Similar to the last time he leveled up, Jay felt a powerful pain spreading through his body. Every muscle and joint felt a burning sensation.
The blood throughout his body heating up as his heart beat raced increasingly faster.
The pain lasted for about a minute as the muscles within his body grew and became more defined. His senses, such as vision and hearing seemed to have approved as well.
[Level Up Successful]
Finally, the pain faded away as he sat there breathing harder than usual. His body covered in sweat as he observed his new figure.
With his arms more toned, and his chest and abs more defined, Jay felt great.
"Show me my stats," he said with a smile on his face.
[Level 3]
[Strength: 10]
[Stamina: 10]
[Agility: 14]
[Health 20/20]
[MP: 0]
[1 Available Stat Point]
"Only 1 stat point just like last time?"
Jay was a little disappointed, as he had hoped the amount of stat points given would increase with each new level.
"Add available stat point to agility" he commanded.
His health had also increased again. Was The System expecting him to only need health to survive? Would the other stats only increase when a stat point was added?
A smile again appeared on his face, as a memory from earlier had crossed his mind.
"Show me my skills" he said to The System thrilled.
He was finally getting his first skill. As he read the information on the screen, his smile only grew larger.
[New Skill: Plunder]
[This Skill Allows The Host To Take The Unique Skill Of The Target. A Stat Point From The Target's Highest Stat Will Also Be Given To The Host]
[Target Must Be Weakened or Dead Before Skill Can Be Used].
"This must be the exclusive skill to The System which it mentioned before.
Wasting no time, he approached the wolf like beast placing his hand on it's body.
"Plunder" he yelled before a red aura appeared around the body of the beast before slithering up his arm like a snake.
The aura now spreading around his body disappeared as a slight tingle could be felt within his head.
"This is a cool ability but that was such a weird way for it to work."
"What changes have appeared? he asked the system not feeling any different.
[Agility: 16]
"The target's highest stat was agility, therefore the agility of the host has now been increased by one."
"Target had no unique skill that could be transferred to the host."
"Unfortunately, no skill could be taken from the wolf like beast but at least my agility has increased once more" Jay thought.
Jay's stomach began to rumble. "I completely forgot, I have not ate yet. In fact, its been two or three days since my last meal."
Sensing his feelings of confusion, The System rang with an answer.
"Another unique feature of The System allows the host's hunger to be delayed for up to three days at a time. The negative side effect is as follows. Upon expiration of the three day delay, the host's hunger grows until it becomes unbearable as they are drawn to anything edible."
"Most beast meat can be consumed while others are highly poisonous. The Lupus Griseo is safe for consumption." The system added shortly afterwards.
Looking at the dead body on the ground near him, Jay's hunger only grew bigger. One problem however, crossed is mind.
"Do I have to eat the meat raw?"
With no way to cook the meat and not wanting to experience the feeling of losing control over his own body, Jay decided to quickly eat the meat.
Grabbing a large bone from a nearby pile, he proceeded to slice off a leg from the beast. Staring at the raw meat and closing his eyes Jay took a large bite.
The taste of cooked chicken covered his taste buds as Jay continued to chew. However, this was all in his head. The raw meat actually tasted like what you would expect raw meat to taste like.
With blood dripping down his chin as he chewed and chewed, Jay continued forward as to not waste anymore time.
He wanted to exit the dungeon as fast as he could, but needed to get stronger first.
What if witnesses from the trial saw his face and reported his escape to the higher ups. What if he encountered more enemies or beast above ground.
"The only way to survive was by getting stronger" he thought biting into the final piece of meat.
With a sharp bone in both hands for weapons, Jay continued to the other side of the area.
Reaching the other side of the large area, he could clearly see that there was no tunnel.
What was in front of him however, was a large red hole in the wall. It looked almost as if the red light was moving around in place.
"Analyze" he said to The System not sure how safe it was to enter.
[Exit Portal] read the screen before his eyes.
[Exit Portal's appear after the boss of a dungeon is defeated. The portals are sometimes hidden or hard to find]
"What?" he yelled.
"There was no way that such an easy to defeat beast was the boss. Then again, it was already hurt and barely able to use its full strength and speed. I'm sure if it was not hurt before my entry, I would have lost without a doubt."
"System how long do portals stay open?"
The System replied back as quick as usual, "24 hours is the maximum time that a portal can stay open."
Turning around, Jay ran towards the direction he came from. Passing the corpse of the "boss."
He ran into the dark tunnel that led him into that room, and through the dark water. Finally, exiting the tunnel he was standing back in the small cave connected to the three tunnels he came across earlier.
"I can't leave yet. I have to get stronger. I need more strength, more skills."
[Quest: Defeat The Lower Bosses each tunnel.]
[Reward: 3 stat points.]
It was as if The System was encouraging him to clear the two tunnels.
Charging head first into the unknown was not his sort of thing but he only had 24 hours to adventure through the other two tunnels. He chose the left and dashed in.
An hour passed.
Brown Boar like creatures laid around covered in holes leaking blood. Walking further into the cave away from these fresh corpses was none other than Jay. The sharp bones still in his hand.
After walking for a few minutes, another large brown boar could be seen.
Similar to the others that he had already killed, this boar had spikes sticking out along its spine. It's red glowing eyes met his and charged forward.
Unlike the others, this boar-like creature on all fours was about 6 feet tall. Sharp teeth could be seen in it's mouth as it opened attempting to eat Jay in one go.
It was fast, but not fast enough.
Jay jumped to the side barely dodging the large body of the beast. It turned and once again dashed at him.
The smaller boars were easy to beat and were just like the ones from his world excluding the red eyes and spikes. The large bone in his hands, easily stabbed into their heads resulting in their quick deaths.
Again jumping to the side, Jay ran after the beast as it continued running forward. As the beast turned to once again attack it's prey, Jay was already in front of it.
Using the two makeshift weapons, he stabbed the eyes of the beast and pushed with all his might. The bones now sticking out the back of the beast's head as blood dripped off of it.
"Plunder" he yelled wasting no time.
The same red aura as before appeared around the body of the beast before slithering up his arm like a snake. Just like last time, it covered his body before fading away with a slight tingle.
"The target's highest stat was strength, therefore the strength of the host has now been increased by one."
"Target had no unique skill that could be transferred to the host."
"Again no skills? Why can't I catch a break."
The boar creatures blood was red but on it's tusk was dried green blood. The same blood that he had stepped in on his way through the tunnel after waking from his hallucination.
Not knowing how or if the two were connected, Jay broke off the Boar's tusks with a large rock. With a new set of weapons he was ready for the last tunnel.
[23 Hours Remaining Before The Portal Closes] read the screen alerting him of the time left.
"One more. I can do it."