Ascenders Rift

Somewhere within the wilds of the Training Zone, there was a sight like none other occurring, a fat man and a bear were currently engaged in fierce combat, struggling with each other as their palms firmly locked together. The bear was obviously more robust than the man, but what remained odd was the fact that no matter how hard the bear tried it could not topple or break the fat man, neither in body nor spirit.

Breya who was previously looking to find a way to constrain this bear was surprised, she glanced at Fatty Joe in shock as she spoke, "Isn't this that fat guy from class? How can he be so strong?"

She said as she saw how both Fatty Joe and the bear went back and forth, as she looked at his back, Breya couldn't help but become swayed as she saw the sturdy back, or rather, the fat that held its ground against the opposing enemies brute force.

"Che! Damn! What the hell am I thinking? This darn beast is going to rip me open alive!" Fatty Joe shouted out loud as he found that his newfound strength was waning.

Breya, who observed this, soon realized that this was only a temporary stalemate; for as the bear applied more pressure, Fatty Joe was slowly beginning to lose his pace, as he started to slide backward.

Breya then woke from her slight daze and grew serious, she quickly looked around and fashioned a bunched of sticks into sharped objects.

After doing this, she nimbly ran towards a nearby area, before posturing to make a strong throw. Breya closed one of her eyes and stretched one arm before her making an 'O' sign with her fingers, she then pulled her other arm behind her with one of the sharpened sticks.

At this time, Fatty Joe, who was now being pushed backward, was only moments away from falling over a log, his face, and body filled with perspiration as he started trembling.

Fatty Joe gritted his teeth and shouted, "Damn bear! I won't go down so easily!"

As Fatty Joe shouted, it was unknown how, but his body began to show signs of unusual changes, this, however, was only occurring within him. Instantly, he felt as if he had become filled with an infinite supply of stamina as the pain from the bear's palms were no longer as painful.

Fatty Joe felt his muscles swelled up a bit, but due to his fat, he couldn't even make it out clearly. Yet, the one who felt this change most clearly was none other than the bear; its eyes opened wide in shock as it felt that the gripping force of fatty's finger had doubled.

With an inaudible crushing sound, the bones within the bear's fingers began to make creaking noises causing the bear to pull back its torso, lifting its head as it roared in pain.

"Roarrr!"

As Breya heard this, her eyes flashed as she saw an opening; she tossed the sharpened Twigg with all her power causing it to bolt through the air like an arrow. Though Breya was slim fit, her arm strength was nothing to scoff at as she'd practically live a life of elite fitness training along with her sister Angeline.

In moments, the stick had arrived in front of the wailing bear. It pierced through its mouth as it left a deep wound in through the back of its neck.

The bear wanted to scream, but it couldn't; it tried to pull its arm away from Fatty Joe, but even that failed him. Fatty Joe seeing his enemy wounded, felt a little better, his fear faded a bit as he clenched his teeth and put more force into his palms.

"You shitty bear! Don't mess with this fatty!" As Fatty Joe shouted his battle cry, his arms gathered an immense amount of power as he snapped the bones in the bear's arm into two, creating a loud cracking noise.

Fatty Joe then jumped with both of his legs and did a double kick to its chest. The bear feeling the force behind the kick was pushed back by a few feet before it collapsed onto its back.

Fatty Joe, who had lost his balance, similarly fell onto his back and knocked his head onto the log.

"Ouch! Goddammit!" Fatty Joe was about to curse about his bad luck, but it was at this time, a concerned looking Breya had appeared before him.

Fatty Joe seeing this then changed his expression as he started to grit his teeth, making a stern look as if he was struggling to resist a terrifying amount of pain.

"I… I don't think I'll make it..." Fatty Joe said with a pale expression; his arms seemed as if they were losing strength as if his life could fade at any moment.

Breya stooped down and gazed at Fatty Joe's face keenly, as she saw his forced expression, she wrinkled her nose and spoke, "Hmph! You know, you really suck at acting, I knew you had enough strength to break that bears arms. So, you better quit acting and get-up before I leave you behind!"

"Che! All women are cruel beings..." Fatty Joe muttered, he made an embarrassed smile as he rolled over like a ball and stood up after a bit of effort.

Breya giggled at this scene; she then continued to follow along as the two then made their way towards the depths of the forest, leaving behind the bloody corpse of the bear.

***

In another region within these woods, there was an area that had an unusual calmness. If one looked closely, they would see a purple-haired young girl that sat on top of a log, as a cool evening breeze swept across her body while gently swaying her hair.

Her face carried a hint of worriedness, but to hide it, she had begun to hum in a soft melodious tune. As if summoned by it, a handsome brown-haired young man had appeared out of nowhere, shuffling through the bushes with bruises all over his skin.

The young man sighed and cursed out loud, "Fuck! Of all places I could land, why did I fall into a place of such vicious creatures? I'm surprised that I could even run my ass to this place..."

At this moment, the girl seemed to have noticed the young man, her eyes went wide as she spoke, "You... St... Student Evan!"

Evan, hearing the noise lifted his head and looked at the girl before him, he then made an exaggeratedly shocked expression as he spoke, "Eh? Layla, you're here, how can you not be troubled by monsters? Is this some kind of safe ground? Or is this another kind of your gifts, could it be that your beauty has tamed this forest's wild beasts?"

Layla blushed at his last words before she replied with a red face, "Y-you! T-This isn't the time for such flirting; we can be attacked any time you know!"

Evan smirked as he replied, "If you keep shouting like that, then we most certainly will..."

Layla, hearing this, covered her mouth in embarrassment and lowered her head as she muttered, "You're such a bully..."

Evan acted as if he didn't hear it; he tried his best to make a clueless look on his face while deep in his mind he thought, "Interesting, they sent me to such a populated region of monsters. It seems that they were expecting me to perform a miracle and kill them easily, they must think I'm a protagonist or something. It's a good thing I was prepared, I couldn't fake pissing my pants, but with all my experience from that life, I sure knew how to run away like a little bitch. Now, all I need is a good struggle against one beast to top off my current level of skill as fairly competent..."

As Evan thought to here, he couldn't help but eye the surroundings again as he found it strange, he looked at Layla and pondered, "How odd? Why is she not attacked by any monsters? Is this place really a safe zone of some sort? Or is there really something about Layla that I don't know? Hmm, come to think of it I've never really viewed her stats as she only told them to me. Since we are in here, and this place is pretty much like that Lesser Space, then I might be able to inspect her."

Evan's eyes flashed when he thought to here; he then commanded with his mind, "Inspect."

[Special Status invoked; all stats shall be revealed.]

[Layla Valentine - Special Status - ????]

[Race - ???+Human | State - Unawakened]

[Class - None]

[Health - 150]

[??? Power - 4]

[Strength - 6]

[Vitality - 9]

[Agility - 6]

[Talent:]

[??? Presence - A trait inherent to only those of a divine nature, its wielder will naturally inhibit the aura and properties of such beings.]

[Life Touch (+4 Vitality per level)]

[Inherent??? Power (+4 per level) ◆: Unawakened]

[Skills - None]

Evan looked at this in sheer and utter awe, his mind then went blank for a moment before he shouted inwardly, "This... I mean, what the fuck?"

His voice echoing within his mind as his entire view of the world had suddenly turned upside down.