4 Chapter 4 - The Awakening (4)

The creature came to a halt but I didn't dare look down at it. It slowly moved around underneath and I kept on feeling waves and waves of pressure. Perhaps I was extra sensitive to the overwhelming Aura due to the hunter skill but I couldn't deactivate it as I needed it to hide myself from the powerful creature. All the danger bells in my head were ringing and I was finding it hard to control my body. Suddenly a holographic window popped up in front of me and nearly made me fall down from the tree.

<Level 1 Buddha's Mind has upgraded to Level 2> following the pop up my mind slowly calmed down and I was able to push the fear down. I was no longer shaking, although I still felt the same amount of fear I was still able to control my body and think calmly to a degree. Mustering up some courage I looked down at the creature and saw that it was a 2 metre tall predatory cat. There was no description or level above the beast but it looked similar to a Panther and was clearly very high leveled as it was able to travel 25 metres in under a few seconds. It had rippling muscles which showcased the strength it was hiding in its body. A casual swing from the beast would be enough to kill me twice.

It had a bleeding body in it's mouth and there was a suspiciously human looking arm sticking out in a weird angle. The panther looked around at the dead goblins with a gleam in its eyes and furiously bit down on the half eaten body in its mouth and gulped it down. The arm that was sticking out snapped and fell on the ground. The cat than moved on to the bodies of the goblins and started munching on them leisurely. After a while when I felt that Hunter was about to run out I recast it. At most I would be able to cast it one more time before running out of Mana. If the Panther didn't leave within the next 10 minutes I would also end up in it's huge maws.

Thankfully after eating two of the goblins, the Panther bundled the other four into it's jaws and ran off into the jungle. Perhaps it had cubs it needed to gather food for and had been attracted by all the blood. After the Panther moved out of the 25 metre range, I breathed out in relief. It had barely been over 15 minutes since I opened my eyes in this place and I had already nearly died twice. The excitement I felt in the beginning was all but gone now.

I jumped down from the tree and walked up to the bloody arm lying on the ground and confirmed it did belong to a human. And clearly the human was from my world as there was a shining gold Rolex on the wrist. This meant that there were others who had similarly been transported to this world. I bent down, took the Rolex off the human less arm. After wiping the blood with leaves I put it on.

I needed to find other humans, and I needed to do it soon otherwise most of them might end up like this unfortunate soul here. But before that I needed to level up so that I could actively use Hunter. Who knows how many animals and beasts like the Panther lurked in this forest. I need to hunt for creatures who are alone, if it becomes a bloodbath then the Panther or much worse might appear.

I spent the next half hour carefully looking for weak lone animals to hunt. I managed to kill two wild Boars which were tougher than a Level 2 goblins but my increased strength from the ring proved to be a decisive factor as without it I probably wouldn't have been able to puncture its hide. As I was looking for another boar I heard a loud shout for help. I could sense the Aura of two creatures from the direction the sound came. One of the Auras was extremely weak. I rushed towards them and on drawing closer happened to see a pair of feet in Vans dangling from a tree top with a wild boar trying to ram the tree down.

I quickly moved behind the boar while using Hunter and stabbed one of it's hind legs. The boar lost it's balance and fell on its side. I quickly took the initiative by running up to it and stabbed it through the eye. Before I could push it in further the boar jerked its head and the wooden spear creaked under both of our tug of war. My heart clenched as I feared the worst but thankfully the spear held on and I pushed the tip into the boar's brain. I managed to level up instantly. The boars seemed to be worth 4 EXP each.

Once I was in the darkness I furiously started looking for a support skill that could strengthen my weapon. My life depended on that spear and I couldn't afford to lose it. After a while I managed to find what I was looking for. I also bought two points of toughness using the last SP, in order to even out my stats. I wanted to boost Aura but it was locked so could only wait until I level up some more to increase it.

Name : Eden Cunningham

Titles: None

Level : 3 to 4

Experience: 0/24

Race : Human

Class : None

Profession : None

Mana: 20 to 25 (Refills at 2 per minute)

Endurance - 10 to 11

Toughness - 3 to 5.5

Strength - 3 to 3.5 (+3)

Agility - 4 to 4.5

Intelligence - 8 to 9

Dexterity - 5 to 5.5 (+3)

Aura- 1.5 to 2

Skill Points : 0

-Level 1 Pole Weapon Mastery : Basic mastery in all pole or long armed weapons such as Staffs, Spears, Halberdiers and so on.

-Level 2 Buddha's Mind : Increases mental fortitude. Allows the mind to remain calm under duress and make split second decisions. Effectiveness gets amplified by Intelligence

-Level 1 Healing : Uses 5 mana to close and heal basic wounds and injuries. Can be casted on self and others.

-Level 1 Hunter: Uses 10 mana to activate for 5 minutes. Allows the caster to detect aura of other organisms up to 25 metres. Allows caster to retract aura and become undetectable. Optionally, caster can also camouflage into the surroundings. Effectiveness gets amplified by Aura.

-Level 1 Reinforcement: Uses 5 mana to strengthen an object for 2 hours. Object gains a +2 in toughness.

After being satisfied, I closed the window and looked forward to meeting the person I just saved.

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