Brink of Death > Endurance Surge

  Endurance Surge: Grants a temporary surge of stamina and reduced pain sensitivity when on the brink of death. Enables the user to perform one last effort like escaping or counterattacking despite critical injuries.

  Death’s Embrace > Chill of Mortality

  Chill of Mortality: When near death, enemies within a small radius experience a chilling effect, reducing their attack speed and mobility slightly.

  Pain Resistance > Steady Resolve

  Steady Resolve: Pain does not disrupt concentration or basic motor skills. The user can maintain accuracy and focus even under duress.

  I couldn’t help but grin upon seeing how much I had grown. Sure, it felt like an age because of the repeats, and the pain… I still smelt the reek of the wolf’s breath, could still see the flesh—my flesh—stuck in between its teeth.

  I shook my head. Even after all of those Skills, there were still more notifications to go through.

  Titled gained — Terror’s Bane: You have killed your first Nightmare-difficulty creature and lived to tell the tale. Not many can say the same. +1 to all Offensive Skills when fighting in environments classified as “Nightmare zones.”

  Titled gained — Skill Sculptor: You have evolved five of your skills, unlocking new potential for growth. Skills progress 5% faster.

  Titled gained — Reaper’s Reject: You have died and returned from death’s grasp. The dead no longer claim you easily. You deal 10% more damage to monsters who are at death’s door.

  And finally, the cause of his death defying ability:

  Chrono-Requiem [Unique]: Upon death, turn back time for three seconds. Every time you turn back time, you lose one hour of lifespan.

  “Holy shit,” The words left my mouth. Frantically, I tried to recall how many times I had died. It had to be at least two-hundred already. That meant… That meant that I had lost two-hundred hours of my life just like that.

  I bit my tongue. There was nothing I could do about that. Maybe there was a Skill that could increase my life? There had to be.

  Well, that was a future me problem. Right now, I had to survive.

  After countless deaths, I realised that the corpse of the wolf wasn’t just a corpse—it was a treasure trove. So, returning to where I slain the beast, I took care of my surroundings. I didn’t directly go up to the wolf, I darted from tree-to-tree, making certain that the area was devoid of anything else that wanted a morsel of my flesh.

  When I was sure it was safe, I knelt by the wolf and brushed my hands across its fur. It was soft under my touch, so fluffy that I just wanted to bury my face into it. The only armour it had was on its spine and ribs. Then, I glanced at the barbaric centipede tail that trailed at least seven-foot long. It left a longing impression on me. Perhaps it was the reason for all of my bug-related evolutions.

  Shaking my head, I knew I had to be fast. If Nat Geo Wild taught me anything, it was that predators loved the scent of blood. And with the system enhanced shenanigans, I was certain the wolves of today could probably sniff out his weed stash from the next town over.

  I didn’t know how to skin an animal. I had done my fair share of camping, setting up a fire, gathering wood, cooking on a fire, the usual. But this wasn’t the usual.

  Drawing in a breath, I stuck the blade into the wolf’s fur. When I felt my new dagger cutting through the first layer, my shoulders relaxed. Good, I thought. Was the dagger in my hand sharper than regular, or did monster’s lose their durability when dead?

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  Although I had a hundred questions in my head, there was no-one to answer them. I had to rely on myself. It was a scary thought, but I pushed on. Soon, I had taken the entire pelt off the wolf.

  Skill Learned: Skinning (Level 1)

  Nice, I thought, looking at my handiwork. I grimaced. It was dishevelled, and blood had gotten everywhere despite my best efforts. Regardless, it was a start. If civilisation really had ended, then at least he had a way of making clothes.

  Damn, wouldn’t I need a cloth making Skill for that? Sighing, Paul bundled up the pelt using a line of his shoe-laces, then cut off a leg of the wolf to save for later. There wasn’t a lot of blood on it, so hopefully the would-be-hunters would fancy the whole corpse, instead of just a leg.

  With that done, I was about as ready as I could ever be. Basic survival told me that it was best to remain on the spot and wait to be rescued. But something else told me that there was no chance of that happening.

  So, club in one hand and a pelt stuffed with wolf leg on his back, I left the battle-ground. With a final look back, a million emotions emerged all at once. I shoved them down, turned, then continued on my way.

  ***

  It wasn’t long before I caught sight of something in the distance. Ducking, peering out from behind a tree, there were at least four little green men walking from left-to-right. Goblins?!

  I forced myself to calm down. So it wasn’t just mutated animals from Earth. Great. I mean, I had the idea from the very beginning when it mentioned the challenges. But seeing them all wander in the forest was a startling sight.

  I was secretly relieved that they were going in the opposite direction. Because although I had an incredible ability that nullified death, the thought of losing my lifespan everytime wasn’t exactly a comforting situation to be in.

  Breathing out a sigh of relief, I was about to move when I heard a twig behind me snap. I spun around just in time to notice a goblin in mid-air, mouth open wide in raw violence; yellowed teeth on proud display.

  That was the last thing I saw before my vision turned dark. Damn it. It was strong enough to penetrate my carapace-infused flesh? It was a startling realization.

  Snapping my eyes open, I threw my body to the side. The goblin landed right where he stood and glanced at him in surprise, as if wondering how the hell he dodged its perfect ambush.

  I heard creature’s scream nearby. They were the other goblins, I realised. They must have already known he was here, and they were feigning ignorance to mount an ambush. Sly bastards.

  On the floor, I snapped my foot at the goblins knee, but I was too slow. Dodging my kick, it dashed right for me. Club in hand, I swung in a wide arc at the incoming beast, my weapon swishing through the air, but it hit nothing.

  The goblin somersaulted over my strike, and plunged its jagged dagger into my chest. Pain blossomed, and if not for my pain resist Skill, I’d have lost all composure. The dagger didn’t get too far into my body, which was thanks to my Iron Carapace, so I grabbed hold of the goblin’s throat, and threw it onto the ground so I was on top.

  Club in hand, I made sure the goblin couldn’t escape this time. I smashed my club against the goblin’s face and watched as blood splattered over me.

  Skill gained — Blunt Weapon Mastery (Level 1)

  I ignored the stench of iron and attacked again.

  Before I could finish off the goblin, I heard the sound of something twang, and then in the next second, that something hit my good arm. I lost control of my hand and my dagger thudded to the floor.

  The goblin under me thrashed, but there was no way in hell I was going to die before killing the little shit. Bracing myself, I cracked my skull against the beast’s own. Dazed, it lost resistance. I didn’t stop there. I hit it again, and then once more before another arrow plunged into my side.

  Skill gained — Skull-fu (Level 1)

  The other goblins were here now and I realised that I was in deep shit. Even if I returned three seconds in the past, there were four more bloodthirsty monster’s hounding me. That was a three-second later problem.

  I felt life fade from being, which I had not gotten used to yet. It was like a primordial fear had grabbed onto me, but it was evident I wasn’t the only one affected by that.

  A freezing cold radiated outward, with me in the centre of it. The oncoming goblins, one of which had a bow, and the others with machetes and daggers, slowed, their legs turning sluggish. Chill of Mortality had taken effect.

  I quickly placed Skull-fu in place of Bombardier’s Throw, and headbutted the monster under me again. I received the kill notification before I died.