The Hunter
The man’s eyes snapped open. From deep sleep to completely alert, he moved fluidly out of bed. Sounds could be heard from the other side of the door to his room. Moving silently, he pressed his ear carefully against the wood and tried to discern what he heard.
Shuffling…disorganized…suggests multiple people.
Groaning…agonized…as if in pain. Not an unusual sound here certainly, but not in this particular area of the manor.
Whatever they were, they did not try to hide the sounds they made. Either the people outside did not know where they were, or did not care. Even so, the very fact that they came this close to his room is puzzling.
Regardless, whoever was waiting on the other side of the door was unlikely to be an ally. The man pulled a locker from beneath his bed and quickly unlocked it. In the locker were his usual tools.
Two .45 pistols to rest in shoulder holsters, with four extra magazines. Silencers to match the pistols when it’s better to be quiet (or save his hearing).
Multiple throwing knives.
All purpose rope.
Two flash, two smoke, and two fragmentation grenades.
Finally, a pocket knife. The knife portion was a bit redundant considering his plethora of other knives, but the other tools were useful to have around.
Placing these items on his bed, the man moved to his closet and got dressed. Wrist and shin guards with sheathes for throwing knives. Body armor went over a basic shirt, followed by a jacket with a number of pockets to keep his tools and extra magazines. Finally, heavy pants tucked into combat boots. Tucked into his belt was a well-worn combat knife that never left the man’s side, even when sleeping.
Fully equipped, the man considered his approaches.
Going loud wasn’t an option. The man didn’t know how many were waiting on the other side, or who they were. He needed more information.
The better option was likely to slip outside the room and find a spot to quietly observe the visitors. Perhaps then he could slowly lower their numbers and slow them down.
The man did not choose either option, however. If these people were able to safely navigate the traps inside, they may be able to kill his master. For this reason, the man was not afraid of the intruders.
He was hopeful.
The man decided to barricade the room and wait out whatever was going to happen. Perhaps he could reason with the people outside and assist them in killing his master? They’d certainly need the help. He was not sure they would succeed though even with his assistance. Hunting his master had caused the man considerable pain in the past. So long as he bunkers down in his room, it was less likely his master would punish him. He was still risking punishment by not attacking the intruders, but he held the hope that they may succeed. A happy medium of risk versus reward.
So he carefully barricaded his door with any large furniture he had. Once finished, he pulled out one of his pistols and screwed on a silencer. In his other hand he held a throwing knife. Moving to the opposite side of the door, he waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Certainly they would have reached his master’s bedroom by now? He could still hear them, so they hadn’t moved far.
What were they waiting for? Setting a trap?
Monsters have finished spawning! Dungeon synthesis complete!
The man, on reflex, slashed his knife across the screen that appeared in front of his face suddenly. With the slash, the window disappeared. Greatly confused, the man tried to understand what just happened when another window appeared.
You have entered [The Blood-Soaked Manor] Mini-Dungeon! Monsters will respawn when killed until the Dungeon Master (Master Assassin Fang) is defeated! Since you are the first human to enter this dungeon, you gain 2x more experience for the following week. Monsters will also have a slightly higher chance to drop more powerful items.
This time, the man carefully read the window and considered its implications. Going in order, the appearance of these windows at all was puzzling. When he moved his head, the window followed the center of his vision. Something was affecting his mind. This probably wasn’t a dream, as the man wasn’t in agony, which is how most of his dreams went. Drugs were also not likely, as his mind felt sharp. Could his master have implanted something into his brain to gain direct access to his mind? While this thought was frightening, the master wouldn’t have risked his favorite tool with an invasive surgery. Despite how much the vile master may enjoy it.
The man did not have enough information about the windows, so he considered what they contained. Supposedly the manor was now a dungeon filled with monsters, with his master as the Dungeon Master. While the man was amused that the master wasn’t treated as human, this left him at a loss. If the master was the Dungeon Master, the monsters would likely be under his control. Which means they wouldn’t be trying to kill him. Very unfortunate. This also meant that the man wasn’t considered to be a monster along with his master though. Did this mean the monsters would attack him?
The window had faded by now, but he wanted to re-read it. Perhaps if he imagined it appearing in front of him…And it does. This time the window doesn’t fade and allows him to read it completely. He then imagined it fading away. Then coming back. Then fading away. The window followed his directions every time. He clearly had control over these windows in some way. Though it would be dangerous if they popped up randomly in a tight situation. Considering that they liked some kind of user-interface, he decided to say the word “settings” in his mind.
Just like that, another window opened up, giving him a number of options involving the other windows he received. Immediately spotting the “hide new messages in combat” option, he quickly checked it. Shouldn’t that be the default though? Thinking of a “default option” made him think of the system that governed these messages. Clearly there was something going on that was generating these messages and giving him limited control over them. Perhaps whatever created these windows also created the “monsters” outside?
The man shook his head and looked at the other settings. They all involved cosmetic changes to the message windows. Not knowing whether other people could see his windows, he set the windows to a dull gray that may be harder to read from further away. At the bottom of the settings was the message:
More settings are unlocked at higher levels.
Levels? The system seemed to be setting up an RPG type situation. Respawning monsters, dungeons, system settings, and levels. Definitely like a video game. The man had played very few, but had snuck into a few houses between missions to see what they were. The games he’d played had a user-interface that was clearly visible at all times. Trying to imagine a vague interface with status and inventory, one did pop up. To the top left of his vision was a full green health bar and beneath it was an empty gray bar. To his top right was a mini-map that was completely dark save a small area surrounding a white dot he assumed represented him. To the bottom right were two icons: a head and a bag. To the bottom left was a gray box that the man didn’t quite understand the point of. Just like the previous windows, the man could bring up and bring down this interface at will.
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Shaking his head, the man listened closely to the monsters to ensure they weren’t moving towards him. The sounds really hadn’t changed, so he decided to look at this interface in more depth.
Opening the interface, he pressed his finger against the health bar and the text: Health Bar: 100/100 popped up next to his finger. Pressing the gray bar showed: Resource Bar: N/A. The man pressed various areas of the mini-map but nothing happened. Continuing his way around, he pressed the head icon at the bottom right. In the middle of his screen another window popped up:
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StatusName???Level1ClassNONEGenderMaleAlignmentChaotic GoodRaceHumanTitleNONEHealth (HP)100/100ResourceN/APrimary StatsStrength (STR)DDefense (DEF)DIntellect (INT)EResistance (RES)E+Speed (SPD)C--Secondary StatsEndurance (END)C+Willpower (WLP)C+Stamina (STM)DAdrenaline (ADR)C+Agility (AGL)C+--SkillsNONE
Chaotic Good? Of everything the status interface showed him, this felt wrong to the man. Chaotic, yes, but Good? There was far too much blood on his hands to ever be considered Good. He waved this off as a mistake or a misjudgement by the system.
The man reads over his other stats carefully. Pressing the stats gives a brief description of what they do. Most of it is self explanatory: STR = Physical Attack, DEF = Physical Defense, and INT/RES do the same for magic respectively while SPD dictates movement speed. The idea that magic exists is rather interesting, and definitely something the man wants to explore further. The secondary stats were a bit more interesting. From the descriptions, it seems like END = Resistance to pain, STM = Amount one can exert themselves before needing to rest, AGL = Ability to make precise movements (Affects accuracy and hand-eye coordination, among other things), WLP = Resistance to debuffs like snares, roots, curses, etc., and finally ADR = The effect adrenaline has on the body in combat situations. The skills section was empty, so the man didn’t worry about that for now.
He wasn’t quite sure how to feel about his stats. The man was a highly trained and worked hard daily to keep up his physique and mental acuity. Perhaps his stats would increase as his level did. He wasn’t really sure how he compared to others, but this wasn’t really the time to consider that. Closing the status, he next pressed the bag. A window popped up showing what he had equipped. His clothing gave him small boosts in stats, like +1 DEF on his body armor and +1 AGL from his combat knife. Strangely, his pistols weren’t considered equipped. Below the equip screen were boxes that showed the other items he carried, so he looked for his pistols. What he found disturbed him.
[table].45 Caliber Pistol (Silenced)TypeAdvanced Earth WeaponryDamageN/AThis is a piece of Advanced Earth Weaponry owned and maintained by an unknown assassin. While beautifully crafted and deadly in efficiency, the system forbids the use of Advanced Earth Weaponry. Thus, it cannot damage monsters or players.[table]
The man was much more nervous without the comforting power of his pistols. Would his grenades even work? Checking those quickly verified that they would not work either. With those items useless, his only real options were his knives and his fists. Not tools that were too useful when facing monsters that may be bigger and stronger than him. Either way, they were what he had, so he quickly dumped the rest of his gear and kept the rope and knives.
With that done, he finished checking anything that he could think of. All that information helped him with the realization that some sort of system was turning his surroundings into a game. Unfortunately, that doesn’t really help him out of this situation. The man doubted any help would come to him, so he had to escape on his own. Perhaps if he killed enough monsters he would be strong enough to finally kill his master. The man’s master wasn’t likely to be searching for him, because otherwise he’d already have come while he was fiddling with his interface.
With the goal of hunting down monsters, the man gripped his combat knife in one hand and a throwing knife in the other. He slowly opened the door and stepped out into the darkness.[/b]