I muttered a few more curse words for the dead rats as I moved from their bodies and back into cover. For the sake of my sanity, I had just hit the ‘Loot All’ button on them both, so I wasn’t right out in the open.
The bounty earned via almost dying, was… hardly worth the effort. Five gold coins. A knife. Three vials of… Rat Juice. I pulled a face and brought up the descriptions.
[Basic Knife]
[Not even a cut above]
[Rat Juice (3)]
[We’ll leave it up to you to decide if this is something they drink or produce.]
[Weapon Coating. Your attacks have a low chance of spreading Rat Plague on targets. 10 minute duration]
I wasn’t sure what I’d be able to use the gold coins for, but they were exactly as described. The System clearly used a familiar currency, and had a handy total shown above the top row of my Inventory. No doubt getting that number higher would be a shield for my safety, even if in a more abstract way. I shivered.
The patches of blood and pile had cooled, and the cold breeze running through the area chilled me. More uncomfortable than that were the notifications the System was desperate for me to acknowledge. I hated this. Leaning up against another cold stone grave marker out of sight, I grit my teeth and opened up the flashing icon.
[Level Up]
[You are now Level 2]
[Received 2 unassigned stat points]
Me experience bar was now at 2%, which suggested to me that looting bodies also gave a small amount. For all my efforts in caving in the skulls of monsters, I had earned two abstract points to put into one of the six stats. It barely felt worth the effort at this stage, but I continued to act like it mattered for now.
A quick glance at my Stats again, and it told me in bold text that I would need to be in a bunker or my home to assign these waiting boosts. Things were never simple.
I exhaled through my nose. Rather than dwell on every small setback, I switched to the next set of notifications, which were more milestones.
[Milestone Reached: You have leveled up for the first time. Hopefully not the last.]
[Reward Received: Armor Upgrade Stone (Random)]
[Milestone Reached: Ahead of the curve. You are one of the first Players to reach level 2.]
[Reward Received: Bracers of Speed]
It was hard to know where to begin with the messages. My brow had furrowed at the part where we were being referred to as ‘players’, as if this was some sort of game. No doubt Richard had some way of spinning it to make sense, but I felt uncomfortable over the insinuation that this clusterfuck was anything close to being jovial in nature. I was not having fun.
Being ‘one of the first’ was also vague, but that seemed to be a common recurrence with the System. I ached just trying to imagine how many people had died in this short time, whether they had decided to fight… or had no choice. It was fucked. Most people on this side of the world might have chosen to sleep on the decision, assuming they made it to a bunker. I could see why Richard had pushed me forward. There were rewards for it.
In this instance, I had earned a piece of equipment, but it could have just as easily been the end of me. Staying in that top percentile might give more advantages the higher level I reached… but did I even want that?
Autopilot and the sedative-like buff had gotten me this far, but what were my actual thoughts on all this once I sobered up?
I paused as one of the distant ratmen coughed loudly. Wetly. He spat on the ground and then chittered something to his companion before it was relatively silent again.
My hands flexed into fists and relaxed again. On edge, I opened up my Equipment window. There were twelve slots in total where I could place pieces of gear to gain their System granted benefits. I assumed that I was able to wear whatever I wanted outside of this scope, but any… magical garments would just act as mundane items in that case. Another instance where I was making a leap based on my middling video game experience - but I could probably test it now.
My current clothing wasn’t present on this shown ragdoll, which probably meant they weren’t attuned to the System - Richard had said something about that.
In my Inventory were the Bracers of Speed. I brought up the description before my little experiment went underway.
[Bracers of Speed]
[Increase experience gain by 1%]
[Make haste and waste your enemies]
Not exactly what I had been expecting, but if the goal was to level, then that would increase my speed. Biting my tongue, I selected to equip them.
A small progress bar zipped along the lower edge of my vision - and then I was wearing them. I switched the STAR windows away to inspect them in real life. They were little more than tubes of tight fabric, probably more useful for preventing repetitive strain injury than deflecting melee attacks. Yellow and green in alternating stripes, so… ugly as sin.
Back into my menus, there was now a new list under my Equipment that showed Current Bonus. It listed the single percent from the bracers. I unequipped them with another progress bar appearing before they hopped from the equipment box to my Inventory again. I then withdrew them from my Inventory into my hands. Against my better judgement, I pulled them onto my arms after rolling my sleeves up to my elbows.
Once done, they seemed to fit just as well as before. I opened up my Equipment menu, and they did not appear on my equipped list, and neither was I receiving the buff from them. Fantastic. Another mystery solved. Science.
I shook my head as I reversed the process, applying the bonus. Seemed a bit pointless when I could die in the next fight, but completing the task made me briefly content.
The Armor Upgrade Stone would turn a mundane piece of gear into a magical one by giving it a random stat increase. The description didn’t have the usual forced smarm that some of the System text liked to taunt me with, so it seemed pretty cut and dry.
I went with my slacks for the sole reason that I was likely to want to remain clothed for my journey, and magical pants would help with that. I sighed again. A progress bar zipped across the bottom of my sight once more, before the black slacks appeared in my Equipment page, slotted into the Legs box.
[Confident Business Slacks]
[Reassurance, one leg after the other.]
[+1 Morale]
All things considered, I wasn’t sure if that was a good roll. Power or Vitality seemed more important for me to survive the night, but at least now I had a little more faith that I’d live to see the morning. Perhaps I should focus on that instead of making wisecracks to myself.
My tired eyes went up to another notification.
[Milestone Reached: You have upgraded a mundane item from
[Reward Received: Bandage (1)]
Aside from the interesting choice to put Earth in brackets as if it was a changeable variable, the appearance of a new healing item had me switching to my Inventory instantly.
[Bandage]
[Injured? Then let’s wrap this up]
[Restores 25% of your HP over 2 minutes]
Three seconds to activate it, and then it would slowly regenerate my health over time. A quick glance at my status screen, and I decided to use it right away since I was still at 70%. Leaning over, I withdrew the bandage and wrapped it around my left thigh. Once three seconds had passed, it vanished from my hands and a small icon in my vision appeared to let me know the healing was in progress.
Now that I had quietened the System, I stretched my back out and looked past my cover to the east side of the graveyard. There were two ratmen in low, murmured discussion a little further in - but there was also another on his own, closer to me. Based on context clues, I assumed that they were immune to the Rat Plague, so I would save those vials for a rainy day.
I adjusted the grip on my hammer. There was a feeling within me that I had… broken the seal. Crossed the line in knowing what I had to do now - and actually doing it. The descriptions and rewards had been mentally tiring and droll, sure, but I had no hesitation in now wanting to go after the rest of the rats. I might level up again. Find something more useful than vials of piss. Eke out an advantage for tomorrow, or the next day.
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So that I could survive.
All that it would take would be for me to get lucky in combat another six to nine times. I liked those odds. Historically… not a good call, but I either had a good feeling about this, or the numb trauma had already taken the reins.
Back in the shadows, I moved between groups of headstones and sporadic plinths. With my health ticking up, I could feel the sharp aches of my cut legs begin to dull. By the time I reached my target, the bandage would have completed. Almost back to full. Confident.
I could now see another reason why Richard had pushed me to go out at night. In the daytime, I would have been spotted a lot easier trying to assault this place. At present, I could barely hold my own against a pair of enemies, so anything more would be a death sentence. Alongside the attempt to get me ahead of the curve, I couldn’t exactly fault him for his logic. Resented him a little, though.
But as I reached the ratman, I wanted to prove my Guide correct. I was a survivor. The end of the world wouldn’t change that - I just need to exploit these new avenues. Play the game expected of me. If I just pushed myself a little harder, I’d take advantage of all this new bullshit afforded to me. One step at a time.
I sprung up on the day-dreaming ratman, hammer flashing down to strike the level 1 monster in the back of his head.
He screeched in pain, jolting briefly in place from the sound of his skull cracking. As I withdrew my weapon, he flashed red briefly.
The two ratmen further away had heard the dying cries of their companion and turned their glares toward me. I stepped up behind the wounded monster, the foul torch nearby under-lighting my face as I grabbed his snout. With the adrenaline of [Killing Blow] powering my actions, I snapped his head to the side—snapping his grinding vertebrae—while maintaining eye contact with the alerted pair.
They wavered in place for a moment, almost lowering their weapons in shock. One with a spear, the other a curved knife. Their hesitation gave me enough time to dip away from the dead ratman and duck back into the shadows. I retreated through the maze of gravestones, and they took the bait. Chittering at each other, they sought vengeance and pursued me.
Although I couldn’t always rely on Killing Blow to activate, I needed more tools under my belt to make use of the demoralizing side of it. The true power wasn’t in executing the near-dead target, but in sowing doubt and fear in…
I clicked away that thought process at the sound of footfall. The two ratmen had been a lot quicker than I had expected, already almost upon me despite my head-start. I paused behind a tall obelisk and waited, breath held.
Barely five heartbeats later and the first one rounded the corner of my hiding place, his knife at the ready. His eyes were still glaring further down the graveyard, my location briefly unknown. As he turned to me, I lashed forward with a torch; the end bursting into bright light just in time.
He stumbled, blinded, his eyes unable to adjust so suddenly. The swing of my hammer caught him in the open mouth, dislocating his jaw but doing little else other than breaking several decaying teeth.
Sparks rang from the obelisk as the ratwoman behind him darted forward with her spear, the jagged blade on the end catching the granite beside me. I dove away into a sluggish roll, dropping the torch in the process, before rising to my feet. The one with the broken jaw was already coming in for a slash with his blade, some wild dissociation in his eyes as he ignored the pain I had inflicted.
I grimaced and brought my hammer up to block his attack, and the force turned me away. Undamaged, but flat-footed. He grabbed at me with his other hand, grasping my suit jacket in an attempt to hold me in place. Not just for his own follow-up, but so that I couldn’t move away from the imminent spear from the other monster.
There wasn’t much time to dig into the specifics, but I could tell they were out of sorts. An icon lingered over their name, but I couldn’t find the space to bring up what it was called. It looked like a shocked face in black and white, so I read between the lines a little. Killing Blow had softened them up, making them a little slower and more awkward. It wasn’t by much, but with adrenaline pumping through my system… it might make the difference.
I twisted and turned myself as the attack came in, retracting my arm from the sleeve of the jacket. The tip of the spear punctured through the fabric and barely passed over my back. I continued to turn around, wrapping the jacket around the weapon as it slid from my arms.
My right arm came out first, birthed away from the clothing still clutching the silver hammer. I lashed forward with whatever momentum I had available, catching the monster struggling to pull back their spear in their left hand. With a screech, they let go, stepping back as I stepped in, rotating in a quick circle to swing in a wide arc. I struck them in the side of the head, knocking them out.
Not the first time I’d done that. I spat, grimacing at the torn and muddied jacket still tied around the long weapon. Stolen, so I had no sentimental connection to it. It had served its purpose.
The knife-wielder lunged toward me, and I sidestepped. He went to grapple me again, but I was prepared. Hammer hit the extended fingers with a crack, and he dove away in reflex - dropping his blade in the process. It didn’t take him any time at all to right himself, despite his injuries and mental state. For as much as they looked like diseased animals on their last legs, they were agile and scrappy.
His eyes turned to his fallen blade, the metal reflecting some dull light. I could almost see the gears spinning as he tried to calculate if he had the opportunity to get the weapon back.
Ironically, that hesitation was the reason he did not.
I was there before he could come up with the plan B. He blocked the first swing with his forearm, but it numbed the limb. Second strike hit him in the head, undefended. Third was the last that his skull could resist. Dead.
With my teeth bared, I stumbled over to the Unconscious one. This was exhausting, even if I wasn’t getting injured. Above the name of the ratwomen were two icons now. The newer one was Unconscious, which seemed obvious. The shocked face was called Rattled.
[Rattled]
[-10% Action Speed. Weakness to Morale damage. 10 minutes duration.]
I grunted, for lack of any more useful opinion on the debuff. Then I brought down two quick strikes on the monster to finish this.
[Hammer Mastery 2]
Standing back up straight, I stretched out my arms and shoulders. I spent a few moments just catching my breath again, slightly colder than before. My jacket was now absorbing some pooled ratman blood and filth… so I was down a layer of clothing. With a shiver, I frowned and spat on the nearest corpse.
“Eat shit, motherfuckers.”
Not a mature or restrained response, but fuck them. I had survived. If the rest of humanity could do what I had, then the world was as good as saved. Imagine wanting to collect these diseased and violent ratpeople, just to drop them somewhere you wanted to conquer like a fucked up Pokemon battle.
I shook my head and looked over at the bodies. Looting time. With a glance out around the rest of the graveyard, it looked as though there had been four groups of three monsters. All of them arranged around this central large mausoleum. My eyes lingered on it for a while. It was imposing, something straight out of the dark ages. No doubt the Boss was hiding down there.
Not something I should attempt, Richard had warned me. I was keen to avoid death, so getting another level off the last six rats before heading back to the bunker to sleep sounded reasonable to me. No shame in knowing when it was a good time to run. I already told myself that several times a week.
Rifling through the corpses was a drab affair. My nose had long gone blind to the disgusting juices they were oozing. I just hit the System boxes and moved on as quickly as I could.
Another eight gold and two knives. Three bandages, and a small square object that was some manner of lockbox. I almost left the vial of Rat Juice behind, but decided to take it. Hoping that the new box might have some way of assisting me tonight, I found it in my Inventory and gave it a look.
[Plain Lockbox]
[Rarely found on murdered humanoids, containing their keepsakes. Who is the real monster here?]
I rolled my eyes, not needing the System to judge my actions. This was all thrust upon me, and I was making the best of it.
Despite being called a lockbox, I was nonplussed to find that it required no key, as it was already unlocked. A small progress bar zipped along, before the contents were unceremoniously dumped straight into my Inventory - the box itself vanishing from the grid and existence. I made the mental note to do that in real life next time.
Three gold, a blank scroll, and a potion bottle. The scroll was inert until someone with high enough Knowledge could inscribe a spell on it—which sounded like bullshit—so I drew up the description for the amber-colored potion.
[Minor Potion of Power]
[Grants +10% Power (min 1). 5 minutes duration.]
I eyed up the six remaining ratmen after looking at the bottle. Currently, the potion would double my Power. How that translated to my hammer swings and damage was something else entirely, which none of my screens cared to explain. Surely it couldn’t be too rare to find minor potions.
Of course, I knew the meme about saving consumables for the next game. I'd just have to be under-prepared for Earth 2.
With a brief sigh, I went off to continue this murder spree. I took the potion out and drank it as I approached the next pack. It tasted like… beef and peppercorn, with a slight alcoholic aftertaste. Warmed me as it went down.
Perhaps I had been wrong to misjudge the now empty bottle, as the next three monsters died with only minor injuries taken. I didn’t get any opportunities to use Killing Blow, but they had practically lined up in a queue to attack me one-by-one with how disorganized they were. Gained [Skull Breaker 2]. With a bandage erasing all of HP loss, I brought out my phone to see if I could do anything yet.
The battery had died.
Serves me right, really. I had planned to ask to charge it at the diner when I had arrived, but the food had completely distracted me. Escapism where I could get it. Now I fucking missed those eggs.
That would be my first stop tomorrow, but not entirely for that reason.
My expression soured as I bounced from that gloomy thought to the more present problem. The last three rats were all hanging around together. Every pack so far had a split, but this would mean fighting three at once. Time was ticking on my Power potion, and I wanted to make use of the boost while I could.
Safer bet would be to call it a night. Killing them would definitely get me to level three, and no doubt - I would be high up on that chart still. I readied up my single health potion. Brought out a knife for my left hand just in case. More options and tools would be useful. My eyes were aching from using the STAR so much. I needed sleep.
I shook my head off. Too much thinking. My potion would probably fall off mid-combat now. Start strong, keep momentum. Spurned on by this thought, my feet dug into the soft soil and pushed me forward. No opportunity to use stealth with how well-lit their area was. I just had to kill to survive.
It came as no surprise that they spotted me as I sprinted in to attack. Any momentary shock went away long before I could reach them, the scenery causing me to slow. Just a couple of seconds—a few more rows—and I could…
My heart leaped into my throat as I scanned the weaponry they drew up against me.
The one nearest the back held a crossbow, the bolt on it glowing with a wicked green energy. Aimed right at me.
He fired, and I had no time to change course.