This was Alex's first time seeing a dead body, much less a skeleton. Terrified, he took a step back.
The skeleton leaned against a tree, its armor heavily rusted. A sword hung from its waist, worn and forgotten.
Alex noticed it and drew the sword. It looked like an expensive weapon, but the rust had worn it down. It was too heavy for him to hold properly.
It was a dark longsword, totally covered in rust, weighing around 4 kg.
Alex's powers mainly focused on speed and precision. He knew he wasn't strong enough to use the weapon freely without giving up his speed, especially with all that rust.
Sighs. Alex put down the weapon and took a rest.
"Whatever I gotta do, I'll do it tomorrow." It was already getting dark, and his eyes were very tired.
____
7 hours passed by -
Alex woke up feeling refreshed. The dark circles under his eyes were gone. But the first thing he noticed was…it was still dark. Almost like time had frozen in the sky.
A dark blue sky, with the bloody moon shining as bright as ever.
"Did I not sleep enough?"
Alex definitely felt the impact of sleeping long in his body, but he couldn't be 100% sure anymore.
'Anyways, I have to look for food before my vitality starts declining.'
[Vitality: 499/550]
Alex knew he had to search for food and explore this mysterious place. But before leaving, he gently laid the skeleton on the ground, covering the body with dead tree branches.
Clasping his hands together, he whispered a short prayer,
"May your soul rest in peace."
Alex took the sword with him and set out into the dark wilderness.
'Whenever I push myself to the limit, my stats increase based on the effort I put in. If I carry this sword for a long time, it'll boost my strength, especially if I multitask while doing so.'
Even though the trees were dead, they were massive, making the forest extremely dark. But that wasn't a problem for Alex, he could see clearly.
After walking for over 20 minutes, he spotted a wild rabbit hopping around. Alex threw the sword aside and stretched his body.
During the walk earlier, some of his stats had improved:
[Strength: 15.9] > [Strength: 16.1]
[Stamina: 17.3] > [Stamina: 17.6]
[Agility: 25.8] > [Agility: 25.9]
Alex slowly approached the rabbit. As he got closer, he noticed it had sharp nails and long canines.
The rabbit had keen ears and instantly sensed Alex's presence. He had no option but to start chasing it. Despite Alex's high agility, the rabbit was way too fast.
They both sprinted around the trees. The rabbit darted from one to another with incredible speed, while every time Alex tried to match its pace, he crashed into the trees whenever he changed direction.
[Vitality: 340/560]
Alex was almost out of breath, but he didn't give up. Sadly for him, the rabbit still seemed to be in perfect shape.
'Now I know why this small creature is still alive in this horrifying place filled with monsters.'
The rabbit was twice as fast as Alex and incredibly flexible.
"Fine. I give up."
Alex walked back, picked up his sword, and rested near a tree.
There were some insects inside the old, cracked tree. Red worms.
Alex's mind was now in jeopardy. He knew red worms were edible... but so was the frog, right?
The only reason he hadn't eaten the frog was his own disgust.
"I had options before...but right now...I guess beggars can't be choosers."
Disgusted, Alex picked up a worm and ate it, chewing with his eyes shut in repulse. The insect was extremely chewy, and the taste was horrible.
[You have consumed poison]
'Again?'
[Poison Resistance has been activated]
Alex's head started to hurt, but the poison was weak, and the pain vanished after a minute.
There were plenty more red worms under the tree. As he stretched his hand, something mysterious bit him.
The bite was incredibly painful, blood leaked from a deep cut in his hand. It was a longhorn beetle, hiding inside the tree.
Alex had no other choice but to add it to the menu.
While eating, he noticed something surprising:
[Agility: 25.9] > [Agility: 26.6]
"That much?" He had only chased that rabbit for about 40 minutes, but the stat increase was huge.
Once he finished eating, he immediately set out again, searching for another rabbit.
Eventually, he found one. But the area was horrible for chasing, it was filled with tree roots, making it super easy to trip.
It didn't matter. Alex had already made up his mind.
'Before my vitality drops to 100, I'm gonna catch you.'
This rabbit, however, was even faster than the previous one. And to make things worse, Alex had to be super careful of the massive roots all over.
Having to instantly change direction while avoiding the roots was draining his stamina way faster than expected.
For the next few minutes, he ran at full speed. But his pace gradually slowed. He was drenched in sweat, breath getting heavier each second.
His vitality had already dropped to 60. Alex knew—but he didn't care. His mind was fixated on catching that rabbit.
[Vitality: 58 > 57 > 54]
"One last try..."
Alex pushed with everything he had. He somehow got close to the rabbit and raised his hands, but the rabbit changed direction in an instant and sprinted off even faster.
Alex collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily, staring up at the stars.
"This is my limit..."
After resting a while, he went back to get his sword.
There was a problem.
He was lost in the deep wilderness.
He quickly came back to his senses. This place had some patches of grass, and the dead trees were covered in algae.
With vitality below 60, desperation had driven Alex into unknown danger.
Earlier, he was confident he could outrun any big monster, especially something like the Black Spider. And with wild rabbits roaming around freely, his confidence had only grown.
But now...he wasn't in any condition to run at full speed, especially not in an unfamiliar place.
Alex stood cautiously, trying to recover some vitality, anything he could.
He checked the reason he'd pushed himself this far in the first place: his stats.
[Agility: 26.6] > [Agility: 30]
His eyes widened in excitement. That was a huge jump.
But his face quickly turned gloomy. With such low vitality, that stat was nearly useless right now.
[All the necessary experience has been fulfilled]
[Congratulations! You have obtained a new skill]
[Quick Dash: Level 0]
Alex instantly felt like he understood the skill, exactly how it worked and what it could do. With agility being his strongest suit, this skill could be a game-changer.
A few meters behind Alex, hidden behind a tree, a huge hole was carved into the ground. A massive serpent was slowly crawling out of it.
Even from far away, it could sense the presence of someone nearby.