《Unarmed 'n Unharmed》


 Chapter Uno

    So currently I''m walking through the streets of a town in Kansas that I nor anyone else has ever heard of., town inhabitants included. The town was so sparsely populated that I wasn''t even sure if it was insulting to other towns to actually call this grouping of houses a town. In actuality it was only one street, with a small general store and smattering of houses. So why am I out in the middle of nowhere in a tiny town? Well I''m on holiday, originally I''m from the Netherlands, that country with all the weed? Still doesn''t ring a bell? Amsterdam, yea I figured you''d have at least heard of that.


    After the school year had finally ended, all praise the glorious overlord of summer holiday, I was sitting at home with a bunch of money I had earned doing all kinds of things over the year. So making an impulsive decision like the mercurial individual I am. Yes I tend to use big words when I talk, as explanation mercurial means whimsical, and whimsical means I do whatever the ball sack I feel like doing. Usually without thinking things through properly before hand.


    So I ended up packing a rucksack stepping onto a plane, that even I had no idea where it was going, and I ended up here in Kansas. So I''m the opposite of Dorothy, I actually got myself ''stranded'' in Kansas. Although it sounds like I''m complaining, which I probably am, I''m actually enjoying the quiet rural area. As I entered the edge of the town I got a few surprised looks from the locals, I gave them a grin and a wave of my hand, which not to my surprise, was returned with a raise of the eyebrows and a sudden involuntary tug at the edge of the corners of their mouths.


    Being from a rural area myself it was ingrained in me from a young age to greet the people on the street you ran into. Most smaller places seemed to have this as a habit, even if you had no particular connection with the person you were greeting, a greeting would still be polite in most any culture. That and the fact I probably fit in pretty well, I was wearing my favourite and worn from use lumberjacks rough cotton blouse, it even had the standard red square design thingy! No I swear I''m not a hipster, yes I have a beard, yes I have long-ish hair in a bun, no I do not have glasses. Yes my pants are torn, and I am wearing brown leather boots that wouldn''t have looked out of place on any hipster. BUT! Unlike most hipsters, I actually DID work as a lumberjack back home, that''s how I earned most of my money.


    As to why my clothes were so worn and hipster worthy, they were comfortable clothes that I simply enjoyed wearing. So I continued wearing them until they started showing signs of disrepair, the ''torn'' pants hadn''t been torn when I bought them. I still continued to wear them however as I liked the comfortable clothing. Much to my mothers chagrin I might add, you would not believe the amount of times she has told me go buy some ''actual'' clothing.


    To further highlight the way I look, I''m just short of the magical 6 feet. (180 cm''s in non retard units) My hair is brown so dark that it seems to turn into black every time I check myself in a mirror. My beard however is the most majestic of rustic red/browns. Although I am biased I do truly like my rusty fire, as I call it, coloured beard. My eyes are green and blue, not a mix of green a blue, but an actual green eye on the left and a blue on the right. My beard and hair were not meticulously maintained as you often see in the ''hipsters'', it was more of a look at my hair and beard I am obviously to lazy to maintain their appearance look. Also my manual labour job has a benefit of making me decently broad shouldered, my body is somewhere between lean and muscular.


    As I was walking down the street I saw a couple of men struggling to get a couch of their truck. Although I say men, one was an older gentleman around the sixty years of age, with the most magnificent moustache I have ever encountered. The other was a boy about twelve years of age, the boy was having obvious issues lifting the big , and seemingly heavy wooden couch of the truck. Being the good Samaritan I always aim to be I headed in their direction.


    ¡°You fellas need some help with that there couch?¡± I asked , pointing my question in the direction of the older gentleman. And yes I am aware that, that there, couch is not a correct grammatical term. One of my issues is that I seem to change the way I speak to the people I encounter.


    The slightly red-faced gentleman glanced my way before he nodded, ¡°Thank-thee kindly boy, we could use the help.¡±


    I moved over to the side the boy was trying to lift, on closer inspection the boy was younger than I had estimated, Honestly for his age and size he was doing pretty damn well in lifting the heavy-looking couch. I grinned at him and gave him a pat on the shoulder before lightening his load. The sigh of relief clearly audible to my ears. The boy being the hard-working lad he was immediately let go of the couch. I was a bit surprised he let go and made me carry the whole of it. But the grin quickly returned to my face as I saw him rush forward to help out what I presumed was his grandfather. You wont often see that kind of performance in city-boys! Although being a country Hick I might be a bit biased.


    I helped them lift the couch through the doorway, it took some manoeuvring to get it inside. The house which I expected to be freshly furnished, I had assumed they were moving in at all, didn''t have that just moved in look at all. Quite the opposite in fact, I was pretty sure that the people in this house had been living here for decades at least. I continued following the elderly gentleman further into the main living room, where the gentleman put the couch down and started turning it a bit and motioned me to move a bit to the right, which I did until he nodded and I put the couch down. The man stepped back and gave the couch a once over before nodding in satisfaction.


    He looked over at me and gave me a big grin, which by the way did awesome things with his moustache, ¡°Thanks for the help kid, the blighter was a great deal heavier than I remember it being.¡±


    ¡°Anytime, this is a cosy home you have here.¡± I told him letting my gaze wander around the room.


    The man chortled, which again made the amazing moustache flap its wings like a bird of prey. ¡°That it is, built it me self when me and the old-lady moved in here an eternity ago.¡±


    I looked around in new appreciation, I''ve always had a deep respect for people who built their own homes. The amount of sheer time that would be put into such a project if done by one-self is heavily underestimated. I would know as I have helped a decent few build their homes. I walked over to one of the walls of the house, which although I had neglected to mention was more like a cabin than an house, and ran my hand along the woodwork.


    ¡°Stilt for the foundation?¡±


    The mans eyebrows raised slightly, ¡°Indeed, had to use a bit of insulation to keep our toes warm, doesn''t get that cold here in the winter, but you can never be to prepared.¡±The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°That I can agree on.¡± I said giving the man a grin.


    ¡°Well you seem like an alround decent fella'' wanna stay for supper?¡±


    I blinked, ¡°Wouldn''t mind if I do actually, I ain''t headed anywhere, so got nowhere to be.¡± As tempted as I was to end the sentence in a rhyme by adding so that''s alright with me I stopped myself. Wouldn''t want these nice people to think i''m strange after just inviting me for dinner after all.


    Dinner as it turns out was already well under way, the ''old lady'' as mr. Moustache introduced her was already well on her way to preparing dinner. Hearing that she would have another mouth to feed didn''t seem to bother her in the slightest, the opposite rather. She had that kindly grandmotherly smile that somehow only the elderly could produce. The one that made you feel right at home even though you didn''t know their names yet. I mentally smacked myself in realization.


    I quickly spoke up, ¡°I just realised I haven''t even properly introduced myself yet, I''m Sam.¡±


    ¡°Nice to meetcha Sam, meh names Howard, the old lady is Ginella, and meh grandboy here is Jacob.¡±


    Having the introductions out of the way me, Howard and Jacob sat down at the dinner table and made small talk. Howard and Ginella had lived in Kansas for as long as they could remember. Their parents and their grandparents had lived in the same village, and they continued to live here. They had two children, a daughter and a son. Their son was a military man and was currently posted in another country. Jacob was staying with them for the duration because his mother had passed away at his little sisters birth, making his father a single parent. His little sister was apparently playing at a friends house and would be home for supper.


    I showed my curiosity at Jacobs father''s profession asking him what he did as a soldier. His father was apparently special forces, I blinked when they said that and grinned.


    ¡°He wouldn''t happen to be called Jason Matrunn would he?¡±


    Jacob and Howard started and stared at me? ¡°You know mah boy?¡± Howard managed to say.


    ¡°Sure do, we served together for a time when our teams worked together for an emergency extraction back in Afghanistan. Some HVT had gotten himself captured and our teams where the only ones in the are that could respond, I have to say Jacob, your old man''s a badass.¡± I said with a grin.


    Jacob smiled at me puffing his chest out and nodded, We continued talking, surprised at how small the world seemed to be. I told them about how Jason wouldn''t shut up about his two little kids and the photo he held in his chest pocket and how he would show everyone his two beautiful kids whether they wanted to see them or not.


    Jacob showed a good deal of interest in what I did in the military, so I told him about it. I had been part of a commando unit for two years. Our commando units where split up in a squad, every commando unit had four members each with their own specialities. A medic, a sniper, a spotter/heavy gunner, and a demolitions expert. I had been the demolitions expert of my team, so I could amaze them with my many tales of making things go boom. Howard had served in the marine-corps himself as had his father and his grandfather before him. The family was apparently big on the military tradition. Jacob with a puffed out chest stated that once he was of age he would join as well.


    About an hour after our conversation had started a little girl stumbled into the house, I say stumbled because the little thing was filled with enthusiastic energy and shy spirit at the same time. Rushing to her grandparents then stuttering once she saw me, almost ending the short sprint with her falling on her face.


    Like her brother she had dark hair and amber eyes, to be honest, and no I am not a paedophile, this was one of the cutest kids I had ever seen. She had a healthy flush on her cheeks, her long dark hair bound in a ponytail that bobbed as she shifted her gaze from the rest of her family to me in confusion. She couldn''t have been older than six.


    With a piep she mustered a sentence. ¡°Who he?''¡± She mumbled, okay I agree sentence might not have been the right word. BUT SHE WAS SO CUTE!


    must


    resist


    petting


    URGES!


    I will admit I have a weakness for anything cute, fuzzy, adorable or anything similar to those categories. I once took a bullet for a kitten, I shit you not, I actually dived infront of a kitten to save it from the incoming fire. You should have heard how my teammates reacted to that, it was their favourite story for years. That kitten however had become the pride and joy of the commando unit turning into something of a mascot. We had dubbed it, after a certain stories impeccable naming sense. Sergeant Major Meowsalot Mcballoffur Clawsreik the Fourth. But I digress, back to the girl.


    Her grandfather had explained to her that I was a friend of her fathers who they had run into by coincidence and had helped them move the couch in. That was all she needed to know to banish any shyness she had. Then she waddle-ran, Yes she actually waddle-ran! SKWEEE so cuuute. I know I know, grown ass men shouldn''t go Skweee, but I can''t shutdown my inner four year old girl mckay? Leave me alone. Plus it was all inside my head so all good right?


    She bounced up and down in front of me and started asking me questions like a machine gun, she asked me questions so fast I didn''t even get the time to answer them before she asked the next one. The adorableness was to much and I just stared at the girl with a dumb smile on my face, I mumbled to Howard from the corner of my mouth, ¡°I can see why Jason was gushing so much about his kids, they are great!¡± Howard nodded knowingly and let little pipsqueek continue on her rampage.


    Then I asked a question that broke the little girl for all eternity, I asked her name.


    She suddenly stopped talking and then hang her head down like a depressed kitten.


    ''I fowget intwodoes, I bad manners.¡± She said tears appearing in the corners of her eyes. I mentally clutched my heart, Must , not, let , heart, implode! I took a deep breath and padded her head.


    ¡°Thats entirely okay, I also always get really excited when I have new guests! This one time I had a friend that I had been hanging around with for weeks before we noticed that we didn''t know each others names!¡±


    ¡°issat twue?¡± She said looking at me with those adorably glinstering amber eyes.


    I crossed my heart. ¡°Truer than glue¡±


    She shot me a radiant smile and giggled, ¡°You dumm like papa!¡± She took the opportunity to hop on my lap, staring up at me with a satisfied look on her face. ¡°You soft like papa too!¡±


    Surprised by her swivel in attitude I raised my eyebrow at Howard, asking without words if he was okay with his granddaughter hopping on my lap. Howard just shrugged and grinned at me so I took that for approval.


    It didn''t take much longer after that for Ginella to bring supper to the table, and I had to say it smelled fantastic. To her frustration lil Tali, as I had found out her name was, had to find her own chair to sit on. Her grandparents told her she couldn''t sit on my lap and eat at the same time, obviously she thought that was silly and she was totally capable of doing so, yet she listened to them in the end.


    The food Ginella had made was delicious, that one type of food that grandmothers can make after having decades of experience. Dinner was great and I really felt at home with this family, and that''s when it happened.


    A screech interrupted dinner as a small green creature sprinted through the living room and jumped at Tali who was sitting next to me, my combat training showed itself as I automatically sprang from my seat and smacked the thing out of the air, it rolled onto the ground scrambling back upright and hissed at me. Before me stood a bonafide goblin, before I had any time to think about what the hell the creature was doing here it sprinted at me, its pointy goblin teeth shimmering in the light from the fire place, drool sparkling on its teeth, its beady eyes staring at me with pure rage.


    I tried to catch the creature but the little bugger was faster than expected, it bit a chunk out of my arm and I growled in pain. As it tore out my flesh I slipped behind it and grabbed it by the chin in one hand and the back of its head in the other, in a burst of motion I pulled both hands in opposite directions and snapped its neck. Deathly silence filled the room before Jacob yelled.


    ¡°What the hell is that!¡±


    No one answered him as they stared at the creature in shock. I was distracted by something else entirely however, I screen had appeared before me and had informed me that I had earned a reward.


    [/window]


    Congratulations, due to being the first person to kill a monster with your bare hands you have earned the unique skill. Unarmed Combat Talent, your stats will triple in points when not using arms or armour.


    [window/]


    I had read enough fictions to not be in total shock and mentally called for my status screen. I was however still somewhat shocked when it actually did appear. It told me that I was level 2 and my stats where 10 in each.


    The stats available where, Dexterity, Strength, Endurance, Vitality, Wisdom and Intelligence. The family sitting at the table were in a heavy discussion with each other so I took the time to read the descriptions.


    Dexterity, increased hand-eye co?rdination and muscle speed. Strength did exactly as advertised, Endurance increased stamina while Vitality made you tougher. Wisdom decreased spell cost and increased spell-duration. Intelligence increased spell damage and mana-pool.


    Regarding the skill I had just received it seemed obvious that it helped me towards the path of a monk, if I couldn''t use weapons or armour I''d have to focus on strength and dexterity. With some points in endurance and vitality. I had gotten 3 points to spend on stats from the level up. So I did the only thing that made sense.


    And put all my points into intelligence.

 Chapter 2

    After my spending spree, I looked back at Howard and his family, they were arguing and Howard was doing his best to calm the others down. I looked at them then back at the dead goblin, the goblin suddenly started to deteriorate while we were staring at the process in wide eyed amazement. A wind out of nowhere seemed to disrupt the very particles that made up the goblin and blew them apart, the whole process looked very similar to what one would expect if you blew into a pile of ashes.


    At the end of the process nothing remained of the goblin, the only thing left where it once lay where a handful of copper coins. Being quite the gamer myself I recognized them as a standard game currency. Of course the fact that this happened in real life and not in a game was still a shock, I did not fear this change however, on the contrary I welcomed it. Life had felt boring and empty for me these last few years, and now the whole world changes and turns into a game of life and death? It definitely sends blood rushing through my veins.


    ¡°What the blazin bushes just happened?!¡± Howard asked me gesturing wildly.


    ¡°Unless I''m mistaken th-¡±


    Before I could finish another window popped up, by their reactions it seemed the others had the same window pop up in front of them. Explaining to them exactly what I was about to tell them. The world had turned into something with game elements. It also notified us that we had 120 days before our world would be connected to the others of the HUB, what this meant however wasn''t explained. If I had to venture a guess I would say other worlds were similar to ours and we would all be connected to each other.


    I grinned ¡°Well this is all rather exciting isn''t it¡±


    ¡°Exciting?¡± Howard exclaimed with his mouth wide open. ¡°How is this exciting, its dangerous as the outback bush it is!¡±


    ¡°Might be true but look!¡± I pointed to my arm which had been wounded by the goblin. Right in front of our eyes the wound was closing in on itself. The flesh mending as if someone had sped up natural healing by an incredibly large margin, I expected the accelerated healing was only possible when out of combat. I would have to experiment with that later.


    Howard and the others watched in awe as the wound closed itself, once there was nothing remaining of deep wound Tali walked forward with her eyes open in amazement. She poked at my arm as if she couldn''t believe what she was seeing. Her little mouth wide open in amazement, she stared up to me and then back to the now fresh arm. I smiled and patted her head, then turned my gaze back upon Howard.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°Think status screen in your mind and take a look.¡±


    Howard looked at my with a frown but as he jerked his head in surprise I could see he had tried it, Jacob also started so I guess he had tried to do it as well.


    ¡°All of us now have status screens similar to those used in most games, I can confirm that there is an actual increase when you upgrade the stats.¡± I explained


    What I said was true the increase in intelligence made me feel like I had one of those rare perfect naps, where you wake up and your mind is crystal clear and you feel like you can understand and do things that you couldn''t before. My intelligence although a normal individuals would be 10 right about now, mine was a whopping 39, which was an insane difference. I could also feel the increase in the other attributes, I felt lighter, stronger, the feeling was intoxicating. It reminded me of the one time in my life I had tried a drug, I had felt invincible after I had taken it and this was very similar.


    I also recognized how dangerous it could be.


    I started to explain to the rest of the family how the stats worked, Jacob however wasn''t really paying much attention and pointed his hand at the wall as he frowned in concentration. Before I could ask him what he was doing a blue ball of energy shot from his hand and crashed into the wall, leaving a sizeable dent. We all stared at him, eyes wide. Jacob looked even more surprised than us as he seemed to be reading something in front of him. He glanced over at me and grinned widely.


    ¡°I can do magic!¡± He shouted. ¡°And the game gave me this kill Arch Magus! It said I was the first one to use magic!¡± He puffed his chest forward in pride as he started putting more of the blue energy in his hands and started playing with it. Howard and Ginella where completely swamped and just stood there thunderstruck not sure what to do with this new development. Suddenly a loud pop made all of us start as I twisted around to see what had happened and before me stood a black skeleton with blazing red eyes. I raised my fists ready to fight but a small figure burst past me and jumped into the skeletons arms, the skeleton picked up little Tali as if she weighed nothing.


    I could only stare in complete shock as she patted the skeleton proudly on the head.


    ¡°My Skelly!¡± She exclaimed with gleaming eyes.


    I looked from the skeleton to the girl now sporting a radiant smile and back to the skeleton. Holy jezus mother mary and her twenty-seven nipples. The girl had summoned a friggin skeleton, out of nothing, with no prior knowledge. A SKELETON! Why a skeleton?! Why not an overly large fluffy bunny or something.


    Howard saw my shock and patted my shoulder. ¡°Ever since she saw a skeleton at school she has been dazzled by the things, drawing them every chance she had and talking about how cool skellies were.¡±


    ¡°I have to admit Howard, your grand-kids are extremely adaptable, and even more talented. I don''t even understand how they managed to pull this off.¡±


    Howard sighed and twirled his moustache around his finger. ¡°Well I''m atleast happy the blighters have some manner of defending themselves in this new world. By all chances ill think the kids will do better than us older folk.¡±


    ¡°You might be right, kids are certainly remarkable.¡± I said as I watched Tali playing around with her (pretty scary looking) skeleton as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Jacob was waving his hands around trying to do all kinds of fancy things with his hands and magic. And here I had dumped all my points into intelligence planning to bank on the fact that I got triple stats and dumping them all into magic focused abilities. But there are two kids who seem to have beaten me to the punch. I was pretty sure that Tali had received a skill for her summon as well, it was extremely unlikely that anyone had beaten her to the punch. It was even more unlikely for 3 people to be the first on the entire planet and that they were in one room. Granted it was all trigered because of our early experience with the goblin. It was still more than a little coincidental however.


    Thinking about the skill Tali might have received I kept it to myself, I wasn''t looking forward to explaining to Howard that his granddaughter was now a necromancer and would likely lead legions of the undead in the future. Definitely not the kind of conversation I want to have with anyone''s relatives.