'What now?'
He wondered as he looked up, a branch catching his attention a few inches away.
He had avoided death, though narrowly, but he had not escaped from it.
Below were salvage beasts clawing at each other and the bark of the tree, their futile attempts at reaching him causing them to grow feral.
If he slips, he will fall to his death, but if he remains fixed to his dagger on the tree, he will still fall to his death, though slower.
Either way, he needed to move higher and further, and that's what he was set on doing.
Looking around, he found a branch, thick, sturdy, onyx in colour just as the rest of the tree.
It held some semblance as it was the only branch close to him.
'But….it's about two meters up there.'
Was it possible to jump all the way from a make-believe save point to a branch?
He would find out now.
Just then, the barking of the Glitches had somehow gotten louder, more ferocious, their sharp claws making evident work on the trees.
He glanced down in confusion, his eyes slowly bulging out in shock at the sight.
The part of the Glitches had seemed to abandon all rationality.
They used each other as stepping stones, attempting to reach him as quickly as they could.
Their efforts were actually proven futile as they kept clawing at each other, causing in-fight between themselves but they were large.
So large that four stacked against one another would be equivalent to a bungalow.
'Shit! I need to move!'
He looked up and glanced at the dagger.
'Well, I've only ever seen this in gymnastics but…'
He pulled his arms and body upwards, his muscles growing taunts as he swung his leg towards the left.
The side where the branch stood was unperturbed.
He had only one chance, one attempt to get it right or a drastic fall to his doom was evident.
'One, Two–
Before even completing the countdown, he lunged himself into the air, his feet swinging first and then his body as he stretched his arms up.
The Glitches dashed towards him, jumping in the air in an attempt to grab onto him as quickly as he fell, but would he?
Paxton was getting closer and closer to the branch, the bark taking most of his peripheral vision by now, but a problem quickly arose.
He was going off course, though, not the type that one would expect.
His head seemed to be tilting downwards as the branch appeared to be below him.
'The fuck?'
He wondered but acted instantaneously.
He twisted his body midair, reaching out for the branch in a split second and stabbing his dagger into the hard texture.
It went in, sinking deep into its structure as his body slammed against the wood, his legs slipping off at the edge. The dagger tilted to the sides in response to his sudden fall.
"Fuck!"
He muttered as he heard a guttural snarl followed by a sudden and sharp pain through his left leg.
Something heavy had grabbed onto him, and it caused the dagger to slip even further.
'Shit! Shit!! Shit!!!'
His body went into overdrive, working to its limits as he smashed his other foot onto the glitch that attached itself to his leg.
These creatures were large, large enough to easily tear off his leg but the balance and the manner it lunged at him was way off.
Caused only a minuscule yet painfully drastic injury while it attempted to remain fixed on his leg.
It was a struggle, a real one.
Paxton reached out for the bark with his left arm, clawing his way upwards while smashing his right foot against the Creature's face.
The constant pull and hit were wearing on his energy but the Glitch didn't give him time to think of it.
He needed to get away from their range immediately; if not, another could cling onto this one, and he would be pulled to his demise.
He couldn't allow that! No, he wanted to survive! Needed to!
The tenacity of humans often fostered something deep, strong and evident.
He smashed again and again, groaning in pain, forcing the scream that reached out to escape within his throat!
He refused to yield.
With a constant smash at his skull and eyes, the glitch began to loosen up.
Paxton felt it, noticed it almost in an instant and suddenly sprung over the branch and sprawled himself over it.
He pulled out the dagger, turned around and pulled his leg up.
'This is insane! Where is all this strength coming from?!'
Without wasting further time, he stabbed it into one of its eyes causing the Glitch to let go and yelp in pain. It fell to the snow, slamming against a bunch of its peers that awaited its victory. Sadly, he had come down without it.
The barks increased, escalating into a call of waking, their claws scratching the bark of the tree in a futile attempt to get to him.
Though, it proved futile.
Paxton panted; a moment of respite made way for him, and he grabbed onto it with open arms.
He sprawled himself over the bark of the tree, his chest rising and falling as blood dribbled from his leg.
It dripped onto the snow, further increasing the feral nature of the hungry creatures.
Paxton slowly lifted his leg up as he cast a glance at the creatures below.
'It makes no sense. They're too many to share my carcass equally if they were to actually kill me.'
A weird thought, but a truth nonetheless.
He shook his head, the searing pain reaching his brain as the adrenaline subsided in his body.
He winced, holding his leg firmly.
'Now that I think about it, where did all that energy come from?'
For a long time, Paxton had known he was different from others. Not just medically, but physically as well, though he never suspected it would be linked to the same thing.
'The Pixel Syndrome.'
He concluded, resting his head on the tree.
With a sigh, his thoughts reeled in, the sounds of barking and ferocious growls from the Glitches reaching his ear.
It felt surreal somewhat, but he was aware that this, too, was merely transient.
He closed his eyes, then slowly opened them back, a single thought in his head.
'What now?'
*****
Meanwhile, Dollina was led to a room, her room.
A well-furnished bedroom with futuristic yet classical settings.
The bed was a Victorian-style crafted woodwork, perhaps of mahogany or some sort of hybrid version of mahogany and oak.
Surrounding it were a vast number of furniture and floating screens.
One such piece of furniture was a dressing table where she sat and glanced at the mirror.
A comb slowly twirled her silky silver hair. Her silver eyes were fixed on the screen, a subtle frown on her face as images played in her head.
'Fin Olton, Ricardo Olton, Belinda Olton, Freya Olton and Gus Olton.'
A flicker appeared at the corner of her eyes causing her pupils to shift towards the direction. And right there was the screen, the Server System, a digital form of her abilities.
'This was what I fought for with my life on the line…shall we inspect it now.'
And so she read through it.
NAME; Dollina Olton.
STATUS; Novice.
CHARACTER SLOTS AVAILABLE; TWO
1st SLOT.
CHARACTER GRADE; LEGENDARY
CHARACTER NAME;
CHARACTER LEVEL; Level 1 (0/1000)
CHARACTER SPECIALTY; Swordsman
CHARACTER SPECIE; Celestial
CHARACTER PROPERTIES; Light
CHARACTER CLASS; <.obtain class in the class exam>
NEXT CHARACTER UPGRADE; Level 45
2nd SLOT
PIXEL ENERGY LEVEL; 700
STRENGTH; 10 CHARISMA; 20
AGILITY; 10
VITALITY; 10
STAMINA; 10
ENDURANCE; 10
CHARACTER SKILL SETS
COMMON SKILLS;
-HOVER(active)
-INSIGHT(passive)
-BLESSED MARK(active)
BRONZE SKILLS;
-SWORD FLOWER(active)
-HEAVEN'S JUDGEMENT(active)
-DIVINE HEAL(active)
SILVER SKILLS;
-SWORD SERAPHIM (active)
CHARACTER PROPS
ARMOUR
CLOTHES
WEAPONS
PETS
ACCESSORIES
[OBTAIN PROPS FROM THE SHOP WHICH WILL BE PROVIDED AT LEVEL 10]
'A legendary character?!' She thought, her surprise evident as her eyes bulged open. A smile formed on her face, subtle and devious.
Legendary characters were hard to come by, especially immediately after a Test Of Humanity.
These were characters that tend to come with seven start-up skills, between common, Bronze and rarely silver.
They could be either Character-based skills or Non-character-based skills, but they were all valuable to a Novice.
Starting as a Legendary character would be a boon for her, but was this something she wished for everyone to know?
Her gaze slowly hardened, her expression turning grim.
'If it's found out that I'm a legendary, then their attitude towards me might be more accommodating, but that wouldn't change how they treated me in the past.'
She had a list of those she wished dead, and perhaps even more. What drove her at first was to serve her Father's empire, but now, she wanted to bring it down.
She froze for a moment, her thoughts recollecting when a knock echoed on her door, snapping her from her thoughts.
She shifted, slowly turning towards the door.
'I'll figure things out slowly…I'm still too weak despite being a legendary character. Let's obtain power first.'