Waking In A Forest

3rd POV

Deep in a forest, surrounded by thick, green flora was what looked like a youth. A young man with pure white hair was sprawled out like a starfish.

His body was average at around 175cm tall and his shoulders were neither too broad nor too narrow. He was not fat, or skinny but he definitely wasn't overly muscular or athletic.

He was slap-bang in the middle; completely average.

Slowly his eyelids flickered a little before finally opening to show his ruby red eyes. Nothing filled his eyes before wisps of confusion and curiosity flowed into them. He slowly pulled himself up and looked around.

1st POV

Where am I?

Was the biggest question flowing through my head at the moment. Though I do not have any previous memories, I can just tell that I shouldn't be in a forest at the moment. This isn't my...room? Is that where I should be? My 'room'?

Questions like this flooded into my brain before another flux of information flooded into my head.

"Ouch..." I let out a small whimper purely from instinct as the influx didn't actually cause any pain, my mind mysterious seemed to think it should and made me say 'Ouch'...how weird.

Looking into the information I now had access to, I could discover something more about my situation.

Minutes later after reviewing the information I had some idea on what situation I was in.

Humanity had apparently become too boring to the watchers of the entertainment show that had birthed Humanity...is that what I am, a Human?

The answer to this is; of course not! Why? Because after Humanity's show was cut off air, Humanity was given another shot to prove themselves as entertainment worthy. How? By starring in a multi-universal survival game, of course! But the reason us Humans were so boring was because of how weak we were and how 'normal' we were because of that weakness.

To remedy this, the 'benevolent' owners of the entertainment company that was throwing us into this death game, decided that we were owed the chance to sacrifice even more to gain special powers to entertain better in the coming games.

And you see, yours truly had read fiction about such a thing happening, so I knew exactly what I wanted to sacrifice:

My name - it was pretty useless, and neither would it help my survival.

My useless memories - any memory not related to my continued existence aka my survival, can be taken from my head. Now my head was only filled with survival knowledge, the basics on how to fight and murder stuff, and...Anime?

We'll get back to that because I sacrificed something much bigger.

My Humanity or my race - The bosses were right; Humans are weak, boring and too normal to survive in the coming death games, so I figured it'd be best to cast that shit aside.

Now I was nameless, memory-less, and a non-human. Technically I was a non-everything now.

Before my thoughts could continue a screen flashed in front of me.

[Welcome to the Game of Hard Survival!]

Hard Survival? Who named this? A 12-year-old? Before I could question the screen anymore, it disappeared, replaced with another.

[You, Player#1223333332 of Earth, have sacrificed nearly everything that you are and deserve the best of rewards! Hence why we have given you a few titles and Gifts!]

{You have 3 New Titles and 4 New Gifts, do you wish to open them? Y/N}

I quickly pressed the 'Y' and a few boxes opened up in front of me.

{Titles Gained: Ex-Humanity, Nameless, and Heartless!*}

{Gifts Gained: Inhuman Body, Curse Resistance, Ruthless Mind, and Assimilation!*}

Curious, I pressed the '*' at the end of the boxes.

{Ex-Humanity - You, who have cast aside their Humanity, has cast aside the DNA of your human side, becoming something that is both not Human while not being anything else as well. Gained Gift: Inhuman Body}

{Nameless - You, who have cast aside their name, has cast aside what made them unique becoming some both forgettable and memorable. Gained Gift: Curse Resistance}

{Heartless - You cast aside your Humanity, your names, and your memories without thinking of your family or friends...You're truly an example of heartlessness! Gained Gift: Ruthless Mind}

Are these boxes trying to make me feel something like guilt? Because it's kind of working. Nonetheless, it was for survival. I would expect the same from my family whoever they are. Survival is paramount.

Anyway, I wonder what these gifts do? Curiosity getting the better of me, I clicked on each skill causing more boxes to appear.

{Inhuman Body - You, who has cast aside the only thing that could classify you as a sentient life-form, thus you have given up the ability to use Mana...Alas, it's not all bad! Without any Mana in your new body, your body hasn't been degraded by Mana Poisoning and has in fact been strengthened! By 3 times to be specific!}

...I can't use Mana? Shit!

I had a small tantrum on the floor, swinging my apparently strengthened body around and slamming the ground and vines next to me.

My small tantrum was, if I may say, rudely interrupted by a sudden noise next to me.

"KIRGHHH!" a high-pitched screech came from my left and before I could react I heard the air next to me splitting and my instincts kicked in making me dodge roll to the right.

I felt something sharp prick my arm and I let out a hiss of pain which didn't sound like something a Human could do. Nonetheless, I turned to my assailant.

A small green man who was about 120cm tall, with a pot belly and long arms which nearly reached the floor. Each arm ended in claws hands and a single look at its mouth showed the yellowish fangs barely hidden by it's cracked and crooked lips.

In its clawed hands, was a long stick which was pointed at the end and covered in a small amount of blood; my blood.

An impressive amount of rage started to fill my system as I looked at the green creature in front of me. Thoughts filled me, roaring at the audaciousness of the creature in front of me, which dared take MY blood.

I calmed down slightly as I thought about a plan to take down the creature I recognized as a Goblin. I thanked the Gods that the people who sent me here let me keep most of my knowledge about fantasy monsters otherwise I would've been incredibly lost here.

But that rage...is that because I don't have the impulse control of a Human anymore? Or because I'm more like a wild beast now?

Haah~ Questions for later...

My thought process was rushed to an end when the Goblin rushed at me once again with the pointed stick.

Remembering all the times I'd apparently fought in my past life, I sidestepped the thrust and put my hand on the extended weapon before yanking it toward me, bring the Goblin with it.

The potbellied monster in front of me had next to no strength in front of me as I drew it in and sent a brutal kick to its sternum resulting in a resounding crack, followed by a screech of pain.

The Goblin was now on the floor rolling back and forth clutching at its chest. I walked over to the monster, feeling remarkably calm about what I was about to do.

While walking over it I opened up my other Gifts.

{Curse Resistance - What's a massive part of cursing someone? Them actually having a name! Because you don't have a name, nor any DNA for that matter, you can't be cursed! And for those Uber Strong Curses that can work on you because you have a soul, they will be resisted against quite heavily! Gained: Complete Resistance to Low, Mid, and High-level Curses, with 30% Resistance to a curse that is higher than a High-Level Curse}

Oh wow, that's very useful. A happy smile spread across my face as I held the Goblin down under my barefoot. I looked at the other boxes.

{Ruthless Mind - Killing's only as hard as you make it! And you don't make it very hard! You have a calm, calculating mind which is untouched by most cases of guilt, pity, and mercy. You can commit actions of pure cruelty and still sleep like a log. Gained: Resistance to Status Effects such as Fear, Panic-Stricken, and Guilt}

...It'd be best to not let other people know I have such a title if I want them to trust me. But it is weird, I don't feel particularly ruthless...unless it's to monsters like this pathetic wretch under my foot. Now onto the Gift that's got my attention...

{Assimilation - As you don't have any DNA due to your lack of Race, you can take the traits of Monsters and Beasts that you kill and eat! You can only take traits from Monsters your personally kill, so make sure to get that finishing blow! Gained: Adaptability Stat and Trait Menu}

Hmmm...that's exactly what I wanted. Well, I guess I'm kinda lucky. Letting Ruthless Mind do its work, I lifted up the pointed stick before thrusting it down and into the Goblins head.

With a small squelch, the screeching stopped and so did the struggling, leaving only silence. I felt nothing which I was thankful for. As I was thinking this, a screen appeared in front of me.

[Congratulations on your first kill! You have unlocked the Status Screen! Say, or think, 'Status' to open it!]

Easy enough, "Status," my voice was pretty average - not too high-pitched but neither was it very deep.

[Name: N/A]

[Race: N/A]

[Age: N/A]

[Title: Ex-Humanity]

Energy: N/A

[STR: 30]

[AGI: 30]

[VIT: 30]

[WIS: 10]

[INT: 10]

[APT: 3]

Gifts:

-{Inhuman Body}

-{Curse Resistance}

-{Ruthless Mind}

-{Assimilation}

Looking through my status I smiled at my stats. I wonder if my body stats are high or if they're low...probably high, right?

Before I could think any further, a new box popped up.

[Monster ready to be Assimilated nearby, please eat to begin assimilation!]

"Oh yeah...I can assimilate traits..." I looked at the Goblin in front of me and slightly grimaced but stopped myself from backing away from this.

This was for survival, and survival...is paramount.

Kneeling down, I picked up the Goblins arm and put my foot on its crushed chest. I gave the arm a powerful tug and ripped it off and out of its socket. The gore would've made me throw up if I was normal, that's what my instincts told me anyway.

Ignoring those thoughts I brought the skinny arms up to my mouth and crunched into the raw flesh.

Blood flowed down my throat along with chunks of meat and I was surprised. Surprised at how...palatable it was.

Slightly enamored by the new tastes in my mouth, I quickly devoured the rest of the arm before moving onto the other limbs.

And before I knew it, I'd devoured every bit of muscle and organ in the Goblins body. Well, everything other than it's dick and ass. Something stopped me from eating those places and frankly, I didn't really want to eat them anyway.

A new body had popped up when I'd finished anyway.

[Traits are ready to be assimilated, please pick what you want! (+)]

Clicking the '+' the box expanded.

[Traits: Dark Vision, Claws (E+), Fangs (E+), Low-Class Monster Energy Core. Please pick what you wish to assimilate!]

Surprised at the purely positive nature of all the traits, I clicked on each of them before a message saying 'Are these the traits you wish to assimilate? Y/N' appeared in front of me. I clicked the 'Y' and quickly felt the changes going through my body.

Changes which would help with survival.

I once again told myself survival is paramount and let myself feel joy at this assimilation increasing my chances at survival.