As Arthur walked down the care home corridors, he started to hear the most horrific screams of pain coming from behind him. He imagined that some of the ravenous wolves had abandoned their posts at the front of the home, and now have begun infiltrating the home itself. They were now likely killing off the ill-equipped and unready elderly who were too weak and or too fragile to try evacuating with the nurses earlier. However, Arthur suspected that even those who had been able to flee with the nurses and other staff didn’t manage to escape becoming chow for a hungry malicious wolf.
He turned the corner and started walking down the corridor that led to the kitchen. He had hoped that the kitchen would be free of wolves, however, his luck could never be that great. The closer he got to the main archway into the kitchen, the louder the growls of its current canine occupiers became in his ears. Arthur quickly retreated up the corridor, hoping to use a different entrance into the kitchen so as to potentially launch a surprise attack on the wolves. However, his path was blocked by an unusually large wolf with pitch-black fur, it spotted him almost immediately.
Arthur momentarily froze upon realizing he’d been seen by the large creature, who must have been 1.5x the size of every other wolf. His mind raced with stratagems for how he could survive this encounter. However, the wolf was not so gracious as to give him enough time to think the whole thing through, as it soon began pounding its paws against the floor as it charged toward him. Arthur’s instincts kicked in once more, sending him running down the squeaky clean corridor, pushing down all of the door handles as he did so – checking if any of the rooms were open.
Upon finding one that was, without thinking, he charged into it and slammed the door shut. The room was dark, having no lights or light switch to speak of, but Arthur could tell that this was some kind of utility cupboard and that it was small. Arthur realized he had accidentally put himself in a far more dangerous situation, and frantically searched with his hands for anything that could be useful, only for the room to suddenly light up as sharp claws tore through the door. Arthur had to now grab the first thing that looked useful, a bottle of pipe cleaner.
The door lasted only one more slash from the wolf before it was nothing more than woodchips on the ground. Arthur turned and delivered a kick to the wolf’s nose, but the creature barely flinched from the act. However, upon it then responding by trying to take a bite out of his leg, Arthur threw the bottle into the open maw of the wolf whose teeth helpfully slammed down on it – coating the wolf’s mouth in corrosive liquid.
The monster howled in pain as the surface layer of its mouth started dissolving. It started thrashing about in the doorframe, bashing its head against the frame on numerous occasions. Its pain was causing it to inadvertently damage itself. Arthur took this heaven-sent opportunity to use his scalpel to great effect and stabbed the monster directly in both of its eyes. However, this had been a bit too ambitious, as the monster immediately lashed out by slashing at Arthur’s legs – nearly slicing them in two.
Arthur unceremoniously dropped to the floor as his legs were now less than useless. He frantically pushed himself back away from the body of the angry wolf – but it soon cleared the doorway and Arthur could now feel the breath of the wolf on his skin as they were only a finger's length distance away from each other now. He gulped. Then, as a desperate last stand, Arthur pushed himself off the wall as hard as he could, causing him to slide underneath the monster. As he slid across the floor, he kept his scalpel high. The move was successful in allowing him to cut a huge line straight down the wolf’s lower body from its neck to its tail.
However, his arms and shoulders were crushed by the wolf’s paws and torn by its claws. He now could not move, and his body was soon crushed under the weight of the wolf monster as its internal organs burst out of it onto Arthur’s limp, but alive, body. Arthur could not move. Arthur could not even feel one of his limbs. Yet, he was alive. Somehow, he’d survived. A system prompt appeared, immediately lifting Arthur’s spirit.
You have killed a [Vermin] Vicious Wolf Alpha (Lvl:20)!
Reward: 4890 EXP
You have levelled up! (x2)
Stat Point(s) Awarded: 5
(Note from User Manual: The number of stat points earned from levelling is dependent on how many levels one earns in a broad timeframe.)
New Level: 3
Progress to Next Level: 35/4,000
Arthur groaned a little as he felt as though the alpha had been a much more troublesome fight than his last, yet the system only counted the monster as being the lowest tier possible. That meant only more trouble, more injuries, and more death in his future. He let that thought motivate him to be speedier, and he thus uttered ‘status’ in his mind to apply the stat points he had received. He quickly put all 5 of his stat points into his physical stat, not thinking any other investment would be worthwhile until he could safely fight off the monstrous creatures that lurked outside his care facility.
Bone Strength (Lvl:3 -> Lvl:4) | Cost: 1 Physical Point
Organ Function (Lvl:3 -> Lvl:4) | Cost: 1 Physical Point
Muscle Strength (Lvl:5 -> Lvl:6) | Cost: 1 Physical Point
Bodily Healing (Lvl:2 -> Lvl:3) | Cost: 1 Physical Point
Arthur put 2 points into Bodily Healing, getting it to level 4. Then he put 2 points into Bone Strength, getting it to level 5. Before placing his final point in Muscle Strength, getting it to level 6. Satisfied with his choices, he confirmed his selection and he almost moaned out in pleasure as the changes to his physical body took place. His healing speed once again doubled, and he knew that in normal circumstances he would be able to go from grievously wounded to as good as new after only a few minutes. However, the extent of his injuries seemed to influence just how fast his healing could repair him. Or, at least, that was what sense Arthur could make out of it.
He didn’t know how long it took for him to finally be strong enough to push the alpha wolf’s body off of him, but it was a few minutes. In those few minutes, he had started nervously sweating – fearing that the wolves from within the kitchen might run out of it and come and bite his head off while he was defenceless. He had tried to control his fear, knowing that would only attract the predators more. However, controlling such primal instincts as the survival instinct was not an easy task, and Arthur had failed. It was good then, that upon the wolf’s body flopping down on the ground next to him, Arthur’s body began healing at a much-improved speed. He guessed this was his full healing potential, and only half a minute later, he was all the way back to normal. Or better than normal, considering his new upgrades.
He peeked his head out of the doorway to look for any wolves. After seeing none, he slowly crept back along the corridor, once again looking for the corridor that led to the side entrance of the kitchen. This time, the corridor leading there was not blocked and he thus managed to quickly pace down the corridor towards a beautifully decorated stained glass door. On the door was depicted a herd of antelope. Arthur snorted at the inadvertently morbid symbolism of the care home’s logo considering his current situation.
He twisted the knob of the door, and it squeaked open slowly. He didn’t waste any time and began walking through the greenhouse that was attached to the side of the kitchen. He looked around him cautiously but only saw pots full of flowers or plants, with some having tags attached to them with the name of some elderly person who resided in the home. The old adage about old men planting trees they shall never sit under was made literal as per the wishes of the staff. Unlike the others in the home, Arthur had always found the whole practice a little idolatrous. He wanted to be there to nurture and care for his children and grandchildren, not some damned tomato plant. Now, with the system having returned his memories to him, he could do just that. So, he would. Just as soon as he managed to escape from the vicious wolves wishing to eat him and the other inhabitants for breakfast.
He reached the end of the greenhouse and took the path left towards a plain wooden door. He slowly approached the door, placing his ears up against the door’s body. He could hear snarling from inside the door, then a vicious growl and the clattering of pans as they were sent hurtling to the floor. Arthur leaped back and mere seconds later the sound of wood being torn into by claws could be heard from behind it. He had been noticed, whether it was the smell of his nervous sweat or the smell of the blood that coated his body, he guessed he was a pretty obvious target to anything with a halfway decent sense of smell.
He looked around the greenhouse and picked up one of the plant pots, having an idea of what to do to deal with this new attacker. The wolf’s relentless tearing away at the door soon caused gashes to appear across and down the door. Moments later, the wolf simply started pounding its body against the door, trying to burst the door open from its hinges. With a sudden exertion of force, the door burst into pieces as the body of the wolf crashed through the door. Arthur used the wolf’s temporarily dazed state from having just broken down the door, to target its head with a hard throw.
The pot hit its mark and the wolf whimpered and it seemed very dazed. Enduring a confused slash from the wolf, Arthur moved towards it and tore into the wolf’s neck with his scalpel. After only a few deep thin gashes were present on the wolf’s lower neck, it fell to the ground. Dead.
Arthur did not have long to celebrate, however, as he felt a fierce bite crunch down on his right leg from behind. He turned and began awkwardly stabbing at the wolf with his bloody scalpel, however after dealing a few blows, a sudden movement of the wolf’s head knocked the scalpel out of his hand. Arthur was then forced to simply start punching at the beast’s snout, which though less effective, did seem to do good enough damage as the wolf’s vice-like bite loosened and its whole body seemed weakened. Arthur took this as a sign to commit to a more costly attack, and he delivered a number of ferocious, rapid punches at the wolf’s throat.
The combination of the damage from the scalpel earlier, and his new round of throat punches, clearly caused the wolf serious damage and it collapsed onto the ground – releasing Arthur’s leg as it did so. He didn’t bother tending to the wound, as he now relied on the system to heal all his wounds. As long as the system could heal it, he would endure a relatively minor injury like a wolf bite thousands of times if it meant staying alive. He was about to check his system prompts when another growl brought his focus toward another wolf that appeared in the kitchen doorway.
Arthur didn’t have time to reach for his scalpel, so he simply made his way forward and began a vicious brawl with the apex predator. He started deflecting the wolf’s paw slashes, saving himself a great number of injuries. Furthermore, the difference between his and the monster’s intelligence was becoming ever more important as his own strength increased. Once the monsters were robbed of the all-important strength advantage, the competency of the mind started to matter a whole lot more, and Arthur had all of the wolves here outclassed in that regard. Feeling himself falling into a wolf-fighting rhythm, the third wolf was soon lying battered on the floor of the kitchen after having been beaten back by Arthur.
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Arthur looted the mess of a kitchen and managed to replace his scalpel with a sharp, and almost as importantly, long kitchen knife. He would no longer need to have his hand in easy bite range for him to stab at his opponents, which was an incredible aid when fighting against wolves. He stacked up the dead bodies of the wolves at the side entrance of the kitchen, barricaded the other door with a kitchen counter, and then finally checked the system prompts he had received from killing the 3 wolves.
You have killed a [Vermin] Vicious Wolf (Lvl:10)!
Reward: 764 EXP
You have killed a [Vermin] Vicious Wolf (Lvl:12)!
Reward: 983 EXP
You have killed a [Vermin] Vicious Wolf (Lvl:14)!
Reward: 1201 EXP
You have acquired a skill: [Basic] Small-bladed Weaponry (Lvl:1)
(Note from User Manual: Skills can be acquired in a variety of ways. From skill books to natural acquisition. Skills are unlike your stat perks, as they primarily level from application and not through the use of Skill Points.)
(Note from User Manual: Your skill is ranked as being at the [Basic] rank, the lowest rank possible. To grow the power and grade of the skill, level it to level 5, which will then cause it to rank up to the [Advanced] rank.)
Arthur nodded officiously at the system prompts. He had hoped that he would have leveled up from all the fighting he had done, but it seems that killing the same monsters became less exp rewarding the higher one’s level grew. Arthur understood the principle, it was a balancing mechanism common to many RPG games – though he only knew that as one of his former masters had a scion who was thoroughly addicted to such games. He mentally thanked the young man for having obligated Arthur to do research for him regarding the in-game mechanisms, so as to best “min-max” the boy’s in-game character. Arthur had no idea what “min-maxing” was at the time, but he had happily obliged the young master’s request nonetheless.
Arthur dismissed the system prompts and began to stretch his newly functioning body. He couldn’t believe it had been less than an hour since he had been bed-bound and receiving a painful atrophy massage. Yet, here he was, fighting with wolves, leveling up, and reminiscing about old times. Just thinking about his life as a butler made Arthur sentimental. He had served some truly horrific masters to be sure, but he had been somewhat ruined in his expectations by the stellar example of his first-ever master. He had been a truly worthy, noble, and warm-hearted man whose life was proof enough to Arthur that his desire to serve was neither feeble, weak, nor a sign of some submissive tendency, but instead a sign of humility. He had spent 2 decades of his life serving that man, with his every moment being spent in the attempt to perfect his chosen craft – domestic service.
Arthur chuckled sentimentally to himself as he remembered the rather exaggerated performance review he had received from the master near the end. It had been the honour of his life to receive such praise, whilst at the same time it had been a truly stark omen of what was soon to come. Arthur quickly refocused on the world around him in an attempt to not have his mind wander carelessly through the mental and emotional minefield that was his memories of the dark times that would follow his master’s late diagnosis with a chronic terminal illness. Though, tears already streamed from his eyes as flashes of hospital beds and gravestones seared themselves at the forefront of his mind.
He willed these thoughts voided, then simply marched out of the kitchen door that led directly into the back garden. He had actually hoped to see some wolves, partly so as to level up, but more pressingly so as to fully distract his mind from thinking too much. However, as he walked down the cobble path of the large care home garden, he neither heard nor saw any of the ferocious predators. He quickened his pace down the path, wondering if perhaps they lay in ambush somewhere.
He turned left at the garden’s central crossroads. Then ran straight towards the gate that would lead out onto the streets. The gate was locked. As it usually was. but with his new strength, Arthur found it easy enough to climb over the black iron gate and drop to the streets on the other side. He immediately headed to the front of the care home, where he once again saw the wolves from earlier. He tries his best to sneak up on them, but he fails again, and the 4 or so wolves all charge at him at once.
Using the added range, he had gotten from switching from a scalpel to a kitchen knife, as well as using his new skill, Arthur had easily dispatched the first wolf who tried to take a bite out of him. However, though he knocked one wolf away with a swift kick to the jaw, another had managed to bite at his leg, and the other now leapt at his chest. They were trying to bring him down to the ground and then tear him apart. Arthur wouldn’t let that happen.
Without hesitating, he found the rhythm from his earlier battle and plunged his knife into the head of the oncoming wolf – killing it instantly. Whilst he did this action, he used his non-dominant hand to strike at the wolf who had recovered from the kick and had tried leaping at him from behind. He had no idea where these heightened senses were coming from, but he guessed it had something to do with his physical stat increases.
With one wolf dead, he then began hacking away at the wolf biting into his leg. The creature didn’t survive more than a couple of knife slashes to the head and throat before it simply collapsed from blood loss and major organ damage. With his leg free, he used it to control the mobility of his remaining four-legged opponents more easily with carefully placed deflecting kicks and such. When he felt like he had one sufficiently pinned, he would go in for a vital point stab, and he usually hit his target. It didn’t take more than a couple of those stabs and slashes for the wolves to drop dead.
Arthur had barely seen the wolf drop to the floor before he was checking the corresponding system prompts for that all-important level-up notice. A small smile formed on his face as he read through them.
You have killed a [Vermin] Vicious Wolf (Lvl:15)
Reward: 1310 EXP
You have killed a [Vermin] Vicious Wolf (Lvl:16)
Reward: 1489 EXP
You have killed a [Vermin] Vicious Wolf (Lvl:14)
Reward: 1221 EXP
You have killed a [Vermin] Vicious Wolf (Lvl:11)
Reward: 987 EXP
Your skill: [Basic] Small-bladed Weaponry, has leveled up!
You have levelled up!
Stat Point(s) awarded: 2.
New Level: 4
Progress to Next Level: 3,990/5,000
Arthur opened his status, then stopped. He paused to consider if it would now be worthwhile to invest his stat points in another of his stats, perhaps his mental stat for example. He had gotten rid of the immediate physical threat for now and he had also realized that intelligence would be his greatest ally against even the strongest of opponents, so increasing it would increase his survival chances moving forward. Therefore, he invested 1 point into the mental stat and the other into the physical stat. This brought up two system prompts. He first focused on the physical stat.
Bone Strength (Lvl:5 -> Lvl:6) | Cost: 1 Physical Point
Organ Function (Lvl:3 -> Lvl:4) | Cost: 1 Physical Point
Muscle Strength (Lvl:6 -> Lvl:7) | Cost: 1 Physical Point
Bodily Healing (Lvl:4 -> Lvl:5) | Cost: 1 Physical Point
Arthur decided he would use this point to increase his healing to level 5. Upon confirming that he suddenly felt a huge surge in his healing speed, and then a system prompt appeared in front of him.
Your PHYSICAL Perk: Bodily Healing, has reached MAX level for your TIER!
Reward: Trait: Lesser Regenerator (Lvl:1) | Rarity: [Rare] | Effects: Health Regen is improved by 1%
(Note from User Manual: Traits are truly rare rewards given to users for particular or notable achievements. Traits do not have level caps, unlike Perks or Skills, but can evolve should the necessary conditions be fulfilled. Trait evolution will multiply the effects of the trait significantly.
Arthur simply nodded and dismissed the prompt. He guessed that it was rare for one to increase their bodily healing to level 5 before increasing their tier, whatever that last part meant. He then focused on his mental stat point shop, and he thought long and hard about what to spend his points on.
Brain Processing Speed (Lvl:3 -> Lvl:4) | Cost: 1 Mental Point
Brain Capacity (Lvl:3 -> Lvl:4) | Cost: 1 Mental Point
Brain Subconscious Function Capability (Lvl:2 -> Lvl:3) | Cost: 1 Mental Point
NEW: Battle State (Lvl:1) | Cost: 1 Mental Point
Arthur did like the sound of this new perk, but the thought of increasing both his Brain’s processing speed and his Brain’s capacity was equally appealing. The more he thought, the less he found himself doubting his initial instincts, and he invested his point into purchasing the new perk. Upon confirming it, he felt nothing – he wasn’t in a battle so its effects wouldn’t show themselves until then. He quickly dismissed his system prompts and simply looked out at the chaotic streets around him.
There were ginormous craters lining the street, as well as the mangled bodies of innocents. Arthur assumed it had something to do with the system’s arrival, but he couldn’t be sure. The sight made him gag, but he restrained himself from full-scale vomiting. There were more important things for him to do. For example, find his grandchildren. He could remember them now. Their adorable baby faces, their names, their birthdays, everything. He felt like a true grandfather now he had been reequipped with the knowledge he now had. Yet, it would all be worthless if he let the monsters rob him of his only family.
He started running towards the fanciest in-tact car on the street and he used a special trick he’d learned as a butler to start up the Mercedes’ engine, his previous master was a known loser of keys and so it had been necessary to learn this sort of thing, and he drove as fast as he could towards the direction of his children’s homes. However, each of his children lived in vastly different neighbourhoods as their jobs were all differently rewarding, as well as requiring them to live in vastly different places. Arthur’s nearest child was his eldest, his daughter Amelia. He had fathered her during the dark times, and she was one of the few reasons he had been able to pull himself out of the ensuing depression.
He drove like a madman through remarkably empty streets, until after half an hour of driving, he pulled up on an apartment complex that looked like the exact midpoint between crappy student accommodation and a real block of flats. As he got out of the car and ran to the door, he saw that the door had been smashed in and it was barely even a door anymore. He clenched his knife tighter and charged in.
He pushed past the pain of storming through broken glass and was immediately confronted with a horrific sight. There were at least a dozen or so green humanoids who were mutilating the bodies of young women, though Arthur could thankfully not see Amelia among their victims. However, the indignity of the treatment of the dead infuriated Arthur and he readied his knife to try and kill the green humanoids where they stood. As he did so, he felt his other thoughts slip away to the back of his mind.
His mind was now solely focused on how he could best defeat his dozen or so opponents. He began with a series of surprise backstabs to a number of the green humanoids who hadn’t even bothered to turn to face him after he barged in. Green viscous blood poured out from the wound, and the humanoids dropped dead. They were weak to wounds like regular humans it seemed, that was good information.
The others now seemed to take Arthur as a threat and stopped whatever disgusting deeds they were doing with the dead bodies and began charging at Arthur with rusted weaponry raised high in the sky. Arthur’s Battle State mental perk made all of the humanoids’ attacks seem remarkably slow, and he delivered an array of deadly cuts and slashes to the necks of oncoming monsters. He could not afford to be inefficient, he needed to be as fast as he could in dispatching with these brutes, otherwise, he might be too late to save Amelia.
After a short battle, all the humanoids lay dead. After a cursory glance at his system prompts, he established that they were goblins. He had suspected as much, but it was good to confirm it. He didn’t pay any further attention to his system prompts and simply charged toward the entrance to the stairwell. He marched with a solid purpose as he made his way up the stairwell, stabbing and slicing at any goblins that got in his way. Nothing would keep him from his children and grandchildren. He would take Amelia and her son, Oscar, to safety, somewhere. Anywhere. That was his duty.
By the time he reached Amelia’s floor, he had killed almost 4 dozen goblins. They were far less intimidating than the wolves, especially now that Arthur had his Battle State perk. He stormed through the stairwell exit and headed towards apartment number 632 – her apartment.
He panicked upon seeing that the door to 632 was wide open. He ran inside and his heart dropped to the lowest point it had been in many decades. His beautiful daughter’s dead body was hung on some kind of meat hook. Arthur’s fury at the sight sent his Battle State into overdrive, and he simply slaughtered every goblin in sight, not caring anymore about inefficiency – only wishing to see each and every one of them dead. It was only once the last goblin was dead, that he saw that his grandchild also lay dead – thankfully unmutilated. He felt a cold, gnawing despair take huge bites out of his mental stability. His purpose. His everything.
Yet, he forced all of his anger, sadness, and hopelessness into a mental black hole. He needed to focus. He had other children who were in trouble. Other grandchildren to save. He would save his grandchildren, even if it was the last thing he ever did on this Earth. With that thought, he stormed towards the stairwell.