His anger quickly dissipated while he rushed to see if the black-haired woman was okay. Luckily, she didn’t fall on any broken glass.
“You absolute moron!” she said, hastily trying to cover her exposed parts.
Her change in that rude tone indicated that she probably didn’t hurt herself. He looked away, while the blonde gave her one of the towels from the racks.
“Are you out of your mind?” the blonde asked.
“I’m sorry, I-”
He was interrupted by the door crashing open. A knight in red armor, similar to Reacher and Becket, rushed inside.
“Is everything alright in here?” the Carnifex knight asked.
Stick couldn’t see his face under the helmet, but he could tell by his head movement that the knight alternated his look between the woman on the ground and Stick. The two women were suddenly too intimidated to speak.
“Yeah, we’re fine,” Stick awkwardly said, as he noticed how weird this scene must look to the knight.
“They cause you any trouble?” the knight asked.
“No, everything’s okay, thank you.”
The knight loosened up a bit. “You know we can get you some NPCs if you want. They’re less bitchy than those two.”
What?
Stick’s head snapped to the women. They were looking at the ground ashamed. A quick inspection revealed that they were [LVL] 15 Players called Emilia, an [Elemental] [Mage], and Lucille, a [Weapons Master] [Assassin]. Those two are Players?
“Just say the word, and we’ll get you someone more willing,” the [LVL] 23 [Warrior] [Knight] called Gallagher said.
Stick had no idea what was going on, but his gut told him not to paint the women in a bad light.
“No, everything is fine,” he said. “Emilia and Lucille have been taking great care of me.”
The knight’s helmet shifted one last time between Lucille, the black-haired woman on the ground, and Stick. “If you say so. Just be ready in 20 minutes. The Baron doesn’t like to wait.”
With a thumbs up from Stick, the knight exited the room. After a quick pause, Lucille jumped from the ground covered in the towel.
“How did you know our names?” she asked him in a mistrustful tone.
“Well, I read your Status.”
“What? You can do that?” Emilia got very close to his face this time, very excited instead of seductive. “But how is that possible?”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The blonde poked his stomach where his belly button was supposed to be, as if she was trying to make it appear. He didn’t notice that his stomach had been exposed when the shirt ripped.
“Stop that!”
“Well?” Lucille asked. “If you’re an NPC, how can you read Statuses?”
“I don’t remember how I came here.” Stick flicked away Emilia’s probing index finger. “I don’t know why, but I am a Player without a belly button, just like the NPCs.”
Emilia, ever so inquisitive, started petting his jawline.
“No sign of a beard. He’s really an NPC. Or maybe just a boy.”
Stick grabbed her by the wrist. “Will you stop touching me already?”
The blonde woman released her hand, took a step back, and tilted her head. “But it does say that you’re a Player though…”
“So that’s why Lucio wants to see you,” Lucille deduced.
“No, not really. I’ve been working in the mines since I got here six months ago. We haven’t talked since my second day. I don’t know why he wants to talk to me after all that time.”
“Maybe because of your stats?” Emilia asked.
My stats? Of course!
“Can you see them? Can you tell me what they are?”
“You don’t know how that works?” Lucille was oddly amused. “You’re a dumb NPC after all.”
That bitch!
“Ignore her,” Emilia said, “Here, let me show you.”
Emilia showed him how to navigate the [Menu] to get to the [Stats] page. He recognised the layout of the window to be that of a [Status]. His breath was trembling with excitement. It wasn’t just any status. It had his name written at the very top: Stick Arslan. Fuck yeah!
He was [LVL] 1, and his Stats were underwhelming, to say the least.
Strength: 5
Intelligence: 5
Regeneration: 5
Armor: 5
Resistance: 5
Constitution: 5
He had 500/500 [Life Points] and 100% [Mana]. That’s not good.
All the other info was empty. He had no [Class], no [Affiliation], and most confusingly, no [Origin]. What a shame. No clues here.
“That’s a strange Status,” Lucille commented.
image [https://i.imgur.com/BgQJVsJ.jpeg]
“Yeah…” Stick said. “I had hoped it would help me with my memories, but no chance.”
“That might be linked to your amnesia,” Lucille said, “but what’s more strange to me are the Stats. They’re all wrong.”
Stick’s heart jumped. “What do you mean ‘wrong’?”
“5 is the lowest score one can have in any Stat at LVL 1. It depends on your Class which of your Stats are that low, but in return, you always get better Base Stats as well to even them out,” Lucille explained.
“Yours are all trash,” Emilia added.
“Wow, that’s-” Stick was at a loss for words. “Thank you.”
Stick’s sarcasm didn’t go unreciprocated as Emilia winked at him and blew a kiss. That sassy little…
“So what about your Class?” Lucille asked.
“I don’t know. What about it?”
“What kind of fighter are you? Are you a Warrior, a Weapons Master, or a Mage?”
“How would I know that?”
Lucille pinched the bridge of her nose. “What kind of Skills do you have?”
Stick was confused. “What do you mean Skills?”
Lucille grew frustrated. “Do you attack with ranged weapons? Do you stun people? Do you heal people? Do you use fireballs? Some particular trend in what you can do in a fight?”
He remembered that Reacher had his healing light magic.
“No, nothing of that sort,” he concluded. “I’ve had one fight, and I used a stick to defend myself.
“Stick, huh?” Lucille scoffed, brandishing a smile for a brief moment.
“Haha,” Stick said.
Emilia, however, wasn’t in the mood to make jokes. Her face had turned pale. She shakily sat down, the thin fabric on her skin getting darker in the spots it got wet.
“Are you alright?” Lucille asked.
“I just had a thought,” Emilia said. “Think about it for a second.”
“What’s wrong?” Stick started to worry.
Emilia looked Lucille dead in the eyes. “Lucille, he’s an NPC with no Class.”
Lucille gasped. “Oh my fucking God.”
There was obviously something the two knew that he didn’t. “What’s going on?”
Through the gaps in the fingers covering her mouth, Lucille answered: “You’re a minor.”