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Chapter 17 - Eye of Discernment

A note from TheFirstDefier

New week, new chapters.

Zac sat in front of the camp fire, and with a blank silent stare he slowly rotated a spit placed above it. The suns were setting over his small outpost, and the surroundings had a subdued silence. On the spit was the leg of a rabbit he had caught earlier today. The rabbit had actually grown to the size of a human, so the meat would last for a while.

Tomorrow would mark the 29th day since the world changed. If Hannah or even his family were to see him now they likely would likely barely recognize him.

The once neat beard of his was now an uneven mess. There even was one patch almost completely missing after a Barghest's claw had cut his face during a particularly intense melee. His hair was even worse, now a mess of uneven cuts. During one of his fights he had gotten hair in his eyes, and the distraction had caused him to almost get disemboweled. He had fought the Gwyllgi half-blinded while using one hand to hold his innards in place. After the fight he had simply taken his hatchet to his head and cut off as much hair as he could without scalping himself.

He had run out of shirts last week, and now used a mix of torn rags to cover himself. Underneath those rags was some makeshift protection he had made from leather he had cured. He had begun by making some bracers for his legs and arms, and a basic heart protector out of the snake skin he had dried over his car. Over time he had found another snake and even a crocodile on a shore, and had turned those into leather as well.

Now he was decked from feet up to a throat protector in pieces of leather, all tied together with strings or sinew. It was an extremely shoddy work, making his whole body looked like a piecemeal patchwork of different animal body parts. It also took almost 30 minutes to take on and off, as there were quite a few knots he had to tie to get it to stay on during a whole day.

Most days he couldn't be bothered as he had been out hunting the whole day, and simply fell asleep while still wearing the gear. The combination of high endurance and vitality seemed to protect him from any shaping or bruises from the coarse leather anyway.

All in all he looked like a completely insane hobo and would likely be arrested if he arrived in a real city, based on his appearance alone. Zac couldn't be bothered about that though, as almost a month of living on the edge of death had given him a far more utilitarian mindset.

Zac cracked his neck, nowadays barely being bothered by the constant 10 times gravity field that enveloped the whole camp. After his first day of grinding he had bought the [F-Grade Small Scale Gravity Array] and placed it at a corner of the camp. It had actually proven effective, and he had incorporated a workout in high gravity into his daily schedule. Soon after he even slept in high gravity, and by now he always had the array cranked to the max over the whole camp.

Its effect had been above his expectations. He had gained a whole 5 strength, 2 dexterity, 6 endurance, and 2 vitality from just training his body. His endurance had increased the quickest, rising up 6 points in just two weeks. He had calculated that he had 4 base endurance before the system earlier, and now it was 10. However after it reached 10 it stopped increasing at all. He saw a similar effect on his strength. He gained 3 points quite quickly, bringing his base strength to 10. After that he still had gotten two points, but those points took an extreme effort.

He had also gained dexterity and vitality, but he guessed that those points actually came from combat rather than the array. Getting hurt over and over had improved his vitality slower, and dodging an endless amount of beasts had improved his dexterity.

Zac guessed that the reason for his quick improvements wasn't only the array. There now was a large amount of cosmic energy in the air, and it felt like just breathing it in slowly improved his health. He suspected that humans would slowly grow healthier in this atmosphere, provided that they didn't get killed of course. A quick look at his status showed that his stats had improved quite a bit over the last weeks.

Name

Zachary Atwood

Level

23

Race

Human

Alignment

Human (Earth)  

Titles

Born For Carnage, Ultimate Reaper, Luck of the Draw, Giantsbane, Disciple of David, Overpowered, Slayer of Leviathans, Adventurer, Demon Slayer I  

Strength

59

Dexterity

39

Endurance

42

Vitality

48

Intelligence

29

Wisdom

29

Luck

44  

Free Points

0

Nexus Coins

5 562

Unfortunately he had not reached his goal even with his gathering array and frenzied carnage across the island. He had hoped to get to level 25 and get a class before the month was over. The advice of the Stargazer still lingered in his head. She had told him to finish the quest of conquering the incursion within a month. He still hadn't found any clues as to what would happen after the month passed, and he hoped he wouldn't have to find out.

Gaining levels had proven harder and harder over time, and he had finally reached level 23 today after 4 days of relentless killing. He had even used almost all his points and spent a whopping 75 000 Nexus Coins on upgrading his Mother-Daughter Gathering Array to E-grade. This upgrade had substantially increased the amount of cosmic energy he absorbed daily through his amulet.

It was clear to Zac however that the most effective method of getting stronger was to actually battle and kill enemies. If he would split up the cosmic energy he absorbed daily it would be a 90/10 split, and that was with the E-grade array. If he compared with his old F-grade array it would be 95/5 or even lower. Grinding monster and absorbing their energy was simply far more effective, at least with his resources.

It did however make him think about the elite of the multi-verse. He had made over a hundred thousand Nexus Coins just by grinding low level monsters around the first month. Abby had said that the multi-verse was hundreds of millions year old. There were surely some extremely wealthy individuals and organizations. What if they gave every child an A-grade, or even S-grade array from birth? They would be higher level than him before even learning to talk.

Those things were too far away from him though, he needed to focus on the present. Even though he hadn't reached his goal of getting a class, he still planned to try finishing the quest the following two days.

Zac carved a chunk of meat from the rabbit leg and stuck it to a fork. He then walked over to the Nexus Node while gnawing the gamey meat. Zac looked at the list of available things on it daily hoping for something new to pop up every day since the day he bought it. He knew he would be disappointed once again. The skills available were too expensive for him, and the inventory hadn't changed so far.

The only skill that was in his price range was called [Eye of Discernment]. And he had already bought it for the price of 20 000 Nexus Coins. When he had bought it a stream of energy had entered his head, and new information suddenly formed like an ingrained memory. It was the manual for the skill.

The purchase had taught him a bit about how skills worked with the System. Having a skill did not mean you could simply use it as you wanted. For a skill to work he needed to actually move the cosmic energy built up in his body towards his eyes. From there he had to imprint the image of a specific fractal on his eyes. The fractal was the same type of pattern that were on the array flags he had bought earlier.

Zac had tried furiously to move the energy around in his body for days. He had felt that his cells were imbued with this extra power, but he had a hard time actually doing anything with it. Finally after days of trying he had found a solution.

While sitting in the gravity array he had imagined a separate set of veins spread all through his body like his circulatory system. In these veins only cosmic energy flowed. He was surprised that it actually worked, and a stream of his cosmic energy slowly started traveling along the paths he had imagined.

It took a few days more to learn to keep the circulation going even when not actively focusing on it. Finally he tried gathering cosmic energy on his eyes to imprint the fractal of the skill. This part went smoother than expected, as he had an extremely precise design in his memory thanks to the Nexus Node.

As soon as he wanted to use the skill he only needed to focus a small amount of cosmic energy to flow into the fractals on his eyes, and it would activate immediately.

Zac was quite glad that the System did not require people to shout out the skill's name like a lunatic.

The [Eye of Discernment] was a basic eye skill that essentially worked like an identify- or spy-skill from a video game. It let Zac glean some basic information on certain things.

It was this skill that had let him know that the stocky 6-legged demons he had fought ad nausea the last month was actually called a Barghest, and the zombie-looking greyhound monster was a Gwyllgi.

The imps were actually just called Lower Imps, and they had taught him another valuable lesson when using the [Eye of Discernment] on them. Even though he had used it from the cover of some bushes the imp had felt the skill being used on it. It reacted by immediately throwing a fireball at the bush he was hiding in, leading to another desperate fight.

The memory of that fireball still filled him with some trepidation as he stared into the fire, slowly finishing his meal. 

Chapter 18 - Cosmic Energy

A note from TheFirstDefier

So quick update, the quests that appeared in chapter 5 have been slightly altered.

The current quests are the same, but the rewards are altered to the following;

1.   Unlimited Potential (Normal): Reach level 25. Reward: Unlock class system. (23/25)

2.   Off with their heads (Unique): Kill the four heralds and the general of incursion within 3 months. Reward: 10 E-Grade Nexus Crystals, E-Grade equipment, unique building depending on performance. (1/5)

3.   Incursion Master (Unique): Close or conquer incursion and protect base from denizens of other alignments for 3 months. Reward: 5 E-Grade Nexus Crystals, outpost upgraded to town, status upgraded to Lord. (0/3)

A brief exchange regarding this was also added when Zac spoke with Abby the eye;

Spoiler: Spoiler

 "Wait, is there some connection between Nexus Coins and Nexus Crystals?" Zac asked, remembering the rewards from his quests.

"Not really. Nexus Crystals are a cultivation resource in the multi-verse. Both cultivators and mortals can absorb cosmic energy from them. The higher grade the more energy it contains, and the faster you can absorb it." 

 If you are interested in reading the reason for the change, read below. It has no impact on story.

Spoiler: Spoiler

So the power system of this novel essentially is a mix between classic litrpg elements such as stats, levels and classes on one side. On the other side is the eastern fantasy/wuxia style of cosmic energy, cultivation, arrays etc.

I've been going back and forth on how much I've wanted to lean on either side. In the final draft of my "system" I finally removed a fair amount of litRPG elements, such as experience bars, boxes above the monster's names with levels etc. I forgot about the experience mention that was a left over.

Nexus Crystals are a cultivation resource. In wuxia they are usually called spirit crystals. 

I also Changed the ratings the System uses for everything from 1 -> 9 to F -> S. That's why it said category 2 gear, and now it says Grade-E.

Actually, apart from teaching him the names of his different enemies, the most important thing the skill had taught him was something completely different.

Zac had thought that the stats represented a static change in his prowess, and to a certain degree he was right. He was far stronger now compared to before thanks to the stats. But there was more to it. Learning to circulate his cosmic energy had opened up a whole new world for him.

At first he had simply focused on learning the skill. But afterwards he had started experimenting with the cosmic energy in his body, and had come to some astonishing conclusions. He could actually force more cosmic energy into different parts of his body, strengthening them. For example he could force energy into his arm and back muscles when swinging his hatchet, which resulted in a far more powerful swing.

Forcing energy into his legs would increase his speed and he had even managed to imbue his skin for a while, making it more durable. There were many different venues to utilize it, and he likely only had figured out a few. The strengthening wasn't limitless, however. It acted as a multiplier on his base stats, but the multiplier was limited. After some experimentation he had realized he could output almost twice his normal power while circulating his energy into a specific part of his body.

He had gone above this amount once, which had resulted in being incapacitated for days. He had tried increasing the amount of energy in his arms too much in order to perform a particularly mighty swing. His muscles couldn't withstand that much cosmic energy forced into them, and ruptured into a fountain of blood. It reminded him of a balloon. If he blew too much air into it, it would pop. Same with his body and cosmic energy.

The experiment had left him lying weakly in base for three days, only being able to train with the amulet and the gravity array for some minor gains.

The second conclusion was that his usage of cosmic energy was limited. The more he circulated his energy and empowered himself, the more drained he would feel. When empowering himself to the limit he only lasted a few minutes before he was completely spent.

The energy used in empowerment was consumed, and he would need to gather more from the environment in order to get back into fighting condition. His amulet helped him recover faster. But when the amulet focused on replenishing consumed cosmic energy, it did not actually work towards increasing his level.

In other words using empowered strikes or skills would slow his leveling speed, as some of the cosmic energy gained would be used on replenishment. So it was a trade-off between long term gains and short-term burst of power.

The final realization was that his method likely was extremely cost-ineffective. When he used his identification skill, the cosmic energy entered the fractals that somehow existed in his eyes. The fractal both enabled using the specific skill, but also made usage of cosmic energy more effectively.

Far less energy was wasted when the energy was focused with the fractal. If cosmic energy could be considered a raw material like crude oil, then the fractal refined it into something better and more efficient.

Zac guessed a combat-oriented skill would work in the same way. He would gain new fractals which he could use to waste less cosmic energy while fighting, and also gain a higher power than simply channeling raw cosmic energy into his arms. Unfortunately even the cheapest of the options cost 150 000 Nexus coins, which was far out of his current price range.

Zac finished his meal, and scoped up a glass of water from the pit where he had placed a water gathering array. The bottled water he and his friends had brought had ran out two weeks ago, and the closest fresh water was close to the incursion. Luckily the System had a cheap solution, namely the [Small Scale Water gathering Array], which slowly gathered moisture from the air to create a roughly ten liters of drinking water per day.

For the first time in weeks he turned off the gravity array when he went to sleep. He needed to be completely rested, as tomorrow he would assail a Herald.

Zac had wrestled with himself whether to actually go through with it or not the last few days. At times he felt it would be safer for him to simply grind for a few more weeks, get a class and skill before going after the big bosses.

He had however noticed a very worrying trend over the last few days. The beasts in the forest were getting more powerful. The demon hounds were getting even faster, and the barghest were getting stronger. He had actually seen one charge straight through a tree. The barghests had been completely incapable of such a feat just a week ago.

This made him form a hypothesis. The beasts were slowly getting stronger, and maybe they would gain a power spike once each month. That was what the Abby the eye was indirectly warning him about.

He didn't think that the Incursion summoned stronger demons, but rather that they were strong from the start, but was somehow restricted. That was because he didn't actually get more cosmic energy or Nexus Coins from killing the empowered beasts compared to the old weaker ones.

It made him once again think about how the system seemed to operate. It rewarded people who dared take risks and strove to improve. That was shown through the title system, and also Abby's comments.

Perhaps this was a gift from the system. If someone dared leave the tutorial village to kill magical monsters at incursions they'd be rewarded with the cosmic energy and Nexus Coin that generally was given out by far stronger beasts. Like an XP-boost from a MMORPG game.

Or perhaps the demons simply weren't adapted to Earth's atmosphere. He always imagined in his head that these beasts came from some lava world full of fire and brimstone. He really had no idea which was correct, but his days in solitude allowed him to conjure endless theories.

Furthermore, with risk also comes reward. What Abby meant with her last comment might be related to the quest.

[Off with their heads (Unique): Kill the four heralds and the general of incursion within 3 months. Reward: 10 E-Grade Nexus Crystals, E-Grade equipment, unique building depending on performance. (1/5)]

The last reward was a unique building depending on performance. He guessed that the better performance the higher ranked the building he would receive was. He was by now well aware both how powerful some buildings were, but also how extremely expensive they were. He had scoured through the registry for weeks after all.

Getting a good grade might greatly help him later, provided that he actually survived this ordeal.

So it was with a mix of self-preservation and greed he had grit his teeth and finally decided to assail the first of the Heralds tomorrow, even if he wasn't at the power level he'd like. The last few days he had scouted his target out, and he thought he had a fighting chance after observing it.

He woke up with the dawn of light the next day, and after his preparations he immediately set out. He had limited time until his self-imposed time limit. Depending on how the fight went, he might try to kill a second Herald today as well.

He walked through the forest with practiced ease, avoiding twigs and roots while still keeping a high tempo. The forest had changed considerably during the past weeks. It had grown extremely lush, gaining almost a primordial unsullied air. The trees had grown more robust, and the undergrowth was varied with both bushes, vines and a medley of flowers.

He did not know where they had come from, but it seemed that there were far more critters and other animals as well roaming both the forest floor and up in the crowns. However it always was quiet around his camp lately, as if the animals instinctively avoided his domain.

Zac made a beeline towards the western central area from the southern edge where his camp was located. During his excursions in the past weeks he had actually found the second herald, while last two still eluded him. He guessed that one of them resided in the mountains though, as it seemed that each Herald lorded over a cardinal direction of the Incursion. He hadn't ventured into the mountain as of yet, as he had his hands full grinding monsters closer to home.

The unlucky Herald Zac had obliterated with a lucky roll had been in the southern part of the island. Zac had occupied the domain of the herald in a sense. That had explained why there were relatively fewer demons close to his base, as it was far from the lairs of the three remaining Heralds.

Chapter 19 - Vul

Even though Zac moved like a specter through the woods he couldn't always avoid fights. A barghest was lying hidden behind a few bushes, and noticed Zac before he could reroute around it.

It immediately got up and without hesitation charged upon him.

Zac was completely unfazed by the oncoming beast, and circulated a small amount of cosmic energy through his body down to his legs. With a quick step he avoided the beast at the last second, giving it no time to adjust. He then followed up with a vicious swing down the throat of the passing beast. The barghest would have been decapitated had it not been for the limited size of Zac's hatchet.

Instead he tore a huge gash that severed both muscles and jugulars from the top and then continued until exiting down on the bottom, resulting in the head barely staying on.

The demon continued for a few meters before collapsing with a thud. Zac continued on while going over the state of the axe. By now he had killed hundreds of barghests and the recent fight barely registered in his mind, even with the power-up of the beast. Even if the barghests had become stronger, they still were the most common and stupid of the monsters on the island.

The empowered Gwyllgi that focused on speed were far more annoying to deal with. He still had a hard time dealing with them without getting a cut somewhere.

When looking over the hatchet he couldn't help feeling a sour lump in his throat. The axe was in a state of disrepair with scratches all over. The head had become a full two centimeters shorter from repeated sharpening against rocks. Zac knew the only reason the weapon still somewhat held together was that it was made from a solid piece of steel. Still, the shaft had started to bend, showing the strain it had been put under.

The combination of Zac's superhuman strength and the hardness of demon bones had slowly warped the metal. He was quite worried, as he did not know what he'd do when his weapon finally broke. He would be able to buy a shop and hopefully get a weapon that way when he finally upgraded the outpost to a town. But until then there simply seemed to be no weapons on the island.

Zac sighed and continued on his way.

He barely used any energy during the fight, only enhancing himself for a few seconds. With the help of the gathering array he would be topped off again within a minute.

Zac kept stalking through the woods like death incarnate. Anything that was foolish enough to attack him was quickly ended with a swing.

He had initially been afraid that his daily excursions would we found out by the demons, but after a few days of observation he was quite content knowing he was safe as long as he did not hunt too close to the Heralds.

Every day new monsters would appear in the woods, likely summoned through the Incursion. More astonishingly, the demons killed each other far more than Zac killed them. He had lost count of the times that he had found a demon hunkered over a corpse of the same race, feasting on its carcass. There seemed to be simply no familiar affection between the demons. That Zac was responsible for a small part of the deaths seemingly went by completely unnoticed.

Finally he arrived at the area where he had spotted the Herald earlier. He immediately became more alert of his surroundings, not wanting to create a stir with his target so close. He soon found the target, and it wasn't hard to notice.

The Herald was huge.

[Vul, Level 45]

That was all the information that the [Eye of Discernment] gave him. Either his mastery over the skill was too low to show more information, or the skill was simply too basic.

It at least showed that its level was over twenty levels higher than his. He did not know whether Vul was its name or its race. His skill hade only showed the race when fighting the random beasts in the forest, but here it also showed a level. The system somehow made a distinction between this herald and the other demons.

He was leaning towards the theory that Vul was a name, because the monster clearly looked a lot like a barghest. If a Barghest had been supercharged. Instead of three pairs of legs it had four, with the additional being positioned closer to the hind legs.

'Does that mean that it's a spider rather than an insect…' Zac mused with a dark sense of humor while looking over the beast.

Vul was also far larger than its Barghest brethren. If a normal barghest could reach up to Zac's chest with its head then this monster was a full head taller than him. It was even larger than a bear, and from its oversized muscles looked that the bear would rather be prey than a competitor.

Just like the normal demon dogs it had an oversized head with an abyssal maw, with three rows of sinister fangs lining it. With its size the monster could easily fit both Zac's head and torso in its mouth for a quick bite. The paws which looked like talon had the same three long claws attached, but on Vul they were as long as small kitchen knives.

It seemed to be the alpha of the barghest pack, although it didn't seem very interested in anything except lazing about and eating.

Zac had observed the monster from a distance a few times the last week, and had also realized that it not only was larger, but it was also a bit smarter. Certainly, it was still a meathead, but he had noticed some burgeoning intelligence from its actions. It luckily didn't seem overly alert, as Zac had used the [Eye of Discernment] on it without any reaction.

Perhaps only magically inclined beings such as the imps could actually notice being screened by the skill.

He knew his customary method of killing a demon dog would not work with this monster, it simply was too large a risk. He had gotten swiped almost countless times the last month, each time having a new wound to show for it. A similar swipe from this monstrosity could instantly end him if unlucky, and he was not ready to take that chance.

He slowly eased back into the vegetation after ascertaining the Herald's position. Taking down a beast like this would take some strategy.

Zac slowly made his way a few hundred meters away where his final piece of the puzzle lay hidden. Luckily Vul mostly stayed in the same area except for when it went on patrols in random directions.

He finally reached his destination, a particularly lush bush that had a thick leafy crown that was roughly the same height as Zac himself. After glancing around he gingerly made his way into the bush.

Inside there were four trunks of trees, each roughly three meters long and almost as thick as his thigh. One end of the tree was sharpened into a point. They looked as if they were made to form a palisade, but the real purpose was monster hunting.

The spear he had used the first time he hunted broke on the first demon, so he had learned his lesson.

During his weeks of fighting he had found a type of tree which had a dark trunk but white-grey veins. He hadn't recognized it and had tried to cut down a branch with a swing of his hatchet, and to his surprise he found that the tree was extremely dense and hard.

Cutting down the trees to make the four supersized spears had tired him out even with his superior physique.

He gingerly dug roughly half a meter deep holes with some distance from each other, then placed the wooden stakes into them at a slanted angle. He had placed them so that the spear tips were hidden within the bush at roughly 150 to 180 centimeter height. Finally he covered the holes and placed down secondary smaller stumps beneath the stakes, so that they wouldn't tip over from their own weight before they could be used.

This was the only trap he could figure out that could help in his fight against the huge beast. The only other idea he had come up with was to dig a pitfall. But he did not have the tools for the massive undertaking of digging a pit large enough to trap and kill a monster the size of a large minivan.

He took one more glance at the bush to inspect his work. He would only get one shot at this and didn't want anything to give it away before it was too late.

Satisfied with his work, he finally turned towards the Herald and started walking.

A note from TheFirstDefier

So now we're caught up to speed after the time skip

"> If you enjoy the story I'd appreciate it if you took the time to fav/follow. I'm not sure exactly how RRL works, but i think it helps the story gain a bit more exposure.

I'm going away two days with my work, but I'll try to upload tomorrow/friday using the draft feature. If i mess up, the 2 chapters for the rest of the week will be uploaded on saturday.

Chapter 20 - Fighting the Herald

A note from TheFirstDefier

So some things happened, forgot to post the drafts. But here they come. Next in an hour or so, just gotta go through it one last time. 

Zac had slowly inched his way back toward the Herald. It was currently lying on a rock, and it was actually eating a Gwyllgi it had caught somewhere.

All eight of its legs except the front pair were lying in the same side, exposing its back toward Zac. He was currently crouching behind a tree only five meters away from the huge barghest. He barely dared to breathe in fear of being exposed too early. He couldn't get any closer without entering an open area and getting completely exposed.

Zac's heart was beating furiously, and his hands were nervously shaking. It was one thing to make plans and preparation, but a completely different thing to actually turn those plans into action. Now that he was this close it was as though he could sense a primal pressure emanating from the beast.

He knew he couldn't wait any longer, as this was a golden opportunity. The beast was feeding and was distracted. If he kept waiting he would miss his chance, and also tire himself out by stressing and fretting.

Zac soundlessly got to his feet and circulated cosmic energy through his body. Wasting no time he pumped his leg full of energy, and shot toward the exposed Herald like a bullet. His hatchet fell with an empowered swing, striking down at the lower spine of the beast. He was hoping to use the same tactic as he had in the beginning of killer Vul's smaller brethren.

The axe sunk into the back of the beast, but it felt like he had tried to chop through reinforced steel when he reached the bone of the spine. His plan had failed, as it ended up as only a flesh wound. His right arm ached from the impact, but he quickly adapted and swung down and created a deep gash down along its side.

He planned to strike its belly as well and hopefully damage some organs, but a thundering roar interrupted him. The Herald had finally reacted, and with a jerk pushed back with all its legs, forcing its whole body toward Zac.

The monster's back slammed into Zac like a truck and he flew a few meters backwards, and he spit out a mouthful of blood.

As he got up, so did the Herald. Suddenly they stood facing each other and a low growl emitted from the beasts mouth. Its wound was bleeding freely, but didn't seem that it had incapacitated it at all.

Rage was burning in the beast's beady eyes, and it let out another tremendous roar that seemed to cause the very air to vibrate.

Zac wasted no time, and immediately ran into the forest. He wanted to make use of the complicated terrain to keep the large lumbering beast at bay. He kept infusing his body with energy, not daring to let up. The sounds of loud thuds and branches breaking from behind proved that the herald was hot on his heels.

Zac was dismayed to find out that the terrain didn't seem to impair Vul even through its huge size and stocky build. It was far more nimble than the barghest, even though it seemed even bulkier than its smaller brethren. Finally he tried to use another tried and true trick, and ran straight towards a thick maple. He could hear that the beast was ever closing in on him, and now only were a few meters away from him.

This was a test of sorts against the herald, to see if it would fall for this simple trick. He had his doubts about it after observing it, and didn't want to blow his best shot for killing it. He therefore held off on running straight towards his pikes.

He waited until the last minute until finally jumping to the side and dodged the tree. He turned around mid-air, hoping to take advantage of the beast knocking itself out.

Unfortunately for Zac, a herald was appointed a leader for a reason. Zac's suspicions about the herald's superior intellect proved true as he saw the beast's reactions.

Noticing the incoming tree, the Herald stopped in his tracks with his front legs, while he sidestepped away from Zac's direction with the hind legs. Its front legs carved a deep groove for a few meters before it stopped, while it changed angle to point toward Zac. This resulted in the beast still moving towards the tree, but it instead slammed into it with its shoulders rather than its head.

Due to the breaking the slam seemed to enrage the beast further rather than hurt it. It hadn't lost much time from the slam, and now Zac was in a precarious situation.

The beast immediately jumped towards him, its huge jaws trying to rip him in two from his chest.

Flustered Zac rolled on the ground down in between the beast's leg, hoping to gain access to the more vulnerable belly. He knew now he needed to thoroughly enrage the beast so that it would blindly charge through the bushes and into his palisade. He was now in an awkward position in between the front legs, and could only rely on cosmic energy to generate force in his swings.

He slammed the hatchet up into the torso of the beast a few times, hoping to puncture a lung. It was effective, as a stream of blood showered him, and the monster elicited a painful yelp. He only had time for a few swings though, as he suddenly was slammed on his left side by a kick. Zac flew away once again like a ragdoll, and this time he felt that he had broken at least a rib as breathing felt like getting stabbed.

He could only grit is teeth and circulate more cosmic energy to keep his injuries in check. He was already starting to run dangerously low, and fatigue was starting to set in.

He kept running toward his trap, but still afraid to run into it. The beast was enraged, but it still hadn't lost its reasoning completely, and Zac was afraid that it would notice the trap. Then he would be well and truly screwed.

He needed at least one more effective assault.

The Herald was soon upon him again, this time swiping with its front paw, hoping to catch Zac in its claws. Zac could only frantically dodge and jump out of the direction. He tried to get a swing in every now and then to hurt its legs, but it largely proved ineffective. He had hit true a few times, but only some flesh wounds were created.

Zac once more tried a riposte after dodging a swing, but this time a large head closed in with extreme speed. The Herald tried to chomp off his arm during his swing.

Zac quickly retracted his arm, and it was almost too late. The maws closed a fraction of a second too late, allowing Zac's arm to disengage. His hatchet wasn't as lucky however, and the monster chomped down on the head. A crunch was heard and when Vul opened its maw again to try to take another bite the axe was released.

The already worn axe was now completely deformed, and had essentially turned into a stick with scrap metal on top. The edge was gone and instead it more resembled a mace now with some random sharp edges.

A flame of rage ignited in Zac's eyes when he saw his trusty companion being completely ruined by the Herald, and he completely forgot about safety. With a roar he stopped backing away, and instead forced most of his remaining cosmic energy into his right arm and legs. With a desperate lunge he jumped straight for the Herald, surprising it for a split second. That was all he needed as Zac plunged the Scrap weapon into the left eye of the beast.

The demon forcefully jerked backward from the pain, for a second standing only on its back legs, reaching an impressive 3-4 meters in height. Pained yelps quickly transitioned into roars of blazing fury, and Vul stomped down towards Zac, trying to flatten him like a pancake.

Zac had no time to care about his beloved hatchet being stuck in the eye of the monster, and started a mad dash away from the beast. He saw that the monster was completely and utterly raving with anger and pain right now, so this was his chance.

He focused the last of his energy in maximizing his speed as he dashed the last distance toward the trap. The Herald was hot in pursuit, not caring about anything anymore, completely smashing through any smaller rocks or trees that was in its path.

Finally he reached the bushes where the poles were hidden, and by now the huge beast was right in his heels. Zac could even feel the heat from it's maw. Zac simply dove through the bushes headfirst, making sure to keep a height below that of the placed spears in order to not skewer himself.

It was with great relief Zac could sense that the Herald thundered straight into the bushes right behind him, intending to simply rip through it.

As Zac landed on the ground he felt a huge impact behind him which caused the ground to tremble.

One of the trees had struck the Herald straight in its chest, entering at least a meter and impaling it where it stood.

The beast shuddered and let out a miserable roar which echoed in the surroundings. Blood was flowing out of its mouth like a waterfall, drenching both Zac and the surroundings. It immediately started wildly thrashing around, unheeding of its wounds. The contraption couldn't take the weight and almost immediately collapsed.

Even if it was almost blinded and bleeding out, the Herald wouldn't go quietly, as it incessantly wailed and thrashed about. One of the swings hit Zac square on his left arm, punching him down in the ground before he could get out of the way. A loud crack could be heard, and Zac almost passed out from the pain.

It followed up with a few frantic swipes with its claws, which rent long gashes all along his back while he helplessly lay on his stomach beneath the impaled beast.

Luckily for Zac the thrashing didn't continue for too long, as a huge amount of cosmic energy entered him. Some helped replenish a small part of his severely depleted reserves, while most worked toward leveling him up.

The surroundings felt extremely quiet after the sounds of battle had subsided. He lay panting on the ground, and couldn't help smile with bloodied teeth. He'd done it.

But just as Zac felt elated over his victory, a responding roar echoed in the distance. And then another, and suddenly the forest was filled with a cacophony of bestial roars.

Backup was coming.

Chapter 21 - Hurt

Zac only knew pain as he pushed forward through the forest, not even knowing if he went in the right direction. From all directions he could hear roars from different beasts closing in. His consciousness was hazy, and he only moved on instinct by now. He had been fleeing for a while since being forced to run from the roars in the forest. He had only had time to yank the mangled hatchet out of the Herald's eye socket before using the little cosmic energy he had to speed away.

A crash was heard to his left and a barghest bounded toward him to intercept his flight. He intuitively tried to dodge but his feet did not listen to his commands, and he fell over. It was lucky too for Zac as the demon dog flew straight over his fallen form.

Zac numbly got to his feet and continued on. Soon the barghest had managed to run around and came toward him again. The scant cosmic energy in Zac's body circulated as he suddenly turned toward the demonling and with a growl swung his mangled hatchet down in a mighty overhead arc.

The strike hit clean on the beast's forehead, slamming the maw closed and its head into the ground. The power was so strong that its thick cranium cracked and both blood and brain matter covered the axe. The beast was stopped right in its track and lay on the ground convulsing

Zac had no time to finish off the beast as a movement in his periphery made him instinctively swing outward. The axe head hit a dark shape and elicited a pained yelp. It was a Gwyllgi which had planned to take advantage of the fight and strike a finishing blow at his head. Unfortunately for the hound, this had happened dozens of times by now and a response had been engraved in Zac's subconscious by now.

The Gwyllgi fell down, likely with a few broken ribs from the impact of the axe. It had hit the beast with its blunt side, but with Zac's power and cosmic energy such a strike was still lethal if positioned correctly. Zac wasted no time and finished it off with another swing down on its head.

The physical exertion worsened his wounds even more, and he suddenly puked out a mouth of blood with chunks of something else.

But he didn't stop. Zac drudged on almost like a zombie, felling any foolish oncoming beasts in an eye-for-an-eye type of disregard for his own body.

After either a few minutes or a few hours the onslaught of demons had ended, a familiar sight jolted his almost dormant consciousness awake. It was a large oak standing solitary in a glade, with an assortment of flowers strewn across the ground. The sight gave almost a spiritual impression, like the oak was a spirit tree of some woodland elves.

And more importantly, this tree actually represented salvation for Zac. He shakily put his axe into his belt, and started to slowly climb the tree. His left arm didn't quite respond, and he had to arduously move upwards with his right arm and legs. On a normal day he could be at the top of the tree in seconds, but now it felt like climbing a mountain.

He had completely run out of cosmic energy, and it felt like each cell in his body had been completely wrung out. Every movement was powered by force of will rather than anything else.

Finally he was roughly five meters above the ground, and crawled up on what looked like a plateau. It was three sturdy branches that grew in a close proximity in a row, with the middle branch grew slightly lower. They had together had formed almost an enclosure. Along the branches there were vines wired to make walls and flooring, and finally some cut of branches full of leafy growth had been placed around to insulate and hide the enclosure.

It was one of the many camps Zac had created over the last few weeks. Every time he found a tree, a cave, or some other natural formation that could be turned into a secluded resting stop he had stopped and turned it into a camp.

One never knew when one had to hide from beasts or wouldn't be able to get back to camp, so he had prepared these as a precaution.

Zac slumped down on the blanket of leaves that were placed on the middle branch and dragged out a bottle of water placed next to the trunk. It had been placed by him there when building the hideout. He greedily drank half the bottle before the pain in his ribs simply stopped him from continuing. Finally he could take it no longer, and drowsily closed his eyes and passed out.

He spent the next few days stuck in the tree. For the most part he had slept, as he had problems staying awake when he was so utterly drained of cosmic energy. His amulet helped, but it seemed it would take a few days for him to recharge.

Even though he had survived, it did not feel like a victory anymore. The glorious feeling from right after the kill was long gone. He was incapacitated from pain and blood loss, and even with his high vitality it would take time to heal. His left arm was broken and possibly a few ribs as well, and the large gashes that crossed his whole back felt inflamed. Every time he moved different parts of his body screamed in protest, and he could only helplessly stay in the tree.

It was first after three days that he felt strong enough to get ready to head down. He could actually move his arm somewhat, but he wouldn't try putting any force on it yet.

By now he was ravenously hungry, and couldn't wait to get back to his camp. He hadn't left any food in the small tree hideout, and had actually resorted to eating leaves and acorns the last two days. He had no idea if it was poisonous, but it felt like he had no options. Since his body had gotten stronger from the system he also had to eat a lot more compared to before. That's why the food he and his friends had prepared had run out in only one week instead of two.

It was with a tinge of bitterness he prepared to get back. The three day convalescence unfortunately meant that he had failed in his goal, as the deadline of finishing within a month passed yesterday.

He still had two more heralds to kill, and also the general which he still hadn't seen. He could only hope that he had been paranoid, and that nothing bad had happened now that a month had passed. He was however quite disappointed that he might have missed out on some extremely powerful building awarded for a quick completion of the quest.

Zac guessed that he would find out during the coming days, and it was no point to ruminate over it now.

He slowly got down from the tree after making sure no beasts were in the vicinity and started making his way back towards his camp.

Zac tried to glean if anything had changed on the island since the deadline had passed, but he could find no indication of that happening. The two suns still shone in the sky, and the malevolent pillar of energy from the incursion still glared in the distance. It did seem to have intensified somewhat, but Zac wasn't sure if it wasn't just his imagination.

The oak he had stayed in the last days were close to the edge of the island, in the western direction, and it would take a some hours to get back to his camp.

This time he walked carefully as he felt he was in no condition to fight any demons. Especially not if they had gotten empowered even further.

His axe was for all intents and purposes now simply a blunt weapon after the herald had slammed down on it. Killing monsters now would require a higher energy expenditure than before as he couldn't simply bleed them out with a quick swing.

So it was with great care Zac made his way through the familiar forests until he suddenly heard rustle in the bushes ahead.

He immediately crouched down and hid behind a tree and some bushes while trying to see what lay ahead. After a quick glance he almost instinctively got up and shouted out to get attention, as what he saw was three people slowly making their way through the forest.

Luckily he managed to stop himself in time as he noticed a jarring discrepancy; the people had horns.

A note from TheFirstDefier

Last scheduled chapter for the week. If you enjoy so far please remember to rate and review. 

Chapter 22 - Scouts

A note from TheFirstDefier

Finally we reached 10k views milestones! Lets celebrate with a regularly scheduled chapter!

Azzun walked through the forest with his two companions, irritably swatting branches and flies away. It was his first time off-world, and the change in climate was jarring. He missed the soothing monochromatic environment of his clan. Now the only reminder of the familiar red was the incursion in the distance.

Of course they knew that being able to invade a newly integrated world was a great opportunity. The House of Arh'Rezak had celebrated for 10 days and sacrificed 10 000 slaves for luck when they had found out that they had actually managed to get a slot. They were only a medium sized clan in their sector, but this opportunity meant a chance to grow to a large clan. Maybe they could even gain enough resources to overthrow the regional Lord.

Everyone knew that that The Ruthless Heavens mainly opened up the passageways to introduce a challenge to the indigenous inhabitants of the planets. The Ruthless Heavens wanted to test if the original inhabitants were worthy to stay alive, and whether any powerhouses would emerge among them. That was why it let invaders through, but imposed limits on how strong they could be. The challenge needed to be hard, but possible to overcome.

Of course, most powers in the multi-verse was more than happy to be treated as a test by the System. The potential gain of both rare treasures and new domains to own far outweighed the potential sacrifice of some of their young and their untalented. It worked as a great training ground for their young elite, providing both an opportunity to lead, battle and gain precious resources.

The elders of the clan were even more ecstatic then they learned that the world had been given a D-rank classification. It was no secret that when the system integrated new worlds the huge influx of energy could create all sorts of rare and invaluable treasures all over the fresh worlds. The higher grade the new world was, the more treasures would appear. A fresh D-class planet wasn't top tier, but at least it was above average.

It usually wouldn't be the turn of some middling clan to get access to this type of smorgasbord. Normally some arch-daemon would have nudged the heavens and snatched it from them, but luckily the Great War was reaching a white-hot intensity. All the real powerhouses had their hands full, and couldn't focus on this matter even though the potential gain was great.

Azzun had grown up hearing stories of how even lowly imps and thralls had managed to turn into arch daemons after entering a fresh world. They had found some treasure or natural oddity that had helped them shed their lowly heritage and emerge as a powerhouse in their galaxy.

Of course, Azzun knew that even if some treasure was discovered, it wasn't his turn to enjoy it. They would all enter the greedy hands of their general. Even though the general couldn't be considered a top talent of their clan, he had managed to snag this great opportunity. He guessed it helped to have a Great Daemon as a great grandfather, who spoiled him rotten.

The old daemon had forcefully elected his only great grandson, Ogras Arh'Rezak to lead the incursion. Azzun and the rest had discovered his incompetence even before entering the new world.

Afraid that there would be a strong resistance on this world, and that losses of their forces would reflect badly on him, he had simply unleashed beast hordes to kill everything around the incursion for the first month. He had chosen four evolved beasts to lead their packs, and simply let them run loose without any supervision from a Beast Master or Tamer.

Even many of the elders had disapproved of such cowardice, but the great daemon quashed any dissention.

He only dared to enter when the first limiter was loosened. Everyone had been shocked to discover that both Ur'Khaz and Vul were dead when they finally arrived.

While neither were particularly strong, both were elites who had been chosen among the thousands of beasts to be leaders of the beast packs they sent through to clear the area. They were almost at the limit of what The Ruthless Heavens would allow to pass through the incursion, and it had cost the clan a fortune to send them through. They had been heavily nurtured and given many supplements to increase their physiques. After the restrictions lifted they would be like kings in a newly initiated world.

Ogras immediately further cemented his erratic leadership upon noticing this fact. He had simply called the Heralds trash for dying so easily, and was more focused on the construction of his palace than finding out the reason for their demise.

He had simply sent out a few scout parties, Azzun's group included, in order to gain information about the surroundings. Getting the order felt almost like a death sentence the unlucky scouts. If something in this forest could kill their alpha-beasts, how would they survive? They were only level 30 to 35 with common classes, the weakest of the army that had arrived.

However, they had no choice but to comply with the order. The hierarchy and rules were extremely strict. Both they and their families would have a miserable ending if that happened. They could only bitterly nod their heads and try to stay alive. He could only hope to garner some type of merit during their invasion, which would allow him and his family to live a bit more comfortably in the clan.

The blast of different colors around him felt stressful and disorienting, and even though they had been briefed on this type of terrain it was hard to adapt. They were in a constant state of un-ease, as they had no idea what might jump out from the bushes at any moment.

As if summoned by his thoughts, Azzun heard a subdued rustle, followed by a wet thud and grunt. He immediately drew his weapon and turned around, only to see one of his companions topple over with a crushed skull.

Their assailant was already mid-swing toward his other companion, and she was killed before he managed to even react.

The attacker was a walking horror, completely red and covered in blood. Its body looked like a maze of crudely sewn together body parts and Azzun first thought was that the attacker was an Abomination or Ghoul from the Undead Hordes. If the world they attacked had an empire of the undead, their invasion would be a nightmare. There were few enemy factions in the multi-verse that were more annoying to battle than the undead.

He quickly discarded the idea when he noticed that the patchwork was actually an extremely rudimentary armor rather than its actual skin, and realized he was battling some manner of barbarian warrior.

He didn't have time to analyze the situation further, as the man attacked with a swing of his odd weapon. Azzun quickly lifted his war-axe to intercept the swing, but quickly regretted it when their weapons clashed.

Horrified he realized the monstrous power that was contained in the swing, and he quickly circulated his cosmic energy and activated his defensive skill. An earthen layer quickly covered his arms and torso, and stabilized him. Thanks to his quick reactions he didn't break his arms, but the force still threw him down on the ground, and his defensive skill shattered.

Disoriented and hurting he threw a wide swing towards his enemy, but only hit air. He tried to get back on his feet and meet his attacker. He didn't get far however, before he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, and then everything turned black.

––––

Zac stood panting over the unconscious demon, a sheen of perspiration covering his face. The sweat came from pain rather than exertion, as his charge had opened up some of his wounds. He finally dared to use his skill on the demon, which showed [Azzun, Level 33].

Luckily these demons didn't seem very strong even if they were higher leveled. He started to go through their bodies, and looted anything that seemed useful. He ended up carrying two sets of gear, and had two backpacks slung over his back.

He ignored the protests of his ribs, and then dragged the two looted corpses into the bushes and hid them there. He was too tired to bury them, and he didn't want to linger here too long. Hopefully some beast would sniff them out and eat them before their compatriots found them.

Zac was somewhat surprised with how calm he was with his actions. These three were clearly sentient beings, to the point that Zac had mistaken them for humans for a second. Still he had butchered them without any mercy or hesitation. He had been slaughtering nonstop for a month, but those had generally been beasts with the exception of the imps.

He had thought that he still would have some trepidation when dealing with humanoid beings but it seemed that something deep and primal had changed in him during the last month. He was harder and colder compared to before, and he felt that he likely wouldn't be able to go back to what he was.

Just as the world had changed, so had he.

Chapter 23 - Do you Understand My words?

A note from TheFirstDefier

Another chapter. Please remember to press all the buttons if you enjoy the story so far, rate review fav follow.

Zac sighed and slung the unconscious Azzun over his shoulder, and the action caused him to whimper in pain. He would have preferred to drag him, but he didn't want to leave a trail straight to his campsite.

He wasn't far away from home now, and slowly walked the last bit. When he was a hundred meters away from the camp, he stopped and put his captive down. After making sure that the demon was still unconscious but alive he got a few vines and tied him up. Then he slowly made a circle around the camp, looking for any sign that there had been foot traffic in the vicinity.

A drawback of the illusion array was that he had no idea if 10 demons were waiting inside his camp without him seeing it, so he wanted to make sure that his surroundings were undisturbed. He couldn't find any signs of anyone having walked through here lately, so he quietly skulked towards the camp, and took a peek inside illusion array.

Luckily the camp was undisturbed, so Zac went back and got his demon, and then walked back into the safety of the illusion array.

Finally back he let out a long sigh that had felt lodged in his chest for the past few days. A growl from his stomach reminded him he had only eaten nuts and leaves in the last days and he quickly went over to his car and snatched a handful of dried meat he had hung on a line between the trailer and SUV.

He sat down in his camper chair with a grimace, and started devour the meat while staring at his new captive.

He truly looked exotic, with a skin that was tinted in a greyish-red. The skin looked coarse and almost like a cross between scales and normal human skin. Red tattoos which reminded Zac of the fractals from the skills and arrays adorned his upper arms.

He was donned in a formfitting leather armor, which seemed to be made for an agile fighter or scout, rather than a dogfighter. It had vambraces inlaid with a metal plate which covered his forearms, but left the upper arms bare.

The chest plate was formed by a woven mesh of leather strips which seemed both pliable and durable. He had on a belt where he had kept his weapons until Zac stole them, and a pair of dark grey leather pants. 

It wasn't only the craftsmanship that was far superior in the gear, the materials were as well. When zac tried to cut through the leather with one of his kitchen knives he couldn't even make a scratch, even after applying pressure. Zac assumed the leather came from some strong beast on the demon's home planet.

Oddly neither this demon nor the others wore any shoes, but after an inspection it made some sense. The demon's feet looked like a slimmer version of the barghest's taloned paws, with three sharp claws in the front.

Finally the pair of horns that had warned him from approaching them. They were a blood red color, and looked like an artist's rendition of fire. They started in his upper forehead, and was bent backwards along his skull. It looked like tongues of fire were reaching upwards along the horn.

It did not seem that they used them for goring enemies, rather it looked largely ornamental.

The demon was still out cold, so Zac took the opportunity to go over his status window while getting another helping of dried meat.

Name

Zachary Atwood

Level

25

Race

Human

Alignment

Human (Earth)  

Titles

Born For Carnage, Ultimate Reaper, Luck of the Draw, Giantsbane, Disciple of David, Overpowered, Slayer of Leviathans, Adventurer, Demon Slayer I  

Strength

59

Dexterity

39

Endurance

42

Vitality

48

Intelligence

29

Wisdom

29

Luck

44  

Free Points

4

Nexus Coins

14030

Active Quests:

Unlimited Potential (Normal): Reach level 25. Reward: Unlock class system. (25/25) [COMPLETE]

Dynamic Quests:

Off with their heads (Unique): Kill the four heralds and the general of incursion within 3 months. Reward: 10 E-Grade Nexus Crystals, E-Grade equipment, unique building depending on performance. (2/5)

Incursion Master (Unique): Close or conquer incursion and protect base from denizens of other alignments for 3 months. Reward: 5 E-Grade Nexus Crystals, outpost upgraded to town, status upgraded to Lord. (0/3)

Zac had gained two levels from killing the Herald and the other monsters while escaping. From how thick the cosmic energy felt, he wasn't far from gaining another level either.

He also noticed that he had gained roughly 8000 Nexus coins from his attack on the Herald, and the subsequent escape. His quests had also been updated, with the quest called Unlimited Potential showed [COMPLETE] at the end. His demon slayer quest had just disappeared after completing, but Zac guessed that this quest remained as he still hadn't chosen a class. 

Zac immediately placed 4 points into strength. He had noticed during the last month that each additional point in a stat had a greater effect than the earlier points. It was like the gains were exponential. This had made him feel that specialization was more highly rewarded compared to putting points in every stat.

Besides, with his large amount of titles all his stats were quite high in any case, affording him the opportunity to go deep in a specific attribute. 

Since then he had put all his points from level ups into strength, unless he felt that some other stats was truly lacking. He thought about placing some more points in vitality due to his condition, but discarded that idea after a brief hesitation.

He was extremely eager to choose a Class, but barely managed to contain himself. The reason was the unconscious captive in front of him.

Zac had already stumbled along for a long time, using guesstimation to guide his choices. He was hoping to use Azzun to get some answers about the system and many other things before he did something irrevocable to himself. He didn't even dare to touch the Nexus Node, as he was afraid some class change process would start that couldn't be stopped.

Zac felt a lot better after having finished his meal. With a grunt he got back to his feet, and filled a bottle with water from the water array.

He walked over to the demon and poured the contents over his face, resulting in the demon sputtering and waking up.

Azzun had a look of shock and horror on his face as he woke up to the sight of Zac, who still hadn't bothered to change or remove the blood that was caked all over him.

"So uh… I guess I am sorry about your friends. Do you understand my words?" Zac said with a coarse voice. He realized that those were essentially the first words he had spoken in weeks. In the beginning he had muttered and mumbled things to himself, but soon he had grown accustomed to the silence.

Zac didn't know if it was because of what he said, but the demon snarled and desperately tried to get himself free from the vines. Zac sighed and brandished his hatchet, and with a grunt he slammed it straight next to the tied up demon. It produced a loud thud, and a small crater was formed. Had he swung just a decimeter to his right then one of Azzun's leg would have been mutilated by now.

The demon immediately stilled, as it perhaps remembered the ending of his two companions thanks to the hatchet.

"Do you understand my words?" Zac repeated. He wasn't really expecting the demon to actually speak his language, but rather that the system provided some translation feature. Language would be a pretty large issue if the system connected endless amounts of worlds.

The demon simply stared at him, then suddenly closed his eyes.

"Hello?" Zac prodded once again, unsure what the demon was planning. Suddenly Zac could sense how the cosmic energy in the surroundings started to move toward them, and the demon's body started to shake.

Zac got a sinking feeling in his chest, and didn't dare hesitate. He immediately swung his hatchet down on the skull of the demon, crushing it like he had done with the other two.

The body slumped down, and blood gushed out of his nose. Zac got a confirmation that the demon was dead from the influx of cosmic energy, but the uneasy feeling did not disappear. Suddenly the body started expanding, and Zac's eyes went wide with alarm.

He barely managed to throw himself away and down on the ground, before the corpse exploded with a tremendous bang.

Zac slowly got up on his knees, disoriented and ears ringing. Somehow the demon seemed to have made the energy in his body go haywire and he actually had exploded like a bomb. The camp was in chaos, with the windows of the car having cracks all over, the closest had completely shattered. Things were thrown around haphazardly and there even was an indent on the exterior wall of the camper.

Luckily he had killed the demon in time, or he might have been able to gather even more energy and created a far more deadly explosion, wiping out both him and the camp.

'These demons are going to be a pain.' Zac thought with a grimace while looking at the mess.

A note from TheFirstDefier

Good news, bad news.

Good news: I have gotten a puppy!

Bad news: I MIGHT not be able to keep the current schedule while he is this small, as it takes alot of supervision. I've had to go a bit into my buffer for the last chapters (posted 4 wrote 2,5). I can still write during his naps and plan out story lines while doing walks, so I'm not gonna drop or anything like that. Depending on how this week goes I might skip posting on Wednesdays for a while, to get another day to build up stockpile.

Chapter 24 - Class

Zac was slowly moving through the forest. Since the demon blew himself up he had been stealthily roving around the vicinity of the camp. The illusion array blocked sound to a certain degree, but he was afraid that the explosion would have bled through the protection and alerted other demons.

However, he had been moving around the camp in expanding circles for two hours now, and had seen no sight of any more of the demons. While he had been scouting he'd also taken the time to properly bury the two other demons. It wasn't to properly honor the dead, but rather to avoid the bodies getting discovered.

Finally satisfied that he had caught a lucky break and still wasn't found out, he returned to the camp.

He spent some time cleaning up the camp. Some of the loot from the demons unfortunately been destroyed by the explosion. He hadn't expected his captive to go nuclear as soon as he woke up, so Zac had simply thrown the gear down in a pile not far from him.

The bags seemed to have contained some vials which Zac supposed were either healing tinctures or poisons. The bags where still whole, but the vials hade cracked. Inside was a mess of the different mixtures glass shards, and Zac certainly didn't want to rummage through it now.

The male's leather armor was ruined, but the female demon's suit underneath seemed intact. But most important was the weapon that Azzun had been carrying.

It was a one handed battle axe. It was much longer than his hatchet, reaching roughly 80cm. The head was single-headed, but with a sharp spike sticking out on the other side, perhaps for balance. The edge itself was a half-moon over 30 cm long. Zac tried the edge with his thumb, and was surprised to see that he immediately started bleeding.

It was hard for a normal kitchen knife to cut his skin now without some effort, which showed just how deadly his new weapon was.

The handle was black and it appeared that it had some fractals carved onto them. However these fractals somehow seemed far more rudimentary compared to the ones on the array flags. Finally a strip of some unknown beast hide had been used to create a handle.

This clearly was a weapon for war, rather than a tool as his hatchet. If he had this thing during his fight with the Herald he might even have been able to kill it off with the initial charge.

Zac tried using [Eye of Discernment] on the weapon as the axe seemed to be somewhat related to the system with the pattern on the handle. However, it gave no response. Either the skill couldn't show information about items, or items didn't work like that. He had a feeling it was a problem with the skill, as it was by far the cheapest skill that Nexus Coins could buy. It would be odd if it was too versatile. 

Apart from this, he had scrounged up a hooked sword, a couple of knives and various bracers and shin guards. There might be something else in the bags, but he would wait until the mess dried out. He didn't really care for the sword and left it to the side, but was delighted with the small knives. They were small and straight with edges on both sides of the blade, giving them excellent balance. He felt they were used for throwing and battle rather than skinning animals and the like. 

They would be a great addition to his arsenal, as he was sorely lacking any ranged attack. Every time he wanted to kill an imp he had to hurl his axe on it or a bunch of rocks. But this would be a deadly alternative which didn't force him to throw away his main weapon. He already practiced throwing rocks and the axe for some time every day, and swapping to daggers shouldn't be too large an adjustment. 

After going through the gear he finally couldn't wait any longer, and approached the Nexus Node. It was time for him to get a class, no matter if it was the right choice or not. He pressed his palm against the smooth surface of the crystal, and mentally tried to access the class system.

A new box appeared in his vision with multiple rows.

[Top 5 Class choices]

[Warrior – F Grade, Common. Fledgling combatant. Proficient with melee weaponry. Upgradeable.]

[Acolyte – F Grade, Common. Fledgling wielder of the elements. Initial proficiency with elemental magic. Upgradeable.]

[Marine – F Grade, Uncommon. Lowest Ranked naval combatant. Proficient with battles at sea. Upgradeable.]

[Demon Hunter – F Grade, Uncommon. Having dedicated his life for the eradication of the Demonic Race, the Demon Hunter has attained a high proficiency in locating and eradicating anything of demonic nature. Upgradeable.]

[Hatchetman – F Grade, Rare. Their army is an endless forest and I'm the lumberjack. Upgradeable.]

[Random F-Grade Class. 92.9% Common. 5.0% Uncommon. 2.0 % Rare. 0.1% Epic. Roll the dice.]

That was all the information Zac could get out of the system. He tried to get a more in depth explanation with mental commands such as "Details" and "Info", but the short excerpt was all he could go on.

The first thing he noticed that classes did not seem equal. All five choices did have the same grade, F- Grade, so it seemed everyone started at the same grade. They did however have different rarities, ranging from common to rare in his case.

He did not know how large a difference there was between the rarities, but he could only assume that a higher rarity class would be stronger than a low rarity one.

The second thing he noticed that all the classes were upgradeable. That likely meant that he could get stronger classes in the future, but they would be based on the class he chose now. It might be secondary classes or it might be possible to change classes, but he had no information about this. He therefore had to make the choice under the assumption that his choice would influence his future trajectory to a large degree.

The third was that the available choices seemed to be at least partly based on his accomplishments.

The marine class was likely available because he was situated near an ocean. The Demon Hunter class came from killing demonic creatures non-stop since the System arrived.

He was not sure about the Hatchetman class, but he had used a lumberjack's hatchet for almost all his kills, so he assumed it might be based on that. But it was a combat class going by the description, rather than a woodworking class.

The last choice was a gamble. Even an Epic class was available, albeit only at a 0.1% chance. His luck stat might influence those odds, but it was unclear how. If each luck point increased his chance to get the Epic class by 1 point he wouldn't hesitate. He would roll the dice in a heartbeat. But he doubted it would be that easy, so he felt no need to use this option.

He already had a rare and two uncommon classes to choose from, so he had no reason to gamble. Besides, there might be classes that didn't help him in combat. What if he got a Rare Painter class from gambling? While it might be nice learning a new skill, it would not help him on the island.

He would therefore definitely choose one of the available classes.

First he eliminated Warrior. It seemed quite basic, and it felt like most other choices were better. Next he eliminated both Marine and Demon Hunter. He didn't like the prospect of limited boosts. He had no aspirations to live out the rest of the life on the high seas, so a water-centric class did not make sense to him.

He also didn't want to spend his life hunting demons. The Demon Hunter class might very well be the strongest class for him right now, as there still were demons infesting the whole island. However, either he or the demons would be gone in two months, so it didn't make sense to pick this class either. 

Abby had told him that the Multi-verse consisted of myriad classes. This meant that it wasn't like hell's gates had opened and the universe was being invaded by demons. They were just one of many potential enemies in the vast multi-verse. So even if he survived, he did not know if there were any other demons on Earth apart from in this particular incursion. Wouldn't that mean he essentially crippled himself by choosing a class that could only help him for the first few months?

Finally, it was an uncommon class. While it was better compared to the warrior and acolyte class, it was worse than the Rare class. 

That left Acolyte and Hatchetman. Truth be told, he felt that Acolyte was the most intriguing. He did like the prospect of mastering the elements and firing fireballs and lightning bolts at his surroundings.

However, he felt there were drawbacks as well. For one he had no idea if he actually was able to learn spells just from getting the class. What if the basic spells normally were something you got in the tutorial? Also, he had invested most of his stats so far into physical attributes, which might be wasted on this class.

The only reason he could imagine he got this kind of class to choose was that he had gotten quite a bit of intelligence and wisdom from his titles. But he almost drooled at the aspect of upgrading the class until he became a grand magus, who could burn the sky with a sweep of his hand.

But most importantly it was only a common class. It felt like it was something that almost anyone could get in the future. Getting a common class when he had rare classes to choose from felt like wasting the advantage that his past month had provided him.

The system rewarded the brave and intrepid. The rare class seemed to be the rewards for risking his life every day against the demons.

Of course, Hatchetman sounded a bit stupid, to be honest. The connotation of the word from his professional career was anything but positive, but he felt that it had a somewhat different meaning here.

It seemed that it somehow referred to being a warrior lumberjack from the description. While not exciting, it did, however, check out a few of his boxes. The class probably would be very beneficial if he used his newly acquired axe in battle.

Out of all the choices, it also seemed to be the most tailored for his battle style. It also was the only Rare choice. He did not know how much better each rarity was compared to the one before, but perhaps the difference would be even greater compared to the conditional boost the Demon Hunter class would give against his current enemies.

The drawback was that he couldn't quite imagine what the upgrade path would be. Next upgrade was a… stronger lumberjack? A walking sawmill? A corporate shark doing hostile takeovers and selling companies for scraps?

So one of the choices seemed to be able to help him less now. But it might end up with him becoming a great wizard. He had always played mage classes when playing games, so this was quite enticing. It was however only a common class.

The other choice seemed to be more suited to his stats and direct power, but lead into an unknown future.

After a long hesitation he finally said good bye to the dream of arcane dominance, and chose the box marked [Hatchetman].

Chapter 25 - Stronger

A note from TheFirstDefier

Zac's Stats pre class in case anyone might want to compare.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Name Zachary Atwood Level 25 Race Human Alignment Human (Earth)  Titles Born For Carnage, Ultimate Reaper, Luck of the Draw, Giantsbane, Disciple of David, Overpowered, Slayer of Leviathans, Adventurer, Demon Slayer I  Strength 64 Dexterity 39 Endurance 42 Vitality 48 Intelligence 29 Wisdom 29 Luck 44  Free Points 0 Nexus Coins 14690

A strong surge of cosmic energy inundated Zac's whole body. It felt like his whole being was purified and reshaped. Instinctively he felt an enormous fractal imprinting itself and covered his whole being. However, most parts of the fractal was indistinct and blurred.

He also felt the powerful rush into his cells which indicated the improvement of his stats. Zac was completely oblivious of his surroundings as he was drowning in the sensations. Unfortunately the feeling didn't last long, and he soon came down from his rush.

From a first look he didn't feel that different, apart from his condition had improved significantly. It felt like his wounds had largely healed, even his broken arm.

But when he opened his status page he was shocked. His stats had made a great leap.

Name

Zachary Atwood

Level

25

Class

Hatchetman (F)

Race

Human (F)

Alignment

Human (Earth)  

Titles

Born for Carnage, Ultimate Reaper, Luck of the Draw, Giantsbane, Disciple of David, Overpowered, Slayer of Leviathans, Adventurer, Demon Slayer I, Full of Class, Rarified Being, Trailblazer  

Strength

92

Dexterity

48

Endurance

51

Vitality

57

Intelligence

38

Wisdom

38

Luck

54  

Free Points

0

Nexus Coins

14690

All his stats had gained a jump of 9 points, except strength which had increased a whopping 28. As he had noticed that every stat point gave a larger increase in improvement compared to the one before, he knew he likely had doubled his actual physical power from the increase in strength.

He noticed that his class was added in a row, with F denoting the grade of the class. He was surprised to notice that his Race had also gotten graded, as it was blank before. He was excited at the prospect that he could actually evolve his race somehow.

Hopefully it meant that his power would rise, rather than growing a tail or a third eye though.

He had gained three new titles from getting a class as well. Zac focused on them to get a description

[Full of Class: Reach level 25 and attain a Class. All stats +1]

[Rarified Being: Attain a Class graded as Rare. All stats +1]

[Trailblazer: First to gain a Class in world. All stats: +5] 

That explained where the all-around improvements to his stats came from. The first two titles were things that anyone could attain. However the Trailblazer title was another title that only he would get on Earth.

Zac felt a comforting from what that title represented. He still managed to keep his lead, even over the "chosen" cultivators who got help in the beginner villages. Even if he was deemed trash by the System and left to rot to this island, he had defied fate so far and was still on top.

He had to admit that the feeling of power was somewhat addicting. Finding his family was still his priority, but he also craved the feeling of becoming stronger and stronger. He lived for the moment after every battle where he absorbed the cosmic energy, and having the pure unadulterated force of life course through his veins.

He had started to think more and more about where the limits of strength lay. By now he could punch a large rock and it would shatter, and only one month had passed. How powerful would he be in a year? A decade? Just thinking about it made him excited. Of course, he would never let himself forget that to get there in one piece he would have to walk through an ocean of blood.

He didn't linger on the subject as he was anxious to look through his other changes. He thought "Class" and a new window appeared

[Class: Hatchetman, Grade-F, Rare]

Strength +10, +10%.

Level: +3 strength, +1 endurance, +1 free point per level.

Skills: 

Axe Mastery (LOCKED)

Chop (LOCKED)

Forester's Constitution (LOCKED) 

Followed that were rows of blocked out information. At least that showed where the large strength boost came from. The +3 strength per level didn't seem to be retroactive, otherwise he'd have almost twice the strength by now. But it showed that every level from now would give a much larger boost compared to before.

Zac was annoyed to see that he actually didn't get any skills for free as he had hoped. There were 3 skills listed that seemed somewhat intuitive. Axe Mastery and Chop seemed offensive, and Forester's Constitution was defensive. At least he hoped Chop was an offensive skill, and not a woodworking skill.

He didn't quite understand how "Chop" would be better than what he had been doing before, but he guessed he would find out. It seemed that he couldn't get any information about the skills until he unlocked them.

The next problem was how to unlock the skills. Soon he found the method in the quest tab. It showed a new category, which was class quests. Each skill needed a quest to be completed.

Axe Mastery (Class): Mastery is born through battle. Fell 1000 enemies. (0/1000)

Chop (Class): First chop Wood. Then their bodies. (0/10 000)

Forester's Constitution (Class): Fight in the forests, be one with nature. (0/30)

None of the quests seemed very hard to accomplish. The Axe Mastery made no distinction of the strength of the enemies, and with his improved physique he could grind it out in a week or two if he just focused on slaying barghests.

The chop quest seemed to take time rather than being hard, but if he changed his daily work-out routine to chop wood it would be done sooner or later. Chopping wood was a great work-out anyways.

The last quest seemed either extremely easy or rather hard. Just 30 fights and it would be done. The whole island was a large forest so finishing it seemed to be the easiest of the three. It depended on what be one with nature meant. If it was just some random words, great.

If he actually had to somehow merge with nature, or become a tree-hugger it felt far more annoying.

Finally it seemed that he found out everything that he could for now. He had entered the outpost shop as well, but it seemed nothing new was added from gaining a class.

There were a few new skills added at the Node, but they were prohibitively expensive, with the cheapest being 500 000 Nexus Coins.

All in all it had been a fruitful day. He was disappointed that the demon had self-destructed rather than answering questions. There were so many things he needed to know. To be fair, Zac would likely have killed him after questioning the demon in any case. That the demon chose making a last ditch effort to bring Zac with him to hell was a logical choice.

Luckily the gear he gained and the strengthening made the sting less severe. He still looked positively insane from the blood and broken gear, and didn't want to put on the gear while looking like this. He left the camp to patrol the vicinity for a while, and then went back.

This would likely be a new addition to the daily routine. The humanoid demons seemed far more organized compared to the dumb beasts that hade came through the incursion first.

Satisfied that there were no enemies nearby, he moved water from the water array into the tanker's reservoir. Finally he ripped the patchwork armor off, and took the first good shower in over a week. It was a risky move, but the grime and blood was making even him crazy, and he needed to get it off. He brought his new axe with him into the bathroom in case he was ambushed while in there.

It took half an hour to scrub the layers of dirt and blood of himself before stepping out of the shower.

Even cleaned up he could barely recognize himself in the mirror. His whole body had undergone a metamorphosis during the last month. Almost all of the fat was gone, leaving only a thin layer covering his muscular frame.

His physique looked hard. His muscles were compact and wiry rather than big and swollen like a body builder's. He thought he actually might be smaller now compared to when he worked out at the gym.

Of course he knew that an explosive power was contained in these muscles, and that they were so dense that maybe not even a bullet would penetrate them by now. All over his body were scars of varying size and severity. His tactic of boosting his vitality and taking blows for landing killing strikes had been effective, but it had left an undeniable mark.

He looked down on his rough and calloused hands. It was hard to believe what these hands had done the last weeks. Once he had actually ripped the jaws of a Gwyllgi straight apart when he had dropped his hatchet.

Zac sighed and put on one of his last whole t-shirts and undergarments. He didn't want to use his rags together with his new gear.

Unfortunately the chest pieces of both the males' leather armors had been blasted to shreds so he could only put on the female's armor. He didn't worry about it too much though, as he had a strong suspicion that there would be many more demons in the woods that could supply new gear.

To get adjusted to his new weapon he dragged over a thick log. He reactivated his gravity array, and started cutting the log into firewood, working out and working on his quest simultaneously. It was already late, and he would not go out hunting anymore today. As he was methodically swinging his axe a trace of anticipation could be seen on his face.

For the first time since the world changed, he looked forward to go out and test his might.