"Huff…huff. Damn. How long have I been out here for?"
Regan wiped the sweat from his brow and let out a tired sigh. He had the voice bring up his stat points, a wide smile appearing on his face as two illuminating windows appeared in front of him.
[Dedmond Dantes Stats]
Rank: Small Fry [0/1000]
Melee: 137
Defense: 0
Sword: 0
DF Power: 0
Gun: 0
[Dedmond Dantes Points]
Total Available Points: 187
Melee Points: 187
Defense Points: 0
Sword Points: 0
DF Points: 0
Gun points: 0
"Pour them all into melee!"
[Melee Points Deposited Succesfully]
Dantes has been stacking the points for a long while, putting them on to the 100 melee points he had already acquired. Now his melee stat totalled to 324.
Regan's body sweltered with strength. He felt unmatched, unrivalled, and boundless, as if he could already take on the very greats. But of course that was just his newfound power getting to his head. He still had much to learn and much to do.
He gave the tree one final punch, and marvelled at the hole he had now made in the bark.
Holes! I'm strong enough to punch holes into trees!
Regan stepped away from the tree, rubbing his bloodied hands. He recalled his conversation with the deceased Bayton, something about the woods being perilous the deeper you go.
Just how perilous can it be?
Regan grinned and began sprinting further into the wounds, the strength in his legs making him much faster than the average human.
After running for minutes, a loud roar had caught his legs as well as his attention, pausing in his tracks. He listened out for it, expecting some intrepid beast to come out from some bush.
One did, but it was not what he was expecting. The beast had growled as if it ews a lion, but what came out from the jungles was a giant boar. It's tusks glinted with malice, and there was a hidden rage buried deep within its soul upon acknowledging the lone human.
Regan had every mind to run away, but he couldn't falter. No, not now. Not when this was a chance to test his strength.
How many of these things are hiding out here?
Regan made a fist and charged at the boar, his ambitions burning inside of his skull. Every moment he gained strength, was another moment where he grew closer to being strong enough to set sail.
The boar sneered and lunged at him, its tusks ripping through the air as it ran. Regan's rapid speed divorced the distance between them, and he threw his fast at the boar's tusk.
CRACK!
The boar screamed as a single crack ran along its tusk like a stream. It reeled backwards, screaming and lunging at Regan with newfound hatred.
Regan braced himself and waited for the boar to come closer, and as it did, he threw a barrage of punches, each one finding its mark.
The boar squealed and quivered back in fear, studying Regan with its jet-black eyes. 'How can a small human like this contest me?'
Regan didn't let up, though. He rushed forward and continued hammering the boar with punches, forcing the beast on its side. He climbed the boar and continued working away at it, until finally, where there was once life and rage in its eye, there was now nothing but a lifeless empty corpse.
[You Have Defeated A Small Fry]
[Melee Weapon Used]
[You have Gained 300 Melee Points]
[You Have Gained 50 Essence]
That was a small-fry!?
Regan had the voice bring up his stats. His melee points came up to a whopping 323.He put them into his stats, bringing his melee up to 647, now significantly stronger than he was before.
With this knowledge and strength, he hurried to a tree that caught his malicious eye. He made a fist and punched it. To his shock, the tree came crashing back down on the earth, prompting him to jump out of the way lest he be crushed.
[You Have Gained 1 Melee Point]
Holy crap, this is insane! It hasn't even been an hour yet! There must be some limit to this.
Regan went up to another tree and punched it down.
[You Have Gained 1 Melee Point]
Yeah, either a limit or the people at sea are just that crazy strong!
Too overwhelmed by his strength, Regan realised that he hadn't even considered his other stats. There was also the essence he gained, which he looked at closely near the rank section.
Rank: Small Fry [50/1000]
Essence. I wonder what that means.
The rest of his stats read zero, of course. He considered the ways in which he may be able to acquire points for them. Perhaps he'd gain a melee point for shooting somebody with a gun, sword for cutting somebody down, and Defense from taking damage.
"There's just too much to test." Regan said, a wide smile contorting his face.
"Aye, indeed it is too much." Came a voice, slurred and heavy with booze. Regan recognised it all too well, his head darting about the place to find Cavendish's murderer.
So he followed me here.
"Up here, dumbass." He said, laughing as Regan's eyes found his. He was standing listlessly on a thick branch that supported his weight, gulping down a cup of mead that he had grabbed from the bar. "Nice training."
Regan studied him for a bit, swallowing down a ball of spit. "Thanks…I guess. How long have you been up there watching me?"
"Quite a while. Saw you take down those trees. And that boar."
"I see." Regan said, his eyes narrowed. "So, what're you doing here? Just watching me?"
The man scoffed. "You already forgotten? Earlier I said we must continue our discussion."
"What discussion?" Regan sighed.
"The Cavendish discussion."
"C'mon, seriously? Tha—"
"I know what you are!" The man exclaimed, swiftly cutting Regan off. "I know exactly what you are. Don't play games with me, you damn transmigrater!"
What!?
The words came at him like thunder, forcing his heart to crash into his ribcage.
"Y-you know who I am? What are you—"
"You came into this world from earth, didn't you? Otherwise, how would you know that Cavendish would become a fleet member?"
Holy shit. So this guy is…a transmigrater too? I'm not the first!?
Regan raised up his arms in surrender, a bead of sweat trickling down his cheeks. "Alright. You got me. What do you want?"
"What do I want? I want you to answer two questions. How you answer them might decide whether you live or die."
Shit.
"A-alright," Regan quivered. "Ask away."