It had five very sharp claws on each paw, long enough to pierce through the naked man’s chest and pop out his back a few inches. One claw looked sharp enough to behead him. The beast had the body of a bear and a face that resembled a panther mixed with a raccoon. Thick dark brown fur covered its entire body, some strands were white and gray but the beast wasn't old.
Its tail was as long as its body, including the head. The way it moved around made it look like a fifth arm. Like a club made out of fur, flesh, and bone, weighing more than a hundred pounds. One hit from it could send the man flying across the stream.
However, the most interesting feature that caught the man’s attention was its scent. Butter, the large beast smelled like butter. The image of popcorn in a ceramic bowl popped into his mind, making his stomach grumble again.
After dismissing the thought, the man focused on the beast. It paced around at a distance, showing that it was smart enough to not try the same move and fail again. He checked the message above the beast’s head once more.
He assumed that the exclamation mark next to its name signified that it was the opportunity that the message was talking about. But seeing its size compared to himself, he felt like he didn’t have a fighting chance. Even climbing up a tree seemed impossible after taking one glance at its claws, it could probably climb faster than him. Despite not having the best build for it, the man’s best option was to run away.
“Great, you can read my mind too. Can’t I have some privacy? My dick’s already out, and now you want me to fight this thing without any weapons!” The man complained out loud, assuming that the messages he’d been receiving were a sentient being like him.
The man imagined the box of text rolling its eyes. Or at least a similar gesture. The lack of socialization and interaction may have affected him greatly.
The Bearcat growled and bared its fangs at the man, he didn’t have the time to think of a plan. Like the beast in front of him, he just needed to follow his instincts as it charged at him. Jumping to the side, the man picked up an armful of palm-sized rocks with his left and chucked them at the beast with his right arm.
Even if the throws were weak, it managed to delay the Bearcat’s advances. Every time a rock came close to its face, it jumped back to dodge it. That reaction was all the confirmation that the man needed to know that the message wasn’t giving him false information.
However, there was still the issue of defeating the large beast. The human body wasn’t exactly equipped with features like claws to defeat others unarmed.
Ah, but I was just naked, not unarmed, he thought as he glanced at the rocks around him.
As he hopped to the left to dodge the pouncing bearcat, he felt moist pebbles beneath his feet. The sound of the fast stream behind him and the hissing of the bearcat unlocked a memory in the man. An image of a bobcat running away from a garden hose played in his mind.
Without hesitation, he went shin-deep into the stream, making sure that he didn’t slip and fall, giving the Bearcat the opening it wanted.
The beast glared as it stood prowling the side of the fast-moving water stream. Judging from the way its fur looked, it needed to be dry so that it wasn’t cold and heavy.
Not wasting any time, the man picked a handful of stones and took a wide stance. There were a couple of things that the humans were good at compared to the other creatures, one of them was long-distance running to chase down wounded prey.
“And the other was throwing shit real hard at something!” The big ugly ape shouted as he chucked a smooth rock at the Bearcat.
It glanced off the side of the Bearcat’s body, barely doing any damage. The attack just made the beast angrier. What the man needed to hit was the sensory organ that the message mentioned.
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He took a sideways stance, letting his body naturally figure it out, or remember. With a rock in his right hand, he winded up, raising his front leg slightly above the water. Then, he let that same leg take a step forward. Following the motion, he leaned forward and transferred the energy to his arm, swinging his hips at the same time. He cracked his arm like a whip and threw the rock at the Bearcat’s face. It hit its head in the center of its face, in between its eyes.
The beast cried, toppling backward. It squirmed around on the ground with its eyes closed. The man couldn’t imagine the pain that it was in, nor did he have the time to. With one of the sharp rocks on the ground, he ran straight at it to finish it off.
Despite it writhing in pain, the Bearcat managed to scratch the man’s thigh. The wound was very shallow, but it still made his heart sink when he saw blood on the lower half of his body. Luckily for him, it didn’t hit the important bits.
After a few moments of struggling to find the right timing to jump in, he finally managed to drive the sharp rock in the Bearcat’s extra sensory organ.
“Messenger?” He asked. That was the name he gave the messages that popped into his mind. He still wasn’t entirely sure if it was an actual sentient being. “Hold on, I was expecting something different,” he complained out loud, in case the Messenger chose to ignore his thoughts.
“What inventory? I don’t even have any clothes,” he said.
“What do you mean!? I don’t even know who I am! Can’t you at least tell me how to access this inventory?” He asked, trying not to raise his voice too much. For all he knew, what he was speaking to could be some sort of god.
He spent around five minutes silently cursing the Messenger inside his head while trying to figure out what the last message meant. Then, he recalled that the Messenger–what he decided to call the unknown being for now–hadn’t told a single lie. The information that it gave may be lacking, but none of them were false.
Think about it, huh? Hmm, inventory. That’s like a list of items you have, right? The man thought to himself.
[Inventory 2/8]
[-Knife (2 Hours, 52 Minutes)]
[-Ferro Rod (150 Uses Left)]
Like the information that the Messenger gave him, a list appeared in his vision. Thinking and willing the items into his hands made them appear in the same physical reality as his body. Assuming that the knife would disappear when the timer ran out, the man wasted no time and started butchering the Bearcat carcass.
In his mind, it was obvious that whoever rewarded him with those tools wanted him to eat the Bearcat. A knife to skin and harvest meat from the Bearcat after defeating it, and something that would help make a campfire to cook the said meat. At least that was what he believed he should do, no one forced him to do this.
Being hungry wasn’t enough, it was clear that he didn’t have any experience with the knife or how to properly prepare an animal. He brutalized the corpse and started a pathetic fire. Though, in the end, he managed to get some meat. The man ate until his stomach was full to bursting.
***
By the time the knife disappeared into magical glowing dust, it was already late in the afternoon. The sun was going to set soon and he was still naked. Exploration had to wait until the next day. And, eating all that meat made him feel groggy. He decided to find a nice tree with a branch that could support his weight. His meat vessel demanded a nap.
He didn’t reach far, just a few meters away from where he decimated the Bearcat. It was a nice and inviting tree. However, just to be sure, he grabbed some vines and tied them around himself and the tree.
A few minutes into his nap, he let out a long burp. His stomach was definitely digesting the meat. Suddenly, the Messenger invaded his vision even though his eyes were closed.
Bombarded with information, he just stared blankly at the table in front of him. None of those words or numbers mean anything to him. He doesn’t remember choosing anything.
“What the fuck!?”