Chapter 3 - Hello, Mr. Monster

Inside the black-hole, despite his mind being unconscious, he found himself stuck in a semi-conscious state. He could hear, but he could not process.

Identifying traveller… Identification Complete. Traveller No. 2.5.

Traveller 2.5 has experienced fatal damage. Estimated time of death is five minutes.

...Cause of death perceived as a flaw in the system. Traveller No. 2.5 has found a bug. Bug ‘Camp Stargaze is inhabitable’.

According to the Rule Index, a reward shall be given to Traveller No. 2.5.

System 200 has taken liberty to set the reward based on Traveller No.2.5.

Traveller 2.5’s fatal damage has been identified… Loss of soul density. Loss of soul’s content… estimated lost content is half of the original content.

According to the Rule Index, System 200 will merge Traveller No.2.5’s soul with another half-soul, in other to protect the safety of Traveller No.2.5.

Found a native half-soul. Checking compatibility… checking complete. Both half-souls are compatible.>

Merging was successful.

Checking... checking complete. Traveller No. 2.5 has been saved.

System 200 designated a reward Traveller No.2.5. Reward: Racial Change, Soul repairing.

Racial Change in the avatar's body was based on Traveller No.2.5 second half-soul. System 200 has viewed itself. Its decisions were fair and just.

Now transporting Traveller No.2.5 in the body of his avatar…

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For a second, Seth remembered everything that had happened to him after he blacked out. He remembered the robotic voice that kept echoing around him. Yet, when he finally opened his eyes, he forgot everything like a reincarnated baby.

‘Where am I?’

The first thing he saw was the blue sun that hung in the sky. There was something special about this sun, but he wasn’t going to ponder on it right now.

‘Where the fuck am I now?’

As he looked down, he finally realized why he felt so uncomfortable. He was on the rooftop of a building that resembled an old European house. A true archaic building covered with green mosses the size of stubborn weeds. The stone slates atop the building was not the best material to lie on.

Seth found a glowing geometric circle directly beneath him. When he tried to touch it, it glowed further and further. All of a sudden, it dimmed until it fully merged with the slated roof and disappeared.

Seth wondered if that was a magic circle. The complexity of the geometric circle fits the characteristics of magic circles. Back on Earth, they were the drawings of mad men that dreamt about the impossible outside world of magic. He knew this because one of his friends talked a lot about things like this.

‘FUck this shit. First, a fucking tail hits me in the campsite. Now, I find myself on a rooftop with no tutorial guide! If this is their way of telling me this game is a high level game, they gotta be kidding me!’

Nevertheless, he didn’t think of leaving the game so soon. By now, he knew there was something strange about this game. Half of his mind told him this wasn’t a game, while the other half denied that notion through logical science.

‘How do I get off this now?’

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

His surroundings seemed to fit the image of an abandoned village. It was clear there was no life present here, except him, of course.

Seth rolled to a hole beside him. He looked through the hole, attempting to see if he could jump through it.

“...”

An eye looked back at him. The eye was totally yellow, with no visible pupil or iris… just a glowing yellow orb. A very much alive, glowing yellow orb. Immediately, Seth moved his head away from the hole. Fear struck his heart intensely as he whispered, “Shit. Shit. Shit. Fucking shit!”

A tail slowly came out of the hole. The leaf-like tail had an eye on one side and multiple spikes on the other side. The tail scoured the opposite side of Seth, but it didn’t find what it was looking for.

It then focused on Seth’s side. In less than two seconds, it made eye contact with Seth.

“...”

“Well, hello there. I see you are busy taking your afternoon nap. It’s my bad, totally my fault for disturbing you. You know what, I shan’t disturb you any further.”

Seth rolled down the rooftop with no fear of his safety. His voice lingered still. “I shall take my leave, and let you nap in peace.”

With a merciless ‘thud’, he hit the ground. The small stones on the ground damaged his bones, and he yelped like a beaten dog. He could have sworn if he wasn’t lucky, his two precious eggs would have been broken. Just how did they make it feel so easy in movies?

Seth jumped back to his feet in a bid to recollect himself. He was in front of the building’s entrance, but nothing happened to him!

“Perhaps it understood my apology–”

Just as he said that, a tail broke through the door in a rampant fashion. It came his way!

Before Seth could react, the jagged parts of the tail slammed into him. He rolled on the ground, leaving a trail of blood wherever he went, until he hit a large boulder with his head.

*Thud!*

Seth coughed out blood. His vision began to wane as red filled his eyes. This certainly was not a good way to start a game. He then heard a rather terrifying roar, accompanied by the sound of something crumbling. The building broke apart as a huge creature, estimated eight feet tall, came out of it. Suddenly, the sky cackled.

A sound reverberated around like that of the mythical trumpet of the end time.

*Dun!* *Dun!* *Dun!*

Something in the sky caught Seth’s attention. There were some recognizable characters that he spotted.

Tutorial Quest: Survive!

Difficulty: ★★★★

Rewards: Undisclosed

Penalty(Upon failure): Loss of Avatar.

The world around him had slowed down. Everything was still in motion, but it would take days for the monster charging at him to reach him. Seth cursed with his bloodied mouth, ‘What the fuck is wrong with this game?! Where is the tutorial guide?! What about the rewards?! Fuck!’

There was something wrong with the game developers. Seth was willing to bet that they were high, possibly almost as drunk as him on an average day, when designing the game!

‘What to do now? What to do now?’ He panicked.

After a few seconds, the characters disappeared. The world was normal once more, and the monster didn’t stop for a bit as it charged at him!

Seth finally got a good look at the monster. It was a wolf-like creature with two disgusting tails on its back, one normal tail behind it, and a couple of devilish horns on its forehead. Some of its bones had morphed to give it a more monstrous look. Its fur glued to its body, presenting the creature with a sleek appearance.

Getting closer to Seth, the monster roared. Seth felt a dark air bomb hit him. He wheezed, ‘Also, its breath is stinky.’

Facing the monster, Seth wanted to scream, “Oh goodness, can’t you at least watch your personal hygiene?!”

The monster swung one of its tails at him. Seth’s mind raced like a speed car. He wanted to move, but his body refused. He could barely feel his bones, only the infrequent twitching of his muscle told him he was alive.

‘Move!’ He commanded himself.

‘Move!’

‘Move. I am not dying to this shitty game!’

He found an intense desire in his desperation to cling to life. A sound echoed in his mind like the ticking sound clocks made every second. Following that sound, a cool feeling rushed into his body, and he felt energized and pained at the same time.

Just when his body regained its mobility, Seth ducked. It was too late as the tail swatted him to another boulder. He rolled on the ground after hitting the boulder. Streaks of blood poured down his face, and he squirmed like a baby girl, keeping the cry that almost escaped his throat.

At this point, the pain was too much. He wanted to die. Fuck staying alive. Yet, the game seemed to mock him as he realized he was still not dead. He came to understand his body was special. If not, how could he have survived the first attack of the monster? Some of his wounds had already stopped bleeding, albeit a particularly open messy wound on his stomach remained.

Another tail came for him. As he bent his head to evade the tail attack, his suspicions solidified. ‘This body is, most likely, not human. This agility and speed… it is superb. I feel like I can do this!’

His body tensed as his muscles bulged. The monster lunged at Seth, but it was too late. Seth bypassed the attacks of its two tails. His body was like a blur that couldn’t be stopped.

He was about to think of his next set of actions when a familiar sound entered his ears. However, the world didn’t slow down.

World Announcement:

Outstanding Achievement! First of his Kind! Traveller No.2.0 has defeated a tutorial boss.

“Oh fuck, bad timing!”

This piece of announcement distracted Seth. Before he knew it, the last tail of the monster struck his chest and flung him away.