5

*Peng!* At a patch of grassy wildland, a loud air-splitting sound could be heard. Moments later, debris and ashes fell down from the sky.

*Whõõ...* A sudden gust of wind came forth, blowing away the ashes to nowhere. Under the scorching sun, a figure stood with his clothes fluttering.

This figure is not tall, but not short either. He stood with his back straightened, his face displaying a wide grin. But after some time, he felt like he couldn't hold in his elation anymore.

"Ke! Ke! Ke! I smashed through a rock! In midair! I actually smashed through a rock!" The person suddenly let out a shout, his breathing getting ragged.

This person was of course, Jack.

After calming down, he stared silently at his fists. Other than a shade of white at the knuckles, everything else was the same. He massaged his knuckles, but felt like he was touching metal, after breaking apart a piece of rock, instead of feeling massive pain, he only felt a little itch. What's more, he didn't even use his full strength; his body positioning when he punched wasn't even close to ideal.

By this time, Jack realized that and suddenly felt like testing out his full strength. He scrunched his fingers into cannonballs, his body muscles starting to tense up as he got into a stance.

*Whoom!* Like a cannon ramming through the air, Jack's punch split through the air. The motion was so quick that it was barely visible to the naked eye. If Jack wanted to punch an ordinary human, the latter wouldn't even be able to put up a fight. This was the difference between warriors and the 'normals', their strength contrasted way too much.

'So this is the strength of seven human adults...'

*Huff...* Jack let out a long breath, he was starting to get used to his newfound strength. Feeling amazed, he decided to check out his stats once more.

[Jack Sheet] - Level 1 Elementary Warrior (Level 5)

Physical - 7.6

Spiritual - 7.9

Aptitude - 6.4

XP Progress - 82 / 400

'Ah...' Even though he already knew his statistics, Jack still marveled every time he sees the stats screen.

'This system is really overpowered...' Jack doesn't know the system's objective, but he surely he knew that he had truly benefited this time around. Just one short moment before he was a fragile little boy with a trash fate, but now, he was in the ranks of warriors; the ones who were looked up to. Thinking up to this point, Jack really would be fine with the system eating his soul in the end if he could live such an easy life before his death.

*Ding* This system is created naturally. Like the universe that is formed miraculously, no one can pinpoint its origin. This system also detected that there is no soul-eating function installed, but even if there is, this system wouldn't want to taint itself with the host's dirty soul. The host do not need to worry about this kind of safety issues.

'Ha. Ha. Okay. Right. You can hear what I thought.' Jack smiled wryly.

Jack, who originally lived by himself, all alone in forest.

Jack, who experienced a life of seclusion, never had he seen cities; never had he heard bards singing; never had he stepped out of his well.

Jack, whose life purpose was to survive, to survive, and to survive.

At this point of time, he had a sudden change in his thoughts.

The things he saw, he had seen them again, again, and again.

The things he felt, he had felt them again, again and again.

No! This isn't how he wanted to live!

Jack closed his eyes.

He wanted to experience something new, and he wanted to experience true freedom!

He wanted to be able to go wherever he wants, do whatever he wants, and nobody could go against him!

His boredom roared, his desire became unquenchable!

*Crack* *Crack* Suddenly, cracking noises could be heard in front of him. Looking towards the source of the sound, he instantly recognized it. It was the huge lake that formed countless of rivers!

*Boom!* Mud and stone fragments flew everywhere, a part of the lake's border has been broken through! The water rushed down like bulls charging forward, quickly forming a new river! This river was easily many times wider than the other rivers!

Jack was surprised at this sudden development, but he quickly recovered. He ran forward to the new river and crouched beside it. A finger of his stretched out and dipped into the torrent of water. The flow of cool water made his finger felt comfortable. He felt like he is connected to this river in some way. After looking awhile at the river, he could sense a newfound courage in him. He stood up and his eyes moved to face a large, tall mountain that is quite far away. The height of this mountain overshadowed the other geometrically high points by many times.

Ever since he was a kid, he had always wanted to get atop this mountain. The reason is because it was rumoured that one could see the view of a city when standing on its peak. Even so, he didn't even dare to get close to it since there were many dangerous entities there.

But now, things were different.

*Thump* *Thump* *Thump* Upon recalling this piece of memory, his heart started to beat wildly. Waves of adrenaline were being transported to all over his body.

Right when he felt he had a dose of overwhelming strength in his body, he squatted down and contracted his thighs with all his might.

*Bang!* The place he had been standing on had grasses and mud going off in all directions. Meanwhile, his body flew forward like an arrow towards the tall mountain.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* He sprinted rapidly without stopping. He breezed past the territory of countless beasts. The territorial beasts saw that but could only get mad, the intruder was moving way too fast for them to catch up.

Minutes later, he was almost at the peak of the mountain. Life isn't always smooth sailing, now, Jack had met with a blockade.

*Screeech!* An eagle's cry could be heard. The screech was so loud that the surrounding grasses all bent their bodies down towards one direction.

Jack stopped his tracks, this definitely wasn't an ordinary eagle.

Very soon, a v-shaped silhouette could be seen approaching from a distance. When it got closer, one could see that its size is increasing more and more. The approaching eagle was of the size of two humans, every flap of its wings could generate a tremendous wind flow.

*Whoom!* *Whoom!* The eagle landed in front of Jack, it seemed wary of the latter, as if it knew that this wasn't a simple prey.

Maybe even Jack himself didn't realize this, when facing the large eagle, his heart was calm, like still water without any ripples. Almost instinctually, he reached out his arm and grabbed a thick branch nearby.

*Screech!* The eagle seemed to understand his actions. With a flap of its wings, it immediately rushed towards him.

Distance seemed to not exist here. Just a split second and the 30 meters between them had been closed up.

The eagle is now right in front of Jack, still moving at an incredible speed. It had already opened its beak, ready to chew its prey into meat paste.

Facing the oncoming danger, Jack's mind went into full power. In an incredibly short amount of time, his mind scanned over his body. Then, he felt like he had gained complete control over his entire body, every single bit of muscle could exert their full force right away.

The beak was right in front of him. His muscles tightened to maximum and his thighs unleashed an explosive momentum.

'Poom!' It was as if he teleported for a short distance. The dangerous beak bit into empty space, producing a loud 'clack' noise.

Now, the attack has ended for the eagle, but that wasn't the case for Jack.

He had burst to the side with all his strength, and he forced his body to stop right away. The sudden major contraction and relaxation of muscles caused Jack to flinch in pain, but his motions were still steady. His right arm that is holding onto the thick branch immediately smacked forward along with his body twisting.

Perhaps to a normal person, there wasn't anything special about that move and that it looks very casual. But in the eagle's eyes, it was horrifying! It could clearly hear the air splitting apart and forming ripples as the branch moved closer and closer...

*Bang!!* The strength and speed of seven humans concentrated into one spot and slammed onto the eagle's skull!

*Kacha!* The branch couldn't handle the force and after an intense short vibration, it snapped. The eagle wasn't looking either, its head was caved in and blood and brain matter splattered all around itself.

*Ding* You have killed a Pseudo Chain Breaking Eagle! +1150 XP

*Ding* You have leveled up!

*Huff...* Jack saw this and felt relieved, he does have a tiny bit of fighting experience before. But now, it seems like he knows when and what to do during fights, maybe its the spiritual aspect that caused this?

He had heard the level up ring, but right now, Jack wasn't in the mood to check his stats, so he ignored it for the time being.

*Thud.* He dropped the broken branch and continued on moving. After a level up, his movements became much quicker and steadier than before. Soon, he reached the top of the mountain. He looked at the view of the other side of the mountain and saw tree leaves covering the land at the bottom, these tree leaves stretched out to far, far away. When Jack slowly looked up, he saw the hazy view of many structures, some were tall, some were short, and some were oddly shaped...this was the view of a city.

'Soon...I will be there soon.'

When all is done, Jack opened up his stats.

[Jack Sheet] - Level 4 Elementary Warrior (Level 6)

Physical - 12.3

Spiritual - 12.8

Aptitude - 8.2

XP Progress - 832 / 20000