Five Hispanic gang members were standing in the middle of the stone plaza.

“This is a waste of time,” one of them said in Spanish.

“We wouldn’t have to do this shit if Rodrigo and Hernandaz weren’t drunk when those white trash left the metal building,” another one said in Spanish.

“What a waste of time. Three rednecks.”

“Those three fuckers keep screwing shit up for us. First they try to take our drug spots. And now they also come into this place and try to fuck shit up for us.”

“I hope we catch them alive so we can cut off their balls. Oh, look. More of those fuckers.”

Two men in Greentown football gear teleported into the stone plaza. They got up from their sitting position. They looked around, then slowly walked over to the Butterfly Monster zone.

“Putas,” the gang members said.

…

“Holy shit! It actually worked!” Jack said loudly.

“Shut the fuck up! Somebody might hear you,” Brian said.

“Sorry.”

There was a path leading towards a camp of some kind. They walked away from that path and started running deeper into the forest.

“Okay, we’re far enough now. Let’s stash the costumes. Don’t wanna get in trouble with Eugene,” Jack said.

“So what kinda monsters are here?” Brian said.

“Dunno. Never asked him. I just saw the football team walk in this direction a bunch of times. Plus we got teleported closest to this gate because we used the college metal building, I think. When we use the one we normally use we get teleported closer to the Monster Balloon zone.”

It didn’t take them long before they found their first monster.

“It’s kinda pretty,” Brian said.

In front of them was a one meter long butterfly monster, slowly flying towards them two meters above the ground.

Jack got ready with his machete. When it was close enough to him to attack, he expected it would just dive straight towards him like all the other monsters did,

Instead, it flew over his head, then dived straight down.

“What the fuck!”

Jack barely managed to jump away. He forgot to slash with his machete while jumping away. The disadvantage of the knife skill not working on the machete.

After the butterfly’s attack, there was a moment where it landed on the ground.

Brian came in from behind and smashed the butterfly monster with an overhead swing. It mushed into green goo.

“Fuck, that was close. Anything useful we can get from this one?” Jack said.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“I can’t sense any skill crystals. Plus, I don’t think we should eat that green stuff,” Brian said.

Jack knelt down to the monster and started touching its body. He opened it up with his combat knife.

“Oh, shit. Look at this. There’s just a clean bundle of… silk string?” Jack said.

“Maybe we can sell it? I think silk’s expensive,” Brian said.

“Eugene must be fucking loaded then. Way better than selling leather,” Jack said.

They kept grinding for a few more hours. Heading deeper and deeper into the zone so they wouldn’t run into anyone else.

It feels lonely without Lucas here.

“Hey! This one’s got a crystal!” Brian yelled.

“Fuck yeah! Okay, it’s your turn! Please get something useful!” Jack said.

Brian pulled out his combat knife and cut into the green goo and grabbed the skill crystal.

He stared at it, then popped it. The yellow energy went into his arm.

Enhanced vision: Rank 1

Brian blinked. Then blinked again. He stared at Jack’s face.

“Holy shit! This is so cool! All the colors look so pretty! Like, I can see more details. Fuck this is cool. I feel like the world is more in focus. And, your face is uglier than before!” Brian said.

“Yeah yeah, fuck off.”

They decided to take a break while Brian looked around the forest like an excited kid with a smile on his face.

“Yo, why aren’t we getting any new challenges?” Brian said.

“I’m not sure. Maybe because we’re not doing anything new? All those other challenges were about doing new things,” Jack said.

“But this is a new monster type? The same with when we went to grasshoppers and goblins. Why no challenges for that?”

“Maybe because… it’s not risky? I’m not sure. This system wants a different kind of new,” Jack said.

“Ugh. We need to get that skill point fast. And get skill crystals.”

“Yeah, I wanna get a cool skill like Enhanced Vision too. But not now. I’m tired. I’ll take a nap. Do something useful, like a mana training montage or some shit. Peace,” Jack said, and used his backpack as a pillow.

Why didn’t we buy pillows? Or steal some from the motel? We are idiots.

Jack said it as a joke, but Brian took it seriously.

He started practicing his skill.

At first he closed his eyes and tried to sense the mana around the world. It drifted. Some stayed. It felt like waves.

Then he reached out with his arms and tried to move it.

For an hour, all he did was just move the mana with his eyes closed.

Jack woke up.

“Hey, I actually learned something new. It’s easier to pull mana towards myself than away from myself,” Brian said.

“Ain’t that something… I’m still pissed you two have the mana skills and I don’t,” Jack said.

“Sorry about that,” Brian said.

Suddenly, the following text appeared in their fields of vision.

Challenge: Kill one member of the Football team

Reward: 1 unfixed skill point

/////

Jack:

Knife Fighting: Rank 1

Knife Fighting: Rank 2

Python (programming language): Rank 1

Mana generation: Rank 1

Sand to Glass Conversion Mana Blueprint: Rank 1

Healing Mana Blueprint: Rank 1

Origami: Rank 1

Enhanced Bodily Recovery: Rank 1

Brian:

Shield Defending: Rank 1

Marksmanship (pistol): Rank 1

Right Arm Increased Strength: Rank 1

Mana manipulation: Rank 1

Mana Sense: Rank 1

Enhanced Propriosense in Toes: Rank 1

Enhanced Bodily Recovery: Rank 1

Lucas:

Insect Movement Control: Rank 1

Enlarged Penis: Rank 1

Mana sense: Rank 1

Mana Manipulation: Rank 1

Surfing: Rank 1

Arithmetic: Rank 1