Chapter 4

Without missing a beat Ryan once again took off towards his original destination hoping the bear wouldn't know any ranged skills. Thankfully, it did not. No beast under level 20 did, though there were a few exceptions.

Ryan knew that although his agility was probably lower than the bear's, due to the monsters great size it wouldn't be able to stop itself from smashing into trees and slowing itself down. As Ryan kept running he kept on being discovered by more and more animals until nearly an entire horde was running behind him, unable to catch up to him due to his expert knowledge of the forest. Hisses and squawks, roars and squeaks could be heard behind him as nearly every animal in the forest chased his frail figure through the dense green foliage. The only reason the beasts didn't fight each other was because they all had the common enemy of Ryan.

In Horizon, almost all races or animals except for humans despised the Players or as the residents of Horizon called the Immortals. This was because apparently there was an ancient prophecy that said when the Immortals came then they would either bring great happiness or great destruction to the world of Horizon, and in Ryan's former life, the Players did not bring great happiness.

After a while, his stamina was almost reduced to nothing and his body wished for him to stop, but Ryan knew that if he did stop then he wouldn't be able to find his weapon and become the most powerful person. So he kept pushing his body further and further, he went faster and faster almost leaving the horde of beasts behind, but he couldn't let that happen.

[+1 Stamina]

Though it was on accident that he was discovered by the bear, the fact that he had effectively created a beast horde was slightly on purpose. In order to get his weapon he would have needed to fight or sneak around a Lv 30 Boss Anaconda, but after his experience with the bear and his previous life, he knew that stealth wasn't exactly his forte. So he lured all the beasts towards him and would not stop running until he reached the lair of the snake.

More time passed as he ran further towards the edge of the forest and closer to the mountain range where his weapon awaited him, his mind was blank and his body ached with pain. His stamina had reached 0 a long time ago and only his mind and determination was pushing him on. With every step he made, every log he vaulted over and every tree he ran past, his body was wracked with pain that any normal person wouldn't have been able to endure. But Ryan wasn't an ordinary person, the first 4 years of his imprisonment due to his debt, he failed to meet the daily quota of gold and was beaten and whipped and tortured at night. This pain meant nothing to him, he could endure, no, he had to endure. Each step brought him closer to his goal, each step brought immense pain and agony, each step filled him with hope, each step was a step toward strength.

[Congratulations! You have gained the Title (Man who just won't quit)!]

Without even looking at the effects he dismissed it, he had too much to deal with at that point.

Although his body was still in agony with every move, it seemed to lessen as time went on and his mind returned to a functioning state without the distraction of the pain. He realised he was only a few hundred metres away from the edge of the forest and his speed increased even further, forcing the horde behind him to pick up the pace.

Eventually Ryan reached the entrance to the Boss Anaconda's lair and stopped for a minute so the beast horde could catch up and he could regenerate his stamina. During this time he looked at the new he Title he gained.

[Man who just won't quit]

Reduces the effects of stamina depletion. Can use stamina skills at no cost when stamina runs out.

+10 stamina

That was amazing. In his previous life he used mainly stamina related skills as he played a warrior class and this was a title he always dreamed of. This title might even help him reach heights he would previously never dreamed of, forget being the strongest person outside Horizon, he could be the strongest within.

Being the strongest inside Horizon is different from being the strongest outside, in Horizon you could have armies of minions or own vast swaths of land that would constantly increase your power, but with this Title and army would be useless against him as he wouldn't get tired. If he was to utili-

The beast horde were almost upon him as he rushed into the cave before him, as he breached the entrance a notification popped up in his retina.

[You have entered the Lair of Jeh'miska! Beware, the killer of adventurers has been alerted of your presence]

Not caring for the information, Ryan looked around. The cave he was running into was wide and tall, the stone walls were covered in moss and stalactites hung from the ceiling. Small bugs crawled along the walls and also began to chase Ryan but were quickly crushed to death by the tsunami of monsters that were also in pursuit.

"BOOOM!"

The ground shook and the cave rumbled like a hungry beast, Jeh'miska was coming for Ryan and making its way through the massive tunnel. Getting progressively stronger and more frequent, the rumbling began to shake stalactites from the ceiling and crash next to Ryan as he ran.

Just as Jeh'miska was about to be upon him, Ryan darted to the side of the cave and activated Stealth. Although while he was moving his stealth was terrible, Ryan was pretty good at staying still while hidden so his stealth was pretty effective. As soon as he did a giant snake appeared in front of the beast horde, wondering where its prey went; the horde was thinking along the same lines.

Suddenly, Jeh'miska decided the horde in front of it would be able to feed it well and began to attack and the beast horde didn't stay still. As the massive snake collided against the horde, Ryan began to move towards where Jeh'miska had come from. In his previous life, Ryan hadn't killed Jeh'miska by himself, he had been in a team of debt slaves like himself and they had killed the snake after hours of trying and multiple deaths. Due to its special nature, Jeh'miska was an extremely difficult boss to defeat because it was always 50 levels higher than the average player and thus had to be defeated by a group of people or someone way above the average level. Once Jeh'miska was killed in his previous life, Ryan had only a few seconds to grab an item or two from the lair before his team members started to kill each other to be able to keep all the loot for themselves. No one else on his team left the lair with anything as they died and dropped the items so Ryan didn't know exactly was in the lair except for his soul bound weapon that he picked up before being killed. All the loot inside has previously been lost to the mana as after the treasure's protector died, everything inside evaporated so they weren't even able to return to see what was previously in there.

He made his way past the massive snake and down into the lair, Ryan's body lit up with a golden glow as he stared at the treasures before him. Praising the 3 Gods of Horizon for the inventory feature, he ran around collecting everything he could. Thankfully the coins in the cave he picked up went into a separate space other wise he wouldn't have been able to acquire all the items that he did. Sitting next to the entrance of the lair was his previous soul bound item, it was a beautiful and intricately designed axe that both emanated royalty and darkness. Picking it up he inspected it.

[Axe of the Dark Oni]

Rank: Unique

Level Requirement: None

Soul Bound: Ryan Spencer

This axe was once the weapon of the Dark Oni, with it he was able conquer his monstrous instincts and become something greater than his race. This is a growth type weapon.

Damage: 50~150

1st stage: +10% to all stats

+Spiritual Slice Skill

2nd stage: ?

3rd stage: ?

4th stage: ?

5th stage:?

(Spiritual Slice)

Deal 300% of Strength stat as additional damage

1 minute cool-down

Requires 50 mana

Unlock next stage by taking the lives of 1000 sentient creatures.

In his previous life, Ryan had unlocked all the stages and discovered the final reward, it was the access to the Dark Oni Class and its story line. Previously, Ryan had already chosen a common class and wasn't rich enough to buy a class change scroll so he couldn't become a Dark Oni, but in this lifetime he would become who he was meant to be and complete the story line.