As I made my way back, I paused to search for my keys, patting my pockets. It was in this moment of stillness and silence that my back suddenly erupted in searing pain. The incident happened so quickly that I found myself on the floor before I could fully process the intensity of the agony. Struggling to regain my bearings, I attempted to roll, but something was weighing me down. Despite its resistance, I managed to overpower it with the force of my movement, causing it to release its grip and granting me some distance. After a few more rolls, I halted to assess the creature that had attacked me. It took a moment for my mind to comprehend what I was seeing.
The creature resembled a hybrid of an owl, lizard, and jellyfish. Its head bore an owl-like shape, while its sky-blue skin exhibited scales reminiscent of a lizard. The chest opened up like a mouth, revealing tentacles adorned with sharp barbs. Acting swiftly, I retrieved the rifle from my inventory and held it in my right hand. Seizing the opportunity, the monster lunged at me, catching me off guard with its incredible speed. In my moment of panic, I fumbled the rifle and dropped it mid-roll while evading to my right. As the roll came to an end, I glanced at my mana and health levels. Mana stood at a comfortable 30%, while my health had plummeted to a dangerously low 40%. It was clear that the mage armor had just saved my life.
With determination, I raised my hand, preparing to unleash a Magic Missile upon the beast. The familiar ring materialized, and an arcane blast shot forth, colliding with its chest and pushing the creature back a few feet. A red health bar materialized above its head, indicating that it had taken approximately 20% damage. Calculating quickly, I realized that I couldn't defeat it with my remaining mana alone, so I needed to retrieve the rifle. Dashing it, I extended my arm and attempted to unleash a Magic Missile, but nothing happened until I came to a stop near the rifle. Finally, the blast shot out from my palm, striking the side of the creature and propelling it back even further.
As I secured my grip on the rifle and lifted it to my shoulder, aiming at the creature that was retracting its tentacles, it suddenly flicked them toward me. Reacting swiftly, I tried my utmost to throw myself to the right, but my injuries hindered my agility, and I ended up taking two quills in my right leg. Glancing down at my dwindling health bar, which now displayed only 20%, I realized the gravity of the situation. Simultaneously, I squeezed the trigger, and the bullet tore through the air as the bullet pierced the monster's chest, its health depleted rapidly, causing it to collapse onto the ground. A warm, amber light enveloped me, and a comforting sensation spread through my body. Gradually, the gashes on my body began to close up, healing the wounds. However, the sharp pain in my right leg persisted, refusing to fade away. Glancing at a notification that appeared before me, I read its contents:
“You have healed an amount equal to the life gained from leveling. However, due to the quill still embedded in your leg, the wound will not close.”
Although three more windows demanded my attention, I postponed examining them for now. First, I needed to ensure that the creature was truly dead and remove the quills from my leg. Looking down at the protruding quills in my thigh, I attempted to pull them out, but they were firmly lodged in place. Determined, I grabbed the rifle and shot the creature in the head as I stumbled past it towards the shop, where I kept a pair of needle-nose pliers. Bracing myself, I carefully dug into my leg and extracted the quills. Surprisingly, the pain wasn't as intense as I had anticipated. Perhaps the creature possessed a numbing venom. However, as I removed the quills, the wound began to bleed profusely. A new symbol, a red blood drop, appeared above my health bar. Focusing on it, a small window explained that it represented the bleeding debuff: {Bleeding Minor, causing me to lose 5 HP per second until the wound was closed or bandaged.} As I stood there observing it, my health bar gradually decreased. With a limp, I made my way over to the first aid kit in the shop. After cleaning the wound and wrapping it with gauze and bandages, it took around 2 seconds for the bleed icon to fade away.
Turning my attention to the right of my HUD, I noticed three new notifications awaiting my inspection. Taking a moment to breathe and calm my nerves, I collected myself and refocused. I had come dangerously close to death, and it had all happened so quickly. I was incredibly fortunate to have survived, thanks in large part to casting the mage armor spell, which had mitigated the damage just enough. After a minute of deep breathing, I regained control over my nerves.
Alright, my priority now is to set up a trap for the Tentaquil Owl— that's what I'll call it. I'll loot the creature and then check these notifications. Opening the notifications, I noticed three different border colors: gold, red, and white. I began by selecting the white notification, which provided a log of skills gained and their progress:
White Skill Notification: [You have learned the following skills: Carpentry Lvl 1 (20%), Combat Casting Lvl 1 (10%), Gunslinger Lvl 1 (30%)]
Moving on to the red notifications, I discovered that they comprised a battle log, summarizing the recent events. The only entry I focused on was the sneak attack damage bonus, revealing a 3 times damage multiplier.
Lastly, I turned my attention to the gold notifications, which included three separate messages:
Congratulations, adventurer! You have taken the first step on the path of power. You have reached Level 1. You have unlocked the tutorial on leveling.
Sweet, this brings my mana up just enough that I can cast Magic Missile five times in a row, I thought to myself.
Congratulations, adventurer! You have earned the title "Brave and the Bold." You are one of the first 100 people on your planet to reach Level 1 and survive.
Title: Brave and the Bold: +10 to all stats.
Congratulations, adventurer! You have earned a title and a bonus. "Minute Man" - you have killed a monster from another world within the first 15 minutes. Bonus: Gives a +2 to perception as a passive.
Title: Minute Man: +5 to all stats.
Congratulations, adventurer! You have earned the skill Perception.
Before I do anything else, I need to warn my wife. So I quickly sent her a text message saying, "Hey baby, heads up. There are silent flying monsters. They have tentacles and shoot quills. Be safe, my love."
Now, it's time to loot the owl. As I walked towards the door, I equipped the rifle, just in case another threat appeared. Peeking my head out the door and scanning the outside and the sky, I didn't see anything unusual, so I sprinted over to the creature's body. I examined it, hoping to find an option for quick looting. However, when I touched the body to turn it over, a flashing red note appeared, indicating that I couldn't loot it without the necessary skills (harvesting and analyzing). Frustrated, I looked at the note. I had hoped it would be easier, but it makes sense. If I can't loot it, then I'll use it as a trap, hopefully attracting a different predator to the area. I dragged the corpse into the shop.
Surveying my shop, I grabbed a pair of sawhorses, a furniture dolly, and some rope. I planned to strap the corpse to the sawhorses mounted on the dolly and wheel it around, creating a macabre puppet. After about 15 minutes of work, I had my puppet ready to wheel around the driveway. As I puppeted the decoy for a few minutes, I heard the familiar howling screech in the distance, reminiscent of the one I had heard earlier. To recreate the earlier attack, I spun up the screwdriver mounted under the monster's corpse. Walking the puppet back towards the house, I paused for a second, then two... and on the third second, bam! A blur slammed into the corpse, taking it down to the ground. The ferocity of the attack left me stunned and momentarily paralyzed.
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Seeing the situation unfold from this perspective tightened my chest. It's hard to believe that just five minutes ago, that could have been me. I'm incredibly lucky to have survived. At this moment, I made a resolution to invest at least one point per level into luck from now on.
It took me five seconds to react to the attack. From just inside the house, I unleashed a storm of magic missiles. The first missile impacted the creature's back, followed by the second striking its side before it could determine the source of the attack. The third missile found its mark on the side of the beast, while the fourth grazed its left wing as it attempted to spin around, its tentacles already hurling quills at me. The spines struck my left arm and shoulder just as I fired my final magic missile, the bolt flying from my hand and obliterating half of the Tentaquil's skull with a critical strike.
I didn't have time to celebrate the kill as a massive spike of pain bloomed behind my eyes. I fell to my knees and retched from a wave of nausea. Looking at the quills embedded in my arm, I tried to determine the source of this intense pain. As I glanced down, I noticed a new flashing icon where the bleeding debuff had been earlier. The icon resembled a brain with a lightning bolt piercing through it.
{Debuff: Mana Depletion: You have either channeled too much energy or had it drained from you too quickly. This debuff takes effect if you lose 100% of your mana within 5 seconds. You cannot use mana for the next 30 seconds as your mind reels from the expended mana.}
So I lay there on the floor, having fallen over after the initial wave of pain subsided. For the entire 30 seconds, I remained motionless, my mind barely able to form coherent thoughts. It passed like a cloud, revealing the sun. I gave myself an additional 30 seconds, weighing the risks of my head exploding from Mana Depletion against the ability to shoot magic from my hand. Magic prevailed, so I staggered to my feet and made my way back to the shop, feeling as though it was the twentieth time I had done so that day.
Upon entering the shop, my phone began to ring. I focused my attention on my right hand, causing the phone to materialize within my grasp. With a swipe, I answered the call, discovering it was Olivia, a friend of my wife's.
"Hey Olivia, how's it going?" I said into the phone.
"It's goin' better'n we expected. Have y'all seen the news? Ah, never you mind, we'll all chat 'bout that later. Come on over and open up that gate, darlin'; we done arrived." she drawled., and I could hear Valerie honking the horn in the background.
"On my way. Stay in the car with the windows down. I'll explain when I get there." I hung up and gathered what I needed from the shop, including the pliers. Then I retrieved the drill from beneath the first owl. Once I had everything in hand, I headed towards the blockade. I waved to the ladies in the car and shouted at them, "You need to stay inside the car. There are monsters in the skies. I need to listen to them. If we hear a loud howling screech sound, I'll need to jump into the car." They took in my appearance and nodded, except for my wife who appeared upset by my injuries.
I removed a few key bolts, pushing the blockade out of the way until the car drove past, then I put it back into place and secured it with bolts. Out of paranoia more than a need for a ride back, I hopped into the car. It wasn't safe to be outside.
I looked at everyone in the car and said, "I'll explain when we get inside." They all glanced at my injured arm and shoulder, then at the two dead quill owls, and back at me. Their eyes widened as they took a closer look at the remains of the decoy puppet owl.
"What the fuck, Havoc? It hasn't been more than 30 minutes. You've killed two creatures and you're almost dead yourself. Can one of you heal him?" Valerie said, her tone shifting from anger to concern.
"Wait, don't heal me yet. I have to get these out before you heal me, or it will be half as effective and won't fully restore my health. Let's go inside so we can talk and be safe," I replied.
We all rushed inside the house, and I headed to the bathroom to grab some bandages and a cleaning solution. Then I joined the ladies in the living room. As I filled them in on what had happened, I retrieved the pliers and began pulling out the quills. Valerie approached me to heal me, her hands starting to glow as warmth filled my body. After three spells, I was back to full health. It felt incredible to be at 100% again.
"I'm so glad you're okay now. We saw some monsters in the woods, but most creatures didn't want to get near a car," Valerie said. However, there was something she wasn't telling me. I cut through the thoughts and asked her directly.
"What is it that you're not telling me? It's okay, honey. You can tell me," I urged.
She sighed, her voice filled with grief. "Okay, but it sucks. When we all received the notifications, some of them were different. Mine gave me an extra spell and a mandatory quest that I can't refuse. Literally can't. I have to go to a city in Radigar for class training and other 'rewards.' It says that it will teleport me to the City of Urza in 24 hours," she explained, her tone tinged with sadness.
"I don't want to leave you. I don't want to leave my family here, but it's going to take me away, all because I have a high magic affinity. Fuck, dude, what am I going to do?" she expressed, a mix of tiredness and fury in her voice.
"Oh, shit. I don't know what to do about the greater part of that, but I know it will be okay. We can survive this. I'll reach level 10 and come find you, baby. Then we can decide whether to come back here or stay there," I responded with excitement.
"I know you will. You're already ahead in that race. I'm just more angry about the lack of choice in this situation. The problem is that everyone in the world is now in danger for some reason we don't know," she said, her anger evident.
"I know, my love. That really does suck. All of this sucks," I said with solemnity.
"We have to make a plan. I think we should start by reading the tutorial to see if we can share skills," I suggested.
Olivia chimed in, her Texan accent shining through, "We all got this 'quest' takin' us to Urza," indicating Avery and Val. "So we'll have each other's backs. Can I ask y'all a favor? Will you keep my dogs safe until I return for 'em?"
"Yeah, of course. We can go get them in a bit. What about you, Avery? Do you need anything? Do you have any family in the state that needs help?" I asked.
"That is a nope from me! Every member of my family is on the East Coast, and I'm tellin' ya, I am freakin' out! They're safe, thank goodness, they are scared outta their freakin' minds! But seriously, who ain't terrified right now? It's a chaotic rollercoaster of emotions!" Avery replied, their words dripping with palpable panic and a heightened sense of urgency.
While Avery talked, I looked over at Val and saw the worry and concern she had for her family. I just knew she was going to ask about them.
"Okay, I'm gonna need a big favor while I'm gone. Can you make sure my family in LA is okay before you come and find us?" Val said.
"Of course, my love. I was thinking it might be better if they came up here to this house. We don't know enough right now, but if the monsters I just fought are any indication, then it will be a bloodbath in LA. So let's do some research for a bit and call our respective family and friends. Meet back in 30 minutes," I suggested.
I opened the news feed on the TV while I texted my parents. The reporter on the screen said, "This just in: There are monsters in the streets. Stay in your homes and reinforce the doors and windows. The military is already mobilizing. I'll repeat: Stay in your homes and reinforce the doors and windows."
"Holy shit, man. All the people that are caught outside. What is going to be the death toll? Fuck, man," I whispered, feeling a mix of shock and sorrow.
I checked my phone for any updates. There were new messages from my moms and my dad, but nothing from my brother or sister. Both of my moms were fine. They were sleeping after their graveyard shift, unaware of what was happening or what to do. Dad's message was a little more animated.
"Hell yeah, I'm doing great! Killed me a big-ass minotaur centaur-lookin' thing. Was at the shooting range and it walked out of a rift right there on the range. So I pumped that ugly bitch full of lead. Took two whole mags to put it down, but I got that fucker," Dad's text read.
"Haha, sounds like a blast *finger guns any good titles? Glad to hear you're safe," I replied.
"Yeah, I got 2 titles: 'Unshakable' and 'Goliath Slayer.' One is for not moving as the monster charged me, and the other is for being the first to kill a monster 3 times my size," Dad replied.
"Those sound like you, though. Lmao. Keep me apprised of your plans. Maybe we'll meet up depending on the fallout. Love you, pops," I responded.
"Kk will do. Love ya, son." Dad says.
I checked to see if my brother or sister had responded, but they had not. So I called them, and both calls went straight to voicemail.