《A place of wonder, chaos and despair》


 A terrible day

    It was late afternoon when a peculiar news article was displayed on TV instead of my favourite TV show.


    ¡°Live in New York City a massive blue obelisk has appeared out of nowhere.¡± I thought this was just some fake news or a prank I called my dad over never less. ¡°Dad come see what¡¯s on the news¡± I said not really that interested but still wanted him to see.


    As my Dad came into the room I looked over to him. He was a tall man 6 foot 7 with a long curly beard his name was Curtis but his friends call him Curt, he had brownish-white skin and a tough jawline. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± he said ¡°come see,¡± I replied pointing to the TV. I was distracted by dad so I didn¡¯t see that another man had made his way over to the camera, ¡°-what did you see when it appeared,¡± the reporter asked the man who was wearing a business uniform and sported glasses. ¡°Well there was this flash of light then this thing appeared straight out of the ground It was freaking scary.¡± the man said. ¡°There have been many other different eyewitnesses to the event.¡± The reporter spoke directly to the camera, I looked over to my dad with a goofy look on my face not believing them, my dad though¡­ he had a look that made me believe that he was taking this all too real.


    Then something even more incredible occurred. The blue obelisk started glowing bluer and bluer until it was blinding even on TV, It hurt my eyes. It suddenly dimmed to a pale blue but there was still something off, words were on the obelisk seemingly carved in, now and only now was I starting to believe this isn¡¯t such a simple prank or even a prank at all. The words were even worse even from a far distance I could see them perfectly. ¡®Humans of Earth you have been allowed access into the world. if you choose to accept go forth into this here obelisk or you could also say ¡®disappearance into a new appearance,¡¯ this would send you there directly but you wouldn¡¯t get an additional reward. We have included basic information of the world if you say ¡®help,¡¯ but if you choose not to come in 3 days, the Earth will die. Now I wish you well and to see you prosper in the world.¡¯ I didn¡¯t know what to think, but overnight the media exploded with theories and many many people have disappeared seemingly at random, overnight the world went into madness.


    I sat in my room trying to focus and think about something other than recent events, but I couldn¡¯t help myself. ¡°Help¡± I spoke. A burst of text appeared right in front of me.


    The world is a wondrous place filled with mythical creatures. There are millions of species and different varieties of each at the moment with humans from other planets also there. The world isn''t all fun and games though as if something has even a hint of a reason to kill you they probably will. The world has continents spanning the size of Earth, (these are called dimensions.) Each creature gets an ability at the start of its life, there are trillions of creatures in the World and only 14% ever reach past star limit 5 without equipment. Star limits are points where you can evolve into a higher order of yourself. Abilities are techniques that you can use to simply wash the dishes to blowing up an entire continent (dimension) with a bomb made out of grass (yes this has been done.) There are other features but you need to figure them out yourselves.


    I looked at the last part about skills and was shocked at what they could accomplish. Then I found myself even more shocked when I was reading a wall of readable holographic text that just appeared in front of me. I started panicking realizing that Earth will probably be destroyed in 3 days, then I screamed. My parents bolted into my bedroom asking what¡¯s wrong and are you okay? I replied with ¡° Mum, Dad I- I¡¯m scared¡± they looked down at me and rubbed my back gently while hugging me. My Dad asked why I was scared. I told him why ¡°you know that news report today with that blue obelisk?¡± Dad nodded his head, ¡°say ¡®help.¡± Dad complied with my request. His eyes opened wide at what he saw in front of him, it was the exact same except that the skills were different instead of washing the dishes it had making water out of thin air and creating a portal into different worlds. Mum did the same. It was the same as Dad and I. That night we all fell asleep in the same bed.


    In the morning, we had gloomy impressions on our faces. ¡°So what should we do?¡± My parents looked over to me Dad saying something that I knew he was going to say but I didn¡¯t want him to say it, ¡°we need to leave Earth and go to this World Dean,¡± he said with a venom I¡¯ve never seen him use before. I cast my head down going into my own world of thoughts. I didn¡¯t know what was going to happen but I knew I had to make the most out of the limited time I had left. ¡°Dad, can I see one friend one last time?¡± A pained tone was shown through my voice. Dad took pity on me but reluctantly he agreed and let me off.


    I started walking over to my friend¡¯s house thinking over all the missed opportunities I could have done on Earth. As I neared John¡¯s house the realization this will probably be the last time I ever saw him again sunk in I started growing more panicked. I knocked on the door waiting for a reply as the door handle turned the door opened John¡¯s dad was staring at me. He gave me a smile that could lift anyone¡¯s day, ¡°come in Felix¡± he said I replied quickly moving into the house. As noise descended down the steps Jake greeted me "hi Felix." I could only reply with ¡°hi Jake but have you seen the news?¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s pretty crazy do you believe it?¡± I had a look of confusion on my face as Jake walked down the stairs, ¡°Jake say ¡®help¡± now it was Jake who was confused, he still complied though. His surprised look was just like Dads when he did it. My friend started muttering under his breath. I couldn¡¯t hear him after he told me to leave so he and his family could discuss this. I rushed back home happy to see him at least one final time, my parents were surprised as I came home way earlier than they expected me to. I told them what happened then we agreed we were going to leave Earth¡­


    We linked hands not knowing if we would see each other again but hoping without hope we would see each other again, tears streamed down our side as we just called the rest of the family to wish our goodbyes and our friends. Then we chanted the words like a cult speaking words they have practised a million times. It just came out so naturally to me, ¡°disappearance into a new appearance¡± then we were gone, never to be seen on Earth again.


    Heat struck my side, my eyes blared awake as I saw I was lying down on barren land where a flame-licked my side. Immediately I jumped back spraying my legs back as I saw I was so close to a flame, only then did I survey and look around at my surroundings, a desert spread out in front of me all I could see was an ever sprawling desert. I looked back down at the flame which wasn¡¯t there anymore, I realized I was calm unnaturally so I should be panicking and screaming for my Mum or Dad but I wasn¡¯t all I could think of was how I was going to survive. The only possible thing I could do was move so I did.


    What felt like hours of walking which was probably 15 or so minutes I saw something in the distance all I could see was barely a glimpse but it was moving closer to me hope rushed into me as I propelled my legs forward trying to see what it was, and foolish hope was the only thing that was guiding me then. Then I saw an abomination. It was a human body but it had legs growing out of its head while tails out of its eyes blood was splashed all over it and its insides were inverted. I knew I messed up heavily. Fear spread throughout my body this was too much for a barely 15-year-old to take in the calm leaving me my legs dropped under me as I watched the abomination slowly come over to many and only then I realized there was an army of them in the distance with different mutations everywhere on their bodies. One I saw had veins as legs and others had wings that were all different sizes and shapes. As the one in the lead of the group came up to me he looked down at my fear shaken body he said one word which made my insides explode ¡°inner explosion.¡±


    I woke back up again, flame licked my side I jumped back again screaming as I touched myself all over looking for any damage on my body, I started coming down when I realized I was whole and well completely calm came back and my body then just started searching for ways to survive. This time I went backwards trying to reach as far as I could away from those abominations but I succumbed to the eventual heat and hydration falling to the ground the monsters found me once again this time a flying creature picked me up and ate me this time, tentacles crawled along my body they went into my eyes ears and mouth and killed me from the inside out. Stolen novel; please report.


    This time when I came back to the god awful desert the calm couldn¡¯t help. I was going into madness, fear spread throughout my body even though the calm started to suppress the endless wave of fear I was still shivering from the head down. Eventually, I managed to get my head back with the calm assisting me I realized maybe help will help me in different ways now as I¡¯m in the World ¡°help,¡± I said to none.


    You have been put into a tutorial where you need to survive for 12 hours or kill 5 of the creatures, you are in the hide or fight tutorial while others are different some will be in the tutorial you are in now. The monster you will be fighting is random so it could be an ant to a blackbone dragon.


    I laughed cruelly at the words displayed in front of me, how could I kill five of those things or hide for 12 hours in A DESERT WITH AN ARMY OF THEM COMING AT ME, it was truly insane. I knew I couldn¡¯t hide as there were too many of them so my best bet was to kill 5 of them but how? I pondered this while pondering why I was calm but brushed it off as magic. The only thing I could do was learn how those things functioned and how they could be killed.


    Attempt 1: I sat there waiting for them to come in around 40 minutes they arrived. I got up off the hot sand and rushed at the first one, this one had blades growing out of its hand while having no head but still ¡®saw¡¯ me perfectly. I couldn''t even land one punch in before it sliced my head clean off.


    Attempt 2: I needed to try something different and get into a battle-ready view faster as I was still stuck with fear and grief on the ground. Maybe hiding is the only option I could do, I ran to the left as far as I could before going into a slow jog then just straight walking even running jogging and walking for 40 minutes the army of abominations still reached me this time I was gutted by one powerful fist punch.


    Attempt 3: I did nothing except sit down and think about how I wish my parents were here as they would know what to do. I hated to believe it but I knew and could do very little for myself. I was nearly totally dependent on them. I wanted to see them again to hug them and wish this nightmare away. sadness clung to my heart as I thought my parents could be going through the same situation as me. As the monsters drew near a flying monster flew down probably looking at a free meal more dropped down I tried to pounce up and away but they descended on me too quickly. It was unbearable letting pieces of your body slowly be ripped off as meat for another creature than the quick death I had last time.


    Attempt 4: I didn¡¯t like pain, it was a cold dark feeling, that felt like it was never going to end. So when I wake up completely fine every time it both horrifies and scares me but I still thank it for relieving me from the pain. This time I had a new plan. If I jumped on one of those monsters, and bite, scratched, and clawed enough would I be able to kill it?  Only one way to find out if my plan was going to work by trying it out in action. So I conserved my strength by waiting, a million thoughts in my head circulated saying this will be a terrible idea and lead to death, I knew I was almost certainly going to die but the calm suppresses my fear and only makes me focus on the task. As the monsters finally arrived I looked out at my murderers and knew I needed to take one of these bastards down or if not now I¡¯ll do it eventually. I knew now I had to avoid the flying ones and I couldn¡¯t go for the ones that are as large as cars, I knew I couldn¡¯t beat them. So I had to go for the ones that are my size or smaller and the less deformed and mutated the better. I scanned my eyes around looking for any in the front ranks that were my size or smaller I saw one but a group of flying monsters were circling it from up above, there was another but it was further to the right than I would like to travel the last one I could see was one that was hiding behind a large monster I knew that I wasn¡¯t going to push past it so I had to go for the one being circled by the flying monsters. I pushed my body trying to barrel into it and hopefully stun it then kill it, a trick I learnt for fighting people smaller than you hopefully my friend was right. Before I was even halfway there I melted as fire erupted under my feet burning me to ash. I didn¡¯t even see what happened. The only saving grace from this death was that it was quick.


    Attempt 5: I WAS SICK. No calm could suppress the rage I felt that billowed out of me, I was filled with so much fear that ignited my rage even more pushing me to go out and kill every last one of them and everyone who put me into this sick ¡®tutorial.¡¯ Eventually the calm won over the constant fight and I was able to focus. I wasted 20 mins in my fit of rage, then another 5 after the calm won by thinking of Earth and everything that I miss. I started thinking about how fire just erupted up from the ground and the first time how I exploded even though all it did was say one word. I wanted that power, power to rival or beat those abominations. I needed this magic they used. It was the only way to even stand a chance, so I needed to learn the only way to learn is to watch, and the only way to watch is to die. I¡¯m insane. I died by getting spiked by earth spikes that came out of seemingly nowhere.


    Attempt 16: Every attempt I grow madder more distant and relentless in my pursuit to kill those abominations. I¡¯ve now come to terms with the deaths, the pain will always be pain but the strongest pain is thinking about how my parents, friends and family are doing. I even did a little prayer for them to be ok before. My mind is one step away from breaking. I knew I would break eventually but I thought the calm would help it was a foolish thought. I was starting to understand how they used their magics after getting killed another 6 times. I realized it required you to will something out of your body which then would affect the world around you. I only realized that after one attempt where I could see something spinning in the air for a few seconds, then a gush of wind blew me HIGH into the air where I fell and crushed my head on the ground. Now it was how I was supposed to use this power, I had a few theories which I was trying but nothing was working. I got up as I saw they were coming closer. This time I didn¡¯t run at them as all it did was lessen my life and hurt my feet. I only wanted to analyse the army that was marching towards me, I realized around attempt 12 that every time I reset the army of monsters were different. I died a slow death by being eaten by tentacles with jaws extending out of where the arm was supposed to be.


    Attempt 76: I¡¯ve been in this hellhole for a long time now and I¡¯ve seen things I never want to see and died countless times. Each death is always the same pain, sometimes quick or others slow and brutal. My mind was shattered a while ago and all I want now is to kill those bastards I live for only that purpose even though I¡¯ve made very little progress on the magical side. My combat is improving even if I can¡¯t use magic.  I can now dodge some of their attacks, I will still die but at least fear doesn¡¯t clog my vision anymore. I think constantly about my parents and all those I love, knowing if the ¡®help¡¯ was to be believed they would hopefully be in a way easier fight or hide tutorial or anyone one altogether. As the monsters arrived I picked myself up and looked out at the horde of abominations.  Every time I saw them I located the smaller ones, as those ones have magical power. It¡¯s a little bit of irony as the big ones are muscle heads, while the smaller ones are magic-using forces of destruction. I didn¡¯t dwell on that topic any longer and charged at the smallest one I could find that was in the front ranks. A flying creature with 4 eyes swooped down I swerved to the left watching as it crashed into the ground slightly stunned as it missed its mark. I knew it was going to be back up soon so I didn¡¯t spare any more time on it, I continued my pursuit to the smallest one watching how the wind swirled around for a few seconds then an extreme force slammed me into the ground crushing me, the last thing I saw was that the swirling stopped so It came from another magic-user.


    Attempt 492: I don¡¯t know how many times I¡¯ve reset, but I¡¯ve finally managed it. I used magic. I couldn¡¯t even get myself excited. I was only focusing on my task and nothing more, a burst of air flowed around me. It disappeared as soon as it was made but it was progress. A few attempts back I managed to kill one of those abominations, a feat that was pure luck. As one of the flying monsters swooped at me I put my hand out my fingertip must have cut its neck as it died by bleeding out I got swarmed by the rest angry at the death of one of their brethren. But before that, It felt like my body expanded I gained strength from it but it was useless as I didn¡¯t know what strength I gained, only now I realized I inherited some of its mana, this somehow carried over the reset but barely a fraction then before, as before it felt like I had a never-ending supply of power but now I could barely use it once to create some wind. It was progress no matter how small.  As the monsters neared newfound confidence formed in me I could escape this death trap. I tried to use my magic on them but nothing happened as I didn¡¯t have enough of the magic supply that allows me to use it. I died by being jumped on by one the size of a car, it flattened me like a pancake.


    Attempt ????: it¡¯s been too long. I''ve fought so many times with minimal gains but finally, I¡¯ve made magic to create a skill that can attack outwards, even though I¡¯ve probably only killed 12 of them but I had enough to start my comeback. As the monsters came closer I waited for the flying ones to attack. They nearly always attacked first after the countless times I fought them I finally learnt their attack patterns. As the first flying monster swooped me instead of trying to use luck or dodge, I sent my ball of mana at it, an invisible shield shimmered around my confusion cost me, as its beak penetrated my neck, giving me a quick death.


    Attempt ????: After a few more tests I can now tell every one of those monsters has a shield that only protects it against magical blast but if I¡¯m in physical contact then I could use my magic directly on them this action broke my kill count to 13 now that I know of a tactic to slay them I know I¡¯m in for a lot more deaths I could only give out a sigh as I knew this was going to hurt. I didn¡¯t manage to kill any this run.

 Im done with this hellhole

    Final attempt: I looked out at the surrounding monsters realizing this will probably be the last time I ever have to go through with this torture again I¡¯ve killed so many of them now and my power has increased by leaps and bounds I even learnt how to fight like a professional but I¡¯m more on the magic side. As I looked out at the monsters honing in on me I knew it was time I¡¯ve been delaying yes delaying my return to have a little bit more revenge. Now I know that I must go and see the true World if it¡¯s like this hellhole so be it I need to see what''s waiting on the other side of the veil. My veins started to ignite as mana pushed out of me. I created a waiting strike as I couldn¡¯t figure out a way to destroy the shields so I had to bypass them instead of using force that I would never have. As the first flying creature swooped down I dodged to the left but still at arm¡¯s length until it even registered I dodged its attack. I quickly put my hand out at inhumanly fast speeds. As soon as my mana infused hand touched the shield my mind responded, turning off my mana then reactivating it with a mana blast, an uncontrollable force of mana exploded out of my hand blowing the first one into chunks. All of this happened in less than 3 seconds. The others outraged by one of their brethren''s deaths charged me all at once. I knew this wasn¡¯t going to go well. The first one to reach I ducked and slid to the left as the next one that reached barged into the other knocking them both to the ground stunned by the impact they both were confused at where I was. I used this small time to lurch back a nearly impossible action to recover from without falling over, without the help of a little wind that is. I pushed myself down on the first one, blowing him up to blood and pieces of him splattered on me to anyone else I would look straight out of a horror movie. The other one tried to surprise attack me by attacking straight after I couldn¡¯t defend myself in time this attack cost me a deep wound to my shoulder I winced putting a hand while the other reached straight to it as it was still lodged into my shoulder and blew it apart using the same strategy as before bypassing the shield. As my shoulder bled the army was at my doorstep I knew I needed to end this fast I only had one thing that could work that could bypass the shield but it was suicide and only killed one I needed just one more then I would see as suicide bombing would count as a kill. Hope flooded to me as one of the birds was sweeping down but the enemy was creating numerous spells as well as I. Spells fired the ground starting shifting but all I could think of was hoping it would work. The monster that swooped down was killed as I blasted it with my last contact spell then my only range spell fired. The monster wizards activated their spells. The ground opened while fire erupted out, my insides churned and hundreds of other spells hit me, I could only hope now as my body got obliterated hundreds of times over.


    I didn¡¯t feel anything. This was different, hope filled me, did my attack reach?  I couldn¡¯t see anything. A wall of text appeared in my vision, this left me even more confused as to why could I see this but nothing else? I read the text and happiness exploded out of me. It''s been too long since I was happy but as I read down I didn¡¯t know if I was sad or happy.


    Congratulations! You have completed the tutorial, by using 33,974 resets your skill has been affected and lowered considerably, but as the difficulty of the task you were set it has improved.


    Skill: Charge


    Effect: Your speed/reaction increases by x2 if you use this skill to charge or barrel into the opponent you will keep this boost but only if you go directly to it and you must be within 30 feet of the target. If used to escape or run or anything else this ability will only last for 1 second.


    Star Level: 1 (Acquire two star fragments to level up)


    Recommended uses: once in combat otherwise, backlash would occur. You should also wait another 30 minutes before using it again even if you get into another combat situation before then.


    If you are stuck under something and can''t move this ability will do nothing.


    Ground limited.


    All memories of the tutorial will be forgotten when you enter the World. For 1 year your dimension will be locked out of trespassers but if you leave to other dimensions you won¡¯t be able to enter your dimension again until 1 year has passed.


    It made me uncomfortable that my memories would disappear after the countless experiences I had, but I was also glad that this happened as I would become back to my ¡®normal self and not an uncontrollable vengeful murderer. The only reason why I was like this was that my mental state was changed. My memories started to vanish but I let them go happily, I was gone from the tutorial and was about to arrive in the World.


    I woke up in a bright space and people were chatting quietly around it took me a few seconds for my eyes to focus and stop blinking. Footsteps started coming closer. I looked out to see a man in his twenties coming over. ¡°Hi newbie you took awhile¡± I looked up to see a man wearing a robe that you would only find out of a fantasy movie. ¡°Newbie?¡± I asked quizzically about what he meant. As I looked around I realized I wasn''t in the living room anymore. ¡°Yeah, you are a newbie as you just arrived.¡± He stated matter of factly. I asked him how long he''s been here and he said around 3 months I couldn''t believe my ears, 3 months?! He must have seen my shocked face, he gave a slight smile then told me to follow him, I replied as I didn¡¯t know what else to do. As we walked out of the room through the door I was greeted by tents made out of very simple material except for the building behind me and a building further out, around the camp there were mountains further out but it was mostly just a plain as far as I could see. ¡°This is tent town, we have been living here for around 3 months as we go out and slay monsters that prowl on us, and explore the areas surrounding us.¡± after his dialogue the smell hit me it was absolutely horrendous. ¡°There are next to no sanitarie spots except the building behind you which no smells enter, but only the mayor or newbies can leave while only the mayor can enter. As there are also no toilets we pee and poo everywhere, but people with certain skills aid our situation by doing daily checkups.¡±


    As we continued walking around tent town I saw that its inhabitants were all poorly dressed and dirty; they also smelled too. It was to be expected from a place like this for people to be living in such states. Then my mind went back to my parents wishing they were living in places a hundred times better than where I was. As I followed close behind I saw that some residents had shining armour and weapons, those must have been the guards or explorers. The mayor spoke up again, ¡°as you have seen by looking around, the state of our town is in ruins.¡± I cast my head down. It was terrible they have been living in these conditions for 3 months now. ¡°Where are the children ¡°I asked quietly. The man looked down at me grimly before saying something that hurt me mentally, I thought I was going to vomit. ¡°Most are dead, their corpses protected us from the beginning as the monsters ate them and not us, but now we can protect babies and the like.¡± I wanted to leave this cursed village to run away but to where? There was nowhere to run to monsters lived out there and I wouldn''t stand a chance. I could understand why they would have done it and they all must be feeling horrible but that doesn''t excuse their actions. Their defences around this place were also terrible; you could tell they didn''t have any builders or architects amongst them and had next to no resources. I didn''t know what to do but as the Mayor spoke again I felt empathy in his voice. ¡°We are just trying to get by. We know we have done terrible things to survive and I know we will most likely do more, but we will help you if you stay even if you''re living in a place that is worse than slave quarters. We won''t stop you if you choose to leave¡± Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    I agreed to stay here as this was my best bet to survive and maybe even see my parents again. We stopped just as we reached a large stone building. People were milling in and out mostly wearing armour that I''ve seen people wearing around town but I saw the occasional robe and some other armour pieces. I looked in confusion at how they could hand out weapons and armour like this and cloth while mostly everyone else is wearing rags. The mayor spoke up again looking at the building with a mixture of various emotions. ¡°Every great thing always has drawbacks, everyone there is a hunter. A person who must fight and kill monsters, they gain that armour for free but they must kill 20 monsters of any degree within the year or else they would die. Some have already completed this task, the veterans but others have barely started on this harrowing task.¡± I looked out at the building realizing I didn¡¯t want to be a nobody and would work with this cursed village as long as they don¡¯t try anything and protect me when I¡¯m within their walls at that moment, I decided I wanted to be a hunter.


    2 weeks later


    I woke up in my tent smelling foul. I''ve been like this for the last week. I signed up to be a hunter as soon after I stopped walking with the Mayor. It was an interesting experience. As I walked in it was a LOT bigger than it was on the outside I had no explanation for the abnormality, I was directed to a table which I had to proceed to put my hands on, one of those text boxes came up.


    Do you really want to be a hunter?


    Yes/No


    After I clicked on yes even more text flashed in my mind.


    Congratulations as a hunter you have access to your status screen without the need for a terminal or skill. Say ¡®Status.¡¯


    ¡°Status?¡± There. Was. More. Text. Why?


    Star limit: 1 (0/844 essence)


    Abilities: Charge, instant status


    Titles:


    Alliances: Hunters, Humans


    Perks:


    Soul affinity:


    That was the end of the wall of text. I left the building after getting assigned a tent by one of the people in charge of running the town, I got one further back. I¡¯ve been back there but only to see how I could get my free armour and see how everything works. (Author note: the next bit is just about the mechanics of the Hunters guild go ahead if you find that stuff boring.)


    The hunters guild worked like a bounty hunting/ quest club but if it was international and spread to nearly all dimensions, by completing quests or bounties you can get points called Hunter points which you can buy armour, fragments, weapons etc. You can also bet on open bidding where users sell items which then others bid on, the hunters take a tax of 10%. In every hunter¡¯s guild, there is a hunter only terminal and a free terminal. The hunter only terminal only has quests which when completed rewards the user with hunter''s points, while the free terminal just shows your status screen. If you complete enough quests you can unlock the interdimensional portal into new worlds, which are harder but offer better rewards. Every hunter gets a star limit 1 armour piece but only when they accept their first quest. The reason why people die if you don¡¯t slay 20 monsters is that the armour you gained is worth around the 20 first monsters you would kill. You would also be very lacking not to kill 20 monsters as you were allowed to bring a party but any monsters brings forth some danger. No matter how small. You can also gain free training if you are  star limit 3 or below (base stat only.)


    I¡¯ve been around this camp around 20 or so times, and it¡¯s always the same dirty, smelly than the occasional person in armour. The only food we eat is monster meat the hunters bring back but it''s always the same; horned rabbit meat it''s the safest monster to kill and it''s ok eating. Today is special. I''m going to the plains to hunt. This will be my first quest too. After having breakfast which was rabbit meat and water. Some of the community have started up a garden but the seeds used are miscellaneous. After I ate lunch outdoors as there was no designated mess hall, I moved over to the hunters guild to complete my first mission. As I walked in the same people were milling around the terminals as I saw most mornings, if I popped in. I walked over to the terminal, placed my hand down and chose the quest to kill 5 horned rabbits. It was a pretty simple task with the armour and weapons you are given others have told me. I walked over to the armour stand and a text box appeared saying If I wanted to pick up my ¡®free¡¯ armour. I clicked on the yes it asked if I wanted to view the store which I swiped away. Armour appeared on the floor but all hunter armour had a special property which by saying equip armour you would be able to instantly wear it and not have to worry about putting it on while saying disequip will unequip the armour. No one knew how the armour was chosen, but each piece did different things. The most common armour was the robe that gave barely any protection but granted a bonus to your star limit which increases your physical properties e.g. speed, strength etc. While the other most common piece is a chest plate, helmet, pants and sword, a much safer option but it is heavy and can impact your fighting, each has its own cons and pros.


    I received the robes I looked down disappointed at the armour I was given. It looked pretty though with red flowers painted on it and a little star on top of the hoodie, I sighed as there was no helping it. ¡°Equip¡± the robe appeared, something shifted within me and I grew stronger. I looked down at myself realizing I was more built up like I''ve been working out for months or years. I knew I was still well within the realm of what the human body is capable of but it''s still an amazing feeling. I have no words to describe it. I looked stupid though in my robes at least they didn¡¯t reach the ground so I wasn¡¯t going to trip over by walking. I walked out of the hunters guild turning around for a bit to wonder how this appeared here, then I walked off feeling stupid by the robes but I continued on to slay some rabbits.


    I reached the planes in under 10 mins. It was very close to the camp but the rabbits didn''t get close as the guards would kill them. I saw others around with their armour on most were fighting horned rabbits but some were moving towards the forest; the fools. I understood that most had a team to help them but there were things hundreds of times worse in those woods or that¡¯s what the other hunters say. While I was looking around at the others I didn¡¯t see a horned rabbit barrel into me with its full body knocking me over right into the ground, small cuts appeared on me then it dug its horn into my side it tried to hit my spine but I moved quicker than I ever had before to stop that from occurring, I screamed in pain as it tore into my shoulder I grabbed it before it could tear itself further in, and ripped it out as it came the pain intensified. I put the robe on my wound and it started to soak but I didn''t care, I needed to stop the blood. I screamed so loud some of the other parties lost focus and got distracted they threw out a few insults but nothing else through gnashed teeth the rabbit was coming back I made it to my feet looking down at the oversized body that was half my height I realized I could suffocate but it would probably cost me. Pained moans came out but I managed to keep most of it at bay then my ability came back to me. I''ve never used it but it could be my last hope otherwise, I would have to run away. I activated it. It was a weird feeling barreling into a charging opponent. My speed increased by a lot. I was quicker than I was before and probably every 15 years old ever. As I was about to barrel into the horned rabbit I pivoted to the right turned and kicked hard. The bunny went up then started falling back to the ground. I knew it wasn''t dead but I did a lot of damage. My injury started spewing because I exerted force on it. A pained scream came out of me. I was able to catch most of it but the rabbit was still there, it let out a pained scream and hurried away. I didn''t follow as I couldn''t or it would cause me more injuries. I wobbled back into town, pained moans came out and the worst part about this was that my new robe had a hole where I got punctured.

 Nothings fair

    After I arrived back I had to go to the best healer in town which was just a guy that has a healing ability. There were a nurse and a doctor here too but they didn''t have the right resources to work on patients, they knew basic stuff to help but nothing like the other guy can do. As I walked into the tent area he was situated a line of people were in front of his house I groaned as it was extremely painful. I didn''t complain as there was one guy that had a gut wound that was only being partially held back but various pieces of clothing soaking the blood and keeping it contained. The screams told me that he was definitely not ok, so I didn''t complain about waiting. After a long pain-filled time I was finally allowed in. A man in a dirty blood-red shirt sat at the only table I''ve seen as well as a chair. ¡°Hello, so what seems to be the problem?¡± He asked in a polite courteous manner that my grandmother would be proud of. I showed him the puncture in my shoulder. Luckily the bleeding has stopped but it still hurts more than I''ve ever had before at the start when it was punctured It wasn''t as bad, but after I did that kick that sent the bunny flying it''s only gotten worse. ¡°Come over here and I¡¯ll see what I can do¡± I shuffled over. I went on my knees as he then put his hands on my wound. He pulled the cloth, sending a cry out, I looked at him with bloodshot eyes hoping he was going to heal it. More painful cries came when he put his hands on me, ¡°big baby.¡± He spoke that so quietly I couldn''t even hear him say anything. My shoulder flooded with green light I saw when I was looking into the tent, the pain dimmed then turned non-existent. I looked at my shoulder expecting to see the wound but finding a healed wound, there wasn''t even a scar.


    I left soon after saying heartfelt thank yous. I headed to the hunters guild hoping to gain free training as I now realize I definitely need assistance as I won mostly by chance and was lucky no more attacked afterwards. As I entered I saw a person glowing with light which occurs after you level up your star limit. To increase the star limit you had to continually kill creatures for their essence or craft items. You could also gain rare potions which increase your star limit artificially. The best hunter in town was rumoured to be base star limit 4, I wondered how strong someone like that was. I didn''t dwell on that for long as I was at the terminal I flicked through most of the messages and screens to arrive at training. I chose unarmed combat as I was going to be using that for the foreseeable future, an option appeared in which I could choose what star limit I would have. it only allowed the ones that I¡¯ve had at any time in the past. I Picked star limit 2.


    I appeared in an open room, a wooden dummy was sitting in the middle, I knew that was mostly decorative as numerous people have done training over the last 3 months. I''m surprised I didn''t do any training for the first 2 weeks and only went on the lookout for information. I also calmed down from the trauma of my whole situation like the terrible thing this town has done and the loss of everything, but I was still suffering just not outwardly. A voice that came from everywhere at once spoke to me¡­ or not. ¡°Unarmed combat is one of the hardest forms to master, but could also be the greatest if your weapon gets lost or knocked away and you only had your body with you.¡± I pondered on the Voice as I was calling its words. ¡°To start raise your arms¡±, I complied with no hesitation after I had to go through basic exercises like jabs and various hand motions and an assortment of various other hand techniques. Afterwards, I had to do leg techniques then I repeated them another 2 times then called it a day as I was tired of the large day I had.


    I woke up in my tent in the middle of the night from nightmares. My parents were being fed to these abominations of humans while the mayor was sitting and watching from a castle in the sky. I could only watch as guards held me back then the nightmare ended cold sweat covered me. I started dreaming about my parents as tears flowed down my face hitting the floor. I eventually got myself back to sleep. I woke up and did my normal routine. I was groggy but went out to get some water from the lake that was very very close to our base, to wash up and drink than eat rabbit meat. I went back to the hunters guild to continue my training. As I entered I saw the top hunter at one of the many terminals people were staring. We all knew he was the top as he had better armour it glowed lightly while it also had engraved pictures that added a sense of beauty a sword was also floating in the air, I couldn''t see anything else about him as he was coated in a layer of darkness. I wondered when I would get that strong then banished the silly thoughts.


    I retreated to a terminal wanting to get right back into training. The Voice appeared again telling me to lie on my back, an invisible force held me down. I wasn''t expecting this to occur at all so I let out a gasp. The Voice spoke up ¡°What are you going to do if someone holds you down preventing you from moving.¡± I tried wriggling away, kicking wildly and a million other things that all failed. I gave up and asked, ¡°I die?¡± A moment of silence then Voice responded, ¡°Yes, you would probably die but if you ever get in a situation you can¡¯t or won¡¯t run from, use everything you''ve got to make one more last-ditch effort.¡± My skills came back to me. I used charge but as there was no one around it didn''t work. Then I tried to use mana but¡­ nothing. ¡°Sad, you would die if they were trying to kill you.¡± The force then came off me I hopped back up then continued on with technique after technique, we did dodging too where Voice would send some black orb-like thing at me and I would have to jump out of the way.


    I was hit repeatedly. It wasn''t nice. I eventually departed training heading back it was night I realized I missed dinner. I hung my head in shame and disappointment. I walked straight to my tent, realizing I still didn¡¯t know barely any people in the camp I needed friends. I woke back up doing my normal routine but instead of going to training, I set out searching for anyone around my age. I went around tents searching for anyone that even looked young. I hoped there were at least some kids here even if I knew that was unlikely, maybe I''m the only teen in this entire camp. I vowed I would leave this place as soon as I was strong enough. I could only train as even rabbits were too much for me. So I went back into that training hall. Then days turned into months.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    3 months later


    A lot has happened in this time people have finally managed to secure the front of the forest so non-hunters have turned into amateurish builders. More people have come through and our town now has five actual buildings. The garden was also set up so we got to eat stuff other than rabbit meat and now we have people that can kill the creatures in the forest so we have wolf meat. I''ve been training a little in the last 3 months, as there was a monster mode where I could fight mana created monsters so I¡¯ve been training against various types of monsters and it allowed me to excel as I can¡¯t die. I¡¯ve also practised through various situations and become good at unarmed combat. Today was the first day I was going to face real horned rabbits in nearly 3 months. I was putting it off as I was very scared about getting hurt again, but now I have finally got adequate training and can control my ability near perfectly. Confidence flowed out of me. I was being arrogant but I didn''t care. It was time to enact my revenge.


    I walked down towards the plain there were barely any people here anymore as most were now in the forest. Even though hunter death has jumped from around 6 a month to an astonishing 13 the rewards and food were better but the risk was far increased as there were more than wolves in there. I saw a lone rabbit in the corner. I approached with caution this time I wanted to sneak attack it unfortunately, it heard me before I even got a chance to sneak attack. It turned around to face me but I was nearly on top of it by this point by activating charge. I was able to go incredibly fast even more so with the star limit bonus, the bunny tried to dodge but I side kicked mid-sprint into its side. My foot pierced into the rabbits hide leaving a gruesome hole. I winced at the mess and having to clean myself up I picked my foot up separating it from the rabbit. As I peered down I realized that could have gone terribly wrong if it jumped at me my speed plus its horn would have impaled me through. I was lucky it tried to dodge. Other rabbits turned towards me. I looked in horror as five came at me at once. I didn''t know how to respond. I''ve fought against two opponents before but never more.


    I had to run, discarding the corpse I ran as there wasn''t anything I could do, my ability was on cooldown and if I used it again I risked death. I outpaced them so I eventually was able to outrun them for some reason they wouldn''t go into or near the camp. I put my hands on my knees and gasped for breath. I smiled as I got vengeance even if I only got one. I realized that the quest that has been plaguing me for 3 months now has finally increased and my essence has also increased by 6. Progress the rest of the day all I did was sleep. I needed to do something different as I¡¯ve been doing the same thing for three months now and now all I was doing was putting my life in danger. I haven''t even seen my parents in 3 months!


    I didn''t know what to do though. There was nothing fun to do and the youngest person other than me is around 18. The only thing I could think of was practising magic. I''ve never done it before but I¡¯ve seen others use it like the healer and the top hunter has some type of death magic. I went out away from all the tents and noise to an open area that was devoid of life. There were a few other hunters around that were training with each other and some just relaxing, this area was named training ground. I moved away as I didn¡¯t know how much of an effect my magic could have and didn''t want to accidentally hurt anyone if I had any magic at all. I moved to a patch of dirt a bit out from the other hunters, I had absolutely no idea of what I was doing. I tried to remember what they did in the movies or books. Most said it was from within so I tried to look within. I pictured myself going inside of myself¡­ nothing. I frowned but continued for another five minutes then gave up in anger and frustration. I realized I could ask people that can use magic and ask them how they do it.


    I approached a tent near mine but a bit further out. The newest arrival was located there and if rumours were to be believed he had some form of water magic. I opened up the tent flap realizing this was higher quality than mine as it was made out of some type of hide as the leathery surface was coarse against my skin. Jealousy flared up but I quelled it as this was one of only 6 magic users in the camp. As I entered a surprised squeal welcomed me, I saw a middle-aged man was sitting on the ground. Crying. He wiped his face then addressed me ¡°oh¡± sniff ¡°hi.¡± I looked down at this poor man knowing how he felt and I still felt. He continued, ¡°you could have knocked or said something.¡± A little embarrassed as I just barged in, my manners were non-existent. ¡°Sorry I barged in here.¡± The man wasn''t crying anymore. I was grateful as I didn''t want to talk to a crying man. ¡°Just knock or shout before you come in next time.¡± The man said. I needed to know his name. ¡°Can¡¯t really knock but my name''s Felix,¡± I said, still a little bit embarrassed. I was happy to see that he was now standing. I realized he was towering over me, he was probably bigger than my Dad! Sad thoughts loomed at the thought of my parents but they disappeared as soon as they arrived. The man spoke again. ¡°My names kanji.¡± I realized he didn¡¯t look American but it was still unexpected, but you weren¡¯t going to be with all American or Chinese people. ¡°Nice to meet you kanji,¡± I asked him if he would like to follow me. He thought for a bit then gave up and came with me. I thought over in my mind a thirty something guy just blindly following a kid and a small laugh made itself known. The man must have thought nothing of it as he just continued following looking around taking in everything. We reached the training ground, people were looking at me strangely as I¡¯ve never brought anyone here before.


    ¡°Have you ever used your magic?¡± I asked straightforwardly. ¡°No, not yet¡± ¡°well let''s change that.¡± I faced him and said, ¡°use your skill AWAY from me or anyone at that matter.¡± He gave a quick nod using it directly behind us a small ball of green appeared which sprayed out burning a small patch of dirt. I watched in amazement as it materialized out of thin air and seeing it burn away a portion of dirt. ¡°So how do you do that?¡± He looked back at me smiling ear to ear. ¡°I just used magic.¡± I was growing a bit annoyed, but that was just me. I grew angry and annoyed really easily. ¡°I know magic is cool and epic but how do you use it?¡± I asked again. ¡°I don''t know, I just use it?¡± Now I was annoyed. ¡°But how do you do it? What do you feel?¡± Some of my anger must have come out as he said his response. ¡°Man chill, I don''t know there''s this funny feeling in my belly then it just happens.¡± ¡°Sorry I just wanted to know,¡± I replied, my annoyance leaving me, it wasn''t his fault. ¡°It''s fine this is all new to me. Sorry if I didn''t have your answer.¡± I grinned at him ¡°thanks for trying.¡± He left soon after. Realization dawned on me I was garbage at fighting and mostly everything else I left the training ground laughing hysterically, I was doomed.

 Destruction

    I couldn''t throw a decent punch even with the star limit. I couldn''t kick well and I only killed that bunny purely by luck. I gave up on training after 5 days and decided to talk to others and see how they coped and what they have done. I''ve also had shifting personalities. I''ve been unstable from a young age but my parents have helped me every step of the way and now as they aren''t here, it¡¯s a bit overwhelming. That''s why I can get angry fast or sad even quicker. I''ve tried to keep a happy personality plastered on my face, but it was fake. I didn''t even feel happy a lot of those times.


    Even with my increased physical attributes and training a few times, I was still the same. Knowing that I was never going to make anything of myself or maybe I will who knows. I lay down on my bed of grass, smoothing the grass and asleep. A loud beeping noise appeared mid sleep shouting was heard all around the camp while screams came further out I knew going out was a stupid idea but I needed to see what was happening. Putting on my broken and torn robe power flowed through me then quickly left.


    Opening the flap gave me a pretty grim sight. The fire was spreading from tent to tent while some people were still inside burning to bones. I covered my mouth and looked away from the blinding and blazing fire. I- I don''t know what to do. Screams ignited while clangs of steel on something echoed through the blazing night. I had to do something. I was no hero but I couldn''t let this camp die as there was nowhere else to go, or what I know of. I stealthy went over to the burning tents keeping low and in front of other tents, I needed to gauge the situation if it was too much for me. I would run. I wasn''t suicidal.


    I slowly moved from tent to tent muttering under my breath to stay calm and continue forward. A man fell to the ground in front of me landing on a tent and breaking it as he crashed to the ground a stone monster with metal spikes sticking out of the stone, as It approached the man I backpedalled away, as the monster stabbed into the man with its knife fist. A loud scream filled the night then silence. I was able to make it into a tent still very close but I was pressing myself against the ground praying they hadn''t seen me which was very unlikely. With a very small look at the monster, I picked up on two things. It only had one eye like a cyclops and it didn''t have ears. I did not rule out it had other ways to hear but the things I''ve seen weren''t magical. So there must have been more monsters out there or they could have brought torches.


    Minutes passed and the fire was closing in. I dried my tear-stricken face with my dirty robe and slowly started moving, going across the ground like some soldier in a trench. As I reached the entrance I opened the flap slowly, expecting the worse. I saw none of these rock monsters so I picked myself up and went out not looking back but still feeling the burning from the fire. I kept low like before but most of the tents have been destroyed and I could see bodies EVERYWHERE. It was a terrifying experience why would anyone do such horrendous and terrible atrocities. I vomited on the ground then gave a quick prayer to those poor souls and headed away looking everywhere trying to see if there were still any monsters nearby. My thoughts were clouded as I was screaming at myself to stay calm and get through this.


    As I continued through the wreckage of the tents and¡­ bodies, I heard grunting from around a full tent approaching slowly I found a woman bleeding out. I moved over to her. I could see she was holding her hand over her belly but it was doing nothing as the hole was too large. She had blonde hair with a face that looked carved out of marble. I couldn''t do anything because she was dying too fast and I didn¡¯t have anything to prevent it without a major chance of hurting her more, so I just sat there. As she took her last breath I was crying. I''ve been crying a lot today. Eyes in my hands I bawled it out screaming loud I didn''t care at this point even when a system message appeared I continued crying not looking. As it eventually stopped I wiped my face and forced myself to take big breaths I wasn''t going to break. This wouldn''t stop me. As I calmed myself I read over the message.


    Congratulations! Less than 100 of the previous 10,139 survived the monster wave. Survivors have been awarded a title on merit. Additional note all quests with the hunter guild have been cancelled as the place you were assigned them has been destroyed.


    Title: Hiding


    Effect: When you purposefully hide from anyone or anything your sound is concealed (this doesn''t work on spells or artifacts that prevent this.)


    As I read over the messages for the second time I couldn''t believe that less than 100 people had survived. There couldn''t have been that many casualties as there weren''t that many bodies. I fought about the fire and how it reached such heights and was spreading so fast the bodies were being used as fuel to the fire while the tents were also assisting. I looked around as there were still bodies. The fire was still burning high but not continuing as fast as a rate as before. I ran away from the fire running at an abnormally fast speed with the help of my robe. By testing my strength I am only about a little bit stronger than I was before, the star limit affects everyone differently. A baby with a star limit of 5 is not as strong as an adult with the same star limit.


    I''ve seen terrible things in the last 3 months but this tops the cake. This is too cruel to force upon a 15 year old who doesn''t know what he''s doing most of the time. As I ran I had to dodge a few tents that were still up jumping over one entirely while also finding bodies as I reached the training grounds unexpectedly I didn''t find anyone here. Not even bodies. I only had one place to turn to the plains. A plan formulated into my mind most of the survivors were probably lucky people like me that chose to hide low and not let fear get the better of them or they were Hunters who were away on quests or various other tasks and when they returned to find the camp looking like this they would help rebu- no humans were not selfless creatures they wouldn''t help me they would probably get pissed getting the message finding me here and could kill me out of anger. I had to leave, the plains were too close but it was my only hope the forest was too dangerous. I needed to think rationally though how was I meant to prepare the food? Cook it? And how could I safely acquire it without destroying it so much it''s unusable? I crawled up into a ball sitting on the barren ground. I was left wondering why? Don''t all isekai¡¯d people have an OP ability or sword? My ability was ok but it only works well if I have to charge directly into the opponent so if I use it and it launches an attack I need to continue running or abort the skill and dodge. Wasn''t there anything I could do¡­Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    <hr>


    Forest Top hunter Pov


    I wandered the forest alone without the company of others. I didn''t need them. The forest was vibrant at this time with a lot of monsters roaming around. I looked up to the towering trees that expanded past my view. The grass took on a faint purplish tint, while the monsters had abilities compared to the rabbits these things were the true monsters. Even the lowly forest fox had an ability to camouflage itself within the environment. As I walked under the foliage rustling came from under a little bush I pulled out my sword; a katana. A small flame bursted up from my palm, combat-ready. From behind a piercing scream was let out at me. My danger sense alerted me, flashing red. Making me spin around my sword went up in a cutting motion I missed completely. It came from below, I was played. I let my fire loose trying to stop my attack and retreat back. The fire hit it dead centre. It was a grass ball with fangs that was connected to a vine. Surprisingly it was normal green grass with not a tint of purple on it, it burst up into flames squealing as it burned to death.


    As it retreated back into the cover of the bush lifting itself like it was flying, with the help of the vine. I was about to pursue it when a system message appeared in my view. It was a very different message than I¡¯ve seen before.


    Your village has started its first wave the random wave, if you would like to as the strongest person in your village you and you alone could fight the boss monster single-handedly.


    Y/N


    As I looked in confusion as the last bit was in red it was a different colour to the rest of the text I assumed it wasn''t going to be an easy fight but if I handle this the village could fight back the wave. I pondered how strong it could be but I eventually decided to face the boss only caring about eliminating the threat. I proceeded to press down on the yes. The forest disappeared from view, while my feet instead of treading on grass, leaves and the like was treading on... bones. Grimacing at the fact I was standing on bones I made small platforms of fire underneath adding a layer of water to harden it with the wind to keep it in the air. I looked in all directions finding nothing but bones I was left confused. Movement occurred underneath the bones. Taking a deep breath I activated mana sight; it only saw mana most normal objects had no mana in them whatsoever, so I was able to spot a glowing blue line moving underneath the bones. It must have been using an ability as none of the bones on top were moving at all, creating an illusion there was nothing there. I saw it coming up incredibly fast. As it was coming up I used the bones with the help of my earth magic to create a wall of hardened bone hoping its ability wouldn''t work hundreds of bones were used in the creation of this wall I summoned balls of fire around me; I was going all out even if it cost more than 75% of my mana to use this attack I realized how stupid that wall tactic was but I couldn¡¯t help it now.


    As it was nearly on my wall it changed to right and dodged the wall completely. Panic escaped me, it was smart. As it burst out of the ground I focused on it with cold hard focus. A snake made out of entirely bone was the monster that came from below. It headed straight for me. My fireballs sailed across the air closing in. They reached only to be stopped by a barrier, they managed to breach the barrier but only 2 did damage to it. The fireballs started to burn through the bone, when a fizzle appeared putting them out they only did minimal damage. The monster became enraged and like so many cartoons shows his eyes turned red. Its body GREW in size, the bones around started to connect with him and the hardened bone I used to stop him was now being used against me!


    Scared, fearful and alone I know I messed up. As it continued to come towards me I ignited my 1 use artifact knowing there was no time to wait. Energy flowed through me. I was going to use everything. My mana regeneration increased tenfold while my star limit increased by half. It was an incredible experience the likes I''ve never felt before. As its body came crashing down on me like an approaching meteor I jumped. I soared through the air I jumped on top of its body while it just crashed into my platform. It didn''t stop and was about to go back into the ground. I saw it wasn''t using its barrier magic so I was going to get hurt if I didn''t jump off. Before I left I placed a hand on the bones. It was a very odd experience but I¡¯ve felt worse in the short time I¡¯ve been here. Fire erupted out of my palm. It melted the bone at incredible degrees as I used it to spread and corrode the demon from the inside and burn it out. I had to drop off the monster as it crashed back into the ground; that entire exchange was probably only 3 seconds.


    My senses were improved to new heights and my power was incredible. It was sad I only had 57 seconds left. I prayed for the monster to come back up tracking it with mana sense. It started coming back up quicker than it did before Earth spikes of bone appeared in the sky with the surrounding bone. The fire was going to be added when they were let loose. I jumped high as it breached the ground in all its glory bone splashed all over the place and new bone filled in the hole. I let the spikes fly with the help of wind and fire. It was a destructive storm of chaos. It broke into the snake but went out the other side and five massive holes littered its body. Bones started coming up from the ground connecting to the snake¡¯s body fixing it back up. My attacks were useless. Sadness clung to me. It was an impossible task to beat this monster.


    As I started falling into its widened jaws, my first instinct was to scream but my title ability activated flooding me with a calm feeling. Wind flowed out chucking me to the right barely dodging the bone snake. Its red eyes which I haven''t noticed before looked at me with all the rage in the world. I wasn¡¯t going to receive any mercy, not even a quick death. Falling like a dummy with its strings cut off I activated my water magic and air to cushion the fall. I couldn''t use my air magic for flight or create a ball of water around me when I was falling as every element had different restrictions on use.


    I dispersed the water and quickly propped back on my feet. The snake monster was coming back down. I knew I had to end this now as if that monster attacked the town with the other monsters there wouldn''t be anything left. Only one attack could even have a chance of winning but it would cost me everything. I didn''t have any time to think it over and activated the procedure. My inner mana started to compress and expand at the same time creating an effect that triggered a property that not many knew about as I was in the first 10,000 to find out. Tears flowed down my face as an increasing pain filled every cell in my body and the ground vibrated and started to reach increasingly high temperatures. Then an explosion the likes of which the nuclear bomb that hit japan would shun under exploded outwards. 100¡¯s of miles of bone instantly disintegrated. The bone serpent erased to nothingness and nothing was left of a top hunter from a small planet that was no more.

 Side chapter (short)

    Fluffy sat at her desk looking down at her monitor as a replay of a human that made an explosion worthy enough to alert her, The Elder of Light''s presence. As she glanced down she saw the new human subtype 458, was the one making this attack. Her attention was boosted up a few levels as nothing should be this strong so early on. As she swiped up the file for the strange human, an interesting report was her result.


    He was the top hunter in their sub pocket dimension. He used elemental magic and had various titles and artifacts. He also tricked his town into thinking he used death magic when he didn¡¯t. He was also a genius in the usage of mana and created his own spells and found out the secret to a secret magical property. A shame he''s dead now. She got up from her chair. Her room was a box made of black metal with various symbols littered on the walls, and the floating monitor was close by an orange chair on the ground.


    A glowing door appeared in front of her which she preemptively stepped into. Greeted by a towering castle and golden arches most people would have seen this as Heaven, but she only saw this as hell. As this was a job she was forced onto with no way to get out. Not even death could do her part.


    As she walked on polished stone and music played in the background all she could think of was the report of the destruction of one of the boss zones. As she reached the steps that led into the castle, tapping came from behind turning but not stopping the pace she saw Reaper was also here, maybe even to discuss the same report she was going to discuss. No words were said as there was no need to; they were only vassals for the creators. Why the creators didn¡¯t know everything was because they weren''t all-knowing or all-powerful, they could be killed and had. As I walked into a castle little girls would dream about and others would kill for. Paintings adorned the walls by skilled artisans. Continuing down the long hall which golden chandeliers were hanging above and a beautiful designed carpet that had drawings of flowers and scenes of famous events down below. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Three paths branched off leading to 3 doors. I turned to door 1 for less than a second sadness plain on my face. Turning to door 3 I entered, I walked into a glass box, high above a peaceful village down below. If you looked you could see the villagers moving around unaware of the tragedy that will befall them. Looking up from the village below a monster sat across from me, and a monster  was all you could call this being as dark creatures moved in his blonde hair and his eyes made of rubies. With arms of chain and a dark cloak on his chest while his legs were human. The failed creation of the creators, being 0.


    As it turned its head towards me I hid my fear that appeared whenever I looked at this freak of nature. ¡°You do know I can hear your thoughts?¡± Said Masulei AKA the monster. ¡°I know I wanted you to hear,¡± I replied in my raspy voice. ¡°You never change Fluffy.¡± The dark creatures turned towards me looking as if they were peaking into my very soul, then vanished back into Masuleis hair. ¡°So, why are you in my office on this lovely day fluffy?¡± No hostility appeared in his voice as elders couldn''t harm elders without direct orders. ¡°I have a report for you Masulei,¡± I said through clenched teeth knowing he won''t enjoy this. One of his arms wrapped around the table I thought nothing of it as a notepad and monitor appeared, just like mine except with a little star on the corner. It spoke up again using its strangely pleasant voice, ¡°So is your report good or bad?¡± I looked him straight into his ruby eyes and told him the straight truth there was nothing to hide. It wasn''t my fault. ¡°Yeah, it''s bad one of the trial grounds has been nearly entirely decimated. I will send you the report.¡± His hands moved over the monitor looking at the report after several minutes passed he looked back at me.


    Standing completely still I waited for his judgment. ¡°This is bad indeed. I''ll need Reaper to do clean up as the Creators are busy getting ready for the next universe event. Thanks for bringing us this report Fluffy.¡± Appearing back at the entrance into the room I was filled with happiness as that couldn''t have gone better. I checked my goal meter seeing I only needed 5374 more complete reports to leave this accursed place. I realized long ago how boring it was to be a deity, and why I needed to have some more excitement than just office work.

 Should I...

    Angry at the universe for putting me in such a terrible place. I cried as flames burned far away. I didn''t know anymore there was not much I could do. I could wait until someone rescues me but that could be from a day to never. I had no one with me I don''t know any survival skills and now as I was wasting away in a foreign land that I was getting used to, but now¡­ I don''t know anymore. Maybe suicide is my only way out, what would my parents do? I hope they weren''t going through a similar situation.


    I looked out into the darkness of night knowing I needed to get some sleep. Sleeping on the ground was not the nicest experience, It was hard and rough on your back and you knew you were vulnerable and weak. The reason I slept here was that I didn''t care anymore, maybe the sweet release of death would find me happiness. Waking up to nothing the fire that was billowing behind me was¡­ gone absolutely nothing remained and I knew it was foolish going back as there was only destruction and death back there. No survivors that were in the camp at the time of the attack would have survived by staying there. I¡¯m lucky there was nothing else to it. The universe wants me to suffer so maybe I''m supposed to go on a quest for revenge, but I don''t want to. This experience has changed me in some way I didn''t know how but I wasn''t the same. Well, I can''t leave it up to luck to help me now I need to do something. Getting up from my slice of ground I trekked on as emotions plagued my soul and heart while the gut-wrenching screams hit me the hardest. Then the people that valiantly sacrificed their lives for my pitiful existence. I didn''t know what to think so I didn''t and strode towards the plains.


    In the heat of the sun walking down towards enemies that I didn''t even know I could beat with a robe that was at the brink of collapse. I needed food and I heard most meat can be eaten fresh even without cooking it first, rabbit is no exception. They looked agitated as I gazed upon them from afar. Unsettled, probably the lack of people or the fire from yesterday. Then I saw it in the middle, a rabbit on the corpses of its brethren. It wasn''t the usual white but a neon green with blood splashed all across its fur, it looked meaner than the rock monster from yesterday. Heh, yesterday. I''m broken. I still wanted to puke all over the ground from seeing even one of those bodies, but as most aren''t I¡¯m able to bottle up my emotions most of the time.


    I still knew that I didn''t want to die so I wouldn''t let that happen. I still needed meat and the rabbits were my safest bet, I needed to kill the scary one. Plans flashed in my mind most illogical but some made sense but I didn''t have the right resources. I hated this but I could suffocate it by using my robe then start crushing it with my body. My robe was nearly destroyed but it was still durable. I didn''t think the rabbits were going to attack by looking at them. I knew they were fearful, but what made them stay and why weren''t they moving? I reconsidered this and realized fighting the ¡®boss¡¯ wouldn''t do me anything as there were too many unknowns. I hopefully could kill rabbits from a far enough distance away from the boss rabbit. I maneuvered to the rear of the boss rabbit and to the farthest away rabbit it took around 10 mins to cross the distance safely going around not to alert his/her presence. I know he saw me but isn''t following me so I was able to go safely around. I moved to the furthest away rabbit sneaking up behind it. I knew it saw me, but my title effect was helping even though it was odd to me not hearing my own footsteps, but still hearing the different changes it caused. It still wasn''t moving even though I was very close to it. Magic the boss rabbit was using magic, that was why all of the rabbits were acting this way, but I would only know for sure if it did what I was thinking it was going to do.


    As I got 2 steps to it the surprise attack came and I knew that these rabbits were being controlled by the boss rabbit. It was pretty obvious the moment you glanced at them as their bodies were frozen stiff, not hopping or even moving while the only thing that had any movement was the one on top of the corpses. It would also explain why they didn''t run away from the rabbit that was killing them. Before it hit me I used charge on myself as it was about to impale me. Moving near inhumanly fast I lifted my arm and elbowed it straight into its back cracking multiple bones and sending it crashing back down. Pain rose up in my elbow as I hit it straight into its spine. Putting my other hand on my elbow it held in the pained scream realizing the rabbit isn''t moving anymore. I smashed my destroyed shoe into its head for safety after the tenth hit when I realized that I smashed its skull and got some brain on me.


    After I brought the meat back the process was less than pleasant. But after 5 hours I was holding onto fresh raw meat. Five minutes later I was coughing my lungs out. It was foul, my mouth tasted terrible. As I was sitting next to the river I jumped in trying to get the terrible taste out of my mouth. The current wasn''t that strong so I was able to swim back but that taste still lingered in my mouth, it was dreadful. Heading back after taking a long drink of water. I was wet and soggy but I was happy to eat something even if it was the worst thing I¡¯ve ever eaten. Well, I know how my days are going to be for the seeable future.


    4 and a bit months later


    Rabbit, rabbit and more rabbit. I''ve gotten better at preparing the rabbit but it still tasted terrible but today finally I was going to reach star limit 2. My robe broke 2 months ago and I''ve been without it since. I''ve learnt to use techniques to help me and I even made a sharpened wooden spear, with a particular straight branch that I found on the outskirts of the forest and with the help of stones. I walked over to the plains like normal but this time, unlike the half, disappeared smell of blood it was ever-present, it was horrible. As I looked down expecting to see the bunnies and the terrified bunnies all I saw were corpses.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Heads half ripped off guts spewed all over the floor and the green bunny was all there was, except this time he was twice as tall and had another horn. He evolved. Disgusted at the blood-red bunny, I realized my food supply was going to be demolished as he was proceeding to go into the burrows. I had to put a stop to this, holding my spear tightly I headed forward but not charging. The rabbit hearing my presence raised its head astonishingly high. I nearly peed myself like I''ve done countless times before¡­


    Its blue eyes stared into me, still not stopping my charge not wanting to show the fear that encroached on my body I closed in. Its horn turned black the blood on its back turned into spikes that flew towards me, not as fast as I first thought but still fast. Jumping to the side I fell straight on my hands and knees leaving some scrape. It was NOT fun to dodge while running straight. An idea came jumping to my feet, spear in hand I rushed at the bunny directly. As its eyes stayed in contact with mine the next blood spike came activating charge I dove to the side the speed at which I moved caught me a little unprepared, as I more like ran to the side. My faster reaction speed was also nice allowing me to roll out of the way. Making an almost perfect roll springing to my feet I twisted and continued forward his fur was perfectly clean now sporting its normal green skin.


    My charge buff was also gone as I had to stop going straight forward. Frowning as my plan failed I carried forward as the bunny also ran at me. I started to freak out and got my spear ready.  I quickly tried to move to the left while holding my spear out on my right side hoping to use its speed against it which I did splendidly as I pushed forward my spear pierced in I had to let go as the force it was travelling would have shot me back as the spear got lodged into its thick head I realized how strong this rabbit is and how I¡¯m going to need to think of something fast. As it started to turn around I tried to reach around its back. It was all in naught as it just came at me with its now 3 horns. Why would its evolution make it have 3 horns it doesn''t help it.


    I refused to die here. I was going to survive. Giving up on my attempt to reach its back a new idea came to my mind: if it rammed itself into a tree would the spear impale it? As I was about to move into the forest the rabbit was on me this time I wasn''t quick enough. Getting smashed in the was painful. Agony filled me. This was around the same pain I felt when I saw the bodies after the wave. Rolling back I coughed out blood sitting up with all my effort did me nothing as the rabbit towered over me leaving me no time it rammed into me my corpse impaled on its three horns.


    Death, it was a cold feeling, as I saw my body down on the ground while I floated up horror filled me as everything I¡¯ve gone through was for naught. I tried to cry but nothing occurred I realized all I was a soul contrary to opinion. I wasn''t an orb with wisps of energy crackling about but I was. a Chair? As I floated above I started moving faster and faster seeing nothing but endless flashes of colour until I was in a white room. My chair was sitting on the ground? It was a very weird experience. A man materialized slightly away from me standing on the ground. ¡°Hello I know you must be very confused by all of this but you need to make a choice only people in the world get.¡± I was even more confused now. I tried to ask him/her a question but I just couldn''t do it. Annoyed, I waited for him to continue as I waited here as a chair. ¡°Now you died a very untimely death you survived off eating raw meat while also only eating once a day?¡± He looked at me quizzically like I was some strange beast. ¡°How did you survive? It should have been impossible. You could have survived off the raw meat but how were you able to hide from the monsters in the wave?¡± As his eyes grew distant I realized he must be looking at the floating black text. Waiting patiently I looked around, it was a very odd experience moving but not actually moving. It was like I''d drifted out of my body and just started walking away¡­ which it was.


    When his eyes grew more focused he made a quick hand gesture which sent me crashing back down into my body? ¡°It seems you did some quick thinking and some luck was also played in your survival, but that doesn¡¯t matter as you''re dead now.¡± Wait why am I so calm? This man somehow reading my thoughts, responded to my thoughts. ¡°Oh yeah, that''s just an effect of this place it suppresses a lot of emotions and allows you to focus on what''s happening.¡± I was not pleased but all my anger was nowhere to be found. ¡°So back on track, you need to make a choice.¡± His eyes focused on me in a way I knew he was being serious. ¡°You can choose to wander the soul world hoping to be bonded with a soul user, or you can be reborn somewhere anywhere in the World but this will be at the cost of your memories.¡±


    I didn¡¯t want to lose my memories but I also didn¡¯t want to be someone''s pet. I mentally screamed if there was another choice anything at all. He never responded and just sat there patiently waiting. I didn''t like it. I would wait too, I wouldn''t accept after all I was a stubborn fool nothing could change that. Hours I waited but nothing changed hope left my body and I chose the one choice where even if I hated it would be better. I mentally thought I wanted to be reincarnated. Then all I saw was light and then I thought of nothing.