Seeing a small river flowing in the distance, I felt my tense body become slightly less so, and a small, exhausted smile formed on my face.

  But I didn’t let my guard down. I knew how dangerous areas with water could be. Natural predators would definitely hang around the area, if not for the water, then the prey that also needed to drink. And with the strength that I currently had, would definitely land me as prey rather than predator. Meaning, I would most likely be a target for sustenance.

  As I arrived at the river, I never even once stopped sensing my surroundings. It was more an instinctive sense rather than a skill, as, all my techniques and natural senses of my strong body had all disappeared with my death.

  Knowing that I would most likely get sick from the water, and that I might even get a dangerous parasite from the water if I drank from it directly, I instead tried finding any animal in the area that I could slaughter to use as a cup or bowl of sorts.

  But even after an hour or so of looking around, I found nothing but a couple deer and a sole wolf, of which I steered cleared from. The deer on the other hand, I could definetly drink their blood.

  While it would be disgusting, and would probably not satiate all of the dehydration that was threatening to consume me, it would allow me to survive. Grabbing my spear as tightly as possible, I snuck my way towards the deer, but when I was within thirty meters of them, they suddenly turned towards me, and bolted away.

  “This... This is going to be, difficult.”

  ...

  Taking off all my clothes, I jumped into the river and cleansed any scent that I had upon me, I then got out, and rolled in the mud. While this was quite humiliating, who truly cared for humiliation?

  Grabbing a hold of my spear, I did the same with it, I rinsed it clean, and rolled it around in the mud. Feeling satisfied, I looked for deer once more. I had attempted to attack them twelve times now, and I could feel them becoming restless with each botched attempt, so I knew, this would be my last chance at getting dinner.

  Seeing the two deer munching on grass, I observed as they carefully kept a lookout for their surroundings. They had grown paranoid after I attempted to kill them so many times, which would make this just that more difficult.

  But I calmed my mind. Animals, by nature, had a sense for these things. They could feel the slight killing intent one would let out at the moment of one's attack, and I knew, that if I didn’t reel in my hunter for their death, then I would miss my opportunity.

  Each time they went for more grass, I would slither my way forward. No longer was I crouching, nor crawling. No, I slithered like a snake. My movements barely detectable, grass barely moving when I moved.

  An hour went past as I slithered myself towards them, slowly but surely, and by the time I was ready to attack, my sneak skill had reached level nine. Not sure if it was good or bad, I ignored it.

  I was now within five meters of them, and they had yet to notice me. I was currently within their flank, their small brains not giving them enough thought that maybe, just maybe, covering each other’s flank would’ve been a smarter choice than both of them staring at the same direction.

  But I ignored their stupidity, and slithered myself into a throwing pose, then I struck. Pulling my arm as far back as I could, I threw just in time. One of the deer noticed me, but it was too late at that moment, as my spear struck true, going straight into the back of its head, protruding on the other side.

  New Skill Unlocked: Surprise Attack Lv1

  New Skill Unlocked: Stealth Lv1

  I had tried my best to strike where I thought its brainstem was, I didn’t want it to suffer, nor escape, the other deer on the other hand, bolted at the sight of the deer falling over. But I ignored it. Even a singular deer would be more than enough.

  Dusting my hands, I pulled the spear out of its neck and after moving the deer into a more, convenient position, I grabbed the spear by the blade and started cutting through its stomach. Removing its entrails, I was hit by a sense of nostalgia.

  The first four months of the merge had led me and my allies having to live out in the forest, fighting for dear life, only surviving due to one of us having been a hunter before the merge. He had taught us the way of butchering, and with it, had imparted such important knowledge that I now wish I could’ve saved the man.

  As the deer hang by its own entrails on a nearby tree to bleed dry, I grabbed a handful branches and dry materials. I then went back and forth between the river and the deer carcass. Taking rocks for a small campfire.

  It was important to not accidentally cause a wildfire. While I indeed did not care for this world, nor its inhabitants. I wasn’t a barbarian. I wouldn’t risk the wildlife due to being careless. Not until I found a way out of this world at least.

  Now the most difficult part of the whole campfire would commence. Grabbing the driest stick I could find; I tried my best to channel my mana into it. I was hoping that the process would be similar to how kinetic energy interacted with objects.

  The process was extremely difficult, as I was only now learning how to control mana. While the mana within my body was too low and my control too low to actually use for combat, I knew that with enough patience, I could slowly but surely fill the stick within my hand with mana.

  At first, I tried to force my intent into the mana as I filled the stick, wanting the mana to become hot to the touch, and burn the stick, but as minutes passed, nothing happened. The only difference now was that the stick was brimming with mana.

  Realizing my mistake, I let out a sigh, and after throwing the stick away, I sat down in a lotus position. Closing my eyes, I watched within myself as the mana I was breathing was being filtered. As the elements entered my lungs, I watched as the mana that had no elements was absorbed into my heart, and I watched as the rest were exhaled out of me.

  The process was interesting, but what I currently needed were the mana elements that contained a fiery fire, the ones that wanted to burn everything around them. So, I watched the process over and over.

  It took me a while to understand how to technique truly worked, and I tried to modify it. As I inhaled, I watched as tens of different elements entered my lungs, and I tried finding the ones that I needed. Holding my breath, I quickly started inspecting the elements.

  The mana that had no elements had already been absorbed into my heart, leaving only the mana that had elements. Yet, as I inspected them, none really gave up the vibes of wanting to burn everything, everything was quite peaceful.

  So, I quickly exhaled and repeated the process.

  ...

  Exhaling, I couldn’t help but feel stupid. I had been so dumb, why would mana elements representing fire be in a forest where there is no fire? Standing up, I looked at the deer carcass that was now almost drained of its blood.

  Knowing that I didn’t have the strength to carry the whole deer, I grabbed my spear and started cutting into it. It took me about an hour, but I had finally skinned and butchered the best meat I could get from it.

  New Skill: Butchering Lv1 Unlocked.

  Butchering Lv1 -> Butchering Lv2

  The leather was torn in certain places due to carelessness, but it would be good enough to use as a bag of sorts. Putting the meat in the middle of the leather, I folded the leather around it, making a makeshift bag.

  I would always have to hold onto the opening though, or the bag would fall apart, as it relied purely on me holding it to stick together. Giving the carcass one last look, I grabbed my spear and made my way towards the city.

  While I had indeed intended on running away, I needed mana with fire attuned elements to survive, and going into a city that relied on lanterns and torches for light, I would quickly find them.

  New Skill: Pathfinding Lv1 Unlocked

  Pathfinding Lv1 -> Pathfinding Lv3

  The trek back to the city was much quicker than away from it. As I entered the gate that was still open, I saw it, blood and corpses were everywhere, both goblins and humans lied on the ground.

  Seeing all the deaths, along with the city being really quiet, I quickly guessed that the humans had lost, and as such, I stealthily entered the closest building, which, luckily for me, had a lantern that was still on.

  After making sure the building was safe, I blocked any and all entrances to it. Grabbing the lantern, I sat down in a lotus position and started the process again.

  Inhaling, I watched as the many different mana elements entered my lungs, after the non-elemental ones got absorbed by my heart, I looked through the remaining ones. It took me a couple seconds, but I finally found a couple that emitted a fiery feeling.

  Grasping onto them, I forced my heart to absorb them, and the effect was immediate. As my heart absorbed them, I felt a sudden warmth within it. As my heart beat, I could feel the fiery mana enter my bloodstreams, and to my relief, there was no physical damage.

  New Affinity: Fire (Mana) Unlocked.

  Mana breathing Lv7 -> Mana Breathing Lv8

  Opening my status, I observed the changes

  Status:

  Name: Alexander (David)

  Titles: -

  Attributes: Strength: 1 (3) - Constitution: 1 (3) - Agility: 1 (1) - Energy: 1 (3)

  Skills: [Mana Breathing(P): Lv8] - (Basic Spear Mastery Lv2) - (Pain Tolerance Lv1) - [Trekking Lv3] - [Pathfinding Lv3] - [Butchering Lv2] – [Surprise attack Lv1] – [Stealth Lv1]

  Energy level: F-

  Energy types: Mana

  Affinities: [Fire (Mana)]

  __

  Noticing the changes within my status, I couldn’t help but wonder what all the extra symbols meant, but knowing that I had no way to find out, I ignored it. On another note, I now had the mana affinity for fire, which was great since I really needed to cook my food.

  Walking around the house that I was in, I made my way to the kitchen and to my delight, they had quite a lot of spices, but unfortunately it seemed that in this world was too medieval for stoves and the like.

  Grabbing some of the spices, and a backpack that was conveniently next to the front door, I packed the spices and my meat that was still in my makeshift bag within it. Putting it on my back, I removed the block that I had placed on the front door and exited.

  Unfortunately, meeting me outside were four goblins, probably attracted by the waft of fresh deer meat.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  I quickly stabbed my spear towards the closest one, instantly killing it. But with it dying, the other goblins got out of their shocked dazes and attacked. With all of them equipped with daggers, I knew that close combat would be extremely stupid.

  I jumped backwards, back into the building and stood before the doorway. One of the stupid goblins followed me in, and I quickly stabbed it with my spear, killing it.

  (Basic Spear Mastery Lv2) -> (Basic Spear Mastery Lv3)

  New Skill Unlocked: Basic Spear Mastery Lv1

  Feeling slightly confused at the fact that I had suddenly unlocked the same skill that I already had unlocked, I closed the notifications.

  The two goblins outside who were intelligent enough to not enter the building stared daggers at me for a couple seconds before running off. Not knowing and not wanting to find out what they were planning, I grabbed both daggers from the two dead goblins and ran off, back into the forest.

  If I had to guess, the two goblins had planned on calling reinforcements, something I hadn’t fully expected from them, but I also couldn’t blame them.

  Goblins, at least back on earth, had been known for being both intelligent and cowardly, so I hadn’t been to surprised. I was just a bit worried that they would find me again, as goblins were well known for their noses.

  Entering the forest, I ran as fast as I could.

  ...

  I didn’t stop until my feet felt like they were going to fall off, and by the time that happened, it was already dark, and I was extremely hungry.

  After grabbing a couple dried sticks and leaves, I channeled mana with the fire attribute through the stick. It took just five seconds before the stick started smoking, and another five for it to burn.

  Putting it in the middle of my makeshift campfire, I watched as the embers took, and the flames rose.

  Grabbing the meat in my backpack, I grabbed another, more thick stick and pulled it through the meat. I then put some of the unknown spices that I had stolen onto it and held the meat-stick on top of the campfire, letting it cook.

  As minutes ticked by, my mind wandered.

  -,-

  As my sword met his, I couldn’t help but admire him. Max and I had met each other at the start of the merge, and we had grown together through hundreds of battles, yet, his skill in the sword had long surpassed mine. The only reason I had even kept up to him until now was due to my affinity for kinetic energy, along with having recently upgraded my heart into a Kinetic one.

  Our blows continued, and with it, the intensity increased. Max started using more feints, and after a badly timed swing, He got the opening he needed, and I lost. He had obviously not taken the opening as an opportunity to strike me, as, I would have been cut in half, and this was just a friendly spar between friends.

  We both had noticed the opening, and as such, the spar ended in Max being the victor. Sitting down, I sighed. “I don’t stand a chance against you anymore, Max.” He simply laughed in response. “Well, Sword is my affinity.”

  ,-,

  Biting into the meat, I found myself quite pleased. While it wasn’t the best, it was good enough. Me and Max had spared a lot back in the day, we had been great friends, but also rivals.

  So, remembering the betrayal of him, and all my other friends and allies, I couldn’t help but wonder... Why? I had fought alongside them against the invaders, and we had saved each other on many occasions, so the whole situation didn’t quite sit right with me.

  After we had killed the leader, alongside all the other invaders, they had suddenly pointed their blades towards me.

  I- I just didn’t understand why.

  *crunch* The sound of a twig snapping alerted me. Throwing away the meat, I grabbed the spear by my side and turned around, only to feel hopeless at the sight.

  Standing there, was an army. The goblins had somehow tracked me down, and their numbers were incredible. From what I could see, there were hundreds, and those were the ones that my campfire could pick up.

  A sudden noise of an arrow being released from a bow woke me from my shock at the sight. I quickly ducked, just in time, as the arrow whisked by, hitting a nearby tree. I rushed forward. My spear quickly found its place within a goblin’s throat, and then another.

  I danced around their numbers, spear entering and exiting goblin from goblin, it felt easy, too easy, and I quickly learned why. I could feel it, my mana was enhancing my strength, while it was unconscious at first, I slowly learned how to control it, and with it, I enhanced my muscles even more.

  New Skill Unlocked: Mana Muscle Lv1

  Beginner Spear mastery Lv1 -> Beginner Spear Mastery Lv5

  As I fought, I improved. For each kill, my mastery of the spear became stronger. With each attack, I slightly improved my techniques, my stance and my power.

  Instead of only stabbing, I slashed throats.

  New Skill Unlocked: Spear Dance Lv1

  Beginner Spear Mastery Lv5 -> Beginner Spear Mastery Lv8

  Then a sudden pain from my thigh reminded me of the inevitable. I wasn’t invincible, and there were hundreds, if not thousands of goblins here. But I had already decided my fate, the moment they had arrived.

  I would not run. That was not who I was. Sure, I had left when I had first arrived, but that was only because it was not my battle. This, however, is.

  Grabbing the throat of the goblin that had stabbed me in the thigh, I snapped it and threw its limp body to the ground.

  New Skill Unlocked: Pain Tolerance Lv1

  New Title Unlocked: Enemy Of Goblins

  Description: As the slaughterer of their kind, you have earned their ire, and have officially branded an enemy of their species.

  Title Effect I: Deal 10% More damage towards all goblins.

  Title Effect II: Goblins will attack on sight.

  Ignoring the notifications, I kept attacking, my spear dancing around. But as time went on, I became exhausted, and due to that, I started making mistakes. As my wounds accumulated, I could feel myself grow weaker.

  Skill: Pain Tolerance Lv1 -> Pain Tolerance Lv6

  New Skill Unlocked: Slash Resistance Lv1

  Skill: Beginner Spear Mastery Lv8 -> Novice Spear Mastery Lv1

  ...

  New Title Unlocked: Goblin Slayer

  Description: You have massacred hundreds of goblins, earning both their fear and hatred, their instincts scream to run at the sight of you. You are their worst nightmare.

  Title Effect I: Goblins deal 5% Less damage to you.

  Title Effect II: You Deal 20% More damage to goblins.

  No matter how many I killed, they just kept coming, and I never got any time to rest.

  Quickly blocking another strike from a goblin swordsman, my spear snapped in half, and I was left with no weapon. The goblin swordsman took the opportunity and jumped forwards, slashing towards my now, undefended torso.

  As his sword slashed through me, I felt a small sense of relief, but also regret. I had fallen to weaklings. The thought of it infuriated me, but my thoughts slowed down, and my consciousness faded as the cold embrace of death claimed me.

  [You have died.]

  [New Affinity Unlocked: Death]

  Opening my eyes, I felt the phantom pain of the strike, but it slowly faded as I observed my surroundings. I was back in the cave, back in the body I had inhabited before I became David.

  Yet, what struck me as odd, was that when I had entered the body of David, I had received the memories of his life, how he grew up, and every other event of his life, but in this one, I got nothing.

  But I stopped thinking about that and opened my status menu.

  Status:

  Name: Alexander

  Titles: Goblin Slayer – Enemy Of Goblins

  Attributes: Strength: 1 - Constitution: 1 - Agility: 1 - Energy: 1

  Skills: [Mana Breathing(P): Lv12] - [Novice Spear Mastery Lv1] - [Pain Tolerance Lv6] - [Trekking Lv6] - [Pathfinding Lv3] - [Butchering Lv2] – [Surprise attack Lv1] – [Stealth Lv1] [Spear Dance Lv1]

  Energy level: F-

  Energy types:

  Affinities: [Fire (Mana)] [Mana] [Death]

  Looking at the menu, I saw many things that had changed, as well as things that were missing. I had lost my control of mana, something I found quite particular, yet, my affinities remained.

  My new affinity with death did not come as a surprise, as, I had no died twice, and I could see why the death element had taken a liking to me.

  As I breathed, I took note as my heart eagerly absorbed the mana that entered my lungs, absorbing all the non-elemental mana. It felt different from when I was David, my body almost seemed desperate for it. When I had been in David’s body, my body struggled to absorb the mana in an efficient way. The mana that had entered my heart had mostly dissipated when it got channeled through my bloodstream, but now, there was almost no loss.

  If I had to guess, my body now absorbed mana at an 70-80% efficiency while David’s body had only done so at a 40-50% efficiency. The difference didn’t surprise me much, as David hadn’t had any energy when I first got into his body, but this body had seemingly had a small, but not usable amount, it had the level of a baby, but now that I was breathing in the ambient mana, my body was getting full of it.

  But I noticed that the other energy within the cave wasn’t being absorbed. There was other energy such as qi in the air, but my breathing was only taking in the mana. Feeling confused, I looked deeper into my breathing, trying to learn what was going on.

  And then I found the reason. It seemed that with the system, it had changed the way the technique worked. Feeling a bit annoyed at how the system seemingly did whatever it wanted, I changed the way I breathed.

  I had to consciously stop breathing, and then consciously use the technique that I had used back on earth.

  The technique we had back then was for all types of energy, not just mana, so I replicated it, and after hundreds of different iterations, it finally paid off.

  Skill: Mana Breathing Lv12 -> Universal Breathing Lv1

  The system still refused to acknowledge the original name, but I decided to let it rest, and I sat back down into a lotus position and took a breath.

  New Energy Type: Qi

  New Energy Type: Mana

  The change within my body, or, rather, my dantian was immediate.

  I observed as two stars formed, one was made out of qi, while the other was made out of mana.

  The mana star formed a smaller, yet, hot planet orbiting it, and inspecting it closer, I saw what it was. The Mana star had formed a planet made out of the fire element.

  Seeing no other change, I changed my view, and went into my Mindspace. As my spiritual body formed, I made my way to where I had originally found the tear, yet, when I arrived, there was nothing there.

  Feeling slightly relieved at that, I left my Mindspace and made my way out of the cave. The two suns were still up. Giving the cave one last look, I made my way towards the city.

  My goal was simple, I wanted to find out what kind of world this was, and then become stronger. Knowing that the qi techniques that I had used in my previous life had been lost within the Library Of Lost Knowledge, I needed to find a sect, or store, where I could buy one.

  That reminded me that I also needed to find a job.

  ...

  The walk towards the city took three hours, but arriving at the front gate, I felt impressed by the walls. Even with my untrained eyes, I could see all the formations filling the walls, it had even made me dizzy after I looked at it for too long.

  The gates had two guards guarding it, one of which spoke to me.

  “Affiliation and intention?” The man asked while looking at my choice of clothing. “Name’s Alexander, my intention is to find work.” The man raised an eyebrow, “here for the sect recruitments?” Asking for further detail, he explained. “The five big sects of the city are hosting recruitments this time of year, and as such, many travelers such as yourself come here, hoping to strike it big and become a sect member.”

  He went into further detail, but most of it was useless, only after a couple minutes of talking did he finally give me the instructions on how to get to the recruitment center.

  Arriving within the city walls, I couldn’t help but feel impressed. There were food stalls, and other stalls littering the city roads, many of them yelling that their products were cheap, or their food was tasty.

  But I ignored all of them. Making my way to where the many sects would come for recruitment.

  ...

  My walk was uneventful, and finally arriving, I found myself amused at the sight. There were both qi cultivators and regular folk standing all over the plaza. Asking a nearby person, I found out that the recruitment would start in an hour, so I found a comfortable place and sat down.

  Having nothing else to do, I focused on breathing as efficiently as possible. While the passive breathing was great, manually controlling the intake was a bit more efficient.

  On my walk towards the city, my skill had gone from level 1 to level 6, showing how rich the environment was when it came to ambient energy. It was actually quite high in comparison to back on earth.

  It felt as though the ambient energy on this planet was a good five times greater than back on earth, and based of that, I knew that I could definitely get a lot stronger than I was back on earth. Though, that would still take years.

  ...

  As my surroundings suddenly became a lot quieter, I looked up at what could have caused such a sudden quietness and I saw what had caused it. Floating in the air were seven people, all dressed differently.

  I watched as one of them started talking.

  “We, the Heavenly Dragon sect will start recruitment in an hour at our sect.” He then flew back towards where he came.

  Then another lowered himself and spoke. “We, the Eternal Arts sect will be starting recruitment in an hour at our sect.” He then flew away.

  "We, the Divine Tiger sect-”

  “We, the Mystic Gate sect-”

  “The Formation sect-”

  “We, the Iron Fist sect-”

  “We, the Flowing Palm sect-”

  This went on until all seven had spoken. Yet, it annoyed me that none of them said what their sects focused on, the only exception being the Formation Sect. Sighing, I thought of which sect sounded the most interesting, just based of their name.

  There was the Heavenly Dragon sect, Eternal Arts sect, Divine Tiger sect, Mystic Gate sect, Mystical flows sect, Iron Fist Sect, and the Flowing Palm sect, all of which had the most embarrassing names, and I found that none of them truly caught my interest

  But I truly needed a cultivation method, or I would never get to use qi, so I thought about it, and based of the names, I simply went for the Iron Fist sect. The reason was simple. The name was the least cringeworthy.

  ..

  After asking for simple directions, I arrived at the entrance to the Iron Fist sect. The entrance was simple, yet, I could sense the strong formations upon the sect walls, and I knew that it would take someone of considerable strength to break through them.

  Walking up one of the sect members standing guard, I asked. “Hello, I’m here for the recruitment, could you point me towards where it is?” The man gave me a look over. “You sure you got the- ah, never mind. Yes, it’s-” after receiving some simple directions, I made my way through the sect. As I walked through, I observed the structures within. It all reminded me of ancient China, their structures were quite beautiful.

  Arriving at the small plaza they had, I sat down and waited once more for the sect recruitment to begin.