Fighting Back

[God of Mischief is interested in you and wants you to be its emissary. Do you accept?]

With his fuzzy consciousness and hopeless situation, Theo instinctively thought, 'Yes.'

There was no meaning behind it other than his will to live. Just like he said earlier, if he had a chance to live, he would take it.

[God of Mischief has granted you the representative position. Congratulations, you now have become The Trickster. Mess up this world with your wisdom.]

[Because you are in the face of death, God of Mischief has given you one skill and a chance.]

[Clone (F)]

[Full Recovery.]

As soon as the notification finished, warm energy started enveloping his body, fixing every broken bone and closing all the wounds. Right after that, Theo finally regained his ability to think and stared at the incoming turtle.

He rolled on the ground and stood up a few feet away from the turtle. Holding his bent spear awkwardly, he recalled what just happened.

The turtle crashed into the tree and had yet to recover, so he opened up his own status to check the new skill he got.

Skill: Clone (F) – Upgradable

Effect: A skill that allows the user to create a clone of himself. Due to the current skill rank, the user can only create the same body and control its movement. Other parts such as voice, skill, and so on are still locked.

"!!!" Theo was stunned by the powerful skill, and he could hardly believe it was true.

What happened to him was called a blessing, literally. Beings or legends of the past could lend their power to humans and grant them skills. The higher the rank who gave them the blessings, the more powerful the skills they would get.

To think he would get a blessing from a God, the one stood on the top; it felt surreal. As much as he wanted to inspect everything he received, the turtle had already recovered and glared at him, preparing for another charge.

"But to think a God will have me as their envoy…Since you want me to screw the world. I will do it. I will reach the top and fix this world." Theo raised his bent spear and pointed it toward the turtle. "But before that, I need to survive here."

He knew that the turtle's speed was faster than him, so it would be hard to escape.

"Clone." Theo activated the skill he got from the blessing. He felt his power leave his body, turning into another him.

"This is such a weird feeling, but I think I can control it with my mind."

The clone gradually moved its body, and the turtle charged at him.

With only that little time, Theo learned at least some basic movements for his clone as they both suddenly turned around and ran.

The turtle followed both of them and entered the woods again.

"As expected, the trees couldn't slow it down." Knowing that his plan failed, Theo should have started panicking, but after getting the skill, a door of opportunities opened in front of him.

After exactly thirty seconds of chasing, the two made a forty-degree turn in the opposite direction, confusing the turtle a little bit.

However, the turtle remembered which one was the original body and immediately chased the one going to the right.

Theo's smile grew even bigger as he took another turn to the left. Two minutes later, he met up again with his clone right behind a big tree, disappearing for a split second.

The turtle easily confirmed Theo's real body after the first sharp turn and chased only the one carrying the spear, which was the one going to the left side. Little did the turtle know that the two Theos just passed each other, with the original handing the spear to his clone, before he then ran straight ahead.

Due to the turtle's constant chasing, Theo's clone started making a zig-zag movement, trying to confuse the turtle as they traveled through the forest. Unfortunately for him, the last hope flew away as he met a dead end.

When Theo realized this, it was already too late. Even if he tried to move in another direction, the turtle would be able to strike him, so the only place he could go to stay alive longer was to go out of the woods and end up in a bell shaped stone cliff.

"Roar!"

The turtle sneezed at his foolishness and kept charging at him.

But the turtle didn't realize that this Theo wasn't sweating at all despite the long run.

With the trees starting to decrease in number, Theo should have no other way out. It was when he passed the last tree, a surprise came from behind it.

It was another Theo. He carried a head-size rock and struck the turtle's eyes. The turtle might have had a thick skin or high defense, but there was always a soft spot and, in this case, the eyes.

The turtle screamed as blood flowed out of its right eye because Theo just destroyed its eye.

Losing its right vision and feeling the pain were enough to make the turtle lose its focus as it kept going toward the stone wall.

Theo took this opportunity and headed right in front of the wall. He set the spear's butt on the wall and positioned it to make sure that it pointed straight at the turtle's head.

Bam.

A huge crack appeared on the wall, but it wasn't enough to destroy it.

"Roar!" The turtle's voice got even louder when the bent spear managed to pierce its head, accidentally hitting the brain.

However, Theo, who was supposed to be holding the spear, was nowhere to be seen. Only the one that struck the rock stayed and watched the progress with calmness.

"As expected, it might be able to bend the spear, but if I had a supporting force like a wall and placed the spear in the right position, it would be strong enough to pierce the turtle's head." Theo smirked evilly. "Now sleep, foolish creature!"

The trick he used earlier to change the Turtle's focus saved his life.

[God of Mischief is happy with your trick and wishes you luck to be a great trickster.]

[God of Mischief grants you the ability to see the skill upgrade's requirement.]

Skill: Clone (F) – Upgradable

Upgrade: Fuse 5 rank F skills (0/5)

Effect: A skill that allows the user to create a clone of himself. Due to the current skill rank, the user can only create the same body and control its movement. Other parts such as voice, skill, and so on are still locked.

However, Theo's eyes had yet to return from the turtle, making sure that it died before doing anything else.

A few seconds later, it gradually stopped moving and fell down.

[Killed a Rock Turtle (Elite)]

[EXP+1735]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

…

…

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

After confirming its death, he placed his hand on the turtle's shell as the body gradually disappeared. When a hunter like him touched the monsters in this world, they could drop a card. This card then became a skill card or material card.

He expected a card from the Carnivore Turtle but didn't get anything. Fortunately, he saw a black card—twice the size of his palm—swaying left and right before it touched the ground. Theo picked the card up.

Pure Stone (E)

Fifty pounds of Pure Stone from Rock Turtle's back.

"Hmm," Theo stroked his chin and thought, 'The Pure Stone is used to sharpen a weapon. It can even be considered one of the best grindstones. Since my spear is broken, I should sell this card and get the money to buy a spear since I don't have enough money to pay someone to make a weapon from it.'

He raised his vision and saw the spear had completely snapped into two and most parts had become flat.

"Never mind. I still bring it back with me as it is still usable as a distraction on my way back." He sighed and picked up the flattened spear before checking his status.

Status: Normal

Level: 20

EXP: 110/246

Blessing: God of Mischief

Skill: Pierce (F), Clone (F), 8 Slots Remaining

Attributes: Strength 10, Endurance 5, Agility 9, Vitality 5, Magic Power 20

Free Attribute Points: 65

"Every time someone levels up, they are granted free attribute points. For me, I've got 65 points with five for each level, so I have leveled up thirteen times. Considering I still need to go through a forest," he paused for a minute and chose. "25 points to strength, 10 points to endurance, 15 points to agility, 10 points to vitality, and the rest are to magic power."

"Perfection. The clone technique is quite taxing for me, so I think it's fine to add some points to my magic power." Theo nodded. "Well, I was born with exceptional power in magic, but I didn't have any monetary support to get skills on the market. And with me usually going alone, I need to increase my strength to fend for myself."

"Still, the turtle only gave me 1735 EXP, even though an elite monster is, at least, level 51. The turtle might be close to that level, I guess." He let out a long sigh. "No, I should be grateful that someone like me was able to kill a monster at this level. At least, I have gotten far stronger than I used to be. Time to head back."

With that thought in mind, he began running toward the portal.