A Proficiency System at the Start

"Ha... ha... ha..."

Lu Ren's ragged breathing echoed through the dense jungle as he ran for his life.

The forest was dimly lit. Straight, towering trees blocked out most of the sunlight, leaving only sparse, mottled rays filtering through the branches and leaves, making the woods seem especially mysterious and eerie.

Shifting mist filled the forest, yet it was strangely quiet. Only Lu Ren's heavy breathing and footsteps remained.

Tiny cuts from the underbrush kept appearing on Lu Ren's body as he ran, but with adrenaline surging through him, he felt no pain at all.

He was exhausted, every inch of him drained, but his overwhelming desire to survive kept him from slowing down.

The ugly thing behind him made his scalp tingle. In more than twenty years of life, he had never found an adjective capable of describing it.

Even now, Lu Ren was still shaken. Alarmed and anxious, he glanced back, only to find the commotion behind him growing louder.

He saw a ball of flesh, bodies and blood fused and squeezed together as though melted. Three heads had merged into one lump, their eyes slowly flowing across its body with the dissolving flesh. Its limbs served as supports, viscous fluid streaming all over it, reeking so foully it made him nauseous. It rolled forward at high speed, rapidly closing in on Lu Ren.

Don't panic. I can't panic!

Between gasps, Lu Ren forced himself to calm down. Fortunately, he usually had rather heavy tastes and enjoyed looking at strange illustrations. Once the initial shock passed, he finally came to his senses.

Facing a tree trunk so thick it would take two people to wrap their arms around it, Lu Ren planted his right foot, skidding a trail across the ground before slamming hard into the trunk. Using the rebound, he rolled sideways, then scrambled up and kept running without pause.

The ball of flesh had not expected it and slammed straight into the trunk. The tremendous impact made the towering tree shudder violently, its branches and leaves shaking with a rustle.

By the time the flesh ball recovered, Lu Ren was already little more than a fading back about to vanish into the jungle. The three split-open mouths on the creature opened wide and let out a shrill cry.

"Lu Ren, weren't we good friends? Why are you abandoning us? Come back! Let's stay together!!"

The tearing sound in his ears made Lu Ren press his lips tightly together. He did not dare let up, maintaining his pace as his wide eyes fixed on the terrain ahead, afraid that one misstep would send him sprawling to the ground.

That flesh ball behind him was called Wang Gang, Zhang Qingya, and Luo Zixuan.

That was right. The names of the three people who had once made up this stitched-together monstrosity. After accidentally arriving in this strange place, they came upon something resembling an altar. Lu Ren had repeatedly warned them not to investigate things out of curiosity. Whether in novels or movies, people like that always died early.

But the three refused to listen. When they stepped onto the altar, it seemed to trigger some kind of condition. Eerie red runes suddenly lit up beneath the altar, and the three were instantly twisted through thin air into a ball of flesh, with arms and legs exposed outside as supports.

Lu Ren could say with certainty that it was the most shocking and horrifying sight he had ever witnessed in his twenty-plus years of life.

Seeing that Lu Ren still had not stopped, the three crooked mouths on the flesh ball howled as it rolled after him madly.

No, I can't outrun this monster!

I have to think of a way to deal with it!

Now that he had finally calmed down, Lu Ren thought desperately. He was much slower than the flesh ball. If he kept running around like a headless fly, he would eventually be eaten.

What do I do?! His scalp tingled with anxiety, and just as he was at a loss—

Suddenly, he felt as though a line of text had appeared in his mind. Before he could sense it clearly, the flesh ball had already rolled toward him like mad.

Lu Ren did not dare think further and sprinted forward. Then, without warning, the dense jungle ahead suddenly opened up.

It was the altar they had arrived at earlier!

The altar?!

That's it—the firewood!!

At that critical moment, a voice suddenly rang out in his mind.

"System successfully activated through a stress response. Binding... Binding successful."

"Ding. You have been gazed upon affectionately by Lana'ye. They warmly invite you to become Their good friend."

"You kept running just now. Physique Proficiency +1."

"Ding. You suddenly changed direction while running. Agility Proficiency +1."

"You were frightened just now. Spirit Proficiency passively increased by 1."

"You ran with great effort just now. Physique Proficiency passively increased by 1."

"You just..."

What was this?

A system?! A status-panel system? Where did this come from?!

Lu Ren had no time to think. The so-called Lana'ye behind him was already charging over at high speed. If he did not do something now, it would truly be too late.

He glanced at the four candles standing around the altar. Their crimson flames were as obscure as blood, constantly squirming like thick plasma.

Lu Ren immediately picked up the wooden stick he had thrown on the ground earlier and swung it fiercely at one of the tall candles before him.

He did not dare step into the altar. Wang Gang, Zhang Qingya, and Luo Zixuan were perfect examples of courting death. Earlier, he had practically talked himself dry trying to stop them, but they had acted as though possessed.

Bang!

With a crisp crack, the long candle, which looked as though it had been weathered to the extreme, snapped and collapsed onto the ground.

Lu Ren did not pause for even half a second. He aimed the wooden stick in his hand at the fallen candle and struck it.

Bang!

With a soft sound, the candle spun through the air, its trailing flames forming a ring of fire before it slammed into Lana'ye, who was charging toward Lu Ren.

The instant the candle touched Lana'ye, whose body constantly oozed thick fluid, the viscous liquid was instantly devoured by the flames. Immediately afterward, enormous flames shot into the sky, and the searing heat roasted Lu Ren from a distance until his entire body ached.

"Ding. You used Sacrificial Fire to burn Lana'ye. Lana'ye felt extreme pain. Their heart is now filled with you, and They will remember you deeply. You have gained Lana'ye's profound love."

Love my ass!!!

Before he could complain about the sudden narration in his mind, Lu Ren, nearly dehydrated from the heat, hurriedly backed away.

Only after retreating until merely a faint wave of heat brushed his face did Lu Ren finally breathe a quiet sigh of relief.

Lana'ye, now ablaze, howled painfully in place and rolled around wildly. The smell of cooked flesh and charred barbecue drifted over.

Though the danger was temporarily gone, Lu Ren felt no appetite whatsoever at the scent and nearly threw up.

"Ding. After burning Lana'ye with fire, you feel mentally satisfied. Spirit Proficiency +1."

"Ding. You ran wildly just now. Agility Proficiency +1."

"Ding. You just..."

A string of notification sounds rang through Lu Ren's mind. After confirming that Lana'ye truly could not threaten him for the moment, he finally turned his attention to the notifications in his mind.