Time froze for Alex.
He only looked into the blank, white eyes of the… creature.
Yes, this was a creature, not an animal.
Just looking at it filled Alex with terror.
This thing differed greatly from a normal animal. Alex wasn't sure what exactly it was, but he felt a definite difference.
The green lizard had also felt different from normal animals, and this creature evoked a similar feeling as the lizard.
However, this creature felt far more powerful and far deadlier.
It was like the lizard and the creature were not on the same level.
An eternity seemed to pass as the two beings only looked at each other.
Ssshhh!
Time resumed as the creature suddenly jumped at Alex with ferocious speed. The jump made no sound. One could only hear something fast parting the air, nothing more.
Alex's body reacted instinctively, and Alex let himself fall away from the branch, putting the branch between him and the creature.
BANG!
The creature's left foreleg completely destroyed the thick branch that had been powerful enough to support Alex's full weight for hours.
CRSH!
Alex felt a burning pain assault the back of his thighs as muscles and blood were ripped out.
The creature had torn off a huge part of Alex's thigh.
If the branch hadn't been between them, his legs would have been completely destroyed!
BANG!
Alex's back hit the ground, pressuring his lungs, making it impossible to breathe.
Crsh!
The silent sound of wood being crushed could be heard as the creature used its long claws to stick to the tree.
Right now, Alex lay on the ground, not being able to breathe. His right thigh had a gigantic gash in it.
Meanwhile, the creature stopped in the tree and looked at Alex.
Then, it jumped again.
Alex's mind fell into chaos.
For a seemingly long time, his mind couldn't conjure up any rational thoughts as he tried to find a way out of this situation.
The distance between Alex and the creature reduced rapidly as the creature opened its mouth, filled with long, terrifying teeth.
When Alex saw the teeth, only two thoughts appeared in his head.
The first thought was: Protect!
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Alex's hands stretched towards the creature in a futile effort to defend himself.
The second thought was: Weapon!
The image of many weapons shot through Alex's mind, but his mind subconsciously fixated on the image of a sword.
The creature reached Alex and bit down.
SHING!
Time stopped again.
Alex looked with terror at his front, right into the creature's white eyes.
He… he was still alive!
Alex quickly noticed why he was still alive.
A black sword had materialized in Alex's right hand, and the black sword had impaled the creature's head.
The creature was already dead.
The sword had gone through its brain.
The creature had already stopped its own fall before it had tried to bite Alex. Because of that, its weight hadn't pushed Alex away.
Several seconds of silence passed.
"Hurgh!"
Alex was finally able to breathe again as his lung recovered from the fall.
Alex only looked with shock at the creature, trying to come to terms with the fact that he had survived.
Several seconds later, Alex pulled himself away and pulled the sword out of the creature's head.
SHING!
Then, Alex only looked at the sword.
In Alex's desperation, his mind had subconsciously conjured a long and sharp weapon that could be used in one hand.
The black cube transformed into a weapon fitting the criteria.
Under the moonlight, Alex saw the weapon that would follow him for the rest of his life.
The first thought that came to Alex was: Long!
The sword was a bit over a meter long, putting it among the longer swords.
The second thought was: Thin!
The sword was straight as a nail and thin.
Yet, it had two symmetrical edges, separating it from eastern longswords, like katanas.
In short, Alex's sword looked like a longer, straight rapier with two edges.
One could also say that it looked like a thinner European longsword but with the same width all the way through.
However, its guard was nearly nonexistent, comprising of just a tiny rectangle.
Alex inspected his weapon as he slowly calmed down.
'It looks fragile,' Alex thought as he furrowed his brows. 'Such a thin sword would break apart after only a single clash with an actual one.'
Alex's hand started to shake.
'However, it's heavy. It's even hard to just hold it in my right hand like this.'
Alex put the sword down, and its tip slightly cut into the earth.
Under the shining moonlight, Alex continued to look at the sword.
However, the more he looked at it, the better it seemed.
'Actually, I shouldn't impose the logic of my own world into this new world,' Alex thought. 'The guy said that this sword can grow more powerful by absorbing ore. Additionally, I'm not sure if there even exists a material in my old world that can become this heavy with only this bit of volume.'
Alex's narrowed eyes suddenly had a glint of excitement in them.
'Actually, if swordsmiths had access to such powerful materials, they might not have made all their swords that thick to begin with. It's already hard enough to wield this sword, even though it's that thin.'
'I should test it.'
Then, Alex stood up.
"Argh!"
However, he failed as he sat down again.
Alex had forgotten that the backside of his right thigh was ravaged. As soon as he had tried to stand up, burning pain shot throughout his whole body.
Under immense pain, Alex moved his body as he inspected his thigh.
When Alex saw the injury, he took a deep breath through gritted teeth.
The gash was massive!
He could even see his own bone!
'I need to drink the healing potions in my bag!'
Alex looked up at the tree but remembered that his branch had been completely obliterated.
After looking around the area for a bit, Alex finally spotted his bag under the dim moonlight.
Alex crawled over, constantly being assaulted by pain.
A minute later, he arrived beside his back and rummaged through it.
However, when he looked into the bag, a shiver went through his body.
The bag was wet, and some red liquid was swimming in the bag.
The glass bottles holding the three healing potions had shattered!
'Fuck!'
Alex pulled everything solid out of the bag, including the glass splinters.
Then, he put the bag to his mouth and tried to drink the red liquid in the bottle through his gritted teeth. He did this so that no glass splinters entered his body.
It was disgusting!
The dirt and dust of the bag mixed with the red liquid, nearly forcing Alex to puke.
However, he forced himself through it.
Pack!
When he was done, Alex threw the bag to the side with disgust.
SSSSHHHH!
Suddenly, Alex felt a burning pain shooting throughout his body as the sound of something burning appeared.
Ten seconds later, the sensation disappeared, and Alex took a deep breath.
Then, Alex inspected his thigh, and his eyes widened when he saw it.
The wound was gone!
It was completely gone!
It was like it had never been there to begin with!
Alex had expected the red liquid to be some kind of healing potion, but he hadn't expected it to be this effective!
'Sure enough, anything that a God bestows upon someone can't be simple.'
Alex tried to stand up, and it went without a hitch.
It was like he had never been injured.
However, Alex looked at his bag one last time with regret.
'I had three of those, but now, all of them are gone,' he thought with lament.
Sadly, there was nothing that Alex could do. So, he gathered all his belongings, including his new sword, and climbed up the tree again.
He would test out his new sword tomorrow.
As soon as he got to a new branch, Alex sat down, and his eyelids started to fall.
Now, Alex was truly tired.
Alex threw one last glance at the massive corpse on the ground, still in disbelief that he had killed such a monster.
'That thing has to weigh at least 200 kilograms. No matter how hard I'll try, I'll never pull it up the tree.'
'Sadly, this means that it has to remain on the ground.'
Alex readied his makeshift bed and laid down. He put his sword over his body to keep himself from turning and subsequently falling to the ground. The weight of the sword put a lot of pressure on him. Additionally, having such a sharp object near him made him nervous about moving.
However, safety was more important than comfort.
Surprisingly, even under such uncomfortable bedding, sleep came quickly.
Alex only hoped that there wouldn't appear another surprise this night.
And thus, Alex slept in the new world for the first time.