Parked at a safe distance from town, near the site of the accident, Daniel finished his physical training routine without effort.
The daily mission was complete. With the new accumulation, his pool of available attribute points had reached six, and his skill points totaled twenty.
He headed straight for the shower; the warm water helped dissolve the surface tension in his body, but his mind remained sharp, preparing for what came next. He knew leveling up wouldn't be a walk in the park.
Drying himself with quick movements, he put on only a pair of gray sweatpants. He grabbed a clean shirt from the closet, rolled it tightly, and clamped the bundle of fabric between his teeth.
He lay flat on his back on the mattress, took two deep breaths, and opened the System interface.
With a thought, he allocated two points into Strength.
[All primary attributes have reached the threshold of 15. Upgrade process to Life Level 2 initiated.]
At first, it didn't seem like much. Just a slight warmth, a mild fever that formed at the center of his chest and spread outward to his limbs.
Daniel exhaled through his nose, keeping his fists clenched and his muscles tense, refusing to let his guard down.
A few seconds later, the sensation intensified.
It felt as if an invisible syringe had injected molten lead directly into his veins. The heat spread like gunpowder, turning into an excruciating pain that seemed to tear his flesh apart from the inside out.
His eyes widened, pupils dilating, as a muffled, guttural groan echoed through the empty room. His teeth nearly tore through the rolled-up fabric.
Beneath his skin, his bones cracked in a macabre symphony, as if they were being pulverized and rebuilt cell by cell.
The agony reached such an unbearable peak that Daniel's body convulsed in a violent spasm, throwing him off the mattress.
He hit the floor with a dull thud and began rolling from side to side, in a futile attempt to find relief.
Time completely lost meaning. The torturous process lasted exactly one hour, but to Daniel's consciousness, it felt like weeks drowning in a cauldron of pure pain.
When the internal fire finally subsided, leaving behind only an electric tingling pulsing through his nerves, the sharp beep of a notification rang in his mind. He ignored it.
Gasping for air, Daniel spat out the saliva-soaked shirt. He pressed his cheek against the cold floor, embracing the refreshing temperature.
"I'm never doing that again," he muttered, his head still spinning and his senses dulled.
[Future level transitions will not be as aggressive to your nervous system. The important thing is that you didn't explode.]
Daniel didn't bother responding.
It took long, silent minutes before he gathered enough willpower to push himself up onto his elbows and stand. And the moment he did, his perception of the world shifted.
The first thing he noticed was gravity. Or rather, the apparent lack of it. His body felt absurdly light, filled with a vibrant energy he had never experienced before.
It was as if his vital batteries had been replaced with nuclear reactors; there wasn't the slightest trace of the man who had been writhing in agony moments ago.
The surge of euphoria, however, was brutally murdered by his own sense of smell.
A nauseating stench, a sour mixture of sulfur and open sewage, assaulted his nostrils.
He looked down. His entire skin was coated in a thick layer of black, sticky sludge.
"Seriously, System? The famous marrow cleansing?" Daniel grumbled, raising his arms in disgust, trying not to touch himself.
[I could have made the impurities in your body evaporate into a cloud of glitter and lavender scent, but I thought you'd appreciate the tactile and aromatic experience of your own biological sludge. You're welcome.]
I shouldn't have made up that story about being from a cultivation world, Daniel thought.
Not wasting breath to argue, he returned to the bathroom. If the previous shower had been a relaxing luxury, the second turned into a relentless scrubbing session.
The muck had the irritating cling of motor oil, requiring handfuls of soap, hot water, and patience to be fully removed.
When he finally turned off the shower and wiped the steam from the mirror with a towel, he froze. The face reflected back at him was undeniably his, but the changes were impossible to miss.
His jawline was sharper, his skin smoother and healthier, and worst of all, the stylish scars were simply gone.
"I liked those scars," he muttered, rubbing his now flawless arms. "They gave me a mysterious vibe. Now I look like a soap commercial model."
[If you want, I can summon a bear to scratch you up and restore your rugged aesthetic. Just say the word.]
"I'll pass on the charity," he shot back.
Daniel left the bathroom, quickly cleaned up the mess he had made in the room, and changed the wrinkled sheets. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he finally opened the long-awaited attribute window.
[Life Level 2 - Common Superhuman]
Lifespan: 20/200
Strength: 16
Endurance: 16
Intelligence: 16
Speed: 16
Spiritual Energy: 100 (Recovery: 10 per hour)
His eyes locked onto the top line. Two hundred years. A crooked smirk appeared on his face. After all, who in their right mind would complain about doubling their own lifespan?
He blinked, noticing the new attribute at the end of the list.
"Spiritual Energy? What's that? Did I turn into some New Age mystic now, and you forgot to give me crystals and incense?"
[Keep your horoscope to yourself, Dalai Lama. Spiritual energy exists solely to fuel your active abilities. The 'uses per day' limits have been removed.]
[Now, you can use a skill as many times as you want, as long as you have the energy to pay the toll. If your mystical battery runs dry, the ability won't activate.]
Evaluating the math behind it, Daniel opened the skills tab. Activating a level one skill cost 10 energy points. Level two jumped to 20.
With 100 points and a slow regeneration of 10 per hour, he would still need to be extremely cautious.
"What else changed?"
In response, the System dumped a package of information directly into his mind.
The first drastic change was structural: the end of hand-holding. The System would no longer generate any missions beyond the one already active.
From now on, growth would be governed by the law of the jungle. He would have to hunt.
To support that, the System introduced a new function: Devour.
Any creature killed by Daniel's hands, whether a common animal, a human, or a supernatural abomination, could become a target.
Activating it on a corpse would convert the prey's essence into silver coins and offer a variable chance to absorb attribute and skill points, all tied to the victim's strength and the hunter's luck.
Daniel frowned, his thumb brushing over his smooth chin. The shift was a double-edged sword.
While it was a relief not to depend on the System's mood to issue missions, he had no idea about the density or type of fauna inhabiting the outskirts of that cursed town.
Almost immediately, he set boundaries. Killing humans to get stronger was out of the question; his moral compass was still intact, and he wasn't a psychopath.
But using it on those smiling creatures? That idea planted a dangerous smile on his lips. He would test it at the first opportunity.
[In addition to the new survival rules, you have pending rewards for not dying during the upgrade. Congratulations.]
Daniel checked what he had received: 5 Attribute Points, 5 Skill Points, and a skill card sitting in his inventory, pulsing with a golden, mystical glow, completely different from anything he had seen before.
He selected it and tore it open mentally.
A torrent of knowledge flooded his brain, forcing him to close his eyes and massage his temples with his fingertips.
It was a runic-type ability, classified as Growth. It had no level.
Its evolution and the unlocking of new runes depended entirely on his practice and proficiency with the available options.
Even the superficial glimpse of the power contained within was frighteningly versatile. The first rune, already crystallized and available in his memory, was focused on protection against spirits.
By channeling spiritual energy, he could draw or tattoo the symbol onto an object or directly onto a person's skin.
Anyone bearing the mark would be shielded from spirit attacks. Even more interesting, the creator could adjust the rune at the moment of inscription, deciding whether the bearer would be able to see the spiritual world or not.
There was a second rune, designed to block mind reading and psychic intrusion, but it was grayed out. The energy cost to activate it exceeded his current limit of 100 points.
Dozens of other runes floated at the edge of his consciousness, blurred and locked, requiring continuous dedication to be accessed.
Curious about the latest change, Daniel accessed the shop's supernatural tab. As expected, the storefront had adapted to his new level, displaying more items beyond the talisman.
An enchanted necklace, with the effect of protection against mind reading, was listed for 1,000 silver coins.
Right below it, an energy-conducting needle, an essential tool for permanently engraving runes, cost the same amount.
But it was the last item that made his eyes gleam with greed. A Repeating Winchester Carbine for 5,000 coins. The difference? The weapon didn't require physical ammunition; it converted the wielder's spiritual energy into bullets.
Daniel glanced at his balance, which showed a miserable 1,210 silver coins.
"Hey, System," he called, adopting a friendly tone. "What do you say about opening a small line of credit? A friendly little loan. I'll pay it back with interest on the next hunts. You can trust me."
[The Interdimensional Central Bank does not approve loans for optimistic freeloaders. Go hunt your dinner before trying to buy luxury magical weapons.]
"Cheap bastard," he shot back, closing the shop interface.
Returning to the status tab, Daniel gathered the 4 points remaining from his previous balance with the 5 newly acquired ones. A total of 9 available.
The strategy was to maximize his best competitive advantage. Without hesitation, he dumped an absurd 8 points at once into Speed.
The number spun, jumping from 16 to an imposing 24. The physical sensation was immediate. A brief wave of dizziness hit him, followed by the fleeting impression that the world around him had slowed down by a fraction of a second.
Next, he turned to the hefty 25 skill points he had accumulated.
Survival was the priority.
Upgrading Predator's Senses would require 13. He confirmed.
⚠️ [Predator's Senses – Level 3 (0/45)]
Type: Passive
Description: A primal instinct awakens within you. You sense when you are about to be targeted by physical, magical, or spiritual attacks.
Effect: A chill runs down your neck and your heartbeat accelerates, temporarily boosting your reflexes.
Additional Effect: You can sense when someone is watching you for longer than normal and vaguely discern their intentions.
With 13 points remaining, the focus had to shift from defense to the new demand of survival: capturing prey. He invested 5 into evolving his hunting techniques.
🕸️ [Hunter's Web – Level 2 (0/15)]
Type: Active
Cost: 20 energy
Effect: +80% chance to capture an animal.
Additional Effect: The captured animal cannot escape.
Finally, he spent 4 points refining his ranged lethality.
🎯 [Hunter's Eye – Level 2 (0/15)]
Type: Passive
Description: Improves focus and hand stability.
Effect: +50% accuracy with thrown or ranged weapons.
He was left with 3 skill points, which he chose to save.
Daniel stood up and stretched his entire body. His joints cracked in a fluid, quiet, and lethal way, very different from the stiffness of an untrained human.
The moment of appreciation for his new biology, however, was interrupted by the impatient growl of his stomach. The newly forged body demanded fuel, and fast.
As he walked toward the kitchen, determined to prepare something substantial, he had already outlined his next task.
Once he finished eating, he would check whether his traps had yielded the first payment of his new life as a hunter.
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