“Hah… Hah… Hah….” I pant, leaning back against the wall with cuts all over my body. I didn’t fare too bad, though. Out of the 13 people that surrounded me, 7 of them are dead by my blade.

Their Vice-Leader face contorted in anger, “What the hell are the lot of you doing! There’s 13 of you, 13. You can’t even handle a single guy. Fuckin’ retards.” He angrily shouts at his subordinates. “Fine, if I had to do it myself, then so be it. All of you, get back.”

“His majesty finally showed himself,” I said sarcastically.

The Vice-Leader smugly smiled at me, “Hah, be thankful. You’re about to die in my hands,” he brandished his chopper, resting it on his shoulder.

“Says the guy who let his subordinate die to me.”

“You!” the Vice-Leader swung his chopper down at me. At my peak, I could easily dodge this. With how tired I am, however, the best I can do is to parry it clumsily. Seeing me unbalanced after parrying his attack, he kicked me immediately as he smirks. “What a pathetic sight for an Aura Master.”

I sneered inwardly. Although an Aura Master was strong, I’m only in 1st Grade. Sure, 1st Grade Aura Master can go toe to toe against 3rd Circle Mage, but that’s only if it is one-on-one. Facing groups of enemies, especially trained ones like these guys, drained my Aura Pool quickly. Lesson learned. Next time, I’ll use it more conservatively.

“Heh”, I let out a small laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

“Despite how you look, you’re actually pretty shrewd. Upon seeing your enemy was an Aura Master, you used human-wave tactics to tire him while you observed if your enemy can be beaten or not. Seeing your tactics work, you know that you have a good chance of beating your enemy, so you continue to order your subordinate to attack me. Once you see that I’m tired enough, you stepped up to the plate, and if you managed to kill me, all the glory would belong to you.” I laugh sarcastically, “It’s a shame, though. Your plan would’ve worked had I’m only just an ordinary 1st Grade Aura Master.”

“What are you trying to say?”

I let out a chuckle, “SYSTEM!”

===

Let’s backtrack a little bit.

About a week ago, I felt elated that I got a system from my favourite MMORPG. The system gave me a blank card to use as I see fit. My first thought was to use it on the Resources Card, but then again, I don’t have any other card that complimented it.

Then, my head immediately goes into Champion Card. Having a powerful companion wouldn’t hurt in battle. My excitement dwindles down when I see how fast my Neutral Resources were generating—a measly 1 NR per hour. I forgot about the harsh beginning of Card Master. An idea suddenly hit me. Spell Card. Yup, even though it gets expensive in the latter part of the game, Spell Card was the one players initially used to level themselves up.

I went to my mom immediately and ask her to spar with me. I said that I wanted to learn countermeasures when facing against mage. She agreed, then we head into the training ground. She teaches me many things, like what spell do mages like to use the most and how to deal with an every-single situation that a mage can put you in.

I then ask her what her favourite spell in dealing with tons of enemies is. She demonstrates it to me while I took out my blank card before charging in the spell directions. She scolded me, but it’s all worth it.

===

“Open Spell. Use NR, 3rd Circle Spell, Explosion,” I shout out loud; immediately after, an explosion so big engulf the black-cloaked men. I couldn’t see for a while because of the thick smoke that appears after the explosion.

As the smoke clears, I hear a cough nearby. I went towards it, finding the Vice-Leader coughing, with his legs missing. “You’re pretty strong to survive a 3rd Circle spell.” I mocked the Vice-Leader. He looks at me as if I’m some sort of a monster, “What are you?”

“Your nightmare.” I let out an edgy word as I stabbed him, ending his life. I slumped down the floor. Wait, what am I here for again? Fuck, that’s right. The mayor’s son was kidnapped. Fuck, where are the hostages? Is this group even the kidnappers? They gotta be right…. Damn it.

I forced myself to stand up. I survey my surroundings and found a place I haven’t seen before. I walked towards it. Huh? It’s the same material as the camouflage wall earlier. I took a peek inside and found a truck. “Good job noticing it.” I jumped in fright, turning my head; I see Yuya completely unharmed. “Go and rest up. I’ll take care of the rest.”

*DING*

Quest completed. Having helped Yuya on finding the kidnapped victims, you change the fate of the mayor’s son. Instead of being the demon everybody feared, the mayor’s son will one day become a hero that everybody revered.

Quest reward: 40 Fate points

*DING*

===

“MR YUYA,” a fat, flamboyant man ran towards Yuya with both his arms opening wide. Yuya moves to the side, completely avoiding the fat man’s hug.

The fat man’s face hit the ground, but he immediately gets up before bowing his head, “THANK YOU VERY MUCH. OH, MY BELOVED SON, I DON’T KNOW WHAT I WOULD’VE DONE IF YOU DISAPPEARED FROM ME.” The fat man, who I’m assuming is the mayor, hugs his own son instead.

“I WAS SO SCARED, DAD,” the father and son duo cry together, making things awkward for Yuya and me. “Is it always like this?” I awkwardly ask Yuya. He massages his forehead, “Unfortunately, yeah.”

“I-I see….”

What a weird family.