Chapter 5: Compromise

I felt an overwhelming urge to go over to where she was standing and smack her in the head as hard as I could. "You mean you did all of this because I looked strong," I said, sarcastically making air quotes.

"In the end, no one got hurt," Tracy waved her hands dismissively, though I could see the pain from the kick I gave her earlier still lingered. "Hey, are you okay?" I asked, genuinely concerned. For a moment, a shadow passed over her face, but she quickly giggled. "Oh my," she said, "Don't tell me you've fallen in love with me already?"

"Idiot!" I snapped, growing annoyed.

She burst into laughter, the sound echoing for a whole minute or so. Eventually, she composed herself and her expression turned serious. "I think I actually enjoyed our fight," she said with such passion that it almost touched me.

"Hey Tracy, where are you headed?" I asked, my gaze fixed on the ground.

"I'm on my way to the city," she replied, sounding excited. I looked at her, surprised that we were heading in the same direction.

"What might you be going to do there?" I inquired.

"None of your business," she replied, folding her arms defiantly.

"Well, I'm asking because I'm heading there too," I retorted, giving her a scornful look. "I guess I crossed a boundary." I turned around, pretending to leave.

"Wait!" she shouted after me. Ah, yes! These things always worked in movies. I turned around again. "Yes?"

I didn't know why, but for some reason, I felt compelled to help the girl who had attempted to kill me earlier. "I didn't know you'd be going too," she said apologetically.

"It doesn't matter," I said stubbornly. "You'll only slow me down, anyway."

"Pfft, seems like you've forgotten about the fight we just had," she said, stretching her arms. "Besides, I wasn't being serious. If I were, I wouldn't have used the illusion skill." I wasn't entirely sure if she was telling the truth or not, but one thing was certain—I believed I could beat her, regardless of the skills she possessed.

"And what gave you the impression that I was being serious?" I said, moving closer to her until our faces were inches apart. I could feel her taking sharp breaths. My eyes caught something behind her. "Hey," I whispered, "Don't move." In a world where the system once existed, what happened to animals that had to endure this world? Answer: they changed. And right now, the brown wolf standing behind Tracy was one such changed animal.

When the system emerged, animals that were once considered only mildly dangerous transformed into walking, breathing death sentences. Just like humans, not all of them underwent these mutations. The ones that did killed most of the ones that didn't. The mutated beasts were classified by their colors. A white beast was considered relatively weak, with little difference from normal animals. A grey beast was relatively strong and fast, with a noticeable gap from normal animals. Brown beasts could utilize special abilities, a slight advantage, you could say. Then there were the black ones, capable of fighting on even footing with a human who had absorbed numerous systems. Survival against a black beast depended on the number of absorbed skills.

And finally, the deviants. These creatures were unnatural and absurdly powerful, yet undeniably real. No one had ever survived an encounter with one. Deviants were extremely rare, born into this world rather than evolving like the others. Even as infants, it was a challenge for someone with more than two systems to kill them. Some say they had humanoid and could even make conversation. As for skills, they were monster in that too.

The colour of the wolf was a dark brown insinuating that it was almost on the level of a black one. Tracy slowly turned her head and when she saw it she turned her head back. "Your luck is shit." She said. As soon as she said that, the wolf lunged at us. I grabbed Tracy and threw myself until the ground. I had barely sensed that attack. I really might die today.

['Inherent talent' is opening his eyes]

[Inherent talent'is mocking your weaknesses]

I had almost forgotten about this guy. I was certain he would intervene. Because unlike last time this was definitely not an illusion.

['Inherent talent' wishes to lend you some of his strength]

[Will you accept skill's wish]

I nodded my head. I didn't see why the system kept on asked the same question.

[You have acquired 'Muscle Prominence' (temporary)]

I felt all the muscles in my body expand nonsensically. It felt like my clothes would rip apart at any second. I realized I was still holding on to Tracy and let go. She was staring at my arms. She wanted to say something but was interrupted by the wolf's growling. I stood up and stared intensely at the wolf. "Hey, can you use your skill on specific things?" I asked Tracy who had gotten up. She nodded.

Without wasting much time, I charged towards the wolf. If possible, I wanted to end this in one hit. As run, I felt a sense of freedom. Soon the wolf was within reach. I formed a fist but before I could punch it, it suddenly sank into the ground.

'Shoot, it has abilities.' I thought a bit sad. It reappeared somewhere else. It seemed to have sensed I was stronger so it was being cautious. I was sure that I could kill it in one hit.

"Now!" I shouted as a cue to Tracy who was hiding in the shadows. She chanted a sort of spell. The wolf's expression turned weird and it started biting angrily at the air. I took the opportunity and run towards it. This time I managed to get the punch in and hit right on it's side. It flew into a tree and gave out a yelp. It struggled for sometime but gradually stopped.

Just when we were about to celebrate our victory, it raised it's head and howled loudly and dropped back powerlessly. A few seconds later we were surrounded by different coloured wolves.