Leo slowly opened his eyes moving his body inch by inch in an attempt to stand up straight. His feint blue eyes caught sight of the surroundings of a rainforest, the scorching sun pounded on his back as his dizzy eyes felt like they were constantly spinning around.
"Ugh where am I?" Leo grasped the back of his head, he was in a forest surrounded by countless trees. "Wait! my chest" he touched his chest that was supposed to have a fist sized hole in it only to find that his chest didn't even have so much as a scratch.
"Am I... dead? No no no, I should know if am dead or not, am definitely alive and breathing, but of that's the case, how do I get here?
Leo was confused, he tried to recall how he had ended up here but apart from a realization that he was Injured on his chest, he couldn't really make out anything else. There was a visibly hole in his black T-shirt that was plain yet added to his facial charm.
At that moment, his memory kicked in, flashes of light appeared in his mind and scene after scene appeared in from of him about how the bone monster had directly run its claws through his body.
Leo was puzzled, if that really happened, he should be dead and it still didn't explain why he was in a forest and why his legs felt weak like tofu.
" Damn, I feel so.... weak " he felt like he had just run a crosscountry race across planets and he didn't have the time to rest. He felt dehydrated and the dizzy to the point he would fall to the floor but he clenched his fists and shook his head, and at that moment a strange thing appeared.
[ Karos sunlight is affecting your system, the sun is a major weakness to a young shadow demon, all physical attributes halved ]
" What the F**k is this " Leo's eyes grew wide to the size of a babies fist as he stared as the message that looked like a gaming notification from a PS4 gaming interface. The message was constantly hovering over his eyes, he tried to touch it but his hand went right through it like it wasn't even there.
" Have I gone mad? or am I hallucinating from the heat ?" Leo quietly thought to himself, it was bad enough that he found himself I'm a desert and was feeling inexplicably weak, but now this was...
[ New quest: Karos Radiation from it's sun is poisonous to your cells and will only weaken you further with time until death. Avoid direct sunlight for 16 hours]
[ Rewards: +5 Attribute points ]
Starring straight ahead of him, Leo looked like a dumbfounded monkey, the floating screens kept saying stuff that made no sense to him to the point were it was overwhelming.
" Am... Am in Ka.... Karos " Leo couldn't help but gulp down some dry saliva, he had been sentenced to the most dangerous place ever known to man that replaced the bermuda triangle, The monster homeland Karos.
Leo immediately used his thoughts to go through each notification he saw on the screen, looking for the first notification he had received before he blacked out.
[Congratulations You Have obtained the Demon System]
"Demon System! what the hell is a Demon system? and why does it look like the video games that Tyler brings to school from..... Wait, Michael, what's happening to him now? he was with that bone monster all by himself but.. but I saw military soldiers over there, not just soldiers, Demon Hunter ranks. They should be strong enough to deal with it, right? Yeah Michael is probably fine, am just worrying too much ".
Demon hunters were the third strongest ranks when it came to super powered individuals, their rank far exceeded the normal ranks of a regular old Joe that managed to get their hands on an Ability stone.
Leo calmed himself down " I need to get outta here first, there is no point worrying about him if I die here, that small runt is resilient, he will live until I get back".
Leo thought about the weird system interface, a new screen appeared before his eyes that drew his attention; Stat Menu.
As soon as he uttered those words, the screen appeared in front of him.
Name: Leon Naro
Class: None
Race: Lower Shadow Demon
Aura level: level 0
HP: 25\50
Attributes
Strength: 6 (-3)/ Agility: 8 (-4)/ Stamina: 8 (-4)/ Mana: 50/ Charm: 10
Mastery
Weapons Mastery: Amateur/ Martial arts: Amateur/ Comprehension: Master level
Leo was a little puzzled, he wanted to deny what he was seeing right now but it was plainly staring him in the face. he had never heard of something like this happening to someone who had an ability stone, although come to think of it, he never took an ability stone in the first place.
Usually, when someone takes an ability stone, be it a Powerstone or Rune stone, they immediately have the strength of the beast essence it was derived from. if someone absorbed an E rank Ability stone then that person would be an E rank unless they could somehow evolve it into the next rank, which was impossible unless you got an ability stone of the exact type of beast in a higher rank.
" Am I now an Evolved, but I don't feel the so called power rush that comes with it and it doesn't seem like I have any powers at all. oh right, it says all my stats are halved, no wonder I feel so weak ". Leo face palmed his forehead, even the health was halved, the next thing that caught his attention was the level bar.
" I can't believe what am thinking, am actually going along with this demon stuff, well only one way to test it out and it looks like all I have to do is find some shade ".
Leo straightened his back and put energy into his weak legs and looked into the distance again. All he could see was overgrown trees and bushes " How the hell do I get outta here? ".
As if to answer his question, the interface appeared once again before his eyes.
[ Demon Trials will now begin, kill the enemies in your path and find the boss monster to escape with the Key ]
Leo hadn't even fully digested what the phrase demon trial meant when he heard snarling sounds from the forest around him. Currently, Leo was standing in a clearing with several stones that were slightly bigger than a humans fist.
He looked into the distance and as soon as he took a step forward, black beam immediately shot towards him from the distant forest. Leo could clearly see the whole attack play out in front of him noticeably slower than one would expect.
"What the Fuck" He immediately leaned to the side to dodge the attack but he soon discovered that his body was still stuck in place. To be fair, it was moving but not as fast as Leo had hoped it would, it was like his mind had suddenly gained superspeed but his body was still as slow as a normal person, even slower now that his stats were halved.
The black beam pierced through his shoulder as he had managed to move his body for the beam to attack the shoulder instead of the fatal heart kill it was originally intended for.
Leo grimaced in pain as he held the spot were his shoulder profusely bled. "What the hell was that thing, it looked like.. a Shadow" Leo drew his attention from his injured shoulder and his assailant showed its appearance.
It looked like a mutated Wild black Tasmanian devil with red and black markings all over its skin. Leo did not even have time to think as he made another dodge to the side narrowly missing a set of claws aimed straight for the throat. What Leo failed to notice was that the reaction speed of the second attack which increased and the follow up atta k was double the original speed.
"Shit! I can't dodge this" Leo had leapt backward but was still unable to escape, the claws flung him straight across the clearing as he crashed into forest a few meters away while digging deep into his flesh of his lower abdomen.
[ Critical hit taken, HP: 15 remaining ]
"Damn it! Am gonna die here" Leo spurted out a mouthful of blood, his eyes darting around looking for a way of escape.
Right as he had been thrown into the forest, the system notification rung in his ears
[ You are now in the shade, You are no longer affected by sunlight, All stats back to normal ]