Zane’s eyes shifted left and right. The situation called for him to move, yet his body was as still as a statue. Fear had bound him to the ground.

Yet he caught something in his peripheral vision. A dash of brown amidst the green backdrop, coming from the side throwing its horns at him.

Adrenaline spiked and Zane leaped forward, planting his face on the bed of dry dead grass. His feet scurried. But his body was a beat late than his hasty legs. Stumbling a few times to the point of crawling, he finally found his feet on the ground and raced for the forest border that was right within his line of sight.

Sprinting through the field, Zane had no intention of looking back. But a bad feeling crept on him. He did a quick glance behind and his eyes went wide. Out of sheer desperation, the otherworlder turned to his back and swung his kitchen knife hard. Then he felt it. Four hard keratin horns slammed against his chest as he could hear his sternum fracturing into pieces. He was flung hard and fell, rolling on the bed of grasses. The moment he stopped, he puked a gush of crimson blood. Pain rattled his entire body, and yet he couldn’t scream. Veins popped around his neck as his skin was getting flush. He grunted. Tears trickled down from those reddish eyes as the pain was like being hit by a small car.

The thought of death loomed and at that point on, he regretted being reckless. The thought of his family went circling in his mind as those tears turned to tears of missing his family. He looked up. And saw the Devil Deer drew closer with staggering steps. Yet a glimmer of a blade shone from the neck of the creature. Blood trickled down from the handle of the kitchen knife as Zane’s desperation dealt a critical blow. The Devil Deer bared its razor-sharp fangs, readying itself to mangle through human flesh. But a meter before reaching Zane, the deer flopped on its side to the ground. It twitched, jerking its legs and head, and after a while, it stopped moving.

Ding.

The chime of a bell echoed in his ears. Then something emerged.

[You have leveled up to 2. Five stat points have been given.]

He found his hope. Without hesitation, five of those points went straight into vitality, praying it would be enough to give him even the slightest chance of survival.

The pain alleviated a bit, yet it still felt like shit. Glaring at the one that did this to him, hate and anger raged within his dying heart. The Devil Deer was dead, yet something familiar drew his line of sight. Bottles floating above the carcass of the dead deer along with a few miscellaneous items. His eyes then worked his magic.

[Small Red Potion (1-Star). A healing potion that can be made from a variety of herbs and plants. The commonest known ingredient is the Red Weed. Restores 25 health points. Possible side effects; Slow(50%)]

Knowing he could still live was enough. Zane dragged his body across the ground with every shred of strength he could muster. Clawing the ground with his nails, pulling his body closer. Pain poked him at every nook and cranny of his body as if pushing him to the brink of death. The distance of one meter felt like an eternity as if time passed so slowly, torturing him with the never-ending pain. Yet his will to live won. His trembling hand snatched the floating potion and chugged it all down his throat. The acidic taste drowned his mouth as immediately he felt rejuvenated from the first drop. Wounds healed and the pain quickly left his body.

[Status]
[Zane][Lv.2]
[Class: None]
[HP: 22/22]
[MP: 6/6]
[Strength: 6]
[Vitality: 11]
[Agility: 6]
[Arcane Power: 3]
[Perception: 7]
[Available Points: 0]

[Trait]
[Enhanced Drop Rate]
[Multi-Class]

[Unique Skill]
[Warp][Lv.1]

[General Skill]
[Hi-Analysis][Lv.1]

His health was full, and his body had never felt better. He stood back on his two feet, painless. His hand rubbed against the center of his chest as he couldn’t believe what he went through. But out of nowhere, everything felt slow and heavy like he was moving through molasses. The man couldn't move his head to look around as much as he wanted, but even so, everything seemed muted and far away. Everything around him seemed hazy as if there wasn't enough air in the room like he had been swimming for hours instead of just minutes. His ears were ringing. Everything sounded muffled, and the feeling of detachment from his body was getting worse by the millisecond.

It’s the side effect, Zane thought. As his sense of relief set in. Thank goodness, I thought I was dying from an allergic reaction for a second there. Well, that wasn’t entirely impossible since people did have an allergic reaction to medical drugs, and why not potions from another world? His worry was still valid in a sense.

A minute after, the Slow effect was gone and he retained his normal sense of time. “I got lucky,” he said, frowning. He brought his eyes to the sight of the stuck knife on the deer. If it wasn’t for his timely glance to the back, he would have died.

Yet his bounties awaited him. Other than the small red potion he just drank there was an extra potion perfect for an emergency. He pocketed in his pants and set his eyes at the most enticing item.

[Basic Leather Armor(Hide; Devil Deer)(2-Star). A sleeveless leather armor that covers the torso from front to back. Made from the hide of an agile predator of Aneris Plains. Armor Points: 20/20. Effect: +1 Agility]

He lifted it up, and it was pretty light. For my first time, I got pretty lucky, Zane thought. Then he remembered. Oh, yea, I almost forgot about that. It might be due to my trait, Enhanced Drop Rate since getting this armor and those potions probably don’t come easy. Zane thought.

He donned the armor and it fit snuggly on his body. Smiling, he felt somewhat safe wearing it. Yet the thought of safety brought the opposite of it. His eyes looked around the grassy plains as he prayed danger wasn’t near. Keeping his eyes peeled, Zane dislodged the knife from the devil deer. It was bloody, dripping with the viscous fluid of his first kill. Yet he knew it was just a fluke.

First thing first, I need to get to somewhere safe, Zane thought. The first thing he saw while running away came to mind and after a short jog, he reached the border of the forest. He gulped. The forest looked dark and ominous, with the sunlight barely passing through those leaves. It probably didn’t look that way, but after that close-to-death experience, even a normal forest looked scary. He didn’t want to imagine what lurked in this forest as he assumed that there might be something stronger than the Devil Deer.

“Wait, how do I climb a tree again?” his hands were on his hips, Zane stared at a big branch on top of the tree. It might not be the safest place, but at least things on the ground wouldn’t get to him easily. The office worker tried climbing up. As he remembered those days when he was a child competing with his friends over who climbed the fastest. But with him being twenty-nine, climbing a tree wasn’t going to be easy.

“Ah, fu-,” he restrained himself from cursing. Zane had been slipping from the tree bark too many times as all his attempts turned to a dud. “I should have put some points in agility.”

After taking off his shoes, he tried again, and this time he felt the grip under his sole. In time, Zane grabbed on the tree branch and climbed his way up. He hid near the tree top, sitting on the widest tree branch with his barefooted feet dangling. Leaning on the bark, he finally got some rest.

[Cooldown in progress]
[22:35:41]

Let’s just chill and wait it out for another twenty-two hours, Zane thought. It’s not going to be that bad . . . Right?