I did indeed throw up.

  Multiple times at that, and if the feeling of vomiting wasn’t so disgustingly terrible, I probably would’ve laughed at the second time I threw up. I was in the middle of being attacked by something that looked like a cross between a praying mantis and a damn grizzly bear, and I quite literally threw up on his alienlike head.

  Thankfully that particular incident worked in my favor as the loss of its eyesight or perhaps the abhorrent smell of vomit threw it off a bit and I was able to drive my spear through its neck practically severing it from the grizzly part of its body.

  That was the worst of it though, the few times after that were mostly just a lot of spit. My body clearly did not appreciate me feeding it uncooked and unknown monster meat, but I had little choice in the matter.

  I wasn’t given any food, nor could I possibly just wait and see if the onslaught of monsters would ever stop long enough for me to actually take my time to start a fire even if it was just to heat the damn meat up a bit.

  So after my initial throwing up, I went back in for more bites of the meat time and time again.

  Each time I swallowed brought on more vomiting only a few seconds later, but unlike the first time it wasn’t followed by multiple bouts of vomiting. Just one, and eventually even that singular one didn’t come as quickly, and before long…who knows how long, even that ending.

  The taste by itself was enough to force the feeling of wanting to throw up in me and that never for once changed, but eventually I was able to keep it down and give my body some much needed nutrients, and I made sure to swallow a few important gulps of water to replace all the fluids I’ve been losing.

  Honestly this shit was terrible.

  All of it.

  I know it was for the sake of training, but holy shit man.

  Fuck it though we move.

  I got no other choice but to keep moving, to keep fighting, eating strange meat when I can no longer bare to be hungry, and then doing it all over again.

  That was one part of this whole thing that’s been there since the beginning. The repetition.

  Even as more and more monsters that I hadn’t seen at the beginning showed themselves around me before being blasted to the face with a ball of water or being severed with my spear, the concept never once changed. Fight, fight, and fight some more.

  This continued for a while.

  I am honestly not sure how long its been since I’ve found the stream of water, and I do my best not to let it cloud my thoughts as the feeling like I’ve been here for far too long comes with the existential dread that I’ve abandoned my family and I’ll return home to dead bodies.

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  That type of emotion isn’t something I can afford to dwell on, so I force into a dark and lonely place within my mind and keep it there. Instead, choosing to train my mind to forcefully run a mechanical loop.

  Kill, water, kill, water, kill, water, kill…water…kill…water…kill…

  Wa…ter…

  …k…ill…

  …

  …

  Time passes…I don’t know how much…I don’t think too much about anything apart from killing and getting back to the water anymore. Those are the only two thoughts that have resounded in my mind for the past…I don’t know how long and it likely would’ve continued to be that way if a notification hadn’t forced its way into my mind amid the repetitive state it was seemingly stuck in.

  Ding!

  Soaked Pulse Membrane (Rooted) has been Integrated.

  Ah.

  Yeah there was that huh.

  I almost forgot the whole purpose of me continuing to fight through of all these monsters, to push myself as hard as I was going and doing all the downright dirty things I needed to do to survive.

  This was why…to Integrate my Traits.

  A sense of clarity came back to me even amidst all the fighting, one that seemed to reinvigorate me all the more to keep going and one more thing along with it…I didn’t have time to open my status and confirm, but one or more of my stats just got improved…greatly…

  I can’t tell for certain if more than one stat improved, but I know without a shadow of a doubt that mana was one of them…my mana pool increased sharply and the capacity to hold more of it didn’t just get bigger…all the new ‘space’ that was created got filled in immediately.

  I grinned.

  Almost immediately after, and honestly what was proven soon after to not be a good decision, I unleased my most powerful skill twice over all for the sake trying to clear space and finally give myself some much needed breathing room.

  It was my first time using Ocean’s Maw since this whole thing began since a skill like that under the type of strain I was under simply didn’t feel like it was worth it.

  The added mana gave me all the confidence in the world to finally make use of it, and for a time it worked and I did indeed get that breathing room I so desperately wanted…but that was only for a time.

  The forest around me was constantly under a cacophony of noise from all the different monsters constantly attacking me. From roars to high pitched squeaks, to wailing banshee-like cries and everything in between.

  There was just so much noise that after a while it all just blended in to one sludge of mess.

  But that then it all changed.

  A roar so loud that it practically silence the shouting of everything else. Unfortunately that didn’t mean it stopped everything else from attacking me and seemed to only rile them up even further.

  I cursed myself a thousand times for my foolishness.

  Obviously there was a chance that this level of monster was always going to come after me, or maybe it was the fact that one of my Traits had just integrated successfully that managed to trigger a second level to the fighting.

  But I couldn’t help but link this newest opponent surely heading my way to the fact I decided to unleash a couple powerful skills out of nowhere.

  Dammit Freddy.

  A few more moments passed and something of a truly massive size in stature came sprawling out of the tree line.

  I couldn’t believe what I was looking at.

  I fully expected to see another wild looking creature that I could only successfully describe properly by combining other normal animals from Earth.

  But no…I recognized this beast of a creature all too well. In fact, there was a part of my mind that actually appreciated seeing it.

  A massive gorilla.

  Not quite the level of that one extremely famous gorilla seen back on home, but holy shit was it huge.

  That was where any good feelings I had about seeing something that I wished I could see as a boy in person ended with finality. It was cool an all, but it was barreling straight towards me, and the ground was shaking in what felt like deference as it moved with power in my direction.

  Shit.