Chapter 4: Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Woods

A dark sky studded with countless stars...

Agent 30 had just opened his eyes and was now staring at the dark starry sky above. He quickly blinked his eyes a few times, as he tried to recall everything up until now.

[I was betrayed, I died, I woke up in ... Heaven? Sure let's go with that. Woke up in Heaven, stabbed some demon lizard thing, the shiny gold guy said... what did he say again? Did I die again? Wait am I naked?!? Holy shit is that a planetary ring?!?]

As all these thoughts whistled through his mind, he was already getting up and dusting himself off. He looked up at the night sky and saw not only stars, but what seemed like a glowing path in the sky. He recalled he'd seen artist renditions of what the view would be like from the surface of Saturn, and it matched what he was seeing now.

[Well I guess I am not in Kansas anymore... but I can't be on Saturn either, it's a essentially a gas cloud. Plus all that stuff with the demon and gold guy...]

Agent 30's right eye twitched ever so slightly.

[PLEASE TELL ME I'VE BEEN TRANSMIGRATED!!! PLEEASSEEEEEE LET THE DREAM BE REAL!!!]

All of a sudden he felt he was being watched. He immediately turned around toward that feeling, and flung himself behind the closest rock. He peeked over the side of the rock and saw what had been watching him, it looked like a large centipede. It was about 3 meters long, and trying to sneak up on him so it probably wasn't that physically strong and relied more on stealth. No stingers or anything that could deliver poison or hurt really besides the mandibles. He immediately started assessing and preparing himself for a conflict.

[Why does it have to be a bug? And a giant fucken bug at that?!? Look at the size of that thing, not to mention I'm naked...hah well, I already died twice a third time shouldn't be a big deal I guess.]

He could see the creature could tell it had been noticed, but after assessing Agent 30 seemed to think he was an easy target and threw caution to the wind.

[It's probably because I am completely naked without any weapons, I probably look like a free hotdog... I HOPE IT KILLS ME IF IT CHOPS OFF MY HOT DOG BY ACCIDENT!!!]

As the creature crawled towards him at a surprising speed, Agent 30 grabbed the nearest rock to him. Based on the hard looking exoskeleton the centipede had, he knew he couldn't kill it with his bare hands. The creature lunged at him and to his surprise it seemed to come to a halt in mid air... no it was just moving extremely slow in the air. Actually everything seemed to have come to a crawl, he could see that the leaves on the trees seemed to be frozen in place, and everything was eerily quiet.

**Combat Perception obtained. Auto activated.**

[Da fuq? What was that voice? Did I finally have a stroke or snap from loneliness?]

Agent 30 didn't hesitate, he immediately ran toward the centipede that was still in the air. As he ran he noticed it was actually still moving, but at a snails pace. He realized this "Combat Perception" must be like heightened processing and awareness, but that didn't explain how he could move so fast still. If that thing was moving this slow, and he seemed to be moving even faster than usual that could only mean his physical ability was super human.

[This will teach you to peep on others while they are naked!]

He brought the rock down with all his might on the centipede's head, and rolled to the side. He had expected for it to return an attack, but all of a sudden everything seemed to move again around him. He saw the leaves on the tree move, and then a loud cracking sound followed by a thud. The centipede was on the ground dead, a grayish liquid oozing from a hole in it's head.

[Did I get a critical strike? Mmmm this feels just as good as when I crit and one shot bitches in Devil's Gate.]

As he stood there next to the corpse trying to get his bearings again. Trying to assess his physical abilities.

[Seems my abilities are off the charts compared to previous life. Gahhhhh I wish I could see my stats!!!]

As he said this he suddenly saw what seemed like a character stats sheet appear in front of him.

Level 1 Quintessence Level 9999 **Disabled**

Race: ??? ****************************************

Strength: 500 ****************************************

Intelligence: 500 ****************************************

Agility: 500 ****************************************

Endurance: 500 ****************************************

[Wahhhh!! I'm OP! .... right? Well actually if this was Devil's Gate I'd be JUST hitting the endgame I guess.]

Before he could dwell on the stat sheet much longer, a smell of cooking meat entered his nose. He had other issues to deal with for now and as he thought that the sheet disappeared from his vision. He muttered out loud in a firm and steady voice.

"If I can kill that monster, I can probably kill some people if needed. No choice but to accept the risk."

With that he quickly and silently went toward the smell making his way from the clearing, into the wooded area. As he got closer, he went into a crouching position as to not alert whoever or whatever was up ahead. His training was in full effect, 1) find food and shelter 2) find supplies 3) gather information 4) adapt to the situation. The many times he was dropped into the middle of nowhere during his training made this seem like just another exercise for him.

[I hope these people don't question me being naked too much or want to do ... things. Well I can just spread the rumor that my anus has teeth, yup that sounds good.]

**You have obtained the Sneak skill. Do you want to activate it now?**

[Uhhhh yes. Please and thank you?]

He heard the same prim and proper female voice he heard earlier. This time it asked him as question though, and since it sounded so nice he had reflexively replied internally. However, externally he still remained silent, his eyes continuing to search for threats as he continued making his way forward.

**Acknowledged. Sneak skill is now activated.**

As he heard those words, it was followed by a sense of becoming feather light. He heard no noise as he made his way forward. Also as he glanced at his hand, it looked transparent and he could see the forest floor beneath. His right eye twitched ever so slightly again. He continued forward until he saw a clearing ahead from his place behind a tree. He saw a camp fire surrounded by 2 men, and a cave entrance with glowing light dimly pouring out of it.