Chapter 4 : The Black Bear

I was jumped. Being jumped like this brought back some good old memories.

It was in high school when I jumped three students, who said my mother was a whore. She wasn't; she was a prostitute.

I smiled. This experience was interesting; the roles were reversed now, but it was always me against them.

My vision was still blurred. I needed to do something. I tried to jump backward, but the moment I did that, the goblins would close the distance.

Health: 40

I could see my health bar even though I couldn't see anything. I was dying again, and that sucked. It was like getting a new toy and then someone taking it from you.

"It's mine, it's fucking mine," I shouted.

Alert

I knew when the next goblin would attack. I grabbed his hand and pulled it into a headlock.

I had it in a headlock. I smiled at the other fuckers.

I squeezed; I put all his strength into it. I looked at the other goblins and spat out blood, saying, "Fuckkk you."

Crack.

The goblin was lifeless in my arms. Another goblin was right in front of me. I threw its people at him. he tried to deflect it, but I was over his head.

Internal Destruction

The goblin's head was smashed into the branch from the impact of my fist.

The last goblin screamed in fear. It begged for mercy, but I had a mission to finish. I slowly walked towards it.

I stood over it; my foot was on its head. And I said, "Don't be afraid; death is not the end."

Splat.

First mission complete: You are a true primordial; you didn't retreat.

Mission Reward: Full health, Body attributes +5, Core attributes +5, Mind attributes +5

Gain 10 levels: Level rewards: Essence +3, Mana +3, Spiritual energy +3

Level- 11

Race- Human

Status- Primordial Human,

Class- none

Health- 100/100

Energy:

-Essence - 23

-Mana- 11

-Spiritual energy- 13

Attributes :

-Body- 20

-Core- 15

-Mind-15

Skills:

-Internal destruction level 2

-identify level 1

-Quick step

-Boxing skill

Passive skills:

-Empathy

-Alert level 2

I was tired and hungry, so I lay down on the branch I was on. I was exhilarating; it wasn't even night yet, and I was already having fun. I looked at the goblins and thought, "I could cook them, but I don't like the thought of eating a creature that looks like him."

Being brought to full health was weird. I didn't feel like I was being taken over or that something was in me.

I stood up from the branch and started to move after collecting four daggers and clothes that I would need in the future.

After jumping from one tree to another for a while, I found a river that runs down from the mountains and the goblin village that's connected to the river.

I also found that it's the only source of water in a mile, meaning every animal gathered somewhere along the river.

Then I found a cave on the mountain; it was empty and didn't show any signs of life.

The cave felt like a trap, the river, finding the goblin village felt all too good.

I didn't trust that the system would be so kind. To be attacked by goblins right after I was born and then being given a cave and water seems too suspicious.

So I watched the cave for an hour or so, but nothing happened, and even though nothing happened, I wasn't going to enter that shit.

While I was waiting, I tried to understand two components of my status: Energy and attributes. Energy seems to represent the amount of energy I hold in my body, and I have three types of energy: essence, mana, and spiritual.

Every time I perform an internal destruction, essence gets depleted. I didn't know why it's essence, I just knew. I also found out that I could use a maximum of 5 internal destructions before I reach my limit.

I didn't understand spiritual energy. Does that have to do with my soul? How does the soul produce energy? that was interesting.

I also found out that attributes represent my body. No, that's wrong. It represents my being. It represents what I am made out of. How does one increase attributes? I had an idea. It's through labor. That made a lot of sense, but why did it increase when I completed the quest?

"Let's test that theory. It wouldn't hurt," I said as I got on my chest and started doing push-ups. I did ten, and nothing happened.

I didn't feel tired, so I continued until my muscles started to hurt. I kept going until I did 31 push-ups.

Body Attribute earned: +0.5

"Nice!" I exclaimed excitedly as I looked at my notification.

Then I continued; I did 45 in another set, but nothing. Then I did 29 again; I was covered in sweat. I couldn't do 45 push-ups in a while, and I did it. But I didn't get any notifications, even though I beat my first score.

Through will and determination, I did 10 more, fighting the pain.

Body Attribute earned: +0.5

"So, pushing past my limits is one way to earn attributes, but it's slow and painful," I said to myself.

Now, how do I increase the essence attribute? It's simple, I concluded. Use it over and over again, push beyond my limit.

In all my life, I did many things: drugs, unprotected sex, drunk driving, fighting, killing, but this might have been the stupidest thing.

Standing in the river that I found a few distances from the cave was a 7-foot-tall black bear. And it wasn't even standing on its feet. It was massive; its teeth were sharp, its roars were deafening, it made my ears hurt.

But one thing I knew: this was my clothes; I will kill that thing, I swear. I started to walk towards it with killing intent. But before I could use any ability,

The bear raised its head and looked at me, freezing me in my tracks. I couldn't move; it was fear, an unknown power, something that separated me from it.

The bear roared and raised its hand. I was sent flying into the forest at an incredible speed. I broke branches after branches until I landed on a tree.

I spat out blood from my mouth; I had fractured a couple of bones in my back. I couldn't breathe; the attack had knocked the air out of my lungs.

And lastly, three diagonal slashes were on my chest with blood gushing out of them. I didn't know how deep they were, and I didn't want to look. In fear, I glanced at my wound; I could see a white substance that could be its bone or tissue.

I needed to move; I was a sitting duck. But I couldn't; my body wouldn't listen to me. I couldn't feel my legs, and the bear was coming, but no matter how much I pushed, my body was unresponsive.

Health: 20%

Body Attribute earned: +1

"Fuck you."

After 5 minutes of fighting my body, I fell down from the tree I had landed in. I landed on my side; pain ran through my body.

I screamed, but all that came from me was a muffled sound and blood from my mouth.

Health: 18

I looked at where I had flown from and realized that my cave was not too far from the bear.

I smiled in pity at myself; I was going to bleed out.

"Howl."

I heard howls in the distance; they sounded louder. They were coming.