ACT I ­­– Zach

First Kill

Zach glanced at Ryun. His friend was tightly grasping his sword and looking into the distance with a blank expression on his face. He could tell that he was looking at something, but Zach saw nothing. A part of his mind realized that Ryun was looking at the screens in front of his eyes, and he remembered his own dream, the conversation with a being that called itself the Dealmaker. Zach was still not convinced that it had been real, but the message still inside his vision welcoming him to the Framework was pretty convincing. So many things were going through his mind—fear that all of this was real, worry for his family back in the city, and worry about Melody, Linda, and Henry, who had arrived before them. All signs pointed to a situation that resembled the stories and shows that Ryun liked to watch. Zach had never really been into them—he was more of a comic-book guy—but Ryun had tried to get him into the genre nonetheless. Zach could see that Ryun had already embraced what had occurred. The sword was a dead giveaway. A part of Zach wanted to slap his friend on the head and beat some sense into him, to remind him that this was a serious matter, and him acting as if it was the best day of his life was inappropriate.

But the small grin on Ryun’s face made Zach more afraid than waking up in the forest.

He could see that Ryun hadn’t even thought about what this meant for his mother back home, or for all the other people in the world. To him, this was a game. But Zach was too shocked himself to speak up. Ryun’s actions spurred him to act as well. He remembered the instructions from the Dealmaker and dismissed the welcoming message. Next, he brought up his own stat screens.

Name

Zacharia Gardner

Race

Human (Earth—Iteration Seven)

Titles

/

Essence

150

Strength

8

Dexterity

8

Vitality

8

Endurance

9

Intelligence

7

Wisdom

8

Class

Swordsman (U)

Level

0 (0/100 Essence)

Combat Ability

/

Movement Ability

/

Support Ability

/

Active Skills

Strike (0/10)

He had bought the Class that cost the most from those that had been available to him. An uncommon Class—Swordsman. It had cost him eight thousand and five hundred Essence, and with what he had left he purchased a skill, leaving him with one hundred and fifty Essence. It was strange; he seemed to know how to strike, but it wasn’t anything special, not any kind of attack. It was more of a sense of an action. How to strike better, whether with a weapon or his fist. He was completely lost. Ryun was much better at this stuff than him. From what he had gleaned from the conversation, leveling required Essence, which could be obtained from various sources. Seeing as he had enough to reach the first level, he spent them.

Deposit 100 Essence into your Class? Y/N

He pressed Y and a moment later his Essence number went down all the way to fifty.

Congratulations, you have reached level 1 in the Class Swordsman!

3 attribute points available!

New Ability Unlocked—Piercing Stab

He suddenly felt warmth inside his head, and then it was as if he just remembered that he had an ability. He knew how to do a piercing stab. It was a completely foreign sensation. He shook his head and turned to look at his other screens. Zach looked over to his stats—he had gained two stats in dexterity and one in strength. From what he figured, every Class gave six attribute points per level, three going into the primary and secondary attribute, and three that were free to allocate. He didn’t know why his primary attribute was dexterity, nor did he know where to put his other points. After a few moments of thinking about it, he decided to put another one into dexterity and two into strength, bringing both stats up to eleven.

He turned to Ryun to ask if he had done the same when he heard a low growl. Zach turned around immediately, only to see a dog-sized creature step through the bushes. It was, in a single word, a monster. It had dark fur, and looked like a cross between a raccoon and a skunk. Its fur was all black, with tiny horn-like growths from its shoulders and back paired with a skunk-like tail. As it slowly stalked toward them, Zach focused on it, and a small window popped up above it.

Young Aniwye LVL 2

Zach felt cold sweat dripping down his back, and he slowly put his hand out. “Let’s just walk back slowly,” he whispered, but just as he finished he heard a sound that very much resembled a sword leaving its sheath. Zach turned to look at Ryun in disbelief. Seeing him standing there with a sword in his hand, his mind just went blank for a long moment. By the time he realized that Ryun intended to fight this thing, Ryun had already jumped forward.

“Stop, fool!”

But Ryun didn’t listen. He swung at the monster clumsily using a simple stance that Zach recognized from when he and Ryun took Kendo for a year. Neither of them had been very good at it.

Ryun swung, and the monster jumped to the side. Zach saw it brace itself and prepare to jump forward at Ryun, and he saw the look on his friend’s face. It was almost as it hadn’t even occurred to him that he could miss.

Before he could think better of it, Zach jumped forward, pulling his hand back. The monster leapt at Ryun, its front claws extended, and Zach intercepted it, his fist landing on its neck and sending it flying into a tree. Ryun stepped back and slipped, falling to the ground. Before Zach could reach down and get him up, the monster attacked again. Zach raised his hands to protect his face, but the monster went for Ryun again. He heard a startled yelp and then a screech, and when he put his hands down he saw Ryun on his knees and the monster a few steps away with a small gash on its shoulder. It looked at them and bared its sharp teeth. Zach’s heart was pounding. The only thing he thought about was running away, but his legs were shaking and he couldn’t move.

Ryun got up and kept the tip of his sword pointed toward the monster. It looked from Ryun to Zach, and then back again. Deciding that an unarmed Zach was a better target, it launched itself at him. He barely managed to jump out of the way. Ryun stabbed forward, catching the monster in its side. It screeched again and lashed out with its claws, scratching Ryun on his hand, and he cried out and dropped the sword.

The sight of Ryun’s blood shook Zach to the core. He realized that this was real, that they could both die.

With a yell he jumped forward, his fist striking down toward the monster. He hit it in the back, and he felt the weight of his strike as it was sent down. It growled and turned, biting him on the leg. Zach cried out and raised his hand, something in his mind clicking and his fingers extended.

[Piercing Stab]

His hand stabbed into its eye. He felt his finger push past the eye and deeper until they hit something soft inside. The monster thrashed for a moment and then its jaws released his leg, and it fell to the ground, still.

Zach looked at it for a long while, breathing heavily, sweat pouring down his face. He didn’t feel tired, yet somehow he did feel weak. A flashing symbol in the corner of his vision drew his attention, and somehow without realizing it Zach brought the notification up.

Young Aniwye slain — 100 Essence

Achievement unlocked, title available—First Kill

Reward: 5000 Essence

He glanced at his status screen and saw that he had a new screen.

Titles

Reward

First Kill

Be the first person to kill a monster in the Framework-run world

5000 Essence

He saw that his Essence now totaled 5,150. He had gained Essence from killing the monster, and another five thousand from being the first person in the world to kill one. He didn’t know how to feel about that. The choice was taken from him as Ryun yelled out, startling him.

“Hell yeah! Did you get the achievement too? Five thousand Essence! This will give us a great head start compared to the others!”

Zach blinked. Ryun’s hand was bleeding which reminded him of his own injury. His leg was throbbing, but the only thing he could focus on was Ryun’s grinning face. Zach tightened his fist until his knuckles turned white.

“Hey,” Ryun called out as he took a step closer. “What, you didn’t get the title?”

“Yeah, I got the title,” Zach said through gritted teeth, and then he smashed his fist into Ryun’s jaw.

Ryun fell down to the ground, holding his face. Zach’s eyes opened wide as he realized what he had done, but he didn’t let himself pull back. He took a step closer as Ryun turned still on the ground.

“What the fuck was that?” he yelled at his best friend. “Are you insane? Do you realize that we could’ve died? Why in God’s name would you do something so inexplicably stupid? Do you think that this is a game?”

By the time he was done, he was breathing heavily and glaring at Ryun. He saw his eyes widen, then look at the back of his hand and the claw marks there. His eyes then turned to look at Zach’s bleeding leg.

“I…” Ryun started, but he didn’t finish.

Zach wanted to say something else, to make Ryun see how stupid attacking that monster had been, but his legs gave out and he fell down on his rear. Ryun scrambled next to him, looking him over. He grasped Zach’s pants and cut them with his sword, looking at the wound. Zach wanted to tell him off, but the fight had left him. He watched as Ryun cut out a strip from his pants and then tied them around his calf. Both of them had attended a first-aid class, as it had been mandatory for their campus dorm. After he was done with Zach, he bandaged his own hand. They didn’t have any water, so they couldn’t clean the wounds, but at least they had stopped the bleeding. He didn’t want to think about what they could catch from the monster.

“I’m sorry,” Ryun whispered once he was finished.

“Me, too. I shouldn’t have punched you,” Zach said.

He could see that Ryun was much more subdued now, compared to how he had been before. The reality of what had happened seeped in—finally. Zach saw him glancing at the dead monster and then to the surrounding forest. It looked far more intimidating now compared to how it had seemed before.

“We should leave this place,” Ryun said finally. “Are we… Are we going to try and find the others?”

Zach swallowed hard, Linda’s face jumping out to him. Finding her had been his first thought once he realized what had happened. But now…if there were more monsters around… He shook his head, dismissing the cowardly thoughts. They didn’t even know where they were, didn’t know what was going on anywhere else. They were going to need to look for a road or some sign of civilization, and they could look for the others at the same time.

“We should keep an eye for them, but our first priority should be finding a way back to the city. I am sure that there will be an organized effort to deal with all of this.”

“Right,” Ryun said. “If there are now monsters in the forest… We should probably use the Essence we got as the reward.”

Zach nodded. “Yeah, good idea.”

The first thing Zach did was look at the shop screen. From what the Dealmaker told him, if he wanted to purchase something from him, he could use the shop; if he wanted to make a deal he had to use the Visit option at the top, which would send him to the Dealmaker directly. He didn’t know how exactly that worked, but he had no desire to go back to that dark place. Instead, he looked through the shop. He could only look through what was called the basic shop, as other tabs were locked for him. He went through the list and picked up a simple sword for two hundred Essence, opting for a curved sword that resembled a katana. After that, he saw a small pack which looked to be filled with some basic necessities: a water bottle, a first-aid kit, a small tent, and a sleeping bag. It cost one thousand Essence, but he had no idea where they were and if they would be able to get back home before nightfall, so he picked that up as well. As soon as he pressed the Finish Transaction button, the two items materialized in front of him.

Ryun looked surprised at seeing them, but then he nodded. “Oh right, the shop. I should probably get a pack, too.” Then his eyes got the same faraway look he saw before.

The rest of his Essence Zach put into his Class, letting him level to level nine, and putting almost half of the Essence to level ten. He felt a strange heat go through his body, but it was gone quickly. His twenty-four free points he put into vitality and endurance, half and half. He didn’t know yet what the stats meant, or how much impact they had, but the feeling of the monster biting his leg was still inside his head. As soon as he put the points in he felt a lot better, almost as if he had suddenly recovered. He untied his leg and saw the wound—it was still there, but it was no longer bleeding and it didn’t seem to be hurting as much. He took out the first-aid kit from the pack and the water bottle and did all the work again, now cleaning the wound. Ryun helped him re-bandage it before he did the same for his hand. After he was done, he looked at his stat screens again.

Name

Zacharia Gardner

Race

Human (Earth—Iteration Seven)

Titles

First Kill

Essence

0

Class

Swordsman

Level

9

Combat Ability

Piercing Stab

Movement Ability

/

Support Ability

/

Strength

19

Dexterity

27

Vitality

20

Endurance

21

Intelligence

7

Wisdom

8

Active Skills

Strike (0/10)

Once he was finished, he looked at Ryun, who was sitting down with his eyes closed. Zach could feel a strange kind of energy coming off from him, but he couldn’t quite grasp what it was. Then Ryun’s eyes opened and he looked at Zach.

“I guess I am a Cultivator now,” he said with a grin.