Something snapped in the teen. His cries went from pain and agony to anger and determination. “NO!” He bashed the animal in the skull with the pommel of his sword. “GET OFF!” He slashed his sword across its back, causing blood to flow. He managed to roll to the side as the dog was tugging his arm. It felt like his arm was going to be ripped off, but he managed to make it to his knees. The dog braced its legs and pulled backward, trying to pull Orville off balance, but he had anticipated that and set his weight backward. As the dog pulled, Orville thrust his sword forward and was pleased when he felt it slide into the meat of the things shoulder. This caused a whine from the animal, but it still did not release his arm. Orville stabbed once more. And again, his sword met little resistance, however, the dog redoubled its efforts and threw off several of Orville’s follow up strikes.

By this time there was blood flowing freely from many wounds on the animal and Orville’s arm was on fire. Something tore in his forearm and the dog shifted its grip in its mouth. Orville screamed in pain again, but this time channeled that energy into another strike. The crazed dog did not try to hinder the attack as it was so intent on pulling Orville’s arm off. The wounded teen managed to slide his sword under one of the legs and angled it a bit, then used the dog’s own strength to allow it to pull Orville towards it, which added to the thrusting power. The blade sank deep and the beast’s eyes went wide, then it simply slumped to the ground with a huff of breath and died.

Congratulations! You have defeated [Rot-wieler] Level 5. Aether gained, 300!

Congratulations! You have killed an enemy well above your level! Aether gained, 150!

Status Warning! Diseased! You are infected with Rot! You will take 5 HP of damage every minute for 5 minutes or until cured.

Warning! You are critically low on Health Points 9/32.

Congratulations! You have gained enough Aether to raise your Class level. You may spend 250 Aether to raise your Class level to 2!

Would you like to spend 250 Aether to raise your level to 2? Y / N

Oh god! Oh crap! Orville’s mind was in a whirl. The pain from his arm was intense and upon inspection, he could see the skin rotting off and there was blood and bone showing. He almost passed out but forced down the bile threatening to surface. Less than two minutes! “FUUUUUCK!” he yelled as he cradled his arm. I sure hope I’m right. Orville focused on his status screen and said Yes to the level raise.

He quickly closed the congratulations screen for leveling up and called up his status screen. His Endurance and Willpower had both gone up, which caused his health points to also increase, but he did not hesitate to throw all three of his free stat points into Endurance. That placed his endurance at fifteen. He looked at his status again and saw that the Rot status warning was gone, and his health was no longer ticking down. With a sigh of relief, he looked at his arm again and thought he could see it slowly mending. With rain continuing to fall from overhead and his own salty tears mixing in, Orville took a deep breath and tried to slow his heart rate down.

He collected himself and looked around. There was no one. If anyone had heard his cries for aide, they had ignored them. Him. Just a fat kid, not worth saving. As his thoughts spiraled, he shook himself free of the melancholy that threatened to overwhelm him and achingly got to his feet. His maximum health had gone up with the level, but he was still damaged. He was now at sixteen of thirty-nine. So, half. I guess it was too much to ask that leveling up would heal me back to full. He stooped over the now dead dog and pulled his sword free. Hmmmm. I wonder.

Orville dropped to one knee and touched the dog with the intent to loot it.

[Rot-weiler] – Level 5:

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Lootable Items –

Silver: 4

Copper: 3

Potion of Cure Disease: 1

“Hah!” he exclaimed. “Knew it!” I bet Malcolm will figure this out too. Oh, hey I have an internal inventory, awesome! Orville saw that he could call up an inventory screen that was divided into a grid. There were twelve squares. He mentally moved the silver to one, the copper to another and the potion to a third. Damn! Can’t stack coins of different types. Once he had looted the dog, he watched its body vanish in a mist of motes of light. The weird thing to Orville was that the dog’s blood was still evident on the ground as was the rotted vegetation where its slobber had fallen.

Since standing in the open was a bad idea and he had several more notifications to attend to, Orville made his way to a nearby house with a porch and moved out of the rain. This porch had a small, enclosed railing, so he sat down in the corner to not be seen from the street. Time to make some decisions. He consulted his screens and found that at level two he had to choose from either the Skirmisher or the Slashing Counter skills.

Skill - Skirmisher: You thrive in adversity. When you and your allies are outnumbered, you gain a bonus to combat. While fighting in a small group or singly against more than three opponents, you gain a +1 to Physical damage from any melee weapon per skill level in Skirmisher.

Skill – Slashing Counter: With your melee weapon, you may spend 5 Stamina Points to counter a blow from an opponent and immediately retaliate with a +1 to Physical damage. Every subsequent level in Slashing Counter will add a +1 Physical damage modifier.

This choice took him longer than he wanted as they were both solid skills. He knew that he also had two skill points to allocate. He finally decided on Slashing Counter as he was uncertain when he would be part of a group and while the Skirmisher skill cost no Stamina, it would only proc against three or more opponents. He would rather pay the Stamina cost of the Slashing Counter to have it work against single foes every time he used it. His next choice was where to place his two skill points, but for him, it was a no brainer. He placed both points in his Sword skill. It would allow him to do more damage right away. With that settled, he then eagerly looked at his spell options.

Spell: Arcane Shield Wall

At the cost of 5 MP, you can summon a wall of arcane power. The Arcane Shield Wall appears in any orientation the caster chooses, as a horizontal, vertical, or angled barrier. It is a ten foot by ten-foot plane of force and once placed is immovable until dismissed or destroyed. It has a defense rating of +1 per level. The initial spell casting lasts for two minutes and can be prolonged by 1 minute per 5 MP spent. This spell has a cool down of 10 minutes. This cool down duration drops by 1 minute per level to a minimum of 30 seconds.

Spell: Burning Blade

Just as it sounds, at the cost of 5 MP, you can engulf your weapon in a sheath of magical flame, adding +1 burning damage per level to your melee weapon attacks. There is a 1% chance per level that your opponent will be lit on fire, causing an extra +1 point of fire damage every second for 5 seconds unless extinguished. The initial spell casting lasts for two minutes and can be prolonged by 1 minute per 5 MP spent. This spell has a cool down of 10 minutes. This cool down duration drops by 1 minute per level to a minimum of 30 seconds.

Burning Blade. Without a doubt. His shield was good as is, but he really wanted more firepower, pun intended, and now he had it. He just needed to be mindful of his Mana expenditure. He stood up and sighed. His pants had fallen again. This time, he could see and feel the change. If he was to guess, he figured he’d lost over a hundred and fifty pounds. He felt great. Well, except for the rotted arm. That was smelly and nasty, but it was healing. At least this system has passive healing over time. Awkwardly he notched his belt again and once more cinched his pants tight. I wonder if I should break into someone’s house and see if they have any pants that will fit me. Or maybe I can buy some? Dude get real, what store would be open during an apocalypse? Idiot!

Not really feeling like attempting a breaking and entering or confronting anyone, Orville headed back out on his original goal, the Reed home. Man, I hope they’re still alive. I need them to be alive. Orville wished fervently. He stepped out into the rain and received a new notice.

Quest! [Home and Hearth]! Travel to the Reed home and find out what has happened to them. Quest rewards, 500 Aether, 1 Gold, 1 minor item.

Will you accept the Quest [Home and Hearth]? Y /N

“Well, ain’t that some shit?” He remarked to no one as he accepted the quest.