As Travis trekked through the woods, he tried to spot a place to hide out for the night as it was already getting dark.
During the hours that led up to this moment, he had run into three more opponents who he easily dispatched due to his current superhuman capabilities.
Status
Kill points: 1.5
He sighed and thought to himself.
'This point system will get very tedious when I spend 5 points.'
He knew that each point was earned based on a simple but exponential mathematical formula. It went like this; when two or more contestants fought, the victor's and the loser's points would be divided with the victor's points being the denominator and the loser's points being the numerator.
The quotient would go to the victor. Simply put, the more points you spent, the less you would get from defeating those who had spent less.
Travis kept an eye out for any shacks or cabins. These places would contain varying amounts of loot and could serve as a resting spot. He also looked out for unusual leaf and twig arrangements on the ground, he had already seen a contestant step into snare and bear traps becoming easy pickings for him. He was not interested in becoming the same.
After about 15 minutes of searching, he spotted a rundown shack in the distance. He jogged towards it, his steps producing loud crunching noises in the deathly quiet forest.
He slowed down to a stop when he got close to it. He could smell a faint metallic smell coming from the shack, it was blood. He immediately raised his guard and relaxed his posture as he tried to look as defenseless as possible.
He walked into the shack through its broken door and avoided some oddly placed twigs and branches on the ground. The moment he got in, a fire axe came down on his head as a dark figure swung it at him with his full might.
The axe could be easily tracked by Travis' dynamic vision, so he caught the axe by its handle and punched the dark figure in the neck with a blisteringly fast right straight.
The dark figure let out a strangled choke as its neck was broken like a twig and it flew backward with the fire axe still clutched in its grasp while its neck dangled to the side. Travis looked down at the figure and took in his features.
A gruff-looking, well-built man with sideburns now lay with his neck grotesquely mangled, blood pooling from the damage caused by that single punch.
Announcement:
You have defeated a contestant
+0.5 kill points
Congratulations, you have defeated 5 contestants in under 24 hours
+1 kill point, +5 shop points
This announcement suppressed any uncomfortable feelings that were building up at the back of Travis' mind as he thought of the manuals and implants he could buy.
He shook his head and wiped the blood off his hand with the man's clothes before he searched him. The search was fruitful as he came back up with a knife bandolier that held 2 knives.
Seeing as it was already getting late, Travis decided to stay for the night. He had already covered plenty of distance and there was no guarantee he would run into another shack or cabin.
He searched the cabin for a few minutes but he just found three more knives and food. He kept them to the side and decided to spend his shop points and kill points. He sat down on a dirty couch and thought to himself.
'To increase my physique, I will need 3 kill points then later on 4 and so on. But weapons, armor, manuals, and implants aren't so straightforward. Status.'
[Status
Name: Travis Banks
Physique: 2
Health: Peak condition
Weapons: None
Armor: None
Implants: None
Manuals: None
Kill Points: 3
Shop Points: 6
Contestants: 9456/10,000
Map
Shop
Announcement:
Physique: 2—>3. -2 kill points
Announcement:
You have purchased a 'Myomastery' implant. Physique requirements have been met. -5 shop points. Install when ready.
Announcement:
You have bought 'The Essence of Human Martial Arts' manual. Requirements have been met. -1shop point. Install when ready.]
The euphoria from increasing his physique hit him again, this time for a full ten seconds and it was stronger. When the feeling vanished, he came back to his senses with no lingering longing for that euphoric state.
It surprised him slightly as to how he could shrug off such an intense euphoric rush so easily, but he put it to the back of his mind as he had more pressing concerns. He mentally commanded.
'Install the myomastery implant.'
The moment he gave the command, he had an out-of-body experience as gigabytes of information were transferred to his mind in microseconds, when it was over not even a second had passed but Travis Banks was a whole new person. He opened the implant's description
[Myomastery implant: Total muscular control.]
The description sounded simple but to martial artists, it made them practically unparalleled in melee combat!
Travis stood up and took a deep breath, he then trained some katas from his memory and tried to enhance them with his recently acquired myomastery. He immediately felt the difference.
He snapped out two punches which were accompanied by sharp gushes of wind followed by a low kick, then a knee strike and an elbow.
His refined and precise moves flowed between one another seamlessly, the gusts he produced became quieter and quieter until his strikes produced no sound at all.
After five minutes of relentless striking, he stopped, not even slightly out of breath. He had a big smile on his face as he sat back on the dirty couch and commanded with a thought.
'Install the essence of human martial arts.'
He experienced the same out-of-body experience as before but for a much shorter duration. He stood up with a smile still on his face and murmured.
'I know kung fu...'
[The Essence of Human Martial Arts(E.H.M.A): A guide to every possible martial art.]
Travis' posture immediately changed, and his stance became more balanced and centered. His breath became deeper and longer too, this was all due to the combined effects of his implant and current, instinctive knowledge of how his body worked. He felt like he could fight for hours on end without breaking a sweat!
To test himself out, he tried practicing again. His movements were now superhumanly agile and flexible, his arms and legs became a blur of motion as he shadow-boxed. After five minutes he stopped again and looked at his hands.
He clenched a hand tightly and then pumped his fist in the air in excitement. He took in deep breaths to calm himself down.
When he had calmed down, he barricaded the shack as much as he could with the furniture he had on hand.
He carefully moved the bear trap the gruff man from earlier had placed at the door and placed it near the boarded-up window
Since the only furniture available was the dirty couch and a table, he used both to block the door. He then found a spot and sat down, with the fire axe by his side. The throwing knife bandolier was strapped to his chest with all five knives.
He knew he had a rough night ahead but he was ready for anything anyone could throw at him, at least he hoped so...
———
Status
Name: Travis Banks
Physique: 3
Health: Peak condition
Weapons: None
Armor: None
Implants: Myomastery
Manuals: E.H.M.A.
Kill Points: 1
Shop Points: 0
Contestants: 9456/10,000
Map
Shop