《Malivorii》 Prologue "Another cold morning," he muttered, his breath fogging the air. No matter how many heaters they installed, the chill always found its way through. "It may be fitting," he thought. "Comfort wasn''t meant for people like him." "Three more years, only three more years." It was a mantra at this point, a number slowly growing closer. Was he ready, though? Did he ever deserve to leave? Shaking himself from the thought, he got up and started walking down the long corridor. The walls were rough, cold to the touch, and streaked with a faint feeling of water. This place could be underground for all he knew. They now used white LED lights throughout the complex, which messed up what time of day you thought it was, but that was just another part of being here.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Hunter sighed again. He walked up to the heavy door that led to the much larger room and stopped. He waited for the buzzing sound before the door slid out of the way. He stood there for a few moments before walking in, but on his first step, something happened. Did he start to feel warmth? "Yes," he thought as it sparked in his chest, a foreign sensation making him freeze. The warmth steadily increased until it seared through him like molten iron. His body convulsed, the flames tearing through him. All he could see were white flames. His eyes burned with smoke as his screams echoed back at him from the stone walls. His skin crackled, and a horrible smell of burning flesh engulfed him. He fell to the ground hard, barely feeling the floor below him. He heard screaming, laughing, and running, but only one thought entered his mind. "I deserved this. I had always deserved this." And yet, as he felt the fire consumed him, some small, defiant part of him whispered: "Not like this." Chapter 1 Integration Some people say they see a light when they come close to death. Others talk about glimpsing heaven. One guy even told him he met an angry, dwarf-like creature during a coma who warned him to change his life. None of that happened to him. Before he woke up, his mind was...empty, not in a bad way¡ªjust a vast, endless expanse where he didn¡¯t even seem to exist. Then, everything changed when he tried to open his eyes. Or at least, he thought he did. At first, thoughts trickled into his head, sluggish and sticky, like honey pouring from a jar. Every effort to think felt exhausting, like dragging a boulder uphill. But he could think. That much was certain. When he finally pried his eyes open, darkness greeted him¡ªan oppressive, suffocating void. He tried moving his arms, but they felt impossibly heavy, like submerged in thick molasses. Slowly, he forced them upward, each movement a monumental struggle. He contemplated going back to sleep; then, it would be over. Somehow, he knew that. A small part of his head told him he could just go back to that emptiness, go back, and be done with it all, and truthfully, he almost did. But as he was closing his eyes, something caught his attention. In the nearly complete darkness, he thought something was there, a dim light. Focusing his eyes in the direction of where the light had been took a lot of effort, but he pushed through by convincing himself he could go back to sleep afterward. Hunter waited moments for the light to reappear, but when nothing happened, he slowly pushed his arms out. Again, it was heavy as he reached out; he struggled, and then there it was again. A dim light filtered in. Inching his arms further allowed him to see more light, and he wasn''t just putting his arms up but pushing against something. A thick material was all around him, cocooning him. Hunter never liked tight spaces; this reminded him of how spiders would entrap their prey. His heart quickened at that thought, and he tried to focus on his breathing. He opened his mouth and took in long, measured breaths: In¡­Out¡­.In. It was even difficult to breathe, and something wasn''t right. The air was heavy as if breathing a liquid. A horrible thought passed his mind, and he moved his arms around again. To his horror, it seemed between him and the edge of the material was a liquid of some kind, and he was breathing it. Hunter''s heart pounded harder, and his breathing tried to quicken, but with the new realization, it only felt like he was choking; he started coughing out the liquid, only for it to be replaced by more. Panicking, he pushed hard and reached for the material again, desperate to rip it, but even with his arm fully stretched out, the cocoon was always just a fingertip out of touch. The coughing got worse; he was sputtering hard, and he could feel pressure in his chest; the walls felt like they were starting to crush him. Holding his breath, he pushed out with his legs as if on his tippy toes and reached above him; he could feel it now; the material was rough, and the liquid made it hard to latch on. Hunter felt the world slowly wobble and spin around him, and a loud ringing was in his ears. He started to feel weak. His mind wanted to give up. Then, he felt it. His right hand had a small pinch of the material. "I did it! I grabbed some," he thought. With all his might, he held on, pushing through the pain in his chest as he slowly reached over with his other hand. He felt like he would lose his grip on it at any moment. His left hand made it. He pulled the material slightly closer and got a proper hold with both hands. He couldn''t hold his breath for too much longer, and his arms felt weak. He didn''t care. Hunter found some energy reserve he didn''t know was there and pulled his arms apart as hard as possible. The material stretched. He pulled harder, desperate to not die someplace like this. As he pulled, more and more light gave way, and slowly, a small tear started to form. Then, almost like a balloon popping, the material popped. At that exact moment, the liquid around him made a loud, squelching sound as it slowly ran outwards, free from its balloon prison. Hunter''s world was instantly changed. The cocoon was replaced with a dark, jagged stone far above him, light filtering in from an opening far away. Finally, he tried to breathe, but his lungs felt full as if he had already taken a large breath. Then, his body tried to excise the air, leaving only liquid in his lungs, and he started coughing it up. The liquid didn''t want to leave, though. It slowly oozed out of Hunter''s nose and mouth as he continued to heave. Coughing repeatedly, Hunter felt his vision starting to darken. Something interesting happened then. The liquid was starting to lessen. Hunter''s air pipes were clear enough to let some oxygen in and keep him breathing. He continued to heave. His vision was clearer now, and he saw that nothing was being expelled anymore as he coughed. The heaviness in his chest continued lowering. His coughing subsided as he took short, shallow breaths, just thankful to be alive. His body told him it wasn''t happy with that whole charade by giving him a sharp pain and headache in his head; although he had the pain, his head felt clearer than ever. Happy to just sit there and regain himself, Hunter saw the liquid draining somewhere near him. He looked around for the drain, following the path of the liquid, which seemed to be right beneath him. Scooting out of the way, he was surprised to still feel so heavy, as if the liquid wanted to cling to him. He glanced back at the spot where he had been sitting, but the fluid was no longer draining there; instead, it still appeared to be pooling underneath him. Hesitantly Hunter tried to stand, it felt like he was trying to lift the ocean with him, and he immediately fell back to his butt. Then a realization struck him: He could now almost breathe fully. "I know that the body can remove liquids from the lungs, but it usually takes an immense amount of time, so does that mean I am absorbing this liquid?" he thought. Hunter felt curious at that thought and looked down. He saw his skin where he was sitting, almost shuddering. He hesitantly touched it; it felt like pudding under his skin. When he focused on his skin, which was absorbing it, he could feel pressure from the inside, like the liquid had to filter through his skin. A tingling sensation like static electricity followed anywhere the liquid was being absorbed. Now, without fear of death, Hunter could take a good look at himself. He was still hunched over, like when he played games on the TV. Hunter¡¯s skin was white as paper almost as if he had never been touched by the sun. He touched his right arm where the scar was; it had been a memory of what he had done. The rough scar, however, was gone, leaving only soft skin. Hunter dug in with his fingertips, feeling phantom pain from the memory. Shaking himself from the thought, he looked at the rest of himself. He looked lean. He hadn''t been in the best shape before but had considerable muscles. This new body seemed small, with no fat and no muscles. Reaching up, he felt his hair. It was long and about to become shoulder-length. He had never grown it out before, so it felt odd. He reached up and pulled on it, feeling a sharp pain for his efforts. Hunter brushed some hair to the front and looked at it. His new hair was a reddish brown. Brushing his hair back, he asked the room. "What is going on? " he heard someone say. His head flicked around, looking for where it came from. The only thing he spotted was his hair in his eyes. This made him realize again that the voice he had just heard came out of his mouth. Hunter froze, whispering to himself, "Hello, I am Hunter. This is my voice." His voice before was lower¡ªnot anything crazy, but it was pretty deep. This voice he heard, no, not heard, had spoken was a good bit higher. It didn''t sound feminine, but it was pretty high for a man. Hunter reached up and touched his face. Even that was different. The roundish face with the acne scars was gone, and left was a smooth diamond shape. Hunter felt alien in his own body, he could feel shivers of fear and anticipation of what that meant jolting through his body. "I must be dreaming." He again heard that foreign voice say. Hunter began to look over his body again with intrigue, only then realizing the bumps forming along his skin. The bumps were forming near where the liquid was getting absorbed and were slowly moving up to his chest. He poked one of the bumps; it felt soft, and the liquid gave way under his touch. He watched them move upwards in lines, getting closer to the top of his chest. Then he started to feel weird. His legs started to tingle as if they had fallen asleep. "Is this stuff absorbing me?!" he cried out as he tried to stand, but his legs wouldn''t even move. His arms started to feel numb. Hunter looked around, trying to find anything to use as a tourniquet. There was nothing but slick rocks. He started using his hands to press down and push the liquid down his body and hopefully out, but the liquid only seemed to be going quicker. Losing any kind of control over his spine, he fell over hard, hitting his head on the cold stone; his whole body was tingling, and he could feel the liquid crawling its way up his neck.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. "This is it," he stammered, "I should have stayed asleep." Hunter closed his eyes, clenching them shut. His jaw was starting to burn now; opening it to cry out made it pop in pain. The silent cave disappeared for him as a loud ringing became his world. As his ears ached, he felt his blood pulse through them, giving him a ping of heat and shock every few moments. Then, his eyes; he had pink eye before, and he''d experienced someone throwing alcohol in his face. This feeling was much the same; his eyes itched and burned in tandem. He was blinking rapidly, and with each blink, tears rolled out; he slowly saw his vision caving as his thoughts became slower until both his eyes and mind became dark. The pain was gone, his sight was gone, he could not feel anything, the only way he knew he was still alive was the loud ringing in his ears. It felt like he stayed that way forever, accompanied by a loud-pitched whine. A few times, he felt the start of a thought or what he thought was feeling coming back to him, but just as quickly as it had been there, it also vanished. Hunter didn''t know how much time had passed, but eventually, even the ringing left him, leaving behind his slowly aching mind. He could feel his brain working again like it had just woken up. The thoughts came slowly but deliberately. "I''m...alive?" "Where...am I." As expected, no one answered. Relief washed over him as he just enjoyed the feeling of being alive; however, as his mind continued to thaw, he saw something white appear in his vision. A white outline of a rectangle-like box appeared in the middle of his vision. Hunter tried to open his eyes, but with a shudder, he realized they were already open. He could not see anything else but the white box; however, it didn''t seem to illuminate the cave, so it didn''t seem to be really there. "Is this AR?" he asked himself. His vision slowly started adjusting, bringing into focus that there were words written on the white box they read. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Incorporation complete¡­starting system¡­ Complete¡­ ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª The white box disappeared and then reappeared with different words. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Stats: Inventory: Map: ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Hunter looked at this screen for a long time. "What is going on? Am I alive? Maybe this is a dream of a game I played." he looked over the options, confused. He stopped, allowing himself time to breath. Eventually, centering himself again he looked at the options. "Stats," he thought. "What stats?" Hunter heard an auditory buzz sound as the stat screen opened. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª- First-time integration¡­. measuring competencies¡­ Complete¡­ Hello Hunter, here is a breakdown of what your last life meant and how much of an impact you had on it¡­ ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª A giant list appeared before him, taking up all his vision. It started scrolling, not waiting for him to be ready. Hunter was still grappling with the whole situation but knew this may be important, so he muttered to himself, trying to focus on one thing at a time. "Silent but deadly level 6, Cleaning glasses level 7, Cooking level 3." All these skills were deemed worthless and categorized as "Useless," but he eventually reached skills classified as "Transferable skills." When he did, the page stopped scrolling, allowing him to scroll for himself. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Transferable skills Sloth: You were a part of the introverts; you liked staying home when all your friends were out doing actual stuff. Wait, did you even have friends? -1 agility. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª- Hunter mentally took a step back as he reread the message. "I had friends," he thought at the message, feeling the need to defend himself. "Also, why does that give me less agility?" The message didn''t respond. A new skill popped up next. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Daydreamer: Imagine a reality where you could only be if you were slightly better; this is you, a daydreamer. +1 wisdom and +1 intelligence. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª "Rude¡­" He thought and looked over the gains, trying to parse them, "Wisdom and intelligence, this feels like a game." A new skill again replaced the last. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Forgetful: this skill is for those who need to go grab a glass of water and then, on their way to the kitchen, start thinking about a dumb joke and ask themselves, "Why did I come in here again?" -1 luck. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª He shook his head at the skill. "Why are most of my skills bad?" he asked. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Hard worker: you showed a consistent effort to improve yourself. +1 to all stats, but luck. Good liar: How would someone be a good liar? Well, you may get this from telling white lies, or maybe you tricked others into allowing you to steal that promotion all your work friends were going for. +1 intelligence. Cat obsession: This is given to those who adore cats, but unlike normal people, you never got a cat of your own. Do you feel bad now that you will never get that chance? Creatures are slightly less likely to want to murder you. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª He found the last one odd, especially since it gave a Buff. "Is that the right word?" he asked himself. Eventually, a new screen replaced the rest. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª- Stats: Strength: 3+1=(Hard-worker) Durability: 4+1=(Hard-worker) Agility: 4+0=(-1 Sloth +1 Hard-worker) Intelligence: 6+3=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Good Liar +1 Daydreamer) Wisdom: 5+2(+1 Hard-worker +1 Daydreamer) Level 1 XP 0 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Hunter looked at the list, confused for a few moments. To him, this resembled many games he used to play, but his stat screen didn''t seem to show everything. He tried to think of the Forgetful stat, and it appeared again. Just like he thought -1 luck, but there were no mentions of it on the screen, he thought of the last one, cat obsession. It said something about creatures being less likely to harm him. Hunter always felt like his neck was on fire when he got stressed, and he was starting to feel like that now. ¡°Having a negative in luck may come back to hurt me; I guess that''s only if I had a low luck stat to begin with." To that extent, he tried to think back on his previous life. It wasn''t like he had ever won a raffle or a Powerball, but he never considered himself unlucky. Pushing those thoughts away, he looked at the bottom of the screen. "Level 1, at least I can increase my skills. If 5 is the average for skills, I''m a little behind, but I will have to work hard if it''s something like 10." Hunter''s vision, feeling, and hearing came back all at once, momentarily overwhelming and overstimulating him. He eventually got used to the cave''s smell, the cave floor''s coldness, and the sun shining on him again. "The sun?" he thought. It was so nice to see the sun; he hadn''t seen it in years. He smiled at the warm light radiating from what must have been the cave entrance and stood up. Or he tried to. A few things happened when he tried to stand up. First, he slipped, landing back on the cold stone. Second, the feeling of cold made him look down and realize he was naked. Lastly, a bar appeared in his vision, mostly filled with red, with the smallest chunk missing on the right. His mind played tennis, and with each court of his brain, he tried to decide what to think about. "I''m naked? A red bar? Why am I naked? The bar appeared when I fell. Is this a health bar?" The thoughts of the health bar won, and he stared at it; after what felt like a minute without it changing, he turned his attention back to his naked body. Again, he was surprised at this person''s scrawny build and white skin. He just sat there looking at himself for a few moments before scooting over to the side of the cave wall and pushing up with his legs and arms. He could feel the pressure of his form on each joint. His body lacked calluses, so each step on the uneven stones felt sharp. He slowly took each step while guiding himself along the wall with one hand. Following the light, Hunter had to squint as he approached the edge of the cave. He let his eyes adjust and then took in the view. He was in a cave on the side of a mountain. From his angle, rolling hills were below him, and to his far left was a vast forest. A gust of wind blew in the smell of pine and water from a river somewhere out of sight, the corresponding sound of wind greeting his ears; he sighed deeply; it was beautiful. The mountain looked like it was at a 35-degree angle, with old trees and boulders jutting out randomly. Sharp rocks dotted the side. Leaning out of the cave, Hunter looked up. He was about halfway up the mountain, and similar dangers were above him. He looked up and down a few times, trying to decide, but then he heard the first signs of life other than himself in this world: a bleat came from his left. "A goat?" he heard himself say, looking to his left. Sure enough, there was a goat. The goat had dirty brown fur, stood around three feet tall, and had horns that twisted in small circles until they came to impossible sharp points. He and the goat looked at each other as the goat chewed the cud. Only a few moments passed before he saw the goat swallow and turn its head upwards, letting out a high-pitched BLEAT! Covering his ears, he watched as the sound made the red bar in his vision go down another small chunk. The goat wasn''t done there. However, it narrowed its eyes and charged at Hunter; this charge was more of small hops as it found footing closer and closer to him, Hunter finally removed his hands from his ears and looked around again for anything; not seeing much, he was left with a choice. "Fight the goat barehanded, try and hide in the cave, or run." He chose to run. With his limited agility, he decided to try to go down the mountain at a side angle to his right. Hunter would step on a rock or piece of wood every few steps and see his red bar go down. He was surprised he didn''t feel any pain. He could feel a light pressure on his body, but it didn''t feel like pain; it felt more like an ache. Hunter kept running, eventually sparing a look behind him. He saw the goat gaining and kept running. His bar was at three-quarters now. "What happens if I run out? Do I just die?" He could hear the goat now; it was getting louder, and its four legs were finding much better traction than his. Hunter''s heart throbbed in his chest as he kept running, a new bar appearing, a green one. This one was already three-quarters gone. The goat was getting closer, The green bar only had a fifth left; he had to do something. A new sound itched at his ears, and he locked onto it like a lifeline, trying to find his way. Hunter ran with all his might towards the sound but wasn''t fast enough. He saw his red bar go from three-quarters to half in an instant. Hunter watched as the goat ran past him, some blood still on its horn. His back felt warm, and blood flowed. He watched his health bar lowering visibly as he lost blood; the goat was still running full speed, turning widely to come back for him. Without any more hesitation, Hunter ran right at it. He only had one chance; he counted himself down, 3¡­2¡­1¡­ Hunter put out his left arm to try and guide the goat''s horn out of his path, It worked, mostly. Hunter''s palm was slick with red blood, but his health bar hadn''t lowered too much, He clenched his fist and kept running, knowing the goat would be back. The sound was roaring now, and he knew he had to be getting close. The goat made another terrible bleating sound, and the earth seemed to tremble as it started racing toward him. He was only a few steps away. His green bar hit zero. It felt like he had run a marathon all at once. He felt aches in his whole body, his heart pounded even harder, and sweat poured down him quicker than rapids. Hunter pushed anyway, desperate to escape. His health bar started diving quickly with each step. He was so close. His health bar was only at a fifth The presence of the goat was gigantic behind him, and he knew it would only take moments before he was skewered. He reached the edge and fell. Everything slowed His body twisted as he fell, Hunter watched as the goat passed right over him. The goat now had glowing red eyes, and its brown fur glowed a light red underneath. He started to pick up speed, Hunter knew this was a stupid plan, but he had to do it. A light mist of water started lightly pattering at his body. Hunter watched his health bar lower as he fell, now only a tenth of what it was. "This might have been a bad idea." He thought right before he impacted the water. Chapter 2 Secrets of the river Back and forth, back and forth, the feeling of a light breeze blowing on his skin, the trees waving in the wind. Hunter had always enjoyed hammocks; they were therapeutic to him. Cracking his eyes open, he sat up quickly. "Where... am... I?" he sputtered, coughing up some water. Hunter found himself in shallow water. Sitting up left him up to his chest in it. The water was an underground river from side to side, about 12 feet across. The fresh, earthy scent of the cave and river momentarily enraptured Hunter. The flow where he found himself was slow and was rocking back and forth. The river he was in seemed to be in a cave valley combo; the walls were vertical for what must have been 30 feet, the walls curving to entomb the cave, and small holes from the surface poked through the rock, letting in beams of light, making the water sparkle. Hunter tried to blink away the weird site. "Why am I here? How did I get here? Why does my head feel like someone hit me with a baseball bat?" He raised a shaky hand to his head, trying to feel around for a bump or bruise; not finding it, he attempted to scour his memories further for why he was down here. The small amount of adrenaline his body was able to muster quickly ran out, and with that, the pain in his head changed from a dull headache to an ever-increasing tightness; somehow, his body was worse; it felt like someone had put him in a bag and hit him against anything near then pulled him out and compressed him in a vice. With a start, the memories all rushed back at once. Hunter immediately spun his head as if on a spindle, looking for the goat. Not finding it, he finally noticed a blinking light at the top of his vision. There, his health bar was blinking at what must have been less than a tenth of its original size. Hunter watched it closely and sighed. "At least my health has stopped going down." He felt behind him to where the goat had cut him, and the start of a scab was there protecting it. The headache worsened like someone was driving a spike through his eye; the pain was unbearable. He focused on it. And it all immediately subsided, and as soon as he did, it was replaced by a glowing screen in his vision. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª You have killed Slightly annoyed goat. 27xp earned Level up, now level 2 Level up, now level 3 You have gained an achievement; let me speed run death. Within 20 minutes of arriving here have your health go below 10%. Durability +2 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª After mentally clicking through the screens, Hunter felt a rush of pain and power, almost like the heat of a long workout on his bones; his mind felt tired and clearer simultaneously. Hunter mentally thought stats, and they appeared. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Stats: Strength: 5+1=(+1 Hard-worker) Durability: 6+1+2=(+1 Hard-worker +2 Achievements) Agility: 6+0=(-1 Sloth +1 Hard-worker) Intelligence: 8+3=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Good Liar +1 Daydreamer) Wisdom: 7+2=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Daydreamer) Level 3 XP 27 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Hunter looked down at his body. It didn''t look different, and he felt just as sore, but it felt different. He felt his skin, which seemed to feel tighter; it wasn''t bad. It just felt weird. "Can I really be changed by just a value on a screen?" Hunter asked. He didn''t like the idea of his strengths being a quantifiable value that could change at the whim of whatever controls this system. Shaking his head, he decided to change his focus to only the immediate concerns: "I''m alone in a cave with a river in it; there must be a way out somewhere, maybe a game trail that leads down here." Although he felt motivated to get up, his body felt stiff all over. He let out a loud "Uuuuuugghhh" as he stretched. Looking at each way the water moved, Hunter decided to follow where the water came from, hoping to find some path out. This proved difficult as the cave slowly narrowed the closer he got, and as it did so, so did the height and power the water had behind it. Hunter could spot the waterfall now. It came from an amazing height. The peak must have been 300 feet up; where he had fallen was easily over 150. "How did I survive that?" he wondered out loud. He continued toward it. The cave was getting even smaller now. The pressure was immense, so Hunter reached out, touching either side of the walls and using them as a brace. The water was past his shoulders but not quite at his neck. To progress forward, he had to brace his arms and push off like a runner from a starting line, making startling little progress. Even so, he was slowly inching his way closer as he continued repeating the process. Hunter got close enough to see where the water fell and hit the cave. He looked down through the churning water. The waterfall must have been here a long time since the plunge pool was massive; he couldn''t even see the bottom. With hope still somewhere in him, he looked around for any way to get out, but his heart only sank as he spotted nothing but slick, mossy rock. Then, one thing caught his eye: About halfway up, a rock was jutting out. The platform-like rock had what looked like brown moss draped over it. "That''s not moss; that''s the goat." "I''m lucky I missed that on my way down." Immediately after determining the figure was the goat, a screen appeared in his vision, scaring him. Hunter instinctively brought his arms in front of him to block the screen. This was a mistake, however, since without the brace of the sides, the water picked him up like a naughty toddler and quickly pushed him back down the tunnel. With the power of the water against him, it only took 30 seconds for him to lose the progress he had made over the last half hour. Not wanting to hurt himself any further, he stood up once he felt he was moving slowly enough to place his feet down without scraping them. This time, the water reached halfway up his chest. Sighing, he glanced at the screen, which had caused him to lose all his progress. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Dead body of slightly annoying goat spotted. Would you like to loot? ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Two small icons floated below the screen, one with the word YES and the other with NO. Hunter felt his inner gamer come out as he started getting excited. "I can loot enemies? That''s awesome." Then, he felt slightly saddened. "A goat can''t have much, though," he said, a slight disappointment in his tone, stopping himself from hesitating anymore. He selected YES, and a list with one item appeared. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Looted items: Goat skin shorts ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Hunter mentally clicked off the screen and waited for the shorts to appear. And waited. And waited. Eventually, a thought came to mind, and a smile played across his face. "I have an inventory?" Hunter then felt a small memory scratch at the back of his mind. It was a memory of how to use the inventory. What confused him was that he had never used it. The memory almost felt more like watching a video on how to do something without physically doing it. With some hesitation, he flexed the muscle he knew he had, and a new screen appeared. The layout was grid-like, with different menus and tabs on the left. Again, Hunter knew where to go and clicked armor. The goat skin shorts were categorized as armor; when he selected armor, they were the only option. The color matched that of the goat: brown and slightly dirty-looking. He mentally selected them, and they appeared in front of him. And dropped. The water started pulling his shorts away as if wanting to steal the one thing he owned. "Apparently, knowing how to use something doesn''t help me know how not to be stupid," he said, pushing through the water. He seemed to be losing progress on the shorts, but over time, as the water started going down, it felt like he was making progress. Eventually, with determination in his eyes and the shorts within reach, he grasped for them. Upon grabbing them, he wondered if he should have let them go. The shorts were waterlogged, heavy, and scratchy. He raised them to his eye level and examined them. They were, unsurprisingly, mostly made of Goat fur. What was odd was the thread and elastic waistband in them. "How did a goat give me this? Do goats sew?" He slipped them on, thinking it was better than walking around with nothing on. The inside of the shorts felt slightly itchy, but what he really hated were the tufts of four-inch fur hanging off. As he moved, it felt like something crawled on him. He frowned at the shorts. "At least they''re my size." With only one direction left, Hunter looked to the direction the water was flowing; the cave was steadily going downwards; he followed it, thankful for the holes in the ceiling giving him some light; as he walked, he was given the first time being alone with his thoughts. "I really am in another world, aren''t I?" he said. To Hunter, parts of This world felt foreign but also eerily similar, but how did he get here?If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Hunter tried to retrace his steps. "I remember waking up in my original world. I had been waiting for the door at the mess hall when I remember feeling like I was catching on fire." He looked down at his white arms, which were free of damage or burns. "Is this the effect of going crazy? Maybe my mind has finally broken; it would serve me right." His mood soured at that; it always soured when he thought of why he was sent there. "I still had three years; if I haven''t gone crazy, how is it fair that I don''t have to pay for what I''ve done." Feeling a sharp pain, he looked down at his arm; he had unconsciously been clawing into his arm where the scar had been, making a few dribbles of blood fall from it and into the water. For what must have been the millionth time, he wished he had done something, said something, but what could he do now? He could continue. Hunter distracted himself by focusing on placing each foot in front of the other. The walls finally seemed to stop getting larger, leaving his feet covered with water only a few inches above his ankle. He was able to walk almost unimpeded now and was making good time. The cave ceiling had started lowering now. The light from the periodic holes had also lessened. Now, looking ahead, it seemed that he had just passed the last hole, and the way ahead was bathed in darkness. There were a few things that Hunter didn''t like, such as tight spaces and the dark, and this cave slowly became both of them, but with no other way out, he pushed on. The change was immediate. The rock he was walking on, carved somewhat smooth from the water, gave way to smooth, almost slippery stone. Hunter froze when he took the first step; it was like stepping into a swimming pool. He looked down but couldn''t see anything, as the light was no more than a memory at this point. He reached down and touched it. Yeah, this was definitely manufactured. Hunter walked over to the side of the cave, which was made of much the same material. With an arm outstretched to the wall, he continued walking this way for what felt like forever. "This has to lead somewhere," he kept telling himself. He was starting to see dots appear in his vision from the pitch black and was thankful for something to put his arm against. Then he thought he saw something. Stopping, he stared hard at where the tunnel led; maybe it was his imagination. He continued walking for a moment when it happened again: a small yellow light flickered on, then strobing a few times as it dimmed to nothingness. Hunter froze. "What could be down here? Could it be something like the goat with glowing eyes?" Hunter''s mind and body wanted to run. "Run to where?" he kept asking himself. This did not elevate the growing pit in his stomach but did allow his shaky legs to move forward bit by bit. Another minute, another light. It was getting brighter as he approached, but he still couldn''t determine what it was. The light was bright enough to hurt his eyes each time it appeared. The yellow light hadn''t moved from the middle of the tunnel. Hunter felt a mix of excitement, curiosity, and worry building in his stomach as he continued watching it. Another minute passed as he got closer. The light appeared. This close, he could hear a light thrumming from it every time it pulsed. To him, it looked like it was hanging from the ceiling, suspended by something. Hunter was sure he could get under it by the next time the light appeared, so he continued walking. After another minute, the light appeared. He had overshot it by a few feet but was happy he wasn''t blinded as bad as the light glowed behind him. Turning around just as the first pulse disappeared, he watched as the yellow light created a small wave of light that moved out from it. About 7 feet from the thing, he was given almost no time to react as the warm light flowed over him. He looked over himself as another pulse appeared. Nothing seemed different. Hunter walked right under the device and reached for it. It was a few feet out of reach. Hunter jumped once, trying to reach it, and felt every bone in his body express its disinterest in doing that again. With his mind preoccupied with pain now, he continued walking, wondering if this was a good thing. "If this contraption is here, people might be here, too." A white light was slowly becoming visible at the cave''s far end. "The sun!" He exclaimed. His eyes slowly adjusted, showing him that it wasn''t the sun. The light came from what looked like a large glass dome at the top of a massive domed room, hundreds of feet in each direction. The dome had offshoots of light that traveled in lines from it in four directions, which led to smaller domes emitting white light. The room had a river flowing down the middle and two main sides. One was a forest-like side mainly made of trees and grass, and the other was lined with stone houses. Hunter wasn''t sure what he found weird about the houses until he got closer when it came to him. "The stone isn''t cut or stacked; it''s all one piece." The whole town was carved out of the stone all around them. As he got closer, he saw stone doors on hinges, stone windows, and spots for decorations carved right in. Then, with a start, he realized something was missing from this town¡ªthe sound. Aside from the burbling stream, it was silent. There was no scuffling of people, no cries or laughter, just silence. This suffocating silence worried Hunter more than the darkness. "Why would people just leave somewhere like this? Maybe this place is a last-chance bunker?" But as he walked to the closest house, he realized that wasn''t it. The door was left open, and peeking inside, he saw a perfectly set-up house. Without walking in, he pushed the door inwards, knocking on it. "Hello, anyone here?" he asked, feeling warmth radiated from the inside of the house. The enticing smell of fresh food seemed to entice him. "Is that bread?" Hunter spotted a table set for one. The table was huge¡ªit had to be 8 feet long¡ªand it was filled with fresh chicken, bread, and steamed potatoes. It smelled heavenly. Everything seemed set in the house like the person had left after cooking. Something felt off, and Hunter stepped back from the door. "Why would a town this silent and with no one around have fresh, still steaming food on the table? Also, who cooks that much for themselves?" Worried, he walked back to the river and continued walking inside it. The sound from the water soothed him somewhat. He came to another house, this one larger. It was a two-story house carved with flowing lines. The front door was left open a crack, but Hunter walked up to one of the windows carved out of the stone. Inside, the scene was very similar. The large home had a bed, kitchen, and table with food on it. This room was that much more odd to Hunter, however. "Who builds a house like this? Why is everything just one large room? Also, who eats alone in this type of house? Also, again, where are the people?" Looking back to his stream, he wondered if he should walk in, grab some food, and leave, but a chill ran down his spine when he turned his head back to the window. Hunter blinked once, twice. "No, it''s still there." The room had changed. He could still see everything, but everything had moved. The table was in its own room, now one with three chairs around it. The kitchen had an island that separated it from the rest of the house, and the bed was visible through an open door just past the kitchen. He stood there gawking for a few moments until he heard whispers coming from deep inside, the cacophony of voices all speaking as one. "Join us," they said, then said, "Aren''t you hungry? We are." Backing up, he held his breath, not daring to look away. He stepped ever slowly, ever silently away from the house. "What was that? Whatever that was, it can''t be good." Getting back to the river, he looked at the whole town. The whole thing felt weird to him, even without thinking about the house changing. He could see light through the windows of each home and inviting smells through cracked doors. Hunter decided to trust his instincts and leave. As he was nearing the edge of the town, he noticed a stick near the river''s edge. He picked it up and examined it. It was an honest-to-goodness stick, no trickery. Then, a thought came to him: a way to test whether the houses were safe. At the next house, he walked about 6 feet away from the window and threw it inside. Immediately as the stick passed through the window, the whole rock building shuddered. Waves of stone pulsed as the building closed in on itself like a fly trap, making a grinding, slurping noise. Hunter watched in awe and horror as the building caved in and lowered into the ground, becoming the same texture as the ground around it. "Nope," he said as he backed away and continued down the stream. Nearing the edge of the town, Hunter followed the river into the other cave. On his way there, he spotted another stick and added it to his arsenal of monster-finding gear. Wanting to get as far from this town as possible, he continued walking. It only took him a few minutes, but he eventually saw the yellow pulse of another glowing contraption. Hunter looked at it and passed by it without issue. Immediately after passing by it, he got a terrible pain in his head; it felt like someone was digging at the back of his skull with a jackhammer; he immediately let out a yelp of pain. "What is going on?" he wondered out loud. That was confirmation enough, and a screen popped up. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Achievement unlocked; they were so hungry. You found a mimic and escaped from it; you may have known it was a mimic; you may not have, but what matters is that it will be going hungry tonight. +1 luck Achievement unlocked. Prey. You were being hunted by more than twenty creatures at once, and you survived? Lovely, +1 intelligence +1 wisdom ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª "A mimic," he stammered; Hunter had found them in chests before in games but felt another wave of relief that he had felt something was off, or he would have, well, he would have been dead. "I don''t think I want to be here anymore," he thought, and then a realization hit him: "Why did he just earn that achievement? Was it because of the yellow glowing things? Was it because he got far enough away?" Knowing he wouldn''t get an answer, he trudged on more carefully than before. The bricks below him eventually turned back into regular cave stones, and he sighed, feeling somewhat safe again. The light was gone again, but he could live with it if he had his trusty stick. He had his right hand on the wall guiding him, and his left arm outstretched the stick in its grip. Eventually, the cave split. The only way he knew this was that the wall he had his hand on stopped abruptly. He followed it, and stairs lead back toward the direction of the town. Hunter could hear the water continuing downwards, but with the option of freedom, this was no choice at all. Hunter found himself quickly exhausted going up the stairs, but it felt familiar, and he craved that feeling right now. Eventually, that feeling was gone, as a small line in the walls started glowing. He looked behind him. The glowing line continued all the way to where the stairs met water. The stairs before him continued until they opened into a large room. He took a rest before cresting the top of the stairs and looking around. The space was empty. It was a large rectangle, approximately 100 feet by 30 feet. The ground was a lush carpet, which felt like heaven on his feet. The room''s carpet let off a dim glow, softly illuminating it and the wood that the walls and ceiling were made of. Each wall was decorated with moldings in an elaborate modern style, and pillars broke up the room. It looked out of place so far under the Earth. Hunter spotted another set of stairs on the other side. Upon reaching the stairs, Hunter sighed. "I guess it wasn''t meant to be." The stairs announced the end of the carpet. "Goodbye, beautiful room," he said longingly before walking upwards. The stairs curved back in on themselves and led to another room. This one was a lot different. The whole space was made of logs. It was as if someone had taken the sides of log cabins and smashed them together into some amalgamation of a room. As he passed the threshold, the pungent smell of pine invaded his nostrils. Hunter had always loved pines, but the strong, sudden smell worried him. Breaking up the rest of the room, four wooden pillars in each corner let out a soft light. "This room is odd. I wonder what is going on?" At the other end, another set of stairs led to yet another another room, seemingly odd in its unique way. This continued for three more rooms until he came to one which looked slightly different. Hunter audibly gasped upon seeing it. This room felt ripped out of a Roman church, similar in size to all the others before it. A path led down the middle. To each side were archways, with the light coming from the bulbs of beautiful blue roses blowing in a nonexistent wind. White arches led the way to the center, where a glowing cyan liquid lay suspended in midair. Bubbles floated around the liquid as it spun clockwise slowly; large flowing characters ran around the liquid cylinder in a circle. The language didn''t look like any language he had seen on Earth. The characters were made up of glowing lines and flowing dark carved points, making it look like light poured into the carved portions like liquid. Before he could stop himself, Hunter found himself reaching out to the liquid. A new feeling enraptured him. Hunter thought the feeling of the shorts was bad, but this was worse. His whole body, especially his back, itched immensely. Hunter groaned in surprise. The liquid reached for his arm, and the itchiness extended inside him. His lungs, stomach, and mind felt itchy. "Why is my mind itchy?" he exclaimed, trying to close his eyes to help with the sensation. He finally tried to pull his arm back but was pulled closer instead. The water engulfed him, entirely increasing the itchy meter. Even with his eyes closed, a light was now visible. A white amber light was increasing in intensity as his world became nothing but itchy. Chapter 3 Sooo cute Everything was gone¡ªthe itchiness, the pulling on his body. He stood there a moment, enraptured by the liquid, just breathing. He realized he had been wrong as Hunter entered what he thought was a liquid. It was as if he were walking through a dense fog with almost no resistance. Breathing wasn''t an issue either. A blinking red bar in Hunter''s vision grabbed his attention, and he momentarily panicked and rushed out of the fog. Focusing on the health bar, he was surprised to see it completely full and blinking while it slowly became transparent. It didn''t entirely disappear, but he could easily see through it and ignore its existence entirely. "This stuff healed me, " he muttered, stretching his muscles to test his mobility. His body felt light and agile, his mind felt clear, and even his legs no longer felt like they had been walking. "Did I just get drugged?" he asked himself. Looking down at his body, he first noticed the shorts. They now looked like a much lighter brown. His shorts looked clean and puffy. Hunter reached down and touched them. The shorts felt soft to his touch. "What exactly was that fog?" Turning around, he looked at the cylinder of fog. It continued to rotate and still looked as clear as ever. Next to the cylinder, he noticed his stick was lying there. He reached down and picked it up. With a thought, he pushed the stick into the liquid. The stick didn''t seem to react or change, but once he pulled it out, he noticed a small nub on the end, which seemed to have the smallest of roots growing out of it. Before he could test further, a pang of hunger gnawed at his stomach. Looking around the room, he only saw the blue roses emitting that soft light from their bulbs. "Can you eat roses? I think I can." He thought, walking over to the plants. He crouched down, looking at the roses. He was perplexed at the sight. First, the roses didn''t have any thorns that he could see. They also grew from individual stems and didn''t even have any extra peduncles, only a single stalk bare without leaves. Not feeling hungry enough to eat the slightly glowing roses, he stood up. "A last resort." He said to himself. Looking to the far side of the room, he walked to the stairs leading upwards. The stairs looped slowly back on themselves. To Hunter, each room was lined up as if it were layered on top of the other, almost like an underground skyscraper. Coming to the top of the stairs, he paused. This room had marble flooring and a single large carved pillar in the center. What made him pause, however, was a sleeping penguin. It was adorable. It lay on its back, its fat stomach lowering and raising with each breath. Hunter had a side he didn''t always show. He adored anything cute, not only cats. This penguin hit high on his cute meter. Stepping up the last few steps, he felt the change to the cold marble on his feet; Hunter didn''t think he was being loud, but the small penguin made a squeaking sound as it rolled over before getting up. "Sorry, buddy. Did I wake you?" He cooed at the tiny creature. Hunter thought that penguins would be bigger, but this one only seemed to be about one and a half feet tall. The creature flapped its small flippers against itself as it chirped until it spotted him. Upon seeing him, it froze as if out of fear. Hunter felt bad for disturbing the little guy''s sleep but tried talking to it to calm it down. "Don''t worry, I won''t hurt you. I''m just going to slip around you and go farther upstairs." With that, he completely stepped inside the room, which immediately changed the penguin''s attitude. The penguin let out a high-pitched bray, flapping its flippers against itself. Hunter thought it was cute and must have just been scared until its beak, only a few inches in size, opened up, expanding in size as it revealed razor-sharp teeth. The penguin let out a much louder, lower-tone chirp, the sound of which reverberated in Hunter''s chest. He froze, looking at the creature with apprehension. "Is that normal? I don''t think that is normal." Hunter backed up towards the stairs, hitting his back against something hard. Glancing around, nothing was there. He was still a few feet away from the wall, so he hadn''t hit it. Reaching behind him, he felt a hard surface invisible to the eye. Turning his full attention to it, he felt lower near the ground with his foot. Again, something was stopping him. To him, it seemed like there was a transparent wall right at the edge of the marble floor. A screech echoed behind him, and he spun in time to see the flightless bird flying toward him with its sharp beak open only a few feet from his face. He ducked to his left, his back still against the wall. "Did it just jump at me?" he asked himself as he stumbled backward. The bird hit the invisible wall hard, hitting face first; the penguin let out a pained squeak as it dropped and looked at him again. Hunter held his stick harder than ever in his hand, the only thing between him and the angry bird. It jumped at him again. Hunter dove to his left, the bird''s razor-sharp beak slicing the air just inches from his shoulder. Although he thought he dodged, the bird hit him with its wing as it passed. He could feel something snag his skin, and then it tore a rough wound just above his left elbow. Hunter cried out in pain as he reached over with his other hand. The blood was already rolling down his arm, dripping onto the floor. Hunter saw his health bar become opaque again and lower by twenty percent. "Why are you attacking me?" he yelled at the penguin. It didn''t answer, instead jumping at him again. Expecting it this time, he dodged right, trying to swing at it with his stick. The penguin and him both missed. The bird made some angry-sounding chirrups at him as they circled each other. Hunter tried to ignore the pain and focus on the fight. His health was now at three-quarters and lowering. The bird jumped, this time aiming for his face. He stepped forward while ducking. The penguin missed. It flew right above him, missing him by inches. Hunter spun, slashing the bird with his stick. The stick aimed true and hit the recovering bird''s face. It broke. The bird wobbled backward and away from him as a wound on its head opened. A dark blood flowed out, no more like a dark fog. The fog-like blood steamed from the wound, slowly evaporating into the air. Not allowed time to think, the bird did something different; its eyes glowed. Hunter froze, a slight pain reminding him of the goat''s eyes doing that before slashing him. The bird''s flippers, which he had been wondering if were sharp, grew visible two-inch barbs protruding from them. The penguin itself seemed to grow a few inches as its fur took on a light red glow. It screeched at him and jumped. It was aiming for his chest again. Hunter dodged to his right again, but with his focus on the bird in front of him, he realized he hadn''t dodged the right way, running into the invisible wall.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it He stumbled for a moment before his back was racked with pain as barbs gouged out flesh. Hunter fell to his knees as the bird jumped off him like a springboard. His back felt like it was on fire; blood was pooling below him, and his health bar was dropping below half quickly. "I have to do something." He said, remembering the room downstairs. With his stick in hand, he rushed the little monster. His heart raced, adrenaline rocketing through him. Hunter reached out with his already damaged left arm. The bird focused on the outstretched limb, slicing it repeatedly in midair. His arm still arrested its movement. With his other arm, he took it and the stick and jabbed it at its face. His aim stayed true. The stick went into its eye socket and kept going as if its skull was hollow. Black smoke shot from the wound. The monster seemed to dissolve as the black fog left its body, and then its skin dissolved into the smoke. Hunter felt relief, but just for a moment, breathing heavily, he looked down and watched as goblets of blood pooled from his arm and onto the ground. Screens appeared, demanding attention, but with panic in his chest, he suppressed them, getting a sharp pain in the back of his head. Adrenaline burst through his veins, making his mind work overtime as he tried to escape. "The way down," he muttered, turning toward the stairs, desperate to make it. Hunter felt so weak that his head wobbled as he walked. He reached the end of the marble floor, reaching out, but the invisible wall was not there. Getting to the first steps, he pressed his shoulder against the curving wall, sliding more than walking down the stairs. Reaching the bottom, he fell hard, blood starting to pool below him; Hunter tried to get up, but his legs wouldn''t listen. He could see the cylinder of fog now. "I''m so close; I can''t give up." Instead of getting up, he pushed with his legs and pulled the ground forward with his one good arm, counting as he got closer. "Only four or five more times." His vision was swimming now. Three more pushes. The edges of his vision were growing dark. Two more. His body felt weak and cold; it screamed for him to give in. One more. His legs completely stopped responding. He tried to pull himself forward, but his body wouldn''t budge. The world felt cold, so very cold. Stretching his arm out, he tried to reach for the cylinder. It was inches away. His health bar lowered past 5% Hunter''s arm slumped to the ground. "No," he thought, "I''m so close, I survived so far just to die here?" His body felt content with that, dying here. But he couldn''t, even if it was just so that he could make up for what he did on Earth, if even a small amount would make up for what he did to that family. With no energy, he released the pain in his head, the screens popping up. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª You have killed Cowird-minion of Vegesteria. 11 xp earned Level up, now level 4 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª The health bar he was watching seemed to regain a small chunk when the message popped up before starting to drain again. With the small amount of health bar, he could feel the smallest amount of potential energy and used it. This time, the blood below him seemed to lubricate his movement, and he was able to pull himself forward a few inches. He reached out and touched it. Nothing happened. "No." He thought. That was his only chance. Then, like a lightning strike, an immense amount of energy flowed into him all at once. His body felt compressed as the skin on his arm and back seemed to reach out for each other before becoming intensely itchy as they knitted themselves together. The pain was immense; his whole body started getting pulled into the fog. Then, as if all of that had been a dream, he opened his eyes. Everything felt great. He sat up, looking to where he had come, and the blood was gone. His mind flooded with adrenaline as his heart tried to race through his chest, "I-I-I''m f-fine." he stammered, trying to convince himself. Examining his body, Hunter noticed his arms shaking but looked fine. His back twitched as he thought of it, but he wasn''t in pain. Hunter found himself double-guessing if he might have just had a nightmare. A pain in his skull brought him back to the present, and he focused on it. Hunter couldn''t find it in himself to care anymore and just sat there breathing deeply. "What is going on? What was that penguin? Why was it trying to kill me?" Feeling his mind start to spiral, he tried to stop himself. "Hey, I got a new level." His voice sounded weak and fake even to himself. Instead, he decided to feed into his own curiosity. "Its eyes turned red like the goats did just before it changed. I swore the goat got faster when chasing me, and the penguin definitely changed. I wonder if it''s some kind of buff they can give themselves." Hunter then thought of the goat lying there on the slab of rock dead. "Why didn''t it disappear like the penguin." He was starting to feel slightly better, so he looked back at the kill notification. ¡°Minion of Vegesteria? What does that mean?" he wondered if someone out there was trying to kill him. "There''s Nothing I can do about that, " he thought, closing the screen; a new one appeared in its place. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Dead body of Cowird spotted. Would you like to loot? ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª The expected options of YES and NO, he mentally selected YES. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Looted items: Barbed bone ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Remembering he had to go to his inventory, he dismissed the screen and opened weapons. There it was, and he selected it with his arm outstretched. The bone fell into his hand. It was light, smooth, and fit in his palm perfectly. A barbed end about four inches long lay on one side, looking dangerously sharp. He sat up straight, remembering the damage this could cause. "I hope I don''t need this," he said, placing it beside him. Opening his stat sheet, he looked over it. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Stats: Strength: 5+1=(Hard-worker) Durability: 6+3=(Hard-worker +2 from achievements) Agility: 6+0=(-1 Sloth +1 Hard-worker) Intelligence: 8+4=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Good Liar +1 Daydreamer +1 Prey) Wisdom: 7+3=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Daydreamer +1 Prey) Allocatable points 5 Level 4 XP 38 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Hunter quickly looked it over: " Strength 5+1 from hard worker, durability 6+3 from hard worker and my achievements. Why have they not changed like the last time I leveled up?" Then, it caught his attention. "Allocatable points 5," he muttered. He was immediately confused: "Why didn''t it let me distribute them last time?" No answers came, but he decided not to dwell on it as he wondered what to put his points into. "Durability felt like it was making my skin harder, but it would be nice not to take as much damage. But agility, if you can dodge stuff fast, you don''t need to get hit." He even thought of strength, but with a glance at the razor-sharp barbed bone next to him, he disregarded that thought. "My intelligence and wisdom are already high, and I don''t know what they will really do, so I''ll put four into agility and one into durability. He selected them and felt his bones burn. Looking down, his skin almost crawled as his bones slightly shifted or became smaller. Standing up, he walked around. Everything felt more fluid. It felt like his body would respond quicker. Nodding at his decision, he started to get a grin on his face. "It really is like a game." He jumped up and down a few times, happy with his newfound agility, but then, spotting the barbed bone, his excitement and grin quickly dropped. "Even if it''s like a game, everything still hurts." Now more solemn, he thought about his situation. "I could go up again now that the floor is cleared, but there will probably be more monsters." He looked at his weapon. Hunter felt his hand shuddering at the thought of killing again. He didn''t like killing, but the memory of his torn and mangled arm was enough to convince him he needed to get stronger. He looked at the glowing cylinder of light, his lifeline in this place, and then at his arm, which didn''t even have a scar left on it, and spoke out loud. "I could go back to the cave, but this place is less scary than that town I went through; I''ll take my chances here instead of finding more of those. Resolute, he was about to head back up the stairs when a new and powerful pang of hunger struck him like a bolder. Looking at the roses, he grabbed his weapon and walked over. Sitting down, he leaned forward and smelled them. They all let off a light fragrant smell that seemed to calm his nerves. Reaching toward the roots, he cut one halfway up the stem and examined it. The light from the bulb flickered out after Hunter removed it, but even so, it radiated its beauty; the royal blue rose didn''t look like food, but Hunter couldn''t eat the penguin since it evaporated and didn''t have fire to cook it anyway. With one last check for barbs, he plucked a petal off and placed it on his tongue. His brows shot up. It was sweet, similar to the smell. A fresh, almost strawberry or grape taste surprised him. The texture was like eating salad greens, but the taste easily made up for that. Hunter continued eating the rose, even trying the hip and stem. They were slightly more bitter, but there was a nice flavor difference. Upon finishing his odd flowery dish, a screen popped up. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Blue flower consumed 1 XP gained ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Hunter''s jaw dropped. "I can eat these to gain more levels?" He looked around at the hundreds of flowers and thought: "If I can''t go upwards, how long will I be down here? Are there other people who come down here?" Then, a terrifying thought came to him. "If this is another world, are there even other people?" That was not something he wanted to consider, so after thinking, he cut another flower and ate it. As he ate, he thought, "I will only eat these to survive. The stems have a good amount of liquid, so I think I should be able to survive off these as long as I don''t eat them all. This will bring me to forty XP, so I should level up, too." Expectingly, he received the notification. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Blue flower consumed 1 XP gained ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Hunter waited, but no level-up notification came. "Oh yeah," he thought. "XP to each level usually increases." With something in his stomach, he decided to return upstairs and scout past the room where he had killed the penguin. Even walking up the flight was easier, and he had a grin again by the time he reached the top. The room was empty as he walked onto the marble. He was almost to the midway point when he heard small flippers on the smooth ground. With a start, he backed up, gripping his barbed bone with a death grip as a small penguin rounded the pillar. Chapter 4 Next steps Momentarily frozen, Hunter watched in horror as the fluffy Cowird waddled around the pillar. Every time its small flipper hit the ground, it made a slight chirping sound, and then, again, it spotted him. Sweat started pouring as feeling his back flare with forgotten pain. Hunter quickly looked down at his hand. "It''s still there," he thought as his hand gripped the barbed bone tighter. Again, Hunter found himself backing up to the invisible wall, but this time with the start of a plan. Hunter watched it screech loudly as its eyes glowed a burning red. The Cowird jumped. Hunter was ready and immediately side-hopped out of the way to his right. Like last time, the penguin ran face-first into the wall, letting out a grunt of pain. Hunter felt a grin inch across his face, giving him a twinge of schadenfreude. However, this feeling of glee was short-lived as he realized with his new power, he had dodged much farther than he had wanted. Initially trying to dodge just out of the way so he could slash after the Cowird''s attack, he found himself another foot farther, making him about half a foot too far. The Cowird, having regained itself, turned, chirruping loudly. It jumped. This time, Hunter tried to force his muscles to jump only slightly. The fear in his brain warred with his muscles as they both wanted different things. The Cowird was aiming for his face. Hunter ducked, simultaneously bringing his weapon up and trying to slash the bird. His aim was true, tearing its skin as a hole appeared in the Cowird''s belly. He tried to lunge forward towards the middle but caught a face full of dark smoke pouring out of the Cowird''s wound. He tried fanning it away, but the haze clung to his face, and then it hit him. The smell was horrible; the smoke smelled of death and rancid blood. Heaving, he stumbled around the pillar, giving him a moment''s reprieve. He coughed, expelling his flowery meal onto the clean-looking marble floor. Then he heard the flipper sounds again. "Here it comes." The haze had dissipated; Hunter breathed deeply, resetting himself. He backed up from the pillar until he felt the far wall behind him. The bird rounded the corner, It''s eyes weren''t red anymore, His mind raced to understand why that had changed, but before he could delve too far, the creature spotted him and screeched, its eyes returning to their blood color. Then the Cowird''s eyes flickered, slowly returning to normal. It looked enraged; the smoke still poured from its chest. It jumped! The jump was slower than expected. Hunter dodged too early. The Cowird, seeing it would miss, reoriented itself, leaping off the wall. Hunter slashed, but the bird was gone, having jumped back to the pillar in the middle. Hunter skirted along the wall as he watched the bird orient its flippers again to hit the pillar. Then it did something new, The Cowird used the pillar to orient and jump at him. Not having to gain height as it flew, it regained its speed. Hunter waited as the bird flew closer, "Just like dodging in souls games." He thought. "Dodge, what feels like late." His heart raced as he watched its sharp beak race toward him, and then, at the last moment, he moved quickly out of the way. His hair wooshed around him as the Cowird flew past him and into the wall. It hit hard, making a hollow crunching sound as its beak caved in on itself. Hunter grinned, stabbing at the momentarily stunned bird. He aimed at its head. The knife plunged in slowly as if stabbing into hard plastic. With his momentum, the blade continued, hitting its brain or whatever drove this monster. Again, as he pulled his weapon back, the inky fog flowed through this hole, starting the bird''s dissolving process. Relief burst through him as he slumped against the wall, taking in deep goblets of breath. "I feel like I just leveled up in real life. Agility is where it''s at." He muttered, "If a few skill points did this, I want to feel what''s it like to be at twenty." Almost as if called upon, notifications appeared. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª You have killed Cowird-minion of Vegesteria. 11 xp earned Level up, now level 5 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Again, he wondered about the minion of Vegesteria part. "This person, Vegesteria, they must have known that I went down the stairs; why didn''t they just send the birds after me?" He pondered that until he realized something: "I didn''t get any loot." Frowning, he looked around the room as if he might have dropped it. Not finding anything, he turned his mind back to the level he gained and looked at his stats. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Stats: Strength: 5+1=(Hard-worker) Durability: 7+3=(Hard-worker +2 from achievements) Agility: 10+0=(-1 Sloth +1 Hard-worker) Intelligence: 8+4=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Good Liar +1 Daydreamer +1 Prey) Wisdom: 7+3=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Daydreamer +1 Prey) Allocatable points 5 If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.Level 5 XP 51 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª "Yup, five more points," he thought. I could put more into agility; I want to get everything above ten points eventually." Pondering his options, he decided to try to get most of his stats close to ten, so he put 4 points into strength, bringing it to a total of ten, and one more into durability, bringing it to 11. This time, when he confirmed the additions, Hunter felt his muscles vibrate. He looked down concerned and instead found himself slack-jawed. "Are they growing?" The feeling eventually subsided, and he flexed his biceps. "They definitely grew!" He still looked stringy, but at least it was the start of something. Standing up, he reveled that even that felt easier, so he tried doing some test stabs in the air. His muscles responded, and he felt more power in the strikes. Hunter looked toward the stairs up. He desperately wanted to know what was higher. Was it another room like the healing room? Maybe it was another monster. He stopped at the threshold before walking out of the room. "The Cowird will probably appear again if I leave this room." Looking down at his undamaged skin, more confidence was building. "If I don''t like what I see up there, I can always return." Walking up the stairs, he was first caught off guard by the green glow that almost seemed to flow from the next floor. The room emanated a dark green hue, which felt suffocating. As he got closer, he felt a warmness in the air, as if it were muggy. Taking the last few steps, he examined the room. "Grass, so much grass." The floor, the walls, and, lastly, the ceiling were grass. It all was 4-5 inches long as if it was trimmed regularly. All the grass grew toward the center as if the sun was there. In the middle of the room, what looked like roots lay piled on each other like someone was pulling out a tree. Hunter looked for anything else in the room, but it was empty. The roots twitched, making a crinkling, snapping sound. Hunter watched them closely, noticing them lifting and falling as if whatever was in there was trying to get out. He considered his options: 1. He could walk in, and whatever was in the roots would come out to fight him; 2. He could return and fight the penguin again, a monster he already knew how to fight. Wanting to get stronger before taking on a new threat, he walked back down the stairs. Before taking the last step, he saw the penguin-looking monster sleeping in the middle of the room. The Cowird lay there sleeping, remembering the first time he had fought it. He wondered if the noise or his stepping into the room had woken it up. "How do I take advantage of this?" trying to devise a clever solution. Shrugging, he thought. "Sometimes the best method is the most straightforward." Coming to a decision, he padded up to the marble floor''s edge and knelt before sprinting in. Immediately, the bird''s head perked up, but he was already halfway there. It spotted him and finally rose, raising its beak towards the ceiling. It started to screech but was cut off by a kick in the ribs. It flew, striking the back wall. Hunter started placing down his foot, only then noticing the cuts up and down it. "In that small amount of time?" he asked himself, watching his health bar lose a tenth. Refocusing himself, he ran towards the recuperating animal. "I can''t let it screech," he thought. The monster again tried to lift its head upwards, letting out its battle cry. Hunter rushed, slashing across its midsection, releasing the dark fog. It''s eyes glowed. It jumped at him moments after he swung, aiming for his face. Realizing this too late, he tried to dodge; all of his muscles screamed as he told them to do the impossible; even so, he was able to inch enough out of the way to not get his face completely slashed. Instead, three minor cuts dug into his scalp. His health bar lowered to half. Hunter spun, blood flowing down his face, panicking him. "I need to finish this." He locked eyes with the Cowird, stumbling more than running toward it. Jumping again at his face, he lunged below it, slashing a giant gouge opening from its stomach. He immediately rolled to his right and out of the way of the smoke. The bird oriented itself and hit the wall feet first; it tried to jump off but only made it halfway to the pillar. It flopped onto its side, making a sad chirping sound. The sound clawed at his chest almost more than the pain; his mind again warred with having to kill these creatures. With one thought at the invisible barrier, Hunter pushed down his guilt, sputtering blood that had flowed into his mouth as he tried to speak. "Sorry, it''s you or me, and I will live." The blood from his head continued to flow down his brows, and no matter how often he wiped at it, the blood kept getting in his eyes, making his vision obscured and his eyes scratchy. "I''ll finish it quick." He told the bird, walking over to it slowly. Once above it, he reached up, aiming for its head with his barbed bone. It struck at him, clawing a line in his chest. Hunter let out a pained cry as he drove the weapon down and through its skull. He didn''t waste any time. Getting up, he glanced at his health. "Down to a fourth?!" he said, walking as fast as he could on his damaged leg to the stairs. With each step, blood flowed from his leg, head, and chest. He had his arms pressed against his chest and head, but the blood loss kept lowering his health further; now, enough blood had gotten in his eyes that he had a hard time seeing anything but red. Hunter stumbled at the last step, not knowing he had reached the bottom, and walked forward. It was easier than he thought to get to the healing fog. Stumbling in, the weight of the liquid rolled off him as it dissolved in the fog, making him feel physically lighter. He reveled in the itchiness returning, which now felt calming. He started feeling warmer as he stayed there, almost like a hot shower in his veins. Idly wondering if the healing fog would replace all the blood he had lost. Hunter, feeling better every moment, looked behind him at the trail of blood he had left. As he watched, his blood was evaporating into the floor. "So much. So much blood." Hunter felt his heart race, sweat beading his brow. "I''m going to die here. I would have already died if it wasn''t for this healing fog." His chest started to burn. Then, the large pools of blood started evaporating right before him, leaving a gray vapor to rise into the air before disappearing. This broke him from the start of a panic attack and left him frozen. He blinked at the sight, "Just like the monster." A pain in his head told him he could no longer ignore it, and he listened to it, the notifications appearing. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª You have killed Cowird-minion of Vegesteria. 11 xp earned Level up, now level 6 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Hunter felt a burn in his neck reappear, a wave of anxiousness rolling over him. "How long am I going to run? Am I running?" He thought himself spiraling, so he did the one thing he could. "I need to make a plan." He sat down, fiddling through his inventory and stats as he focused, speaking out loud to himself. "I always have a few options; I can always go back to the river; I don''t know if anything will try and kill me down there. If I stay here, there are things that I know want to kill me, but they seem to only fight me when I enter their territory. I have safety in this room for now, but if I follow the river, I can probably get a few levels from eating all the flowers in here." He continued like that for a while, messing around with his menus and knife, until he finally stopped and looked down at the weapon. "Three things, I need three things: to get stronger and to find armor or some way to defend myself better. I would love answers, but that will have to wait." After a long time, he finally decided on his course of action: He would stay and fight, at least until the flowers were all eaten. This area guaranteed his strength, and the enemies didn''t seem to switch up their tactics, so in theory, he would get better at fighting them the longer he fought them. Finally, Hunter decided to close all the screens he had been fidgeting with when he saw the screen he was on and felt dumb. In front of him was a 3D replica of where he had explored, from the cave he had started to the long river with the village. "The map." He said, "Why did I forget the map?" Hunter tried to pinch or move the 3D rendition, but it stayed focused on him. He then put down his arm and focused on moving it with his mind. On the edges of the map, he could spot the cave where he had awoken, the long river with the town and himself, and a glowing red dot in the center. He looked at the center of the map, trying to zoom in, and eventually, he found the right muscle in his brain and eye-twitch combo. The map slowly increased in size, but something was off. Hunter could see the start of the stairs and the room he was in, but the map didn''t show the rest of the stairs leading up or the two rooms above. Focusing on the area above him, he felt a tingle and shiver combo in his head. The map zoomed out on its own until an outline of a large area appeared with a few words in the middle that sent a chill down his spine. The outline area had the words. Vegesteria Smack dab in the middle, "So I''m in the territory of Vegesteria." He wondered. "That explains why they are called minions of Vegesteria. Am I allowed to be here then?" Hoping that the kingdom or town of Vegesteria wouldn''t get mad, he decided to stay here for now. "If someone really wanted him to leave, they should tell him." With a plan and newfound confidence, he allocated his skill points. Hunter felt agility had made the most significant change and was the one skill that saved him the most, so he decided to roll the die and put them all into agility, reaching 15. This time, his muscles burned with energy after he applied the change. It felt as if someone was pulling and compressing each bone and ligament, but he felt great afterward. The change didn''t feel as large as the last time he added 4 points, but it was still very noticeable. Getting up, he jumped side to side a few times, testing his new agility. Smiling, he looked upwards. "Time to grow stronger." Chapter 5 Root of my issues Socks, you can never find the second. Did it get lost in the washer, did you misplace it, or perhaps a boggart came in and stole it while you were sleeping? These deep philosophical questions plagued Hunter as he looked at his newest loot. Hunter had been fighting the Cowirds repeatedly, trying to get stronger, and he had inevitably gotten some loot. "Why only one?" he asked himself again, looking down at the boot, one of his two new armor pieces. He had gotten a left boot. It was a nice light brown, made of full-grain leather. It looked brand new, but he wasn''t about to walk around in a single boot. He placed the footwear in his inventory as he looked at the other; it was a vambrace. Again, the vambrace was on its own. It fit on Hunter''s right arm better than his left. It was matte silver in color and had interlocking segments leading all the way to the elbow. The metal was as light as aluminum, but when tested against the sharp beak of the Cowird in one of his fights, it hadn''t even sustained a dent, so it was many times stronger than any metal he knew. Hunter had just returned from his last fight when a new screen appeared. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Ability unlocked Amplify ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª "Amplify," he said to himself, playing around with the word. "If this increases my abilities, I''ll be invincible." Hunter liked the idea of this new ability but needed to find out what it did, so he did what any sane person would do. Hunter stood up and held his hands out in the most menacing look he could muster, then yelled, "AMPLIFY!" Nothing happened. A few more moments of nothing happening, and even he felt his face grow warm at trying that. "It was worth a try." He consoled himself. He tried a different method, saying it in his mind this time. Again, nothing happened. "Let''s think this through." He said out loud, "If I have gotten this ability from my fights with the Cowirds, maybe it''s a fighting ability." Hunter looked down at his barbed bone lying on the ground. Picking it up he again tried to mentally will his ability to manifest. To his surprise, it did. His weapon, which had been the size of a dagger, shook as it grew. Each part of it expanded, even the grip. It took only a few seconds until it stopped, and when it did, the barbed bone had grown to the size of a short sword. It now looked wicked, almost like a sharp tooth pulled from a dinosaur''s mouth. He gave his new weapon a few test swings. It was easy to swing but had a good amount of weight behind it. Then something caught his attention. A new blue bar appeared in his vision, this one slowly lowering. "Blue?" he wondered, looking at his weapon. He placed the weapon down, and it started shrinking again. His new bar immediately started increasing again. "Not a cool down, then," he muttered. Picking the weapon up, he reactivated the ability. Suddenly, the bone grew again before his blue bar started lowering simultaneously. This time, he waited until the bar ran out. At that point, his weapon shrunk back to its dagger state. "Weird." He said, happy to have a better weapon in his arsenal. Hunter took in his work from the last few days. "Weeks?" Time was starting to blur for him. Now, only three-quarters of the roses were left. He had gained 24 xp just from eating them, and even though they tasted good, he was getting a little sick of the lack of variety. This made his mind wonder, "How many skill points have I gotten since I decided to stay and fight?" the amount of xp for fighting the Cowirds had started going down by two every four he had fought; that was part of why he decided to stop grinding for now, but in total, he had gained about 130 xp. Hunter had gained six levels, earning him thirty points to allocate. He placed eight into strength, durability, and agility. Although Hunter didn''t know what intelligence or wisdom did yet, he didn''t want to leave them in the dust, so he placed four into wisdom and two into intelligence. Hunter could see the difference in his body and in his fights with the Cowirds. His body was starting to put on some real muscle, and he could move much quicker than he had ever been able to on Earth. Even when he was hit by the Cowird, the wounds were much more minor and never life-threatening. Feeling accomplished, he pulled up his stats. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Stats: Strength: 17+1=(Hard-worker) Durability: 16+3=(Hard-worker +2 from achievements) Agility: 18+0=(-1 Sloth +1 Hard-worker) Intelligence: 10+4=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Good Liar +1 Daydreamer +1 Prey) Wisdom: 11+3=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Daydreamer +1 Prey) Level 12 XP 194 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Hunter was also starting to feel more adept at using his weapon. If he was honest with himself, unless he was goofing around, he could easily kill the Cowirds without taking any hits. He felt a rush of excitement at that; he was ready. He walked up to the room he had gotten to know so well, the marble floor, every inch having been splattered with his blood in the last few days. This time, the Cowird was waiting in the middle, staring at him with its dark, beady eyes. Hunter stared back, activating his new skill and walking in. He even waited for it to lift its head into the air and screech, activating its blood-red eyes. The Cowird jumped. Hunter didn''t even dodge. Instead, he stepped forward, catching the bird''s beak on his glove, momentarily stunning it. Then, with one swing, he sliced its head in half, killing it. The expected notification appeared. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª You have killed Cowird-minion of Vegesteria. 3 xp earned ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Frowning, he looked at it. As well as the xp going down, the xp between levels was increasing. Unless he found new monsters to fight, he wouldn''t be leveling up anytime soon. Hunter felt another rush of energy as he looked towards the next flight of stairs. He was definitely over-prepared, but now there was no way he could lose. Walking up, he was hit by the warm air like a wall and momentarily froze. It reminded him of home, always knowing if the weather said it would be 90 degrees to expect it to feel like 100. The longing he felt for that familiar mugginess was odd. He had hated it, but somehow, it made him long for it all the same. That feeling was short-lived, however, as he again spotted the quivering pile of roots in the middle of the floor. Hunter looked down at the grass. There was no wind, so it just stood there undisturbed. He stepped inside the room''s boundary, reactivating his ability and laser-focused on the roots. "If it''s stuck, I might be able to kill it without fighting," he thought, slowly making his way up to the root bundle. Then, standing above the root pile, it exploded. Hunter was thrown back hard against the invisible wall. Even with his new durability, he felt his back crack as he slid down it. He groaned, pushing against the wall with his arm as he got up. "What was that?" he questioned, looking back at the roots. To his surprise, the animal inside hadn''t broken out; in fact, he doubted there was ever an animal inside. Instead, the roots had unfolded into a stringy mess of branches waving in each direction. The center that they had been curled in on was a lush pink flour reminiscence of a lily, only it was streaming green mucus. Hunter watched the flailing appendages, trying to see a pattern or way of attacking. They didn''t look pleasant to be hit by and were slicing through the air fast enough to make a light whistling sound. With no way out and the blue meter ever decreasing, he started making his way forward. The flower''s attack had no apparent pattern or method; it almost looked like the plant had no way of knowing where he was. Even so, he got just within the flower''s striking distance and waited. Bam. A root struck his side hard, not hard enough to throw him this time but enough to leave a nasty welt that just broke the skin. Hunter gritted his teeth, trying to get ready for the next attack. This one came from below, aiming for something that would have definitely put him out of the battle; his body responded faster than ever, his sword coming down and slicing through the root, Hunter waited, trying to see a reaction from either the plant or the root. There was none; the root just lay there, and the now shorter appendage on the flower continued waving wildly. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.He took another hesitant step forward. Two roots came at him, one aiming for his leg and the other his head. He struck at the one above him, slicing it in two; Hunter gritted his teeth to prepare for the second. It hit, striking his leg just above the knee and making his leg partially buckle. He groaned in pain, pushing back up as he prepared for another attack. Another one, this one aimed at his head, Ducking, he sliced sideways above him, slashing it. Another two these aimed for his head and side. He stepped back just out of the reach of the one going for his head and cut the one aiming for his side. He was only three steps away. One he didn''t see hit his chest directly, kicking the air from him. Wheezing and through watered eyes, he sliced through another root. Two more. Two at once again, both were aiming for the same leg. He sliced through both. One more. Three roots came at him, one at his chest again, one to his side, and since he was close enough, one looped around toward his back. He sliced through the one at his chest and continued his momentum to the one going for his side. The one at his back hit. His bare back erupted with pain as it hit right under his shoulder blade. He cried out in pain as his hand almost let go of his sword. However, the hit inched him closer, and he took a half step, prepared to kill this flower. With his blue meter empty, his sword shrank back to a dagger. "No!" he screamed and lunged anyway. This close, with a small blade, he had to get right above it, and as he did, he was pelted with roots. The pain of a million strikes riddled him as he struck, plunging the blade into the flower''s stem, The flower continued, turning his body into a pi?ata. He used the green mucus as a lubricant, twisting his knife repeatedly and cutting it from its base. The roots finally ran limp. Hunter slumped down onto the grass, letting it catch him. Everything stung, Hunter was brought up by a very strict dad, but even his beatings didn''t compare to the state his body was in. Raising an arm, it was riddled with bruises and lacerations, blood slowly flowing from purple skin. His back was on fire; he could feel some blood flowing into the grass even as his bones twitched. Finally, he released the pressure in his head, and a notification appeared. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª You have killed plink-minion of Vegesteria. 15 xp earned ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª "Still no level up," he muttered, wiping away some tears, "Damn, that was much worse than I expected. Should I go back down?" He felt empty at the thought¡ªall that effort to make it here, and he could barely fight this plant. He looked at his red bar, "still four-fifths full. No, my health is still high." He felt the need to push on. He would see what was on the next floor. If he didn''t like it, then he could turn back. Even though he was ready to go to the next floor, his body screamed for him to wait. He was tired. "Tired?" he thought. Now that he thought of it, he hadn''t slept since... while Hunter hadn''t slept since he got here. "Is it because of this body, or is it another thing the healing fog does?" Still in pain, he pushed himself up to a standing position. "The sooner I get this done, the sooner I get healed." The flower was already turning into dark smoke, significantly more than the Cowird. For only a second, he wondered if the smoke smelled the same, but he stopped himself from testing at the last moment. "Not worth it." He muttered, plugging his nose as he walked past. The feeling of mugginess suddenly disappearing as he walked upwards again surprised him. "It''s almost like a greenhouse, "he thought," just without any doors to hold the heat and humidity in." A wave of dread and fear suddenly hit him like a truck, and he stumbled. Having to brace against the wall, Hunter looked around wildly to see why he felt like that. "Am I being attacked?" But no. As Hunter searched for the reason behind his sudden mood swing, he found an emptiness that had been building since he arrived at that last floor. "That room feels like home." He hated the mugginess, but it had always been a part of his life, and this room had brought a feeling of safety back to him for a few moments until it ripped it away just as quickly. Sitting down, he thought about what he left behind. "I wonder what their reactions were when I disappeared?" Hunter knew his family probably couldn''t care less that he disappeared; in fact, they may have been delighted. "Some parents they were," he muttered before stopping himself. No, as bad as they were, I would have never met my friends if I wasn''t royally messed up." He stopped himself from spiraling further. What he would miss was his friends; they were always with him. He and his friends had some of the craziest and, funnily enough, most sobering experiences ever. They understood him. They were his family. "I might be able to find a way back, " he said halfheartedly, but the lone thought of seeing his friends again was enough to push him to his feet. His friends deserved his best, even if it would fail in the end. Cresting the stairs, he looked into the next room. Brown, so much brown. Where the last room was bright, humid, and clean; this one was dark, cold, and dirty. Literally, multi-foot-long large spheres of dirt covered the room, and not only that, but the spheres also hovered mid-air. Each side of the room was dirt; there were small pathways he could squeeze through with about a foot to spare, but not without being surrounded by the dirt spheres. The room was dark, but it was more of a dim light than pitch black. Hunter looked for where the light came from but couldn''t see anything. He looked down for his shadow so he could try to guess a direction, but he had none, not even the smallest bit. He held a cupped hand to his face, trying to see any darkness. In the cupped hand, the air lit up the inside as if it were the light source. "How does that work?" he asked himself. Hunter needed to write down all these questions so he could ask someone. Then, a reflection caught his eye. It was only there for an instant, then gone. He looked toward the center of the room, where he thought he saw it. Nothing, no sound, no movement. Hunter walked closer. Nothing. Hunter put his first foot onto the dirt. He knew that unless his whole body went in, the monsters wouldn''t attack. That was when his foot slipped through the dirt and kept going, slurping as he fell into the mud. Everything smelled of Earth as he pulled his head back inches. It also tasted like Earth. Hunter spat out some rogue mud that had found its way into his mouth. "Gross," he thought. A reverberating feeling came from the mud; he could hear something in his bones. His bones vibrated with the sound, almost as if his skeleton were a tuning fork. His teeth rattled as he kept trying to find purchase in the slippery muck. Eventually, he found footing and stood up slowly; the vibrating stopped. A flash of silver appeared between two of the spheres. By the time he looked, it was gone. The sound appeared again, and his bones started vibrating. The amount they were vibrating was increasing. Hunter felt a primal fear; it was getting closer. He backed up, trying to at least have his back to the invisible wall. His foot hit the back. He stopped looking for any movement in front of him. His bones were starting to hurt as the noise increased. With a flash of silver to his left, he activated his ability. Another flash was only a few feet to his right. He gripped his sword harder. The vibrating almost made his brain feel numb. A flash in the mud to his left. He focused. The sound disappeared. Silence. The mud was perfectly still. His heart entered his throat as it pounded. More silence. A flash of silver was before him as jaws opened wide, aimed at his face. Hunter tried to bring his sword up, but it was too close. Multiple rows of teeth flew toward him, making a low vibrating sound. He was able to get his vambrace in front of him. The teeth latched onto his armor, making a reoccurring scratching, rumbling sound as they moved like a chainsaw, trying to tear it apart. The creature looked like a worm, only if it was five feet long, had silvery skin, and had teeth from hell itself. The monster had black eyes rounding its round head. Hunter jabbed his hand at its eyes, hoping that what worked for sharks would work here. His hand dug into its eye socket, causing its teeth to vibrate more and the screeching on his vambrace to reach a new crescendo. He pulled the wet flesh as hard as possible, causing a dark liquid to flow from its eye. The monster recoiled, releasing a low warbling that shook Hunter''s bones. It slunk back into the mud. Hunter quickly examined his vambrace. It had minor scratches, but the monster''s maw, however mighty, could not dent it. Hunter refocused, looking straight, using his peripheral vision to catch any movement. A flash to his left. "Let it get closer." He told himself. The vibrating returned. The vibrating to his right. "Don''t trust it, it could be a trick." Louder than even last time, the vibrating almost made his brain turn into pudding. Gone, the sound disappeared. He waited. The flash of silver right in front again. It had breached the mud and was flying right at him. He brought his sword up lightning quick. This time, he was quick enough. One hand over the other, he braced. The monster bit down on his blade, this time making a rough grinding sound as its whole body weight from the jump pressed upon him. Hunter leaned back with the strike, wanting to use the invisible wall to brace himself, but he fell right through it. He, his sword, and the monster attached to it flew out of the mud and down the first few steps of the stairs. Hunter groaned as his back hit the hard wall, knocking a little air out. The monster out of the mud was still powerful. It held its jaw on the blade and jerked around like a dog with its toy. He brought up his other hand again and started striking the open wound, causing the flow of dark blood to become a river. The smell enraptured him, worse than the smoke. This blood smelled of an outhouse and burnt flesh. Even so, he continued relentlessly clawing at the beast''s face, its focus still on his blade. His eyes burned with the smell. Then, finally, silence as the monster''s body went limp. With almost nothing left to give, Hunter pushed the monster''s weight off him, looking at the blinking blue bar. It was almost entirely empty. Hunter had nearly run out of time again, not having the energy. His health bar had gone down to half just from that fight. He could feel the scabs that had started to heal, freshly opened again and pouring blood. He let his mind release its frayed hold on the notification, and it appeared. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª You have killed Metal cestoda. 23 xp earned Level up, now level 13 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Still focused on his health bar, Hunter watched it rise a small chunk, bringing him a small amount of relief. "Finally, another level." Hunter quickly put three points into agility and two into strength. "I need more speed, and if I''m going to fight in this mud, I need more strength." This brought both of them to or above twenty. He sighed, feeling the rush of the stat gain on his body. It wasn''t as great, but it still made him smile every time. Then his smile dropped. Why didn''t the invisible wall stop him? Hadn''t he felt it? Grunting, he got up and walked back over to the side of the mud pit. Looking down, the pit had a two-and-a-half-foot drop, and the sides were the same material as the floor, "So I felt the edge of the mud pool with my foot." "And I thought I was invincible." He laughed at his own ignorance. "Funny how the world puts you in your place." He was about to clear the notification when he noticed something¡ªno, the lack of something. "Not a minion of Vegesteria?" He looked at the room and then at the metal cestoda''s body, which was still there. He wasn''t sure when it started, but the room was slowly falling apart. The mud was turning a lighter gray, and the room felt brighter. Hunter felt a chill at the worm''s not disappearing, the lack of shadows, and the worm not being a minion. He hated not knowing what was happening, and all he knew at this moment was that this room didn''t play by the same rules as the others, so he didn''t want to stay. He walked past the worm on his way downstairs. He sat down when he reached the last step, waiting for his blue bar to refill. As he sat there, he took a minute to wipe off some mud that was still clinging to him. In the mugginess again, his mind returned to his time on Earth. "I even miss the traffic; that''s how you know I''m losing it." His bar refilled before long, and he turned his attention to the middle of the room. There it was again, the plink. "At least this one plays by the rules," he said, standing up and walking toward it. Chapter 6 The fools errand Kyle was in a bad mood. He had gotten an order, and he hated orders. "Why can''t they do this errand themselves? He was being sent out on a fetch quest. He had been sent out on quests like this before but had always failed them. "And they dared to rub my failures in my face!" The council had grudgingly decided to send him on this mission. They even said the only reason was that no one else was available. Then, they reiterated how important the mission was. Even days later, he felt a flare of anger: "Stuck up, bastards!" Kyle was confident in his abilities. Towering at 6''6" with shoulders that could block a doorway, Kyle''s hulking frame was as intimidating as his scowl. "much more of a man than those people who just sit on the council," he thought. His hair was long and black, and, like his father, he had black eyes. On the way to their destination a grim thought crossed his mind as Kyle glanced back to count heads. "I won''t mind losing some of them," he thought. They had stuck him with three researchers to top things off, saying they would "Give a different perspective." He just wanted to finish this quest and rid himself of them. At least the other six were reliable, following orders without question. Kyle had handpicked 6 men he knew could hold their own in battle. Of course, they were not as good as him, but what can you do? That was a high bar to meet. "Finally," he muttered. After about a week of traveling, the large forest had opened up to the dark entrance, which was their goal. Again, he questioned this "technology" that the researcher''s guild had made. After all, it pointed inside. "I guess we''ll be hauling back some scrap if even that is left." "Set a camp up!" he barked. "We will go inside at first light." He glared at the researchers, their heads buried in their notebooks. "Useless." As dawn broke, so did an apparent surge of stupidity. "For the last time, no," Kyle snapped. "I''m the one in charge, and I''m not getting chewed out because you got yourselves killed." "Do you really think I want to go into a dungeon with you? Trust me, I''d rather be in a lab, but the guild expects results." The man was 5 foot 9 inches with flaming red hair and an equally impressive scowl. Kyle usually didn''t care to remember researchers'' names, but this one had been a thorn in his side since the start. "Ezra," Kyle grunted, his patience thinning. "If you go in there with us, you will protect yourselves. Do I make myself clear?" Ezra snorted, the word ¡°Crystal¡± dripping with sarcasm as he locked eyes with Kyle. No dungeon was a place to play bodyguard, least of all this one. Much stronger adventurers than Kyle had lost their lives here, and that was because this dungeon was different. "Of course, it had to be this one," he muttered, feeling his stomach tighten. Kyle and the researchers knew everything about this dungeon, yet they insisted on halting progress to document every last detail. After several grueling floors, they stepped into a dark, damp chamber. Rough stone lined the walls like a cave, and the smell of mildew was pervasive. Kyle let Ezra and the researchers lead, trying to teach them a lesson. The researchers crossed the room''s boundary, and immediately, a high-pitched humming started reverberating around the room. Ezra, whose face was halfway in his notebook, looked up, "Did I wander into the room?" A high pitched whine started coming from ahead of them. A chill ran down Ezra¡¯s spine as his hair stood on end. He turned slowly, eyes darting to find the source of the sound. There was nothing; the room was just shadows. Then he saw a beam of light streaking erratically around the room, making the direction of the noise impossible to follow. "A Fay," Ezra muttered, straining to follow its quick movements. This creature wasn''t too dangerous, not at first. It would slowly increase the pitch of its sound until it made its prey faint before feasting. "Not this time," Ezra muttered. Though new to expeditions, he had invested heavily in his survival, unwilling to leave anything to chance. He looked in his inventory. "Got it." He grabbed the small device and activated it. Kyle enjoyed the squirming researchers. He would step in before they got eaten. "Maybe just a small nibble first," he thought with a quiet chuckle. Then, Ezra did something unexpected. He started glowing. It looked like his skin was as bright as the sun. Kyle''s gaze dropped to Ezra''s hand. "Of course," he spat. "A protective shield." Ezra pressed the small stone, which pulsed briefly before his entire body lit up. A shimmering circle, five feet in diameter, expanded slowly outward from him. Looking around, he tried to spot the other two researchers. They were huddled in a corner, tears streaming down their faces. "Get in here!" He screamed, his voice cutting through their panic. They latched onto his voice and ran, almost bowling him over as they entered the safe space. "Where''s Kyle?" Ezra muttered, looking behind them and spotting him scowling just beyond the room''s boundary. Anger flared within him. "Happy now? Then help us or the guild leader will hear about this." Ezra watched as Kyle grunted and tapped the air, summoning his lance without even bothering to don his armor. Then, he saw him almost lethargically step into the boundary and stab with his lance. With one flick, the light beam froze at the end of the sharp point. The little creature was made of light and crystal. It cracked and then shattered into dark smoke. Ezra deactivated his shield. "If I didn''t need this promotion, then I wouldn''t be here," he looked down at the other two researchers who had insisted on going along. "Some learning experience this is." He sighed a long, suffering breath before following behind Kyle.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. On the next floor, Kyle''s lips curled into a rare smirk. "This is more like it, a Worril." The creature in this room was a wolf-like creature but red. It had a pair of grotesque arms sticking from its sides. Each hand was raised skyward and had what looked like beating hearts grasped in its fingers. Kyle looked back at the others as he walked closer. "This one is all mine. Don''t interfere." Kyle mentally went into his inventory and selected his armor, which he never wore until it was time for battle. He didn''t really need it; the armor was just there to help stop the pain. The armor matched the Worril''s bright red color, each piece large enough to cover his whole body. He held a large shield that rested on the ground with his left arm, and as he thought it, a five-foot lance dropped into his right. Even though he was a tank, Kyle knew he could finish something like this. Without hesitation, he discarded his shield and charged at the creature. Kyle, crossing the boundary line to the room, made the creature react by raising its two arms higher into the air; one of the hearts started leaking a dark cloud around its body, and the other created a swirling dark energy manifesting into the shape of a spike. "So, you''ve got a shield, huh?" Kyle shouted, driving his lance into it. A fissure ran across the dark shield. The Worril unleashed its second spell, The dark spike shot toward Kyle''s chest, its edges glinting with deadly intent. It hit. And shattered into countless fragments that dissolved into the shadows around them. A grin spread wider across Kyle''s face. "That''s all you''ve got?" Kyle roared, driving his lance forward. This time, the shield completely shattered, and the lance, with its momentum, continued into the heart that had created the shield. The Worril emitted a guttural, grinding shriek as its remaining arm glowed with swirling red-black energy. Kyle''s eyes narrowed at the glowing heart. Without hesitation, he snatched it with his free hand. "Not today," he growled, gripping the pulsing organ. It throbbed warmly, syncing with the beat of his own heart. He squeezed. At first, it felt like the heart resisted, but all at once, it exploded into dark smoke. The Worril growled. Then lunged. Kyle''s grin widened. With a single motion, he caught the lunging Worril in midair, impaled it on his lance, and slammed it into the stone floor. The Worril let out a yelp as it tried to lift its body and failed. Then Kyle started punching it, releasing small amounts of black smoke until it finally dissolved into nothing. Kyle put away his weapon and armor, turning to his group with a smug grin. "All done, you can follow now." He was happy to see Ezra''s mortified look. "All muscle, no brains," Ezra thought, biting back the words. The brutal display drove home just how far adventuring was from the meticulous world of research. He hadn''t wanted to come along, but his boss, the head of the researchers'' guild, had asked him to. "Did he know that Kyle was this volatile?" he wondered. "In the end, it doesn''t matter," Ezra thought. We will find the anomaly this time. I hope it survived." For as long as Ezra could remember, his guild had hunted anomalies. These strange remnants of the past held the key to lost technologies, many of which they''d already reverse-engineered into groundbreaking advancements. "If we can prove the Augor''s Lens works, we''ll push the world into a new era," Ezra murmured, glancing at Kyle. "Assuming he doesn''t destroy it first." Ezra studied his map. The anomaly was marked five hundred feet below, "five floors down." The dungeon ended after three floors. Unease crept into his thoughts. Where could it be? Glancing at the boss, Ezra saw Kyle and his soldiers locked in combat with a monstrous, skeletal lizard. The creature lunged, its teeth grinding as its tail whipped like a tree. "We must find it." This anomaly was the largest they had seen so far, which is why they forced Ezra to go on this mission. This was by far Ezra''s most important job yet. "I will not fail." On the next floor, Ezra found himself writing in every detail. His kind of people didn''t usually go into dungeons, and as best as they could tell adventurers to note every detail, they always seemed to miss something, like the ancient writing around the treasure room. Ezra directed the other two researchers to scatter and catalog everything. After scouring the room, Ezra fell in step behind Kyle. "Isn''t it odd?" he said as they walked down the last stairs. Hmmm?" Kyle grunted, barely sparing him a glance. "Isn''t it odd that the dungeon ends on the next floor? Everything points to the mud wall, but has anyone ever gone through it?" Kyle paused mid-step and turned to look at him. "No, I don''t find it odd. The dungeon ends here. We just fought the boss and cleared the treasury. Why would there be more?" Ezra looked at the scowling man. ¡°Doesn''t it spark your curiosity to see what is beyond it?¡± This made Kyle turn red with anger. "We risk our lives every damn day for you. All of you stay in the city where it''s safe and even send us out on your errands. But this is MY expedition, and I''m not wading through mud for anyone." Ezra sighed, rolling his eyes. "Exactly why the guild leaders share power. If it were up to adventurers, we''d all live in a fortress by now." Kyle turned and trudged down the stairs, stopping again before Ezra nearly collided with him. "You said you''d lead," Ezra grumbled, barely stopping in time. "At least go all the way down the stairs." Kyle wasn''t moving, so Ezra squeezed around him when he saw it. It was a large room with a river running through it. The room had no sound until he took the last step to floor level. His senses exploded with the smell of fresh water and the sound of rapids. "Incredible," Ezra muttered, watching the quick-moving water rush by. Then, something else on the far side caught his eye. "A staircase!" he said. Ezra pulled out his map. "Two more floors; we found a new part of the dungeon!" Kyle felt a chill down his spine. He had been here before, and this was where he''d lost his friend. And now, the dungeon had changed once again. His heart raced, his mind screamed at him to run, and his breath quickened. The memory of his friend flickered and vanished, replaced by a sharp surge of anger. He could feel the others watching him, mocking him. He just knew it. Straightening up, he snapped, his voice harsh. "What is this? What did you do?" Ezra raised an eyebrow. "What did I do? How could I have done anything?" Kyle shoved past Ezra, his gaze darting over the unfamiliar surroundings. "Everything is different," Kyle didn''t see anything that looked similar; even the breeze felt strange now as if muttering his name. "There is no way I could forget, mud so much mud," Kyle remembered being so full of curiosity that he had wadded into the mud to try getting through, but then he got stuck and had to have his friends pull him out when a silver monster had latched onto one of them. Fear twisted in Kyle''s gut as he remembered the piercing scream his friend had let out before all too quickly growing silent. Shaking his head, he forced himself forward. He hesitated for a moment, then stepped into the river as though to ground himself in the reality of the situation. Kyle froze, his foot sinking into the liquid. It looked like water, but as he stepped, it flowed around his foot like it didn''t exist. The earthy scent hit his nose, and he stepped back, his leg glowing faintly blue where the liquid had touched. Upon seeing the puzzled expression, Ezra dashed forward and took his own step into the water. An electric buzzing sensation ran through his leg wherever the ethereal water touched. "No way! Here?" "Blood of the gods," he whispered as if afraid he might scare it away. Then he pulled out a vial to fill it with the ethereal liquid. ¡°Get over here,¡± he said to the other two researchers. They just stared at him, clearly confused. Ezra''s heart skipped a beat at their lack of understanding. "It makes sense they wouldn''t know," he muttered, shaking his head. But urgency pushed him forward, ushering them to join him as they cautiously approached and filled their vials. The buzzing sensation eventually faded, breaking the silence long enough for Kyle to snap them back into focus. "Move forward," he ordered, his voice carrying the weight of authority. Kyle put on his armor, pulling out his shield and lance as they continued deeper. He had taken up almost the entire stairway before, but now he was blocking the entire passage as he continued downwards. Ezra was practically buzzing with excitement, unable to hide his grin. "Even if we don''t find the anomaly, this is enough to get me that promotion." Ezra froze, a shiver running down his spine as Kyle turned toward him, his face hardening. For the first time, the large man''s gaze met his, intense and unwavering. "Stay back if you don''t want to die." Ezra swallowed hard, the words cutting through his excitement like a cold wind. The death rate in dungeons was notoriously high, and in unexplored ones, it was even worse. This dungeon was known for its greed, and Kyle''s warning suddenly felt all too real. Chapter 7 Escape "18 more xp." He had gained 18 more xp on his way back, and as Hunter stepped into the healing fog, he felt his shoulders sag. "How much longer? How much longer do I have to do this?" He felt tired, not physical; the fog did a nice job of wicking that away. No, a prolonged mental exhaustion of not feeling like he was going anywhere. He was progressing, but how many more floors did he have to go? Was there any way to heal later on, or would he just trap himself to die? "Time for a change of pace." Hunter thought back to the cave; nothing stopped him from going that way. "What if there is another cave of monsters like the other." He shook his head. "No, what ifs. I need to make a decision." Hunter sat down near some of the flowers and took a bite. His taste buds had lost any flowery taste that had once been in the flowers, so it felt like he was chewing on tasteless salad greens. He again wondered if there was any way he could eat anything but these. "The worm didn''t disappear, "his brain helpfully pointed out. His stomach turned. "No way am I eating that." Sighing, he decided to scout out the cave below. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Blue flower X2 consumed 2 XP gained ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª After finishing his disappointing delicacy, Hunter started cutting the flowers at the stem; he had learned that anything he placed in his inventory didn''t go bad unless it was just the flowers; he hadn''t had the chance to test with anything else. He kept cutting them until only a quarter of what was first in the room was left. The flowers didn''t stack, but he estimated he collected about fifty. Getting up, he looked over the room. Those weird shapes or letters around the fog chamber were going to bug him. He took a long look at them, trying to commit them to memory, before walking through the fog one last time and then to the stairs. He took one last look at the room that had saved his life many times in the previous few days and smiled. "Thanks," he said before walking downwards. The rooms below were still empty, and he had no issues walking to the large stairway and down to the cave. The way down still glowed with a faint light emanating from the walls. Walking down, he could start to hear the familiar sound of the river rushing along. He reached it before long and felt the cold water rush around his ankle. The light quickly disappeared as he started walking, and he put his dagger away. Fearing to slip and hurt himself, Hunter used the wall as a guide as he continued walking. "Is it getting louder?" he wondered at the river, which seemed to be picking up the pace as the closed cave also seemed to become smaller. Hunter felt the floor change from smooth to jagged and started taking his steps more deliberately. Then he saw it: a faint light in the far distance. He felt his heart jump into his throat. "The sun!" he shouted, pushing through the water to get out quicker, not realizing that the water was now up to his thigh. Hunter slipped. His foot flew sideways as his body was pulled under the current. He tried to right himself but only lost even more of his balance as his head went under. Hunter reached out for a purchase on the ground or wall but only got a slick rock back. He continued trying to slow his movement, holding his breath as well as he could. The stones dug into his hands as the water whipped him along. The water rushed him even quicker. He could see more light now; it felt like it was rushing toward him. All at once, he was blinded, his eyes burned, and he quickly closed his eyes. That was a mistake; he lost which way was up and down and started spinning. Opening his eyes, he saw light and darkness as he flipped in the water. He again tried to right himself, pushing his arms out. Hunter felt like he had been sucker punched as he hit something hard. The water tried to whip him past it, but even as his mouth gasped for air and found water, his arms reached out, pulling on the thing he hit. His lungs filled with water as he tried to regain semblance of what was happening. "Air," he thought, pushing himself toward the light. His head breached the water, and he started coughing out the water. He held tight, which allowed him to dispel the water for a few long moments. Finally, with room for air, he breathed. "I''m alive." He said, looking at what had saved his life. He held a log that had fallen into the water. He tried to reach his arms closer to the shore, but they felt stuck. He pulled harder, and his hand flew off all at once. Feeling the power of the water, he quickly regained his grip a little higher. Hunter looked at where his hand had gotten stuck and saw an indent of a hand. "Did I do that?" He looked at his arm; it had bruises and gashes from the rocks all over it, and a small amount of blood flowed down the river. Ignoring the pain, he slowly went to the shore and pulled himself onto the short grass. He lay in it. Looking up, he saw the cloudless blue sky and felt the warmness of the sun. Sure enough, the sun was right above him, as if it were midday.Stolen novel; please report. He breathed slowly to slow his racing heart. Muttering between breaths. "I did it, I escaped." The heat from the sun enraptured him. feeling the gentle breeze, he closed his eyes and drifted off. Waking up with a start, he looked around, momentarily confused. ''Where am I?'' He looked to be in a meadow interspersed with trees. They looked like birch trees but didn''t have leaves; instead, they had needles like pine trees. Standing up, he groaned as he felt the soreness from the washer experience he had garnered. "I''m glad I put away my dagger." He thought, walking up to one of the trees. It smelled like lemon? Orange? It was a weird citrus smell that came from the tree. Upon closer inspection, the bark itself gave off a fresh scent. "How odd," he thought. The lowest branch was only a little above his head. A smile breached his lips. He reached up and pulled; lifting himself up on the branch was surprisingly easy. "That twenty strength does wonders," he muttered, looking for the next branch. After a few more branches, he looked around. He saw the mountain he had rocketed out of. On the other side, The cliff face was also almost at a 45% angle. There weren''t many trees, so he could see quite far, but he still couldn''t spot anything but a meadow in the distance. Climbing down, he wondered. "How do I find people? Assuming this world has people, they need water, right?" He approached the raging water, "Let''s follow this for now." Back in the dungeon, Ezra was trying to untangle the mysteries of this new part. They had killed a Plink and Cowird, but the anomaly was nowhere to be found. Ezra pulled out his map, which now had crinkled edges and was starting to look worn from all the fidgeting. He bit his fingernail as he muttered, "It was supposed to be on this floor. Where is it??" Kyle, on the other hand, was feeling more disappointed than anything. He had expected the dungeon''s secret passage to be teamed with monsters and traps, but there was nothing. In fact, these monsters were so easy that any civilian could defeat them. "When will this end?" he grumbled. Taking the last step down the stairway, he paused. "Ancient runes," he muttered. The room was pretty spacious, with white arches leading up to a cylinder of fog in the middle. Around the middle were characters of light and shadow from some unrecognizable language. Ezra paused his fidgeting when he ran into Kyle''s back. "Why do you keep stopping?" he asked, more than a little annoyed. Ezra stopped and waited for the large man to walk into the large room. "Ruins," he whispered. Ezra took in the room. It was beautiful but also somewhat uneven. All the structures seemed normal, but flowers with a light blue hue were found in only one corner. "A trap?" he wondered as he meandered over to the flowers, his trusty shield ready just in case. Then, he used a skill any researcher had: "Identify." ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Royal gernia ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Ezra felt his jaw drop. No one had seen these flowers in decades, and there were so many; there must be 20 of them here. He used Identify again, not believing his eyes. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Royal gernia ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª That is when Kyle broke his reverence. "There is nothing here; I thought runes like this are supposed to have treasures." "Believe me, this room is enough of a treasure itself," Ezra said. "And that is even without the Royal gernias." Kyle shrugged. "The what?" Ezra pointed to the flowers he was kneeling next to, saying, "These flowers are extremely rare. They got their name since they were always given to royalty." Ezra didn''t see Kyle''s predatory smile as he asked his next question: "How much are they worth?" Ezra, still mentally in shock, stuttered through his explanation. "Th-these flowers allow you to push past your limits; with this many, anyone could become the highest level on the continent." Kyle always felt like there was a higher purpose in his life. His family was meant for greatness, but nobody could ever see it. These flowers weren''t here by accident. Resolute in his decision, he walked casually closer to Ezra. Step, the sound echoed in the silence. Step, he gripped the haft of his lance harder. Kyle stopped; Ezra looked up at him, a Royal gernia in his hand. "Those are mine," Kyle growled, stabbing at Ezra''s heart. His lance bounced off a glittering shield, sending sparks of white light flying in all directions. The shield repaired itself and encompassed some of the flowers. "No!" Kyle spat. He had seen that shield in action, and Ezra had enough Mana to make it run indefinitely. The towering man glared down at Ezra, who had fallen on his back, but "Those are my birth rite; give them to me." The guards turned, seeing the bright flash, "Are you guys ok? Was there a trap?" Ezra wasn''t able to find his voice. He swallowed a few times, his eyes darting from Kyle to the other two researchers and lastly to the other six guards. He felt his heart beating a million miles a second as sweat poured down his brow. "I have to keep the others safe; this man is crazy," Ezra thought, swallowing one more time before squeaking out. Run." Some of the guards saw Ezra on the ground and said, "Don''t worry. That little shield will keep you safe from any traps. Let us handle it." It was too late. The voices reminded Kyle of the other people in the room. He grinned, picked up one of the Royal gernias, and ate it. Ezra could see Kyle''s eyes unfocus, a sign he was reading a notification. He was apparently happy with what he saw. His grin turned into a vicious snarl as he lunged at the closest person, a researcher. The lance skewered the man in one strike. The man slumped down onto the lance, and Kyle just flicked him off, his body hitting the wall hard, an echo of breaking bones reverberating as Kyle looked at the notification. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Researcher Gerald killed 92 XP gained ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª His heart beat an excited rhythm for the first time in ages, and he slashed at the other researcher. A loud "Clang!" resounded as the lance hit off a large shield one of the soldiers had. "Get in formation and guard the researcher." He yelled Ezra wished he could remember the man''s name but instead yelled out. "Kill him! He has betrayed both the guilds and the people!" The other 5 guards were on Kyle as quick as lightning, a flash of blades and strikes against armor. Kyle used the arches to make it difficult for them to gang up on him, and he used the surroundings to wear them out. Ezra saw each guard start to flag against Kyle''s seemingly infinite energy one by one. The numbers were against him. However, the guards spread out, causing Kyle to backpedal. He did so while stabbing at any unguarded spot. The guards were making progress, pushing him back when one of his strikes overextended and got stuck in a shield. The guard pulled down on his shield and twisted it, breaking the large weapon in half. The guard''s leader stepped another step closer to Kyle. "Kyle, you have betrayed everyone who ever believed in you and trusted you with their lives. For this, I will execute you!" The snarl turned into cackling laughter as Kyle tossed the broken weapon aside. "This is what I was born for!" he spat and started attacking with his fists. His large gauntlets resounded against metal, a red blur in the dimly lit room. One by one, each guard went still, Kyle strangling or stomping on each. Ezra saw the man walk toward the only other researcher and stood up, finding his voice enough to call out. "Don''t kill them! I will give these to you!" He held out the 5 Royal gernias that his shield had encircled. Kyle just turned to him and shrugged, no sorrow for the lives he had taken evident. "No, I won''t need those. Right now, I need XP." Ezra slumped back down, watching him punch the last researcher through the chest, lifting the whole man on his fist before flicking him off. "He was worth quite a lot." Kyle laughed Kyle then walked over and picked up the rest of the flowers, shoving them in his bag. "I know I can''t get in there, so hold on to those. I''ll come get them with interest." He then walked down the stairs further, leaving the massacre in his wake. Ezra stared down at the worn map he had brought with him. "What do I do?" he asked, looking up at the pile of bodies and blood already being absorbed into the dungeon. "I can''t die here; I have to let the city know." Chapter 8 Bald brilliance Hunter was walking along the river; it was peaceful; he could hear a light breeze in the trees complimented by a burbling river. "This is the most relaxed I''ve been since coming here." He thought. Without the constant stress from all the fights, Hunter''s mind wandered to things he had suppressed. Worry built up in him as questions gnawed in his gut: "Will I be able to find answers? Will I be able to find a way home?" The thought made his neck burn, but he was jolted from his contemplation by a line of bricks; they spanned roughly ten feet wide and extended into the distance. "A road!" he said, feeling excited. "That means there are people!" he muttered, looking to his left and right. To the right, the road went into a large forest, and the left continued near the meadow he had been walking in. Hunter stepped onto the bricks; even while the sun was overhead, the bricks were cold; he walked towards the left for a few minutes until his feet started hurting. Hunter looked down at his red feet and sighed. "I wish I had two boots." Instead of continuing how he was, Hunter stepped off the road onto the lush grass and walked beside the road. Before long, Hunter started to hear rumbling, and it was getting louder. He turned to the sound coming from behind him. In the distance, what looked like a covered wagon was quickly moving on the road he was following. The carriage seemed to be pulled by a horse. Hunter''s heart beat like a drum as it approached, but his excitement slowly changed to dread as he realized that a horse didn''t pull the wagon but something else. The creature had six long legs, three on each side, white scaly skin, and a stubby neck. Its face was rounded, with eyes on either side. The creature had one short, spindly horn, almost like a unicorn, and a short, scaly tail with a puff of fur at the end. Hunter walked further away from the road, wanting to get ample distance from the creature. The carriage slowed as it got closer, and Hunter analyzed the cart; it was 4 feet wide and 10 feet long with large wooden wheels. In almost all appearances, it looked like a wagon pulled on Earth. "But that creature pulling it." Shuddering at the thought. The carriage stopped, and Hunter felt a new fear wash over him. "What if they aren''t human?" Feeling it was too late to run, Hunter felt a pounding in his head as the anxiety washed over him. Hunter held his breath as he waited for something to happen. Something shiny slowly appeared from the opening in the fabric. As more appeared, the light reflected off the surface, and then it spoke quizzically. "Hey Louie, why did you stop?" The whole man''s head was now visible, shiny, and majestic. Hunter felt his heart jump in his throat. "There are people!" The creature didn''t say anything back, which made Hunter relax a little, and then the man turned his head in his direction. The man''s face played a disco of emotions. He creased his eyebrows and opened and closed his mouth a few times before uttering a word. When he did, he said, "Hi, my name is Derick. You look to have a bad time, bandits?" Hunter stood there for a few moments, happy to see another human, and then he remembered that the man had asked a question. He cleared his throat, and it felt dry all of a sudden. "Not bandits," Hunter responded. "I''ve just had some rough travels." The man nodded understandingly before asking. "So, where are you headed? Do you need a lift?" Hunter''s eyes returned to the Louie and asked. "I don''t really know. Is it safe?" The man chortled, jumping out of the wagon. Derick was four feet tall and only came to Hunter''s chest. He had black eyebrows and a wispy black beard. He smiled, and Hunter was surprised to see perfect white teeth. Derick reached up, patting Louie on the side, and said, "Louie, here is a Lorid. He wouldn''t hurt a soul." Derick started rubbing Louie''s side, and the large, scaly beast opened its mouth, panting. One of its legs started stomping like a dog, which would have been cute except for the rows of teeth in its now-visible maw. Hunter felt his heart slow as he tried to file away as much as possible of what was happening. "So the creature is a Lorid, not a Louie. People are shorter here, but he didn''t seem to be too confused by my height, so maybe there are taller people, too." Hunter then realized he had been standing in silence again, so he reached out his hand to greet the man and said. "Nice to meet you; my name is Hunter." The short, bald man stopped petting Louie and looked at Hunter''s hand with confusion written all over his face. "It''s nice to meet you as well; what are you doing with your hand?" Hunter immediately felt embarrassed and retracted his hand. "It''s just a way of saying hello from where I come from." Derick looked interested in that. "I travel everywhere, but I haven''t seen that greeting yet; how do you do it?" Hunter felt odd trying to explain a handshake. He had never had to do that before, and thinking about a handshake objectively was weird. "You reach out your hand," he said, lifting his arm again. Then you grab their hand in yours and shake it."Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Derick also reached out but shook his hands left and right, so it was more of a circle with Hunter shaking up and down. The bald man smiled. "It''s always interesting to see how people in other places greet one another." He chortled and jumped back into the cart. "Get in, and you can tell me all about it if you want." Hunter was left speechless yet again, not only because Derick thought that was how you great someone but also because the short man had jumped over four feet in the air and landed in the carriage. Excitement buzzed through him. If Derick could leap four feet like it was nothing, did that mean others could, too? Could he? Hunter didn''t think he could jump 4 feet, so he used a ladder on the side to climb in. He pushed past the fabric and was yet again frozen as his head tried to understand what he was seeing. He reminded himself of the rough size of the carriage but still couldn''t understand what he was seeing. In front of him was a large room 20 feet tall and 30 feet wide. The walls were light red, and framed artwork was on them. Looking around, Hunter saw a large table with six chairs around it, two couches facing each other, and a bed. At the far end, large crates were stacked, looking out of place in the beautiful interior. Hunter looked down where a smiling bald man was smiling up at him. "Like it?" the bald man asked. He tried to find words but just said. "It''s bigger than the outside." Derick''s smile increased even more; he yelled for Louie to start walking again, walked Hunter over to the couches, and, sitting down, asked. "Have you not seen folded reality before?" Seeing the confusion on Hunter''s face, he continued. "They only came out a few years ago, but the researchers guild created a way of injecting materials with Mana from the environment, resulting in this folded reality. ¡°Not sure how it works myself. You¡¯d have to ask the researchers.¡± Hunter''s mind was rushing, trying to organize all the information. He now knew that Mana was a thing, guilds were a thing; he grinned as he asked the question his kid self was dying to know. "Is there Magic?" Derick''s eyebrows furrowed. "Magic. Magic," he said, trying to sound the word out. Then he turned to Hunter. "I have never heard of it, and being a merchant, I have heard most from each side of the continent." Hunter''s grin dropped. Then he remembered the skill and the power he gained and asked. "How do skills work?" Derick again looked confused. "Skills?" he asked. "You can get them from defeating enemies, or if you have a good trainer, they can also teach you the skill after a lot of effort." Hunter was ready to belt out another question, but Derick held up a hand and said, with a kind smile. "I''m also curious about you. How about we take turns asking questions?" Hunter felt uneasy. "How much should I tell him?" he wondered. "So where did you come from?" Derick asked. Hunter''s jaw clenched; it felt like he was telling a secret, as if his mind was warning him to stay quiet, pushing through it, he said. "Dallas, I lived in Dallas." Again, the bald man''s eyebrows jumped upward toward his head as if trying to become hair. He pulled out a large map, which showed a large continent. On the right side of the continent were primarily mountains, and on the left were mainly jungles and forests. Derick asked. "Would you mind pointing to it for me? I have never been." Hunter stood up and examined the map; the shape looked like Australia as if it had been enlarged ten times. He felt his heart drop as he saw the new map. It made him feel even more distant from his old life. Hunter mumbled. "It''s not there. I''m pretty sure I came from another world." A gush of wind hit Hunter, making him fall back into his chair. Derick was gone. Hunter felt a sharp pressure on his neck as cold metal pushed against his Adam''s apple. Standing behind the chair, Derick held the sword in a steady hand; his voice was slow, clear, and concise, having lost any kindness as he asked. "What¡­ Are you?" Hunter froze, not daring to breathe; he blinked rapidly, trying to process the situation. The blade dug deeper. Hunter could feel a small dribble of blood start to flow down his neck. "I-I-I''m human." He sputtered. "Right! And I''m a bird." Came a cold response. Derick held the sword flat against his neck, making a shiver run down Hunter''s spine. Hunter knew he needed to say something, but his mind was blank. "I just appeared here and have been fighting monsters over and over; what do you want me to say? I''m a monster? A demon? I just want to survive, and the first person I meet wants to kill me, too." Derick faltered, lowering his sword by half an inch. Hunter saw a sparkling bracelet drop into Derick''s hand, and he pushed it onto Hunter''s wrist. All at once, Hunter felt his strength drain, his mind slowed, and he felt his bones loosen. Derick breathed out in apparent relief. His sword disappeared, and he dragged Hunter from the chair across the large room. Hunter saw their destination, a place he was too familiar with. Derick guided him into a room made of metal, with bars running the length¡ªa cell. Derick closed the door, and a green bottle appeared in his hand. It looked filled with glitter, and the liquid seemed to move on its own, swirling outwards. He held the bottle at the edge of the bars. "Drink that if you want to prove your innocence." Hunter reached up to his neck. The blood had already stopped flowing. "What other choice do I have." He thought as he reached for the bottle. As he grabbed the bottle, Hunter saw a hatred he had never seen in anyone before; the bald man''s presence felt like malice, and even breathing felt difficult, as if his neck was still on the blade''s edge. Hunter grabbed the bottle and examined the top; it had a glass top he could remove. After pulling off the top of the bottle, the smell of pine and cucumber mixed with sulfur filled his lungs. The smell burned his whole face, and he choked back from the concoction, holding it far from his face. His eyes met Derick''s firm and unwavering gaze. He looked back at the bottle and plugged his nose. He poured the liquid down his throat all at once, swallowing before the taste could hit his tongue. Inevitably, it still did, and the taste hit like a truck¡ªit tasted of rancid eggs. Hunter coughed, his body wanting to expel the liquid. As his cough worsened, he fell to his knees, desperately trying to will his body to hold it down. His stomach radiated cold and burning waves, and his body broke out in sweat. Then it disappeared. It disappeared so quickly that he looked around in confusion. He was on the ground, a small pool of sweat around him. Hunter pushed up with his arms, sitting up and looking at Derick. Derick had pulled up a chair and was leaning forward with his sword in his hand. He asked. "Was everything you said true to this point?" Hunter felt his throat move on its own, his lungs expelling air on their own; the word "Yes" passed his lips, and he choked as if the word was a piece of dislodged food. Derick''s expression didn''t change, he asked. "Why have you come to this world?" Again, Hunter''s body responded on its own. "I don''t know." "Were you sent here?" Derick asked. Hunter''s body said. "I don''t think so." Derick seemed to calm slightly. "Are you here to hurt me or others?" Hunter heard "No" from his mouth. Hunter felt like he had lost control of everything. "Maybe it was a mistake to trust anyone." he thought. Derick readjusted himself one more time and asked his next question, pausing each word as if it took physical effort to ask. "What¡­ Are¡­ You?" He felt his body force out another word. "Malivorii" Chapter 9 Soulless demon Have you ever talked to someone who is convinced of a topic''s conclusion before even starting the conversation? Do you know how annoying or draining it can be? Now, add a layer of fear for your life to the equation, and you may start to understand how Hunter felt when trying to convince Derick that he was not evil. Derick stood up from his chair and walked to the bars. Even though he drank a potion that Hunter was told would make him tell the truth, Derick seemed to believe Hunter was somehow circumventing it. "What do I have to do or say?" Hunter asked, feeling a cold sweat on his brow. "I don''t even know what a Malivorii is." Every time Hunter said Malivorii, Derick flinched as if Hunter punched him. Derick finally stepped back, pacing restlessly but never taking his eyes off Hunter. After pacing for a few minutes, he finally faltered over the word. ¡°M-Malivorii¡± he spat. "Are always evil; every time one appears, they leave death and danger in their wake." Derick stared off into a corner as he spoke, almost so small Hunter couldn''t hear. "Your people have done so much evil¡­ so much." He paused, his tension deflating so much. "I have lost so much because of your kind." Hunter was taken aback. Not only was he apparently no longer human, but there was also more of his new race. Additionally, they were evil. "Wait¡­ others like me? But I just got here¡­ how could that be?" he wondered. Finally, Derick shook his head and walked back over to the chair, slumping into it and finally using his name. "Hunter, I can''t believe you; I have told myself for so long that if I ever met one of you, I would kill you." This was a different side that Hunter had yet to see of Derick, so he asked. "What happened?" Derick scowled at the question and let his face fall neutral. "It doesn''t matter if you hear; maybe it will help me figure out my emotions." The bald man released a long breath. "I used to travel with some other merchants around the continent. It''s safer that way. We can look out for each other." Derick looked down at his hands, fidgeting as he continued. "We had met an honestly remarkable man who wanted to join us for one of our expeditions; I stayed behind because I wanted to finish getting a new merchant license for more cargo." He slammed his hand into the chair. "They didn''t return, not one of them. I spent tens of gold hiring search teams, and." He stopped, breathing sharply. "And I found them, or what was left. The man¡­ he was Malivorii." "They didn''t stand a chance; there wasn''t any wreckage, nothing stolen, just a slaughter of my friends." Hunter didn''t like his situation, but he finally started understanding where Derick was coming from. Hunter let the silence draw on, unsure if he should console the man who had lost everything. Finally, he spoke up, "I''m sorry you had to go through that." "I don''t need your sympathy," Derick spat. "Telling you helped me decide what I want to do to you, though." A sharp chill ran down Hunter''s back as the man''s eyes, which had been black, started swirling with a dim blue energy. Hunter felt adrenaline running through his veins, but it quickly seemed to flow in one direction instead of circulating; his energy moved down to his wrist and then disappeared. He looked down and saw the bracelet that had been placed on him; his fingers were trembling and he had no way of escaping. He was as helpless as a prisoner on Earth. "It wasn''t me who killed your friends. You have to believe me." Derick nodded. "I believe you," "Then wh," Hunter started but got interrupted. "I will decide if you are someone with a soul worth saving or a demon who needs to be purged." Derick walked up to the bars, whispering as he said. "If you truly want to prove that you aren''t evil, I have the perfect way." Derick handed him a white rock, then dropped a small pocket knife on the ground. "I''m not going to explain what that does. All you need to know is it needs to be covered in your blood." Hunter looked at the knife; it was smaller than his barbed bone; the reminder made him try and pull up his menu. A sharp pain jabbed into his mind; it felt like someone was trying to pull his skull apart. The pain subsided, and he grabbed the stone; it felt like¡­ nothing; if he hadn''t seen it in his hand, Hunter would have thought his hand was empty. Hunter gripped the knife; the blade was only an inch, more a box cutter than a weapon. Hunter looked up at Derick one more time, seeing no sympathy, and continued; he looked at his arm and inched the blade close. He squinted his eyes and gritted his teeth, then sliced a two-inch gash on his arm. With a sharp pain, blood flowed down to his elbow; Hunter inched the stone closer to the blood, stopping at the last moment. Derick gave it a few moments, then spoke up. "If you wait too long, you will have to cut yourself again." Hunter pushed the stone under the dripping blood.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. One drop, two, nothing happened. Then, the white stone seemed to swirl with a crimson glow, the same color as his blood. The stone shot up towards his arm on its own, digging into his cut. He let out a cry of surprise and hurt as the pain shot through his arm, and he rocketed his arm away from the stone. Hunter felt the stone latch on, digging deeper into his arm. He reached for it with his other hand, but the stone was covered with slick blood. Blood flowed to the ground, pooling as sweat mixed. Hunter heard the stone grind against his bone and let out a pained cry. He hit his arm against the metal, trying to relieve any amount of pain. The stone started emitting heat, and Hunter felt it melting his skin. He squeezed his arm near the stone, trying to press it out, then a new pain enraptured him. Hunter felt his mind grow hot as memories flickered into and out of his vision. He saw his dad coming home from work and fighting with his mom; he saw him trying to stop his dad only to be flung into the wall; he saw the police, who were called by the neighbors, lifting him into an ambulance. Hunter heard a cry of pain in the background as Derick growled. ¡°I need to dig deeper.¡± He saw the night everything happened; he saw his friend drunkenly stumbling his way to him. "No!¡± he screamed in his mind. Hunter saw himself reaching into his pocket for his keys. "DON''T DO IT!" The keys froze mid-drop into the friend''s hand. His mind was once again present in the present; he lay in a heap on the ground of the cell, his eyes stung, and his cheeks were wet. Hunter didn''t move; he didn''t care anymore; this was too much; he had already lost so much: his best friend, his freedom, his life. "Kill me." He mumbled. Derick was silent; he didn''t make fun of him, he didn''t exclaim in anger or happiness, just silent. When Derick finally spoke, it was a small voice, and it was matched with the sound of a metal door opening. "I''m sorry, " he said. You are not evil. I didn''t understand many of your memories, but I could understand that." "Memories?" Hunter questioned. Derick poured a cold liquid on Hunter''s side. "Yes, that stone allowed me to dig through your memories." Hunter felt blood on his arm flow away from him as the pain in his arm lessened; he shuddered as he pushed upwards, leaning against the bars for support. Derick had blood flowing from his eyes and nose; he wiped the blood with a white handkerchief and then reached out an arm. "Would you be willing to accept my apology for what I have done?" Hunter looked at the hand in disbelief; the man who seemed so unforgiving moments ago, seemingly determined to prove that he was evil, now offered him a hand. After a moment of silence, Hunter felt worried. After all that had been done to him, everything felt hollow. Somehow, he didn''t even feel angry at Derick. "It''s fine," he said, words that sounded as empty as when he said them on Earth. Derick nodded, his eyes still bloodshot from the experience with the stone. "Let''s get you cleaned up. We should be arriving in town soon." Hunter still felt fatigued, but the liquid that was poured on him dulled most of the pain. He reached out, taking Derick''s hand, and he was easily pulled to his feet. Reaching with his other hand for Hunter''s wrist, Derick said. "Let''s get this off you." He touched the bracelet, and it fell into his palm. When the bracelet fell off, Hunter felt a rush of power greater than any skill gain to date; he felt his muscles tighten as if they were interlocking armor, and his mind cleared quickly, a fog lifting off it he hadn''t noticed. "Wow," Hunter stammered. Derick gave him a small but kind smile. "Kind of a rush, isn''t it?" he then led Hunter over to a corner of the wagon; it was a large space with a small step in the middle and racks with different pairs of clothes. Looking over Hunter, Derick said, "First, I want to clean you up." He brought out a white towel. Hunter looked around for a shower so he could wash himself in it, but he didn''t see one, so he asked, "How do I rinse myself off?" Derick tilted his head slightly. "You don''t need to; just wipe the cloth over yourself." Confused, Hunter did so and felt one of the oddest sensations of his life. Dirt, grime, sweat, or even blood practically jumped off his skin to cling to the towel. As he wiped it around, the dirt crawled on his skin towards the cloth, giving him shivers. "I wonder if this is how magnets feel, " he wondered. After cleaning himself, the towel was almost brown. Hunter looked toward Derick for direction on what to do with it, and Derick said. "You can keep it, put it in your inventory, I''m all out of cleansing potions, but I''ll buy you one in town, and that will allow the cleansing towel to work again." Hunter did so, feeling cleaner than he had ever felt before. Derick then brought some clothes, holding them up in front of him. "Which one?" he asked. Derick held two poles; the poles had a shirt and pants attached, but each was different. The one on the left was sleeveless, light brown, and felt soft; the fabric had the same thickness as cotton; it had three buttons at the top to adjust how tight it was against your neck. The pants were a darker brown and felt like leather but were as thin as paper; they were cut to be tight, almost like skinny jeans. The ones on the right were very different. They were flowy with an almost wispy design. The shirt was light gray, and the design was a short-sleeved button-up. It had frills on the sleeves, and to hide the buttons, it felt silky smooth to the touch. The pants were dark black and just as frilly. Unlike the other''s tight-fitting design, they were flowy, almost like pajamas. After careful deliberation, he chose the frilly ones; Hunter had dealt with changing in front of people for so long that he didn''t think twice about putting his goat shorts into his inventory and putting on the new clothes right in front of Derick. Derick turned away, seemingly embarrassed, "Sorry, Hunter said, bad habit." After putting on the new clothes, Hunter felt the cart slow, Derick indicated to the front where they had entered the wagon, and they walked over. Looking out through the fabric, Hunter saw the creature again. " The¡­" he searched his memories. That''s right, the Lorid." It was wagging its tail, seemingly happy. Hunter paused, looking beyond that, "This is a town?" he said out loud; they were at a nine-foot-deep wall; the gate was only a little larger than the wagon and had two large metal doors, one on each side of the wall. Both doors were open, and two guards stood near the Lorid. They were both wearing black armor, which looked mostly leather, with long brown sleeves and pants. One metal plate guarded their chests, and they wore metal gloves with a scabbard at their waists. One of the men was scratching the Lorid''s chin, making the creature wag its tail even more. The other guard walked up to the carriage and looked at Hunter, saying. "Welcome to Ilian; what is your reason for entry?" Hunter looked at Derick, who answered for him. "Just a merchant traveling to sell some wares." "Do you have your guild card?" The guard asked, holding out his hand expectidly. Derick handed the man what looked more like a tablet than a card. The guard examined it and then asked, "Is it just the two of you entering?" "Yes," Derick answered. The guard nodded and returned the card, then noted something on a silver-colored tablet. "What is the name of the other occupant?" "Hunter," Derick said. "All checks out," the guard said, nodding to the one still preoccupied with scratching the Lorid''s head. "Have a great day." He smiled and stepped away from the wagon. The carriage started moving again, but Hunter didn''t go back inside; as they passed the wall and his eyes adjusted, he took in the first town he had seen in this new world. Chapter 10 City of crossroads As Hunter''s eyes adjusted, he was already bombarded with the sound and smell of a city. The city''s noise washed over him as he entered: chatter, footsteps, and even the occasional argument. It felt familiar. The strong smell of sweet, sugary foods mixed with fried foods encompassed him. He looked around, and along the now twelve-foot road were dozens of food stands, all with different and more exotic foods than the last. He recognized some, like pies, smoothies made with weird fruits, and pancakes. Hunter thought back. All growing up, he would have pancakes. They were perfectly fluffy, and with butter on them and syrup, they were¡­ ok. Honestly, he never really cared for any kind of breakfast food. Their wagon continued being pulled, and Hunter wondered if the Lorid knew where to go. "Better than I do, at least," he thought. They pulled them toward more developed buildings. Each storefront had a unique look, with smooth curves around doors and adjacent glass windows. Each building had a sign out in front stating its purpose. Hunter saw a ball of yarn on one, a bird on another, and even a striped triangle with ears. Derick walked up behind him and started speaking, scaring him. "It''s not massive, but it''s pretty big. This city is a gateway between three major cities and has a fork right in the middle." Hunter tried to see the intersection but couldn''t spot it, so he turned to Derick and asked. "So, is the city a giant triangle?" Derick turned, pulling a map out of his inventory, and said. "See for yourself self. It''s a really weird shape. It used to be more of a diamond with only the two roads entering through the southwest and southeast sides, but when Radir was founded to the north, that town''s population blew up; they founded the city over a large mana well, so the city of Radir quickly became the forefront of research." Derick laughed before continuing. "The merchant''s guild here in town didn''t want this town to become obsolete with them building new roads bypassing us, so they offered to build a road meeting up with the other two inside this very city, so to do that, they demolished the top half of the diamond-shaped wall and expanded it to a shape of a square with the road coming from the wall to the north." Hunter looked at the odd shape for a few moments before asking. "Why didn''t they just go around the city and connect to one of the roads to the south?" Derick chuckled before answering, "This city at the center where all the roads meet is one interesting building. A building that makes a lot of money from the people who come through. The merchant''s guild, actually, that is where we are headed." Hunter studied the map and noticed three large plots¡ªtwo buildings and a garden-like area. "So it''s one of these buildings?" "Yup," Derick said, indicating to the two buildings first. "You really can''t tell the difference from the map, but this building is the Adventurer''s guild, and this one is the Researcher''s guild." Hunter looked back and forth. To him, they looked identical¡ªat least they did on the map. "How do you tell them apart?" he asked. Derick scoffed. "Well, that much is easy; the one with pillars all around and beautiful architecture is the researcher''s guild." Hunter waited for him to continue, but he didn''t elaborate, so he asked, "And the Adventurer''s guild?" A grin played on Derick''s face. "Oh yeah, the adventurers guild, well, it looks like a brick." They were coming closer to the middle of the city, and so were new shops; they had large glass showcases showing off their wares. Hunter saw beautiful and sparkling swords and shields adorned with gems and armor glittering with golden fabric. "Wow," he said. "Those must be expensive." Derick frowned, looking in the indicated direction. "Stay away from shops like those. Any flashy armor will get you killed; the simpler, the better." They pulled up to a massive botanical garden. Hunter had only visited the one near his home once, but this one was only a little smaller. They passed the garden and pulled their wagon to the side, where hundreds of different stalls were. People crowded the road but quickly moved out of the way of their cart. Hunter spotted some other Lorids in their stalls, all with slightly different colors. Louie pulled the wagon into a stall and laid down. Derick hopped down, patting Louie on the side. "Nice job, buddy, I''ll get you a treat." The creature let out a warble as it started vibrating. Derick started walking away, so Hunter followed. He knew how easy it was to lose sight of someone in a crowd, especially if the person you were following was only four feet tall. They finally made it to the entrance to the botanical garden and entered. There were much fewer people around now, so Hunter was able to appreciate the sights. They walked on a wooden pathway with trees lining the path and perfectly trimmed bushes lining the side. To Hunter, the air felt cool and pleasant. The sound of the busy city vanished as they went farther. Manufactured waterfalls burbled along a stream that met up with the path and ran along it. They walked through arches of vines before everything opened up. The wooden pathway ended, and the trees and bushes stopped. In front of them was a massive yard of different flowers leading up to a large closed-off gazebo with doors on each side. Paths led out from the gazebo, cutting lines through the flowers in 8 different directions. To their left were all blue flowers, the aroma smooth and fresh. On the right were bright pink flowers, a strong, sweet smell wafting from them. Derick and Hunter finally reached the gazebo. Derick turned to him and said. "After you." He entered, and Hunter''s mind spun. What he saw in front of him made no sense. The gazebo, although large, must have been twenty feet long and the same height. In front of him, however, was what looked like a giant mall. The floor was now made of polished marble. The building was filled with people, but they all looked weird. Not how they dressed. Although people wore a mix of colorful, flowy, and bedazzled clothing, some wore full suits of armor, but that wasn''t what stuck with Hunter as weird.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. What really confused Hunter was how beautiful everyone looked. Everyone around looked perfect. People were able to use makeup in his world to simulate perfection, but this was something else. It almost felt like he had again entered a new world. Hunter felt out of place. Although he felt comfortable with his appearance and had been popular in the past, was there any competition compared to people who looked even more beautiful than celebrities? Hunter''s mind spun, and he felt nausea set on. Derick spotted this and led him over to a bench. Hunter sat down, looking at the ground and trying to take everything in. "What is going on?" he muttered to himself. Derick smiled kindly. "It is probably because of the folded reality. The larger it is, the more it messes with your head, but you get used to it after a while." Hunter rubbed his eyes, "Why didn''t they use all that space where the garden was? Aren''t they wealthy enough to buy a lot of land?" The bald man shook his head. "That is exactly why they went with the folded reality: to show off their money." Hunter felt his nausea start to lower, so he looked around. The ceiling was over a hundred feet up, and large white floating balls gave the room ample light. The mall''s length stretched hundreds of feet in each direction, eventually curving off as if the building were a large circle. Along the walls were large shops. Hunter saw a few armor shops, and just like Derick mentioned, the colors were more muted and dull, but these stores had many more customers, especially customers who looked ready for battle. Hunter felt his nausea subside, so he stood up, and they started moving again. They returned to the entrance, and Derick walked up to a tall man sitting behind a counter. The man had a perfect tan and dark brown eyes. His skin was silky smooth, and he gave them a perfect smile as they walked up. Derick returned a white but less perfect smile and said. "I''m here to drop off a shipment; the name should be Derick." The man tapped at a flat piece of stone in front of him, outlined with gold trim tapped at the piece of stone. "Got it." He said. "Are you fine with our normal handling of the product?" Derick affirmed, and the man smiled again, saying, "Thanks for your business. You will be unloaded before you return. May I interest you in our food court or inns before you leave? After such a long journey, I bet it would help calm the nerves." This made Hunter grin. "They even try to up-sell you in this world, at least that is familiar." To his surprise, they didn''t leave after thanking the man behind the counter; instead, they walked around the building until they found a walkway that went more inward. In the center of the building was a large food court. Hunter could see and smell what must have been thirty of forty different stalls. Derick led them to a very simple shop. The shop looked as small as a food truck with only one person working it. It had a simple straightness to the structure and a description of each food out front. The foods were all called hidden gems, and each had a few different ingredients. Hunter couldn''t make out what any of them were, so he asked Derick for help. Derick glanced at the board for a few moments before saying, "Just get what I get. I promise it won''t disappoint." Then he walked up to the stand and ordered for both of them. The woman who ran the stand caught Hunter off guard. Like everyone else around, she was beautiful. She looked like she was in her thirties, but something felt off. There were no wrinkles on her face or a hunch in her back, but how she looked around, examined people, and talked seemed like she could have been his grandma. The woman tapped on another of those stone tablets and said it would be done soon. Derick and Hunter sat down at a nearby table. Hunter, now sitting, felt as if all the blood was rushing to his brain. He felt the need to find answers to some of his now even more numerous questions, and he asked, "Why are people so beautiful?" Derick drew his mouth in a line and seemed to think hard before explaining. "Before we get to that, can you send me your stats?" Hunter mentally opened his stats in front of himself and mentally urged the translucent screen to hover in front of Derick. The screen slowly, as if through honey, glided to and through the man. Hunter let go of a breath he didn''t know he was holding, "This takes a lot of concentration he muttered." Derick heard him, however, and said. "All you should have to do is think that you want to show your list to me, and I should be able to pull it up." Hunter did so, and it was much easier this time. The screen reappeared in front of him and Derick. Derick jumped a little when it appeared, as if he were not expecting it. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Stats: Strength: 19+1=(Hard-worker) Durability: 16+1=(Hard-worker +2 from achievements) Agility: 21+0=(-1 Sloth +1 Hard-worker) Intelligence: 10+4=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Good Liar +1 Daydreamer +1 Prey) Wisdom: 11+3=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Daydreamer +1 Prey) Level 13 XP 235 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Then Hunter noticed a feeling in his head that was only now making itself known. He let it appear. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Achievement unlocked: Bloomheart. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Hunter didn''t see any more description of what it did, and it didn''t show up on his stats list. Before he could dive into more of what that meant, Derick coughed, surprising himself and Hunter. Hunter looked at him in confusion, and Derick coughed a few more times before elaborating. "Are you sure you aren''t hiding any stats or achievements? This is nothing." Now Hunter felt horrible. What he had worked so hard for was nothing? His face fell into a frown, and his heart dropped as he responded, "This is everything. What did you expect? I just got here. " Derick seemed to think for a while before responding. "They aren''t great, that''s for sure, but hopefully, you have a lot of potential left, now for how people are so beautiful," he leaned in, indicating for Hunter to as well, and whispered. "Nobody is supposed to talk about it to stop people from getting themselves killed, but once you reach a certain level or stat amount, you can grow stronger. Some people can hit this point, others can not, so this information is kept secret." Hunter thought Derick was pulling his leg, so he looked at him nonplussed, but Derick continued. "You know the person behind the shop that we just went to? Well, she used to be an adventurer about fifty years ago. Growing stronger increases your lifespan, too." Hunter''s mind flooded with new information: "People get to grow stronger, and this causes them to become beautiful and age slower?" He thought this sounded great, but then he remembered Derick mentioning how far behind he was and felt a pit grow in his stomach: "Is there a limited amount of time for you to grow stronger?" A ping of heat and pain racked his neck, and he felt a wave of anxiety wash over him. "Too much, there is too much happening." Everything fell out of his grasp; the little bit of control he thought he had was ripped away. "DERICK! YOUR FOOD IS READY!" The screamed word broke him from his downward spiral. He breathed evenly, willing himself back to the present. Derick stood up and retrieved their food. When Derick returned, he sat a plate in front of Hunter. The food looked like a large ravioli. It had a breaded exterior with a golden tinge from being cooked. Derick, before digging in, started speaking unsurely. "Hey Hunter¡­ I understand we didn''t start off well, and I apologize again for that. Seeing your stats has reaffirmed something I wanted to ask you. You see, I used to be an adventurer¡ªwell, kind of. My parents wanted me to be an adventurer." Derick stopped himself from getting sidetracked. "What I wanted to say and ask is, I can help you grow stronger. Would you like to travel with me?" Looking off into the distance, Hunter was caught off guard by this and had to run through the conversation in his head before responding. "I would like that, thank you." Derick''s uneasiness vanished, and a grin spread on his face, he said. "Great! Any more questions?" Hunter shook his head, feeling his hunger gnaw at him. He looked at a utensil that was handed to him. It had a serrated edge but looked like a spoon. He sawed through the edge of the breaded ravioli, and the sauce started leaking out. A white sauce flowed out. Hunter finished cutting the piece and put it in his mouth. Smoked beef, spicy with a nice earthy undertone, filled his mouth. The sauce was slightly sweet, and there were flakes of a green leaf with a peppery taste. It was like a calzone but unlike any he had ever had. He looked at Derick. "One question, how is this food so good?" Chapter 11 The Price of Weakness "Crazy," Derick muttered. "I knew there would be dangers in their research." Derick and Hunter had stayed the night in a hotel in the merchant guild''s folded reality. Derick mentioned that members were allowed three free nights per week per city, which extended to friends, families, or workers. As they left the city in their wagon, Derick grew frustrated with the morning''s chaos. "One researcher starts screaming about doom and gloom, and the whole city freaks out; it''s not like there is a monster blitz." Derick still had to travel north to a town built over a Mana well. "Oh, before I forget," Derick said with a big smile. "I got this for you." Derick pulled out a shimmering bracelet with a large orange stone in it. Hunter stared at the bracelet in one word¡­ pretty. Wavy interlocking metal wove around itself, culminating in a glamorous orange stone. Hunter hesitantly took the bracelet, giving a half-hearted and drawn out. ¡°Thaaaannnks, I guess¡± Derick didn''t seem to care or notice, he said. "No problem. This low-grade protection gem runs off Mana and can protect you from weak attacks." Hunter examined the bracelet with new appreciation. "How does that work?" he asked. Derick''s eyebrows tried to reach his head again. "If I knew that, do you think I would be a merchant?" Hunter didn''t answer, so Derick shook his head and continued. "I said I would help you grow stronger; this is some protection for my investment in you; just think about it like that. Additionally, you need a weapon." Derick approached a large, long table and laid out a few weapons. Gasping, Hunter stepped closer to the table; the first weapons to catch his eyes were two daggers, both about sixteen inches. They had a simple, straight design from the hilt to the blade, but they looked deadly. The second was a crossbow with a simple, sleek design. Twenty-inch bolts were lying next to it. Hunter also spied a sword, a mace, and even some weapons where you could change the location of an axe head along a long pole. Hunter felt drawn to the crossbow. He had always enjoyed playing with ranged weapons in games, and the idea of not getting hurt sounded appealing. Derick made the other weapons disappear. "You can always switch. Fighting with a crossbow is difficult, and if you miss your first shot, you may not even get another. Do you need a backup weapon?" Hunter shook his head, pulled the crossbow and bolts into his inventory, and pulled out his barbed bone. "I think I''ll be okay; I''ve got this." The short man laughed heartily. "You have this? With that?" Derick said, still laughing. He reached for the barbed bone, feeling its edge as his laughter finally died down. "This is bone." More a statement than a question, Derick saw Hunter''s lack of understanding and shook his head. "Hunter, tell me, what would happen if you were to strike an enemy with this?" Hunter felt lost. "What would happen?" he asked. "It''s a blade; it would cut or pierce the monster." Derick gave the weapon a few test swings and nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe." He said. "Or perhaps a more likely thing to happen would you would hit one of the monster''s bones, and this thin blade would break; I have no doubts that monster would thank you twice, once for not hurting them much and the second for an easy lunch." "It''s not that bad," Hunter said sheepishly. "I killed a Cowird and a Plink with it." Derick''s face turned confused and amused at the same time. "You really don''t understand anything about this world, do you?" Hunter felt his face grow cold and then hot as his brain warred between anger and confusion about what to be angry about. Hunter clenched his fists. "I''ve been asking questions this whole time. Maybe instead of dancing around the answer for ten minutes, you just tell me." Derick handed back the barbed bone. "Ok, ok¡­Calm down," he said. "Let me start with the plink; this is a normal carnivorous plant that is usually pretty weak; the Cowird, I would say, is slightly more annoying but is used as livestock." Putting his weapon away, Hunter asked. "Livestock?" "Yup," came a quick reply, "In fact, the meat in your food last night was Cowird." Hunter started to feel gross as if he would puke, and then a thought crossed his mind. "Are these the equivalent of chickens? I can''t be that weak, right?" He felt his heart pound and asked, "How weak am I?" Derick suddenly got more serious and gave him an assessing glance. "Well, let me say this: if that Plink gave you a bad time, then the monsters out here will rip you to shreds. But that''s why I''m here. Until you decide what you want to do, I will help you grow; it isn''t all selfless, however." Derick''s voice changed to a harsh tone, and he locked eyes with Hunter. "If you get strong enough, I would like you to help me find the man who killed my friends." Although the malice wasn''t aimed at him, Hunter still felt a chill. "You mentioned that guy was pretty impressive; if I get stronger than him, I will help you." The bald man''s pained expression cracked slightly when he said, "Thanks." The wagon shifted, and Hunter was suddenly off his feet and flying. Luckily, there was just open space, so he and Derick both slid to a stop on the wood ground; Hunter felt a stinging pain from his arm, which he had landed on, but pushed up to his feet as he asked. "What happened?" Derick was already on his feet and nearing the front of the wagon, he muttered. "We stopped, probably a monster." Hunter felt his blood grow cold as his mind raced. "A monster? I know I said I was ready, but he said what I fought was weak." "Get over here." The yell came from Derick, breaking his thoughts.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Hunter quickly got to his feet and rushed over, brushing his sore arm as he did so. "Lorid''s have a great sense of smell." Derick said, "Whatever it is, it probably doesn''t know we are here yet." He jumped out of the wagon, and Hunter went down the ladder. "Here," the bald man said, handing him a dagger. Hunter was about to hand it back again, but Derick''s intense look had him put it in his inventory. He brought out his crossbow, pulling back on the string; Hunter didn''t realize how hard it was to pull the string back but eventually felt a click and was able to let go; he pulled out a bolt and set it into the flight grove. Hunter looked around for the monster. They had stopped in a valley, with green hills approaching the road at thirty-degree angles. No trees were in sight, and the only things he could hear were his breathing and Louie, who was letting out a soft whine. Hunter then felt a little air in his ear as Derick whispered. "These creatures have four legs; they are slow but have a strong hide. Your bolts will be able to penetrate, so aim for their center. These monsters range from thirty inches tall to forty. Some of them have skills to make you stuck in place." The bald man pointed over the left ridge, where a monster stood and observed them. It stood atop the hill alone, and Hunter took aim; it was fifty feet away; the monster was a dirty gray, dirty, matted fir covered its hunched body. It had a long maw, much like a wolf but with longer teeth more akin to a saber tooth tiger; a low growl came from the monster as Hunter looked down the sight. "A little closer," he told himself, letting the beast slowly inch its way forward. It was within thirty feet now, and it started pacing back and forth; Hunter aimed at its center, waiting for it to pace in the other direction. It turned. Hunter held his breath. He squeezed the trigger. The bolt flew, hitting the creature''s shoulder. The bolt''s power flung the creature onto its side, and it let out a grunting yelp. Hunter stood there, surprised he hit it, but he was quickly brought from his thoughts when the monster got up a foot of the bolt still sticking from it and growled. It snarled at them, and even more rows of its yellowed teeth appeared. Priming the bow again, Hunter loaded another bolt; the monster made a yelping sound as he felt the click, and Hunter looked at the beast as he placed another bolt on the crossbow. The monster had somehow pulled out the bolt and was now bleeding dark, black blood. It let out a howling sound, and its matted fur stood up on end. Hunter was reminded of his ability and mentally thought, "Amplify," as he aimed down the sights. A sharp pain shot from his arm to his mind; he dropped the crossbow as his arm muscles spasmed, Hunter looked down at his flailing arm and let out a pained cry as he felt sweat bead his brow. Hunter gritted his teeth, blinking rapidly, anything to keep his focus on the monster. The monster was rushing. Hunter pulled out his barbed bone in his right hand and the other dagger in his left. The monster lunged at him. Hunter tried to dodge out of the way, but his body felt rooted in the ground. He twisted his body just out of the way, slashing with his barbed bone at the temple of the monster. The weapon dug into the monster''s head. Then shattered, the monster rocketing past. The monster was now behind him, and his feet were tingling as if asleep; he tried to twist his body to see it, but fear and adrenaline rushed through him. The monster lunged again. Hunter fought against his own body to try and fight back. His feet flew from under him. They were no longer stuck. The monster missed him by inches. On the ground, Hunter felt like he couldn''t breathe. "How can I defeat this?" His head was hurting, and he realized he had been holding his breath. Hunter jumped to his feet, and his world grew dark. He could hear the blood in his head as his vision swam, darkness filling it. Hunter saw the monster turn as he felt the world spin, then nothing but darkness. Hunter woke up with a rush, sitting up quickly; the monster''s lower half was to his right, lying on the ground; he was being propped up, and he looked behind him to see a blanket. "Not bad for your first real fight," Derick said. Looking toward the sound, Hunter saw Derick holding a bloody sword in one hand and patting the Lorid as it ate with the other. Hunter looked closer and realized the Lorid was eating the monster. His stomach flipped again, but he held it down. "Thanks for the help. You were right," Hunter muttered, looking at the hilt of the barbed bone on the ground, which was the only part left. Hunter looked around for the other dagger and opened his inventory to put it away when his eyes widened. He must have been staring for a long moment since Derick asked. "Are you ok? I don''t think the monster got you, did it?" Hunter wasn''t hurt; however, he was just confused, he stammered. "T-th¡­. I had flowers in my inventory, a lot of them¡­ They are gone." Derick picked up the other half of the monster as he responded. "Weird, you sure you didn''t get rid of them?" Hunter thought back but didn''t remember throwing them away. "I don''t think so." He said. Derick threw the corpse to the Lorid, and it started crunching down the remains. "You could always ask the researchers if you''re curious, but they would probably rather study you than some missing flowers." Hunter put away his weapon and looked at the new notification." ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª You have helped in killing a Porolf. 32 xp earned Level up, now level 14 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª "So get xp even if I don''t kill the monster." Hunter thought, adding two points to durability and three to agility. He pulled up his stat screen to see the changes. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Stats: Strength: 21+1=(+1 Hard-worker) Durability: 19+3=(+1 Hard-worker +2 from achievements) Agility: 21+0=(-1 Sloth +1 Hard-worker) Intelligence: 10+4=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Good Liar +1 Daydreamer +1 Prey) Wisdom: 11+3=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Daydreamer +1 Prey) Level 14 XP 267 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Hunter sighed, looking at his stats, and said. "You''re strong," He got a scoff from Derick, which surprised him, and he heard him mutter. "If only I hadn''t hit my cap, I''d be stronger." Hunter wanted to ask about that, but the bald man gave him a sour look, so he resolved to wait until later. They were on the way again, finally having started moving. Derick and he were sitting in chairs across each other, drinking tea he had made. "What?" The bald man asked. Hunter hadn''t realized he had been staring, so he looked away as he asked. "Why did you become a merchant?" Derick put the cup down and let out a long-suffering breath; he breathed in and said all at once. "I wanted to be an adventurer growing up, but I hit my limit." Derick met Hunter''s eyes and sighed, explaining. "I was going to school for adventuring and hit that¡­ barrier." He spat. "I hit the barrier in my third year; what are the chances of being stuck so weak?" "You seem strong to me," Hunter said. Derick smiled sadly. "Thanks. You will grow stronger than me; I haven''t even hit the first stage." Hunter wanted to ask a million more questions, but the look on Derick''s face was broken. Instead, Hunter looked at the crates, about half of what he initially saw still stacked up. "What are we delivering?" Derick shrugged. "it''s probably some new instrument or tool or something weird for the research institute. They have been going all out on inventing the future, so lately, I take a lot of shipments for them, and it feels like I''m more like a delivery driver than a merchant." A pink glow caught Hunter''s eyes, and he looked to the front of the wagon. The glow was emanating from something outside, so he got up and walked over to see. The sky was a bright pink. He leaned out, looking behind them, and saw where the blue sky transitioned to pink. The direction they were going was even more so. "This is a beautiful sunset, " he said. Derick laughed, "Not quite. That is caused by the Mana well. I guess we are getting close to Manarith." Hunter looked toward the bald man looking at the sky and asked. "What does Mana do?" Derick continued looking at the pink sky and said. "That''s what they are trying to figure out. All I know is that it powers this folded reality and the one in Ilian." Chapter 12 Manarith Derick had been oddly vague about the Manarith. "Wait and see for yourself," he''d said. Hunter was glad Derick left it a mystery. As they approached, Hunter saw the outside of this relatively new city. The city had massive walls spanning upwards of one hundred feet, and on top of the walls were spires that twisted even higher. Each spire let off a glow of color, transitioning the whole rainbow. The entrance to the city was more of a tunnel. The wall was at least fifty feet thick. Glowing white lights bright as LEDs lined the walls. "Why is the wall so thick?" Hunter asked himself, and then he spotted a door that led inside the wall. They slowed to a stop just before a large metal grate. The door swung open, and three guards walked out. Each guard wore black cloth with small white triangles seamed to the chest, shoulder pads, legs, and arms. In the middle of each triangle lay a single light blue gem, the color of the sky. The guards approached¡ªone behind the wagon, one on the left, and one on the right. The one on the left addressed him: "Welcome to Manarith. This entrance is for merchants. I trust you have your card with you." Derick poked his shiny head from inside. The white lights gleamed off the head. He smiled and handed the man his card. The guard examined it briefly and said, "It''s all good. You may enter. The next blitz is six hours from now." The metal grate raised into the wall, and they started moving again. Hunter turned to Derick. "A blitz?" Derick nodded. "Told you about it before. The city gets attacked like clockwork. Crazy, they built it here." Hunter suddenly felt small as he took in the sprawling city. A white road led down a large street with tall buildings spanning three to five stories tall. A median with trees that looked like pines was in the middle, spitting up the two sides of traffic. The roads were filled with topless wagons. These wagons weren''t being pulled by anything but seemed directed by an occupant. The oddest thing for Hunter is that these pieces of transportation didn''t have wheels. Hunter blinked, confused. The vehicles didn''t have anything below them; they seemed to be floating. "Hover cars?¡± he asked himself.¡±That can''t be right." Hunter blinked rapidly and looked again, but the vehicles still hovered around. "City of wonders, or city of the future," Derick said. "Those are other names this city is known by. Aren''t those wagons amazing? I would buy one if it could run longer than just a few days away from the city." Hunter tore his eyes from the city and asked. "Does everything here run on Mana?" Derick smiled. "You got it, from the wall to the wagons and even the lights and waste system." They followed the road until they reached the center of the city. There was parking around a large square with five steps leading up to a large slate of white rock. The platform was massive, five hundred feet from corner to corner. Large round buildings, like yurts, littered the platform. Each building had a flag on it. Hunter recognized the researchers'' flag, the adventurer''s flag, and the merchant''s flag, but there were dozens of others. The buildings were only twenty feet wide and tall. "More folded realities." Hunter examined. The wagon stopped, and Derick jumped out, saying, "Go ahead and explore. You said you might want to become an adventurer one day. How about you go check that out? I''ll find you once I''m done." Hunter felt a rush of excitement and jumped down from the carriage, just like Derick. "It was only about five feet." He groaned in pain as he hobbled to a bench on the platform. When he jumped, he twisted his ankle, which Derick and Louie the Lorid found funny. "By the sound it was making, I thought that thing was throwing up, but it was just laughing." He sat down, taking off his boot. Hunter felt his sore muscles and grimaced. "A new world, and I still feel old." "Have you not hit your first stage?" came a question from his right. To his surprise, someone was sitting on the other side of the bench. "I thought there wasn''t anyone here." He thought, shaking his head to try to clear the cobwebs. He looked at the person who had asked the question. The woman looked to be in her early twenties. She had short red hair and pale skin covered in tattoos. She wore beige pants and a blood-red shirt. Hunter felt an urge to express excitement. "Will I finally be able to learn how to grow stronger?" he wondered. Trying to calm himself, he responded, "No, not really. I''ve been trying to figure it out. Can you explain it to me?" She tilted her head. "Really?" then asked. "Well, you know what skill points are, right?" Hunter nodded. "Once you have reached a point where your body can''t grow anymore, you can rank up to stage two." Hunter thought of Derick saying he had hit his limit and asked. "Can everyone hit stage two?" The girl shook her head. "Not everyone can reach a new stage, but most people''s limits are stage two or higher." "How do you know you can rank up?" Hunter asked. "Pain." That was the only response, and they sat in silence for a few moments. Then she said, "I''m Indy." One of the tattoos on her arm started glowing green. "I wonder what kind of Mana device that is?" He thought before trying to shake her hand, but he caught himself at the last moment and just said, "I''m Hunter. It''s nice to meet you." Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Her arm stopped glowing, and she got up. "Nice to meet you as well, Hunter." Indy then walked off, and Hunter felt confused. "That conversation felt weird," he thought before looking down at his ankle, about to massage it. The muscle, however, no longer felt sore. He put some weight on it and didn''t feel any pain. "Is this because I''m getting stronger?" he wondered. He then looked around at the people around him. "They all look strong, " he thought. What am I even doing?" Still processing what he''d just learned, Hunter turned his attention back to his goal, which was the Adventurer''s Guild. Strengthening his resolve to grow stronger, Hunter walked into the yurt-like building for the guild; he felt slightly dizzy going inside the folded reality, but it quickly subsided. He looked around. The building was the same shape as the outside, only again ten times the size on the inside. Mounted beast heads lined the round walls, some large, some small, scaly, feathered, or furry. All looked menacing to Hunter. Instead of desks for attendants, each sat on chairs across from sofas. All the attendants but one wore a light brown shirt and pants with golden stitching. Almost all attendants were taken, each with a geared adventurer who talked emphatically about a mission they had gone on or wanted to go on. Hunter approached the only available attendant, an older gentleman in a clean suit. His black hair and monocle made him look like a British butler. "Am I able to register here?" he asked. The man looked at him as if for the first time, then looked him over and pulled out a watch, saying, "Why, sure, young man. I have time." Hunter sat down on the comfy sofa and relaxed. The man readjusted his suit and said, "My name is Henry. If you weren''t aware, I must interview you to become an adventurer. For our first question, why would you like to become an adventurer?" Hunter knew he still had no answer to that and realized he should have asked Derick what to say here, but he answered how he thought they would want to hear: "So I can grow stronger." The man brought out a clipboard instead of a tablet and started taking notes. "Don''t mind me; I like the feeling of paper. Now, what are your current stats?" Hunter sent over the information. Henry looked them over, nodding, and asked. "Why are you so weak?" Hunter felt his mind race at what to say and answered. "I lived pretty far from monsters, so I hadn''t had the chance to fight them." Henry nodded and noted down again. "Your family must have kept you sheltered. What is your goal in getting stronger?" He was taken aback momentarily and wondered, "Why do I want to grow stronger? Only to not die? I could stay in this city, which would accomplish that goal." Hunter responded again with what Henry wanted to hear: "To protect others." Henry adjusted his monocle and asked. "What is your name?" Hunter felt uneasy, unsure if playing around with the truth like this was who he wanted to be. In his contemplation, he realized that he had forgotten to introduce himself. He mumbled, "My name is Hunter." Henry smiled and pulled out his watch before adjusting his monocle again. "Very good. Now I have only one more question," he said, his voice taking on a dangerous tone. Tell me why you are trying to deceive me." Hunter''s chest tightened. A heavy force pressed down on him, pinning him to the chair and making It hard to breathe. The room darkened as if a shadow had swallowed the light. One wrong word and he was sure it would crush him. He stuttered. ¡°I-I-I¡¯m not¡­ no¡­ I don''t want to." He stopped, taking a moment to think. Hunter took a few shaky breaths, trying to organize his thoughts. "This world has so many dangers; if I were to have a goal, it would be to become stronger to make up for all the pain I caused in my last world." Hunter steadied himself and answered more clearly. "I want to grow stronger so that I have the power to forge my own path." The weight subsided somewhat before the man spoke again in a more calm tone. "I will not ask into your background or why you felt the need to hide it, but¡­ I want you to know becoming an adventurer is a responsibility to the guild and the people." The man waited for Hunter to nod before continuing, "I will allow you to become an adventurer. Just know that there will always be people to stop you if you ever want to hurt others." Hunter nodded furiously. Henry smiled honestly this time, and the weight lifted off Hunter immediately. He noticed a shadow resend, and the room felt lighter. Everyone was staring at them. Henry acted like he didn''t notice and handed over the paper, saying, "Think of your stats appearing here." Hunter shook his head, refocusing on Henry. He then thought of his stats appearing on the paper. They did so slowly at first, almost like heating ink from an invisible pen, but then they appeared as if they were always there. Henry said, "This paper is now tied to you. It will update as you grow stronger. It also lets us know if you die on a mission. Here is your guild card." He handed over a card the size of a debit card back in Hunter World, which read stage 0. Hunter took it, put it away in his inventory, and asked. "How do I take missions?" Henry''s eyebrows raised. "Take missions? Around here, you can''t take missions as stage 0. The monsters would slaughter you... no¡­ either go to a course here or travel in a caravan to a different city and start there. Even so, you should get a trainer. You have a lot of ground to make up if you want to become stronger." Hunter nodded again, standing up. "Thank you for your time," he said, walking out of the building while trying to ignore all the stares he was getting. "That could have gone better. At least guild doesn¡¯t want to experiment on me." He thought, slightly relieved. Hunter walked back to the wagon; the first thing he noticed was the crates to be delivered were gone, but then he spotted Derick working on something on a new table. Hunter approached the man, looking over him to see what he was working on. Derick was working on what looked like a watch. It had a wristband and display, both mostly transparent. Derick had the display open and was touching different points with a pin. Each time Derick touched a part of the watch, it would glow a light green, then slowly dim again. Hunter sat down on one of the chairs, waiting for Derick to finish. It took Derick, what Hunter estimated, another thirty minutes before he was done. The bald man''s head was covered in sweat, and he wiped it with a cloth before turning to regard Hunter. When he did, Derick said. "All done. I would say this is pretty good for my first try." "What is it?" Hunter asked. Derick walked over to Hunter, placed the bracelet on his other arm, and said, "Remember how I told you the other bracelet would protect you? This one will make you slightly stronger." He paused, sitting across from Hunter. "Your strength is currently at twenty-two, but this will boost it to forty." Hunter''s eyebrows shot up. "That''s amazing; why don''t everyone wear these then?" "They do," Derick responded. These are handed out to children and will cease functioning once you reach forty strength." Hunter didn''t feel any stronger but looked at his strength stat. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Strength: 40 (21+1) ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª "It says my strength has gone up, but I don''t feel any stronger. Why is that?" Hunter asked. Derick grinned. "Because having forty strength but only twenty durability would rip you apart. No, it will only activate for short times in battle. It''s best to think of it as a skill with a short duration. Also, you will feel much more strain afterward." That made a lot more sense to Hunter, but what didn''t is the need for a bracelet like this. "Why do I need this if you will be there to help me?" Derick chewed at his lip and looked away. "Well, I will have to stay here in Manarith for a while. All the merchants here try and get a license to repair or modify Mana tools, and I want to get one myself." Derick sighed and looked Hunter in the eyes. "I''m thinking you can attend one of the adventurer guild''s courses on getting stronger. I will be spending a lot of my time with the researchers, so I won''t have time to go out with you, but I wanted to make sure you could still grow stronger instead of waiting on me." Everything clicked into place for Hunter. " Okay, I have made up my mind to grow stronger. When does it start, and what should I expect?" Chapter 13 Amaceing skills "It wasn''t my fault," Arron said, covered in the green goo. The girl beside him, Mira, crossed her arms, her usual smirk in place. "Oh¡­ really?" Hunter couldn''t stop smiling. Even though it was seasonal, he loved attending the carnival with his friends. He looked at them, his smile dropping. Their faces were blurred, shifting like reflections on rippling water. Hunter''s laughter caught in his throat. The air was thick now, pressing against his ears. His friends were right there, but suddenly, they felt miles away. Another man to Hunter''s right pointed to the maze. "We should try to go through there. They have four entrances but one exit, so it''s perfect." Arron looked happy for any diversion from his gooeyness, saying, "Let''s do it. The first one out has to pay for dinner!" Mira pumped her fist. "Oh, you''re on," Hunter slowly made his way to the entrance. He didn''t want to leave his friend''s side, but his feet were moving for him. Hunter tried to call out, but the air got stuck in his chest, which built up every time he tried. They all made it to their entrances, and Mira counted them down 3¡­2¡­1 Hunter felt untethered, as if his body had left him behind. He watched himself race forward, but his mind lagged, trapped in place. He knew a lot of people stayed to the left wall, but that was why he always stayed to the right. Hunter watched himself dash through the maze, hitting a few dead ends but coming to the end rather quickly. He watched himself look around to see if anyone else was there, but he was the only one. Hunter''s body turned around and put its hands on its hips. A wide smile spread across its lips, looking arrogant. He knew what he was about to say: "You never expected my a-maze-ing skills." Hunter''s body laughed to itself at the bad pun and turned its eyes back to the maze. Hunter felt pulled back to his body and got a front-row seat as people rushed past him. He just stood there and watched as if time had been put on fast forward. Finally, the number of people slowed until none more came. He felt his heart drop along with his arms. "Where are they?" Hunter didn''t understand. "How are they doing? Do they need help? What was going on?" he felt his heart pound in his chest in rhythm to every second that crawled by. Hunter''s eye caught something. A man in a carnival suit walked up to him, but he wouldn''t look away from the maze. The man removed his straw hat and said, "Sir, you must leave. The park is closing." Hunter stammered. The words came out muddied and slow as if he had only just learned to speak again. He said, "N-No¡­My friends are still in there." "No," the man said, voice hollow. "They didn''t leave you, Hunter." Hunter felt his stomach twist. Looking at him for the first time, he asked, "Did they leave me?" The man looked down, gripping his hat. "You left them." His breath came in shallow gasps. His hands trembled as he pushed the sweat-soaked sheets away. "These dreams are getting worse." He thought. "I wonder how they are doing?" Mira had taught him ways to calm down in his other world, which he disregarded at the time. Now Hunter looked down at his trembling hands and sat up. He breathed in a long breath, held it for ten seconds, and let it out for five, repeating the sequence until he felt his mind settle. Hunter walked down the hall. Derick had rented an apartment while working on his license, and Hunter was taking courses in the meantime. The apartment was pretty nice. Hunter had his own room with a bed, desk, and bathroom. His room was across the hall from Derick''s, the hall leading to the living room. Hunter smelled the familiar yeast smell of fresh-baked goods and walked to the dining room. The dining room was connected to the kitchen, with only an island separating them. Three loaves of fresh bread sat on the island. Derick was only a foot taller than the counters, so he stood on a stool while cooking. Hunter chuckled at the sight. "Oh, Hunter, you''re awake," Derick said, turning around. I made some fresh bread for us for lunches, and I''m almost done with breakfast if you want to sit down." Hunter sat down, and Derick brought the food only a few moments later. A plate with yellow fluffy eggs was sitting in front of him. Strips of meat, almost like bacon but thicker, were also there. Hunter thanked the man and dug in. A few minutes in, Derick said, "I signed you up for a course on adventuring today; they have them almost every day." Hunter nodded, "What are these courses like?" Derick chewed, then drank some water before responding, "There will be a large emphasis on learning how to use weapons. They will also help you learn which weapon is for you." Hunter nodded and finished his meal. On his way to the course, Hunter was thinking back to his conversations with Derick; Derick had talked to him about his failed use of his skill Amplify while fighting and had said it was probably intended for close combat. Hunter still found it odd that the skill hurt him, but in their testing later, they had discovered his skill only worked on weapons with a blade so far; Derick had categorized his skill as good, but not if he wanted to use that damn crossbow. The course took place in a building that wasn''t in a folded reality. Instead, pillars lined the outside of an open structure, and the floor was matted. He walked up to the entrance, where a man stood. He had a nice tan like a perfect marshmallow, long brown hair, and soft features. The man said, "Welcome. My name is George. I''m one of the instructors here. What is your name so I can verify that you''re in the right class?" After Hunter told him his name, the man checked a list and smiled, saying, "All good. Please leave your boots with me. You may sit wherever you like. We will be starting soon." Hunter removed his footwear and walked in, taking a look around. The building was the size of a gym. Fifteen people were already sitting down on the cushy ground, each sitting next to the other. Examining the room, Hunter noticed one person out of place. It was the person with a lot of tattoos from yesterday. With a joking grin, he walked up to her and said, "Hi, Indy, I haven''t seen you in forever." Indy looked up from where she was sitting, confused. "Didn''t I see you yesterday? Is that a long time for you?" Hunter chuckled at his own joke and shook his head. "Ignore that. Is anyone sitting here?" Indy shook her head, and he started sitting down, but she stopped him by saying, "If you sit next to me, you will have a difficult time talking to others." You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Hunter froze, looking at her in confusion. There wasn''t anything off-putting about her. She had a lot of tattoos, but in his world, all his friends had at least one, and Arron, well, he liked tattoos a little too much. "Why?" he asked. Indy shrugged, "I used to be a mercenary; I''m trying to become an adventurer now for¡­ cleaner work." Looking at her confused was enough for her to continue her explanation. "I''m a mercenary," she said, emphasizing the last word. "Ok, and I''m a," he thought momentarily. "Person¡­ why does it matter?" Indy looked at him just as confused. "Both the adventurer''s guild and the mercenary guild get quests. Sometimes, they both get the same quest. Usually, only one person can take a quest, but both guilds are rivals, so they don''t communicate." She sighed, taking a few breaths. Hunter wondered how a lousy system could exist, such as that, and asked. "Does that mean both guilds could have people taking the same quest?" She just shrugged. "Yup, they like to call it competition, but we all know they love undercutting each other." A new instructor walked up in front of the crowd, and everyone quieted down. Hunter sat down and looked at who their instructor was. The instructor was as short as Derick, except for a key difference. This man had hair. His long brown hair, akin to a Viking, matched his long beard. If he had been a foot smaller, Hunter would have thought a dwarf walked in. "Ahem, I see we have new faces, so I will introduce myself." He spoke in a deep voice. "My name is Jerry. I am an Adventurer and have been asked to lead the next few courses on monsters. Do you have any questions before we start?" "Good," he said, grinning. Jerry pulled out a tablet with a picture of the Porolf he had fought. "Does anyone know what this is?" A few people yelled out that it was a Porolf, but Jerry shook his head. "Look closer. If you want to be adventurers, you should at least know this much." Indy leaned toward him, whispering, "These people are young, so they have never seen it before, but that is a contract for fighting monsters." Jerry raised his eyebrows, saying, "Correct, Indy. I have high hopes for you to become an adventurer." Indy leaned back to her spot, mumbling something about tier 1s "Contracts are not the only way you can earn money for fighting monsters," Jerry said, regaining everyone''s attention. "You can go out and just fight whatever you like. The only difference is that you can gain extra rewards by completing contracts for the guild and take on more strategic quests if you want." Grinning, Jerry turned and started walking. " That is all the technical jargon for now; follow me, " he said, walking down a flight of stairs. Hunter followed them downwards below ground. Floating white lights lit up the staircase. When he reached the bottom, it opened into a large room. This room had a few large mats laid out and tables of weapons next to them. Jerry turned around and said, "You will use the guild''s weapons today. I understand that some of you may be able to purchase much better ones, but this exercise isn''t about winning but how you win and fight." Walking up to each of them, Jerry started handing out bracelets. "These will protect you from weak attacks; even so, try to fight as if your life were on the line." He approached Hunter and looked at his bracelet. "It looks like you already have one," he said, then turned to Indy. Would you like one?" She shook her head, so he walked back to the front. "You see," Jerry said, turning back around. "I believe in learning by doing, so¡­ what I''ll have you do is fight monsters." The first of the three large mats started glowing a blue-amber glow Everyone got up and walked over; it was beautiful as the colors swirled. Then, the colors fully merged and dissipated, with a Porolf now standing in the middle. Hunter could hear his heartbeat in his ears as he watched the beast look around and stare at him as if he were its next meal. A few others took a few steps back from the mats, but Jerry laughed a few times to himself. "I love that part." Jerry pointed to Indy, saying. "How about you go first?" This broke Hunter from his trance, and he watched Indy almost nonchalantly walk toward the monster. Indy walked onto the first mat, the monster not caring that she existed until she took the last step onto the mat. When she did, the Porolf immediately growled and started pacing back and forth. Indy stood still. Hunter realized she had never grabbed a weapon. Everyone was far from the boundaries, so Hunter took a step closer. He kept a mental grip on his dagger stashed in his inventory, just in case. Indy started glowing, her right arm glowing a light red and her legs a pine green. The monster finally stopped pacing and leapt toward her. She sidestepped to her left. The monster flew by her by inches, hitting its maw first into an invisible wall. Indy''s arm glowed brighter for a second as she slammed it into the back of the monster. The Porolf made a yelping sound as a crack echoed in the room. Indy jumped backward close to another invisible wall, and her arm stopped glowing. The monster howled, its fur standing on end. Indy tried to move but found her feet were stuck in place. The monster hobbled at first but then dashed at her. A bright red erupted from Indy''s arm, and she punched at the charging monster. The monster opened its maw, inviting her hand. Her punch connected with the beast''s snout; the Porolf tried to stop, but its momentum kept coming. Indy''s fist made bone-splintering sounds as it crushed the monster''s skull. Hunter felt his stomach turn as the beast was torn in two, but his mind warred with his stomach as he envied that kind of power that he needed to trek his own path. The Porolf turned transparent for only a fraction of a second before black cracks appeared, spouting dark smoke that settled on the ground. Everyone was silent as the beast slowly evaporated. Indy''s glow faded, and she walked back over to them, shaking her fist to remove some black smoke that was still stuck to it. Waiting for her to walk past him, Jerry said, "Excellent job, Indy! That was exceptional fighting. For those of you who don''t have the skill or power to kill it outright, you will have to focus on getting into the monster''s blind spots and hitting its weak point." Jerry pulled out his tablet again and tapped on it a few times before swiping off the screen with his finger. In the air, almost like a projector, a model of the Porolf appeared. This model had different colors for each limb. Jerry pointed to the Porolf''s stomach. "The stomach is the weakest point for many monsters, so it is red. We can also see that the back of the head and its limbs are yellow, indicating weak points." Jerry turned back to everyone and asked. "So, what do weak points usually do?" A man a few rows up said. "They can incapacitate a monster." "Correct," Jerry said. "It can make it harder or impossible for the monster to move, depending on what kind of weak point you attack. This is why it is important to know what you are fighting before you fight it. Now, who is next?" The man who had answered earlier got up and walked over to the equipment. He picked up a three-foot short sword, held it in his right hand, and swung it a few times as he walked onto the mat. Jerry tapped on his tablet, and the blue amber glow reappeared. Hunter watched closely again, feeling adrenaline coursing through his veins. The monster and the man started pacing in a circle. The man took a step inward, cutting the space between them. The Porolf stopped. It dashed toward him. The man dodged to his left, swinging the sword at the monster''s head. Leaping out of the way, the monster growled. Then the beast howled, its fur standing on end. Trying to move, the man realized he was stuck. Fear etched his face. The beast ran sideways, getting behind his left side. Thinking quick, the man swapped his weapon to his left hand. The Porolf lunged. The man slashed at the beast. He missed by inches, and the monster''s jaw closed around his leg. A flash of blue energy erupted from the man, throwing the monster back and against the invisible wall. Everyone and everything was silent for a few daunting seconds, and then the man''s ragged breaths came in short gasps. "Enough," Jerry said calmly. That''s enough for now. You did well thinking fast, so nice job." The man slumped to his hands and knees, sweat glistening off his skin. He pushed himself up, walked back over to them, and sat down. Jerry tapped on his tablet again, and a new screen popped up in front of everyone. "What you can see here are the known skills of this monster. You can see it has the ability to stick you in place for five seconds. This doesn''t seem like much, but in battle, every second counts. Now, how can you overcome that if you''re stuck in place?" Indy was the first to answer this time, saying, "You could carry sound or light pulses to confuse the monster until you are no longer stuck." "Great answer." Jerry said, "Anyone else?" Another person blurted out. "You could counterattack." Jerry nodded, then waited a few moments before saying, "Remember, you aren''t the only one aware of how long the ability lasts. The monster is also keenly aware, and even if you blind it, the beast may try to attack anyway." Hunter was up next. He looked back at the mat he would be fighting on. It was only thirty feet by thirty feet. He felt his heart race. It was now his turn to pick a weapon. One weapon on a table caught his eye. It was what looked like a short mace. It was only about a foot and a half long. The top had angled triangles that curved sharply to a point every few inches around the shaft. Excited, he picked it up and swung it a few times. It was heavy, but the shortness helped. Hunter squinted as he tried to activate his skill. He thought, "Amplify," but no pain came. He sighed in relief as he looked down at the mace. Each of the sharp points now had a light blue glow, extending past the metal as if each sharp point extended an inch larger than they were. Hunter walked onto the mat. He held his breath as blue and amber engulfed his vision. He swallowed as fear sent shivers down his spine. Chapter 14 A test of resolve Anyone can pretend to be brave until they stand at the precipice. Only then do they prove it. Hunter''s heart pounded like a drum as he watched the enchanting colors swirl. He reminded himself to breathe. The colors vanished, revealing a Porolf staring him down. Steadying himself, Hunter took slow breaths and calmed his mind. The beast growled and started pacing to his left. He paced in step with the monster. The Porolf slowed to a stop and faced him, its yellowish teeth bared. Hunter could feel his heartbeat in his ears now and yelled. "Come on then!" The beast dashed to his left, going to his side without a weapon. Hunter turned, knuckles white, and swung his mace. The monster lunged out of the way, the mace still catching the side of the beast. The Porolf snarled and howled, head tilted skyward. His feet were stuck. The monster ran out of his reach towards his back. Hunter counted down the time till he could move. The monster made it behind him. Three seconds. The monster ran at him from behind. He twisted his body, swinging his mace behind him. The Porolf jumped back. Two seconds. The beast wasn''t done; it ran again to Hunter''s left side. One second. The monster opened its maw, ready to bite down. Zero. Hunter spun to face the monster, bringing his mace down in a brutal arc. The mace connected with its head, a splintering-cracking sound echoing in his ears. The mace crushed through skull and bone. The Porolf shattered into dark smoke, wisps trailing from Hunter¡¯s weapon. Falling to his knees, Hunter dropped the mace. His arm felt like it was on fire, and the rest of his body felt like he had run a marathon. "No experience for defeating fake monsters, huh?" he thought. Looking down at his inflamed arm, he noticed a light red glow pulsing from the strength bracelet Derick had given him. Hunter, breathing heavily, noticed Jerry was talking. "That was your fault. We never said you couldn''t bring one. A young man with dark hair and sharp features argued with Jerry, yelling back, "But you said it''s not about having the strongest gear but how we fight." "Exactly," Jerry said, "The bracelet that Hunter has on is designed to output to forty strength; after that, it becomes useless. Do you really think any of you will be fighting a monster below that point?" The man deflated somewhat. The man looked at Hunter. Realizing he was still on the ground, Hunter got up and started returning to his spot. The man mumbled, "If I knew we could use that, my battle would have been easier." Hunter couldn''t see the instructor''s face, but he sounded tired as he talked to the student. "Vell, Hunter probably didn''t need that bracelet to defeat that Porolf. It is a mace, which is a lot heavier than the sword you missed with, so even without the bracelet, there is a good chance the monster would have died or become moribund." Hunter watched Vell, in response, pull out a bracelet from his inventory and put it on, not saying anything else. The silence extended briefly until Jerry said, "Nice fight, Hunter. As you all could see, even though he was able to defeat the Porolf with the bracelet, it left him drained. So, this is something to think about: if you are trying to defeat an enemy and you already have the power to defeat it, is any kind of enhancer worth it?" Hunter felt that firsthand. How long would he have lasted if he had been in a real battle and used the strength bracelet? If the monster waited for him to tire like he waited for its skill, would he die? "Skill¡­" Hunter thought, "I forgot to use my skill!" Hunter mentally slapped himself for not using this chance to utilize his amplify skill in combat. A man walking in broke Hunter from his revelation. It was George who walked up, standing next to Jerry. Jerry raised his eyebrows, looking up at the taller man. "Is it already that time?" George nodded and then turned to talk to them, speaking calmly, almost quietly. "I''m George, another instructor." Hunter heard some people sigh around him. George continued, "I mostly focus on repetition and building healthy and necessary skills. We will start off easy with something simple, building muscle." Jerry cringed, but Hunter thought, "That doesn''t sound that bad." He had gotten the opportunity to build a lot of muscle, so he felt like he was already in a good spot. Looking down at his arms, he was surprised to see weak, frail arms attached to his torso. "Oh yeah," he thought, feeling alien in his body once again, "different body." George instructed everyone to follow him, saying they would go upstairs. Once up there, George had them put back on their gear, saying. "If they want to battle with it, they need to build stamina with it." Then George turned to them, saying. "We will be running." Gasps erupted from all around Hunter, but he still had the mindset of wanting to rebuild his old muscle. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. George started jogging slowly enough for them to follow. They ran out of the training area toward one of the massive walls. Surprisingly, running in his boots wasn¡¯t that bad for Hunter. It was definitely worse than running shoes but better than any other boots he had tried to run in. All too quickly, Hunter''s breath became labored. He was running behind Indy, who hadn''t even broken a sweat. Now that he thought about it, she was in great shape. Toned muscles covered her body; unlike the bulking muscles he had built in the past, her muscles looked built for fighting. Hunter pushed on sweat, poring down his forehead and burning in his eyes. He hadn''t realized how out of shape his body was, but this felt like a wake-up call. They finally made it to where one of the walls turned ninety degrees. Hunter realized how large this city really was. They had been running for at least half an hour, starting at the training grounds, which were halfway between the wall. Hunter finally found his rhythm, and even though each step felt worse than the last, he pushed on, desperate to improve himself. Another wall passed, and Hunter was ready to give up. Every breath was a stab at his chest, and every step was on a bed of nails. His legs felt like they would break from the strain. Hunter looked up. He was starting to flag from the back of the pack. Everyone was in better shape than he was. They all were keeping up with George, and he was the only one falling back. He could no longer see the pack. He had hit another corner, so he turned another ninety degrees, but he had to slow to a walk. Every step felt like he was stepping in a fire pit, and each breath now felt like needles piercing his lungs. Hunter knew that if he stopped, he would not be able to go again, so he pushed. He took every step, forcing himself not to quit. He didn''t know how long he had been walking, but he could see he was about halfway on the third wall; Hunter could see the shadow the large wall was casting as night approached. Hunter''s legs finally gave out, and he fell onto the hard ground; he lay like that for a long time, feeling his legs throb in time with his heart. Pushing up, he pressed his back against the large wall, looking upwards. The bright pink sky of the day had been replaced with a dark pink hue, with dancing green and blue lights like shooting stars. He watched the beautiful sky, feeling a sense of lostness he hadn''t felt in a long time. Leaning against a wall of a new city, in a new world, in a new body, he felt farther away from his old life than he had ever felt before. He stayed like that until his legs only felt numb. At that point, Jerry''s friendly, if short, face found him. Jerry said, "You really made it this far?" Hunter felt horrible and was only able to mutter, "Yah." "Impressive!" Jerry said, "Derrek told me you would be new to this, and your family didn''t do any physical or skill training for you, so I''m very impressed you made it this far." Jerry held out a hand to Hunter; he grabbed it, and Jerry pulled him up. Jerry put Hunter''s arm on his shoulder, which was slightly awkward because Jerry was four feet tall, but the man was strong and did not waver at Hunter''s weight as he started going. Jerry didn''t flag while carrying Hunter but asked, "So tell me, Hunter, why do you want to become an adventurer? Most people here do it because they have to, their family doesn''t have their own program, or adventuring is the only way they feel like they can make a name for themselves." Hunter, exhausted, said. "Right now, I just need to grow stronger." Unwrapping Hunter''s arm from around himself, Jerry said, "I can respect that. Don''t feel too distressed about being unable to keep up; keep pushing." Hunter looked around, seeing they were back in the first training area, and sighed. "I''ll see you tomorrow." Walking into the kitchen the next day, Hunter felt sore. His legs, his chest, and even his arm, which he had only swung once while fighting, were sore. Instead of good morning, he was greeted with, "Well, don''t you look horrible? Did a monster get to you?" Hunter sat down at the table and said. "I didn''t expect training to be so intense." Derick finished, bringing over a plate of eggs and large bacon again. "Difficult, you say? Which part?" Hunter looked at the food and then at his sore arm, which he would have to raise to eat. Instead, he chose to eat with his left hand. "The fight wasn''t that bad, but running around the city walls was a lot." Derick almost choked on his food. Coughing a few times before he was able to sputter. "They made you do that on your first day? I asked Jerry to go easy on you." Sighing, Hunter said, "It was George." Derick, finally done with his choking, erupted in laughter. " They let that guy train? No wonder!" Hunter looked nonplussed at the short bald man who was tearing up. "I am wondering, though: Why do we have to train our stamina? If we instead focused on killing monsters, wouldn''t we get the skill points to upgrade our stats anyway?" Derick whipped his eyes with his sleeve. "Not quite; send me a copy of your stats." Hunter looked at them himself. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Stats: Strength: 19+1=(Hard-worker) Durability: 16+1=(Hard-worker +2 from achievements) Agility: 21+0=(-1 Sloth +1 Hard-worker) Intelligence: 10+4=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Good Liar +1 Daydreamer +1 Prey) Wisdom: 11+3=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Daydreamer +1 Prey) Level 13 XP 235 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Derick took a bite of his food, swallowed, and said, "Take your strength, for example. You have twenty strength, but this doesn''t correlate to how much strength you have built up just by living." Hunter didn''t understand, so he asked. "So the number on my stats doesn''t tell the full story?" Chewing this time, Derick nodded, saying, "Precisely, for example, if an adventurer who has only fought monsters their whole life fought someone who did physical labor like farming as a job, it is quite possible that the adventurer would lose out." Nodding, Hunter turned his full attention to attacking his food. After the meal, Hunter made his way to the training grounds a little earlier than the course was supposed to start. The roads were crowded, but the people thinned the closer he got to this part of the city. George was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the open structure, facing away from him. Hunter walked in, placed his boots off to the side, and approached him. Even while being quiet, George noticed him and said. "I''m honestly surprised you decided to show up after yesterday." Hunter immediately felt bad thinking he was talking about his inability to run around the city, but that shame turned into anger at the impossible task he was left with. About to talk, Hunter was cut off by George, who said, "You will get there eventually, sit." Taken by surprise, Hunter did so, sitting next to the tan man. "I wanted to ask," Hunter said. "Is running the only way we will train?" "No," came the quick and blunt reply. Hunter looked over to see what George was working on, but he seemed to be just sitting there. "What are you doing?" he asked. "Training" came yet another quick response. Feeling like he was getting nowhere, Hunter spent some time thinking about his weapon choice yesterday. He had chosen the mace, which, even though he used the strength bracelet, felt really powerful to him. Even though he didn''t like the idea of getting in close with enemies, he had to do that for almost every fight so far. Almost as if he were reading his mind, George asked. "So, a mace?" "A mace?" Hunter thought, then said. "As my weapon? In general? What do you mean?" George waited a few moments before saying, "A mace is an interesting weapon; it can be both complex and simple." Waiting for him to continue, Hunter watched him but, after a few more seconds, asked. "Is it a bad choice?" "No," came the expected response Then George did something amazing: He elaborated, "The mace you were using was a one-handed short mace. It is still slower than most one-handed weapons, but as you saw yesterday, it packs a punch." Hunter felt like he was sitting next to Mr. Obvious. "I already know this. If the mace is something I want to use, what should I do better?" George shrugged. "I don''t know." Hunter almost stood up to leave, but George continued. "I don''t know what you could improve since I haven''t seen you fight enough. What I will give you are some pointers." George got up, pulled a short mace like the one he had used the other night out of his inventory, and got into a ready stance. He said, "Stand with your legs farther apart. The mace is top-heavy, so you want to make sure it doesn''t throw you off balance." He touched his right elbow with his left hand. "Keep your elbow bent so that you don''t hurt your wrist. You can''t pierce with a weapon like this, so try to strike downwards or diagonally." He then handed the mace to Hunter. "Swing it a few times for me." Hunter did so, swinging the mace in slashing-like motions. "How do you feel?" George asked. Hunter sighed. "Not strong enough." George took the mace back and swung it a few times. Instead of swinging it back and forth like a sword, he continued the swing, circling around into another strike. "It''s not that you''re not strong enough." George said, "With a weapon like this, you need to use the weight to follow through on the next strike." Hunter tried it a few times. Even while still feeling his exhaustion from yesterday, he felt the large difference that technique made. Turning back to George, he smiled and said, "Thanks," but George was already sitting down again. Chapter 15 Tides of terror "The Blitz is late again," Jerry said, his voice grave. Hunter hadn''t noticed Jerry arrive. When he turned, he saw the man''s thousand-yard stare. Jerry''s usually well-kept Viking-like hair was disheveled. George looked unaffected after hearing the news, and as he replied, "So?" Jerry didn''t seem to notice or was used to these conversations. "Well, you know how things have been escalating lately," Jerry glanced at Hunter, unsure whether he should say this with Hunter here, but he continued. "I''m getting worried that things are starting to become exponential." George breathed a long-suffering sigh, "Spit it out. If it''s that bad, words won''t change it." Hunter noticed Jerry again glance at him before looking to relax somewhat. "You''re right, I think this next Blitz, they''ll have to call the Adventurer''s Guild. And the one after that? Worse. We have some high tiers in the city, but can they really hold back something like this?" "Do your job. That''s it." George said, voice clipped. ¡°But we hav..¡± Jerry started, then looked down mumbling "You''re¡­. Right," Hunter was unraveling what they were saying but wanted to clarify, so he asked, "So the blitz of monsters is getting worse, and you think the city will get overrun?" Voicing this made Jerry pale again. George responded for both of them, saying, "Looks that way." Hunter was confused. "Why now? Why is this happening all of a sudden?" Jerry''s mouth formed a line as he looked pensive. "There are too many variables at play to be sure. It could just be the mana well, it could be the researchers guild''s projects. We aren''t high enough in the guild to get all the information, but at this point, I don''t think anyone knows." George shook his head. "Nothing we can do. Watch or don''t." Students started filtering in, and Jerry excused himself, letting George take the first half. George waited for everyone to settle before saying, "Today, we train the mind." To Hunter''s surprise, George pulled a board game out of his inventory. As he explained it, the basics of the game related to city resource management. They were all pitted against each other as competitors allowed to get resources, which were customers based upon their supply chain, product quality, and delivery timeliness. The game was surprisingly tricky; players could undercut each other based on the supply chains they secured. Hunter wasn''t sure how any of these games were related to battle, so he asked, "How will this help me fight monsters?" A few other people nodded as if they were wondering the same thing, but George seemed unfazed as he explained. "A fight isn''t just about strength. It''s about resources, timing, and outmaneuvering your enemy. This game forces you to think ahead, manage what you have, and exploit weaknesses just like in a battle. If you can outthink your opponent here, you can do it when your life''s on the line." Hunter caught himself slipping again. This wasn''t Earth. Like a punch in the gut, he was reminded of his own mortality. There was no reset button, no save file. People died for real here. As it turns out, strategic and logistical games weren''t his forte, just like on Earth. He didn''t get last but ended up getting undercut or bluffed out of a deal just so a competitor could take advantage. Jerry returned looking more put together; he waited silently until they were done, then led them downstairs. Once he had them before the mat again, he said. "I''m sure you have all heard about the increase in monsters around lately, so I will be accelerating our training so that you may be able to defend yourselves in an emergency." "Does that mean we will be training against harder monsters?" asked Vell excitedly. Jerry nodded. "It does. This also means I will be critiquing your every move, so don''t take it personally; instead, take it in stride and learn." Vell was eager to go first, so Jerry let him. This time, a dark brown swirl collided with green, making a bear-like monster appear. It looked like a grizzly with a longer snout, almost like an alligator, and a sharp, spiky tail. Upon appearing, Vell took a few steps back to the edge of the invisible wall, his hand shaking. "A Salager, I can''t fight that!" he said, fear drenching his words. Jerry''s usual calm voice was gone. Instead, he barked like a drill sergeant. "You''re fighting a much stronger monster now, so adapt. This is something better to learn now than on the battlefield!" This seemed to break Vell from his fear enough for him to raise his sword. He walked forward slowly, edging ever closer to the enemy. The Salager looked uneven on its feet as it walked, almost as if it had a limp already. Almost within striking distance, the beast reacted and pushed off its back legs, propelling its large body in a dash toward Vell. Vell waited almost too long to dodge, but was able to slash it as he passed a small cut oozing dark smoke settling to the ground. He continued backpedaling until he had more room between them. The monster spun to face Vell again, claw digging into the mat, leaving deep gouges. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Then Hunter realized that the Salager didn''t have a limp but was walking on its fist like a gorilla. It also had longer arms than legs, leading to large swinging attacks. Vell took the initiative, striking while sidestepping a fist thrown at him. A mist of smoke poured from a deeper cut. Backpedaling again, Vell was panting already, the light red pulse visible from him using a strength-enhancing bracelet. Vell didn''t let that slow him down; he ran in again, ready to try the same strategy. The monster growled gutturally. It swung in a long arc, catching Vell. Vell rocketed into the wall, his shield flashing a bright blue twice, once when he was hit and again when he hit the wall. Jerry hit a button, causing the monster to turn to smoke. Vell was slumped in a pile on the ground. In a single instance, Jerry was next to him. Jerry sighed, "He''s fine, just knocked out; now, who is next?" Hunter wasn''t keen on going any time soon, but when no one volunteered, he was chosen. Hunter''s hands shook as he picked up the same mace from yesterday. He tried to focus his mind but stopped just before walking onto the mat. He turned and asked, " What are this monster''s skills?" Jerry smiled. "You just said the magic words." He clicked on his tablet, and a list of two skills appeared: intimidate and powerful strike. "It is up to anyone who is fighting to research or ask about what they are fighting; if Vell had asked before fighting, he might have had a different battle." Jerry explained that intimidate made the monster seem much stronger than it was. It was purely a mental skill, so as long as you were aware of it, it wouldn''t have much effect, but the second was a physical ability that increased the monster''s next attack. A new screen appeared with the monster''s weak points. Jerry pointed out that like the Porolf, this monster''s stomach and eyes were very vulnerable, and its back and sides were slightly less so. Hunter glanced at his strength bracelet. One day of training wasn''t enough to improve his stamina. With a sigh, he stored it and stepped onto the mat. Colors clashed before the beast stared down its long snout at him. Hunter activated his amplify ability, and a blue hue came from the tip of his mace, extending its sharp points. This beast acted differently from the Porolf. As Hunter walked to his left, the beast just stood there watching him. Suddenly, Hunter felt his heartbeat start racing, and he felt slightly dizzy as sweat beaded his brow. The Salager pushed off its back legs. Hunter could feel reverberations off the floor from the large monster rushing his way. The monster was only a few feet away. Hunter ran away from the fast-moving monster. The beast rushed past, clawing the mat to slow itself. Hunter shook his head, refocusing on the fight. The feeling of doom lifted as he fully regained his attention. Walking toward the monster, Hunter readied his first strike. The monster knuckle walked diagonally toward Hunter''s unarmed side. Hunter was only a few feet away. Swinging at him, Hunter swung to meet the monster''s extended left arm. A crunching, grinding sound reverberated as his mace collided with the monster''s fist. Hunter was slightly better off. His swing did not fully come to a stop, and he stepped forward, using the momentum of the mace to hit the same arm''s shoulder. The monster''s shoulder crunched under the blow. The beast let out a hissing sound. Hunter jumped back immediately, the beast missing a swing at Hunter from its good arm. The monster tried to rest on its damaged arm, but its shoulder slipped past the joint, making a grinding sound. The Salager hissed again, then let out a low guttural growl, and it rushed at Hunter straight on. Hunter sidestepped, mace ready to counter. A flash of movement caught his vision. A flash of blue. Then, pain like a car slammed into him. Lights flickered as his vision twisted. Another flash. Another. Trying to regain himself, he tried to focus his spiraling vision. His weapon was gone. Blinking again, he felt like he was being run over. The beast stood above him, striking him repeatedly. Hunter held his breath as the monster pounded on his shield, Everything froze as the Salager turned the color of charcoal and crumbled into dust, which settled around him, slowly evaporating. Closing his eyes, Hunter felt the pins and needles striking his body every time he breathed. He opened his eyes just to close them again when the lights seemed to burn them; he felt like someone was hitting his head with a brick. High-pitch ringing encompassed him, but slowly, it echoed into the distance, the sound slowly fading. Hunter opened his eyes. He couldn''t see anything; it looked like a plastic film over his eyes. He rubbed them, shaking his head to get rid of the cloudiness, but he immediately regretted it as his world spun, and he felt nausea set in. He breathed slowly, willing himself not to throw up as he continued to blink the haziness away. Hunter finally could make out where he was. He was lying down in the above-ground open structure. He gave himself a moment and then tried sitting up. A dull throbbing greeted him as he felt the onset of a headache, but it was tolerable; Hunter felt sore all over. "What happened?" he mumbled. The question lingered until a quiet, calm voice answered. "Jerry let his emotions control him." Hunter turned his head, seeing George sitting next to him. "I thought I had a shield." "You did." Hunter wanted to be mad, but pain stole the anger. "Then what happened?" George let the question stand for a few moments before responding. "The shield spreads the hit." ¡°Great. Human punching bag. Exactly what I signed up for.¡± Hunter chuckled and then winced. ''Ow.'' His chest throbbed, reminding him to take it slow. Hunter closed his eyes, only opening them again once light no longer felt like dipping his eyes in acid. He sat up slowly, feeling how strained his body was. His body ached all over, a familiar pain that reminded him of a previous injury. He had fallen off a roof while fixing it, landing on a fence. His friend drove him to the hospital, where he learned he had internal bleeding. This thought brought on a feeling of panic, "What if I have internal bleeding in this world? Do I just die?" Hunter''s face must have registered fear since George said. "It won''t happen again." Hunter broke from his train of thought and became confused, but George finally stood up. He turned before walking off, saying, "No training the next few days." Hunter sighed in relief. As eager as he was to catch up to everyone at this rate, the training would tear him apart. Eventually, Hunter pushed to his feet using one of the pillars. He wobbled unsteadily as he tried to take his first step. His leg started to give out, but an arm reached around him, catching him. Looking down, Hunter saw Jerry''s Viking hair as the man held him up. "Sorry, man." He said, "I have no excuse to put my students in danger like that." Hunter wanted to be mad; he really did, but everything still felt dull, as if his emotions had been leveled to a monotone. "It''s fine; at least I''m alive." "For now," Jerry said, but faltered at saying that, backpedaling. "Sorry, I shouldn''t have said that; the blitz has me worried." As they started moving toward where Hunter and Derick were staying, Hunter asked, "Why does this blitz worry you so much?" Jerry continued in silence, passing a few buildings before he responded, ¡°You don¡¯t get it. Th-th¡­this is worse than people think. The city¡­ if we don¡¯t stop whatever¡¯s causing this.¡± Jerry started shaking, some laughter escaping as he added, "There is no escape from this city.¡± Jerry clenched his fists. ¡°We¡¯re trapped. One way in, one way out. No escape." Dread washed over Hunter as the walls around him felt more like a cage than protection. "What is the adventurer''s guild doing about it?" Coming to a stop, Jerry looked around, his arm holding Hunter, shaking slightly. Slowly, Jerry muttered, "Nothing. This city was built for research and is run by research.¡± He paused, staring off at the gate wall as he said. ¡°They will only do something about it if the losses outweigh the gains, and to them, lives aren''t worth much." Chapter 16 Silence can speak volumes Hunter sat up, waking with a clarity he hadn''t felt in days. ¡°Why do I feel... normal?¡± His stomach growled. ¡°And starving?¡± Walking out of his room and down the hall, Hunter saw Derick eating alone at the table. A plate was sitting across from him, so he walked over and sat across from Derick. Derick looked up, surprised. ¡°You''re finally up! Thought you''d sleep forever.¡± This confused Hunter; he woke up late but only by maybe half an hour. Derick continued laughing a little, "I was getting concerned. You slept for a full day." "A day?" Hunter asked, freezing in place. Dread filled him at losing so much time with the impending possibility of an invasion. Hunter''s utensil hung in midair when he felt a pang of hunger again. "That explains why I''m feeling better," Hunter mumbled, continuing to eat. "What happened?" Derick asked, the jokiness dropping. Hunter thought back to being pinballed by the gorilla alligator and said, "I fought a gorilla alligator." The name finally came back to him: "I think it was a Salager." It was Derick''s turn to freeze. He paused, unsure how to respond, and then started laughing. "Good one," he said. "If you had fought one th¡­" he trailed off. "Then I would have been hurt so bad I would be asleep for an extra day?" Hunter added helpfully. Sitting up in his chair, Derick leaned in. "Why and who would have you do that? That monster is mostly reserved for people nearing the end of tier one; I could defeat one, but to have trainees try? Absurd." Hunter nodded. He shoveled in a few more bites as Derick processed the information and said, "Yeah, right now, Jerry seemed really concerned about the blitz; he thinks this town will be overrun." Derick sat back, rubbing his bald head a few times. "He might be right. I was talking to some other merchants between my courses, and they have been told that travel outside the city is halted for now." Derick continued, looking off at the wall. "That would also explain the movement of resources and gear. I knew my mind wasn''t playing tricks on me." Derick paused, tallying something on his fingers. Hunter felt the pit in his stomach grow at the confirmation. "What can we do?" Derick''s tone lost its joviality. "We can prepare for war. Today, I am going to prepare some provisions in case this lasts a long time." Placing his hands down on the table, he steepled his fingers. "Hunter," he said in a serious tone. "Unlike you, I am at my limit, so getting supplies is all I can do. I need you to focus on getting stronger." A little grin inched his face as he copied Derick''s hand steepling. Hunter said, "We aren''t training for the next few days. Would you mind picking me up a mace? I want to fight with one of them." "Why a mace?" Derick asked. Hunter thought back to his fights with it and explained, "I''ve been training with the short mace. So far, it feels like a weapon I could do serious damage with over a sword. Maybe I will change my mind in the future, but as I am right now with my current strength and stamina, I think this is my best choice." Derick nodded his affirmation with a smile. "I see you have thought this out. I''ll make sure I get one." "Thanks," Hunter said, putting his dishes in the sink and walking outside. The air outside was crisp. Hunter wanted to increase his level, but it was even more impossible to do that with the gates closed. "If there are more monsters like the Salager," he shuddered at the thought. Focusing on what he could do, Hunter took off in a light jog to the outside of the wall. This time, he paid attention to his rhythm, using the spiraling towers on top of the wall as checkpoints so he knew when to take breaks. Eventually, he made it around the whole wall. Sitting down against the wall, Hunter estimated his pace was slower than before. His only reference to time was the brightness of the neon pink-purplish day, so he was unsure how long it took him. Surprised, Hunter looked up again, but the sky was definitely taking on a tinge of purple. The purple was stretching like tentacles from above the center of the city. The pit of worry growing in his stomach was washed away for an instant. "This world never ceases to amaze me," Hunter said, looking at the beautiful sky, After resting for a few more moments, he got up and made his way back to the house. Upon returning, Hunter first noticed the pile of crates in the corner. They were stacked three high and three across; Derick was in front of them, doing some calculations with his tablet. Derick looked busy, so Hunter walked past to his room and took a quick shower. Upon returning to the living room, most boxes had been moved except for two. Derick was taking a break at the table, so Hunter joined him. "I did it," Hunter said. Derick stared off into the distance but was surprised by another person around him. He said the wise words, "Huh? What?" Hunter laughed, "I was able to jog around the outside of the wall. I''m seeing easier and quicker improvements in this world than my last." Nodding, Derick said. "That''s good to hear," He smiled, leaning in. "I was able to find a mace for you." Hunter sat up expectantly. Derick didn''t make him wait. He pulled out a cloth-wrapped item and placed it on the table, the weight making a light thud. Hunter eagerly stood up and unwrapped it. Unlike the training mace''s all-metal hilt, this one had a black leather grip stitched with silver thread. The thread complemented the silver metal with intricate designs going up the shaft to the sharp flange head. Hunter hefted the mace; it was heavier, longer, and far more dangerous than his training one. Just holding it made him giddy. Seeing Hunter''s smile, Derick grinned, "That right there is a quality weapon; it even has a personal touch of my own." Hunter, raising his eyebrows, looked at the bald man. "You see those designs on the hilt?" Derick asked. "I inscribed those, making that into a mana weapon. One of my teachers guided me through the process. The inscription is relatively low-level but makes it more durable now. The mace shouldn''t dent or break if you hit a monster with a defensive ability or thicker skin." Hunter looked at the fine weaves in the metal. They looked to be for decoration and were oddly beautiful. "Th-that is so cool!" Hunter sputtered. Do I have to activate it?" Derick shook his head. "Unlike your abilities, inscriptions draw mana from the surroundings to power themselves." "Thanks; I can''t wait to go test it!" Hunter said, then asked, "Do the guards defend the city with weapons like this?" Derick''s grin widened. "Even better, have you seen those towers that stretch above the walls?" This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Hunter nodded. "Those are mana devices. They can be used to shoot off fire and lightning." Hunter felt the inexplicable need to see the towers shoot off lightning, but couldn''t wait to test his new weapon. He thanked Derick again and went outside to test it. The street was bustling with activity; the ordinarily steady, calm pace had almost transformed into panic. Most people were rushing around, and Hunter could hear a few arguments around him. Staying on the edges of the street, Hunter made his way to the training side of the city. The people thinned as he went farther, and a piercing silence took form. Those around all looked to be Adventurers or mercenaries. Some were moving around the street or practicing with their weapons. Even so, the only sound was the occasional scuffle of feet. Hunter spotted the pillars of the training area. He pulled out his mace and walked towards it with what must have been a wild grin on his face. He paused. Someone was already there, her pale skin contrasting with the red flame-like hair. "Indy?" he wondered, walking over. Indy started walking down to the underground training area; confused, he followed. As he took the last few steps, he saw Indy about to walk onto the mat; a Salager was already there. Hunter''s chest hurt. He felt for the pain but only felt a dull soreness; his palms grew wet. Indy tied up her hair, put on leather fingerless gloves, and stepped onto the mat. Jumping from foot to foot, Indy waited for the beast to attack. The Salager pushed off its hind legs, leaping forward. It missed her by inches. She shook her head. Hunter saw Indy''s arms glow a faint red and her legs green. "What abilities are those?" Hunter asked himself, watching intently. A beautiful purple spark appeared before Indy, then erupted like a firework. The sparks flowed to her fists. Hopping back and forth again, she waited for another attack. The monster charged, and she almost glided around it this time, hitting a fist into the monster''s side. Growling, it flailed its arms toward her. Almost like a feather, she flowed around each attack. Indy struck its hind leg, making a loud snap. The monster hobbled backward. Beating its fists on the ground in anger, the Salager growled. It waited. Indy stared it down. Hunter saw a predatory grin on her face, "She''s enjoying this." Indy rushed in. The beast threw out a punch. She met its punch with her own. Purple sparks on her fist exploded outwards on contact. The monster howled in pain. The Salager''s arm was shriveled, and it growled at Indy, but smoke poured from open wounds on its arms. Indy stepped closer. The beast backed up, its back hitting the invisible wall. She struck at its head, a reverberating thud precursing a loud crack. The Salager''s head exploded, dark smoke flying out before slowly drifting to the ground. Indy walked off the mat, and a towel appeared in her hand. She wiped her forehead with it. Hunter was shell-shocked, "The brutality, the crack, the way Indy walked off like nothing happened. But that power." She saw him, those same eyes that looked at the Salager like prey, meeting his own. Fear drenched him as his mind flooded with fear that he''d be next. Hunter regained himself somewhat and looked away, slightly ashamed that he may have seen her use power that she may not have wanted to show. He stammered, "S-Sorry. I saw you going down here and was curious what you were doing." Surprising him, Indy shrugged. "Just training. I''m assuming they also told you there would be no courses for a few days." A weight lifted off his shoulders. "That was an amazing fight," he said, looking at Indy''s arms, which had lost their glow. What was that ability?" This time, she looked slightly less comfortable. Rubbing her left arm, she said. "I don''t have any... real abilities. Just the inscriptions." "Inscriptions?" Hunter thought. "Like my weapon?" he asked. "Are they on those gloves?" Indy looked down at his weapon, "That looks pretty new. Did you just get it?" Knowing she was trying to avoid the question, he let it go. "Yeah," he said, grinning as he held it up for her to see. Derick even made it so it doesn''t wear out." To Hunter''s surprise, she seemed genuinely interested. He held it out to her. She took down her hair before grabbing it gingerly, then looked it over. "It''s beautiful. Have you gotten the chance to test it out yet?" Shaking his head, Hunter said. "Just got it today, I actually came here to do just that." She handed it back, bringing out a tablet. Clicking on it, the familiar colors of blue and amber washed on the mat, and a Porolf appeared. "Now''s your time then." She said with a smile that didn''t meet her eyes. Feeling a mix of excitement and caution, he stepped forward. "I can do this," he said to himself. He looked down to ensure he had removed his strength bracelet and stepped inside. The beast started circling, Hunter did the same, swinging his mace a few times, trying to get used to the weight. Stopping, the Porolf howled. Hunter, stuck, activated his ability. "Here we go," he said. The beast dashed around him. This time, he stayed close to the invisible wall so the monster couldn''t get behind him. The beast hit its nose on the wall, making a yelping sound. This brought Hunter a small amount of joy, and he felt his own grin stretch across his face. Shaking its wolf-like head, the Porolf snarled at him. It sprinted at him, Hunter swung his mace early, winding up for a second strike. The first strike grazed its nose. Smoke spouted from its head as the Porolf''s head snapped back at him. Unstuck, Hunter used the weapon''s momentum to step forward and strike the mid-section of the monster. Momentum on its side, the mace crunched the monster''s chest and continued through to the mat. Smoke oozed as the Porolf drew limp. Spinning, Hunter tried to swing his mace onto his shoulder like a bat. He said, "How was th-" The heavy mace pulled him off-kilter, and he fell on his back. Laughing came from a few feet away, and Indy doubled over, laughing at the sight. "What was that?" she asked, wiping her eyes, a genuine smile on her face for the first time. "Ow," Hunter said. It wasn''t intentional, but he was happy to make someone''s day better, especially now. Indy walked up, giving him a hand up before saying, still stifling laughter. "For your first time with that weapon, you did well. Obviously¡­" she chuckled. "You may need to get used to the weight and length of this new weapon." He stashed his weapon away, brushing himself off as he asked. "Can we use this area to train whenever we want?" "Kind of?" she said, more of a question. "Usually, they say no, but I made my case that if they aren''t going to train us, we should be able to use it to train ourselves, and they agreed." She mumbled. "Eventually." For the next few days, Hunter trained against monsters, each stronger than the last. Apparently, each monster had a range of strength, and he had been fighting the weakest version of the Porolf; in comparison, the Salager he fought was also its weakest version. After a few days, he had gotten to the point where he had fought the Porolf enough to take on the most difficult one without needing to stand close to the wall. "Nice job," Indy said as he finished fighting the most difficult Porolf. "I think you may be able to take on the next monster tomorrow." Hunter had been going for another slow jog around the city after training and sat down, stretching to do that. "You really are determined," Indy said, watching him. Hunter reached for his toes, stretching his hamstrings. "Derick told me that increasing my stamina and strength will complement my skill gain when I get levels." Every time Hunter mentioned levels or skill points, he noticed Indy''s shoulders sag, and this time was no different. "You could join me if you like," Hunter said. "I should," Indy said, sounding melancholy. Hunter got up. "Then do," He said, a little too much annoyance in his voice from hearing that in his past life. Before he could apologize, Indy sighed. "I''ll join you today." Setting off, Hunter set the pace as they ran. A frown grew on Hunter''s face as they started jogging to the closest wall. The city had changed almost unrecognizably over the last few days. Metal covered all the house''s windows, most with curving inscriptions on them that increased their strength. Closer to the wall, the houses looked half-abandoned, with thin wood planks nailed over windows, rusted hinges, and no inscriptions. Hunter''s gut twisted. These people didn''t have extra defenses, just hope. When he reached the wall, Hunter realized he hadn''t been watching his pace and had pushed too far. He stammered, ¡°W-wait,¡± he gasped, doubling over. Indy slowed, running in place as she waited. Looking up, Hunter saw the now mostly purple sky. The purple tendrils had stretched wide, now covering most of the sky. After catching his breath, Hunter started jogging again, this time watching the pace he asked. "Have you always lived here?" Indy looked surprised but answered. "No, I have been told that I lived in another city before this." "You''ve been told?" Hunter asked. She looked uncomfortable, so he changed the subject. "What about family? Are they around?" "Can''t remember," Indy said quickly, her voice rough. Hunter opened his mouth to ask more, but something in her tone stopped him. That wasn''t a topic she wanted opened. A silence spread between them as they continued running. A loud buzzing came from above them, and each of them stopped. An electric crackling split the silence as lightning shot from the tower on the wall. The sound was deafening. A loud hum decreasing in pitch came from the tower. A new hum appeared at the next tower, a few octaves different. The humming spread, each tower making an eerie harmony as they buzzed with electricity. Silence. Everything was silent for a few seconds. More silence. A splintering-cracking sound above them moved to each tower like dominoes. From each tower yellow lightning with fire riding its edges burst hundreds of feet in each direction, illuminating the city in heat and light. A shock wave hit Hunter like a wall, stumbling back his ears rang as dust blew around him his eyes wide with fear. Rock from the tower shot in all directions. Hunter felt a shock of pain as he was slammed back a few feet, blue flashing in his vision. A rock had shattered on his shield. Looking behind him, he saw shattered rocks littering the city. Large chunks of the towers had hit some nearby buildings, flattening them. Hunter''s heart dropped at the sight. He turned his eyes to Indy, who looked just as scared as he felt. A high-pitched whine echoed from the city center. Explosions thundered from the walls as a scream pierced the air like a blade. ¡°We are being attacked!¡±