It was early morning when Xavier accidentally woke up by bumping his head on the wall. He had fallen asleep on the couch in a sitting position but it felt like he had never experienced the bliss of waking up from a deep sleep before.
As Xavier opened his eyes he quickly noticed that the sun had risen above the horizon. The first sunrays dispersed the darkness of the night and brought warmth alongside.
This feels so good. When was the last time I slept like this in the last few years?
Stifling a yawn, he slowly craned his neck to look outside the window. It felt a little stiff after having slept in an uncomfortable position. But he felt refreshed nonetheless. He looked outside the window and saw the first rays of sun peeking through the horizon.
It was almost dawn as he stretched his body and bounced from the couch. After stretching, he recalled that he was in his grandmother’s living room. Xavier took a few steps closer to the terrace to inspect the corpses of the Infected that were still lying around.
It wasn’t a dream. Noted.
For a quarter of a second, Xavier thought that everything was just a bad dream, a result of his overactive imagination. However, the bodies of the Infected, the daggers attached to his belt, and the Classless Deck were enough hard evidence to convince Xavier that everything was real. He had to accept it – not that he was having a hard time doing so.
Now that he had slept well, his stomach reminded him that he had not eaten anything since last morning. Xavier felt light tremors while walking through the house as he made his way to the kitchen. Xavier was hungry and ignored the faint tremors. If anything bad was about to happen he might as well ensure that he was not fighting monsters with an empty stomach.
Xavier opened the fridge and retrieved a sausage, some eggs, and other stuff. He turned on the gas stove and prepared a simple breakfast. Unsure if his parents were already awake or doing something else, Xavier focused on himself first. Once his rumbling stomach was filled he could pay attention to the other issues.
Weird. Why does my arm not hurt? Xavier wondered, looking at his bandaged left arm. He realized that the blood-soaked bandage had been replaced with clean bandages. His mother must have changed them in his sleep.
However, since Xavier didn’t feel any pain in his left arm anymore, he removed the bandages after he cracked the eggs open on the edge of the pan. He prepared some fried eggs, toasted a few slices of bread, and took a good glance at his arm.
The scratches were rather deep, but I healed already? There is only a little scab left. Seems like the Foundation Stars improve my physique and natural regeneration quite a lot.
Xavier tossed the omelet in the pan with a rueful smile, feeling that it was ridiculous how easily he accepted the changes of the world. But what else was he supposed to do? Ignore the changes, or even deny them? That would be idiotic and a death sentence.
Instead of playing the ignorant fool, Xavier looked at the statistics provided by the Foundation Orb.
Foundation Orb
[Star of Vitality – Inferior 8/10]
[Star of Strength– Inferior 5/10]
[Star of Agility – Inferior 9/10]
[Star of Dexterity – Inferior 3/10]
[Star of Perception – Inferior 3/10]
[Star of Energy – Inferior 5/10]
[Star of Wisdom– Inferior 4/10]
“The Star of Vitality is all about physical health and the endurance of the body. The more Soul Essences I integrate into the Star of Vitality the higher my resilience and endurance to attacks. I will have an easier time recovering from wounds and ailments as well.
The Star of Strength should measure my physical strength and raw power. It’s all about strength, quite literally.
Agility is all about movement speed, and athleticism. If I want to move faster, I will have to keep investing my Soul Essences into the Star of Agility,” Xavier mumbled to himself, tilting his head a little at the sight of the Foundation Orb’s statistics.
Suddenly the smell of something burning reached his nostrils. Xavier realized too late that he was still cooking.
He turned off the gas stove and quickly transferred the omelet and sausages to his plate. The toasted bread was done as well.
Sitting down in a chair in the living room, Xavier devoured his breakfast, while ignoring the tremors that continued to shake the building. His attention stayed on the Foundation Orb.
“Dexterity should affect actions that require precision and accuracy. So basically Dexterity is all about finesse, and fine movements with the hand. That would come in handy, both in battle and for crafting. If there is a need to craft, which is probably the case. The blazing boar’s tusks and their hide can probably be crafted into proper Armaments to protect and kill. Perception should be about my senses and intuition. That will be very helpful in battle, and possibly even outside the battlefield.
Energy is…I am not sure what to make of all this. The Star of Energy seems to be all about some unknown energy and Stamina. It basically determines how long I can engage in physical activities such as fierce battles without ending up getting too exhausted. But that is not all. The mysterious energy must have aided my recovery as well. The Star of Energy must also improve the recovery of Stamina and natural regeneration.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Last but not least is Wisdom. I have no idea what the Star of Wisdom might enhance. It could improve my quick thinking, and my ability to memorize things quickly. Maybe it also improves my control of the mysterious energy and allows me to comprehend complex things more easily. But I doubt that it will increase my intelligence directly. I guess?”
Xavier felt good to have some time to spare. He couldn’t analyze the Foundation Orb yesterday night. Now that he made a quick analysis, Xavier was quite satisfied with himself. His Foundation Orb changed a lot compared to when he first linked to the Classless Deck.
He was a lot faster and felt lighter than before. The Star of Energy stat was also not as low as before.
But, of course, all his Foundation Stars were still Inferior. They were far from powerful.
Just as he was about to finish his breakfast, Xavier felt the tremors from outside intensify. The building began to shake and he heard his parents’ voices from outside.
What are they doing outside?
Xavier shot up from the chair, picked up the ruby katana that was still lying on the couch, and rushed outside through the front entrance. There he found his parents and grandmother staring at a terrifying scene.
In the middle of the street, a three-meter-tall blazing boar was engaged in a fierce battle with a group of six wolves. No, they weren’t wolves. It was a pack of Mutated Dogs the size of wolves.
Xavier had only seen the boars charge through their living room but now he was seeing one fighting hooves and tusk against not one but six strong opponents.
He could only marvel at the strength of the boar that was using its tusks and hooves to its advantage, viciously attacking the Mutated Dogs that seemed hellbent on taking its life. It was huffing angrily, hooves kicking at the enemy while the flames enveloping its body would flare up every now and then.
The boar looked nothing short of an angry, living furnace as the flames cast a wild, dancing shadow upon the street. Despite the flames and the searing heat, the Mutated Dogs kept finding a way to attack the boar.
Their eyes shone with a feral intensity and sinews rippled beneath their muscular bodies as they lunged at the boar every now and then, jaws snapping with the force equivalent to that of a hydraulic press.
The battle was as deadly as it was mesmerizing to watch. He had never seen mythical creatures fight and if not for the fear that they could switch their attention to the innocent bystanders, aka his family, he would have stayed rooted to the spot and tried to study their attack pattern.
Xavier’s eyes never left the fighting monsters as he slowly advanced toward his parents and grandmother, careful to not make any alarming noise. The pack of Mutated Dogs had surrounded the blazing boar and were attacking it from all sides.
However, the blazing boar didn’t seem to care about most of the attackers. It focused on one of the dogs and charged at it. The ground trembled as the blazing boar strode through the street with its heavy steps. That confused Xavier more than anything.
How heavy is that thing to shake the ground to this extent?
Right now, Xavier was more interested in the battle than he was afraid of what would happen once the fierce monster battle was over. He even ignored the Infected that was attracted by the loud snarls and roars and began walking toward the group of fighting monsters.
The Infected only knew that anything that moved and didn’t smell rotten was food so it had to tear apart the living and feast on them.
The blazing boar charged at the largest Mutated Dog. The Mutated Dog tried to step aside but it got caught in between the boar’s tusks which the boar shook violently.
The flames coating the boar flared up suddenly. They began to swirl and it looked like the flames jumped over to the Mutated Dog and began burning the beast alive right before the Mutated Dog was flung through the air.
The Mutated Dog yelped in pain as it crashed against the nearby fence. The fence collapsed and buried the Mutated Dog underneath. But that was not enough for the blazing boar. It was fueled with rage and roared loudly before charging toward the collapsed fence and stomping all over the place, squashing the injured Mutated Dog underneath.
The sound of breaking bones and pitiful yelps reached the ears of the entire Vador family and they all gulped nervously.
Angered by the death of one of their own, the five remaining Mutated Dogs pounced on the back of the blazing boar and clawed at its legs. One of them even reached the neck of the boar. Its razor-sharp teeth dug deep into the blazing boar’s neck, tearing out a large chunk of flesh at once. The blazing boar let out a horrendous screech again. This time it was filled with pain. It threw its body around all while the flames on its body expanded, coating its entire body.
Surprised by the blazing flames flaring up and reaching them, the Mutated Dogs had to let go of the blazing boar reluctantly. They retreated and re-organized their formation while staring down at the blazing boar that was bleeding from various spots. The worst injury was on its neck. Blood was gushing out of the blazing boar’s neck like a fountain and showed no signs of stopping.
The boar will probably kill a few more of those Mutated Dogs before it will die as well. Maybe, it can kill all of them if it’s Vitality is high. Either way…the blazing boar is as strong as six Mutated Dogs…and one of these Mutated Dogs should be stronger than Mutated Cats since a Mutated Dog was pursuing the Mutated Cat yesterday. I am strong enough to kill a Mutated Cat without sustaining too many injuries at this point. That means…six of me, probably more, are required to kill the blazing boar? Well…fuck me…
Xavier figured that he still had a long way to go to protect his family, but he didn’t expect to be so much weaker than the blazing boar. Unfortunately, he had to acknowledge that the blazing boar was quite powerful. It charged at the second Mutated Dog and impaled it with its tusk. The impaled Mutated Dog scampered in a futile effort as it was hurled through the surroundings and fell with a sickening thud, the sound of its bone-crunching, unbearably loud. The blazing boar left it there to die. Right after, it turned its attention to the remaining Mutated Dogs that had initiated a second attack already.
The blazing boar heaved heavily. The more it tried to shroud its body in blazing flames the worse its condition became. It was only a matter of time before it would have drained its stamina and the mysterious energy residing within its body.
It should have to use a considerable amount of the mysterious energy to maintain the flames. Maybe some parts of its body can naturally release these flames after mutating, but shrouding its body with flames should cost it a great deal of energy.
The fight of the blazing boar and the pack of Mutated Dogs continued for a few minutes until Xavier noticed something weird. The last Mutated Dog was just thrown across the street when Xavier saw small shadows flashing across the street. In the next moment, a loud sound reverberated through the surroundings.
It was a typical sound a bow made when its bowstring was released. Just as Xavier thought about bows he saw an arrow propel through the air, piercing straight into the wounded neck of the blazing boar.
Hmm?
The moment the arrow pierced into the thick neck of the blazing boar, the tides of the battle changed. Sadly, it was not in the favor of the Mutated Dogs.
A third party joined the battle out of nowhere; a group of tiny green monsters to be precise. They were humanoid and 1 meter tall on average. Xavier took several seconds to process if what his eyes were seeing was real.
They were all hideous and had grotesque features with warty skin and pointed ears. Their teeth were sharp and yellowish brown, and Xavier noticed that a few of the 1-meter-tall green monsters also had a hunched back. He had only read about them in fantasy books and seen them wreak havoc in video games. But now, they were all slowly marching out of the bush, pointing their arrows at the Mutated Dogs.
Are those Goblins? Is that for real now?...At least I was able to have breakfast without any disturbances.