CRRAAAAACK!
BOOOM!
A tree fell behind Ryker, who was running at full speed down the trail road.
SNAAAAP!
Boom!
CRAAACK!
BOOM!
Ryker sensed death behind him and ran faster than he had ever before. While he was excessively in shape by Earth's standards, he might as well be a kitten in Lexicon!
SNAP!
Boom!
CRRRAAAACKK!
BOOOOM!
The teen flew forward, hitting the ground. It was excruciating, as the foliage didn't move, so he glided across it like sandpaper!
It immediately ground the skin off his arm and part of his face.
THU-DUMP!
THU-DUMP!
His heart began racing, and adrenaline hit his system in full force.
He immediately shot up, disregarding the pain he felt.
Turning, he moved uphill between thick trees that would catch the falling ones.
SNAAAAP!
Boom!
CRAAACK!
BOOM!
Flurries of grass hit Ryker, tearing microscopic holes into his skin. Luckily, the planet placed blessing restrictions on items traveling through the air. So they didn't kill him.
It allowed spaceships to fly through the air, albeit slower. It was yet another feature of Lexicon that made it feel [designed] by a higher being.
The planet was cruel to outsiders, but it didn't make it [impossible] to find a dead creature and start one's life as a genesis Scythe.
Ryker spotted a cracked boulder to his right, downhill from his position.
He immediately jumped downhill.
BOOOOOOM!
The tree where he was standing just seconds ago exploded from the boar's face hitting it.
If he were still there, or standing on the ground in the area, he'd have died. Instead, he flew down the hill and smashed into the boulder.
"Guhhhhhh!" Ryker coughed blood as he hit the boulder.
His mind became hazy
"Maxwell." He groaned.
Thu-dump!
"MAXWELL!" Ryker roared with bloodlust oozing from his pours.
He couldn't die there! He had someone to kill, and NOTHING would stand in his way of doing that!
Ryker's eyes flashed open in a blind fury, and he grabbed the stick on the ground and jammed it into the crack.
The branch had [intent]. So while Ryker couldn't move the soil, it could. The difference was surreal; he felt he was on earth as he adjusted it to eye length.
"What? How—"
Ryker turned around to find the boar was already ten feet away!
It was a clearing, and he learned just how fast an unhindered creature in Lexicon could run.
CRAAAAACK BOOOM!
"MAXwell, Maxwell, maxwell, max… well…." Ryker dozed off.
SQUEEEE!
The teen snapped back into focus when a deafening roar woke him up.
When he opened his eyes, he wished he hadn't. His body was impaled by the branch he had just placed, connecting him to the boar's eye like a shishkabob!
"Guahhhhhhh!" Ryker screamed.
The shock wore off, and the wound, combined with the thrashing of the boar, was excruciating!
In desperation, Ryker called out. "Butter… knife…."
The butter knife. When Ryker first saw it, he was excited to know what type of people Amusement Society housed.
It was a weapon that people would only use out of desperation.
Now Ryker was in such a position. Skewered against a boulder with multiple cracked ribs, a collapsed lung, and being shredded by the boulder, he needed a miracle.
"Butter… knife…." Ryker wheezed.
He hadn't taken it out because of the requirements not to use it on anything.
But now, in a brutal position where he could guarantee a hit, it materialized in his hand.
The sun flashed off its dull silver blade, allowing Ryker to see his sorry, bloodied, semi-inhuman state.
"MAXWELL!" Ryker yelled, driving bloodlust into the blade.
A suffocating pressure shot through the atmosphere, causing the forest to fall still.
The boar stopped thrashing and shook with fear.
Paralyzed by shock, it could only stand silently while the blade hit its skull and sliced through its face like butter.
It continued past the knife point, cleaving everything a foot above and below the boar.
Ding! [Congratulations! The user has leveled up!]
Ding! [Congratulations! The user has leveled up!]
Ding! [Congratulations! The user has leveled up!]
Ding! [Congratulations! The user has leveled up!]
Ding! [Congratulations! The user has leveled up!]
Ding! [Congratulations! The user has leveled up!]
With the newfound strength welling in Ryker's body, he pushed the dead boar off him as much as possible.
When he did, he immediately regretted it.
The boar's face acted as a tourniquet for his wound-riddled body, and blood gushed out of him.
Leveling didn't miraculously heal people in Lexicon; all increases in health and mana acted as an increased reserve.
They took time to recharge.
"Fig… ur… es…." Ryker wheezed as he collapsed to the ground.
"Six…."
Ryker army crawled on the ground, which he could now feel like on Earth. It was spongey and soft, something he would have enjoyed moments before.
However, he couldn't enjoy anything.
The teen's superhuman strength propelled him forward. That was all.
"Six…."
He wanted to laugh. At Level 7, he'd get a full recovery potion. However, he had a collapsed lung, broken ribs, and a massive wound—at Level 6.
Ryker wanted to find bugs to smash, but he couldn't find any.
The knife scared everything in the area away!
He found that hilarious. The butter knife was so overpowered that trying to use it would scare away someone's enemies.
Perhaps the lesson was learning to hide one's killing intent till the moment to strike. It was the perfect skill for an assassin.
Regardless, he wouldn't get the chance to learn from it unless another miracle arrived.
More accurately, another unfortunate event that he, fortunately, survived.
Ryker coughed up blood, attempting to laugh as he crawled another few meters.
He had crawled up a tiny hill and could now see what the other side held.
Lexicon.
It was a cliffside, and Ryker could see the setting [suns] from his first day falling over the horizon.
One was large and yellow, and the second was small and purple-tinted. As the yellow fell over the horizon, the latter cast the world with a pinkish hue before slowly spreading dark purple over the land.
Ryker found the sight beautiful.
He imagined that Maxwell's face would undergo the same transformation after he killed him.
The thought left a bright smile on his face that no amount of pain could restrain.
"AWHOOOOOOOO!"
"Grrrr ghat! Grrrr ghat ghat!"
"Grrrrrrr ghat!"
"Ghat! Grrrr ghat!"
"Grrrr ghat! Grrrr ghat ghat!"
"Grrrrrrr ghat!"
The need closed his eyes with the same smile.
"Six…." Ryker said softly.
He found the concept hilarious.
"Six…. yet another… impossible… number."
Against enormous levels of pain, Ryker laughed.
It hurt, but he couldn't help it.
The number felt so funny to him.
He resolved that he wouldn't die until there were [five] of them, just for spite.
Then he'd have seven, and they'd have five.
It'd be the same number in total, but it would disrupt the balance!
It wasn't funny, but the concept felt hilarious to him. He grinned and gasped, trying to remain breathing as he laughed.
"I can… cough… scare them… ha ha… away with my mighty… ha… butter sword." Ryker laughed.
"GHAT! Grrrr GHAT!"
"GRRR GHAT! GRRR GHAT!"
"Grrrrrrr ghat!"
"But… haha ha… but… then I can't… ha… destabilize… the balance… hahaha…."
CRRAAACK!
"Gah… ahhh… cough!" Ryker tried screaming as a blue-furred hellhound chomped into his leg, but his breaths were too sharp.
"Eat… eat my arm! It… it tastes… better!"
He thrust out his left arm to the beast but it gnored it.
All six were rushing to his right and turning was impossible with cracked ribs.
"Figures…." Ryker chuckled while dozing off, "Maxwell… I won't… let you… kill me…."
He pulled the ground in his army crawl, pulling against the beast's jaws and ripping off his leg.
Ryker transferred his butter knife to his mouth and offered his right arm to two blue hell hounds with murky green eyes.
The teen found them hilariously ugly, but he still offered his body to them.
He would control what they ate.
The canines began circling Ryker. He was crawling to the cliff's edge.
There was a chance to live over the cliff and zero hope of survival where he was.
Ryker wouldn't die without a fight; if he did, he'd die on his terms.
Maxwell wouldn't kill him. If all were lost, he would die by his own hands.
Maxwell.
Maxwell.
MAXWELL!
Ryker's bloody hand gripped the cliff's edge and tugged as the wolves tried pulling him back.
However, the teen refused to let go. He stared over the horizon with a determined look on his face.
He pulled back harder, with his new power, magnifying his already insane grip strength.
As his left leg tore away, he captured a glimpse of a truly beautiful sight.
A 350-foot drop. Certain death.