The Lion King

The first lion to attack him came from his immediate left, so with the mace still angled towards the ground, Grant turned to face the oncoming lion.

Inches before the lion's claws managed to tear into his flesh, Grant swung upwards with all of his might.

It took a fraction of a second before the mace made contact with the lower jaw of the lion.

Grant heard the sound of broken bones, a yelp of pain from the lion, before it disappeared.

Using the moment of the upward swing and sensing a lion attacking him from his left, Grant adjusted his momentum to turn his body slightly before bringing the mace downward with even more force than he had mustered in his first swing.

The momentum of the swing drove his targets head straight into the ground before it splattered into a bunch of smaller pieces.

[You have killed a Level 5 Ferocious Lion

Gained 10% experience.]

Not having the time to bother with the notification, Grant completely ignored it.

Using the momentum of his downward smash, he did a pseudo barrel roll forward dodging the swiping paws of the rest of the lions.

While he was mid roll however, one of the lions managed to nick his back with a claw, causing a small tear in his flesh.

[You have received 10 damage from Level 6 Ferocious Lion.

Remaining Health 130/140]

[Level 6 Ferocious Lions attach has caused Bleeding.

Damage over time based on severity of wound.

Currently losing 1 Health every minute.]

Grant felt the wave of pain and heat wash over him as his back began to bleed and simply smiled as he scrambled to his feet.

He felt like he was back where he belonged.

In the throws of battle, shedding blood, and pushing his mental and physical selves to the limit.

The lions, obviously not giving two fucks about Grant's mental state, continued their onslaught.

Grant simply dove headlong back into the fight as well.

For the next 10 minutes Grant would continue to put himself mere inches away from certain death.

He would smash the lion's heads from any direction he could, whenever he could, and then spend the rest of the time dodging and parrying blows in an attempt to create any opportunity he could to smash the lion's heads.

After 10 minutes, Grant looked like he had just endured the old Chinese capital punishment, Death by a thousand cuts.

Although covered in wounds, none of them were severe enough to cause an imminent threat to his life.

Scattered around him were the corpses of 16 lions.

All of their heads were smashed to pieces as if they had been place under a hydraulic press.

Grant was currently kneeling on his right knee with his left fist on the ground, supporting his body while he took deep breathe after deep breathe trying to regain control of his body as best he could.

He wasn't used to such a weak body and had overexerted himself.

Of course, he had felt the strain on his body mere minutes into the battle, but it was too late to back out at that point.

Even if he wanted to run, he had no doubt the group would have hunted him down, so instead, he pushed and pushed.

Which forced him into the state he now found himself in.

After spending the next few seconds forcefully controlling his breathing, Grant glanced at his health to see how dire his situation was.

[Health: 18/140]

[You are currently losing 12 health every minute due to your wounds.]

"12 Health eh? That means I have 2 minutes? That should be enough."

Grant quickly walked towards a part of the clearing that was densely covered by plants.

When he found what he was looking for, he bent down and grabbed as many handfuls of the herb as he could.

The herb he was holding? Yarrow leaves.

If crushed into a paste, it could be applied to wounds to stop bleeding and reduce the chances of infection.

Although Grant was a glutton for punishment and battle, he wasn't devoid of intelligence.

These plants were part of the reason why he dared to dive head long into the fight with the lions, albeit a very minute fraction of reason.

Since Grant knew exactly where to find the plants it had only take him no more than 30 seconds.

Running out of time, Grant quickly smashed the plants in his fists as best he could before he began to smear it all over his exposed wounds.

Each time he covered more and more of the wounds, the notification below his Health changed as well.

[You are currently losing 11 health every minute due to your wounds.]

[You are currently losing 9 health every minute due to your wounds.]

[You are currently losing 4 health every minute due to your wounds.]

[You are currently losing 0 health every minute due to your wounds.]

When the number of health lose per minute finally reached 0, Grant collapsed on the ground.

He was physically and mentally exhausted.

Finally with some time to think, he opened his notification panel and read through them.

Most of them were a slight variation of the one he had received before but a few important ones stood out.

[You have reached level 2]

[You have gained 3 Strength and 2 Agility]

[You have reached Level 3]

[You have gained 2 Strength and 2 Agility]

[You have learned Active Skill: Heavy Blow

Description: It's a heavy blow with a weapon..]

[You have learned Passive Skill: Subtle Evasion

Description: increases your chance to dodge a physical attack by %5]

The way the system here in The Defiled Expanse reminded Grant of Revonance.

If that were true, then your stat gain was based on your actions while leveling.

If a majority of your fighting style was running, dodging, stealth attacks, ranged attacks, or the sort, then the system would award you with more Agility.

If you were more of a balanced fighter like him then it would award both of them equally.

The fact that he earned more strength this time probably stemmed from the fact he was using a blunt weapon.

Vitality, Stamina, and Mana were all trained or increased in their own special way.

As the body went through training, whether it be physical or mental, the respective stat would increase as well.

But it was never immediate.

Grant figured in a few hours after his body had rested and begun to heal, his Vitality and Stamina would also increase and he would receive notifications for those improvements at that time.

Grant had always had a disdain for Stamina, even back on Revonance.

It was impossible to quantify because it didn't have a numerical representation other than its total number.

In his disillusioned state on Revonance he had always ignored the stat entirely.

But here in The Defiled Expanse, he figured he would need to ask someone to explain it to him in more detail.

Skills on the other hand could be earned one of three different ways, at least one had been confirmed by his actions and the notifications.

The first way: a teacher, trainer, or master could teach you the basics of a skill they already know.

The second way: you could 'discover' or 'learn' a skill on your own. Grant had learned skills some skills the first time he did an action and other times it took him years to learn a skill through practice. So he wasn't 100% sure what the rules were behind it. But it appeared as if it still worked in The Defiled Expanse because he now had two skills to prove it.

The third way: learn it from a skill book. This path was mostly just for the different types of spell users but it could theoretically work for other types of fighters.

After a few more minutes of resting, Grant pulled up his stats just to get an idea of where he was at.

*Status*

Name: Grant Hutchens

Title: None

Race: Human

Class: Beginner

Level: 0

Experience: 0%

Health: 18/140

Mana: 0

Strength: 24

Agility: 20

Vitality: 14

Stamina: 15

Active Skills: Heavy Blow

Passive Skills: Subtle Evasion

Satisfied with the improvements he had gotten so far, Grant took a few more deep breathes before forcing himself to his feet.

He looked around at the destruction he had wrought and grabbed a couple of the Lion's corpses before throwing them over his shoulders and heading back towards town.

Why bring the corpses?

Because unlike the games Grant had played when he was a child.

The enemies he faced here only 'dropped' what they had on them.

He would never forget the disappointment he had felt the first time on Revonance when his first foe had simply dropped dead without leaving behind any 'loot' for him.

He wanted to bring all of them with him, but even he was incapable of such a feat.

Just as Grant was leaving the clearing however, he received a new notification.

[Event Triggered: The Lion King's Pride has been slain.

In his rage, the Lion King will actively hunt down anyone found within the forest.

To restore peace to the forest, the Lion King must perish.

If you think yourself worthy, then seek out the Lion King and claim your prize by claiming his head!]