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Chapter 8: The Prey and the Hunter

AHHHHHHHH!!!

Priam would have wanted to scream with rage. Just before his death, as his fingers grazed the rabhorn, he had been so proud of himself. The environment of Elysium was unforgiving, but through hard work, dedication, planning, and effort, he had progressed. That was the impression he had gotten when his skills had risen to a higher level, when he had finally touched the rabhorn - and thus his goal.

Priam calmed down and thought about his situation. In this new world, he was alone. For a human, this was difficult. Humans are social creatures. It was most apparent in extroverts. True, most introverts - like Priam - were comforted by knowing they could be alone in their homes. But they were still happy to visit a few friends, call their parents, or find someone to share their life with.

Except that here, Priam was alone. He knew he had chosen the Royal Way himself, but he felt a little abandoned by humanity. There were so many exceptional men and women. Why hadn't they joined Elysium yet? Deep down, Priam knew: this was no place for humans.

But even if it was ridiculous or illogical, Priam felt abandoned by his fellow men. More than pain, more than thirst, more than fear, it was loneliness that tortured him.

"Will I ever see my loved ones again? I chose the Royal Way to become the strongest, protect my family, and be free. For now, I have reaped only death and distress..."

Taking a deep breath, Priam calmed himself. Life was sometimes cruel, and he hadn't had much to be happy about. But he wasn't going to give up now. I'd rather die than be killed again by a fucking rabbit.

Some men were broken by life and hardship. Not Priam. The injustices he suffered enraged him. He turned that rage into energy.

"This energy I will use to destroy anything that stands between me and my freedom."

With his mind clear again and his spirits restored, Priam took stock of what had just happened. This new world was relentless. Without tearing it away with all his might, no victory would be granted to him. He understood now. The rabhorn and its cute appearance had taught him a lesson that he intended to imprint in letters of fire in his head.

"I don't have the luxury of underestimating the other inhabitants of this world. I would have died in the first few seconds if I were not immortal. To get back to the ones I love, to get back my life and my freedom, I have to become stronger."

It was a thought Priam had had before, of course, but there was a difference between dying annihilated by an alien or burned and surrounded by ants, and dying at the hands of a rabbit. He was at the very end of the food chain, and being lucky enough to get Log-a-rhythm didn't change that.

Priam shivered slightly. Thinking about his death made him reflect on the moment before it.

At first, he felt like insulting himself: he had not thought of absorbing the kinetic energy of the rabhorn's attack. He felt that he had the opportunity. The attack was clearly not entirely projectile-related but partially so. He might have been able to survive by absorbing some of the kinetic energy of the attack.

But what really gave Priam pause was the cool sensation in his head. The attack had pierced his forehead and destroyed his brain. Despite the destruction of his brain, he had survived for a few moments. His resurrection power was handy, but surviving and feeling things after his brain was destroyed was what Priam called magical.

"I am in a new world. I have to realize this and open my mind. Physics and fundamental laws are similar, but rabbits can kill me here. Everything is potentially dangerous, but all dreams are attainable in exchange..."

Priam admonished himself. To lose himself in thought here was to invite death. He refocused and observed the changes his death had brought.

Your perk [He who eludes Death] brings you back to life once a day.

Number of deaths: 5

Synergy detected with your perk [Humans adapt]. Your body is rebuilt and will be more resistant to what killed it:

CONST +8
PERC + 4
STR + 2

[Touched by aether] - Adaptation time: 11 days (previously 14 days)

Lvl Up: [Art of movement] lvl 4
AGI +1
PERC +1
DEXT +1

You have gained the skill: [Perforation Resistance].

[Perforation Resistance] - The finger penetrates the butter, and the iron penetrates the finger. You fight more against the iron than against the butter; now, the iron will penetrate you less. The arrangement of your body's molecules is optimized to give you better protection against puncture.
There will be no jokes about penetration. But stop.
CONST +1

Lvl Up: [Perforation Resistance] lvl 2
CONST +1

Your title [Brainless - Bronze] shows up. You see a possibility of evolution.

[He Who Eludes Death] Charge: 0. Recharge in 10 hours at 0h.

New Quest: Revenge
Killed by a rabbit... It had a horn, but it's your ego that's bruised. Get your pride back.

Find the rabhorn. Kill it.
Reward: [Poison Resistance], Potential + 10.
Difficulty: Very Low
Maximum time: 1 Day

"Currently, I'm away from my shelter, with no extra life since my skill doesn't accumulate lives and I missed that rabhorn... I might as well look around a bit to find its burrow. As for the rest... Tomorrow."

Priam looked around the small clearing as he stood up. The rabhorn had disappeared, but if he was to guess the location of the entrance, he had to put himself in the rabbit's shoes. It had run off in one direction. So Priam had a clue as to the location of its den. The rabbit might be smart enough not to run into its hole, but Priam doubted it.

If this rabhorn had as much in common with a rabbit as Priam thought, its burrow must have provided easy access to food. Rabbits preferred sloping ground and dry, loose soil for easy digging. I'm looking for an embankment or slope with cleared earth and certainly on the edge of a clearing to get a good view.

A few minutes later, hunched over in the thicket, scanning the ground - and the sky - for a burrow or a threat, Priam heard a noise. It wasn't the rustle of leaves, a distant howl of monsters - which never failed to startle Priam - or the song of a bird. It was a grunt.

Priam froze. Arnold had taught him that encounters could end violently. Worse, he didn't have any extra life right now. But the grunt seemed to indicate a battle and an enemy undoubtedly too busy to notice.

"Know your enemy and know yourself," Priam quoted. "If Sun Tzu is so famous, he must be right, right? I need some information about these potential rivals. I can't live in hiding forever after all..."

Cautiously, Priam walked toward the noise. He hoped this wouldn't be his last mistake, but he couldn't live in fear alone. Despite his defeat, he was no rabbit, running from every danger. A few feet away from him was a new clearing, larger than the previous one. In the center, a futuristic suit of armor seemed to be training with a spear. Quietly, he watched the training. No, the fight. A brown rabhorn was trying to flee, dodging the armor's assaults. Priam wanted to know more about the warrior before escaping.

[Identification]
[Hoplite Champion] - Hoplites are extremely violent people with a warlike culture. After dominating their planet, they voluntarily split into several groups to continue fighting. Proud, brave, intelligent, and talented, the soldiers are selected from childhood, and less than one percent survive the training. The rest of the population participates in the war effort by studying and seeking to improve their warrior. Genetic manipulation, eugenics, weapon and armor creation, mental manipulation, cybernetic augmentation... Bioethics have no place in their world. Their champion stands before you.

Another madman. Priam didn't intend to stay there any longer. He knew he would eventually meet someone for whom diplomacy was more than a contest of who had the biggest spear. But for now, he seemed to attract psychopaths. I can't wait to meet pretty, graceful elves and vampires allergic to human blood...

His heart was beating fast, but his eyes were focused. He started to get up. A burrow was visible on the other side of the clearing, and he would return tomorrow.

Suddenly, the rabhorn used its skill. Its horn vibrated, and a cone of translucent light shot toward the champion. In a blur of movement, he swung his spear to intercept the attack. The cone disintegrated. The rabhorn lay motionless, seemingly overcome with fatigue. Its ultimate attack seemed to take a lot of energy.

The champion stepped forward and impaled the beast with his spear. Priam took the opportunity to run away. At first slowly, then after a few meters, he started to run. Everything told him that a confrontation would not end well for him. And right now, with no way to communicate, he had nothing to gain by approaching the champion.

After a few minutes of running and while he was concentrating on his running and moving skills, he had a hunch. Am I being followed?

Without panicking, he continued as if nothing had happened. Probably the Hoplite. His armor should slow him down, but with my bad luck, it's probably him. He must have detected me earlier and is tracking me down to take him to my shelter. If I enter through a secret entrance, I should be able to lose him...

Priam continued to run, but his distracting thoughts prevented him from concentrating on his skill [Art of Movement]. He stumbled over a root a few feet further before resuming his run.

He had not taken more than three steps when he was thrown to the ground. His skill had kicked in this time, almost by reflex. His eyes blurred by tears of pain, and he struggled to his feet to see the champion's spear nailed to the tree in front of him. Under the spear was his left arm. It had been torn off, then dragged.

"Eaz geka ponni..."

A deep voice was heard behind him, and Priam turned around. The champion was there, a few feet away. A piercing aura emanated from him. He looked like a knight from Dark Souls, crossed with a Terminator. Priam knew that he had no chance in combat. Even if he had seen his characteristics triple, he still wouldn't have wanted to try his luck. The warrior had thrown his heavy spear like a javelin at a terrifying speed.

He had no extra life and was terrified. I have to run. Using my [Kinetic Control] skill well should give me the boost I need to escape to the shelter. Priam didn't have many options, but he knew he couldn't fight or try to be diplomatic. The Hoplite had more reach, power, and most importantly, experience. Priam had lost to a horned rabbit. The champion had made it his lunch.

Looking behind the hoplite warrior, Priam shouted. "Behind you! Look out, a clown!"

Without waiting to see the reaction, he fled toward the shelter.

After a few meters, Priam felt the champion chasing him. The young man ran as if his life depended on it. It did. He was vaguely aware of stepping on brambles and sharp pieces of dead wood. His feet must have been bleeding. But adrenaline and fear gave him wings.

As he dashed away faster than a rabhorn, a root tripped Priam. As he fell to the ground, he realized he still couldn't concentrate on the [Art of Movement]. He was losing a lot of blood, and his thoughts were unclear. Priam knew that fear for his life was preventing him from concentrating and maximizing his chances of survival. He jumped to his feet and accelerated using [Kinetic Control].

Focus! Think about your feet and your strides. Dodge the tree from the left. Jump over the branch. Slide under the dead tree. To the right, behind the tree, to prevent it from skewering you with its spear.

Little by little, Priam was focusing. He felt his skill and his state of mind harmonizing.

A pond? No time to go around it. Jump! [Kinetic Control], [Kinetic Control], [Kinetic Control]!

Priam took to the air. In one leap, he flew over the water. His jump, about twenty meters long, took him over the obstacle. He activated [Kinetic Control] at the end of his jump to slow down in the air and then landed with a roll to break his fall. If he had had time, Priam would have been very proud of his achievement. Death gives you wings...

Lvl Up: [Art of movement] lvl 5
AGI +1
PERC +1
DEXT +1
Lvl Up: [Kinetic control] lvl 2

VIVA + 2
DEXT + 3
META (FOCUS) +4

"To cut a caper serves a purpose..."

Priam got up and ran into the woods. A second later, the tree behind him exploded, a spear flying through it. The champion had picked up his spear, and Priam was trying hard not to be in the warrior's line of fire.

While the suns were still high in the sky, Priam began to recognize the terrain. Closer to the gate, the vegetation was... Less hostile. I'm almost there! Every second brought him closer to his refuge, and he knew he could enter it from any tree within a hundred meters. It was the perfect time to use Secret Passage.

Secret passage.

All the plants are linked within a giant web. You can open a portal to the Log-a-rhythm from any tree within a hundred meters.

Just a few more seconds and I'll be safe!

He could feel the champion coming closer, but there was nothing he could do but run and hope. Hiding from his opponent by trying to lose him in the thicket was impossible. Too much blood flowed from his open stump, and his feet left enough tracks for a blind man to track. Priam knew Log-a-rhythm's location would be compromised, but he had no choice.

There! The fugitive recognized a looping tree about two hundred meters from his base. He was so close to his goal, so happy that he almost didn't react. A kind of presentiment, born of his intimate knowledge of death, told him of a lethal danger. [Kinetic Control]! Priam used the charge stolen from the warrior's initial attack to throw himself sideways. He slammed into a shrub and broke it in his fall. The spear had whistled in his ears despite his instant reaction. Without his awareness, he would have died.

Straightening up with difficulty, the injured man let out a grunt of pain. The loss of blood, the frantic race, and now the violence of the shock left him without stamina. The flow of adrenaline had dried up. With a colossal effort of will, Priam stood up. He wanted to live. The hoplite champion was approaching him quietly. He had not yet retrieved his spear, sure of his victory.

Priam turned and limped toward Log-a-rhythm. 180 meters. The champion was still closing in. 150 meters. Priam thought he could feel his breath on his neck. If breath could pass through armor. 130 meters. The warrior had passed Priam and was standing in his way. Between him and his base. Between him and life.

Priam opened his eyes defiantly and walked around the warrior. He thought he heard him laugh.

"Athat ujuk. Ujok."

110 meters. Priam felt himself grabbed by his right shoulder. The champion lifted him like a kitten and turned him to face him. His armor was integral, and Priam couldn't even make out the hoplite's eyes. In a way, this helped him. Death had no face. Death did not even have hatred. The warrior saw him as a defeated opponent. There was no cruelty in his attitude, just automatisms. He had a duty, and his prey would die.

After a second of silence, Priam spat in the hoplite's face. The gesture was universal, and he would not beg for his life. He knew it was useless; the hoplite was a killer. A murderous aura crystallized around the hoplite, and Priam felt a monstrous kick hit him in the chest. [Kinetic Control]!

A tree stopped Priam's glide. He felt a sharp pain in his ribs as he absorbed part of the blow. Stunned, he crawled two meters away from the tree. The warrior was already on him. Priam turned around, lying on the ground, and sat up as best he could as the warrior glared at him.

Wounded, his body covered in blood, Priam held out his one hand to the champion. As the enemy bent to finish him off, their hands touched, and Priam smiled. The tree behind the armored warrior glinted slightly.

"Adios fucker. [KINETIC CONTROL]!"