7 Finally Leveled-Up! (1/1)

”Lewis. It's Lewis.” I responded, I sighed knowing I could do nothing about the old man - he'd simply been too caught up in his own thoughts when we had first met to even ask me, even I could tell that and I barely knew him!

”Lewis.. Lewis.. Eh good enough.” He repeated it before spitting out what could barely be considered an insult, ”That's my name you know..” I mumbled under my breath not daring to argue too loudly with this Elder; I still didn't know his real personality, he seemed easy going but he was an assassin - he could easily be faking his emotions to gain my trust.. I was deep in thought when I felt a push, propelling me off the platform and hurtling towards the ground.

”Good luck lad! I'll see you in a few months when you get to the academy, oh and before I forget! I put a knife on your belt! There's beasts in this forest, hahahah!” The old man shouted as I fell towards the ground, there were crash mats to cushion my landing from what I could see but I knew this was gonna hurt, ”You old bastarrrdddd!” I screamed as I hit the ground.

...

One Day Later

”Stupid old man.. pushing me off the edge nearly falling to my death..” I grumbled to myself as I started to tread through the forest, it'd been about a day since the old man has pushed me off and I was starving - I hadn't stopped walking month in the entire time I was here, even neglecting sleep to continue..

”I NEED FOOD!” I roared into the forest, I was going to go insane at this rate - the old man had said there were beasts here, where the f*ck are they?!

ROAARRR

From the west came a roar in response, I knew that sound.. it was commonly heard from.. oh fuck. I began to run for my life, I had a knife sure - but could I fight the king of the jungle?! I felt the ground shudder beneath my feet as I ran at my top speed, the sounds of paws hitting the earth could be heard from behind me - they were gaining fast and I was sure I was done for.. ”Oh fuuuuck” I turned my head to see a tiger chasing after me, my speed was obviously too slow to out run it so I made a choice in my haste, I dived to the nearest tree projecting a shadow, ”MELD!” I screamed, in an instant I was in the shadow realm - the Tiger had stopped in confusion, its prey had just disappeared before its eyes.

I heaved a sigh of relief, thankfully this beast wasn't as powerful as the old man or I'd be truly fucked with no way to escape.. What type of fucked up eco-system is this?! This is clearly a forest not a jungle, why is there a fucking tiger?! I had so many questions yet not enough time, the time was slowly ticking away in my head and I hadn't moved from the spot, the tiger was gradually beginning to lose interest but I could tell it was sure I was still there - if my scent suddenly reappared it'd just give chase again and I wasn't sure how long it'd be before I could reuse Shadow Diving as I'd never hit the time limit before.. I had a feeling that if I stayed in for the full 5 minutes I'd have to wait to enter the Shadow Realm again, it was time I didn't have..

2 Minutes quickly sped by and the tiget had laid down in waiting, it kept staring at the tree I'd disappeared into - I was pretty sure it thought I was on the tree but I couldn't see its eyes in the shadow realm only its rough outline.. I made up my mind to climb the tree, something I found surprisingly easy despite never having done it before, the branches were thick and sturdy allowing me to gain balance on them as I slowly walked across, the foliage was dense enough to block any light that would force me out of the shadow realm, it was easy to avoid them.

Quickly I had positioned myself close enough to the tiger to jump on, I had about 2 minutes left before I was forced out of the Shadow Realm and I didn't want to miss my shot.. I counted by the second, I had started since I entered the realm..

I was down to my last 10 seconds already, time passed by too fast - I felt my heart beating wildly in my chest as I forced myself to calm down, gripping the dagger at my waist I pulled it from my belt, I was sure this things quality had to be good considering the old man had given it to me.. hopefully anyway.

5... 4... 3... 2..

I jumped, I held the dagger and jumped aiming for the neck of the tiger, I fell right on target - just as I was about to hit its shadow I felt myself being ripped out of the Shadow Realm as if an invisible force had kicked me out, it was more violent than using the light to exit that was for sure; it left me grimancing in pain but I couldn't do anything about it so I plunged the knife down... it entered easily and I could feel the tigers life slip away from it like its soul was leaving the body through the hole my knife had made.. it whinced in pain before becoming silent..

+ 40 xp Gained for defeating a strong enemy! Adolescent Tiger!

Congratulations Monarch! You have leveled up to level 2, your current xp is is (0/200) Notice: All xp is reset to 0 upon leveling up, no exp will be carried in as ”Overflow” all of it will be contributed to the Monarchs level up process, the more exp given the stronger the level up will be - please unlock the Stats menu to fully understand the depths of this...

I was stunned, I had a hunch that killing this tiger would make give me the required xp to level up but I was also slightly pissed that the xp didn't carry over onto my next level.. Although what it said about the xp overflow making me stronger if I leveled up with it.. I felt a surge of energy fill me and I could faintly feel that my strength had increased along with my energy and speed, I could easily outrun the tiger in terms of stamina now, I clenched my fist and felt a power surging through me - it was almost intoxicating.

I turned to look at the text that was still eerily hanging there as if waiting for me to notice something, I was right, there it was in front of me .. 'Adolescent Tiger' ”Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me.” I heard a low growl as I turned to face a tiger that was much larger than the one I had just killed, I knew in an instant that this wasn't an opponent the current me could challenge - this was a true Queen of the jungle.. and I'd just killed its child.

”YOU FUCKING SCUMBAG OLD MAN I'LL KILL YOU IF I MAKE IT OUT OF HERE ALIVE!” I screamed as I sprinted off into the forest, grabbing the knife now covered in tiger blood..