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Date: 2021, December 31
Time: 23: 30: 10
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A young man in his mid-twenties laid on his bed, scrolling through the most popular social media, Stagram. He had a mildly fit build, brown eyes, a bald head, and a stern face. His name is Ethan Hawke, a senior university student working to be a biologist.
"This weather fluctuation is getting severe." Ethan mumbled, looking at a video showing multiple lightning striking during a clear sky. "I mean, how is that possible?" He thought out loud, replaying the video.
For the past 6 months, the weather on earth has been absurdly unpredictable. One day, there would be a thunderstorm in the desert, the ice bag melting, the ENTIRE ocean freezing. A sunny day would suddenly turn into winter, winter turning into summer. Weather forecast became a thing of the past as anything could happen any time, any day, and anywhere.
Scientists around the world couldn't find a definite explanation for this. Some said it was due to Earth's Magnetic field shifting, others said it was due to global warming. But one thing is certain, if things keep going the way it is, humanity will meet their maker.
Ethan stood from his bed, stepping on a beer can. He looked around his messy room, food containers, beer can, and clothes were thrown around the room. His study desk beside his window was filled with books and papers, unorganized.
Kicking the beer can away, he yawned. "I should probably clean up later." He then went to the window, looking into the night sky. "December 31st. I wonder what everyone is doing." He wondered, his thoughts going to his family.
He was born into a family of two, being the oldest and the youngest being his brother. His father is a security guard in a hospital while his mother is a tailor. When he was young, he always aspired to be a biologist, so they worked hard to send him to college in New York while staying back in North Carolina. His brother is 17 years old, going to a high school back in North Carolina.
He would be lying if he said he didn't miss them. After all, he hasn't seen them for one year. But what can he do? They don't have money to spare to keep buying plane tickets for his trips back to North Carolina. He works as an instructor in a gym, but that doesn't pay enough.
Ethan let out another yawn, stretching. "I should probably head to bed--"
[The Akashic Record has arrived on Earth, bringing Mana with it. From now on, things will be different. You can now view your Status Record whenever you wish. It will appear the first time for test]
A blue screen suddenly appeared in front of Ethan, causing him to jump back in shock, slipping on his cloth and falling back, slamming down on the ground. Thankfully, the floor-littered clothes saved him, but his back still hurt a bit.
"Urgh…" He uttered, sitting up and rubbing his back. The Screen was still before him, so he looked through it.
[Ethan Hawke -
Level: 0
Race: Human
Job: None
Mana: 10/10 (1/min)
Vitality: 14 | Strength: 13 | Speed: 13 | Sense: 11 | Intelligence: 15 | Free stat point: 0 | Path Point: 0]
"..." Ethan sat speechless on the ground, staring at the transparent blue screen. He tried pushing his right finger through his arm, but it didn't move through it, so he concluded, "I am either drunk or high. After all, I smoked and drank some minutes ago."
But then a wave of disasters hit. The dorm shook as the alarm blared. Earthquakes moved cities, volcanoes spewing their top, tsunami hitting the coast. All hell broke loose. Ethan quickly went under his study table, covering his head and neck. He closed his eyes, transforming from an Atheist to a Christian in an instant, praying to God for his survival.
Soon, everything stopped shaking. Heavy rain suddenly started pouring down on the city, raindrops hitting his window with a soothing rhythm. He got up from under his table, looking around his now more messy room with his window shattered.
'This will be a pain in the ass to clean.' He thought, moving to his window to see the damage the earthquake caused.
What he saw was total carnage. People were running everywhere, screaming for help. Accidents were happening left and right and in the distance, gas stations exploded and buildings crumbled. The scariest part was the other humans eating humans, and those who were eaten stood up and began eating other humans.
"Was my weed laced--" He was cut off by a loud explosion going off in the distance.
With a loud hiss, something wished passed his chick, stabbing into the wall behind him. He was stunned in shock, heavenly touching his right cheek to find blood. Turning around, he found an iron rod lodged into the wall. He looked back outside, then at the rod, then at his blood-stained hand.
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"This is real. I smoked 6 hours ago so I shouldn't be high." He let out a small laugh, "The world has fallen..."
Suddenly, an arm gripped the edge of his window and something pulled itself up, standing on the window seal. It was a short humanoid entity with short legs, long arms, and a wide gaping mouth that covered ¾ of his face, and long noes. It looked over to Ethan with its bloody red eyes, its nose twitching.
"SCREEEECH!" It screeched at him, spit flying all over his face.
Adrenaline shot through Ethan's body as he picked up anything he could find from his table, slamming it into the monster's face. The monster almost fell back but reached its elongated hand to grab Ethan's, which he evaded by ducking. He then stood back up, picking up two shards of his broken window in the process, and piercing the monster's eyes.
It let out another ear-piercing screech, lunging forward with its short leg and attempting to bite Ethan's arm. He quickly backed up, slipping on a beer can. This accident saved his life as one of the monster's arms swung past him like a whip, hitting the wall and causing a long dent to appear.
A shiver ran down his spine as he dodged another bite from the monster. Standing up, he looked behind him, forming a plan. Slowly backing up, the monster's nose twitched, following the blood from his cheek, and lunged at him once more. Ethan quickly sidestepped, catching the monster to lunge at the rod sticking out his wall. Due to the rod's stability and the monster's speed, the rod went through its head. Its arm twitched, still trying to reach for Ethan, but they finally went limp, the monster dying.
[You have killed A Catcher for the first time. +1 Path point]
[You have reached Level 1. +2 Stat point]
[Path unlocked]
[For being the first to get hurt after The Akasha Record came to Earth, you have unlocked: The Pain Path. Unlock more Path and advance farther]
Ethan stared at the dead monster, finally letting himself breathe. He didn't know when, but during his flight, he held his breath. "What the actual fuck." He mumbled, kicking at the monster's arm out of frustration and anger, revealing a bloody brown orb. Curious about what it was, he went to his desk drawer, took out a surgical glove, wore it, before picking up the orb.
[Arm Enhancement:
Effect: The user can enhance their arms, multiplying their strength to a certain degree.
Cost: 0.5 mana per second.
Cooldown: 0]
"Huh… A skill" Ethan muttered, inspecting the orb. "I guess this world has become game-like. I just leveled up a few seconds ago and now a skill orb? No need to contemplate. I wish to learn the skill."
[Arm Enhancement learned. You can learn 4 more active skills]
Seeing the massage flash before his eyes, Ethan frowned. "Only 4 active skills can be learned? That's stingy. So I have to be careful with picking up skills."
He wanted to activate the skill but decided against it. Running to his closet, he quickly picked out his black tactical gear, putting it on. He got this gear during his 4th year in the Marine ROTC, which would now be of great use. It wasn't as advanced as the normal one, only having the black tactical pants, shirt, jacket, boots, and gloves.
Fixing his glove, Ethan looked at himself in the mirror. "This will make others think I am in the military, which would be a huge no in this apocalypse. But what can I do? It is the best thing to wear in this hell hole." He said with a sigh, "Now, I need a weapon…"
He turned towards the monster, his eyes stopping at the rod coming out its head. He went toward the monster, pulling the head of the monster of the rod. Blood and brain matters splashed out, some of them splashing on his gear. Ethan gagged at the sight of this but was thankful for the fact he had on the gear. Throwing the head to the ground, he grabbed the pole and attempted to pull it out, failing. Deciding to test his new skill, he mentally activated it.
Under his combat gear, multiple blue circuits like veins appeared on both of his arms, mana pulsing through them. He didn't see these veins but felt his arm become stronger. Grabbing onto the rod once more, he pulled. After three seconds, he managed to pull it straight out the wall. He mentally deactivated the skill, inspecting the rod. It was more than 3 feet long, half his height which is 6'1.
"This will be useful." He mumbled, moving back from the wall and swinging it once. "Not too heavy, not too light. With my strength, I should be able to smash the head of the zombies--"
*BANG!*
Something slammed against the wooden door to his room, causing him to become alert. The banging noise continued and he immediately knew what they were. Looking around the room, his eyes stopped at his bed. He thought of blocking the door but decided against it. If these zombies were similar to the one he knows of, their only active senses are their hearing. So the longer they stay outside his door, the more noise they make, in turn, more zombies would gather.
Gripping his iron rod tighter, he got in a batting position, ready for what's coming. The door couldn't handle the constant assault, bursting open. One zombified student staggered in with four more following behind it.
Their face was grotesque, with one having its bottom jaw ripped out. Ethan would see their flesh decomposing faster than usual, their teeth looking sharper than those of a shark, with their eyes blood red.
"Growl--"
Before it could finish its growl, Ethan swung the rod with all his might at the zombie's head. The rod tore through its skull, smashing into its brain. He pulled back the rod, kicking the zombie back into the other zombies.
Ethan didn't give up this chance and dashed forward, bashing his rod against the head of a female zombie. The force was enough to send it staggering sideways, causing the other three to trip.
Turning his rod vertical, he stabbed down at the forehead of one zombie, kicking the jawless zombie's arm away, before stabbing It too.
A system message flashed in the corner of his eyes, but before he could concentrate on it, three more zombies staggered in. Due to his position atop the dead lawless zombie, he was at a great disadvantage. The zombie could simply trip and they will fall on him.
Thinking quickly, he threw his iron rod to the wall behind them. They turned to the noise and Ethan took this as an advantage. Standing up, he clenched his fist, activating Strong Arm.
He threw a powerful punch at the temple of the closet zombie, his fist breaking the skull and smashing its brain. Ethan didn't bother removing his fist from the skull, using it as a shield, and pushed forward. He pushed the two zombies into the hallway, slamming them into the wall. Using his free hand, he smashed it into the skull of the second one, killing it before using both zombie's skulls to hit the third one, killing the last zombie. He pulled his fist out of the skull of the two zombies, letting their dead bodies fall to the ground.
Looking around, he saw the entire hallway covered in blood and bodies of dead zombies and humans alike. His stomach couldn't handle it anymore causing him to barf. Thankfully, there were no more zombies on the floor, so they didn't come after him.
He was about to clean his mouth but stopped, staring at his bloody palm and body. Suddenly, he felt something bite down on his right ankle. Looking down in shock, he saw the last zombie trying to bite through his combat boot. Thankfully, its teeth broke after he bashed the other two zombie skulls against it, so it couldn't bite through.
Angered, he picked up his iron rod from below one of the dead zombies, smashing it hard against its head. He then did the same to the other two zombies, venting his frustration out on their heads. His Arm En
He took a deep breath, calming himself. "Rage would just get me killed. I need to find a safe place to stay and food to eat. This place isn't safe one bit." Turning around, he walked into his room, stopping by the door. Looking at a zombie on the ground, he noticed it staring at him, its brain slowly regenerating. "Rule number 1: Always double tap." He said to himself, smashing the zombie head once more with his iron rod. He then did it to the other six he killed, his body gear now covered in blood, some on his face. "This is disgusting. I need a mask."
Pushing it to the back of his mind, he went to his closet, bringing out his tactical backpack that came with the gear. It still had the tags on it as he never used it. In the bag tactical flashlight and a pocket knife. Putting the pocket knife and flashlight in his pocket, he removed his bloody glove before filling the bag with snacks and bottled water around his apartment. He had no time for organization and just put everything in the biggest zipper. He also found a park of light he bought, keeping one in his pocket and throwing the others inside his bag.
>
Ethan thought of also packing clothes but decided against it. He can find clothes anywhere, and they will just slow him down. Zipping up his bag, he put it on before adjusting the bag strap. He then put on his gloves, walking to his door. Stopping, he looked at his reflection on his mirror, smiling.
"I really look like a tactical officer, without the guns and other things. Maybe I can use this to my advantage." He said, remembering his rod. Picking it up, he walked out of the room, a bit sadden he is forever leaving the room he has been living in for four years.