Power up

"ROOOAAAAAARRRR!!!!" The lion let out a loud roar and immediately started running in my direction.

I felt nervous, no matter how you look at it, I was still facing a lion 'I know I got stronger and all that, but can a human really fight a lion barehanded?' These kinds of thoughts kept filling my head as he started approaching me.

'This is not the time to think about this, I need to focus on the battle' I shook my head and tried to dismiss those thoughts.

I kept eye contact with him, the moment he got close enough, he roared and lunged at me. I dodged to the left and tried to kick him in the stomach, but he already noticed and moved his body away.

The battle was intense and none of us had any advantage on the other yet. I kept attacking him carefully as to not leave any openings, I managed to land a few hits and I also got a few scratches, but nothing serious.

'He is strong and intelligent, this is not going to be easy. If I want to win, I need to be fast and unpredictable.' I quickly came up with a plan. Because I am faster, I need to take advantage of my speed and run-in circles around him, throw some attacks at him and then back away. So, this way I am making it harder for him to predict my moves, while I am also able to keep my distance so I could escape if things go wrong.

I immediately put the plan into action and started running around him, '…NOW!!!' I lunged into the lion and punched him in the mouth. The attack took him by surprise, he howled in pain and backed off a little bit.

Then without giving him any time to react, I use the same attack again except this time I kick him in the stomach, then I punched him in the face, but by the fourth time he seemed to figure out my strategy, so the moment I attacked at him, he quickly turned his body and slashed my right shoulder.

"AAAARRRRGGHHHH!!! SON OF-" Without even giving me the time to scream, he jumped at me and tried to bite my arm luckily, I managed to quickly dodge to the side and countered by throwing a straight punch to his face. The lion backed off and looked shaken.

'That punch must have dealt some damage to him. This is my chance' I didn't leave him the time to recover, as I immediately started raining him down with punches until I ran out of energy.

The lion looked miserable, but he still did not lose his will to fight.

'He is not called the king of the jungle for no reason' I thought to myself while admiring his fighting spirit.

"Sorry, but I'm going to have to finish this right now." I'm already at my limit and I don't have enough energy left to keep dragging this fight. I got ready for the next attack, we kept looking at each other, there was a moment of silence, then I let out a loud battle cry and rushed at him, he did the same.

I used all the strength I have left in this punch.

"HHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!"

"ROOOOAAAAAAAARRRRR!!!!!"

The moment my punch hit him, he was sent flying back at high speed and got smashed against the trees.

"…" I was surprised, at the sight.

"Huff…huff…huff…So, this what happen when someone pushes himself beyond his limit in this world. I can safely say that I'm now stronger than Hercules, the peak of human strength back on earth." I sat on the ground for a second to catch my breath.

"The feeling of getting stronger is not that bad, if I continue like this, I'll be able to leave this place soon. Well, it's time to go back" I walked to the lion and lifted his dead body on my back, then I headed back to my cave.

After I treated my injuries, it was time to prepare my dinner.

Half an hour later,

"Reading those survival books and watching documentaries really helps a lot. I would probably not have survived until now if not for that." I said to myself while skinning the lion, using a sharp rock.

"Skinning this guy with a rock would have been a nightmare without my current strength." After I finished, I cut the meat and started cooking it.

After 40 minutes, the food was finally cooked, and it was the time to eat.

Without waiting any longer, I took a large bite. The meat was soft and easy to chew "Gulp…Not bad, it's pretty good, although it could taste better with some seasoning." Once I finished eating, I went out for a quick walk to digest the food. Then after that I made my way back home.

4 months later,

Almost one year have passed since I got here, and a lot of things have changed. In this past 4 months, I have constantly been putting my life at risk to get stronger, I have been fighting all sorts of dangerous wildlife, and I almost got killed a couple of times doing so, but thanks to that I have been getting stronger quickly.

I currently possess an inhuman endurance and strength, by earth standards of course, so the normal animals that I used to spar with are no longer my opponents. I can now easily send a lion flying with a punch, like I did at the end of my first fight, and I can also fight for longer periods of time.

The bad news is that my progress has slowed down lately and soon I'll be hitting a plateau.

"It's time for the final phase of my training." Because the normal animals don't pose a threat to my anymore, I need to step up my game again.

"I wonder if I could beat that huge tiger with the scar?"

"Well, it's time to find out."

Two hours later,

"I think I got deep enough, I should be able to encounter that monster here or at least something at the same level." Along the way I got to warm up fighting the small fries.

I kept searching for about 10 more minutes until I finally found him, he was in the middle of his meal, probably eating some animal that he hunted.

As I got closer enough to him, he noticed my presence, so he turned his head and looked at me.

"We meet again big guy, though you probably don't remember me." I said to him. He squinted his eyes and got on his feet.

I clenched my fist and got ready to fight. The tiger came charging at me at full speed, destroying everything in his way.

Seeing how aggressive he was I also started moving. Once I got close enough, I Jumped vertically to reach the height of his head, as he was at least 3 times taller than me, and then I threw a right punch to his face, but what I didn't expect, is that he almost didn't take any damage from that at all.

The tiger swinged his leg and sent me flying a few meters away.

"COUGH..COUGH…F-FUCK!!!" I spit up some blood.

"Hahah-COUGH!!...I did not expect less than this." He was the perfect opponent to help me push my limits, this monster does not only have a hard skin, but he is also fast and has a long range of attack due to his large body and long limbs.

"It feels like I'm facing a dark souls boss." For now, the only thing I could do is dodge his attacks and wait for openings.

20 minutes later,

(Third person Pov)

You could see a figure laying on the ground covered in blood with a lot of bruises and cuts all over his body. In the opposite side of the battlefield standing, a gigantic tiger with a scar across his eye.

(First Person Pov)

"The pain… it hurt so much" I could feel an intense pain all over my body.

For the past 20 minutes I've been trying to learn the tiger's attack pattern, but it was just a waste of time as this guy is totally unpredictable, 'Well, this is not a video game after all' I tough to myself while wiping the blood off my face.

'It was impossible to dodge all his attacks constantly, and even when there was an opening, I couldn't deal a lot of damage.' I got on my feet again.

'So, I got an idea. If I am going to get hit anyway. Why not take the opportunity to get a power up?' I looked at the monster with a smile.

"This is still just the basic technique, but I guess it's going to be enough to kick your ass. And it's all thanks to you." I waited for the tiger to come close and attack me. The moment his leg was about to hit me, I clenched my fist and flexed my muscles as hard as I can.

"TEKKAI!!!!" I screamed as loud as I can then I hardened my right first and punched the tiger back.

Tekkai, the ability to harden the user's muscles to the level of iron. I was only able to learn this due to the huge amount of muscles and physical strength that I built this past year.

The moment my fist clashed with his leg, he let out a deep roar and we both got pushed back. Thanks to my new technique I didn't take much damage, as opposed to the tiger who looked like he was in pain.

I didn't give him the time to rest, and immediately charged at him again. He tried to swing his tail at me, but I easily dodged it, then once I got close enough, I jumped at him and hardened my fist.

"TEKKAI!!!" I punched him in the head as hard as I can.

"BOOM!!!!..." He immediately fell unconscious.

"Huff…Huff…finally!!" After that attack, I lost all my energy and collapsed on the ground.