《Guild App》 Chapter 1 My sense of hearing reacted to something. My consciousness that sank in the dark was brought back by that sound. My right hand was caressing them, searching for something.. but the normal vibrating sensation wasn¡¯t there. The alarm sound continued ringing on my ears, almost felt like it was echoing inside of my head, and I could only manage a groan in response as I grabbed my pillow and buried my head beneath it, thinking about all the things I would do if only it meant I could go back to sleep. I would steal a candy from a baby just to continue sleeping for another five minutes. I didn¡¯t even need a sidelong glance at the smartphone on my nightstand to realize that it was too early to even be getting up for school. (Did I mess with the timer?) (Wait. Since when my alarm become so normal?) My usual alarm supposed to be chicken cuckoos, but the one that I heard right now almost felt like a trumpet. I slowly opened my eyelids and words popped up in front of me while the trumpets were gone. Achievement: Wake up, sleepyhead. I blinked twice and it vanished. I had no idea what the hell that was about, but I had bigger things to worry about, like the horror that I forgot to charge my phone. With a groan, I stretched my body hoping at least this would make me a centimeter higher... and found solid morning light shimmered against the light gray ceiling. I had forgotten to draw the curtains closed last night. I glanced around my room half-awake. My bags on the floor, my new school books on the desk. My uniforms were in the closet. I slinked out from under the sheets and stretched my back before dressing up. Putting on a new school uniform felt like dressing in someone else''s clothes. The artificial smell of generic detergent invaded my nose, but the feeling of fresh cloth against my back was a good one, a natural one. It felt like a school uniform, as it should. And with another yawn. New status condition: Drowsy. More words appeared in front of me. I looked at them more closely this time. The words moved with my eyes, like a heads-up display. They were just out of the center of my vision but stayed in focus no matter what I was doing with my eyes. Except until I rubbed my eyes and the words were gone... What the hell? I stood still like a statue. ¡°Is there something wrong with my eyes, or my mind? Or it is both?¡± I muttered to myself, maybe I should go see a doctor if this happened for the third time? Anyway, somehow I spent more time than it should to think about those words. Taking my phone, hoping whatever the battery was left, it would be enough to make me stay awake when commuting to the school. I walked to the first floor. There was a little girl with brown hair tied into short pigtails and brown eyes, Tsubame, rubbing her eyes while munching the toast on her mouth. Sitting next to her was a teenager with waist length black hair and brown hair, Tsukiko, showing grimace on her face as she played with the chalky egg yolk. ¡°...Arisato speaking.¡± Sitting in front of Tsukiko was our father, short, grayish black hair, gray eyes, three-day stubble and broad shoulders. He was still wearing his dark gray shirt with pulled up sleeves, a loose, light red necktie and a brown belt with a metal buckle as well as a pair of dress pants... basically his attire from two days ago... ah, don¡¯t forget about his black jacket, even though he always carrying it around, I never seen him wearing it. ¡°All right, I''m on my way.¡± Father put his phone down and left again without even touching his food. ¡±Sorry, but I gotta go take care of some business.¡° He said and already gone before any of us even had the chance to respond. Finishing my food, I glanced to Tsubame. ¡°You know, since my school is in the same way as yours, you¡¯ll get stuck with me for the next whole years.¡± I said, and immediately rushed toward her and raising her as high as I could but just as I did that and while hearing her giggling, another word popped. Skill unlocked: Athletic. I didn¡¯t know what that meant either, not in this context, so I double-blinked it away. But I guessed I would see a doctor after school, or maybe I was just being paranoid? Still, before I had the time to put any more thought into this, we already went on our way. After dropping Tsubame at her kindergarten, while giving my greeting to the teacher and the housewives, another word popped up. Skill unlocked: Flattery. ...Okay, something must be wrong with me. Since the other mothers didn¡¯t make any comment. I assumed the words were all just in my head.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. With a sigh, I turned on my phone while planning to listen to relaxing lo-fi music, I knew the battery was less than 20% but I was just hoping it would make me a little bit calmer and might be little less crazier. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± I was the type that never put things in the folder. To anyone else, it might look like a total mess, but for me, it was a carefully choreographed ensemble. And yet, there was one unknown application with a ¡®wooden billboard¡¯ icon appeared on my phone. Holding the icon for several seconds. it didn¡¯t show any information nor show the X symbol on the corner top right. And no matter how I searched on the setting, I didn¡¯t find any app names ¡®Guild App.¡¯ I made a mental note to restore my phone as soon as I went home. But first thing first, I curiously opened the Guild App. The screen immediately went dark, and just when I thought this was some kind of virus destroying phone. All of sudden a video of a hunched man wearing black tuxedo with inhumanly long and pointy nose was being played. I guessed I did go crazy and he was an imaginary friend or something. But I wondered why my imaginary friend was a creepy old man. ¡°Ah... it seems we have another promising one.¡± He chuckled, and I didn¡¯t know my phone could create such a crystal clear chilling ghostly voice. ¡°I¡¯m the resident of the place that exists between dream and reality, mind and matter¡­¡± Every time he spoke, I felt chill on my spine. ¡°This is an app that only those who are promising may use¡­¡± Was he going to continue monologuing all by himself? I pressed on the off button... of course, my phone didn¡¯t turn off. ¡°Now then¡­ Why don''t you introduce yourself¡­?¡± I wonder why I needed to tell this creepy old man my name? And the virtual keyboard appeared on the screen... huh, seemed like I could also use Icons and Numbers to write my name? Should I go with ¡®Sushiboi9999¡¯? I stopped walking for a while and thinking very seriously about using that name... still, my guts telling me I DID not want to lie or messing with this person. And so I entered my real name. ¡®Arisato Tsubasa.¡¯ ¡°Hm... I see, so it¡¯s Tsubasa?¡± Woah, woah, woah. Was this live? Or the AI was just good? Then the man gave a very nasty grin, it wouldn¡¯t surprise me if he suddenly jumped out from my phone screen. ¡°My duty is to provide assistance and guide promising people like you.¡± He said. ¡°We shall attend to the details another time. Until then, farewell¡­¡± And my phone went back to normal... or not as if the ¡®Guild App¡¯ was still there. There was (1) notification coming out from the ¡®Guild App¡¯ I didn¡¯t want to meet that old creep again, though my thumb was already pressing on the said app. But this time, rather than showing the old creepy man, it showed me my Character Sheet. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Arisato Tsubasa - Rank J
4 PHY 2 POW 0 One-handed Weapons 0 Two-handed Weapons 0 Dual Wield 0 Athletics
2 END 0 Unarmed Combat 0 Shield Combat 0 Improvised Weapons 0 Survival
2 DEX 0 Thrown Weapons 0 Ranged Weapons 0 Flexible Weapons 0 Acrobatics
2 PER 0 Main Sense 0 Sixth Sense 0 Sense Motive 0 Stealth
2 MAG 2 INT 0 Destruction Magic 0 Curse Magic 0 Summon Magic 0 Magic Sense
2 WIS 0 Restoration Magic 0 Support Magic 0 Morph Magic 0 Magic Resistance
2 SOC 2 CHA 0 Flattery 0 Intimidation 0 Deception 0 Illusion Magic
2 SPI 0 Music 0 Art 0 Handle Animal 0 Mind Magic
2 CRA 2 KNO 0 Alchemy 0 Spell 0 Language 0 Information Magic
2 CON 0 Smithing 0 Leathery 0 Weaving 0 Reinforcing
You have 2 unspent status points. You can access your status at any time by closing your eyes and chant ¡®status¡¯ ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª At that moment, I could only say ¡°what.¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Author Note For those who wonder, I¡¯ll give some small explanation about the status abbreviation. The fully detailed one will be given as the chapter goes on. PHY (Physical) POW (Power) : How much force one can exert, basically smash the tomato with your palm. END (Endurance or maybe Stamina, still not sure yet about which one): Used to prevent disease or how long a tomato will withstood without any nutrition. DEX(Dexterity): How fast your tomato will roll on the slope. PER(Perception): How well you can see tomato from a distance or smell... or feeling a tomato is flying to your direction MAG (Magic) INT (INTELLIGENCE): your tomato can play puzzle and basically become attack of killer tomatoes. WIS (Wisdom):your tomato can make quick decision and healing anyone who eat it. Soc (Social) CHA (Charisma): Your tomato either god damn cute, freakin scary, or it might be an orange pretending to be a tomato. SPI (Spirit): Watching your tomato standing still soothe your mind. CRA (Craft or maybe creativity, still not sure which one is better) KNO (Knowledge): Your tomato can remember 10 digits of number with a single glance that or your tomato can talk. CON (Concentration): Your tomato won¡¯t get distracted even though a meteor is falling to earth (but basically we¡¯ll just use it for crafting skills) Chapter 2 I was walking at a steady pace, while sometimes smelled a salty waft in the wind. The sea was close by after all. From afar, I could see modern looking building bud from nothing but glass and stylish frame. Higashi High School, it¡¯s student body was over two thousand. It was a humongous school with 18 classes for the first year alone. And just when I arrived at the school gate, that was flooded with sea blue colored blazer and stripped tie. Skill increased: Athletics Lvl 1! Oh, brisk walking apparently counted as athleticism, which was weird but good to know. I wanted to say all of this was on my mind but the moment this words appeared, I did notice a change this time. My steps became a little more sure, a little more swift, and I straightened my posture slightly. I wondered how much of that, if any, was psychological. Either way, it gave me some more an ease of a mind knowing this was real... probably. I just didn¡¯t know how I should react to all of this. The entrance ceremony was the same routine of speech, starting from honorary freshman, student council president and then the headmaster. Status condition: Drowsy Lvl 1! (DEX -1, INT -1, CHA -1.) Wasn¡¯t the penalty was a little bit to harsh? Couldn¡¯t blame it though. Just put anyone in this kind of situation and I bet they would also have the same status as me. I wondered how long this would last. After everything was over, the freshman swiftly moving to the front of bulletin board, looking for their classroom assignment. I wondered though, shouldn¡¯t we supposedly got the assignment by an email or something like that? It was clearly better than moving through the flood of people. Skill unlocked: survival. Well, somehow the crazy messages that kept popping up were like something out of a videogame, didn¡¯t surprise me anymore. Considering, it was pretty hard to breathe in here. As a result, I accidentally eavesdropped to the kids around the board before I even took a look at it... ¡°There''s no need for them to post the names of the kids who are gonna be in our class...I mean we''ll never see them again after we graduate anyways.¡± Said the male student ¡°Oh, great!! We¡¯re in the same class again.¡± Said the female student. Skill unlocked: Main sense. I kinda felt bad eavesdropping at theirs and it wasn''t really all that exciting, so I went up to check which class I was in. Class 1... nope... 2... nope. I moved like a Shinkansen getting pulled by a turtle, strolling down from the most left to the most right board and found my name written on class 1-18. Achievement: Last Place You Look! Somehow this didn¡¯t bother me anymore, though I wondered what was the requirement for one to receive an achievement. Moving on to room 1-18, I found my seat was at the second row from the bottom right. Placing my bags, other kids had already started doing some small conversation, either by asking from what middle school they from or asking for e-mail information. Meanwhile I was closing my eyes, watching the character sheet that appeared whenever I closed them for three seconds and chanted ¡°status screen¡± It was like the words I¡¯d been seeing that flashed up into my field of view to inform me of achievements, skill unlocks, and things of that nature. No matter where I turned while my eyes were closed, the whole character sheet stayed in focus. If I rolled my eyes to the sides, it switched to mostly blank ¡®pages¡¯ with nothing more than empty panes and the occasional title like ¡°Quest¡±, Friends¡±, ¡°Spells Known¡±, and things of that nature. I did eventually find one that said ¡°Status Condition¡± which had ¡°Drowsy¡± and ¡°Tittle¡± which had my achievement listed, but it didn¡¯t seem like that actually did anything, or at least it didn''t have anything. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Somewhat surprisingly, there was inventory, though it was empty page with nothing but 5x5 empty table. There was also a pretty pointless page that gave me a physical description of myself. The only information of note there, was that I was level 1 which I¡¯d already guessed. I guessed the one on my phone also had the same design... not like I could check it though, considering mine was dead. Anyway, what was written on my physical description was quite right. Long messy, a little bit wavy black hair, black eyes, heck it even told me that I was wearing glasses. As for my face, My sister, Tsukishi had once said that I looked like someone had chosen ¡®default¡¯ for every option in the graphical setting, which I¡¯d tried to laugh at but cut kind of deep. I wasn¡¯t handsome, I wasn¡¯t ugly, none of my features were very prominent, average build, average height. The problem, so far as I could see it, was that I didn¡¯t understand a single thing about the character sheet. There were abilities and skills, which were familiar enough, though this seemed like a bit much. (Probably to minus one from INT... not sure if I ever understood even with my two INT though.) There were four rows of ten, for forty skills in total. The bold one apparently was the skill that I had unlocked. Thirty-six skills were still greyed out, their names just on the other side of readable no matter how hard I squinted at them. I could more or less assumed what was some of the skills would do¡­ but it didn¡¯t make any sense actually. Both of mine stats and my skills. Like could I say how utter bullshit it was that I only had a 2 in everything? I wasn¡¯t that bad in athletic, nor in social situations (I was pretty popular with the mothers at Tsubame kindergarten... Still zero girlfriend though.) I wouldn¡¯t call myself smart, but dammit, I had drunk knowledge from Wikipedia and Youtube Trivia like ¡°coca cola would be green if coloring weren¡¯t added to it.¡± Still, I wouldn¡¯t say I completely clueless about gaming... but this was to much for me. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around the classroom, then I saw a guy at the top left corner of this room. This was what they called as asking for a help from a friend... maybe. At least I thought because he was a little round and seemed didn¡¯t have any friend, a part of me assumed he was the right person for this. ¡°Yo big guy.¡± I said. I could see his trench coat hanging on his chair. He had white hair that he kept in a short ponytail, black eyes and square-frame glasses. He also wore black finger-less gloves. He turned to face me, and pushed his glasses up the bridge of her nose in a very manner that made me sure enough he spent most of his holiday playing either yu-gi-oh or pokemon card game. ¡°Khu, khu, khu. I was surprised someone will talk to this one.¡± He said in a... very grandiose manner. ¡°So, what sort of business doth thou have with this one?¡± Achievement unlocked: First Immediate Regret. Maybe achievement was only there to remind me of the oblivious thing... or to make fun of me. Er... right, I almost forgot why I walked to him. I took out a piece of paper and showed it to him. ¡°Character sheet?¡± He said while fixing his glasses in a very sure manner. But as expected, this guy instantly knew what this was. ¡°Yeah... you see, I kinda find this old game when I was cleaning my attic and the system had been bothering me since then. I don¡¯t have any friend or knowing anyone who knows about this kind of things and you seemed to be an....¡± Skill unlocked: Deception. Skill increased: Flattery Lvl 1! The two trumpet sounds that accompanied the appearance of the text did make me stopped in surprise. But I would admit that the things that really surprised me the most was him. ¡°Friend? This one don¡¯t need such thing called a friend.¡± He said then crossing his arms. He seemed happy though. ¡°But if thou insist, this one will happily hear thou request.¡± He continued... then I remembered we hadn¡¯t introduced ourselves. ¡°Ah... my name Arisato Tsubasa by the way.¡± ¡°Khu, khu, khu, this one wouldn¡¯t give you this one name that easily.¡± He said. ¡°But since thou hast introduced thyself, this one name is Kengo Master - Sarutobi Momonga!!¡± Momonga suddenly stood and covering half of his face with his right hand while his other hand did another pose that I could only describe as Ninja sign. His unnecessary shout managed to attract everyone attention to us. Maybe... I just befriended a very cra- unique person. Chapter 3 EA middle-aged, with straight black hair in a bob-cut, hazel eyes, and buck teeth came into our class. He wore a dark navy suit with white lines, white collar long-sleeved shirt with a yellow-and-light orange checkered tie. ¡°Awright! Shut your trap.¡± I already didn¡¯t like this teacher. ¡°I''m Kubo Moroko, your homeroom teacher from today forward! First things first! Just ''cause it''s spring doesn''t mean you can swoon over each other like love-struck baboons. Long as I''m around, you students are going to be pure as the driven snow! Now I hate wasting my time, but you¡¯d better introduce yourself to each other without saying unnecessary things.¡± The first one to introduce herself was a childlike young girl with short dark green hair that reached to her face and grey eyes. ¡°You! The one on her back, did you just leering at her?¡± What the hell is this guy''s problem? She didn¡¯t even have the chance to open her mouth, and all that I did is a normal glance. ¡°But what do I know¡­ it''s not like the old days. Kids grow up so damn fast these days. Every time I turn my back, you''re fooling around on those damn phones, checking your life-journals and you''re my-places¡­¡± Mr. Moroko went on and on¡­ Seemed like I got to enjoy his long ass sermons every day for the whole year. In an orderly and just world this would have been the worst thing that happened today. Anyway, school was school (boring as hell, in other words) there wasn¡¯t much that happened afterwards. But by the time I was going to take Tsubame from her kindergarten. ¡°So... um... what happened?¡± Two children, each curled up in the corner. Like an armadillo trying to defend himself from the predator. ¡°Tsubame scratched me!!¡± Said a boy with a missing tooth. ¡°I did not!!¡± Shouted Tsubame while she was hiding under her shirt. ...I slowly moved eyes and glanced to their teacher. ¡°Misumi pushed her and her hand scratched him. It wasn¡¯t intentional, I saw it.¡± Even though she said that... what should I say? ¡°But she still did it!!¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t do it!!¡± Skil unloked: Sense Motive. Uh... Hmm... Knowing that didn¡¯t helpful at all. ¡°Misumi!!¡± Misumi flinched, what ever fit he was having a second ago already gone when his mother barged in. I got a really nice save this time. ¡°They said you made a girl cry again!!!¡± Woah... scary... I could only gulp my saliva when she shout like that. ¡°No... I didn¡¯t...¡± ¡°P-plase calm down.¡± Heck, even the teacher herself didn¡¯t dare to speak loudly. ¡°So what happened!?¡± I could see devil horns growing out from her forehead. ¡°I... I pushed her and when she fell down she grabbed out and scratched me...¡± Strength slowly left from Misumi¡¯s body as his voice got thinner. ¡°So you pushed her first, right? Then you need to apologize!¡± ¡°I... I¡¯m sorry...¡± ¡°Come on, like you mean it! Make up with her!¡± ¡°No!!!¡± Shouted Tsubame. Followed by an awkward silence. Ah... right, I should say something. ¡°Um... Tsubame, Misumi is saying he¡¯s-¡° ¡°No way!!! Never!!!¡± ...Inwardly sighed, to tell the truth I wasn¡¯t even sure of what I should do. ¡°Sorry, can I take her home and talk with her?¡± In the end,I carried her all the way through the home while she was still hiding under her shirt. Just when I opened the door. Skill increased: Athletics Lvl 2! *sigh* Was it useful? I¡¯d rather have something like Comedy or anything that could lighten the mood. Dad was still on his case. Tsukishi wasn¡¯t home yet. ... ¡°You know, since it¡¯s just us, why don¡¯t you tell me what¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°....I¡¯m not a thief.¡± Said Tsubame after a slight amount of delay. ...how should I interpret that? No... the real answer was. ¡°Hm. I know you¡¯re not a thief.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. It would be hundred times better if she told me what was going in though, but this should also do it. ¡°He said a mean thing to you, right?¡± Tsubame only replied with a nod. ¡°Well... I don¡¯t really know what¡¯s going on. But it¡¯s better to sort things out, right? After all, even though it was only a misunderstanding I don¡¯t want you to be called as a thief, you know?¡± ¡°..........okay......¡± Oh... her head finally sticking out from her shirt. That was a good sign, I guessed. Skill unlocked: Support Magic. Yep, definitely a good sign. ¡°Anyway~ I¡¯m going to cook the dinner right now, what do you want to eat?¡± ¡°...Burger steak.....¡± She still gloomy, but at least she was sitting up right now. ¡°...You¡¯re really not holding back at all, aren¡¯t you? Well, go clean your face and change your clothes first.¡± She was wobbling her way down, while sometimes still sniffing and rubbing her eyes. But burger steak huh. ¡°Let¡¯s see... ground beef and ground pork... check. Breadcrumbs... check. Onions.. check. I guess this is what you call luck.¡± Cutting the onion in half, then slicing it from the side and left the sticking part behind. After this cut them from above.. Skill unlocked: One-handed Weapons. Eh... this kinda bothered me though. I was still cutting the onion, you know!? Frying the onion, mixing the breadcrumbs with milk... then the meats. Frying it and made simple sauce from canned tomato. Skill unlocked: Alchemy. ¡°Hng!¡± There was a little headache... like a needle just pierced my head... no, more like an information had just been forcefully downloaded onto my brain. But a second later, it was gone... but cooking was alchemy? No... that kinda makes sense, maybe. I kinda did not understand what was the requirement to unlock each skill though... no, in fact I didn¡¯t understand anything at all. But I did understand one thing. Steak Burger was better if I added sunny side egg on top of it. ¡°Hm?¡± ...Damn, I could hear the someone was opening the door even though with all of these sizzling. ¡°I¡¯m back.... man... school sucks.¡± Said Tsukishi. ¡°Oh? Did something happen?¡± I said from the kitchen. I could hear she threw her shoes away. ¡°That¡¯s the problem! Nothing happened! It¡¯s almost too mundane!! And I¡¯m the only one that got a different class.¡± She said. ...But mundane was good right? Yeah, it was definitely better rather than having words entering your vision every now and then.... maybe. ¡°Anyway, I already cook the dinner. Go take a bath with Tsubame and we¡¯ll eat.¡± It was still to early for calling it dinner actually, but whatever. Hm... now I wondered, since we had brunch was they also had words for Lunch and Dinner? Lunner? Dinch? Skill unlocked: Language. Please choose two language at the menu. The same headache hit me, but the notification timing was too ridiculous I didn¡¯t even bother with my headache. **** Later at the same night **** I closed my eyes again and looked at what I was starting to think of as my eyelid menu. There was a small, glowing ¡®+13¡¯ in the upper right, just outside the character sheet proper. On my phone it also had the same glowing +13. ¡°One-handed Weapon, Athletics Lvl 2, Survival, Main Sense, Sense Motive, Support Magic, Flattery Lvl 1, Deception Alchemy an Language.¡± if I counted right, I already unlocked ten of the forty skills. With Athletic went to level two and Flattery to one. That made it 13 in total. ¡°So every time I leveled up a skill or get a skill I¡¯ll get +1?¡± When I looked at it or touched it for a second, the character sheet rippled and changed, expanding slightly to allow for some plus and minus signs to surround all the statuses numbers. That part was somewhat comfortable to me. I had no idea where to start though. But according to momonga, he had played enough poorly thought-out games to know that sometimes there were broken stats and dump stats, but just knowing that systems were sometimes flawed wasn¡¯t enough to know where those flaws were. All I could do right now was stare at the character sheet and make some wild guesses. I had status points... maybe I should distribute it equally for now and saw what each status would do. Since none of them explaining what the underlying mathematical reality was. When I tried to put a point in POW, I saw them both vanish, moving it up by one, which the +13 had been reduced to +12. Touching either PHY, MAG, SOC or CRA didn¡¯t really do anything. Touching the greyed skill, in this case, Spell... nothing happened too. So I could only increase my status? No, how about touching the unlocked skill? ...Yeah, if Tsubame threw another fit, I guesses Sense Motive would be the best to handle her. Touch and Sense motive was increased to Lvl 1... but maybe this was a stupid decision. Considering how easy it was to raise Athletic and Flattery to Lvl 1. With eleven points left, I spread it one for each remaining status. Leaving only two status points behind. Alongside with this, PHY changed to 6, while MAG, SOC and CRA rose to 3. Huh, I wondered what was the meaning of that.
6 PHY 3 POW 0 One-handed Weapons 0 Two-handed Weapons 0 Dual Wield 2 Athletics
3 END 0 Unarmed Combat 0 Shield Combat 0 Improvised Weapons 0 Survival
3 DEX 0 Thrown Weapons 0 Ranged Weapons 0 Flexible Weapons 0 Acrobatics
3 PER 0 Main Sense 0 Sixth Sense 1 Sense Motive 0 Stealth
3 MAG 3 INT 0 Destruction Magic 0 Curse Magic 0 Summon Magic 0 Magic Sense
3 WIS 0 Restoration Magic 0 Support Magic 0 Morph Magic 0 Magic Resistance
3 SOC 3 CHA 1 Flattery 0 Intimidation 0 Deception 0 Illusion Magic
3 SPI 0 Music 0 Art 0 Handle Animal 0 Mind Magic
3 CRA 3 KNO 0 Alchemy 0 Spell 0 Language 0 Information Magic
3 CON 0 Smithing 0 Leathery 0 Weaving 0 Reinforcing
Chapter 4 Tutututurut. ¡°God.... that sound is annoying.¡± I let out a groan. Whatever the reason was, there was no way it was good enough. I slowly opened my eyes and the first thing that greeted me was. Quest available: Goblin subjugation 0/10 Accept / Decline The same thing was appearing on my phone screen. But my eyes were stuck at the clock. It was 00:18. I let out another groan. Turned over and rubbed my eyes several times. To me, the world consisted entirely of the pillow beneath my head, the mattress beneath me, and the warm web of my blankets wrapped around me. At this moment, I was completely sure that I had never been more comfortable in my life. Normally, I wouldn¡¯t even bother to get out of this place. This time though, I would say my curiosity was taking over my body. With another groan, I managed to fully open my eyes and accept the quest. As soon as I did that, the screen shifted and showed me detail about where I should go to meet the goblin, it also gave me the coordinates that I could use on my normal GPS. Pretty convenient if I had to say. Without any further delay, I took my hoodie and got ready for the night. Damn, it was cold. ¡°Where is my second immediate regret achievement?¡± I muttered to no one. The GPS navigated me to some sort of a park. All the way down, I kept thinking I would only waste 30 minutes of my life, strolling down to some park and only met nothing but a disappointment. But if the goblin wasn¡¯t there, I would say something was really wrong with me. And I was true. The only thing that greeted me were various things scattered around the ground in very strategic places. It was a carefully choreographed ensemble. A small army of the animals-themed slide, jungle gym, fun mirror, sandbox and their kinds were placed around the ground at various distances and elevations. Still, I already spent 30 minutes just for walking to this place, and it would be ridiculous if I just went back like that. They might be here, maybe they were hiding under that slide? I flashed the slides and several other places with my phone light and only met nothing... except for a cat that was sleeping under the dome. ¡°Argh... should¡¯ve stayed at home.¡± Putting the coin into the vending machine. The only sound that echoed on this park was the sound of aluminium can clashing against the metallic take-out port. Sitting on a bench, casually drinking a green tea while blankly stared at the elephant-design slide. To tell the truth, I might be really wanted to see a goblin and that must be the only reason I didn¡¯t go home. Still, waiting without doing anything was indeed the most hardest and boring task to do. Opening my phone, I started browsing the Guild App on my phone and noticed several changes. First of all, the ¡°Spells Known¡± menu now had a single item. It was listed as (3) Support - Magic Shield. Clicking on the item would deliver me to another page. Describing what the spell would do and how to use the spell. Magic Shield - Block up to [Your WIS] plus 5 damage per level of support magic.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°...My WIS is 3... so... just how much damage is 8?¡± The rest of the information was the incantation that I must chant to use it. Next, There was this new ¡°language¡± menu. Just like what the notification said, there were a lot of language options such as English, Sanskrit... even some language I never heard such as Voyich or purely fantastical language like Dwarvish. Not like I didn¡¯t like it, in fact, this might be the most useful skill among the forty skills. ....Now what? There was nothing more to explore except those two. ¡°Hey, you over there. Can I talk to you for a moment?¡± Around the time that my eyelids were about to shut down from my pointless actions, I suddenly heard a voice calling out to me, in the next instant a bright light illuminated my face. Faced with the sudden dazzling light, I narrowed my eyes, raised my hand to my face and averted my eyes from the light. ¡°What is it?¡± Although an irritated voice was raised, it was quickly replaced with a startled voice. The person that stood there wore a deep blue uniform with an officer cap/hat. He was a public servant for the government, in other words, he was a police officer. Truthfully, I was annoyed because the flashlight that was shone on my face was too bright and the fact that my somewhat peaceful time had been interrupted. ¡°What are you doing here exactly?¡± At the policeman¡¯s question, I was at a loss for words. I looked around at my surroundings in order to think of a retort. I thought to shout out ¡°You got a complaint?!¡± Or ¡°You know, just waiting for the goblin to come out.¡± as a reply. But well, I did realize he was only doing his job. ¡°Hurry up and spit it out, what exactly were you doing?¡± ¡°Just taking a stroll. That¡¯s not illegal right?¡± It wasn¡¯t hard for me to tell a lie to a policeman. Maybe because of deception? Or was it because of my WIL or WIS? Or I might just be got used talking to a man like this? After hearing that explanation the policeman who was usually suspicious under normal circumstances, puckered his eyebrows even further, to the extent that he could probably grab a stack of papers just with his eyebrows alone. The policeman used his flashlight to illuminate both my face and also at the ground near on my feet, alternating between and comparing the two. From the policeman¡¯s action, I bet he began to imagine all sorts of scenarios. A teenager in the park with a black hoodie staring into nothingness while smoking some pot or maybe using some drugs and waiting for his friends or dealer to come. Those kinds of scenes played out in his head. The policeman¡¯s eyes had some doubt and stared at him like he was a guilty person for a second before he let out a sigh. ¡°Just go home and don¡¯t wander around at night.¡± He said. Well, he might have some point. ¡°I understand, I understand. Geez.¡± Just when I was about to get up from the bench, on the corner of my eyes I saw a figure was walking to our direction. From his silhouette, he looked like your typical middle-aged man that just had a heavy day and spending his night drinking alcohol until he couldn¡¯t even walk in a straight line. ¡°Sir, are you fine?¡± The policeman asked him and turned his flashlight to the said silhouette. ¡°Holy...¡± It was your typical middle-aged man. But rather than your typical drunkard, his body was covered in bruises. It was even hard enough to figure out where his eyes were located on his face. His arm bent like some broken toy, and he was dragging his left leg rather walking. ¡°Sir?!¡± The policeman shouted, before grabbing his radio. ¡°Reporting in, this is at the third junction in the public park, we have discovered an injured person.¡± ¡°¡ªI.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± I heard another sound coming in from the direction that middle-aged man just came. At the same time, the policeman next to me was rushing into the middle-aged man aid. ¡°¡ªII.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± I Heard another voice, this time the policeman also heard it. He directed his flashlight to the place where the voices came from and immediately stood still like a statue. ¡°GII!!¡± I... I wanted to say they were a child. But they were green, stood barely one meter tall, it''s scrawny, had a wide ungainly head, and brought wooden club and rusty swords on their hand. On the top of their head, I could see Goblin Lvl 5. Chapter 5 In response to the Goblin subjugation quest, I had waited at the park for about an hour. A scream burst out from the street and 20 goblins appeared at the park entrance, surrounding the policeman and the middle-aged man. ¡°It says there¡¯s only 10!? no, it says subjugate 10.. so I guess it¡¯s normal to have more than 10.¡± I muttered while standing still either because of surprise or because of not sure what I should do. But getting hammered by the policeman flashlight, my eyes quickly observed the Goblins. 2 rusted long swords and 3 similar daggers, the rest had clubs. I had no idea why I decided to count their numbers and analyze their weapons. But I had bigger things to worry about. I had black jeans, white sneakers, a leather belt, a dull gray T-shirt and black hoodie. There was nothing I could use to fight it with, but I wasn¡¯t about to try. I just wanted to see what a real goblin would look like. I was about to run away, until I heard a scream of ¡°S-stay wherever you are and raise your hand to the air!¡± from over to my left. I turned to look at the policeman and saw he already pointed his gun. He had somehow gotten surrounded. His eyes caught mine and he yelled to me, ¡°R-run kid!¡± There was something weird about the way he said it, like he was wanted to run but he couldn¡¯t do it. I hesitated, and when I did, one of the goblins lunged toward him, moving surprisingly fast. At the same time, I started running. Not toward him but to other way around, only stopped when I could hear something blunt had just hitting something. I turned around and could see that he already lying on the ground, his head was bleeding. ¡°Er... right, where it is.¡± I had no weapon to speak of and I had only managed an orange belt in middle school taekwondo, which was what they handed out to basically anyone who stuck with it a few weeks. But with shaky fingers, I opened Guild App, sliding my thumbs to the spell known. ¡°O mana string in the air, transform into a shield and protect the one that stand before mine eyes. Magic Shield!¡± God that was embarrassing. But it really surprised me when somehow the goblin¡¯s club got stopped on mid-air and bounced back, as if it just hit a brick wall. ¡°Giii!!¡± A Goblin with a sword shouted something and pointing his swords toward me. At the same time my heartbeat was starting to beat faster. The goblins that were surrounding both of the policeman and the middle aged man now rushing toward me. ¡°Why me?! Wait, wait. Er, right.¡± Just when I chanted the freshly memorized line, more words appeared in front of me. I looked at them more closely this time, though I didn¡¯t stop chanting. The words at this time really felt like your annoying flashy pop-up ad and didn¡¯t make me feel too good. [New status condition: Fear! (-1 to all stats.)] ¡°M-magic shield!!¡± Damn. The penalty was insane. But it was true. I could run away just fine before, but the moment the goblins were charging at me, my legs suddenly grew weaker. No... more like I lost my will to run away. Hiding behind transparent blue shield,!I looked at the park and tried to steel myself. If things gone wrong, maybe there would be a weapon around here, or something I could use as one. The bad news was that it was almost exactly as I had feared. This was a playground park for children. There was no way there would be an object that I could use as weapon or at least I didn¡¯t have time to search for one. Another goblin at the back hurled a stone. Hitting the transparent blue wall. The loud dull sound was created as my shield repelled the stone. In my mind, I just knew this shield only had 6 durability left. Another stone. The durability dropped to 5. ¡°Giiii!!¡± Realizing the magic shield, the Goblins divided into two groups, each was being led by long sword goblin and they moved in such messy and yet coordinated manner. Before I knew it, they already circled me. ¡°Goblin shouldn¡¯t be smart!!!¡± With a shout, the feeling for at least knowing there was something to protect me. Those feeling was enough to make me at the very least moving my legs. I decided to just run away, running at full sprint without even trying to converse my energy. Heading to two goblins that stayed in the front, each brought their wooden club and were positioned in such a manner to block my path. I might have tried to fight the goblin if they were alone and didn¡¯t bring any weapon. But for now I closed my eyes as my heart hammered away in my chest. As deaths went, at least it would be fast. I kept my eyes screwed shut, right up until the point where I realized I just forcefully charged past two goblins. When I looked around, I saw that death wasn''t quite so imminent as I had thought. I already broke the goblins encirclement and the two goblins that tried to block my path were now laying on the ground, cradling their head in pain. ¡°...Don¡¯t tell me...¡± I would admit that I never tried what happened if I either punched or ran at a full power. But maybe... just maybe... I was stronger than I look? Or the goblin was weaker than your typical adult? For the former, I didn¡¯t know. My body indeed was became lighter the moment I had Athletic... so that might be the case. But if I had to say, the growth or the power up was so insignificant For the latter... now that I thought about this. There were twenty of them and that middle-aged man was still alive. So they might didn¡¯t have that much power? Or maybe I became slightly stronger and the goblins were weak? Maybe... I should try to fight them. Gulping my nervousness down, I moves my thumb and spent my last remaining point to POW, raising it to 5, at the same time my PHY rose to 7. The first two goblins were now standing on their feet, before they looked at me as if I was a prey but now they charged toward me with hatred on their eyes. [Skill increased: Sense Motive Lvl 2.] I blinked away the message as I brought my right foot down on the goblin A. My kick hit the right in the face, with my weight entirely behind it. I heard a crack of the skull splitting. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. [Critical Hit] [Skill unlocked: Unarmed Combat.] If there had been any justice in the world, that would have been when it stopped moving. The life on its eyes would have faded like at the end of Terminator, and it would have slumped back down onto the floor. Instead, it continued to lurch toward me, slamming his wooden club. The only thing that saved me from getting hit, (since my blocking someone punch was an impossible task for me) was my Magic Shield, which now dropped to 3. When I brought up a foot to once again kick goblin A backward, this time on its stomach. A hard crackling sound and copious amounts of dark red blood came from its mouth, while goblin A tumbled backward and fell into its knee (The smell hit me in a wave and made me want to puke, but I just barely managed to force a lump of something back down my throat.) It was back on its feet surprisingly fast though, and stared at me with his glowing red eyes,seemingly tried to catch its breath. [Skill increased: Unarmed Combat Lvl 1!] That was good to know, but this goblin was a tough one, wasn¡¯t it? All the comics and light novels I¡¯d seen had been clear that they were weak creature. But if this wasn¡¯t when this guy was going to die and what was I supposed to do? And unlike Goblin A, before I had the time to breathe, goblin B already slammed his club at my shield and this time its club shattered my shield. Goos, so every goblins also have different strength? I backed away from Goblin B as it dashed forward. I wanted to cast another Magic Shield but goddamnit, my brain couldn¡¯t remember the incantation. A quick glance at Goblin B¡¯s back showed that the rest of the goblins already charging forward, though not so close that I couldn¡¯t make a run for it... maybe. I holding tight my phone and increased my POW to 10, at the same time PHY increased to 9. I wasn¡¯t dumb enough to think that I would forget I could increase my stats any time I wanted to. Still taking care all these goblins on was completely out of question, but if it came to it I needed to know what it took to kill one. My heart was beating like crazy in my chest, but I steeled myself. This time, I aimed my kick at Goblin B¡¯s face, and I was just in time because it lunged at me a split second later, spearing itself straight through the face. [Critical Hit] Unlike Goblin A, Goblin B stopped moving almost instantly and fell to the ground. That was when its red eyes finally faded to a milky white. [Skill increased: Unarmed Combat lvl 2!] [1/10 goblins defeated!] [Achievement Unlocked: First Blood] [Level up! Your Level is now 1!] That last message came with a sensation that I could only describe as orgasm. It was like someone had jabbed a live wire directly into the pleasure center of my brain. It was over in less than a second and left me trembling afterward. ¡°But what happened if I leveled up?!¡± I asked the empty air. Of course the sensation was all in my head and nothing really happened. I picked the wooden club out of Goblin B¡¯s hand just before I noticed the Goblin B¡¯s body was crackling, before it exploded to dust and its loin cloth were blown away. I wanted to look into my phone and raising whatever I could raise, but there was no time for that. The goblins had gotten worryingly close. I gripped my club and prepared myself. Somehow though, I didn¡¯t afraid that much anymore. Indeed they were fast, but their reach was very short, short enough that my feet alone could out-reach them. So the trick was that I would only need to keep them at a feet distance while trying to kill them, but it wasn¡¯t without its risks as some goblins could throw rocks and the long-sword goblins clearly had the same reach as me. While keeping that in mind, I lined up my strike and swung the club for the goblin¡¯s head. This time, I had enough power to kill it with one strike, not bad if I had to say. Just like Goblin B, it exploded into dust. [Skill unlocked: Two-Handed Weapon!] [2/10 goblins defeated] Goblin A lurched forward right as I did that attack, and I ended up kicking it in the shoulder instead. To my surprise, Goblin A exploded. I had to push several goblins away from me in order to prevent them from getting their hands on me. I smashed at the goblin again, this time striking it in the collar bone. The crack of bone made me wince, but I reared back for another swing. [Skill increased: One-Handed Weapon Lvl 1] Just like the skill name, seemed like depending on how I grabbed the weapon, it could be either one handed or two. And also some of the goblins could take two or more hit and some could only take one. [4/10 goblins defeated] The notification somehow blocked my view for just long enough that one of the goblins moving in. Surprisingly, this time I managed to react and step backwards out of the way of its reach. [Skill unlocked: Acrobatic!] I wouldn¡¯t say that one was an acrobatic move, but whatever. I swung at the goblin that just attacked me, hitting it in the temple this time¡ª [Skill increased: Two-Handed Weapon Lvl 1] The other goblins were getting closer, so I attacked again, resolving to turn tail and run if this didn¡¯t do anything. My club came down from up high in a double-handed overhead swing with all my power behind it and hit right at the place where I had broken another goblin collar bone. There were two distinct cracks as the club smashed its way through ribs and then the light on its eyes went out, at the same time my club was broken at the same time it exploded to dust. I managed to get a hold at the last goblin wooden club though. [6/10 goblins defeated] [Level up! Your level is now 2!] Seemed like everything written on my character sheet really did something. When I¡¯d swung the club I had felt a little bit better at it at level one than before, so there was an indication between that number and the real outcome. I tried to keep a steady distance to between me and the rest of the goblins, switching from kicking, two handed, one handed, avoiding just barely enough that I wouldn¡¯t get surrounded, also slow enough that I wouldn¡¯t get tired. Before I knew, there was two long-sword goblins left behind. And my skills had become. [Skill increased: Athletic lvl 3!] [Skill increased: One-Handed Weapon Lvl 2!] [Quest Completed!] [Skill unlocked: Curse Magic!] [Skill increased: Unarmed Combat Lvl 3!] [Skill increased: Main Sense Lvl 1!] [ [Skill increased: Two-Handed Weapon Lvl 2!] [Level up! Your level is now 3!] [Skill increased: Two-Handed Weapon Lvl 3!] [Skill increased: Acrobatic Lvl 1!] [Skill unlocked: Sixth Sense!] Some of the condition was weird. As far as I knew, I was cursing when some of the goblin bloods were splashing on my clothes. And somehow I got curse magic. For Sixth Sense, it happened after I made a right guess about where the goblin would move next. Before I knew it, the last two goblins didn¡¯t seem to be very strong, though I¡¯d thought I¡¯d seen a few bursts of speed and power from them, like when the last boss was on the verge of losing, they would become bigger or something like that, but instead. [Skill unlocked: Intimidation!] ¡°Giigiii!!¡± ¡°Gyi~!¡± Oh... even though I didn¡¯t anything to deserve that. And might be because they were feeling fear as I gradually approached, long-sword goblin A desperately grabbed its longsword, charged forward and tried to cut me in a panic. I wouldn¡¯t say I was a fighting master but Its attack indeed had the skill to cut me somehow. Normally, such a blow would hit me. But In my eyes, this goblin wasn¡¯t that much difference than the other. As I judged the length of the sword, I moved my body to the left, and went into motion with my kick. With a dull sound, my leg felt the sense of its ribs breaking. But as expected, one kick wouldn¡¯t be enough. Once again, with another blow hitting the goblin¡¯s face from my fist, and another strike as if I was doing soccer, t he goblin was blown away before exploding into dust. Looking at the face of the last goblin before me, it scowled at me with hatred or maybe fear in its eyes and shrilled before it turned its back against me and ran away... diving to the panda shaped mirror. ¡°...What?¡± It was weird enough to see floating words, knowing goblin existed, it got weirder when they exploded and now they entered a mirror. Before I knew it, the other polices finally came to the call, aiding the two injured men. For me... as soon as I immediately realized I was covered in blood, I decided to run away. [Skill unlocked: Stealth!]