4 The Perks of Intermediate

Trent finally woke up. Trying to sit up, Trent felt a stinging pain in his head.

'Where am I?' Trent was able to move but, his body ached. Looking down, he realized he was still laying on the bear.

'How long have I been out?' As he tried to sit up, pain shot up his arms and back, causing him to fall back onto the bear. He was still very injured but, oddly enough, he didn't have any broken bones.

'Bernie. Explanation. Now!'

[Woah now friend, there's no need for hostility! If you ask nicely, I can surely give you the information that you want! For I am a incredibly intelligent system! There are no systems as grand as I! BEG ME MINION! I apologize host, it seems I got a little carried away!]

Hearing his speech that bordered on the line of insanity, Trent could only blank out at his unapologetic apology.

'Tell me or I take us both out!' Gritting his teeth in anger, Trent gave out his demands.

[You don't have the balls!]

Although he was angry, Bernie was in fact, right. Trent didn't want to die. Especially when he hadn't made it back to his family yet. Reigning in his anger and humiliation, Trent promised he would show this arrogant system who the real boss is.

'Please tell me why I'm still alive.'

[See! All you had to do was ask nicely!]

Hearing his annoying and ridiculing voice, Trent had to stop himself from bursting a nerve.

[As you are currently lying on the body of a predatory magical beast, no other beast will approach.]

'I thought animals were attracted to the smell of blood? Shouldn't they have appeared here by now?' Remembering what he saw once on the nature channel about the habits of predators, he found it weird he wasn't some animal's lunch.

[That's the case with a normal beast but, this is a magic beast! It's magical power will still permeate the area and usually drive away weaker animals and magic beast. Of course it won't last long so shouldn't host leave soon?]

'I can't, everything hurts.'

[Well would you like to see your new abilities? It'll be really exciting!] With the reminder, Trent struggled to pull his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it.

'This is quite inconvenient, but i don't want all those words popping up in my head either.' Thinking random thoughts to distract himself from the pain, Trent finally reached the powers app and checked the option for his current powers. Although he only had one name under the list, the realization that he was 'Spider-Man' made him a little giddy. Next to the name was the level which said intermediate.

The powers he had gained were increased regeneration and enhanced physical ability. It was no wonder his bones had healed, but he still wasn't alright. What happened to him regenerating as fast as the eye could see like those novels he read online? This isn't the experience he was expecting at all. But all he could do was try to get out of his current predicament.

'How long until this magic aura or whatever runs out?'

[In about a minute.]

"WHAT!?" Yelling out, pain shot through Trent's body causing him to clench his teeth. Bearing with the pain, Trent searched around himself. Seeing nothing out of order, he finally pushed himself off of the bear's corpse. Using the bear to lean on, Trent was able to walk, despite being in a lot of pain.

Although he was hurting all over, Trent used his newfound strength to climb the nearest tree. Halfway up the tree, Trent heard the sound of wolves.

'Don't see me! Don't see me! Don't see me!!' Trying to avoid detection, Trent pushed himself even further and made it to the top of the tree. But fate is a cruel mistress. Just as he sighed in relief, the area along the trees was invaded by large wolves. Although they seemed like normal wolves, they were the size of a small horse. With grey fur and blood red eyes, the wolves looked extremely monstrous. They even had an occasional arc of lightning.

Although their looks alone were frightening, the worst part were their numbers. 15 already stepped into view and they were still coming! After 30 wolves stepped into view, they separated like the Red Sea, only to let in a much larger wolf. This wolf was full horse sized. With pitch-black fur and an even deeper red eye, it looked like a hellhound from myth. An aura of a king radiated from him as he walked to the corpse of the bear, the other wolves bowing to him.

Trent held his breathe as the wolf reached the bear. Sniffing at the bear, the wolf suddenly turned it's head to Trent and they made eye contact, speeding up Trent's heartbeat. Snorting once, the wolf howled once and turned his attention back to the bear corpse.

As if the wolf gave the others the go, the grey wolves all immediately turned their attentions to Trent with excitement and hunger.

'Fuck!' Realizing he'd been spotted, Trent hurried and crawled closer to the tree.

'At least if I stay in this tree, they can't get to me.' Just as he thought that he was safe, one of the grey wolves opened it's mouth, revealing a sharp row of bloody teeth. Before he could wonder what it was doing, electricity charged out in a jet by Trent's side, missing him but burning a hole into the trunk of the tree.

'What the fuck!?' As he realized that it was only a matter of time before he is pierced like a lightning shish-kabob, he pulled out his phone and searched through the list of powers that could help him right now while trying to find one that doesn't have a lot of weaknesses. Just as he found the one he wanted, the other wolves simultaneously fired their lightning, but not at him, but the tree branch just under him.

'This better work,' he thought as he fell, but not before he pressed the button.

[No more power spaces available.]