Welcome to dragon provicende (3)

Running in the woods half naked was not something John found pleasant, but on the bright side, it was something to cross off the list of things not to do in life, even if it meant leaving aside all his worries and the horrible first experience against one of the many creatures of the game world, Everything around it was just incredible, the sounds of birds, plants, the sky, the breeze, the aromas, it was just so real that it was hard to believe that it was a game, although he soon remembered that it was a game because more monsters appeared.

"This has to be a joke..."(John)

John had barely moved away from the corpse and yet it was being tracked somehow by any aggressive creature that was in the forest, although he also forgot that he was carrying the putrid smell of a walking corpse which he had destroyed earlier, it didn't take him long to realize that his smell was the problem.

"I must wash away this stench, or I will not survive here."(John)

The game also seemed to have the finest details in place, designed to bring life to the beings that inhabited the wild areas, which was amazing, although for John right now this was what his death would mean if he didn't wash up quickly.

"There's no choice... I have to take a chance, otherwise I won't be able to relax."(John)

Running in the woods, lost without knowing where north is seemed like an option, but not a good one, in the long run hunger and weather or monsters would get to him and end his suffering, so John's only viable option was to face his enemies, even though he really wanted to avoid the pain of being hurt, and his initial idea of playing was that he would show up in some city where he could get equipment.

In that situation, being naked, unarmed and without healing equipment or items, you basically expose yourself to wounds which could become infected and allow the character to fall ill or worse, make him shut up with some temporary or even permanent ailment which would be worse.

Before entering the game, John spent time studying all the ailments that were in the game, from bleeding, stunned, immolation, electrification, impalement, freezing, poisoning, laceration and many other types of ailments which could cause endless problems for any player, whether new or an expert player with the best equipment available.

Fighting was not an option at the time, but an obligation, as the smell of it moved through the forest and more monsters seemed to be attracted to it, although it wasn't so bad that you could tell because the monsters seemed strangely distant, As if they were chasing their prey, but waiting until it was tired, there was no way to lose them no matter how far away it was and there was no water source in the forest that could help them so running was no longer a viable option.

John stopped hiding behind a tree and looked in the direction of the monsters that had been following him until now, easily seeing about 20 of them, consisting of what appeared to be zombies, in the same and even worse state of decomposition than that rotten wolf, running was no longer a viable option.

"Damn, that's a good start, this is gonna suck..."(John)

There was clear denial and John didn't want to fight, but there was no way to get rid of the smell and the creatures that followed him just kept growing in numbers rather than decreasing, to be honest with himself he never got into a fight with his bare hands, he never really fought anyone and now he was totally clueless about how to fight anything, to the death.

He refused with his head, putting himself in a fighting position, raising both fists in front of him, even though he did not know how to fight, he had to do something to get out of the situation in which he had gotten himself into, even though it did not take him long to realize that he would have to get his hands dirty.

"Come on, shit, I can't believe this..."(John)

John was going to walk forward with the intention of fighting. until one of the zombies suddenly grabbed his head with both hands and split it open in a horrible way letting out a long tentacle which had a long blade at the end of it with which he easily cut down a nearby tree and a couple of other zombies that were nearby.

"Fuck that!!!"(John)

John in that moment of shock and horror turned around and started running again through the forest trying to get away, his plan to fight changed to running for his life, a zombie had transformed into a nightmare creature in mere seconds and John wasn't going to stay there.

Although it seemed that safety would be in running away he soon realized that he had been injured, suddenly he felt a hot liquid running down his back and looking back he noticed that the zombie's razor blade tentacle was covered with blood, immediately confirming the worst, His back had a long and deep cut, which had inflicted a short duration of bleeding, strangely the pain was very mild, strangely level, as if he had forgotten what pain was, but also at that moment appeared in front of his eyes a temporary increase.

[You have received a massive blow of damage and the adrenaline in your body has been induced, the pain received for 10 seconds will be mitigated and ignored, but the damage received is 10% higher]

John found himself in a situation where a bad decision could lead to his death, without a second thought he ran towards the zombie, without the slightest effort to close the distance between them due to their increased speed for the attributes, although he also had no idea that their attacks would be totally devastating against any weak creature.

The only punch that john got on the zombie's chest. followed by a hook to the jaw or where the creature's jaw was supposed to be, splitting it in half, shattering the creature's upper body easily.

[You have inflicted a critical blow]

the silence again overwhelmed john and he saw himself and his hands, again covered with fluids from another corpse, although this time he felt confident so he decided to take advantage and not to cower, knowing that he could fight easily, the enemies that followed him easily fell silent just like the first one, quick and brutal punches to the face of the zombies were simply lethal, as if it was someone smashing pumpkins with a hammer.

[Congratulations, new level acquired!]

at that moment the message appeared in front of john's eyes and he was curious again to see that he had now moved up a level, knowing that he now had more attribute points available to him to become stronger than before.

"Heh, shit, this really hurts...status"

Even though the game was meant to be immersed, the pain was very real and no doubt the adrenaline rush had worn off John's body and the bleeding had stopped, but the wound was still present in his back.

Mental State: Agitated, scared

Physical condition: lacerated back

Level: 2

Health: 6321

Mana:377

[general attributes] [Remaining to be distributed 20]

Strength: 177

Intelligence: 111

Agility: 198

Vitality: 208

John was starting to get scared because of the damage he received, even though it was so little that it was enough to scare him, making him think that he would really die, momentarily forgetting that this was just a game.

A nearby tree became his temporary resting place, allowing him to catch his breath, unaware that he was being watched by someone, a person dressed in what appeared to be leather armor, a hood which covered the head of the mysterious person and long, beautiful black hair.

John at that moment just decided that it was enough for him and disconnected by opening a menu of options, disappearing without a trace and leaving a scene of massacre in the middle of nowhere in the forest.

When he opened his eyes again, John looked inside the camera and came out as fast as he could, sweating and seeing that his hands were shaking from the fear he felt at that moment.

"Calm down, you idiot, it's over."(John)

He put both hands on his head trying to calm down and think normally, but it took him a while to finally calm down, thinking about taking a shower, eating again and going to sleep, not realizing that his watch in the room already pointed out that he had been in the game for more than 4 hours, which was totally insane, but it made sense because inside the game you couldn't tell the time, plus he was running around most of the time.

"Tomorrow, I'll do better, now I'll just finish the day and go to sleep..."(John)

John was feeling exhausted so he decided that was enough for that day, the shower took a long time, the food took a little while and the silence and peace of his home took another little bit of time, and his clock was ticking at 10 o'clock at night.

"Tomorrow is work, I need to think about the list of things and then deliver it..."(John)

The bed felt extremely comfortable and the silence was something strange and cozy, so he did not complain allowing the sleep to embrace him, ending that day.