It was Thursday, nearly midnight when Lianna was walking home late from school. She had been working on a group project they had to finish, as it was due the next day. Though honestly none of her group had even started it until they met up that day after classes. Her grades weren’t bad, but neither were they great. She didn't care too much for studying and only put in the minimal effort to get by without people needing to bother her to do better, mainly her parents. The only course she really enjoyed was physical education which she always had a nearly perfect grade.
After finishing the project one of the guys in her group offered to walk her home, as she didn't live far from the school. That was precisely why she had declined. What could possibly happen walking home a measly two blocks.
How wrong she was, though she wasn't sure if being accompanied home would have saved her from her fate, or simply put him in the same situation. She had been half way home, without paying much attention to her surroundings as she had made the walk more times than she could count, when her surroundings lit up with a faint glow. Then she appeared in a field surrounded by cloaked figures. She began to scream, as she had been taught in self defense. Not that she needed to be taught to scream when appearing out of nowhere surrounded by a group of people who clearly didn't intend to give her a puppy and send her on her way.
Her screaming stopped abruptly as one of the figures stepped in front of her and casually smacked her across the face, sending her tripping backwards to the ground. She clenched her jaw as she forced the tears down that wanted to erupt at the pain. She was suddenly grabbed by her arms and pulled to her feet. She flinched back trying to pull away from the hands holding her, as the person that had slapped her reached towards her again, placing a hand on her head. After a few seconds, the hand dropped, and a male voice spoke a weird language, pointing to another of them.
Lianna was dragged away as she tried squirming and kicking the whole way trying to free herself, with no success. When arriving in front of the figure, she was handed off and abruptly a cold metal collar placed around her neck attached to a chain.
“You can’t do this.” She screamed. “People will look for me. I have family. They won't stop...”
A punch to her stomach stopped her as the wind was knocked out of her, causing her to crumple to the ground gasping for breath. She played a lot of sports, and accidents happened, so she got the wind knocked out of her enough times to be familiar with it. However, that didn’t mean it sucks any less.
Barely time to catch her breath she was pulled to her feet again, a feminine voice telling her something while pointing at a spot on the ground. Lianna didn't even have time to glare at the woman for a second before receiving another smack across the face, sending her back to the ground. Lianna screamed in frustration as she got to her feet herself this time and stood in the spot the woman had pointed to.
Lianna took a few breaths and looked over to the area she had first appeared at to see a large man, muscles barely contained in his tight black shirt standing amidst the same figures she had. Oh hell ya, she thought. He was easily half a foot taller than anyone here. Lianna could appreciate a man with some muscles, but the key word was some. Not the obnoxious amount the man who had taken her place possessed. Now if he could save her with those muscles that was a completely different story. Even if they were surrounded by five people, she was sure this man could do some serious damage.
A smile appeared on her lips as Lianna saw the large man get grabbed by two sets of hands. He began to shout at them angrily. Her smile quickly disappeared as he saw him struggling to break free from their grip, with no more success than she had. The man who had slapped her first stepped in front of her failure of a hero and went to place his hand on his head. Before making contact, the man freed his right hand, and with a loud thud, punched the other figure holding him square in the face. ‘Ouch’ Lianna thought, until the figure barely staggered back, and showed little result to the punch. The hell? How could someone take a punch to the face like that and barely even flinch. That should have broken his nose and probably have knocked most people unconscious at the very least.
She noticed the big guy was clutching his fist to his chest, clearly in pain. She figured he probably broke a few fingers. Thinking of his pain brought her attention back to the stinging in her cheeks, which were now throbbing, as well as the ache in her stomach. She was definitely going to bruise.
With the man back in their grasp, a hand was placed on his head, and to her amazement a slight blue glow came from underneath the hand. She couldn't help but wonder if that had happened for her as well. With a similar process to herself, he was promptly dragged over to be chained up behind her. He struggled less than she had on the way over but he was clearly ready to fight at any moment. He had looked at her the entire way over with anger in his eyes.
She watched again as the fifth person that she had yet see do anything walked up and placed a hand on the ground. A large circle of blue light appeared on the ground and after a few seconds another person appeared out of nowhere. Unfortunately for him he seemed to have been sleeping as he appeared a foot above the ground in a pair of pajamas, falling with his back slamming into the ground. The figure who had summoned him quickly stepped back out of the way, as this new man was brought to his feet. Things played out a little differently for this man as he struggled much less than they had. After having a hand placed on his head, there was a full blown conversation amongst their captors this time, while they had only gotten a few words before being chained.
Lianna saw his eyes open wider in fear when he looked at her. Then with a wave of the leader's hand, pj boy was dragged and thrown into a hole she hadn't noticed was there before. She wasn't sure what was worse, being left in a hole to die or enslaved to do whatever it is they would want her for. Like hell she would make it easy on them, she thought, as she internally groaned at the many more bruises she was gonna have. Shortly after throwing that man into the hole, they started leaving, dragging her with them.
She was supposed to have a simple short walk home and go straight to bed. Now she was walking through a forest for who knows how long, as she continuously tripped and fell to her knees, only to be pulled back up and punched in the side. Each punch to the side made her want to fall back down. She quickly learned to endure the punches and remain on her feet after the first two times had gotten her a kick to the gut after she remained gasping on the ground, while they yelled at her in a language she didn't understand.
Eventually they made it out of the trees and found their way to a road. At least there were less things to trip over, she grumbled in her head. Her entire body ached and she remained standing through will power alone, with the fear of being beaten again if she fell. Walking down the road she eventually stopped paying attention to her surroundings as it took all her focus to walk, one step at a time. Lianna had some slight hope as they came to a wooden gate with two guards standing to either side. Neither of them looked in their direction but simply remained in place staring forward.
Passing through the gate they continued walking until they came upon a sizable stone building. The chain was removed from her collar and she was thrown into a room. Unable to gather the strength to catch herself, her body slammed heavily into the wooden floor, the pain barely registering. She heard a click as she assumed the door was locked, before she finally lost consciousness.
Lianna awoke screaming to the pain all over her body. She laid there crying and trying to focus on breathing for what felt like ages before she heard the door unlock and someone enter. She didn't have the capability to even turn to look at them, even if it meant a potential punishment. A tall, slender woman with dark green hair came into her view as she knelt down beside her. She was saying something unknown in a soothing voice and held up an item in front of her face. It looked to be a small spherical pill with a red liquid inside with a transparent outer layer.
The woman pushed it between Lianna’s lips, and into her mouth. Lianna was debating on if she should resist swallowing it when the outer layer seemed to dissolve and the red liquid fell into her throat, causing her to react and swallow. This caused her to start coughing, sending waves of new pain raking through her body.
Within a few seconds she stopped coughing and noticed the pain was quickly lessening. The woman stood and left, locking the door behind her. Lianna continued to lie on the wooden floor as her body continued to heal until there was no longer any pain. Standing up she stretched her body out, feeling like she had just stepped out of some kind of magical spa, completely rejuvenated.
She looked around to see the room she was in. It was a room with stone walls and ceiling along with the wooden floor she had slept on. Nothing was in the room, with no windows and only the single wooden door. The door opened again and a large, rough looking man entered. He had multiple scars along his face and arms, and she noticed he was missing the upper portion of his left ear. He stepped aside motioning for her to exit the room. So she did, she wasn't ready for any punishment just yet so she figured she would see what he wanted. If he just wanted her to clean his house or something, she could manage that. At least until an opportunity for her to escape presented itself.
He walked past her and she assumed he wanted her to follow. She followed him to a door, which he opened and motioned for her to go through. She entered the medium sized room, with nothing but another door on the opposite side. She turned to look at him as a dagger was tossed in her direction. Dodging out of the way she watched as it clattered along the stone floor. She turned back again to see the door slammed closed. Feeling a little apprehensive, she picked up the dagger. She wasn't going to pass up a weapon, but why was her captor giving her a weapon. That seemed like the last thing she'd want to give to someone who would most likely try to use it against her.
Her curiosity was soon answered as the opposite door opened and a creature was shoved through the door. She would have thought it was a fairly large cat, coming up slightly past her knees, if it wasn't for the blue fur and two horns that curved up over its head. Even with the horns she thought it was adorable. She wanted to go over to start petting it but didn't as it bared its teeth at her, growling as it began circling her.
Lianna gripped the dagger tightly in her hand as she thought about the fact that she should be in class presenting her group project about now. The blue cat suddenly jumped at her much quicker than she expected, slashing its claws across her right arm, causing her to drop the dagger. Five claws had ripped through her shirt sleeve and into her skin. The scratches weren't deep but bright blood still began dripping down her arm.
She grabbed her arm wincing in pain as she looked down to the dagger at her feet. She looked up just in time to see the creature dig it's two sets of claws into her leg, then bolt away before her knees hit the ground as she screamed.
The creature was circling her again watching closely. Trying to ignore the pain, Lianna knew she had to get the dagger. The cat wasn't doing significant damage as its claws appeared to be fairly short, but it was fast and with time would be deadly.
She lunged for the dagger and her fingers wrapped around the hilt as ten tiny, razor claws dug into her hand to rip through the flesh. The dagger was dropped again as the cat retreated a safe distance away, watching warily as Lianna released her pain and frustration with a yell. She saw the cat coiling its body before swiftly pouncing towards her neck, and bringing her arms up to block, a mouth of sharp teeth bit into her forearm.
“Enough!” she shouted as she knocked it away, its teeth removing a small chunk of skin.
Grabbing the dagger as the cat landed back on its feet she charged towards it and tried to stab. Before she was even within striking distance though, the cat bounded backwards out of her reach.
Lianna’s hand trembled as she gripped the blade, the pain from the various wounds growing just as much as her fear. She was going to die. The horned cat was just too fast. It continued to circle around her, occasionally reversing its direction. She stared back. After a long minute of circling and staring, she realized it was afraid of the dagger as its eyes occasionally glanced at it then back to her.
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She had to figure out what to do. She was in a waiting game she couldn't win, as it was in perfect health while she had multiple bleeding wounds. She could feel herself getting weaker as the blood pulsed from her wounds. The cat was smart she could tell, but she felt she was smarter. Or had to hope that she was anyway. Hoping to trick the creature, Lianna glanced away from its gaze as she pretended to stumble. The cat instantly took the bait, jumping towards her at an astounding speed. This time however she was ready and just before having claws enter her stomach she stabbed downward into the cats neck.
Seconds passed, Lianna watching as the blue horned cat shuddered, the blade still embedded deeply, the limp body starting to sag against her as it stopped breathing, blood spreading across the floor. After the creature seemed to stop breathing and was really dead, she found something in her head had demanded her attention, something she realized had been there for a while. She decided to focus on it.
Experience + 11
“What the…?”
This made her realize there was quite a few things wanting her attention. Still standing over the poor creature’s body, she began sorting through the strange windows that kept appearing. There were many telling her she had lost health. Most recently her cat fight, making her lose a combination of forty six health. With a thought she found she could bring up something like a character sheet.
Name: Lianna Level 0: Exp 11/100 Age: 13 Weight: 126 lbs Height: 5’ 5” Race: Human (Earthling) Attributes Health: 54/100 [+] [Locked]: ? Stamina: 82/100 [+] [Locked]: ? Mana: 100/100 [+] [Locked]: ? Physical: Mental: [Locked]: ? [Locked]: ? [Locked]: ? [Locked]: ? [Locked]: ? [Locked]: ? AP: 0
Skills Mana Sense (Locked) Unlock: 100 Exp Mana Absorption (Locked) Unlock: 100 Exp Mana Manipulation(Locked) Unlock: 100 Exp Spells Void Flame Manipulation (Locked) Unlock: 200 Exp
No way was she in a game. Not after all the pain she'd gone through, and was still in. She was not thirteen years old, nor did she weight one hundred and twenty six pounds. She was nearly eighteen and only one hundred and ten pounds, she even checked her weight that morning.
You are bleeding
-1 HP/min
She looked at all the cuts and scratches to see the bleeding had slowed, but hadn't stopped. The bite on her forearm was the worst, keeping up a steady flow of bright red. Ripping her sleeve off where it was cut, she wrapped it around the bite to stop the flow of blood the best she could.
The door opened, the same man looked at her and said something in his deep voice. He seemed pleased. He tossed her another of the pills she had been given earlier, which she considered a health potion since she was apparently in a game now. This time however the transparent outer layer surrounding a nearly clear liquid that only had a hint of pink to it. Tired of the pain she quickly consumed it.
Consumed Poor Health Capsule
+10 HP
All her injuries stopped bleeding and were healed slightly. As she was lead out of the room, she saw another woman that was a bit older than herself, being led into it. She resisted and had to be shoved in, a sword tossed in after her.
“Please not again, I'll die this time.” she heard the woman scream in english, fear and frustration clear in her voice, as the door was shut.
Lianna was brought back to her... cell, she supposed with an angry huff. She could still see and feel the wounds as they healed just enough to close but nothing more. How tired she was getting of the amount of pain she had gone through in less than twenty four hours. Her body shook as she suspected there would be more in her near future.
With a groan, she put her current situation to the back of her mind and focused again on the weird stuff she saw in her information. If she had mana, that meant magic. The skills they were listed as mana sense, mana manipulation and mana absorption. Nothing more was given to her apart from the names but they seemed fairly self explanatory. Kind of. She had one spell under void flame. Void Flame Manipulation was less clear, as she knew what flame was, but void flame? She had no clue. Looking closer, she saw each of the mana skills required one hundred experience to unlock, while her void spell required two hundred.
After nearly dying and killing that cat, she had received eleven experience. That was … well a lot of creatures she would have to kill to simply unlock everything. She didn't like the idea of killing the blue cat, but knew she’d had to in order to not be killed herself. Would she have to do it again.
Awhile later she was brought back to the same room, she knew what was waiting for her this time and hesitated to enter. This caused her to be shoved ungraciously into the room. Guess she had no choice. The next creature put in the room with her had six thick legs sticking out a hard brown shell that surrounded its body. Its head stuck out of its shell just enough for it to see and a sharp horn protruded from the top of its shell just above its head. Not much taller than the cat creature, it began its charge at her with its horn heading straight towards her, while its feet made clicking noises against the stone floor with each step. Lianna jumped out of the way in anticipation only to see the beasts charge was very slow. By the time she turned back to look at it, it had only taken a handful of steps as it covered a quarter of the distance to her.
Cautiously getting closer to it herself, its head retreated into its shell while it continued to scamper towards her, its horn swaying back and forth with each step. Jumping to its side, Lianna tried jabbing her dagger into its back leg only to have the blade bounce off. Taking a few steps backwards she inspected the six legged turtle thing, not seeing anywhere she might be able to harm it besides its head that looked to be covered in only skin. So that’s what she would do. She walked around behind it as it tried to circle around to face her again. Then she jumped on the back of its shell and while reaching around its horn shoved the dagger into the space for its head. Feeling the dagger enter flesh, she knew she did damage.
Damage Inflicted: 16
The horned turtle creature instantly started freaking out, thrashing, trying to get her off its back. While easily hanging on, she stabbed a few more times as blood started gushing from the hole and it slowly stopped moving, then slumped to the floor.
Damage Inflicted: 19
Damage Inflicted: 13
Damage Inflicted: 16
Experience Recieved: 23
Surprisingly she received twenty three experience this time, for a much easier fight. Her day was filled with continuous fighting with various small beasts, including more of the blue horned cats. Those she found didn't get any easier, as they never acted the same and require different methods to trick into making a fatal mistake. Unfortunately, she only encountered one more of the six legged horned turtle beasts. Each kill she received ten to thirty experience. After each fight, she was never given anything better than the poor health potion which did no more than to stop any bleeding and recover a small amount of health.
After her fourth fight her clothes had become completely shredded and she was given what amounted to a small blanket with a hole in the center for her head. It covered the front and back of her body and came down to her knees.
Once she achieved one hundred experience, which was apparently her maximum, A Level Up button appeared next to her level. She considered leveling up but noticed the Unlock option light up next to the mana sense skill. None of the other skills lit up yet. She guessed she must have to be able to sense mana before she can absorb or manipulate it.
Mana Sense I Unlocked
AP + 1
With the skill unlocked she was able to get a vague sense that her body contained mana inside it and sense the mana existing around her. She also received an attribute point which she could put into health, stamina or mana. A small plus sign appearing next to each. She decided to leave it alone for now.
How long had it been? Realistically she knew it couldn't have been more than a day of this grueling routine. But it already felt like an eternity of fighting and work. Occasionally she was given simple food and water. Not that she felt she could really call it food, being tasteless and bland at best, but she ate it anyway. She was going to take whatever she could to help survive. Before her last meal she was taken out into the town, while chained to her apparent owner’s waist.
She couldn't help but feel completely degraded and angry at the fact she could be out in public on display for many to see. Yet no one did or said anything to help her. Well, except for those that leered at her, clearly looking at her in places they shouldn't.
She was forced to carry various items that the man purchased like a pack mule. Anytime she hesitated even for a second to pick up what he bought earned her a slap across the face or a sharp punch to the stomach, causing her to collapse to the ground in agony.
Once back to the house she was expected to put what was purchased on a table in the kitchen. She learned this the hard way, receiving a beating while she was yelled at. By the end of the day, she was covered in even more bruises for not following commands she didn't understand.
Back to her room for the night she was too exhausted and sore to do much more than lay on the floor. She ended the day with sixty five experience while having unlocking mana manipulation earlier in the day. She was thinking about how games were supposed to allow the player to rapidly get stronger with experience. Yet after killing enough monsters to receive two hundred and sixty five experience, all she could do was sense and manipulate mana. Which she realized sounded cool but didn’t see how it actually helped her. She didn't like that she needed the same experience to level up as the skills required. It was one or the other, not both.
The following day contained much of the same as she received a second red capsule which healed her to one hundred health. Then she was forced to fight, receiving twenty to forty experience with every kill. Hitting one hundred experience two more times she unlocked mana absorption with the first lot of experience. She had noticed earlier that she wouldn’t be able to unlock her void flame skill until she increased her level high enough that her maximum experience was at least two hundred. Thus, she used her experience to hit level one which gave her one additional attribute point, bringing her total to four. She still wasn’t sure what to do with them. Increasing her health she considered, but she would rather not get hurt in the first place.
Increasing her level raised her maximum experience to one hundred fourteen. She wouldn't be unlocking her Void Flame spells anytime soon, she just hoped it would actually be useful in a fight.
She defeated another one of the blue horned cats which had been noticeably slower than any she had fought previously yet she found it hard to pierce its skin with the dagger. It had taken her much longer to do enough damage to finally end its life. She received the largest amount of experience yet at eighty nine. Unfortunately she was already at fifty six experience, so it put her to the limit at one hundred fourteen, while the rest seemed to be lost.
This fight had cost her greatly as she was down to three health with fresh cuts covering every part of her body. Used to the routine, she received the health capsule which stopped the bleeding and brought her health to Thirteen. She found it harder and harder to keep her health above zero as after each battle she had only an increase of ten health from the weak capsule. Coming out of the room she was doused in a bucket of cold water to somewhat clean off the blood covering her. Then she was chained to the man's waist once again, which she knew meant it was time to go out again.