Hessien gently patted Vacinay’s shoulder. “Your first murder,” he murmured. “How does it feel?”

  She rubbed her chin, deep in thought. “It feels… like leveling up!” She pumped her fist in the air, a triumphant grin spreading across her face. “I’m level 8 now. Got four points from it.”

  She lifted the sword again, and unlike before, managed it with moderate ease.

  A wide smile stretched across her face at the sight of her newfound strength. “Okay, I’m ready to kill some more.”

  I glanced at the corpse, noting the ordinary blood leaking from its head.

  Turning to Yamanda, curiosity piqued, I asked, “So, that guy wished for extra hands?”

  “He was most likely an amputee,” she replied matter-of-factly. “Probably wished to get his hand back, then paid the price by turning into this after a while.”

  That seemed strange. Like a mutation…

  “Have you met a mutant before?” I asked.

  She nodded. “Yeah, but mutants can’t think. They’re like wild beasts, unlike these half-men.”

  I hoped that was the case. The last thing I wanted was to get touched by one of them and suddenly transform into a freak.

  I almost felt a pang of guilt for thinking that way. Well, I would have, if that freak hadn’t acted so disgustingly. I had no idea what that bastard thought was going to happen. I wanted to revive him just to kill him myself. The audacity.

  Vacinay pointed into the distance. “I spotted another one. Time to level up!” She dashed after it.

  Hessien glanced at us. “I’ll stick with her so she doesn’t get hurt or do something stupid.”

  “Try to gain levels too, dude,” I said as he ran after her.

  I turned to Ghomas. “Just you and me now, eh? Stick close sweet cakes, and you won’t get hurt.” I slurred my words like one of my pedophilic drunkard neighbours.

  He was dumbfounded, opened his mouth to say something, but then just sighed and gave up.

  Yamanda was grinning from ear to ear, and I was using every ounce of willpower not to burst into laughter.

  Suddenly, she pointed at a tall tree. “Catch.”

  A snake man appeared out of nowhere, looking around frantically. "S-shit! Give me your damn levels!”

  Interesting. The desperation to level up must be on another scale when you live in a battle zone.

  He raised his arms to the sky, electricity crackling at his fingertips. “Die!” he shouted, directing the energy toward us.

  From his perspective, it played out like this:

  Before the electricity could even leave his hand, a sudden pain shot through his neck, and his head began sliding off.

  Confused and horrified, his mind spiraled into chaos before his head hit the ground and rolled to a stop. I stepped into his fading vision, a bloody knife in my grip.

  “You wanted to kill me to gain levels. I wanted to do the same,” I said.

  His eyes then closed for the last time.

  Yamanda, fascinated, asked, “Your time freeze is incredible. I have a question. Can you interact with those frozen in time? I know you stole that food, so I assumed you could move things that are locked in time. But can you change the state of those locked in time?”

  I shook my head. “No, I can’t. Not yet at least.”

  “Interesting. I’m very intrigued by your potential,” she mused.

  “Oh. Thanks…”

  I acted cocky about my time powers, but it was always playful. I knew exactly how broken my abilities were, but hearing it from someone so amazing felt… really nice.

  Yamanda then turned to Ghomas. “See that? They’re all running around, looking to kill people to gain levels. So don’t feel bad about killing them; you all want the same thing. The stronger one will simply take it.”

  He nodded. “Yeah… I know. I don’t doubt that. It’s just a scary position to be in, you know?”

  He sounded sincere, genuinely wrestling with the morality of taking a life, even in self-defense.

  I listened intently, ignoring the man with an absurdly long neck and massive hands lurking behind him.

  Yamanda nodded. “That’s very interesting.”

  Without warning, she teleported Ghomas face-to-face with the half-man looming over him. The creature’s blank expression was ripped straight from a horror movie.

  Ghomas's jaw dropped, and he screamed in disbelief. “What the hell is that?!”

  He tried to bolt, but Yamanda teleported him right back.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I wondered how many energy points she had. She used her skills so effortlessly.

  Pointing at him, I shouted encouragement. “Stop being a little bitch and fight! Are those muscles just for show, pussy?! Fight, fight, fight!”

  Tears welled in his eyes as he hurled slurs at me. That was new. I didn’t even know what they meant.

  Yamanda covered her mouth in surprise. “His choice of words is… fascinating.”

  I turned to her, folding my arms, ignoring the half-man failing to break Hessien’s back with its oversized limbs, obliterating trees instead. Ghomas was dodging like his life depended on it, so it was fine.

  “What is he saying?” I asked.

  “It’s common slang here. Mefard. I think he picked it up on our way to the restaurant.”

  Hmm. I hadn’t heard it. Then again, I ignored everything the translator couldn’t localize.

  I spotted another half-man in the distance. It formed a bow and arrow out of grass and aimed at me. Without a second thought, I grabbed the last speargun and took off its head.

  Then I turned back to Yamanda. “So, what does it mean?” (I am so cool, OMG OMG OMG!)

  “Um… That you’re incestuous. Specifically, daughter and father. Femard means you’re the product of incest between immediate family members.”

  My eye twitched, and a tiny bit of rage simmered in my soul.

  How the hell did he know their meaning?

  Then I facepalmed and laughed. “Ah. Why am I getting worked up over the words of weaklings?” I shook my head and walked off. “Ta-ta, Ghomas. Do survive.”

  “Don’t leave me behind!” he begged, but I tuned him out.

  To my surprise, Yamanda followed me.

  “Don’t you need to supervise him?” I asked.

  “I marked him with a custom teleport. If he bleeds a certain amount, he’ll be sent to me automatically.”

  “Holy shit. That’s amazing,” I exclaimed.

  She smiled, brushing her red hair back. “It’s nothing crazy… just a smart skill.”

  “How many skills do you have?” I asked, curiosity piqued.

  She smirked. “You’re nosy, aren’t you? If someone asks that, you never tell them. That includes the theme of your skills or what each one does.”

  I realized I had been rude without even noticing.

  But her skill theme was obvious, just like Hessien’s. What did it matter if he told someone?

  “So… if I asked whether the theme of your skills is teleportation, you wouldn’t answer?” I asked.

  “Pretty much.”

  “But isn’t it obvious?”

  “Not necessarily. Is the theme of my skill—or rather, my originator skill card—teleportation, or is it spatial manipulation? Or is it position exchange? And what do I exchange positions with? Could be air. The point is, the less someone knows, the fewer strengths they’re aware of. And the fewer weaknesses, too.”

  That makes sense.

  I hopped over a corpse that was still warm. Well, it wasn’t just a corpse—it was like a damn massacre had taken place here.

  A red monkey with four arms and a two-meter-long tail tumbled from a branch and slammed into the ground in front of us. Then its body began to shift and morph at an alarming speed.

  “Vacinay?!” I shouted.

  Her form was soon revealed… and, thankfully, she wasn’t naked. Though, she might as well have been, given how shredded her armor and clothes were. Most of her stomach, legs, and arms were visible and cut up.

  Hell, she was covered in blood—multiple shades of it.

  “They were pretty weak,” Vacinay said, using her sword for support as she panted heavily.

  “Let me pee in peace!” Hessien sprinted past us, fumbling with his pants, while a human-shaped fireball rolled after him.

  “Let me kill you!” it screamed.

  They seem pretty damn desperate for levels.

  Once Hessien finally secured his pants, he grinned and aimed his finger, firing a small, white, misty marble at it. Upon impact, it exploded into a dense fog. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to see through it.

  A massive improvement!

  Hessien then raised his spear gun and fired. There was a loud bang, and the sounds of the half-man faded.

  Could he see through the mist?

  Hessien glanced at me and waved. “Remember passive skills and all that?” he asked.

  “Yeah…?” I replied.

  He grinned. “Turns out, I actually had my passive skill unlocked before… but I thought it was fake since it seemed so damn lame compared to yours.”

  I raised an eyebrow before putting it together. “You can see through your mist?”

  “Not just mist. It works on anything obscuring my sight,” he explained.

  “Awesome! Your mist ability is turning out to be cool as hell, cozo!” I exclaimed.

  He pumped his fist into the air. “Hell yeah!”

  I turned to Vacinay. “I assume your passive skill lets you keep your clothes on when you transform?” I recalled how she had retrieved her sword the moment she returned to normal.

  “Something like that. Since the monkey form would’ve torn my clothes, I got a passive skill to preserve my belongings. So… whatever I have on merges with me and gets stored in me,” she explained.

  Yamanda, incredibly curious, asked, “That’s what you did with the sword, right?!”

  Vacinay nodded.

  “Holy shit. You’d make the perfect smuggler,” Yamanda exclaimed.

  Vacinay chuckled faintly. “Ah yes, because my lifelong dream is to follow in my mother’s footsteps and go to jail.”

  That’s not a joke.

  She then stood up. “Anyway, I’m at level 12. Some jerk touched my shoulder and made my skin erupt in cuts. The little bastard chased me down, calling me his ‘living levels.’”

  After rolling her shoulder, she declared, “I am so getting my revenge. He is my living levels, not the other way around.”

  With that, her cut skin began to twitch and shift, as if pulled by an invisible force, slowly drawing together like magnets. Each wound closed one by one until they vanished completely.

  Holy shit...

  “How much did that cost?” I asked.

  “About five skill points. The monkey form was two. I only took the form to escape from that guy, to be honest. He nearly touched my throat! Imagine if my head went flying.”

  I could handle him easily.

  Yamanda nodded, impressed. “Man, this is exciting. You guys have some ridiculously strong skills. Something like body repair for shapeshifting? I expected that to be super late-game or way weaker.”

  It probably has to do with the fact they’re legendary.

  Suddenly, Ghomas came rushing toward us, panting and bleeding heavily. “Damn it!” he huffed.

  I turned to Yamanda. “Isn’t your thing automatic?”

  She bit her lip. “Ah… you see… it’s a work in progress.”

  “You good?” I asked Ghomas, who was still doubled over, hands on his knees.

  He glared at me. “What do you think?”

  “You’re alive, so that’s a win. So, what’s your level?” I asked.

  Ghomas grumbled. “Damn it, not even asking how I’m doing…?”

  As he spoke, Yamanda strolled over and injected him with a healing shot.

  “By the way, both of you are backstabbing bastards.” He turned to me. “Anyway… after I killed the first half-man using Lumine’s secret technique—the ‘pussy cracker kick’—I managed to finish it off with my war hammer. I just kept hitting and hitting… Then another bat-like half-man swooped in and tried to bite my neck off. My armor saved me.

  "I strangled it to death. Then a worm-man showed up after finishing off another half-man. I fought it and barely won. Luckily, its defense was shit. So, there I was, standing in the blood of three people who used to be just like me and you. I was huffing and noticed a bunch more were coming from all over, smiling, calling me easy prey.”

  Ghomas spat on the ground and sat down. “I created a clone variant—the difference being that it’s very fast. Then I noticed I was level 11, so I used my secondary card.”

  His white card glowed, revealing an image. It looked like… electricity.

  Ghomas flicked his finger, sending a bolt of lightning shooting forward. He smirked. “But… they were mistaken. I wasn’t the prey—I was the predator.”

  Vacinay, Hessien, and I exchanged glances.

  “Corny ass,” Vacinay snickered.

  “Don’t disrespect Mr. Alpha Male!” I shouted to the sky. “Alphaaaa maleeee!”