Not giving the boar any chance at all to retaliate Tarkan, pulled out the tree branch that was lunge in it eye and drove it back into the same eye with full force striking the same spot as before. The branch slipped in with little to no resistance. Blood and strange whitish fluid burst out from it eyes, spraying across his face. The boar wailed, louder than before, its entire body convulsing in pain.
now free from the tree, let out a shrill cry shaking from side to side that quickly faded. It's eyes filled with unwillingness as It collapsed with a heavy thud, the makeshift weapon having penetrated directly into it's brain.
The moment the boar died, Tarkan felt a sudden surge of fresh energy flood through him.
His skin tingled, hardening ever so slightly, Though completely naked and smeared in blood, he stood tall beside the boar's corpse, chest rising and falling in deep, exhausted breaths.
Catching his breath
He willed open the awakening stat window:
---
[Strength: 15
Agility: 2
Perception: 8
Stamina: 8
Intelligence: 1689]
---
His strength, which had been 10, had increased by five.
"Damn, all this shit for a increase of five" Tarkan muttered. No wonder the rate of awakening is less than five percent a year."
He cursed aloud, unable to hide the bitterness in his voice. It was commonly believed that less than five percent humans awaken per year, and though the trial was said to be unique to each person and tailored to what is believed to be their capabilities many insisted that no trial was truly hard.
that people who fail the awakening ritual are just too weak to embark on the path of ascendance.
Still, Tarkan couldn't help but curse, tailored capabilities my foot.
Despite all his training with Aries, even though he was caught off guard by the boar and without a sword that was no excuse, and didn't change the fact that he had nearly died trying to kill a single boar.
still naked and covered in blood, his... dragon swinging freely with each step, he walked over to the broken boar horn that was stuck in the tree.
He pulled it out with a little effort. It was pretty worn down, slightly chipped here and there, but far better than the crude wooden weapon he had been using.
Even as he was examining the horn, he remained alert, wary of a repeat ambush like the last one. His mind briefly wandered to the strange timer system that made his survival possible.
---
[Timer: 1:32:25 (Level 1)
Reverse: Reverse time without restriction, as long as you have enough time]
Eternal Monarch Physique (Partial)
---
glancing at the time. The timer had decreased down around 5 minutes and 45 seconds and that happen to roughly match the number of seconds he had used the reverse. he had a vague sense of how the system worked and he couldn't help being curious what will happen if the timer hits 0, but he wasn't hoping to find out.
Seeing the "Level 1" tag next to the timer, he couldn't help but wonder. would new abilities appear as he advanced? Could he eventually fast-forward or even stop time as well?
The thought made him giddy. He felt an unfamiliar excitement bubbling up.
Just as he was busy fantasizing his stomach growled loudly breaking his thoughts.
"darn am so hungry I could eat 12 cow."
Now that he thought about it, he didn't even know how long he'd been unconscious for. Normally, the timer increased by one unit a day, but upon waking up it had gone up by sixty which If that logic held, it meant he had been unconscious for two whole months.
Which didn't make any sense at all.
Because according to what he'd learned, the awakening trial would automatically eject you alive or dead after seven days. If dead, it would eject your remains or whatever was left of you. That meant hypothetically he should've been thrown out of the trial by now. Which Lead to the only possibility being the massive increase in his timer being a result of the recent upgrade, which meant there was no way to check exactly how many days he had to his trial end.
For now, he'd have to wait for the next increase and use that to gauge how much time he had left in the trial.
He couldn't afford to fail the trial.
Because If he failed to strengthen his body or ascend beyond this level, then even the timer with all its power would be just as useless.
The timer could only delay his death, but it couldn't prevent it, not if an ascender even the weakest of them all truly meant to kill him. And Tarkan would rather die than live such a mediocre life.
Shaking the thought away, he knelt beside the boar's corpse. Using it own horn he tore into the creature's hide. It took some effort, but he eventually managed to gut it and slice away chunks of meat he planned to roast. As he worked, thoughts of warm, sizzling boar meat filled his mind, He began to fantasize about the taste.
he suddenly froze.
He'd been on high alert the whole time. The timer might let him rewind time, but it didn't erase the pain he'd endured.
He still remembered every second of it. And now.. he felt movement approaching his location.
He quickly spun around, weapon in his hand, heart pounding ready to engage in another battle.
But when his eyes landed on what the cause of the movement was coming from, the color on his face instantly drained.
***
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