Outside the Safe Zone

Drake's vision cleared and was greeted by the hubbub. A strong aroma of wine roamed in the air. Packs of people scattered in every area: indifferent, bloodthirsty, cold, drunked, nonchalant, and cheerful.

Seeing a new guy, the people around Drake's vicinity looked at him. They appeared amused, disdainful, and supercilious. Gossips of voices run amok and large amounts of people came near to join the excitement.

But when they finally realized his teenager's appearance, they were shocked. As swift as they came, as swift as they dispersed.

Many similar voices trailed of:

"An influential kid. Tsk, we cannot bully."

"Look at him, I bet he was crowded with media earlier. James Freeze was the same age as him. I bet the headline was this, "A Rivalry Contender Between two Genius", and blablabla.

"That's right. James Freeze from yesterday, a new kid today. Chee!"

Drake was surprised at first but seeing them making no trouble for him, he ran towards the far outside. If the pursuers, the soldiers, would teleport here, they couldn't identify him. If they asked questions, there would be a probability. But finding him was akin to search for a needle within a haystack as no one here truly knew him.

He must stay a long time here in this world and let everyone who slightly remembered his face to forget him. Taking advantage that people here were uncaring to begin with, his plan was foolproof.

This place was called as "Shelter". Mysteriously, the creatures would not stay near around the safety zone in a circumference of 5 kilometers in diameter.

The shelter's appearance was like a rectangular stock warehouse, occupying a huge 3 kilometers. It looked like a humongous house with two spanning walls at its bottom and top side (the long "width" of rectangle). Whereas, there were two large openings at its left and right side (the short "length" of rectangle). Miraculously, the walls were translucent and enabled light to pass through.

This unknown world was called "Gene". Many worshipped it as the "Heaven's Lair" while there were many whom abhorred it as the "Hell's Nest". It was due aside from evolving oneself, the perils within it were extremely dangerous.

After arriving in this place, technology was unable to proceed here. It was rendered useless as like a work of fantasy. Only primitive items could be used.

There were many structures around here with no apparent order and neatness: random disarray of wooden/stony houses and buildings.

As Drake was sight-seeing when he sprinted, he was astonished when he saw numerous Progressors running here, planning to hunt. They moved extremely fast, faster than a cheetah.

There were many who were pulling large beasts which were shackled by plant straws. They had terrifying strength, pulling the beasts with only one hand.

Additionally, there was even a person with a giant axe, three times his size, as his own personal weapon.

But what made Drake astounded were the large amount of friendly creatures. They looked unreasonably tamed although they were shoved by someone's elbows.

A particular large lion with golden manes, black striped body, and blazing tail, followed his master when suddenly it was pricked by a sharp spear. The unintentional perpetrator apologized but nothing happened. The lion winced in pain but it's eyes flickered in no emotion as if a robot.

"Swoosh"

Something passed Drake from above the air. He immediately looked upwards and everyone was also enticed to look. Suddenly, every eyes bulged in shock.

"Damn, I thought it was a flying pet creature. It was the Unorthodox Wind Man, Keith Storm!"

"I can't believe a Transcendent Deva to be here."

"Look how fast he was. He was even quicker than an eagle."

Drake felt his blood roiled around his body.Witnessing the elemental ability of a Progressor had ignited his fighting intent: to fight for his strength.

In history, there were three known realms for a human to evolve. It was the following, starting with the first:

Mortal - every human began at this level

Transcender (Asura or Deva) - had broke the limits of a mortal being

Celestial (Asura or Deva) - had shed their mortal skin and ascended to become a new transformed being

This particular person, Keith Storm, was a Transcender Deva! For every million Progressor, there was one Deva.

The task to become a Deva was arduous, requiring a person to devour a specific elemental beast. It indicated that until now, Keith only devoured wind elemental beasts. It painstakingly required patience and took extremely long time. Not to think, there were 10 stages for every realm.

Drake regained his composure and drastically improved his speed on the empty earth which suffused everything that no green plants were found.

Restaurants, weapon store, warehouses, horse stalls, gambling den, apothecary, food market, trade hub, tavern, inn, stalls, caravansary, hostel, and any similar structures; Drake had traversed them all during his 3 kilometers run.

He arrived on the large opening. He finally saw the silhouette of the vast forest. There was even an indistinctible outline of a towering mountain to the north eclipsed by dark clouds. Enchanted by it, he set that mountain as his guide pole and moved towards it.

After 2 kilometers, he finally stepped on a grass and embarked his first journey outside the safe zone. It was nighttime but the forest was deeply quiet as a demon's abyss. At its tenebrous depth, people would found it extremely pitch-black as if inside a black hole.

However, Drake had clearly seen everything inside of it, the darkness could not deter his eye sight. It was indeed darker but it was like early dawn for him. The game system had provided him a perspective like he was inside of a game.

There was no living species in there, he couldn't hear a buzz. There were no "little insects" here at this world. It was at least the size of a palm. From that girth, if it would produce a sound, it would be lucidly loud.

His shoes stepped the small dried leaves below on the ground, walking neither slow nor fast. He maintained a steady pace and touched the trees around him as he passed through them.

When he felt it was too entirely silent, he had a bad premonition rising within his heart. He had never seen any living thing on the surface of the ground.

'What if above?' As he conceived that, he looked upwards.

There was a pair of red eyes with its mouth opened large that could fit a whole human easily. It had two fangs, dripping with poison. Behind his mouth, Drake could see its body surface filled with adhesive scales. It was a large snake and was trying to swallow him!

As it sensed it's prey had finally knew of it's presence, he pounced towards Drake who had been caught of guard.

Drake at that sudden life and death situation, his brain's configuration rotated extremely fast. His hands moved in reflex, grabbing a long knife sheathed in a strap from his waist.

The "Short Weapon Mastery" showed its effectiveness.

He lifted it above but he didn't thrust it. The hand was stuck at that position while the snake already had its foul mouth around Drake's hand.

'Dash' That thought flitted to his mind.

His body suddenly moved 2.5 meters away from his original spot. This was not teleport but extreme burst of speed. Hence, the long knife during the unduly acceleration, met the snake's mouth and sliced it.

"Screech"

The snake produced a scream as its mouth had a tear and was gushing out red blood. Its head was flailing in the air.

Drake, however, didn't stop and was not wasting any time to spare. If there was one thing he was proficient out from his peers, that was real combat.

His hands quickly moved like an expert as if he was shuffling and twisting a deck of cards. He passed the knife into his left hand and he used the motion of the acceleration to swing his body. As his body turned, he used the force of inertia and threw the knife into the snake's eye.

The snake became silent suddenly but Drake would confirm the kill. He would not risk himself if the creature was maybe still alive and breathing.

When his body swinged counterclockwise, he was already prepared to propel himself towards the snake. That was the time when he dashed. Afterwards, he jumped. While falling from the gravity, his mass drastically increased and surged with considerable heaviness.

Before he touched the ground, he grabbed the handle of the long knife which was stuck at the snake's eyes. As a result, the knife was pushed downwards, cutting it from inside and out.

The sharpness of the long knife was deadly, easily slicing the snake as if it was a tofu. As he stepped on the ground, the head of the snake already had a straight line of wound starting from its eye until the very down.

"Splatter" The snake's blood scattered and Drake's body was drenched. The snake kept secreting out more blood, painting the ground red amidst the darkness.

His first kill!

Drake's fear never rose but instead he was feeling a strong excitement. His fighting intent was at its fullest and he was greatly thirsting for more.

From his terror picturing out death, he learned to love a bloody combat. It was a thrill from risking one's life to decide an unpredictable victory. His lips curled into a smile.

*You've level up! Level 2

*You've gained 115 experience points.

As he became level 2, his experience bar was at 40/150. He also felt his overall stats increased as he sensed he became more powerful.

'Character Menu' He thought

Level: 2

Strength: 12

Agility: 12

Intelligence: 10

Endurance: 9

Attribute points: 5

'My overall stats would naturally increase if I level up?' Drake was highly surprised. 'And it was two points for each!'

He immediately gripped his fist. His ambition surged with intensity. Finally, the day would come when he would surpass those geniuses that mocked his perseverance. The time when he would attain higher seat above them.

He allocated his points. He threw it all on intelligence.

Level: 2

Strength: 12

Agility: 12

Intelligence: 15

Endurance: 9

Attribute points: 0

Naturally, there was a reason. Agi and Str was useful for melee combat. He needed something.

For his skills, he continued only the "Shadow Cloak". It was because he aspired to acquire what branched down from it, which was "Stealth". It required complete mastery of Shadow Cloak, needed a full 10.

Shadow Cloak (4) - utilize the darkness and blend within to reduce presence

- last for 20 seconds

- cool down in 1 minute and 50 seconds

As for the remaining 3 skill points, he needed a deadly power to kill creatures swiftly but not giving a large attention. For that, he mentally said.

'Skill'

Mastery:

Combat, Magic, (Locked)

'Magic'

It was magic mastery! And intelligence provided magic attack damage if what his memory served.

His current skills had already served him cause. Short Weapon Mastery (2) was satisfactorily adequate for him to wield the long knife proficiently. Dash (1) was enough to escape in crisis. And Shadow Cloak would be continuously improved for survival sustainability.

The recent fight along with his increased intelligence had led him to an epiphany: the greatest offense lied on magic. If he wanted rapid increase of levels, magic was famous to annihilate monsters easily.

The classes that appeared were: Tempest, Shadow Hunter, Elementalist, and Fire Shaman.

After analyzing every skill, he chose "Healing Mantra" from Fire Shaman, "Lightning Bolt" from Tempest, and "Ion Light" from Elementalist.

Healing Mantra (1) - Healing 1% Maximum HP for every 2 seconds, lasting for 2 seconds.

- cool down in 60 seconds

Lightning Bolt (1) - Damage enemy with electrical elemental property for additional 12 magic damage

- cool down in 1 second

Ion Light (1) - Damage enemy with light elemental property for additional 12 magic damage

- cool down in 1 second

"As a player, there must be a boundary when choosing classes. I've already got three." He muttered. Although he made a complaint, he was actually enjoying it.

He looked at the snake's carcass. In Earth, this would be a big python. But in Gene, it was a snake.

"I've focused too much in killing the snake without any sense to the area's vicinity." Drake was enlightened from the battle as he self-spoke, wanted to teach himself. "In order to do so, I should feel unrestrained and calm. Simply, I must feel myself, a gamer playing this reality."

"The next step is to act how a player plays his life." He bended and closely faced the snake. "First, let's crisp this mob."

He opened his palm wide and initiated "Lightning Bolt", triggering a bolt of lightning that slipped through the dead snake body.

He spent his relaxing time, crisping the snake. The reason for his attitude was because he could see HP bars to any living beings. Earlier, he was caught off guard by the snake hiding in the tree tops so he wasn't able to discern it's HP bar. Currently, he wouldn't repeat the same mistake twice.

As he was done, the waft of a delicious meal seduced Drake to have a voracious meal. Every creature in this world could be eaten raw and tasted delectably. Now it was crisped, the sweet aroma caressed his nose like a lover's caress, as if saying "Eat me now.".

As a man, he should not deny the request. Eating a food as appetizing as a luscious woman, it was truly gratifying.

After he had half a snake food, a new robotic voice, which was different from the usual, echoed in his mind. Texts also appeared in his visual acuity.

*Bronze Level Creature - 1 point gained

*First Transmutation. Initializing Gene System...

*Error

*Error

Both his game system and this particular system superimposed at each other and produced their robotic voices and texts at the same time.

*A virus had been encrypted. No defensive security parameters encoded. System Failure. Initializing System Reboot

His game system's voice loudly rang in his mind and the red words occupied his vision.

"What happened?! If I had no game system, I'll only have myself!" Drake shouted. Afterwards, he sighed, his mood dampened. A deep loss hid within his eyes. "But, okay... Guess, I'll go back during daylight."

He would organize his thoughts at the Shelter, for he could not risk the danger if he stayed in the forest. From losing the game system, his vision had turned normal and all he could see was pitch-black. Luckily, he was around the outskirts and the light of the outside guided him to escape from this darkness trap.

As he was ten steps away from the outside, a new robotic voice rang within his head anew. It was neither the gene system nor the game system's tone. What was different was that there were no words imprinted in his vision.