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The little girl rushed and hugged Rowan tightly, throwing her arms around his midriff. He let his knife fall on the grass and took her in his arms, fondling her hair.
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” he whispered before looking around. The rest of the kids had surrounded him with expecting eyes, obviously waiting for adult guidance. “Let’s go before they notice their pal’s dead.”
“We can’t leave,” the tough boy objected.
“Kid, I’m sorry, but those folks are dead; we can’t save them.”
“Are you an idiot?” The question, asked with a slightly tilted head, didn’t sound like an insult, more like a half-certitude. “We can’t leave the area until we clear it. There’s a barrier.”
“Thomas is mean,” the little girl accused. “I’ll tell your mommy.”
Now that Thomas had mentioned it, there was a faint light fifty yards downward on the slope.
“It let me through,” Rowan said.
“It didn’t let us through,” Thomas said.
“We tried as soon as we saw the notification,” another child said, but Rowan did not see who.
“What noti—”
A blue text appeared before he finished his sentence. It was displayed on a wide screen, so transparent it let the landscape around get through in full.
This clearing has been transformed into a mid-tier mini-dungeon: Ominous Grove. Setting: Extreme. Condition for winning: eliminate all 5 Elite mini-bosses: DireDeer. Exit is prohibited until the task is accomplished.
XP rules: Generous. The difference in level between you and the slain adversary is divided among those participating in the fight.
The reward for clearing the mini-dungeon is +1 Lvl. +1 free Attribute Point, loot.
“Let’s hide in the woods and hide until help arrives,” a girl about eight years old proposed, repeating herself.
Rowan remembered the policeman’s attitude and grimaced. “If it’s a national emergency, it could take days.”
“Don’t worry, if we killed one, we can kill them all,” Thomas boasted. “Just follow my lead.”
“Keep your voice low,” Rowan hissed.
“It’s OK, we’re safe as long as we stay outside their aggro range. I see question marks when I try to Identify you, which means you have no Class yet. Pick something, preferably Rogue. We’ll pull and dispose of them one by one. Lizzie will lure them, I’ll tank, and you go stabby.”
“S-sorry?”
Rowan’s befuddled expression must’ve reinforced Thomas’s impression of him. The boy rolled his eyes but explained, “You saw the UFO, right?”
“Yeah.”
“It did something when it crashed. We’re in a System Apocalypse now, LitRPG and stuff. Classes, attributes, the whole deal. Concentrate on Class Selection, and a sort of Menu will appear. With proper options if you’re lucky.”
Class Selection is locked until you distribute your free attribute points, as available choices depend on your stats.
“What do you mean, if I’m lucky?” Rowan inquired, dismissing the notification.
“We all got classes,” Thomas said.
“I’m an actress,” Lizzie, the girl Rowan held in his arms, stated proudly.
“Ballerina,” another girl sighed.
“People were assigned classes automatically depending on their hobbies or jobs. Teachers remained teachers…”
“Let me guess: they become monster food.”
Thomas nodded, a few tears creeping into his eyes, wiped off with his forearm.
“Yeah… I had a choice because I trained in martial arts. I’m a Brawler. It’s an off-tank. You know what an off-tank is, right?” Thomas frowned at Rowan as the young man was frowning back, only from befuddlement.
“I don’t play games much.”
“Dude, just pick a class. Choose the most combative one and ask me for help if you don’t get it. Put your attributes into Strength and Dex.”
“Give me a moment. Stay with them, sweetie; I’ll be back.”
“No,” Lizzie said, burrowing her face in his shoulder.
“Very well, but promise to be quiet,” Rowan surrendered.
Taking a few steps deeper into the forest, he chose a stump to sit on and thought about summoning his stats screen. His experience with games was poor, but he had some friends who played MMORPGs and had shown him the ropes.
Name: Rowan Allinder, Age: 25
Lvl. 6. Class: ?
Assessing and assigning stats according to your overall prior experience:
STR: 20 / DEX: 18 / CON: 20 / WIL: 49 / INT: 12 / CHA: 8
Note: The average human has 10 AP/stat. You have 6 free points available for distribution.
Yeah, tell me about Charisma. I had higher hopes for my Intelligence, though… Never mind…
And now, if he concentrated just a little, he could see some gauges. HP, Mana, and XP to the next level. The latter was a third full. Despite Thomas’s advice, the forty-nine in Will nagged him. It looked… imperfect. So he raised it to fifty, and the rest of the points went into Strength, upping it to twenty-five.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Now show me the bloody class selection.
Choose one from the following options:
1: All-Rounded Worker (Uncommon). Available due to your synergizing skills: Forklift Operator, Truck Driver, and Heavy Equipment Operator. An All-Rounded worker is paid 25% to 50% more than a common worker and receives a free +1 increase in Charisma, Dexterity, and Toughness every ten levels.
2: Vampire Rogue. (Legendary) Available due to your passive skill: Night Shifter. Warning: Your class will change your species and might attract hostility from various groups. A Vampire Rogue has an uncanny ability to use the darkness of the night to their ad—
“What the fuck, System! You don’t know what a night shift is?”
“Problems?” Thomas asked.
“All good.”
“Hurry up; they might finish the teachers and come for deserts.”
“One minute.”
Lizzie was now snoring, some saliva dripping on Rowan’s coat.
She’s so sweet! Please, whoever is up there, give me a better choice, to protect her and the rest.
3: The Indomitable (Unique). Available due to: fighting an Epic monster +20 over your level to save a child, an uncommon personal history, reaching the second threshold in Will, as well as the first threshold on any other given stat (Strength), within an hour of the System’s apparition. Receives +2 in each stat at every 10 levels. Unique classes are highly customizable Jack-of-all-Trades and can gain exceptional Perks (a higher version of Spells or Skills)
Will Perk, Threshold 1: Will and Wilt: Your Will replaces Strength as your Critical Damage multiplier (1% per every Will point) and inflicts an Unavoidable DOT on Crits. The Critical Chance still depends on your Dex (+1% for every Dex point. Enemies Evade, Dodge, or Block rating subtract from your Crit Chance, depending).
Will Perk, Threshold 2: locked
Note: Perks are abilities unlocked with every threshold of 25/AP reached in any given Stat. Only base values are taken into account, without buffs or armor enchantments.
Pfff… too much nerdish for me… but I suppose it’s better than Vampire. I chose Indomitable.
Choice confirmed. Basic melee and ranged weapon proficiency are unlocked. Basic Spell Casting has failed to unlock. The Mana Manipulation prerequisite is absent.
An influx of energy passed through his body, so strong that he groaned and shivered, making Lizzie wake up.
“Mommy?”
The next second, she screamed, very loudly. Rowan dropped her, startled, catching her a second before she hit the ground.
“Don’t be afraid, sweetie, it’s me.”
The screams stopped, and a smile replaced the fear on her face. Thomas, on the other hand, didn’t sound happy.
“Fuck, Lizzie aggroed two. I’ll run around, keeping to this side, Rowan, hit them from the back.”
“How do you know my name?”
“You have a tag over your head; check your settings, under privacy mode. Never mind, here they come.”
Bulky and menacing, fangs covered in gore, two monsters trudged toward their side of the clearing. Thomas dashed out, on an oblique trajectory. Rowan couldn’t help but admire the kid’s acumen, as Thomas attracted the moose one by one, arranging them in a line. Grabbing his knife from the ground, Rowan ran and stabbed the second monster. The knife went on almost up to the guard, but somehow he felt the urge to push it on, and so he did, twisting.
Backstab has inflicted a Lethal Critical Hit on DireDeer’s vitals: Heart. You have inflicted 96% HP damage to DireDeer, Elite Lvl. 20. You have inflicted a 2% HP/sec. DOT on DireDeer.
The spastic move the moose made was nothing compared to the backhand Rowan had received from the first monster. He dodged underneath, pulling back his knife in the process, and ran forward. Four seconds later, like clockwork, the moose bellowed a desperate dying call, melted into specks of light, and the notification came:
You have slain DireDeer, Elite Lvl.20 (2/5) XP received (divided between you, Thomas, and Lizzie). You have leveled up x 5. 2 points were automatically distributed to each stat, and 5 free APs are available for a later distribution.
That was the good news. The bad one was that the second moose stopped chasing Thomas, turned, and charged at Rowan instead. Which reminded him of the abysmal reach of a knife versus a nine-foot-tall monster with antlers.
Put my points in Dex! Rowan’s mind screamed. The plan was simple: with twenty-five in Dex, he would be faster, avoiding attacks easier and kiting down the moose little by little.
Request denied. Distributing Points during Combat settings is set to OFF. Activating Automatic Distribution Mode. Prioritizing the closest stat to reach a threshold. +3 AP to CON. 2 AP stored for later.
Constitution Perk, Threshold 1 obtained: Tough Cookie. Your body has become denser. +25% all physical resistances, +25% to Natural Regeneration (HP)
The moose hit like a truck, literally. It had accelerated at the last moment, head first, crushing Rowan’s hopes to dodge it like a toreador. Instead, he got thrown twenty feet backward, landing on his back. Everything hurt. And that was good news; hurting meant he was alive. The monster’s head was so big that the antlers’ spikes missed Rowan’s body, only grazing his arms.
You have suffered two Debuffs (Daze, Concussion, for 10 seconds) and Minor Bleeding (DOT, -0.25% HP/seconds. Your HP is at 80%.
You have inflicted a Critical DOT on DireDeer. -25% HP, 8% HP Bleed per second.
What?
The moose had stopped in his tracks, trashing around. Its awkward arms, more like an animal’s, were not able to reach its neck, where Rowan’s knife was stuck deep. Another lucky strike. Then Thomas arrived from the back, throwing down the DireDeer, which stuck the blade deeper.
Must be a skill. No way a scrawny kid could topple that monster on his own.
You have slain DireDeer, Elite Lvl.20 (3/5) XP received (divided between you, Thomas, and Lizzie). You have leveled up x 3. 3 free APs are available for later distribution. Correction: Activating Automatic Distribution Mode. Prioritizing the closest stat to reach a threshold. +5 points to Dex. Dexterity Perk, Threshold 1 obtained: Subconscious Fighting. Even if you’re sent flying in the air, your body can move on its own, striking the enemy.
Neat!
“Dude, wake up; we aggroed the rest,” Thomas screamed, offering a hand.
Rowan sighed, shaking his head to chase off the last vestiges of dizziness. “How the f— sorry, do we aggroed the rest?”
“Our levels increased and we’re more noticeable. Duh!”
At the far end of the expanse, the two remaining foes bellowed to each other, staring at the man and the boy.
“Let’s do the same thing; we separate them and take them one by one.”
Rowan’s prophetic words took shape in a totally different way than he had hoped. One moose dashed at them, while the other headed toward the western treeline, where the kids were. To cull the weak, take them hostage, or exact revenge, it didn’t matter.
“You have to take one on your own. Sorry, kid.”
Rowan picked the knife from the ground and threw it at the incoming monster, then ran as fast as he could back to the tree line.
You have inflicted a Critical Hit on DireDeer, -15% HP, 2% HP Bleed
Detected Skill: Throwing Knife, advanced.
That was terrific news. Praying that Thomas could cope with the injured moose while he dealt with the other, Rowan jumped on the DireDeer’s back. Grabbing the antlers and wrapping his legs around the monster’s torso, Rowan tried to wrestle its head backward, hoping to break the neck. It didn’t go as planned. The moose fell backward, pinning Rowman under a colossal weight and clawing at his thighs at the same time.
You are suffering from multiple Bleeds. Total: 2%HP/second. Estimated time to existence termination: 59 seconds (DOTs - Natural Regeneration)
No. Fuck YOU! I won’t allow you to hurt the kids.
Rowan moved his left hand around the DireDeer’s neck in a choke, and with his right, he gouged out one eye, then another. The animal screamed in pain. Rowan shoved his right hand into its mouth, pulling on the lower jaw until something broke. He managed to read only three words before he lost consciousness.
You have slain—