Taking a deep stretch, Daniel slowly rose to a sitting position, still half-asleep. Smacking his lips, he slowly opened his dark brown eyes, accentuated by the dark bags underneath them. Ruffling his black, unkempt hair a bit, he takes a look at the clock nearby and frowns. The clock reads 4:07 p.m., which is much later than when he intended to wake up. Getting up, he pulls out his earplugs and swiftly tucks away the blanket and pillow he had just been using, accustomed to the movement. He had made friends with one of the janitors, Derek, and he had let him nap here in-between classes. In fact, Derek was supposed to wake him up from his nap at 12, when his lunch break started. Maybe something urgent came up, Derek normally wouldn't forget to wake him. He'd question him later, when he got the chance.
Giving a fleeting thought to the class he had missed, Asian Cultural Studies, he grabbed his backpack and started moving towards the door. It was fine that he had missed the class, he studied well enough on his own and aced all the tests. He really only went to the class to talk to a cute girl in there, Lynn. His thoughts were interrupted when he found he couldn’t open the door. It wasn't that he couldn't turn it, but rather, the door seemed jammed from the outside. Frowning once again, he started knocking on the door, yelling loudly, “Hello? Is anybody there? Can someone open this door?”
He realized there was something strangely...unnatural about the building. He couldn’t hear anything. Where there was usually the bustle of people, talking and unrestrained laughter in the hallways, there was now...silence. His mind quickly reeling through several different possibilities, he landed on one possibility: That there was a shooter in the building, and they had either gathered everyone in one room, or everyone was hiding in their separate rooms or have possibly already been evacuated. Sitting his mind on that situation, he pulled out his phone and quickly tried to pull up the local news for his university. All he found was that neither the wifi, mobile data, nor regular cell reception was running, which would have freaked out the average college student, but Daniel thought little of the inconvenience. The situation that could cause this was far more worrying than being unable to check Instagram.
Opening the small window near the top of the ceiling, he tossed his bag through before pulling himself up and out. He had been practicing parkour for a few years now, and he was fairly proud that his skills sometimes came in handy at times like this. Climbing out, he didn’t expect to the campus grounds like this.
The thick trees that once decorated the campus grounds were uprooted, some dozens of feet away from where they once stood, others trampled or even broken in half. He stood there for a minute, mouth slightly agape, trying to make sense of the destruction. Deciding he didn’t want to be found by whatever caused that, he entered through the open window of a nearby classroom. He immediately regretted his decision, falling to his knees and vomiting at what he saw.
Corpses littered the floor, the bodies mangled, torn apart, limbs crushed. The bodies were fresh, probably not more than a few hours old. The iron stench of blood overpowered his nose, and he continued to dry heave well after he had emptied his stomach.
Still shaking, he wondered if there was anybody here he knew. He somehow found the strength to stand up again, and cautiously walked around the room, checking the faces that hadn’t been completely torn apart. He came across just one person he knew, their body still, and their hand forever frozen in their attempts to claw the door open.
“Joshua”, he sighed. Joshua was one of Daniel’s close friends at college, his former suitemate, and one of his “family” members here. They would mostly play games together, talk about girls, and generally shoot the shit. Joshua wasn't particularly good with the ladies, probably because he came off as an unsocial anime addict - which he was, but Daniel still had hopes for him.
His mind flashed to the conversation he had with his “family” about who would survive the longest in an apocalypse. With a bitter laugh, he remembered how they had all, including Joshua, agreed that Joshua would die first. He started to reminisce a bit, almost losing himself in his thoughts, before he realized that it wasn't the time for that. He closed Joshua’s eyes, surveyed the room, and got to work.
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After arranging all the intact bodies in rows and covering them up with whatever he could find around the room. He closed his eyes and said a quick prayer, hoping they find peace in the afterlife. Truth be told, Daniel didn't really know why he did this; he wasn't even religious. But he felt compelled to. And to his surprise, he was rewarded for it. A blue notification popped up in front of him, its white borders glowing. It floated in front of him, but stayed in the same position relative to where he was looking.
“Uhhh?” he said aloud in utter confusion.
New title achieved: Exorcist!
For being one of the first five people to remove the spirits
from the bodies of the departed, a new title has been awarded.
Bonuses:
15% extra damage to the undead
50% Fear resistance against undead
Can more easily send spirits to the afterlife
Due to player status lock, bonuses are unavailable.
His mouth once again went agape at this notification. His brain went into overdrive, quickly analyzing what this meant.
First, due to the notification itself, and the mention of the word player, it was highly likely that the world had become some sort of video game like thing. He had a fair amount of experience with video games, and it seemed like that might be the case. What that had actually meant though, he was unsure of. Was his body in the real world, and his mind here? Was this actually the real world? What happens if I die here?
Unfortunately, those questions couldn’t be answered at the moment. He had no way of knowing, and no desire to experiment at the cost of his life.
Second, the notification mentioned a player status lock. Was this restriction on everybody, or just him? And if so, how could he get rid of it? Unfortunately, those questions couldn’t be answered at the moment either.
Third, how did he unlock the title? He had prayed for the corpses, but he didn't remember seeing any spirits.
Unbeknownst to him, a few spirits had floated up and out of some of the bodies while his eyes were closed in prayer. The simple act of the sincere prayer and care for the bodies was enough for some of the spirits to find rest.
In any case, it was getting more and more clear that the immediate area was dangerous and that he didn't have anywhere near enough information to analyze the situation. All he could gleam from the bodies was that the carnage didn't seem like something a human could pull off. But what?
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Metal table leg in his hand, Daniel peeked out into the hallway. Although the place was a mess, he didn't see anything moving, nor could he see any bodies. He did, however, notice that one of the support pillars had fallen against the supply closet door, jamming it. Even if he did have ear plugs in, he was still surprised that he slept like a rock through all this.
Taking care not to step on any fallen nails or trip over any of the debris, he moved through the hallway. Looking through the classroom windows, he just saw more gore and desecrated bodies. He briefly considered also giving those bodies a service as well, but he felt he had taken up too much time already.
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Turning the corner, he immediately noticed three small, green, humanoid creatures wearing dirty loincloths and holding wooden clubs. He immediately jumped back around the corner. Thankfully, their backs were turned, so they hadn't yet noticed him.
The first thing that came to mind was that these creatures were goblins. Usually slaughter for the beginners of any game. But in reality, the wooden clubs they were holding looked like they could deal some serious damage if he wasn't careful. Although he did have a rudimentary first-aid kit in his backpack (in case of emergencies), it wasn't a cure-all. It could only do so much, and it's not like he had any health pots to heal him if he got hurt.
He decided that he wouldn't try to fight the goblins unless he absolutely had to. Daniel didn't know how strong they were, and without any more information, he had to play it safe. He only had one life in this world, after all.
His first destination would be his dorm. It wasn't too far away, and he had some supplies and tools that would be of help in this situation. The dorm was also a fairly defensible location, styled kind of like an apartment. His was on the second floor of one of the buildings, and the steps could probably be destroyed if he had the right tools, or at the very least, blocked off. It probably wouldn't be much in the face of whatever tore those trees apart, but it would hopefully be enough for those goblins.
He took off his backpack, removing any non-essential items like his notebooks and papers. It might be worth it to use a notebook to start documenting any important information, but that was more of a tertiary concern at the moment. He wanted to be as light as possible, but he still needed his backpack to grab any supplies he could find.
He then took off his shoes and socks and placed them in his backpack. He would have to be extra careful of where he stepped now, but at least his footsteps would be silent.
Once again, Daniel set off, stepping clear of the occasional broken glass and diving into classrooms to avoid patrolling goblins. He wasn't sure if they were just wandering, or if they had actually set up a perimeter. It seemed more like the latter, but he wasn't certain.
After navigating the insides of the building for awhile, he stepped out, scanning the immediate area for any dangers. Seeing none, he took a moment to put on his shoes, and then immediately sprinted to the next building. It was a bit of a distance away, and he didn't want to get caught out in the open.
Midway through his run, he heard a huge squawking above him and immediately kicked his speed up a notch. “Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck” ran through his mind as he dashed towards the next building. A gigantic shadow dwarfed him, and he took a split second to turn around and found an orange bird the size of a bus flying at him.
“Fuuuuuuccckkkkkk!” he yelled as he dove through the open front door into the building, scrambling to get away just as giant raptor claws forced themselves into the opening, reaching out at him. He was far enough away that the claws couldn't reach him, and he took a moment to catch his breath, watching the claws attempt to grab at him in vain.
Behind him, he heard an unfamiliar sound. “Rrreerr, chik chik chik”. Turning around, he saw a lone goblin dashing at him, club at the ready. He couldn't go back, because the bird was still there, so he had no choice but to fight. Forcing himself on his feet, head still pounding from the exhaustion of the run, he readied his table leg, quickly analyzing the monster in front of him.
He couldn't block the club with the table leg, in all likeliness the impact would destroy the table leg, leaving him weaponless. He could try deflecting it, but he had little confidence in that. He was only trained in fencing, having had joined the fencing club in his school, but he had only been going a few months. That experience wouldn't help him much here.
He would try to aim for its club-wielding arm, and if he failed that, he would try to cripple its legs.
Waiting for the goblin to come closer, his body was shaking, adrenaline coursing through his body. He unsuccessfully tried to force his body to still, but since he couldn't manage that, he just hoped he wouldn't drop his weapon or trip over himself at an inopportune time. He wasn't afraid of killing, he had already figured he might have to. He was just naturally afraid of dying.
As it neared, the goblin yelled a guttural noise at him, almost as if it was laughing, and it swung its club down. Stepping to the side, Daniel dodged the club and swung his weapon in a backhanded manner, aiming for the goblin’s arm. Unfortunately, he was too slow, and the goblin was able to block the attack. It chittered some more at him, and he was definitely sure it was laughing at him now.
Taking a step back, he readjusted his position before the goblin stepped forward,taking a lofty swing at his side. Stepping to the left, the swing missed him, and he took the opportunity to swing his own weapon at the goblin. Unable to block in time, the goblin took a hefty blow to its side as it yelped in pain.
Not wanting to let it get its bearings, Daniel swung once more, hooking it behind the knee and causing it to fall on its back. Before it could get up, Daniel immediately started raining blows on its legs in hopes of crippling it before it could get up.
At this point, the shaking had already stopped, although in the heat of battle, he was unaware of it.
Its legs broken, it was crying out in pain as it vainly made attempts to swing its club at him. He pitied it a bit, seeing as it too, was scared to die. But he wasn't the type to show mercy. He stepped on its right arm, effectively pinning down the club, and swung down the table leg repeatedly at its head. He wasn't sure if the first swing would kill it, and if he paused to check after the first, he felt like he might throw up. He had killed animals before when he was hunting, but it’s a completely different story when you're killing with your hands.
After he felt he had swung enough, he stopped to take a look at his handiwork. Its face was caved in, and its legs were bent at awkward angles. He grimaced, as the scene before him was not a pretty sight. Glancing at the table leg in his hand, he tossed it to the side, as it was now bent beyond repair.
A ding rung in his head as several blue notification windows suddenly appeared before him.
Congratulations on your first kill! Player status unlocked!
For killing your first monster, your status has been changed from NPC to Player!
The status window is now unlocked.
Player information is now unlocked.
Reward for player unlocking!
Rare Skill: Identify
Daniel stood there, surprised, mouth slightly agape once more.