The forest was dark, only illuminated by the faint light of the moon piercing through the dense branches of the trees. Shadows stretched across the ground as the gentle wind stirred the leaves, creating a whispering symphony in the silence of the night.
Tyler’s eyes slowly fluttered open as he beca conscious. His vision, initially blurry, gradually cleared as he lay on his back. Above him, the branches of the trees reached out like dark, twisting fingers, and the stars finally appeared clear in the night sky, casting a cold, distant glow over the woods.
Only the soft rustling of leaves caused by the wind broke the stillness, filling the forest with a gentle, haunting sound.
Tyler groaned softly, then sat up straight. A strange warmth replaced the usual cold feeling of the night air, spreading through his body. He winced as he moved, muscles strained and tired.
"Huh…?" he muttered slowly, rubbing the back of his head. His voice was hoarse, tired. He felt a deep exhaustion weighing down on him, draining his strength. He rubbed his face, trying to clear the fog from his mind.
And then, suddenly, it all ca rushing back the faint mory of losing all his strength while standing in front of Rebecca and collapsing.
“Oh… right,” he said, his voice still tired and strained. He slowly face-pald himself.
“I suddenly fainted after hunting with Rebecca,” he muttered, looking around at the peaceful, moonlit forest. But then, a realization struck him.
He was in the forest, he was still in the forest, and it was night. Tyler then imdiately tried to stand, his body still tired. He imdiately groaned, then got on his legs, crouching down, and used his knee for support as he slowly straightened up.
I'm still in this forest. Wait, so she just left there? Really? She just fucking left here after I’ve helped her so much. She beca a B-rank because of . After I collapsed and fainted... she just fucking took off. That bitch.
Tyler then looked around and saw that... he wasn't where he had collapsed. He was in an entirely different place in the forest, near a bush.
A bit of annoyance and anger started to flare up within Tyler. He felt betrayed, but much more, he felt lost. He didn’t really know where he was. The concern of being alone in the forest overshadowed his feeling of betrayal from Rebecca. He thought she had left him there right after he collapsed.
Tyler then facepald himself once more. *I’m so fucking stupid.she was never really one to trust anyway. I just t her, what, two days?*
*Now I’m hunting with her. And helping her—as if she’s a person I’ve known for a long ti. I should have refused.*
Tyler then thought to himself,
*It’s so dark around here, I don’t even know where to go. Wait....*
He then rembered one ti he stayed in the forest, and the system had given him an achievent for sleeping in the forest at least once.
Tyler then muttered, "Even if I found my way back, I don't think I'd find her. I might ask Serena or sobody else, but I don't think they'll even know where she is."
He stretched a bit, the muscles in his arms and back loosening slightly. Then he said out loud, "At least she didn't kill ." A faint smile tugged at his lips, a small flicker of relief and joy filling his mind after everything that had happened.
He then thought, *At least it wasn't all for nothing. I've got a lot of ingredients from the hunt.* He paused, glancing around. *I was extracting each and every monster we hunted, and there weren't any boss monsters or monsters that were very high in level, so I took quite a lot of items* He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. *She leveled up all the way to 84 from like 57. Let check them out."*
Suddenly, the system panel appeared in front of Tyler, glowing with a faint blue hue. It hovered there, shimring softly. And it showed the inventory.
The panel displayed nurous small boxes lined up next to each other, each containing icons of hides, claws, feathers, and other monster parts lots of them. The system panel scrolled down through the inventory spaces, revealing a vast collection of items.
Tyler’s eyes widened in surprise. *"Wow... There is a lot of stuff. I knew I had a lot, but this is a lot"
He then noticed that there were many empty inventory spaces below the items—rows of empty slots stretching downward.
His thoughts continued to race. *So many inventory spaces... If I'm right, I started with four inventory spaces, and every ti I leveled up, I gained two more."* He paused, trying to do the math in his head. *"So, I leveled up about 78 tis. And... that ans... I have about a hundred and fifty."*
He scratched his head, frowning slightly. *"Ah, I’m not really good at math."*
Suddenly, the system panel disappeared and was replaced by another one showing his stats.
SPECIES: Human
NA: Tyler Evans
RANK: C
LVL: 78
CLASS: Craftsman
HP: 344/344 MP: 282/282
STR: 307 AGI: 425
DEF: 788 STM: 297
STATUS: Healthy
Skills: Armour Craft Lv2, Weapon Craft Lv2, Weapon Mastery, Alchemy, Accessory Craft, Acid Blood, Room
Equipped Skills: Charge- MC:50
*Oh, I almost forgot I levelled up back then while I was hunting with her. That one level-up restored all my mana and stamina, so we continued hunting until my mana was almost empty again.* Tyler thought as he looked at his stats floating in front of him, the system panel glowing faintly with a soft blue hue.
The panel disappeared as he took a few steps forward and stopped. He put his hands on his waist and said aloud, "Huh, so what I thought was right. This isn't the sa place as the one I had lost consciousness in. She moved ."
Questions swirled in his mind. "But why?" he asked himself, confusion flickering in his voice. He had believed that when he lost consciousness, she had just left him there. But now he could see that she had moved him sowhere else.
He was puzzled. Why had she done that? She could’ve left him there.
Then Tyler muttered to himself, "Did sothing happen while I was unconscious?" He continued, straightening his posture, rubbing the dark black hair that covered his head as he brushed against a tree branch.
He still didn’t know where he was. The darkness around him was thick and he didn’t even know which way to go.
Tyler then thought, I need to find a way to get back. He looked upward, scanning the surrounding trees to identify the tallest one nearby. He figured this thod always worked for him: Climbing to get a better view or find a way out. He saw a tall tree about 20 feet away and began walking toward it.
He decided to climb it. His legs felt a bit tired, and his shoulders carried a dull ache, but he used all his remaining strength. He grabbed the first branch with a grunt and pulled himself up, muscles protesting with a loud groan.
He then stepped onto a thicker branch, both hands grabbing another higher one. With a surge of force, he pulled himself upward, pushing his body until he landed on a new branch. As he held onto it, he felt a slight snap in the wood beneath him, and he muttered, "Oh shit."
He looked down and saw that he was now a few feet above the ground. With a strained groan, he pulled himself higher, gripping the branch tightly. He then reached another branch and finally stood on the topmost part of the tree, feeling a mont of relief.
From this vantage point, he surveyed the forest view. To the left, he saw smoke rising from a distant direction, probably from a base or camp. But it looked very far away.
He thought to himself, *That’s probably the hunter’s base, but it looks so far. I didn’t think we were this far, were we? I probably wouldn’t know, she was the one pointing in all those directions earlier. *
He sighed, considering his options. Well, let’s decide. I’m going in that direction. He looked at the smoke rising in the distance.
Tyler then looked down and saw that he was a bit far from the ground. He then thought to himself, *a drop from this high probably won't hurt , right? I an, I'm a level 78 after all.*
Even with those reassuring words, the more he looked at the distance, the more he thought he would hurt himself. He wanted to jump, believing it to be the fastest way down. And he figured he wouldn’t need to exert much effort—going down the way he climbed up would be easier, faster, and less tiring.
Then Tyler simply said, "Oh well."
The tree branch groaned as he pushed off, jumping into the air. A gust of wind, feeling a bit cold, hit against his cheeks, causing his short black hair to flutter gently in the breeze.
He landed smoothly on both legs, and surprisingly, it didn’t hurt at all. He straightened up quickly, brushing off the twigs and leaves that had stuck in his armor.
He then looked to the left and moved in that direction, heading straight toward the base. He thought to himself, *If I could just run all the way there, it would be so much faster,* but he knew he just had to walk.
He increased his pace slightly, but kept a steady walk.
As he moved, he continued to think, *I can't believe I fainted. I an, I knew I was tired, but suddenly collapsing like that?* He frowned, feeling the frustration build.
*If that’s going to happen every ti I use Charge a lot, that’s going to be a big disadvantage.* He clenched his fists. *I believe Charge is the most powerful skill I have. And it’s all because of my stamina stat. It’s lacking the most. So, I have to find a way to increase it.*
An idea then ca to Tyler mid-thought.
Right, he muttered, slightly in a whisper outside, his eyes widening slightly with realization. *Every ti I trained, or should I say, every ti Grom trained , so of my stats would just go up without needing to level up.* He paused, pondering. *I could make my stamina stats catch up to the others that way, but how?* Most of his stats had increased through achievents.
*What kind of achievents do I have to get to boost my stamina?* he wondered, frowning.
Then another idea struck him. *Of course.* He thought, *I have to do sothing super tiring. Sothing that has to do with stamina.* He hesitated for a mont before adding, "I might as well start right now, right? Who knows, I might get an achievent or sothing."
With that, Tyler’s walk started to pick up speed, gradually turning into a brisk pace, then into a jog. His legs moved faster and faster across the uneven ground. His breathing grew ragged, each breath sharp and shallow as he pushed himself.
He then thought to himself, *If I was a lower level, I’d be worried about monsters suddenly coming out of nowhere to try to kill . But I don’t have to worry about that.* His lips curled into a faint smirk. *I can simply kill them. I’m done with this base. I need to move on to another one anyway.*
As those thoughts crossed his mind, suddenly, at the corner of his eye, to his left, he saw sothing moving. It was small, and black—the shape of a rabbit. But it looked different, almost shadowy.
The system’s glow shone on top of the shadow walker, and a floating blue text appeared above it, reading: Shadow walker - Level 16.
Tyler’s eyes widened further. Without hesitation, he equipped the Terra Dagger. In an instant, it materialized in his hand, Red and gleaming sharply in the moonlight.
Tyler then simply threw the Terra Dagger at the shadow walker with his left hand. Before the creature could react, the dagger pierced it right in its backside, killing it instantly. Tyler then ran past the fallen shadow walker, muttering the word "EXTRACT."
The shadow walker's hide glowed faintly blue, then disappeared into his inventory, leaving behind its skinless carcass. Tyler nodded with a small smile on his face.
"Nice," he muttered, feeling a sense of satisfaction.
He then thought to himself, *I now have a shadow walker hide in my inventory. Who knows, I might craft sothing else with it.*
He ran for a while longer, but soon exhaustion started to creep over him. His breathing grew more ragged, each breath shallow. His chest felt like it was burning, and his legs ached painfully.
He thought, *Oh... man, I’m so freaking tired.*
Slowly, he slowed his pace and ca to a stop, resting his arms on his knees as he bent over, sweat trickling down his forehead, dripping from the side of his cheek, falling onto the lush green grass of the forest floor.
He looked upward again and said, "Co on, we’ve done this before. This isn’t even tiring at all. I used to carry weights while running, right?"
Then he continued, increasing his pace once more, pushing himself to run again. Tyler ran and ran, weaving between the trees under the night sky, his shadow a blur against the dark forest background.
And finally, he reached the river. But in a sudden misstep, he tripped himself and fell face-first onto the ground, crashing into the forest floor.
Tyler then wiped his cheeks and looked upward, his chest pressed against the forest floor as he gazed at the river gleaming in the moonlight, reflecting the stars above. A flicker of anger flared up inside him again.
*This wouldn’t be happening if that bitch didn’t leave .I an, I freaking saved her that ti. Couldn’t she just pick up and go back? She was strong enough to lift , wasn’t she? What am I even saying?She’s just a freaking snake.*
He then struggled to pull himself upright, groaning softly with effort. His body trembled as he finally managed to stand straight, breathing heavily, every muscle aching from exhaustion.
Suddenly, the system panel appeared right in front of his face with a bright flash.
Achievent Unlocked.
User has ran 4 kiloters in his exhausted state: 10 STM.
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