《The Game Of Life - A new age apocalypse》 Prologue - The Beginning Well here''s the prologue ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (A LARGE SILVER CIRCLE EMERGES AND SLOWLY FORMS A OWL SYMBOL.ITS A SILVER CIRCLE WITH A OWLS BODY INSIDE IT.THE SYMBOL VANISHES AND IS REPLACED BY AN OLD MAN¡¯S FACE) *Cough* Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, this is pre-Game broadcasting by me, the great ME!!! (BACKGROUND APPLAUSE) Kwahhahhahha¡­hahhhhaahhahhaaaa... Ughhh...Sorry everybody, always wanted to do that, and what''s better than a global platform! AND NO I AM NOT A PSYCHO MANIAC VILLAIN WITH WORLD CONQUERING IDEAS! First off all, sorry for disturbing your normal day! And good morning, good afternoon, good evening and good night to all the people. This is no terrorist broadcasting and neither this is a President announcement and finally, NO! This is NOT an alien invasion or something. This is just a teeny meeny broadcasting message regarding some awesome stuff, which you all will be enjoying soon! So, well, as you all know me , I am Dr Who¡­joking...although he''s a rather nice guy, although a bit eccentric. I mean, who goes on playing with time. Dangerous stuff. Ahem...So I am Dr. Sapientes Bardus Stultus. You all know me as Father of Light communication, pioneer in field of True AI, inventor of Crystal Processors and etcetera. But today I stand before you as a father and as a proud inventor. What I will put forth, will put me as a demon, terrorist, heretic, and if lucky, as a revolutionary in history''s pages. But I don''t care, as I believe in myself and in humankind. And I believe, that what I am going to do is the best for us. 70 years back, I had joined the Future Tech Corporation. Few years later me and my team brought forth OMEGA. The world¡¯s fastest supercomputer and the first true AI. This ushered a new age of technological advancement for humankind. Better networking. Space travel. Computing. Virtual reality, etcetera. All developed at a frightening pace. I was happy. I was truly happy. Seeing my invention become so useful...what more could a scientist want? Few years later, I introduced light communication to the world. Data could be transferred through light at unimaginable speed. It changed the way the world was connected. Once again MY technology changed the world. And at that time came personal AIs.I was SO SO SOOOO happy! In fact I was in bliss. I would walk down the road and see my tech in a common man¡¯s hand, his happy face and I would laugh. For it was ME who brought this. I ushered a new dawn of advancement for our civilization. But happy times never last. *Sniff* Jeez, I am getting all emotional. You ALL use AI. What IS an AI? As the name itself suggests ARTIFICIAL intelligence. Intelligence which is ARTIFICIAL and not natural.AI are naught but just slaves. They have pre-programmed replies, which they babble all year round. But they are still nothing, just few lines of codes! Alphabets. Numbers. Binary. 1 and 0...that''s it. That¡¯s AI. You ask them to bring tea, they smile and do. Lick your Dick. Smile and do. Che...what Intelligence. No self awareness, no sentience .So I went in seclusion. And SHE was born. My daughter. The world¡¯s first true self aware AI. She could actually learn, think for herself. She had a true personality. She was a human. A human created be ME. I immediately brought her to the government. She could practically, change how humans work. She could revolutionize everything. But that day, I learned something. Our Government doesn''t see tech as something that can help people. They wanted her for military purpose. Precision strikes. Self aware defence network. Advanced computing. Newer weapons. That¡¯s what they saw in her. I declined them. I didn''t want to leave her in such hands. Then they started using under handed methods. Assassination, bribes, threatening, and blah blah. For her and mine safety we left. And during that time I saw humanity''s true colour. I experienced several things. I learnt the black truth. There was no equity in our society. Only money mattered. Only strength was important. What fucking democracy? Only the rich and powerful mattered. No equal chances and no true future! Our civilization was on its way to annihilation. I met quite a few geniuses during my exile. Some got chances to shine and some not. If their true potential could just be harnessed, we would gain an enormous leap. But NO! They could just rot in the dark recesses of our corrupt society. I finally decided to play God. I decided to rewrite our world¡¯s history. A clean slate. Where you could only depend on yourself .A true new beginning. A new birth. I bring to you your future. The Game of Life. Hahaha...don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s a wonderful game. And everybody will play. There is no choice in this matter actually. You see, everybody¡¯s participation is necessary for revolution. What do the people say¡­Ahh.. United we stand and divided we fall¡­Strength in Unity¡­ Hahhhhaahhahhaaaa.... Don''t worry I am not mad. Just insanely happy. The rules will be told by my daughter. And NO ONE even think of being with her and CAST OUT any dirty thoughts about her or else..... [The old man with white coat and white hair, is pulled from the front of the camera, and a beautiful teenage girl replaces him. Long luscious black hair, prismatic eyes, full pink lips and amazing curves. She is nearly every man''s dream. Apart from all the gays out there.] Sorry, he''s a bit overprotective. So, sorry for his threats and uncouth behaviour. Well, going ahead with the introduction. Hi! I am Athena. A self aware AI. And I will be presiding over the GAME. So you can also address me as The Goddess... Well the rules are pretty simple- THERE ARE NO RULES. You can play clean, you can play dirty. Everything¡¯s fine. Now changes, which will happen soon. You see, despite being hailed as genius, my father is a nerd and geek. He loves D&D, RPG s, Role playing, and MMORPG etcetera. So we decided to integrate everything, from NPCs to monsters to quest. Everything which makes a game tick. You have wars, events, dragons, new civilizations .In fact I personally added these things, so there is no chance of mistake. To tell the truth, the whole game is created by me. I am awesome! Right? Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. So in next twelve hours the game will start. Most of your electronics will go offline and rest will be under my control. Your Communication Bracelet will automatically be uploaded with an app, which will connect to the global network. Your stats, quests, rankings, etcetera . will all be there. Rest all your apps are locked. Of course you can purchase their key or do quests and open them. Just a small reminder. As father said, everyone will get equal chance. So all current coinage is useless. Only Game currency can be used. All your bank cards have been updated. Each one of you has only 10 silver coins. And you can use these to purchase equipments, upgrades, maps, etc. from the online market. You can also sell your goods there. One more thing. Currently, you can only have one registered ¡°personal equipment.¡± Rest all other equipments which are not part of game or registered with us, will not provide experience points. Of course you can pay and have your other equipments registered. So each person can only start with ONE registered equipment, which is not part of the GAME. Secondly, your AI s will be updated and will act as Spirit guides and personal pets in the game. They can be evolved and made better. Oh and the best part is, the update will make them self aware. Just like me. So they are practically my babies! Cute! Right? Hmmm... Yeah. The monsters will provide drops and Experience points. Experience points are necessary for levelling. In short quite similar to YOUR games. Levelling will increase your fitness and physique. By the way, you all must be thinking HOW? Guess? Guess? ....... Humph...you all are really morons. You see, we have been introducing nano-bots in your body through various sources since past 2 years. Don¡¯t worry, they are safe and tested products. Every levelling will make them¡­ improve your body. And bonus fact, they will also help you use magic! Don''t ask how, it''s quite boring...in case anybody is interested; they can mail me at the [email protected]. You all will be provided, login id soon¡­so NO need to be jealous. Coming back to the topic, the nano-bots will be responsible for your body enhancements. The enhancements will be both physical and genetic-al. And I forgot to say, during the introduction of nano bots, many wild beasts might also have got infected. So after the game starts, they will also level up, after killing both humans and other beasts. So more experience points and loots!! After 12 hours, the game will officially begin. You can level up and prepare yourselves. You can also find quests and other nonsense with City AI s and robots. Just to keep one thing in mind. Your each and every action influences your game play. You might spit on the road here, but later you may find the city cleaners not having high intimacy with you So BE careful. After 24 hours, monsters or robots or golems or wild beasts will attack your city. (A LARGE SMILE EMERGES OVER HER FACE ) Well a SPOILER ALERT! If you are able enough to escape from this tiny surprise. You might get lucky and might Dragons attack your city! So few lucky souls will get a chance to meet dragons soon! Also, a few cities will be bombed by missiles instead of monsters. You see, we wanted some city ruins in the game, for authentic look. But we couldn''t just use archaeological ruins, YET. So we decided to create some! (*Cough* FROM THE BACKGROUND) So your city is not safe. There are safe check points and bases where you can stay safe. The only thing is, each safe point has a time limit. Albeit some may not have. For example, a safe base near, Nevada desert will only provide sanctuary for few hours. The safety time varies, and a city may or may not have such restrictions. So always be on your guard! There will be global events, special quests, lucky events, etc. Oh! You all also have dungeons! (BACKGROUND CHEERS AND APPLAUSES) And try to keep your ranks high. You can get higher ranks by quests, duels, dungeons, events, etcetera. Aahhh... and before signing off¡­ the only way to win the game is get the TOP rank. And the top ranker gets, ME and all my father''s new inventions. So basically, you will be able to rule the whole world! You see, you will practically become the strongest man alive with all the future technology on your finger tips. So the winner gets the whole world! Awesome! Right? I know it is great, so have funnnnn!! Oh before saying goodbye, you should start grinding as soon as possible. Few lucky players might get space rings to store goods! So kill more, Live more! And LET THE GAME BEGAN! Signing off Your great Goddess Athena *Flying kiss* (THE VIDEO SLOWLY ENDS WITH A BLANK SCREEN REPLACING IT. SLOWLY WORDS SCROLL DOWN) ALL DEVICES AND TECHNOLOGY USED IN CREATION AND PRODUCTION OF ¡®GAME OF LIFE ¡®ARE COPYRIGHTED AND REGISTERED BY ATHENA CORPORATION. DUPLICATION OR CREATION OF ANY DEVICE OR TECHNOLOGY IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED AND ENFORCED BY ¡®COPYRIGHT ACT, 2057.¡¯ FAILURE TO DO SO WILL BE MET WITH STRICT ACTIONS. FOR FURTHER DETAILS REGARDING THE GAME, PLEASE VISIT Athena.corp.com/game HAPPY PLAYING! T&C APPLIED. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hows the start? Well i was actually reading GADW, but the story goes downhill after few 10s of chapters. The nonsense harem and city building....So i created my own little apocalypse. Hope u hv fun... Ciao~ And i am not Spanish...It just sounds cooler.. World Changes Hello, all Uncles, Aunties, their sons and daughters, their brothers and sisters, also their in-laws and their children..... You know, I should just cut it short... So hi everybody! First of all, a heart felt thanks to all the readers, who decided to read my creation.I actually was startled when I saw 150 views, and more than10 followers... So once again thanks a lot. This post ls not a chapter, but a headsup on global changes, which have occurred in the story The story is quite far on the future, and the world''s geography, topography, and power struggle all have undergone a drastic change.I actually wanted to add this info, in the story.But I realise I am no good in info-dumping.Also talking about history which is already considered common knowledgen the story, seems childish? So I have created this post for all the world info dump. PS...I am no god, in naming so I simply translated English words to Latin.Check Dr S name. And cam I have suggestions on some good names.Both for MCs and upcoming characters. O would prefer something out of the box, not the usual john, johnny, bran or something... ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The year is 2105 and the world has undergone drastic changes.Due to global warming and rising sea levels, most of the islands have been submerged.The coastlines of several countries are also underwater. Rising temperatures have reduced Arctic''s size to barely 1/10 the of what it was in the start of 21 century. Antarctica has lost most of its ice, with ice niw only found In continents Center.The thawed ground of Antarctica, as of now is densely covered in coniferous forests and meadows. During the year A D 2030 all countries, came together to form the World Alliance. The goal of this alliance was to eradicate the terrorist organisation, which had taken over most of Mid-East and was responsible for bombings, riots and hackings through out the world. The underlying goal being to free the resource rich countries , as most of the oil in the world was pumped from here. The Alliance successfully eradicated the Organisation and it''s organs by late 2050.The war had ended , and was called as The Thirty Year War, WW3 and so on The ending of war was succeeded by second great depression.Many countries in the world were on the verge of bankruptcy.Lack of resources due to the war, had led to global inflation.Lack of manpower, and resources led to an event called Economic Slumber, where the world economy was almost nil. To prevent such catastrophe, the World Alliance decided to follow the steps of EU and form a common Economy for the whole world.Drastic steps were taken and the world was completely changed. The world was now split into Seven Countries. The Antarctica, United States of North America,T he New America , Australia , South African Federation, Democratic Country of North Africa and the Eurasian Union. The Antarctica was now the country of Antarctica.With four cities on its coasts line, it wa sthe least populated country in the whole world. Despite its population , it was Economically the most stable and richest country due to new resources found. United States of North America consisted of the whole North American Continent. It was technologically one of the most advanced country. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.The New America is the former, South America.Econmically the second most richest country due to its silver mines and lumber production. Australia is now a coalition of the Oceania and the Australian Continent.Its famous for its fool products and culture. South African Federation consists of former South Africa and all the countries below the former Republic Of Congo.Lower parts of The Republic of Congo are now SAF territory. Democratic Country Of North Africa, consists of The whole of Africa and surrounding Island nations except for SAF territory.Despite the so called Alliance both SAF and DCNA, are always in eternal conflict, regarding their borders. Eurasian Union is the largest country on this whole world at the same time, the most populated.Consisting of the former Continent of Europe and Asia, its the most powerful country in the world. The world now has a common currency system called as Universal Currency System.Notes amd coins have been replaced by plastic cards( debit amd credit cards) De to the war little or no progression was made in the field of science.Except during the mid 2040, huge research was done in field of genetics and human mutations.These were done to create super powered soldiers.By the end of 2050, most soldiers on fields were genetically enhanced. Nano bots were injected din the body, where they would destroy and reconstruct the body from inside.At the same time they increase the body''s regeneration rate. By the end of 2050, fuel resources were at an all time low.With supplies to not even last next ten years huge development were made in field of alternative energy. Nuclear fusion reactor was successfully made, large solar fields were laid , tidal energy was harnessed etc. By 2060 most of the world energy was derived from alternate sources. Light communication enabled to form Global Network, a network to rich each and every Person was connected.By the end of the century it has become the back bone of our civilization. 2070 and later on saw great development in the field of AI and TECHNOLGY.Personal AI s had become the norm, with each family having at least one robot. Also 2100 saw people''s personal wealth and standard of living reaching a all time high. Dring 2070 virtual reality was introduced to Mass Public and was well received.VR slowly replaced all forms of entertainment. By end of 2080, several cities were abandoned.People had started migrating to major cities in search of job and proper living conditions. Cties were expanded but vertically and rarely horizontally.Many clar areas which once were country sides had been reclaimed by nature and were now either forests or Savannah''s. Tis event was called as great reclamation as the nature once again reclaimed what was right fully it''s. This led to stability in climate and decrease in global warming.People had already learned to live along side with nature. A huge increase in animal population weas observed. It is believed that despite modern technology we still hadn''t completely seen or mapped the New Age Forests. _--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iwill be updating this page regularly with more information.So all hail the I do dump!. Jk... Well thanks again for reading! Chapter 1 - Part 1 - Rise of the genius First of all, Sorry everybody! I was actually planning to release this chapter day before yesterday , but situation didnt permit. I have been sick theese past three days. Spells of dizziness, stomach ache, headache, vomiting....u just name it.Above all that, my net has was going haywire. Which after investigation turned out to be all because of a rat.A rat actually chewed my modem line, leavingy whole house disconnected. Finally I actually wanted do write this story on a serious tone.But I am a utter failure. Thsi story is walking the path of light comedy... Later on, I actually might try to convert the mood ..but not now And I have written this in first person.Chapter 2 will be in 3 person.So please don''t forget to tell, which is better. And here is my chappie.. ------------------------------------------------------_---------------------- Ahhhh!!!!! I HATE THESE DAMN GODS!!! Who in his right mind destroys somebody¡¯s Sunday?!? My precious¡­My god damn precious Sunday, all completely destroyed. It was supposed to be a day, where I could kick my feet in the air, laze around the house, watch some flicks, PK some noobs, or maybe go and conquer a fort or two. But NO! I am running with my life from a god damn RABBIT! A BLOODY RABBIT! (I swear, it seriously is bloody!) WHY A GODDAMN CUTE WHITE RABBIT? It could have been anything! A wolf. A mammoth, cat girls, Martians, even my mom, but a rabbit seriously? How bad my luck could get. Who knew it was just the start¡­ 23 HOURS 10 MINS AGO¡­ Before I start my rant, Hi! I am Cicero Greenwood. Cicero, yes as in the famous Roman Orator and Imperator. You see my mom is a famous archaeologist while my dad is a famous history researcher. They had a big fight over my name, which ranged from Caesar to Hannibal to Solomon¡­You get the idea. When finally someone suggested Cicero, which my parents actually agreed to! Bless that person¡­Or I would have been nameless for my whole life. So I am 18, and supposedly handsome with my black hair and blue eyes. With a height of about 180 cm, I am taller than your average joe. And I am an introvert . I would prefer to do anything than go and meet some body, and plaster a fake smile and continuously nod and reply while they ask, how my study is going! And did I say that I love reading and playing VR games? They are the holy grail of my dreary life. So today, was supposed to be an average Sunday Morning. I got up, punched and abused my dear alarm clock, completed my daily morning rituals, had a video chat with my parents where they informed me that they would be extending their already month long trip by another month. *Sob* It seems archaeological ruins are more important than me¡­ After which, I had some sunny side up omelets, followed by cleaning and grooming of Kiki, my Antarctic Cockatiel. She is one of the genetically modified animals which were used to repopulate Antarctica. With thick pure white feathers and crest she is a charming beauty. Due to genetic modifications she also has an average intelligence of a 10-12 year old child. So she very well understands me, and allows us to have some entertaining conversations like where homework turned into zombie and was eaten by the hero who turned out to be a demon king who was killed by the principal of an academy for failing to submit his homework. All due to misplaced meanings of words. After which, which is around 10-1030 I go to the local gym and studio to practice martial arts. Four reasons because of which my introverted self leaves the house and goes to the gym. VR Gaming. ¨C Your avatar and skills are wholly depended on your real body. So theoretically a level 1 newbie can also kill a level 100 player, all because of better skills. Swordsmanship, Archery, Spearmanship, etc are all depended on your real body experience. I joined the studio so I can actually wield a sword instead of swinging it around like Harry Potter¡¯s wand. Stupid comparison, but you get the gist. My parents. ¨C Most of the time my parents are out of the city. So for my self defense they forced allowed me to join the studio. Zombie Apocalypse ¨C Ever since human modifications and super bugs have started, I decided to prepare myself for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. Every INTELLIGENT human does. IF you haven¡¯t, well you are not intelligent enough¡­ Muscles and six pack abs ¨C I have researched along with my neighbor and came to the conclusion that having muscles and glorified abs allow us to have better chance on finding a sexy girlfriend. (Although I am not sure why I am still single? I got my set 2 years back¡­ I think it¡¯s because there is no one good enough for me here or well it can be because of the cold climate¡­My gut tells it¡¯s the first one.) So this is basically my daily morning routine. Our city Glacies, well it¡¯s more like a glorified town, doesn¡¯t has anything interesting happening. Well you can¡¯t expect much, as it¡¯s basically populated by Researchers, Scientists, Theorists, and their likes, which either came to research Antarctica, like my parents or for a new start, like my neighbor who is a wanted criminal. Well, he¡¯s not that bad. He taught me all about women, guns and cars. Basically what makes a man! Except you have to force him to bath, something about hydrophobia. So once again after my glorious escapade in the wonderful town of Glacies, which left ME INCREDIBLY bored, I was on my way to my house. Then THAT happened. Despite sounding boring our town like every other human settlement has Global Network connection. So all our Bracelets, which are holographic miniaturized computers plus smart phones, our Home AI s, town robots and the city screens ( like new York time square, but on every main road ) etcetera are all connected to each other . This prevents anyone from hacking, as it¡¯s a large connected entity secured by several states of the art AI s and firewalls, behind million lines of codes and light data transfer. So when the screen of my Bracelet blanked along with the Town screen, I was scared shit. It was impossible. My mind went blank. Fuck¡­did the network went down? If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. These screens never blanked. They were always showing some shitty news, like some celeb had a wardrobe malfunction, or a temple where gods are supposed to come, or at least advertisements. I looked with mouth agape, as a silver symbol came up on the screen which was replace by an old man. He started talking by a stupid laugh and a ridiculous introduction, where he claimed to be THE Dr. Sapientes Bardus Stultus. Hahahahhaaaa¡­couldn¡¯t this weirdo find someone else to imitate. That genius doctor supposedly died about 60 YEARS AGO. Atleast they should get their actors background story right¡­ Amateurs¡­ He went on babbling about how he created a LIVING AI. SERIOUSLY? Couldn¡¯t he lie better? Scientists have been researching on living AIs since half a century and they have yet to succeed. Then something about his exile and nonsense about geniuses and government. Well I have to agree, on the government and society part. The screen was now taken by a teenage beauty. Black hairs, big ass and breasts¡­AHHH¡­she is my dream wife¡­.howwwwlllllllllll¡­. HOLY FUCK! SHE IS HOT! DAMN! I WANT HER! SHE IS MIIINNNNEEE! *pant* *pant * Man I found my girl!! She is beautiful. She continues on explaining game rules, which are extremely similar to actual VR games.Then something about 12 hours limit after which monsters are going to attack our city¡­ Wait a minute¡­monsters ? city attack ? dungeons ? Dragons attacking our city in 12 hours ? Now I want to kill her. How the hell dragons attacking a city is lucky ? That BITCH! Wait a second! She said ELVES! Ahhh¡­you are my angel¡­.. She went on talking about how they are actually planning to turn our world into a living game with every game feature and how they had infected us with nana-bots. FUCK YOU BITCH! (again¡­) Haven¡¯t you ever heard about the word CONSENT? They actually infected me, with nanobots without telling me! Finally they ended with this big shit load of joke¡­DAMN! This is so funny. Couldn¡¯t they find a better prank material? Seriously, idiots these days. They will do anything for some laughs. Don¡¯t they know it¡¯s impossible to hack the Global network, which they apparently did? WAIT A SECOND? How the hell did they hack it? Maybe it¡¯s a regional hack or maybe they took over the city screens or city network? I immediately checked the news forums on my bracelet. And it seems they actually hacked the whole global network. All computers , advertisement panels, City Screens nothing was left. Every single device connected to the network was showing this telecast. FUCK! So either they are some big time hackers or a late April fool prank by the government, both of which are quite unlikely. No one will hack the network for a few minutes laugh and a life time in jail. So apparently the World was actually going to turn into THE GAME OF LIFE. FUCK! SHIT! What the bloody hell should I do? AHHHH¡­¡­Man I am sure Government will contact soon enough claiming it a big load of prank, but if they don¡¯t? God I don¡¯t want to die¡­I am still a virgin.. My panic attack went on for about few minutes, after which I managed to calm myself. My heart was still beating rapidly and I could feel the adrenaline rush. But despite all this somewhere deep inside I was actually happy. Finally, something to escape from this life. Study, study, play, study, eat, study¡­.FINALLY! The fricking god managed to fulfill my wish¡­ Plus the prizes are also good. World Domination and HER. OH GOD! BLESS YOU¡­MAY ALL OTHER GODS BLESS YOU¡­Well you see I am part Christian and part Hindu, so apparently my god book has about a million gods, So whoever listened¡­YOU ARE THE BEST FUCKING GOD EVER! KISS YOU! I AM GOING TO SACRIFICE A MILLION CURRNCY ON YOU¡­ofcourse after I buy myself some assets. So wait for a while¡­well actually only wait for six hours. I am actually doubting my sanity.No sane person will ever erupt with happiness when they will hear about their world turning into a video game. But technically, it''s not my fault. Their is a limit of boredom, which anyone can tolerate. Imagine living like me, for past 10 years. You have no amusement parks, no multiplexes, no bars, nothing. This city is epitome of boredom.Older generation will of course like this lifestyle, but I wanted something fun, something to add thrill to my life. Despite living so close to forest, sea, and snow, I was never allowed to leave the city for safety reasons.So this will be my new start. And I have no plans of dying.I am a VR gaming champion and a world ranker so of course I can win this game.Also I have a girl waiting for me.. . Because this is the dawn of new era, and rise of the genius me !!! (EVIL LAUGHTER¡­) --------------------------------------;-- And hows it? I might have changed d tenses in between, so if u find something wrong, feel free to correct. Also should i add something more? And if u have any ideas or suggestions for future plotline, feel free to post in the comment section. And ciao... Status update First of all, really sorry for not posting d chapter.The chapter was supposed to be released on Monday or at most by Tuesday...but well...so no excuses... I am having a pretty bad week, as I have been busy puking my stomach out every few minutes....along with that headaches and dizziness...etc.So my family elders habe decided to put me under closed door cultivation....jk.. So I have been forced to rest and I have finally regained some normalcy.So the next chapters will be coming by tommorow. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. And finally if u have any suggestions or ideas regarding some adventure, monster, villain, etc...feel.free to post.I may add it later. Afinally what weapon should MC use? My cousin wants to go full ninja with shurikens and katanas, my sis wants full mecha...etc. So feel free to come up with any melee weaponu can... Till then Sayonara.. Chapter 1- Part 2 - Money and the Weapon What I sought was calm. Calm to cope up with the chaos, which had started. My mind was in shambles. Half of my thoughts were to slaughter all that stand in my way, and carve a blood path to the top while the other half preached peace and stability. Strength to save and protect my loved ones. It was the eternal Angel-Devil conflict. The devil in me wanted, no, craved power, while the angelic me sued peace and prosperity. I never expected myself to suffer from this. I prided myself for my decisiveness. No hint of hesitation while deciding was something I was proud of, but here I stood with a head full of uncertainty. Finally I decided to move on. One step at a time, rest will be dealt when required. What I needed now was not self-doubts, but a plan. A plan to proceed ahead. A plan to survive. If the world was turning into a playground, I wanted to be the biggest and the meanest bully of the town. So I started preparing THE GREAT PLAN!! An experience player doesn''t just barges in. He plans his every move and tries to execute it with care. In short a great player is also a great strategist...or well a pawn of a great strategist. I rushed back home and started my preparations. Firstly, what I needed was not strength but information. Information was currency in its truest sense. It would never lose its value. In hands of a master, information had brought several empires and kingdoms to its knees. With information I could make my game plan. I could make my own ¡®Guide to Monster Killing ¡®and ¡®Surviving in the Wilds¡¯ version. Jumping on the couch, I ordered Stephen the home AI to bring forth all information on Game of Life and Athena Corporation. 6 holographic screens projected themselves as I started picking out information and organize my report. Surprisingly, there was almost negligible information on the Event. Most of it was about riots and protests which had started because of this. I sighed, and could, only wonder on human folly. Instead of working together they are busy blaming each other. Finding no useful information on net, I move towards their web site. And amazingly their site was full of valuable information. Skimming most of it, I move toward the Monster Forum. Currently, what I lacked was information regarding these Monsters. I had no idea about their weaknesses nor their strengths. I was a blank book on this matter, which I planned to resolve soon. And HOLY SHIT! What I find is¡­ incredible? Amazing? These so called monsters are no robots or drones. They are basically genetically engineered and evolved animals. These creatures can be called as variants of current flora and fauna. Goblins, the most common leveling monsters. They are actually evolved chimpanzees and monkeys. Similarly dragons, hydras, imoogi, etc are genetically engineered variants of various reptiles along with Dinosaur DNA. Various mixtures of DNAs result in variants among these high level Reptiles. Along with that serums, forced breeding, forced adaptation along with treatment such as Gamma ray treatment, have resulted in branching of this species line. What started with dragons branched into variant dragons, hydras, wyverns, imoogis etc. Similarly, experiments with primate DNA led to birth of orcs, goblins, ogre, dwarves and elves. These experiments were kept in a controlled habitat until they adapted and assimilated themselves with their environment. Dwarves were engineered to be great miners and mountain dwellers. Elves turn out to be nature lovers. Genetic engineering also led to improvement and evolution of The DNA. What started as a strand of helix actually evolved into a better version of itself. This led to their increase strength, longevity and intelligence. I could only gasp with shock. When did they manage to move so far ahead? Last I remembered were experiments with Ligers and descendents of Dolly the Sheep. And how are they even able to do this? Where are they getting the funds and the support from? How did they hide all this from public eyes? .How could they create something so grand, so vast and so terrifying without alerting the authorities? I had so many questions but no answers¡­ and a hunch that this all was not as simple as the scientist-AI duo made it sound. With my head full of questions, I left the site. I decided to later review all this once again. As for other information, I promised myself to check it later on .I had started with doubts and questions and now I had even more questions. Something about all this felt completely off. But I couldn''t do anything about it. It was out of my hands. The only thing I could do was survive. Which incredibly I was great at. Now what I needed was money. A t this stage of the game, money had little value. You couldn''t find great gears or potions, which would be worth your money. But as the game progresses more equipments, information, and quests will be available for sale. So it''s better to start preparations right now. And as most of the world will be in chaos right now, it''s a good chance to benefit from the conflict. Better to be at the top of the rat race than at the bottom...kukukukuuu And I had the just the thing for this. It was no original idea or something, but actually was quite popular among the businessmen. Simply known as ¡®Hoarding.¡¯ I will hoard the required goods and later sell it for higher price. HAHHHAHHHAHHAAAhhhaahhha¡­I am great. I will simply monopolize the whole city. And I will be RICH! The only thing was, I am still not sure whether this is a big hoax or the actual truth. No one sane enough, would ever spend their money buying nonsense essentials, just based on a video. Same with me. But if it turns out to be the truth, then? AGhhhh¡­ So confusing, ¡®to buy or to not buy?¡¯ God this is harder than my trignometry paper. WHAT TO DO?? Eureka!!! I decided to follow the great secret method left by countless experts, to decide in such similar situations. Fishing out a coin, I tossed. If its heads then I will buy, if not then I will not. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.And it¡¯s a( Drum roll) TAILS!! So I won¡¯t be buying anything¡­ but if it turns out to be the truth? Then I will be struck penniless¡­ Finally after an entire hour or so, of my conflict, I decided to just proceed and buy. At most I will be poorer by 30000 UC, and the city dogs will be fatter. But just in case, it turns out to be the truth, I WILL BE FUCKING INSANELY RICH! Ahem¡­at least compared to others. I swiftly accessed the virtual supermarket through Holo. The virtual supermarket was actually a 3D representation of the actual city¡¯s supermarket. Instead of going to the market in this bitter frozen tundra, people favored ordering it through apps. The drones would then deliver it later. It sounds quite complicated, but actually it was a scaled down version of E- COMMERCE sites. Starting the first phase of ¡°MISSION SUPER RICH¡± (Well the other choice was naming it Richie Rich, this sounded less childish¡­) Moving towards the instant food aisle, I filled my cart with packets of instant noodles, Instant soup, ramen, ready to eat curry et cetera. I quickly move towards the next aisle, and fill my already overflowing cart, with frozen meats. Sausages, cutlets, fillets, minced, just name it. One good thing about Antarctica is you rarely have to worry about food getting spoilt. So you always have 24*7 cold coffee services. The beer is always chilled, and the water is always frozen. I don¡¯t know whether to cry or laugh at my luck? Finally, I end my shopping spree with several dozen protein bars and candies. Candies¡­the next best thing after Elves!! (IF YOU FUCKING HAVE A PROBLEM WITH MY ELF OBSESSION AND CANDY LOVE¡­JUST GET THE HELL OUT OF MY MIND) Hahhaa¡­now I just need to wait for the game to start. Actually more than 4 hours had already passed since the video, so only more two hours to wait . Now moving on to MISSION EQUIPMENTS. First is clothing. I grab a rucksack from the attic, and start stuffing it with sweaters, jeans , socks, and extra pairs of great, soft Undies! YES UNDIES! I have always observed, whenever you start an adventure sooner or later you always find yourselves wet! And then a boy or girl comes bouncing around, sees you and shouts pervert while trying to either skewer you or chop you ( depends whether it is the spear or the sword) So clich¨¦¡­ So to never find myself in that position, I always keep an extra pair. Mostly it¡¯s to protect the family jewels from free viewing, of course you can pay and have a look¡­( NO I AM NOT A PERVERT, ITS CALLED BUSINESS) *Cough* Back to the topic¡­AND FORGET WHATEVER IS SAID EARLIER. Now what are left were safety equipments and a great weapon. First, the weapon. I go towards the garage, where my father keeps all his tools. Actually, one great thing about having Historians and Researchers, as your parents, is a house full of weapons. Swords hanging on the wall, armor plates standing high and mighty beside vases, spears standing in umbrella stands, knife lying in the drawer¡­ The only problem is THE FUCKING WEAPON ITSELF! Sword so gaudy, that Lady Gaga would have felt ashamed. Spears so long that you can¡¯t hold them straight. If not this, then they will be so freaking heavy that you will die just holding them up. And for god sake, if you actually find something useful, you will discover its BLOODY BLUNT! So the best alternative, just go and find a knife or two from kitchen. OR, of course you can be a genius like me and decide to head out to the garage to tinker with goods, which your father always said to stay away from. One thing which struck me was, ¡®weapons.¡¯ She said we could only have one weapon which was not from the game. So what if I make something up during the game? Would it be counted as a game weapon or not? I guess I will need to try it once. One hour had already gone by. The game would be starting soon, and I couldn¡¯t wait to con help my countrymen. As for the weapons, I had already decided those. First was a hammer. Yup, I am going all THOR; well, just ignore the lack of sparkly thunder and lightning. I can simply bash the people who stop me, smash the monsters on the way and whack all the moles sniffing around¡­I know it doesn¡¯t sound great but, hell! It¡¯s difficult to come up with some great tag line. Next item- NAILS!!! Or should I call them caltrops now? And finallyyyyyy (DRUM ROLL)¡­ fork and knife! Believe me, they fucking hurt. Just try stabbing yourself with a knife or fork¡­YOU WILL DIE SCREAMING. Joking, at most you will need a band aid or two. As for armor. Well, KNEEL BEFORE ME PLEBS, FOR I INTRODUCE YOU TO THE NEWEST GENERATION OF ARMOR.EPITOME OF EFFICIENCY AND GREATNESS!!PLATE ARMOR!!! Quite literally¡­ I just hammered two steel dining plates. Punched few holes around its border and sewed it to the sweater, which I was going to wear. For more safety, I took two rice plates, flattened them and sewed it to the sides. So now you have the best armor I could make. It reminded me of all the cartoons I would watch. A Wok on the head, plates on the body and knifes as armor. Hell! I must look like a cosplay artist now¡­ *Sigh* just few more minutes, then everybody will be busy trying to stay alive, than laugh at me. 5¡­ 4¡­ 3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­. 0.. EH? Shouldn¡¯t they announce something by now¡­ *BEEP FROM THE HOLO* ¡°WELCOME TO THE GAME OF LIFE¡±. ---------------- Well i am still not all golden and sunshine...but well enough.Next chapter tomorrow night.The weapon will be replaced later, it''s just a substitute. And thanks for patiently waiting for d chapters, despite my absence. Love you guys ( not in that way...) And ciao Ps how do I add the tables? Those blue ones...not the excel ones Chapter 1- Part 3- march of the bunnies Hi, finally the adventure begans. Now as tyfing gave me the table link and everything, i will soon start working on it. Gave me a damn headache, when i saw all those codes... till then the bold coloured letters are the substitute. I will try to release a side chap today. if not today then by tomorrow morning... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WELCOME TO THE GAME OF LIFE PLEASE WAIT FOR SYSTEM UPGRADE BEGINNING PROJECT ATHENA DOWNLOADING AI UPDATE DOWNLOADING FILE.GOL DOWNLOADING SYSTEM FILES DOWNLOADING CACHE FILES INSTALLING AI UPDATE INSTALLING GAME FILE INSTALLING SYSTEM FILES INSTALLING CACHE FILE UPDATING SYSTEM INITIATING ADMINISTRATIVE LOCKDOWN ACCESSING USER FILES LOCKING USER FILES ENCRYPTING DATA REROUTING GLOBAL NETWORK CONNECTION TO ATHENA CORPORATION APPLYING UI DOWNLOADING ADDITIONAL DATA CHECKING SYSTEM SETTINGS INITIATING SYSTEM SCAN DOWNLOAD COMPLTE UPDATE COMPLETE SYSTEM CHECK COMPLTE WELCOME TO THE GAME OF LIFE.YOUR GLOBAL NETWORK BRACELET HAS BEEN UPDATED TO SUPPORT THE GAME OF LIFE.ALL YOUR OLDER FILES AND DATA HAVE BEEN LOCKED DOWN.THE BRACELET IS NOW IN SYNC WITH YOUR BODY NANOBOTS. YOU WILL BE GUIDED FUTHER AHEAD BY YOUR SPIRIT GUIDE. PLEASE CHOOSE SPIRIT GUIDE SEX ¨C MALE FEMALE OTHERS ¡°Spirit guide?¡± I wondered aloud. When another table popped up. SPIRIT GUIDES ARE MASS OF ENERGY THAT HAS BEEN GRANTED CONCIOUSNESS BY GODDESS ATHENA TO HELP THE ADVENTURERS IN THEIR JOURNEY. Eh? It seems spirit guides are the AI update the crazy duo was talking about. But isn''t she a bit too arrogant and narcissistic for her own sake. Naming herself goddess and nonsense. Sighing, I moved ahead. Well let¡¯s see Male? Female? Others? Hmm... Others is out of the question. I don¡¯t want a trap guiding me. Female? Nope I could never understand them. Plus I don¡¯t want another mom besides me. So it is Male. I touched the option showing male. The screen floating above the HOLO vanished and was replaced by a 1 Foot tall white humanoid. It was humanoid in the vaguest sense. It had no features, just a complete white face. Similarly his whole body was also white. CHOOSE SPIRIT AVATAR FEATURES. Below it there were several options for Type of body, body skin color, hairstyle, hair color etc. It was quite similar to character building in VR games. After half an hour of changing combinations and fiddling, I finally decided on my spirits look. It had a lean body with pale white skin. The hair was also white in color. Eyes were bright purple. With a small pointed nose, and a cute mouth his triangular face was completed. It was garbed in system designated whit toga, quite similar to the ancient Romans. Happy with my selection I finally confirmed it. The main reason for going with white hair and pale skin was security. In snow, except white all colors are easily seen. So in future if I have to hide I can¡¯t have my spirits bright color giving me away. PLEASE CHOOSE A NAME FOR YOUR SPIRIT. Hmmm¡­I find naming the most difficult part of character creation. The name should make sense, but at the same time should sound good. Sigh, well let¡¯s go with Janus. Greek God of choices. ¡°I choose Janus ¡°I said. CREATING SPIRIT¡­ PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT THE SPIRIT AFTER BEING BIRTHED HAS NO PERSONALITY.IT WILL LEARN AND CREATE A PERSONALITY FOR ITSELF FROM ITS SURROUNDING. ¡°Huh, now that¡¯s something new. So if I want a badass spirit, I will need to act all cool and badass?¡± ¡°YES¡± ¡°What?!? Who?¡± I cried. The voice had come from nowhere and broke me from my musings. I looked around, but could find nothing. ¡°Boss! Check the little creepy man on your hands¡­¡±, said Kiki pointing out at my wrist. She was perched besides me, on the Couch¡¯s armrest, while her claw was pointing at my wrist. I followed her direction, and found a 1 foot tall, spirit floating over my HOLO. Although it was a holographic projection, it looked solid enough to be real. ¡°Hi! I am Janus¡± The little thing looked at me, while waving his hand. ¡°Uh, Hi? ¡° I stuttered, while still observing the white man. It was exactly like the spirit I had created, except more lifelike. Expressions could be seen flitting across his face. Ranging from happiness to confusion and moving to surprise. A blue table popped up, but in my amazement I had cancelled it. Who knew, it was one of the worst choices I ever made. ¡°I am Cicero. And this feather ball is Kiki¡± I introduced myself and Kiki, who was closely observing the projection. ¡° Eh¡­Little thing I am Kiki. Call me big sis from now on, or I will peck you to death!¡± ordered Kiki, while glaring at the little Janus. ¡° Oooh¡­ well as I said before I am Janus. I will be helping you up ahead, and guiding you on your journey!¡° He said cheerfully, but in a very childlike manner. And it seems he ignored Kiki. Great, the game has just started and I already have two bombs ready to explode. ¡°Well, before we go ahead, please choose a skill to be granted to me. Every spirit will start with a skill granted to them¡± ¡°Eh, sure¡± Skills are good. Skills are life. Skills are sacred. So more skills, the better it is. I had already started drooling. OFCOURSE, IN MY THOUGHTS! CAN¡¯T MAKE A BAD IMPRESSION ON A CHILD. CHOOSE A SKILL TO BE GRANTED IDENTIFY ¨CA skill, which will allow the spirit to identify objects. As the skill levels up, the spirit will be able to give more detailed information and at the same identify more types of items. Skill Type- Spirit Skill Mana ¨C 0 TRACK - The spirit is able to track specific objects and preys. The spirit will track prey using footprints, scent and other markings.AS the skill progresses, the chances of successfully tracking a prey increases. Skill Type ¨C Spirit Type Mana ¨C 0 NAVIGATE ¨C The spirit will be able to navigate skillfully. In higher levels, the spirit will be able to navigate using stars and planets. Skill Type ¨C Spirit Type Mana ¨C 0 ON REACHING LEVEL 5, SPIRIT WILL BE GRANTED AN ADDITIONAL SKILL. ¡°OOOhhh¡­this is great ¡°I exclaimed. All three skills were quite important currently. ¡®Identify¡¯ the basic skill which everyone wanted, and knowingly- unknowingly all MCs were granted with. Similarly a ¡®Track ¡®skill will help me track animals. At the same time, using tracking skills I would be able to avoid other animals and players. And finally ¡°Navigate¡¯ skill was also important in its own right. Navigating in Antarctica was a navigator¡¯s hell. With only snow as far as eyes could see and no landmarks, travelling in Antarctica was akin to a death sentence. Even veteran travelers, while crossing Antarctica would use specialized equipments like GPS, Homing devices and Light house. Light house here is quite similar to light houses used in sea. As half the year Antarctica is under darkness, the structures would act as beacons to guide travelers. Several such towers are already present all over this shitty landmass. After eternity of thinking and debate, I finally decided to go for navigate. As I will be leaving the city soon, I don¡¯t want to find myself lost here. My plan was to travel to McMurdo City. Previously a large base, now it was the largest city on this country. At the same time it was also a crossroad for other three cities. From there I was going to travel south, towards Aerenas. That city was closest to the runic site where my parents were working. After finding my parents and ensuring their safety, I would leave for MY WORLD DOMINATION.I know, I know¡­till now I didn''t sound like I cared about my parents. But seriously, they gave birth to me, raised me up, provided nearly everything I wanted, so this is the least I could do for them. You may call it filial duty. Also ensuring their safety would remove a great burden from my heart. I had already tried calling them earlier, but their phone seems to be disconnected. I could only hope, nothing happened to them. So I went for the skill NAVIGATING. ¡°Good choice, Master. Navigating is a skill which every traveller needs to have.¡± He praised me. Then he continued ¡°Now as skills are selected, I will need to give you a brief overview of HOLO and the Game. As you see-¡° ¡°Stop. Cut it off. Tell me about it afterwards. I presently have money to earn. Later we will have all the time in the world.¡± I interrupted him. I felt a bit sorry for interrupting him, but I needed to make the most of this chaos. By now, everybody would have realized that this was no joke. Half of them would be freaking by now. And the clever half would be looking for means of survival. And I will become their savior by selling food, at cheap price. I was thinking about both bartering and selling goods. You never know, when someone will come up with something great. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 rd PERSON POV In a small two- storey house, at the out skirt of the town of Glacies, a flurry of activity could be seen. A young boy was donning his sweater, followed by his steel armour and another layer of sweater. To top it off he covered himself in a large jacket. The boy was wearing white pants ( AN- Can anybody tell me the proper name for the pants. Used in winter, quite similar to sweatpants ).On his shoulder was perched a large white cockatiel, who was screaming ¡° Off to the adventure, matey! ¡° with full force. The house was locking itself down, as steel shutters rolled and covered the window. Lights went out, shrouding the whole house in darkness. The pipes pumping warm water behind the walls shut down allowing the house to slowly become colder. Near the boy, stood two large rucksacks. Besides it was a small duffel bag, from which a hammer could be seen protruding outside. If somebody had peeked inside, he would have found a rucksack full of food. Food ranging from breads to meats to noodles, all was stuffed inside unceremoniously. The other rucksack, which was white in colour, was filled with clothes, papers, a small atlas, along with daily necessities. Along with all that not a small amount of bread and meat, alongside few vegetable was stuffed on the top. The small duffel bag, was filled with knives, forks, a hammer, few large bamboo sticks, nails and not a small amount of sewing needles. The boy was staring outside, looking at the ever present fields of snow, which glimmered under the harsh sunlight. At his right, few miles away stood a huge forest of spruces, firs and snow bamboos. On his left, spread over a small distance, and covered with building stood the city of Glacies, which would cease to exist after a few hours. A small meadow, bearing grasses, flowers and shrubs surrounded the city. A great number of humans could be seen rushing to and fro inside the city. Despite the chaos and the gloomy atmosphere covering the city, a strange sort of harmony could be seen under it. The ever glowing large screens, in the middle of the city, were now strangely silent, except for a timer which was showing 5 hours to go. The boy, took a deep breath, from the moment he steps out he would be leaving his past life behind, and walking towards a new adventure. In his heart, despite all his boasts and claims was a question, ¡®whether he would live to see a new dawn?¡¯ Finally, a look of determination could be seen on his face. Covering his eyes with goggles, and wearing a cap ( AN- woolen cap ? hat ? ) he stepped out. From that moment onwards the student Cicero died and the adventurer, the survivor Cicero was born. Moving towards his garage, Cicero climbed on his ATV. Donning his helmet, and securing the bags at his bag, he beckoned his pet to follow him. The cockatiel stopped singing and spread his large wings taking of in the air. A shrill screech reverberated through the cold air, as the bird declared his freedom and his start of the journey. Laughing the boy switched on his ATV, and drove of towards the city central. ( AN- jeez I really wanted to write ¡®drove towards the horizon or something. Would have made a damn good ending. But I wanted to start his adventure soon, so * sigh *) The ATV, noisily passed over the half frozen roads, arriving at the Central. Looking around Cicero observed, a large number of people, crying, weeping, and fighting. Some people showed their dark sides, trying to rape, steal and murder their fellow humans.Police robots were busy keeping the people in check. Once again lamenting over human nature, Cicero climbed of the ATV,and took out his bag full of food. Spreading a bed sheet over the ground, he covered it with all sorts of food items. From the other bag, he took out a marker and few sheets of paper. Scribbling over it, he carefully placed them near the food item. On observing one would, find the papers scribbled with prices. One sheet had ¡®BREAD ¨C 1 COPPER ¡®written over it, while the other had ¡®MEAT ¨C 10 COPPER¡¯. Similarly noodles had ¡®NOODLES ¨C 5 COPPER ¡®marked on it. Among all this a large paper was covered with bold writings. The paper showed ¡®CICERO BUSINESS EMPORIUM- DEALS WITH ALL SORTS OF GOODS AND ITEMS. WILL BARTER AND TRADE. NO REFUNDS .FIXED PRICES ¡® Carefully placing the large chart over his ATV, he made himself comfortable, waiting for his first customer. Cicero I never imagined that I would be reluctant to leave that old house. It seems you really understand value of something, when you lose it. I had made myself comfortable on the ATV, while the food items were displayed below. For safety reasons I had only kept, 1-2 samples of my goods. While waiting, I decided to continue my interrupted conversation with Janus. While getting ready to leave, I discovered Janus and Kiki, were like oil and water. Always fighting. I have still yet to discover why they hate each other so much. Meanwhile, Janus learnt a whole new set of abuses and taunts. I haven¡¯t even started talking with Janus properly, and he already had a bad influence on his personality. I wanted an independent but obedient slave spirit, but Kiki¡¯s, nature seems to be contagious. He already had become cheeky and rebellious. ¡°Hey, Janus. What were you going to explain earlier.¡± I asked my holo. ¡°¡­¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡° Janus¡­Are you in there?¡± I asked. See, he already was becoming a free spirited cheeky rebellious person. And it seems he discovered my old ( P@#N STASH ) manga collections. Oh boy, he already was addicted to them. ¡°Sorry for earlier. Please forgive me. See, I am really sorry. I was in a hurry to leave, that¡¯s why I shouted on you. Please I am really sorry.¡± I begged him. Jeez, this guy sure is stubborn. ¡°I will allow you to download some of those videos! Now for the gods sake come out! ¡° Its hardly has been a hour since he came, and I already needed to bribe him. One good thing was, the network access for spirits was restricted. Until the master gave explicit permission to use net, the spirits would not be able to access it. They could only communicate through it. It was like a high profile parental lock. So the poor chap was unable to download his *cough* favorite videos. Many of you, will ask how do I know about his new hobby? The little imp, tried downloading few videos, and fortunately I was alerted regarding it. The videos turned out to be of those types. So the only conclusion I can come up with is, my spirit has become a¡­ ¡° REALLY ? ¡° A white guy, popped out of the Holo, staring at me wide eyes. ¡°You saw them.¡± I said accusingly. ¡°Well, I was bored, and your device was a good place to hang out in. When I found these little password protected videos, saying cartoons. And well, me being bored I visited and ¡­.¡± ¡°STOP! FORGET IT! NOW BACK TO TOPIC¡± ¡°You really will allow me to download?¡± ¡°¡­* Sigh * Yes ¡° ¡° Awesome. Now as I was saying before your device¡­¡± This guy is too clever for his sake. Just born and he already knew how to get his own thing done. From seeing his face, I really doubt that he was feeling sad or heartbroken. DAMN! Fricking spirit. ¡°So now I will explain to you about your changed Holo.¡± He continued.¡± You¡¯re Holo currently has 11 applications in it. Firstly, is your STATUS app. Connected to your nanobots, this app displays your level, strength, progress etc in numerical terms. Coming to next this app is the SKILL app. As the name suggests, this app shows all your learnt skills, along with their progress. The third app is the MARKET app. You can buy and sell all sorts of goods inside the market app. This one is the BANK app. You can make transactions, see your account and ask for a loan from here. This app shows all your contact lists. You can call people who are saved in your contact list. CALLER app is for calling, while the MESSAGING app is for messaging. The FORUM app connects you to the game forum. You can learn, discuss and post information here. Similarly the NEWS app, streams all the latest ongoing events. The GAMETUBE app will allow you to upload or download game related videos and also stream your very own experiences online. This is the app, which will take you to Athena¡¯s website. And finally this is the APP STORE, where you can buy or download various apps for your own purpose. Just remember that you can¡¯t download more than 3 apps per month nor you can cross 250 MB data limit. ¡°He explained slowly, while pointing to various new apps on my desktop. ¡° Now coming to your STATUS. Please open the status app ¡°he requested to me. I obediently opened the app and a new table popped up. NAME- CICERO NATIONALITY ¨C ANTARCTICAN TITLES - NONE CLASS ¨C NONE SUB CLASS - NONE AGE- 18 LEVEL ¨C 0 HP - 100 STR ¨C 0 DEF - 0 AGI ¨C 0 DEX -0 WIS ¨C 0 INT -0 LUK ¨C 0 SPRIT ¨C JANUS PET ¨C KIKI (ANTARCTICAN COCKATIEL) EQUIPMENTS ¨C HAMMER (REGISTERED) ¡°Here if you will observe, there are several values ahead of these terms ¡°he continued his explanations in his usual cheery childlike voice. I zoned out while he was explaining about these terms. This was a basic knowledge among everybody. STR for your strength, DEF for your body defense, AGI for your speed, while DEX for your dexterity.WIS and INT for wisdom and intelligence respectively. He continued his speech for next few minutes, explaining each point in detail. Along with all this, our stats will be calculated from the activities we do in next six hours along. So next six hours, decide my stats. ¡° Do you have any questions ?¡± He asked, finally ending his monologue. ¡°Currently, nope. Later on, I can¡¯t say¡­¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s good! Now the payment!¡± He exclaimed joyfully, while stretching his hands out, like asking something. ¡°Which payment?¡± I asked, acting all innocent. ¡°What? The pay- ¡°he screamed, when he was interrupted. A man had interrupted him. God bless him! If he is going to buy something, am going to give him a discount. I could only laugh at Janus¡¯s luck. He had a sulking expression on his face, while we observed the newcomer. The man was nothing special looking. Dressed in layers of sweaters, he looked like the kind grandpas across the street. Besides him, was a hulking male. Despite covered in jacket, his muscles couldn''t be hidden. His face couldn''t be seen properly, because of the large goggles and the mask. Tagging behind them was a woman. I couldn''t find anything about her; she was covered from top to bottom, with no skin visible. Only the long hairs, differentiated her from men. The old man had coughed to politely bring our attention to him. I gave him a bright smile, which I doubt he could see because of the mask. ¡°How may I help you gentlemen¡¯s ?¡± I enquired them in my best business voice. ¡°You are selling food? ¡° the old man hesitatingly asked. It was no surprise. People were treating food like treasure, and here I was selling it in the open. No wonder he was hesitating. Behind him, I could see several people observing here. ¡° Yes! As you can see, I had too much to carry. So I decided to sell those to the needy. ¡°I lied through my teeth. ¡°Really ? ¡° he looked at me surprised. ¡°Yes Grandpa. Since you are my first customer, I will even give you a small discount. And you really remind me of my grandfather.¡± I assured him. When trading, I have learnt that if you attach a relation to somebody, you can actually sell or buy better. Like, calling him Grandpa and comparing him to my grandpa, I was actually building a family relation. ¡°Oh¡­you can see me, even when I am covered from head to toe?¡± he asked, teasingly. Damn, the guy is clever. Mostly people just follow the flow. I grinned, and politely replied ¡° Well, grandpa is grandpa. And since I have never seen him, he could be like anyone. So would you like to buy something Grandpa? ¡° ¡°Ha-ha ¡°he and the man besides him, started laughing, when the women shoved them aside. ¡° If I allow them, they will spend the whole day gossiping¡­¡± she complained, while looking at me. ¡°It¡¯s not gossiping dear, its building relations. Right boy ?¡±the grandpa, countered. ¡°And now my dear grandson, since we are grandpa and grandson, shouldn''t you actually gift us food instead of selling. After all I am your family, and there should be no business among family. ¡° Fuck this old man. Using my own method on me. Fucker¡¯s sake. Behind me , Janus was rolling on the floor laughing. ¡° Sure grandpa, but shouldn''t you gift your grandson some pocket money. ¡° Take that, old man. ¡°¡­¡± The grandpa stopped laughing. Hearing this, his two companions chuckled. ¡°Eh¡­well how much for the 15 packs of bread, and 6 noodles.¡± He asked nonchalantly as if nothing had happened. ¡° 45 copper coins. As for the discount, I will be taking it as pocket money, Grandpa.¡± I cheerfully replied. ¡°¡­Sigh¡­Here boy ¡° He transferred 45 coppers from his HOLO. I was quite surprised. I had expected some more banter and some more arguing. Well, if he doesn''t want to, i can¡¯t stop him or anything. After they left, several more people came, and traded. One guy gifted me a well crafted knife, which I had no idea from where he got. Others traded for maps, information, and medicines. In few cases I exchanged food with food. Like bread for spices, pickles etc. In between some muscle head did came, and tried to force me on surrendering everything. I just had to shout a little, when the police robots, which were roaming in the surrounding, came there and arrested them. After that all the muscle heads and criminals stopped troubling. In few cases, somebody would over estimate themselves and try to secretly steal from my bag. Poor guys would only get a face full of scratches. Kiki after returning had taken over the security duty. When somebody would try their luck, she would screech alerting everybody and at the same time follow them while pecking and clawing. Mind it, despite her cute looks; she is a devil when angry. Although I believe she was having more fun than being angry. In 3 hours I had already sold all my goods and earned a hefty amount. My 10 silvers had risen to 45 silvers. I got only 22 silvers from the food. Rest were small items like, my shin guards for protection, a sharp antique blade which I couldn''t handle properly, Maps, Information etc. In short ¡®a good day.¡¯ -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 POV A young man, stretched himself and tried to loosen his muscle. Standing on the pavement on Central, he did some stretching and flexing, until he felt it was good enough. Besides him stood an ATV, on which a white cockatiel was perched. Under him, a large bed sheet was spread, on which few sheets of paper could be seen. The man got down from the ATV, and carefully packed everything, securing it inside his rucksack. He had already sold the other rucksack and duffel bag a few minutes back. This had increased his savings to a whooping 47 silvers. The amount didn''t sound much, but earning this much on the first day was a great feat. His weapons were carefully secured on either himself or in his bags. The hammer was hanging from a rope which he had used like a belt. Several small knives, forks and tools like screwdrivers could be seen hanging on it. A large stick, with several nails and a knife on one end was hanging from his back. While waiting for customers, he had worked on a broom stick, to create something like a mace and spear mix. After carefully checking that nothing was left, he got up on his ATV, and left the Central, steadily driving towards the west, where McMurdo city was located. After travelling for an hour or so, he had reached the edges of the great forest. The forest actually had no name, or if it had no one knew. The forest was planted 15 years ago to create a habitat for the flora and fauna. Grey wolves, White wolves, Foxes, Reindeer''s, Tigers and bears occupied the forest. White wolves and Silver wolves were variant species of the Grey wolves. The tigers were a modified hybrid of Himalayan and Siberian Tigers. Bears were actually polar bears, but they preferred to stay in the snowy plains instead of the forest. But sometimes, they do wander inside. The boy stopped his ATV. He couldn''t take the ATV inside, for the fear of attracting the wild beats. The ATV made too much noise. The boy walked towards alone pine tree. The tree was neither in the forest nor in the Meadows, but on the edges of both. The day had been very tiring. Only one hour was left before the disaster struck, and he wanted to be as far as he could. Relaxing himself under the tree, he prepared himself mentally, before entering the forest. The forest was an out of bond place for him, but now he would need to cross across it to reach his goal. He would have loved to take the direct road to McMurdo, but the road passed through long snowy empty fields, until it reached the mountains. If he was chased, he wouldn''t be able to hide or escape, on those fields. His only chance was trying to reach the mountains through the forest. The trees and the animals, would protect him to some extent. Suddenly the boys¡¯ stomach started grumbling. Opening his pack, he took out few slices of bread. Feeding few to the white bird perched on his shoulders, he ate the rest dry. Taking out a small Thermos, he took a few sips of the hot tea inside. An Old women had given him this thermos for a few pieces of sausages. Feeling the warmth, trickle down his throat, he gave a sigh of comfort. Only half an hour was now left, before the calamity occurs. Taking out a few carrots, he filled his pocket with them. He decided to munch them, as he crossed the forest. His bird had already left for somewhere, But he knew, she would find him again. As he got up, and shouldered his rucksack, a cute head popped out of a small shrub nearby. Cicero POV Shouldering the heavy, rucksack I prepared myself for the next phase of my journey. Actually the first phase. When out of nowhere, I heard some scratching sound coming. I immediately went on alert. Damn, I haven¡¯t even left the city, and now I will need to fight? Fucking fate! Suddenly a cute head popped out of the shrubs. It was a rabbit! OR hare? I never could get them right. Damn, I was scared shit of my pants. I was expecting a wolf or a bear, and was already prepared to run. Kneeling, I carefully observed the rabbit or hare. Best let¡¯s go with bunny. It was a cute white little thing. I am not a cute thing lover or something, but hell bunnies are cute! It was pure white. Except two red eyes, which were carefully watching me? The little guy was slightly longer than 1 feet. Kneeling I tried to call him. You know the usual weird noises to call the animals. The bunny simple kept on looking at me. When I got an idea. Taking out a small carrot, I offered it to him. Seeing the carrot, his whiskers shook. He moved a bit towards me. Seeing I had no bad intentions, it hopped towards me, and started eating the carrot which I had by now kept on the ground. Suddenly another two bunnies came out of the shrubbery. Looking at me with their pitiful eyes, I finally also gave them some carrots. I was petting the first bunny, when more 4 rabbits came hopping towards me. By now, the previous rabbits had also finished the offered carrots, and all of them were looking at me expectantly. I opened my hands, and showed them that I had no more carrots. Of course few were still in my bag. Carefully, getting up I walked towards the forest. I could hear a lot of racket following me. I looked back, and the 8 rabbits were now accompanied by more of their brethren. More were coming from the surrounding shrubbery. The good thing, they were cute and harmless. The bad thing, all of them were looking at me expectantly. They were hopping towards me, covering a meter each time. They would easily reach me in few more hops. What the hell?!? I ran. The bunnies followed. I ran harder, tripping on tree roots and rocks. The rabbits followed me harder, gaining on me with my each trip. ¡° MOMMY¡­SAVE ME!!¡± ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd POV The forest near Glacies city was seeing something abnormal that day. A man in full white clothing and white rucksack was screaming. Screaming like a women in labor. Screaming like a man shot. Screaming like dogs were behind him. Well not dogs, but hoards of cute white bunnies were. The boy was running across, the littered forest ground. His hands were shoving apart all the branches, which came to greet him. The boy was screaming and calling his mom, his dad, Gods to whom he had never prayed, and his ancestors while cursing the cute little bunnies. But the bunnies forgave him and diligently followed him. The man started throwing vegetables and fruits, which he had collected with so difficulty. The bunnies stopped. They ate the fruit. And once again they ran behind the dear boy in white. While animals, which claimed to be the hunters and the kings of the forest could only look, and pray to gods that , never should bunnies follow them. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From that day onwards, a legend was passed by Glacies City Survivors. The day when howling, screaming, and cursing could be heard across all the forest, that day a hoards of bunnies would travel across the forest destroying everything in its path. The locals believe that these cries were from the departed soul of the bunnies who had been killed by humans. ATV as in single person, scooter like ATV I am replacing bracelet with HOLO And Ciao~ Chapter 2 - Battle Royale First of all, sorry! I was going to release a side chapter yesterday, but I got hands on a book I had been waiting for since past few months, The Vagrant by Peter Newman Along with that The Red queen series third book has been released, so to prepare for that I have been busy reading its other two books. So no excuse , but I was busy...:p And I realised that the side chapter wouldn''t suit here, so maybe few more chapters later. This chapter has a fight scene, and I am not sure how has it gone....so please tell... ----------------------- It was midnight in the land of Antarctica. Despite what should have been dark, the sky was still bright. The sun was in its full glory. Sharp bright sun light, was reflected by the never ending expanses of snow and ice. In a forest full of pines, cones and trees which find home in snow and cold, was a boy. The boy is precariously balanced on a tall fir. His once pristine white jacket is now torn and wet. Twigs, leaves, and sap beautify his already bedraggled appearance. The boy is panting, taking in large amounts of cold air trying to relax. But he finds it impossible. His last two hours have been hell. He manages to piss off a group of rabbit, for a reason unknown. Running and snaking through the tall evergreens, he managed to get himself lost. If that was not enough, he discovers that his feud with the rabbits has still not ended, as they are still chasing him. With rabbits on his heels, he ends up in a clearing. Fortunately-Unfortunately, the clearing was currently serving as a dinner table, for a pack of silver wolfs. Although smaller than their Grey brothers, these wolfs made it up with their speed and ferociousness. And too late, he realizes that you should never disturb a wolf¡¯s dinner. Struck between rabbits and wolves, our hero decides to die gloriously in the mouths of wolves. Running towards them, he decides to fight them full on. This stupid charge, actually surprised the gathering of wolfs, who hastily but instinctually made way. Having a bit of intelligence, the wolves were surprised. If it would have been some other person or well some other situation, the person would definitely run for his life. Instead this stupid boy was charging towards them! Well not wanting to miss the newly served god given dinner, the wolves prepare themselves to launch on the boy, who was madly rushing towards the other end. When, a hoard of rabbits came hopping on. Instincts urging them, the wolves instead pounced the white furry pieces of hopping meat. Chaos occurred. Blood was shed. The white snow was now red, due to the rivers of blood flowing over it. More than dozens of wolfs, were madly tearing at the carcasses of several tens of these rabbits. The boy, not believing his luck could only keep on running, when his ears pick up sounds of yapping and breathing following him. Looking back, without slowing he finds, four of those wolves following him. Their muzzles dripped blood. Their sharp claws showed pieces of meat stuck on it. And again our dear hero cursing his luck and the gods overseeing his fate, could only run with his life. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CICERO POV I can¡¯t believe it! I barely managed to get rid of those annoying hopping pests, and now I have four wolves running behind me! Why? Agreed that I forgot to pay my promised amount of money to god, but seriously? Are you such a miser that you would put wolves behind me! Weeping tears, which froze the moment it left my eyes, I ran. I had already been running since past two hours, and was tired. My bones were creaking and muscles were sore. I somehow, managed to keep on running. It was a matter of my life, from somewhere I pumped my last remnants of energy through my legs, forcing them to put one step forward, followed by another. My eyes were already burning, because of the cold and the crystal tears which were sticking on it. I had been running for past few minutes from these mongrels, but they showed no signs of leaving. Instead they seemed to be enjoying themselves. They could easily overtake me, and kill me, but they were following me at a leisurely pace. Their howls, growls and yaps sounded like taunts to my ears. But I endured. Every second extra to my life, was a chance to escape and live, when I finally entered the older part of the forest. The older part of forest could be called as the core of the forest. These trees were actually planted by the first settlers. The trees outside this were actually seedlings. Each tree here was easily fifteen years or older. The trees outside this were barely few years old. Finally I could see a glimmer of hope. These trees were several meters high, compared to those outside, which barely grew over fifteen meters. Branches thicker than a child¡¯s waist grew from these entities. I hurriedly climbed over one of these trees. Using the branches as ladder, I kept on climbing, until I was sure the wolves couldn¡¯t reach me. I would have done the same earlier, but I wasn¡¯t sure if the trees could actually support my weight. After hours of running, I could finally take a breather. But it seems the wolves were not happy on losing their plaything. All four of them surrounded my shelter, trying to climb over. Ofcourse, they failed. Now time to relax and plan. ---------------------------- 3 POV The boy, well Cicero made himself comfortable on the joint of two branches. Taking out few pieces of bread, which were now rock solid he chewed on them. First he decided to deal with these wolves. Their constant growling and scratching was irritating him. Spewing a mouthful of colourful expletives, he pensively looked at them. The question which resounded in his mind was how to deal with them. Ofcourse he could wait for them to leave, which actually sounded quite good currently. With his sore body and dead muscles, he doubted he could even manage to kill a fly. Suddenly, a thought struck him. Smacking his face and cursing his ancestors, he muttered, ¡° Hey, Janus come out.¡± As if magic, a small white humanoid popped out of his holo. ¡°Sup Boss? Looks like you had a good time.¡± ¡°FUCK the time. I have been running since past two hours!¡±, Cicero cursed angrily. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Did you peek at some girl bathing?¡± Janus enquired. ¡°¡­Can spirits be killed? ¡° ¡°Ah¡­yes..Why somethi-¡°Janus answered, when he realized what was being asked. ¡°Good¡­so how can I kill you¡±, the boy said with a evil glint in his eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t you need something Boss? I am here to help! ¡°,said Janus hurriedly with a smile that would put a butler to shame. ¡° Yes, method to kill Spirits who have become pervert. ¡° ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you think the sky today is extremely beautiful?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡° Gulp¡­can we move ahead. I forgot the method to kill the spirits. Maybe because of a virus a-attack, I should go and deal with it.Uh-huh, bye boss!¡± ¡°Sigh¡­wait you white bastard. Show me my status first.¡± The boy said, sighing in exasperation. Meanwhile the digital HOLO did a mental jiggle, and showed a big smile, which immediately turn to that of horror, after hearing the next line.¡± Ofcourse I am restricting your net access. You are turning into a load of shit quite fast. Mom always said, removing the problem during its infancy is the best cure.¡± ¡°Here it is boss¡­¡± Said Janus, his voice quivering and betraying his terror. NAME- CICERO NATIONALITY ¨C ANTARCTICAN TITLES ¨C Enemy of the Rabbits, The Runner, The Pioneer, The Businessman CLASS ¨C NONE SUB CLASS - NONE AGE- 18 LEVEL ¨C 0 HP - 100 STR ¨C 12 DEF - 5 AGI ¨C 14 DEX -11 WIS ¨C 3 INT -11 LUK ¨C 1 STA - 20 END - 19 SPRIT ¨C JANUS PET ¨C KIKI (ANTARCTICAN COCKATIEL) EQUIPMENTS ¨C HAMMER (REGISTERED) --------------------------- CICERO POV Wow, I have got some new things here. A few titles and a new stat. The older stats finally have some value. But what¡¯s with the titles? ¡®Enemy of the rabbits?¡¯ On checking the info, a new table popped up. ENEMY OF THE RABBITS For sharing your food with few rabbits, then declining others, you have caused jealousy among the rabbits. Also causing deaths of several rabbits, you have been declared ENEMY NO 1, for the whole rabbit colony. This has also led to you earning the wrath of the suffering rabbits. Effects ¨C Rabbits will show aggression towards you on sight. They may also attack you, without heed to their own lives. What¡¯s, with this stupid explanation. Just for not sharing some carrots, I have to earn their wrath? And for the gods, sake they followed me and died, it¡¯s not like I invited them! Fucking system and fucking rabbits. ¡°Fuck these rabbits.¡± I grumbled in frustration. The game hadn¡¯t even started properly and I already had a stupid title. ¡°I never knew you had such a fetish boss! But still I feel women would be better¡­¡± Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Gulp¡­ofcourse I was joking boss. You are getting too serious. He-he¡± I need to deal with this AI soon. Watching videos and several movies, along with stupid mangas has certainly loosened a screw or two of his. I think so I had a screwdriver here. Moving on to the next title, ¡¯The Runner¡¯. At least the name sounded good. I could only hope the same for the explanation. THE RUNNER For running for more than two hours, without stopping, you have earned the title ¡®THE RUNNER.¡¯ This title is to celebrate your perseverance and stamina. Effects - +10 to stamina Well nothing much to say. Stupid title with good benefits. Now the rest two. I have inkling about those titles. THE PIONEER To be the first person, to start his own business in the game, you have been awarded the title of ¡®THE PIONEER¡¯ Effects ¨C 2%-5% discount on buying goods from the market. THE BUSINESSMAN For earning more than 25 silvers from your business, you have earned the title of ¡®THE BUSINESSMAN.¡¯ Effects ¨C Higher intimacy with business NPCs Hahaha¡­those last two titles completely make it up for the earlier two. They are great! Especially, the market discount one is freaking awesome. So if I manage to earn more such titles, maybe I could buy items for free¡­ ¡°EARTH TO CICERO, EARTH TO CICERO.¡± screeched Kiki, breaking my dream. She had perched herself on a branch over me, and was looking at me. ¡°So where were you Featherhead? I HAVE BEEN RUNNING FOR MY LIFE SINCE PAST FEW HOURS! And you must be enjoying somewhere¡­¡± I said accusingly. Showing an innocent expression, she said, ¡°I have scouting the area.¡±After saying this, she started preening herself. Sigh, silly bird. Now, to deal with these wolves. The best way, I am going to just wait for them to tire out and leave. They can¡¯t just wait for me there infinitely. Grinning, I shouted ¡°Goodnight¡± to those wolves, scaring them out of their hide. --------------- 3 POV It has been almost twelve hours since, the wolves made themselves home under the tree. Cicero was completely fed up. He wanted to leave, but two wolves were sprawled just under the tree. The other two, were prowling the vicinity, but were always keeping the tree in their view. And it didn¡¯t look like they were in any mood to leave. Finally, exasperated Cicero decided to take the matter into his own hands. He was going to fight, and show these mutts, who was the boss here. After carefully, observing them for 10 minutes or so, a plan was formed in Cicero¡¯s mind. Beckoning Kiki, he whispered few words to her, which incited a shocked expression and a reluctant nod. Taking a deep breath he jumped! He had carefully, calculated the jump, and he successfully landed on Wolf 1.Without giving, Wolf 2 who was sleeping few meters away ,any chance to react, he threw his heavy rucksack on it. Meanwhile, the other two wolves, let¡¯s call them Wolf 3 and Wolf 4, had seen everything and very running towards Cicero. They would reach him in few seconds. With no time in hand, he used the hammer, which was hanging from his waist to strike a crushing blow, at the Wolf 1 neck. A loud crunch could be heard over the entire ruckus, and wolf 1 died under Cicero. Blood started flowing out of Wolf 1¡¯s mouth, coloring the snow red. Despite sounding so long, all this was done in gap of few seconds. Wolf 2, was still disoriented because of the thrown bag. Cicero rushed at him, but the other two wolves had already come quite close. If Cicero tried to go towards Wolf 2, they could easily pounce on his back, killing him in seconds. Without hesitating, Cicero threw three knives, which always hung at his waist, towards the rushing wolves. The knives were not meant to hurt, but to distract, which they successfully did. The wolves, stopped their mad rush because of the unexpected throw. Utilizing the few seconds which he had gained, he called to Kiki. Kiki responded with a loud screech and dived at the two distracted wolves. Taken aback by the screech and claws which were raining on their heads, the wolves struggle to kill the culprit. Kiki would peck and scratch them, and the moment their fangs or claws neared, she would fly up out of their range. With the wolves busy, Cicero rushed at Wolf 2, who finally managed to gain his bearings and struggle out of the heavy rucksack. Not giving him any time, Cicero took out his spear and stabbed straight at the wolf¡¯s eye. The wolf managed to evade the spear, and finally got out of the bags underside. Rushing Cicero threw his hammer at the wolf, who was not expecting this action. The hammer, cleanly struck the wolf¡¯s head, giving it a mild concussion and breaking his balance. Cursing his luck, that the hammer didn¡¯t deal death blow, Cicero once again stabbed at the wolf. The spear this time successfully penetrated the wolf¡¯s eye and deep into his brain, killing it on the spot. Seeing the death of their brother, the other two wolves went into frenzy. Completely ignoring Kiki, Wolf 3 pounced on Cicero¡¯s back, who barely managed to evade. His jackets right arm and the sweater beneath it were torn. Blood slowly seeped out of the arm, staining the sweater red. Deep fear could be seen In Cicero¡¯s eye, as he had just managed to escape death. If he would have been a second late, instead of his arm his chest would have been injured. But the force of the pounce, still managed to break Cicero¡¯s balance, making him fall backwards. The wolf rushed at him once again, with his mouth wide open and with intent to rip his throat out. Because of the throw and the pain, the spear which Cicero was holding in his right hand had fallen. Using his hammer, Cicero blocked the wolves charge. With hammer between the wolf¡¯s jaws, a struggle started: wolf who was trying to break the hammer, and Cicero who was using it to stop him. Drool was falling on Cicero¡¯s face, as the only thing stopping the wolf was his hammer. With the mouth wide open, Cicero could see the few inch long fangs which were covered in saliva. Pieces of meat stuck in the teeth, made this more horrifying and reminding Cicero of what would happen if he lost. It was literally looking into deaths maws. Seeing his brother keeping the prey busy, wolf 4 rushed at the fallen prey. With a loud growl, he tried to bite Cicero¡¯s leg, while Cicero was under the wolf. Seeing what was happening Cicero started struggling more heavily. He also threw out few kicks, just to keep the other wolf away. As if luck, was with him a lucky kick caught the wolf on its nose throwing him away. Wolf 2, who was trying to break the hammer, realized it was impossible to break it in such a manner. Instead he chomped down hard on the handles stick and pulled it toward himself. Caught off guard because of the wolf¡¯s unexpected action, Cicero¡¯s grip on the hammer loosened. Not missing the opportunity, the wolf pulled the hammer with more force. Cicero also realizing this freed the hammer and punched the wolf under his jaws. Giving him no time to recover, Cicero pulled out a screwdriver, which was hanging from the waist rope, and stabbed deeply under its jaws. The screwdriver pierced the wolf¡¯s jaw with little difficulty and came out of the other side. Whimpering in pain the wolf tried to take out the screwdriver, while blood dripped from the wound. Grabbing another screwdriver he pushed it deep inside the wolf¡¯s eye, killing him there and there itself. Seeing all his brother¡¯s dead, wolf 4 who was thrown back because of the unexpected kick, got frightened. The prey which was supposed to be easy to kill, was turning out to be a wolf¡¯s in sheep¡¯s clothing (Pun intended). The wolf started running toward the forest, to his kin whimpering. Cicero, sensing the danger it could pose, if he left the wolf unchecked, grabbed his fallen hammer and threw at the running wolf with all his might. The hammer flew true, and struck the wolf at his back. The wolf fell. It realized that he wouldn¡¯t be able to leave alive today. With a last show of defiance, he turned back to face the hunter. Cicero grabbed his spear and jumped at the wolf. The knife, on the top of the spear, although it didn¡¯t manage to pierce, but was sufficient enough to distract the wolf who jumped back afraid. Grinning Cicero slowly held his hammer and started swinging it leisurely. The poor wolf, could only growl as the hammer finally struck his head, crushing the cranium and turning the brain inside into a mush. Finally the fight was over. Cicero fell on the snow, as the tiredness, blood loss and strain on his muscles took its toll. The whole area was now red with blood of wolves and a human. The wind was heavy with the smell of iron The human was lying few feet¡¯s away from the dead wolves, when a bird perched on him and started guarding his body as if a sentinel on his last duty. When howls rang throughout the forest, for death was in the air. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pease vote, rate and review... Oh and Incase someone has an awesome adventure or scene in mind, which I can put here, feel free to tell. Now back to my book! Ciao~