Read Dungeon Sniper :: Beta-Man Begins (3)

Ms. GOD was not lying when she told me she had given me some bonuses to my body. As someone who had spent almost all waking hours in the past decade or so in front of the computer practicing my gaming skills, I was definitely not one of the athletic bunch. My muscles were built for a decent hand-eye coordination: I had quick hands, and my back muscles allowed me to sit for a long period of time. Those were the two traits required for any gamer to succeed, among other things.

But now, as I strolled and stalked the dense forest, my feet and legs were swift and springy as if I were dreaming. No, not even in my best dreams had I been ever so agile. My eyesight was amazing despite the limited light coverage around me, and my ears could pick up the slightest rustling of leaves. And for some reason, I had a perfect sense of direction, as if a compass were installed inside my head. All in all, having a fit, healthy body felt great, and I would have hummed and whistled if I were not starving to death at the moment and feeling slightly miserable in spite of the change.

Meanwhile, other thoughts were crossing my mind. There were trees and plants in the area—it was a big forest after all—but did that mean there was a sun in this Dungeon? I could see the ceiling way above my head, some thousand yards from the ground, and it certainly felt like an underground setting, so how did these plants grow, and would it always be so dark in here?

My inner questions and curiosities were answered when I noticed that things around me had gotten brighter. I looked around for the source of the light, but I could not find any. Instead, the world around me just became bright, with no sun or anything. It was a strange sight, and even a stranger sensation, to walk in the light with neither the sun nor any one specific light source.

But the biggest concern for me at the moment was that I was getting hungrier by minutes. I had a plan though. I would find an animal—rabbit, deer, or even a mouse—and I would hunt it down, skin it, and roast it for a mini-barbecue. Was I a good hunter? No, I had only hunted like three times, and I enjoyed not one of them. Was I a skilled skinner and cook of wild animals? Hell no, but I watched my grizzly of a distant uncle prepare for food in the said manner once, and even though I had barely paid attention at the time, I was surprised that I was remembering every step and procedure as clearly as it were yesterday. I figured I owned more thanks to Ms. GOD for the unmentioned bonuses she bestowed on my new body.

There was no sane mirror in the broken houses at the village, so I was not sure how I looked now. But based on touching my features, I was pretty sure that my looks remained the same as before. I had no reason to complain or anything, but if Ms. GOD could, theoretically, transform my average level of good-looks to movie-star level, I would not have complained either—

My idle thoughts were cut off short when I spotted something about twenty yards in front of me. I stopped, crept out of the clear line of view, and hid behind a particularly puffy bush.

It was a rabbit, but bigger than any rabbit I had seen in my living days. Moreover, it had two canines sticking dangerously out of its mouth like fangs.

But it was a rabbit, and it looked meaty. And it was munching grass nonchalantly with its head down and ears up.

Without thinking, I took out the Rusted Bow—the trusty Rusty, or so I hoped—and nocked the arrow so smoothly and fluidly that I almost let out a reactionary ‘whoa’ to foil the hunt before it even began. The rabbit was only twenty yards away. Granted, I had shot arrows from greater distances, although never at a live, helpless animal. Although the rabbit had quite sharp fangs with it, which meant I could be the helpless one here, no?

So, my first of many hunts of who knew for how long. I hesitated a little, but a violent growl of my stomach strongly urged me to loose the arrow.

And flew the arrow, with a short, whipping sound of the wind coincided with the rusty creaking of Rusty, and the rabbit responded almost immediately at the sound—but belatedly. The rabbit had barely lifted its head half-an-inch when the arrow struck the rabbit right on the head, piercing the brain just as I aimed.

Before I could let out a triumphant grunt, something happened. Something weird, and startling. I almost jumped at the abrupt voice that rang in my head. It was not totally unlike the voice of Ms. GOD speaking through my mind, but it was not entirely the same either.

The voice simply said, [Skill Gained] and then something I could not catch with my embarrassingly girlish yelp muffling the follow-up words.

My little scream was then followed right away by a flurry of movements, and popped up a transparent panel of words and numbers in front of my eyes.

- Stats

HP: 1000/1000

MP: 500/500

Stamina: 850/1000

- Perks:

Fitness - Level B

Inner Compass

Survival Guts

Swift Legs

Vivid Memory