Chapter 3: The red beast

The cold breeze of the night sent dead leaves rustling across the terrain, Matthew sat quietly besides a hand made tent, he has spent the last few hours building it, and it proved to be quite the challenge. At this moment, the young man is sat down leaning forwards slightly, rubbing the sharp surface area of two stick together, which should create friction, friction causes heat which coaxes the wood into hot charcoal particles, the last one would fall into the nest-like bed of dry sticks. The process was infuriating to say the least, but creating a fire to keep himself warm throughout the night was a must, so he had too. 

'god damn it, why can't things be easier for once?!' thought the tired Matthew,he's been doing this for the past 40 minutes and it's slowly turning him insane. His eyes instantly widened as he saw the faintest sparkles of orange flame appeare and fall down on top of the dry bed, he hurriedly gets down on all fours and starts blowing air into it, in hopes it doesn't fade, the small flame should successfully light up the dry sticks on fire,as long as the cold wind doesn't say otherwise. 

 

'huu that was a hustle, system, open the beginner package' said the bare chested handsome man, as he eyed his storage ring, worn of his right hand index finger, from what he remembers it was habit that he was judged for in his past life as none would wear a ring in such bizarre fashion… well if we exclude rappers, the ring looked very ordinary much to Matthew's amusement. Swiftly focusing of his right index finger, Matt noticed the stacks of cash sitting there in an organized manner, his lips curled up to form a smile only for it to rapidly disappear ' that's lot of money, well not by this world's standard'

{opening package in process… 

Congratulations! You obtained:

Basic spear ×1

Alcohol bottle ×5

Basic martial arts manual ×1} 

Matthew eyed the 2 meter tall spear that just appeared before him curiously, it looked very medieval-like, the shaft was made from dark oakwood, with the metal head being a mix between the Viking style and south European style, it appeared very sharp and inti. 

He picked it up ignoring the book and the alcohol bottles, before standing there half naked in the middle of the night, he started thrusting forwards with all his strength, before switching to another stance and trying to practice the 'swing in a wide angle' technique that he has seen in his past world. 

 

An hour later he stopped, he grabbed the martial arts book with his now sweaty and aching hands and started reading "... Art of the spear, also known as sojutsu, is a martial art that uses mid-length to long spears as a weapon in combat… Hozoin-ryu is a traditional school that specializes in spear thrusting techniques.."

A system panel quickly popped up as he continued reading. 

{ Hozoin-ryu: a school art used by a monk that wields the spear in combat, it's said that one night, on seeing the reflection of the crescent moon on the pond near his dojo, he was inspired to create his own series of movements and techniques that involve the long spear as a pillar for fighting. 

/Understanding: 03%}

'interesting' thought Matt amusedly, as he picked up the spear and began practicing. 

The first movement was pretty straight forward, upon disengaging from the enemy, you take a step back and swing the spear in a circular motion around your shoulders and neck, and the last step is to hold it with your other non-dominant hand upside down, the logic behind it as the book stated is to quickly switch between stances. 

Matthew immediately got to work, as he spent hours training the first movement, and while it might sound easy on paper, mastering it was on another level of difficulty. 

Matthew thrusted onwards before taking a step back and switching between poses, now with his left hand he swung repeatedly… On And on he continued, beads of sweat formed on his forehead, the silhouette of the young looked mesmerizing as the white moonlight fell on his naked chest and his smooth razor-sharp spear, the howling of the wolves and the rustling of the leaves barely serving as a distraction for him… 

A while later, Matthew is seen collapsed on a lawn, his bare shoulders drenched in sweat, and a wide smile of pride never leaving his face, he already mastered the first movement, but the reason for his happiness is another thing '... That was fun' he thought. He couldn't remember the last time he had this much fun, perhaps the only time he did was in his high-school days,living as a thug with his own gang. 'System show me my stats' 

{ status window:

-Name: Matthew Roberts (23yo). 

-Race: human

-Str: 33 (+12%)

-Agi: 21 (+12%)

-End: 30+8 (+12%)

-Wis:10 (+2%)

-Luck:????

-Unassigned sp: 00

Current state: short-term memory loss, tired, well fed, happy, cold… 

—--skill: passive—--

Hozoin-ryu (?? rank/ can be further upgraded) :....the art of using a spear in combat…. 

/understanding: 15%... first movement mastered…basic stances learned…} 

His strength went up by 3 points and his agility by one, a welcome news to Matthew. But now he only wished to close his eyes and drive away to the dreamland, and so he got up, put out the fire and threw himself on the grass beneath his wooden tent. He quickly covered his dry pupils with his eyelids and his mind casually drifted away… 

<<<<<flash back>>>>>

The excited and high-pitched noises of a group of 6-10yo children washes over the courtyard of the orphanage, a boy is sitting down beneath a tree in silence, flipping the pages of his favorite superhero comic book, his eyes skims through the pages as he also eyes the surrounding greenery. This was the young Matthew roberts, an orphan who lost his parents, no, it would be more accurate to say he never had any to begin with, the emptiness and loneliness inside him usually in tears running down his face, but he quickly got more used to it over the years. 

Taking care of orphaned children requires huge, tremendous effort. Not only do they need highly nutritious food, the children need to feel truly loved. That's why every well-off orphanage has a staff of professional psychiatrists and therapists. Unfortunately for the kids playing in this courtyard, they lived in a rural area, with the closest city being tens of miles away, so a lot of them grew up with traumas and mental illnesses. 

Matthew was no exception, as his above-average height and hazel-colored eyes made him quite intimidating to his fellow friends, so he was just sitting there by himself gazing at his mates curiously. 

"here they go again" said Matthew as he noticed a chubby kid getting hit by a group of 3 black haired kids. The chubby guy was named Marcus and he was their favorite target for bullying. 

"s-stop please! I beg yo-" his pleading was cut short as a kick landed on his stomach, causing him to kneel down and gasp for air, it would be important to note that Marcus has had lung problems since birth

. 

"keep beating him up" said the leader of the team as he wore a bored expression,

 

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"ehehe" the other too chuckled evilly as they kept hitting the kid. 

The other children in the vicinity decided to mind their own business, while sending a couple gazes of guilt and sadness towards the chubby Marcus, it was a familiar sight to them.

 

*sob* blood dripped from his nose as he started shedding tears, but the bullies simply didn't care so they resumed the beating.

 

Time passes… 

"enough, just leave him, we can't have him too roughed up before lunch" said Leo who seemed to be the leader of the bunch, so the two stopped, And they turned around and simply left as if nothing happened. 

'abusing the powerless huh, these dumb*sses' thought Matthew as he eyed the three bullies leaving the scene, Marcus lays there on the ground, his clothes dirty, and his face looking battered with bruises and stain of tears and blood. He quickly got up and started walking in shame. 

"how disgusting…" said Matt through gritted teeth as he stood there with the comic book in his hand. The kids who heard him were not sure if he was talking about Marcus or Leo and his gang, so they ignored him and continued playing. 

Matthew followed quietly behind Leo and his gang, from the distance he could hear their voices as they discussed something…

"hehe did you see that loser's face?" said Lackey 1.

"punching his round face was so fun, kuku" replied Lackey 2.

"...." Leo walked in the front ignoring his buddies as he made his way through an empty hallway inside the building facility.

" huh? Isn't that Matt?" said Leo as he noticed Matthew approaching him

"hoh, so you finally decided to come under me?" he spoke, his tone failing to hide his pride. 

He has long since asked Matthew to join them, only for his offer to be immediately turned down. But now it seems like his charm as a leader could even attract the 'beast' Matthew, as kids used to call him.

He moved forward, chest and chin held up high, opening his mouth to speak "so h—" he was met with a heavy punch directly hitting his face and possibly fracturing his nose, it sent him rolling around on the floor. 

"ahh…!" He exclaimed in pain as he kept rolling around and grabbing his nose.

 

"huh?", "you b*ch!" the 2 guys were confused at first before charging ahead to confront the 'beast'.

The first guy launched a punch aiming for Matthew's face, the latter ducked slightly avoiding the punch by a hair, and delivered an elbow kick to the wrist causing the kid to lean forward, followed by a light palm strike to the left side of the face. 

"Ahh!" cried Lackey 1 as he fell back to the ground. 

The other guy, proceeding cautiously after witnessing what happened to his team-mate, took a boxing stance. Meanwhile, Matthew stood there casually, hands in his pockets, eyeing the guy with his signature cold smile.

"haya!" getting a courage boost out of nowhere, he threw a kick with his left leg. Matthew blocked it easily, and grabbed it, and he began twisting, only for the kid to follow with his other leg causing Matt to defend by crossing his arms sideways,the kid successfully retracted his leg. 

Now he went for the tackle, charging-in, he hugged Matthew and pushed him to the ground. All the while, Matthew was delivering quick sucker punches to his back, making him wince in pain, until he gave up on tackling him. 

Matthew suddenly knee-striked the kid in the stomach with enough force to send him on all fours, *ptew* he spat on the floor clutching his stomach, before getting knocked out by a knee-kick to the face.

And there stood Matthew looking at the three injured gang members rolling on the ground, 'I have to finish it' he made his towards Leo, knelt down, and met his bloodied face and now crooked nose with his cold smile

*Gulp* Leo swallowed fearfully, glancing at the beast in front of him. 

Matthew looked at him dead in the eye. He grabbed Leo and held him down. 

"what are you–" quickly, he started conveying a series of punches to Leo's face. 

Wearing the same cold smile, he striked…again and again… Leo's pleading and begging sounds falling on deaf ears

'haa' Matthew glanced at his now fully coated in blood right hand. 

"more…" he said, not satisfied, planning ,aparrantly, to get more blood on himself. And so he continues…

The young Matthew will come to find himself enjoying the process in the near future… 

At this very moment, the 10yo Matthew roberts truly look like a 'red beast'.... 

<<<<<end of flashback>>>>>

{ —--titles—--

'Red beast' (unlocked): a title given to a lunatic who finds joy in painting himself in the blood of his enemies. 

/perks:- upon suffering critical injuries, the host's regenerative abilities will increase in effect. 

-the more blood you get on your body, the calmer your mind becomes, the clearer your thinking gets, and the bloodlust you emit intensifies"

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