Less Than a Hero, More Than a Gamer
Chapter 4
Max sat back on a crate in The Cage, a large bruise on his uncovered chest. The boy taped an ice pack over his black eye. His uncovered left eye glared at the stained wrappings covering his arms.
'I'm really starting to regret coming here every night.'
Every day for the last 2 weeks Max went into the cage. Every day for the last 3 weeks he has made a living punching, kicking, and throwing. Every day for the past 3 weeks, he's trudged to his so-called "home" feeling like a walking bruise.
The bruises got worse with every fight, the toil of each day stacking on top of each other. Max was getting stronger from it, sure, but each fight was becoming more and more tedious and painful.
Max felt a surge of excitement during his first dozen fights. Every time his opponent hit the floor he had to keep himself from grinning.
But the exhilaration had long since faded and coming to The Cage was just a daily routine.
'Now it was just me waiting for the other guy to either hit the floor or my face.' Max thought morosely.
A rude voice called out, "Hey dog boy!"
'Ugh, not this asshole again.'
Gary Green was always trying to start a fight with someone even when he wasn't in the ring. The scrawny guy would either go nonstop about his matches being flukes if he lost, or brag all night if he won.
Everyone thought he was annoying, but they couldn't exactly kick him out. But to Max, the man was just plain infuriating. Watching the prick hit the ground always gave the boy a sick sense of satisfaction that normal fights just couldn't.
Which is why nearly every time Gary got a little stir crazy Max volunteered to fight him.
"I'm a wolf Gary," Max growled out, "What do you want? other than your head in the dirt." he muttered near the end.
"The ringmaster wants you upstairs dog breath." Gary's little jab caused Max's eye to twitch.
*CRASH*
Max's fist flew into Gary's eye, causing him to slam into the wall behind him. The shocked man regained his bearings a few seconds later, clutching his blackened eye. Gary saw his aggressor walking up the stairs looking at him with a blank face.
"Don't call me dog breath again," Max instructed the downed man in a bored tone.
Junior's Bar was loud, extremely loud.
And bright.
And smelly.
'Just how is this place open?'
Max hadn't been inside many bars so maybe he wouldn't know what a "good" bar looks like, or a bad one either. Still, after spending his nights in a dark, dimly lit basement, the sudden bright lights were annoying.
Max eyed the man behind the counter, the ringmaster of The Cage he realized. The silverette recognized a few familiar faces from The Cage chatting nearby.
"You serious about this Xiong, he's what, 15?" an orange haired man questioned.
"Don't you of all people give me a lecture about child labor laws. It's your fault I'm low on men anyway, and I don't exactly have job applications lined up."
"I keep telling you that wasn't…*sigh* Just don't blame me if these guys come back charbroiled."
The man walked off followed by a short girl with an umbrella. Max looked back at the counter to see someone patting an empty seat, silently calling him over.
Sitting down the boy asked, "You called me for something?" Max duly noticed the people taking seats next to him asking the same question.
"To all of you who don't know me my name is Junior Xiong," The man introduced, "And I would like to offer you eight a job at this fine establishment."
"What would we be doing here exactly?" A man with sandy blonde hair asked curtly.
"Eh, just body-guarding, working at the bar, the occasional job request from one of my colleagues. Interested?"
A woman on the far right spoke up, "Not that I'm saying no or anything, but why would you hire us of all people?"
"Most people that come down to The Cage are just there for the hell of it. They show up for one night, get tired of being punched or losing bets, and never show their faces again."
"But you guys aren't like most people. You show up every night and do nothing but fight. You're a bunch of maniacs who are either desperate for cash or just plain crazy, qualities I appreciate in my workers."
"So," He leaned forward with a questioning look on his face, "Are. You. In?"
The Next Day
Max stared at the mirror in the employee changing room. He tried moving around, finding the black and red suit surprisingly comfortable.
The boy tried to put the hat on but struggled to get his ears comfortable and constantly had to push his bangs out of his eyes. Frustrated, he threw the hat into a pile of clothes and returned to the mirror.
"Hey kid quit starin' at yourself, we got shit to do." One of my new 'coworkers' signaled.
Because of his inexperience and age, Junior had Max on door duty. It was very…underwhelming. All that really happened was some kid around fifteen trying to use a fake ID.
Hours went by and all Max saw were drunks stumbling out of the doors. It was so boring that he went to sleep. An hour later, he was still leaning against the wall and NOTHING happened.
Hour 4
Max twirled his sword around, doing fake slashes at an invisible enemy. He got a little carried away with a spin attack and loosened his grip accidentally. The sword flew out of the boy's hand mid-swing and impaled itself into a car window
*CRACK* *BEEP BEEP BEEP*
A man with sandy blond hair stood next to Max, starring at him curiously.
The silverette crept across the street and grabbed his sword through the now shattered window. He glared at the blonde, tanuki if he remembered.
"Tell no one about this." The man nodded
Hour 5 1/2
"And I thought iPhones were high-tech." Max was messing around with his scroll, trying to figure it out before he wiped at the data from it.
'Wait, that icon looks familiar…That the hell is DustTube?'
And I was like baby, baby, baby oh
Like baby, baby, baby no
Like baby, baby, baby oh
"WHAT THE FLYING FUHHHH!?" Max threw the abomination on the floor closing the pit of hell that was that song. His vision blurred and my hands shook from some type of PTSD.
"Uhh, I think you dropped this." Tanuki reached for Max's scroll but the boy caught his hand midway.
"NO! You leave that damned song to its vile machinations. It is sick and needs to be disposed of."
"Kid it's just Dustin Cleaver-"
"NO, it is a demon from hell!" Max shouted, outraged at his ignorance.
"But-"
"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Hour 8
"Hey, kid?" Tanuki has been trying to make small talk for the last half an hour, with Max being content to ignore him and try to fall asleep
"Heeyyyy, kid?"
"Kid?"
"Are you awake?"
"Kid?"
"Oh, my fucking god, what is it Tanuki?"
"Why exactly are you here?"
"Cause I'm being paid to stand here," he spoke sarcastically
"No, No, that's not it. The rest of us really don't really have much of a choice but be here. But what about you?"
"What about me?"
"Not to knock on you, but you're like 14, people your age are usually going to ya know…school n' stuff and doing that whole self-discovery thing. But what about you? You kinda seem to be just…existing like the rest of us."
Max couldn't find an answer. Nor could he find a reason to give him an answer. And he really couldn't find a reason to care.
"To be honest, I don't care, that's all there really is to it. As long as I'm alive and fed then I'll be fine."
Max faintly heard Tanuki reply, but just leaned his head back and tuned out the rest of the world. He became still against the wall, eyes open and unblinking but seeing nothing.
Basically, he fell asleep with his eyes open.
Hour 9:59
'Come on, you stupid clock! This minute feels like it's been going on forever.'
12:00 am
'Just 6 more days until I get an actual paycheck.'
The workday was boring, increasingly so. But it was a far safer way to get money than going to The Cage every night.
"All right newbies, shift's over. You can keep the gear, just don't damage it."
The others went to their homes or their cars, figures with it being midnight and all. But Max hung back it the back of the bar.
The boy looked over his sword and clothes. Over the week he realized that he could analyze things, similar to the way he saw Gary's 'HP' and 'Level' which roughly translated to Endurance and Skill.
And for some reason when he stared long enough at his food, whatever facts he knew about it came up. It was a weird experience, but it taught Max two things.
That he could analyze people and items somehow.
And pizza restores 30 'SP' and gives a +1 strength boost for a minute. 'Who would've thought?'
Max named this bizarre, but helpful ability 'The Third Eye'.
[ Xiong Sword (Red) (Uncommon 1) (+15 STR) (Slash) ]
[Strength Requirement: 9 | Dexterity Requirement: 8]
[ Xiong Clothes Set (Black/Red) (Uncommon 1) (Manufactured) ]
[ Contents: Suit(Upper), Suit(Lower), Gloves(Red), Dress Shoes(Black), Sunglasses(Red), Dress hat(Black)
[ Damage Taken: -13 | Level 3 Temperature Resistance ]
'Even clothes give bonuses? Ugh, this will be as complicated as it is helpful.'
Max surfed the Menu, reminded of the 'quest' he received two weeks ago. He wanted to do it right away but a quick use of The Third Eye on the guidebook told him that his stats were way too low to make even a young beowolf flinch.
He slipped the Xiong Sword into 'The Pocket', another feature of the Menu where Max could put things like food or clothes into his pocket at it wouldn't fill up much space.
Max hasn't found a limit, but the Menu said there was one, and explicitly told him that large amounts of pizza couldn't be stored there, much to the boy's irritation.
There was a forest to the east of Vale that was sealed off because of the concentration of Grimm. The perfect place to go hunting.
The Bus dropped him off 10 minutes away from the border. Max briskly walked down the path to the forest, careful not to aggravate his injuries.
Concrete ground slowly turned into a beaten dirt road. Max ducked into the high grass, looking for the gates while trying to stay hidden.
The gates seemed thick, heavily reinforced, dozens of feet tall. Two huntresses flanked the gate's entrance, their oversized swords prepared to swipe any Grimm or intruder in their path.
Max picked up a large rock and climbed up a nearby tree, wincing with every move upward. He carefully reared his arm back, taking plenty of time to adjust his aim before throwing his rock a distance away from the huntresses.
Max, seeing them distracted, ran across a thick branch and jumped as high as he could. Much to his surprise, he almost sailed over the wall entirely, balancing on the edge by the heels of his feet.
Max looked over the other side, surprised to see neither of the huntresses looking for him. The boy sighed in relief before noticing the bars in the corner of his vision
[ HP: 402/440 | SP: 315/390 ]
'Where the hell did that come from?'
Pushing aside his surprising jump, the silverette looked down in front of him, noticing a tree a fair distance away that he could land on without hurting himself.
Taking a calming breath Max jumped, barely reaching one of the tree's branches. However, it wasn't sturdy enough to hold his full weight and broke after a few seconds.
Max fell into a sloppy roll, cringing in pain as he fell. Composing himself he searched the area for any signs of movement, noticing a set of large animal footprints.
'There!'
The boy followed the tracks for several minutes, his ears perking up from the sudden growling from across the shrubbery. He ducked low looking around the bushes, freezing at what he saw.
Their arms were massive like barrels. Spikes jutted from every limb, and black smoke radiated from their paws with every step. Their faces were made of white twisted bone and their teeth were razor sharp, making knives look blunt in comparison. Red, glowing soulless eyes illuminated their dark shapes.
A small pack of beowolves was sitting in the clearing in front of him, lazily licking their teeth and scratching themselves. Max counted four in total Suddenly the largest of the group snapped to attention, sniffing the air before it turning to Max's hiding spot. Its friends followed suit, all of them preparing to pounce
Max charged out of the bushes before the Grimm could begin their assault. He ran forward to decapitate the furthermost beowolves head. However, it was able to dodge and prepared to retaliate, but one of its pack mates beat it to the punch.
Max brought up his sword to block a descending claw strike, being pushed back from the impact. This pattern continued until Max dodged under one of its strikes, slashing at its legs. He followed up by stabbing it through the mouth, causing the beowolf to freeze and slowly dissipate into ash.
Max had little time to savor his kill as he saw two beowolves charging at him through the ashes. He rolled between one's legs and stabbed it in the back soon after. The boy then circled around the injured beowolf and impaled its eye with all of his might.
A strong wind blew through the clearing, sending the destroyed beowolf's remains into the silverette's eyes, giving the remaining three grimm an opening.
The largest of the pack sent Max flying into a rough tree. The boy's right arm took the majority of the impact. Max fell to the ground, seeing his arm bruised and covered with splinters through his torn sleeve.
Max felt something sharp press into his injured arm, looking up to see a fourth beowolf looming over him, its claw pinning his arm down. Max seeing his sword a few feet away fumbled around 'The Pocket' with his free hand grabbing the knife he had gained from his would-be mugger.
He stabbed the small weapon into the beowolf's wrist making it withdraw and giving Max a chance to scramble away to his sword. Swiftly turning around, Max cut the beowolf across the neck and then stabbed it in the chest, killing it.
An adrenaline-fueled Max turned to the final beowolf and charged, the beast doing the same.
Max went into a pattern of feinting to the beowolf's side and trying to attack with the beast narrowly dodging. The boy soon ceased this pattern and attacked head-on. Unfortunately, the beowolf was faster than him, jumping out of the way and preparing to cut the silver-haired boy down.
Max saw the beast's claws coming toward him and reacted quickly, slicing the offending limb off at the base causing the Grimm to cry out in what one could assume was pain. Max then stabbed it in the stomach and with a defiant yell pulled his blade up, cutting the beowolf's torso in half.
As the beowolf turned into ashes, the adrenaline faded from Max's body, the boy dropping his sword on the ground and sinking to his knees.
[Main Quest: New World 1]
[ Primary Objective 1 [Complete] | Primary Objective 2 [Complete] ]
[Achievement(s) Get: Breaking and Entering 2, Novice Grimm Hunter 1]
[Received: Rank 1 Weapon Materials]
[ Max Argentum | Level 9 (121/1000) - Level 10 (1388/1500) ]
[Lien: $16,680 - $19,630]
[ HP: 327/460 | SP: 48/410]
[ STR: 28 - 30 | VIT: 30-32 | CON: 25 - 27 | AGL: 34 - 36 | DEX: 31 - 33 | Spirit: LOCKED ]
[Check the 'Skills and Talents' Menu for abilities]
A large box landed in front of Max, full of metal parts, gears, and cloth. Several colors of cloth and paint were at the bottom. The boy 'Pocketed' the box, too exhausted to use the Third Eye.
Max ate a few slices of pepperoni pizza he had stored in 'The Pocket', each not doing much to re-energize him aside from clearing his head. With the beowolves destroyed and his quest completed the silver-haired boy was faced with a new dilemma
'How the hell do I get out of here?'
Maxy Chibi ep3
First Hour
Tanuki: Hey.
Max: Yeah?
Tanuki: You ever wonder why we're here?
Max: It's one of life's great mysteries isn't it? Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is there really a God watching everything? You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don't know, man, but it keeps me up at night.
Both stare at each other in silence.
Tanuki: ...What?! I mean why are we out here, in front of the bar? Nothing really happens outside of bars
Max: Oh. Uh... yeah.
Tanuki: What was all that stuff about God?
Max: Uh...hm? Nothing.
Tanuki: You wanna talk about it?
Max: No.
Tanuki: You sure?
Max: Yeah.
Random Guy: IS THAT A MOTHERFUCKING RvB REFERENCE!?
Max: Tanuki.
Tanuki: Yeah?
Max: I'm gonna kill him.
Looking back on this chapter, I realized that it was a fucking shit show. There were so many problems with the dialogue and the grammar. This will probably be the most altered edited chapter. I will under no circumstances use 1st person PoV again. I realized that it just wasn't my style. Sorry for the inconvenience I promise to never make a mistake this major again.
Base stat Average: 5
Civilian stat Average: 15
Huntsmen Trainee stat Average: 30
Beacon Academy stat Average: 60-80
Huntsman stat Average: 125
Maiden stat Average: 200
Higher Warriors stat Average: 250+