《Dawn of the System》 Chapter 1
Thanks to your efforts and your innate abilities, the Thirty have blessed you with their System again: Your new race and class will be: Half-Dragon Pyromancer.
Richard hurled the sheets of his bed away from his body, unsure of what happened in his sleep. He flicked the light switch on, but the lightbulb on the ceiling must have shattered during the night, and only some dim sunrays filtered through the shutters of his now cracked window. But even if it was dark, his vision was still sharp, albeit with a strange yellow filter that stripped color from everything. Richard¡¯s sigh was much deeper than he had thought, like a rumbling sound coming from within him. A gust of wind was banging against the locked door of his room. That idiot of John must have left every window open yet again after he went to work. He must have overslept, something that had truly never happened to him. Now he needed yet again to find some kind of excuse that Professor Brown won¡¯t believe anyway, and this there was little which could save him from failing the class. Richard should be already in the bathroom to brush his teeth, but his body felt so heavy that it was like the frame of the bed below him had buckled under the weight and the mattress was now touching the ground. A large drop of water that seeped from the cracks on the ceiling fell on his chest. Dark stains of moss had grown on the walls and the plaster had come off, revealing the bricks underneath. And was that moss growing at the feet of his bed? What the hell was happening? Small legs were climbing on his index finger of his right hand, which was jutting out of the bed onto his bedside table. Richard smashed the cockroaches with his palm, splitting the rotten wood in two parts with a crack and raising particles of dust in the air. He should have been surprised that he had already broken the furniture he had bought last year, or that his room had been colonized by cockroaches just in one night, but there were much more concerning matters now. The hand in front of his eyes, which shouldn¡¯t be in any way his, had the back covered by sharp and ragged scales that stretched to the tip of the fingers, which ended on sharp and shiny claws. The palm was covered by a darker softer tissue, but it was still much thicker than a normal human¡¯s skin. He gasped when they tucked inside their sheaths after he stretched his fingers, showing only five pointy tips, and when he made a grasping motion, they came out again. To his horror, his hands weren¡¯t the only thing that had changed during the night. His night clothes were gone, and the rest of his body was covered with the same kind of scales of his arms, larger in size on his chest, abdomen and shoulders, but smaller on his sides. The only parts covered with skin instead of scales were his navel and the upper inside part of the thigh. His feet were hanging way past the bounds of the bed, and they were much longer than the ones of a human, with the four toes making more than half of their length. All of this was impossible. He had just gone to bed for his usual four hours of sleep after failing to finish to work on his paper and there was no way he could wake inside¡­ this thing. Maybe he was just in a very realistic dream because his room looked like it had been abandoned for one hundred years and he was very sure that it was not the case.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. A window like the one of an operating system appeared right in front of his vision.
A new quest path has been automatically generated: tutorial. Quest n.1: You¡¯re no longer the being you were before. Open the MENU to get accustomed to your new life. Rewards: none.
If Richard tried to avert his gaze from the window, it¡¯d snap back to the central point of his vision, and if he closed his eyes, it¡¯d still float in the darkness. Where was this ¡®menu¡¯? There were no instructions¡­
Character info
Map
Skills
Items
System settings
Well, he just needed to want to open it to do it. Richard wasn¡¯t aware that such an advanced technology already existed. This meant that this couldn¡¯t be a dream, as the text should be nearly impossible to read. If his memory didn¡¯t betray him, John had been working on a project of that kind, and Richard knew about it because he would never shut his mouth on how much awesome his job was and how he was lucky to be working for such a great company.
Quest completed! Quest n.2: You¡¯ve awoken in a changed world after a long slumber. Explore the area to gain data for your MAP. Rewards: updated World Map.
It was true that he couldn¡¯t remain inside his bed for the whole day. If he had accepted to participate in a virtual reality experiment, he should have some recollection of it, but there seemed to be a huge gap in his memory. His mind had been clouded in a mist that made all the faces indistinguishable from each other, and the last thing he could remember was him rising from his bed during the night, something usual, but instead of going straight to the bathroom, he went to his window and then made a gap through the shutters, narrowing his eyes on something that was now unknown to him. He needed to find John and as soon as possible. Something bad might have happened. His long legs wobbled as he stepped on the floor and he fell on one knee. He had to walk as if he was on tiptoes the whole time because his feet were different, and he just reached the door''s handle with three strides.He had to pick on the key with the tip of two fingers, but when he tried to rotate it, he had put too much strength and it broke inside the lock with a snapping sound. Another stroke of luck. The electricity socket near his bed looked like it was burnt, and his phone, which he would always leave to charge on his bedside table, was gone, maybe fallen somewhere when he had smashed the cockroaches with his hand. But when he tried to look for it, it wasn¡¯t anywhere to be seen. Sighing, he made a step back and rammed his shoulder against the wood. The entire door flew out of the hinges and fell out of the building. Richard¡¯s scream was with a monstrous voice as his two arms grabbed the door frame and he dragged his feet on the ground to avoid from falling into the void. Richard stared at what he had before his eyes with his mouth half open. The entire living room was gone, and if he looked below there was a rusty water pipe leaking brown water jutting from floor¡¯s edge and copper cables waving to the wind. His door was lying inside the living room of someone who lived three floors below. The Golden Bank building in front of his house was now a tall pile of rubble that blocked the whole avenue, with steel beams poking out of it. Grass had grown out of the cracks of the tarmac, while moss had climbed on the bonnets and on the roofs of the wrecked cars, with their windows and windshield smashed and their tires removed. Now he really hoped that what he was seeing wasn¡¯t true. Chapter 2
Tutorial quest n.2 completed: Your location has been updated.
Checking the map, a red dot inside the flat square of the building pinpointed his location. In front of him there was the straight line of the road, blocked by a red cross. The radius of the map was enough to cover the whole block, while the rest was covered by static white noise.
Map tutorial: you can place up to ten markers on places you can see directly or know the coordinates. The System will triangulate the distance, but you need the (Explorer) perk to receive indications on how to reach it
The once full skyline of Downtown was now barren, so that he could see the distant hills and the mountains. There were any mountains near though, only hills, or was his memory wrong? Only two skyscrapers were still standing near each other, and only that part of the city fifteen miles from him was covered by a circle of dark clouds, illuminated by the red flashes of the thunderbolts inside. The city he had been living in had been completely destroyed, and he didn¡¯t have an idea how it happened. It was something that left him aghast, be it real or not. An eerie silence had taken place of the noises of the car engines being idle at the red light, and the fat hot dog seller at the corner was gone, together with flow on the sidewalk and on the road crossing of the businessmen who worked at the bank and the tourists with their large backpacks, snapping photos at every useless thing. He called if there were some signs of life, waving his arms, but only growling sounds came out from his mouth.
Check failed. Your Speech stat is too low. You need: 20; You have: 0.
He tried again but only the sounds of a beast came out from his mouth. His vocal cords and tongue were unable to articulate speech even if he perfectly knew what he wanted to say. Now even if he met somebody, he won¡¯t even be able to talk with him, but before he had to find somebody to talk to. He progressed along the edge and entered inside the bathroom, as the door was gone. Inside, he pulled up the rusty faucet, but, as he expected, nothing but cockroaches came out. Some pieces of the mirror on the sides were still at their place, and Richard neared his face to the one of the lower left. He pried open the eyelids of his round and bulging left eye, with a yellow iris and a vertical pupil, covered by a prominent brow ridge. Two fingers could fit inside the nostrils of his wide snout, and the lips of his gaping mouth stretched near the angle of his jaw. His upper canines were so long that their tips were visible even when he kept his mouth shut. There was no denying that he was ugly, not that he could have been considered handsome before, but this was on a whole another level of hideousness. It was hard to believe that he was trapped inside this monstrous body, but if he waved his hand at the mirror the monster from the other side would wave back to him. There should be a way to get back to how he was before.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. After the bathroom, he moved towards John¡¯s room, which was locked, something that didn¡¯t surprise him, but if he rammed his shoulder against the door it wouldn¡¯t open. When he made a hole in the door and ripped away the wood, a concrete slab blocked his way, which was much newer than the rest of the walls. He had no idea where this thing came from, John had always been shy about his room, but this was nuts. Trying to push the wall was useless, as it was much thicker than the others. There wasn¡¯t anything else to look inside his home and the fact that half of his flat had crumbled meant that he had no way out because the front door was on the other side. In fact, he doubted that John or anybody else could reach him at all as the rubble of the Golden bank building blocked the main entrance and the fire stairs were on the part of the building that had collapsed.
Quest n.3: Your race has flying abilities. Use your wings to reach the ground. Reward: +3 Glide stat.
Richard looked below the drop. There was no way he would have the courage to do it. He made a step forward but a whooshing sound came from his back. He gasped when a gust of wind raised his body from the ground as if he was made of paper. Two open wings were at his sides, made of a translucent red membrane that stretched on a main bone arm and other perpendicular five ones.
Your Glide stat is too low to sustain the weight of your body. Required: 150; You have: 25.
The wind¡¯s direction changed and, as he couldn¡¯t move the wings, the air pushed them backwards until he faced the sun. He screamed and kicked his legs and arms as his body plunged towards the ground. It made a thumping sound as he rolled down the rubble. He groaned and opened his eyes. A piece of a scale was stuck deep inside the hard skin of the palm of his hand. When he removed it, gritting his teeth, a drop of a bright green liquid poured out.
Fall damage: 1% of your Health points.
Richard rose from the ground and cleaned the scales of his torso from the dirt, but with little result, as it got stuck deep inside the many crevices. One percent of his health was nothing to worry about, was it? He was still glad that he made it without dying. A fall from this height would have killed a human for sure.
Tutorial quest n.3 failed: Although you reached the ground, you have still to learn the correct gliding ability. Rewards: none.
There were a lot of theories in his mind on how things could have happened, but none of them was enough to satisfy him without recurring to things that were considered impossible: a nuclear war, or a deadly virus that only left The only thing he was sure of was that John must know something about it, and he should wait for him or for anybody else. Having his body covered in scales had the benefit that he was comfortable everywhere he sat. It was crucial to be optimistic, but it was difficult to shrug off his mind that maybe everybody that lived around him may be dead and that world had ended for real, but he had to, or else he would fall into despair. Things will get better, and he will get his life back, he had just to keep faith. Thinking about how everybody was dead wasn¡¯t going to help him sort the problem. Well, if John didn¡¯t come, then Richard would come to him. His workplace was far from here, and his memory about its location was faint. In fact, he couldn¡¯t even recall his face, and neither everybody else¡¯s he had known.
Quest n.4: You¡¯re Hungry! Your race has a fast metabolism rate, and as such, you need to find sources of food to survive and rocks to sustain your internal flame chamber. Reward: Survival +3
Chapter 3 At first, Richard ignored the quest as he didn¡¯t feel hungry on the road, but when he started to cough black smoke out of his nostrils and mouth, he realized that it was time to do something about it. It made his vision blurry, as if it was a car¡¯s windshield when it was raining. His legs were feeling heavier and the distance between his footprints became shorter. As he needed to walk with long and fast strides to be efficient with this body, using his long tail to stabilize his gait, he found himself stumbling more and more on the uneven ground, consuming more energy. Opening his mouth to make room for more air didn¡¯t ease the fact that he was choking from the inside. A large cloud of steam billowed out of his mouth and a loud rumbling noise came from his insides. He lurched his spine as his body shook in pain. There was no way he could go on like this.
Your internal flame chamber is leaking inside your body. You have lost 14% of your total HP. Total: 85%. Your flame intensity has lowered of 35%.
For the moment, it was better to trust the system, even if the thought of eating rocks seemed stupid to a human, it should not be for a monster like him. Luckily, the only thing that wasn¡¯t lacking in this place was gravel and small pieces of concrete from the collapsed buildings. Richard took a mouthful and his flat back teeth made crunching sounds, then he grabbed a piece of concrete the size of his palm and swallowed it.
Your internal chamber leak has been fixed: 95% of functionality recovered. Quest goal 1 of 2 completed.
Richard rose from the ground, but he found his legs still rigid, and if he wasn¡¯t swift, then it was even more difficult to walk because he couldn¡¯t be coordinated enough.
Your flame¡¯s intensity has lowered of 15%. Total: 50%.
The area was disseminated by broken pieces of wood of the many desks and cupboards of the bank building. Richard grabbed half of a charred plank of wood from the ground and gave a bite, with splinters falling on the ground as teeth grinded the wood. It felt like it was a perfectly normal thing to do, even if it shouldn¡¯t.
You have consumed 10 Units of Wood. Internal flame rekindled by 25%.
It didn¡¯t really taste of anything, and he wasn¡¯t sure that he could taste something, but he found out that he wanted more of it with each bite, so, when he finished the first plank, he ate another three in succession, and then he hopped around and ate all the wood that he could put between his claws.
You have consumed 60 units of wood. Internal flame rekindled by 150%. You can store up to 50 units of wood in your inventory, would you like to dematerialize it and convert it into units?Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
If it was something he needed for survive, then it was better to fill his inventory of it. The rest of the wood he had in his hand glowed of a fluorescent white light and it assumed a spherical shape. The sphere started to shrink to a single point that entered inside his chest.
40 Units of wood have been deposited in your ITEMS section. You have still 10 free units.
That was all the wood he could find that wouldn¡¯t crumble with his fingers. It was a step forward, but the sense of weakness still lingered. He had to find something else, as wood was good enough for his flame, but not for the rest of his organs. The filter on his vision shifted from yellow to a bright shade orange. The flame inside him was crackling and bustling and a whistle came from his ears. The pressure on his temples got worse every time he stood still, leaving him on edge to find something to ease it. He reached the Quick Mart of the block, which was still standing. The blue and yellow sign on the top was hanging by one side, with rust claiming most of the letters, full of bullet holes in a block wasn¡¯t known for his crime rate. A trail of dried blood brought him in front of the double automatic doors, which had their glass cover shattered and they were blocked by two metal shelves. He entered thought the hole left by a semi that had crashed inside and remained stuck between the knocked down shelves and the ceiling. It was impossible to know what happened here, but he was sure that it wasn¡¯t peaceful. The cash registers had been opened and left sprawled on the ground, empty. Not that he had any use of money, tough. He doubted that the police could still exist and arrest him if he took something, but with just a look, he realised that they¡¯ve already took everything that could¡¯ve been looted. Only three intact aisles still stood on the right side, as the rest of the shelves were piled up in a mound that reached the ceiling. There was still a multitude of footprints on the dusty ground going in different directions, then at some time, they all moved towards the storage room in the back. There was a small shape under the shelves, of a bright orange hue instead of a dull shade of yellow.
Trail of Level-less Rabbit found.
Richard lurched his hand towards it, finding a surge of energy. The rabbit bolted towards the entrance of the storage room. His claws rubbed against each other, making a spark. A small ball of fire hit the rabbit on its side, making it roll on the ground.
Flame ball used. You¡¯ve consumed 1 unit of Mana. You have still 15 units to spend before you need to rest.
He didn¡¯t know how he did it, but it was sure what he needed. Richard grabbed the flailing rabbit from the ground, holding him by the neck. Its round dark eyes were still open, and his screams were eerily similar to the ones of a child. Why was he doing this? The last time he ate meat was when he was still in high school, but now he couldn¡¯t resist the urge of burying his fangs inside the neck of the animal. It was wrong, but his hands weren¡¯t going to obey his thoughts, so he closed his eyes and fitted the whole body of the rabbit inside his mouth, stretching his jaws so much that the lower one touched his neck. His canines tore apart its skin, leaking blood inside his mouth, while his incisive teeth crushed its spine. A wave of fire climbed from the internal chamber, roasting the animal. In a few seconds whatever remained of the rabbit was making rumbling sounds as it descended down his esophagus.
You¡¯ve restored 15% of your energy.
It wasn¡¯t enough to quench his hunger now that he had started. There must be something else around.
Alert! Your internal flame¡¯s intensity is too high. Your REASON has dropped to 0 from 100. You¡¯ve entered Starving mode: +50 Strength, +50 Perception, +50 Agility.
Chapter 4 Until dusk, Richard followed the trail of every animal he could find. As he lacked the sense of taste, everything that was made of meat was good enough, but he could only find some rats and bats hiding inside the still standing buildings. Those were too small to quench his hunger, and he would grab one of them and squeeze it until his hand was full of blood, growling and snarling in frustration. In the late afternoon, the sun had set quickly, and a thin haze rose from the ground. Walking in the dark wasn¡¯t a problem to him anymore, and his vision had turned from orange to red. Everything that had a heart that was beating was as bright as it could be. This meant that he knew of the four hunched creatures hidden behind the piles of rubble, even if the slapping sound of their feet was as faint as possible. They had followed him all the way to a large square, occupied by a roundabout and in the middle by a large bronze statue standing on a dirty and chipped marble pedestal of a man on prancing horse.
Lv.2 Husk spotted.
A face with two wide blood-shoot dark eyes, and a long muscular arm of pearlescent skin with sharp nails were the first thing he saw of the creature lurching upon him. Richard grabbed its wrist and twisted it until the two bones of the forearm sprang out of the skin. The creature still had a stunned expression when Richard¡¯s claws enveloped its hairless skull. The skin made a sizzling sound as it melted under Richard¡¯s flame, and when its limbs stopped from twisting in pain, he threw the lifeless body on the ground.
You have used Fire Touch. You¡¯ve consumed 3 units of Mana. You still have 10 units of Mana to spend.
You have defeated a lv.2 Husk. 23 EXP gained. You need 1345 EXP to reach level 7.
Another creature with a shriek jumped on his shoulders, and its long nails scratched his neck without making any damage, while another one bit his leg and was thrashing his head to pull out the scales. A roar came out from Richard¡¯s mouth. With one hand, he grabbed the ankle of the creature on his shoulders and he flung it on the ground, then he kicked the other one in the face with his free leg. Still holding onto the ankle of the first creature, he bludgeoned it against the one on the ground, again and again, until only a mass of withered black brains and pieces of bone splattered to the ground was what remained of their skulls.
You have defeated two lv.2 Husks. You gain 46 EXP. You need 1299 EXP to reach level 7.
He could¡¯ve stopped there, but another one was hiding behind the statue, thinking that he could fool him. It shrieked when it saw him approaching and sprinted away from him on four legs, but Richard lurched forward and grabbed its ankle. The creature screamed as Richard bashed its body against the marble, splattering blood over it.
You have defeated a lv. 1 Baby Husk. You gain 10 EXP. You need 1291 EXP to reach level 7.
He roared again as he severed a leg of one of the creatures and tore the flesh apart with his fangs. Richard woke up under the shade of the statue, in the middle of the Victory square. His vision had reverted from red to yellow again, and the pressure he felt against his temples was gone. Why was he here? It was at least a mile away from his house, and he didn¡¯t recall having any reason to be in this place.
Your flame¡¯s intensity had lowered of 125% and it¡¯s now at a safe level. +100 REASON, -50 STH, -50 PER, -50 AGI.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. You¡¯re no longer hungry.
He stretched his stiff neck and closed and opened his hands, pushing the claws out and pulling them in. The skin of the palm was sticky by all the dark red blood on it, which wasn¡¯t his, as it was green. A cracking sound came from his buttocks as he shifted his weight. Richard gasped. It was a small skull that could fit in his hand, with the back part fractured. There were three other near him, twice the size but still smaller than a normal human, with one of them that had its facial bones completely charred. They looked like they belonged to a human, but not quite, as the many rows of sharp teeth were like the ones of a piranha, and the eye sockets and the cheekbones were so wide that they looked too alien. The rests were new and one of the victims had his face burned. Richard looked down at his hands, and he should have gotten them dirty when he touched the skull, should it? But the blood was dry, so it meant that it been there for the whole time.
This object has been analysed. Would you like to view its page in the compendium? Loading compendium offline version 0.8¡­
Homo abhorrens, commonly known as Husk, base definition: humanlike creatures of unknown origin. They travel in packs of adults and their babies, hunting for small animals and humans who wander alone. Their babies are reported to never grow up into adulthood, and they seem to lack sexual organs, therefore their reproductive method is unknown. (Added by Unknown author, 2031).
The usual whistling sound he made when he was in distress came from his insides. He couldn¡¯t fully recall what happened during the night, but in a recess of his mind, a tall red monster grabbed the leg of one of those creature running away from him and he bashed its skull against the statue¡¯s pedestal. In fact, one side of the marble was dirty of blood. That was the work of a monster, not him. He may have made the mistake of not keeping that alien part under control, but he wasn¡¯t like this. And if all this was a simulation, it wouldn¡¯t even matter. Everybody in videogames slaughtered hundreds of people and it didn¡¯t make them murderers in real life. This should be the same, so he had to brush it under the rug and stop thinking about it.
Quest completed! You¡¯ve learned what it takes to survive. You gain +3 to Survival. You gain +300 EXP. You need 991 EXP to reach lv.7
Quest N.5: You¡¯ve defeated enemies for the first time. Check your STATS in the Menu to see how¡¯ve improved.
Well, that wasn¡¯t his doing, but he¡¯ll look into it because he was curious.
Lv.6, Rank B.
Strength 150
Agility, Sub stats discovered: Glide. 70/0
Perception 70
Endurance 40
Constitution 100
Magical Ability 50
Intellect, Sub stats discovered: Survival. 90/31
Charisma, Sub stats discovered: Speech. 0/0
Quest completed, +10 EXP.
All of this numbers weren¡¯t going to give his life back. He wasn¡¯t so sure anymore that it was something temporary, as he had fell asleep and was still trapped inside this monstrous body. Richard rose from the ground. He needed to find answers about all of this, and the only way was to find someone alive, which should be quite harder than expected. If was still inside his normal body, he would have already been ripped to pieces or starved. It was hard to admit, but the stronger animal instincts had helped him out there. John¡¯s workplace was too far to reach in a day on foot, but the college campus, which had even a research institute, was nearer and should have some logs of what destroyed the city and why there were strange creatures lurking around. Chapter 5 The walk to the campus was much harder than he had thought, as most of the roads were blocked by walls of rubble that were impossible to climb. His only way to reach his destination was to take the subway. Richard peered below the entrance of Jackson station, the one he always took to go to his classes. This plan wasn¡¯t much to his liking, as there could every kind of monster imaginable inside, but there wasn¡¯t any other way, so he took a long breath and descended the first step. Moisture and the growth of moss had made the concrete much slicker, and it was evident that they weren¡¯t built for someone of his size, so he had to put extra care, making his descent uncomfortable and slow. Inside, the air was thick and damp, which made him release steam from his nose and ears, making the usual pressure cooker noise.
Your body is ill suited to moisture. You lose -20 END. Your Health will regenerate slower, and your spells will be less effective.
In fact, the pressure against his skull from within was a sign that he was uncomfortable in this place, but it wasn¡¯t no different when he went there in the morning after three hours of sleep and stood half an hour inside a wagon so cramped that it was like being a living Tetris block. On the platform, there were some glowing yellow light sticks on the ground, a sign that a sentient being had been here some time before. Some weird symbols had been scrambled on the walls, and, as he passed through this station every day, he was sure that they weren¡¯t there two days ago, but Richard lost interest of them when he spotted a distant human shape lying on the ground. A wide red line had been cut on his throat from ear to ear, and his jacket was stained with blood. His glassy eyes were staring at him. It was the first time Richard saw a dead person that wasn¡¯t in a casket and hadn¡¯t been thoroughly cleaned. But instead of being surprised or struck in terror as he should be, it was like watching a run over animal on a street, and he hated himself for that. It was another human who had murdered the man, and not a monster. Richard kneeled on him and closed his eyelids with the tips of his claws.
You can harvest ten units of human flesh from this individual and place them in your inventory.
Hell no, not now that he was in control of his mind. The jeans of the man were unbuttoned, without any belt, while the pockets had been cut with a knife. Something was glowing inside the man, near the end of his sternum.
You have detected a rare object, but you can¡¯t harvest it until you put it in your hands.
It was stupid, he would never desecrate a human body just for some loot. It was a form of respect, so he had to forget it and get on with his job.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. But then the thought that the victim didn¡¯t have any use of it anymore appeared in his mind, and it was better in his hands than in the ones of those who had killed him, so he had to go back and retrieve it. Richard pulled the zipper of the jacket down and raised an old t shirt. He took a sigh and averted his gaze before pushing the five claws of his hand inside the skin near the left side of the ribs. They teared through his abs, then the oblique muscles, and perforated the peritoneum. Inside that sticky mess, he found out that the stomach was perforated, and the rare object was inside a pocket below the liver and next to the spleen. At last, his fingers got hold of the object and he jerked it out. It was a cheap digital watch with a rectangular cracked screen, dripping of blood. It was the first piece of technology he could put his hands on after the he woke up. After cleaning it a bit, he tapped the tip of claw on the screen, lighting it up. It was showing 13:56, tough the System told him that it was ten in the morning.
New Quest! You¡¯ve found an object of high value that has another person has declared as missing.
Path 1 Return it to the rightful owner or heir to receive a reward. Reward: +5 Investigation, +400 EXP;
Path 2 You can sell it. Reward: +4 Barter;
Path 3 Path 3: You can harvest it for parts to upgrade the System. Reward: Upgraded system. You need the (Technician) perk and an Intellect of 85 to pick this path.
Well, he had no clue to who this man was, but if he were to find someone who knew him then he¡¯d ask him about it, or maybe not because he couldn¡¯t talk. Th This wasn¡¯t how he expected meet someone, but at least it confirmed that humans weren¡¯t extinct, and he wasn¡¯t the only sentient creature still alive. Maybe they lived outside the cities, as this place was full of dangers. Richard progressed inside the railway tunnel. The tracks were rusty, but they still maintained their straight shape, and the wooden planks weren¡¯t as rotten as he had thought. One of the few upsides of the walking inside the underground tunnel was that it was the home of a lots of bats and rats. When he heard their squeaking sounds or a movement of wings, the hidden part in his brain that made him do unpleasant things got activated and he couldn¡¯t refrain from chasing, grabbing and swallowing their bodies. He went on until the tunnel descended to a lower level that was flooded. The campus was still far, but that was the end of the line. He took the stairs at the Green line station. Where he expected to see the Wester park, with its tall and luscious trees, he found a giant lake covered by a thick mist that left him stunned. The tips of the buildings thrust out of the dark waters, with a large amount of debris floating that were pushed by the strong current towards the central whirlpool. An island was on the other side of the lake, in the place of where the campus should be. He could see the outline of the blocky building, but it was too far to see more of it. It was impossible to reach for anybody, and especially for someone who had water as one of his weaknesses. The ground shook and waves rose from the lake.
You have entered inside the territory of a Lv. 25 Dungeon. Continue at your own risk.
Chapter 6 Half the body of woman emerged from the water and moved towards him without moving her legs, while a soft chant of feminine voices, brought by a light breeze together with a scent of vanilla, was accompanying her. The wind was moving her silky long silver hair, and her glacial eyes were fixed on him with a half-smile and her head slightly cocked on the left. Richard couldn¡¯t stop from looking at the creature, as it the first time he had seen something remotely human. She did not blink for the whole time, neither her lips ever parted a bit, or her chest seemed to heave in breathing. When she arrived at the shore of the lake, she tended a hand on him. ¡°You¡¯re not a monster¡±, a cold voice said, but it wasn¡¯t coming from her, ¡°I can sense reason inside you, even if you can¡¯t express it¡±; When the System window told him about a dungeon, he didn¡¯t expect to find something so friendly like this. Too friendly, perhaps. He gave a look at the entrance of the subway behind him. ¡°You can trust us¡±, the voice said again, ¡°We¡¯ll help you. We¡¯ll make you talk again. We¡¯ll give everything you want¡±. It felt too easy. Nothing was given in his life as a human and that rang true enough even in this new one. He shook his head, refusing the offer, but a strange blue light hovered near the forehead of the woman, from which he could not shift his gaze from. His lids started to droop, and his vision became blurry, with darkness claiming everything apart from the woman. Her skin and hair became dark, and her eyes shifted to a brown color. Was that Carla? It was impossible, but why should it be? He was sitting on the couch, keeping the TV remote in one hand, trying to find something good to watch together. John this time was hundreds of miles away, visiting his parents, and this was the perfect time for Richard to confess his feelings for her if he could find the courage. ¡°Hey, Richard¡±, she said, while she opened the fridge in the kitchen. She cracked open a can of beer, ¡°Do you want some?¡±; He nodded. ¡°Then why don¡¯t you come over here?¡±, she smiled at him, and, as he couldn¡¯t say no to her radiant smile, he rose from the couch and moved towards her. But even after ten steps, it seemed that she was still too far for him to reach. His flat was small but it now it seemed like he was inside a castle, why was it taking so long? ¡°Richard¡±, she said again, and her smile turned into a grin, ¡°Everything is alright. You trust me, don¡¯t you?¡±. She tended again her hand, but the skin was now pale, without any visible blood vessel. Richard stopped, and looked at his sides, and instead of finding the rest of the living room, there was only darkness. His human skin should be smooth, but if he ran a finger through it, he could feel the sharpness of the dragon scales. All of this was fake, there was no other explanation.
You are not hypnotized anymore.
A multitude of high-pitched wails rose in the air, making him cover his ears and grit his teeth. The eyes of the woman turned black, and the hair was gone, while a dark web was spreading on her skin starting from her chest and ended on her clawed hands. The muscles of her shoulders and arms were bulging, and she shrieked at him, baring her large fangs.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
You have been spotted by a Lv. 12 Hostile Lamia.
The snake part of his body, covered in purple bright scales, rose from the water until she was towering over him. She lurched upon him as if her body was a large spring, keeping her mouth wide open. Richard shot a fireball at her, but she raised her arm and a veil of water dispersed the spell without doing damage. There was no way he could defeat that thing. He screamed and bolted away from her, but her fingers grabbed one of the horns, sending him sprawling to the ground. Without looking, Richard shifted his body on the right, just in time to avoid being bit in the neck, but her fangs sunk inside his left arm, shattering his scales as green blood poured on the ground.
You have been poisoned! You lose 2% of your Health Points every minute.
As she twisted her fangs inside the wound, Richard¡¯s body shook in pain. A jet of fire rose from his mouth and it scorched the right ear of the lamia.
You have used Fire Breath. You have consumed 10 units of Mana. You have landed a critical hit on a lv. 12 Lamia.
The lamia howled as she retracted from him, dragging her fangs inside his arm before pulling away. Richard rose from the ground and sprinted before she would gain control of herself again, his left arm hanging limp at his side. Behind him, other creatures rose in the air from the water, their wings making a buzzing sound. Their faces with childish features, but with the same glacial eyes, pointy teeth and devoid of hair was like something coming out of a nightmare.
You have been spotted by 150 Hostile lv.3 Harpy Husks.
The entire sky was full of those creatures that were diving towards him. A javelin grazed his scales and bounced on the ground, and he made a sidestep to avoid another one landing near him. There was only a few steps to reach the entrance of the subway station when a creature blocked his way, pushing his arm backwards to throw him a javelin. There was no other choice to fight there or die. Richard lowered his horns, aiming at the creature¡¯s belly. The husk rose in the air, but his horns pierced through the skin of the thigh. Richard and the creature tumbled down the stairs. Its bones made cracking sounds and it screamed as it rolled down the floor. When they stopped, the creature had its ribcage and pelvis pointing in opposite directions and one of the wings was bent in two parts.
You have defeated a Lv.3 Harpy Husk. You gain 60 EXP.
The creature coughed blood and its glacial eyes stared at him as it opened its mouth, pushing its long tongue out, but without making a sound, then it stood still. Other wailing sound came from the stairs and the buzzing of wings was louder. The lamia shrieked again, and the ground shook so hard that dust fell from the ceiling. Water started to flow from the stairs. He had no time to waste, and he ran away. Thy didn¡¯t pursue him inside as Richard ran for his life. The System helped him by automatically releasing the units of wood inside the internal chamber he had harvested before to keep his flame alive. Arrived at Edmund station, he found difficult to step over from the tracks to the platform as smoke puffed from his nostrils. He collapsed against a pillar and his muscles stiffened and shook in convulsions, while his heart, of which he had never felt the presence much before, was now racing inside the back of his heaving chest. A green foam was pouring out of lips, and a wheezing sound was coming from his lungs.
The venom has reached your heart. You have lost 98% percent of your Health Points. The System will activate the secondary blood supply. You will go into cardiac arrest in thirty seconds.
Chapter 7 For a period that seemed infinite, Richard drifted between a state of deep sleep and short moments of consciousness. In those times, he would have screamed if he could, as his nerves were constantly flaring up, sending fits of pain so strong that he could only last a few minutes before fainting again.
You have survived from the poisoning without long term damage. You gain +5 to Constitution and +10 to Poison resistance. You are still in RECOVERY mode: -60 STH, -30 AGI, -30 END.
Richard opened his eyes, his back resting against a pillar of the subway station. His joints made cracking sounds as he moved his arms to check if everything was alright and his muscles felt numb, but at least this time he could breathe without pain. There was a patch on his left arm, near the shoulder, that was devoid of scales, with two long parallel scars in the middle. He had been lucky to survive against that monster, and it was another time that his instinct had saved him from certain death. Just thinking about filled him with dread. The Lamia was different from the other living beings he had seen. She was sentient, but she still tried to lure and murder him anyway. He could understand the Husks, as they were no different than feral animals, but trying to kill another smart being for experience points or for whatever other reason was a folly. It was something he should never do as long as he could keep control on his body, but, alas, it seemed that everything living inside this world was going to attack him on sight, and this meant that he had always to fight. There were plenty of things that were still unknown to him and that he had to understand if he wanted to keep being alive. The lessons he had learned this time were that if something was of a higher level than him, then it was better to leave it alone and to stay the hell away from dungeons.
Tutorial quest n.5 Consult the SKILLS section in the menu to learn what your class can do.
As he needed something to distract his mind from everthing that happened, Richard gave it a look.
Basic skills, (Novice): Analyze: get automatically data about enemies or items you come across. Harvest: break up obkects and internalize them inside the System up to a certain weight. They can be retrieved in a later moment.
Pyromancer, (Novice): Spells you know: Fire Ball, 1 unit of Mana: a small sphere of energy but with a high range. Fire Touch, 3 units of Mana: a portable flame of high energy but with the lowest range possible. Spells you have used involuntarily but have yet to learn: Fire Breath, 10 units of mana, (Race specific); Tutorial: you can learn new spells by experimenting with those you already know, (Your Intellect plays a part on this process); or you can be taught by someone with the same class.
Perks:This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. (Scholar): you know how to read and write.
The only perk he had wasn¡¯t that special, but the pyromancer part was interesting because, well, magic was always cool. If he had been in the normal world, he would have been thrilled to be able to shoot fireballs from his hands, but now, not that much. It was a tool that he needed to learn how to use it to survive, as it seemed he was going to be inside this world for the long haul. Richard rose from the ground by holding on to the pillar. His steps felt heavy as his tail remained stiff, so it didn¡¯t help to stabilize his walk but was only a hindrance. To shoot a fireball, he first needed to make a spark with his claws and ignite it, then pushing it out. With a whooshing sound, the ball of fire ran into a straight line until it dropped to the subway tracks and disappeared in a puff of smoke. In the next try, he let it rest for a bit in his hand making it grow twice the size, but the range was shorter than the first one. The second spell was Fire touch. He needed to make first a fireball and instead of making it larger, he had to spread on his whole hand. What could happen if he made a fist? The fire squeezed from his fingers, expanding into a small cloud.
You have discovered a new spell: Fire Cloud. You have used 4 units of mana.
He didn¡¯t know how he had used Fire Breath the last time. If he tried to pull diaphragm up to let the fire rise from the chamber nothing happened. Maybe it was a reflex to the pain of being bitten, but now it was impossible to replicate. It was better to stop for the moment because he needed some mana left in case of a fight.
Tutorial path final quest: You have learned the basics of the System. Now you are ready to use it to become stronger. Advance to level 7. Rewards: (Freshman) perk.
Richard had another quest in mind tough. He might have received a setback at the campus, but he still needed answers about the truth of this world. Professor Brown lived not far from here, and he knew it because he had to deliver him an essay there at midnight eight months ago. If the apocalypse had happened, then he would have surely recorded something of it inside his lab. He left the subway station, but before reaching his goal, he ate some debris to reinforce the chamber and gathered a new stock of items after everything had been consumed during his fight against the poison.
Items: 35, Wood (Common); 15, Rat meat, (Common); 7, Rabbit meat, (Common); 1, Ancient technology, (Rare). Total: 58/100.
It was a very strange world he was living in where a forty-dollar watch was rare, but he could dematerialize real things and store them inside an operative system, something that was mind blowing. The System should be running inside his brain, but how could have it been coded? And who did it? The block he was walking inside was a residential area full of small houses, with a church at the center. Walking on the main street, there was a sudden silence as the wind stopped. All the doors and windows had been left open, and the rusty skeletons of the cars were still parked in their garages. Richard took a deviation near one of the houses, walking on the long grass of the front lawn as something felt amiss in all of this. Inside, the table was full of plates for four people, while the both the fridge and the oven left open, but the inside was full of dark stains of mold and mushrooms. Richard picked one of those. The thought of eating anything other than meat had never crossed his mind, so he stored one of those for later. The glowing red outline of a rare item appeared inside the cupboard. When Richard opened it, the rotten wood of the door collapsed on him, and he threw it away. It was just a can of tomato soup, unopened. He sighed; these rare items seemed to be always disappointing.
You have found a rare item. It doesn¡¯t seem to have any technological relevance, but it has an intrinsic historical value. You can sell it for a high profit to the right merchant.
He stored it anyways, even if he doubted that a can of soup could be a historical object. Its expiry date was in 2021, so it wasn¡¯t even that old. As there was nothing else in the kitchen, he progressed into the living room, occupied by a TV table but without a television, a library but without any books, and two couches. Nothing worth of note. In the back lawn, though, there was a barbecue. After raising the grate, he picked some of the coals inside. These could be rather useful as fuel for his flame, so he harvested them too. The next stop was the upper floor, but all the bedrooms, both the one of the parents and their sons had been emptied. The church bells rang, and Richard poked his head out of the cracked window towards the belfry. If there was no wind, then what was making them move? Chapter 8 Richard had to make his way through the multitude of parked cars in the middle of the road and inside the front lawn of the church. The fact that most of them had still their keys inside picked his curiosity, so he got near a SUV and opened with a claw the glove compartment. The whole thing collapsed due to the rust, and the driving license of a middle-aged woman, together with a ballpoint pen, which was an uncommon item, and a pair of gloves fell to the ground. What could have happened to make everybody run here, leaving everything? Apart from the religious perspective, this didn¡¯t seem a secure shelter in case of an attack. All the crosses had been removed from the church and the belfry, while a giant twelve had been written on over the blocked front door, so there was no way anybody could get inside and ring the bells, as there was no outside entry to the belfry. Richard grabbed the first plank and pulled it out without using much strength. When he had removed the last one, he found a large chain with a padlock around the handles. His teeth split the chain link and he threw it away, then rammed his shoulder against the wood. They really wanted to make sure that nobody could go inside, but they didn¡¯t think about making it monster-proof. It seemed like a normal church with benches and everything else, of which he had little experience because it was the first time he visited one in ten years. It would be interesting to ask a priest or a theologist how religion could explain what happened to him. Maybe God one day decided that men were too boring and that they needed a change. The altar was covered in dried blood, and this wasn¡¯t something very normal for a church. Neither having the pillars filled with bullet holes or the ground to be covered by paper cups. The door that brought to the belfry was inaccessible due to the debris of the collapsed roof that blocked the way. It¡¯d take a massive a mount of time for him to remove all the rubble, but it was now evident that there must be an automatic mechanism to make them ring. Beyond the altar, there was a stairway that descended towards the crypt. A skeleton wearing a police uniform was in front of a blocked door. His or her jaw was on the ground, and there were two large holes, one in the palate and the other on the top of the skull. The hand was still holding onto the handgun, which was marked in purple.
You have found an Ultra rare item. You can use this weapon to unlock a class, Gunman.
Richard pried the fingers of the skeleton open and took the gun, which was looking like a toy in his hands. He had little experience with weapons but at least he knew how to push the safety up and remove the magazine. There were still five bullets inside. Nothing much could be done with five bullets, as he was already strong enough to beat all the low-level monsters by himself, and he doubted it¡¯d have been of much use when he met the Lamia. Pulling his badge out of the uniform, he discovered that the remains were of a recruit of twenty-five, and that it had been issued last month, so there was no way he should be already a skeleton. What could there be inside the crypt? Maybe he should go away because it wouldn¡¯t surprise him to find a high-level monster inside, but if this place was a dungeon, then there should have been a warning before. There was only silence if he put his ear against the wood. As he did before, he removed the plank blocking it and the chain. Richard opened the door a little and peered inside. He slammed it shut, not sure if he wanted to open it again or just run away as fast as possible. A skeleton that was grabbing the handle fell on the ground, raising a cloud of dust. He had to make his way by pushing all the human remains huddled around the door. His feet were making cracking sounds as he stepped on the many fragments of bone scattered on the ground. The door was full of vertical lines of nail scratches.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. It should have been enough to make him bolt away from the place, but he went on. The whole room was occupied by heaps of skeletons, neatly stacked on top of the other to make piles tall enough to reach his waist, still wearing their clothes and shoes. They were covered in dust, with spiderwebs grown inside their eye sockets and maggots crawling between their teeth. The ones nearer the door had all been murdered with a bullet in their forehead, temples or in the back of the head. Most of them were police officers or soldiers. But as he progressed, the remains seemed to lack signs of violence. He hoped at least that they could have died without pain A small skeleton wearing a pink dress and a ribbon on her forehead was holding a teddy bear on her chest, highlighted in red. He stormed out of the building. Hundreds of people murdered, and he was the first to discover it after god knows how much time. He slammed his hands against the hood of a car, leaving a large depression on the metal plate. What kind of monster could have done that? His teeth grinded against each other and steam boiled out of his nostrils. They were all dead and there was nothing that he could do about it, but the shock of having seen something that one might only hear at the news with his own eyes was going to haunt him for a long time. His whole family might be inside a pile of bones like that, hundreds of miles away, and the last time he had spoken to his father at the phone was to argue with him because he wasn¡¯t going to go back home for the holidays. At the end, he had sent him off and stopped answering his calls. He slammed again his fist against the door hood. For fuck¡¯s sake, he wasn¡¯t ready for this. Professor Brown¡¯s home was the only place where he could find answers. With his eyes narrowed on the front door, he ran towards it with only a thought crossing his mind: to know the truth at all costs. Richard¡¯s punch opened a hole inside it, and he turned the knob from the inside. He quickly descended the steps that brought to the basement. The ground was filled with large rubber cables that must have been connected to something in the middle, but now only a circular mark of grease and dust remained on the ground. The shards of glass from the equipment of beakers, cylinders and flasks of the lab got stuck inside the bottom of his feet but the skin was thick enough to not make him feel pain. The shelves on the right side were filled with skulls of husks, then another was occupied by the ones of creatures similar to elephant but without tusks and their teeth were sharp instead of flat like a normal elephant. Richard opened one of the barrels under the stairwell, picking the lock open. The first one must have contained blood inside, but now it had evaporated. In the other one, there were two full rotten brains at the bottom, which turned into mush when he tried to pick them up. The words Wastes had been written on it with a sharpie. Handwritten papers inside a plastic sheets were scattered on a desk. This was what he was looking for, so Richard took one of them. The ink was nearly gone 10th December 2021, Captain Smith has arrived and told me that the Lincoln line has fallen and that the whole country was going to fall in a week. The army is no more, and most of the soldiers have deserted. At last, it seems that our project will see fruition when it¡¯ll be too late. Everything has been arranged, and the subject is ready. We have gathered all the pieces of technology we could, me, John S., and Richard A., two of my disciples that will help me in all of this. Now we all need to convince the police and the pastor to cooperate with us. That was the end, so he took another one. 17th December 2021, The twelfth one will be born tomorrow. The enemy has already started to bomb the city, with Downtown having the worst of it. Refugees are flooding everywhere, and they are desperate that they will believe anything that they are told. The dematerialization experiment has failed spectacularly, maybe because that dimwit of Richard A. never listens to my instructions. He had no recollection of doing anything that was written on this page. 25th December 2021, We had to postpone the birth because Omega was not ready yet, but finally today the history of mankind will change, and if a great sacrifice is required, so be it, or humanity will be wiped away completely. The pastor has finally accepted after her wife poisoned her two sons and then herself after she had overheard what we were going to do. It will happen during function, and a team of policeman will do the rest for those who even in hard times such as these don¡¯t go back to God. On last sheet of paper there were written just two words: She lives. Richard dropped the sheet of the paper on the ground. He had cursed everybody who did this when he had been an accomplice all along, but why? Why did he do something like this? Chapter 9 Richard moved away from Professor Brown¡¯s home and walked in the middle of the road at sunset, without a clear destination. He wanted answers and he got them. That he had been involved in a mass murder and he didn¡¯t do anything to stop it. There was no doubt now that the world had ended for real, something that deep down he had known all along, but wasn¡¯t able to admit, fooling himself with strange theories. In his old life, things that were considered life goals such as having a high paying job, or an own home without roommates were now something out of a history book. Now that his family and friends were gone forever, there was nothing worth to live for anymore, and he wasn¡¯t sure he even deserved to if it was true that he had been an accomplice in that thing. In the following days, he wandered around the city at night, usually taking shelter inside one of the still standing buildings during the day. When he heard a faint movement, he hunted for whatever that thing was. Normally, it¡¯d be a rat or a rabbit, but sometimes there were stray dogs roaming around and even an adult deer, of which he ate even the antlers. He stopped from managing the item section and ingested all the wood he could find, making his vision to shift from yellow to orange. Every night he lashed his frustrations at the Husks. Countless times he had tried to reason with them, but they always screeched and flailed their weak arms at him as if they would do some kind of damage. After some days he went hunting for them, blinded by hatred because they could have been smart and talk with him, but they didn¡¯t want to, so he had to punish them by burning them alive. One day he had even tried to take hostage one of their babies, but they preferred to kill it themselves than trying to reason with him. His eyes opened. The sunlight was shining on his body through the revolving door of the hotel he had been sleeping inside for the last three days.
System weekly report n.1: 1. You need 650 EXP points to reach lv.7; 2. From the last time, your mental state has been deteriorating and has dropped to lv.2 (Max is 4):
  • You gain 20 points to Ruthlessness (STH);
  • You lose 14 points from Willpower and Focus (INT);
  • Your spells will be more powerful, but they will consume more Mana.
3. You have been eating too much and your weight has increased to 500 lbs/226kg: you lose 10 points from Endurance; you gain 8 points to Strength. 4. Anti-Grinding measures has been activated: you will only gain 1 EXP if you defeat a Husk. 5. You are now a master in killing Husks. You gain the (Husk Slayer) title.
He sighed, dismissing the window. Every time that stupid prompt appeared when he was sleeping. There was nothing he could gain by training, as the world had ended and being stronger in a such a lifeless world like this was useless, and he was already able to survive as it is. There were steps outside of a kind he had never heard before. Husks were always very silent, and they didn¡¯t roam in the middle of the streets by daylight.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Richard lowered his head to pass through the door and peered outside. A group of five men were gathered near the wall of the building opposite to the hotel. Their limbs were proportionated to the rest of their bodies, and their faces weren¡¯t pale. There was no doubt that those were real humans. Their hoodies and jeans were tattered, fixed with lots of patches. They wore masks with a protruding tube that ended inside a bag sitting at their belts, while the eyes were covered by dirty orange ski glasses. Long knives were sitting inside leather pouches against their thighs.
You have spotted five lv.3 Scavengers and a lv.1 Human.
They were surrounding a young man who was kneeling on the ground, keeping his head low, the only one to not wear a mask. He was panting and his hands behind his back were shaking, the fingers covered by blood-stained bandages. His face was full of bruises and his left eye was closed and swollen. In front of him, a bald man grabbed his shoulder-length hair, raising his chin. ¡°You have failed us for the last time¡±, the bald man said, his voice was distorted by the mask, ¡°And you know what happens to the ones who disappoint us¡±. He turned towards the others, ¡°What should be his punishment?¡±. The teenager burst in tears and he raised his head to look at the others, but the bald man hit him in the back of the head. ¡°P-please¡±, he said, ¡°I was just-¡±; The slap made his face turn into the opposite direction, leaving a red mark on his cheek. The others jeered. ¡°I say that we should cut his throat and be done with him¡±, said a man with short black hair; ¡°He¡¯s right¡±, another one nodded, ¡°We can¡¯t afford to have someone leeching from our supplies¡±. ¡°You two may be right, but I think that he can still be helpful to us¡±, the crow¡¯s feet wrinkles of the bald man¡¯s eyes became more evident, keeping a hand over his belt, ¡°No, we shouldn¡¯t kill him now. Maybe we have given him the wrong role¡±; ¡°Do you remember the last time we had some good fun tog-?¡±, said a man with a red mohawk. Richard sprinted towards them and knocked over the one with a mohawk, his elbow crushing his teeth. The scavenger¡¯s lifeless body dropped on the ground with a wide-open broken jaw. He roared, and swung his claws at the one with the short hair, reciding his jugular vein.
You have defeated two lv.3 Scavengers. You gain 60 EXP. You need 490 EXP to reach lv.7
¡°Run!¡±, one of them said and they all bolted away from him.
Check passed. You gain two points to Intimidation(STH).
The bald man stumbled on a rock and fell face first on the ground. ¡°Help me!¡±, he said at the other four, ¡°You idiots!¡±. Richard was clicking his claws to shoot a fireball at him, but the man turned and raised a gun with a large barrel. The flare exploded on his forehead and ricocheted on the ground, covering him in a red cloud. Richard fell on one knee and groaned.
You have lost 2,4% of your Health Points.
The bald man had the time to rise from the ground and run away from him. Richard tried to pursue and throw fireballs at them, but, as his vision was too blurry, he missed all of his shots and only wasted his mana. After they had turned the corner, it was impossible to keep up with them, as smoke was starting to rise from his nostrils. His feet became entangled with each other, making him fall and roll on the ground. When he raised his gaze, the men were only four distant shapes. His low endurance had betrayed him. Everything happened too quickly, and something broke when he had heard those words that made his blood boil, but now he had to check if the boy was well, which was the most important thing. When he turned back, the young man was still sitting on the ground. A white glowing line now connected the two of them.
You have unlocked the (Pawn Master) perk. Would you like to claim a lv.1 Human as your pawn? You will share a percentage of your EXP with him, and you will be able to access and modify his stats and skills in the Menu.
Chapter 10 There was little doubt that this boy wasn¡¯t going to survive in the city alone. He had to accept, even if he might not be the best at protecting people. In the last few days, he had behaved in a very weird way, but maybe having a companion was what he needed to keep his sanity in check.
Your recent actions will bear consequences against the following sentient race: humans. Your NOTORIETY in the area has increased to 3 from 0 (Max is 10). Note: the higher your notoriety is, the more EXP you will drop when you¡¯ll be defeated. You should keep a low profile if you don¡¯t want to be chased by bounty hunters.
Richard¡¯s gaze shifted to the two bodies lying on the ground, one in a covered in a puddle of blood and the other with a squashed face. He wasn¡¯t ready to kill someone, and he just acted on impulse, but he didn¡¯t think that he could kill somebody just by slapping him. It was enough to say that something had to be done, and sadly violence seemed to be the only way to archive that. The young man was staring at him from the ground with his mouth half open. His face was devoid of color and he was holding his breath as if he was trying to be invisible. It took a moment to realise that he was afraid of him and not of someone else behind Richard. It was a situation that he had never experienced, as most of the times he had been in the opposite situation. A rumbling sound came out of the young man¡¯s belly. Maybe this was what he needed to persuade him that he was a good pers¡­ being. He gestured at him to wait. Richard accessed the inventory, and from there, he took two units of rabbit meat that he had never used because he had forgot about them in his days of madness. He went back inside and gathered four bricks and some scraps of wood. With a flick of his claws, he made a spark and the pieces of wood caught fire. He stabbed the rabbit chops with two metal skewers he had found inside the hotel¡¯s kitchen and let them roast until they assumed a golden color. Richard wrapped the meat with some sheets of paper and put it near him. Then moved back inside the building to let him eat without pressure.
Your Charisma has improved. You gain one stat point.
When he came back, the skewers were covered only by the oils of the meat. The boy took a long breath, ¡°T-thank you¡±, he said, ¡°I can¡¯t believe that a monster has saved my life and then cooked for me¡±. He was wiping the sweat from his clammy forehead when a blue box appeared in front of him, but Richard couldn¡¯t see the text inside. The boy¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°You have Omega too?¡± Richard had seen that word written on the documents of Professor Brown, but he didn¡¯t know what that thing was. ¡°I mean¡±, the boy said, ¡°The system¡±; Richard nodded; ¡°So, you can understand what I¡¯m saying¡±, he sighed in relief, ¡°You¡¯re not like the other monsters!¡±; Richard tried to tell him that he was a human inside just like him, but only a loud growl came out of his mouth. Even if he already knew that he couldn¡¯t talk, he had tried anyway, but things went as he expected. Humans couldn¡¯t understand him.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°Sorry, sorry!¡±, he said and pulled back from him, ¡°I did not mean to insult you, but it¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve seen somebody like you¡±. Another blue window appeared in front of him, and his open eye moved left to right to read it. ¡°You want me¡±, he said, ¡°To be your pawn?¡±; Richard nodded; ¡°I didn¡¯t know that monsters could take humans as pawns¡±, he made a nervous smile, ¡°Not like I have any choice tough¡±; You have taken a lv.1 Human as your pawn. You gain 20 EXP points. The color of the white line shifted to silver.
Your Pawn''s info and stats: Lv.1 Rank D
Name: Alex (You can change it in the settings);
Age: 15;
Sex Male;
Blood Type: B+, (Note: your blood is incompatible with the one of your pawn. Do not attempt a transfusion in case of injury!)
Strength 9
Agility 17
Perception 15
Endurance 40
Constitution 11
Magical Ability 0* (Mana yet to be awoken)
Intellect 85
Charisma 21
Richard¡¯s stats would have been similar if not worse had he woken up as a human instead of a monster. You can now send direct messages only to your pawn. ¡°Is your name really Richard?¡±, Alex said, ¡°I imagined something more fearsome for a monster¡±; I am a human like you. ¡°For real?¡±, Alex scratched his soot-covered hair, ¡°That explains a lot, but why are you monster now?¡±; I would like to know too. One day I just woke up like this. ¡°That¡¯s crazy¡±, he said, ¡°We should have known if it happened to someone living in the village. Where are you from?¡±. Here. ¡°You must be joking. No human can live here¡±, he coughed, with a rasping sound coming from his throat, ¡°See? The air isn¡¯t safe for humans. Nobody can last more than five days before falling ill¡±. It wasn¡¯t that better before it was destroyed. I have to admit that it was a little more habitable. Alex narrowed his eyes on him, ¡°Are you making fun of me or something? You must be a century old if you lived here before the fall¡±. I am pretty sure I¡¯m not that old. He then wrote how he was just a college student who doing a degree he didn¡¯t like to find a job that he won¡¯t also like. ¡°I didn¡¯t understand much about this college you¡¯re talking about¡±, Alex said, ¡°Is it somewhere near?¡±. For God¡¯s sake, just stay the hell away from it. ¡°You seem like a weird guy, but you¡¯re still much better than the ones I was traveling before¡±, it didn¡¯t take that much, just not to try to kill him or worse, ¡°They always told me that all monsters were evil and that they must exterminated¡±. Who are those people? ¡°Everybody, I guess? Not many people go into the cities, so most don¡¯t ever meet monsters. There are some outside, but they¡¯re rare and weak¡±. And what about those who were with you? Who are they? Alex sighed, ¡°Scavengers. People who roam the City to find rare items. I joined them because I wanted to get some experience, and because everybody thinks that you¡¯re a loser if you have never been into the City¡±, he shook his head, ¡°I should have listened to John¡±; John? His face lighted up as if had an idea, ¡°He¡¯s the old man running the orphanage I was living in¡±, he said, ¡°He knows a lot of the old world, so he might even know what happened to you¡±. Then bring me to him. ¡°Sure, but¡±, his eyes widened at the first stars appearing in the sky, ¡°But first we have to survive the night¡±. Chapter 11 Don¡¯t worry, Richard wrote to the boy, I¡¯ll make sure that nothing bad happens. As there was still a little bit of daylight left, Richard bent over the two bodies. He gave a look at Alex, who was without a mask, wearing only a ripped white t-shirt stained in blood and grit, a pair of cut trousers that arrived at his knees, and his feet were only covered by his socks. Richard handed the mask and the boots from the man with short hair to Alex. ¡°They¡¯re a bit large¡±, Alex said, as he fitted his left foot inside, ¡°But they¡¯ll do¡±. Then he covered him with the green military coat of the one with the red mohawk. The two machetes were common items, and he stored one of them later, occupying two units, and gave the other one to Alex. In their bags, he found two full plastic canteens, a screwdriver, and two torches. The only interesting thing was a bottle of fluorescent pills at the bottom of the bag.
You have found x100 pills of Weak Strength drug: raises your Strength and Ruthlessness of 5% for three hours. Side effect: higher risk of sudden cardiac death. This drug is designed to be used only by the following race: humans.
Richard threw them away as they were of no use for himself, and it would be very irresponsible to give a minor drugs. Afterwards, he led him through the stuck revolving door, which had its glass panel shattered a long time ago. The rest of the windows had been blocked by wooden boards and the broken furniture, made of dirty pillows, and broken chairs and coffee tables, had been huddled in one corner of the room. The moquette was covered by a thick layer of soot and sawdust, and it still had the impressions of people kneeling in a large circle around a patch that had been darkened by fire. A message had been etched on the walls, but only the word Rebirth was still legible. ¡°I don¡¯t like this place¡±, the young man said. Richard had to shrug at him; there was no other place around here that still stood and that could serve as a place to hide. He pointed at the elevator door, which had its door hanging from only the upper side, leaving a small opening for someone to get inside. Richard pulled it and made way for him to enter. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s very safe¡±. A shrieking sound near the area made him crouch and get inside the elevator. Richard lowered his head to see him crouching in a corner and raising the mask to cover his face. Richard materialized the gun from his inventory.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Take this, he sent to him, If things go sour use this to defend yourself. ¡°That¡¯s a weapon of the old world!¡±, Alex said, as he stared at in awe, ¡°How did you find it?¡± Do you have any experience with handguns? ¡°How can I? It¡¯s an ultra-rare item. It should be nearly impossible to find¡±. Just be careful and hold it with both your hands. Put your finger on the trigger only when you are going to shoot. Richard feared he might have to regret this decision, but if he were to die at least Alex would have more chances to get away, even if it was slim. His hope was that nothing would happen during the night, and then, they would finally leave this wretched city in the morning to never come back. He hid behind the receptionist counter and rekindled his flame up to 130% but ate some mouse meat from the inventory to avoid from entering into his beastly mode, as he was capable of doing every kind of abominable thing in that state. Until two in the morning, he started to think that all his preparations could be never be put to use and it could be just a silent night in a dead city, but a group of for Husks were approaching as red dots on the map. The four of them jumped from the windows of the opposite building and set their eyes on the two bodies lying in the middle of the street. He had been a fool to not remove them, and now he had a whole pack to deal with. They sunk their teeth into the skin of their faces, peeling it off by shaking their heads. As he decided that it was enough, Richard stopped from watching them. A larger red dot was approaching, rounding around the fifth street, less than a mile from their position. The other smaller dots of enemies were fleeing away from it. It wasn¡¯t fast, and Richard Inside the elevator, the young man¡¯s eyes were closed, and his mouth hung half open. He was thinking of waking him up and go elsewhere, but a husk barged inside the building. His body crashed against the frame of the revolving door, but then he snuck inside. Richard held its breath, hoping it would go away. The husk was sniffing at the air and its bloodshot eyes widened as he shifted his head towards the elevator. As the husk sprinted, Richard shot a fireball at its face. The husk shrieked and fell on his knees, shrivelling in pain. It was the time of finishing him, but Richard stood still, observing the figure scream and roll on the ground, now blind. A roaring sound came from outside the building and another husk rolled in front of the door. A giant foot like the one of an elephant stomped on its head, destroying it as if it was a watermelon. A third Husk tried to jump on the body of the beast, but a punch it the creature in the chest, sending it flying out of view. The fourth one ran away. A large creature appeared in sight. Its four arms grabbed the body of the husk, and its ribs opened with a cracking sound, swallowing all of it and digesting it with crunching sounds, showering the streets with blood. He had never seen a monster like this. There was no way he could fight against it, and if he didn¡¯t do something about the husk, then they would all be screwed. He came out of his hiding place and pulled the body out of sight, then he put his hands over his mouth and one on his neck. As he was squeezing, Richard kept his gaze away from it. The window of the hotel exploded as the beast barged against it. Richard covered himself from the shower of debris. The two elephant heads of the monsters stuck inside the large shoulders with no neck opened their mouths in a roar, raising their trunks, its four glowing eyes stuck on him. A wide scar split its oversized chest in the middle.
You have been spotted by a Hostile Lv.6 Alien Husk.