“I’m talking to myself,” Peter nodded, now sure he was Mana intoxicated. The recommendation was exactly what he would have thought. He entered the woods, trying to sneak as silently as possible, and got rewarded with a: You have unlocked the skill Sneak (Uncommon, Novice tier) message.
Shitty hallucination…
The message must've jinxed it as noises started, and a shadow appeared between the trees, aiming for Peter.
There was no time to run or climb a tree. Seeing the monster face-to-face, fangs barred, and approaching fast was the scariest experience Peter ever had. Nevertheless, it was kill or be killed, and his hesitation ended after a split second. He aimed and threw a javelin, involuntarily thinking what the voice said, albeit he had no hopes it would do anything.
The missile erupted out of his hand faster than it should have been possible and caught the mutated wolf square in the chest. It threw the monster back, and not only that, but stuck the dying monster against a tree, the spear going twenty inches into the wood.
Kinetic Impulse (novice tier) unlocked and activated. Doubles the speed or objects you launch and adds a coating of Mana to increase penetration. It makes your melee attacks perform as if your weapon had twice the mass and adds a Mana coating to increase penetration and defense.
You have slain—
There was no time to read the notifications; a second monster rushed at him. Peter passed the second spear into his right hand and threw it at the next beast. The throw went slightly to the right. However, it still dispatched the animal, going through the monster's body like through paper.
The third monster was on its way. Peter pulled the gun out, knelt, aimed, and fired. His great expectations were crushed. Instead of dying on the spot, the mutated wolf continued his charge, soaking up the bullets. The monster faltered only at the fifth shot, falling to his knees. The inertia carried the animal forward, and a second before it died, it managed to bite hard on Peter's shoulder, hitting him with its weight simultaneously. The young man discharged the last bullet in the animal's head, point blank, then tried to push himself away from the trashing monster, using his feet. The pain, however, was unbearable, and he lost consciousness again.
You have slain Dire Wolf, lvl.2 x2. You have slain Dire Wolf Boss, Lvl. 5 x1. You are now level 4. You have 0 Attribute points to invest. The Chain Quest is partially completed.
The notification was the first thing Peter saw when he opened his eyes.
Fuck, I fainted again… and I’m still hallucinating…
Suddenly, Peter remembered how the javelin had raised the wolf in the air, throwing it into the tree… That wasn’t normal.
“Shit! This thing is real!” he gasped.
There were a lot of bad words hanging on Peter's tongue, but he refrained. Arguing with an AI installed in his head was probably dangerous.
"Whatever… This gun is crap," Peter sighed, letting his anger fade. “Pfii…” he whistled after looking at the slain beasts. “That will take ages to process.”
Chain Quest 1st Reward: Your backpack has become a Spatial Storage. Maximum volume: 40 cubic feet (flexible). Maximum Storable Weight: 1 ton. Weight reduction: 99.99%. Maximum slots: 20. Stack per stock: twenty-five similar items. Food will not spoil, warm up, or cool down while stored. Upgradeable.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
You have unlocked the Uncommon skill Loot. When touching a slain monster, think: Loot, and the body will be deconstructed into components and stored in your Spatial Storage (if available and having free space). Loot will only affect armor, weapons, and cores against sentient foes.
“Prey? I was the prey. I’m lucky I survived, buddy,” Peter shivered. Nevertheless, he approached the monster pinned into the tree and touched it. “Loot!”
Under his eyes, a bluish light enveloped the carcass. First, the pelt disappeared, then the meat, and finally, the skeleton broke into smaller parts and vanished as well, sucked into his backpack.
Wow… “I think I like you, hallucination or not,” Peter decided, his heart filling with monetary joy. There was a lot of dough to be made from all those monster parts, and he intended to fully profit.
“Sorry?” Peter asked, stopping his attempt to pull the javelin out of the tree.
Soon, the monsters' corpses disintegrated before Peter’s eyes, leaving only blood and innards behind.
“One more to find,” Peter said, recalling a fourth wolf had bled to death in the forest, the one who attacked the girl. He recalled the sensation of her breath in his ear. For a second, he wondered how her lips would feel if they kissed, then he blushed and chased the thought away.
“Let’s finish the quest first… There’s only one thing better than money: more money.”
Despite the direction being clear, finding the last carcass proved hard. Peter had to return to the sports area and track the blood spots until he found the monster stuck under a bush a thousand feet farther. As soon as he looted the last carcass, growls and high-pitched barks started. A small furry head was staring at him with red eyes.
"Oh, no, a puppy," Peter wailed, pulling on his hair. "I killed its mother… Sorry, little buddy… Not my fault she tried to eat somebody."
"You're not saying it to make me feel better, right?"
"You looked under his tail?" Peter laughed.
As a rule of thumb, Peter liked animals and had pets before. There was a slight concern about the pup's wild and Mana-awakened nature, though.
"Won't he bite me?"
There was no answer. Reluctantly, Peter willed a granola bar out of his backpack, unwrapped it, and offered half to the pup. The transition from growling to tail wagging was instant. After the second half of the granola bar was consumed, Peter patted the animal's head and asked: "Hey, little buddy, do you want to come with me?"
"Woof!" the pup barked back, wagging his tail even more strongly.
A contract has been established between you and Elite Warg Pup. Minimum requirements for a warg pet: feeding them twice daily, grooming once a week, and walking thrice daily.
"As long groomed doesn't mean I have to lick you," Peter said.
"Woof!" After the second bark, the pup jumped into his arms.
"You're so cute!" Peter said, ruffling the little warg's fur.
You have reached level 5. 5 Free APs are available.
"A full level for getting a pet?" Peter said.
"Where do you think I should put them?"
"C’mon, I don’t even know my stats."
“Sure…”
“Let's go find the Totem. Err… Question. If I got all those points in Body—”
“Sorry, Physical. How is it I don’t feel stronger?”
“Shit… that’s true, I forgot about it for a moment!”
As soon as that was said, the System projected the map into Peter's vision. The Totem was lit on the map, about a hundred feet further toward North-West. Moving red spots were visible farther North, tagged Jackalopes. Fortunately, Peter reached the ward stick safely.
“Jackalope reservation?” he frowned, reading the inscription on the pole. That explained the prank: Jack had counted on a scare, not a serious danger. “How the fuck there were Dire Wolves in here?” As far as he knew, the wards were very specific. Peter answered the question himself. They must’ve entered as normal animals, ate some jackalopes, and got crazed from the Mana. Restoring the totem’s function was just a matter of planting the pointy part of the stick in the ground, and Peter was rewarded with a new notification.
Quest Cleared. XP awarded toward the next level.
Peter stepped outside the protected area and walked back toward the campus. The pup—now asleep in his arms—showed no reaction.
The novelty and strangeness of the situation caught back with Peter, and he got goosebumps. “That would be good, yeah… Just let me take care of a few things first.”