All around a long table, 7 persons are sitting, papers spread everywhere on it. All dressed properly for the occasion, with their respective best attire. The man at the end of the table was standing, back facing the rest, his grey eyes, reminiscent of winter, coolly set on the piece of paper in his hands.

Sometimes he was running his small hand on his blond, semi-long, hair or caressing his small stubble. Suddenly he turned around and exclaimed to the rest:

“Okay, guys! It’s finally time to go back to our campaign!”

“Yes, we know Charles. That’s why we’re all here.”

“C’mon Guy, let me finish. I was about to do a “last time on Charles TV” time.” I said, doing my best parodying the famous line from that zombie series.

“The best time of our campaign. But whatever, last session was just yesterday, we all remember what happened so let’s just skip it this time, okay?”

…

“And then, you suddenly hear a growl coming from outside!”

At that moment, we heard some sort of sound coming from the room next door.

“Ahahah! Nice prop, Charles! But it doesn’t really sound like a recording you did. So, who’s out there?”

“Uuuuuuuh…. No one? That wasn’t something I planned…” I say, face drained of all its colours. “The shop should be closed too, so no one can be in there.”

“Now that you say that, I heard a sort of ding during the session, maybe someone really went inside?”

“A Ding? The shop doesn’t have this system installed, though…”

“Eh? Strange, because I heard it too. But there was also that golden thing appearing at the same time. At first, I thought it was only a hallucination, caused by my lack of sleep.” Said the normally peppy girl of the group, now completely freaked out.

“I saw it too!” said the whole group in unison.

The sound outside becomes louder, clearer. Suddenly a siren starts. And we hear glass shattering.

“What the fuck was that?!” Screams the group leader, Jack, who was the archetype of a jock.

…

I don’t know when I stopped screaming or when the creatures died, but I know that the blood on my hands, feet and face isn’t mine.

“Hahaha! I knew it! I’m a special character! I’m a real hero! All this time preparing by reading those novels and being a dungeon master weren’t wasted!” I laughed.

Yes, I killed those freak monsters coming after us. They looked a bit like long-clawed, grey-skinned, goblins.

Anyway! I utterly destroyed them! Woohoo!

At first, we were looking on, horrified and tetanized, while they ate Jack. He was the first one to approach those things. He even tried to talk to them, but when he noticed it didn’t work, he took the baseball bat he always carried around. And that was at this moment that they jumped him.

But then, heroically, I high-kicked one of them. After that, I don’t remember much, but I’m pretty sure I killed them all. Yep, those screens seem to say so:

Congratulations! Due to special actions, you have been awarded the Storytelling (Rare) Lv1 skill.

Congratulations! Due to special actions, you have been awarded the Manipulation (Uncommon) Lv1 skill.

Congratulations! Due to special actions, you have been awarded the High-Kick (Common) Lv1 skill.

Congratulations! You successfully killed a Creslin Lv2. You absorbed a part of its Dark and Beast Aspect and gained No Experience due to not having a class yet, further Experience gain will be ignored until you obtain a class.

.

.

.

Congratulations! You successfully killed a Creslin Lv3. You absorbed a part of its Dark and Beast Aspect.

Congratulations! Your High-Kick skill is now Lv4.

Congratulations! Due to special actions, you now can advance the Gruesome Hero path.

“Ooooooooh yeah! I’m a motherfucking hero!!”

And let’s just forget about this gruesome part or even the “Manipulation” skill. I mean, I won’t use it, and also, to kill is to dirty your hands, so obviously I’m gruesome.

“So now, what was that thing about Aspects?” I asked myself, surrounded by grim corpses. “Oh yeah, I’ll need to move out first, that smell is really bad. Rest in peace, my friends, but now I need to avenge you of that unfair system that created the monsters that killed you…”

It’s so nice! Now I’m a real main character from a revenge novel. So cool!!

I went out of the shop, still bathed in blood, and took on my surroundings. Cars were burning, buildings destroyed, and corpses of random people, even officers, littered the streets.

“Hmmm… If I remember well, all games and novels with game systems talk about something like a Status?” I said, working my way through the mess the streets were now.

Health:

30/50 (+4.06/h)

Stamina:

30/50

(+1.66/min)

Mana:

40/40 (+2.71/h)

Identity

Name:

Charles Legrand

Age:

23

Sex:

Male

Class:

?

Lv?

Human

Stats

Strength

5

Agility

4

Perception

7

Intelligence

4

Control

5

Constitution

5

Endurance

5

Dexterity

4

Concentration

7

Aspects

Dark

62

Form

Beast

1.67%

Skills:

Storytelling (R) Lv1; Manipulation (U) Lv1; High-kick Lv4 (C)

Paths:

“Wow! Those Creslins really had one good amount of Dark Aspect, whatever that is… And what the fuck is that Intelligence stat? Are you telling me I’m stupid or something? Or looking at my Mana compared to my Health and Stamina, I guess it’s more of a stat for magical talent?”

So was my monologue, trying to weave through abandoned vehicles.

“Oh wait, what’s up with my paths? I thought I unlocked one or something”

You currently have 3 CP.

Choose your path

Storyteller (50)

Basic Human (5)

Gruesome Hero (10)

“CP? And I have 3? I guess those are Character Points or something? Anyway, I already know what I’ll choose, I’m a hero after all! But what are those numbers after the path mean? Is it a buy system? Do I have to get the required points before having a class?”

After all this mindless walking, I finally reached what was before the train station. Seems like the rest of the city that was south to it disappeared.

“I’ll try to get it anyway! Select! Gruesome Hero!”

Gruesome Hero 3/10

You are treading on a dangerous path, one that is feared but also respected. One that others crave for, but don’t have the guts to take.

“Ooooh! That’s fancy! It even has a description of the path.”

I’m now inside the train station, in a quiet and not too cold corner. There are no nearby noises and I can’t lock myself inside. I’m feeling quite tired now, so I’ll try to sleep on the bench.