At the edge of a huge forest, the wind moved gently and the leaves rustled. The woods pulsed with life. Some animals darted between trees, running, and playing with each other in a wholesome moment.
A river ran nearby too. It has a decent width, however, something doesn't feel right about it.
On the very edge of that river lies a corpse who seems to be dead.
His hand twitched. A breath escaped his bloodied lips. It seems that the corpse weren't one in the first place. He wasn't dead. He was just asleep.
Half of his body sunk in the dirt. Fortunately, His body lied on his back.
Sunlight washed over his face. His face tensed and his eyes opened.
He narrowed his eyes, clearly because he just woke up and the sunlight fell directly at him.
After a short moment, He realized where he was and thought:
'Where the hell am I?'
He took a moment to think. Just thinking about how in the hell he got here. A place he had never heard of.
Yet, he couldn't get any answer. Without thinking further, he tried to stand up.
And that was the dumbest thing he had ever done.
A surge of severe pain coursed through his body, making him groan.
'W-what? Ah, shit!'
Well, at least that dumbest thing he did made him recall what happened.
'Kidnapped, tortured to death, and those... messages I received.'
Ash remembered everything. Yet, only one question stuck in his head without any answers.
'I... remember those messages. Almost all of them. But, what does it mean? By... Traveler?!'
[Traveler: Ash Verlane]
[Code: *789#1000]
[Level: 1]
'Huh?! Yes, it was just like this. But, I remember there were more.'
Back when Ash was at the verge of passing away, some mysterious messages appeared. Not in front of his vision, but to his brain directly.
That's why despite all of the pain he felt, he could remember them without too much effort.
However, this time it was different. It only showed his name, his code, and finally his level which basically starts at 1.
He sighed and relaxed his body, not daring to move an inch.
Ash was mangled, after all.
'I think...' Ash thought, though he still didn't finish.
'I think I got another chance...'
His eyes blacked out, thinking about all suffering he had endured. All the torn skin, all the burn marks and the scars all over his face.
'The chance I wished for. This time, I will make sure to teach you all... Whites! I will teach you all how true torture would be.'
His eyes, from blacked out into two glowing stones. One dark and the other vermillion, reflecting his commitment to his decision.
Crack!
'Huh?!' Ash thought.
"Who is there?"
Suddenly, something broke inside the woods. Immediately, Ash rotated his head towards the woods and said. His tone was serious.
Ash never let his guard down even for a moment. Waking up in a mysterious world with no one around to help and on top of that, mangled and can't move.
Narrowing his eyes more, Ash spotted a very small white fur stuck to the nearest tree. He kept staring at it. Ash knew that this was who broke something in the woods. Well, who else?
Eventually, the white fur moved and took some steps out of the woods.
"What?! What the hell are you doing here, little guy?" Ash said and sighed in relief.
It was actually just a rabbit! A small one too.
The small rabbit closed the distance and reached Ash. its eyes were so big, despite its small figure. In fact, this rabbit was so small. Smaller even than the normal one on earth. A symbol of cuteness.
Ash, on the other hand, didn't do anything. He froze! And his eyes widened! Not because of the small rabbit was cute, but because he knew something and that made him shiver in fear!
'The first rule of manipulation...'
Ash paused and looked further at its figure. A small rabbit with white fur, four tiny limbs and very big eyes.
'...Never trust the kind faces!'
The small rabbit stared at Ash with its huge eyes and tilted its head slightly on one of the sides.
Out of no where, The rabbit opened its mouth, revealing tiny but sharp fangs and lunged forward to crunch on Ash's already torn flesh.
Ash was right!
The rabbit jumped over Ash, that's when a panel of the same messages appeared. This time, on top of the rabbit.
[Fluffbane]
[Level: 3]
'Level 3!! Ah shit!! Think! QUICK!'
The small rabbit was about to crunch on the worst place, Ash's peeled skin! No matter what Ash does, this bite will kill him surely.
'I will definitely choose pain over death!'
Raising his right arm with a bit of difficulty and a lot of soaring pain, Ash punched, with all of his might, the little Fluffbane.
It flew away, fortunately. But, his punch didn't even damage it one bit.
The little thing was just too resilient.
'Well, it's a level 3 abomination, after all. SHIT!'
The Fluffbane fell a couple of meters away, stood on all forth, shook its head intensely, and lunged again to bite the Fallen Ash.
It was all a part of Ash's plan.
'Let it bite me until I think of how to kill this thing. Bite anywhere you like, freak. Anywhere except my torso.'
Ash's plan was simple, he didn't intend to kill it with this punch. He only did so to prevent it from biting the most sensitive part of his body.
The Fluffbane's eyes burned with anger and increased its speed, closing its fangs on Ash's shoulder.
'AHHH, SHIT!' Ash groaned, but he knew what to do with the little abomination already.
Something ominous is about to happen.
Ash grabbed the Fluffbane and pulled it away from his shoulder.
"UGH! YOU LITTLE FREAK!"
The Fluffbane was now in his hand, eating a chunk of his shoulder's flesh.
"You feasted on me, Huh? How about we do a vice versa?!"
Ash, immediately, brought the little Fluffbane closer to his mouth. And just as the little thing did, Ash made him drink his own medicine.
Ash took a chunk of the little thing as well, splitting its body in half.
[You have slain a LV.3 Old Times Twitchling, Fluffbane!]
[15 EXP Gained!]
Ash spit the flesh of the Fluffbane away and relaxed his body in relief.
'I really killed it! Wow!'
Ash killed his first prey. Well, he was the prey in the first place.
But why did Ash do this ominous action? Was it really the only thing he thought of?
The punch that Ash delivered answered so many questions and the most important one was how much strength does that tiny thing possesses.
A LV.3 abomination, two whole levels higher than him, and also he was still mangled. Surely, the Fluffbane would be so much stronger than him and that punch proved his suspicion.
Ash breathed hoarsely and glanced to his right where the woods was situated.
What he saw made him shiver in fear again.
Numerous and numerous of white dots stood in the distance behind the trees.
"Traveler..."
[Traveler: Ash Verlane]
[Code: *789#1000]
[Level: 1]
[EXP: 15/250]
"Sighs! Well, Thank you, system. I can stand now. UGH! Though it still hurts, I have to fight them. I won't let this chance go in vain.
"Yoo, Fluffbanes! Nice flesh you have right there."
The Fluffbanes lunged towards him, and Ash did the same after standing up.
The fight has just started.