Amanda couldn’t say that she’d ever been a truly innocent person. Being raised on the streets of London tore any innocence she might have had away from her very early on in her childhood. Yet, despite it all, she had, before the system’s arrival, never taken another human’s life, and her bastard of a captor had been her first in that respect.
However, in her mind, she hadn’t killed another human being when she'd taken the man's life. That bastard had brought everything, including his death, down on himself through his disgusting animalistic actions. Or at least, that was how she had rationalised the whole brutal affair to herself, and she had been nearly 99% effective in not forming any sympathy within her heart for her captor. He was dead, and he deserved to be that way.
The dozen or so human bodies that lay strewn before her? Less so. Had they been sexist dicks? Yes. Were they likely not that great of people? Yes. However, Amanda had barely heard a single crass sexist comment and something deep within her had been set off, and an insuppressibly potent rage caused everything to go red, and then blurred her mind of precisely what she had done afterwards.
All she knew for certain, now that the rage was subsiding, was that she had killed every single one of the biker gang-esque group, and their lifeblood was all over her clothes. Their very vitality soaked her body in a sheen of crimson red. Yet, despite not yet having come up with some esoteric justification for her actions, she found herself almost numb to caring about the morality of her deeds. She had killed them, and that sat unsettlingly easy in her mind. This was especially so after she had focused her eyes on a flashing system prompt that had appeared at the corner of her vision and saw that she had been rewarded by the system for her act of indiscriminate slaughter.
You have killed [F] Terrance Jefferson (Lvl:25)!
You have killed [F] Tariq Qureshi (Lvl:29)
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You have killed [E] Marcus Jackson (Lvl:31)
You have reached the 3rd step of the [Core Devil] realm!
You have reached the 4th step of the [Core Devil] realm!
Reward: +2 Spiritual Points
A two-step increase in her cultivation was huge. She had barely reached the 2nd step of the [Core Devil] realm since leaving the survival trial 5 days ago, and that was after having probably slayed over 60 level 30 and above monsters in direct combat. So, with that in mind, killing the 12 relatively low-level people that lay before her had been far more profitable and distinctly beneficial to her cultivation than all the monster killing that she had done in the last few days.
This thought inspired a dark train of thought. Could I hunt humans to grow stronger at a much faster rate? She thought to herself, before quickly dismissing the thought with severe prejudice. She had no idea where that thought had come from, but it couldn’t be from her. She wasn’t that kind of person, she wasn’t a murderer, she wasn’t some kind of psycho. Despite what she'd done, she was still a good person. Wasn't she?
Yet, the bloodied bodies of the men she’d killed only minutes earlier would not disappear from her vision and just being around them made Amanda start to doubt her sanity, her morality, and just what the hell was going on in her head.
So, she ran, and ran, until the bodies were no longer in view, and soon enough she found a stream and she eagerly leapt in, not bothering to take off her clothes, wanting to clean her body of the blood that soaked her skin, some of it having seemingly seeped through the skin to touch upon her very soul.
The water was cold. The process of scrubbing the blood off her was long. But eventually, the exterior indicator that she’d killed anyone, or anything, was gone. The blood was off her skin, and that was all that mattered to Amanda as she emerged from the stream/river with a semi-satisfied look on her face.
She had done a lot of thinking whilst scrubbing, and her mind had settled upon a series of impenetrable moral defences for her actions. The first defence she had come up with was that the men’s crass comments showed that they were probably on the same kind of moral level as the man who had held her captive previously and that they therefore were just hiding it until an opportune moment to strike at her appeared. So, when she viewed the situation through this lens, her actions were just a pre-emptive strike in self-defence on her part and thus morally justified.
The second layer of defence was how could she blame herself when it hadn’t been her doing the killing. Sure, her hands had been the ones to tear the men apart, but her conscious mind had been unaware of it. Therefore, at that moment in time, she had been acting not as a moral agent, but as some kind of human-shaped animal, acting purely on instinct and primal feelings of anger. And as the actions of animals weren’t morally condemnable due to their lack of agency, why then should she be judged any differently given her state of mind at the time?
The third and final of her defences was that the world had literally ended, monsters roamed the forests, and society had pretty much collapsed so as far as she could tell. Therefore, all that really mattered in this newly fucked up world was survival, and having enough power to ensure that you didn’t end up as prey to another, more powerful being, whether human or monster. So, in that way, the current state of the world was kind of like that of a warzone, a war of all against all some might say. And doesn't the saying go, all is fair in love and war?
With her pristine justifications for her actions erected like a fortress within her fragile mind, the small inkling of guilt and unease she’d felt about her actions earlier vanished, replaced by total contentment and mental tranquillity. With the evil group of bikers now dead, she could focus her full attention on finding her son and perhaps killing that bastard of an ex for what he did to her for those many years they were together.
The question now was how would she get to him. She knew that her ex lived in a crappy part of London, but she highly doubted that he or her child was there anymore – the monsters having probably overrun the cities in mere hours after arriving on Earth. Plus, they’d surely have moved around in the month or so since the apocalypse began, so the two of them could realistically be anywhere by now.
That was, assuming they were still alive. However, she thought it a pretty fair assumption to make. Her ex had been many things, but being hesitant to use violence was definitely not one of them. The man was probably thriving in this new fucked up world, his violent tendencies and physical might combined with his admittedly decent leadership qualities probably made him one of the contenders for the best disposed to succeed in this system-governed apocalypse.
Killing the bastard might be difficult then, she thought to herself, before dismissing the rather satisfying idea for now, her mind quickly returning to thoughts of how to find her son and ex in the first place. Killing that son of a bitch was something to do at a later date when she was strong enough - a long-term goal to work towards one might say.
She thought about it intensely as she did her best to dry herself off. Yet, even after she was dry, she stood there for at least half an hour, deep in contemplation, thinking intently about what to do next.
Then, just as she was about to save thinking about it for another time and just keep moving and pray that she just ran into them after a certain point, an idea struck her. She’d seen lots of strange aircraft over the last few days, ships that looked like something right out of a sci-fi TV show, which had indicated to her that Earth was probably not only being invaded by monsters but also by aliens of some kind.
And, if she knew her ex half as well as she thought she did, that man was probably, most certainly, in trouble with the new alien sheriff in town. So, if she headed to wherever the aliens were based, she could inquire about any information relating to Albert and probably learn some vague knowledge of his whereabouts from them. Furthermore, she was certain that the aliens had far better information gathered about the locations of the remaining human survivors than did she. So, even if somehow Albert himself was unknown to them, she would likely still be able to get a vague idea of where pockets of survivors had formed and then make her way through them all in search of her son – making her efforts far more likely to succeed.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
She suspected this because Albert Goodman had a problem with authority like no other, something he apparently developed due to a piss-poor relationship with his father. She shivered as she remembered that she had once upon a time naively wanted to try and help the man process his childhood trauma, but she’d learned quite early on in their relationship that Albert’s relationship with his father was just one of those subjects that she should never bring up unless she wanted Albert to have one of his 'bad days'. And no one, not even her, could escape his wrath when he had one of his 'bad days'.
Clearing her head of her bad memories, she focused her mind back on pondering the most important question to be answered for her whole plan to work, where were the aliens even located? She searched through her memories and quickly deduced a general direction. She had seen the alien ships all fly out in various directions, however, they all seemed to eventually fly back over her head heading in one direction – North. So, she’d head north and hope that she was not just clutching at straws or that the aliens were being misleading in their flight patterns, which was definitely a distinct possibility.
However, it was, at this moment, the only lead she had so she'd just have to follow it and hope that she was right.
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"Grandpa, please can we go and check out the dungeon? Please?!" Lucas pleaded. He hadn't yet had a proper fight with anything they’d faced so far, and a proper fight was what he wanted more than anything at this moment, and he hoped that his grandfather would see that and give in.
However, his grandfather did not seem to share in Lucas' enthusiasm. Instead, the man's expression showed a great amount of caution and doubt. Sentiments that he soon expressed to Lucas, "Do you remember what Oscar told us both about dungeons? Once we enter, we will not be able to leave until either the boss is dead, or the challenge of the dungeon is completed.”
The older man then shook his head, and said, “It's too dangerous, you could very easily get hurt. So, we will not enter the dungeon today but instead, we will wait until more details are available on its level and monster composition. Then, I promise you, my boy, once we're both ready, I will take you into the dungeon."
“But grandpa…” Lucas exclaimed before he was cut off by a stern look from Arthur.
“I said no. The dungeon might be too dangerous for you, and I could not live with myself if I took you somewhere where I could not guarantee your safety 100%. You may not understand it my boy, but this is for your own good. I say no, not because I do not understand your passion to grow strong, but because it is my responsibility as your guardian and grandfather to look after you.” Arthur said, his voice leaving no room for argument.
His grandfather’s words barely registered in Lucas’ mind, as the boy did his very best to suppress the anger he felt roaring to life in his chest.
All day he had wanted to fight for real, and now that a perfect opportunity presented itself for him to do just that, he was being told no. It was as though his body was a beast starving for food, he wanted. No. He needed to fight otherwise he might just die. And yet his grandfather was telling him he couldn’t. Why?! Did the man even care about what Lucas wanted at all?! Had the nice grandfather he’d known so far all been a rouse to get him to trust him, just as Jergras had said?
Doubts stacked upon doubts, fuelling the intense anger within him. Yet, he still did his best to hide it.
"I think it's best that we end our hunt here today, perhaps this was not such a good idea after all," Arthur said, looking worriedly at Lucas - the boy's expression showing clear signs of anger. The boy didn't say anything as he followed behind Arthur as the elder man guided them back to the Imperium's base.
At one point Arthur tried comforting Lucas by placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, but the boy slapped his hand away, and muttered, "Go away", under his breath.
Once back in the alien city, Lucas asked if he could just sit in the dormitory room and study all day, and Arthur said yes. The boy was clearly very upset with Arthur for having denied his request to enter the dungeon, but Arthur could not relent on this issue. He had meant every word he had said to the boy. There was no way he would put his grandson in that kind of dangerous situation, full of unknown monsters and unknown forces, even if the boy didn't understand that at this precise moment.
So, Arthur decided to give the boy some time to himself and once the boy was back in the room, Arthur left the dormitory building and walked back towards the direction of the forest. Both the arrival of the dungeon and the fight with the wolf creature had alerted Arthur to the fact he needed to be stronger if he wanted to look after Lucas. Plus, if he got strong enough quickly enough, he and Lucas could enter the dungeon together with no problem, and hopefully, the boy would use this time alone to calm down and reflect on why it wasn't a good idea to explore places without any real knowledge of what you're walking into.
Arthur walked back out into the forest after a quick chat with the guard and opened up the weapon shop once again. Lucas' contribution to the fight with the alpha wolf had taught him the value of having a good weapon, especially when taking on an opponent with a higher level than oneself, so he decided he would get a weapon for himself to use. He dismissed the iron and steel options, and they then somehow disappeared from the shop's window.
General (Weaponry) Coin Shop:
Balance: £60,498
Discount Due to Membership Tier (Gold): 40%
[D] Enhanced Steel Sword (1) - Cost: £1,960 -> £1,176
[D] Enhanced Steel Spear (1) – Cost: £1850 -> £1,110
[D] Enhanced Steel Dagger (1) – Cost: £1500 -> £900
[C] Spirit Weapon (Any Type) (1) – Cost: £35,950 -> £21,570
Arthur had spotted the Spirit Weapon option when he'd opened the weapon shop for the first time, and it was his first time ever seeing a General store in the system coin shop selling a [C] grade item. It seemed that the other general stores generally only sold up to [D] grade items, something Oscar had explained to be due to the fact that higher quality items generally had to have been made by a good enough crafter - thus the system didn't usually generate them. However, it seemed the General Weaponry store and Spirit Weapons were an exception to this broad rule.
However, Arthur wasn't quite sure he was ready to drop over 20 grand on a weapon yet, so he skipped over the option and decided he would buy the Enhanced Steel Dagger. There were many reasons why he chose the dagger, one was that he already possessed the Small-Bladed Mastery skill, and another reason was that he had grown quite accustomed to using a knife over the first few days of the system's arrival. And finally, it was the cheapest of the Enhanced Steel Weapons, which may or may not have been the deciding factor as to why he actually chose to buy it.
After a step back, he caught the dagger as it dropped from the sky and inspected it with his eyes. Just looking at it, Arthur could tell that it was obviously very sharp, far sharper than his old stainless steel kitchen knife had been, and in a strange way it was also leagues more beautiful. Even though the matte black colour of the knife made it look a bit too edgy for Arthur's taste, the look suited the knife very well and Arthur couldn't help but appreciate the uncannily perfect craftsmanship.
Then, he set off into the forest in search of some monsters to kill, and he quickly encountered a level 48 stag. The monster was easily dispatched by Arthur with a single slash at the neck of the rather weak creature. Arthur sighed as he received only a small amount of experience, and realised that he'd need to kill a lot of monsters before he'd level and grow any more powerful. So, after putting the stag's corpse in his user inventory, he quickly moved on - in search of yet another monster to kill.
After about 3 hours of constant hunting, Arthur had managed to kill 25 other beasts, and upon the death of the last one, a level 56 elemental bear, he received his 2nd level-up prompt.
You have levelled up!
Stat Point(s) earned: 6
Skill Point(s) earned: 4
New Level: 47
Progress to Next Level: 1,465/140,000
Arthur invested the new 6 stat points into his physical stat, just as he had done with the last two level-ups. However, as he had yet to spend his points to upgrade his perks, he opened the stat point shop and pondered what to upgrade. With 18 points to spend, he had quite a few options. However, eventually, he chose to boost his Enhanced bodily healing to level 2, and both his Enhanced Muscle Strength and Enhanced Bone Strength perks to level 4.
[II] Enhanced Bone Strength (Lvl:4 -> Lvl:5) | Cost: 2 Physical Point
[II] Enhanced Organ Function (Lvl:1 -> Lvl:2) | Cost: 2 Physical Point
[II] Enhanced Muscle Strength (Lvl:4 -> Lvl:5) | Cost: 2 Physical Points
[II] Enhanced Bodily Healing (Lvl:2 -> Lvl:3) | Cost: 5 Physical Points
Arthur was just about to smile and dismiss the system prompt when an earth-shaking roar bellowed from only metres away from him, and then a split-second later, a colossal force smashed into his side, sending him flying into a nearby tree. It was only after crashing into the tree with tremendous force, and feeling the pain of one of his ribs being broken, that he saw his attacker, and all he could do was gasp for air in both desperation and disbelief.
As what had attacked him was no ordinary creature. It was a 3-story tall hydra with 5 giant snake-like heads, each one more repulsive looking than the other. And in the monster's cold yellow slit-like-eyes, all Arthur could see was a predatory longing to bring about his death.
For the first time in a long time, the former butler's instincts were screaming at him that he was in extreme danger. And, not only were his instincts telling him that, another first appeared in his vision, a system prompt warning him of what kind of monster was in front of him. And with only the most cursory glance at the prompt, he knew his instincts were right to be informing him of his potentially imminent demise.
You have encountered: [World-Boss] [Minion] Adolescent Hydra (Lvl:100)!
(Note from User Manual: You have encountered a World-Boss, these creatures are unlike all other monsters in that are EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. DO NOT ENGAGE UNLESS CERTAIN OF VICTORY OR DEATH IS OTHERWISE INEVITABLE, FOR ONLY DEATH AWAITS THOSE WHO TAKE ON THESE MONSTERS UNPREPARED. However, if you do manage to defeat the monster, GREAT rewards await those capable of defeating a world boss.)