There was little doubt that this boy wasn’t going to survive in the city alone. He had to accept, even if he might not be the best at protecting people. In the last few days, he had behaved in a very weird way, but maybe having a companion was what he needed to keep his sanity in check.

Your recent actions will bear consequences against the following sentient race: humans. Your NOTORIETY in the area has increased to 3 from 0 (Max is 10). Note: the higher your notoriety is, the more EXP you will drop when you’ll be defeated. You should keep a low profile if you don’t want to be chased by bounty hunters.

Richard’s gaze shifted to the two bodies lying on the ground, one in a covered in a puddle of blood and the other with a squashed face. He wasn’t ready to kill someone, and he just acted on impulse, but he didn’t think that he could kill somebody just by slapping him. It was enough to say that something had to be done, and sadly violence seemed to be the only way to archive that.

The young man was staring at him from the ground with his mouth half open. His face was devoid of color and he was holding his breath as if he was trying to be invisible. It took a moment to realise that he was afraid of him and not of someone else behind Richard. It was a situation that he had never experienced, as most of the times he had been in the opposite situation.

A rumbling sound came out of the young man’s belly. Maybe this was what he needed to persuade him that he was a good pers… being. He gestured at him to wait.

Richard accessed the inventory, and from there, he took two units of rabbit meat that he had never used because he had forgot about them in his days of madness. He went back inside and gathered four bricks and some scraps of wood. With a flick of his claws, he made a spark and the pieces of wood caught fire.

He stabbed the rabbit chops with two metal skewers he had found inside the hotel’s kitchen and let them roast until they assumed a golden color. Richard wrapped the meat with some sheets of paper and put it near him. Then moved back inside the building to let him eat without pressure.

Your Charisma has improved. You gain one stat point.

When he came back, the skewers were covered only by the oils of the meat. The boy took a long breath, “T-thank you”, he said, “I can’t believe that a monster has saved my life and then cooked for me”. He was wiping the sweat from his clammy forehead when a blue box appeared in front of him, but Richard couldn’t see the text inside.

The boy’s eyes widened, “You have Omega too?”

Richard had seen that word written on the documents of Professor Brown, but he didn’t know what that thing was.

“I mean”, the boy said, “The system”;

Richard nodded;

“So, you can understand what I’m saying”, he sighed in relief, “You’re not like the other monsters!”;

Richard tried to tell him that he was a human inside just like him, but only a loud growl came out of his mouth. Even if he already knew that he couldn’t talk, he had tried anyway, but things went as he expected. Humans couldn’t understand him.

“Sorry, sorry!”, he said and pulled back from him, “I did not mean to insult you, but it’s the first time I’ve seen somebody like you”. Another blue window appeared in front of him, and his open eye moved left to right to read it.

“You want me”, he said, “To be your pawn?”;

Richard nodded;

“I didn’t know that monsters could take humans as pawns”, he made a nervous smile, “Not like I have any choice tough”;

You have taken a lv.1 Human as your pawn. You gain 20 EXP points.

The color of the white line shifted to silver.

Your Pawn's info and stats:

Lv.1 Rank D

Name: Alex (You can change it in the settings); Age: 15; Sex Male; Blood Type: B+, (Note: your blood is incompatible with the one of your pawn. Do not attempt a transfusion in case of injury!) Strength 9 Agility 17 Perception 15 Endurance 40 Constitution 11 Magical Ability 0* (Mana yet to be awoken) Intellect 85 Charisma 21

Richard’s stats would have been similar if not worse had he woken up as a human instead of a monster.

You can now send direct messages only to your pawn.

“Is your name really Richard?”, Alex said, “I imagined something more fearsome for a monster”;

I am a human like you.

“For real?”, Alex scratched his soot-covered hair, “That explains a lot, but why are you monster now?”;

I would like to know too. One day I just woke up like this.

“That’s crazy”, he said, “We should have known if it happened to someone living in the village. Where are you from?”.

Here.

“You must be joking. No human can live here”, he coughed, with a rasping sound coming from his throat, “See? The air isn’t safe for humans. Nobody can last more than five days before falling ill”.

It wasn’t that better before it was destroyed. I have to admit that it was a little more habitable.

Alex narrowed his eyes on him, “Are you making fun of me or something? You must be a century old if you lived here before the fall”.

I am pretty sure I’m not that old. He then wrote how he was just a college student who doing a degree he didn’t like to find a job that he won’t also like.

“I didn’t understand much about this college you’re talking about”, Alex said, “Is it somewhere near?”.

For God’s sake, just stay the hell away from it.

“You seem like a weird guy, but you’re still much better than the ones I was traveling before”, it didn’t take that much, just not to try to kill him or worse, “They always told me that all monsters were evil and that they must exterminated”.

Who are those people?

“Everybody, I guess? Not many people go into the cities, so most don’t ever meet monsters. There are some outside, but they’re rare and weak”.

And what about those who were with you? Who are they?

Alex sighed, “Scavengers. People who roam the City to find rare items. I joined them because I wanted to get some experience, and because everybody thinks that you’re a loser if you have never been into the City”, he shook his head, “I should have listened to John”;

John?

His face lighted up as if had an idea, “He’s the old man running the orphanage I was living in”, he said, “He knows a lot of the old world, so he might even know what happened to you”.

Then bring me to him.

“Sure, but”, his eyes widened at the first stars appearing in the sky, “But first we have to survive the night”.