Alex, feeling a wave of panic hit him, makes a split-second decision to run. He bolts, heart racing, and every time he hears the spider's screech behind him, the terror inside him grows. "Oh, f**k, why now?!" he yells. "I seriously didn't need this right now! Hey, tattoo, isn't this the part where you're supposed to save me?!"
As he runs, Alex keeps cursing the tattoo, "Come on, you useless piece of sh*t, where are you?!"
Exhaustion starts creeping in, but fear keeps him going. The giant spider's right on his tail, its screeches echoing through the trees, everything around him caught between pure terror and the slim hope of making it out alive.
Alex pushes himself, running faster, sweat pouring down his face. The spider's getting closer, smashing trees as it barrels forward, its massive legs ripping apart branches, leaves falling like green rain.
"You f**king asshole!" Alex shouts. "F**k everything! How… how the hell do you just ignore me now, you bastard?!" He keeps hurling insults at the tattoo, even as he dodges trees crashing down behind him. "You throw me into this nightmare and then ditch me to die? What the hell were you thinking, you piece of sh*t?!"
His screams and curses fill the air, but the spider doesn't care. Its terrifying roar shakes the forest, almost like it's mocking him. The ground trembles under the weight of its steps, the sound of trees shattering getting louder with every move it makes.
Alex, gasping for breath and pulling himself through broken branches, keeps running like his life depends on it—because it does. "Aaargh!"
Every step feels like it's draining what little energy he has left, while the spider just keeps coming, like some unstoppable force in a twisted game.
Alex is running like a maniac, trees exploding around him as the spider charges after him with terrifying speed. Then, out of nowhere, a giant leaf smacks him right in the face, blinding him. "What the—?!" he yells, stumbling as he tries to yank the leaf off, only to tumble down a hill, rolling helplessly. "Aaaaah! Noooo!" he screams as he falls, landing hard on his ass.
"aghhh F**k! My back!" he groans, rubbing his sore butt.
He glances up and sees the giant spider still coming, the ground shaking with each step. Its face is almost touching the earth, and its screech fills the air with an awful sound. In a desperate move, Alex turns, trying to calm the situation with a ridiculous grin, "Hey, hey, hey, hold up there, you beautiful, shiny spider! You're amazing! Seriously, you are! How about we reschedule this, yeah?"
"You definitely don't want to eat someone like me," Alex says, forcing a nervous smile. "I taste terrible, trust me! Like… like some old, forgotten meat in the back of the fridge! And I haven't showered in… I don't even know… a week?!"
As Alex tries to get up and make a run for it, he suddenly finds himself tangled in a massive spider web, pinned to the ground. "No, no, no! This is NOT how I planned my day!" he shouts, thrashing around as his arms and legs get caught like some kind of messed-up puppet.
The spider slowly inches closer, its eyes glowing like something out of a horror movie. But Alex, still clinging to a sliver of hope, keeps trying to talk his way out: "Oh, come on! You're not seriously going to do this, right? We're pals, aren't we? Haha... Hey, big guy, how do I put this? I taste *awful*. I've, uh… I've got a spider allergy! How about this—I give you that damn stone, and we forget this whole thing happened! Deal?"
As the spider gets ready to pounce, Alex throws his arms over his face, tensing up, waiting for the end. Seconds pass. Nothing. Slowly, cautiously, he peeks through his arms and opens his eyes. And there it was—the biggest shock of all. He's back in his room.
For a moment, he stands there in disbelief, his heart hammering in his chest, mind racing to make sense of it all. "What the hell? How?!" he whispers to himself, still trying to catch his breath.
And then, like clockwork, the swearing kicks in. "You son of a b*tch! You useless f**king tattoo!" he shouts, glaring at his arm. "Why do you always wait until a giant monster's about to eat me to bail me out?! Do you enjoy watching me almost drop dead from a heart attack?!" He rants, waving his arms around like he's scolding the tattoo directly.
Collapsing onto his bed with a deep sigh, he places a hand on his chest, willing his heart to slow down. "Oh my god… that was way too close... way too much damn close," he mutters, trying to convince himself that it's over, that he's finally safe, at least for now.
"I f**king hate you, you piece of garbage…"
As he sits there, trying to calm down, he notices the tattoo on his arm starting to glow a bright green. And then, out of nowhere, notifications flood his vision, catching him totally off guard:
- "You earned 1 point for killing a monster."
- "You earned 1 point for killing a monster."
- "You earned 1 point for killing a monster."
- ...
- ...
- "You earned 1 point for killing a monster."
- "Achievement unlocked: First Kill in the Punishment Realm."
- "You earned 2 points."
- "Rune Stone discovered: You earned 5 points."
- "You've collected 44 points. Congrats!"
- "Your superhuman senses have leveled up."
- "Due to the difficulty of your achievement, you've unlocked a new ability: Dimensional Pocket."
Another notification pops up:
"The Dimensional Pocket is an invisible storage space linked to your mind. You can store and retrieve items without physically carrying them. Just think of the item you want to store, and it'll disappear into the pocket. You can pull it out the same way."
Still trying to wrap his head around everything, Alex stares at the notifications, eyes wide. Slowly, a grin starts creeping across his face. His theory about collecting points was spot on! A rush of excitement hits him—he's on the right track.
The new ability, "Dimensional Pocket," felt like a crazy jackpot for Alex—an absolute game-changer. As he sat there, spreading the points he'd just earned across his stats, he focused hard, trying to strike the right balance between strength, speed, and intelligence. Once he was done, a notification popped up:
Physical and Mental Stats:
- Strength: 10
- Speed: 13
- Agility: 11
- Durability: 10
- Intelligence: 13
He let out a deep breath, feeling pretty good about it. But just when he thought he could relax, another notification jumped out at him:
- "Congrats, you've completed a special mission."
- "Congrats, you've leveled up."
- "Congrats, you've leveled up again."
- "Congrats! You're now Level 2."
As he tried to make sense of this sudden level jump, another notification took him by surprise:
- "Your Probability Manipulation skill is evolving..."
- "Evolution in progress..."
- "Congrats! Your new skill is "Dumb Luck"."
Alex froze for a moment, blinking in confusion. "Dumb Luck? Are you serious?" he muttered, trying to wrap his head around what that even meant. Before he could dig into it, yet another notification flashed before his eyes:
- "Ability description: You'll just be… lucky."
He couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, finding the name both hilarious and kind of fitting at this point. But before he could even enjoy the humor in it, another mind-blowing notification hit him:
- "Due to your level progress, a new ability has been unlocked."
- "Ding!"
- "Unlocked: Reality Reshaping."
---
Reality Reshaping (Limited):
- Ability: Change your surroundings in minor ways, like building small barriers or shifting the shape of things.
- Limits: Bigger changes need a ton of energy and might be unstable.
---
Alex's mouth hung open. "Reality Reshaping? Seriously?" he said out loud, already thinking of the endless things he could do with it. But he knew there had to be a catch, like with everything else, and that he'd have to tread carefully.
---
Abilities:
- Legacy Transfer:
- Lightning Power
- (Empty)
- (Empty)
- Dumb Luck
- Reality Reshaping
[+ Enhanced Super Senses] (Extra)
---
Physical and Mental Stats:
- Strength: 10
- Speed: 13
- Agility: 11
- Durability: 10
- Intelligence: 13
- ????? (Still locked)
---
Level: 2
---
Sitting on his bed, Alex tried to make sense of everything that had just happened. It was a lot to take in. Bit by bit, the notifications and rewards started settling in his mind. And then, out of nowhere, he burst into laughter, like he'd finally snapped from all the craziness.
He leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling with a huge grin on his face. "What the hell is even happening to me?" he asked, almost in disbelief. He counted on his fingers, thinking back to all the things he'd just unlocked: "Got some points, leveled up, now I have Reality Reshaping, and… Dumb Luck? Seriously, who comes up with this name?"
Alex looked down at the tattoo on his arm and shook his head, laughing softly. "I was literally about to be spider food... and now I'm the 'dumb lucky' guy? Is this some kind of cosmic joke or what?"
Without warning, he jumped up and started pacing around the room like a maniac, grabbing his head and shaking it wildly. "Oh my god, I've got a dimensional pocket now! A freaking "dimensional pocket"! I can stash things in there like it's a video game! And I can… reshape reality?!"
He picked up a pillow from his bed, staring at it intensely. "Can I turn this into... I don't know, a shield or something?" he muttered sarcastically, narrowing his eyes at the pillow like he expected it to magically transform.
When nothing happened, he let out a disappointed sigh. "Okay, maybe not yet. But seriously… this is nuts! I go from barely surviving to being the dumb lucky guy who can reshape reality?" He laughed, letting his mind run wild with all the insane possibilities.
Just as he was lost in his thoughts, he slammed his foot right into the corner of the bedframe. A loud thud echoed through the room, followed by instant regret.
Alex immediately started hopping around on one foot, his face turning red from the pain. "Ow, ow, ow! What the hell?! That freaking hurts!" he yelled, grabbing his foot as his face twisted in agony. "Why is it always the damn corners?! Are they specifically designed to make us suffer?!"
He kept hopping around, as if that was going to help the pain go away, but it only got worse each time his foot hit the floor. "Is this what dumb luck means? Is this my new reality?!" he groaned, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he mocked the universe.
"is this the luck that you've mentioned!" he shouted, still bouncing around, his face caught between grimacing in pain and laughing at the absurdity of it all. "Even getting chased by a giant spider wasn't this bad!"
As he limped around the room, he realized there was still so much about his new abilities that he didn't understand. "Seriously… dumb lucky?" he muttered to himself, half-laughing, half-complaining as he kept hopping around, trying to make sense of it all.
Finally, he leaned against the wall, completely wiped out from the whirlwind of weirdness he'd just been through. But despite everything, a small grin crept across his face. "This tattoo is such a pain in the ass… but maybe, just maybe, I can figure it all out."
Then, as the room grew quieter, his thoughts drifted back to the gray stone he'd found in the forest. He reached into his pocket and pulled it out, staring at the purple glow swirling through the spiral engravings. "Is this the stone the tattoo was talking about?" he whispered to himself, curiosity filling his voice.
Alex stared at the stone intently, trying to connect the dots and figure out why the monsters had been fighting so viciously around him. As he examined the stone, a new notification lit up on his arm, glowing with bright green lights.
The soft glow of the alert illuminated the room as Alex sat there in silence, his mind racing. He could feel the anticipation building, knowing something big was about to be revealed.
"Ding!"
"...."
To be continued…