Light. Great streaks of glaring white that turned to radiant, blurry blue as I opened my heavy eyes. I put my hands to the ground at my side as I sat up, feeling the prickly grass between my fingers.

Wait.

I sat up suddenly, looking down at the grass between my fingers. It wasn't particularly green, lush, or soft. In fact, it was completely average yellowish green grass.

What!

The feel of it between my fingers, the faint itch that I could feel in my palms, and the dry smell of semi dead foliage. It was as if I had been in a dream so long I had forgotten what reality felt like. I scrunched it up in my hand and marveled at its coarseness, it wondrous... imperfection.

Crisp, morning air filled my throat, its burn invigorating. I was in meadow of soft grass, a cool breeze softening the hot sun above into something pleasant. The swaying rustle of the leaves of the trees was mesmerizing.

I stood taking a deep, satisfying breath.

I felt a slight, irritating tickle on my forearm. A tiny black body was making its way up my arm. Prodigiously maneuvering it dodged hairs and powered round my wrist aimlessly. It was fascinating until it stopped suddenly stooping its head. My arm reached out and -Flick! The ant was gone.

1x Black Ant Slain [+1 EXP]

No, please no.

My heart dropped.

But, this wasn't the game? How could it be?

I looked around and question after question began to arise that I had ignored.

Why was I on the grass? In the middle of a forest? I should be in a hospital clinic, a coma ward, something more specialized maybe for others stuck in the game. I was garbed in simple medieval clothes.

I must've finished the game, we had descended on the final boss’s lair. An army of knights, magicians, healers, beast tamers. The entire raid party had been resplendent and powerful, yet we were unprepared.

It was a suicidal choice, yet the longer we waited the more people we lost. My team, I did not know what had happened to them. Some had perished before my eyes. The rest, I don’t know. They got me to the throne room. I had fought Magnamartis, and the glitch had worked.

We had entered with so many, and in the end there were so few, and that was all for naught?

I couldn't even feel myself think, should I throw up or should I stand and cheer? I didn’t know what to feel, whether I should be feeling at all. It was all too much. Yet the idea that I had sacrificed so much for nothing, it paralyzed me, I began to see the faces of those I had seen die, in their last moments their eyes were lit up with such terror, such desperation. The trees rustling contained their whispers, their last cries, their begging.

I breathed in, and breathed it out. Letting those thoughts settled deep back into the recesses of my mind. It was too much. Instead I focused on the nagging sensation of something, else, in my periphery.

I leaped back as unbidden blue boxes filled my vision, tripping and tumbling back to the grass.

Achievement Title Aquired! - [[[ Slayer of Magnamartis ]]] Saviour of the World. Dawnbringer. King of the gods. Saviour of Humanity and all.

Ability Gained! (PASSIVE) - Indomitable Human Will

-- STAT LIMITER REMOVED --

-- STAT UPGRADED --

WILL = ∞

My breathing hitched. Slayer of Magnamartis. I wet my dry lips and repeated those words.

The sound of my own voice reminded me of something.

Name Zach Age 16 Level 1 Rank 1 Endurance 0 Dexterity 0 Strength 0 Wisdom 0 Intelligence 0 Spirit 0 Perception 0 Will ∞

Stolen novel; please report.

I wrung my head and sat back. This was reality, undeniably so. The game had just followed me into it. I sat ruminating, the despair a weight around my neck, it felt as if I had traded one mantle for another.

Yet, it did not crush me entirely. Excitement, minute yet pernicious, began to trickle through my mind. This was a fresh start, a blank slate on which to engrave a better future, one free of my mistakes of the past.

The suns heat compelled me to my feet. I couldn't stay here. Instinctively my hand reached for my sword, only to find its absence, and that absence seemed to reduce me, the world growing larger, the dark underbrush around gloomy and impenetrable. It was the thick wood of a European forest, towering oaks shone with vitality, the underbrush filled with logs and bushes drinking in the dappled light.

I was level 1 again, a measly 10 HP.

Picking up a stick I pushed on into the underbrush, eyes peeled. Strangled alien cries and caws seemed to gain depth. I did not appreciate how alien they truly were but standing there eyes wide stock still I could decipher nothing in the chaotic chorus of the forest all shadowy silhouettes and no substance. Figures formed in the darkness, turning to look at them they would disappear.

‘Zinggggg’

I flung myself to the ground. A splash of dazzling white light slammed into the earth in front of me. The grass sizzled and blackened into ash.

Before I could even think, long buried reflexes forced me into motion. Rolling to the side, I managed to avoid another blast.

Mana bolts, the bane of every newbie's existence, and the first spell I ever learnt. The characteristic angry hum as it split the air with powerful light was unmistakable.

I lurched to my feet, the thunderous beating of my heart slamming in my chest drowned out everything. I stood still for a moment, adrenaline was , everything had slowed down so much, and yet I felt so powerful, my entire body numb yet on fire.

'Zinnnng'

I howled as I was sent sprawling by a mana bolt. Scorching agony blossom on my back. Flinging myself behind a tree,

Agony. It's been so long I had forgotten the feeling. Another thing the VRMMO dulled.

Panting and wired, I risked a peek from behind my tree.

Jagged, gleaming, buck teeth. A wicked horn imbued with white luminescence, alien blood red eyes peered out from a white shaggy squat form.

It was a horned rabbit.

{ Horned Rabbit }

Level - 1

HP - 2/2

I felt a touch of cold fear grip my heart. My stomach clenching slightly as I stood behind the tree. I did not know if I could outrun it.

I filled my lungs with air and launched from behind the tree. Pelting down towards the animal I saw the horn pulse with light and swung to the side awkwardly as a ball of light was lobbed in my direction. Its attacks, guided by the glow of the horn, were easy to predict. However, each evasion was more dangerous than the last as the distance between us closed. The tangle of roots and fallen branches bthreatening to ensnare me.

The rabbit seemed to have overestimated itself as I bounded forward, closing the distance to it rapidly. As it turned tail, powerful hind muscles started to bunch up in preparation to leap away back into the brush where it could strike at its discretion.

I had lost my stick at some point, and no obvious weapon appeared in the underbrush.

Instead, I launched forward just in time to catch its large fluffy feet mid leap. Long claws scraped along my grasping hand, splicing the skin, my arm was wrenched hard by the rabbits powerful momentum.

We slammed into the mucky underbrush and I had a gut wrenching feeling of breathlessness as the wind was driven out of me.

The rabbit didn't hesitate as I was still regaining my bearings. I bellowed as it wrenched around and gouged into my hand with its horribly oversized and yellowed buck teeth like I was one giant celery stick.

It met something hard and scraped along it, it felt like a horrid chorus of nails on blackboard yet emanating entirely from within my body.

Crying out in pain I slammed the damned animal into the dirt, trying to loosen its grip on my arm without letting go of its feet.

A cacophony of angry squeals unleashed from the rabbit. Yet even as I repeatedly slammed the rabbit into the earth, hollering in rage and agony, it only seemed to squeal louder.

A low hum of mana emanated from the horn as it began to glow, I had but a second. I whipped around and slammed the rabbit horn first into the tree, the waves of agony narrowing my vision into a dark tunnel.

'Zing'

Heat washed over my hand and the rabbit let loose a low grating keen. Woodsmoke wafted over me, piercing the veil of pain. Yet, it still wouldn't let my arm out of its agonizing grasp. Instead of resisting I shoved it forward, ensuring it would stay in the tree and took hold of its scrabbling hind paws with my other hand.

'Shhk'

A wave of warmth engulfed my hand as the rabbit let out a harsh, grinding groan. The scent of charred wood infiltrated the pain-haze surrounding me. Still, it refused to release my arm. Instead of pulling away, I pushed it further into the tree, gripping its struggling hind legs with my free hand.

I shoved its legs up, contorting its body up while its head stayed facing the tree. Shoving with all my might I let loose a primal roar. Visceral, wet pops reverberated across the rabbit.

'Crack!'

A high snap rung out. Then silence, only my labored breathing filled the air.

Enemy slain! - { Horned rabbit } - lvl 1

+ 1 Damaged rabbit pelt

+ 4 Copper

Level Up! { 2 }

You have gained + 1 assignable status point(s)