The news was filled with nothing but rifts that started appearing around the world. Millions of casualties that continue to increase as days pass by.
“I heard some governments refused to cooperate with OD players,” Eliza mentioned. “Pretty stupid if you ask me.”
“It’s not easy for everyone to accept change,” Syrus replied. “Besides, I don’t trust the OD players too. It’s hard to believe they only came here to help.”
“What’s your plan then?” Eliza asked.
Syrus smirked. “To level up.”
Most of the rifts had been isolated by the government until the Other Dimension players cleared them and the only way to even get close to them were to get registered as players and go with the OD players.
But why would Syrus entrust his survival on them?
Syrus and Eliza drove towards a checkpoint guarded by armed soldiers. They were signaled to stop from a distance, then a soldier made their way to them.
“Do it,” Syrus whispered.
Eliza grinned and activated her skill. Red mist reached the soldier as Syrus opened the window of the car. “We’re here for the rift,” Eliza spoke.
Syrus noticed the soldier’s eyes flash red before nodding. “Let them through!” the soldier called out to his comrades, who began opening the steel fence.
Syrus drove past the checkpoint and into the restricted area. “Are you sure about this?” Eliza asked in worry.
Their plan was to head to a rift and kill some monsters to level up. Thanks to the news, both of them knew that modern weapons still worked on low level monsters, so both of them brought handguns and some knives.
“Yes. Besides, we can just retreat if we can’t handle the monsters,” Syrus replied.
They stopped in front of a literal tear in the air. Inside the tear looked like a swirling purple void. It was very different compared to the rifts where the OD players came through.
“This place looks horrible,” Eliza commented as she looked around.
The surrounding used to be a residential area, but after the monsters started coming out of the rift, everything was turned ruins.
All the rifts that appeared on the first wave immediately released monsters. The OD players warned them about it, but not a lot of people took it seriously. That led to casualties even after the OD players intervened.
“Can we really clear a rift?” Eliza asked, looking hesitant.
“You can wait here,” Syrus offered. He only asked her to come along to get past the security using her skill. He originally planned on entering the rift alone.
“I’m coming with you,” Eliza stated. “The last thing I want is to be a useless bitch.”
Syrus smirked. “That’s the spirit.”
Syrus stepped into the rift without hesitation and immediately found himself in an open field. In the distance, Syrus saw what looked like a sickly deer. His eyes flashed green as he activated Analysis.
Corrupted fawnling level 1
Syrus observed it for a moment, assessing the creature's abilities. During that moment, Eliza came through the rift and quickly spotted the monster. “Disgusting,” she wasted no time and shot the creature with her gun, killing it.
Syrus sighed, but at least he found out that the handgun works.
“Oh! I leveled up!” Eliza exclaimed. “I get five stat points too.”
“Where are you putting it?” Syrus asked as they began walking, looking for more monsters.
“Magic,” Eliza replied.
Syrus could understand that considering her class seemed to be magical in nature. Syrus however, put everything in spirit. Why? Because the other stats were more physical in nature, so there was still a possibility of increasing them through training. As for magic, he had no reason to put points into it since he has yet to obtain magic skills.
The only stat he needed to figure out the purpose was “Spirit”, so he invested the first five points he obtained in it.
“There’s a group,” Eliza pointed at a herd of Corrupted fawnlings.
Some were bigger than the first one they encountered, but all of them looked just as sickly as the first. Eliza already aimed her gun, but Syrus stopped her from shooting. “Hold on.”
“Why?” Eliza asked in confusion, her hesitance from earlier no longer visible.
“If you shoot, the others might run,” Syrus stated. “We have a limited number of bullets, so we can’t waste them all this early.”
Syrus readied his knife and began stalking towards the herd. It took a lot of effort and patience, but he got close enough where he could strike with one dash.
Using analysis, he found out that all of them were level 1 except for the biggest in the group that was level 3. But even if one of them were a higher level, his plan didn’t change.
Syrus dashed from where he was crouched and stabbed the highest-level monster in the neck. One of the monsters crashed into his side, while the rest began running. Syrus placed the one that attacked him into a neck lock, while he fired his gun at the one that ran in the direction away from Eliza.
You have slain a Corrupted Fawnling level 3
You have slain a Corrupted Fawnling level 1
You have leveled up
You gained 5 stat points
As Syrus received the notifications, more gunshots rang out as Eliza began firing at the monsters that ran in her direction. Syrus glanced down at the monster struggling weakly between his arm. Instead of using a weapon, Syrus decided to just snap its neck. The monster fell limply on the ground and began to glitch out of existence, leaving the same thing as the dog monster Syrus killed back then.
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“That felt great,” Eliza said as she approached him, holding the mana stones she picked up. “These things don’t even fight back.”
“One of them tackled me,” Syrus mentioned. “Anyways, I don’t think these things are the main monsters,” Syrus stated.
“Why not?”
“Are you forgetting that monsters came out of this rift and killed civilians?” Syrus said.
Eliza’s expression darkened. “Oh... right...”
Your perception has been acknowledged
You gained 1 point in magic
Syrus looked at the panel with interest, but didn’t react. That was something he could think about after dealing with the rift. For now, he needed to focus.
“I don’t think a gun is going to work on that thing,” Eliza said as a tiger with purple fur with green stripes came out of the tall grass.
Corrupted Tiger level 10
Syrus considered their options. Direct combat was out of the question which only left escape as their option. “How does your charm skill work?”
“If they inhale my mist, I can control their mind,” Eliza whispered. “But if they take a certain amount of damage, the charm would disappear,” Eliza explained.
“Use it when I te-”
“Out of my way!”
Syrus was interrupted by a man charging past them. He wielded a giant sword and swung it with ease. Using Analysis, Syrus found another interesting situation in his hands. One that he could act upon immediately.
Brock Simmuns – Level 7 – Guardian Blade - Transmigrator
“Can you use it on someone higher level than you?” Syrus asked.
Eliza shook her head. Syrus hummed in response as he kept his eyes on the new arrival. The man fought the tiger with impressive technique and power clearly showing that he was trained in some form of swordsmanship. It was expected from a transmigrator that’s likely from a world where the system already appeared.
It took some time, but the man defeated the tiger He planted the sword on the ground and leaned on it triumphantly. Despite panting, the man was in his own world and even raised an arm in victory.
*Bang*
“ARGH!” the man yelled as a bullet shot through the arm he raised. “What the hell?!” the man turned Syrus who was holding the gun, then to Eliza who was surprised by the situation. “I fucking saved you!”
Another bullet shot Brock Simmuns in the knee.
“AGH!”
“Saved? Don’t act like you did it out of the goodness of your heart,” Syrus spoke. “Mr. Transmigrator.”
“Huh?” Eliza reacted. “Like those Japanese animations?”
Brock Simmuns looked shocked, but tried to deny it. “What are you talking about?!”
“Let me guess. You knew about it,” Syrus smirked. “Why those other races are here.”
“I don’t kno-” another bullet hit Brock’s other knee. “I’ll talk!”
Syrus smirked.
Brock began explaining the situation. That other dimension players came here in order to reap the rewards of a newly integrated world. Every year, another batch of people would become players, encouraging a system where people strive to be genuinely good people.
But as time goes on, people would start figuring out loopholes to exploit in the system, allowing people full of greed to rise in power. They sent their newly awakened players to this world in order to monopolize the rewards early on.
As for Brock’s story, he was betrayed by his colleagues and woke up in the body he currently has. His real name was “Lumizarista”, a descendent of some prestigious family in his original dimension.
Another thing Syrus asked was regarding the Spirit stat, which Brock explained to be quite the important stat. Spirit basically decided the quality and quantity of skills a person could get. If a person didn’t have enough points in Spirit, they wouldn’t be able to obtain more skills. In short, each skill had a certain value of Spirit stat needed to obtain it.
As example, fire magic mastery needed 20 points in Spirit and Aura blade needed another 20. In order for a person to have both skills, they needed 40 points in spirit.
Quite the system.
“So you didn’t know what a gun was,” Syrus commented as he aimed the gun at “Brock”.
“Wait I to-”
Brock’s head exploded as Syrus fired the gun at close range. “Was that necessary?” Eliza grumbled as she stared at the gray matter the splattered on her pants in disgust.
“Yes,” Syrus replied.
You have slain a player level 8
“Eight?” Syrus figured that Brock must have leveled up after killing the tiger.
You have leveled up
You have leveled up
You have leveled up
Three levels. Adding the one he got earlier against the fawnlings, he leveled up four times during this adventure. He placed all the points in spirit after finding out just how important it was.
You have defeated a player way above your level
All stats increased by 1
Another unexpected reward. And just when Syrus thought it was all over, another notification showed a more exhilarating reward.
You have slain a chosen
You have been granted 1 free use of [Antagonizing unit]