Chapter 12-Travel by Road

A few nights ago, Eric traveled through the forest for hours without any form of defense, after running away from large wolves in an unknown direction and without a goal. Now he is traveling along a road with a clear destination in mind, having learned how to use his spells, and leveled up twice, making him far stronger.

But instead of being more confident in survival it is far more terrifying than a few nights ago. While he could defend himself, now he knew what could be lurking in the shadows of the trees, he has experienced the fear of death on more than one occasion in the form of zombies trying to bite his head off. The wolves simply ignored him, so they were easier to dismiss.

It took maybe an hour or two until the sun started to rise so he wasn’t the entire time in the dark. As the sun was in the sky Erik grabbed his pack and pulled out a pack of chips to eat as breakfast and started to reflect on the last few days.

Two days ago, he was on a train heading to university. He wasn’t excited about university but saw it as a method to get away from home and move on in his life. Then out of nowhere, a video game screen appeared in front of him telling him that mana got introduced into the world. Next, he saw how the other passengers were being savagely eaten by monstrous wolves while all he could do was hope that they ignore him and run away. Next, came his journey through the forest to a gas station where he for the first time killed something for the sake of survival.

After surviving dealing with 2 zombies he just woke up the next morning and started to learn about the new world, more precisely about his own abilities and was given starter equipment more akin to a video game. That makes one wonder who created that starting kit. That felt as if there was some group that designed starter kits for all the classes. He guessed that there might not be much difference between the different starter kits, probably all the spellcasters got the same kit simply because the bonuses are so standard and simple that there couldn’t be much difference between them.

Next, he obtained an extremely powerful ability, Analyze. Beyond the tutorial and the knowledge gotten from receiving formulas for abilities and spells, there isn’t much information given about things by the screens. Which means that people must guess things or find someone else who can identify item bonuses and such. He doesn’t have that limitation, either this ability is so widespread that it is nothing special to have or it is extremely valuable.

‘Safer to keep it a secret.’ Until he knows more about the situation he decides to keep it a secret from others to not attract unwanted attention.

Next came the training session that reminded him of simply leveling a character in video games with the exception that it is his life on the line and Eric isn’t under the impression that there is a respawn in this game like world. With a few exceptions, there were no problems with that.

The following night what seemed like a dozen zombies tried to assault him in his sleep and tear him to pieces. Only him already being on the edge from what has happened and him not sleeping well on the sofa saved him. At home, he could sleep through an alarm without any problems, but luckily that wasn’t the case last night.

After escaping with a combination of adrenalin, pre-preparedness, and mostly luck, he is now on the road, nervous about every corner and eating chips for breakfast. So even though at this point he should have been at university in his dorm he is eating just like a university student, junk food for all meals of the day.

‘What a mess this world has become.’ After finishing his breakfast, he continues moving along the road.

Throughout the day some zombies stumble out onto the road, but they are easily killed by Eric as they are never too close to him and they come out in ones or twos. One time as a lone zombie moves towards him a snake suddenly shoots out of the forest, it is at least 5 meters long and as thick as Eric’s arm. Before Eric can analyze this new enemy, the snake wrapped itself around the zombie and pulled it back into the forest.

Proceeding carefully Eric walks past the spot where the snake came from with a shadow ball prepared and the staff held in front of him, but looking into the forest he doesn’t see anything, and Eric isn’t sure if that might be worse. As quickly as he could he moved passed that spot and proceeded to walk in the middle of the road towards the town.

Eric's Status Screen

Status Screen

Name Eric King Level 3 Age 19 Strength 11(0) Gender Male Constitution 10(0) Race Human Dexterity 13(0) Class Warlock Agility 13(0) Profession - Intelligence 24(2) HP 102/102 Wisdom 19(2) Mana 250/250 Charisma 10(0)