Welcome to the Multiverse
Staring at the new screen, Felix was, once again, baffled. Less so because there was a floating blue screen in front of him, as crazy as that still is, and more because it says multiverse.
The multiverse is real?
As if in response to his mental question, a new screen appeared.
[Communicate] the word [Status] to get started.
Before Felix even fully had time to wonder what “communicate” meant or how he was supposed to do that, he had done it and, of course, a new screen appeared in front of him. Immediately followed by a flood of information as Felix suddenly knew what he was looking at. His stats, titles, skills, what they meant, it was like the information was being downloaded into his brain the moment his eyes scanned over the words.
Name
Felix Rivera
Level
12
Race
Human - Neverdeath Royal [F]
Titles
Novice Slayer
Strength
17 [10]
Agility
22 [10]
Endurance
11 [10]
Vitality
11 [10]
Intelligence
11 [10]
Wisdom
11 [10]
Perception
16 [10]
Charisma
11 [10]
Luck
11 [10]
Free Points
60
Titles
Novice Slayer
You have [Vanquished] a monster 10 Levels above you. +1 to all stats.
Class
Rogue [G-Tutorial]
The essence of a Rogue has been engraved into your being. Skills: Dagger Mastery, Stealth, Sneak Attack. +1 Agility and +1 Strength OR +1 Perception Per Level.
Class Skills
Dagger Mastery [G]
The basics of dagger use have been engraved into your being. Grants a slight bonus to agility when using a dagger. Miniscule mana cost. Left hand. Upgradeable.
Stealth [G]
The art of staying out of sight. When unseen, your presence is reduced, making it harder to detect you. Effect is broken when seen. Minor mana cost. Both soles. Upgradeable.
Sneak Attack [G]
Blades hidden in darkness are the most dangerous. Greatly raises strength and agility when attacking an unaware opponent. Minor mana cost. Left wrist. Upgradeable.
Bloodline Skills
Neverbleed
You do not bleed in any form, and nor are you impaired by your injuries. Your blood will flow through your veins only as it should.
Death’s Thrill
The more injured you are, the higher your stats become. The joy of dancing with death is a natural emotion for you.
Stats, his physical, mental, and spiritual abilities. Skills, energy pathways that have been carved into his body to allow for the use of techniques. Titles, your achievements. Free points, the points used to increase your stats. Of which he has sixty to spend. The sudden knowledge was almost overwhelming in how smoothly it came.
The new scream that filled the air let him push it to the side.
Felix haphazardly threw all of his points into strength, agility, and vitality before closing the [Status] with barely a thought. He didn’t know what the heck was going on, but people were in danger. Maybe he would regret the choice later, but the fact of the matter was that Felix did not have time to waste on these screens. Not right now when his coworkers are likely being attacked by monsters. He may not have been overly attached to his co-workers, but he didn’t want any of them to die.
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He had to do something. And if doing something involved fighting to his near death? He grinned.
As his body spasmed with the phantom pains of injuries that should have been but weren’t, Felix quickly looked around for something to arm himself with. Hopefully something that wasn’t a desk accessory this time. His eyes quickly locked on to the hobgoblin’s jagged knife. It held onto it with an iron grip even in death.
Reaching down with one hand, his left, Felix ripped the knife from the creature’s grip and nearly jumped back as its fingers exploded into a multicolored ash. Looking closer Felix realized its whole body was rapidly breaking apart. It wasn’t long until all that was left was ash.
At least the knife stayed behind.
Once again, Felix decided he would deal with the implications later. Properly equipped now, Felix sprinted off in the direction of the scream as fast as he could. Which, it turned out, was fast. More than twice as fast as what an Olympic runner, much less out of shape and underweight man like Felix, should have been capable of. It was so fast he could barely react in time to avoid tripping over a fallen computer. He still would have crashed into it anyways had his body not also become far more responsive too, moving exactly as he wanted it to right when he wanted it to.
As it was, he managed to bring himself to a stop right before anything bad happened. Felix would have to get used to that. No longer obscured by a row of cubicles, Felix looked around for where the screaming came from before- and found a grim sight.
He was not the first one to reach them.
Barely ten feet in front of him were three creatures, each standing about half the height of the hobgoblin but somehow twice as ugly. They were hunched over someone, Beatrice from finance, dementedly giggling as they clawed away at clothes and flesh. The goblins, Felix guessed, dug their clawed hands deep and then, with horrific ease, ripped out a large bloody chunk of flesh before shoving it into their disgustingly wide mouths. They were so enraptured by their indulgence they hadn’t even noticed Felix.
He did not give them a chance to.
Felix launched forward like an arrow let loose, something draining from him as he did. However, he was mostly ready for the speed this time. His knife was already aimed forward, and, in an instant, it announced his arrival by tearing through the neck of the first goblin. It's cackling cut short, replaced by an airy gasp as it fell to the ground clutching at the gaping wound.
By the time the other two monsters began to react, Felix was already upon them. Swinging his blade with a precision, and basic competency, that stood in stark contrast to his showing against the hobgoblin just minutes ago. The second goblin was stabbed through the eye before it could grab its dagger. Using the knife just felt natural. Far too natural considering Felix had never picked up a knife for anything more than cooking before.
The basics of dagger use have been engraved into your being.
The third goblin managed to grab onto Felix's leg and begin stabbing him in the thigh with a frenzy. The pain was like a shot of adrenaline. His heart thundered, his muscles tensed, his eyes dilated, the threat of death was real again, and he was alive. With a grin, Felix spun the dagger in his hand and stabbed it down with all his strength, driving the blade deep into the top of the goblin’s head. Its skull split like a melon.
As the adrenaline began to fade, a new notification appeared. Seems the system waits for the fighting to end before appearing. Convenient.
You have [Vanquished] a Level 5 [Goblin]! x3
Felix closed the screen with barely a glance. All of his attention was on Beatrice. Or rather, the mutilated corpse of what once was Beatrice. Empty eyes stared back at him. He had arrived as fast as he could, and it still wasn’t enough. Felix turned away without a word. He couldn’t mourn her. Not right now when others were still in danger. Maybe not ever. It’s not like he even knew her, not really, they had spoken to one another a max of five times, if that. The fact that Felix even remembered Beatrice’s name was a minor miracle in itself.
It still felt wrong.
Felix ran off towards where he heard the other screams. Moving as fast as he could go without tripping over anything, Felix rounded a corner, and froze.
Nearly a dozen goblins had cornered a group of his coworkers who were doing their best to fight them off with office chairs. Caleb stood at the front, his legs bloody, rallying the defenders. Two hobgoblins stood at the back, watching the whole show glee and cackling whenever a goblin managed to get a hit in. One held a large wooden club and the other a rusty sword. Three bodies lay still on the floor.
Without a moment's hesitation, Felix charged towards the club hobgoblin at full speed. He felt something drain from him again. Unlike the goblin, however, the hobgoblin actually noticed and reacted fast enough to spin around and confront him–and getting stabbed in the stomach for its troubles.
Felix ripped the dagger out and the monster screeched in pain as it tried to step back and raise its club, but Felix didn't relent. Grabbing onto its shoulder with his offhand he drove the dagger deep into the creature's chest. A gurgled cry escaped its lips as Felix twisted the blade as he pulled it back before turning to face the rapidly approaching second enemy away. That was a mistake.
The dying monster suddenly wraps its arms around Felix, its eyes filled with a mad malice. If it was going to die, it was going to drag Felix down with it. The monster’s strength was rapidly fading but it managed to hold onto Felix just long enough for the other hobgoblin to drive its rusty blade straight through Felix's stomach.
Now this was a real fight.
Seeing what happened Caleb shouted, “What the- Felix!” A goblin took advantage of his momentary lapse of focus to bite him in the shin. “Fuck!” Reacting on instinct he smashed his chair over the goblin’s head.
Felix was taking his injury much better. Leaning back into the first hobgoblin’s grip, Felix used the leverage to kick the sword wielding one back before he wretched himself free from the dying hobgoblin’s grasp.
Completely ignoring his wounds, Felix took a step towards the snarling hobgoblin before stopping. The two stared each other down as they began to circle one another. The grin Felix hadn’t noticed grew on his face with each passing step.
At an unseen signal, the two launched forward. Felix coming in low and the monster’s blade going straight for Felix’s head. Felix, choosing to have some common sense for once, opted to evade their strike by rolling to the side. The blade whistled past his ear, missing his neck but still slicing into his shoulder.
Rising from a crouch, Felix launched himself up at the hobgoblin, his blade sliding across its leathery chest and leaving a long but shallow gash. Unlike Felix, the damn thing actually knew not to give the enemy a free hit and its skin was thick enough that attacks like that weren’t anywhere near fatal. Still, now that he was too close for the hobgoblin to properly use its sword, Felix was going to press his advantage—until he got punched in the face. The hobgoblin grinned.
Like in most fights, things rapidly devolved from there.
They both went into a frenzy, punching, kicking, stabbing, at some point it even screeched and caused some of the goblins to come help their leader, stabbing his ankles and anywhere else they could while Felix tried not to get beheaded. Every advantage they could take, they did. Yet the fight went on. Wound after wound covered their bodies. The hobgoblin was becoming sluggish, the blood loss getting to him as the injuries piled on.
But Felix only got faster. Even as more and more fatal wounds racked up, Felix only became stronger. He was going to win. He just had to stay alive a little bit longer.
Felix still threw himself onto the monster, his blade finally managing to cleanly sink into the monster’s stomach. The hobgoblin’s howl was muffled by its teeth digging into Felix’s shoulder. He grabbed its throat, it punched him in the ribs, he kneed it in the stomach, it stabbed him in the back. His dagger pierced its heart.
When the monster finally fell to the ground, Felix did not join it. He stood over the body of his fallen enemy, feeling like he was on the top of the world. The goblins that had come to help were barely worth mentioning.
Turning towards his coworkers, he saw that they had actually managed to kill a couple goblins now that the crowd had thinned a bit. Rushing over, Felix helped finish off the remaining goblins. As the last goblin fell, Felix’s blue eyes met Caleb’s brown. Caleb had definitely seen better days. His button-up shirt was torn and splattered with blood and his black slacks were practically torn to shreds.
“Holy shit, Felix.” Based on his reaction, Felix almost certainly looked worse.
Felix smiled, uncaring of the blood on his face, most of which almost certainly wasn’t his. “Hey Caleb. What a day huh?”
Before Caleb could respond, Felix fell to the ground to the sound of notifications.
You have [Vanquished] a Level 10 [Hobgoblin]! x2
You have [Vanquished] a Level 5 [Goblin]! x3
You have [Vanquished] a Level 6 [Goblin]! x1
Congratulations!
You have Leveled Up!
As Caleb ran over shouting something and Felix’s consciousness began to fade, he threw his five new free points into vitality. The warm energy that flowed through him upon confirming his choice being the last thing he felt as everything went dark.