“I overcome my trauma!” Callan went to Mirai and told her about his adventure. “I fainted so many times hahahaha! Then after that, I just closed my eyes… then boom! I am good.” Callan posed heroically in front of Mirai.
[Welcome]
After calming down from a few seconds of laughter. “Well, can I see my stats Mirai?” Callan placed his hands on Mirai and his stats popped up.
[Callan Satchel]
[Level: 2]
[Strength: 8]
[Agility: 8]
[Endurance: 8]
[Magic: 8]
“Eyyy! I am one level close to double digits.” As calm and happy as Callan was, Mirai was not. Mirai can never see the status of the person in front of her without needing their hand or contact. After some years, Mirai was able to read the status screen by just feeling it. And at the moment, she was sure.
Callan was a rough gem. He might not be the best person Mirai had ever seen, but he is someone with the most potential. That was true, and the stats were just clear proofs.
“So, can I challenge floor 1 again then I can level up again right?” Callan asked Mirai. Mirai answered the question and then.
[Yes]
[27:33:12]
Mirai showed Callan the time he had left. “Wait! Being inside the floors still counts! Shit!” Callan didn’t expect that being inside the floors would not stop his time. It was only obvious as technically, he wasn’t in the waiting room and was “challenging a floor”.
“Wait, but does clearing a new floor count in the timer?” Callan asked out of curiosity. Mirai then answered. But as he waited for the answer, Callan immediately thought of something else.
[No]
He didn’t hear Mirai, and said “If that’s the case…” Callan gulped, he realized something. If Callan had just cleared floor 1 once more, maybe he would have had an easier time on the second floor. His stats doubled and that could only mean that his strength has been doubled as well. He was far stronger than he was before.
If Callan didn’t want to repeat what happened to the second floor, he had to clear floors 1 and 2 once again. “Ok! I know what to do! I have cleared them once! I’ll just use additional strategies!” Good thinking there buddy.
Callan took out the stones he had picked up just before leaving the second floor. “Wait, can I still go to floor 2?” He asked Mirai.
[Yes]
“Does that mean I can infinitely go back to the lower floors?” He added.
[Yes]
“Cool! Well…” Callan felt excited once more. He had already made a stone spear before but now he wanted to make it better.
Callan took 2 stones and started sharpening the other to as pointy as he could. It took him a couple of hours, but for him, as someone who enjoys doing absolutely anything unordinary, he didn’t even feel time pass.
“Ok… now a stick!” Callan opened his inventory once more. After looking inside for a few seconds, either his head is hurting more than usual… or “I forgot to get a stick…”. Callan had no stick in his inventory other than the stick used for cooking. Which is bent in some parts, making even that unsuitable. Well, it could work, but looking for straight sticks is better.
“To the second floor please Mirai.” Callan turned around and went to Mirai. After the floors appeared he instantly clicked the second floor and he was gone instantly.
Mirai… was used to people going to places and leaving her alone. Actually, she has gotten used to it. At some level, you could even say, the emotion of loneliness, is Mirai itself. But she really doesn’t have any choice but to let it be.
Many of her clients, even the ones she was really close with, didn’t talk every second to Mirai. All of them had things to do. Training, crafting, or being on other floors. But Mirai wasn’t really a needy person, she doesn’t care if you talk to her or not. All she wanted was to see a living person smile in front of her. And even if all those smiles have turned into a grieving memory, Mirai, this time, believes, she will never have to experience another such memory ever again.
“Ok! I’m back Mirai! It took some time to look for some straight branches, but I have a lot now.” Callan got back from his trip to the second floor and instantly started to work on making ropes. But as he worked he just kept on talking. “You know, I wanna find some paper, I am not really good at memorizing, and I am quite sad that if I continue to write my stories, I don’t have my spreadsheet to tell me the pieces of information I have forgotten.”
Yeah, Mirai knew it, Callan will be the last. And God! She holds tight that he will be the last. I mean she has gone through it way too many times, but who could even see a person who smiles that much frown?
“I will definitely show you my stories, though they will suck, or I don’t know, I never really got comments on the internet, but based on me not having any followers at all after half a year of uploading once a week, that’s just what I came up with.”
Callan completed making the minimum length of rope that he needed. Though of course, running out is also a possibility. He doesn't really remember how long the last one was, he was just following his feelings.
“But hey, if I’m actually a really good writer who just never placed an effort on publishing, then you will be the first and only one to hear the greatest story in existence! Nay! Ever! Well, I mean unless there was someone who already told you their stories and they are a more successful author than me… Eyy you know what!”
Callen bit on the rope as he tied the stone and the stick together. “Fwack Wem!” Callan said, as his mouth was full of tree bark. “Pwah! That really tastes shit! Well, I mean it just tastes like nothing, but still, feels so uncomfortable.”
[Yes]
“See, even you agreed!” Mirai tried to stay as silent as she could. But if she had a face right now, she would just be smiling and laughing at how talkative Callan was, it was making her remember so many people who had the most impact on her growth. It was always those talkative people that taught her how to count, math, words, and many more. I wonder what you will teach me… Callan.
“Well, I am done! I can’t waste any time! Open to the first floor!” Callan had only 22 hours left on his time. You ask why so little already? Well, he did spend way too many hours grinding stone. Heh!
Mirai opened the screen once more and Callan went to the first floor with his spear in hand. In just the blink of an eye, Callan was back in the white room that first almost killed him. “Well… I don’t see any goblins on the ground… how do I
challenge this floor again?”
“Challenge Again!” Callan yelled.
“Wait, actually this word just makes more sense. Restart!” Callan yelled once more. And then the tower talked. Callan heard the monotone voice of Mirai once more. You know what, yeah Mirai does sound like a man… ehhh… who cares.
[Spawning Monster]
[3…]
[2…]
[1…]
“You’re dead to me now!” The goblin spawned immediately. And as soon as it spotted Callan, it started to run. “Huwaa!!” Callan yawned. He was starting to act cocky. In his mind, he already knew the pattern of the monsters. The first goblin will jump.
“Poot. Poot.” Called stabbed the goblin’s stomach with his stone spear as it jumped to the sky. When the goblin was skewered in his spear, he plummeted it to the ground. “I don’t want some filth on my spear.” He left the goblin on the ground as he stepped on it and pulled his spear out.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
[1…]
The other goblin appeared and Callan was the first to attack the goblin. It jumped straight to Callan. But to the goblin’s stupidity, a spear is the most powerful weapon against airborne enemies that well, the spear could reach.
“Another filth.” Callan was talking in a deep voice as he spat on the goblin. He placed it on the ground once more and pulled his spear out.
[1…]
Callan had the greatest advantage. In a game, there is a concept that if you stay in the spawn area of something. You could always just pre-aim on a spot, and that player will die instantly. That concept is called, “spawn camping” but a lot of games made things like spawn protection or a spawn area, specifically for this reason.
But… the place the goblin spawns at? It’s just pitiful that it had to be in the middle of the room. “Another shit!” Callan stabbed the goblin before it could even move. He raised his spear to the sky and held it with both his hands as he spun the spear in a circle.
He went on for 2 seconds until he released all the energy to one side, releasing the goblin and launching it fast, crushing the wall.
“Heh, I’m so cool.” As soon as the other goblin spawned Callan picked up the knife of one of the goblins and placed it in his inventory. He then picked up another one and stabbed the goblin in the head, before it could even realize it had just been born to a room.
There was only one goblin left and Callan wanted to play a game. He went to the walls of the room and then threw a knife at the goblin to test his aim. The knife didn’t hit the goblin, actually, it didn’t even come close. But it wasn’t that Callan was weak, actually, the knife just went too far.
“Hahhh… well now I just look stupid.” As Callan sulked the goblin got close to him, and as it jumped into the air, Callan stretched the spear as high as he could and just smashed the goblin to the ground using the wooden part of the spear. As the goblin landed on the ground, Callan stepped on its head so hard that it crushed like a watermelon exploding. “Ok, now that was cool.”
[Congratulations On Clearing The First Floor]
[You Will Be Teleported In]
[5…]
[4…]
[3…]
“Well, that’s all the weapons.” Callan stood waiting for the floor to teleport him out. The few seconds felt like years for some unknown reason. He played with his saliva, tapped his leg, snapped his fingers, blinked his eyes multiple times, and licked his lips. “Yeah, I’ve heard they hate that.”
[1…]
Callan returned to the endless white void, he stood in front of Mirai. “Can you show me the time?” Asked Callan, as he rubbed his skin from the itch.
After looking, Callan got to thinking. "Well uh… I don’t have much time left, should I just go to the second floor already?"
Callan asked Mirai. His body didn’t fear the pond anymore nor any mention of water in his mind. It was weird, but that wasn’t what he cared about. Callan might not have any more broken trauma towards water, but he still remembers the hell he had gone through.
“Well I can do it, I have my inventory, I’ll just bring a weapon! It makes things easier you know Mirai?! Like! I killed the goblins so easily! Like I just knew how to fight! Hahahaha! And those piranhas don’t even have hands! Oh! I’ll kill them!” Callan slowly went from worrying about another near-death experience to gaining so much confidence. He went through his status screen, seeing he was already level three.
[Callan Satchel]
[Level: 3]
[Strength: 16]
[Agility: 16]
[Endurance: 16]
[Magic: 16]
“Eyy! This is high right?!” Callan was happy, he now knew his stats would double every time he leveled up. He never felt any change, but those numbers showed him that he was far stronger than he had ever imagined. “I went from a son that any parent would be embarrassed by to a powerhouse! Hahahaha! I mean I almost died twice! Thank you, Mirai! You changed my life!” Callan yelled to Mirai. He then hugged her and kissed the sphere multiple times.
After finishing his showing of gratitude, Callan decided to do a backflip. He then overexerted his power and dropped to the ground. “Well, I may be strong, but I… yeah that’s just it.” Callan lay on the ground and while he thought about how to do a cool backflip, he remembered he could just do a handstand with no need for skill, I mean he should be strong enough. He then placed his hands above his head and tried to do a handstand. As his body felt light, Callan succeeded.
He had a slightly visible six-pack, and his arms were jacked. “Oh my God!” As Callan stared at his body, trying to avoid gazing at his lower part, reality caught him.
“Oh…” Callan started to wonder how he even arrived in such a place. In the beginning, he did think of it as a new opportunity and life, but as he experienced just the first 2 floors, he retracted such an idea. But now, he went through so much change, he started to realize once more, the change the white void had shown him.
Callan went to a blank expression. His mind wandered, Callan spent a long time fighting already. Well, that’s at least what he thought of, he didn’t really have the best memory. But now Callan was starting to miss his previous life. “Wow… I’m… wow! Before I always wanted to go to another world, but now I want to go back?” Callan was confused in his own belief. Everything he had ever believed was starting to hit him in the back.
“I know my beliefs were always just stupid. I mean I lack so much backbone that my decision changes my mood, I’m just like a woman! But this? I mean, of course, this wasn’t the “Isekai” experience I wanted, but still, this power! I feel grateful but I also… miss… writing…”
Callan cleared his head, he didn’t like change, nor did he like thinking. His entire life he had always just gone with the flow, and that was the same with this one, he will go with the flow, even if that flow literally broke reality.
“Mira, do you perhaps know how to make paper out of leaves?” Callan asked Mirai politely. Of course, he knew that Mira, even if she knew, couldn’t tell him how to make a paper. Using Mirai’s vocabulary won’t even reach the possibility of making paper. But Callan only wanted to know if Mirai knew, he didn’t care how he would do it, he just needed to know that he could.
[Yes]
Replied Mirai. Callan jumped to the skies full of joy. Callan took out two knives from his inventory. He held one on each of his hands and faced Mirai. “Well, I will test my physical limits for now.” Said Callan. He then looked into the sky and raised his right hand. He clenched his fist to the knife and declared. “I will not even take a single injury! I tell you Mirai! I will kill those piranhas as fast as I possibly could!” Callan yelled at the top of his lungs.
Callan took his stead as a warrior. First, he wanted to do some unnecessary backflip training. It seemed like his slight slip from earlier had left a bigger impact on his ego. Callan really was a weird man, he went from being hungry for murdering goblins, to being bored of it, to contemplating about his life, to asking how to make paper, and now back to training, especially his backflip due to spite.
Mirai watched Callan. She was staring, she wondered how much time it would take Callan to be able to do a backflip. It may seem like a useless thing to even pay attention to. But Mirai had a reason, Mirai wanted to see Callan’s true potential.
The stats he had gained were still lower than some of his most talented clients, but his growth between levels was of the highest. The only real thing Callan lacked was actual physical experience.
She had seen many fights in her life, despite only seeing one person at a time, there were a lot of times that her client did something called “Shadow Fighting” It was, to her understanding, the concept of fighting someone you were imagining.
As time went by, Mirai could even see these “Shadows” and the longer time passed, even Mirai was confident she knew how to fight. When it reached the 10 thousandth clients, Mirai had always looked at their progress.
That was why, Callan’s backflip was of an interesting perspective. It wasn’t the most battle-focused skill, but it was still a physical one. But as Mirai was thinking about this and the past, Callan, “I did it! My God! I did it! I am gifted! I knew I was just too lazy to even work out! It was too much wasted time that I could do something else at the time! Hahahaha! To the next agenda!”
Callan fought the air multiple times with his knife. Swinging randomly, sometimes even just cause the feeling of it was fun. Despite what Mirai expected, Callan wasn’t actually improving on his skills. She didn’t know it at that time, but the real reason for that was that Callan was just like a child playing with his toys. He wasn’t even paying attention to it.
Callan even used his make-ship spear and swung and stabbed it multiple times. Time went by, and after a very long play time, Callan got tired and rested for a few hours until the time had passed by quickly.
[20:43:14]
“It had already been 5 hours!” Callan yelled as he was sitting on the ground; waking up from his long nap. Callan stretched his hands and leg. He stood up and walked towards Mirai, “Well, it’s time to fight the fish! Hold up the floor screen Mirai.” Callan yelled.
[Bye]
“Bye, good luck to me.” The screen appeared in front of Callan and took a deep breath before clicking the second-floor button. But "Grrr" before fingers could touch the screen his stomach grumbled. Callan's face was fully red, he just said goodbye to Mirai and then he immediately realized he hadn't eaten.
After a quick bite, full of embarrassment that he couldn't even look at Mirai, he shoved it off and moved to the second floor, like nothing ever happened!
Callan arrived for the third time on the second floor. The first thing he did was to go run over to the trees. He started pulling many leaves and placed them into his inventory. Callan didn’t speak a word, and after pulling all the leaves out of multiple trees for more than an hour, he ran back to the pond.
He took a deep breath and took in all the air he could, then jumped in the water. Callan then swam downwards to the bottom of the pond. I’m ready… I’m ready… After reaching the bottom of the pond, he touched the ground.
Ughh… Nothing happened. Callan kept tapping the ground until he realized he never said the words. He was left feeling stupid, he quickly swam to the top of the pond. He was silent even in his own mind, Callan was embarrassed to even face himself.
“Nothing happened…” After reaching the top of the pond, he took his breath back. “Restart!”. After yelling, he took a deep breath then he dived back into the pond once more. No words from the tower were heard, but Callan had the confidence it would be different.
Either way, he had no choice. Callan swam back down to the bottom of the pond, as his hand slowly made its way into the ground, when he touched the bottom of the pond, Callan was teleported once more to a black void.
He couldn’t move his body, but he could think. It was only a few seconds, but all Callan could think of was opening his inventory and taking his spear and knife out.
Callan was teleported back to the bottom of the pond. He saw the three piranhas once more. After going through his trauma, the water never scared him anymore. But as Callan stared at those piranhas, his heart started to ache.
Callan’s heart pumped fast and his air suddenly decided to fly by. He was just at the bottom of the pond and he could almost not breathe. Shit! The fear of seeing the piranhas once more had ruined Callan’s plan. But that wouldn’t stop him, I just have to kill them!
He swam fast up to the piranhas. All three, just like last time, were spread out from each other. With the distance between the piranhas, it was enough to fight each at a time. Callan reached the nearest piranha. It was alerted and started to swim towards Callan. He held his knife in his right hand and stopped. He was prepared to hug the piranha and stab it to death.
The piranha reached a meter length close to Callan. As the piranha screeches at Callan, the others are soon alerted. He now had to kill the piranha as fast as he possibly could before the other two reached him.
It launched itself towards Callan. He then moved to the side and stabbed as the piranha as it swam beside it. Callan didn’t let go and hugged the piranha on its side. It kept on screeching in pain as Callan retracted his knife and repeatedly stabbed it until the water around them was clouded by blood.
It was a simple after-effect, but these clouded waters and covered areas stopped the other piranhas from spotting Callan. They couldn’t see the human and with their simple instincts, they swam faster smelling free food.
Wait, I can’t see! Callan backed himself off. He kicked himself forward using the dead piranha, as he was launched off to the sides, the 2 piranhas came swimming fast out of the clouded red water.
Now that’s straight out of a shark movie! Callan hurriedly grabbed his spear and then struck it into the open mouth of one of the piranhas. He couldn’t see it, nor do fish even drool. But Callan can clearly see through its aura that the piranha was full of hunger.
His spear went inside the piranha's mouth. Callan didn’t know if it had stabbed its insides but, he just pushed it in more. Then he exerted all his strength to move the piranha behind him.
Callan then stepped on the wooden part of the spear and jumped forward with his knife.
With his arms raised, he stabbed its head. But as his body was flipping forward, Hahahahahaha! Callan was grazed by the piranha’s teeth. His sides, including his arm, started to bleed from multiple scratches.
With the pain, taking over his entire body for a few seconds, the knife was left stuck on the piranha's head as it swam fast down to the bottom of the pond. It was near death and could die at any time. Is that it? But he wasn’t satisfied, he swam straight to the piranha and stabbed it multiple times.
He reached the bottom bottom of the pond. As dead fish lacked enough weight to sink, the other two had already started to swim back up the pond. And why does this information matter?
[Congratulations On Clearing The Second Floor]
[You Will Be Teleported In]
[5…]
My spear! In the span of 5 seconds, Callan used all his strength to swim back to his spear.
[2…]
Nooooo!! But as he ran towards the previous piranha, he was too far from his spear. The timer passed and as he slightly grazed upon the wooden stick of the spear, he was immediately teleported back to the endless white void, and then he yelled.
“Noooooo!!!!!