Desperate Escape

After falling in the pits of ashes, Alex finds himself surrounded by a haunted and unsettling place, with the Dragon's gaze staring at him fiercely.

Alex quickly hides inside the ashes, the dragon however didn't seem to buy it and was now charging an attack. It breathes out its fire towards the mountain of ashes.

Soon, on the opposite end of the ashes, something was moving straight to the top of the ashes. It was an extremely large snake, it took a direct hit from the dragon and quickly ran away.

Luckily it didn't seem to target Alex, it went straight to chase the snake.

Was that the ancient snake? the so-called Titania Boa or something like that. It was extremely humongous, almost 30 meters tall.

Realizing it was right next to Alex in the ashes, out of fear he starts running out from the place. What if there is another snake?

Just the thought of it sent chills down his spine, out of pure instinct he was now at the bottom of the ashes.

After running for nearly 15 minutes, Alex finally managed to get far from the volcano, though the ashes were still scattered everywhere. On the other side, massive rocks each as large as a three-story building, covered the landscape. Alex never looked back or down.

Even though he was almost out of breath, Alex kept running until he got out of the place.

Soon he hears something weird from the top of his head.

[Congratulations! You have now become a player]

[Your Agility has increased by 0.3+]

He immediately felt the effect, he felt he had gotten somewhat faster. His fear of the snake was so overwhelming that he didn't even look at the system that popped up on his screen.

At the edge of the ashes, Alex goes through the corners of the rocks, since climbing wasn't an option at the moment. Plus he didn't want any of the predators to notice him.

15 minutes had passed, the stones were only getting thicker.

[Your stamina has increased by 0.2+]

Slightly calmed, this was the first time Alex had noticed the message.

He starts to relax for a moment. 'Alright there is no way that snake or dragon would be after me anytime soon.'

The dragon did make Alex's heart tremble, but the snake? That was a lifetime of trauma, the sheer size and cold, unblinking eyes. 'I don't think I can recover from it.

Soon the system pops up itself.

_____________

[Player : Alex]

[Level : 1 (0/100)]

Vitality : (441/500)

[Stats : ]

[Strength : 14.5]

[Stamina : 10.8]

[Agility : 17.9]

_____________

"A system screen? Like a game?"

All kinds of games were popping through his thoughts.

"Am I dreaming?" Alex scratches his eyes only to realise that he isn't even on earth. This realization made him accept the system and also understand its nature immediately right away.

"Leveling up?" The words left his mouth as goosebumps ran across Alex's skin, a chill crawling up his spine. He shivered, as if his body was instinctively responding to the sudden unexplainable excitement.

"Anyways..."

'My stamina is the lowest and it seems my agility is highest? Well to be honest my entire life I have spent on doing cardio over everything else, I'm certainly way faster than an average human so if I base it maybe 9.5 is the average for a human?'

'Anyway, if this thing is accurate then this must be my physical report card.'

Alex focuses his gaze towards the path. The lights were slowly starting to get dim the more he walked and the place only got more and more thicker.

Alex now was barely able to see anything, and just when he thought about going back he heard an explosion sound from the top. It was most definitely the Snake and the Dragon. Even if the place was barely Alex's size he moves forward without hesitation.

The air was getting denser, Alex could feel the pressure in his lungs.

[Your vitality has increased by 5+]

It didn't feel any better, maybe slightly but it was completely unnoticeable. His desire to take a full breath was slowly turning into a nightmare.

Soon he heard a noise, it was the flow of water. But where was the noise coming from? Upon listening carefully, Alex notices it was coming from deep inside. Should he turn back or keep going?

Turning back has now become impossible as the path was too narrow, besides that he would die from either of the Dragon or the Snake.

I would rather die from isolation than meet any giant snakes again.

Determined, he kept crawling in the pitch black, relying solely on his sense of touch. Suddenly, he lost his footing and fell, losing balance, his body crashing onto the hard ground below.

Now in an open space almost like a cave, he could clearly hear the sound of water. With the darkness surrounding him, he had to remain alert for any potential attacks, heavily relying on his hearing senses.

"Status" Alex expected the system window to light up the place, but unfortunately nothing happened, the system's window didn't reflect on the ground.

Scratches were everywhere in his body, it was expected as the place earlier was extremely narrow.

Alex tried his hardest to walk towards where the water was coming from but extremely slowly and cautiously. Even though unable to see, he stared at the pitch blank darkness. His instincts were at all time alert.

Soon he hears a sound that almost gives him a heart attack.

[Congratulations! You have obtained a new skill]

[Sage Vision : Level 0]

Shortly after, Alex could somewhat see the shades of objects, that too blur.

'This isn't helpful but at least something is better than nothing. Although if a beast comes out I could hardly notice it.'

The more he walked the more his vision got better. It had been 20 minutes of walking, Alex could see everything but only in black and white and somewhat blur. But he was now able to distinguish things through his vision.

[Sage Vision : Level 1]

It was a scary cave with wolf spiders on top of the walls and extremely pointy stalagmites were all over the place. Luckily it was at least 12 feet. Wolf spiders aren't necessarily dangerous but considering this strange place, it could be lethal.

Alex had been walking even more quietly and cautiously thanks to the Sage Vision.

Alex finally sees the steam of water by the end of the road. There were two different roads, left was from where the water was coming from and right was where the water was flowing. Alex was extremely thirsty after going through all that hardships.

But if it weren't for this newly obtained skill, he would have died instantly. Dangerous fish, with sharp, long teeth and dark green fins, swam nearby, their razor-sharp edges seeming capable of cutting through anything.

The fishes were about 30 centimeters long and could have easily devoured his entire body in seconds, leaving no trace behind.

But what was even more shocking was by the edge of the sight, there was a gross creature eating those fishes. It was about 4 feet in height, long segmented and slimy, it was crawling all over consuming those fishes.

It was a GIANT LEECH!!