The sound of rain softly hitting the windows woke me up earlier than I had planned. I rolled over and took a look at the clock.
"4 AM" is what looked back at me from the small electronic box, a reminder that sleep had been stolen from me.
I rolled back and simply stared at the ceiling, no longer drowsy, but not yet rested enough. Spring was not holding back on the rain and storms, as this was the third time my sleep was interrupted in less than 2 weeks.
A quick glance at the window told me that it was just rain, not a storm. I groaned out, knowing I was going to miss out on more blissful sleep, but I had a routine to keep.
Getting out of bed, I did a few light stretches to help wake my body up. After, I headed to the bathroom and took a quick shower. I used to shower to help arrange my thoughts more than to clean, but with all the killing I've done recently, there was less time to wander into my own thoughts.
Stepping out of the shower and looking in the mirror, I saw my face again. Naturally messy, black hair stood out on top. I made sure to cut it often enough since I could never get it to stay down. Blue eyes looked back at me in the glass, surrounded by a beige skin. A glance down showed more stubble than a beard, but I liked it since it reminded me of the face I knew not so long ago.
Had it really been 4 years since that day?
I woke up to the chilly morning air and a hard bed. Granted, the bed was less fabric and more wood. Oh, and it served as a bench as well.
I sat up, thinking about how these recent nights couldn't continue. Not that I had much choice.
After all, getting transported to an alternate Earth would put anyone into homelessness and poverty. I hoped that was the case as I was still trying to figure things out.
Finding a home was more of an issue than I thought it would be. Turns out, many places won't hand over a place to live without some kind of down payment or security deposit. Even more interestingly, was the fact that no matter who I spoke to, I simply didn't have my degree on my person to get any well paying jobs.
Fun fact: many places won't even hire without a living address. So, to get a job, I needed a house, and to get a house, I needed a job. Truly, the worst of paradoxes.
Anyhow, I found myself relying on the trusty and ever-present park bench once again. Thank you for the hospitality.
I was brought out of my thoughts by the window coming into existence, the one that I had hoped would simply fade like a bad dream.
That message had appeared again, trying to take away my focus. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time, as I was going to take a look around the northern end of City Z. Speaking of, these cities are damn massive if they're all roughly the same size.
Now, they simply couldn't compared to the megacities of my Earth or Mars, or even the developing colonies on Venus or, hell, Mercury. Nonetheless, they were still damn impressive compared to earlier in history.
Even so, there was just a tiny, little problem that made the difference. Back on my Earth, there were no such things as monsters, much less people becoming them.
I remembered my encounter a couple of days ago with one such being. I was walking down the street, looking for any job openings or help wanted signs when I heard a few screams coming from up ahead.
I rounded the corner, and saw something I won't forget anytime soon.
What I saw was a large, well built man. The only thing that really stuck out, though, was the fact that his head was, in fact, a large red brick. I must've made some noise turning the corner because he was turning towards me.
Once he had turned around though, what stuck out even more than his head was that his arms were made from bricks as well. Now, they weren't just solid blocks of concrete attached together. Instead, if someone glued pieces of brick to their arm, it would've looked pretty similar. Of course, it wouldn't have moved nearly as naturally as his did.
After his arms, I noticed the blood on his shirt. Red stains mainly flowing down towards the ground. Following that path with my eyes, I finally noticed the corpse at his feet, it's face brutally caved in. Now, what would any other person do in a situation like that?
Run, of course!
I turned around, and ran as hard as I could. I'm pretty sure I managed to lose him after taking a few random streets and turns, but I got lost in the process myself. I didn't really know the city too well at that point, but there didn't seem to be any public phones nearby. Plus, it was getting late and I wanted to find a place to hide from that… thing.
After looking for maybe 20 minutes or so, I found a place to sleep in a local construction site. Looking back, maybe I should've gone ahead with reporting the incident, or maybe I should've looked for somewhere more secure to fall asleep. Maybe I would've gone ahead and lived a somewhat normal life.
Instead, when I woke up the next day, I found myself looking directly at that creature. I couldn't call it a man, since even without a face I could still feel its killing intent.
Didn't really have enough time to do anything, because it punched me and I went flying past a sheetrock wall. The impact left me winded, and I couldn't really make a break for it.
When I got up, I felt that a rib or two were pretty messed up. I knew I had no choice but to either die, or somehow fight my way out, since running wasn't an option at the moment. I started to look around for a weapon, and managed to find a metal pipe.
A little crude, but I grabbed it and held it close to me, similar to a bat. The monster started walking towards me, every step filled with a singular purpose. I could feel this thing's intense desire to see and cause my death, and I just… panicked.
When it got close enough, I took a swing at its head. It didn't even try to defend itself, took the pipe head on. I like to imagine it was surprised by the force behind the swing, but the world may never know. After the first hit, I just started to swing wildly, hoping to break its brick head. It tried to block my hits, but having bricks for arms doesn't make for great agility.
After smashing it's head a dozen times or so, it just smashed it's fist into me again, sending me further back. I landed on a beam near the center of the room over. After glancing quickly and making sure my insides were still inside, I figured that the beam was temporary and load-bearing, and I had an idea.
I let the monster approach me again, and hit it once just to aggravate it. I succeeded, and for my efforts received another attack that sent me flying. Only this time, I went through the support beam, and dropped the floor above him, seeing as I was currently out the window.
Even after having the ceiling and floor and whatever else fall on top of him, I could tell it was still alive. It was mostly buried, but it's head and left arm were sticking out of the rubble. I got close, looked at it, and debated my options.
Sure, I could kill it, but I didn't know if this was just a man who needed help? On the other hand, my injuries were very real, and very painful. I couldn't imagine it taking one someone else, someone much more fragile. The image of the corpse from the day before flashed in my mind.
I raised the bar with renewed purpose. This man- no, this thing, had to die. It was far too large of a threat, to anyone. With the sound of my heart drumming in my ears, I swung down, again, and again, and again, until all that remained of it's head was pieces of rubble and dust.
That's when reality set in with the sound of an electronic chime.
Congratulations. For killing a level 3 monster and stopping the threat it possessed to nearby civilians, you have been rewarded with 12 experience along with 10 bonus experience.
Level UP! Health replenished! Level 2 reached! Attribute Points received. Access to more System features has been unlocked.
Title "Novice" given.
'Attribute Points? Unlocked? Was this like a video game?'
Seconds after the popup, I didn't feel any more pain. Touching my abdomen slowly, I was surprised to find my ribs intact, and not in multiple pieces.
I couldn't believe it, and was about to start trying to explore this system when I remembered the issue at hand. Looking down, I couldn't believe that I had ended someone's, something's life. Yeah, I understood it was me or him, but it didn't feel like a triumph, or an achievement.
I just felt ashamed.
And that's how I ended up in that park, in the cold and without any real shelter. The last few days were just a blur, I was on autopilot in a way.
I heard the soft beep given by the System again, and I just let out a sigh. Might as well get it over with. No one can change the past, and there was no time like the present.
I looked at the window that appeared, but it was the same from last time. Rereading it, I noticed that there were a couple of underlined parts that stood out.
'Maybe I could use the attribute points?'
The moment that thought came up, a new window appeared. This one was slightly taller and had far more information than anything so far.
Name: Trist
Title: N/A
Level: 2
HP: 1100/1100
HP Rgn: 170 hp/hour
AP: 5
Att: 13 +
Def: 12 +
Int: 17 +
Vit: 11 +
Res: 13 +
Cha: 11 +
Well, looking at these stats, it seems I'm slightly above average across the board, with Int or Intelligence, I assume, being the highest. It seems that I was given 5 attribute points by leveling up, and I could add them to whatever I wanted.
But the question was where to allocate the points.
I looked at the window, feeling as lost as before when I noticed a kid holding hands with his mother. She was leading him down the park sidewalk, and I had a brief moment of clarity.
The system had said to contact an administrator for any questions, so that's all I had to do. But how?
'More answers, and even more questions.' I thought. 'Uh, message admin?'
At that, a new window appeared, overlapping the rest. Another answer and another question.
Administrator is unavailable. Any questions will be answered to the best of the System's ability.
So, no admin? Well, maybe they were too busy elsewhere. Anyhow, I started to question how the stats affected me and the System responded.
All in all, it wasn't too complicated.
Attack (Att) was pretty obvious. More damage dealt to foes. Defense (Def) was the opposite, with less damage received. Intelligence (Int) was more focused on regeneration, and at the moment was affixed to my health. Vitality (Vit) dealt with my maximum health, as well as lowered damage received on top of Def. Resistance (Res) was focused on protection from non-physical attacks, though that confused me somewhat. Charisma (Cha) allowed me to communicate with allies and enemies in combat. Again, somewhat confusing, but that's because the System didn't go into detail.
Overall, looking back at the first fight, I was getting thrown around pretty badly, so maybe I would start focusing on defense for the moment. Deciding to add 3 to Def and 2 to Vit, I added the points and confirmed before I changed my mind.
I didn't really feel any different, so maybe the stats just affected combat.
After that day, I quickly figured out that this continent had many issues with monsters. Becoming a monster hunter for profit started to sound more enticing.
A few months after that, after fighting a monster once or twice a week, I finally managed to reach my goal.
Level UP! Health replenished! Level 5! Class Unlocked! Triple Attribute Points received.
Congratulations. You have reached level 5. For gathering experience in both the system and in combat, you have been given the privilege of choosing your class. Be aware that only one class tree can be chosen, and the rest will become locked to you. Classes are available with regards to your past knowledge, feats, and stats. Choose Wisely.
When choosing a class, your level will be reset to 1. The amount of total levels will be determined by the rarity of the class. Be aware that attribute points will only be received every 3 levels from now, with the exception being the final level. WARNING! Leveling up will no longer fully restore health.
Every 5 levels, a Perk Point will be received. Use these points to choose passive or active abilities. Again, Choose Wisely!
It seemed like a class was a big deal, especially with receiving so many points as well. Apart from that, the losing the health restore was a damn shame. I'm probably going to have to invest more in vitality, even though there won't be as many attribute points as I thought.
I was still curious about classes in general so I asked the System about them. Summarized, it seems that abilities, or powers, are locked behind classes, with many classes overlapping and also being unique. There was also the fact that leveling up in a class would automatically add attributes. Well, that was a blessing.
I took a glance at my stats after allocating the points, and I was slightly impressed.
Name: Trist
Title: Novice
Class: N/A
Level: 5
HP: 1800/1800
HP Rgn: 200 hp/hour
Att: 15
Def: 30
Int: 20
Vit: 18
Res: 13
Cha: 11
After having fought with monsters the past few months, it seemed that Def really did help with lowering the risks of combat, which is why I was so invested into it. I also applied the Novice title because it was the only one I had apart from "Traveler". I didn't think letting someone know I'm not from here would have been the best idea, if they could even see my status.
After setting the points in stone, I started to look over the class options, and there were quite a few. There were the general ones that focused on each attribute, but even as a Defense focused build, I didn't really want that.
Eventually, however, I did manage to find something that raised my interest. I asked for more information, and the System surprisingly gave some good data.
Prerequisites: Take over 200 damage in a single attack, then do more damage with your own, 25 Def, 15 Vit. Professional understanding of physics.
Reflector (Rare, Evolvable): You are the Wall. Whether it be one covered in spikes or in flames, you do not allow your enemies to break you without breaking them first.
Innate Ability:
Reflection I: Reflect damage back to the enemy with his own force. Enemies take 50% of True damage suffered, and Def is raised by 5.
This interested me greatly, as it meant that my defense would be more effective and I wouldn't have to struggle as much to take an enemy down. It went well with my current attributes, and I couldn't really find anything else that fit.
Choosing it and finalizing, I felt a strange warmth overtake me for just a moment. As quickly as it came, it was gone, and I checked my status just one more time.
Name: Trist
Title: Novice
Class: Reflector
Level: 1/60
HP: 1800/1800
HP Rgn: 200 hp/hour
Att: 15
Def: 35
Int: 20
Vit: 18
Res: 13
Cha: 11
Physical Damage Reduction (PR): 17.5%
Non-Physical Damage Reduction (NR): 9.75%
The damage reduction was new, but I had a feeling it was just visible now due to "True damage" being a thing. After consoling with the System, True damage was the amount of damage taken before damage reduction occurred, meaning if I was supposed to take 100 physical damage, I would take around 82-83 while my enemy would get 50 damage reflected back. It was pretty neat, all in all.
Feeling that I had a greater chance at the monster hunter career, though I had been doing pretty decently in manual labor, I was slightly excited to test out my power in the near future.
Maybe I would live up to being a self-proclaimed hunter.
The absence of any noise dragged me out of my memories. It didn't seem to be raining anymore, so I decided that it had been long enough.
Stepping out of the shower, I went and grabbed my clothing for the day. Since today I was going to be scouting and patrolling again, I couldn't take anything too delicate. I grabbed a specially-made synthetic red shirt, along with a pair of damage resistant jeans. Then I grabbed my black leather jacket, which was just a normal one I got from the local store.
Now, I understand that some people may think that this made me part of some biker gang, but the truth was that, since my powers depended on me taking hits, there really weren't too many clothing options out there.
Anyone with any abilities were regarded as dangerous and vigilantes by the local enforcement, but they didn't really get in the way unless civilians were involved. Plus, there weren't many people who would willingly clothe someone who could kill them if they got something wrong. Personally, I had to find someone who acted as a sort of middleman, who would only deliver clothing and receive payment. Made me feel like I was doing some shady things, but I couldn't exactly go around killing monsters naked, now could I?
Anyways, I was finished getting ready and picked up my map. Even after so long, it was tough to figure out the streets, especially with detours after battles or monster appearances. Maybe I would go patrol near the park today if I didn't find anything to fight.
Kids these days were getting even more mischievous. Someone had to keep an eye on things.
Author here.
SO, the first few chapters will be mainly focusing on my character's establishment into the world. Be aware that these will mainly consist of flashbacks and info dumps.
Speaking of, honestly, I wanted to put way more here, like wayyyy more, but I didn't just want to dump everything and get it over with. Where's the fun in that?
Anyways, as you can probably tell, any System messages will be bolded, dialogue will be written with "These" and any internal thoughts will be written with 'these.' Now, like I said, these chapters will focus on the before, but we will get to the point where the original story starts. Only problem is, I don't really know how long that's going to take, so we'll see.
Also, with the Exp algorithms that I have, it would really take him about 4 months to reach level 5 if, at the average, he killed 2 level 3 monsters every week, so I'm not really granting random exp here. Well, I guess I am since I gotta configure what monster is what level.
Oh, and with the COVID-19 epidemic going on, please remember to sterilize your hands, stay inside if you can, and be safe.
Best regards
-S