My vision was blurring, and a pool of blood had already formed underneath me. I was mere moments away from dying, and I knew this.
With my heart pierced, it was not a question of will I die; it was the question of how long will it take me to die?
It would be a lie if I said that I didn't have any regrets. Everything that had happened was purely because of my incompetence.
Me hastening to combine the
But even with all of this regret, I was still dying. I couldn't turn back time now.
"I promise that if I am able to survive this situation, then I will do everything possible to survive…" I muttered with a defeated tone.
Suddenly, a blue panel appeared in front of me, and [Sophi]'s voice rang in my ears.
[Congratulations host, you have levelled up to level 2, all your injuries have been healed]
[You have gained a single stat point]
[You have gained the title
[You have unlocked the class function of the system]
…
Condition: Be at the verge of death and instantly fully heal.
Physique: +2
Skill: Last Stance
…
…
At the verge of death, the user can gain double strength.
…
I felt my strength return to me; it was as if I was alive again. The bloody hole in my chest knitted together quickly and recovered right in front of my eyes.
A new vigor filled my limbs. My body returned to its peak and prime. It was as if I wasn't injured in the first place at all.
"Huh?" I stood up from the ground in stunned disbelief. The first thing in my mind was: What the hell is going on!?
[Host, you have levelled up, granting you full recovery]
"Is that for every level up?"
[Yes]
'Damn, I didn't expect that levelling up would be so powerful,' I muttered in my mind, absolutely stunned.
'Then what should I do now?'
[First things first, you have unlocked the class function and can choose various classes]
"What does this class do, actually, tell me the best path that I can take with my build," I muttered.
[According to your build, a
"Huh, I thought
[You already have high physical stats. If you choose
"Well, that is certainly interesting," I murmured. "Since the clanker itself has said it, then I shall follow."
With that, I chose the class quickly.
The moment I chose the class, I could immediately feel a strange energy circulating inside my body.
I knew it was there, but I couldn't sense it.
[You can summon your first spirit now, host]
"Good." For now, I didn't focus on that, instead on the new skill that had saved my life.
…
On the verge of your death, you can gather every ounce of your strength to launch a final attack.
…
"Not bad, not bad," I muttered, nodding my head in appreciation of it.
Even though the skill and the title seemed similar, it was obviously very different and, in fact, complemented each other very well.
Now, at my final moments, I could have twice my strength and gather it all for one final blow. This was like an ace hole for me that I could use at my final moment to surprise my foe.
"I also got a single stat point, right?"
[Yes, host]
"Good, this seems pretty valuable to me, so let's not use it for now," I thought and decided to be smart with it, learning from my previous mistake.
Shaking away all the rewards I had gotten, I surveyed my surroundings.
The bloody stench of death clung to the air. Mangled corpses of Imps lay scattered, their bodies torn apart and reduced to a grotesque mush on the ground. It was a gruesome sight, one that almost made me retch.
I gagged with my stomach twisting, but managed to hold it down. There was nothing left in me to vomit anyway, and forcing it out would only make things worse later.
Forcing my eyes away from the carnage, I turned to the Medium Yellow Imp and stripped it of its gear, its dented metal helmet, worn bracers, and bloodied sword.
At least now I had something to defend myself with. A sword and a scimitar, crude, but better than bare hands. With gear in hand, I felt a little more prepared to scavenge this dangerous place.
Still, I had to tread carefully. One mistake here could very well be my last.
In the next few days, I just found random fruits scanned by [Sophi] to eat and silently travelled through the forest.
Then, on the third day, I merged the two skills of mine:
And I scoured quite a bit that day.
On the fourth day, I found an abandoned cave and settled there.
"To my east, there is a pack of boars. To my west, there are settlements of small monsters like Imps. To my north, there are strange tree monsters," I grumbled, looking in the south direction. There, it was a complete desert with poisonous gas emitting from it.
It was likely that no living being survived that desert, but who knows the wonder of nature.
Either way, I was completely surrounded by danger and didn't know where to go from here.
Firstly, as the rule of the jungle states, the strongest reigned supreme, and I needed to have strength if I wanted to venture into those areas.
…
Health: 200
Strength: 10
Defense: 10
Stamina: 10
Dexterity: 10
Physique: 12 (+2)
Speed: 14 (+2)
Magic: 0
Spirit Power: 1 (+1)
Attribute Points: 1
…
My stats were looking pretty neat for now, especially my speed which had increased significantly, but I felt that this wasn't nearly enough yet.
So, I tried to summon my first spirit!