Buzz Buzz Buzz

Anne, who was on first watch yesterday, rubbed her eyes and got up.

~Yawn~

‘Message?’ She grabbed her LG smartphone and opened up her mailbox.

Message Time: JAN.1st.2017 (12:00.00PM)

All status windows have been updated.

-No Other Messages-

“Status window?”

Anne Feylin

Level: 2

Title: None

HP: 50/50

Mana: 180/180

Stamina: 80/80

Primary Stats:

STR: 6 AGI: 15 + 7

CON: 2 INT: 12

VIT: 3 WIS: 18

Auxiliary Stats:

LUK: 3

Free Points: 4

Skills:

-

“Oh my…” she whispered. Examining her status, Anne was slightly disappointed in her CON and VIT. ‘I wonder what each stat means…’ She held her hand over the glowing blue screen and clicked on “Primary Stats”

STR: Influences Physical Power and Stamina

CON: Influences Stamina and HP (Defense)

VIT: Influences Regenerative Abilities and HP 

AGI: Influences Speed and Reaction timing

INT: Influences Mental Ability and Processing speed

WIS: Influences Mana Pool and Mana Recovery

After a basic understanding of each stat, she looked towards the bedroom with a curious gaze. “I wonder how strong he is.” Drearily, she walked towards the card-boarded window and took a peek outside. She shivered upon seeing giant sized rats crawling all over the car. Sadly, she could only see the state of the alleyway through the window.

Seeing no threats outside, she moved the cardboard back into place and sat down on the couch. Then she saw a remote controller lying by the glass table, where the two corpses were. ‘I can’t believe we forgot to throw them out…’ Taking the chore upon herself, she dragged the corpses across the carpet and left them by the door.

She tippie-toed and looked through the peephole. Seeing that there was nothing outside, she opened the door and dragged both corpses out.

After setting the two bodies outside, she closed the door.

~Click~

“What are you doing Anne?” Like a cat whose tail was stepped on, she jumped and turned around. Seeing the dorky brown-haired, brown-eyed teenager, who blocked a falling timber with his arm, she couldn’t help but smile. Seeing her morning smile, Rem blushed and followed up by lightly scolding her, “You shouldn’t be opening the door; we don’t know what’s out there.”

This time, Anne’s face flushed red in embarrassment and replied, “You…you saw that?” Not sure what to say, Rem nodded and remained silent. The two looked at each other in silence before Anne turned her gaze to the couch.

Seeing her look towards the couch, Rem felt troubled. “Wa..was the couch com-comfortable?”

“Yes.”

Rem laughed and replied, “Well the floor was too!” Not sure whether he was being sarcastic, Anne chose to timidly laugh as well.

‘Yes! She laughed!’ Rem involuntarily thought. Feeling more confident Rem gestured Anne to sit on the couch. Anne complied by nodding her head and sitting beside Rem. For a while, they sat in absolute silence. 

Feeling gutsier by the seconds or perhaps driven by awkwardness, Rem slid his hand onto hers.

Anne flinched and slipped her hand away. She looked at Rem’s hurt facial expression, but she mentally reminded herself, ‘No, not yet.’

At an impasse, they both kept their hands to themselves. Rem broke the ice again and asked, “Are you cold?” Anne turned around and grabbed the thin blanket. It was the middle of winter and with the world ending, there was no heat in the apartment. As Anne wrapped the blanket around her, Rem gulped.

Despite the brief action, Anne’s twirling motion set off the butterflies in his heart. Her bob-cut hair reflected off the light leaking through the cardboard giving her twirl more flair. Anne noticed Rem’s idiotic stare but chose to stay quiet and allowed him to indulge.

“Did you read the message?” she asked.

Rem snapped awake from his stupor and replied, “What message?”

“The one sent to your phone.” Anne immediately gave her phone to Rem. Scanning through the message, Rem smiled and yelled, “Status window!”

Rem Gold

Level: 0

Title: Brave Soul

HP: 500/500

Mana: 20/20

Stamina: 370/370

Primary Stats:

STR: 12 AGI: 10

CON: 15 + 10 INT: 5

VIT: 15 + 10 WIS: 2

Auxiliary Stats:

LUK: 20

Free pts: 0

Skills:

-

Rem was ecstatic seeing his stats. ‘In normal RPGs, isn’t the average 10 or 15? This means I’m above the curve right?!’ Then he noticed his Title, “Brave Soul”. He remembered this notification appearing after Peter helped the group escape from the pack of goblins.

Click

“Ding!”

[Brave Soul – Rare Title]

[Passive: +10 to both CON and VIT]

[Active: None]

“Awesome!” Hearing Rem satisfied grin after the yelling status window, Anne secretly felt happy for him. After Rem shouted again and she couldn’t help but ask, “What happened?”

“Anne! I have a title called Brave Soul and it gives me +10 CON and VIT!”

“Eh, that’s pretty good son!” James interrupted

“Dad? You’re up?”

As James stretched his arms, a cranky voice frightened everyone. “So am I, where’s my good morning you loud piece of shit!” After Rem’s scream, Peter scrambled out of his bed and charged out with his sword preparing for the worse. Seeing James terrified expression and Rem in one piece, he snorted and tossed his sword back into his room.

“Ding!”

“System Notifications Opening”

[You are the 5th person to kill a mini-boss monster]

[Reward: Random item!]

“Ding!”

[Mystic Core (Consumable) – Ex. Unique]

[One-Time-Effect: +10 All STAT. +1000Mana, HP, and Stamina. 10% chance to gain skill: Mystical Mark]

Peter immediately swallowed the thumb-sized black core and felt a strange energy flow throughout his body. As soon as the energy reached his chest, his heart rate drastically spiked. Moaning in pleasure, Peter felt his heart heating up and each cell in his body transforming due to the energy from the core.

“He...hey sir are you alright?”

Seeing Peter, who saved his life, moaning and giggling on the floor contradicted with his first impression of the man. Rem warily approached Peter who was uncontrollably laughing on the floor and looked at his father.

James furrowed his eyebrows and timidly backed away. ‘He finally lost it! Crap, crap, he’s going to kill us all!’ Seeing his son approach the crazy convulsing man, James became more worried. Before he could drag his son back, Peter’s body started glowing with black lights.

A crest-like image formed on top of Peter’s body and imprinted onto his back. Anne opened her mouth, but couldn’t form any words. Her eyes were screaming in panic. She didn’t know what was happening to Peter, but she could feel the mana surging towards him in a berserk-like fashion.

As soon as the black crest landed onto Peter’s back, his moan turned into a sharp hiss.

“Ding!”

[Gained +1,000Mana, HP, and Stamina.]

[+10 to all STAT]

“Ding!”

[Mystical Mark – Ex. Unique]

[Passive: Increased Control over Mana and body.]

[Active: Restores all stamina and mana. Twice per day.]

The scorching pain stopped and left an inky black tattoo on Peter’s back. The three noticed that the tattoo looked the exact same as the crest floating on top of his body earlier.

Feeling numb, Peter looked at Rem and motioned with his hands. Despite flailing his arms, he still couldn’t get Rem’s attention. “Re…em get over here!” Rem was in shock after seeing the supernatural occurrence, but he flinched as soon as he heard Peter’s grating voice. Meeting Peter’s angry eyes, he immediately shuffled over.

“Next time, don’t be so loud…” Peter whispered. Using Rem as a cane, Peter pushed Rem to the floor and got up. Instantly cracking noises came from all over his body. His joints were especially loud. Feeling invigorated, Peter flung both hands into the air and twisted his hips. 

On the other hand, Rem’s entire body, despite his strong build, was planted to the floor. Luckily Peter only used a fraction of his true strength. 

Feeling refreshed, Peter took a deep breath and sighed. Then he looked at the lost group and smiled smugly. “I bet all three of you are curious what just happened, hehe.” Rem pulled himself up and looked fearfully at Peter, reminding himself to never get on Peter’s bad side.

“Before I tell you what happened, first you have to know what happened last night.” Recounting his trip last night, Peter purposefully left out the part where he shamelessly kicked soil at the [Orc Warrior]. He watched the group’s expression change from nervous to downright tense, especially when he got hit by a spear.

“Wait, how are you here then? Didn’t the goblins chase you?”

“James, I’m in one piece ain’t I? Now, lemme finish the story!”

The three stopped talking, and Peter told them about his new skill, [Body Enchant]. He also described how he massacred over a hundred goblins, which added to the cruelty aspect of his story. After summarizing his massacre, Rem was left dazed while Anne and James were clutching their fists and looking warily at Peter.

“Oh, you’re all scared now? Boo!” Peter released a hint of killing intent and James threw himself backward and balled up into a turtle. Anne shed tears and Rem pissed his pants.

“AHH HHA! Rem, you actually pissed yourself?!” Peter laughed for a few seconds before turning to Anne. He felt guilty about making her cry, but before he could say anything Anne charged to the bathroom.

‘What the hell? Are they serious? If they can’t even take a scare, they’ll die out there!’ Peter grimaced at the trio and wordlessly went back to his room. “Cheh. It was just a joke.” A mix of indignation and helplessness gripped him as he shook his head in disappointment. 

"Now, lets see what happened to me."