I think I'm gonna re-work it all.. the concept will still be the same but I will put more depth to it.
I'll write a new one soon..

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