My footfalls barely made a sound. One of the many weird things I was forcing myself to get used to. I've never felt this light on my feet, a balance I only could have dreamed of having in my former life. I noticed that with the sunglasses I wore, I could see more clearly than I ever did in my old life. Colors were vibrant, details in the ground like soft impressions left by small animals. I could see the ridges in the bark of the tree I just passed.

  I don't know how long it has been since I looked at anything with wonder. I felt hopeful for the first time in my own future. Now life didn’t depend on some fancy college education or family money. It revolved around a bit of luck, skills, and determination to survive.

  “Ohh Shiny”

  I grinned at my own stupidity as I bent down, picking up something near my feet that caught the sun just right. As I bent down to pick it up, I was surprised to find it was an old penny.

  CRACK!

  The bark of the tree above where I had knelt down shattered in a spray of hardwood that peppered my back. The penny went into my storage as I gripped my saber, rolling forward. I sprang quickly to my feet, turning around to find the weirdest cat ever. Well, in my personal experience.

  It was black with a slightly shiny coat. It had muscles that rippled beneath the fur, revealing its potential strength and power. Several tentacles writhed from its back, with one recoiling from the strike. It had a green tint to its irises, but those eyes held the look of a hungry predator. In that moment, it opened its maw, giving off a loud roar that caused the area around us to go silent aside from the echo of its challenge.

  I crouched lightly on my feet, staring angrily at the cat. What did I do? I roared back with my own challenge. Sure, the thing probably outweighed me by hundreds of pounds, had a mouthful of sharp teeth, and it was obviously an apex predator. Did that stop me? Nope.

  We both sprang at the same time. The tentacle shit stain leapt to where I was. I jump to the side, my right foot planting on the bark of the tree closest to me before I spring off. As I did, the beast landed and shot a tentacle at where I jumped. Dumb ass.

  I was already touching down on the side of another tree with my left foot and pivoting as I could see another of its tentacles shot at me. I got my first good look at it. Fuck Me. That thing had a small mouth with sharp teeth. OK, whoever thought of these fucking things needed to be tarred and feathered.

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  Jumping to another tree, narrowly avoiding its tentacle strike as bark exploded out from where my foot had been only a moment before. This time, as I pushed off instead of going to the next tree, I jumped towards the beast. Twisting in the air, I narrowly avoided a tentacle, literally feeling the air rush past me.

  +3 Good Luck

  I saw that flash out of the corner of my eye, and I stabbed down at that cat, and instead of hitting it right at the center of its back, my blade slid down the side of it, just barely slicing through its tough coat of fur.

  I rolled and landed on my feet facing it. The saber felt light in my hand while I started charging the knife with [Have a Bad Day]. While I focused on the beast, I suddenly saw its name and Level over its head. [Displacer Panther LV 2].

  It wasn't much, but it explained why I didn't get as good a strike. Some sort of ability made the creature look like it was a few inches off from what my eyes were telling me. I could work with that. Trusting in my skills, something that was still a bit weird to do, but I wanted to fucking survive.

  A number of things happened at the same time.

  The panther took a leap at me with a blast of speed and muscle. I threw the [Luck Knife] at that moment, and it speared the cat right in the chest. A dark green flame spread over the panther, freaking it out the moment the knife touched it. Then the center of the [Displacer Panther] exploded, sending a shower of guts and blood as tentacles shot through it, and another panther leapt into view as I rolled underneath it, barely escaping the shower of blood.

  “Bad luck there, “ and I moved around the body as it hit the ground with a thud, and I faced off against the new panther. Checking, I could see it was the same level. Slowly, we circled around each other. “ What, you aren't going to apologize to your hunting buddy?”

  I offered a grin as I spoke, feeling extremely relaxed. I was having fun.

  I took off running at the panther, which I think was more surprised that I was rushing it. I decided to lean into my passive luck. Let's give these people at home a show.

  The [Displacer Panther] jumped back, and I took advantage of that, pulling out one of the cards, charging it, and it slammed into the panther slightly off-center to the right. The dark green flame rolled over the cat as it landed gracefully onto all fours. It suddenly yelped.

  The cat had landed on a sharp rock that must have been disturbed by the fighting, and as I slid up to my feet and circled it, I could see it limping on its right front paw. Blood stained the ground with its red blood.

  “Aww, poor kitty got a boo boo.”

  If looks could kill, I should be dead from the way the panther looked at me. It jumped forward, and all four of its tentacles shot out at me. First, I rolled, came to my feet, bending backwards as the first one shot past me with an inch of space between us. I then turned to the right, slashing out with my saber, and I caught the tentacle, sliding it off.

  The first three inches of the tentacle fell to the ground as I danced, barely avoiding the other two.

  +5 Good luck

  I activated [Lucky Day] and put ten points into it. A bright green flame washes over me, and the panther looks at me with a wary gaze. It had a wounded paw, and I had just taken out one of its tentacles. I don't blame it. I would be wary of a man who just burst into a bright green flame.

  The ground between us was slick with blood from the downed panther. I pulled another card from my pouch and used [Have a bad Day]. I took a small breath to boost my courage, and then I charged. The panther slowly limped backwards. I felt the moment the ground got slippery, and I used the momentum I had built to slide over the bloody grass, and I threw the card, aiming an inch to the right.

  If I was wrong. Well, it would turn out to be a bad day for me.