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Chapter 4 - Vicious Chase

[Your immune system has resisted the poison!]

[Congratulations! You have obtained a new skill!]

[Poison Resistance : Level 0]

3 hours later –

With extremely tired eyes, Alex woke up. The place around him was just as clear as before.

He wiped the dried blood from his face. He wanted to wash up in the water, but the fish remained as violent as ever.

____

[Player : Alex]

[Level : 1 (5/100)]

[Vitality : (300/545)]

[Stats :]

[Strength : 14.6]

[Stamina : 11]

[Agility : 18.1]

[Skills :]

[Sage Vision : Level 1]

[Poison Resistance: Level 0]

____

'It seems I have regained some of my vitality.'

Alex looked at the water current. The fish were still in the same quantity.

'Where are these fish even coming from? It's almost endless!'

'Now that I know I can earn exp, should I farm these fish? No, my vitality is still not fully healed. I have to conserve strength as much as possible.'

'I wonder whether I would heal faster if I meditated...'

For the next 45 minutes, he focused on meditating.

[Vitality : (304/545)]

[Vitality : (329/545)]

[Vitality : (345/545)]

Although it was slow, it did help him recover some vitality.

'I guess sleeping is the best way to recover vitality. But that's the main issue, I can't sleep peacefully!'

"Should I start farming these fish?" Alex muttered, cracking his neck and stretching his arms and legs, then clenching his fists tightly.

One after another, Alex caught fish using the same old method.

[You have slain a Black Piranha!]

[You have slain a Black Piranha!]

[You have slain a Black Piranha!]

But this method was consuming too much time. Each attack took him more than 10 minutes. The more he tried, the more the fish started to get wary.

'At this rate, I'll end up getting hungry again.'

Alex had tried eating the Black Piranha, but just taking a bite drained his vitality.

'Until my vitality fully recovers, I can't risk eating it. If I fall unconscious again, I won't be as lucky as earlier.'

____

5 hours had passed -

Alex now felt extremely calm from the long session of meditation. He felt incredibly fresh, as if his brain had just taken a bath and washed off all the dirt.

[Vitality : 545/545]

Alex, all cool and calm, picked up one of the fishes from earlier and started eating it.

[You have consumed a poison!]

Alex quickly spat out blood, but it wasn't like before. His eyes were bloodshot, but they weren't leaking. However, he was still spilling blood from his mouth and nose. This was a huge improvement.

The Poison Resistance skill was working, not that effectively, but it still had a big impact.

Vitality dropped to 250, but it didn't go any lower, and Alex looked quite okay.

[Vitality: (250/545)]

After successfully resisting the poison, he spent the next few minutes hunting fish again.

Alex had noticed that his strength, agility, and stamina improved every time he slayed a fish.

[Strength : 14.6] >> [Strength : 14.8]

[Stamina : 11] >> [Stamina : 11.2]

[Agility : 18.1] >> [Agility : 18.4]

Everything seemed too convenient for Alex, but he wasn't aware that this cave might have been the only safe place in this world… or maybe not?

Somewhere in the darkness, a creepy, humongous eight-legged creature was crawling around the cave.

Three giant leeches were hunting the piranhas. And in an instant, these same hunters became prey to the creepy creature. All it took was one hit to silence them forever.

It was a black spider that looked like a tarantula, about 8 feet tall. It was slowly approaching Alex from afar.

Meanwhile, Alex was hunting down fish one after another.

[Vitality: (160/545)]

'I've lost a good chunk of my vitality from killing them.'

Upon closer look, the dead piranhas had piled up a lot.

____

[Player : Alex]

[Level : 1 (97/100)]

[Vitality : (160/545)]

[Stats :]

[Strength : 15.5]

[Stamina : 13.2]

[Agility : 20.8]

____

'I'm almost about to break through. Once I reach level 2, will I gain something new? Maybe a new skill or something?'

Tired, Alex just sat on the ground.

Soon, he heard a noise coming from far away. He frowned, instincts on high alert.

Alex could hear the sound of the creature coming toward him thanks to the echoes.

He quickly made a run for it. He still wasn't sure what kind of monster he'd face, but he definitely didn't want to meet the one approaching him.

The black spider noticed Alex's sudden movement and increased its speed. Alex was already running fast, but when the spider sped up, his eyes widened in fear.

He didn't care anymore what creatures lay ahead—be it leeches, a herd of rats, or the mother of all piranhas. He dodged everything in his way and kept running at full pace.

The spider was catching up. Behind the black spider, wolf spiders followed along. Alex didn't have the luxury to look back. He just knew the monster behind him was dangerous.

Alex snapped out of it, he began running faster than his body could handle. His balance was way off, but somehow, he felt like he could manage.

It was the Sage Eyes.

[Sage Eyes have leveled up!]

He could see things more clearly and precisely, even in the dark. Seeing all kinds of shapes and the distance between each rock, he could predict which step would be the best to take.

Alex kept pushing himself, going even faster.

[Warning! You have exceeded your speed limit]

Blood started leaking from his nose, but he never slowed down.

[Your agility has increased by +0.2]

[Your agility has increased by +0.3]

[Your agility has increased by +0.2]

After nearly five minutes of running, he saw two different pathways: one where the water flowed from, and the other where a small ray of light shone in the distance. Without hesitation, he burst through the open door at high speed and found himself flying through the air.

The cave exit was quite high off the ground. Alex immediately fell 6 meters down.

The spider stopped at the edge of the path and just stared at Alex. After a short while, it simply turned around and went back inside.

Alex was both disgusted and terrified after seeing the creepy spider's face. He had no idea why it stopped the chase, was it afraid to leave its territory?

But anyway, it didn't follow him anymore. That's all that mattered.

Once Alex turned toward the new place, his eyes looked gloomy. The sky was dark blue. The trees looked dead. Bats were everywhere. The place was massive, wide, filled with lifeless trees, and an eerie silence.

For the first time in a while, Alex could rest peacefully. He lay down near one of the trees and checked his status.

____

[Player : Alex]

[Level : 1 (97/100)]

[Vitality : (32/545)]

[Stats :]

[Strength : 15.9]

[Stamina : 17.3]

[Agility : 25.8]

[Skills :]

[Sage Vision : Level 2]

[Poison Resistance: Level 0]

____

[Warning!!! Once your vitality drops below 20, your body will stop responding!]

"Wow, you had to inform me just at the right time!"

As if he wanted to give the system a round of applause for its clumsiness, Alex just looked disappointed.

Alex was feeling extremely tired, and his eyes looked as good as dead. As he was about to sleep, he noticed a knight in white armor leaning on the other side of the tree.

This was his first time seeing a human in this world.

Alex tapped the knight's shoulder, but there was no response.

Maybe he's asleep?

After several minutes of trying to wake him, anxiety creeping in, Alex finally opened the helmet.

It was a skeleton!

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