[Warning: Mana 50%]
He willed the notification away as he struggled into a fighting stance. He was hurt and the wounds were not minor. The lesions across his stomach were still bleeding, and his hand was shattered from the last strike. Powerful as it had been, the backlash had nearly crippled him.
Hogzilla plowed forward, tusks down as he tried to run. After only a few steps, his body betrayed him again. He stumbled and looked up just in time to see one of the massive trees towering overhead, its trunk thick enough to block out the sky. With a desperate lunge, he threw his weight forward and rolled behind it, praying the tree was strong enough to stop the enraged beast.
HWACK!
The impact rattled his entire body. Pain flared through torn muscle and broken bone, but the tree held.
[Hogzilla has self-inflicted blunt force trauma]
[Opponent is dazed]
Acting on instinct, Hector activated Emergency Heal. He spread the green light across his entire body, forcing power into the spell, then cut it off almost immediately, a burst instead of a flood. His health did not rise, but his shattered hand began to knit, and the crushing fatigue eased slightly. He realized the Hogzilla was still dazed, as he spotted another tree and staggered into motion. His body felt slow, unresponsive, like it was moving through mud.
“I need to move faster.”
For a moment, his mind cleared, and without hesitation, he dumped all nine unspent stat points into agility.
[Agility +9]
[Agility has reached Level 16]
The effect was immediate. His body lurched forward as if propelled by unseen force. He reached the next tree in seconds and turned just in time to see the massive boar stumbling, its movements sloppy and uncoordinated.
[Combat Assessment increased to Level 3]
“Think! There has to be a way out of this!”
His thoughts accelerated, sharper than they had ever been. His spirit felt focused, honed entirely on the fight. In his mind’s eye, he saw flashes of green energy tearing through flesh as it had before.
“That’s it.”
The Hogzilla shook off its daze. Its eyes locked onto him as it began to circle the tree, clearly wary now, it had started to learn his habits. Hector positioned himself beside the trunk and pulled a Wampus Cat claw from his inventory as the beast charged.
At the last second, Hector flooded the claw with Emergency Heal and hurled it. The claw struck true, slamming into Hogzilla’s front leg. Hector barely had time to react as he launched himself away, his enhanced speed carrying him to the next tree. A sound like sizzling meat filled the air.
POP.
The Hogzilla slammed into the trunk with a thunderous crash.
[Combat Assessment increased to Level 4]
The creature rose almost immediately, but the damage was clear. A fist-sized hole bled freely from its leg, blackened around the edges. It staggered as it tried to charge again and collapsed to the forest floor, Hector did not hesitate. He rushed forward, green energy igniting around both fists. The familiar burn of Overheal crawled up his arms, but he pushed through it. He landed strike after strike on the pig. Each blow drove destructive healing into the creature’s skull. It tried to rise, resisted, then failed as flesh began to rupture beneath the impact. With a final roar, Hector brought both hands together in a hammer fist and slammed them down.
SQUELCH.
Hogzilla’s head detonated in a wet explosion, sending Hector flying backward across the forest floor. He felt a great deal of force as he slammed hard into an unknown object. Both hands were ruined, his mana was gone and his body was starting to wear out, things were not looking good, but one final system message broke through the darkness.
[Hogzilla Slain. EXP received.]
[Pattern deviation detected]
[Further data required]
Then everything went black.
Light shone through Hector’s closed eyes, burning them like someone had flipped on the lights in a dark room. He opened them slowly and pushed himself up with care. Pain rolled through him in waves. Every movement felt forced. His head swam and his vision blurred.
“What happened…?” he muttered.
“I guess I lived. Not going to complain about that.”
His system interface flashed in the corner of his vision, begging to be read. As much as he wanted to dive into it, restraint mattered. He had no clue what happened after he blacked out, and he did not know if another Hogzilla, or something worse, was still nearby. His vision sharpened. He took in the clearing.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Whoa. Did I really do that?”
In front of him lay the Hogzilla, dead. Its head was a disaster of blood and gore, like something detonated from inside its skull. Meat and shattered bone littered the ground. The destruction made his stomach turn, but he needed to be certain that the creature was down.
[Analyze]
Name: Juvenile Hogzilla (F)
Classification: Beast
Level: 12
Threat Level: High
Condition:
? Severe internal trauma
? Structural collapse of cranial cavity
? Dead
Notable Traits:
? Exceptional mass and momentum
? High physical resistance
? Thick dermal plating
? Regenerative endurance under sustained damage
Behavioral Notes:
Juvenile Hogzillas rely on overwhelming force and repeated charges to incapacitate prey.
While lacking refined intelligence, they demonstrate adaptive behavior after sustaining injury.
“Double my level,” Hector whispered. “Either I got lucky, or this overheal thing is broken. Probably both.”
He straightened fully and immediately regretted it. When he looked down at his hands, his heart sank. They looked like he had punched a woodchipper while it was running. They were still attached, but barely functional. Pain Suppression was doing its job, which he was thankful for.
He wondered if the system counted this kind of misery as progress. Instincts told him he was safe for the moment. Before anything else, he needed to get himself under control. He moved beneath the shadow of the fallen Hogzilla, using its bulk as cover, then lowered himself carefully. Before the system, he had tried meditation during his divorce. He never fully understood it, but he remembered enough to use it now. One thing it did assist with was calming his nerves by helping him center himself. His mana was low and he needed to do try anything he could to increase his chances of survival.
He breathed in slowly, then out, repeating the process several times before he felt a calm presence settle within him. His heartbeat eased, and the tremor in his muscles softened, as panic backed off.
He activated Emergency Heal, keeping the output low. A dull green light spread across his body, warm and steady. The sensation was not just physical. It felt internal, like his body and spirit were soaking in heat that did not burn. Hours stretched, most likely longer before he finally opened his eyes, he felt lighter. Like he had just woken up from the best nap of his life. Quickly, he checked his resources. Both health and mana sat at 100%. He stood and stretched, careful with his ruined hands.
He stared at the dead Hogzilla again, then at the forest beyond it. He knew almost nothing about this world, and he had nearly died three times in two days. The exhaustion was settling into his bones. Then he noticed the blinking exclamation point in his peripheral. He focused on it, and a barrage of system messages rushed him.
[Hogzilla (F) defeated]
[EXP earned]
[LEVEL UP]
[LEVEL UP]
[LEVEL UP]
[LEVEL UP]
[Hector Renegade has achieved Level 10]
[Title Earned: Porcine Devastator]
[Porcine Devastator provides a 1% damage increase against all porcine-type creatures. Strength +2. Vitality +2.]
“Holy crap,” Hector said, breathless. “Four levels and a title.”
His vision flicked to the next message before he could finish processing the first.
[New Skill Learned: Vital Focus (F) Level 1]
Type: Active Support
Activation: Conscious focus, stationary
Cost: None
Duration: Sustained while focused
Effect:
? Health regeneration +50%
? Mana regeneration +50%
Synergy:
While Vital Focus is active, healing-aligned skills used by Hector have multiplied effectiveness.
This includes self-healing, Overheal-based attacks, and future deviation skills.
Limitations:
Cannot be used while moving or under heavy impact.
Focus breaks if Hector suffers severe damage.
“Increases my health regen and mana regen?” he muttered. “I didn’t even know I had regen stats.”
He pulled up his status sheet again, but this time he did not skim. He focused on regeneration and after a moment, the system responded.
[Health Regeneration: Health regenerates naturally over time based on Vitality. Higher Vitality improves tissue recovery, injury stabilization, and overall physical resilience.]
[Current Health Regeneration: 1 HP per minute]
[Mana Regeneration: Mana regenerates naturally over time based on Spirit. Higher Spirit increases control over internal energy flow and recovery after spell usage.]
[Current Mana Regeneration: 3 MP per minute]
“Okay,” Hector said quietly. “So, I do regenerate. Not fast, but it’s something.”
More messages were pushed forward.
[Pain Suppression has reached Level 5]
[Emergency Heal has reached Level 10]
[Combat Assessment has reached Level 7]
[New Skill Learned: Adaptive Conditioning (F) Level 1]
Type: Passive
Activation: Always active
Effect:
Physical training, endurance drills, controlled self-healing, and repeated strain slowly reinforce Hector’s body.
Grants’ minor permanent stat growth through sustained effort.
Rules:
Stats gained through Adaptive Conditioning are capped per level.
Gains are slow and incremental, not immediate.
Training must be intentional and physically taxing.
Healing used to support training increases effectiveness.
Scaling:
At higher ranks, Adaptive Conditioning allows training to influence advanced attributes such as regeneration efficiency, control, and deviation growth.
Pantheon Note:
Adaptive Conditioning is rare among healers.
Most rely on spells. Only a few deviants choose to harden themselves.
[Deviation Status: High]
Hector blinked at that last one.
“Deviation,” he said. “I don’t even know if that’s a warning or a compliment.”
He looked down at his hands again, then back at the dead Hogzilla, then at the forest.
“This changes a lot,” he said. “This gives me a way to train, heal, and survive even when my mana runs dry.”
He exhaled slowly.
“Ok,” he whispered. “Status. Then we figure out the next move.”
Name: Hector Renegade
Core Tier: Mortal Core
Level: 10
Class: Field Medic
Deviation Status: High
Stats
Strength: 8
Agility: 16
Endurance: 15
Vitality: 10
Intellect: 15
Spirit: 20
Perception: 2
Resources
Health: 125 / 125 (100%)
Mana: 215 / 215 (100%)
Regeneration
Health Regeneration: 1 HP per minute
Mana Regeneration: 3 MP per minute
Free Stat Points: 12
Automatic Class Growth (Field Medic)
Applied once per level gained:
? Spirit +1
? Intellect +1
? Endurance +1
Skills
Emergency Heal (F) Level 10
Pain Suppression (F) Level 5
Combat Assessment (F) Level 7
Analyze (F) Level 3
Inventory (F) Level 1
Vital Focus (F) Level 1
Adaptive Conditioning (F) Level 1
Title
Porcine Devastator
Tutorial Status
Time Remaining: 88 / 90 Days
