Liam continued running for an unknown amount of time.
He felt the muscles in his legs giving out, but this didn't stop him.
He just kept running, not even daring to look behind him.
Eventually, Liam took the chance to check his surroundings for the terrifying monster that was after his life.
But strangely enough, it was nowhere to be seen. It was also very dark out, indicating night has fallen.
Liam knew he escaped through sheer luck and if that monster truly felt that killing him was worth the energy, then he would not have the ability to resist.
He quickly took a seat on the nearest tree stump and began taking deep breaths to regain some energy.
"Seriously, where am i?" Liam asked himself.
Liam then started fading out of consciousness. Having over exerted himself in a desperate attempt to stay alive, his body didn't conserve any energy, and only now he was started to feel the backlash of that.
But then, he heard a very familiar sound.
[Ding]
[Warning]
[Time Remaining: 30 Minutes]
Liam was instantly jolted awake.
"WHAT", he said to himself.
"I thought it said i had 12 hours?"
...
Complete silence fell as Liam started thinking to himself.
'No, that's just not possible" Liam said to himself.
it was only then he realized how long he was actually running for.
"Running for more than 11 hours straight, That's just not humanly possible?", he thought.
Liam knew his physical limits better than anyone else, 11 hours of straight running, that just wasn't possible for him.
He then checked his status window.
[Status]
[Name: Liam Moore]
[Age: 18]
[Level: 1]
[Health: 80]
[Mana: 780/1000]
[Strength: 0.9]
[Constitution: 0.8]
[Agility: 0.6]
[Intelligence: 10.0]
[Skills: Base Creation, Ai transfer]
"Why did i lose some of my mana?", Liam thought to himself.
"It seems like I subconsciously used excess mana as a substitute for my stamina, but i still have plenty mana, so why am i so exhausted?".
Liam then realized that his physical body was his weakness, and although he had more mana, his body could not take any more strain.
"Maybe i should start working out later", he thought.
"But first i need to rest, then find the medium for base transfer".
=20 MINUTES LATER-
-CRACK-
Liam was instantly alerted.
Through the darkness of the night he saw many white dots, seemingly staring directly at him.
Upon closer inspection, they were eyes!
Not human eyes.
They were the eyes of a beast.
Liam felt his body tense up and start sweating.
"Not this again", he quickly thought to himself.
He got up from the tree stump he was previously sitting on and immediately felt pain throughout his entire body. He still needed time to recover and moving in this state would ultimately damage his body, but Liam didn't have a choice, he had to survive.
He turned around and put all of the strength he could muster into his leg muscles and then...
He took a single step.
Then a couple seconds later he took one more.
"I'm doomed".
He knew at the pace he was moving there was zero chance to outrun the beast after his life.
He knew this but...
It never stopped him.
Liam continued to take one step after another, each more painful than the last.
-CRACK- -CRACK- -CRACK-
He heard the beast taking slow steps, breaking sticks and acorns under its presumably immense weight. Liam knew the beast was just playing with him and planned to kill him slowly.
He didn't have the strength to fight back or even to turn his body around, the beast knew this so it took its time.
But then, by a sudden stroke of luck he saw the entrance to a large cave.
But something was wrong...
This cave was completely dark, seemingly devouring all the light inside of it. The difference of darkness from the night sky and the cave was like heaven and earth.
Normally nobody in their right minds would even think about entering this cave.
Buy Liam wasn't in his right mind. He was fighting for his survival, and he knew this is his only chance to achieve that.
Without a second thought he continued.
He wasn't going to waste this chance.
-SCRATCH-
"AHH", Liam screamed.
He felt a wave coldness, then immense pain rush through his entire back.
The beast caught up.
After being launched about 5 meters Liam stopped rolling.
"I HAVE TO KEEP MOVING", he thought.
Just as Liam gathered his strength to stand up, he couldn't.
"I'm dead".
After being attacked, his body was facing the beast. He could now see the creature aiming for his life.
It was a wolf, a giant wolf, at least 5 meters tall when standing on all fours.
[WARNING]
[5 MINUTES REMAINING]
[FALUIRE TO FIND MEDIUM WILL RESULT IN INSTANT DEATH]
"Is this really it, is this really the way i die" ,He thought.
Liam wanted to have a good look at the creature that will end his life, but as he stared deeply into the wolfs soulless eyes, he saw something unnatural. He saw fear.
It was as if the entire environment around Liam went completely silent, no living being dared to make a single sound, including the wolf.
Liam then saw the wolfs eyes completely disregarded him as it stared into the depths of the cave. It was as if Liam was nothing but an ant in the wolfs eyes.
"You'll regret that", Liam mumbled under his breath.
obviously Liam could do nothing to harm this creature, this was just to make sure he didn't die as a coward.
He then closed his eyes, accepting his fate.
5 second passed.
Then 10 seconds passed.
But nothing happened.
"Why am i not dead yet", Liam thought.
He slowly opened his eyes expecting to see the body of the beast but...
The wolf was gone.
It ran away, out of complete fear of something, Or someone.
"I really am i lucky aren't I, maybe now i can finally get some rest".
He started slowly drifting out of consciousness, but then he heard the system once more.
[4 MINUTES REMAINING]
"SHIT!".
[DUE TO THE HOST CURRENT SITUATION THE SYSTEM IS ADMINISTRATION THE SKILL {APPRAISAL}]
"What is this?".
-
[Skills: Base Creation, Ai transfer, APPRAISAL [NEW] ]
[APPRAISAL]
-Can scan and detect anything within the systems database and give a detailed description as long as the host is a similar level-
-
"Woah, just thinking about the skill brought up a description, but how do i activate it?".
Liam began to strain his mind desperately trying to activate his newly acquired skill, and eventually, it activated.
[ROCK x2]
[STICK x1]
[MUD]
[ROCK x1]
[LOWEST TIER PLANET CORE =SUITABLE FOR BASE CREATION- x1]
[VINE x3]
[LEAVES x20]
"Bunch of useless stuff", Liam thought to himself.
[3 MINUTES REMAINING]
"Wait, what is that?".
"[LOWEST TIER PLANET CORE =SUITABLE FOR BASE CREATION- x1]"
Liam looked toward the inside cave and saw it.
The planet core was only about 20 meters away but in Liam's current state it wasn't possible to walk, or even stand, he had to crawl.
[2 MINUTES REMAINING]
"I have to hurry", Liam mustered.
"I have to survive".
He started slowly crawling towards the dim light his appraisal skill provided.
Every movement felt like torture for Liam, but he knew if he stopped, he would die.
He crawled forward, each second feeling like a eternity.
[1 MINUTE REMAINING]
"COME ON, IM ALMOST THERE".
[30 SECONDS REMAINING]
[10 SECONDS REMAINING]
[5 SECONDS REMAINING]
"PLEASE"
[3]
[2]
[BASE CREATION SUCCESFUL]
...
Liam let out a deep sigh of relief.
"Finally, i can rest", he said. not even a second later, Liam completely lost consciousness and drifted off into a much needed sleep.