Name Unnamed Level 3 Health 23/180 Stamina 52/100 Essence

4/4 Power 9 Constitution 4 Endurance 5 Vim 6 Essence

1 Spirit

11 Health Regeneration

100/day Stamina Regeneration

120/day Essence Regeneration

300/day

With her recent level up, she dumped all 5 stat points into spirit, bringing her essence regeneration up to 300 per day. That meant it only took nineteen minutes and twelve seconds to regenerate all 4 points of spirit. That was a far cry from being able to keep leech going indefinitely but it was a definite improvement.

If she really wanted to get stronger, skills would have a more noticeable effect than stats, so she shouldn't worry too much about that. One thing both needed, however, was for her to level up.

She wasn't quite sure on the breakthroughs yet for level ups, but she believed they were functioned off a resource she believed to be experience, and that different creatures gave varying amounts. It was quicker to get to level 3 than to level 2 even though she killed more squirrels than boars, for instance.

That would mean that boar hunting would be a more efficient use of her time.

To do this all as fast as possible, she needed leech leveled up. This would not only mean she could kill things quicker but would also make her safer in a fight.

Racking her brain as best as she could, struggling to remember facts about how often she used leech and how much essence it consumed, she picked up a stick and began writing in the dirt.

Looking at how much damage leech did per second, and factoring in the level up, and then multiplying that by how long it took to kill the boars, she calculated that they must've had around 400 points of health or so. If they had the same system as she did, that'd give them a power of 20, over double her own. Though, they weren't humans, and perhaps there was something different going on--say, a higher default or different formula altogether.

That wasn't important, however--all it meant was that she could calculate how much essence she used and so, could calculate how much was required to level up leech ot level 3.

It took 100 essence for level 2 and 200 essence for level 3. That means level 4 would require either 300 or 400 essence. To use up that much, she'd have to deal 6000 or 8000 points of damage. To be on the safe side, go for the smaller number. If every boar has 400 health, that's fifteen boars she'd have to kill.

Since she only had to kill two boars to level to level 3, that means she'd level up before leveling up leech, allowing her to take the essence congruency skill and make it so she doesn't have to worry about leech getting too expensive for her to even use.

Though she didn't have maths to show it, she believed she only needed to kill three or four more boars to level up.

Only now, having thought about how much health the boars had and how much essence she must've spent in the two fights did the notion that her essence stone might be low on essence emerge in her mind. Considering she couldn't actually tell how much essence was in it, the worst thing that could happen would be to run out during a fight; she needs to spend 100 essence against a boar if she was using solely leech. It'd take her an entire eight hours to make that back, and that's with her improved regeneration.

As loath as she wanted to admit it, that just wasn't sustainable currently.

Her hand tightened around the dagger, feeling the grooved, molded handle exemplifying the fine craftsmanship. Even after how much she had used it, the blade was as sharp as ever, without any nicks or deformations. It was as straight as it could be.

If she wanted to kill more than two boars a day, she'd have to use this weapon.

So, her game plan changed; she'd go hunting for boars but rather than trying to whittle their health down using leech, she'd fight them head on instead. Her physical stats were lower than theirs, sure, but she still had 9 power and whatever the hell this dagger was, so she was sure she'd be able to hurt them significantly, even kill them--hell, she'd kill one through stabbing it in the eye before she was even level 1! If she does get into any danger, like being low on health, that's what leech was for; it could heal for 30 health a second, and her essence stone ensured that she'd be able to use leech multiple times a fight.

Considering the boars were roughly twice as strong as she was, she was certain that being able to heal to full would tip the scales in her balance.

First things first, however, was to heal up currently. Her health was still low from whatever the boiling hot fog was but leech quickly took care of that, nourishing her with the refreshing vitality her body had been craving so desperately. Pangs of hunger rushed up from her gut, a severe lack of sustenance arisen from nowhere had now made itself known to her with the cleansing and subsequent healing of her body. Her hands fell to her stomach and her abdomen, quickly feeling something unusual; the persistent wound in her side caused by the knife, that wouldn't even heal itself shut when she used leech, was gone!

When did this happen? What caused it? Is it something to do with the knife? It left me with a wound I couldn't heal--though my health didn't show I was wounded--and killed the first boar with one hit. Is it special? By process of elimination, was it cleanse that did something? Who knows--I'm just glad that it's not longer an issue.

To satiate this sudden, voracious desire, she grasped the boar with both hands and began lugging it back to the stream, her enhanced prodigious as she was able to move this incredibly heavy body with sufficient effort. Only now did it dawn on her what a power of 9 truly meant; 5 might've been average but few people were physically fit in a world where you could be wealthy and successful sitting in a chair all day--perhaps even the strongest people alive were only a 7 or an 8 in power. Maybe a 4 isn't so bad after all?

The stream was small but the reason she came back so often was not only because it was a reliable source of water--though that was a large draw--the area itself was aesthetically pleasing; the rich, warm tones of the leaves contrasted the clear, slightly blue tint to the water. The grey stones that made up the brooke itself were pleasingly round, and the way the trees slowly distance themselves from one another until creating a sort of clearing in a perimetre around the river gave her a sense of freedom--this was a long, open space with the sun shining directly down on her.

The boar hide was tough to get past--unsurprisingly considering its high health pool--but her knife endeavoured and ripped apart from the fur from the flesh successfully. She had seen one of the diagrams showing what part of a pig different cuts of meat were from--a boar couldn't be too different, right?

The cooking proceeded well; she had burnt quite a bit of meat already but was beginning to get better at timing it and how to even hold the meat to ensure it was cooked evenly. When the meat was thoroughly cooked, she used cleanse on it, hoping that it got rid of all the possible nastiness that came as a result of poor cooking. Whether it did or not, at least the action alone made her feel better at eating the food, even if it didn't taste that nice.

Though, the moment the succulent meat entered her mouth, her taste buds raved in excitement; her body hungered for flesh, and consuming this boar meat only exacerbated this ravenous hunger within her.

The middling, almost unappetising taste ceased to matter as she ate far more than she believed she could, an entire leg of boar disappearing into her stomach before she was finally finished.

What do I do about the rest of the meat? She wondered, not having a way to refrigerate or store it. If she had salt, perhaps she could preserve it once it got a bit colder but never of those things applied to her current situation. Oh! I could probably use it as bait of some kind, to lure some predators. Are boars carnivores? They attacked me, so maybe; though, they were probably just defending their territory--and their child--this time. They're probably carnivores.

She didn't have any materials to make elaborate traps--and, with power of 20, she doubted contraptions made out of wood would hurt or trap boars in the first place--and so decided to instead elevate the meat, putting it on pedestals so it'd stand out better. She wanted them to be in easy to see and reach spots.

Having hung, drawn, and quartered the boar, she was finally ready to go out hunting once again; both her health and essence was at full, with her stamina being the only limiting factor. Still, it would be good enough for one last foray into the wilds of the forest.

She trekked back up stream, trailing back to where she had found the tracks last time. Now she knew what she was looking for, as well as the general distance boars might be around the stream, she was extra attentive to her investigations; where pieces of mud might've looked like the random patterns in nature, some were beginning to look like the washed over footprints of various animals.

Eventually, however, she found what she believed to be a good lead. She tracked the loose prints back into the forest, keeping herself low to the ground and slightly off-path, trying not to be seen. Her feet placement was methodical, stepping on the least noisy looking patches of ground, steps small to maintain a firm balance. Thankfully, her lack of clothing meant it was only her feet, really, that could make a noise.

She followed the tracks for a good fifteen minutes before she encountered another hill, larger than the previous.

Do all boars live in hills? Are boars burrowing creatures? A multitude of questions assaulted her mind but she filed them away for now; there were more pertinent things to focus on.

For one, she saw three boars walking around the outside of the massive hill, equidistant from each other as well as the hill. They didn't look like they were looking for something or wandering randomly; they were walking with purpose but as if the purpose was walking itself. It was very strange, seeing animals do so... pointless a task. Just what were they doing.

Deciding to take a gamble, she crouched down further, practically crawling on the ground at this point, and approached the boar closest to her. It was walking in a circular pattern, and was approaching her, but it was slow, not in any hurry to get to where it was going. Just in front of her was the hill, both taller and with a much greater radius than the one she had otherwise seen.

Once the boar got within 3 metres of her, she connected a link using essence between her and the boar, and activated leech. She felt the feeling of health points flow through her, imagining the production of red blood cells rapidly increasing if only momentarily, before the link was cut off, her essence unable to maintain it.

The boar stopped suddenly and raised its head, looking like a statue. A bastion of defence, its body was larger and standing in such an imposing manner, she had to admit that she was a tad bit intimidated.

Ignore it. They're just boars; you've killed them before. They're nothing before you, She encouraged herself.

But, after a few seconds, the boar lowered its head, apparently having found nothing. The breath she didn't know she was holding escaped through a sigh, thankful the bush concealed her presence as much as it did.

The boar hesitantly carried on with walking the same route, though seemed more twitchy than before. Right as it would've stepped out of the 3 metre radius from her, she struck.

She hopped up onto her feet and dashed forwards, popping the stone into her mouth--having cleansed it already--to avoid the risk she'd accidentally let go of it. It might've been small but it was large enough that she wasn't going to unintentionally swallow.

Knife in hand, she pounced, practically jumping onto the boars back as it rushed to turn around, reacting to the crunch of the dead and dessicated leaves under her feet. She stabbed, plunging the deep into its flank before ripping it back out, tearing open the wound even wider. The boar howled in pain, whipping its head around with incredible speed, aiming to stick its pin-poin tusks into her flesh.

She jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding the brunt of the attack, but the tusks drew a line of blood in her arm, cutting into her. Even though she could barely feel the pressure, those tusks were preternaturally sharp, able to pierce her flesh with a mere graze.

She activated leech, imagining the rush of blood cells to the wound, clotting up and repairing the skin, as she saw her health regenerate before her eyes.

The boar looked furious, bulbour black eyes staring daggers at her. She couldn't help but let a smile come to her lips, adrenaline rushing through her. This was exciting, her sense of danger dampened over the knowledge she could heal herself.

She took a firm, solid stance, digging her feet a little into the dirt beneath her. Instinctively, she knew she had to end this quick; the other boars would come rushing, no doubt, over to their location. As the boar prepared to charge, she didn't move--she prepared herself.

The boar rushed, its stout, short legs powering off of the ground with great strength. Within moments, she was face-to-face with the beast tusks imminently going to pierce her flesh once again.

Except, this time, she kicked her leg up with as much force as she could muster, heaving a whole heap of dirt into the air as well as dislodging her firm footing, nearly throwing herself off balance. She danced around the boar at the last second before stabbing the thing right through its thick skull.

The blade sunk to the hilt and as it did so, the boar fell to the ground, dead. Its hulking body toppled over, forcing her to get out of its way lest she be crushed under its hefty weight.

However, she couldn't bask in the glory of killing her fatal enemy; two boars were now rounding around the hill, charging as fast as their little feet could propel them--which, as it turns out, was quite swift.

Both were on a crash course for her and she very much doubted that the corpse of their former comrade would do much to deter them.

Instead, she ripped out her dagger once more, the blade slick with blood and positioned herself so the body of the boar was between her and one of the incoming enemies.

As both charged, she dodged sideways, both boars angling towards her. She ran towards the one in front of her, hoping the corpse behind would delay that boar, and practically lept at her target.

A tusk dug straight into her abdomen, incredible pain assaulting her senses as she flailed her hand, struggling to get a grip on the creature. She felt her sense of balance shift under the shoves of the boar, and watched her health drop precariously low before she activated leech, healing her up. Her mind was in disarray, and she could only construct the visualisation for health passing through her as she desperately slashed at the eye of the creature.

Eventually, as the boar shoved against her body, and she could hear the one behind her closing in, her attacks landed, digging straight into the eye and dropping the boar to the ground--her along with it.

She firmly grasped the short fur of the beast and pushed herself off of it, losing health as blood began to flow from the hole in her abdomen, but before she could even respond, two more pin-point attacks stabbed into her, electrifying her senses with a new wave of overwhelming pain.

Her teeth grinded together as she sought to restore her essence through the stone, eyes anxiously wide as they stared at her health bar. She couldn't even move, imobilized by both the paralytic pain as well as the boar holding her there.

Desperately, with only the last few slivers of her health left, she activated leech, turning towards the boar as it pulled its ivory tusks out from her.

She swore she could see shock in its eyes as it saw her standing there, three bleeding wounds but presenting as a monolith of strength.

She lunged towards it, brain unable to comprehend a sense of risk as her health was full.

She gripped on hand around a tusk, the bone digging into her flesh like a serrated knife edge even though it looked smooth, as she frantically thrust the dagger at the boar, held in an ice-pick grip.

It shook its head erratically, trying to force her to lose her grip. The tusk ate at her flesh even further, chipping away her health, but she stood firm as the weapon, with one wilful thrust, found its mark in the boar's head. The blade sunk in all the way that it could, claiming yet another victim as she siphoned off the remaining health to restore herself.

Level up!

You have been awarded 5 stat points and 1 skill point

She fell back onto the ground, strength fading from her body as the threats vanished with it. Slowly, her cognitive thought returned to normal, the rational side of her more pronounced than before as an immense feeling of relief pushed down on her body.

That... That was too close. It fucking worked but, fuck! I don't think I even had 20 health there at the end. Her back hit the dirt, eyes wide as she couldn't even muster the will power to move. I'm just glad it worked. But still, that was too risky. If they were a level higher, I'd be dead.

At the thought of the battle, her hand drifted to her abdomen and back, trying to ascertain the damage.

I'm... still hurt? But I healed my- Oh shit. I've lost health? Concern blazed through her mind, as she sat up, staring down at her body. Blood was slowly trickling from the front, and the ground behind her was dyed a dark red.

Are their tusks like the dagger? I can't heal the wounds? No, no, that doesn't make sense; I fought one on the first day and I was fine afterwards. Fuck it; I'll try anyway.

She restored her essence before activating cleanse, the essence flushing through her like highly pressurised water, clearing away any debris. Next, she used essence again, visualising the closed system, seeing how the health manifested itself as her flesh reconjoined, the cells generated anew rapidly. Drained of her essence, her health was back to full again, and her body, finally, was in pristine condition. No holes nor wounds.

I just... I don't know.

Not wanting to think about it, she pulled up her stats, assigning the 5 stat points all into spirit.

Name Unnamed Level 4 Health 47/180 Stamina 32/100 Essence

0/4 Power 9 Constitution 4 Endurance 5 Vim 6 Essence

1 Spirit

16 Health Regeneration

100/day Stamina Regeneration

120/day Essence Regeneration

400/day

What's up with the name, anyway? Unnamed? Do I decide a name for myself? Eh, whatever; it hasn't mattered yet.

Her mind working robotically, she browsed the branches of different skills before finding primordial magic again, purchasing the essence congruency skill.

0th Tier

Well of Essence (1/10)

You have 20% additional Essence

Well of Spirit (1/10)

You have 20% additional Spirit

Essence Congruency (1/10)

Use 2 active skills at the same time

Requirements: rank 1 in 2 active skills

Once again, information flooded her brain on how to use the skill. A bunch of esoteric, unintelligible logic and understanding--stuff, frankly, she didn't think she'd be able to use. Cognitively, she understood how to manipulate essence in such a way that the system was telling her to, but that wasn't the way that had worked for her so far; her own, alternative understanding meant that the information provided by the system was a launching off point but she was on her own with trying to actually use the skill.

She sighed, resigning herself to her fate.

Magic was always going to be hard. I bet using the stamina skills would've been easier.