Speed

It was letting out its final breaths while its body continued to be rammed and even pierced by the branches we fell on.

*Boom*

A large dust cloud kicked up from the ground as we both slammed into the ground, yet I was left unscathed due to the bird taking the brunt of the fall.

I let out a few repressed coughs while swatting away the dust from my face. At the same time, I pushed off the bird and jumped to the ground.

"Good thing it didn't have any feathers left, otherwise that would have gone a lot differently." I tried to chuckle, yet I instead let out another choked cough as my eyes watered up due to some dust getting in them.

I slowly turned my head and looked back at the dead bird that was several times larger than I was. It had no feathers left on its back while its wings had the minimum amount needed to fly.

"The feathers are pretty sharp... And pretty big. If you think about it, aren't they the size of a dagger, maybe a little bigger? Actually, I'm pretty sure its the size of a short sword..." My mouth was left agape as countless possibilities ran through my mind.

The spear was useful of course and would probably continue to be useful as long as I don't meet anything with scales that are too hard, but other than that I should be fine to use it. The only problem is that the moment I do use it against something, their meat immediately becomes unedible due to the poison" I analyzed while narrowing my eyes at the tip of the spear, trying to see where the poison came from.

I searched without success, making me finally turn my head back towards the feathers before talking up to the wing and plucking one out.

The feather was about the size of my hand, and forearm and would go a little further than my elbow if I put it and my arms side by side.

"They're pretty light!" I exclaimed while throwing it into the air and grabbing it by the stem of the feather.

"The handle isn't too great tho..." I sighed in disappointment, yet I quickly brightened up after innovative ideas for a handle began to run through my mind.

I did not waste any more time around the bird's corpse since I knew that I couldn't eat it, making me ignore it and return towards the direction of the skull home I had created for myself.

I took a few feathers with me of course, around 5 or 6 while putting them on the belt that had stayed mysteriously clean and unscathed this whole time, unlike my t-shirt of course.

I had used my T-shirt since it had already been damaged far too much, to tie the poison sting spear to my back since I didn't have any other way to hold it other than holding it with my hands, something I didn't want to do since it would limit my mobility in situations like jumping from tree to tree or making long lunges in general.

I was running around shirtless and I simply did not care for the matter. There were no intelligent animals nearby so I felt no shame in walking around shirtless or maybe even pantsless. Instead, even if there would have been some intelligent species roaming around, I still wouldn't have been too bothered about being shirtless and instead, might have even been proud of it.

My body had been toned beyond anything that I previously had back in my time period. Back then, my body was average at best yet now one could easily see my muscles without me having to tense.

It was as if my body had completely shifted and evolved after my death to reach peak conditioning for my situation.

I was still as flexible as ever while being even more agile than I was before. My reaction time and natural reflexes had reached a new level, while my bodily strength, in general, had also reached an all-time high, one I did not think any human of my era could have competed with.

I had already evolved past what was previously seen as possible, yet none of that mattered in a word like this. A world where the strong prey on the weak. A world where the only thing the weak can do is hide, while the powerful rule with an iron fist.

"Speaking of strength..." I opened my stats screen once again before muttering a question to myself.

"I wonder how I can increase them without the need for stat points. Is that even possible?" I scratched my head, but unexpectedly, I got my answer sooner than I would have thought.

[Stats can be increased after completing exercises that link to the attribute, as well as pushing yourself to your limit.]

"Ah... So like normal exercise then?" I asked yet this time I did not get a reply, not like I needed one anyway.

"Status..."

[Stats-

HP:23

Strength: 23

Agility: 23

Intelligence: 25

Vitality: 23

Mana: 4

Defense: 0 ]

[You have 3 unallocated attribute points]

"Oh crap, 3!? From where!? Was it when I fought against the Lizard after having died... No... I think it was after my death?" I halted my running and looked at the screen in shock.

"But what the hell do I put them in? uhhh... Oh well." I scratched my chin before finally nodding as the obvious option flashed in my mind.

"Agility it is... 3 points into agility pleas-" I couldn't finish my sentence since it only took the first 4 words to flash another screen before me.

[Stats-

HP:23

Strength: 23

Agility: 26

Intelligence: 25

Vitality: 23

Mana: 4

Defense: 0]

A sudden surge of power shot through my body before dissipating in a matter of seconds, however, it did not do so without leaving behind a gift of its own.

My body immediately felt much lighter while at the same time I felt it... An overwhelming sensation screaming at me to run as fast as I can roared within my mind. I could feel every fiber of my being wanting to run until I ran out of breath, yet I quickly shot those thoughts out of my mind the moment I felt them.

It would be extremely dangerous to tire myself out in the middle of the forest with possible threats lurking by, and since I didn't increase my vitality, it meant that my speed and stamina simply did not correlate making me possibly tire out faster.

Letting a few breaths enter my lungs before allowing them to leave as quickly as they came, I finally opened my eyes and looked towards the direction of the skull mountain and crouched down to lower my center of gravity.

"I'll try to not overdo it..." I smiled to myself before pushing as hard as I could with my front before shooting off without restraint.

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