The baby panda was terrified, hiding behind his mother. He didn't even know how to cry anymore as the blood spilled all over his face. Instead of tears, blood was dripping from his eyes.
Two blue pandas lay dead on the ground nearby. This seemed to be their territory. They didn't look violent, just peaceful. Alex wondered how they had managed to survive in such a harsh place.
Alex quickly dismissed his thoughts. Right now, his eyes were red with anger, as if blood were about to explode from them.
The mother panda was barely holding on, but she never showed any signs of weakness as the baby was staring right next to her.
The goblins had a nasty appearance. They had pale eyes and thin bodies, almost as if they were starving for days. Slimy grey skin, with long pointy ears.
None of that mattered for Alex.
In an instant, the nearest goblin got shot right in the head. The force was quite strong. Either Alex had gotten stronger or the goblins were too weak.
The goblins were scared after realizing the situation.
"Arghh Grrrg Daaarrg Maaaffgrrgh!"
In panic, all seven of them started arguing among themselves.
The largest of them knocked out the loudest one in the head, and all of them went silent. That was when they realized they had to kill the unknown person.
All of them started to crowd Alex and attack from all directions. Alex effortlessly dodged them and landed a perfect kick on the first one charging at him.
"This kick...? Oh yeah, now that I think about it, my father used to take me to Taekwondo classes."
"Wake up, it's already 5:30! I've been calling you for half an hour. You're late," Alex's father said, dragging him to the Dojang every Saturday.
A bubble of snooze clung to Alex's nose as his father pulled him out of bed. Meanwhile, Ethan was peacefully sleeping in the other room with their mother.
Thanking his father for teaching him everything, Alex gave a small nod, his thoughts briefly drifting back to those lessons as he snapped back to the present.
Alex now landed a perfect kick.
Shadow Strike!
All of the enemies were reminded of their fear and started to scramble all over the place.
However, the largest one stepped forward and screamed,
"Waaahekkk Waarhhh Grrreeaaw!"
As if posing a death threat to the goblins, they turned back afraid and charged at Alex.
Alex grabbed his fist, stood straight and got ready to respond.
"I did learn a thing or two from street fights too. Let's practice it on these dummies."
Alex used quick dash and covered the distance between him and the other two goblins, slamming them in their heads.
Double Roundhouse Kick!
'Oh crap, I forgot this was a Taekwondo move and not a street move.'
Alex stepped toward the largest goblin and delivered a powerful straight kick to its stomach. The goblin spat out saliva, sent flying two meters before crashing hard to the ground.
This time for sure, the goblins started retreating with their strongest getting defeated in one shot.
Alex chased after the goblins one by one. Ultimately, he beat all of them, but one of them managed to escape. It didn't matter much anyway, they were pretty weak.
One of the goblins pretended to be unconscious and tried to stab Alex with a sharp stone in its hand. But Alex's senses were sharp enough to notice the trick. He kicked the goblin with full force, sending it flying five meters away with a loud impact.
Alex almost forgot about the mother panda. By the time he went to check, she was already dead. Infuriated, Alex went back and killed all the goblins, for both his own safety and to avenge the mother panda.
___
"All that learning I did in my childhood, and it's only level 0? Are the expectations of this system too high or do I need to show all my Martial Arts knowledge to the system, how does it even work?"
The baby panda was in shock, sitting motionless and staring at its mother. Alex didn't know what to say or do, so he quietly sat next to it, leaning against a boulder, feeling the heavy silence of the moment.
"I'm sorry if I came a little late."
Alex stared at the panda until he stood up and started to climb the boulder. Before climbing, he took out a small piece of meat from his pocket. It was the hyena's. He placed it close to the panda.
Slowly, the panda's dry eyes were being covered in water. Small drops of tears were dripping from his eyes as he sat frozen.
Alex stood at the top of the boulder, taking in the vast view. Far to the southwest, only dry, withered trees stretched endlessly. Opposite him stood the massive, towering tree. A lone creature flew in the distance, but the others were out of sight. Toward the southeast, there was a small clearing with no trees. Using his Sage Vision, Alex noticed it was a small pond.
"Finally, I found water to quench my thirst."
Alex quickly jumped to the ground, but the moment he turned around, a huge snake was coming out of the pond. Alex just missed seeing it by a second.
Yet again, Alex faced a new problem. He couldn't leave the panda alone. He would definitely die if left by himself, but Alex didn't want another dead weight when he could hardly protect himself.
Exhausted, Alex sat back down next to the panda, cleared his mind, patted his face to shake off the fatigue, and began meditating.
Fire slowly began to emerge from every edge of Alex's body, gathering into his heart. Inch by inch, he felt the fire growing stronger, focusing it all into his core. By the time he was satisfied, the panda was gone.
Alex had been meditating for the past five hours. He had no idea where the Panda went, since he was deeply invested into it.
Shortly after, a huge bear came out, more precisely a hybrid panda with a muscular body, and behind him were two other pandas, just as big if not bigger. They were extremely angry seeing their fellow pandas dead.
Alex grabbed the stick, ready to flee anytime, since this wasn't the perfect scenario that could simply be explained, even if they could talk with him.
The hybrid panda walked toward Alex, its eyebrows furrowed in anger. With slow, deliberate steps, its claws scraped the ground, until, in a brief second, it charged at him with incredible speed.
Soon, the baby panda stopped in the middle of the face-off.
After a brief moment, the hybrid Panda stopped, its body relaxing. Its eyes, once filled with anger, now carried a deep sense of guilt and regret.
The baby Panda's father kneeled down apologizing, but right after the formalities, he quickly ran over to his wife.
They mourned for an entire hour, tears streaming down their faces as they shared the weight of their grief.
The father panda now approached Alex and brought something from the corner of the boulder. It was an old bag. The father panda spoke in its own words.
"Baa aa aaa aar a"
"You want me to take it?"
Alex, with a clueless face, pointed the finger at himself.
The panda nodded.
When Alex opened the bag, he didn't have high expectations and was just generally curious, but when he opened it, the bag was shining brightly. It was full of gold coins.
Normally, Alex would've been more than happy, but he didn't need gold at this moment.
He just sighed at the reward, but he thanked them for the gift. He carried a couple of coins and was about to give the bag back. But he saw something unusual. Upon closer look, it was an old rusty dagger.
"Finally!!"
Alex was now trembling in excitement.
"A weapon!"