Premiere End Chapter 4

               Ill-mannered

Premiere End Chapter 3

               Adventurer's Hall

Premiere End Chapter 2

             Leboa

Premiere End Chapter 1

               Awful Start

Chapter 6: Town

We have been walking and fighting monsters for quite a while now

Because of that I have become stronger

Not that I’m playing this game, it’s just that the more I fight the more I get accustomed to fighting

And also because Cycle has been teaching me things on how a person should fight given the circumstances

He said that there is more to fighting than just leveling up and getting higher stats. A person should also consider dodging, parrying, blocking, positioning and many more.

This kid really thinks rationally

I think he’s just about 17 years old but the way he’s dealing with all of these things is really amazing.

And I on the other han. . . . . Never mind..

“But to the area that’s near my workplace... There’s this really HUUUUUGE Boar. I think it was a boss monster”

“It’s good that you’re still alive”

“Ofcourse, I ran with all of my might just to escape that monster but it was really really scary”

“I think if I were in your shoes I would just piss myself off and just stand there”

“Haha, you think too lowly of yourself”

Cycle was talking about happened to him at the first night 

I’m kind of worried for him though

I mean he’s telling what happened to him as if it was nothing

Telling those stories with high enthusiasm, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do that

“Oh!. . . there’s the town”

It’s almost evening when we arrived

From afar you can see the wall that appeared to be surrounding the town

It was a rather high wall, I’m just speculating but I think it was around 15 meters high

I’m starting to feel ecstatic

And after walking even further we’ve reached the front gates of the town and we saw 4 guards standing at the gate and it was something different from what I was expecting

What I had in mind is something like a medieval age feel wherein the guards are wearing metal chest plates, metal boots and helmets but instead, they were wearing camouflage uniforms like the army. Even though they were equipped with swords and shields I was still disappointed. Some of them even have guns strapped on their waists which is kind of contradicts their character.

I’ll just ignore it

“This is something different from what I had imagined; I thought that it would have a more rustic vibe to it”

“Is that so?”

I cannot hide my disappointment with the town but well whatever

It’s not like I’m here to enjoy this whole situation

“Let’s go!!!”

We entered the gates and the guards welcomed us. I tried talking to them but they would just repeat the same statement again and again.

Max already told me about this so I just gave up and proceeds to enter the town

Upon entering the town a box appeared in front of my sight

『Quest received』

“Oh! a quest”

“Ah! Right. . Open it and accept it”

『Quest: Start of Adventure

-          Greetings Adventurer,

This is the day the day that everyone has been waiting for.

The day that you will finally have your own journey.

The day that you will choose your own path and experience a lot of things.

Our purpose is to empower and assist you with your upcoming Adventures

to the best of our abilities.

With all things said we wish you good luck and may the odds be with you

Quest guide: Go to the Adventurers’ Hall and talk to Thomas Harlequinn

Quest reward:  700 Experience 
                        500 Coppers

             Function: Friend list

             Function: Adventurer’s Billboard

             Function: Guild”

YES / NO                                                                                                                                                          』

『Quest accepted』

I accepted the quest and asked Max to take me there

“Max, can you take me to the Adventurers’ Hall?”                                                          

 “Ermm.. I’d like to take you there but unfortunately we have to go get some upgrades and change our jobs”

“Job change?”

 “Yeah. You’ll be able to do that when you reach Lvl. 10 but forget about that. I’m worried that you might get lost. Hmmm. . . Cycle take him to the Adventurer’s Hall and after that go to the Job Center”

“Okay~!”

“We’ll meet you after were done changing jobs. Orientation will take some time so it should be fine”

“I Understand”

Job change huh? Come to think of it I’m already Lvl. 8. Two more Lvls. and I’ll be able to change jobs

What job should I take? I would like a job that has an awesome finishing move

What am I even thinking?

“Let’s GO~!”

“Ah, right”

So Cycle and I headed to the Adventurer’s Hall

The Adventurers’ Hall is located to the East side of the town

Speaking of the town, It was not something game like. Sure there’re NPCs scattered all over the place but the atmosphere is not something game like

I mean the structures are modernized

The houses are like something a rich person would own

Even buildings are nice, the establishments, the market and many more

It was like walking to a really prosperous town where the people have no worries with regards to money and can always do and have what they like

What could be the creator of this mess, thinking?

Is this some kind of a trap for the survivor to not want to change the world back?

While I was drown in my own thoughts Cycle spoke to me

“You know what. This isn’t so bad”

“What do you mean? You like the fact that a lot of people died?”

“No, why would you even think that? What I mean is that you don’t have to work hard to survive”

“So what’s your point?”

“Can I tell you a story?

Cycle started to tell me his story, his life after the first night

“I used to work 3 jobs before all of this. In the morning I would deliver newspapers after that I go to the super market and on weekends I work at a convenient store”

“. . . . . .”

“It was really hard, working day and night just to earn money. Worrying what should I do to pay the bills.  I’m working really hard but I’m always struggling with money”

“What about your parents?”

“Ah.. I have no parents”

“. . . . . .”

I feel sorry for him

I could tell just from hearing that it was really hard

Unlike me who worries more about internet connection over anything else

He’s even smiling while he’s telling me all of this.

 He’s a strong kid

It breaks my heart to see this guy struggled with life while I on the other hand have a comfortable life

It makes me question myself. What have I been doing all this time?

I play a lot of games

I still ask my parents for money

I’m unemployed

It’s true that it’s really hard to get a job these days but the reason to that is mainly because I’m not taking my job hunting seriously and also because my parents are rich and they spoil me too much

I’m a scum

He’s a lot younger but he’s a lot more responsible and mature than me

I’m embarrassed with myself

“Enough about me. . . What about you? What’s your story?”

“Ahmmm”

I can’t utter a single world

Telling how great my life was compared to his is like slapping him in the face while laughing

I need to quickly change the subject

“Are we close to the Adventurer’s hall?”

“Ah… yeah, you could actually see it from here”

“Where is it?”

“Over there!”

I looked to where Cycle was pointing and saw the Adventurer’s Hall

It was quite big

I was expecting more of a Tavern-ish kind of structure but instead I saw a 4-storey building

Well, It was not like I was particularly shocked about it, I mean if you saw the other structure inside the town it was obvious enough that the Adventurers’ Hall would look something like this

“I don’t want to say it but this town is really impressive”

“I agree. I thought that you hated this whole thing?”

“That’s true. But still, if you disregard the recent events. This is still something that you should be amazed”

“True. But I’m expecting something more grandoise from the City”

City?

Come to think of it. In MMO’s a player always start with a small town then further on they get stronger, they reach different Towns and Cities

So this is just a starting Town. I wonder if there are other starting Towns

I’ll just ask about it later

“How did you know that there is a City?”

“I saw it in the Map. Although it’s not yet Complete you could still see the name and the size of the City, and I’m telling you the City is a lot bigger than this”

“I see… where can I get a Map?”

“Well. . I could just get it for you if you want”

“Thank you. . . that’d be awesome”

“Okay, I’ll give it to you later when you’re done”

I proceed and entered the Adventurers’ Hall and Cycle left to catch up with the others

Inside I talked to Thomas Harlequinn and was oriented about simple things

He told me a lot of things regarding, monsters, item drops, money, party and many more

It was really helpful and I learned a lot of things but it feels like it’s not enough

There are still many questions that’s going on in my head

About what caused all of this? Who’s responsible? How change it all back

For now I’ll stick with them and try to learn things little by little

『Quest Complete

                Quest reward:  700 Experience

                500 Coppers

                New Functions added -

                  Function: Friend list

                  Function: Adventurer’s Billboard

                                          Function: Guild                                             』

I finished the quest and received quite a hefty reward

After I finished I went outside and saw Max, Cycle, Bob and Lisa waiting for me and then I realized that something

Although I don’t like it, my Adventurer life begins here.

Chapter 5: Information

“So that’s your story huh? Pretty depressing so let’s not talk about it anymore”

“Uhh yeah.. “

“I could see that you want to know more about what’s happening”

“Uhh yeah..”

So I asked Max some questions

“Okay, I will tell you everything I know if you promise to party with us

Doesn’t have to be forever, just for a while at least until we get a new attacker”

“Okay, I accept “

“Great, So where should I begin…. Hmmm I guess I’ll start from there but first let’s eat”

We entered the store with the broken glass from earlier and sat behind the counter

Max handed me some of their rations and started telling me the things he know

“Okay for starters, All the people that died on the first day isn’t really dead”

“WAAAHH?! What do you mean?”

That really gave me a shock

I don’t know what’s happening but finally something good is happening

But somehow I’m getting a bad feeling.

I know it’s a good thing but there’s something strange

“Yup! It’s good news but there’s a catch so it’s not entirely good news because somehow all the people that died on the first day became an NPC or something like that”

WHAAAAT?

what’s with that people becoming NPCs?

I thought that nothing more will ever surprise me but this definitely shocked the hell out of me

“How is that possible?”
“I don’t know either. Have you played MMO games before? “

“Yeah”

“ What I’m telling you is that they act like NPCs, If you talk to them they will respond with the same words… Exactly the same”

This is really weird

But considering the fact that people are not really dead is a good thing , it also means that Mark is still alive somewhere

“So who are you searching for ? your parents? Girlfriend? Friends?”

Oh God, I forgot about my parents…  I’m such an awful person

The first thing that I should’ve done is try to contact them, but communication is down so I really can’t do that and also they’re living in the country side which makes it twice as hard to know if they’re okay.

I’m worried

“Uhmmm parents”

“Did you contact them?”
“What? How?”

“In your friend list, You could use that to communicate with other people”

 “Wait…  I don’t see any”

“Oh right...  You still haven’t gone into the town right?”

“Ahh~  yeah”

Max told me that I will start being an adventurer when I enter the town and a quest box will appear in front of me which will instruct me to go to the Adventurer’s hall and there the orientation starts

Also, after the orientation I will be given extra function on my account and that includes “Friend list” “Adventurer’s Billboard” “Guild”

On simple terms I could only contact my parents once I’ve become a full pledge adventurer

“So that’s all that I know”

“Is that all?”

“Ofcourse that’s not all. I still have some more information although they’re just mere speculations”

“It’s okay, knowing more is better than not knowing anything”

“I see your point, but it’s not for free”

Greedy bastard. 

Nothing is free with this person.

It is reasonable though, because having more information is an advantage

“Never mind, I won’t ask anymore”

“Don’t be like that.. haha..  I’ll give you a discount….”

There’s something that I’m curious about

I guess he knows the answer to that

“I’ll ask some questions, in return I’ll give you everything I have”

“Okay!!! Deal!”

I took Max and we separated with the others and asked him a question

“So tell me. What’s their story?”

“I see, are you curious why they’re fighting?”

“Ahh… yes”

This guy is really sharp

He really knows what’s going inside my head

“I see, Okay I’ll tell you”

So he began telling me their stories

“The first one I met was Lisa, I saw her being chased by a monster and helped her”

“Oooh..  So you’re some kind of a Hero or something”

“Hmm… I guess that’s not the case. I did threaten her the same way I threatened you”

For a second there I thought that you are a great person

What a manipulative bastard

He said he was heading to the Town because he figured that it is a safe place after seeing how it was formed out of nothing and then he saw Lisa and helped her

He dragged Lisa to the town and when they arrived at the border of the Town the guards attacked the monsters that were chasing them and they were saved

“This is becoming more and more like a game”

“Well,  isn’t it interesting?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“hahahah!”

You lunatic

This isn’t interesting at all

“That fellow over there is an amazing person, I met him inside the town while I was gathering information and when I met him he was acting like he was having fun.”

“ You mean Cycle?”

“Yeah, actually most of the information that I gave you came from him”

He is enjoying this?

My head can hardly function when all of this started and he’s enjoying this

He must’ve had a screw loose or something

“Lastly is Bob, we met him just a few hours before we met you

We saw him while he is fighting and recruited him”

A Manipulator, a Sadist, a Musclehead and a Silent person

What a party

“We’re not weird or anything, We have our own reasons for fighting”

Seriously? Don’t read my mind

“And what is that reason?”

“Tha… t…is…. a….Se…..cret…..”

“Somehow you annoy me”

“Why thank you! hahaha”

That’s not a compliment

I still need to know more

Right, I need to ask about the NPC thing

“One more question”

“Sure”

“How did you know that the people who died became NPCs?”

“Ahh… about that”

What are you hesitating for?

I just want to confirm if what you’re telling me is true

“Well… Lisa asked me to not tell anyone… “

“Come on…  I just need to know if what you’re telling me is true”

“Hmmm… Okay, I’ll tell but promise me you won’t tell Lisa that I told you”

“Okay..”

Max gestured with his hands to come closer and whispered into my ear

“Actually, Lisa and I visited the weapon shop this morning”

“and then?”

“Turns out the blacksmith is Lisa’s father”

“Haaaaa?”

I looked at Max while with a shocked expression.

I can’t believe it

Must’ve been so shocking for her seeing her Father in that condition

Not recognizing her and saying the same words over and over again

“and that’s her reason for fighting, don’t tell anyone okay? Or else..”

“You don’t need to threaten me..  I get it”

 I can totally sympathize with her

Sulking over spilt milk won’t help restore the world but moving on and fighting might somehow make a difference

It might take years to find a solution to this problem but giving up isn’t an option

“Finish your lunch…. We’ll be moving soon”

“Okay”

I need to know more

I need to find a way to fix this mess

After eating we headed to the Town 

we faced a lot of monsters on the way but since we have a good formation, facing the monsters wasn't that hard and I gained a few levels because of that.

Chapter 4: Encounter

I have been moving for almost 4 hours already and I’ve leveled up twice now

And it really is weird that I haven’t encountered any survivors

“Name: Clive       Level: 5

 HP:350/350

Exp %: 15/100

Str: 39                   Dmg: 39 (+ 2)      Class: Novice     Pet: None

Agi: 39                  Def: 35 (+1)

Int: 35                   Luck: 16

Vit: 35”

And there again those bonus stats on my str and agi

Am I an OP character?

Oh well anyways better not dwell on it too much

I mean I’m not really trying to get too absorbed into this

I just want to survived that’s all

As I was talking to myself about my stats I saw a group of 4 people

That was standing in the middle of the street

1 girl and 3 guys

So because I am so smart I sneakily hid behind the car and watched them

Sneak ofcourse

Im not too dumb to just go straight to them

What if they’re psychopaths that are actually enjoying this whole thing?

Who on earth with their right minds will walk in the middle of the street like this?

What if they try to kill me?

I’m pretty sure that they are carrying weapons

Not too sure if I can defend myself against that many

So I observed them first from behind the car

And then I heard a roar from a far

It was very loude]

The group of people were just standing there and then I saw this big black figure

It was the Black wolf that I saw earlier back at the building

And then one of the guys started shouting

“YEAAAAAHHHH!!!! COME ON WOLFIE!!!”

He was tall bald guy with a huge frame

Almost resembled a tank, in game terminologies

Smells like bad news

So I started to get away from the commotion

I don’t want to get caught up to the mess that’s about to happen

As I was about to scurry I heard a voice

“HEYYY!!! You there behind the car!”

The man on the back of the huge guy shouted

“oh shit” I whispered

I slowly turned around and looked at them

I was staring to the guy that called me

Shit this is trouble

“There you are..  Wanna join us? Let’s kill this f**ker”

“Ah, No thanks! I have to go somewhere. Thanks for the offer though”

“Come on! Join us this will be fun!”

Fun?

That thing will kill us all and you’re saying that it’ll be fun?

Is this dude mentally ill?

Then the macho man and the third guy started looking at my direction

It’s like they were threatening me that if I don’t join them they’ll kill me

So yeah, I had no choice but to join them

I walked towards them and asked

“How are we going to kill that thing?”

“Don’t worry about it. We have a Plan. First let me invite you to the party”

I slowly turned and tried to walk away

I wasn’t so sure what level are they because there’re no levels and name floating on the top of their head like the monsters

“Hey! Going somewhere? Come on don’t be such a wuss we can kill that thing”

“Ah yeah”

He said that while showing his gun in front of his pants

What a subtle way to threaten people

With no chance of me from escaping, I just readied myself on the thing that is about to happen

This is a mess

Then the Black wolf arrived in front of us

Back then when I saw it from inside the building,  I almost peed myself

And now that it’s about to kill us

Because of this lunatics I’m about to die

While being drowned with my own thoughts the macho man equipped a shield and a sword from his inventory

Where did he get a shield and a sword? How?

Honestly I thought that he will fight with it bear handed

I’m not a smart man

After the macho man equipped his items other members prepared themselves

The other guy pulled out his sword , the girl pulled out her staff and the last guy pointed his gun at the monster

I’m still quite lost here

Where did they get those weapons?

I mean all I could get is a knife, a kitchen knife, for cooking not for fighting

Well if you think about it I only use knife because it is the most suitable for my skills

It will be strange to use my skill with a bat, I will have to talk to them when all of this end

“Okay! Listen up we’ll do it just like what we did earlier,  Bobcat you will be on the front taking all the hits with your shield, Cycle go cut his legs to reduce his mobility, Lisa support the tank and fighter  and I will go for his eyes”(gun-guy)

Are you guys serious with those names? Only the girl has a normal name

Seems like these people are too into this game

“Ahmmm hey, What will I do”

“Oh right! Just attack and don’t get killed”

Just don’t get killed

Yeah of course that’s what I will do

And then we rushed to the Black wolf altogether

Then black wolf roared at us and made a shockwave

That was really scary

 gun-guy shot the wolf’s eyes and made it go blind in the left eye

the wolf was hurt it rushed towards us and attacked us with its claw but Bobcat blocked the attack

“IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?!”

After blocking the attack Cycle rushed on the left side of the wolf and tried to cut the wolf’s leg from behind

The black wolf jumped to the building and pushed himself and attacked Cycle with its claws

Cycle wasn’t able to parry it, the attack was really fast

Cycle was blasted off to the store and broke the windows 

Cycle received 30% damaged to his HP

“HEAL!”

 Lisa made Cycle’s HP back to 85%, It really is nice to have a healer in your party

It reduces the risk of dying many times over

I also joined the attack wherein I go behind the wolf and attacked from behind

We attacked it with the same pattern as earlier wherein Bobcat was blocking the wolf's attack, Lisa supporting, Cycle and I deal damages and gun-guy taking out the wolf's sight

It kept on for quite a while and then we manage manage reduced its HP to 10%

And then something strange happened

The wolf’s appearance began to change

Its heads started to burst in flames and all of its paws were engulfed with red flames

It was scary but amazing at the same time,  He seemed like the movie that I saw where the guy’s head is engulfed with flames while riding a motor bike

“IT’S COMING!!!”

“BRING IT ON!!!”

The wolf's two heads opened both of its mouth in unison and started charging

“DODGE IT! I CAN’T GUARANTEE YOUR LIVES IF YOU DON’T!”

The wolf release fire from his mouth, It went on for like 5 seconds

Good thing gun-guy was able to blind both of the wolf’s eyes and we were able to dodge it by running behind the wolf

It was pointless , He released a very powerful attack but he couldn’t aim because he is blind

“FINISH IT!”

“”OKAY!””

so we attacked the wolf until it died

And we’re able to get lots of Exp, gold and some items

I didn’t asked them what they got but I got a Combat Knife

Getting a Knife again feels like I’ll be using knives from now on

I actually don’t really care, as long as I can use the weapon properly.  

It would be bad if I got a sword and was not able to wield it.

Come to think of it

 If I got a weapon from a monster, maybe they got it from them also

 They must’ve had a lot of battles from these creatures

Maybe they aren’t lunatics after all

They’ve got confidence because they know how to deal with it

So I asked the gun-guy

“You must have a lot of experience dealing with these huge monsters. At first I honestly thought that you guys are planning to die”

“But it’s the first time we dealt with a boss”

“But where did you get those weapons? Must be from lower level monsters, right?”

“Nope, We got it from the blacksmith”

“Blacksmith?”

“Yeah, from the town”

There is a town?  But this is a city

It was really mind blowing so I asked more questions from him

He told me everything that he knows and it seems like when the apocalypse started the lands transformed

About 1 kilometer south east from here there is a town called Leboa that rose from the ground

Wait that’s near my house

He was there when the town emerged from the ground and he saw the whole thing happened like magic

That night when the city was filled up with blue flames, the ground started shaking but it was a weak tremor and was almost unnoticeable he said

So that’s why I didn’t notice

First thing that happened was the walls formed from nothing then the houses and the NPCs

“NPCs? Are you sure about that?”

“Of course, see the icon that floats on the top of the monster’s head. The NPCs had a similar one and it’s in a [<NPC> Name]  format”

Off all the strange things that happened, the strangest one was the NPCs.

I mean where did they come from?

Are they individually intelligent? Or are they just like NPCs just like in the games wherein if you talk to them they will respond with the same dialogue

“If you really are that curious then go see for yourself. Good timing we will be heading there to make some upgrades"

“Okay, where’s your car?”

“You really don’t know anything, do you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Cars don’t work for some reason, you can start the engine but when you step on acceleration it won’t move. It really is weird but we have to deal with it so we move by foot”

Oh great, I really freaking hate what’s happening

I miss my comfortable chair, my bed and my laptop

I miss my lazy life

“Oh yeah, I still don’t know your name”

“The name’s Maximus”

“Is that your real name?”

“No no no, it’s my IGN.”

“Seriously?”

“Ofcourse,I will tell you something. We have our own ways of coping up with the situation and this is my way so you just have to deal with it. Okay?”

“Yes”

He certainly is right on that part

To survive, you need to have a way of dealing with things

I guess I could learn a thing or two from this guy

Chapter 3: Stupid Mission

Morning came and luckily there were no attacks while I was sleeping

Well it’s not like I will die easily if they attacked me

I pretty much figured things out after what happened yesterday

All the damages that I get goes directly to my HP bar meaning 0 HP is equal to death to sum things up and every encounter that I’ve had I pretty much get no damage from them, to be honest this game is quite easy or am I just too overpowered, Am I like the chosen one to save humanity from this apocalypse?

Nah, not a chance

I’d hate it anyways if that were the case

I stretched out a little and prepared to go outside

I went to the door and opened it really slowly and checked the area if there’re monsters lurking around

Seems like the house is clear 

So I took breakfast because breakfast is important

While eating I opened the Television but unfortunately there was no reception so I used Mark’s laptop Good thing there’s no password

but even the internet is down

I felt really angry and frustrated

“What the f*ck?”

I shouted

I really can’t help it, I might be overreacting but I was really frustrated because Internet doesn’t go away that easily

I mean just yesterday there was internet and now it’s gone suddenly?

I’d be stupid to think that there are just some technical issues and it’ll be back tomorrow

Maybe it has something to do with the signal

I’ve tried everything but still failed

Even my phone is not working, there’s no signal

There’s still electricity but there’s no internet

The thing that I feared most is happening now

There’s no internet, meaning

No games, no anime, no manga, no movies

I hate this apocalypse thing

There’s no more reason for me to live in this planet

I don’t enjoy this killing to survive business; in fact I actually hate it

I’m not some killing maniac who enjoys these kinds of things

I was staring blankly into spaces

It took me some time to recover from the shock of knowing that my only source of happiness might be gone forever

I said to myself

“I need to get the internet back; No, I will get the internet back no matter what”

And somehow I made a life mission to get back the internet

I know that it’s kind of stupid but having this goal in mind will keep me going

Having no goal is like going to war just to die

So thinking about it, it’s a good thing; it’s kinda stupid though

After collecting myself

I started preparing myself to head out

I took all of the things that can be useful and stacked it to my inventory

Using my inventory was amazing

When I pick up objects a window appears in front of me that says whether to use the item, stack it to my inventory or to just drop it

“Use” “Store” “Discard”

I took the goods and stored it

I was not able to use this incredible thing yesterday because I was panicking

Now that I’ve calmed down, I get to use this incredible feature

After stacking all the food and drinks, I took the knives, the crowbar that I found in his room, the hammer, screw driver and the swiss knife because you’ll never know what can be useful in times of need

Oh, I also took some clothes because I still need some change of clothes

So all things being said and done, I robbed my friend; I am now officially a thief

After that I opened the door leading to the hallway slowly

There was a blue wolf lurking in the hallway

It’s not like I’m scared, I mean I killed a lot of them yesterday but still I want to make sure that there is no monster that would be hard to deal with

When I was confident that it’s good to go

I attacked the blue wolf and killed it easily

I didn’t take the elevator because it would be dangerous if a monster attacked me inside it, there’d be no room for me to fight and also there’s a risk of me falling out of the elevator and I don’t want that

So I ran to the stairs and went down

There were no monsters on the stairs and I got to ground floor easily without any trouble although it was quite tiring

So I opened the door a little that was leading towards the lobby area and took a peek

There I saw 2 blue wolves lurking around the area

But these two were different because those wolves had two horns and I read the name of the creature that is on top of its head

“Lvl. 2 Double-horned Blue Wolf

HP: 55/55”

 They almost look the same but they’re stronger than the ones that I’ve faced so far

Thinking about it

Why the lower leveled monsters are on the higher area?

Haaaa, beats me; I should think of my situation now before anything else

I need to separate those two because I still don’t know what they are capable of

So I took the hammer form my inventory and threw the hammer at the metallic seat on the lobby

“Clanggg”

I hit the metallic seat but I failed to separate them

Both of them were looking around the metallic seat checking what caused the sound

This is an opportunity

They’ve shown their blind spot to me so I took the initiative and went behind them sneakily

They didn’t notice me so I started my attack

I used Stab

“Stab!”

And Oh “Stab” doesn’t have that much cooldown so I pretty much use it to spam

I killed the first wolf thanks to that but the second wolf was able to react and then he howled

It was a long howl but since attacking is not that hard to do

I attacked the wolf while he was howling and killed him

But suddenly three wolves arrived at my left side

They were reinforcements

I panicked

So I ran to the door leading to the stairs

I closed the door and locked it

The wolves were banging the door but they weren’t able to break it

“Phew! That was close”

So the Howl earlier was for calling reinforcements, seems like you’re one scared dog

The single-horned ones were much braver

So I went to the 2^nd floor to look for another way to escape

I saw the Fire Exit

As I was heading towards the fire exit I noticed something

“Oh, I leveled up”

That was a surprise I didn’t noticed that I leveled up, come to think of it the notification when I first leveled up was quite hard to notice

It was located to the upper right side of my vision

So It’s hard to notice when you’re panicking

I checked my status

“Name: Clive       Level: 3

 HP:250/250

Exp %: 15/100

Str: 27                   Dmg: 27 (+ 2)      Class: Novice     Pet: None

Agi: 27                  Def: 25 (+1)

Int: 25                   Luck: 10

Vit: 25”

 After checking the status I checked the notification window if there are any other power ups happened and it seems like there has been some unlocks on my skills

“Slice: +20 damage upon casting (area) -               CD: 30 secs”

Wow what a useful skill

I can now do area damage that is a big upgrade considering that I can only fight one at a time

Cooldown takes time though

While rejoicing because of the skill that I’ve obtained, something passed by the window on the second floor

So I slowly walked towards the window  in an almost crouching position and took a little peek through the window

 And there I saw a wolf like creature but it was totally in a different league than the ones that I’ve seen so far

The fur was color black, it has two heads and it was so big that the head reaches the 2^nd floor of the building

“Lvl. 7 Double-headed Black Wolf(Boss)

HP:  700/700”

It was enormous; it was something that I could not fight alone

I did not saw it before because I was in a really high place and I didn’t check the windows that much

After that I headed towards the fire exit and arrived at the back alley of the building

There were few monsters but they were nothing that I couldn’t handle, unlike the boss wolf that I saw earlier that seems impossible to beat right now

So I moved through the alley trying to evade an encounter to that boss wolf and maybe find some other survivors 

Chapter 2: Escape

As I was heading towards the stairs, everything was silent

 It’s as if  there’s no one living in the whole building and now I’m wondering If the monsters attacked the other tenants but I didn’t check if they’re okay because I don’t want to be a hero, you could say that I’m being a coward but you know it’s better to be a coward than to be dead.

I silently walked to the stairs and saw a wolf like creature going up stairs

It’s the same creature that I killed earlier

My legs were shaking

It spotted me and we stared at each other for a second

As I look to the wolf I realized that there’s something different about the creature

There is a level and a name that’s floating on top of its head

There is also a red bar beneath the name

I read it and it says

“Lvl. 1 Single-horned Blue Wolf

HP: 40/40”

After reading it I flee the area and ran upstairs

While running I was thinking a way to defeat it

“Should I fight it? Should I rush onto the roof top and make him fall?”

I ran upstairs as fast as I could

I’m out of breath while running and finally I reached the door to the roof top

It’s locked

“Oh shit! Oh shit!”

Death, that’s what I’m thinking right now

I even said that cool speech earlier and now I’m about to die in the same building

I am an idiot

And then something crossed my mind that instant

“Ah! Skill.. Right..  That stab skill”

The blue wolf caught up to me and is now growling

“Grrrrrrrrrr”

I pointed the knife in wolf’s direction thinking how to use the stab skill

But earlier I already had a hunch on how to use the skill but didn’t really know if that is how to use it

Well whatever, this is do or die

I yelled the skill

“STAB!”

After yelling my body moved automatically I stabbed the wolf to his head

The knife was glowing

It was a blue aura like light that surrounded the knife as I stab the wolf

After stabbing,  the wolf groaned and was acting as if it’s hurt

So I grabbed the opportunity and stabbed it again until it died

“AAAAAAAHHHH!!!!”

The blue wolf fell down on the floor and started vanishing

After the wolf vanished words appeared and disappeared a couple of seconds later

“Gained 10 Exp”

“Received 10 Copper coins”

What?  Copper coins?

It seems like a new currency will be used from now on

And there I was thinking

I can kill the blue wolf easily

I’m just afraid of it but now that I think about it, the blue wolf is just Lvl. 1 meaning it’s just an easy mob

Somehow that made me calm down

After that I tried the “Stab” skill to the lock on the door

“Stab!”

The lock was broken and then I opened the door to see what is happening outside

I walked slowly to the edge of the rooftop, the surroundings was quite dark so you can easily notice the blue lights that is appearing out of nowhere and disappearing again

It was a beautiful sight

But I recalled that when you die you will be engulfed with the same kind of blue light

Recalling that made my stomach spin

I started vomiting and after vomiting

4 blue wolves arrive in front of the door on the rooftop

“Dammit!”

 I can handle one alone but handling 4 at the same time, I’m so not sure

Upon realizing that my legs did not shake

I’ve thought of dying 2 times already this day but I survived

So you could say that I’ve gotten a little confident

“Seems like there’s no end to it”

So I’m not afraid of dying anymore

If I’m going die then so be it but don’t expect me to go down so easily

The blue wolves surrounded me

While they were surrounding me

I took the initiative and dashed towards the wolf at the right side because he’s the nearest to me

“Stab!”

I used the skill stab and used a normal stab in a fast sequence

“One down”

I’m already starting to get the hang of it

Just a while ago I was so scared and now I’m quite having fun

After eliminating the first one I dashed towards the second one and killed it

The other 2 blue wolves weren’t able to react because of fast pace attack, maybe because of their low levels

Now that the other 2 are focusing towards me

I backed up a little and pointed the knife towards their direction

They started attacking

They attacked me simultaneously

They bit my left arm and right leg  and was pulling each end trying to tear me apart
"AAAAAAaaaaaHHH"
It was painful
Even though the wounds heals quickly I could still feel the pain and it is really agonizing


I endured the pain and thought of a way to handle the situation

I realized my right hand was free, the hand where I was holding the knife

So I stabbed the blue wolf biting my left arm first

“Stab!”

I used the skill “Stab” again and killed the blue wolf on my left hand and continued to attack it until  he let my hand go

After my left hand was free I held the knife with both of my hands and stab the wolf that was biting my leg.

I killed it

I survive once again

It’s amazing because even though I was bitten earlier the pain went away instantly

As I was analyzing things, I went up and closed the door to prevent any further attacks

I was thinking hard trying to find answers as to what happened earlier

I was bitten but it doesn’t hurt anymore, the wound is not there only the rip in my pants caused by the bite of the blue wolf earlier

So I touched the Icon again while sitting on my back against the wall

I pressed the status bar

“Name: Clive     Level: 1

HP:110/175

Exp %: 60/70

Str: 17                   Dmg: 17 (+ 2)      Class: Novice     Pet: None

Agi: 17                  Def: 15 (+1)

Int: 15                   Luck: 5

Vit: 15”

 “Huh?”

My stats changed

So I looked at the “Skill” bar to see if anything changed there

And I saw the 2^nd skill unlocked on the “Active” tab and it was called “Novice Heal”

It says

“Heals 10 HP per cast - Can only cast when out of combat”

It seems like skills unlocks upon meeting a certain condition

So I tried and casted my new skill

“Novice Heal!”

A green colored number 10 appeared in front of me and then I looked at my stats

“Name: Clive

HP:120/175

Level: 1

Exp %: 60/70

Str: 17                   Dmg: 17 (+ 2)      Class: Novice     Pet: None

Agi: 17                  Def: 15 (+1)

Int: 15                   Luck: 5

Vit: 15”

It healed a little but it’s a big help if I want to survive

Next I checked the “Passive” tab

“Novice Strength -  +5 Str when Unlocked”

“Novice Agility - +5 Agi when Unlocked”

“Novice Intelligence - +5 Int when Unlocked”

Novice Vitality - +5 Vit when Unlocked”

“Novice Luck - +3 Luck when Unlocked”

Wow I got so many skills in such a short time so that’s the reason for my sudden stat increase

But if you calculate it there’s this discrepancy of 2 points on my str and agi

What’s with that bonus stats?

Well whatever, more stats means more chances of survival

After getting myself fully healed by using “Novice heal” I opened the door headed back to my friend’s apartment to get some rest

Escaping this time of the day will be risky because you’ll never know when there will be unexpected ambushes out of nowhere

Also I was amazed at myself that I’m thinking clearly now

It seems like the added Int on my stats really made me smart

I ran across to a couple of blue wolfs along the way and dealt with them pretty smoothly I took some damage though

You could say that I’ve gotten accustomed to their movements and leveled up

“Name: Clive       Level: 2

 HP:165/200

Exp %: 35/100

Str: 22                   Dmg: 22 (+ 2)      Class: Novice     Pet: None

Agi: 22                  Def: 20 (+1)

Int: 20                   Luck: 8

Vit: 20”

I arrived at my friend’s apartment and grabbed some food and water

I said “Mark I’ll be stealing your food. Desperate times bud”

After eating I went to his room and shut the door closed and fortified it

I also closed the window and pushed the cabinet to cover it

I’m being paranoid but it’s better than dying

After doing so I laid in the bed and slept

Chapter 1: Change Up

I’m Clive Parker a College fresh grad and I’m unemployed

Yeah I’m unemployed.

These days it’s really hard to secure a good paying job even though you have a degree

I can’t even get a job

It’s not like I get to complain, I really didn’t take my studies seriously so this is what I get

While walking on the streets after I was done shopping I received a text from Mark

By the way Mark is you could say my bestfriend I’ve known him as far as I can remember

“Yo Clive! Drinks? Game night!”

I replied to his text

“Sure, If you’re buying. Im unemployed “

“Haha sure no problem with that, it’s not like I can get you to buy anyways”

That day we were just hanging out by his place, drinking and playing games when the world started changing and the unimaginable thing that only happens in Sci-fi stories happened

We heard a noise, a sound of the window glass crashing

so Mark and I looked back to see what caused the noise

we saw a creature  inside his apartment that seemed to come from the window and was momentarily frozen shut while looking from the couch

“What the heck is that?”

Mark said on a whispering voice

“I don’t know. How the heck did that got here?  were on the 20^th floor “

 I replied whisperingly

We both cannot comprehend what was happening

It was a creature that I have never seen before

We were both terrified and I can see Mark’s legs shaking

I can’t blame him for being so afraid

Because that creature was really scary

If I were to describe the creature, It looked like a wolf but the fur is color blue of some sort, his eyes were  glowing red, has single horn in the middle of its forehead and almost  a size of a bear

After we looked onto its eyes, the wolf like creature began to growl and then attacked us

“GRRRRRRRRRR”

It ran towards us and bit Mark in the neck and killed him instantly
Mark was not able to react to the wolf's attack
It happened so fast that he was not even able to let out a word
Mark just died there instantly while bleeding out inside the wolf's mouth

I looked at the scene shocked and was not able to comprehend what happened
I couldn't move a muscle and was still processing what happened in my head

There was blood on the floor and on my face

My heart was beating fast and a cold feeling crept up towards my spine

My mind was blank and I don’t know what to do

I was really scared

After the wolf like creature was done with Mark

It changed its target and had its focus to me and jumped in to my directione

Luckily by chance I evaded the attack  because I tripped and fell on my butt

I ran to kitchen while panicking

I was desperately searching for a weapon there and then I was able to get my hands on to a knife

By the time I got a knife the wolf like creature is already behind me preparing for its second attack and then before the wolf attack begins I  threw some knives and hit the wolf’s  eyes and body

“AAAAAaaaaaaaaah”

I shouted while throwing the knives

The wolf backed away and then the wolf growled again

“GROOOOAAAaaaaaaHHHHHHhh”

But it was a different kind of growl

It was different from the growls earlier

It was more loud and monster-ish

It was truly terrifying

Then the wolf began to attack again

I was so scared and tears start to well up in my eyes

“Am I dying here?”

Those were the thoughts that float inside my mind and then I grabbed the last knife at the top of the kitchen table and tried to stab it while my eyes were shut closed

“AAaaAAAAaaaaaaaah”

After doing some stabbing in a vertical motion

The  place seemed to have quieted down

I was sure that I’m hitting him but I don’t care because I’m really scared

I opened my eyes slowly and then I saw the wolf laying down and is being surrounded by a blue light while slowly vanishing

After the wolf disappeared a small window popped out in front of me

“Congratulations!! You have been promoted into ‘ Novice’ ”

What?

a Novice? What the heck is happening? Why is there a window in front of me?

I closed the window and after doing so I saw an Icon floating on the top left side of my vision

It was a circular icon that has a person inside of it and beside the Icon there is a red bar

I gently touched the Icon and a selection appeared

“Status”

 “Skill”

“Equipment”

“Inventory”

“Party”

“Help”

“Settings”

It almost seemed like the game that I’ve played once before

 It was so unreal so I closed the selection immediately and run towards Mark to check him up as I drop the knife from my hands hoping that somehow he still alive but when I got there, there was no corpse or blood in there

There was no trace of the attack earlier except for the broken glasses from the window and the things that fell down when the commotion was happening

I was so dazed at that moment so I went to the window and observed what’s happening outside and saw people that are being chased by the same creature that attacked us earlier

I was terrified

I remembered what happened earlier

Mark died and now everything’s so messed up, people down there are dying one by one

I tucked myself almost like a curling position as I sat beneath the broken window

I got my left hand cut

 As I look closely to my hands, the dripping blood was vaporizing as the blue light seemed like it was burning the blood on my hands

My hand also healed as if nothing happened

“Amazing!”

I was astonished but at the same time I was scared

I was thinking what would happen next

Mark just died in front of me just like that

Everything can happen, now that everything became shitty

“I don’t want this, but I need to survive”

I whispered those word as I hug both of my legs while trembling in fear

After a while my mind cleared up and I began to study the options that appeared after I touched the icon

The options appeared

I first touched the “Status” bar and a window beside it appeared

It says

“Name: Clive     Level: 1

HP:150/150        

Exp %: 10/100

Str: 15                   Dmg: 15(+2)        Class: Novice     Pet: None

Agi: 10                  Def: 10(+1)

Int: 10                   Luck: 2

Vit: 10 “

I am familiar with the stats system because I played a lot of games back when I was still in college and  now at home because of me getting rejected by companies that I applied for after graduating.

I mumbled

“So your status are automatically allocated”

After that I selected skills

At the skills windows there where 3 tabs

“Active”

“Passive”

“Pet”

The pet tab is unclickable and the text is color gray

Maybe because I don’t have a pet yet

So I browsed the “Active” tab first and there was only a single skill unlocked and the skill is called “Stab”

“Stab:+10 basic damage upon casting – CD: 2 secs”

I still don’t know how to activate it but I have a hint as to how you can activate it

Well, based on my experience reading about stories similar to what’s happening to me the skills may be voice activated

And next I checked on the “Passive” tab

Also at the “Passive” tab there is also a single skill unlocked and it is called “Novice Strength”

It says

“+5 str when unlocked”

Various skills are still locked

Also the icon is the only thing that you can see if it’s still locked

well I guess the name of the skill reveals when the skill unlocks

After that I checked the “Equipment” bar

Similar to any MMORPG it’s just a window to view your equipment

Equipped to me

“Black shirt”

“Jeans”

“Rubber Shoes”

After that I selected Inventory there was nothing inside my inventory so I closed all the windows and readied myself to go out

I took the knife that I used earlier to kill the wolf like creature that attacked us and after doing so I sat at the couch on the living room and I talked to myself

“Oh F*ck, Why’s this happening, I guess I’m screwed “

It happened so fast it’s still hard to believe that my bestfriend is already dead

I was just having fun with him earlier

Just an hour ago we were just Playing games and now he’s dead

 It’s so hard to accept all that’s happened

It all happened in an instant

I opened a bottle of beer and chug it all in one go

I light a cigarette as I turned off the lights in his apartment and the light in the hall way is casting my shadow inside the room

“So long buddy, this might be harsh but I’m not gonna meet you anytime soon”

After saying that I closed the door and headed outside of the building