The first thing Damien felt was extreme nausea. Once he appeared out of thin air, coughing violently, he began to gag while taking deep breaths between each cough.

  Seemingly in a daze, he glanced up and looked at his surroundings, The system had teleported him into what looked like some sort of dense jungle, as tall trees with what looked like vines could be seen everywhere.

  “System, why do I feel like shit?” he asked before coughing violently again.

  “When someone who is not at a high enough level experiences teleportation between worlds, they are prone to aftereffects. What you are experiencing is a mild version of that. In a few minutes, you should be fine. For now, I recommend that you assess your surroundings as best you can.

  ‘It would have been nice to know that BEFORE you teleported me,’ Damien said to himself, a little annoyed it had failed to inform him of something so important. Managing to sit in a lotus position, he began to regulate his breathing to let his body adjust.

  As he calmed down, he began to notice other things about the world he was on. Breathing here felt more difficult, and the gravity felt two times stronger than what the gravity he had previously trained within felt.

  ‘Had I not trained there for a week, going to this planet would have likely killed me…’

  Once his body had adjusted and the nauseous feeling started to go away, Damien expanded his perception to get a better look at his surroundings. Thousands of smaller animals and plants came within his view.

  Suddenly, he picked up on a big aura to his west. Pushing his perception in that direction, he came across an animal he had never seen before. It had black fur with blue stripes running all along its body, and it had an almost lizard-like tail.

  Based on what he was sensing, he would have to put up a decent fight against the beast but could still win. It would just need a bit more effort than usual. Ignoring the beast for now, he continued to examine other areas of the forest and came across similar animals in strength all around him.

  It seemed like he had been put in the middle of every animal's territory, so none of them were able to sense them. The only issue is that once he wanted to leave, he had to pick which one he wanted to fight… While he had confidence in beating all of them, they were still animals that Damien had never seen before, and on top of that, they had abilities he was unaware of. Needless to say, he would have to choose carefully if he picked one with an ability that catches him off guard.

  Thinking over his options he went over what he could discern about each beast, to his north a beast that looked like a drake of sorts presided over the area, to his south was some sort of snake creature that was a hundred feet in length, while to his east was a massive bear-like animal that had two tusks protruding out of its mouth.

  After giving it some thought, he decided to go with the one he first sensed. Mainly because the system had told him to head that way if he wanted to find other people to head west.

  With his mind made up, he swiftly stood up and headed in that direction with a serious expression, however, on the inside, Damien was secretly excited to no end. An entire new world waited for him to explore it how could he not be thrilled at the thought?

  Immediately upon Damien setting foot in the beast's territory, it whipped its head in his direction, having sensed him. The beast's orange eyes narrowed as it stared into the area where it had detected Damien.

  Using its perception, it examined Damien from afar, and its face adopted what it probably felt was its serious face. The being that had entered its territory was strong, stronger than itself… the beast contemplated, but in the end, its animalistic instincts to protect its territory won, and it dashed in his direction.

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  Sensing the beast coming his way, he adopted an excited smile. Surely a beast on an entirely different planet can put up a decent fight, no? That was what he was currently thinking.

  Once the beast was in view, it stopped once more, this time to examine Damien with its eyes. Being up close to the beast, Damien was able to get a better feel for its power, and his eyes narrowed at what he was seeing.

  Before, he had thought it would be an easy fight as long as he became a bit serious, but now, based on what Damien could tell, while he was indeed stronger, it was not by much, and the beast had a real chance at defeating him.

  ‘Well, the system sent me here with the intention of getting stronger.’

  Suddenly, Damien remembered something he had thrown to the back of his mind once he learned to use his perception. The system's scan ability that could tell you an opponent's level.

  “Hanusars tiger” Level - 80

  ‘It's higher level than me, but it's still lower in strength.’

  Deciding not to take any chances, Damien went into his shadow form, giving him a massive increase in stats.

  He kicked off the ground with his right leg, the area exploded into dust and dirt, flying everywhere leaving a small crater on the jungle floor. Appearing in front of the beast in an instant, Damein pulled out his katana and slashed downward diagonally.

  The sharp edge of the blade made a whistling sound as it flew through the air before hitting the beast on its right side, but much to Damien’s surprise, instead of cutting into flesh, all he heard was a *TING* sound before the sword bounced off the beast like it had hit metal.

  As Damien was trying to figure out what just happened, the beast sprang into action and raised one of its massive paws, swiping at his stomach. Raising his sword, he collided his sword against the beast's cold claws, producing a grinding sound.

  “Maybe this won't be so easy,” he said aloud while a smirk began to appear on his face.

  Covering his blade in lightning, Damien took a defensive stance and waited for the beast's next move. Circling him, the Hanusars made multiple snarls that sounded like something straight out of a scary movie.

  “Come,” Damien said, taunting the beast by extending his hand and making a gesture to attack.

  Provoked, the beast let out a roar, causing many animals in the nearby area to flee in terror, breaking into a sprint. The beast's giant body made small thump-like noises as it hit the ground, a testament to its size.

  Once close enough instead of attacking as it had previously done with its claws, its body spun in a 360, making its lizard-like tail gain insane speeds before slamming into Damien, who just barely managed to raise his sword in time.

  The attack was so strong it sent him flying back tens of meters before coming to a stop after sliding a few feet. “Good one, my turn.” With an excited smile, Damien dashed forward with his lightning-covered katana, which produced loud cracking noises that could make one's hair stand on end.

  Reaching 3 feet away from the beast, he activated his flicker ability, appearing at the beast's backside. A look of what one would assume was astonishment was on the animal's face.

  As he sliced down at the Hanusars’s back, Damien quickly added some of his stocked-up points into strength. This boost allowed him to easily cut through the beast’s defenses as if cutting through butter.

  A sound of flesh being ripped and blood squirting out of a wound could be heard along with a cry of pain from the Hanusars itself. Whipping itself around, the beast now had a look of extreme caution before it suddenly whipped its head away from where Damien was and stared off into the jungle.

  ‘What is it looking at? ’ Damien thought before noticing something weird about the beast's behavior. ‘Is it… Shivering? No, it's scared.’ Not sure what the beast had sensed, he expanded his senses using his ability in the direction it had looked.

  Scanning over the area, he could see using his boosted perception he was unable to pick up on anything. Not knowing what could make the beast completely let its guard down around him when he had just wounded it, Damien adopted a serious expression.

  ‘Whatever it's scared of, I can’t sense, and that could mean two things… Either the beast has a concealment ability that allows it to escape my perception, or it's too far away and the Hanusars pick up on it using its sense of smell.’

  Thinking along those lines, he decided it was best not to stay around and find out what it was. Damien activated lighting fast before disappearing into the distance, leaving the beast alone once more, but it did not seem to notice and kept staring in the direction it had been while shivering even harder.

  ***

  A few minutes after Damien left, a silhouette appeared where he had just been standing. Behind him lay the corpse of the Hanusars Damien had wounded, its lifeless eyes filled with extreme terror it had experienced in its last moments. Bending down, the figure touched the ground and rubbed the dirt between his fingers before sniffing it.

  “New prey,” the figure said, his voice filled with malice and excitement.