rest wait behind the alley, he sees a man with a knife trying to force and assault a woman.
Instinctively, his muscles tensed, he found an outlet for the rage of the streets’ unsightly and Gorey views, “stay quiet and hidden” he says to the group, and he heads in with the two guns and knife belted on his back, hidden.
“Hello fine sir, may I interest you in getting the hell away or not getting to see tomorrow?” Ethan walked forward with no weapons visible towards the man with the folding knife, ‘inspect’.
‘Level 2’ Ethan sighs deeply, ‘of course he did’.
“Get the hell back!” The man calls out angrily, his plans foiled.
“Lady, stay there, I’m on my way to a safe haven, I’ll deal with this…human’s finest and take you along” Ethan ignores the shouting man.
With a small folding knife he takes dominant steps forward and his intentions to initiate an attack is obvious.
“Watch out!” the woman cries out.
“Yeah, he really should watch out” Ethan make his knife known to the random attacker, the attacker is now 5 meters in, ‘on the other hand, this is a good chance to try some unarmed combat’ he sheaths it back.
The man stops moving looking at Ethan's knife and fearlessness, as he about to turn tail and run Ethan speaks.
“Come here and finish what you started, I will not use this knife, but if you run, I have a loaded handgun and you won't make it past 5 meters from here”
Hearing about a gun he can’t stop thinking about the new weapons arsenal he could get against such a naive young child he moves forward, this time a lot slower. They circle one another, each looking for the best time to take the first action.
With his patience at his limits he jumps on Ethan, the blade faces upwards.
‘Slashed and stabs are the main threat, lower angles are optimal’, Ethan deduced by the hold of the attacker on the knife, the blade upwards and towards him.
Understanding that he need to focus on his skill “spirit of a warrior” to withdraw knowledge from it he understand a glaring disadvantage of using it in real time. Walking threateningly he wins a few more moments to find a plan of attack using unarmed stances.
He smiles and takes a low fighting stance, deciding on a doable move he is closing the distance, causing the man to rashly attack him with a stab. Coming closer, the blade passes him. locking the man’s shoulder and elbow with one hand and the other quickly punches in the meeting point of the sternum and breathing ways.
His new stats and the skill made this attack extremely powerful and effective, too effective. breaking contact, the man stumbles back, dropping the knife, and holding his throat with suffocating sounds he falls to the ground, when on his knees a nasty blue sign of internal damage comes to view, he gasps for air but fails.
Surprised by his own power, he got a bitter reminder of Dana’s words and how brittle the human body is and how strong he is now, the bloodline talent and stat boost, with the right use of the knowledge from his passive skill made him into a worthy enemy.
the man suffocated, breathing ways flooded with blood. He coughs blood gasping for air, and dies in half a minute.
Looking at the body in front of him, Surprise and displeasure appear on Ethan’s face.
He wanted to win, heck, he wanted him dead, but seeing this pitiful death he added to his list by mistake just hit the wrong chords, ‘I need to train and control my own body as soon as possible’.
[Ding! Level 2 classless human defeated]
A white orb manifests on the man’s back and rolls on the ground, Picking it up, it turns to a potion bottle, ‘inspect’.’
[Ding!
Name: low grade health potion
Rank: common
Description: a low rank health potion]
‘Not bad, normal potion magically healed Guy’s injuries, low grade shouldn’t be looked down on with our current state.’
Using his devour talent on the dead man
[Ding! Strength increased by 1!]
This is not a happy moment for Ethan, but a cruel reminder of how he is lacking control over his power and body.
“I am heading to a safe haven, it has food and sleeping places, you want in?” Ethan asks.
“The orb, you just…I…I do, take me with you” tears start streaming down her face.
“Follow me” He turns and moves towards where he came from.
As he goes past the wall a group of 9 people make an appearance, startling the woman, as they all check her out of nowhere, it takes them a moment to see a man laid down on his stomach, his fate can only be assumed, or be asked about later.
“Calm yourselves, she will join us, introduce one another as we move forward” He says and continues the march.
Now a group of 11 people, most of them carrying long kitchen knives, walking past small groups of arguing people, their presence alone, diffuse almost every situation.
A few people follow them, calling their stealth lacking is an understatement.
“Dad, Eliyah, I have a task for you, keep an eye on the people following us, try to discern foes and friends by how they move, how they look at us and how armed they are, do it discreetly, can you do it?” Ethan whispers to the two.
They nod and seamlessly blend to the back and middle of the group.
Half an hour of a walk, the pace is far slower than Ethan sprinting through, they are about to leave the private housing area when a loud growl sounds close by causing them to freeze.
A group of three people, 40 meters away, among them, a female, bleeding from her limping arm, ran away from a passage between two low ground buildings.
Their screams and situation are hard to understand but a wolf a bit larger than the wounded exiled Ethan met the first day before makes it visually easy to read the situation.
‘Inspect’
[Ding!
Name: none
Race: beast - Wolf
Level: 8
Description: A powerful canine beast of the pack]
Before Ethan could even speak, his family and little Max, showed their concern, “His level! We must run”, “It’s too strong”.
The other part of the group looked confused and terrified by the choice of words picked to describe the situation.
“Let me handle this” taking off the bag, he gives it to his sister, “go back don't come closer”
His family and group protested, half of them, especially the Bennets were keen on taking flight but stayed to see how this evolves. Taking a second knife, he is now dual-wielding two knives.
“Can't stay on easy difficulty forever” Ethan states, shocking the group speechless.
“Did he said ‘easy difficulty?’” the sisters' jaws dropped.
“Your son, was he always insane?” Ed asks his words unfiltered.
John furrowed his brows. He was about to reach his arm forward to stop Ethan or get mad at Ed for his choice of words, but then he looked at the situation.
His son’s back, to his sides two long knives, his back straight, fearless, his annoyance turned to concern, “Not that we know of something like that” he gave up, the absurdity was too high even for him, he dare not claim that Ed’s words are wrong.
The wolf in the middle of a bite in the screaming female’s torso ,suddenly raising his head, looking at Ethan as much as one can imagine a wild canine getting his food time cut short - pure anger and hate.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Sensing the strength and fearlessness of the person in front of him, he became even more aggressive.
It is attacking on sight, leaving Ethan To defend against a flurry of sharp Claw swipes. With the occasional bite he throws to break the rhythm, it is by far Ethan's toughest opponent yet.
The Wolf flexibility allows him some very unexpected moves and combos, being a wolf he was not shy of leaping forward to pounce the enemy down, keeping Ethan in a standstill that required him to stay less static and calculative.
Small cuts Starting to patch up both Ethan and the wolf - Ethan is on the losing end, but the fact that the wolf paws and claws were sliding down sharp blades every parry and collision with Ethan was a great deterrent against him keeping the beast somewhat wary of the young human.
He needs an All-in move and He wants a clean, fair, strong win. ‘Enough with the bag spray!’ Ethan scolds himself, still bothered by not having an epic win like the main characters he likes so much in the novels and comics.
Even the use of the deodorant spray against the hobgoblin felt void of epic-ness and glory, it was useful, it was bountiful, it was not classy.
‘with no dirty moves Frontal attack is a No go.
With no distractions, attack from the back Is also a no go.
Mutual damage, avoiding a straight bite, then a lower all-in slash to the side, going downwards, using body weight and momentum to avoid a retaliation that will come from behind me, most likely by the opposite side claw.’ Ethan takes a few more exchanges polishing his plan.
The Group he led, now a small part of a big audience, looking at the battle, mesmerized to a point they can't take their eyes off it, the courage and bravery of the young man alone, turning the karmic strings of his viewers, of the world in a new direction by the second.
John's hands go back and front on his belt, any second he's about to pull the gun and empty the whole clip on the wolf's side, but seeing his son's face, his eyes open wide in astonishment, Ethan is smiling.
And then, a change of pace that caused that all to tense up, initiated by Ethan's flurry of swipes, the tempo increased, the wolf takes the usual offbeat bite - this time in a manner that it is controlled and anticipated by Ethan, fully committed in charging forward wishing to deal it in one blow with the pesky human.
Ethan, to the wolf's surprise do a graceful 360 twist of his full body to the wolf's ribs, stabbing the sharp 50 cm knife deeply. he Does a downward roll the knife still lodged in the wolf’s side, he feels The ribs of the wolves making the knife movement goes a bit wavy, but at some point the he goes past the ribs and feels a a Softer flesh interacting with the blade, as he about to Finish the slash successfully as a tensed paw reaches him, creating two diagonal slashes.
Breaking contact, they stand one against another - a man against a beast.
Blood soaks Ethan back in a visible speed, But in front of Him a beast with deep and nasty gash, blood streaming out, it's a fatal Hit, he had just received, and they both know it.
With wild abundant they go at it once more.
The wolf’s speed, especially when attacking and moving around on his right side of the body, are slow and occasionally Throw him off balance in a noticeable manner, he can no longer move with his prime agility and flexibility.
Ethan takes the lead, using the off balance movement to cut the wolf face directly.
Five minutes since The fight began, there is now a large crowd by now, with a loud howl the wolf at his last legs going for an all out attack, but with its current state, it's a shadow of what it was in the beginning of the battle.
Going for the same fully charged bite, the wolf is too slow and Ethan gets a finisher for free, he does the twist and downward trick on the other side this time.
This slash is too much and the wolf falls down, with a gaze of acceptance towards a worthy opponent, it closes its eyes for the last time.
[Ding! Level 8 wolf defeated!]
A white orb form from it’s side and caught on the fur.
Picking it up, it turns in to a skill page.
Inspect
[Ding!
Type: Passive skill
Name: danger sense
Grade: common
Description: dangerous moments triggers the user’s awareness
Buff: sixth sense that alarms the user from dangerous experiences]
Without even thinking, he drinks the low grade health potion, and learns the new skill, sucking in the warmth of the paper, and with the potion, he feels as if he was redeemed from the bitter win from before.
Devouring the wolves energy, the system rings.
[Ding! Agility increased by 1]
Looking deeper he tries to feel his level up progression, there was a vague sensation of what he could mentally grasp as an exp bar, thinking about it changes it rapidly, it mentally receives the shape of an orb, then a bowl, then a gym like in that hack and slash game he love, but he sticks with a linear bar for simplicity sake, enjoying this new information and his glorious win he have under his belt.
It was inaccurate but he could say for sure, he was about to level up.
‘Status!’
[Ding!
Name: Ethan Tesher
Class: None
Level: 6
Race: Human
Stats:
Strength: 16 (+2 + 0.5%)
Constitution: 8 (+2 + 0.5%)
Agility:14 (+2 + 0.5%)
Mind: 10 (+2 + 0.5%)
Charisma: 9 (+2 + 0.5%)
Free point: 0
Skills:
- spirit of a warrior (uncommon)
This is a passive skill that increases the efficiency of any living being wielding a weapon
Buff: Efficiency is increased when wielding , training , or studying a weapon
- danger sense (common) - passive
dangerous moments triggers the user’s awareness
Buff: sixth sense that alarms the user from dangerous experiences
Bloodlines & talents:
- a spark of unknown origin (rare)
A bloodline originating from ???, with the potential to ???, capable of ??? beyond limits.
Talent 1: guided by ???
Allows the user to use the ??? of the ??? to guide the user to a preferred and optimal outcome, based on duration and amount of guidance it receives, there shall be a weakening period after use.
Talent 2: Devour
Consume external energies, tames them and makes them one with ???.
Talent 3: ???
???
Achievement:
- Bloody start - rare:
Killing an enemy at the first minute of the world awakening.
Buff: +2 to all stats.
- Outer circle I - rare:
Killing an enemy from one circle of power higher than yours.
Buff: 0.5% to all base stats]
Having a wild thought he takes his knife, using knowledge from late night primitive survival videos, he starts to butcher and skin one of the wolf hind legs, it takes him about 15 minutes - it’s crude, messy, uneven but the final product looks like a fresh piece of meat. Had the crowd not seen it live, they would fight for this meat and cook it themselves
Calling his group, he asks for nylon paper, they have been speechlessly staring since the wolf fell, each action he took is more unexplainable than the previous.
Eliyah just robotically passed him a nylon wrap speechlessly, John and Sarah exchanged looks, it’s silence, yet, so loud.
Everyone knows exactly where he goes with this train of thought but the log of the nylon warped half a human sized hind leg skinned of.
“Mom, dad, I knew he was a dumb male Ape, but when did he turn into a caveman?” Zoe asks.
Everyone who heard it didn't know if to laugh or cry - you didn't need to know the man to feel how spot-on that comment was.
“Was he training for this moment all his life? Why It looks like another simple day for him, first the man from the alley, now this” the new woman, Emily, remarks.
She is a student from another city close by that visited a friend when it all started. Her story had its own dark twists, but overall, bad Day for everyone, another present by the grace of the apocalypse.
Just as he was about to leave, he looked at his status.
‘No way this is the grade of this skill, there has to be a way to upgrade it or something’ The new skill, he wondered if it can be evolved, such a great skill being just common grade was not his taste. he threw some commands to the system, mentally pressing and poking the skill on his status page with the intention to evolve it ‘A success!’
And like the giving tree it was, an unexpected ring, sounded in his mind and a new screen showed up.
[Ding!
Type: Passive skill
Name: Danger sense
Grade: Common
Evolution requirement: 15 first circle cores (0\15)]
His eyes widened noticing a word that caught his attention, 'cores'.
Without explanation he jumped on the wolf and started slashing his chest apart, shoving his arm inside he teared and felt through every space a core could be there, by the sternum, in the rib cage, he started losing hope when he couldn't find it.
Meanwhile, his group backed away, some closed their eyes and one of Eliyah's daughters threw up.
‘HE IS CRAZY!’ The mental decision was Unanimous, no doubt there.
With a final attempt, by the wolf heart, he felt a solid uneven surfaced stone, no need to explain twice what a mana core is for a modern day geek.
Holding a weird stone he picked from the wolf’s chest, he realized something.
Standing in front of the now extremely mutilated corpse he facepalms himself with a bloody hand, the goblins, that's almost 20 cores - assuming it’s not even 100% thing!
Picking up the wolf wrapped leg, he is bloody, his eyes blazing with fire.
He walks quickly to the group, “we move now! I will Explain later and Oh, I'm too bloody, can someone hold my bag?”
Lily nods speechlessly, and puts the bag on her, in front of a large crowd a group of 11 people led by a crazy bloody leader just left, leaving not only this place but also memories that will haunt those who witnessed this whole event for a while.
Leading the group, bloody and excited, he walks, his walking speed increases, until a voice stops him.
“Ethan! What's got into you?!” his father calls out, a mix of anger and confusion, looking back he noticed the group were practically running, while he just power walked.
“How long have you been running after me?” the realization dawns upon him.
“15 minutes, how can you even walk like this?! The poor little girls were one step away from sprinting! After seeing you diving head in a wolf stomach! Calm yourself and explain the situation now!” his dad scolded him.
“Everyone, let's take a breather, dad, mom, come with me” he says and they move a bit farther than the group, looking at the background behind his parent coming along the rest of the group stare at him scared and doubtful of going along with him any longer, but he ignores it, his mind dealing with more complex thoughts .
He takes out the mana core showing his father and mother the simple and non-impressive gem.
“What I am going to tell you is Game and novel most basic knowledge” He tells to his parents causing their face to become a mix of confusion and doubt to the extreme, almost angry.
“this was by the wolf heart. In every creature that has mana, grows a vessel, an organ, whatever this little gem is. Mana is something like magic power. it’s a basic and fundamental energy that exists everywhere and affects everything, this wave of weird energy that expanded the world, destroyed electronics and who knows what more. This is how it manifests in living beings, games lore and stories were accurate all along” Ethan points at the little gem.
“It can and can strengthen and amplify Items and creatures, with more mana even supernatural and magical ability is not impossible, allegedly. It regulates, stores, filters, basically, it does whatever the whole body does for the blood, but with mana, this one little stone does it all. This is also a crafting ingredient” He stops talking, trying to pick up a feedback from them.
Their stare says they so very much want to rebuke him, object, say something, but his ability he displayed, the fact he actually found the stone in there in the first place, he can’t be so far off with his words, his power walking alone made a group of ten people to almost start sprinting.
“Remember the skills I told you of in the beginning? another one fell from the wolf. I found a system window that tells me how to evolve it, take a guess what's the requirement.” Ethan quizzed his folks on the information he poured on him.
After a long while their eyes opened in surprise, “cores…?”
“And I just happened to kill 25 monsters yesterday, if they will be dispatched improperly or get caught by a wandering beast? Does such a big amount of cores can draw monsters to it? I can also use it to evolve my skill right away! The risks and rewards of both cases bear a possible great threat or gain” Ethan explains with excitement.
Understanding the seriousness of the situation John’s eyes widened, “we must get there quickly, those sounds like a a game changer, that basically sound like superpowers, but…“ his tone than changes, his look softened, “...look at the people you are leading, little girls are among them, kids saw you shoving your hand in a human sized wolf chest…have mercy, heavy is the crown and every actions you do has consequences, never forget it”
He turned around, not letting Ethan a moment to refute his words.
In his heart, Ethan also didn’t find the need to correct words that had no fault in them.
Five minutes later, he gathered everyone up, “I apologize for not noticing your need and capabilities, we shall move out in a more moderate pace”
Among the worried looks, smiles and nods were exchanged, freight and doubt still present.
Walking along his father he told Him of the group's thoughts and needs, short breaks were taken, and no one dared to mess with the group with the leader who just seemed to take a shower of blood. He wanted to clean up so much but the water they brought can’t be spent on such a thing…
He improvised by discarding his clothes wearing a spare set he brought and cleaned whatever he managed from his person, he looked decent, a bit bloody, but decent
