The Pursuit

This was Alex's first time seeing a dead body, much less a skeleton. Terrified, Alex takes a step back for a second. 

The skeleton leaned against the tree, its armor heavily rusted. A sword hung from its waist, worn and forgotten.

Alex noticed it and drew the sword. It looked like an expensive weapon, but the rust had worn it down. It was too heavy for Alex to hold properly.

It was a dark longsword totally covered in rust about 4 kg in weight. 

Alex's powers were mainly focused on speed and precision. He knew he wasn't strong enough to use the weapon freely without giving up on his speed. Especially if it was rusty.

Sighs* Alex puts down the weapon and takes a rest. 

"Whatever I gotta do, I'll do it tomorrow". It was already getting dark and his eyes were very tired.

7 hours passed by -

Alex wakes up looking fresh, the dark circles in his eyes had also gone. But the first thing he noticed was, it was still dark almost as if the time had frozen itself in the sky.

Dark blue sky with the bloody moon shining as bright as ever. "Did I not sleep enough?" 

Alex definitely felt the impact of sleeping long in his body, but he couldn't be 100% sure anymore. 

Anyways, I have to look for food before my vitality starts declining. 

[Vitality : 499/550]

Alex knew he had to search for food and explore this mysterious place, but before leaving, he gently laid the skeleton on the ground, covering the body with dead tree branches. He clasped his hands together and whispered a short prayer, "May your soul rest in peace.'"

Alex takes the sword with himself and sets out to the dark wilderness. 

'Whenever I push myself to the limit, my stats increase based on the effort I put in. If I carry this sword for a long time, it will boost my strength, especially if I multitask while doing so.'

Although the trees were dead, they were huge hence making the forest extremely dark. But that wasn't any issue for Alex as he could see it clearly. 

After walking for over 20 minutes, he sees a wild rabbit jumping around in the wild. Alex throws away the sword and stretches his body. 

During the time he was walking earlier he had improved some of his stats.

[Strength : 15.9] >> [Strength : 16.1]

[Stamina : 17.3] >> [Stamina : 17.6]

[Agility : 25.8] >> [Agility : 25.9]

Alex slowly approaches the rabbit, when he got near he notices that the rabbit had sharp nails and long canines. 

The rabbit had keen ears and immediately noticed Alex's presence. Alex had no option but to start chasing it. Despite Alex having high agility, the rabbit was way too fast. 

They both started running around the trees. The rabbit darted from one tree to another with incredible agility, while every time Alex tried to match its pace, he lost control and crashed into the trees whenever he changed direction.

[Vitality : 340/560]

Alex was almost out of breath, but he didn't give up. Sadly for him, the rabbit seemed to be in perfect shape.

'Now I know why this small creature is alive in this horrifying place filled with monsters'

The rabbit was twice as fast as Alex and possessed incredible flexibility.

"Fine I give up" Alex goes back to pick up his sword and relaxes near a tree.

Alex notices some insects inside the old cracked tree. It was red worms. 

Alex's mind was now in jeopardy. He was well aware that red worms are actually good for consumption but so was the frog? 

The only reason he didn't eat it was because of his own disgust which stopped him from eating it. 

"I had options before....but right now...I guess beggars can't be choosers" Disgusted, Alex picks the worm and feeds himself, chews it down his mouth closing his eyes with repulse. The insect was extremely chewy and the taste was horrible. 

[You have consumed poison]

'Again?'

[Poison Resistance has been activated]

Alex's head started to hurt but the poison was very weak and the pain vanished right after a minute. 

There were a lot more red worms under the tree. As he stretches his hands, something mysterious bites his hands. 

The bite was extremely painful, blood was leaking from the cut in his hands. It was a longhorn beetle that was hiding inside the tree. 

Alex had no other choice but to add it in his menu. 

As he was eating his meal, he noticed his agility had increased. 

[Agility : 25.9] >> [Agility : 26.6]

"That much?" Alex had only chased him for about 40 minutes but his stats increased a lot.

Once he is done eating, he immediately moves out searching for another rabbit. 

He finally found one, but the place was extremely unsuitable to chase the rabbit. The entire place was full of the roots of the trees. It was extremely vulnerable to tripping. 

It didn't matter either way for Alex as he had made up his mind.

'Before my vitality drops to 100, I'm gonna catch you' 

This rabbit however was even faster than the previous one and to make things worse, Alex had to pay close attention to the huge roots.

While having to instantly change the route of the direction and keeping the roots in track, it was wearing his stamina a lot quicker than expected. 

For the next few minutes he kept on chasing the rabbit at his fastest, but the speed started decreasing slowly by slowly overtime. He was drenched in sweat and his breath was getting heavier each second.

His vitality had already dropped to 60, Alex was well aware but he didn't care, as his mind was fixated on catching it.

Vitality : 58 >> 57 >> 54

"One last try..." Alex musters all his strength and sprints to catch the rabbit, he somehow gets close to the rabbit and raises his hands but the rabbit changes his direction instantly and sprints even faster.

Alex lies down on the ground, breathing heavily while staring at the stars. "This is my limit"

After resting for a while, Alex goes back to get the sword. But there was a problem. Alex was lost in the deep wilderness.

Alex quickly came back to his senses, this place had some very few grasses spread around and the dead trees had algae grown all over.

With his vitality less than 60, Alex's desperation had brought him to an unknown danger. 

Earlier Alex was confident to outrun any huge monster, especially something like the Black Spider, and seeing how wild rabbits were roaming freely his confidence skyrocketed. But now he wasn't in any fit to run at his full speed, much so in an unknown place.

Alex stands cautiously while trying to recover his vitality, even by a bit. He now checks the thing that drove him to this much desperation, it was his stats.

[Agility : 26.6] >> [Agility : 30]

His eyes widened in excitement. That's a huge improvement but his face soon became gloomy realising that his vitality was way too low for the stat to be of any real use.

[All the necessary experience has been fulfilled] 

[Congratulations! You have obtained a new skill]

[Quick Dash : Level 0]

Alex felt like he knew exactly what it was and how it might work. Agility being his strongest suit, this skill was gonna be revolutionary for him.

Few meters away from Alex, there was a huge hole behind a tree. A massive serpent was slowly crawling out of the hole, from far away it could feel the presence of someone nearby.

The huge serpent has now sensed Alex's presence.