Ch. 11..20

Chapter 11 - Sword

Time froze for Alex.

He only looked into the blank, white eyes of the… creature.

Yes, this was a creature, not an animal.

Just looking at it filled Alex with terror.

This thing differed greatly from a normal animal. Alex wasn't sure what exactly it was, but he felt a definite difference.

The green lizard had also felt different from normal animals, and this creature evoked a similar feeling as the lizard.

However, this creature felt far more powerful and far deadlier.

It was like the lizard and the creature were not on the same level.

An eternity seemed to pass as the two beings only looked at each other.

Ssshhh!

Time resumed as the creature suddenly jumped at Alex with ferocious speed. The jump made no sound. One could only hear something fast parting the air, nothing more.

Alex's body reacted instinctively, and Alex let himself fall away from the branch, putting the branch between him and the creature.

BANG!

The creature's left foreleg completely destroyed the thick branch that had been powerful enough to support Alex's full weight for hours.

CRSH!

Alex felt a burning pain assault the back of his thighs as muscles and blood were ripped out.

The creature had torn off a huge part of Alex's thigh.

If the branch hadn't been between them, his legs would have been completely destroyed!

BANG!

Alex's back hit the ground, pressuring his lungs, making it impossible to breathe.

Crsh!

The silent sound of wood being crushed could be heard as the creature used its long claws to stick to the tree.

Right now, Alex lay on the ground, not being able to breathe. His right thigh had a gigantic gash in it.

Meanwhile, the creature stopped in the tree and looked at Alex.

Then, it jumped again.

Alex's mind fell into chaos.

For a seemingly long time, his mind couldn't conjure up any rational thoughts as he tried to find a way out of this situation.

The distance between Alex and the creature reduced rapidly as the creature opened its mouth, filled with long, terrifying teeth.

When Alex saw the teeth, only two thoughts appeared in his head.

The first thought was: Protect!

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Alex's hands stretched towards the creature in a futile effort to defend himself.

The second thought was: Weapon!

The image of many weapons shot through Alex's mind, but his mind subconsciously fixated on the image of a sword.

The creature reached Alex and bit down.

SHING!

Time stopped again.

Alex looked with terror at his front, right into the creature's white eyes.

He… he was still alive!

Alex quickly noticed why he was still alive.

A black sword had materialized in Alex's right hand, and the black sword had impaled the creature's head.

The creature was already dead.

The sword had gone through its brain.

The creature had already stopped its own fall before it had tried to bite Alex. Because of that, its weight hadn't pushed Alex away.

Several seconds of silence passed.

"Hurgh!"

Alex was finally able to breathe again as his lung recovered from the fall.

Alex only looked with shock at the creature, trying to come to terms with the fact that he had survived.

Several seconds later, Alex pulled himself away and pulled the sword out of the creature's head.

SHING!

Then, Alex only looked at the sword.

In Alex's desperation, his mind had subconsciously conjured a long and sharp weapon that could be used in one hand.

The black cube transformed into a weapon fitting the criteria.

Under the moonlight, Alex saw the weapon that would follow him for the rest of his life.

The first thought that came to Alex was: Long!

The sword was a bit over a meter long, putting it among the longer swords.

The second thought was: Thin!

The sword was straight as a nail and thin.

Yet, it had two symmetrical edges, separating it from eastern longswords, like katanas.

In short, Alex's sword looked like a longer, straight rapier with two edges.

One could also say that it looked like a thinner European longsword but with the same width all the way through.

However, its guard was nearly nonexistent, comprising of just a tiny rectangle.

Alex inspected his weapon as he slowly calmed down.

'It looks fragile,' Alex thought as he furrowed his brows. 'Such a thin sword would break apart after only a single clash with an actual one.'

Alex's hand started to shake.

'However, it's heavy. It's even hard to just hold it in my right hand like this.'

Alex put the sword down, and its tip slightly cut into the earth.

Under the shining moonlight, Alex continued to look at the sword.

However, the more he looked at it, the better it seemed.

'Actually, I shouldn't impose the logic of my own world into this new world,' Alex thought. 'The guy said that this sword can grow more powerful by absorbing ore. Additionally, I'm not sure if there even exists a material in my old world that can become this heavy with only this bit of volume.'

Alex's narrowed eyes suddenly had a glint of excitement in them.

'Actually, if swordsmiths had access to such powerful materials, they might not have made all their swords that thick to begin with. It's already hard enough to wield this sword, even though it's that thin.'

'I should test it.'

Then, Alex stood up.

"Argh!"

However, he failed as he sat down again.

Alex had forgotten that the backside of his right thigh was ravaged. As soon as he had tried to stand up, burning pain shot throughout his whole body.

Under immense pain, Alex moved his body as he inspected his thigh.

When Alex saw the injury, he took a deep breath through gritted teeth.

The gash was massive!

He could even see his own bone!

'I need to drink the healing potions in my bag!'

Alex looked up at the tree but remembered that his branch had been completely obliterated.

After looking around the area for a bit, Alex finally spotted his bag under the dim moonlight.

Alex crawled over, constantly being assaulted by pain.

A minute later, he arrived beside his back and rummaged through it.

However, when he looked into the bag, a shiver went through his body.

The bag was wet, and some red liquid was swimming in the bag.

The glass bottles holding the three healing potions had shattered!

'Fuck!'

Alex pulled everything solid out of the bag, including the glass splinters.

Then, he put the bag to his mouth and tried to drink the red liquid in the bottle through his gritted teeth. He did this so that no glass splinters entered his body.

It was disgusting!

The dirt and dust of the bag mixed with the red liquid, nearly forcing Alex to puke.

However, he forced himself through it.

Pack!

When he was done, Alex threw the bag to the side with disgust.

SSSSHHHH!

Suddenly, Alex felt a burning pain shooting throughout his body as the sound of something burning appeared.

Ten seconds later, the sensation disappeared, and Alex took a deep breath.

Then, Alex inspected his thigh, and his eyes widened when he saw it.

The wound was gone!

It was completely gone!

It was like it had never been there to begin with!

Alex had expected the red liquid to be some kind of healing potion, but he hadn't expected it to be this effective!

'Sure enough, anything that a God bestows upon someone can't be simple.'

Alex tried to stand up, and it went without a hitch.

It was like he had never been injured.

However, Alex looked at his bag one last time with regret.

'I had three of those, but now, all of them are gone,' he thought with lament.

Sadly, there was nothing that Alex could do. So, he gathered all his belongings, including his new sword, and climbed up the tree again.

He would test out his new sword tomorrow.

As soon as he got to a new branch, Alex sat down, and his eyelids started to fall.

Now, Alex was truly tired.

Alex threw one last glance at the massive corpse on the ground, still in disbelief that he had killed such a monster.

'That thing has to weigh at least 200 kilograms. No matter how hard I'll try, I'll never pull it up the tree.'

'Sadly, this means that it has to remain on the ground.'

Alex readied his makeshift bed and laid down. He put his sword over his body to keep himself from turning and subsequently falling to the ground. The weight of the sword put a lot of pressure on him. Additionally, having such a sharp object near him made him nervous about moving.

However, safety was more important than comfort.

Surprisingly, even under such uncomfortable bedding, sleep came quickly.

Alex only hoped that there wouldn't appear another surprise this night.

And thus, Alex slept in the new world for the first time.

 

Chapter 12 - Moment Of Peace

Alex slowly opened his eyes after an undefined amount of time.

At first, Alex shot up in confusion as he saw his unfamiliar surroundings.

However, Alex quickly calmed down as he remembered the last day.

'Right, I'm not on earth anymore,' Alex thought with a sigh.

'I thought all of this had only been a dream, but apparently, it wasn't.'

A wave of melancholy washed over Alex.

He would never see his home again.

He would never see his family again.

However, Alex's thoughts were stopped as his stomach told him that he should eat something.

'Should I eat some of the jerky?' Alex thought. 'No, I don't think so. Jerky stays fresh for longer than raw meat. I should keep it for times when I'm actually lacking food.'

Alex slowly sat up on his branch, and an uncomfortable, stiff pain assaulted him.

'Oh god,' Alex thought as he touched his back and shoulders. 'Everything's stiff!'

Alex moved his muscles around while looking at the surroundings.

It was already pretty bright. Alex guessed that it was probably around 10 am.

After loosening up for a couple of minutes, Alex jumped down and walked over to the corpse of the creature from the past night.

When Alex saw its corpse, he had to take a deep breath again.

'Did I really kill that?' he thought.

Even in death, the creature appeared fearsome and imposing.

'Anyway, I should make use of its corpse. Who knows, such powerful beasts might have some kind of benefit to the body? I'm not on earth anymore, so it's possible.'

Alex moved towards the creature while dragging his heavy but thin sword behind him.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Alex inspected the corpse for a couple of minutes, trying to think of as many ways to use it as possible.

'Meat for food. Hide for warm clothing. Maybe bones for tools?'

Alex nodded.

'Anyways, I should be patient first. I don't know when the next animal will appear in the clearing.'

Alex postponed the butchering of the corpse and went back to the tree.

Then, he simply waited.

It was important to see how many beasts approached this area.

Yet, surprisingly, the next three hours, not a single animal appeared.

Alex furrowed his brows. 'It's nearly afternoon, but I haven't seen a single animal. I saw plenty of animals yesterday, but not a single one appeared. I don't think that they only hunt in the evening.'

Alex had a guess as to why no beasts arrived, but he had to make sure.

Alex left his tree and walked to a different one about 200 meters away.

Then, Alex climbed on top of that tree and kept watch again.

Sure enough, 30 minutes later, Alex saw a stag.

The stag carefully moved forward, watching its surroundings with great care.

It was on its way to the corpse of the creature.

Yet, it suddenly stopped as its nose took several deep whiffs.

Then, the stag turned around and walked in a different direction, silently but with more hurry.

Alex smirked.

'Knew it!'

'The herbivores can probably smell the terrifying odor of the creature, and their instincts tell them to avoid this area.'

Alex looked in the direction of the corpse.

'Does this also work for carnivores? If we were on earth, I would doubt that. A dead animal is a dead animal, but who knows, maybe it's different here?'

Alex decided to wait longer.

And a little more than an hour later, a lone tiger appeared.

Alex took a deep breath when he saw the tiger.

'What are tigers doing here?!' he thought. 'Aren't tigers normally in warmer climates? Although, I've heard of snow leopards. So, maybe there are also big cats in cold climates?'

However, Alex's eyes quickly widened with a gleam when he saw that the tiger also avoided walking towards the corpse.

'Interesting,' Alex thought as he scratched his chin in thought. 'A tiger should be an apex predator on earth. There's nothing on earth that can make a tiger avoid a part of its forest, except for maybe human settlements.'

Alex thought back about his encounter with the creature last night.

He could understand why the tiger avoided this place.

Tigers were powerful, and they could jump for several meters with some preparation.

However, that thing yesterday had immediately jumped nearly five meters straight into the air. On top of that, the power of its forelegs had been so great that it tore apart the branch Alex had been sitting on like it had been nothing.

Tigers were powerful, but not THAT powerful.

'Well, if there are infinite ways to reach supreme power as a human, animals can probably become just as powerful.'

After the tiger left, Alex came down from the tree and walked back to his old location.

The corpse was still there, and no other animal had arrived.

This time, Alex looked at the corpse more closely.

'It should weigh about 200 kilograms. I think a tiger is also about that heavy, maybe even heavier.'

'Yet, the physical power of this creature far outweighs the physical power of a tiger.'

Alex scratched his chin with furrowed brows.

'Is this the difference between the normal animals and this creature? Normal animals are just like normal humans. In comparison, this creature had already stepped onto the path of power.'

Alex also remembered the green lizard, which had the uncanny ability to shoot a fireball.

'I think the lizard had also already stepped onto the path to power. Otherwise, I can't find an explanation for the ability to straight-up shoot a fireball. Even if it had some kind of chemical mixture in its body that allowed it to create fire, just spitting the fire would completely burn its mouth every time.'

'So, either the lizard's body has some kind of illogical heightened fire resistance, or it created fire a different way.'

Alex remembered his conversation with the God of this world.

'The guy said that this world is filled with Mages. Apparently, Mages can manipulate the Mana in the air to harness the destructive forces of nature. Fire should be part of these forces.'

Alex nodded.

'I can imagine the lizard doing something similar.'

Alex's eyes shone with a mixture of curiosity, excitement, and wonder.

'I also want to do that.'

'However, that has to wait for now,' Alex thought as he straightened his body. 'Survival comes first.'

'First, I need water, food, and warmth. I can get a fire going and cook some meat. While the meat is cooking, I can also try to make some kind of long coat out of the creature's fur for warmth. The animals are currently avoiding this area, and I should use the chance.'

Alex looked towards the distance.

'I only hope that no beast walks over here that is interested in the corpse of the creature. I only managed to kill the creature due to luck. If I meet it again, it might tear me apart. After all, yesterday, it hadn't seen my sword since it hadn't actually existed yet. However, now, the creature would be able to see my sword. Avoiding it isn't probably very hard for such a creature.'

Alex gathered some dried twigs and some leaves.

Then, he tried to start a fire.

It definitely wasn't as easy as it appeared on TV, but Alex managed to get a fire going after about an hour of trying.

When he saw the twigs catch fire, Alex felt so incredibly relieved.

Then, Alex took out his sword and carefully cut off the gigantic pelt of the creature.

It was an extremely bloody affair, and the corpse stank to high heaven.

Luckily, Alex's sword was insanely sharp, making the task far easier.

After that, Alex cut off several chunks of the creature's right foreleg and hung them close to the fire on some sticks.

While the meat was being cooked, Alex scrapped the remaining blood and meat off his pelt.

'I think the difference between a hide and actual leather is drying, right?' Alex thought.

Alex scratched the back of his neck, uncertain if that was true.

In the end, he made some small holes in the hide and hung it close by the fire with several branches.

It took nearly an hour, and a lot of branches broke, but Alex managed it in the end.

Alex checked on the meat and rotated it.

'That should still take about an hour.'

For a while, Alex only sat beside the fire, listening to its relaxing crackling.

'I could try training my body,' Alex thought. 'However, I don't have anything to drink. I'm already quite thirsty, and training will dry me out even faster.'

Alex scratched his chin for a bit.

Then, he went to a tree and climbed up.

When he reached the crown, Alex scanned the horizon.

'It smells a bit like rain, and I see some dark clouds on the horizon.'

'I don't think water will be an issue in like an hour or so.'

Alex smirked as he quickly descended the tree.

'Well, time to do some training!'

Chapter 13 - Training

Alex descended the tree and mentally prepared himself for his first training session in this new world.

The God had told Alex that he should destroy his body as thoroughly as possible with training and then use meditation to enhance his body with Mana.

Nothing out of the ordinary would happen if someone told something like this to a newbie regarding sports.

Why?

Because if someone didn't have enough experience in physical exercise, their willpower and resistance to physical pain wouldn't be strong enough to really damage their muscles.

When a newbie regarding sports trained until they couldn't anymore, their muscles wouldn't receive too much damage since the body's self-preservation instinct kicked in. The person would feel like they couldn't continue, but someone that had trained themselves for longer could go further.

Alex was a bit apprehensive about the God's words.

Alex had trained his body to such a degree that he had even managed to join the biggest MMA organization in the world.

It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that Alex had once had a body that was normally only seen on TV, and, well, it made sense. After all, Alex's fights had also been broadcast on TV.

Because of that, if Alex decided to go all-out with his training, he had the willpower to actually train his body until even his tendons snapped.

Of course, he had never done something like that before since it was stupid beyond belief to do that.

'But this world is different,' Alex thought as he scratched his chin. 'If the Mana in the atmosphere has some kind of healing and strengthening effect on even tendons, training until my tendons snap might actually have an even greater effect.'

Alex looked at the forest with a conflicted expression.

'Yet, what if Mana actually doesn't help in healing such injuries? What if it helps, but it takes several days for it to heal something like that? I would be helpless during that time.'

'I mean, I could try it in a village where I'm safe, but here? Not sure.'

Alex sighed.

'I should start slowly. Let's first get an above-average workout in. Let's go until I would be wrecked with soreness for the next couple of days.'

Alex mentally prepared himself for training, something he hadn't done in a long time.

Alex felt himself become more energetic and powerful as his brain sent signals to his body to prepare itself for a stressful time.

Then, Alex did something surprising.

He took off all his clothes.

'I will be plenty warm when I train, and I don't want my clothes to reek of sweat.'

Alex made several of his joints crack as he jumped up and down a bit.

'Alright, let's go!'

And thus, Alex's first training session began.

He took about ten minutes to warm up by running, jumping, falling to the ground, standing up, pulling himself up on branches, and doing lots of other things.

Alex hadn't trained in a long time, but as soon as his training actually began, he felt like no time had passed since his last session.

'Usually, I would only do some muscle groups, but today, I'm doing all of them!'

Alex grabbed his sword and used it as a make-shift weight. After all, it was quite heavy.

He put it on his shoulders, stood on the tip of his toes, went back to standing normally, went back to the tip of his toes, and so on.

This trained the calves.

Then, he did squats with the sword.

This trained the thighs.

Alex was experienced enough to know what kind of movement would train what kind of muscles.

Since this was an intense training session, Alex planned to make it a really long one.

About one hour after Alex started training, the rain had arrived.

Alex ignored the fire and the food. If the fire went out, it went out, and the meat could still be eaten when it was cold. It should be cooked by now anyway.

However, Alex grabbed his bag and cleaned it.

After that, he dug a small hole in the form of a bucket and put the bag inside it.

He had remembered that when his healing potions broke, they had made the back wet, but most of the liquid had still remained inside. This meant that the bag could hold water to some degree.

Alex's clothes had been put at a relatively dry place on his tree.

It took an entire 90 minutes until Alex had finished training his legs, and he already felt quite a bit of soreness. This was the point where he would normally stop training his legs when he had been on earth.

For safety's sake, Alex also stopped training his legs at this point.

He had to check the usage of the Mana first.

Next, Alex trained his arms and shoulders.

As Alex continued training, he felt some kind of primal feeling.

He hadn't been sure where that feeling had come from initially, but he quickly found out.

He was training in the wilderness, away from any kind of responsibility, family, public image, work, and so on.

Only the rain drenching his body and the rough wilderness surrounded him.

He had to do nothing but train.

Training was his only responsibility.

Nothing else mattered.

There was no job he had to go back to.

There was no money he had to worry about.

He didn't have to wake up and go to work.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ He just had to grow more powerful.

In Alex's mind, the training seemingly transformed from an exercise into some form of spiritual cultivation.

Alex felt like this was the most primal and most fundamental truth of the world.

Just power, nothing else.

After 90 minutes, Alex was done with his arms and shoulders.

Lastly, Alex focused on his abdomen, chest, and back.

This took 60 minutes.

Then, Alex was finally done.

He had trained for four full hours, and he felt as alive as never before. These new surroundings had given Alex an incredible boost in energy, and training under the rain had been a bit weird at the beginning, but Alex had grown to love training in the rain.

It kept him cool, and the sensations of the raindrops had been almost hypnotic.

Alex took one more deep breath as he slowly cooled down from his training.

A couple minutes later, Alex realized that his mind wasn't as focused anymore.

He hadn't eaten much since yesterday, and he was severely dehydrated.

Alex checked on the bag and saw that it was full of water.

Sadly, the water wasn't pure at all. It had a brownish tint to it.

'I can't be choosy now.'

Alex drank the brownish water. It definitely wasn't tasting good, but the cool sensation of the water running down his dry throat was great, nonetheless.

Then, Alex went over to the fireplace.

The fire had long been extinguished, and the meat was dripping with water from the rain.

However, Alex still grabbed the meat and consumed it.

It was missing a lot of seasoning, and it wasn't cooked well, but eating it like this awakened a special, primal feeling in Alex.

Surprisingly, the meat tasted rather good!

It was quite tough, but it had a really strong taste, similar to game.

Alex could have finished all of it, but he stopped himself.

It was important to not overfeed himself, or his concentration would wane while meditating.

After Alex was finished eating and drinking some more, he sat down near his tree and put the sword beside him.

Then, he closed his eyes and concentrated on the surroundings.

Surprisingly, the sound of the rain wasn't distracting. In actuality, it was helping Alex in getting in tune with his surroundings.

After some minutes passed, Alex felt a kind of mysterious force in the air, and he was sure that he had never felt anything like this on earth.

This was new.

This had to be Mana!

Alex concentrated on the Mana and tried to pull at it with his mind.

It took some getting used to, but after around half an hour, Alex had become quite good at pulling the Mana into himself.

Alex imagined himself as a black hole that pulled everything in its surroundings into itself.

He had to absorb everything that touched him.

The earth, wood, air, and other forms of matter didn't move, obviously, but since Alex's mind was able to manipulate the Mana to some degree, the Mana flowed into Alex's body.

As soon as the force entered Alex's body, he felt his muscles become warm but not hot.

It felt nice and relaxing.

It was like Alex was taking a bath.

Like this, three more hours passed.

The sun went over the horizon, and by now, night had arrived.

Alex opened his eyes.

He had to be careful now.

 

Chapter 14 - Power!

Alex slowly stood up, and as soon as he did, his eyes widened.

Alex looked down at his body with wonder.

'My muscles, they feel fine!' Alex thought with shock.

Alex moved his body around and did some light, basic exercises to test his body.

Sure enough, he felt completely fine!

It was like he hadn't just trained for four hours!

As Alex looked at his body with shock, the realization that this world was nothing like this previous one really set in for the first time.

Alex had done enough sports on earth to know exactly how he should be feeling right now.

Yet, not even the slightest feeling of weakness was present.

'The feeling of weakness while doing the workout comes from the built-up lactic acid, but after such a long resting period, the lactic acid has already vanished. The feeling of weakness after that comes from the small, torn muscle fibers.'

'So, since this feeling isn't present, does it mean that my muscle fibers have already healed?' Alex thought with surprise.

'Have I already gone through the recovery phase?!'

Alex tried to comprehend his current situation.

He was even more shocked by this revelation than when he had seen the giant hedgehog.

Why?

Because Alex knew exactly how insane this was.

Alex remembered a gaming term from his past life.

This was broken!

'So, I can literally give my entire body several workouts each day?'

However, Alex's feeling of shock and exhilaration quickly vanished.

Why?

Because Alex's mind was going to a dangerous place.

'Theoretically, the more damaged the muscle, the stronger it will become. The problem on earth is that the recovery period for such damage would be so long that it wouldn't be nearly as efficient as training normally.'

'But here?'

'I'm not even sure if the power increase comes from the workout or the absorbed Mana. It could be that I only need to damage my muscles to make them absorb more Mana. I might not need to do actual, traditional training.'

Alex's eyes focused on his left arm, and he felt a complex mix of feelings.

Anticipation, nervousness, fear, curiosity, greed.

Was Alex a normal human?

When living in a normal environment, sure, he could be called normal.

However, if he would remain normal while being flung into a new world, the God wouldn't have chosen him to enter his world.

After all, that would have been boring.

The entire reason why Alex was supposed to grow powerful in a non-traditional way was entertainment.

The God wanted to be entertained.

So, obviously, the God wouldn't have chosen a boring person.

Alex glanced at his left arm several times with a complex expression.

His heart rate increased as he became more nervous.

'I need to try it!' Alex thought with gritted teeth.

With that, the decision had been made.

Alex would damage the muscles in his left arm to such a degree that it would be considered an injury on earth.

'This is going to hurt like hell!' Alex thought with narrowed eyes.

Splash!

Alex left his tree and let himself fall onto the wet floor.

Then, he just stayed there for half a minute, motionless.

After half a minute, he turned to a different spot.

This weird procedure continued for nearly half an hour.

Half an hour later, Alex felt incredibly cold.

His teeth were chattering as the sensations of his body became numb.

Alex slowly turned over.

And then, he violently pushed with his left arm using all his strength!

Alex had decided to lower the temperature of his body and go all out without warming up.

He would train his left arm with all his power immediately!

No sane person would do this on earth.

Why?

Because it was way harder for muscles to stay flexible while they were cold. If the muscle fibers weren't flexible, they would tear way quicker and in greater quantity.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ It didn't even take a full minute for Alex's "technique" to show results.

A burning sting of pain shot through Alex's left biceps as it violently cramped up.

However, Alex was used to cramps, and he managed to continue pushing his left arm far past its limits.

Just a minute later, Alex had to stop as he held his left arm in severe pain.

He had probably torn a huge part of his left biceps.

Yet, Alex wasn't done.

A mad glint appeared in Alex's eyes as he wanted to go even further.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Alex balled his right hand into a fist and violently beat up his left biceps.

Ten seconds later, Alex stopped as he only gasped for air.

Alex knew exactly how long something like this would take to heal on earth.

'Something like this would probably take four to six weeks to heal on earth. I hope it doesn't take that long to heal here because the pain is driving me crazy!'

Alex held his left biceps as he walked over to his tree.

Then, he sat down and tried to meditate.

It was far harder to enter meditation since he was in severe pain, but after an hour, he managed to connect with the Mana again.

Alex felt his left biceps cool down from the hot pain, and the pain also slowly receded into the background. However, the pain was still there.

Alex concentrated on the Mana in the air until he no longer felt the warm sensation on his left biceps.

Then, he opened his eyes and moved his left arm.

As Alex saw the result, another complex mix of emotions appeared in his mind.

Disbelief, exhilaration, fear.

Why disbelief?

Because his biceps had fully healed!

Why exhilaration?

Because this meant that Alex could gain power at a terrifying rate!

Why fear?

Because this meant that Alex had to go through an insane amount of pain!

Alex knew exactly what this meant.

Training would transform from an enjoyable exercise into pure torture.

There would be no more fun in training.

Training would be full of pain, nothing else.

Alex knew that he could still continue training normally. Like this, he would still enjoy the process while growing more powerful.

Yet, Alex also knew that this choice wasn't really a choice.

Now that Alex had been in this world for over a day, an urge had appeared inside of him.

Alex had seen several creatures that could kill him easily.

Alex didn't want to die.

Additionally, the God had said that Alex could reach insane amounts of power.

On earth, physical power was useful for staying healthy and earning money.

But here, everything revolved around it.

Intelligence wasn't the most important thing.

Connections weren't the most important thing.

Money wasn't the most important thing.

Influence wasn't the most important thing.

Power was!

Alex had seen the God's power when he had summoned the previous Mage Emperor and when he had changed the very reality in his hall.

It didn't matter how many people attacked him.

It didn't matter what weapons everyone used.

In front of this God, all of these things became useless.

Alex knew that there was a possibility that he could become just as powerful as the God.

What would that mean?

Freedom!

Power!

Everything that he wanted!

Nothing in the entire world would be able to stop him!

He could do whatever he wanted without any repercussions and without any worries!

Today, Alex had truly awakened his undying thirst for power.

He had to become powerful!

Nothing was more important than power!

Nothing!

After steeling his resolve, Alex climbed up his tree.

After he reached a height of a couple of meters, Alex gritted his teeth.

Then, he jumped down.

As long as his bones didn't break, everything would be fine!

Chapter 15 - Small Expedition

It has been three days since Alex had started training his body, and he had made quite a lot of progress.

The masochistic training had been hard to handle in the beginning, but Alex slowly got used to it after literally jumping over his shadow multiple times.

After the first couple of jumps, Alex didn't want to feel any more pain.

It was just too much.

However, after he saw a visible improvement in his strength, he forced himself to continue.

The taste of power was just too enticing.

However, on this day, he would have to abort his training.

Alex had run out of water, and the beast he had killed had started to get infested by insects. Due to the cold climate, the meat was still edible, but the insects inside the corpse were simply too disgusting.

On top of that, the smell of the beast was slowly vanishing, and Alex had already seen a deer coming into his visual range before it fled after seeing him.

Three days ago, no animals had appeared close to this place.

This meant that Alex was no longer safe.

Thunk! Thunk!

Alex jumped to the tree and shot himself upward again with his legs, grabbing the lowest branch.

Three days ago, Alex wouldn't have been able to do something like this.

The growth of his physical power was terrifying!

Right now, Alex's body was even more powerful than his old body had been at its peak.

Mana made a huge difference in the speed of Alex's improvement.

Alex quickly climbed the tree and looked around. There were so many animals in this forest, so there had to be some kind of water source.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ However, due to the trees, Alex couldn't see the ground from up here, making it difficult to spot any water source.

Alex could only check for spots with fewer trees.

Alex found a couple of them and decided to investigate.

At the same time, Alex would also search for more food.

BANG!

Alex climbed down from the tree and jumped the last bit, not receiving an injury.

'Well, I guess it's time to investigate,' Alex thought with a frown.

This would be the first time he would truly leave this place, and he didn't know what would wait for him.

He only hoped that similarly powerful creatures like that monster he had killed by luck were rare.

Otherwise, he might die.

Alex grabbed his dirty clothes, his backpack, and his sword.

Lastly, he put a gigantic, black coat around his body, hiding his sword.

This coat was made of the creature's fur, and it had been dried multiple times by now. The coat was basically made of the entire hide of the creature, making it rather sizable.

Alex grabbed some grass from the ground and put it through some holes at the edge of the coat, creating a seam.

After doing that a couple of times, the coat completely enveloped Alex's body, keeping him warm. Additionally, the coat did quite a good job at hiding his sword.

At the front, the coat was a bit shorter to allow Alex to sprint without getting in the way.

Alex tied his sword to his back with some makeshift rope made out of grass, hiding it behind his back and coat.

Sadly, Alex wasn't good enough at sewing to create a permanent holding for his sword. If Alex wanted to use his sword, he would need to cut through the entire rope, which would require him to make a new one after that.

Alex also put the holder of his backpack around his torso, making it rest to the left side of his thigh. Luckily the strap was long enough.

Alex had put the bag to his left because, when he grabbed his sword, he would swing it to the right. The bag would only be in the way if it were on the right.

In the end, Alex stood there, completely cloaked in black.

His unkempt and dirty black hair seemed to perfectly fit the coat he was wearing, making him appear like a mysterious wild man.

If one saw him like this, one wouldn't think that he was technically still a minor.

Then, Alex quickly stepped forward into the forest, his hands empty.

Why didn't Alex carry his sword in his hands?

Two reasons.

First of all, he wanted to hide it. Animals weren't stupid. If they saw a long, black object in his hand, they would become wary of it.

Second of all, if anyone attacked him from behind, his sword would be between them. However, since the sword was hidden, the attacker wouldn't know.

If Alex got attacked from behind, the attacker might die very quickly since the sword would already be between their teeth.

At that point, Alex would only need to move his sword in the attacker's mouth.

Alex's sword was terrifyingly sharp, and he wouldn't need to use much power to kill his attacker.

Alex had thought of everything while suiting up.

He had to be careful in this forest.

Alex jogged out of his area with quite some speed.

Why?

Because, if he walked slowly, an ambusher would have more time to plan their ambush. Sure, Alex might be able to get by without being noticed if he walked slower, but an ambush would be that more devastating.

Alex didn't bet on not being ambushed.

Alex didn't see any other animals after silently jogging for nearly ten minutes.

However, he found some food.

Chestnuts!

Alex quickly stopped as he saw the chestnut tree and climbed it.

For the next 30 minutes, Alex gathered chestnuts and ate a ton of them.

'Hope that's not the poisonous kind,' Alex thought as he crunched down.

It definitely didn't taste good.

However, they, at least, tasted edible as far as he could tell.

'Well, worst-case scenario, I just get a case of the runs,' he thought.

Grunt, Grunt!

Alex heard some grunting and looked at the origin of the sound.

Some meters away from the tree was a sizable hog.

It wasn't as big as the other one Alex saw, but it was still quite a bit heavier than a wolf.

When Alex saw the hog, his eyes narrowed.

'I didn't attack the last hog since I didn't have a good weapon, but things have changed now!' he thought.

The hog was eyeing the tree warily.

It had seen and heard Alex since he hadn't been very stealthy.

However, it didn't leave.

This was its chestnut tree, and it had munched on the chestnuts quite a bit.

Alex looked quite a bit bigger than he actually was, thanks to his black coat, which intimidated the hog a bit.

Seeing a big black creature in a tree was quite terrifying.

The black creature, Alex, slowly and silently moved around the branches on the tree with practiced ease, vanishing as he moved upwards.

Crack, crack!

A lot of the chestnuts got shaken off by his movement, dropping to the floor.

Then, some branches behind the chestnut tree moved.

After that, some more rustling could be heard, but even further away.

Had the creature left?

The hog was uncertain.

After some minutes of hesitating, the hog moved around the tree from a distance, trying to find the black creature.

After several minutes of searching for the creature, the hog quickly took one of the chestnuts and retreated again.

It quickly ate the chestnut and looked at its surroundings.

This process repeated a couple of times until the hog was finally no longer nervous.

The creature had left.

Ssshh!

Some silent rustling was heard from the tree above the hog, and it looked upward.

Alex was falling down, his sword in both of his hands. His right hand held the handle while his left hand held the edge of the sword.

Alex already knew that his sword couldn't injure himself for some reason. This meant that he could grab the sword like a staff.

Alex fell down on the hog's neck like a guillotine.

BANG!

The sword was so insanely sharp that it cut through the entire neck of the fat hog with ease, creating the sound of an explosion as it hit the ground below the hog.

The hog had died in an instant.

Alex was sprayed with blood as his abdomen hit the severed head of the hog.

Alex grimaced in disgust as he saw all the blood.

'I either need to wash this off, or I'm going to get crusty and stinky quite quickly,' he thought.

The image of a decapitated pig sent some shivers down Alex's spine, but he knew that he had to get used to something like this.

He would have to kill way more animals in the near future, and he might even need to kill humans when he rejoined their society.

Alex wasn't so naïve that he believed that a human society based on power would be a kind place.

Alex looked at his kill for quite some time, just trying to take the scene in.

The decapitated body of the pig bled like crazy, and it was still twitching.

Meanwhile, the empty eyes of the decapitated pig-head seemingly looked at Alex, asking him why he had killed it.

Alex took a deep breath, instantly being assaulted by the rancid stench of fresh pig blood.

However, Alex gnashed his teeth.

'The issue of food and water has been solved for now,' Alex thought as he looked at the corpse.

'My sword is quite sharp, which should allow me to carve some tools out of wood, stuff like buckets and bowls.'

'For now, I could drink distilled water made out of pig blood. It will be a bit disgusting and not super healthy, but that's not high up on my list of priorities.'

'Let's get a fire going!'

Chapter 16 - Fruit

Crackle.

A fire was burning as several pieces of meat hung around it.

In the middle above the fire hung a bucket.

Alex had felled an entire tree with his sword and had hollowed out a big part of its trunk, creating his bucket.

Then, Alex had felled an even bigger tree, creating two round bowls.

The sharpness of Alex's sword was what allowed him to achieve this feat.

Alex had filled the bucket with pig blood and hung it above the fire.

Alex put one of the bowls over the bucket and put a long branch on it, which led to the side.

The bowl would catch the evaporating water, and when enough water gathered, it would trickle down to the lowest edge of the bowl, where the branch was.

The branch led the trickling water to the side, to a different bowl.

This was how Alex would solve the issue of water.

Sadly, this would be distilled water, and he also couldn't wash his tools since he didn't have any water to begin with.

The water in the other bucket didn't look refreshing or delicious, but it was water.

Strewn around the clearing were the remaining parts of the hog.

Alex couldn't finish the entire thing on his own, even if he ate for several days, and the meat would go bad anyway.

So, Alex decided to cut the pig apart and scattered the pieces around the clearing.

Why?

To ward off predators.

Sure, the smell of blood would gather many of them, but predators were also just animals.

If they could get food for free, they wouldn't want to fight.

If a predator came to the clearing, they would see a black creature of unknown size, thanks to the coat, sitting beside a hot fire.

Every normal predator would grab one of the pieces of the hog and would run away, leaving Alex alone.

While Alex's food and water were being prepared, Alex decided to get some more training in.

Alex put his coat away and climbed the tree.

BOOM!

As Alex hit the ground, a loud slam echoed throughout the forest.

This sound would also deter any animal from coming to this spot.

After all, only something big and powerful could make such loud sounds.

After three jumps, Alex heard some rustling.

His entire body hurt, but all of the pain was forgotten as he realized something else was close.

In the light of the fire, Alex could see two eyes in the dark.

They weren't very high up, and the animal was looking at Alex warily.

However, it didn't look at Alex with fear.

It was more like an evaluating expression.

Alex looked back.

After a bit, Alex could see the owner of the eyes.

It was the green lizard that had killed two of the four wolves.

After a bit, the lizard bit down on one of the pieces of meat and fled.

When Alex saw the lizard retreating, he amended his plans.

Alex grabbed his coat and put it around himself before he continued training.

Why?

Because the lizard had the ability to shoot fireballs. If one beast could shoot fireballs, it was possible that other beasts could do the same. However, the coat of the creature should offer some protection. Even if it caught fire, Alex could always ditch it.

Alex's masochistic training continued, and after a couple of jumps, Alex concentrated on healing himself with Mana.

Alex always looked forward to this part of his training since this was the part that increased his power.

On top of that, it wasn't as painful as the other part.

Thunk! Thunk!

Alex heard rhythmic, loud sounds.

Alex looked in the direction of the sounds but couldn't see anything.

They came from too far away.

'What's making that sound?' Alex thought.

Thunk! Thunk!

The sounds continued, and Alex only looked in that direction.

Spring! Spring!

The sound of something elastic being stretched and snapping back into place could also be heard.

Eeeeeh! Creak! Creak! Snap! Snap!

The sounds of bending and cracking wood joined in the cacophony of sounds, and the sounds were getting louder.

Alex's eyes widened.

Something big was coming!

Alex immediately abandoned everything and climbed the closest tree.

When he found a good spot, he stopped moving and grew silent.

The sounds continued and grew even louder.

Snap!

Eventually, Alex saw what created these weird sounds, and his eyes widened.

It was an absolutely humongous beast!

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ It was probably four meters high, excluding its needles.

Needles?

Yes, this was the green hedgehog Alex had seen when he had arrived in this world!

The loud thumping sounds were its footsteps.

The creaking sounds of wood were its flexible needles getting hung up on the trees.

The snapping sounds were its flexible needles jumping back into place after passing a tree.

The forest and trees seemingly moved with the hedgehog as it bent all of the trees while passing.

It was moving slowly and in a relaxed manner towards the place Alex had stayed.

Then, it slowly bent down as it consumed a huge part of the hog!

'I totally forgot! Even though hedgehogs are cute, they are also technically omnivores. They eat a ton of insects! A hedgehog of that size obviously also eats meat!' Alex thought as he remained completely silent.

This monster was far above his ability!

The creature Alex had killed by luck was nothing in comparison to this hedgehog!

As the hedgehog came closer, it ate all the pieces of the pig, including the ones that were being cooked.

After it reached the fire, it stopped above it.

Alex was confused for a second, but he realized what the hedgehog was doing.

It was warming its belly!

The sizzling fire directly below its belly didn't even bother the hedgehog!

This was an absolute monster!

Alex kept his breath as he watched the hedgehog warm itself.

Thunk!

Apparently, the fire wasn't warm enough, so it lowered its belly and lied down.

Sadly, this suffocated the fire.

After some seconds, the hedgehog stood up again, displeased.

It scratched the fire with his hind leg in displeasure but continued eating.

'Well, there goes food,' Alex thought.

After the hedgehog was done, it turned its head slowly.

And it directly looked into Alex's eyes.

Alex's entire body shivered as he realized that the hedgehog had known where he was the entire time!

Otherwise, its gaze wouldn't have homed in on him with such accuracy!

Alex didn't dare to move.

Creak! Creak! Creak!

The humongous body of the hedgehog slowly shook as its needles swayed back and forth.

Plonk! Plonk! Plonk!

Some things fell off the hedgehog's needles.

Alex still didn't dare to move!

After the hedgehog shook itself a little bit, it continued walking.

After the hedgehog was a couple meters away, Alex jumped down from the tree and looked at his campsite.

The hedgehog already knew that he was there, so it made no sense to keep hiding.

Everything was destroyed.

All the meat was gone, the fire was out, and the water was spilled.

Nothing had been spared.

Alex had to sigh when he saw that.

However, Alex's eyes spied something new in the clearing.

It was a round object, but Alex couldn't see it clearly in the dark.

Alex walked closer and inspected it.

'Is that a fruit?' Alex thought with surprise. 'Where did that come from?'

Alex remembered how the hedgehog had shaken itself and that he had heard several sounds of things falling to the ground.

'Did these things come from the hedgehog's needles? Since when do hedgehogs grow fruit?!' Alex thought.

Alex looked at the hedgehog in the distance, and sure enough, after looking closer, Alex saw some round objects on the hedgehog's needles. They shone a bit under the moonlight.

Alex remembered how the hedgehog had eaten everything, had looked at him, and had then shaken its body.

'Is this a kind of trade?' Alex thought with surprise. 'Is it familiar with humans? Could it be possible that it gives humans fruits in exchange for meat? I mean, the hedgehog is big and cumbersome. Everything probably flees from it, making it surprisingly hard for it to hunt.'

Alex gathered the fruits, but before he got to the last one, something happened.

HSSSSSSS!

The loud sound of hissing came from Alex's front, and he jumped back out of reflex.

Snap!

The animal quickly grabbed the fruit, turned around, and fled into the distance.

It was that lizard again!

It had intimidated Alex and took that opportunity to run with one of the fruits!

However, Alex's eyebrows furrowed as he scratched his chin in thought.

'It could have launched a fireball at me, but it didn't. Instead, it hissed at me, grabbed the fruit, and ran. It's probably wary of my power, but the fruit was enticing enough for it to take the risk,' Alex thought.

Alex looked at the fruits with more interest.

'Anything coming from such a fearsome beast couldn't be simple! It's a risk, but I think it's worth trying to eat the fruits!'

Alex climbed a tree and ate one of the fruits.

As soon as he swallowed the first bite, something happened.

A burning pain shot throughout Alex's body!

 

Chapter 17 - Going Further

Alex's entire body seemingly started burning, but this was only an illusion created by the fruit.

As soon as Alex swallowed the first bite, he felt like his muscles started to catch on fire.

Yet, for some reason, this sensation wasn't exactly painful. It had some painful aspects to it, but a certain feeling of excitement, restlessness, and energy came with it.

Alex had never tried steroids in his past life since that would ruin his career, but he imagined that steroids felt similar, minus the slight pain.

After some seconds, Alex noticed something.

'This feels very similar to absorbing Mana, just way more intense,' he thought with excitement.

Due to the intensity of the experience, Alex also noticed something else.

Alex looked at his body and touched his head.

'I haven't noticed it before since the Mana always felt gentle, but my head actually doesn't feel any of the Mana. My entire body feels like it's heating up, but my head remains cool. It's almost like my head isn't affected by the Mana.'

Alex frowned.

'The God told me that I would be unable to practice magic. Is that what he meant?'

'Logically, Mages should get their abilities to cast spells by increasing the power of their soul and mind. At least, that's how it always worked in RPGs. I guess it works similarly here. After all, these kinds of people are called Mages, and they harness the power of the environment to create powerful attacks.'

'The God said that Mana is the main reason how people could become so powerful in his world, which means that all the power of people hinges on the usage of Mana. There should be something in my body that allows me to absorb and control Mana.'

'I guess Mages probably absorb the Mana with their souls and minds, leaving their bodies weak. There has to be some drawback to an advantage. Otherwise, it wouldn't be entertaining. I mean, wasn't this the entire reason why the God made his world like this and why I'm here?'

'So, in essence, Mages probably don't absorb Mana with their bodies, but with their mind. If a Mage ate this fruit, they would probably feel this sensation only in their head, while I feel it across my body.'

'The thing that stores and distributes the Mana across my body probably has no connection to my head, making it impossible for Mana to reach it. That's probably also why all the Mana gets dumped into my body since it has nowhere else to go.'

'What am I doing?!' Alex thought as he gritted his teeth. 'I'm currently filled to the brim with Mana, but I'm thinking about such stuff that's so far in the future?! Get a grip, Al- argh, Shang!'

Alex immediately shot up and climbed higher on the tree.

Then, he jumped with all his power and readied himself for a huge impact.

BANG!

Alex felt pain shoot throughout his arms and knees as he hit the ground.

Then, he quickly stood up and ran to the tree again.

As Alex climbed up the tree again, he noticed something else, which made him narrow his eyes with a gleam.

'My legs and arms don't hurt anymore! This means that I don't need to rest!'

'I have to use this opportunity!'

Alex climbed higher than usual and looked down.

It was so high!

However, the burning sensation pushed him over the edge, and he jumped.

Alex never had had a good opportunity to see if the Mana's regenerating properties also worked on his bones. Logically, it should, but Alex wasn't sure of the extent.

Alex felt like time stopped as he fell towards the ground.

CRACK!

And Alex got his wish.

Alex didn't want to experiment with his legs since they were more important than his arms.

Because of that, Alex had initially landed on his feet but had then fallen forward to transmit the force of the fall onto his right arm.

Alex's right forearm broke apart.

Alex gritted his teeth violently as an incredible pain shot throughout his arm.

Breaking a bone was never easy.

Alex touched his right forearm with his left hand and felt the bone sticking out.

'Great, an open fracture,' he thought.

Alex quickly felt a change in his body.

The hot sensation seemingly got weaker all over his body and focused on his right forearm.

CRK! CRK!

Creaking sounds could be heard as the bone in Alex's right forearm seemingly moved back into place.

Splotch!

The sound of moving flesh and blood had a unique feeling to it, but Alex only focused on his arm.

The bone had been buried back into his arm, and the broken skin and flesh above it started to heal with speed visible to the naked eye.

Two minutes later, the hot sensation completely left Alex's body.

Alex touched his right arm and felt a stinging pain.

'Not fully healed yet, but all the Mana has been used up,' he thought. 'Apparently, Mana also accelerates the recovery of my bones, but the Mana required is incomparable. According to the intensity of the sensation, this one bite of the fruit probably gave me more Mana than I could get in several hours of meditation. The same amount of Mana could have healed my entire body twice.'

Alex looked at his right arm with shining eyes.

'However, if Mana can strengthen my muscles, it can probably also strengthen my bones,' he concluded.

'If my strength ever reaches a level that just using my muscles would break my own bones, it would be truly tragic. I can't make such a stupid mistake.'

Alex gritted his teeth.

'My training is about to become even more painful. I fucking hate that! Why does training have to be so fucking painful?!'

Alex ran to the tree and grabbed the fruit.

Alex had been careful with his first bite, which was why the bite had been relatively small.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ There was still a ton left.

Alex took a big bite and climbed the tree.

An even more powerful sensation engulfed his body as he jumped down again.

CRACK!

More broken bones, but this time, Alex had enough Mana inside his body to heal everything.

It only took half a minute for everything to heal again.

CRACK!

The process repeated itself, and Alex took another bite of the fruit.

CRACK!

CRACK!

CRACK!

About 15 minutes later, the fruit was completely used up, and Alex grabbed the next one.

However, he hesitated as he gritted his teeth.

He wished that he had never come up with that terrifying thought.

What thought?

Well, what if he got more powerful and got punched in the gut?

Would his organs be able to resist the force?

Logically, no, but there had to be a way to fix such a glaring issue. After all, the God had said that there had been innumerable paths to power in the past. He refused to believe that they were all weak to body blows.

'I can't stop now!'

Crunch! Crunch!

Alex ate the entire fruit at once, and he felt like his body was about to explode.

There was so much Mana!

It was no longer a gentle situation.

No, Alex felt like his body was literally being incinerated!

Alex climbed up but hesitated.

This was very different from all his previous jumps.

If he misjudged this jump, he would actually die.

However, Alex had already burned the bridge.

There was no way back.

If he didn't manage to find an outlet for all this Mana, he would probably die.

So, Alex jumped forward and protected his head with his arms.

Then, he hit the ground.

Chest and abdomen first.

Meanwhile, the God was watching Alex with a mad grin.

Yes, that was exactly why he had chosen him!

This kind of insanity was why he had chosen Shang!

 

Chapter 18 - Payoff

Alex felt an impact.

It was like he had been hit by a speeding car.

Alex couldn't even discern all the different sounds that reverberated throughout his body.

He heard and felt several cracking noises, quickly followed by the sounds of rupturing flesh.

Alex couldn't breathe!

"Urgh- Hurgh!"

Alex puked and coughed violently as he spat blood out of his mouth.

'I can't breathe!'

Alex coughed violently as more and more blood came out of his body.

It felt like there was water in his lungs, and he desperately wanted to get some air, but only a disgusting gurgling sound came out of his mouth.

CRK! CRK!

Alex turned over to his side as he curled up like a shrimp. The sounds of cracking bone rang throughout his body as they quickly snapped back to their original place.

30 seconds of absolute agony and panic passed.

"Hurgh!"

Alex puked up a huge mass of blood, and he took a deep breath.

The panic slowly subsided as Alex gulped in a ton of air.

Then, he simply sat down.

This was way worse than he had imagined!

How was anyone supposed to do that multiple times?!

Alex only lay on the ground, trying to hold back his tears.

This was torture!

However, the burning of the Mana intensified again.

Alex had eaten an entire fruit, and one jump wasn't enough.

Alex's mind fell into disarray as he couldn't make a decision.

"I don't want to anymore!" he shouted to himself.

However, as he felt the Mana become even more intense, he stood up and climbed the tree again with shaking and fidgety limbs.

Alex didn't want to, but he jumped again.

This time, he landed on his back.

CRACK!

Alex had protected his head, but his spine broke apart.

Another 30 breathless seconds of panic and pain passed.

Alex's body shook as he lay on the ground.

He didn't want to anymore!

It was so painful!

Alex wished that he was back on earth, but that wish couldn't come true.

He didn't want to do this!

However, the burning sensation of the Mana intensified again as his body fully regenerated.

Alex slowly sat up as he slowly walked over to the tree.

He had to hold back his tears.

However, he climbed up the tree again, this time, higher than before.

It was time for his legs.

Alex climbed all the way to the top.

His entire body shook, but he jumped.

Alex fell for several seconds.

CRACK!

Alex's legs shattered as his kneecaps shot out of his body, one of them hitting a tree and another one sliding on the ground.

Some of the bones in Alex's torso also broke, but he managed to barely stay alive.

This time, it was easier since his lungs hadn't been damaged too much.

The worst thing had always been the inability to breathe.

The inability to breathe brought a sense of existential dread to him. This dread was far worse than the pain.

This time, the intensity of the Mana didn't increase again.

He had used up enough Mana.

For a while, Alex only lied on the ground, not moving.

He didn't think about anything.

He only lied there and paused.

Several minutes passed, and the sensations Alex had felt in the past half an hour shot through his mind.

It was like he was trying to come to terms with what he had just felt.

It was so very different from his life on earth.

Sure, he had gone through tough training on earth, but this wasn't training.

This was torture.

Silence.

For a while, Alex only listened to the silence of the forest.

'Why am I doing this to myself?'

Silence.

'Is this really the best way?'

Silence.

'I don't know.'

Alex looked over to the tree.

'Two fruits are left.'

Silence.

'Should I?'

Silence.

Swish!

Alex's eyes suddenly snapped open as he heard the sound of moving foliage.

CRSH!

Alex gritted his teeth violently as blood exploded out of his arm.

A panther!

Alex had utterly forgotten that he wasn't in some safe location.

He was in a forest filled with violent animals and creatures!

Alex had lied on his back, and the panther had wanted to bite his neck.

Luckily, Alex had barely managed to block the bite with his left arm.

The panther bit down on Alex's forearm, destroying the muscles.

Yet, surprisingly, Alex's bone didn't break.

The panther was violently trying to scratch him with its claws, and several wounds appeared all over Alex's body as his hand went to his back.

But there was nothing on his back!

Alex realized that he had taken off his sword when he had decided to land on his back.

'Fuck!'

The panther let go of Alex's arm and jumped back.

However, Alex grabbed the panther's neck with his right hand.

Whoosh!

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ The panther jumped back, but Alex was pulled along.

Judging by the distance, the panther was stronger than the panthers on earth. After all, it had just jumped back two meters while pulling Alex with it.

However, the panther wasn't the only thing stronger than the earth-variant.

Alex had managed to keep hold of the panther's neck all this time with only one hand, which surprised him.

He was sure that he hadn't been able to do that a couple of days ago!

The panther tried to get rid of Alex and attacked him with its claws, but Alex's instincts kicked in.

Alex immediately pulled himself closer and hugged the panther's neck with his arms and its torso with his legs.

The panther tried to get rid of Alex and cut him a couple more times, but Alex didn't let go.

The panther shouted aggressively, trying to get Alex away from him, but as Alex's legs tightened even more, its aggressive shout transformed into a whimper.

Alex felt how his legs squished the panther's organs and muscles as its bones started to creak.

Alex's eyes opened with surprise.

BANG! CRACK!

Alex pulled his right arm back and punched the panther's chest, which quickly caved in.

The panther stopped moving, and Alex quickly took hold of its head and neck.

CRACK!

And the panther was dead.

Alex breathed in several times as the adrenaline slowly subsided.

Then, he looked at his body.

'Have I done that?' he thought in shock.

This panther was not small, and its power was no joke.

Yet, the panther hadn't been able to break Alex's bones, and Alex had broken its bones just by punching.

The difference in power was apparent!

For some time, Alex only looked at the panther with shock.

Something like this was only possible in a dream.

How could a human kill a big cat with bare hands and with such ease at that?

After a while, Alex looked at his right hand as he clenched it into a fist.

Then, his eyes narrowed.

'It's not for nothing!'

'My past few days of pain have shown that they are not for nothing!'

Alex's gaze immediately went to the last two fruits.

Then, he walked over with determination and ate another one.

The pain, panic, and torture were horrible, but the feeling of seeing his own power increase by so much had washed all of these things away.

He wanted more!

 

Chapter 19 - Progress

A month had passed since Alex arrived in this world.

For the first couple of days, Alex focused on finding a steady water source and scouted for places with fruit, berries, and nuts. He didn't know if this world followed the rules of needing different vitamins and minerals to be healthy, but he didn't want to find out while being in the wild.

After a couple of days, Alex found a river going through the valley's center, splitting the mountain range surrounding the valley in two. In the very center of the valley was a lake where the water gathered for a while before continuing down the river.

Alex had found a humongous dead tree there and planned to create a home for himself.

Alex had already used up all the fruits he had received from the hedgehog in a spree of self-destroying insanity. Luckily, he had gotten somewhat used to the torturous training, even if he still feared it.

Courage didn't mean being fearless but being able to overcome one's fears. Alex still feared the time when he would gain another set of fruits, but he knew that he could jump over his shadow when it was time.

The taste of power was irresistible for Alex. Even if the training was horrible and inhumane, the power he gained from it was worth it in his mind.

Alex used his desire for power as fuel to overcome his fear of pain.

Was something like that healthy?

That depended on one's circumstances and viewpoints.

Would such pain change a person?

Definitely.

However, different people changed differently when undergoing such torture.

How would Alex change?

That remained to be seen.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Alex stood in a clearing, constantly swinging his sword.

After a brief run-in with another set of wolves, Alex had realized that he wasn't very good at using his sword. Alex had always only fought with his body for his entire life, never with a true weapon. This made him very unaccustomed to fighting with an actual weapon.

Following that fight, Alex had decided to train with his sword more, and just shortly after training with his sword, Alex noticed something troublesome.

His triceps and back started to hurt quite quickly.

Alex had trained his entire body, but training everything equally was not always the correct choice.

A good example would be a climber. If someone had bulky legs, a bulky abdomen, and a bulky back, they would increase the strain on their hands and arms due to the added weight of muscles.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ In that case, training everything equally would not only not help but even be detrimental to performance.

What about a swordfighter?

Bulkiness would increase the mass and volume of the body, slowing down the speed of the fighter. Even more, if the muscles on the torso reached a certain mass, they would even restrict the movement of the arms.

One only had to look at the videos of bulky men being unable to touch their backs.

However, with all of that said, a certain amount of power was still necessary across the entire body. Every muscle would be required in a fight. They were just used with different intensity.

Because of all these reasons, Alex decided to mainly train with his sword. He would only give his entire body a workout after every third session of sword training.

Training with a sword was not any less strenuous than training one's entire body. It simply trained different muscle groups.

After every session of training with the sword, Alex felt a huge part of his body burn with pain. On earth, someone would have long since stopped training since overtraining was just as bad as undertraining.

But here, there was no overtraining.

After Alex was done with his training, he jumped up a nearby tree and sat down in meditation.

Alex had been training like a madman, and it was showing incredible results.

He no longer needed to climb a tree. With one jump, he could easily jump two meters into the air, even with the heavy sword on his back.

Alex had already broken the physical limit of humans on earth.

This was the effect of Mana.

Some minutes later, Alex jumped down from the tree and walked to the edge of the clearing.

In front of Alex was a huge tree with a hole in the middle. The tree was nearly three-meters-wide, but it wasn't the tallest tree.

After all, it was already dead, and the cold wind had destroyed the upper part of its trunk.

Besides the hole in the tree were several pieces of wood arranged in the shape of a big doorframe.

This wasn't a doorframe but Alex's future hut. Every day, Alex would cut more wood and add to the wood. In a couple of days, he would have his very own, tiny hut.

Alex used stone for nails, but it was a difficult process to get them into the wooden boards. After all, stone was hard but brittle. If he just hammered the nails in, they would break.

Because of that, Alex had to cut out the holes with his sword and carefully insert the stone.

This made the structure very unstable and wonky, but it held up for now. As long as nothing touched the structure, and as long as the wind wasn't too strong, the structure would hold.

Alex went to a bench near the structure and grabbed his clothes.

His old clothes had long since been ripped to pieces, including his spare clothes.

His new clothes were made of wolf fur.

One would think that such clothing looked wild and powerful, but in reality, it looked poor and pitiful.

However, this set of clothing was already far superior to the previous ones. After all, Alex had gotten better at sewing.

Who would have thought that one of the essential skills of surviving in the cold wilds was sewing?

If Alex were in a tropical climate, he wouldn't have to bother that much with sewing. He would only need to remain in the shade most of the time, and if he walked around, he would only need to protect himself from the sun.

A blanket wasn't nearly as hard to make as actual clothing.

After putting on his clothes, Alex grabbed his cloak and put it around his shoulders.

Alex performed a couple of jumps to test if his movement would be impaired by the new set of clothing and realized that it wouldn't.

Alex looked at the dimming sky. He couldn't see the sun, but he wouldn't be able to see the sun anyway, even if it were midday.

Why?

Because the sky was covered in oppressive, cold, grey clouds.

It had already snowed a couple of days ago, and Alex noticed that the weather was getting colder.

The winter would soon be here.

This was a major problem for Alex since warmth would be of primary importance.

He even guessed that temperatures might even reach -20 to -40 degrees Celsius at the peak of winter.

Even if Alex had an incredibly powerful body now, he knew that he couldn't survive such temperatures.

This was why Alex concentrated on becoming better at sewing and making a hut.

However, there was one major problem standing in his way.

Dusk soon arrived, and Alex's eyes narrowed as he checked his equipment again.

Alex touched his sword to comfort himself and released a sigh as he closed his eyes.

Some seconds later, Alex opened his eyes with a determined look.

'You've crept around my camp for long enough. Sleeping has become difficult with you around, and I'm sure that you will strike soon. My hut and clothing are in danger as long as you are around. If you destroy my hut, I might not find the time to create a new one in time.'

Alex only considered his hut and clothing, completely ignoring his own physical safety.

Alex slowly walked forward as darkness took hold of the forest.

There were no stars, no moon.

There were only dark clouds above Alex as all the light vanished in the forest.

However, Alex was no longer a normal human.

The Mana had not only increased the power of Alex's body but also the sensitivity of his senses.

Alex's five senses had become several times sharper, to the point that Alex could even see a couple of meters in front of him in this total darkness.

Alex didn't know how the Mana had been able to increase the power of his eyes. After all, the Mana couldn't even reach his head for some reason.

Yet, it was undeniable that the sensitivity of his eyes had increased tremendously.

Alex walked forward, away from the hut.

He didn't want to put his hut in danger.

As Alex walked forward in total darkness, he noticed some snowflakes falling from the clouds.

Alex could still see the white on the snowflakes, even though there was basically no light in the forest anymore.

He only saw small, white crystals of snow slowly falling to the ground with a backdrop of absolute darkness.

Sssshh!

Alex heard an incredibly silent rustling of leaves, and he gazed over.

It was here.

Alex saw some white eyes looking at him from the top of a distant tree.

These were familiar eyes.

Alex touched his coat, which looked identical to the creature's fur.

Alex had named these creatures Stalkers.

This kind of creature had nearly killed him a month ago, and Alex had only won by sheer luck.

This time, things would be different.

Chapter 20 - Conviction

Alex looked at the Stalker, and the Stalker looked back.

Silence.

Only the cold wind could be heard.

Alex slowly retrieved his sword and held it in his right hand. He no longer needed to carry it with both of his hands.

Step.

Then, Alex slowly stepped forward.

The Stalker looked at him from a distance, silently evaluating him.

In its mind, this animal was small, far smaller than it.

It had seen these kinds of animals before, and they always hunted in groups.

Yet, this one was alone.

From what the Stalker had seen, these animals weren't very powerful. They could only be a real danger in a group.

They were slow.

Their bodies were weak.

Yet, this particular specimen felt different to the Stalker.

More dangerous.

However, the more dangerous this specimen felt, the better its meat would taste.

Such creatures as the Stalkers were drawn to powerful prey. The more powerful the prey, the better.

On earth, predators avoided dangerous prey unless they were really desperate.

But here, things were different.

The more powerful something was, the more Mana it had stored in its body. After all, physical power without Mana took a being only so far. At some point, Mana was necessary to become more powerful.

Because of that, the predators that took more risks and survived had become more powerful and had fathered more offspring.

After many, many years, every animal and creature in this world had the instinct of hunting powerful prey.

This was also why the wolves hadn't retreated when they had been attacked by the lizard.

The lizard had killed two of the four wolves, but the remaining two wolves had still charged at it in a frenzy.

This was how powerful the draw of power was for the creatures and animals of this world.

Alex slowly walked closer as he kept his sword ready, never taking his eyes off the creature.

This was no longer the same Alex that had appeared in this world.

The old Alex had thought about many things.

Family, love, success, money, justice.

However, all of these desires had been replaced with a thirst for power.

People changed over the course of their life, but was such a drastic change in attitude and personality in only a single month normal?

Could he still be considered as Alex?

Or had he already become Shang?

Alex didn't think about these things, but he had long decided that he would only walk forward, never looking backward.

The old world of Alex was slowly left behind as he walked into the darkness before him.

How long would it take until Alex looked back?

Would he have already walked so far that he couldn't see his starting point anymore?

If that happened, Alex would have nothing left to orient himself on.

Then, he would only walk forward blindly, in the darkness, in a random direction.

Chances were that he would end up walking in a direction the old Alex would have never chosen.

Step.

Alex arrived below the tree, and the Stalker was still looking at him.

It was still debating if it should attack him or not.

Dangerous prey tasted incredibly delicious, but if the prey was too dangerous, the Stalker would die.

Right now, this being in front of the creature felt very dangerous.

Should it attack?

BANG!

Alex jumped upward and swung with his sword at the Stalker!

The Stalker immediately jumped back!

SHING!

The huge branch the Stalker had just been on was easily cut in two.

SHING! CRK!

Alex swung his sword to the left, burying it horizontally in the trunk of the tree. The sword got stuck, and Alex used it to reposition his body, putting his feet on the trunk.

BANG!

Alex shot away from the tree, pulling his sword out while doing so.

The first Stalker had used a similar move back then.

Fight or not fight?

The choice had been taken from the Stalker.

Alex flew at the Stalker as it just landed on another branch.

SHING!

Another branch was cut apart as the Stalker quickly moved along the tree towards the ground.

CRACK!

The Stalker barely evaded another attack as Alex's sword cut through two-thirds of the tree's massive trunk.

BANG!

Alex shot towards the ground at the Stalker.

BOOOM!

Alex hit the ground, his sword creating a cut in the earth. The sound of Alex hitting the ground thundered throughout the forest.

The Stalker immediately made its decision.

Run!

Too dangerous!

It turned around and ran into the distance.

BANG!

Alex chased after it with explosive power.

However, the Stalker was faster than Alex.

Alex made a split-second decision.

SHING!

Something seemingly passed the Stalker and hit the tree in front of it. The Stalker looked over and saw the dangerous weapon of the human being stuck in a tree.

The Stalker stopped.

It wasn't dumb.

It knew that these kinds of beings needed to use these sharp things.

Maybe it could win?

The Stalker turned around to look at Alex.

It had made its decision!

It would kill this human!

The human had lost his most powerful weapon!

Hunger and greed took over the Stalker's mind as it saw Alex.

BANG!

However, just when the Stalker saw Alex, it was already too late.

Alex hadn't stopped running, and the short moment of hesitation of the Stalker had given him enough time to catch up with it.

Alex had reached the Stalker and hit it to the side of the head with an elbow.

The Stalker was stunned for a bit, and Alex jumped on its back.

Then, he grabbed its chest from behind, put his arms through its armpit, and clamped his hands together on the Stalker's neck.

It was a full nelson!

It sounded ridiculous. Alex was using an MMA-move on a gigantic, cat-like creature in a dark forest.

However, it was the best and most effective move.

The thin, stealthy, and fast frame of the Stalker had become its undoing. If it were bulkier, Alex couldn't have used that move.

Even though Alex's weapon was now the sword, it didn't mean that he couldn't use other weapons as well.

Alex was a trained MMA-fighter, and as long as he had enough time to study his opponent's body, he could glean the body's weaknesses.

Alex had deliberately thrown his sword forward in an attempt to bait the Stalker into attacking him.

It was risky, but Alex preferred a more dangerous, direct fight to a lurking danger.

Who knew if the Stalker decided to lurk around some more and strike when Alex didn't pay attention?

He couldn't risk that.

The Stalker flopped to the ground as its forelegs moved to the side, out of its control.

The Stalker hissed in a threatening manner and jumped on its back with its hindlegs.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Alex fell to the ground with his back, the entire weight of the Stalker pressing down on him.

However, Alex was used to falling to the ground by now!

Something like this couldn't stun him anymore!

The Stalker hissed, but hissing wasn't enough. Its limbs couldn't reach its back, and Alex's hands were pushing down on its neck, stopping it from turning its head and biting him.

After some seconds, the Stalker's hisses were replaced with screeches.

CRK! CRK! CRK!

The Stalker's body was powerful, even more powerful than Alex's body, but it couldn't use any strength in this position, while Alex could use the gathered power of his arms, chest, and back.

CRACK!

The Stalker's left shoulder broke, and Alex lost his grip due to the loss of resistance.

Usually, breaking bone with a full nelson wasn't feasible when professional fighters fought, but Alex's body had become powerful enough to pull something like that off.

Alex let go and pushed the Stalker away, throwing it to the side.

When he had just come to this world, such a feat would have seemed impossible.

The Stalker quickly tried to get to its feet and scampered away.

However, it couldn't get far in its slowed-down speed.

SHING!

Alex had retrieved his sword and cut through the Stalker's left thigh, severing its leg.

Alex's sword was insanely sharp.

The Stalker fell over, and Alex ran to its head.

SHING!

The fight was over.

Alex calmed down as he looked at his kill.

It was so much easier than he had anticipated.

The Stalker's power and speed were far superior to him.

If the Stalker had directly fought Alex, the fight would have been far more dangerous.

It could have simply jumped around Alex, baiting him into striking with his sword. Then, if he made a mistake, it could have bit Alex's arm.

Alex's arm had been able to survive the bite of a panther, but a Stalker was on an entirely different level.

Such a bite would have torn Alex's arm off.

At that point, he could only wait for his death.

The fight could have gone either way.

Yet, it hadn't.

From the very first moment of the fight, Alex had been in control.

Their powers were about equal, but the Stalker hadn't been able to use its power.

'Initiative and intimidation,' Alex concluded as he looked at the corpse. 'My attacks made it lose its resolve. From the very beginning, it believed that it couldn't win, and its lack of conviction made it unable to properly fight.'

Alex's eyes narrowed. 'I learned a valuable lesson today. If I don't remember this lesson, I might be in the same place as the Stalker in the future.'

'I must always fight with my life on the line or flee without looking back when I'm faster. It doesn't matter what I choose, but when I make my choice, I have to put my all into it without any second thoughts.'

Alex put his sword away and grabbed the severed leg.

After that, Alex grabbed one of the legs of the Stalker and pulled it.

SSSHHH!

The sound of something heavy being dragged along the ground could be heard in the forest tonight.

Alex had killed many animals in the past month.

However, today, he had killed his first creature!