《Mana: The Bay Area》 Chapter 1: Monsters ** The Goblin King quietly sat on his throne made from the bones of fallen kings. He sighed then after a few seconds later, he spoke three words. "Bring them In." While the Goblin King sat on his throne of conquered kings, several Hobgoblins marched towards him. Once the two rows of nine Hobgoblins approached Goblin King''s throne, they knelled before their master. "Are the portals ready?" The Goblin King spoke with a deep hoarse voice as he gazed down on the Hobgoblins with his blood shot eyes. "They are sire." "Does the other side seem profitable?" The moment the Goblin King asked the question, a purple skinned female Hobgoblin appeared besides the throne. The moment this creature appeared, she bowed down and proceeded to answer the Goblin King''s question. "Sire! Our Seers seems to agree to that. This world that we found are filled with humans. Plump ones at that. Some are even bigger than any of the hogs that we have in our farms." The Goblin King licked his lips after his adviser described the plunder on the other side of the portal. "Excellent. Proceed with the harvest." ** [San Pablo, California] Enzo Zatara is a Minimalist and as well as a self proclaimed Prepper. But unlike the hardcore Preppers, Enzo''s stratagems mostly consist of skills that he taught himself. With the end of the semester nearing, Enzo a college student, frantically typed away on his laptop as he tries to complete all of the homework that he needs to submit in order to pass all his class. Enzo busily typed and switched from one browser to another to collect, connect and modify all the information that he has to finally complete his essay. As he types his final paragraph, his phone begins to buzz. *BUZZZ BUZZZZ* Enzo''s cellphone vibrated the moment a notification popped up. After typing his final sentence on his final paragraph, Enzo quickly peaked at his cellphone. For some reason, he hoped that the text message that he had just received came from someone from school. Some of the people he befriended maybe. But truthfully he knows in his mind that the message is probably a notification from school. Since after all, Enzo decided to focus on his studies because this is his last chance to get his life together. Enzo isn''t a normal college student. He''s actually a thirty year old military veteran, who after detaching from the military had a phase of personal problems. The problems that Enzo had undergone changed him. It made him understand more of life but at the same time, It made him more anti-social and pretty much a shut it. As a final life line, in order to get his life back together, Enzo decided to use his benefits as a veteran to go to back school. Enzo grabbed his cellphone. As he stared at the cracked black screen of his phone, he pressed the button to show the message that he had received. [EMERGENCY ALERT] [MONSTER THREAT IMMINENT THROUGHOUT CALIFORNIA. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER, THIS IS NOT A DRILL] The moment Enzo read the entire message, he couldn''t help but chuckle. The reason why Enzo found this humorous is because he knows that who ever made the mistake of broadcasting this message to the entire state of California, they''re going to be in deep shit. Enzo put his cellphone on airplane mode and turned off his modem. Afterwards he set up his alarm clock and decided to sleep. ** It was just another Monday morning and I had to get ready for class. I shoved my blanket and pillow aside, then got up from the ground. While I stretched my arms, I slowly walked like a zombie to the bathroom to do what I need to do and take a shower. Afterwards, I put on my usual clothes; my black sweatpants, a shirt and a green hoodie. I always wore the same comfortable clothes to school because, I can''t be bother with being stylish to impress people. I would rather wear comfortable clothes for my own benefits rather than pleasing the eyes of people whom I give zero fucks about. I grabbed my backpack, put on my sunglasses to block the glaring morning sun and started walking down the street on Shane drive. Just recently I have been living with my sister and her dog. Both of us have recently been out of the military. The moment that I was detached from the military, I felt lost and embarrassed. Lost because I didn''t know what to do. Being in the military was the profession that I thought was something I wanted to do for life but after spending most of my twenties drunkenly traveling around the world in a ship or some foreign place, I realized how toxic it was to live the life of a military personnel. Most of the time it was fun. Traveling around the world, drinking copious amount of beverages from one bar to another, having a different woman every other night and then after that you go back to work. Being in the military at peace times like an unending frat party. It got really boring and depressing. That was when I decided that I couldn''t stand it any more. So I left. Now that I had all that fun, It is now time for me to focus on my future. Most of the people that I was in Transient Unit with decided to immediately find a job right away, because since many of us had a large sum of debts from having too much fun. I myself worked myself like crazy till I realized that there was no way in this economy, that I would be able to survive with a minimum wage in California.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. To obtain a proper high paying job, one needed a college degree. So I decided to use my G.I bill to go to school. The way that I see it, is that going to school is a good investment. It''ll only take two years and besides, thanks to my G.I Bill I''m literally being paid to go to school. The bright Californian sun rose as I walked down the street. Thanks to my sunglasses, I was able to see another beautiful sunrise on my way to class. While I was appreciating the beautiful scenery, I noticed something peculiar going on. I found it odd that there were no cars on the street. Usually at this time and this day, cars would swarm the streets for parents to drop off their children so that they could go to school and I don''t recall that today is some sort of holiday. After noticing this odd occurrence, I shrugged my shoulders, then I put my earbuds on. I opened my cellphone to play my morning playlist. In the morning, whenever I prefer listening to music from the legendary band called Queen, whenever I would walk to school. Luckily for me, I live near the college so it would only take two songs until I arrived in the room of my first class. But today is different. Today, only one song played for my walk to school. My morning playlist had to be paused because I heard something that really concerned me. As I closed my music application, I heard a shrieking scream. Curious, confused and concerned, I took of my earbuds and wrapped it around my cellphone then stuffed it inside my hoody''s pouch and listened carefully until the weird awkward silence, was broken with another scream. "KYAAAAAAA!!!!" The sound of someone screaming in distress, suddenly made gave me a surge of adrenaline and a sense of vigilance. When I heard the disturbing scream, the first thing I wanted to do is locate the source of the sound. I quickly ran to the direction of the scream and when I turned right to the corner of Mills Avenue, I heard the scream again. This time it followed with a plea. "KYAAAAAH! HELP!!" I crossed the street on Mills Avenue and ran towards the sidewalk overlooking the parking lot where the scream for help was coming from. As I stood there witnessing what was happening, my eyes widened the moment I saw the scene that took place. In the parking lot of the school, a young woman is being chased by this ugly small green creature wielding what looks like a butcher''s knife. Before I could move to help, a police officer came running into the parking lot carrying a shot gun with him. The police officer stopped and pointed towards the green creature. Then right when the young woman was nearing the police officer, he shouted. "Duck!" The young woman quickly dropped to the ground. *BOOM!* The sound of the shot gun echoed everywhere. The creature was shredded to pieces and from the young woman''s perspective, she could literally see through the shredded body of the creature. Immediately afterwards, the police officer kicked away cleaver that the creature had dropped and made sure that it was no longer living. Afterwards the police officer turned his attention on the young woman to check her well being. "You alright? What''s your name?" The frantic young woman looked up at the police officer as she tried to catch her breath. Seconds later she shows the police officer a wound on her leg. "My name is Ritz." Ritz patted her thigh and when she saw the blood all covering her hand, she exhaled deeply and calmly spoke out."I think . .I-It sliced me." "That doesn''t look so bad. Come on let''s get that treated." The police officer extended his hand towards the young woman and the moment the whole thing ended, I ran up to the Police officer and the young woman. "Excuse me sir!" I yelled out as I ran towards them. The moment the Police officer pointed his shotgun towards me, I held my hands up and screamed. "Whoa! What''s with the attempt of deadly force?" The police officer''s face turned red and quickly pointed the barrel of the shot gun away from me when he heard what I said. "Oh! I''m so sorry. I thought you were one of those green creatures that attacked this young lady here." The police officer looked down on the ground and pointed by nodding towards the dead creature laying on the ground. I look at the direction of where the police officer was pointing. At first, I thought it was a made up creature. So I took off my sunglasses and leaned in closer to observe the monster. As I stared at the bloodied carcass of the creature, Its blood gave off an awful smell. It smells like cat''s blood. The creature looks human except it has distinct features that humans don''t have. This creature''s skin entirely green. Its ears are long and pointy and its size is the same a child''s except that it didn''t look like like a child. I also noticed something sticking out of it''s chest. I reached back into my backpack to grab two random writing instruments. Using a pen and a broken pencil from one of the pockets in my backpack, I used the two academic utensils as chopsticks so that I could pick up what looks like a crystallized stone. The moment the stone detached from the creature, it disappeared from my make-shift chopsticks. Then afterwards a screen appeared in front of me. [You''ve obtained a Talent stone! Would you like to use it?] [Yes] or [No]? When I saw the screen that looked a lot like a game dialog box, I freaked out. I screamed little and jumped back. "Whoa!" The moment the police officer saw me jump back, he quickly pointed his shot gun towards the carcass of the creature. "What the heck?!" I stood up and stepped back a little. Even though I had already moved a few feet back, the screen was still in front of me, waiting for me to promptly make a choice. "What? What''s wrong? Is it still alive?" The Police officer looked frantic and kept the barrel of the shotgun pointed at the lifeless creature on the pavement. I looked at the Police Officer and the young woman. The two looked at me and what I just realized was neither of the young woman or Police Officer can see what''s in front of me at this moment. Realizing this information, I didn''t want to tell them or else they''ll think I''m crazy. Immediately to close this weird situation, I decided to make up a lie on the spot. "Ah. I just saw the body twitched and it freaked me out. It must have been some of it nerves still trying to send a signal through its body." "Like Eels." The young woman commented. "Yes. Like Eels. You''re very knowledgeable with animals. What''s your name?" Enzo asked. "Oh thanks. But It''s really the only thing I really know about animals. The only reason why I knew of that fact is because I''m a culinary student here and we were learning how to best serve Eels and that thing just reminded me of them." The young woman chuckled then introduced herself. "My name is Ritz." "My name is Enzo." "And I''m officer Dan. Now let''s take care of this young lady''s wound." "Alright, what can I do to help Officer Dan?" Enzo asked. "Well I think it would be safer if we can take her inside to treat her wounds." "Okay. How about I let her piggy back on me and you watch our six while I carry her inside?" "That sounds like a logical decision. Let''s do it." While I started carrying Ritz on my back, I pressed the [Yes] button on the screen that only I, seem to be able to only see. The moment I pressed [Yes], another screen appeared. [Congratulation! You have just received a new talent] [Goblin''s Dexterity] [This talent multiplies user''s Dexterity by 1.5.] As I continued to walk towards the campus police station, I observed the screens in front of me and told myself that this morning, I woke up into some sort of bizarre world. A world that is no longer what we recognize and remember. ** Chapter 2: Level Up! ** Inside the campus police station, Officer Dan begins to treat Ritz, while Enzo attempts to look for news on his cellphone. "Ugh! My phone won''t turn on." "After eight o''clock, it seems like every electrical technology has stopped working. Even the generators won''t work. Also you shouldn''t bother worrying about charging your phone, electricity throughout the state has been out since last night." Officer Dan swabs Ritz''s wound with a cotton soaked with alcohol. "Ouch!" Ritz yelled as she pushed Officer Dan''s hand away. "Oh, don''t be a baby. It''ll be over soon." Dan commented as he continued to clean the wounds. "But I was just using my cellphone when I was walking down the street. That can''t be right. And no electricity throughout the state?" Enzo raised his left brow as he tries to know more from the grey haired police officer. "How did you get this information?" "There was a fax that came in from last night. I found it printed out when I came in for work." Officer Dan place the paper in front of the two. " "They don''t know why, but the fax mentioned that the entire electrical system stopped working and they are asking all uniforms to try to keep everyone in order. If you were able to use your cellphone earlier, maybe that must have been the last time. Who knows maybe this is just temporary but the problem is that there is no way to find out what''s really going on" "At things that bad?" Ritz shouted her question after hearing what Officer Dan had said. Officer Dan sighed and continued to speak. "At the moment, no one knows whats going on. There''s no electricity but even if there was some way to get electricity, most of the device that uses electricity that I''ve found, won''t even turn on. Even my car stopped working. Luckily I live nearby or else I wouldn''t have arrived here for work." "If you hadn''t gone to work, Ritz here would have been dead." Enzo commented. Ritz nodded in agreement and Officer continued to speak. "My cellphone also wouldn''t work. None of the three generators that the Police station have are working . I tried turning them on several times but I just ended up making myself tired. Anything and everything that uses electricity has just stopped working. If the electricity doesn''t come back soon, there will be chaos statewide. Specially if there are more of these monsters roaming about." "Chaos? How so?" Enzo asked as he leans on the desk near Ritz. "Without electricity, there will be no lights and no surveillance. Without those two things, it''ll be difficult to identify people and with all those factors combined, desperate people or people who just want free things are going to start looting." "That is bad." Ritz commented as she exhales. "It is and I''m done treating your cut! Try not to move so much, so that the wound doesn''t open up. We don''t have anything to sew up your wound and we can''t take you to the hospital because of our situation and the only way to reach the hospital is to walk." Officer Dan cleaned up the area and placed the first aid kit on the table. Ritz remained seated and began to speak while she stared at the floor. "Yeah, I don''t think I would want to attempt walking to the hospital. Who knows what else are out there. I saw something in the news last night. It was about those kids in Oakland. I thought it was some fake news. But it turns out that there are monsters out there attacking people and I just survived it." Ritz wiped the tears running down her cheeks. While Enzo looked at her, he stared at her wound. The slice that Ritz had received from the green creature is deep and isn''t that lengthy. At that moment, Enzo spoke up when he remembered a trick that was commonly used to keep a wound closed. "I know how to fix her up. Do you have super glue around here?" "Super glue?" One of Officer Dan''s brow raised. "What are you going to do with super glue?" "It''s to help keep small wounds close. It''s a trick that we do in the military. If you don''t have time to patch up a wound on the field, we use super glue to keep you from bleeding out and at the same time it prevents the wound from being contaminated." "Ah. Is that so. I think we have some in the back." Officer Dan got up and walked back to fetch the super glue. While the two waited for him, Enzo began asking Ritz some question. "Hey . . . if you don''t mind me asking, how did you end up getting chased by that creature?" Ritz became silent for a few seconds. She began fidgeting with her long multi colored hair, then finally she let out a sigh as she began to speak. "I was walking to school when suddenly at the end of Fordham street, that thing came out of the bushes. I was startled, but I wasn''t frightened. I thought it was someone in a suit. At first It just stared at me. Then when I noticed the knife it was holding, I started walking away. I sped up my walking to give myself distance from it because it did kind of creep me out. When I arrived near the parking lot on Shane drive, I looked back and that was when I saw that thing running towards me. I got scared and screamed when it lunged towards me. That was when I decided to run through the parking lot. Thankfully Officer Dan was there to help." The moment Ritz finished her story, Officer Dan returned with a small tube of super glue. "Here we are. So how are you going to use this to seal up her wound?" "Its the similar to super gluing things together." Enzo knelt down in front of Ritz. But before Enzo began to treat her, he looked up to Ritz and asked for permission. "Do you mind? Once I do this, you''ll be able to move around without worrying if the wound will open up or not." "Will it hurt?"The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. "Hmm not really, you''ll feel some discomfort but I think you can handle it." "Alright. Do it." Ritz closed her eyes when she gave gave Enzo the permission to treat her wound. Moment after receiving Ritz''s permission, Enzo slowly took off the bandage on the wound and put it aside. Then he took off the cap of the super glue and squeezed some of the liquid inside the opening of the wound. After a few seconds, Enzo put the bandage back on then stood up. "Done. That should hold it together until it completely heals." "That''s it?" Officer Dan asked. "Yep. That''s it. Now . .I think I''m going to go home to check on my sister and her dog. If all these monsters are roaming around, I''m worried about their safety. Would it be possible for me to borrow a weapon from here?" Enzo asked. "Borrow a weapon from a police station?!" Officer Dan laughed. "Listen kid, I''m not going to give you a weapon because I don''t want to get fire." "Get fired? This is like apocalyptic situation. I think from this moment on, you aren''t getting paid anymore. Also I''m not a kid. I may look young because of my baby face, but I did serve in the military and I do know how to defend myself. I''m also experienced with several types of automatic weapons. Here''s my Veteran ID." Enzo took out his Veteran card and handed it to Officer Dan. Officer Dan squinted his eyes as he verifies the ID then after a few seconds, he looked at Enzo straight in the eyes. "Even though you are a veteran and have experience and training with guns, I still can''t allow you to borrow any of the automatic weapons in the armory. It''s dangerous, I don''t trust you and It''s my job on the line." "So. . . you''re going to let me go out there unarmed? I know that you are fully aware that monsters may be out there. Can''t you let me borrow something? I''ll bring it back." Officer Dan sighed and began to scratch his head. "Well. . . There are somethings I can let you borrow." Officer Dan stood up and went to the back room. When returned he has on his hand a transparent circular shield and a baton. "Do you know how to use these?" Officer Dan asked. "An anti-riot shield and a baton? Of course. With those, I think I''ll feel safer. Thank you." "Just return them when you''re done doing what you need to do. Just remember my job is on the line here. Even though the shield and the baton aren''t quiet as dangerous as a gun, they are still police property." "Alright I''ll return them. As a collateral, I''ll leave my veteran I.D with you so you have some sort of safeguard just in case. Once I find my sister, I''ll come back here." "Alright. Good luck." "Be Safe you two. I''ll be back." The moment Enzo finished talking, he grinned and put on his sunglasses. ** I rolled up my sleeves on my left arm. I made sure that the riot shield is properly strapped on to my arm so that It won''t easily fall out. I also decided to put my sunglasses inside my backpack and remove my hood from my head because I needed to be able to see properly and use peripheral vision so that I can quickly detect any danger. As I walked into the parking lot, I felt the cool fall wind on my head. I stood for a second and looked around. I waited for a minute or two to make sure that nothing was around before I began my trek back home. Knowing that there could potentially be danger everywhere, I decided to become very cautious. While I was walking uphill on Shane Drive, I began hearing the loud sound of metal grinding together. As paranoia slowly took over my mind after hearing the noise, I immediately stopped moving and hid behind a nearby parked car. While I put my back against the car, I tried to keep calm, so that I could properly decide what I should do next. My main goal at the moment is to reach home and make sure that my sister is safe. Right now, I''m trying to reach home but something is out there and it could potentially be dangerous. After exhaling a couple of times, I stuck out my head and scanned the surroundings for anything out of the ordinary. As I looked around, I didn''t see anything moving. I waited for a minute or two to confirm if the noise earlier would continue. After waiting, I felt relieved that the noise earlier didn''t resume. I quickly decided to continue my journey uphill because I was becoming more anxious and worried for my sister. As I was about to stand up to continue walking up hill, a towering humanoid creature walked out of the corner of Shane and Cantebury drive. The huge humanoid creature stood about two meters high. It wore a primitive garment that covered its leaf upper body and everything else. It also carried with it an enormous ax as it walked on the middle of the uphill street. I didn''t make any noise when I saw it. At that point in time, I was trying to convince my self that what I was seeing isn''t real. I froze and stood there, observing the towering muscular monster. It''s large bloodshot eyes looked lazy and patches of pulsating veins all over its muscular body were its main noticeable features. As I stood there observing the monster''s impressive frame, It''s eyes darted towards me. The moment the creature locked onto my sight, it began rage screaming. "GRAAAAWWWWW!" My only thought at that moment was; "Dam, I''m not that ugly." The monster''s deep loud terrifying scream echoed through the neighborhood as it grabbed a nearby parked SUV and hurled it towards me. The moment that I saw the monster throw the SUV towards me, I quickly scurried to move out of the way. "Monther F-!" *BANG!* The SUV that the monster tossed made a loud sound as it smashed into the car that I was hiding behind earlier. I turned my head to look at what the creature was doing. The moment that the monster saw me looking up at him, I began to sweat and the beating of my heart sped up. My only thought was that this shrek mother fucker is trying to kill me and at that moment, I was right. The monster grabbed another car to toss. This time it was a smaller vehicle, a Volkswagen beetle. When the creature chucked the car at me, I quickly ran back down hill. I didn''t look back, until I was back on the corner of Mills Avenue and Shane Drive hiding behind a sign. I took cover behind the college''s sign and looked back to see what had happened. When I looked back, the Volkswagen was no where to be found. Also, the creature was no longer standing in the middle of the uphill street. Instead, for some reason, the creature was now tumbling down hill. It must have tripped and now, its huge body is rolling downhill as it smashes its head several times against the parked cars along the street. Once the monster had made it at the bottom, it was completely bloodied and it just laid there taking the space of the entire street. As its entire body is sprawled open on the ground, I could clearly tell it was alive because I can still hear its breathing and see its blood-shot bloodied eyes trying to look at me. As I leaned side to side to observed the creature, it would snarl and grunt when ever it attempted to move its body. The moment that I realized that the monster couldn''t move, I stood up and walked near the ax that it dragged down with it. I knew right at this particular point in time, that this guy some how messed himself up on the way down hill and now I had the opportunity to slay him. But before committing to enforce my action, I thought about whether I should leave the creature as is, or if I should put it out of its misery. It was pretty obvious that this creature is dangerous. The fact that it was actually trying to kill me, the moment that it realized my existence was proof that its dangerous. I didn''t like the fact that I had to take a life, but If I let this creature live, there''s a chance that others may become its victim. Also if I let this creature live, the fact that it''s around where I live, gave me more reason to finish it off. If I let it live, I would have the knowledge that I just gave this monster a second chance to kill me. I don''t need such paranoia in my life. Now that the creature is immobilized on the ground and its crude large weapon was just an arms reach away from me, I made my decision and acted one it. My movement was swift and I knew what I had to do. I dropped my baton on the ground and walked towards the enormous ax near creature. The ax was quite heavy, but I was able to lift it up by using both of my arms. I looked down at the enormous creature and without any hesitation, I swung its own ax onto its neck. A splash of its blood trickled onto me and afterwards I turned around to pick up my baton. Seconds later, blood began to leak out of the monster''s neck. I moved to the sidewalk to watch the monster die. I don''t why, but I had the need to watch the creature die or else in the back of my mind, i''ll have the doubt that this thing is still around and I gave it a second chance to kill other people. I stood on the sidewalk and I watched. The creature didn''t make any noise as it bled to death. I was actually surprised that it didn''t die after I embedded its own ax right on it jugular. All it did now was squirm around until it completely stopped moving. Immediately after the monster''s death, several screens like earlier appeared in front of me. My eyes widened as the cascading screens spammed in front of me. [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up! I pressed the screen that appeared in front of me and what I saw afterwards, put a smile on my face. ** Chapter 3: Troll inside the House ** On the blood soaked street at the corner of Shane drive and Mills avenue, I stood there in the side walk smiling like a psychopath. While I am currently staring at is what could only be described as a nerd''s dream that has come true. I began to feel anxious because of an idea that this and everything that has just happened could actually be part of a dream. Secretly I didn''t want it to be a dream. Even though I had began to frequently tell my self that everything that''s been happening must be actually be a dream. Parallel from my face is a transparent screen. On the top of the screen are words written in bold large size and it says; [Character Screen] Under the bold words are my name, age, level, affiliation and my own attribute diagram which is similar to what one would be able see in a video game. According to the screen that I am staring at, my current level is eight. It also says that I have forty free attributes points that needs to be allocated into the six statistic category. The six statistics are Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Vitality, Intelligence and Luck. My current character statistics at the moment are plus ten Strength, plus ten Agility, plus thirty Dexterity, plus ten Vitality, plus thirty Intelligence and plus fifty Luck. It was odd that I already had points allocated in my statistics but I later realized why this is so. Below my attribute diagram are the list of my Talents. Currently I have two talents. One is called [Lucky Looter] and the other is called [Goblin''s Dexterity] My talent called [Lucky Looter] gives me plus fifty Luck points and the description says that it will also help me find valuable rare loot. While I was staring at the screen in front of me, an object came out of the creature''s gaping neck wound and rolled over towards me. I recently just noticed it the moment it touched my shoe. I looked down on the bloody ground and right there laying in front of my shoe is another crystallized stone. The moment I picked up the blood soaked stone, a screen appeared in front of me and the crystallized stone slowly faded away like smoke. [You''ve obtained a Talent stone! Would you like to use it?] [Yes] or [No]? The moment I pressed [Yes], another screen appeared. [Congratulation! You have just received a new talent] [Ogre''s Vigor] [This talent multiplies the user''s Strength and Vitality by 1.5] The moment my new talent appeared on my Character Screen, my Strength and Vitality stats subsequently increased. I also still had my remaining free points. Since I needed to move faster to reach my sister, I decided to allocate twenty points into Agility and the remaining twenty points I input into Strength. After allocating my statistic points, seconds later, I began to feel nauseous. My body felt lighter and at the same time it felt as if my body fat had become more toned. As I looked at my screen now, my current statistical points are plus sixty Strength, plus thirty Agility, plus thirty Dexterity, plus fifteen Vitality, thirty Intelligence and fifty Luck. After spending at least thirty minutes standing there at the blood soaked street, I closed the screen in front of me and decided to continue my way back home. I got out of the street and into the side walk. I began walking uphill on Shane drive. At first, I didn''t realize how fast I was moving until I noticed that I was already at the corner of Oxford avenue and Shane Drive. My body felt so light that I could literally jump on a tree and that''s what I did. I stood on a thick study branch of a tree and scanned the surroundings to check for any more creatures that would get in my way. While looking around, I hear the whispering and scurrying of several creatures below me. I look down and to my surprise there are several of the green creatures that was similar to the monster that attacked Ritz earlier. The group of creatures looked as if they were in a hurry. Since I was also in a hurry, I didn''t bother confronting them. I actually wanted to test out my new improved self, but I needed to first make sure that my sister is safe. So I waited till the monsters moved far enough and that''s when I slowly climbed down the tree because despite my newly acquired amazing physical abilities, I am still afraid of heights. ** 2843 Shane Drive. Enzo slowly walked towards the front door. When he was inches to it, he noticed that the door had been broken into. At the moment, he had mixed emotion. He didn''t know if he should go inside the house with raging anger or feel sad for a moment then go in and just build into the raging anger state. Enzo took a deep breath and exhaled. He slowly opened the door to try not to make any noise. The reason why Enzo is doing this is because he wanted to have the element of surprise. Even though he knows that he is now practically superhuman, it''s better to execute every situation smartly rather than go in with guns blazing.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Enzo sneaked inside the house. He took a stance then paused for a minute in the living room to listen for any noise. The first thing that Enzo picked up on is the smell and sight of blood on the wooden paneled floor of the area. The other thing was a strong sour smell lingering somewhere. Finally, Enzo noticed that parts of the house''s ceiling had disappeared and the back room of the house was completely demolished. The entirety of the back room is destroyed. The walls and roof gone. Enzo kept looking around the debris until what he saw made him so emotional that he immediately ran to the lifeless body of a dog whose short hair coat is as dark as charcoal. Enzo began to weep as gently he picks up the beloved dog. "Ten." Enzo wept silently whilst embracing his sister''s dog. After a minute, he looked for a large box and placed Ten''s lifeless body inside. Enzo placed the box with Ten''s body inside on the patch of ground in the backyard. Afterwards he grabbed a shovel and began crying while he dug the gave for Ten. While Enzo continued to dig, he was thinking about the worst case scenario. If Ten is dead then, his sister might have shared the same fate. While that thought ran around his mind, it made him angry. Enzo wanted revenge. He wanted to commit the most heinous ways to kill someone towards the next monster that he comes across. Enzo was so angry and upset that he immediately hurled the shovel from his hands into the large clump of debris that use to be the back room of the house. Meanwhile among the debris, a creature began to emerge. The pieces of wood and plaster began to unravel as the creature effortlessly shoved them aside. Once the creature was free from the debris, it saw the dog on the box and the creature began to sob uncontrollably. Enzo looked up from the hole that he dug to see a towering creature similar to the monster that he killed earlier. Except this one was a woman and she was completely naked. Enzo wanted to jump out of the hole and fight the giant woman monster that emerged from the large pile of debris. But before he could move, he noticed something odd about the monster. It was weeping and at the same time it was walking towards him. Enzo watched at the crying monster walked closer and subsequently it was shrinking the close it got to him. Enzo was confused until he realized that the large monster woman had turned into a normal naked Asian woman who looks like his sister. "Sybil! Your alive!" Enzo jumped out of the hole and took off his hoodie so that his sister has something to wear. The moment Enzo handed his hoodie to his sister, he turned around and began asking questions. "What happened? How are you able to transform into that?" Sybil began to speak while she put on her brother''s hoodie. "I don''t know how I turned into that. By the way bro. Do you see these screens in front of me?" Enzo looked at her sister and couldn''t see any screen in front of her. That was when Enzo responded with; "I think we can only see our own screens. What level are you? And what are your talents?" "It says I''m level three and I only have one trait. It''s called [Giant Trollsblood]. The description says that I get plus one hundred strength and I have all of the physical attributes of a Giant Troll. It also says that when I become emotionally compromised, I turn into my version of a Giant Troll." "Huh, interesting." Enzo commented after Sybil had finished speaking. Afterwards he grabbed a piece of metal that was nearby and handed it to her sister. "What do you want me to do with this?" Sybil asked as she raised her brow. "I want you to fold it. I just want to see it." Sybil looked at her brother, crumpled up the piece of metal and hurled it as far as she could into beyond. "Hey. I wanted to see the metal." Enzo looked disappointed as he watched the piece of metal soar into the sky. "Seeing that you are not at all surprised by my abilities, I''m guessing that you them too." Sybil stared at her brother with disdain. "You could say that. But before i can tell you what I know let''s properly bury Ten." "Fine." After burying Ten, Enzo suggested that they should gather everything that they can use from the house. While the two siblings rummaged through the house, Enzo began to tell Sybil everything that he had happened, the things that he had discovered and his predictions of things that could happen. "I see, so after helping the girl Ritz, you ran back home to see if I was okay. With cars not working we won''t be able to drive around. And without electricity, it''s going to be dangerous at night. Hmm what are we going to do?" Sybil grabbed a can on beer and began drinking it. "That''s right. This is some apocalyptic shit. Hand me a beer. Do you have any suggestions on how we should proceed in this situation?" Sybil handed her brother a can of beer. "I was going to suggest to go to San Diego so that we can grab Judy. She''s still stationed there." Enzo opened his can and took a gulp. "The problem isn''t the distance. Its the monsters that are trying to kill us on the way there." Sybil finishes her can and opens up another. "Then should we stay here and wait for her to come here? There''s two of us and only on of her." "Well she is backed up by hundred of other military personnel. I''m sure she''ll be alright. Also I think you should stop drinking. You need to be in control of yourself unless you want to turn into that ugly giant troll again." Enzo grabbed the can of beer out of Sybil''s hand and chugged it down immediately. Sybil on the other hand got annoyed and punched his brother. Immediately after being punch and sent through the wall, Enzo learned a valuable lesson; don''t fuck around with his little sister. While I was embedded on the crumbling wall of living room, a screen appeared in front of me. [Congratulation! You have just received a new talent] [Giant Troll''s Sibling] [This talent allows user to share regenerative abilities of nearby Giant Trolls] Even though his body is bruised and battered because of his sister''s brute strength, he didn''t feel sad. At that moment Enzo is particularly happy that his sister is alive. The pain that he''s currently on, made the entire experience feel truly real and it was something that he appreciated. But thanks to his new ability after an hour or so, his body had completely healed. ** Chapter 4: Lesson One ** After convincing my little sister that staying at home was dangerous, specially when half of the house has been completely obliterated, we gathered everything we can from home. We packed up all the non-perishables that we could find and essential tools that we would need. Then after saying goodbye to Ten, we started heading out. The moment we stepped outside the street, I scanned the area outside. I measured with my hand how many hours of sun light we had left. Since we spent the rest of the morning and some of the afternoon gathering everything and getting ready, we lost track of time and now that it seems like all electrical devices had stopped working, using the survival method was good enough to gain information of how many hours of sunlight is remaining. According to the distance of the sun from the horizon and the number of hand that I counted between the horizon and the the sun, there was only four hours of sun light left in the day. On our way down hill on Shane drive, the smell of blood lingered the closer we got to the bottom. I lead the way while my sister followed behind me. Half way down to the bottom, I raised my shield to signal that I spotted something and that we need to halt our movement, so that we could assess the situation and figure out the actions that we will eventually perform to solve the situation. While I was crouched down, observing the scene, Sybil placed her head on my shoulder and began asking questions. "What is it? What do you see?" As I looked through the scope in my hand, the only word that I could describe the scene that was taking place was that it was pretty disgusting. But since my sister asked, I decided to describe what I was seeing. "Remember that Ogre that I told you about?" "The one that turned into a vegetable after rolling down hill? Yeah, why?" "Well . .there are these smaller humanoid creatures feasting on its corpse. They''ve eaten most of the Ogre''s flesh." The moment I answered, Sybil''s breathing changed. "Do they have green skin, pointy ears and very ugly teeth?" "Uh. . . I guess you can describe them as that." "GOBLINS." A deep voice replaced had the voice of my little sister. When I turned my head to look at her face, her eyes were starting to deform. That was when I shrugged my back, to get her attention. "Hey, you''re literally turning into a Troll again. You should control your emotions. Didn''t the trait specify that heightened emotions or something, transforms you into a Giant Troll?" "Ugh Yes. I know that. You''re always slapping the elephant in the room. But I can''t help being angry." Sybil sighed. "The ones that killed Ten were Goblins." I suddenly felt annoyed when Sybil mentioned that Goblins were responsible for Ten. "Is that what happened?" I asked as I kept my emotion in. "Yeah. I was upstairs smoking weed while watching some video about forging a sword. Suddenly, Ten just kept barking. I ignored her at first, so that I could finish the video that I could have paused. But I didn''t pause it. Instead I ignored her until the video finished. But once the video ended, out of nowhere I hear the loud sound of glass breaking. Ten continued to back but after that . . . . I heard Ten yelp. When I heard that sound, I don''t know why but I just completely sobered up and became really concerned. I ran down stairs and when I got to the living room, what saw just immediately pissed me off. All I remember was seeing the glass door broken and Ten on the ground not moving. Then when I look at the kitchen, there were these small green dudes going through the fridge. I remember the first time I transformed. I was really high and at the same time I wanted to beat the shit out of these mother fuckers who killed my dog. It was a weird mixture of zen and rage of anger." Sybil placed her head on my shoulder and just perched on my shoulder. After a few seconds of silence, I turn my head to her face. "So. . . you want to murder these bitches?" "Yes. Yes. I do." I smiled and she smiled back. It was the beginning of a memorable sibling moment. I gave my sister a hug and kissed her on the forehead. Then we started to brain storm on how we should solve this situation. "Okay. Here''s what we could do. We''ll use long ranged weapons. I''ll use my bow and you use this desert eagle." After I spoke, Sybil had a concerned look. "Wait. Where did you get this Desert Eagle?" "Oh, I know a buddy. Me having these weapons doesn''t matter right now. I need you to focus. Once we execute this, its life or death. And I still want to live cause there things and plans that I still want to do." "Plans? Our situations is basically apocalyptic. There are murderous monsters everywhere and electrical technology are now useless." "Don''t be so negative. Give it time. Things might return to how it was just before you know it. You have to be patient. But for now, I need you to focus. You confirmed this action. Now do you still want to kill these things?"If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. "Yes. Yes I do. Let''s murder these fuckers." "Oh hold up. Before we begin, let me set up a plan." I slowly raised my body to take a peaked over the smashed car that we were hiding behind. While I scanned the surrounding, I noticed that one of the goblins feasting on the Ogre''s body looked entirely different from the rest. While the other goblins wore leather armor with bits of metal covering their shoulder, one particular goblin wore a robe. This goblin was also wering a pointy droopy hat. It was very similar to the hat of witches from cartoon would wear. While I was staring at the goblin that looked different from the others, an idea appeared inside my mind. That was when suddenly, I realized something. At that point in time, I quickly and silently lowered my body. What I somehow connected, is that the Talents that I have acquired from warrior-like monsters gave me enhanced physical abilities. So maybe If I slayed this creature, which I would assume through a nerd''s extensive knowledge about fantasy, is that this oddity is some sort of magic wielder. I looked at my sister and smiled. "Do you trust me?" "Uh, I followed you down the streets after convincing me that it was dangerous to stay home." Sybil rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Is that a yes?" "Yes. God. Can we kill these things already?" "We''ll get to that after I tell you how we''ll execute this." "Fine. Share and we''ll begin." I smushed the side of my face against Sybil then started whispering my plan. "Okay. We''ll walk to higher ground and I''ll start firing off shots using my composite bow. Since you only have seven bullets, only shoot the goblins that comes too close. Plan B if we get over run, fight as hard as you can. Since you have regenerative powers, you will most likely can continue fighting." "Wait. I don''t understand. Why can''t we just go on a all out brawl? With my high Strength, I think I would be able to one-hit K.O each goblin." I gave my sister an expressionless look and began asking her questions. "Sybil. When was the last time that you fought?" "I don''t remember. I think I was in a bar fight. It shouldn''t be that hard right?" Sybil let out a little laugh. I let out a sigh and looked at Sybil straight in the eyes. "Okay, Well this isn''t like fighting some drunk in a bar. These are hardened and trained monsters. Look at them, they''re gnawing on the raw flesh of that Ogre, they''ve mastered the weapons that they are armed with. You had a week long training with handguns in boot camp many years ago and I doubt you had an expert on the use of handguns because I saw your ribbons before you separated from the military. Also you''ve never trained with hand to hand combat right? It''s fine. I''m not trying to belittle you. I''ll teach you what I know in the near future. But for now, I want you to focus because I don''t like underestimating my enemies and most importantly, I don''t want us to die here. Do you understand?" this time, Sybil let out a sigh. She knows that I know, that she knows how analytic I am. After a few seconds. She started to speak with a softer and calmer tone. "Okay. Is that all?" "No. Lesson One. Always have an escape route. If things don''t go the way that was planned, a tactical retreat is best so that we could formulate another plan to solve the problem. If this happens, the escape route is up hill. We split up and run as far as we could until they stop chasing us. Our meet up place is Hilltop mall. IF things goes wrong. Okay?" "Okay." Sybil agreed as she sighed. "Now I want you to repeat the plan back to me." "Ugh!" "Look. I just want to know if you received the information that I gave you. There''s no need to be frustrated." "Okay. Whatever. So basically, you''ll try to kill as much as you can using your bow and I''m the back up plan. I shoot any of the monsters that gets too close." "And the the escape route? If anything happens?" "We run uphill, split up and meet at Hilltop mall." "Okay close enough. Before we start allocate all the free stat points that you have into Dexterity." "Why?" "So that you can have a better chance of hitting the enemies." "Alright done." "Let''s start." I grinned. At this point in time, most would view this situation as terrifying. But for me. It was like I smoked cannabis for the first time after stopping for a year. Currently I have that high where you''re focus and at the same are extremely aware at everything around you. I scanned the surrounding and analyzed the data. Only three hours of sunlight was remaining for the day. The wind became still as I raised my bow and pulled back the strings from my modded composite bow. I squinted my eyes to aim, exhaled then released the arrow. I paused for a moment as I watched the four blade broad-head arrow dart into the left eye of the odd goblin in the robe. *WOOSH!* At first the goblin couldn''t comprehend how an arrow had just pierced into his eye. The moment the goblin fell lifeless on the ground, two cascading screens appeared in front of him. [Level Up!] [Level Up!] ** The students and staff were gathered in front of the college store. With several Goblins pointing spears and arrows at them, the quick witted students couldn''t and didn''t refuse becoming prisoners. Those refused to become prisoners decided on taking the chance to escape by running. Unfortunately for these students that attempted to escape, they received an arrow on their backs for their participation of attempting to escape. Near the hostages and the grumpy goblins, a larger humanoid creature opened a bag of potato chips. This creature is stronger, faster and much more intelligent than the common Goblin. This creature is a Hobgoblin. While the Hobgoblin continued to litter another potato chip wrapper on the ground, the sound of a gun being fired twice could be heard nearby. Right after the Hobgoblin heard the gun shots, he snapped his fingers and a blue Goblin came running towards him. "Yes master?" The blue Goblin knelt and bowed his head the moment he presented himself. "What were those sounds?" the Hobgoblin asked as he continued to chew on some chips. "I''m not sure lord. But the sounds came from the direction that we came from. Maybe the human responsible for slaying the Orgre that we found has returned." The Hobgoblin began laughing after hearing his servant speak. "You still believe that a human was able to slay an Ogre? Nonsense. From the looks of it, the humans in this side of the portal can''t even defend themselves. Look at them. They do not wear armors nor any weapons! None of them even carried a knife when we caught them!" The blue Goblin remained kneeling and began to apologize. "I apologize lord for my words. Of course, as you say these humans are useless. But what do you intend to do with them?" "Isn''t that obvious? I''m taking them back with me to the other side of the portal. They should be able to fetch me a large sum of coins. Look at them! Some of them have more meat than any of the cattle being raised in our land! Anyways prepare to move out. If those sounds indicated humans, then we need to capture them. More humans means more coins for me." The Hobgoblin grinned and laughed as he stood up to pull the chains that the students and staff were linked to. The Hobgoblin and his small pack of Goblins began walking towards where the sounds of gunshots originated from. ** Chapter 5: Goblins ** In the middle of the uphill street, Enzo calmly looked down at the bewildered reaction of the remaining Goblins. After sniping down the Goblin with the droopy pointy hat, Enzo grabbed another arrow and aimed for the Goblin that was the first one to start running up hill. *SWISH!* The arrow flew from Enzo''s modified composite bow and pierced through the Goblin''s neck. The moment that the goblin realized that an arrow penetrated through his jugular, it began to panic. It held on to the arrow that''s sticking through its neck as it started to stagger while blood leaked down from its wound. Then without any hesitation, it pulled out the arrow from its flesh. At the same moment that it pulled out the arrow from its neck, it realized that doing so was a bad idea. Immediately after realizing that he fucked up, a steam of blood splattered everywhere where the goblin stood. Then seconds later, it fell lifeless on the ground while blood continued to stream out of its slightly larger neck wound. Two screens appeared in front of Enzo. [Level Up!] [Level Up!] At that point in time, only six more Goblin were remaining. Once the remaining Goblins realized that they were being attacked, all six hurriedly ran uphill to attack the siblings. Even thought the six remaining Goblins ran uphill at the same time, some were slower than the others. This gave Enzo enough time to reload and shoot two more Goblin before it could reach them. Enzo''s arm moved as fast as he could to keep shooting. One arrow after another flew down hill as it pierces through two of the six Goblins running up the hill. Then just as Enzo was about to grab another arrow, two of the remaining four Goblins glowed and some how they got close enough that they tried to lunged for Enzo. Just as they were about to grab onto Enzo, Sybil could be grinned as she points the Desert Eagle that she''s wielding at the two ambitious goblins. *BOOM!* *BOOM!* Sybil shot the two goblins mid air. Both had their skull blown open and their lifeless body immediately fell on the pavement of the street. The last two Goblins were halfway up to where the siblings stood. The moment they saw Sybil grin as she shot the brains out of their friends'' skull, the two remaining Goblins paused and for a split second, you could see the fear in both of their eyes as they turned around to flee. Unfortunately for these fleeing Goblins, the siblings were currently not in a forgiving mood. Within ten seconds, Enzo finished off the remaining two with his arrows on their back. All in all, there were eight Goblins that the siblings took down. Two were at the bottom of the street. Four almost made it uphill and last two Goblins attempted to escape when they realized that they were completely fucked. "Good job on the shooting." Enzo patted his sister''s shoulder then afterwards, he grabbed some things from his backpack and handed them to Sybil. "Thank you. What''s this for?" "A magazine belt and two more fully loaded magazines. Right now you have five bullets remaining inside your gun. Oh, and remind me later to give you more ammo." "Alright." Sybil nodded in agreement as she adjusted her magazine belt. Seconds after Enzo had finished switching gears, a cascade of screens appeared in front of him. [Level up!] [Level up!] [Level up!] [Level up!] [Level up!] [Level up!] Enzo pressed the screen and his character window appeared. Immediately, Enzo had a surprised look when he noticed that he leveled up ten times from this battle alone. Enzo turned to Sybil to inquire something from her. "Hey Syb . . . How many times did you level up just now?" Sybil turned to Enzo while she continued to adjust the straps from the magazine belt. "I leveled up six times after slaying those two." Sybil pointed at the Goblins that she shot. "I see. Hmm. . .let me just allocated my free stats and we''ll move on." Sybil nodded and Enzo turned his attention to his status points. Currently, Enzo has fifty free points that he can allocate into his stats. Enzo began to think about what he lacked during the fight. He vaguely remembered that he wished that he could move faster so that he can reload and shoot at a faster pace. Enzo rubbed his chin and pressed on the statistic Agility. Immediately after a small rectangular screen appeared. [Agility][This stat affects the speed of the character in many aspects, allowing it to attack faster and dodge attacks more often.] After reading the small screen, Enzo knew where to invest his free statistic points. After allocating his stats, Enzo now has eighty points on his Agility stats. Enzo turned his head towards his sister to check if she''s ready.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. "Are you ready?" Sybil lifted her Desert Eagle and nodded. Enzo leaned down to the body of the Goblins that Sybil slayed. One of the Goblins didn''t have the crystallized stone. The moment Enzo stood up, Sybil inquired about the object in his hand. "What''s that?" "This?" Enzo lifted the stone that was the size of a cue ball. "I''ve been calling this a Talent stone because when you use it, you gain an ability that''s called talent. Here, you use it and tell me what you get from it." Enzo tossed the Talent stone at Sybil and the moment she touched the stone, a screen appeared in front of her. [You''ve obtained a Talent stone! Would you like to use it?] [Yes] or [No]? The moment Sybil pressed [Yes], another screen appeared. [Congratulation! You have just received a talent] [Analyze] [This spell allows the user to analyze things, people and objects for their information.] "Whoa!" Sybil exclaimed. "I got this spell called Analyze. This is insane, I can see more information about everything." Sybil looked down at the creature that she shot. Above the monster is a rectangular box that says what kind of creature it is and its level. Sybil couldn''t help but be surprised when she saw the levels of the monsters she shot. "Whoa! No wonder I leveled up so fast. These guys are level eighteen." "So there are spells and there are talents." Enzo rubbed his chin. "Whats the difference?" "Well. It looks like spells are activated abilities and talents are passive abilities." "So there''s a chance I can get find an ability that allows me to fly?" "Yep. It''s possible. It would be nice to be able to fly. Anyways let''s keep moving. It''s about to get dark. We don''t want to be out in the open when it gets really dark. On the way down, I''m going check the other bodies as we move along. I might be able to find more talent stones. So I want you to tap my shoulder if you notice something strange." Sybil nodded and the moment Enzo saw that his little sister acknowledged his instructions, he began to slowly descend down the hill. One by one, Enzo looted each Goblin. Out of the seven warrior-like Goblins that they slayed, Enzo only found four of the crystallized stones. Once they reached the bottom where the goblin wearing the droopy pointy had laid on the pavement, Enzo turned around to Sybil. "Sybil. Use [Analyze] on this." Enzo tossed the crystallized stone. The moment Sybil caught the stone, her eyes temporarily glowed green. "The label on this rock says [Talent Stone]" "Uh. . .Can you see more information?" "Uh. . . . No." "Hmm that''s too bad. I thought we would be able to figure out what kind of abilities we can get before we use these Talent Stones. I guess the abilities you obtain are random. Go on use it. The more abilities we have, the more of a chance we''ll have in surviving." "Alright." Sybil nodded and used the Talent Stone in her hand. At the same time Enzo used two for himself. After using the two Talent Stones, Enzo received a spell called [Adrenaline Rush] and a passive ability called [Tough Skin]. [Adrenaline Rush] [Allows user to double his or her Agility stats for twenty seconds.] [Tough Skin][ The user''s skin possesses unusually resilient characteristics that has a high percentage of nullifying blunt damages and preventing the penetration of sharp and piercing objects.] While Enzo was reading the descriptions of his new abilities, Sybil shrieked. After hearing his little sister scream, Enzo immediately turned his entire body towards Sybil. "What''s wrong? Are there more monsters?" Sybil crossed her arms and started to look like she was about to cry. "NO! It''s the stupid ability that I got!" "Whoa! Calm down, you don''t want to turn into a Giant Troll again. Tell me, what''s so bad about the ability that you just obtained?" "It doesn''t matter. This stupid talent that I got is called [Contaminant Immunity]. It''s cancelling out my high and as well as the chemicals that forces my body to transform into a Giant Troll." Sybil stomped her foot on the pavement and a large hole appeared beneath her foot as she continues to act very upset. "Wait so you still have the benefits of your talent [Giant Troll''s Blood] without the negative side effects? That''s a great thing right?" Sybil turned to her brother and tried to explain everything. "This talent. . . it cancels out my high. I had the perfect mellow feeling just before I got my new talent. But now its gone! How am I going to live in this fucked up world if I can''t even enjoy a blunt anymore?" "You''re angry because you won''t be able to get high anymore?" Enzo raised his brow. "NO! it''s not that. It''s this new talent! I hate it!" Sybil raised her voice. It''s clearly obvious that Sybil is emotionally upset and its a good thing that her new talent is cancelling out her ability to transform into an uncontrollable Giant Troll because that would be really difficult. Specially with only one hour of light left in the sky. After kicking in the door of a nearby car, Sybil turned to Enzo with her arms crossed. "Forget my problems, let''s keep moving I don''t want to be out here when it gets dark." Enzo looked at Sybil and clearly she''s still not over her situation. But with an hour of light left they had to move on. "Alright, let''s go." In corner of Mills avenue and Shane drive, the smell of fresh blood lingered in the air. Enzo walked up to the body of the odd looking Goblin and picked up the Talent stone that it dropped. The moment Enzo picked it up, he turned his body to offer it to Sybil. "This is the fifth Talent Stone we found. I already used two. You should take this." "I''m good. You use it." Sybil shook her head as she refuses her brother''s offer. "Are you sure?" "Yeah. After the last ability that I got, I think i''ll hold off for now." Enzo shrugged and used the Power Stone after his sister refused him for the second time. [Mana Perception] [This talent allows the user to visibly see Mana at all times.] The moment Enzo looked up, he could see that Sybil is coated and covered with this green transparent aura. Enzo looked at his hands, and his hands were also covered with this blue transparent mantle of flames. While Enzo is busy observing the world through his new talent, he quickly noticed this floating purple structure in the sky. "That''s insane." Enzo whispered. "What is it? Why do you look like you just took Acid?" Sybil stared at her bewildered brother. Enzo chuckled as he continued to speak. "It''s weird. I just got this talent called [Mana Perception]. I can see your aura and my aura. Yours is green and its like you''re covered in this green fire. You''re aura is strong Sybil." "Uh. . . .Okay. . . . you sound like you''re on something right now. You should share." The moment Enzo looked around and as he stared up at the sky, the sounds around him quickly faded away. Enzo could see that this floating purple structure is expelling a large amount of mana into the atmosphere. While Enzo is completely focused on the structure that only he could see, Sybil tried to get his attention. "Enzo!" Sybil shook her brother but still his eyes were focused at the sky. "Hey! We have company!" Sybil pushed her brother and at that moment, Enzo snapped back into senses. Seconds after Enzo turned his head down Mills avenue, he could clearly see from where he''s standing that a large group of auras were coming their way. Without thinking, Enzo grabbed Sybil and swiftly carried her behind the nearby smashed cars to hide. "What? Were not going to fight?'' Sybil asked in a low voice as she huddles together with Enzo. "There''s too much of them. There are at least fifteen of them. What level are they? Can you see?" Sybil squinted her eyes as she observed the group that came from Mills avenue. "Most of them are level twenty. But there is one that is at level forty.",Sybil slowly turned to her brother. "The high leveled one is called a Hobgoblin." **