C2. Bloodline
A small breeze grazed my face as I slowly opened my eyes. The swaying of trees entered my vision as the sun shone brightly above me.
'Where?' I thought, spinning around cautiously.
The sight of humongous trees in all four directions, not a sight of civilization.
I quickly patted myself down. I was wearing a basic grey shirt and pants, nothing too extravagant. On my waist was a basic sword.
Talking the handle and pulling it out of the sheath, the iron blade smoothly slid out, reflecting my appearance back at me. My face was practically the same as before, my short black hair and my slightly pale triangular-shaped face. The only difference I'd say is that I look so much more clean and polished. But considering I hadn't had a decent meal or a proper shower for 3 years in my last life, it was to be expected.
Sheathing back my sword, I slowly wandered in a random direction. Having lived by myself in the wild quite a few times in the past, I had the basic encyclopedia of plant and shrubbery memorized, but these trees don't seem familiar.
Suddenly as I pushed aside a giant branch, crunching the fallen twigs with my feet, I felt the ground below me vibrating.
THUMP
I quickly froze and knelt down,
THUMP THUMP
The sound of giant footsteps came closer, causing the ground to shake with greater velocity.
'What the-' I quickly thought, being cut off as the sight of a giant beast about twice the size of me came charging from behind.
It looked like a wolf, but not. As if some mad scientist experimented on it and used some sort of combination between a Growth Ray and steroids.
"What the flipping fu-!" I unconsciously shouted out, seeing it staring right at me and gaining speed. I took out my sword and grit my teeth. I didn't know what came over me, but I knew there was no running. I couldn't run. With its current speed, it would catch up to me within seconds. The only way out is to fight.
Taking a deep breath, I held the sword with both hands and charged back at it. For the first time in my life, I felt strong. I felt like I could win. It might just be the adrenaline coursing through my veins. I mean, the chances of me being able to even give that monster a small cut seemed impossible. I mean, look at it. Just look at that damn monster. In what world is this a fair fight.
With a swing, I gathered all my strength onto my blade and hammered down onto the protruding mouth of the wolf.
'Oh, it went in.'
The sword managed to become wedged into the skin of the wolf as drips of blood escaped from the wound.
[Sword Proficiency +0.5%]
[Bloodline: +0.01 Wolf]
[Bloodline: +0.01 Wolf]
[Bloodline: +0.01 Wolf]
…
[Bloodline: +0.01 Wolf]
"Huh?" I saw a small screen appear before me.
A new screen quickly popped up one after another, quickly bombarding my vision with hundreds of the exact same screen displaying:
[Bloodline: +0.01 Wolf]
"Wait, no. Stop." I tried swiping my hand across them to stop the mayhem unraveling before me.
[Would you like to converge all repeating notifications into one? Y/N]
A new screen popped up.
"Yes," I replied without hesitation, strangely adapting to the situation rather quickly. Well, it isn't as strange as speaking to a mysterious voice in a dark void after presumably being dead.
[Bloodline: +1.4 Wolf]
[Strength: +3]
[Dexterity: +3]
All the previous screens had disappeared and in its place was that.
"What does that even mean?" I frowned,
However, before I could test anything out, the growling of a wolf quickly reminded me of my current predicament.
The giant wolf had recovered from the shock of having a sword stuck in its face and I could feel its murderous intent stabbing right into me.
It began charging furiously at me, the sword slightly jiggling in its snout as it thundered over, causing more blood to seep out. But it didn't seem to care.
I stood still, being extremely cautious with every muscle of my body, waiting for the perfect moment.
Just as the wolf was about to jump onto me, I bolted left, and did something I would have never even thought about doing in my previous life.
I ran up to the nearest tree and jumped. Boosting myself of the trunk, backflipping onto the back of the wolf, and ripped my sword out, piercing it into its back instead, hoping I hit its heart.
The wolf let out a devastating howl as it slump down in defeat. The life disappearing from its eyes.
[Sword Proficiency +2%]
[Bloodline: +3 Wolf]
[Strength: +3]
[Dexterity: +3]
[Level UP]
'What was the command again…?' I muttered jumping off the beast and wiping the blood and dust off my clothes, thinking back to all the random reincarnation books I had somehow come across in my life.
"[Status]?" I spoke out,
[Name: Sen
Level: 2
Age: 19
Species: Human (95.8%)
Class: N/A
HP: 1000/1000
MP: 100/100
Strength: 16
Intelligence: 10
Constitution:10
Dexterity: 16
Charisma: 10
Proficiency:-
Sword: 2.5%
Common language: 85%
Skills:-
N/A]
"Ah, it worked," I muttered in surprise as a transparent screen popped up in front of me.
Not knowing the stats of average people in this world, I couldn't exactly judge whether I was strong or not, but it really didn't bother me as the exchange I had with the mysterious voice still lingered in my mind. If I'm not strong now, I will eventually.
What did intrigue me was the 'species' row.
I hovered my hand over the word and pressed down to see I could somehow interact with it.
[Species:
Human: 100 (95.8%)
Demonic Wolf: 4.4 (4.2%)]
"Oh?" I raised my eyebrow in surprise.
"The more I kill the less human I become?" I theorized, placing my sword in my sheath, finally realizing what the voice meant when it had asked 'At any cost?'.
Suddenly, I could hear multiple soft growls eyeing me up from behind, causing a shiver down my spine.
Spinning around quickly, I held my sword in front, instantly faced with an entire pack of wolves. Ones that looked similar to the deceased one behind me. Their hostile glare indicating they weren't here to be friends.
"Oh, fuck it," I grumbled, pouncing at them, "If I'm going down, I'm taking the rest of you with me!"