[Nathan Lee]: Hi everyone. I was looking for my friends, Chad Mann, Emi, Bjorn, and Mara. Has anyone seen them on this platform? Thanks.
Below it, there was a bar tracking his likes and replies.
The desert wind brushed past him. In the background, a tumbleweed rolled along.
Nathan had over a million replies.
A MILLION.
Nathan brought his finger up to show the replies before bringing his finger back. After a second, he reached out and pressed the button.
[SurvivorInDenial]: THIS IS A FAKE ACCOUNT. There’s no way THE Nathan Lee would post something so casual. Nice try, imposter.
└ [aefea12]: Bro, it’s real. Click his profile.
└ [SurvivorInDenial]: Holy shit.
[ThirstyForVictory]: OMG, Nathan noticed us. SENPAI HAS NOTICED US.
└ [BearSurvivor90]: Calm down. He didn’t even reply to you.
└ [ThirstyForVictory]: Let me dream.
[breAdIsLife]: Yo, Nathan, if you see this, I made a sandwich in your honor.
[survivorbruh]: Nathan Lee is out here curb-stomping evil powers for fun, and now he’s lost his party like someone’s dad at Disneyland. LFG.
Nathan scrolled on for a while before he caught sight of a reply that caused his eyebrows to raise.
[MannStreamHighlights]: HOLY SH*T CHAD KNOWS NATHAN LEE?? BRO’S BEEN TANKING BOSSES WHILE HANGING OUT WITH THE LEGEND. WE EATING GOOD TODAY.
Stream Highlights? Oh yeah, Chad was a super popular streamer. Nathan took a look at the replies and was shocked to see how many of Chad’s fans had shown up to the thread.
More than a few people were mentioning spotting Chad ‘in the clips.’
Nathan felt a hint of excitement. Perhaps Chad had fulfilled his dream of becoming an apocalypse streamer using this new social media platform? If that was the case, Nathan might be able to comment on one of his videos, and they would be able to link up and get back together.
[xX_BlazingFrog_Xx]: Wait, does anyone know who Emi or Bjorn are?
└ [Tea_And_Bullets]: Probably other elite badasses. Maybe Bjorn is some Viking dude? Emi could be his ninja partner?
└ [wisu3781]: Or they’re just like…normal people. Nathan doesn’t look for elites; he makes them.
└ [PixelSoul]: The lady with the gun wasn’t “normal.” Whatever she did to Vince? That wasn’t the first time.
Nathan furrowed his eyebrows. How did they know about that…?
Nathan continued scrolling and eventually found the answer he was looking for.
[ConfusedMothman]: I’m sorry, am I the only one who didn’t know this dude wiped out a gang?
└ [PixelSoul]: Not just a gang. Vince’s group was like a whole-ass regional superpower. Camps, resources, hundreds of people. Vince himself was spamming lasers the size of tree trunks. And Nathan bodied them like he was grinding low-level mobs. I was there. I barely escaped. He didn’t even look mad. He just methodically dismantled everything. It was like a horror movie.
Nathan’s eyes narrowed.
[ConfusedMothman]: did you get any video?
└ [PixelSoul]: I had my phone charged, so yeah.
PixelSoul added a link.
Nathan clicked it.
The video opened with a shaky camera. A forest at night. The sound of heavy breathing and a handful of figures in a clearing with nothing but the stars to act as illumination.
A laser beam blasted from one of the figures and brushed by the cameraman.
“SHIT!” the cameraman yelled out.
The camera stumbled to the ground. The video cut ahead, tracking through the fight until Mara’s execution. At some point, Chad popped up—Nathan’s heart sank. These were the clips people were talking about where Chad had shown up.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Vince’s body stopped moving. Mara dropped some ammo out and reloaded her gun.
Nathan was about to exit the clip when he spotted a twitch from Vince’s finger. A few seconds later, the world lit up and the portals opened.
Conspicuously, a portal opened underneath Vince. Nathan could see Mara’s jaw drop. She fired her gun, and the shield around her flashed. The bullet bounced, and she grunted from pain. Blood dripped from her forehead.
Nathan paled.
There’s no way he’s alive. Those injuries were fatal.
Nathan took a deep breath. Vince may’ve somehow held onto a sliver of life, but if he was dropped into the middle of the desert, then that was the end of it.
Nathan exited out of the replies section and hit the video section. He scrolled through, looking to see if there was anything else interesting, but there wasn’t. It was mostly idiots just riffing on the Leeroy Jenkins meme.
Nathan looked up at the toolbar. He spotted a button of a plus.
There’s an idea.
Nathan clicked the ‘Record Video’ button.
“Um, hi,” Nathan said, looking into his System menu. “Just wanted to ask if anyone’s seen my group. So, like, I know Chad Mann. I think you guys have heard of him. If he figures out how to post videos here, can someone ping me?”
Nathan paused. “Also, there’s this elf girl, Emi. She’s like a princess, basically. There’s another girl, Mara. If you see a redhead with a shotgun, that’s probably her. Finally, I’m also looking for Bjorn. He’s an orc? I’m not sure how to describe him.”
The red light blinked, indicating it was still recording.
“Thanks for your replies, hope you can help me out.” Nathan tapped the ‘Stop Recording’ button.
A window popped up asking if he wanted to edit the video. He clicked no, and the video was uploaded to the system instantly.
I really hope that works.
With that, Nathan looked off toward the east.
There’s supposed to be some kind of magic spring, right? Just a few days’ travel, and then I can upgrade Riptide Grasp.
Nathan started walking off in the direction of the spring.
----------------------------------------
Nathan had been hoping for a perfectly boring journey when he’d started walking. And for the first two days or so, it was. Nothing but the blue sky and golden dunes. Nathan felt pretty peaceful, honestly.
Of course, the universe said no. His first clue that things were about to go off the rails was the sound of the explosions in the distance. His second clue was the footsteps—one set looking distinctly human, another set looking distinctly monstrous.
His third clue was the “Holy SHIT, JUST DIE!”
Nathan rushed over the peak of the dune he was on to get a better view.
On the field, a man in a rough, torn cloak had his hands out in some kind of martial arts stance. Opposite him was some kind of giant komodo dragon-looking thing with twice the size and double the teeth. It looked more like a shark on land, in some respects.
It roared and tried to bite into the man. The man smoothly dodged—and to Nathan’s surprise, he counterattacked with a punch so fast that Nathan barely saw it.
A massive chunk of the lizard-dragon’s flesh was knocked off in one punch. It roared and swept the man’s legs with its tail, and he flopped to the ground. The man let out a pained cry and tumbled to the ground.
Right before it was about to take a bite out of the man’s spine, Nathan pulled out his harpoon and threw it into the lizard-dragon’s spine.
The harpoon sank into its chest, pinning it to the ground. A moment later, it shuddered and died on the spot.
[You have leveled up!]
Nathan blinked.
He’d been expecting a more difficult fight, but the thing had just exploded right then and there.
Huh, I guess ascension really does affect combat ability.
He hadn’t really been in any fights since he’d ascended, had he?
Nathan shook his thoughts away and tumbled down the sand dune. “Hey, are you okay?”
The man slowly pushed himself up. “Oh, yeah, fine, thank you—“
When he saw Nathan’s face, he froze in place. “Oh shit.”
Nathan squinted his eyes. This guy looked familiar. Didn’t he trip over a wagon or something back in the city? He always had a notebook.
“Wait a second,” Nathan said. “I think I’ve seen you around before—“
“EMERGENCY MEASURES!”
Before Nathan could say anything, the man grabbed something from his belt and threw it at the ground. It exploded in a puff of dense, acrid smoke that made Nathan cough and stagger back. His eyes watered immediately, and his nose filled with the overwhelming stench of burnt cinnamon and something suspiciously sulfuric.
“What the…?!” Nathan sputtered, waving a hand in front of his face to clear the smoke. He heard frantic scrambling and the sound of feet sliding on sand.
“Hey! Wait! I just saved your life!” Nathan yelled, trying to peer through the dissipating cloud.
The smoke cleared away. The man had disappeared.
Nathan stared, unblinking.
“What the actual hell was that?” he asked.
----------------------------------------
Eventually, Nathan decided to put the event out of his mind. He’d definitely be keeping an eye out going forward, though.
So weird.
Nathan walked on for two more days, but nothing unusual happened—save for one or two more lizard-dragon things.
The sand gave way to hard rock and a steep hill in the distance, water streaming down from the top. It was obscured due to the angle, but Nathan had a feeling that the spring he was looking for was at the top.
Nathan gripped side of a rock and started climbing. He could’ve leapt up to the top easily, but given the warning about potential monsters, he decided it would be best to be careful and avoid any trouble.
As he got closer, the sound of bubbling water grew louder and louder, a deep rumble underneath. The sound was rhythmic—like a snore. Nathan’s body tensed more and more.
Eventually, he reached the top.
There was a wyvern resting, body half-submerged in the pool. It was of a light yellow color and its body seemed to wrap around half the pool. In the light, its scales glittered like stars in the night sky, sparkling and twinkling and flashing all at once
Nathan inspected the monster and the window popped up. The wyvern staggered and blinked its eyes open.
Nathan froze.
Oh yeah, Inspects can be detected.
The wyvern lifted its head and flapped its wings once. The breeze generated by the wings alone nearly knocked Nathan off his feet before he grounded himself and squatted low. He glanced over at the system window.
[Desert Wyvern] - Lv. 51
Race: E-rank Dragon
A sun-scorched diva of the skies with scales that double as a heat reflector and fashion statement. Known for its razor-sharp talons and equally sharp attitude, this creature loves nothing more than dive-bombing unwelcome intruders and ruining perfectly good sandcastles. Bonus: It breathes fire, because why not add insult to injury in a 110-degree wasteland?
It roared and fire blasted out of its maw. Nathan dived to the ground and a split second later, the flames sailed over his head.
Nathan grabbed his harpoon from his inventory.
Alright then, time to get to work.