Suddenly, a music played in my head. This time it wasn’t the same one the System used, but the battle victory theme from a famous rpg game.

[Congratulations user Cassandra for the level up. Current level 8. 1 attribute point available. 1 skill available.]

‘Add the attribute to Mind and show me the skill,’ I still wasn’t entirely sure if increasing Mind was doing anything. At no point during today, there was a moment when actually paying attention to what the skill was doing was an option. To be fair, I could’ve tested that out before leaving the cave, but I forgot. Still, going from 1 to 2 Mind was a 100% increase, and going for 2 to 3 was 50%. While increasing body from 6 to 7 would be around a 20% improvement. Mind sounded like the better option, one way or another.

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Silent Step - Active - Unranked
Cost: 1 Energy
Duration: 10 minutes

Move quietly through the forest, making it easier to avoid detection by prey and predators.
Reduces the noise created by your movements.
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‘Show me my status and please tell me I have a new Memory slot.’

[Unfortunately, user’s Memory still is at 4.]

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Cassandra Ydorf - Level 8
Titles: Enduring Heart
Tier 0

Mind 3 - Body - 7
Memory - 4 Energy - 0/4 (1 Reserved)

Skills - 4/4

Quick Tier 1 Evolution - Passive
Energy Storage - Passive - 1 Energy
Body Regeneration - Active - 1 Energy/ 10 minutes
Compression - Active - 1 Energy/ 5 uses

Mind of Possibility - Available
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‘Shit. I want that skill but there is nothing worth changing. Also, {Compression} -‘ before I could finish my sentence, a noise caught my attention behind me.

Slowly turning around, the first thing that came into view was a pair of yellow eyes reflecting the low light of this dark area of the forest. Its mouth was slightly open, showing the large yellow fangs that confirmed this wasn’t a simple animal. If anything, it looked more like the saber-tooth tiger. It seemed like that thing had a skill similar to the one I almost got since its movements were barely making any sound as it climbed the tree by my side and perched over a branch. The mountain lion was staring at me, already salivating, even though it should have had a full meal recently. Its muscles tensioned, clearly ready to pounce.

‘{Mind of Possibility}‘

I called the skill as soon as I could. This was supposed to give me some time to make a decision, and that was what I needed now. Hopefully, the extra point in Mind would also increase its power.

The moment the SP started to work, the world changed. Everything became more real, more present. The rustling of the trees more pronounced, and the small light coming from the sun was able to reveal more of the surrounding area. Still, noticing all that took less than a second, my focus was on something else.

The mutated mountain lion was in front of me and was about to attack. Jumping back, I saw the monster watching me, its muscles relaxing. Not long after, the reason became clear. My back connected with some dried brushes and leaves, and crashed through the camouflaged hole, sending my body into the spike trap. Three of them caught my legs, two of my torso, one my arm, and the last pierced the back of my skull, killing me.

On top of the branch, I jumped back, this time using more strength to push away from the tree. The lion followed after, reaching the place I just left befog jumping after me. In the air, I watched the creature’s jaws open, its fangs seeming to grow even larger and the teeth looking sharper in the light. As soon as my feet hit the ground, the creature landed on top of me, its claws piercing my stomach and its fangs ripping my throat open.

Jumping to the left, the lion didn’t even waste time going to the branch I just left. Instead, it pivoted its body, and from its current location lunged towards me. Its massive frame slammed against me, and it pinned my body on a tree, using its two claws without even touching the ground. There, it started eating me while on top of the tree. In that position there was nothing I could do except scream.

Trying something different, I jumped towards the monster, trying to attack it. But the creature meets me in the air, having the same idea. We clashed between the two branches and fell to the ground. My attempt to hit it with the staff ended up not dealing with enough damage to it. As we landed, the lion was on top of me and its fangs sank into my neck before I could try anything else.

Waiting for it to jump me had the same result, I attempted to use {Compression} to make it fall on top of the staff, but the creature was too smart, and there was no place to prop the metal against and no way to move in order for a real strike, I fell to the ground, with the lion killing me as we landed.

A different attempt, jumping at a different angle to the left. Claws sink in my chest, dead.

Jumping over it, tail grabs my ankle and tosses me to the ground, my neck breaks with the fall, dead.

To the right, fangs rip my throat, dead.

Moving back, claw, dead.

Climbing up, Dead.

Jump- Dead.

Rig- Dead.

Att- Dead.

Nothing I could come up with was letting me win this. Screw win, I couldn’t even survive. The skill was running out, I could tell the amount of SP moving around my head was slowly getting smaller. But I had no idea what to do to kill this thing. It was the first time I faced a creature so much stronger than I. No, wait, that wasn’t true. When I killed the Eater, I didn’t even have the system. Maybe I could try the same thing again.

The best place for that would be on the ground, and only when I tried to go over the trap, my feet hit the dirt. By jumping far enough and triggering {Compression} to increase the size of the pole, the lion was struck on the side of its torso, opening a gash on its stomach. The impact also sent it tumbling to the side, landing away from me. However, the skill ended, stopping me from trying a different angle in hopes of killing the monster in one move.

I followed that last path, jumping far enough and getting ready to use {Compression}. That was the only alternative where I was still alive after the lion hit the ground. But instead of doing the same thing, the second cast of the skill was delayed. If the monster was closer, there was a chance that it would be killed in a single move.

Using all my strength, I jumped, the monster following right after. It had to take another step on the branch I just left, but it continued to come after me, taking the exact same path I saw while the skill was active. My feet hit the ground just before the trap, quickly shifting my back leg to stabilize myself, I pointed the staff at the Lion that was already in the air. It was possible for me to use {Compression} now, but it wouldn’t be the best moment. The later the skill was activated, the more likely the monster was to be killed by the blow.

Even without {Mind of Possibility}, time seemed to slow down as I watched that massive creature approaching. Its yellow eyes focused on me, fangs shining even through the low light around us. Just as it was falling, the Lion’s eyes widened. Not due to something happening to it, but because its fur started getting denser. If it wasn’t for the light of the sun on its teeth, I might have not noticed it. Each strand of hair wriggled as if they were made out of millions of tiny worms coming out of its body.

I had no idea what that was, but changing my plan now wasn’t an option. Holding the staff tighter, I triggered {Compression}, with the tip aimed at the lion’s center of mass. The metal grew quickly, but not quick enough. The monster noticed the incoming attack and twisted its body, using the front legs to jump on the metal staff. But it wasn’t as smart as it seemed. Even if the lion was able to change its trajectory mid air, it didn’t realize the staff was growing. With the extra momentum going forward, the end of the metal pipe crashed against its back left leg, crushing the bone before it tumbled to the ground in pain.

Thankfully, the monster landed far away from me, and I wasn’t about to let this chance escape. Pulling the staff back, I triggered {Compression} once more, changing it to a size that I could handle. But the Lion didn’t let me finish, it lunged at me. Since the pole was still big enough to be a shield, I stopped the skill and pushed it in front of me, making the monster scrape its claws along the side of the staff.

Taking a step back, I triggered {Compression} one more time to fix the size of my weapon but the skill didn’t work. I was out of charges for it and now the pole was too big to hold it with one hand. With a groan, I held the staff with both hands and swung it in a wide arc, hoping to hit the monster. The attack failed, as the creature jumped over it, but it yelped as it landed, clearly struggling to move one of its legs.

For some reason, my movement with the staff like this made me think of Draco. How dragons could swing their tails in wider arcs using their entire body for an attack. Continuing with the momentum, I spun around, raising the tip of the metal pole to avoid a tree and bringing it down directly on top of the mutated lion. A sickening crunch echoed through the forest along with a loud clang as the metal hit the ground.

I pulled the staff up to see the damage caused by the strike and the Lion jumped towards me, now both legs on its left side broken thanks to my weapon. Still, the creature had enough strength to push me down to the ground and try to bite me. Its fangs cut the side of my neck as I fell and the claws pierced my chest. Thankfully, the odd distribution of weight made the creature flop to the side instead of pressing down, otherwise the wound would be far more than just superficial.

Taking advantage of the confusion of the Lion due its strange position, I pushed it out of me, towards the spike trap. It wouldn’t be enough to kill it, but maybe, if I was lucky, the sharp sticks and stones would hinder it enough for me to finish the job. As the monster was flung to the side, it still managed to claw at my leg, breaking the already damaged wooden shinguard and ripping my skin open. But climbing out of the spike trap was a different story. As the lion struggled inside, the jagged edges slowly piercing its skin, I walked over to the staff, grabbed it and started to slam it on the monster’s head. Trying to push it against the spikes.

I hit it again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again. I hit that monster until my arms couldn’t lift the staff. Even then, I still wanted to hit it. Not just out of fear of the creature still being alive, but anger. This beast killed me. It killed me countless times, over and over again, and now it was going to die for it.

After I don’t know how long, my body collapsed backwards, the large staff dropping to the side, and I took a deep breath. What remained from the mountain lion was just a mess of blood, bile, and meat smashed against the pit. I felt something washing over me, a slight tingly sensation comes to my feet and slowly climbs its way towards the rest of my body. A music played in my head, the battle victory theme from a famous rpg game.

[Congratulations user Cassandra for the level up. Current level 9. 1 attribute point available. No skills available.]