Summary: A genius and misunderstood gamer wakes up in a different yet strangely familiar place with a power he remembers reading in a manga. Except… "Why is it different?" Genius! OP! SI! OC!
AN: Hey all! I'm not dead! Big surprise I know. I lost a lot of creative thought for my other stories, so I don't know if I'll still update, so sorry to those who are expecting something. Just started University and found myself feeling the need to write again, so here I am. This is a fanfic taking place in... well you'll see...
Chapter 1: Birth of the Monarch
"Shin! You better get out of that room this instant, or I swear, this time I'll break down your door!" A white-haired woman yells, causing her face to become an angry red, blue eyes shining with anger. Her scowl, seemingly, trying to permeate through the wooden door that has a "DO NOT ENTER" sign hanging from a nail.
A deep, baritone voice answers, "MOM! I told you I'm in the middle of a tournament right now! Bother me later! Money is on the line!" Inside the room sits a white-haired young adult, surprisingly well-built, mashing the keys on his custom keyboard with eyes peeled to the screens.
"C'mon, just a few more kills and we'll have this in the bag." He muttered, in pure focus mode. Suddenly, on one of the monitors, a grotesque figure with a red name appears from his right flank.
"NO!" He yelled into his mic, panic filling his eyes. "PussyBoi, he's on my right! Archer's scouting was off! Help me hold him off" After some twiddling with his hands and loud keys paying through the somewhat silent room for the next few minutes, he let out a loud shout.
"LET'S… FUCKING… GO! He's downed! Finish him off… YES!" Shin cheered, elation filling him up more than the various gamer drinks and snacks he gorged himself with.
"SHIN! What did I say! I'm not dealing with another neighbor calling-"
"Mom," he spoke, turning around to face the door, "this tournament can really help us out, I need to concentrate, just believe in me. I got this." "No Shin I really think-"
For the next minute or so he vehemently argued his point before making it out to be a bad job and put his headset back on. "Alrighty guys! I'm back." He said, eyes now refocusing.
"No. No no no no no no no. What happened. Archer? PussyBoi? What the hell? Why are you listed as dead on my screen? I was only AFK for like 10 seconds." He said in horror, looking at the virtual blood on the screen.
An angry voice answered, "Well, Monarch, while you were arguing with your mom during a tournament, we got ambushed. The only reason we haven't lost yet is because you luckily activated your sneak skill. It's up to you now." The full pressure hit him all at once. He could clutch a 4v1, right? He thought nervously.
After a silent 15 minutes where no one spoke a single word to let him sound whore the enemy out, he quickly and suredly wiped out all but one of the enemy team. After a quick turn around the corner, he gasped after he nearly stumbled on the last player on the opposing team. The only thing standing between him and $10,000.
He closed his eyes and took in a quick breath, holding it for a few seconds, before letting it out slowly and opening his eyes. "It's go time." he said confidently. This was what he trained for, lived for, breathed for.
Shin's character in the game snuck up behind the enemy player that was hiding in order to ambush him, not knowing that he flanked him and was now right behind him, silent as the night. Due to his abilities, no one, not even the teammates spectating him would see him coming. They might have mentioned how they died, but this guy must be the noob of the group or something to not be scanning as much as he should.
And at last, he struck.
Disabling his stealth technique, he quickly chained a [Dagger Strike] and [Soul Reap] within a second span, leaving no time for the enemy to respond. After the animation for [Soul Reap] was over, Shin immediately used a [Shadow Bind], leaving his opponent paralyzed for 5 seconds.
Since he bought the dual cast perk he unequipped his [Dark Dagger] while holding the [Shadow Bind], and shot off a [Chain Fireball]. It is commonly known to those who play the game that [Chain Fireball] is the most broken thing ever, but since it requires a 3-second warm-up most find it too unwieldy to use, especially in a tournament.
Not him though.
After activating [Chain Fireball], he let out a sigh of relief and sat back in his chair and occasionally recast [Shadow Bind], smiling evilly as he imagined the noob's teammates yelling at him to do something. Not that he could, he effectively kept him stun-locked.
After 20 seconds of what must've been pure torture, the Victory sign appeared on his screen, fake fireworks blasting everywhere.
"YES! WE DID IT! MONARCH YOU MADMAN!" Pussyboi yelled into his ear, making him wince and move his headphones a little. He started laughing haughtily not a few seconds later.
"That's what I do baby, Shadow Nation gets shit done." I put out, smiling widely.
His teammates all congratulated each other and damn near praised him as a god before they went to the public comm channel to await what was surely a shouting fest.
Shin moved his cursor to the channel and clicked accept, only to have his ears bleed. "MONARCH! FUCK YOU! YOU-"
Suffice to say he had my bloodline cursed, had his sexuality questioned, and his mother threatened to be defiled. Standard Internet hate.
Throughout the whole ordeal, he kept laughing at them mockingly saying things like "Well maybe you would have paid for your son's treatments if you weren't a trash player~" and such.
After speaking with the moderator for the event and collecting their prize money, making sure it was wired correctly, they all said their goodbyes and logged off.
"Haaaaah…" Shin let out, rubbing his eyes. 'What a day. What an end. Thank a higher being it's all over. Now I can eat some dinner and relax.' He stood up from his chair, stretching heavily and making weird noises. After getting comfortable from having to sit hours in his, admittedly comfortable, chair, he walked to his door passing his many anime figures and posters.
Humming lightly, he opened the door and shrieked.
"AHH! Mom! Were you just standing there this whole time? You scared me. Jeez." He let out a long breath and held his hand over his heart, trying to slow his heartbeat.
Standing with a weird look on her face, his mom spoke up. "Shin. We need to talk." He sighed. "Alright mom, let's talk in the dining room, I'm kind of hungry." Completely dismissing any cautiousness or nervousness he felt from her.
After a short journey through their very small house, Shin went over to the adjoining kitchen to get some dinner while his mom decided to sit down in one of the chairs.
Pouring some pasta into a bowl, he decided to break the ice, "So, mom, what did you want to talk about?" He said, humming lightly.
"Shin," she began to speak before stopping suddenly. Hearing her stop, Shin turned around to see his mom wearing a weird face. "Yes?" He said, suddenly not feeling as hungry.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before speaking her mind. "What are you doing?"
Sitting down in the chair in front of her, he looked at her before grinning. "About to eat dinner. You?" 'What a weird question.' He thought, chuckling.
"Let me rephrase that. Shin, what are you doing?"
After hearing her words, he froze. Putting down his fork he straightened up and looked at her warily. He knew that tone.
After getting some energy into her she launched into a speech, "I don't see you at any time of the day except weird hours, you've been buying things left and right having them shipped here and whisking them into your room…" She began, voice growing louder and louder, "oh yeah, and you dropped out of college!" She nearly shouted.
I stared at her blankly.
"I don't get it! You had a full scholarship, a bright future, and you gave it all away! For what? Watching shows in your room and playing video games?" She asked fervently. 'I really should've brought this up sooner.' He groaned.
"Mom, you don't get it. Yeah to you it seems like a waste, but it isn't to me. I learn a lot about the world through those platforms. I build connections with the people I play with. There's an excitement of something new, something mystical. It brings me joy." I try to explain.
"That's all well and good, Shin, but you could've done that while being in your classes at Harvard!" Her face twisted, eyes flashing with concern. "I've been avoiding this conversation for these past months because of how gloomy you were, and I really should have done this sooner, but it needs to be said." She rose up.
"What the hell happened!"
"What the hell happen-"
"What the hell happ-"
"What the hell ha-"
"What the hell-"
"What the he-"
"What the-"
Her voice echoed inside his head. Flashes of memories ran past his mind in less than a second, making him clench his fist and scrunch his eyebrows in anger unconsciously.
He turned the corner, hearing screams from a huge group of people. Getting a bad feeling in his stomach, he quickly came into full view of all of his belongings tossed onto the front of the dorm house, the front third-story window where his room, wide open
"Wow, didn't think stuff like this still happened in this day and age. Who'd you annoy this time, Nothing?" A well-dressed student spoke to him, weirdly unnerved. This particular asshole was some rich arrogant jerk who thought that just because he was poor he shouldn't have the top score in the class. He ignored him.
"Hey, where do you think you're going!" He tried to say, watching as Shin ran past him.
"C'mon, please be here, don't be lost, please don't tell me…" He muttered, shoving past his many torn or broken clothes and items, now unusable.
"H-Hey, uh, Shin?" A meek voice asked him. He ignored the voice while still poking through his stuff. "What, Jakob, I'm trying to look for something here," Shin said, eyes slightly tearing up.
"What is that?"
Stopping completely, he turned to look where his friend was pointing.
After finding the only possession left behind by his departed father broken and stuffed inside a dead animal, nailed to the front of his dorm house, he decided enough was enough. He took the first flight home, not bringing any luggage since all of it was beyond saving, and canceled his enrollment at Harvard University.
After arriving at the airport and seeing his mom's distraught face he was bombarded with questions. Staying silent, he didn't speak for the next 2 weeks.
When he was alone in his room he saw a few posters of anime he used to watch before going to Harvard, and his eyes had the first bit of light in them for the first time in a while.
Rewatching all of his favorite anime, he began expanding his reservoir of anime. Rom-com, Adventure, Horror, Slice of Life, Drama, Tragedy, Mecha, Supernatural, Ecchi, and the icing on the cake- Isekai. Out of all the anime he watched, and there was a lot, his favorite genre was Isekai. And why wouldn't it be? Escaping to a different world, filled with adventure and exotic people...and girls.
So he bought anime, manga, a new PC, paraphernalia, and began entering tournaments, letting his genius shine.
Which brings him to now.
"-in! Shin! Shin!"
Knocked out of his thoughts, his eyes landed on his mom, who looked really concerned. "Listen, if you don't want to talk about it-" "Mom, it's ok, I was just thinking about something. Let me talk and don't say anything ok." Seeing her nod her head he turned his gaze onto his uneaten food.
Stirring his noodles he begins, "When I was accepted into Harvard, I was ecstatic. Right along with you." He smiled softly, remembering his mom's overreaction. "When I got there, I started doing really well. I was top of the freshman class, being scouted by a bunch of alumni, whatever." 'They really were persistent.' He remembered with a groan.
"Obviously, there were some that didn't like that a scholarship kid was beating them-" "Shin-" "No mom, let me finish." He cut her off.
"They did a bunch of stupid stuff like tripping me and other small stuff. Obviously, there was a huge thing that happened before I decided to come home, but that wasn't it. They broke the thing dad gave me before… yeah." Shin said. Her gasp left him morbidly amused for some reason.
"Anyways, when I got home I checked my email and saw that I was reached out to by the father of the one who did it. I decided to set up a video conference with him, and he apologized and offered compensation for his son's actions. After mentioning what exactly he did and what it meant, I swear he turned pale white." Shin said laughing slightly. There was a silence for a few seconds.
"Continuing on, he mentioned that he didn't want his son to have a legal case and that he was in huge trouble with the school already. So, he offered me something worthy of my troubles, or at least something that would come close."
Shin grinned, knowing that this would blow her mind.
"Considering how much the case would've cost him, especially because of the damages wrought on me, he wired me $20 million dollars. I signed a contract saying I won't sue their family or the University. Apparently, they wanted none of the coverage the case would bring and were more than happy to brush it under the metaphorical carpet, so they asked to be included. I also managed to snag a few benefits from them while I was at it."
She gasped. I smile, "Our money troubles are over now mom. I didn't even really need the tournament money, but I planned to use it as a celebration of sorts. I'm planning to start doing what I love now. I always thought of creating an anime studio or producing music. I also wanted to learn martial arts and travel more. I'm planning on investing too. I knew how before, but I never could get my hands on some start-up capital. This is good."
She begins bawling her eyes out. "B-baby, that's your money. You-" "No mom," Shin cuts her off, "It's ours now. I've already contacted a real estate agent to get us a better home. You don't even have to work all those jobs anymore. Sorry for keeping this from you for so long. I was so tired, and kind of hurt from the stuff that happened, and I wanted some time to myself."
Shine took a few seconds to breathe and let the air fill with silence, occasionally filled with his mom's happy sobs. Before he could start though, his mother spoke up, "Shin, I'm so proud of you. I wish I could've done more for you, and after hearing you take care of something so delicate and huge, even after being hurt and should be too emotional to logically do the contract, you still had the maturity and ambition your father was known for to turn the situation to your benefit. Even though I'm so proud, a part of me can't help but be so bitter," She admits.
"I tried so hard, working 3 jobs, and yet you still outshone me. It makes me happy, that you are so amazing, but it really reminds me that I'm not the genius that you are or your father was. I just feel so useless." She says sadly.
Shin consoled her. "Mom, If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't even have been able to do this in the first place. This is your hard work, along with mine."
"Oh Shin." She mutters, pulling him into a hug.
"Everything will get better now mom, I promise," Shin spoke.
And better it did.
After celebrating with a cake he surprised her with, Shin left to speak with the real estate manager, a woman named Matricia. After visiting a few of the locations, he eventually picked an $8 Million dollar house overlooking the Hollywood Hills. It looked very modern, and he was immediately in love with it.
That night, when he was lying in his new bed he sighed and tucked himself into the covers. "Here's to the best night's sleep ever." He said to the empty room. Tossing a few times to try to get comfortable, he relaxed and finally fell asleep after a few minutes.
[Hmmm…. You seem to be quite the interesting mortal. There's so much more to you that you have yet to discover. So much potential…] The voice spoke softly, almost reverently.
[It'd be a shame if I didn't give you something to really ignite it. With this power, you can grow to new heights, possibly even greater than mine...] The voice announced, confidence and a strange pressure oozing out of him.
[Here… take this and become something great. No… greater than great. Take this and become what you were always meant to be…]
[A Monarch!]
A loud pinging noise woke him up.
He woke up in an instant. After getting the initial caution out of his system, he groaned, scratching his head as he sat up. "Was that all real? Who was that? What a weird-ass dream…"
Yawning, he wiped his eyes and then blankly stared ahead.
[Welcome [Player], to the Gamer Interface]
"..." He looked around the room. Everything was in place. Him on the new bed, and an empty room. Nothing was out of place.
"Am I… no. I'm hallucinating? Stuck in a fever dream? On drugs of some sort? Is this a projection?" He lifted his right arm out in an attempt to see if it phased through, but his finger hit something that felt like a digital screen and it vanished.
Surprised, he pulled his arm back and used his other left hand to feel it. "It certainly felt real. Did my brain trick me into thinking that was real because I saw it? I know I felt something."
[For a tutorial, please speak out loud or think your response]
"No… this can't be. I know this." He stood on his bed, excitement starting to build. "I can't be this fucking lucky. No fucking way!" He grinned maniacally. 'YES! FUCK YES! GIMME!' He mentally screamed.
The screen collapsed, causing him to get even more excited.
[To use the interface in the future, you may choose to use voice command, mental command, or physical command]
"Okay, so basically use it as a touch screen, Siri, or alien tech. Got it." He said, bumping his fist in his palm.
[Please open [Status] feature]
Taking a deep breath, he whispered to himself, "All right, let's see what we're working with here."
'Show me my [Status], bitch.' He mentally commanded
The window opened. Before he could glance at it he paused. 'The status of Hunter x Hunter is on Hiatus.' He spoke in his head. His eyebrows raised.
"So, it's intent-based for the mental aspect. Useful. Wouldn't want it to open if I'm just speaking about random things and it pops out of nowhere."
Opening his status page mentally, attempting to make it as smooth and offhand as possible in case he needs to access it quickly in the future, he takes a look.
[Status]
Name: Shin
Level: 1
Age: 15
HP: 100
HP Regen: 10% per min
MP: 300
MP Regen: 30% per min
Titles: N/A (...)
Money: $0
STR: 10
VIT: 10
DEX: 10
INT: 30
WIS: 30
CHA: 10
Remaining Points: 5
Titles: (Can provide various bonuses, skills, or immunities)
"Why isn't there any money in the money slot? Is it because I haven't physically added any?" He stopped for a moment. "And where's my last name?" He wondered, before moving on.
After clicking the dots and expanding the explanation for Titles, he dismissed his status page. And with that came the next window pop up.
[Please open [Skills] feature]
Not expecting much he opened it up to see, much to his surprise, more than he expected.
[Skills]
Active Abilities:
[Observe] [Lvl 1] (...)
Can analyze an object and obtain information from it. No mana required.
Passive Abilities:
[Gamer's Body] [Lvl Max] (...)
Max Evolved Skill.
Contains [Will to Rehabilitate]. Any dismembered body parts are restored with proportionate Health Regen.
Contains [Longevity]. All diseases, poisons, and status effects are healed. Sleeping will explosively increase regeneration ability. Immune to Debuff: [Fatigue]
Contains [Mana Avatar]. Grants a body that allows the user to live life like a game. No Critical Damage will be taken. Functionally Immortal.
[Gamer's Mind] [Lvl Max] (...)
Max Evolved Skill.
Contains [Healthy State of Mind]. Immune to any psychological damage. Allows the user to think calmly.
Contains [Psychic Block]. Immune to all Mental attacks.
Contains [Divine Memory]. Grants perfect eidetic memory.
He looked blankly at the screen. "If this is right, I have the potential to be a very powerful person. Okay, let's break this down." He closed his eyes and began mapping his thoughts into separate sections.
"First off," he spoke aloud, "There are active and passive skills. This is good, that means I can gain passive abilities and bonuses."
He mentally moved that into the first column. "Next, skills have levels and can be maxed out. I don't know what level they do, and for now, I'm assuming that all skills have a max."
He noted that down. "After that, we have [Observe]. From what I can tell it's similar enough to other Gamer Fanfictions and the Manhwa, except it doesn't have a cost. Note to self please spam it so it can max out. At max level will just a glance at someone give me their complete life story and skills? What about analyzing something's molecular structure? There's too much that I can think I can do with that skill."
He took a breath. "Alrighty, number 4 and 5. [Gamer's Body] and [Gamer's Mind]. They're maxed. That's good. However…" He looked at the skill, eyes shining with an analytical glint. "I find it interesting that I have been changed so much and I don't really feel it. If this is right, then that means I have the memory of a divine being. That's nothing to sneeze at, and that's one of the lower abilities it has."
He got up off the bed and started pacing, "I'm immortal now. Well…" He glanced at the text, "functionally. I can still die, but now I won't have to face any disease or anything. I guess it's something similar to Artemis's hunters? Except on steroids!" He yelled. "I can't get a debuff?! How fucking OP is that? That means I won't ever get a poison status, a burn status, or anything! Rogue type characters are my bitch now, and most dungeons just got easier."
He paused to catch his breath. "Well, if I go to dungeons? This is all so surreal to me. I was just a college dropout. Granted, I was about to be successful as shit but…" He trailed off, eyebrows scrunching up.
"Continuing on, for now, I can regrow limbs. That's great but also, fucking ow? I really hope things don't go that far." He grimaced. "[Healthy State of Mind] is amazing and will keep me in check when things happen too quickly. Thankfully it seems like my emotions are intact, just monitored so that I don't piss myself in fear… which I can't get because of [Longevity]… huh... so is it like double protection or something?" He scratched his head.
'I really gotta quit that habit, jeez.' He thinks to himself as he quits the motion.
"Well, in all, this is amazing as a foundation. If that voice thing in my dream was real, like all of this is, then that means I can go far with this, which I can definitely now see." He spoke, face stony. Suddenly a thought hit him.
'This is just the beginning,' he thought worriedly, 'Why is it necessary to have all this power at the beginning of "the game"? What's going to happen? I feel like I just stumbled on a huge pile of health potions before entering a boss dungeon. Not the best sign.'
Before he could continue going down the rabbit hole, he got a notification.
[Please open [Store] feature]
Immediately his thoughts came to a halt.
"YES! Oh man oh man! I wonder what it's going to have? Lightsabers? Zanpakuto? Enchanted armor? A cute slime girl? Oh man, I hope there's a cute slime girl!" He thought giddily.
"Alright! Moment of truth! [Store]!" He yelled out loud in his excitement.
[Store]
[Buy] / [Sell]
"Slime girls here I come!" He chittered. Eyes alight with passion. "[Buy]!"
[Error, Level does not meet the prerequisite for access to the [Buy] feature]
His eyebrow twitched.
"Then why… did you put it in the fucking tutorial!" He screamed deafeningly at the error message screen. After cursing it out for a few more seconds, he calmed down. A little too quickly.
"Usually I can get mad for a lot longer. I'm still mad, but it feels like a long time passed and it's kind of… dulled now?" After thinking for a second, he froze.
"It can't be…" He opened his Skill menu with a thought and scrolled down. "Yup just like I thought." He muttered. 'It's kind of frightening. I didn't feel any different than I usually do. There wasn't a screen pop up, it just kind of happened… naturally…' His thought trailed off.
That worried him.
"If there is any proof that this is really real, that's some pretty good evidence right there."
Sufficiently frozen with realization, he began to move on, never realizing he wouldn't have just swept that off that easily in the past.
"Well," he said calmly, "disregarding the fact that I'm pretty sure I can sell anything off to this [store] even if the item isn't mine, unless that's blocked off too…" He gloomily muttered, "Which I don't want to check right now…" He perked up. "What's next?"
[Please open [Inventory] feature]
"Hmm, interesting. Here's to hoping I don't have a weight limit based on my Strength stat or some nonsense like that."
With less than a thought, which he was now getting a lot better at, he opened his [Inventory].
[Inventory]
C-Rank Dungeon Key (...)
"A key? Not what I expected. I was honestly expecting a pile of shit. Let's see here, what does the... expansion note say?" 'Honestly, I should have come up with a name for it before this considering it was all over my status and skills pages.' he shook his head.
'Hmm, so it's called [Animal Kingdom], and judging by the fact that it's C rank, it's pretty low level. Nothing like an S rank or above. Should be pretty easy to do. Let's start!' He was about to take the key from his [Inventory] before he stopped himself.
"Idiot!" He strikes his head. "Naruto Uzumaki would tell you even a C rank can be dangerous. I'm a level 1 character with no armor or spells. I may have white hair, but that doesn't make me a stupid anime protagonist with plot armor. Stupid!" He said as he continued to hit himself.
[-1 HP]
The noise brought him out of his funk and made him sweatdrop. "Nice. As if I needed another reminder of how inhuman I am. Well, onto the planning stage."
Before he could continue he got another notification.
[This concludes the tutorial, other features may be added at a later time]
After reading it he moved on. "Well, that was short. Alright first off, let's get cleaned up and get planning." He moved over to his bed and made it nice and tidy. After that he walked over to the bathroom, humming a song.
After concluding his morning rituals, he changed out of his pajamas into his standard fit: A quality hoodie, comfortable shirt, leather belt, baggy jeans, and his Jordans (yes he got hooked on them). Before he put them on, however, he remembered what he said earlier about spamming [Observe] as much as possible.
"[Divine Memory] For the win!" He said cheerfully.
'[Observe]?' He questioned, mentally. As the screen popped up, he mentally noted to himself that [Skills] can be done silently.
[Champion Hoodie]
A hoodie made by the brand Champion.
[Comfortable Shirt]
A comfortable shirt.
[Leather Belt]
A belt made of leather.
[Jeans (Baggy)]
Standard Jeans made by a random company.
[Jordan shoes]
High-top shoes made by Nike.
His eyebrow twitched. 'I hope this doesn't become a habit.'
"I guess I can't be mad since it's level one, but wow holy shit it sucks ass." He muttered, looking at the pitiful descriptions. "I have a lot of work to do." After putting on the laid out clothes, he began spam casting [Observe] on everything he had in the room, not glancing at any of the descriptions. After a few minutes of this, he got a notification.
[[Observe] has leveled up! [Observe] [Lvl 1→ 2]
To see the difference he used [Observe] on his hoodie.
[Champion Hoodie]
A hoodie made by the brand Champion.
Durability: 50/50
"So I can see the durability now? Interesting." He nodded thoughtfully. He turned his gaze to the middle of his bedroom and sat down cross-legged and put his fingers in the infamous Shikamaru thinking pose, which he adopted. Before he could start thinking, he got alerted by another notification.
Slightly incensed, he calmed down. "It's just the beginning, skills will take longer to level later on, meaning fewer alerts. Calm down." He looked at the notification and immediately deadpanned.
[Congratulations! You have created a new skill!]
[Thinking Pose] [Lvl 1] (...)
By entering a specific pose, thinking processing is increased. No Mana required.
"Moving on…"
He got back into the pose and organized his thoughts.
'Alrighty, the dungeon. I need to train my stats just a little more, get a weapon, and either a movement skill, sneak skill, or attacking skill. Preferably all three.' He thought. 'I played a lot of Skyrim and Magic Monsters and played a rogue/mage in those, so learning a stealth skill should be easy. Especially if I can create skills like the Shikamaru pose thing.' He concluded.
He moved over to the corner of the room and crouched. Feeling too embarrassed to concentrate for a few seconds he felt it go away. Not questioning it anymore he let out a breath and focused on a mantra in his head.
'Sneak. Presence Concealment. Non-existence. Quiet. Shadows. Rogue. Sneak…' After about 15 minutes of this, he felt something stir in him and he heard a notification. He smiled widely. "Thank God, that took forever!"
He opened up the screen with fervor.
[Stealth] [Lvl 1] (...)
Any and all appearances of you will be hidden leaving no trace. 10 MP per second
Surprised, he closed his eyes and activated the skill in his mind, '[Stealth]'
He opened his eyes and to his surprise, nothing felt off… Until he saw in the corner of his vision a blue bar he never noticed going down at a somewhat fast rate. "Shit! It was 10 MP a sec, and I have 300 MP so 30 seconds. But no, With a regen of 30% a minute, or 90 every 60 seconds, or 45 every 30 seconds, that would be 75 seconds." After time was up he felt more...exposed? Open?
While he waited for his MP to regen, he began spamming Observe while he stayed in his [Thinking Pose]. "Okay, so that's a sneak skill covered. Any other skills would be too hard or dangerous to do indoors, or in the backyard. So I guess there's nothing to do there. Maybe get a weapon?"
He stood up and walked downstairs the spiral staircase, past the foyer and into the kitchen, where a few boxes sat. Opening a box after ripping open the top, he saw his expensive stainless steel knife in its case set right at the top where he packed it. He smiled and then opened it, finding a variety of very high-quality knives.
"Boning knife, bread knife, chef's knife, steak knife, fillet knife, cleaver knife, cheese knife, a mezzaluna, butcher knife, and a santoku. All perfectly sharpened and in order." He smiled in appreciation. It was not cheap, but he liked to cook so sue him.
"I hate to use you for something so brutish as fighting, but you're the only quality weapons I can think of that I own. I promise to buy weapons from the store or somewhere else when I'm a higher level, but for now, you'll have to do." He said, caressing the carrying case.
Suddenly he stopped. "The fuck am I doing?" He shook his head. "I need friends or a girlfriend or something. This is pathetic." He looked at the case, "not you though, you're perfect." He tittered on, a wide smile in place, uncaring of looking like a fool in the silence of his home.
Putting the case in his [Inventory], and wow that was weird seeing it disappear, he went back to his room. After closing the door he sighed. "So this is real. The [Gamer's Mind], [Sneak], and [Inventory] proved it. There's no way that could be faked. At least that I know of. But no, this is really real. This is really happening… to me. Wow." He spoke out loud, looking blankly out of his window, into the Japanese city out below the hill.
"Well, guess there's no delaying it now. Let's see what you got." He stood up and took out the dungeon key from his [Inventory].
[C-Rank Dungeon Key] (...)
Key that opens a dungeon that contains one of the Animal Kingdom's fiercest species. May be placed in any door.
He walked over to his bedroom door and opened it with the key without any hesitation, revealing a blue portal that was in between the door frame. He breathed in deeply, and let it out. After a few more seconds of indecision, he moved through it.
[You have entered a C-Rank Dungeon!]
Briefly glancing at the notification he moved quickly. He opened my [Inventory] and brought out the case of knives, cursing himself for not just putting them in the [Inventory] individually in the first place. After storing them all in his [Inventory] he left out two knives, the [Butcher Knife] and the [Cleaver Knife]. Why you ask? Well…
[Butcher Knife] [Class B]
A high-quality stainless steel butcher knife meant for tearing through meat.
Attack +35
Bleeding: Has a chance to inflict [Bleeding] status on an enemy, causing 1% damage every second.
[Cleaver Knife] [Class B]
A high-quality stainless steel cleaver knife meant for hacking through bone.
Attack +50
Tear: Has a chance to inflict [Tear] attack on an enemy, causing massive damage, possible disembowelment, and [Bleeding] status.
After flipping up his hood and taking the cleaver knife in his right hand and the butcher knife in his left, Shin felt like a badass.
For all of a few seconds.
Hearing a howl in the distance made him remember where he was, and the fact that he was in a C-Rank Dungeon. He quickly began thinking of scenarios while making sure to have his back covered, noticing the portal closed behind him in the process.
'It's definitely wolves of some kind. I should expect them to be way larger than normal, possibly larger than me. I should be prepared for that.' He took another breath, making sure to keep his eyes open. 'Okay. First off, if it's bigger I need to move quickly. Attempt to use mana in feet and sprint? I'll attempt to do that while I'm fighting. For now, focus.' He quickly cut off his train of thought when he heard the wolves' feet pattering against the ground.
Shin looked around the dank cave he was in, quietly wondering why wolves were in a cave like this and noticed that there was a part of the cave he could hide behind while the wolves ran past him, perfect for an ambush.
As quietly as he could he ran over to the area and stood stock-still. Seconds after he did that, a single wolf ran past the spot he was at. 'Probably the scout.' He thought as he activated [Stealth]. Right before he attacked he made sure to use [Observe] to see what he's up against, idly noticing that the name was orange.
[Dire Wolf] [Lvl 2]
HP: [100]
A huge wolf.
After reading the information, he calmed himself as he prepared to make his first kill. He exited [Stealth] and quickly swung both knives at the 8 foot Dire Wolf. Specifically, its neck. It never stood a chance.
[1 Dire Wolf Killed] [Wolf Pelt Added to inventory] [5% experience gained]
Ignoring the notifications he quickly moved back to his spot and left the body where it was. His eyes moving back and forth. After a few seconds, he let out a breath of air. The body didn't disappear, which surprised him, since he figured it would combust into particles or something.
*Poof*
'Nevermind.' He mentally chuckled to himself. Hearing more howls in the distance made him think it was a good choice to stay quiet and not talk.
He continued this strategy for the next hour, killing over 20 Dire wolves, slowly desensitizing himself to the violence, getting more and more confident. There was only one hiccup, and that was when 2 wolves came instead of the usual one. After killing one and taking a hit from the other, he managed to score a lucky critical hit on the wolf's eye and killed it before his cover got blown.
After killing his last wolf and not hearing anything for a good 5 minutes, Shin decided to finally relax for a little bit and look at his winnings.
Money: [$220]
[Inventory]
Pillow
Boning knife (...)
Bread knife (...)
Chef's knife (...)
Steak knife (...)
Fillet knife (...)
Cheese knife (...)
Mezzaluna (...)
Santoku (...)
Dire wolf pelt x 13
Dire wolf fang x 7
"Not bad overall, decent stuff. The money is nice I guess but meh." He shrugged. "Oh yeah," he laughed, "I almost forgot I put my pillow in there as a test. Hopefully, this won't take long enough for me to get...tired." He stopped his joke. "I forgot I don't get tired… because [Longevity] makes me immune to all debuffs, including [Fatigue]." He huffed.
"[Status]."
Name: Shin
Level: 4
Age: 15
HP: 100
HP Regen: 10% per min
MP: 300
MP Regen: 30% per min
Titles: N/A (...)
Money: $220
STR: 10
VIT: 10
DEX: 10
INT: 30
WIS: 30
CHA: 10
Remaining Points: 20
"Wait, I only remember seeing 2 level ups. Unless…" He looked at the notification mail list, which was accessed whenever he thought to, he noticed that he got a level up after the tutorial ended. "Guess I was out of it." He shook his head.
"Now how should I spend the points… actually I think I'll wait on them. Don't know what I need against the boss specifically. I'll know then. But just to make sure it'll work during the battle…" He concentrated.
'1 point to Vitality.' He mentally commanded.
He pulled up his [Status] page again and smirked.
Name: Shin
Level: 4
Age: 15
HP: 110
HP Regen: 10/min
MP: 300
MP Regen: 30/min
Titles: N/A (...)
Money: $220
STR: 10
VIT: 11
DEX: 10
INT: 30
WIS: 30
CHA: 10
Remaining Points: 19
"10 points of health added. Just as I thought." He nodded.
Shin spent the next 20 minutes perusing through empty rooms and hallways of the cave, with it being surprisingly well lit. He noted to get a flashlight next time just in case. He almost felt bad for whoever the creator of the Dungeon was since none of the space was used for any battles... at least until he tried looting the rooms only to find no loot.
"Stingy fucking creators." He murmured angrily. "I mean seriously, it's not that hard. Maybe add a few dollars here and there. A Wolf pelt rug? I don't know. But nothing? God, the laziness."
GRRRRRRrrrrrr
"Yeah I know the rug thing doesn't make sense since they're wolves and that would be weird if they did that, but you get my point righ- Oh shit."
The wolf launched off its haunches at max speed, barreling at him faster than most professional Football players. Thankfully, his quick reflexes and previous experience dealing with [Dire Wolves] let him duck in time for it to go flying over him, giving Shin the chance to swipe upwards and causing a slash along the wolf's stomach, inflicting the [Bleeding] status. As it took a few steps to wince in pain, he took the chance to rush right at it.
If wolves could smirk, this one would have smirked. It bared its teeth and prepared to bite into Shin's neck, only for him to juke it and jump off the cave's wall, right into its back.
Surprised, it tried to buck him off, but he had a firm grip of its fur as he climbed up to its neck. It got even more frantic, causing him to almost lose his hold on his butcher knife. In a split moment, he made the choice to put it in his [Inventory] and use the hand to grip onto the fur.
In the last dash for victory, the wolf decided to ram itself and him by association into the jagged wall of the cave. Quickly seeing the bad situation about to occur, Shin raised his right hand and began chopping at the wolf's neck and face, causing blood to spew everywhere and damage notifications to ping loudly. Howling in pain after a particularly damaging hit, the wolf fell to its feet, only a few feet from the wall. With 2 hands, Shin raised the Cleaver knife in the air, the Knife's edge glinting menacingly for just a moment, before it fell down in a spray of blood, the wolf's head falling to the ground with a wet and meaty splat.
[1 Dire Wolf (Pack Leader) Killed] [Wolf Pelt and Wolf Fang added to inventory] [1 Level up gained]
He couldn't stop smiling. "I don't know why, but…" His blue eyes almost shine, "I feel so alive right now." And as soon as he said that, he heard a terrifying roar far behind him in the long hallway. It's roar created a tremor he could feel in his bones, causing his bones to shake and his hair to rise, goosebumps appearing. And despite it all, Shin couldn't stop smiling.
HHHHOOOOOOOOWWWWWLLLLLLLLLL!
At near 15 Feet, the gigantic, pure black wolf was truly an Alpha, undisputed. Vicious teeth larger than his knives, made for rending flesh. Thick, corded muscles on full display. Its red eyes menacing, causing any weaker man to tremble in fear, knowing that if one were to have its eyes on them, there was nothing they could do.
And yet…
"And yet…" Shin whispered softly, almost lovingly, as the Giant wolf was full-on sprinting towards him.
He took a step. Then another. Then he began jogging. And then ran full speed. And then…
[Congratulations! You have-]
He [Sprinted].
Body low to the ground, he took out his [Santoku Knife] and kept his [Cleaver Knife]
His legs shining with blue energy, he took off at a speed he would have never considered himself able to run at. The world seemingly shrunk as he and the wolf...
[Steel-Fang Raikan, The Alpha of the Pack] [Lvl 5]
… Raikan rushed each other both not stopping, the cave reverberating their loud footsteps.
As they both got close to each other, the world seemingly stopped for one brief moment, as they both stared at each other's eyes, knowing the other wouldn't make it out alive. They smirked.
In the next 3 seconds, things happened almost too quickly. In one instant, Raikan opened his jaw, intending to lethally bite Shin with his sharp fangs. Shin attempted to swerve out of the way and slice at him, only to realize that [Sprint] kept him in a somewhat linear line, not letting him have the angle or power to move.
Raikan's teeth grew closer to his arm, inches away, before he vanished.
Raikan could only whimper in sudden pain as his vision halved and suddenly took him to see Shin upside down crouched on his back, not facing him, blood staining his [Cleaver Knife]
He died never realizing that he was decapitated.
[Congratulations! You have slain [Raikan, The Alpha of the Pack]! [You have-]
Shin ignored the messages, enjoying the feeling of victory and blood covering his body. Eventually, Raikan's body disintegrated, making Shin fall to the ground. Whereas before he might have stumbled or hurt himself falling from the 15-foot carcass, he now gracefully tucked and rolled into a standing position.
"That was fun. I'm glad my experiments paid off." He said grinning, sweeping his shoulders of blood and grime.
Throughout the dungeon, Shin made sure to test out several things. First, he wanted to see if monsters could live without their head. If the damage they took by decapitation, which he calculated with the wolves surprisingly high HP, was still less than their total HP, would they still live or not?
The answer was no.
HP in that sense seems to only really apply to him. For HP of monsters, it's different. It's more of a guide. Sure, after their HP reaches 0 they die, but it looks like it's only because of an insta-death spell attached to the game. For instance, Let's say you get a real wolf and a dungeon monster wolf. If he were to do the same amount of cuts on a wolf and monster in a non-lethal area, assuming they had the same very small amount of HP, the real wolf would live if treated. The dungeon wolf would explode into particles from 0 HP. The reason being the Game.
Therefore, HP for others seems to be more of a guide to an instant death provided by the game. They don't have special skills like he does, where he can theoretically survive a decapitation because of his immunity to critical strikes and HP regeneration.
The game tries to offset this to make it more "realistic", by including debuffs and critical strikes, but he knows what it's doing. By making Game damage somewhat similar to real-life damage, it muddles the two, but they're not.
The only issue is that, while HP makes you weaker than your "realistic non-game" counterpart, it can also make you much stronger at higher amounts. That was his one worry throughout the plan, if Raikan's HP was too high his blades wouldn't be able to even penetrate his skin. But it seems durability is something else. A hidden stat maybe? It was only shown on objects...
Another experiment he tested was whether or not he can switch weapons mid-fight from his [Inventory] in an instant to gain bonuses from them, and switch to another. Around wolf number 10 he attempted this with the [Santoku Knife] and the [Boning Knife]. The [Santoku Knife] provides a speed bonus, so by having it in his hand and then quickly putting it in the [Inventory] and changing it for the [Boning Knife], which has a piercing damage multiplier, he can compound the damage into one debilitating strike.
It took a good 3 wolves for him to finally get it right, and another 2 to perfect it.
By the time Raikan came around, Shin was ready.
He didn't expect for the [Sprint] skill, but it was a happy addition to the plan. Unfortunately, since he never practiced using it before, he never discovered the minor tunnel vision and slight lack of side movement, which could probably be corrected at higher levels or stats.
It almost made him lose the battle, but thankfully [Healthy State of Mind] must have kicked in and let him go through the plan. Right before Raikan bit into him, he mentally added 15 points to Dexterity and 4 to Strength. Combined with the boost [Sprint] gave him, it was enough to let him switch his [Santoku Knife] for the [Boning Knife] and insert it into Raikan's eye and brain with his stat-enhanced strength, and swerve out of the way of Raikan's teeth to jump onto his back while twisting his body mid-air allowing gravity to have his arm form a parabola that allowed the [Cleaver Knife] to decapitate Raikan, the [Tear] skill activating.
"I do love it when a plan comes together." Shin smiles.
With nearly no damage, Shin defeated his first [C-Rank Dungeon].
Finally taking the time to go over the messages, Shin skimmed them while walking to the end of the hallway where Raikan came from.
"Hmmm, so [Sprint] increases movement speed by 30% and only has 1 MP per minute? That's staying on as much as possible in combat. I need to level that up and get rid of the bad effects it has right now."
A small stone on the ground caught his eye before an [Observe] found it was just a useless rock.
Moving on he continued his message skim.
"I got a level up from Raikan, better apply it to Dexterity I think. Intelligence and Wisdom are useful, but not right now. I need to be more physically capable, or at least capable of running away." He spoke as he added the 5 points to Dexterity. "Alright let's see my [Status]."
[Status]
Name: Shin
Level: 5
Age: 15
HP: 110
HP Regen: 14% per minute
MP: 300
MP Regen: 30% per minute
Titles: N/A (...)
Money: $420
STR: 14
VIT: 11
DEX: 30
INT: 30
WIS: 30
CHA: 10
Remaining Points: 0
"Heh, $420." He mindlessly said, as he read through his stats.
Making the note that Strength seems to be HP Regen, which is strangely fitting, and Wisdom is MP Regen, Shin finally made it to the end room to find a chest next to a portal.
"Sweet, I need a bath." Shin moved over to the chest before stopping and looking around peered through his eyes. "This better not be a Mimic I swear to god." With his [Cleaver Knife] in hand, he opened the chest and got a notification.
[You have obtained Raikan's Steel Dagger, Rasaka's Fang, and Hearthstone]
"Well, at least the chest didn't grow teeth," Shin muttered. "Hmm, so the dagger is a Class C, with a poison effect, the fang is only a sell away, and the [Hearthstone] is a get out of dungeon free card. Great."
Shin nonchalantly walked through the portal and looked around his room, feeling like it's been hours since he's been here. Looking at a clock next to his bed, he notices it really has been a few hours. His eyebrows raised, "So time passes normally… good to know."
He then looked at his feet, where a few blood drops and puddles were forming. He sweatdrops, "I guess I should take that shower, huh." He said to the air. Not hearing a response, he chuckles, "I'm so fucking lonely." Smiling, he trods off to his very expensive bathroom, leaving a trail of blood and dirt behind him.
Kicking off his clothes and tossing them in a corner, he turns on the hot spray and stares at the wall putting his arms on the tiled wall, looking blankly.
After a good 45 minutes of this, he towels off and gets changed. After cleaning up the blood off the ground for the next 20 minutes, he goes downstairs and makes dinner for 2. Keeping it simple, since he needs to go out and buy ingredients, he waits at the table as promised. Not seeing his mom arrive home, he goes upstairs and fetches his phone, sending her a text saying dinner's ready and to come home.
Not hearing back after 5 minutes, he rolls his eyes and starts eating only to be interrupted a few minutes later by a text.
"Jeez mom, you think you would hurry back to your new extravagant life." he chuckles, only for his slight grin to fall.
"I'm sorry you have the wrong number? No, it's not!" He quickly makes sure. "Did she change it? No, why would she?" He whispered.
"This...is...my...mom's...number...Good...try...mom... come...home...already… there" He finishes, putting his phone down, trying to ignore the feeling building in his gut. He tries to eat to ignore it, but the feeling gets stronger and he has to stop.
"Do I even need to eat? I can't get a [Malnourished] or [Dehydrated] status. I don't really need to breathe either huh? I can't get a [Suffocation] status after all. What if..." He gets interrupted by a ping from his phone.
Not hiding any intention of him wanting to hurriedly open the message, he read through it, eyes slowly losing light, before finally re-reading the last part.
"Please don't message me again, my phone plan can't accept sending so many messages from out of the country without paying extra."
A few moments of silence happen.
"Out of country?"
He immediately stood up out of his chair and ran to the nearest window overlooking the front of the house and after doing so took a step back.
Flashback
"So this is real. The [Gamer's Mind], [Sneak], and [Inventory] proved it. There's no way that could be faked. At least that I know of. But no, this is really real. This is really happening… to me. Wow." He spoke out loud, looking blankly out of his window, into the Japanese city out below the hill.
End Flashback
"[Divine Memory]…" Shin spoke softly. "I'm in… Japan?"
'How?' He thought to himself. 'It makes no sense. I know I was in the hills in California. The entire house got moved over to Japan somewhere. This reeks of something supernatural.'
[It'd be a shame if I didn't give you something to really ignite it.]
"No…"
[With this power, you can grow to new heights, possibly even greater than mine...]
"The voice… it didn't…"
[Here… take this and become something great. No… greater than great.]
"Why… I didn't ask for this. I always wished something similar would happen, but it was just supposed to be a dream! A stupid, unhealthy form of escapism!" He yelled, his voice reverberating throughout the house.
[Take this and become what you were always meant to be…]
"I didn't…" "He muttered, his long white hair covering his eyes.
[A Monarch!]
"I didn't want to lose everyone if it meant I got what I wanted!" He shouted, tears falling down his face. "I-I…" Full of despair, he sobbed.
And he sobbed.
And he sobbed.
And then it started to go away. "No... no, no, no, no, no! Don't take it away!" He screamed, eyes filled with pain. So furious in his anger he threw a glass object that was nearby at the wall.
"Don't take the last fucking feelings I have for...them...you…" Body hunched over, his face began to slowly transform from a face filled with anger to one of serenity and slight sadness.
A silence permeated throughout the large, and now, very lonely house.
Silently, he stood up from the floor where he collapsed and walked over to the window, his hair no longer covering his, now, lively eyes. "So this is my life now huh." He spoke softly, now looking off into the city. "Alright. I can live with that." He said wistfully. He smiled.
"Goodbye."