CHAPTER 6: FIRST GATE

The Shadow creatures hissed as they created a perimeter around me with their sharp pincers snapping, catching the rays of the morning sun.

I tightened my grip on the dagger in my hand, ready to deal with this creatures the best way I can. A direct fight was obviously suicide so I had to outthink them, which was not that hard because a Shadow creature this weak most likely do not possess the ability to use cognitive thinking.

I tossed a rock into the bushes and two of the crawlers darted toward the sound instantly with reckless abandon.

I smiled.

When one of them finally attacked me, I sidestepped and drove my sharp dagger straight into its eye thereby knocking out the Anti-arcane stone in its head. It screeched and collapsed to the ground before turning into shadowy mist and disappearing.

The others grew restless, upon sensing their fallen comrade. Then I dared to do something that I had never been able to do until now.

Knowing that Shadow creatures are attracted to Arcane energy, I picked up another stone and with a subtle focus and mind play, I was able to imbue the stone with a bit of my Arcane energy.

It felt like blood was been drained from me into the stone, nothing like I had never felt before. But, if my reserve is too small to sustain any magical abilities I can still use it to my benefit.

Ding!

~Arcane Reserve 250/500~

I hurled the stone into a narrow gap between trees, the two followed, stabbing wildly at the stone. I wasted no time in my attack, finishing them before they could recover with precise stikes .

Just like that, I picked them off one by one. But, after an exhausting battle, the final Shadow creature evaporated in defeat.

The systems screen immediately flashed across my view:

~Plus 60 Experience Points~

~Congratulations! You have leveled up!~

~Level 4~

I wiped the sweat from my brow as my body trembled with exhaustion. But that was not the end, I had proven to myself that I could do this.

After that, the forest didn’t grant me a moment to rest. Each step forward felt like a step towards my certain death, another set of Shadow creature slithered from the underground with pincer snapping and eyes gleaming with that eerie glint of hunger.

My arms felt heavier than it should be with every swing of my dagger. One by one, they fell, evaporating into mist and leaving behind the magical stone that gave them life.

Ding!

~Plus 40 Experience Points~

~Congratulations! You have leveled up!~

~Level 5!~

The screen expanded, displaying my stats as I moved through the forest killing and dodging any Shadow creature in sight.

~Class: Unknown~

~Strenght: 10~

~Agility: 9~

~Endurance: 10~

~Intelligence:44~

~Memory: 45~

I exhaled sharply, collapsing against a tree trunk as the forest finally fell silent around me. My hands trembled with fear, fatigue and adrenaline.

I pushed deeper until the trees thinned and I stepped into a small clearing. At first, it seemed ordinary. Then, the air warped unnaturally, shimmering like heat waves rising from burning sand.

I narrowed my eyes with recognition, this was a sign that a gate was about to open in that very spot.

I didn’t panic, instead I lowered myself onto the soft grass and waited as the minutes dragged on like hours.

Then, at the ten minute mark, reality split open and the air tore apart, folding into itself and shattering like glass reforming into a portal. It was a shimmering vortex that was both terrifying and strangely alluring.

Ding!

~Gate detected~

~Difficulty: D-Rank~

"D-Rank!!!" my heart skipped, that would mean a boss that lurks inside would be stronger than anything I have ever faced yet.

I swiped the notification away and stared at my stats again. My Strength, Agility and Endurance weren’t much compared to my Intelligence and Memory. The numbers were way more impressive than they were a few days ago, but against a D-Rank Boss they might mean absolutely nothing.

My gaze dropped to the dagger I had in my grasp. The blade was nicked and chipped here and there.

"Should I turn back? Play it safe..."

I shook my head and focused on the swirling gate. Safe never leads to power, safe never opens doors, I didn’t get this far by playing it safe. If I want to grow stronger, this was the chance.

I clench my teeth and tightened my grip on the dagger, stepping toward the gate, the portal pulsed with a strange rhythm as though it were inviting me inside.

"I’ll take the risk,"

On the inside, the reality of the space was like that of a jungle. Walls were thick with twisting vines, and rancid odour akin to rotting corpses assaulted my senses.

"This is the first gate I have ever entered..."

In the distance, there were cries of wild beasts; maybe boars or monkeys and I instantly knew that I was in for it.

In a D-Rank gate like this, it wasn’t uncommon to find Shadow creatures that were E-Rank, I held that idea close to my chest. But, one thing was for sure; the boss was sure to be D-Rank.

I nervously swallowed dry saliva and slowly descended a series of sloppy, slippery algae covered rocks. I held my breath, surveying my surroundings, but couldn’t sense anything particular.

Everything seemed so quiet and still, but I did sense a gaze of something. And then, there was this smell too.

It was a seriously offensive odour of an animals carcass with flies buzzing around. For me who never really moved around a lot, this was a rather unfamiliar smell and it threw my senses off for a moment.

’Whatever killed that animal wasn’t playing around...’

Just when I was about raising my arm to my nose to shield myself from the stench, I saw a creature pounce at me from the corner of my eye.

Almost immediately, I swung the dagger in the direction of the sound which ended in a perfectly executed instinctive counter.

The sharp edge of the blade sliced open the creature’s side, from the eye region down to its mid section.

The creature spat out in pain as it flew away from me and crashed into a tree, rolling around in a heap and then evaporating into shadawy mist.

"It killed this animal to hide its scent!"

Immediately, I spun towards the direction the creature pounced from only to find another one staring dead at me with killing intent etched in its eyes.

Ding!

~LycanClaw~

~Difficulty: E-Class~

My eyes grew wider as two more creatures jumped out from their hiding place behind the canopy of the trees.

"Its a pack!"

I gritted my teeth and cemented my focus, as the system granted me stat points for killing the first LycanClaw.

It was at this moment that one of the Shadow Creatures aimed for my face and leapt up.

A sickening squelch rang into the air as my dagger found its midsection, shadowy mist oozed out of the punture as the creature grawled at my face.

It stumbled to the ground and I prepared for the next one, it lunged immediately and I doged it claws. In that moment, I felt my body move with way much ease than ever before.

I picked up a stone as the creature circled back towards me and imbued it with Arcane energy, then threw it in another direction.

The creature followed the smell of Arcane, pounced at the stone, gnawing its sharp jaws at it.

I crept from behind and stabbed the back of its head and as a result the magic stone in its forehead fell out and it evaporated into thin air.

~Arcane Reserve 0/500~

Before the last creature could even think of what was going on, I picked the stone from the two fallen Shadow creatures and absorbed it, thereby replenishing my Arcane reserve.

~Arcane Reserve 500/500~

The sole surving creature lowered its tail after seeing this scene and began taking faltering steps backwards into the shade of the jungle. Then, it turned and ran the opposite direction away from me.

I nodded with a grimace, "That must be where the boss is..."