《Devoid》


 Chapter: 1 Recycled

    When I stared into the abyss, Ifound that I wasstaringat a mirror.


    Devoid


    Chapter 1: Recycled


    I slow my pace down as I finish the 8 mile run with the cross country team. I stoop to my metal thermoflask and take a deep draught. I check my watch to see that it is only 8:36, 24 minutes before practice ends. Just a few weeks ago, I was returning a few minutes later, so my pace has increased.


    I catch up to Gale, my brother, who¡¯s distracted by a few of his friends, the top level runners. After practice, we had back home and complete the regimen of 30 pull-ups, 8o pushups, 30 leg lifts and 120 crunches. After 2 months of doing this routine, we have become used to it, though we are both sweating near the end.


    ¡°Come on Zeph, if you want to attain my level of strength and genius, you¡¯ll need more effort than that!¡± My bro then strikes a ridiculous pose, as though he was some sort of hero. We both end up laughing, because if I didn¡¯t, he¡¯d know that something was off.


    I find that though it can be tiring at certain moments, it¡¯s much more interesting to act as though it was funny than to act how I really am. If I acted naturally around my ¡°friends¡± at school, I would be even more alone than I am know. I go to my room and change my clothes into something more casual.


    I remember studying for the SAT, receiving my letter of acceptance, and feeling all of the hard work pay off for that perfect 1600. Though I¡¯m in college now, it doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m having an easier time with school.


    Later that day, my brother and I decide that, to clear up our schedule, it¡¯s time to quit Taekwondo lessons.. We¡¯ve both already reached brown belts, and at a certain point, there isn¡¯t much to be gained except for flashy jumping kicks and things that will never be used.


    If you how to punch, kick, block, and counter the opponent, then what¡¯s the point of all the special crap? Though, while we were discussing, my brother seemed distracted, as though he was far away, focused on more pressing issues.


    Probably that game he¡¯s addicted to.


    I return to my room to finish the medical homework that I received the other day. I plug in my headphones, turn up the J-Pop, and begin the grind. ¡°Oshiete yo, Oshi-¡± Rat ta ta ta ta, ta ta~


    What a pain. I take off my headphones to hear someone pounding on my door to a smooth rhythm. That means it could only be one person. My brother, who probably thinks that it¡¯s his sole purpose to pester me with every miniscule problem that I have, like school, working out, and whatnot.


    I saunter towards the door, open it, lazily raising my head towards him as I speak. ¡°What could it possibl-¡± are the last words that I utter as all in one move, he pulls a gun from his pocket, puts it in my hand, and blows my brains out.


    As I open my eyes, the warm sun blinds me momentarily. I feel the slight ripple of grass behind my head as a soft gale washes over me. I have no idea where I am. I have no idea what my business is to be on a hill, covered in grass during the day.


    And perhaps most importantly; I have not the slightest idea who I am.


    I hear a voice that seems to emanate from all around me. ¡°What did you do to get here?¡± I swivel to my left and right quickly, but grogginess is still with me and I fall over and roll down the hill. Wait. I swear I just heard someone snort. I get up and observe my surroundings, which happen to be nothing but grass as far as the eye can see.


    Again the voice emanates. ¡°So tell me, why are you here. How did you die?¡± How did I die? When did I die? ¡°I died?¡±, I inquire. As if to mock me, ¡°Of course. That¡¯s the only way to gain passage to this world." I don¡¯t recall dying anytime, but I also don¡¯t remember living.


    I speak this aloud, and for a moment, the voice seems to ponder. ¡°How odd. This must be the first time I¡¯ve seen someone who has no memory of their death or their life, and yet you are still a functionable person, is knowledgeable in things, and how to live. You must be special!¡±


    Special? I snort at this prospect. Although I have no memory or distinction of life or people, I do remember being alone. As though it was good thing¡­


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure how I could be special. So what is this place? I died to get here? Also, you not having a name is boring, so I¡¯ll call you Joe.¡±Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    After hearing my words, Joe seems to be irritated for some reason, almost as though Joe is boring of a name for it. ¡°So what¡¯s the deal Joe?¡± After this, I can definitely tell that Joe is mad. ¡°Insolent human¡­ Joe... hmph. Yeah, so I randomly choose people who die to come to this world.


    It¡¯s called, uh, [turns away and seems to whisper to someone] Aerth.¡± What the shit. That¡¯s just a lazy anagram of earth. ¡°Depending on how someone dies, the outline for their new life is created. I don¡¯t choose the outline, it just kinda occurs or something.¡± For some reason, this explanation seems to be getting less and less reliable. I start to walk left.


    ¡°Usually, suiciders get a pretty rough start, because suicide is a pretty dumb way to go. Serial killers and people like that get starts that are completely ass, like exile and no possessions. People are usually just born into the origin point, but this is the first time that someone¡¯s been reborn here.¡± This is starting to seem like just another shitty, lazily made anime. I should know; I¡¯ve seen at least 10 or so just like this.


    ¡°Can I just have my special ability already?¡± I say this expressionlessly and monotone. ¡°What? How did you know? Impatient idiot¡­ sure, fine, whatever. Blah blah blah, generic world building, what ability would you like?¡± says Joe.


    ¡°I want the ability to control the flow of time. Speeding up, slowing down, freezing, unfreezing, ya know? Also, make it toggleable.¡± I pick this specifically because, if you think about it, it¡¯s quite literally the most overpowered ability. If time is frozen, I can do whatever I want. Same thing with slowing time down. Joe replies with, ¡°Woah woah woah, that¡¯s almost too OP.¡±


    Eh? OP? When did you learn that kind of vocabulary? What are you, a 12 year old? ¡°Okay fine, how about you attach some kind of demerit for using the ability?¡± This is also a generic element, but I hope it doesn¡¯t come back to bite me.


    After thinking for a few seconds, Joe replies, ¡°Hmm. Okay then. I¡¯ll make using the ability give you fatigue, like you were doing a long distance race.¡± Hehe. That works out just fine. I used to be a long distance runner. Wait. I just remembered something. But I still don¡¯t remember anything about the actual endeavor¡­


    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± I am fine with this. I remember running 7 or 8 miles every morning for a while. And yet, I don¡¯t remember where, why, or any detail.


    I hear a snapping sound and Joe says, ¡°Now imagine the entire world slowing down or freezing around you. I¡¯ll make some long grass that sways in the wind so you can tell if anything happens.¡± I look at the grass and imagine it slowing down. For a moment, it seems to become slower, but after just a few moments, I release my ability, and it resumes normal speed.


    I stare harder and picture the grass freezing. It still doesn¡¯t do much. I close my eyes, concentrate, and try to force the image in my head upon reality. The grass freezes in place.


    I¡¯m just standing in place, and yet, I feel like I¡¯ve been running for a minute already. It seems that for every ten seconds I hold the freeze, I¡¯ve run for another minute. After holding the freeze for 46 seconds, I feel the fatigue, and at 104 seconds I begin to sweat. And finally, at 343 seconds do I finally give in.


    ¡°Okay then.¡± This is gonna be good. I can perpetually increase my stamina. I know this for a fact. There are people who can hold a much faster pace than mine was for much much longer than 34 minutes back in my world.


    I stare up into the cerulean sky and feel the warm wash over me. I got thrown away and killed, but I got recycled as someone into a new world. Let¡¯s see, priorities: I¡¯ve gotta find out who I am, get a job, find a place to stay, all of that. I don¡¯t care much for love or comradeship, but I won¡¯t turn down help if I can find it.


    Joe seems to be blathering something in the background. ¡°So, this world works kinda like an old school RPG, but there aren¡¯t any stat windows or anything of the sort. You get stronger by training, smarter by studying, normal things like that. You can also kill monsters to increase all of your stats at once, per se, but it is much slower compared to individual training. There are also things like magic. Everyone uses it; but only the really skilled users have extreme magic, like meteors, and such.¡±


    I hear a click, and a holograph pops up in front of me. ¡°This is the origin point.¡±, Joe relays to me. What I see is pretty odd. I see skyscrapers and cars, but I also see dirt huts and mountains. He explains how this world has been around for a long time, blah blah, innovative things.


    The mountain has monsters, upper middle class people live in cities, the huts are poor people, and recyclees, like me, have abilities also. But there is no way to distinguish the recycled from those born here or those originally from here.


    The people here are mostly humans, but there are also some mixed breed humans, part demon, part animal, part monster or such. They mostly live in the huts though.


    Past the mountains I see other villages and cities, and even a few lakes here and there. Joe then says, ¡°And the farther you go from the origin, the stronger the people and creatures are.¡± Eventually I see a point to where there are no more cities, only mountains, fields, lakes, and caves.


    ¡°The only limit to how strong one can be is the physical limits to ones body. There may or may not be a way to break the physical limits. Monsters drop materials, you can make things out of the materials, sell them, more generic fantasy worldbuilding. There¡¯s also other RPG elements, you¡¯ll find them out eventually.¡± ¡°Blah blah, I get the point. Send me to the origin town.¡±


    This is beginning to get boring, and I just want to speed things up a little bit.


    ¡°Fine. Have it your way. There are plenty of people in the origin. Figure it out.¡± Joe seems to be annoyed with my insolence anyways. I hear a clap clap, and I am teleported to an outskirt area in the origin hut area.


    I hear a crackle in my pocket and find a wallet with paper money and a note that says, ¡°Don¡¯t die. There should be enough money for a generic start ~ Joe¡± What a guy.


    End of Chapter 1

 Chapter 2: Respite

    Devoid


    Chapter 2: Respite


    Ever-present as the abyss was, he only peered over the edge.


    As I move towards the city, I first have to pass through the dirty village on the outskirts. The first thing that I see are people. But not human people. I see all sorts of mixed breed people. This village seems to be mostly filled with animal-type people, but there are a few demon and elf type as well.


    The people in the village notice me and subtly turn away, as though my presence created uneasiness. ¡°Am I unwelcome?¡±, I call out.


    The only response I get is from the breeze. I walk up to what seems to be a merman carrying a large backpack. ¡°Am I unwelcome in this town?¡± ¡°Filltthhyy huummaann! Sssttaayy awaaayyyy!¡±


    I just stand there and gaze upon his eyes, pondering my choices. Should I ask why? Do I threaten him? Or do I just continue staring through him?


    I decide upon the last choice and just stand there. Still standing. Still staring.


    ¡°Whhhhyy woooonn¡¯t thiiisss ooonnee leeaavve?¡± ¡°Do I have a reason to?¡± This guy seems surprised by my actions. ¡°You aren¡¯t derogatory towards us?¡± The hell was with that accent.


    ¡°Were you trying to intimidate me with your weird speech patterns and words?¡± The merman looks away, slightly embarrassed. ¡° ¡­. Yes.¡±


    This elicits, from me, one of longest sighs in memory. ¡°So what¡¯s the deal between ¡­. your kind and mine? What¡¯re the mixed people called?¡± Upon hearing my words, the merman seems surprised. ¡°Yeah yeah yeah, I¡¯m new around here. Just assume I don¡¯t know much about this world.¡±


    At this statement, the merman perks up. ¡°You¡¯ve come to the right guy. I¡¯ve got info from all over. I¡¯m the merman traveller, Mann!¡± ¡°I¡¯m Zephyrus. Just call me Zeph.¡±


    He seems pleased as we shake hands with strong grips. He begins with, ¡°The information will cost you 2 yenom.¡±


    You have got to be fucking kidding me. I thought something was off when Joe said this place was called Aerth, but yenom? That¡¯s just money spelled backwards. I walk away for a moment, take out my wallet, and find that it holds fifty 1 yenom bills, twenty-five 5 yenom bills, ten 10 yenom bills, eight 25 yenom bills, five 50 yenom bills, three 100 yenom bills, two 500 yenom bills, and one 1000 yenom bill, for a neat total of 3,025 yenoms. (Mathcheck Please)


    ¡°How much does a hotel room cost here?¡± ¡°Hotel?¡±, inquires Mann. Oh yeah, they probably know them as inns. ¡°I mean a room at an inn.¡± At this he understands, and replies ¡°30 yenoms a day for a room with a bed and basic necessities.¡±


    Back on earth, a basic hotel room went for around 60 dollars, so that means yenoms are probably worth around half the value of american dollars. Convenient. If a room is 30 here, then the cost of his info would be approximately four dollars.


    I hand him a 5 yenom bill and have him teach me everything he knows about this world. Some of the info he had were things I learned from Joe, but I picked up a few useful tidbits.


    The mixed races are called Fractals, like fractions of people. In this world, social status was, of course, based on money and career. The way to find jobs was to go to a job finding spot in the city, which he said usually had a large sign above it in the city. Most people hunted monsters for a living.


    Joe. You told me that wasn¡¯t efficient. Were you lying to me? There were quite a few people in debt, and interestingly enough, if the debt was high enough, they could sell themselves as a slave to clear their debt. He also told me that the average person¡¯s income for a month, was, interestingly enough, around 3,000 yenoms. Nice one Joe.


    ¡°Oh yeah!¡± He whipped his pack off of his shoulders, slung it to the ground, and fumbled around inside of it for a few moments before taking out a funny looking metal bar.


    ¡°And this! This is a Rod of Expectations, which measures one¡¯s potential strength. It will emit a pitch based noise based on the person¡¯s potential power! Higher pitch means higher power! At the cheap cost of 5 yenoms!¡±


    Okay okay okay, how is that possible? I decide to play along anyways and hand him 5 yenoms. I take hold of the rod and expect a high sound or something, but instead hear nothing. Waste of 5 yenoms. ¡°Eh. No sound. Sorry buddy, you must be pretty damn weak!¡±


    He guffaws heavily for a quick minute. I guess that¡¯s to be expected. It¡¯s not like I chose some overpowered ability or something¡­.


    I see that Mann is wearing gloves. ¡°Can you use it also to prove that it works?¡± I should verify this before going. ¡°Sure thing.¡± He slips off his gloves and holds the rod for a few seconds, and then a medium-low pitch is emitted. ¡°Well, I guess I must be pretty weak then.¡± He returns the rod to his pack and slings it back on. ¡°Bye Zeph! Have good travels!¡±


    Even though everyone around has seen our exchange, some still seem wary of me. I then decide to make my exit towards the town, as my info seems adequate enough, and there doesn¡¯t seem to be a language barrier.


    What both Zeph and Mann failed to realize is that humans and humanoids can only hear a certain sound range. The higher the pitch, the higher the frequency. And when the frequency becomes too high, people fail to hear the sound. This phenomenon occurred on that day.


    A few mountains over, a man walked into a shop. He asked the shopkeeper for a Rod of Expectations; the rod emitted a low pitched sound when the shopkeeper handed it to him, but when the man held the rod, there was not a sound to be heard.


    He gave an odd smile that seemed to say he knew what was happening. The shopkeeper smiled at the man amusingly, unknowing of what had transpired.


    The name of this man was Gale.


    I walked towards the city and decided on finding a job first thing. Fighting monsters sounds interesting, but I should probably check the actual job board or something before making a decision.


    I enter the city limits and immediately encounter a checkpoint with a few guards. Behind me, I hear a distinct voice saying ¡°What ho Zeph!¡± I turn to see Mann waving a hand at me. ¡°Watch.¡±


    I stand there as I watch put a finger to his solar plexus and draw out what seems to be a locket with no chain. Is this supposed to be like an ID system? I too put my finger to my stomach and imagine a locket coming out. When nothing happens, I motion to Mann. ¡°How does that locket thing work?¡±


    He tells me that it¡¯s the ID card of this world, named the Cred (I guess it¡¯s supposed to be like accredit. Joe. When will the shit names end?) and is completely unforgeable.


    The object depends from person. He seems slightly embarrassed as he tells me that the object is whatever you treasure the most. At this conundrum, I try hard to think of what my most precious item is.


    Out of nowhere, a guitar pick ejects from my stomach. So this is my most valued item¡­. I was expecting something like a picture or a letter, something with sentimental worth. I imagine myself with a guitar in my hands, picking away, and then I feel a spark within me.


    Somewhere within me, a feeling of relief breaks forth. The feeling of coming home after a gruelling day of working, studying, running, then sitting down, playing your guitar, and letting it all out.


    Before I know it, a wistful smile has appeared on my face. This is my first memory of my old life. I grip the guitar pick, the desire to find myself burning stronger than ever. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    ¡°Zeeeeepppphhhhh¡­. Zepphhh¡­. Aerth to Zeph!¡± I snap back to reality to see Mann waving his hands in front of me. ¡°Why were you smiling?¡± I doubt he would understand my situation, so I respond with ¡°Nothing, just a memory. So how does this work?¡±


    He elaborates that you tap it and imagine a screen popping up, displaying all your stats, class, and level. I facepalm obviously and loudly. God damn it Joe. You literally just told me that there was nothing like that. Next I¡¯m gonna find out that there¡¯s some weird kind of inventory system. ¡°And here¡¯s the inventory button¡­.¡±


    I quit. I fucking quit. Joe has betrayed my trust. I bet he knows literally everything about me and refused to tell me just so he could watch me suffer while trying to figure it out.


    ¡°Fucking Joe. What an asshat.¡± Mann is bewildered by my behavior and backs away a few steps. ¡°Who¡¯s Joe?¡± ¡°A dickhead. What else is there?¡± He is clearly weirded out by what is transpiring. He quickly explains that all of the functions are opened by the tap of a button, even the main. You just have to swipe up on the Cred to open it all up. If you have any crimes, they¡¯re displayed on the Cred too. Why does this sound so familiar.


    It displays all of my stats, abilities, equipment, parties and my¡­. relationship status.


    At this point, I¡¯m convinced that Joe only has 22 pairs of chromosomes. He is definitely a 12 year old.


    I show the guard the guitar pick and slide up on it. It doesn¡¯t show much. Both Mann and I are cleared to enter the town, called Yerk Now. I¡¯m not surprised anymore. ¡°Hey Mann. What year is it? ¡°It¡¯s the 2019th year after the Origin Spawn.¡± Is the Origin Spawn Jesus¡¯ birth or something?


    He departs to three large buildings, aptly named the Triplet Towers, used for world trade. It will never end. I leave for the career center. On my way I see mostly humans, but there are a few Fractals following humans like puppies.


    There are also some humans following other humans as if led by a chain, but there are far more Fractal slaves. What do these people have, monster fetishes?


    I reach a large rainbow colored building with a unicorn shaped sign saying, Career Center!!!, as if the unicorn couldn¡¯t be any happier about spreading jobs. I go inside and expect to see a brightly lit room, a large board with jobs posted on it and a few helpers, but I arrive to a lot of men, women intermittently mixed in.


    Rough looking men, with large weapons and rugged faces, looking as though their jaws and noses had been broken on multiple occasions. The women looked basically like the men, but less brawny, and more, uh, swift and thin, if I had to pick a word, though a few women were just as muscly as the men


    . There were tables spread around the edges of the room. I walk up to the counter near the front, and ask the guy up front for some help finding a job.


    ¡°What job are you interested in, Sir?¡± ¡°Humor me.¡± He then lists off the available jobs, which happen to be, at the moment, just one thing. Slaying jobs. I¡¯m unsurprised even though Joe told me that there were assortments of jobs, so I begin to expect generic fantasy elements from this point on. He tells me to go to table 12 and wait for another assistant for help.


    I arrive at table 12 to see a group of 7 men carrying weapons cornering a petite, blue haired woman. They¡¯re blocking my seat, but I don¡¯t feel like asking them to move.


    I decided to name my time freeze move Freeze. Sophisticated, I know. I useFreeze and sit down in my chair and then unFreeze time. The man is tough talking the lady and says, ¡°Well Zure, Whadda- Hey! When did you get there?¡± I look at him for a moment, then say ¡°Just now. I¡¯m expecting an assistant for work soon.¡±


    He seems to be pretty brutish and stupid, but looks can be deceiving. I¡¯d rather not assume weakness from someone I know nothing about. ¡°How did you get there?¡± His men turn their sights and act tough, slightly glaring at me, a few of them cracking their knuckles.


    ¡°I walked over and sat down. Why are you acting tough? Trying to intimidate me into submission?¡±


    I¡¯ve had enough of people¡¯s antics today. All of that crap Joe told me was crap, and my memory about the guitar pick made me fired up, though I¡¯ve cooled down a bit by now.


    ¡°Look. I walked over and sat down. Is it really that hard to understand?¡± These guys might be stupider than I thought. ¡°Smart guy, eh? I think he should be taught a lesson.¡± The men begin to crack their knuckles more readily and seem to be ready for a fight.


    They form a barrier around the table as I get up, so I¡¯m enclosed in. They all move towards me at once.


    I decided to name my time slowing skill Chill. I Chill time a moment before they reach me and analyze the situation. Three of men are trying to grab me, two are standing by, and two are readying their fists to strike. Muda.


    I step out of the way of the three grabbers so they all crash into each other, and then climb on the shoulders of the guy who seems to be the leader, standing by. It¡¯s not wrong to have some fun with this.


    ¡°Where¡¯d they go~?¡± I inquire this teasingly as though looking for the guys. He swings upwards, and I Chill time and hop down while kicking him in the face. ¡°Arrggh!!¡± As I unChill time, he clutches his nose, now bleeding profusely. While this is happening, the two punchers backed off and drew their weapons, as did the three fallen guys.


    They draw their weapons, but I put the Freeze on time and pluck their weapons from their hands and carefully put them on the table behind me. When time resumes, they try to swing at me, only to find they are using air. Shock registers on all of their faces.


    All of this movement underFreeze and Chill are going to tire me out if I don¡¯t finish this quickly. I use Chill once more, take the hammer that one of the men were holding, and use it to whack all of their nuts.


    Well, it sucks to suck, right? As they lie on the ground clutching their dicks while crying in agony, I bundle up their weapons with one of the guys shirts and put them on the seat. If I can find a weaponsmith or a shop that will buy these things, I could make some quick cash.


    From a 3rd person perspective


    As Zure was getting surrounded by the group of seven, she realized that she had no way out. She had very little experience with the real world, being a sheltered rich girl for most of her life. She expected everyone to treat her with respect and kindness; a grave mistake.


    She was slowly backing against the table behind her when the leader of the thugs looked surprised, as was she. Behind her at the table was a young man, above average stature with medium cut black hair, hanging down in no particular manner. He seemed to be nothing special, but no one there had any idea how he had gotten to the table in the first place.


    After seeing the man and the thugs exchange words, she quickly backed off from the group, all the while seeing the guy stand up, surrounded by the thugs very much how she had been. She now had no thoughts expect for to save herself and ran away. Despite her fear, she turned around before exiting the room, to see the man standing on the leader¡¯s shoulders.


    She was bewildered at this action, only to see him in the next moment teleport down in front of the leader, whose nose was now gushing blood. He then teleports once again and the weapons the men were holding are now on the table. Zure watches as the man moves at hypersonic speed, effectively shutting off all means of the thugs having children in the future.


    He rips off the shirt of one man, then ties the weapons together and says something about cash. As Zure stood here watching the encounter, she also realized, that to get ahead in this world, she would need allies; and she thought she had just found the first one.


    Resume Zeph¡¯s Perspective


    The woman who was being cornered by the men returns a few moments after I bundle up the weapons. She approaches me with serious eyes. ¡°How did you do that?¡± Really now. ¡°Why do I have to tell you?¡± She seems slightly irritated.


    ¡°I¡¯ll have you know my daddy is the police chief! He could lock you away if I told him to!¡± Who¡¯s this supposed to be? A generic tsundere love interest? She¡¯s actually quite pretty, but seems self-absorbed and conceited. ¡°And? Anything else you want to complain about?¡±


    She was probably expecting some sort of backing-off from me, but I¡¯m not in the mood. She just stands there and puffs out her cheeks with a slight hmph. Definitely a generic love interest. Though I¡¯m not interested.


    ¡°Look, I¡¯m not interested in making friends, okay? Just go away already, I¡¯m expecting the job attendant any minute now.¡± She seems even more taken aback than before, if that was possible. If I had to say, the look was somewhere between shock and hurt.


    Pshhhh. Make friends elsewhere. ¡°I¡¯m not looking for friends! I just want to know how you got so strong!¡± Tiring. She is SO tiring.


    I use Freeze and walk behind her. As time resumes, I whisper a few words in her ear. ¡°I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re the leader of the new world, much less the daughter of the police chief. But I¡¯ll give you some advice; If you are willing to fight, you must also be willing to break your bones, sweat out blood, and endure pain. To deal pain, one must first know it inside and out.¡±


    I have no idea where these words come from, but I hope they sound cool. They sounded pretty cool to me.


    She whips around and responds, ¡°I¡¯m willing.¡± I take a step back and analyze her. She has dark blue hair, is carrying a sword at her waist, and seems to be wearing some odd kind of armor, as are other people in this joint.


    ¡°Hmm. You might say you are, but I know you aren¡¯t. Although, I could use another guide to learn more things.¡± Naive as she is, she should be well-educated, especially if her dad is the sheriff.


    She once again hmphs, crosses her arms and turns away. I swear I just saw steam come out of her ears. ¡°Oh yeah, also, I¡¯m not interested in having a relationship. Just getting that out of the way now. So don¡¯t even try using womanly wile to get anything special out of me.¡±


    She then turns beet red and exclaims, ¡°Wh-Wha-What do you mean?¡± Big sigh. Nevermind the job finding; I¡¯ll figure it out later. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°My name is Zure, daughter of the po-¡± ¡°Yeah, I know you¡¯re the daughter of the police chief. My name is Zephyrus. Just call me Zeph. I don¡¯t like small talk. I don¡¯t want to be friends. I just want you to be my guide for a little bit. Okay?¡± She still seems taken aback by my words, be she seems to accept how I am, for now at least.


    I turn my mind away from job finding and think about this world for a moment. Primitive weapons? In an advanced society? Damn Joe; either he deliberately made it this way, or it¡¯s just lazy writing for plot device. Oh wait.


    Zure and I left the Career Center.


    End Of Chapter 2

 Chapter 3: Fool

    Chapter 3: Shame


    He only saw over the edge, but it held unknown depth.


    3rd person perspective


    As Zure and Zeph left the Career building, she got a better look at Zeph¡¯s face. He seemed to be generally uninterested in what seemed to be happening, but his eyes fluttered back and forth, as if drinking in every surrounding.


    Just by looking at his eyes, he looked dead. They held no emotion, but there also seemed to be something behind them, as though they held a secret, untold to all but Zeph.


    And the color of his eyes didn¡¯t match how he was at all. They were a deep sea blue, as though they would swallow you whole if you were to stare for too long.


    ¡°Why are you staring at me?¡± Zure didn¡¯t know how to respond to Zeph¡¯s inquisition, and quietly responded, ¡°No reason.¡± ¡°If you have no reason to look at me, then don¡¯t look at me.¡±


    To Zure, Zeph seemed to be cold and heartless, but he also didn¡¯t seem to be a bad person. ¡°Thanks for saving me back there. If you didn-¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t do it for you. They threatened me with force, and I responded accordingly. Don¡¯t get the wrong idea.¡±


    Zeph¡¯s perspective


    To my left, there were skyscrapers lined across the way; same on the right. Most of the buildings were big business¡¯ and held no meaning, until they reached the shopping district, which was occupied by a large super-mall and a few fast food chains.


    We entered a Sandwich Queen, and I decide on the special #2; a meat and cheese sandwich, soda, fries, and chicken nuggets. ¡°I don¡¯t care what you¡¯re ordering. I pay for my food, and you pay for yours.¡± I don¡¯t see why she should expect any special treatment from me.


    She silently nods okay and continues on looking at the menu. I then notice the price, which is 3 yenoms. Seems accurate. We order the food, receive the food, eat the food, and exit.


    ¡°All right, now I¡¯m going to need you to guide me around the mall. Also, why are you so quiet?¡± She waits a moment before answering, then says, ¡°If I don¡¯t have a reason to say anything, then I don¡¯t have to say anything.¡±


    She seems satisfied with her answer, acting contempt, like she understood me.


    ¡°Don¡¯t assume you know what I¡¯m thinking. I only want you to be my guide for a while.¡± Her look of contempt shifts to irritation as quickly as it had been contempt.


    The first shop we see in the mall is a magic shop, aptly named Magyk. I gesture towards the shop, and we enter. The first thing she tells me is that I can check the stats of each item by swiping up on it¡¯s tag, and that magic is entirely dependent on stamina usage.


    I pick up a scroll, which reads, Scroll of Fire: 50 yenoms. ¡°Are these single use? Do I absorb the scroll?¡± ¡°Pretty much. Once you buy the scroll, you take out your Cred and press the scroll to it.¡± I pick through a few more scrolls, and settle on lightning magic, health recovery magic, and a speed up scroll.


    ¡°Are you sure you want ALL of those scrolls? If you learn multiple types of magic, the effectiveness of each spell decreases. If you were only to learn the health and speed spells, you would be fine, because they¡¯re both support spells; but others, like the lightning scroll, are attack magic, so the different types of spells will interfere with each other.¡±


    So I¡¯m limited to one type of magic. Inconvenient, but I already have Freeze and Chill, so I¡¯ll go with support type magic. I go ahead and purchase the speed up for 75 yenoms and the health recovery spells for 125 yenoms.


    As we exit the shop, Zure explains to me that I just have say a keyword every time I want to use magic. ¡°Is the word related to the spell?¡±


    ¡°No, you can choose any word you want, but it helps to have the word related to the spell you¡¯re casting.¡± I decide on the words Heal, for the heal, and Swift, for the speed.


    The strength of the spell is dependent on how much effort you put into the spell, but it¡¯s proportional to stamina, like I said earlier. More effort = More stamina.


    I pause time for a moment and try to use Swift. When I try to speak, no words come out; sound doesn¡¯t travel when time is stopped.


    I try speaking under Chill, and though I speak at a normal speed, the pitch and speed of the words are heavily reduced, and the spell doesn¡¯t activate until the word ends.


    No magic while time is frozen. Honestly, this is fine because if I used stamina killing spells while using stamina killing Freeze, I won¡¯t be able to do much.


    We walk forward throughout the mall and see a multitude of what appear to be weapon and armor shops until stopping at one, called The Smith. I walk inside and see countless weapons on the walls, including swords, guns, bows, hammers, maces, spears, glaives, and daggers.


    Most of the ranged things don¡¯t interest me, but I check out the guns stats, which read: |M-4| |3 bullets per/sec| |Bullet Speed: 20 feet per/sec|. Only 20 feet per second? That¡¯s really slow, but I guess it¡¯s to compensate for the comparative strength of swords, bows, and everything else in the shop.


    Immediately afterwards, I drift towards the glaive section. I notice one that looks like a katana hooked onto the end of a pole, which I realise is a naginata. I search for a naginata with a detachable handle until reaching one that has a pure black handle, and a blade that is almost darker than the handle.


    I check my stats, which are |Strength: 22| |Defense: 15| |Speed: 24| |Stamina: 30| |Intelligence: 23|. I swipe up on the handle and check it¡¯s stats. |Abyssal Naginata| |Strength boost: +28| |Sharpness: SS Ranked| |Handle: Detachable| |Cost: 1500 Yenoms| If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Damn. If it costs 1500 yenoms, then it must be a top tier item. I bring it to the front counter and ask to buy it. ¡°Are you sure you want to buy that?¡± I think I¡¯m pretty sure. Wordlessly, I purchase the naginata and a waistband/sheath thing, detach the handle, and slide the blade into the sheath, and the handle into the belt.


    I pause time for a moment while figuring out how to draw both pieces at once and use the spear. The sword draws exactly like a katana, but the spear handle takes a minute to figure out.


    If I take the spear handle from my waist and attach it to the end of the katana while pulling it out, it seems to be a swift movement. By the end of the freeze, I¡¯m sweating and breathing hard.


    ¡°Hey¡­. uh, why are you sweating?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll tell you later.¡± She looks unsatisfied and annoyed with my answer. ¡°Hey Zure. What are your stats?¡± She pulls up her Cred behind her, then puts it away ¡°Why do you want to know?¡± ¡°Reference.¡± ¡°Fine. Strength 18, Defense 20, Speed 15, Stamina 9, Intelligence 8.¡±


    She seems embarrassed by the two especially. I¡¯m not really sure how actual logic influences the Intelligence stat, but I¡¯m not really sure how the Int stat even matters if Stamina influences magic. I ask Zure and she says that the Int stat influences what you can learn magic-wise, and also directly influences memorization skill. Good to know.


    I take a look at the armor and see nothing, and I mean NOTHING, but normal clothes. ¡°Are these supposed to be armor? These just look like normal clothes.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong. They look normal, but just look at their stats.¡±


    I swipe up on a white T-shirt to see that it gives a defense boost of 6. The shirt costs 200 yenoms. I can do better than this. I look at a black and white button up shirt, swipe up, and find that it has a defense of +20 and costs 450 yenoms. I walk up to the counter once more and buy it.


    I don¡¯t see much besides shirts, so I assume that that¡¯s it. We leave the store, and after a quick trip through the mall, I notice a watch store. I quickly enter, buy a digital watch for 15 yenoms, slip it on my right wrist, and exit. We evacuate the mall eventually, and I see that it¡¯s 5:24 PM. At least Aerth uses the same time system as Earth.


    ¡°I don¡¯t need you anymore. You can go if you want.¡± I got everything I needed, so I¡¯ll be heading to the Career Center to find a job for the next day. ¡°But I don¡¯t want to leave yet. So¡­. Tell me why you were sweating earlier!¡± Really now. I use Chill and walk behind her again. She tries to turn around, as I seem sped up to her perception.


    ¡°No.¡± ¡°You liar!¡± Do I care if the daughter of some rich guy calls me a liar? ¡°So? I had never any intention of telling you the truth. And why do you need to know?¡± ¡°Because you seem really strong, and I¡­ need money.¡± She turns away, shyly looking at the floor. ¡°It¡¯s hard to earn money hunting monsters by yourself! So I wanted to join your party!¡±


    Really. Oh. It must be because of the 7 guys earlier. Taking them all down at once was probably a mistake, and I probably attracted a lot of attention as a result. I let out a sigh.


    ¡°If you can beat me in a fight, I¡¯ll let you join my party or whatever. I won¡¯t use that thing, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re thinking. You can use any weapons and magic or anything you have to fight.¡±


    She then lets out a smirk, and lets out a string of magic buffs upon herself, like strength, speed, and defense. I use Swift on myself in response.


    She runs towards me, then vaults over me, and tries a feint from the side. But I also have cast Swift on myself, so her speed is nothing special.


    I dodge, and she draws a dagger from a sheath under her skirt, saying, ¡°You actually aren''t half bad at fighting.¡± Of course I''m not bad. I''m not some fighting genius, but I''ve sparred with my brother enough to know what a feint looks like. ¡°Just saying, I''m going to hit if you make a mistake. Monsters aren''t going to hold back just because you''re a girl.¡±


    She lets loose a wild smile and moves in, and I draw the katana in response. Our blades clang resoundingly, and she pulls another dagger from her skirt. Shit. I should have known there was two daggers. I don''t have time to draw my spear handle, and I¡¯m not even sure that it would even defend against her dagger.


    In cases like these, there are only two solutions: secret-tactics and psychological warfare. I seriously want to test her strength, not to mention my own, so I¡¯ll refrain from the first for now, leaving me with psychological warfare.


    I recall on the incredibly short time that we spent together, and think about any odd interactions where she became distracted or shy. I look upon the few times I told her I wasn¡¯t interested in romance, and she got flustered; I¡¯ll go with this tactic.


    ¡°Do you want to go out with me?¡± This is my last-ditch attempt, with her hand already drawing out her dagger. As if preemptively triggered, she says one word.


    ¡°Nope.¡±


    With that, she swings the blade towards my neck and stops a hair''s breadth from my jugular.


    No way. No fricking way. I was so certain that would work¡­. didn¡¯t she turn around when she was checking her stats? She doesn¡¯t seem particularly tired at this moment, and she¡¯s still grinning.


    Could it be. Could. It. Be. Was she playing me from the beginning? I need to ask one question to confirm all of this.


    ¡°Are you claustrophobic?¡± Zure cocks her head, then replies, ¡°Uh, yeah, unfortunately. Loser.¡± She sticks out her tongue at me.


    ¡°I¡¯ve figured it out now. You¡¯ve been playing me from the beginning. You probably could¡¯ve effortlessly taken all seven of those guys from earlier, but you were boxed in and felt afraid, right? When you turned around and ¡°checked¡± {air quotes included} your stats, you lied to me. You probably have all of your stats up to at least 30, if not higher.¡±


    She turns and whistles, as if to say, What could you possibly mean? ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a yes. You faked being the police chief¡¯s daughter and needing money, along with the blushing and joining my party act. You probably even anticipated us eventually fighting. You got me good with your acting, but now I want you to join my party, even though I can¡¯t really trust anything you say.¡±


    I don¡¯t what it is with people giving me false bullshit, but I¡¯ve been had twice now. Fucking twice. There¡¯s a saying, Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. I don¡¯t really believe in the saying, but it does apply, coincidentally.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t lie to you about the info I gave to you earlier in the mall about the magic interference thing though.¡± Unreliable as she is, it does kind of make sense. Different magic types, interference, eh, I don¡¯t know, seems legit.


    ¡°So will you join my party?¡± She¡¯ll probably refuse and slink back to whatever evil recess she came from. ¡°Sure.¡± Oh come on. ¡°Do you really expect me to believe you? After everything that¡¯s occurred here?¡± I¡¯m still kind of in shock, to be fair, so everything is suspicious to me.


    Hmm. Shock. Haven¡¯t felt that in a while. ¡°If I had to pick a reason for you to believe me, it¡¯s that we had a fun day together, don¡¯tcha think?¡±


    She smiles brightly at me after saying this and she seems even more radiant than before. My heart begins to beat audibly and then¡­. No. I¡¯m not falling for this crap.


    ¡°You mean you had fun.¡± Her smile widens. ¡°Exactly! I want things to be fun all of the time!¡± For fucks sake. I know I said that nothing would surprise me anymore, but what I got here was a Just for Funsies!


    ¡°Never mind.¡± ¡°Ppplllleeeaaaassseeeee? Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top of extra whipped cream and strawberry syrup?¡±


    Did she really just guess my favorite ice cream combo? Well? What can I say to that? ¡°Fine. But I¡¯ll be seeing that ice cream soon, you hear?¡± ¡°Yay!¡±


    I swear, if I get fooled by the next person I meet, I will kill myself and try to reincarnate again.


    End Of Chapter 3

 Chapter 4: Sky

    Chapter 4: Sky


    Before proceeding, he turned and saw that his abyss was not the only one.


    ¡°The reason no one around here cares that we¡¯re fighting is because they can¡¯t see us. I cast illusion magic on us before we started. It¡¯s a support spell, so you should learn it too.¡± There¡¯s probably a lot of things she didn¡¯t tell me, but I¡¯ll have to find out later.


    Honestly, at this point, I should consider just getting a few slaves so I won¡¯t get fricked again, but I have no idea how much they go for, and I don¡¯t want to overspend anything. I¡¯ve spent about 2000 of my 3000 yenoms, so I¡¯m going to focus on earning money and getting a place to live.


    ¡°Hey Zure. Where do you live?¡± ¡°Who needs to know?¡± ¡°I do. I don¡¯t have a place to live, and I¡¯m starting to run short on funds.¡±


    I¡¯m not some creep, I really don''t have anywhere to go. ¡°I don¡¯t know, you seem pretty weird¡­.¡± She rubs her chin in a speculatory way, as though she had a goatee. ¡°If I let you stay at my place, you have to let me be the party leader.¡± No way.


    ¡°No. I definitely can¡¯t trust you with a responsibility like that. Plus, you just want the title of leader, don¡¯t you?¡± Zure turns and whistles innocently again. Stupid whistling tropes.


    ¡°Hey. You like to fight, don¡¯t you? How about you get to use me as a punching bag everyday as my payment?¡± Honestly, I¡¯m questioning my character at this point. Am I some kind of masochist or something? She just easily kicked my ass. Damn writer. Oh wait.


    I feel something malicious and sinister pouring off of her as she smiles at me. I gaze at her shadow, and for a moment it seems to smile at me too. Shit.


    I may have gotten myself a place to live, but I''ve also just gotten myself an infinite supply of round trip hospital tickets.


    Zure tells me to pull up my Cred and then click the parties button. I click invite on her name, and she accepts. Wat. ¡°Who¡¯s the highest level person in the world?¡± Oh boy. ¡°Right now, the highest level person I¡¯ve heard of is Rook, level 143.¡±


    That means that Zure is pretty damn good; she¡¯s level 31. And I¡¯m level 2. ¡°Have you lived in this town for a long time?¡± She¡¯s actively pulling a sword out of her Cred screen, and answers, ¡°My whole life, but I¡¯ve regularly traveled to other regions for higher level battles.¡±


    Oi. Why couldn¡¯t I see my level before? Did I have to level up first? There¡¯s so much unexplained shit here.


    ¡°If I told you I died in another world and was reincarnated here, would you believe me?¡± ¡°Yep. I have a few friends who also claimed to be reincarnated. In fact, that Rook guy also claims to be reincarnated. So, what¡¯s your special ability? Come on, tell me already.¡± This is a full 180 degree change from how she was earlier.


    I suppose the other recyclee¡¯s claimed that they were from another world, displayed special abilities, and then expected the generic hero storyline. Pathetic, but understandable. Who wouldn¡¯t want the easy way out?


    ¡°I don¡¯t see why I should have to tell you. If you can guess it correctly, I¡¯ll confir-¡±


    ¡°Time Control!¡±


    Gurk! Bullshit! Total crap. This. Is. Total. Crap.


    ¡°Screw this shit! How high is your intelligence! Tell me, you evil trickster!¡± I chase her around for a minute while trying to get her to tell me her INT. ¡°Fifty Four.¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    I thought I was pretty good, what with my INT being at 23, but 54 is over twice of mine. But hey. For a level two, I have some pretty high stats. Must¡¯ve come from my old life.


    I pull up the status screen and look at my stats. They now all have an addition sign next to them, and the top of the screen reads, |4 Points Available to Spend|.


    I see. I get 4 points per level. ¡°How many points do you get when you level up?¡± ¡°Three. Why? Do you have some special reincarnated level system?¡± ¡°No, I was just wondering if I did.¡±


    I say all of this with a straight face. I don¡¯t really want to reveal that I get four points per level, but I don¡¯t know if she¡¯s being truthful. I probably will buy a slave soon.


    I decide to put 3 of my points onto speed and one on strength. I¡¯ve always liked speed; it reflects my want of efficiency.


    We walk through the town in silence after this, and the sun begins to set. My head involuntarily turns towards the mountains at this sight.


    There are a few clouds in the sky, and become orange pink. The clouds nearest to the sun turn a blood-red, and to me, they seem to fuse with the mountains, giving off the appearance of lava.


    I turn my head to see Zure also entranced by this sunset. ¡°Hey Zeph. What¡¯s your favorite color?¡± Color. Not too big on it, to be completely honest.


    ¡°If I had to choose, my favorite color is dark green. I couldn¡¯t explain it, even if I wanted to. Perhaps it¡¯s because green is a color of growth; it gives me the feeling that growth is possible, that there¡¯s still time to do the things I want. Dark green reminds me of trees. Trees that extend so tall they seem limitless, stretching forever towards the sky.¡±


    An image pops into my mind. I¡¯m standing in a forest during twilight; not bright enough for a sunset, but also not bright enough to block out the stars.


    Behind me is a boy with black hair, sitting on the porch of a house. He is holding a guitar, and is strumming a song.


    Though I cannot hear the song, I feel what he is singing about. Everytime he stops singing, he too gazes upwards, to see the stars, at this point outshining the sun.


    He continues strumming for a few seconds when the door opens, and another boy with black hair beckons him to come inside; it must be almost dinner time.


    I walk closer as I watch the two walk inside. I try using Freeze in this place, and, to my surprise, time stops. The two are turned towards each other, and seem to be talking animatedly.


    The boy who came from inside seems cheerful; I can tell from his eyes. The boy holding the guitar is smiling, but it doesn¡¯t reach his eyes.


    As cheerful as he seems, his eyes tell me that he would rather still be playing his guitar, or reading a book.


    Anything to escape this reality for a while.


    I unfreeze time, and the two resume walking inside, but I can still see them through the glass on the door.


    They turn the corner and leave, but the image of the boy remains in the glass.


    But this time he isn¡¯t smiling.


    His face is now stained with tears as he mouths a single word.


    Help.


    ¡°That was the first time I¡¯ve ever seen you smile.¡± I am once again back in reality, and Zure is talking to me.


    ¡°But then you stopped smiling, and your face resumed being expressionless. But your eyes didn¡¯t change. In fact, they still haven¡¯t changed from how they looked when you stopped smiling.¡± ¡°How could you tell if I my smile was real or not?¡±


    Zure quietly looks at me wistfully. ¡°Because I¡¯m good at acting. But you don¡¯t act. You wouldn¡¯t smile unless there was a real reason to be happy.¡± Her words leave me speechless for a moment.


    I know that her INT stat is high, but this isn¡¯t just some ploy to get something; for once, she¡¯s genuine.


    I stop walking, and for a moment, she walks ahead before stopping. Zure looks back at me and smiles, then turns towards the sunset.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have a favorite color. There are too many different shades to choose from. Plus, I wouldn¡¯t want to hurt the other colors feelings.¡±


    She winks at me then turns forward and begins walking again, and though I can¡¯t see her face, I can see one thing.


    Zure is no longer smiling, her face just as expressionless as mine.


    I rejoin her side, and we walk in silence all the way to her apartment.


    But this time, we walk closer together than we did before.


    End of Chapter 4

 Chapter 5: Feel

    Chapter 5: Feel


    He returned staring into his abyss, and felt something rise from it.


    We reach the building where she lives, and it turns out to be a normal-sized house with a double garage on the side. Huh. I was expecting a skyscraper with an apartment somewhere inside, but I don¡¯t really have a preference. When we are almost at the door, Zure tosses me a key, which must be for the door.


    It¡¯s 6:12 when I wordlessly open the door and step inside. ¡°Shoes. Off.¡± She points to a spot by the wall with a small shoe stand. ¡°Time for the grand tour!¡± Zure waves her arms around bombastically while saying this. In response, I push past her and say, ¡°So which room is mine?¡± ¡°Well, there¡¯s only one bedroom so that means we get to sha-¡± ¡°Nice couch.¡± I plop down onto it and feel the seats and cushions before sinking deep.


    ¡°That works too then. I was just kidding, by the way. There¡¯s a room down the next hallway.¡± ¡°Sweet. I don¡¯t feel like a couch would be very comfortable anyways.¡± She leads me down the next hallway to the room. In the room I find something very interesting.


    To be specific, wallpaper. Floral wallpaper, in conjunction with a floral bedsheet, pillow, and covers. Fine with me. ¡°I don¡¯t know what kind of reaction you were expecting from me, but flowers don¡¯t bother me.¡± She hmphs, turns, and says, ¡°Fine then. Explore the house on your own. There¡¯s food in the fridge.¡±


    ¡°Thanks. Though I know I don¡¯t sound like it, I really appreciate all of this.¡± I don¡¯t know if she heard me or not, but I meant what I said.


    I take out my Cred and check my inventory. I store the naginata by pushing it onto the screen, and it absorbs soundlessly.


    I then go explore the house, finding a laundry room, bathroom, dining room/living room conjunction thingy, and a floral closet in my room. Seriously. Who makes every single thing in their room flower based?


    I depart for the kitchen, and check all of the cupboards for stuff. They¡¯re mostly filled with glassware and whatnot, but some of them are filled with snacks. Jackpot. I check the fridge and find a selection of junk food. Does she live on this stuff? How is she not fat? As if on prompt, Zure walks in.


    ¡°Do you actually live on this stuff and not get fat?¡± ¡°Yeah. Strong metabolism.¡± ¡°Respect.¡± I turn back towards the fridge and take out the gallon of Strawberry Atnaf (Lazy naming returns), get the biggest glass I can find, and fill it to near the top with the red stuff. I take the bag of potato chips and plop onto the couch once more. I see a TV in the corner, but there doesn¡¯t seem to be a remote.


    ¡°How do you turn the TV on?¡± She claps twice and the TV turns on. Really. I do it, but nothing happens. I clap three times and it turns off. Nice. I clap twice and say, ¡°Channels?¡± To my surprise, a channel list pops up in my vision.


    I scroll through all of them and stop on a random channel. Which happens to be called Mockaleodon. Great. And on is a show called StarBill RoundShirt. It seems to exactly mirror SpongeBob, but with a different character cast. Perfect.


    ¡°How¡¯d you know what my favorite show was?¡± Zure sits down next to me, also with a large glass of soda and junk food. We watch until late into the night, when another show finally comes on and we decide not to watch anymore. It¡¯s now 10:00 pm.


    ¡°Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about tomorrow¡¯s schedule.¡± Oh boy. I almost forgot about the promise I made to her about being her punching bag.


    ¡°So first thing in the morning, whenever I wake up, we¡¯re gonna fight until I¡¯m satisfied. I decide on whether or not we use weapons. Then we¡¯re gonna go to the mountains to start trying to get you leveled up a little bit. That¡¯s also how we¡¯re going to make money.¡±


    Sounds simple, but the early morning fighting sounds bad for my health. Whenever she wakes up? Just watch her wake up at 4 am and attack me while I¡¯m sleeping. ¡°Do I get any free time to go explore the city?¡± ¡°Maybe. Depends on the mountain expedition.¡± Great; there goes my plans.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to go shower. Don¡¯t do anything dumb while I¡¯m away, you hear?¡± Zure tells me this and escapes to the bathroom. I¡¯m not going to do anything dumb; no way am I going to risk a trip-and-fall scenario. I¡¯m not interested, but she seems to want to tease me about romance or something. I poke around the house and eventually reach her room.


    Am I interested in looking around? Yes. Am I embarrassed because it¡¯s the room of a girl? No. Will I explore her room while she showers?


    Definitely.


    I push open her door and expect some more floral patterns, but her room is surprisingly boring. It¡¯s mostly gray colors. Except for her bed, which has a rainbow pattern on the covers and pillow. I guess she really didn¡¯t want to hurt the other color¡¯s feelings.


    I walk over to one of her dressers and find nothing but clothes, assorted skirts, jeans, shirts, dresses, plus various gloves and socks. I hoped to have better luck in the second dresser, but I pull open all of the drawers to find more clothes and some shoes. I then reach the last drawer. I open it normally, but hear a click at the very end.


    I pull the drawer all the way out of the dresser and feel around inside, and find a paper square, magnetically attached to a small metal plate inside the dresser. I pull it out and see that it holds a picture of a woman, who has the same blue hair as Zure, but looks to be middle-old aged. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    This woman must be her mother. But why was she hiding the photo inside of a dresser? I hear the bathroom door click open, and Zure sounds like she¡¯s heading this way. Shit. I don¡¯t have time to replace the photo, so I settle for just putting the drawer back in place.


    The bathroom isn¡¯t that far away, so if I leave, Zure will notice me leaving her room. Shit. I do a once-over of the room, and notice that the only place with hiding space is under her bed.


    There better not be any spiders under there. I dive under the bed and try to get to a position where Zure won¡¯t be able to see me. A few seconds later, I hear the Zure walk through the doorway to the room. I can see from under the bed that she¡¯s already half undressed. Of course she is. Wait. Why didn¡¯t I just use Freeze?


    Didn¡¯t I just tell myself to not do anything dumb so I wouldn¡¯t trigger one of those fall and grope situations? I¡¯ve fucked myself so many times today I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if my INT stat had fallen by a few points. I facepalm in my mind as I try to be as silent as possible.


    I then use Freeze and and get out from under the bed. Zure is a few feet from the dresser, so I remove the last drawer, replace the picture, but I¡¯m interested as to why she came back, so I slink back under the bed.


    As time resumes, she walks directly towards the second dresser and takes out the last drawer. She then expertly pulls out the picture, as though it was a practiced motion, and begins to speak.


    ¡°Hey mom. It¡¯s me, Zure. Today, the weirdest thing happened. I was just in the career center, and I was surrounded by a bunch of thugs. You remember how I had bad claustrophobia? Well, it kicked in at the worst time, and I got scared. But then I met the most interesting guy I¡¯ve ever seen. He appeared out of thin air, but he beat up all of the guys in just a few seconds. He claims to be from another world, and when he said that, I was really surprised. I lied and told him I knew a few reincarnated people. I¡¯d heard rumors of reincarnators before, but when he said he had a special ability, I actually guessed it right! He has time control powers, and it¡¯s super duper odd. He said he didn¡¯t he have a place to stay, so I let him crash at my place. Right now, he¡¯s probably in your old room. While we were walking home, he told me what his favorite color was, and afterwards I realized that he was someone who could be trusted. Maybe it was something in the way his eyes looked when he was done talking, or maybe his actions from earlier. He claims it was pure retaliation, but I¡¯d like to think it was for me. I also totally kicked his ass when we fought; but he didn¡¯t use his ability at all. I¡¯ve only known him for a day, but I feel closer to him than I have to anyone else in a long time. If I could explain the feeling, I would. But I can tell. He knows how I feel, or at least he¡¯s incredibly good at faking it. Alright Mom, that¡¯s it. I¡¯m gonna go shower now.¡±


    Zure replaces the photo and the drawer, then exits the room. I hear the bathroom door click, and I roll out from under the bed. I understand how she feels? I look upon her words from earlier, then think about them carefully


    [Because I¡¯m good at acting. But you don¡¯t act. You wouldn¡¯t smile unless there was a real reason to be happy.]


    I think about these words for a moment, then try to draw a conclusion. I don¡¯t act? I feel myself being drawn into another vision¡­.


    Once again, it¡¯s the dark haired boy. But this time, he¡¯s walking down a school hallway while talking to a blonde-haired girl. The girl says to him, ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    In response, the boy smiles at her and says, ¡°Definitely not. But it feels better to fake it than to not be okay, ya know?¡± The blonde girl responds with silence and an odd look at the black haired boy. I then see a series of days pass for the boy, but these times, he is walking alone. Every single time after the first, the girl is no longer there. A phrase resounds through my conscience.


    It¡¯s better to be alone.


    I¡¯m back in reality, and I realize a few things, first and foremost: the black haired boy is definitely me. I have no idea about the blondie, but this means that parts of my memory will return when I find certain items, like the guitar pick, or make certain connections between this world and that one.


    It¡¯s better to be alone? Why? So I would have less to lose? I have so many questions, and so little answers. I just have to experience this world more.


    But while I¡¯m lost in my thoughts, I fail to hear Zure return from her shower. Naked, except for the towel covering her sexy areas. I also don¡¯t realize in time that she entered the room, and I was just standing up in it. It¡¯s too late to use freeze; she¡¯s already seen me. Time to talk my way out of this, hopefully.


    An aura similar to the one earlier in the day when I made the punching bag promise is now pouring off of her like lava. Oh geez. Mistakes have been made. Mistakes have been made.


    ¡°How long have you been there?¡± ¡°From before the drawer thing.¡± Why am I telling the truth? I don¡¯t know, but after her speech, I don¡¯t want to lie to Zure anymore. ¡°So you heard everything I said?¡± ¡°Yep. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± If the aura could get any scarier, it just did. I thought it was evil before, but now it¡¯s downright demonic.


    Zure just puts that creepy smile on her face and walks closer to me. No. No way am I letting a nearly-naked girl get close to me. I step back and say, ¡°Put some clothes on before you attack me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not just going to attack you.¡± I nearly shrink back in fear and close my eye, but instead, I feel her put her arms around me in a hug.


    ¡°I was right, mom.¡± Zure murmurs this from the side of her mouth while nestling against me. Not good. Unfamiliar situation. Play it cool, Zeph, play it cool.


    I CAN¡¯T FRICKING PLAY IT COOL THIS IS SO INSANE WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW


    ¡°Uhhh¡­¡± I start to feel the blood rush to my face and try to push her away, but to my dismay, she just snuggles in closer. Her towel is starting to fall off of her back.


    I quickly move my hands to her back and keep the towel in place. ¡°Clothes! Please!¡± She just looks up at me and then seems to realize that she is, in fact, half naked. And really, she doesn¡¯t seem to care.


    At this point, I forcibly push her away and say, ¡°No. No way. Not happening. Ever. No. Noononononoonononononononononono. No.¡± I freeze time and leave the room.


    I unfreeze time when I reach my room. Holy shit. Did that just happen? I also just remembered that in my past life, I actually have no experience with girls. At all.


    You know what that makes me? A 19 year old virgin, who¡¯s never even hugged a girl until now. Just because I¡¯m expressionless in my mind doesn¡¯t mean by body isn¡¯t.


    I just can¡¯t calm down my thoughts. I¡¯m now constantly telling myself that I can¡¯t calm down because unpopular guys always fret over the smallest things.


    But that was a full on body hug. Through a towel! I then tell myself it was just a one time thing, but the more I think about, the less composed I am.


    ¡°ARGGGHHH!!!¡± I¡¯m now doing physical exercise, and I locked my door to prevent any more interaction. ¡°One, two, three¡­¡± I trail off while doing pushups.


    After doing 69 pushups, I collapse onto the floor. Breathless and exhausted, I¡¯ve finally calmed down. I drag myself into bed and prepare myself for the next day, which already promises to hold excruciation, pain, and confusion.


    End Of Chapter 5

 Chapter 6: Thoughts

    Chapter 6: Thoughts


    The abyss threatened to reclaim what little he had gained.


    I check my watch. It¡¯s 2:27 am, I haven¡¯t gotten a wink of sleep. I¡¯ve fretted over the earlier exchange for over 4 hours now. At this point, I¡¯m really surprised with myself. I told myself that I wouldn¡¯t be affected by any romantic intentions or anything, but I¡¯m still nervous as fuck. I also realize that my emotions are starting to come back.


    When I came to this world, I felt emotionless, but when I discovered the guitar pick, I felt something. Then later when I chased Zure around, I was angry with myself for being duped so easily, and embarrassed when she hugged me.


    At this point, I feel like my psyche has been dragged around and beaten to a pulp. I try to force myself to think about something sad, like a war, and I try to visualize people dying in trenches and getting blown to pieces. This doesn¡¯t exactly calm me down, but it takes my mind off of Zure for long enough to drift into nothingness.


    ¡°Wake uuuppppp¡­. Wake uuppppppp¡­. Wake up already, you big lug!¡± I try to open my eyes, but find them firmly shut. I move my hands towards my face and try to pry apart my eyelids, but instead find someone else¡¯s hands over my eyes.


    And then I move the hands to see Zure standing over with that same demonic smile. SSSSHHHHIIIIITTTTTT. The schedule. [So first thing in the morning, whenever I wake up, we¡¯re gonna fight until I¡¯m satisfied.]


    Dude. I am not prepared for this, mentally or physically. I want to activate freeze, but I¡¯m way too tired. I check my watch. 5:51 am. Of course.


    ¡°Sorry! I was too excited for the punching bag session, so I couldn¡¯t sleep!¡± While I¡¯m groggy and still trying, unsuccessfully, to drag my ass out of bed, Zure seems positively bubbly, ready to pound my face in.


    As if responding to my drowsiness, Zure grabs my arm and pulls me out of bed, where I land on my butt with a loud thump. I¡¯m still wearing the same clothes from yesterday, the black and white shirt and my old world pants. She¡¯s dressed in what look like normal clothes, but are probably defensive garments.


    ¡°Okay okay okay, I¡¯m getting up.¡± I try to take one good look at her face, then realize that her eyes don¡¯t look very tired. ¡°How is it that you can get like 5 hours of sleep and be perfectly rested?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know; ask this!¡± She tries to slug me in the arm, but the imminent danger breaks my groggy feeling, and I dodge.


    I¡¯m now awake, but I still feel like ass in a can. ¡°Do you have any extra clothes?¡± I¡¯m trying to keep cool, but when asking a question like this, I can¡¯t help but be a bit flustered. Damn. Where¡¯s my emotionless demeanor when I need it?


    ¡°Nope. You¡¯re stuck in those garbs until we¡¯re done training.¡± She beckons me towards the kitchen, where she has actual food for breakfast. ¡°Where¡¯d all of this come from? I thought you only had junk food?¡± ¡°I made an early morning shopping trip and got real food.¡±


    I inspect the food on the table and observe eggs, sausage, gritz, and hash browns. Cool. I plop down onto the chair. ¡°You¡¯re not religious, right?¡± She asks this while sauntering over to the table.


    ¡°Nope. I don¡¯t see why I should believe in something that¡¯ll only give me a false sense of security.¡± She seems satisfied with my answer and sits down. I guess that means we don¡¯t have to pray. We eat the food. It¡¯s not bad, but I could do better.


    ¡°Tomorrow, I¡¯m making breakfast.¡± I make a motion with my fork, and say ¡°This stuff ain¡¯t bad at all, but I can do better.¡± ¡°Yeah yeah yeah, I¡¯ll believe you when I see it.¡± We finish up, and we rest for 30 minutes, watching more StarBill RoundShirt before Zure tells me it¡¯s finally punching bag time. I was dreading this, but it seems like it can¡¯t be avoided.


    ¡°All right, here are the conditions for fighting; no magic, no weapons, no time control or mind games, just pure one on one. No buts.¡± We walk out into her backyard, which reminds me of the grass from the Joe meeting. The sun has just passed over the horizon. ¡°Get ready, Get setty, Get Deady!¡±


    Zure rushes towards me, and my eyes can barely follow her as she zig-zags, aiming straight for my face. I throw up my left arm in retaliation to her punch, but she is already following up with a kick.


    I step back and counter with one of my own. She smirks and then forces my foot down onto the ground, effectively cutting off all means of escape.


    Then punching bag mode begins. I get punched in face, gut, and shoulders thrice, all in rapid succession. I feel my arms go limp, and then after a few minutes of literal torture, I don¡¯t feel anymore.


    At the end of this, Zure is breathing hard, and my entire torso is racked with pain, my heart pounding harder than a jackhammer. I try to mumble out a few ragged words.


    ¡°Are you satisfied yet?¡± She nods, still panting. Okay then. I try to cast recovery magic on myself, but only get a small recovery; it must be because I¡¯m dead tired. Zure walks over and casts recovery magic on me, and I¡¯m once again able to move.


    I sit up and pull up my Cred, then check my stats, which are now


    |Strength: 24| |Defense: 18| |Speed: 28| |Stamina: 33| |Intelligence: 21|. The hell. Did my INT actually go down? On the up side, all of my other stats have jumped up a bit, though I¡¯m still level two.


    I check the screen for an EXP bar, and it¡¯s a small bar under my name.


    |Zephyrus: Level Two| |Title: Big Frick| |Exp: 78%|.


    I squint a little bit at my title. Big Frick? The frick is that supposed to mean? Damn Joe; what¡¯s his deal anyways? ¡°So, did you level up at all?¡±, Zure inquires. ¡°Nope, but my stats increased a little bit; particularly my defense.¡±


    I say this as I shoot a look at her. She just acts like it doesn''t matter. I guess it''s now or never, right?


    ¡°So, about that hug...¡± I trail off. Zure seems to remember this in an instant. She smiles at me and says, ¡°What about it? You know what I said. I know what I said, and to be frank, I only slept this well because of it.¡±


    ¡°Okay then. I already told you, I''m not interested in romance.¡± I feel satisfied with my answer as long as she doesn''t try to make it weird.


    ¡°We''ll see how long you can keep that resolution. After all, we''re living together.¡± She gives me that smirk again. Well, I don''t see what harm it could possibly do to be in a relationsh- No. I already told myself this. I''m not doing this.


    I shut off my emotions and remember that I''m trying to regain my memory, and also get back at Joe to figure out why he liked to me. That''s right, Zeph, get your priorities in check. And now I''m referring to myself in the third person. Fantastic.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    ¡°Yes. Indeed we''ll see.¡± I smirk back, and this seems to surprise her. ¡°That''s right. The flustered Zeph is no more. I have returned to my expressionless demeanor.¡± I say all of this in a dead, flat voice. For some reason, this sets her off into a fit of laughter, and she falls to the grassy floor.


    I then realized what I just tried to do, and that, honestly, it''s useless around her as I collapse, laughing along with her.


    ¡°I meant what I said yesterday. I''ve had more fun with you than anyone else I''ve met in a long time.¡±


    ¡°And I meant what I said when I told you I''m not interested in romance. Are we clear?¡±


    ¡°Crystal clear. Just because you aren''t interested now doesn''t mean you won''t be eventually.¡± She says this in her teasing voice, like she''s mocking an idiot.


    She winks then turns and walks away. ¡°Go take a shower and get ready to go to the mountains.¡± I do this, and while I''m in the shower, I start to think.


    How should I go about trying to get my memory back? I''ve gained a little bit through flashback scenarios where something in this world serves as a reminder. I would of course like to ask Joe, but I have no idea how to find him, much less expect reliable information from him.


    In spite of this, perhaps, I call out his name. ¡°Joe. You there?¡± I swear I just heard a hmph, but I doubt he would respond to a name that I gave to him.


    I instead try to piece together what little I do know. The boy central to all of my visions is definitely me, but why am I always so sad? In the guitar pick moment, I felt respite. Following the forest vision, I felt melancholic and broken. I felt lonely after the school vision. So why? Was I depressed? Rejected?


    Zure said that I don''t act, which I guess means I don''t act like I feel something if I don''t. Going off of what Joe told me, people who commit suicide get some sort of penalty after coming to this world.


    All of the visions combined with this knowledge seems to implant in my mind that I may have killed myself. But, according to Joe, I was the first person to ever come to this world without their memories. So why? Under what circumstances could I have died, then lost my memory as punishment?


    Also, losing one''s memory isn''t that great of a punishment, as it only incites a greater desire to rediscover the memories, and I''ve proven to myself that I can recover my memory, however slow it might be.


    Though I get the feeling suicide is a very real possibility, it seems to me that something greater is at play. Is Joe behind all of this? I also don''t count out this possibility. I shut off the shower and begin to dry off my body with a towel.


    Well, I''ll think more later, probably after the mountain expedition.


    I turn my thoughts towards the mountains. What actually awaits there? Fantasy like monsters? Zombies? Pokemon, ripe for the catching? I shake my head at the latter, telling myself that though this world is magic, it isn''t an anime.


    I won''t come back to life from some stupid ass pull, and I don''t get any special protagonist powers. Even though I have an overpowered special ability, if it runs out at a crucial moment, I''m screwed.


    I put on my clothes and exit the bathroom to find Zure standing in front of it, waiting for me. ¡°What took so long?¡± ¡°I was showering.¡± What else do you expect me to say? I was testing out my right hand while time was stopped, then took time to rest? I check my watch to see that I was in the shower for about 20 minutes, which I guess is a little long.


    She seems to be up to something, but I don¡¯t know what; I hope she doesn¡¯t start following me around. That would be truly scary.


    ¡°Can I go now?¡± I¡¯m trying to get out from the door, but Zure moves back and forth to block my escape. ¡°Why are you blocking me? Are you twelve or something?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m thirteen.¡±


    Why is it that all of the people I meet just happen to be one chromosome short of a pair?


    Do I have some sort of power in my right hand that dispels all luck and blessi- Oh wait.


    At this point, I just want to get a move on, so I push her out of my way and walk forward. She makes a small hmph and follows after me. If I have to evade her every time I try to go anywhere, I¡¯ll never get anything done, especially now that we live together.


    Maybe I should¡¯ve spent my money on a downpayment for a house or an apartment instead of buying that naginata; but it¡¯s a pretty nice blade, nonetheless. ¡°To the Batmobile?¡± I say to Zure.


    ¡°You mean the Catmobile?¡±, she says as she cocks her head. Oh yeah, I forgot about different world parallels. But Catmobile sounds pretty ridiculous either way. We hop in and set off towards the mountains.


    We take a few weird backroads and side streets, but we arrive to the mountains by 11 am. After showing some guard looking headass dudes our Cred¡¯s, we pass through.


    ¡°Hey. You missed the turn for the mountains.¡± There was a turn on the left, but she passed it up. ¡°That was the turn for the first mountains. We¡¯re going way past that if I going to have any more fun.¡±


    I look forward to see an impossibly long stretch of road ahead of us, which seems to reach to more cities and mountains farther out. Zure floors the gas and I notice the speed gauge, which goes up to 450 miles per hour.


    Wait. I think I just saw something really important now. I watch it fly past 100 into the 200¡¯s, and then to 300mph, and then all the up to 390. Holey Buhjeebs. Everything outside the car is a colorful blur, and then a minute or two later, she slows down.


    ¡°Huh, usually there are more people out here. We got lucky this time, but the road isn¡¯t always this clear,¡± Zure remarks. She pulls onto the side of the road and parks, and I see a mountain. A really tall mountain. Easily extending past the clouds, which only seem to get to around halfway up the mountain.


    ¡°Are we going inside of that thing?¡± I point towards it and she nods. She already seems excited. ¡°I¡¯ve never been to this mountain before. This one¡¯s recommended for level 40 and up.¡± Hey. I¡¯m only level 2. Why are going into a level 40 recommended mountain?


    I immediately turn around, but Zure grabs me by the collar of my shirt and drags me all the way to the mountain. Balls. I begin to think that our early morning training session will seem easy compared to this. I hope I don¡¯t die here. That reminds me.


    ¡°Hey. If I got a slave, what would say?¡± My back is still turned to Zure as she continues to drag us to the mountain. ¡°Hmm. Lemme think.¡± She once again strokes her imaginary goatee before responding, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t really care so long as the slave was male; slavery isn¡¯t very rare.¡±


    ¡°Why male?¡± Oh wait. Aren¡¯t slavery girls a commonality in fantasy worlds?


    ¡°Because if it was a girl, they would probably try to steal you away from me. Okay?¡± She smiles that crazy smile with demon aura on full blast. ¡°Okay okay, I get the point. It¡¯s just that at this point, I want someone who I can trust no matter what. I¡¯m finding it hard to trust you after the earlier parts of yesterday, no matter what you say.¡±


    Zure puffs out her cheeks and turns slightly pink at this remark, but I¡¯m just being honest. I want reliability.


    ¡°So I¡¯m going to get a slave soon, okay? And it will be one that can fight, rest assured.¡± ¡°And how many yenoms do you have?¡±


    Heh. Almost forgot about that part. I have about 1000 yenoms right now. ¡°One thousand.¡± Zure begins to shake, and starts holding her mouth with her free hand. After a few seconds, she bursts out laughing. Am I really that stupid? Am I going to get head chopped and then get called a baka?


    ¡°You need at least 20,000 yenoms to even consider getting a slave, much less a battle oriented slave.¡± These words drop on me like a ton a bricks, and I suddenly find myself sagging. ¡°How much do you make per month, Zure?¡±


    ¡°Hmm. About 28,000 yenoms a month.¡± Isn¡¯t that almost ten times the average person¡¯s income? Why is someone with that much money living in the origin town?


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you just move closer to the harder mountains with that kind of money?¡± ¡°Well, you see, the housing gets progressively more expensive the farther out you go, so I¡¯ve stayed in Yerk Now for most of my life. But I do have a really nice car, which cost me around 350,000 yenoms.¡±


    The shit. That¡¯s a lot money for just one car. But hey; it goes to 450 mph, so I¡¯m not complaining. I guess she just puts the rest of her money in a bank or her inventory or something.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯ve arrived. How does it look? Breathtaking and heart pounding, right?¡± More like heart stopping. She seems ready to attack the literal mountain itself.


    She drags me all the way up to the first entrance at the base of the mountain, and then we enter into the deep dark.


    End of Chapter 6

 Chapter 7: Attaccing

    Chapter 7: Attaccing


    The abyss caught him for a moment, but he escaped.


    Zure pulls out a magic light spell and activates it, and suddenly the cave we just entered is no longer gloomy and sad. I look left and right, but I only see tunnels leading off every which way. ¡°How are we supposed to find our way in here?¡±


    Zure doesn¡¯t seem to be listening; she¡¯s too excited by the prospect of the potential fights waiting for us down each tunnel. When she wordlessly starts walking towards the third tunnel from the middle on the left, I shrug and follow along.


    ¡°All right Zeph; time for mountain education. People are typically able to solo mountains within 3 levels of their. I¡¯m a level 31, you¡¯re level two, this place is level 40. I should only be able to go to level 35 or so, but because you¡¯re here, we can go higher. By the way, the highest mountain that I¡¯ve soloed was a level 32. It was actually quite difficult.¡±


    How is it physically possible for someone to smile after saying words like that? I know they didn¡¯t really sound ominous, but if soloing a level 32 mountain was difficult for Zure, then I really don¡¯t want to know what kind of terror awaits us further in.


    The first creature that we see is a rock. A really big rock. But with eyes. It doesn¡¯t look like it can move at all, thankfully, but in a moment, it begins to let out a low pitch that seems to be growing in volume gradually. Is this it¡¯s attack?


    ¡°Zeph; hurry up! We have to attack that big rock thingy before the sound gets loud enough to kill us!¡± Oh yeah. I forget that even though it¡¯s just making sound, it¡¯s a monster. It is attacking somehow; if a sound is loud enough, someone who is too close to it can die from their lungs rupturing. Scary.


    We take our weapons out of the inventory, I, my naginata and Zure, her daggers, and start to strike at the thicc thing. Surprisingly, a health bar pops up next to it after we start hitting it with our weapons. I freeze time before continuing, because I want to check if my weapon has any special skills, you know, generic stuff.


    I slide up on it, and survey it. The first thing I see is that now, next to the name, it says Shadow Attribute. Then two bubbles pop up next to the name, |Abyssal Naginata: Shadow Attribute|.


    I click on the first bubble, which then reads |Hurl: Hurl the naginata like a spear, will return to you on command. Costs stamina; Damage based on strength.| Neat.


    The next bubble then reads |Shadow Slash: Lets forth a shade pulse from the blade. Costs stamina to use; damage based on strength.| Even cooler. Now I don¡¯t really regret buying this thing, even if it was half of my budget.


    I unfreeze time and try using Hurl. I think hard about throwing the spear, and I feel extra strength in my right arm, as if prompting me to throw it. I rear up like a baseball player and it flies straight through the rock like a knife through butter, leaving a streak of purple lightning behind, the rock''s health bar dropping in an instant. Jesus.


    |Levels gained: 3| |Free points: 12| |Item Gain: Thicc Rocc| |Yenom Gain: 750|


    I then fall to one knee, fatigue overcoming me as I realise that I overused my stamina with that move. I call the spear back to my hand and use it to prop myself up as I struggle to stand up. Zure rushes over, with a worried look on her face. ¡°What the hell was that?¡± Well. ¡°If I had to say, it¡¯d be a weapon skill.¡± With a confused expression and a wrinkled brow, Zure asks ¡°Weapon skills?¡±, like she has no idea what they are.


    This better not be some special ability granted to me by Joe. I tell Zure to slide up on her daggers and check the screen, but to my surprise, she tells me that there is nothing there except for the strength and speed buffs which are both 60+. Really. How much money did those cost? How the hell does she earn so much?


    ¡°Well, I guess it must be a reincarnated thing. Hand me your daggers.¡± When I take hold of the daggers. I notice that it says lightning attribute and that the daggers are named Bolt. How apt.


    There are also two bubbles, and when I click on the first, it reads |Mirage Strikes: Doubles the amount of slashes the daggers do while activated. Costs stamina.| Interesting.


    The next reads |Dual Flash: Use both daggers to send out a lightning cross-slash. Uses stamina; damage and speed based on strength.| Huh. It seems that weapons have one physical and one ranged attack. I use Cross Flash, but with minimal effort, and a weak x-shaped lightning thing flies forward. I might be 19 years old, but even I still think that¡¯s some pretty cool shit.


    I hand back the daggers to Zure and tell her what I saw. ¡°Allright, now try thinking about sending out a lightning cross wave thing that I did earlier. Just try it.¡± Zure gathers herself, readies both daggers, then does a cross slash. I really expected nothing to happen.


    When a lightning cross so large that it lights up the room flies forth and destroys over twenty feet of stone on the other side of the room, and chars much if the surroundings. Even my arm hair is slightly singed.


    And then on cue, Zure collapses. A scene passes through my mind, and I smirk. {EXXXXPPLLLLOOOSSSIIOOONN}


    ¡°I guess I forgot to tell you that using the weapon skills consume stamina. Heh.¡± Oh. She passed out, and then the light that was illuminating the dark goes out.


    I shake her shoulders for a minute, until she finally awakens. ¡°That. Was. Awesome.¡± She says this as though she doesn¡¯t seem to care that we¡¯re in the middle of a level 40 mountain with no light while being incredibly fatigued. But screw that, of course. Who needs light when you have lightning?The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Do you have any potions or anything in your inventory?¡± I don¡¯t have any, but she might. She opens up her invo and throws a few vials at me. I check what they are, and conveniently enough, they¡¯re all stamina vials; 30 percent recovery rate. Not bad. We each take two and, after a glowy experience, can both stand once again. ¡°Put back on the light thingy from earlier.¡± Zure grumbles something about worthless people and activates the light.


    Before going forward, I pull up my screen and begin to distribute my points. After the distribution, the stats are |Strength: 26| |Defense: 21| |Speed: 30| |Stamina: 37| |Intelligence: 21|


    Oddly, I do feel stronger than I was just a few minutes ago, even though nothing has changed except for my stats.


    We then drudge forward. I tell Zure about the other skill, Mirage Strikes, and she tries it out on the next monster. She only strikes it twice, but there are four slash marks. Lit. I tell her to stop using it before it consumes anymore stamina, and we agree to not use anymore weapon skills unless in dire need.


    Over the next few hours, we see an assortment of monsters, including a slimey boi, a large wolf pack, a vampire bat thing, and a dragonoid lizard human thing, which proved the most trouble. Some give us trouble, like the slime, but the wolf pack wasn¡¯t really that bad.


    I gain 7 levels, putting me at level 12. After point distribution, my stats are |Strength: 32| |Defense: 25| |Speed: 35| |Stamina: 40| |Intelligence: 21| I bet Joe tampered with my XP gain so I¡¯d level up faster.


    We consume a total of 6 stamina potions between us. We get to a dead-end, turn back, and get all the way to the start. By the time we get there, it¡¯s 2:12.


    Zure pulls a picnic basket out of her inventory, and we walk outside, sitting on the ground just outside the entrance to the mountain. The lunch is sandwiches and other fruits and drinks, but is generally unmemorable. We head back inside at 2:58. We repeat the same thing as earlier throughout the middle pathway, and then reach a much larger than usual cave entrance.


    ¡°Of course we would find the boss room¡­¡± I grumble to no one in particular. On the other hand, Zure seems ready to take on whatever lies beyond the opening. ¡°Should we calm down for a little bit, rest, and then-¡± I don¡¯t even finish my words when Zure sprints into the room. Why. Why would you do that? Are you dumb?


    I shake my head and run into the room too. Inside, we find not a monster. We find a monstrosity. I wouldn¡¯t dare call this normal; something is definitely off, and this is the first boss I¡¯ve ever seen. The body, if you could call it one, is vaguely humanoid, with over 10 limbs, some of which are legs and arm fusions.


    There are eyeballs all over its body, colored slightly red, it¡¯s long, narrow tongues snaking around from its 4 visible mouth¡¯s. If I wasn¡¯t so desensitized, I would probably vomit and scream help. But not me, nor Zure.


    We glance at each other before nodding a silent agreement to be careful. With an odd opponent like this, we can¡¯t be too careful. I make a throwing motion with my hand, as I plan to try using Hurl, but with less effort. She nods, and stays back as I begin to rear up.


    I feel the strength in my arm, but I try to suppress it as I shoot the spear forward. It flies fast, but not nearly so as last time, and the trail left behind is noticeably shorter, as is the lack of dark lightning.


    The blade sticks in the flesh of the creature, and it finally notices us, but the spear is starting to be absorbed by the thing. I try to recall the spear to my side, but it seems to be stuck in the beast¡¯s side. ¡°Shit! The spear got stuck in the monster!¡± Without a moment to lose, we cast our buff magic on ourselves and rush towards the beast. I try to activate Freeze, but I lack the concentration; same for Chill. Zure flies in with her daggers, and I aim straight for my weapon, but when I try to grab it, I only graze the handle when the beast uses its limbs to grab me, but I am slashed free by Zure.


    ¡°Damn. This is no normal thing.¡± Zure nods in affirmation. ¡°I know that dungeon bosses are supposed to be strong, but this thing is regenerative. I¡¯ve never heard of a boss regenerating even in the strongest mountains.¡± Odd. The beast doesn¡¯t seem to be moving. I calm down for a moment and activate Freeze.


    I then run over to the beast and pull out the spear. I¡¯m tired of waiting. I leave on the freeze, and start to unleash blows on the thing from every angle imaginable; I can¡¯t see any noticeable damage because time is frozen, but if throwing the spear got it stuck, the weapon can damage it.


    I continue my assault as time remains frozen. I stab it repeatedly now, but my stamina is starting to wane. This weapon has one more move, |Shadow Slash|. I unfreeze time and yell ¡° Zure! Stay back!¡± I really hope this works. I detach the sword from the handle, grip the katana with both hands, leap towards the monster and slash diagonally with all my might.


    ¡°Shadow Slash!¡± As I hit the monster, a massive shade wave erupts from the blade, and I feel colder as it emits an icy aura through the room, the light from Zure¡¯s magic waning and flickering.


    The beast splits in half diagonally and falls to the sides of where it once stood, and begins to turn into a pile of murk and dark blood.


    I feel the sense of victory wash over me as a screen pops up. |Congratulations! You have defeated the dungeon!| |Levels gained: 2|


    |Free Points: 8| |Item gained: Devolved Core|


    I don¡¯t have time to react to these notifications, as I fall to the floor, eyelids already closing shut. I¡¯m barely able see Zure rushing over as I lay on the ground. Damn special moves take too much stamina.


    When I awake again, we are in Zure¡¯s car, and she¡¯s about to start driving home. ¡°You¡¯re finally awake, stupid head.¡± She tilts my head up and pours a stamina potion down my gullet. How many of these things does she have? I feel 3.87 times better than before, and I sit up as she goes into uber-drive. I don¡¯t really feel like talking right now, so I wait until we slow down.


    As the blur around us slowly turns to solid pictures, I begin to speak.


    ¡°Did you get any levels?¡± ¡°I got 3 levels from that place.¡± She seems irritated by something. ¡°Idiot. Why¡¯d you do that by yourself? I wanted to fight it too!¡± "That¡¯s why you¡¯re mad?"


    ¡°Also, you made me worried when you suddenly collapsed after that huge dark wave. Don¡¯t do things like that! How do you think I would feel if you got hurt?¡± Oh yeah, I guess almost forgot about that.


    ¡°How do you think I would feel if I got hurt?¡±, I quip. I feel like that saying has always been a bit off. How would you feel? What about me? ¡°Plus, I wouldn¡¯t die. I would just freeze time and avoid the attack or something. You need to worry about yourself,¡± I then quote her, ¡°How do you think I would feel if you got hurt?¡± I then mimic her puffy cheek expression, and she turns away with a hmph while parking the car.


    Because I want her to calm down and act normal, I brush the hair hanging down on her face behind her ear gently and deliberately.


    She turns to me and says, ¡°I told you your resolve wouldn¡¯t last long.¡±


    Wrong. ¡°Sure it didn¡¯t. Who said this hair push was an affectionate one?¡±


    Zure swats my hand away with a smile.


    We exit the car and go inside.


    End of Chapter 7