My eyes flickered vigorously behind my eyelids, my shallow breath filling up my sore lungs. If this was what death felt like, then I was highly disappointed. I’d thought that death was peaceful, painless, and quiet. I wasn’t expecting to drift in limbo with my body in sweats and tremors. Unless… I wasn’t dead after all…

With a deep airy gasp, I snapped my eyes wide open, the blinding light of the sun over my head piercing through my pupils. As an instant reaction, I squinted, my vision gradually clearing and my surroundings sharpening into focus. I was lying on a sandy beach, my bare feet touching the warm and grainy texture of the sand. I sat up on my elbows, taking in the panoramic view of the ocean that stretched out before me as far as my eyes could see.

I couldn't remember how I got here, but the memories of my last moments flashed before my eyes in a hazy blur. The convenience store, that chick, the grim reaper. I’d been trying to outrun him and fell short. The rest of my nightmarish experience had me sure that I was dead. But here I was, fully healed, butt naked, and in an unfamiliar location where last night suddenly turned into day.

W-wait a minute, butt naked?

I looked down, feeling the light breeze flirting with my jewels. At the notion of being totally exposed, I jumped up on my feet, my eyes scanning around for my missing clothes while my cupped hands covered my decency.

I should have had a dark gray hoodie with a pair of denims—unless this was the Garden of Eden, I needed answers as to why I was here in the nude.

Panic set in as I realized I was stranded in the middle of nowhere. The idea of losing everything just hit me like a ton of bricks, my previous life gone in a matter of seconds. I took a deep breath and tried to clear my mind, but my thoughts were tangled in a chaotic and frantic mesh of emotions. Had I really escaped death? Was this some sort of alternate reality or a dream? I knew that I had to find some sort of answers, but I had no idea where to start.

My feet shuffled hysterically along the hot sand and into a forest area. Searching for signs of civilization became my first step, until I heard a rustling sound from behind the cluster of leafy dewy foliage behind me.

I felt a shiver run down my spine, thoughts of being hunted again forcing me to run. Fear gave me running speed I didn’t know I had. My heart was racing. I was in foreign territory, completely vulnerable, confused, and without pants.

And then suddenly a transparent screen popped up in my head, giving me an alert:

Defective Cyber Sense Detected

Defective Cyber Sense Detected

What the hell?! What was I seeing right now?

Before I could figure out what was going on, the message vanished.

I was now even more spooked. Where I was, I wasn’t alone, and whomever was with me wasn’t friendly. Having this flashing red warning go off in my head was proof of that. If it was that skull face piece of shit again, I had to be honest with myself. As much as I wanted to bust his head open, I couldn’t. Strength wasn’t on my side. And I was also unarmed.

Forget trying to decipher why the hell I was seeing a random screen for the second time. Right now, I had survival on my mind, hearing a loud booming echo across the beach, making me jump. I looked around, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound. That's when I saw it. A plume of sand rising a few meters west.

“I need to get the heck out of here…”

I swore the threat was closer, but I was glad I was wrong. Judging by the size of that sand cloud, I was up against a god damn behemoth. Ground-stomping footsteps drew my way. Luckily for me, I saw a cave to my slight right, and I ducked for cover there.

The first thing I noticed was how rancid the cave smelled, and how slimy the ground was. I was afraid to go in deeper, lurking along the entrance while I waited to see what I was up against.

A long and tall shadow trailed ghoulishly at a distance. My breath hitched as I watched on, noticing the shadow turning around as it searched for me.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Man, I might have lucked out. I didn’t think it knew where I—

-grrrr-

I froze.

My own body betrayed me, the sound of my loud grumbling stomach telling my predator where I was hiding.

“Great,” I hissed under my breath, tucking my head in further. The shadow stomped, shoving trees along the way. A sweat drop trickled down my temple as it drew closer, and along the corner of the tree it turned, showing me its true colors.

He was a small gremlin-faced round purple creature about the size of a garden gnome. No hands, no feet.

“What the?” Was my recent trauma playing tricks with my head?

I swore I heard loud terrifying footsteps, and saw a towering shadow.

Suddenly a screen popped up again in my head, giving me small details about the lesser creature as I stared down at it:

Purple Lugammi (AKA Ankle Biter)

Known trickster, malevolent in nature.

Level: 1

Loot Reward: 2 sammies

HP: 100/100

Was I expected to kill that ugly looking thing?

And what the heck was a sammies?

Okay, so maybe I did die and went to MMORPG heaven. Or hell.

There was no reasonable explanation to what I was experiencing right now. I knew nothing about this world, and had little to work with. I might as well play along with it for the sake of advancing. I wanted answers, and sitting around hiding wasn’t going to give me what I was looking for.

I peeled away from my cave, unashamed in front of a lesser creature. While I had no weapon, no armor, and no worldly skills, I did have these fists, resourceful in any fight. I’d been using them for years, and just like in my world, I depended on them to solve my problems.

When I balled my fists up, he started to cackle. He rolled on the ground in gut wrenching laughter when he saw me, his bouncy body springing up and down. I wasn’t sure if he was laughing because I was naked, or if he was laughing because he didn’t see me as a threat.

I scoffed. “I’m glad this is all fun and games for you, but you’re in my way.”

“Oooo!” he mocked. When the ball stood erect he did a short hop and made the ground shake, his shadow also growing in front of me.

Tricks, just like the description mentioned. He was playing with me this entire time…

“I don’t have time for this,” I grumbled, leaning in for a punch, the purple Lugammi dodging me and doing more of those ground-tremoring bounces. He was slow, but when he rocked my footing, it made it harder for me to pinpoint where to strike. My trajectory was off, the Lugammi cackling and laughing for the entire ordeal.

It seemed like these ground pounds wasn’t just an intimidation tactic to make him seem huge and threatening out of scope.

He improvised, knowing he wasn’t the strongest creature out there. Limited in resources, he did what he knew best to avoid being killed. Too bad for this lesser creature, I was adaptable as well.

I stopped trying to swing at him with my fists. Instead, my feet dashed off, pretending to run away from it. Banking on him chasing me in the thickness of the forest, I eyed my weapon quickly. A giant tropical leaf from this plant would do. I snapped it off and ducked for cover, waiting for the Lugammi to follow my trail.

Then wham!

I smacked the ankle biter, disorienting him.

He tumbled over on a bed of foliage, my signal to jump in and strike.

As he got back up, he looked up to me, realizing he was done for. Insert defense mechanism. That creepy face on him turned sweet and innocent, like a Furby. I wasn’t falling for it, even though it looked cute and adorable. While I had no idea what a sammies was, I saw the word reward, and rewards were always good.

“Sorry, pal.” I punched him dead center, lights out.

The lesser creature was lighter than I thought he’d be. When I punched him, he flew, colliding into a tree before falling over flat on his face. Not two seconds later, vapor started to come out of him. I heard sizzling, the creature’s body decomposing. First the skin, then the fat, until he rotted away, leaving behind two shiny coins on the ground.

This mysterious world really did run on RPG principles.

I walked over and snatched it, the coins suddenly fragmenting and dispersing into the air. “Hey!” I cried out, then realized where it went. I saw a menu pop up, the two sammies falling into my currency slot.

“Oh right, I saw this stats menu earlier. Right before I died…”

Back then, I didn’t have time to study it. And unfortunately, I wouldn’t have time to now. It disappeared before I could finish reading it, and then another menu popped up, where an immediate response was required:

Hero Starter Package: Make a Selection

(limited by live currency)

Temporary guide: 1 sammy

6 hour guide: 2 sammies

Simple Gear

(basic clothing, no armor value): 1 sammy

Basic Armor

(add basic armor, white tier): 2 sammies

Purchase allowance: 2 sammies

Well, this was interesting. I had choices.