12 Hours later..
As I settled down for the night and added a few bits of wood to the log burner, I sighed and looked back at what had happened since I found myself in this distant land...admittedly, I felt a little bit ashamed of my initial reaction when the penny had first dropped..
Not my finest moment.
I must have spent a good 30 minutes cursing and crying in the fetal position before I managed to pull myself together, just enough to try and attempt to simply, Slipfold back home....with zero joy of course.
From there, I put on my big boy pants and started the process of looking around and trying to figure out where the heck I was and how I was going to get back home.
My landing zone was a rocky space surrounded by huge rolling hills covered in trees and bushes. I was fortunate enough to be at a high vantage point, and, equally fortunate and relieved to see multiple villages that were easily within a few hours walking distance...The only downside was that most of the villages were littered with decimated buildings whilst most hills were occupied by huge, nasty looking cows that were grazing on trees or maybe they were just chewing on them for fun.
I’d spent most of the day making my way towards the closest village that didn’t look demolished, and when I’d arrived I'd received my first hint as to where I was. This came in the form of a sign that read “Trizzino, de reggio calabria” and on the horizon I just about spotted what looked like a quite large coastal city.
After I’d gotten over the fact I’d warped somewhere most certainly Italian, I’d spent a few hours looking around the deserted trashed village.
The streets were full of signs of fighting. Things like scorch marks, chunks of tarmac or concrete missing, dried bloodstains and other weird stain marks littered the streets; most buildings had their doors smashed in but a few were okay-ish, and I happened to find some travel brochures with maps that confirmed that I was in the boot of Italy, near a coastal city called Reggio Calabria.
The story in the village seemed to match the narrative back home, with anything electrical gutted or missing specialised components leaving only fragments or husks behind. Cars were completely non-existent although that could have been the case before the shitstorm, as this place was very rural, however, conversely one would expect cars to be important to travel these small windy roads...so it was a bit of a mystery there.
There had been no sign of people around, but there had been plenty of inhuman screams which told me that I needed to rather swiftly find a safe place to rest for the night.
After sneaking around and very carefully checking a few places, I finaly settled in a place that was next to a shop called Gigachad, or something close to that anyways, and I had hit the absolute jackpot here because inside was pretty much the definition of a preppers house..naturally the owner was nowhere to be seen.
And after barricading myself in, I now found myself using the log burner to warm up as it was getting cold, but also I was hoping to heat up some tinned food as I was absolutely starving, and the previous occupant had plenty to spare along with copious amounts of stockpiled dried pasta. The dark windowless room was filled with various oak units containing cupboards and shelves just packed full of long lasting food.
The walls had floral wallpaper with 60s looking hanging lights and a two seater sofa opposite the log burner located in the middle of the wall.
...
I poured a bit more water into the pot of boiling water and snapped the whole 500g pack of spaghetti in half and chucked it in, along with a whole two tins of chopped tomatoes and four tins of canned tuna; I was probably breaking several pasta related laws but I was too miserable and hungry to give a single shit.
Staring at all the food flickering and bubbling in the flame light, I solemnly thought about how this would have been a treasure trove if found back at home…
I hope everyone made it. I hope Marri and Lone stay safe...I hope I can make it home..
But I wasn't naive. I knew my chances were extremely slim. I knew that.
But maybe...one..day..
Tears dropped to the floor as my stomach turned in knots thinking of never seeing Lone’s little grinning face, or feeling Marri’s warmth ever again.
It ached how much I missed them already.
It had been already rough somewhat risking my life everyday, not knowing if I’d come back..But it was an entirely different feeling knowing that I just simply wouldn’t be back for a very long time..if not, ever-
Ugh! FUCK SAKES! Come on man! Get a grip!
I gave myself some light slaps on the cheeks and wiped my eyes.
It’s not as bad as you think. You can do this. People have trekked longer distances before.
I’d actually known a friend, Flip, who had cycled from the UK all the way to Rome in under 2 weeks and that had been at a leisurely pace including sightseeing stops and leisurely breaks to eat.
The lucky bastard has been everywhere… hope he's doing ok.
Granted it was doubtful I’d be able to travel nowhere near as easily..but I don't need to worry about food as much as a normal human...and thinking about it, I could even investigate using Slipfold to take a few shortcuts!
Even if I was lying to myself, I needed it.
Yeah fuck it! Doesn’t sound that bad to be fair! It sucks balls, sure, and I’m going to get an absolute bollocking when I do return..but this isn’t the end of the line!
It may take more than a few weeks, maybe even a month and a bit.....but..
I can do this.
…
I have to.
I will.
With a newfound resolve and courage, I spent a bit more time barricading the two doorways in the room and then settled down with my huge meal. I’d found a stash of hard grated cheese and groaned in ecstasy after I applied it liberally and tucked in.
After eating, I double checked to make sure everything was as safe as it could be, and ignoring the few screeches and distant rumbles it actually seem pretty secure. As an extra precaution, I activated my Config:Exo in the hopes it would be able to provide some extra protection whilst I was asleep - plus it felt nice and comforting after all - and with that, I quickly drifted off.
…
..
.
Opening my eyes I awoke in the garden of growth and bolted up.
Glancing around, I realised I was alone. The realisation filled me with a sickly cold feeling in the pit of my stomach.
She was nowhere to be seen.
“Hello?” My voice echoed out.
Silence responded.
“H-hello!...HELLO!!?” I hopped up and checked all the nooks and crannies; investigating the maelstrom that displayed my attributes and skills, the strange message desk that didn't really do much, the square tall monolith that showed logs of my experience, and finally, the galaxy bed that was there for my comfort.
Everything was silent and I was alone.
I sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the ground, processing complex emotions from the whole situation.
It felt like a part of me had died or been removed…
I am well and truly, completely, isolated and alone.
“Huuuufffff…” I let out a sigh as my mind puzzled over everything; if there was one thing I hated the most, it was not being able to find answers.
I clicked my tongue.
“Fuck it. Nothing I can do right now except press on.”
I’d just survived nearly being eaten.
I think I can handle a little trek and a bit of alone time.
And just like that, I shrugged off the weight of isolation, dread and crippling anxiety, and pressed on.
Alright swirly..What have you got for me today.
GODUYNE
STRY.KYR - MAGN.25.292
HP 299 / 323
MP 286 / 345
EP 100%
DS 100%
SWRD 28
SHLD 29
FTHR 39
GLYP 38
1 Attribute Points Available.
1 Skill Points Available.
1 Syphoned GLYP point - allocating.
1 Syphoned SWRD point - allocating.
24>25..and two of my first bonus points! Sweet.
Although I am Surprised that my MAGN didn’t increase much more? I would have thought the big fucker was worth a lot...hope it actually was killed. I mean, I took part of its spine, throat and heart, surely that must have done it?...yeeeah I'm sure it's toast.
Assigning my available point to SWRD, the maelstrom swirled into skill tablets.
Skills
III Shoulder Rush -> IV Null Surge [5]
Evolves skill into Null Surge. Inherits Shoulder rush and upgrades. Allows you to drag targets when in use and you gain 5% surge of SWRD and SHLD for 5 seconds.
IV SMDS - Majiglyph -> V SMDS - Majiglyph [10]
Shields detach to create a Daemon construct controlled by Seren.
II OMDC -> III OMDC [6] (3+3)
Nervous System (NS) long latency reduced by maximum amount. Near zero-latency reaction speeds.
II ANALYSE -> III ANALYSE [50]
Vastly Expands data retrievable.
I Slipfold -> II Slipfold [2]
Significantly reduce time for anchor placement and fold activation.
I NEC -> II NEC [5]
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Share this skill with others. Note: They will need to expend SP to enable. Skill will be Tier I.
I Phase Dash -> II Phase Dash [2]
Whilst in a phase state, you are immune to all Majik based attacks.
I EXP Well -> II Exp Well [2]
You can now deploy [2] units.
New! Cartography [1]
New! Cooking [1]
New! Italian [1]
Seren? Who is that?
My focus lingered on that name, searching my memories for any hint as to what it was, but nothing came back.
Hmm that’s going to bother me until I get it. 10 points though..Time to get saving...
Null Surge sounds very interesting. I hadn’t even thought about if I could drag a target with me when using shoulder rush, I’ll have to try it out when I can.
Not even going to talk about Analyse or EXP well and NEC is my anti corruption skill, which is only useful if I intend to kill other humans...Actually on that note, I hope people out here are friendly otherwise I might have to get some use out of that skill.
The thought made my metaphorical stomach churn.
OMDC I’ve seen before and Slipfold upgrade doesn’t seem like it will help me right now?
Phase dash seems extremely powerful, so much so that I’m most likely going to save up for that.
What's the new ones…
Cartography - Unlocks NVD minimap of surroundings. Local/Regional Maps upgrade detail and distance.
Cooking - Your cooking was a sin and has been noted… but it worked surprisingly well. You will learn the basics of cooking.
Italian - Learn how to communicate basic concepts in Lang:Italian.
Bastard.
I took great personal offence at the cooking skill… the other two looked rather useful.
Having a minimap or map would be amazing, especially if I could use it to navigate home. GPS bitches!
I snorted at the juvenile reference.
It felt a tad bit convenient that I got the offer for it now, but then again I had studied the map I’d found so that most likely had something to do with it.
Learning the Italian language sounded great, almost essential, but I wasn’t planning on sticking around for long at all and right now I didn’t even think anyone was even alive judging by the state of things outside.
The real questions were: could I get by on just maps I’d pick up? should I learn basic Italian in case I come across natives? Or, should I save up for the capability to be invulnerable to Majik attacks.
My gut told me that I needed that invulnerability as soon as possible, which would require one more point.
And the gut is king.
For the maps, I had no concern that I couldn't figure it out with physical paper maps and the language barrier probably wouldn't be a problem in the near future..Firm on my decision, I skipped spending any points and moved back over to the bed as I wanted to make sure I was well rested before heading off early in the morning.
…
..
.
There were no vivid dreams this time and it was still very dark in the room when I opened my eyes due to the absence of windows.
With only a few slivers of dark blue light seeping through gaps in the door frames, I quickly lit a candle and checked around me, noticing that my shields in Config:Exo were still active but it had also passively consumed around 60MP which was rather acceptable and quite the bargain in my eyes.
That amount would regenerate to full after either eating or after a few minutes of rest.
I’ll definitely be doing that more often.
Although I would not be walking around all the time in Exo as it wouldn't be economical.
It didn’t look like anything had tried to break in as I removed the blockades, checked the house and looked outside via the windows; it was early morning with the sun not quite fully up yet and the sky was full of thick fluffy clouds with a fairly thick mist blanketing the streets, hills and mountain areas, reducing visibility quite a bit.
After gathering my things and hastily stepping outside, I oddly felt comforted by the coating of mist...until I remembered a certain horror game where the mist was a prevalent camouflage for the monsters that hid in them.
Oh the joy of all my childhood fears having a very real chance of actually existing..
The brochure and map I had, showed me a fairly straightforward route to the coast; I just needed to find the right road...So I walked through the battered streets, passing damaged houses and walls, until after about an hour I found my way out onto the outskirts of the village, and down the correct long road that would take me to the coastal town of Reggio Calabria.
A few times I heard the sounds of crashing and screeching coming from a few of the larger villa estates, but I would hastily jog past those each time and so far my luck was going very well in avoiding any fighting; it felt fucking awful being out here alone, reminding me of how I felt when I was creeping around the hospital, absolutely bricking it.
Solo leveling might work in those bullshit fantasies, but it certainly does not work in real life..
Of course, my luck was bound to run out, and, after 30-45 minutes of walking anxiously, I came to a sharp bend past a large patch of cacti growing out of the steep side verge, and heard some concerning shit.
There was a tall breeze block wall covering the inner part of the bend and as I followed it around it, the sounds of wet crunching and low growling noises nearly made me turn back around and peg it.
But I need to check..and I don't think I can detour-
I peeked around the corner..
Oh fuck sakes-
Smack bang in the middle of the road was a rather horrific creature, munching on a messy pile of what I suspected was another horrifying creature.
Label: Skinraw Lupo
MAGN: 30.546
HP: 289/300
MP: 10/10
EP: 80%
Notes: Jerry, che diavolo è quello.
The thing had no skin at all, with thick hairs growing out of the uncovered muscle tissue that was oozing blood. Haunched on thick jackal hind legs with slightly thinner front legs, it held itself steady as it crunched on a corpse with an eyeless hyena-like maw. A skinless human torso had grown out of the things back, tilting lifelessly like a puppet stuck on a pole. The whole thing was the size of a donkey.
Skinraw, jesus that's fucking ugly! And who the piss-shit is Jerry??
Label: Crawler
MAGN: 23.564
HP: -40 / 230
MP: 0/100
EP: 0%
Notes: Mio Dio. Avere pietà.
Thing number two, was definitely dead. But from what remained, it had four thick insect legs, a thin torso with a big red bulbous abdomen that looked like it was made of whale blubber, and a woman's head that had black greasy hair with deep-black, lifeless eyes.
It wasn't any bigger than the Skinraw.
The Skinraw was going to town, tearing at the red blubber sack, ripping and eating so much flesh and so, so much blood spilling out from it.
I quickly pulled back around and deployed my shields into Config:Ribbon; wincing as the metallic glass rain noise threatened to give my position away...I'd made up my mind aleady and I wanted to end this all in one hit.
Okay. Hooooooo. I can do this, no big deal, I've been swallowed by a demon, this is minor compared to that.
Charging my javelin shard attack, I waited a few seconds and then swiftly hopped round the corner, braced against the floor and railed off a half power shot, blasting dust away from me as the javelin whistled through the air.
It slammed home with a squelch and shattered into a small explosion as it hit the tarmac.
Problem was, it slammed into the corpse...
The Skinraw was nowhere in sight.
"The f-" I whispered but stopped dead as I slowly looked up at the wall to my left. My blood cooled at the sight of the thing silently hanging onto it, with the human torso on its back pointing at me, with wide terror filled eyes just glaring and its mouth was stretched open like it was perpetually screaming.
Which is exactly what the bastard did when my gaze made contact with it.
The scream made my vision shake as the maw snarled and pounced towards me, its whole body glowed in a red hue, so I phase dashed forward and spun around, evading it, all meanwhile the ribbon locked in on my enemy at the ready to strike or intercept.
The monster clacked down on the tarmac with its thick claws and didn't miss a beat as it skidded round to face me and charged forward, glowing in a red hue again.
Shoulder rushing to intercept, the bastard was fast, and it jumped impossibly quickly to the side, scaling the wall again and running horizontally past me.
It can run on walls?!-
Unfortunately for the monster, my config:ribbon was quick to strike out with the pincers open, stabbing deep into the rear leg muscle and it ripped out a huge gash of flesh then yanked the monster into the ground.
"RAAEEE" it screeched.
“wOA-ELP!” I yelped.
As I was thrown down off balance by the ribbon shield's manoeuvre, the ribbon seemed to be aware of this and, without my input, it blurred with extreme precision to correct my trajectory, coiling back and pushing against the ground to prop me up onto my feet. Within a split second I was steadily facing the screaming monster dragging itself away, with the ribbon hovering over my right shoulder locked back on once again.
Label: Skinraw Lupo
MAGN: 30.546
HP: 219/300
Breathing heavily, I felt mild pity for the thing as it squealed as it desparately tried to put weight on its leg...the torso on top of it was using its skinless bleeding arms to shield its face as if I was the bad one in the situation.
Well…actually, I did attack first..Fuck. Maybe it would have been neutral towards me?
But as I glanced to the side, the human torso screamed and the Lupo suddenly leapt up towards me with thick black veins pulsing and bulging over the entire thing.
It had been faking the severity of the wound, pretending to try and escape-
And the second I dropped eye contact..
The ribbon shot forward and clamped around the neck of the eyeless maw and I skidded back on the floor, fight against it, struggling to hold the chomping clacking fangs coming at my face; the ribbon pincers synth-groaned, squeezing as hard as it could in a solid effort to try and cut into the neck..but either the skin was too thick, or the pincers were too weak to cut through.
Shit shit! What should I do!
It was like a reverse tug of war and I was losing. I was being pushed back towards the wall..so when I got close enough, I hopped back and stepped off up the wall and leapt up. The jackal slammed into the wall face first with a crunch, cracking the concrete, whilst I sailed over, controlling my movement using the ribbon and landing a falling kick into the face of the screaming skinless torso.
The head flashed a bright white hue that lingered, and I felt the pulse of haptic feedback from landing an attack on a high value area.
A critical hit!
The torso immediately stopped screaming as I booted its face, and I grabbed a hold on one of the arms to stabilise myself and watched its wide open eyes roll around as the jackal maw went ballistic, twistng and turning, attempting to snap up at me riding its back.
My ribbons claw was still gripped the maws neck tightly, holding it at back as I pulled back a fist and repeatedly slammed it home into the skinless torso’s head, each strike hitting harder than the previous, beating the monster into spasms until after the fourth strike it stumbled, and, with a whine it slumped to its side.
The black pulsing veins faded away and suddenly my pincers snipped through the throat of the jackal maw like it was made of jelly, releasing a gush of blood, then double tapping by swinging up to violently decapitate the skinless, human torso's head.
Label: Skinraw Lupo
MAGN: 30.546
HP: -100/300
MP: 0/10
EP: 0%
Notes: Jerry, che diavolo è quello. Two organisms that share the same body. The weak torso will scream to confuse and alert the stronger main body. The head of the torso is an HVA critical point and it has an ability to increase its natural defences immensely, but only for a short period, which is identified via the appearance of thick black veins.
Do not be fooled, the torso is always watching and on high alert.
Bloody bastard. Good to know AFTER the fight…and I still don’t know who the hell Jerry is.
Annoyance aside, it was quite handy to have the notes since I figured it would remind me if I saw another one. It was interesting to see the notes change after fighting with it and yet it still had something prior to the fight.
Gives weight to that theory of Majik and EXP being able to store information.
Catching my breath as I collected the mist of EXP, I swiftly moved on.
...
It was getting lighter and if I had to guess, it was probably around 8am, and, while the mist was slowly clearing up, it was still reducing visibility quite a fair amount.
After around 30 minutes, I was walking through another village whose name I didn’t see any signs for, but what I did know was that it had seen even more extreme levels of fighting.
Everything was completely trashed and there was not a single window or door that wasn’t damaged or completely missing. A few buildings were royally demolished, with the streets filled with craters, cracks and gauges, but interestingly I even saw a few broken weapons lying around such as bent swords, snapped shields, snapped spears and something that looked like a 3D printed circular power-saw with a broken blade.
Basically, all signs that humanity had not coped very well in this area, but so far the overall density of monsters was very sparse compared to back home, I had only seen two more large shapes passing in the mist, both looking similar to the Skinraw Lupo...They hadn't spotted me but it was creepy as hell, and part of me felt like it'd just be less stressful not having the mist and rather fighting them now that I knew the weak point and capabilities.
The suspense is killing me.
...
After a few hours of carefully treading through streets and alleyways, and getting lost far too many times - fucking buy some street signs Italy! - I found the right road that wound down the hill into the coastal city. The mist had really cleared up as I approached the edge of a sharp bend, and, in typical fashion, I didn’t know what I had until it was gone.
Fuck. Me. Sideways.
With the mist cleared, I stared wide-eyed at the fantastic view of the city and all its current inhabitants, swarming the streets, jumping from windows, attacking each other… You know, usual city stuff.
It was absolute chaos.
There were thousands of them. Possibly tens of thousands of black dots and shapes swarming around in various parts like insects. Violent clashes broke out when groups met up with each other, creating clouds of dust and Majikal firework displays.
It was hard to make out details from this distance, but the bigger ones were definitely easier to spot. They were spread out, slowly plodded between the tall buildings, grabbing things from the ground and windows and eating them alive.
What the heck-
One of the tall ones caught my eye as it threw a small black shape towards its mouth, but promptly had its head completely obliterated by a big purple plasma-like ‘X’ projectile that exploded on contact, sounding out a muffled boom.
The black shape slid down the monster's timbering body and disappeared between the buildings, with the huge corpse smashing into the side of an apartment and gouging out a big hole.
Uhh-
A swarm of roughly adult-sized flying somethings emerged from the gash, flocking out over rooftops and buildings, darting away..other dots could be seen jumping from the rooftops, mostly missing and plunging down into the streets below, but a few managed to catch one, triggering a faint pained scream that lasted mere seconds.
That is a literal warzone. What the fuck!
There were no words to truly describe it, only that it was graphically fascinating.
Just one big violent death festival.
...
..
.