Chapter Seven . Five: Intermission #2 - Bjorn Johnson

He sat on the trunk of the largely felled tree. Corpses of crushed apes littered around him after they had continued to spill out of the dense forest's cave just a small distance in front of him.

"Is that the last of them..?" Bjorn said softly, finally letting go of the ragged Ape he had in his hand. The dead battered body of the Ape slipped out of his grip and onto the forest floor at his feet.

Bjorn let out a long sigh. He thought he was done with the nonsense of fighting constantly. He had grown up with his large frame, and it always brought him trouble.

He looked down at his bloodied hands, opening and closing the massive things, a slight self deprecating smile crossing his face. His given name had been spot on for his entire life.

Bjorn, or bear, was the closest thing he could have gotten to describe him, he thought. He was a hulking beast of a man, and had the strength of one to boot, and this 'Tutorial' had only made him stronger.

But he hadn't liked fighting, it was just that fighting simply found him wherever he went. Most people would even be surprised to find out what Bjorn did when they first looked at him. He was the CEO of an IT Firm that had started up in Silicon Valley like many others, but like always Bjorn had kept finding fights even when there weren't any to be had. So he quickly decided to cash out the firm and move up north to Canada, finding an out of the way, cozy, secluded ranch in a low populated area.

But, even fights found him there. The locals were tight knit and didn't want him intruding on them, so they regularly tried to force him out early on. He changed their minds quickly though. First the hooligans that vandalized his home got a quick talking to, and their mothers even decided to nervously thank him for disciplining their sons when his lurching figure brought them home in person. The rest of the townsfolk quickly warmed up to him after he started coming to meetings and other community events because he had always brought food and snacks, and more importantly hard liquor for the older gentlemen.

Hard booze was always the currency of the realm for distinguished gentlemen, and he was already missing his personal cabinet filled with his favorites.

Something suddenly brushed against Bjorn's leg as he was lost in reminiscing and he looked down to find the small rabbit that had been following him around every now and again. When it first came up to him he was surprised to find actual wildlife present in this wild murder forest, he simply assumed because of all the crazed Apes he had run into so far that none of the animals would be left.

"Found me again, huh little one?" He said, slowly bringing down his finger to pet the top of the rabbit's head gently. Its ears bending backwards, and a slightly hummed squeak leaked from its mouth in pleasure.

Just as quickly though did the rabbit's ears perk back up and it sat back on its haunches. Then it was off, scrambling for the bush of the forest.

Bjorn looked in the opposite direction, slowly standing up himself, prepared for another fight. The figure of another ape walked out from behind a tree, spotting Bjorn and the circlement of Vampiric Ape corpses around him.

It threw the Ape into a furious state, as it yelled and hooted loudly making a charge straight for him.

Bjorn didn't move and just waited for the beast to reach him, wondering why it hadn't run away after seeing how many of its kind he had killed. It was the same for the Apes in the cave, it was almost like they were programmed to attack people with reckless abandon, and had no actual animalistic instincts.

Just when the monster got close enough to lunge at him, he wound up his right leg. When it was in range, Bjorn punted it as hard as he could back into the forest.

Sitting back down, hoping for some peace and quiet for a little bit, he cleared his notifications and checked his status.

[Bjorn Johnson]

[Race: Human?]

Tutorial Alias [Bear]

[Base Class: Warrior] Level 9

[Vitality] 107

[Strength] 174

[Dexterity] 51

[Intelligence] 37

[Wisdom] 35

[Endurance] 57

[Free Points] 14

[Skills] Basic Heavy Strike [Level NA]

[Titles] First Blood, Two versus One, One versus Many, One Man Army, Battle of Attrition, Monkey Slayer, Hater of Apes, Front Runner, Big Man on Campus

Bjorn scoffed looking at his status screen, the system really knew how to poke fun. What did it mean by putting a question mark by his race, of course he was a human. And his titles had exploded after the Ape cave. He couldn't help but laugh.

A rustling of the branches brought him back to the present as he got back up.

"That didn't last long, why can't they just let me rest a bit." Bjorn sighed.