AN: I realized that I was going against my normal method of updating with this story. Typically, I update four chapters when I first start a new story. As such, I decided to forestall updating other things until this chapter came out. As such, this story won't be updated again until next week. I need to focus on a few other stories over the weekend.

Chapter 4: Mr. Badass

In the darkness of his home, Scott had spent the last two hours resting. He had eaten once more and come to terms with the fact that his cooked food had either gone to waste, or would be wasted soon. It was still a matter for debate to him, as he could not recall how long cooked food could sit out. The smell might be an indicator, but it did not smell particularly bad. Unappetizing certainly, but that might have simply been the co-mingling of the scents from different meat items.

He could not afford to get sick now, either way. He figured that he could push things till later in the afternoon, but whatever was not eaten by then he would consider useless either way. It was just too much perishable food for one person and the risk was too high.

Normally, if the power went out he would go buy some ice from the store to try to prolong his food supply. The closest store was at least three miles away. Even if some ice still survived in the coolers, and there should be at least a few bags remaining, he would have to walk there and back. It would not be worth the effort for food that might not even be safe to eat.

Scott sat up on the couch and thought about his situation for a moment. He could not be outside for long, not if he did not want to get killed or draw attention to where he lived. Yet, he did not really have to walk everywhere, did he?

His status effects had all healed save for the moderate wounds that he had received. While they did feel slightly better, they still hurt quite a bit and made it difficult to move as well as he normally could. A long distance trip at the moment would be a bad idea. However, there was something else that he could do if he was quick about it. His neighbors were dead or worse. They did not need any of their supplies, did they?

A dark light entered his eyes while a gleeful smile rose upon his lips. It was time to go discount shopping.

He gripped his bush axe then checked the peep holes. Several ghouls were nearby but did not seem to know that he was there. He had been careful, but there was something strangely convenient about their lack of awareness. Were they just stupid, or was something else at work here?

Whatever the case might be, he did not want to waste any more time. Scott slowly unbarred the front door, but then went to the back door and slipped outside. He wanted to be able to get back in quickly from either side if he needed to do so.

He peeked around the side of the house. A lesser ghoul shambled around up ahead. Scott raced forward several steps before a bright green light flared outward from his body. The electronic sounding background music began to wail in the background as the announce voice cried out. "Scott Keen versus Rotten Trio. Fight-O!"

Scott moved quickly into position then hacked downward with his bush axe. The monster moaned loudly then whipped its body around in a hair-raising display of retaliatory violence.

"Counter!" cried the announcer voice.

Scott's initial attack was avoided entirely by that surprising maneuver, and worse the monster continued its movement in an attempt to tear into his stomach with its claws. However, it was a futile attempt at a counter-attack.

The newly minted arcane slayer was already moving as he was still far faster and more agile than the beast. He slammed the handle of his weapon to the side to block the counter-attack of the ghoul. He followed his block up by twisting his hands around his weapon and slamming it upward in a brutal rising strike. The blade tore a chunk of bone and decayed flesh out of the beast’s chin and knocked it back a half-step due to its poor balance.

"Counter reversal!" shouted the announcer.

-4

Scott tried to maintain his focus despite the shouting announcer voice. He ignored the low damage number that floated above the monster's head and continued his assault. He rammed his blade forward in a hard lunge that took it in the neck, and then pressed forward. Scott rotated his weapon quickly back and forth in the process so that he could get the hook behind its neck. The plucky little arcane slayer that could brought the beast down to the ground with a hard yank and side-step maneuver. One final strike to the head ended his turn.

-9

The ghoul remained on the ground for a short while and then to Scott's surprise he could move again. A quick glance told him that neither of the other two monsters had moved, either. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he immediately struck out at the downed monster with a series of blows that the monster attempted to block in a pathetic manner. After the fourth strike the ghoul flailed its arms a little then fell limp.

"What the hell?" asked Scott before he turned toward the other two monsters. He had a little movement left due to his recent rise in level, but he opted to wait in order to rebuild a few points of stamina.

Once again, Scott froze up after several seconds passed. Just as before the ghouls made no move toward him. Uncertain what was going on, he decided to take a few steps toward the monsters then wait once more to regain stamina.

After his turn ended the green light of battle shifted to a vibrant blue color. This time the ghouls each took a step toward him.

Scott tilted his head to the side, but did nothing. After his turn ended, his stamina had reached full once more.

Scott decided that it was time to test out his new skill, [Flame Strike]. Just as with his other skills, he had been infused with the knowledge of how the ability worked.

If he used [Burning Soul] first the damage would increase greatly, but he did not want to expend that much mana to test the basic capacity of his skill. Flame strike would cost him ten points per strike. His mana would deplete by a good amount after a single strike, but if he added Burning Soul, it would cost him another six points.

He thought strongly of a flame burning brightly in a dark room then focused on the concept of that flame and his bush axe becoming one. It took a moment to get the feeling exactly right.

Once he felt the connection was ready, Scott cried out, "Flame Strike!" A bright red glow radiated outward from his weapon and then a small flame burst out from the blade. Flame Strike had been successfully activated.

Scott ran forward four steps then whirled his blade around and hacked at the side of the closest ghoul with great ferocity. His eyes widened in shock when he completely severed the beast’s arm and tore into its rib cage with extreme force. Bone and flesh were torn asunder while flames washed over the beasts' body. The well-done lesser ghoul shrieked in agony then fell sideways. Black blood dripped sickeningly from its charred and gaping wounds.

-66

"Oh... Hell." said Scott, his eyes wide in shock. What was with that damage? His normal attacks were so weak compared to his magical attacks. It made sense since the use of magic and stamina based skills were limited to how much mana and stamina he had, but this difference was ridiculous.

A dark desire erupted within his heart. He wanted to know. Scott wanted to know exactly how much damage he could deliver at full attack strength. Was it his imagination or did the only remaining ghoul's teeth begin to chatter a little when Scott looked toward it? A predatory smile crossed the man's face just as his turn ended.

The ghoul took a single step toward him and its turn came to an end. Scott gauged the distance then nodded. He would not be able to reach his opponent until the next turn. He spent his time preparing for his attack. Scott unleashed [Burning Soul]. The fiery aura flamed around him with warm and ferocity. He then activated [Flame Strike]. The flames that licked along his blade shifted hue and became a vibrant blue flame that flickered wildly. He took a few steps forward then stopped to allow the rest of his turn to restore his stamina to a small degree.

Unthinking, the beast took another step and entered Scott's threat range. Once it was the arcane slayer's turn once more, he rushed forward five steps then unleashed his ability [Power Cleave]. His blazing bush axe of power rocketed downward in a powerful overhand blow that slammed into the shoulder of the ghoul and tore downward through its rotting body like it was made of nothing but butter.

Unlike the last time his power cleave ability had done that sort of thing, this time the ghoul caught fire while being hurled backward by an invisible force. It was knocked away a distance Scott thought of as a full-panel in game terms.

-172

"Hell yeah. How's that for a foot in your ass." said Scott with a joyful laugh. That single attack had taken a good chunk of mana and stamina from him, but now he knew that he could do obscene burst damage if he went all out.

The burning ghoul flailed around weakly for a few seconds, though it had been dead the whole time. No happy little columns of light appeared after the battle, sadly. He had gotten nothing from that fight but the thrill of battle, and possibly some experience.

Quickly he began scouting the area. He dealt with another five lesser ghouls, one or two at a time, before he found an unlocked house that was far enough away for his purposes, but close enough that he might make it back to his house.

Scott did not want to bash his way in anywhere, and he did not want to risk climbing through a window. It would make more noise than his fights had, and the window would leave him open to attack if something was hiding in the room. Soon, he would do it anyway, of that much he was certain. Right now, he wanted easy access.

“This is Miller’s place, right?” Scott asked himself. He was pretty sure of that. He did not spend a lot of time with his neighbors. He got the impression that they thought that they were too good for him. Admittedly, it was probably because he was living in the house of a known meth dealer.

No ghouls were in the house despite the unlocked door. He gathered up a bunch of canned goods, and searched for car keys. Miller had an ice maker but no ice in his freezer. Not particularly useful without electricity. There was partially frozen meat in the deep freezer that he found, but he left it there. He already had more of that than he could use at the moment, and there was no use in moving it.

Scott used the bed sheets and pillowcases of the Miller household to take anything he could find that was useful. Dry food, water, and canned goods were the most notable items, but he also found a first aid kit and a few other things.

There was too much to safely take at once, and sadly no car keys to be found. He would have to take multiple trips.

He returned to the hell outside, several pillow cases full of dry food in hand. However, it was not long before he began to pant heavily. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

After a few more steps he was forced to drop his newly acquired goods while he caught his breath. A sneaking suspicion had him check his status. His stamina had dropped to almost zero! "Damn! What the hell...?"

Once a minute passed he felt slightly better. He took a few experimental steps forward, but nothing negative happened.

So, confusion still evident on his face, he walked back over to his overstuffed pillowcase of loot and started toward the house once more. He took only a few steps before he fell on his ass. He labored to catch a breath. It was like every part of his body had reached total exhaustion at the same time.

"What—" Scott panted a few times. "the hell was –" He panted again then lifted one hand to the bridge of his nose. "that?"

Another minute of extreme vulnerability passed while Scott sat immobile in the road. Until his stamina ticked back up a few notches he was not even able to stand up.

He eyed the sack of crap he had gathered up. Physically, he was able to lift it. However, if he tried to carry it around his stamina dropped rapidly. Another minute passed before he bothered to stand up.

Curious, and more than a little concerned for his current vulnerability, Scott hefted the sack and tried to guess its weight. It felt quite heavy. Whether that was because his strength was rated at seven, or because of its actual weight, he did not know.

Experimentation was vital in this new world. Scott risked taking a single full-length step while holding his makeshift bag. His stamina dropped by three points! "Shit!" he said a little too loudly for his own comfort. Four steps would take more stamina from him than he regained in a full minute.

Guessing that the bag was simply too heavy, Scott unloaded part of his stash. He kept a few of the more essential items. The sensation of weight for the bag dropped a good bit. Afterward he took another experimental step. His stamina dropped by two points this time. "Damn, still too heavy."

Half of his loot was removed from the sack. Another step was taken. This time he did not lose any stamina. His curiosity made him place items into the sack and take a step. He repeated the process a few times until he found the exact amount of weight that he could carry without losing stamina with each step. Another minute passed not long after that so he regained a little of the stamina that he had lost.

"Shit man..." muttered Scott as he looked at the two significant piles of stuff behind him. He could not carry much at all. He decided to get busy with the carting about of his goods. It would be a slower process than he liked, but at least one mystery was solved.

Scott nearly made it back to his house before his next opponent arrived. He nodded to the trotting monster, dropped his loot, and then casually whipped his blade around in what he considered to be a battle stance. "Come get some."

The battle itself was a short-lived affair. Just as each battle had gone before, a light flared out and an announcer announced things. Scott waited for it to come for him to build his stamina then made short work of his opponent by striking out at the monster's head when it came into range. His blade bit deeply and generated a satisfying crack.

Scott forced the ghoul to the ground then ripped his blade free and finish it off with two more hard strikes. Lesser ghouls of this thing’s level were no problem for him now, at least not unless they came in packs.

His eyes lit up when a little column of light appeared. They narrowed when an envelope appeared in the light and hovered lazily in the air. A smirk appeared on his lips and he unleashed a mildly amused sounding laugh. “I’ve got mail?”

Scott took the envelope and snatched up his loot sack. He wanted to get off the street again before he attracted trouble.

The ghouls were not that much of a problem anymore if they came one at a time, but he remembered that wolf-headed centaur thing that chased his neighbor’s Chihuahua. He doubted that thing would be as simple to deal with as the low-level version of the shark-toothed bastards. That thing was the main reason he was not doing a house-to-house ghoul slaying free-for-all. He would never know when he might run across it, and it was probably not something he could handle easily even now.

Once he made it into his house, he searched and secured it once more. After that he cleaned his equipment and checked the mirror. He was still level four. It was not a surprise but he would be lying to himself if he did not admit that he’d hoped for another level gain.

He checked the peepholes, saw nothing that interesting, and then settled down on the couch to see what his new letter said.

Missionary Mail

[An Earnest Prayer]

“Please god, don’t let them get in! Please! Protect my babies!

--

The mother of a small family trapped inside a barn has prayed for salvation. The gods are currently too busy to care about any of that, but you seem to be a likely sort. The survivors are good people trapped in a terrible situation. Rescue them and receive fabulous rewards!

--

Side-quest: Daisy, the youngest daughter of the family, is asthmatic. Her inhaler is in a car abandoned on Coulter Road. Get her inhaler and bring it to her.

Time Remaining: 33 minutes

Difficulty: Moderate

Success Condition: Defeat the monsters trying to get into the barn.

Failure: The monsters kill everyone.

Side-Quest Failure: Do not retrieve the inhaler for Daisy prior to the success or failure of main-objective. (You can get it afterwards, but you’ll receive no special reward.)

Reward(s): 20 Silver Daemons, 1 Attribute Upgrade Point, 1 Salvation Crystal

Additional Reward(s): A young girl’s appreciation.

[--]

“Shit… This, is this some sort of joke?” asked Scott. The letter folded out and revealed a map. His location, the location of the car, and the location of the barn where the small family was holed up were circled.

“Not that far from here, hell I even know where that barn is…” Scott stared at the map. The barn shown was less than a mile away, the car was just up the street as well. Normally he would easily be able to make it there in far less than half an hour, but should he make the attempt?

“Things are getting weirder by the day.” he said.

Scott sighed, grabbed up a few items, and put them in his pillow case before he headed toward the door. He did not consider himself to be some sort of hero, but at least it was something to do. Besides that, he was curious about the so called fabulous rewards. The attribute upgrade point had caught his eye most of all. If the name meant what he thought it meant, then doing this mission would increase one of his main attributes. That would save him a lot of time and effort when it came to developing them.

He avoided the street and tried to work his way toward his destination without being seen. Time was critical in this situation. He was forced to fight off ghouls twice, but thankfully he had already killed off a lot of them in the area. Thanks to his neighborhood-level extinction event killing spree earlier, it was not particularly difficult to reach Coulter Road.

Scott checked the map and turned to the right. The car should be up ahead. He reached a crossroad and heard a panicked scream. Six lesser ghouls inside a blue battle field were pounding on the side of a beat up old Acura. It was the car mentioned in the mission letter.

Inside the car was what appeared to be a teenage girl. It was now obvious why he had to come here first, if he wanted to succeed in the side-quest. Daisy was not the young girl who would be grateful.

Scott ran forward into the blue field then muttered, “Flame on.” before he activated his [Flame Strike] ability. "Scott Keen has entered the battle!"

The ghouls were not far from his current position, so he trotted forward a few steps and stopped. His opponents were too busy beating on the side of the car to notice and continued to attack it after his turn ended.

Once he was a single step from his opponent he activated [Burning Soul] before stepping forward into combat range. He slashed his weapon viciously toward the closest of the monsters. Surprisingly, his weapon did not scythe through his opponent like it was made of butter. The ghoul was sent staggering forward while flames washed over its back. A massive gaping wound was torn across its back but it was still standing.

-130

That got the attention of several of the others, and they turned their heads toward him in unison. Two of them still continued beating at the car. However, it was still not their turn. Scott could make one more attack, and he intended to do so. His [Flame Strike] had been used, but he still had his other skill activated and there was also good old [Power Cleave].

Scott leapt forward and activated his weapon based attack in a powerful overhand strike that rocketed down with incredible force. A trail of flames was left behind in the air as he unleashed the fury of his attack. The blade bit deep and left a second wound down the center of the ghoul's back.

-104

The ghoul's were now able to move. Scott had expended all of his movement in the reasonable expectation that two severe special attacks would kill his opponent. He had been wrong.

Cut and torn, flames licking along its blackened wounds, the injured ghoul turned its head slowly toward Scott. It hissed at him from between cracked and bloodied shark teeth. "Meat..."

The other three ghouls that had stopped beating on the car moved first. They surrounded Scott quickly and boxed him in to an extent. It was then that the evil bastard in front of him shared a feral shark-toothed smile. It raised up one grey hand then slid its thumb across its neck in a cutting motion. "Dead Meat."

Surprise turned to terror as rotting grey arms suddenly wrapped around Scott from behind. The ghoul that had moved behind him now held him in a tight bear hug. Scott was briefly allowed to move and tried to break free, but it was impossible. The ghoul was physically stronger than he was to an obvious degree. The only saving grace was the fact that the ghoul holding him in that powerful embrace took a small amount of hit point damage each second while the embrace lasted, not that it showed any sign of concern. They felt little to no pain for the most part.

The ghouls on either side were frozen in place, but the one in front lunged forward with a series of brutal clawing strikes to Scott's abdomen. The formerly cocky arcane slayer screamed in pain as he felt those wretched claws tear through his already embattled coat to score deep cuts in his flesh. Though, it took minor damage from the flaming aura of [Burning Soul] with each strike.

-14

-4

-11

-4

-13

-4

It was by nothing more than the quirks of the system that Scott survived the hellish assault. The ghoul had continued to attack like it had infinite speed and stamina, but after that third strike it screamed in agony then fell limp to the ground. The burning aura surrounded Scott had taken the last of its hit points away.

Bleeding heavily, Scott had to wait for the ghouls' turns to all end before he was able to move again. Once he did, he vainly struggled with the ghoul for a moment then decided to try something desperate. He went completely limp. The sudden shift in weight caused the ghoul to lean forward rapidly. Scott used that to his advantaged to roll forward and send the ghoul crashing to the ground. It lost his grip on him in the process.

Desperate, the badly injured man righted himself then launched a [Power Cleave] in a heavy downward strike. The blade hit with all the strength Scott would generate and neatly tore into the rotten bastard's rib cage with enough force continue down through its diseased organs then clank against the asphalt of the road below. Black blood and gore splattered outward with tremendous force that the actual damage number did not justify.

-69

His turn was close to the end so he backed away as much as he could to try and give himself room to fight. He had only ten hit points left. If the other ghouls were as strong as the one that had attacked him, he was sure to die.

The first of the remaining monsters came within range. Scott braced himself mentally for incoming death. He knew enough about the system to know that he would not be able to move until the last moment.

Wicked yellow claws whipped toward him furiously. His movement paralysis ended just in time for him to deflect the claw attack, but to his surprise he was able to reverse the motion as he desired and struck out at the beast. It was just like before! His blade whipped upward with a hard strike that tore along the monster's chest then cleaved into its chin with brutal force.

"Counter!" cried the announcer.

-36

The ghoul tried his luck again with a leaping lunge, a new tactic compared to earlier ghoul battles. Scott twisted sideways at the last moment when he was freed from his paralysis, narrowly avoiding the takedown move in the process. He was not fast enough to perform a counter attack that time, however.

After it got back to its feet, it tried one more time to attack its obviously more agile opponent. This time it managed to score a partial hit on Scott's arm with a hard clawing strike. The badly torn coat added one more set of battle scores to its backstory, though the ghoul got little out of the deal on its end. It even took more damage than Scott did due to the fiery effect of Burning Soul.

-2

-4

Scott was not allowed much time to feel relieved at the weak nature of his opponent's strike as it was now the next ghoul's turn. The monster came screaming over and leapt toward him in a flying tackle. Unfortunately for the beast, it was no stronger than its fallen friend. Scott was narrowly able to avoid the attack by hurling himself a half-step to the side while twisting his body sideways.

The ghoulish beast performed a quick spin then snarled at him before attacking once more. It launched two hard clawing strikes that Scott managed to deflect, though he did not manage to get in another counter. It did launch a kick that caught Scott by surprise, however. The heel of the running shoes that the ghoul was wearing slammed into Scott's gut with enough force to knock the man back a full step. Though, once again the ghoul took more damage than Scott did in the exchange.

-3

-4

Scott's breath came in labored gasps as half of his remaining hit points had been beaten out of him in the exchange with those two ghouls. Five hit points separated him from life and undeath at the hands of the beasts before him.

His vision blurred a little for a brief instance. He hoped that he still had five hit points. He had seen no bleeding status effect pop up, but he knew that he was bleeding pretty badly.

As the other ghouls made their turns, and the girl trapped in the car continued to do nothing but stare at him in shock, Scott made a decision. Go hard or die trying. There was no point in trying to hold anything but. He had to kill these fuckers in the next round or he was dead either way.

Scott's turn came around and he gripped his bush axe tightly in his hands. This was his third round. Burning Soul would end after this round, and he would not even be able to automatically injure his opponents when they attacked.

The flame flickering at the edge of his bush axe turned a vibrant blue as Scott activated his [Flame Strike]. That was not enough, however. When he attacked he was all in this time. He unleashed a mighty [Power Cleave] as well. The ghoul attempted to move the moment that its movement paralysis ended up it was not nearly as agile as Scott, nor did it have his reflexes. It had enough raw speed to attack several times in a given turn, but that thing and this thing were different.

Scott's ferocious attack ripped through the monster with tremendous force. Just like several times before he cleaved through its body like it was nothing, splitting it down the center. The ghoul gurgled out a weak cry before separating into two nearly symmetrical halves. Its black blood leaked heavily and began to pool up in a sickening display.

Despite the moment of triumph, Scott could not rest on his laurels. He had to strike out at the downed monster. Once again a flame strike and power cleave combo tore through a ghoul. Despite the monster's superior power compared to the scrubs that he had faced near his house, it only took one full-power attack combination to take it down. The first ghoul he had fought in this battle was an extreme outlier compared to the rest.

Scott shook his head heavily from side to side to clear his blurred vision. It was becoming hard to think, hard to do anything really. His opponents were too far away to reach with his remaining movement capacity. He settled for moving parallel toward them in case one of them came for him.

The ghouls never noticed him. They were single-minded creatures compared to the others. Their strikes against the car had done surprisingly little damage throughout the battle, which was a good thing as far as Scott was concerned.

After the ghouls spent their turns beating on the car, Scott slipped a few steps closer to the one on his side of the vehicle. He was now roughly seven steps away from the beast from what he could tell. It was still outside of his movement range, but it was close enough for him to try and bait it next turn.

He moved in three steps and stopped. The ghoul paid him no heed. Scott waited out his turn while he gazed thoughtfully at the beast. Was it just stupid?

During his next turn, Scott moved in and unleashed a full-power attack against the monster. It never stood a chance. It took two more turns to reach the other ghoul, but it was no more difficult to dispatch. If he had to guess, neither of them was higher than level two at the most.

Not long after, the music died down and the battle field faded away. Once again, Scott had narrowly avoided his own bad decision. He had allowed himself to become arrogant after dealing with so many weak ghouls. He had paid a hefty price, almost the ultimate one, for that hubris.

He glanced over to the car and saw the girl staring at him, still. After a brief moment she mouthed something that Scott thought to be quite funny despite the difficulties of his situation. It was, Holy Shit.

Scott made a short waving motion with his hand that beckoned her to exit the car. The girl hiding inside was terrified and it took several such motions to convince her that he was not some sort of axe wielding maniac. Admittedly, her potential savior was covered in blood and gore, not to mention the fact that he looked as though he had walked into a wood chipper chest first.

He sighed then made a circular motion with his hand and pointed at her window. That much she was willing to do after another moment of deliberation. Scott felt the rush of returning energy while she rolled it down. The entire exchange had taken a full minute to accomplish.

She rolled her window down just enough to ask, “H-hello?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not a monster. I came to help.” said Scott.

The girl stared at him blankly for a moment. Slowly her eye lashes lowered and then the light began to shimmer in her eyes to a surprising degree. Tears started to trickle down as she made a sniffling sound. Finally, whatever had held back the waterworks gave way. She cried out, “Thank you!”

Of course, she then proceeded to babble her life story in a rapid-fire manner, or so it seemed to Scott. Where she had been reluctant to speak before, she now did not seem to be able to quiet down at all.

“Look, I’m sure that's all very fascinating, but I have to get going. I originally came for Daisy’s inhaler on my way to try and help the people trapped in a barn.” said Scott. He paid no attention to his wounds now that he felt himself starting to heal.

Somehow he had managed to avoid any status effect exacerbations, so all he had to do was wait a few minutes and he would be as close to perfectly fine as it would get. Though, whether or not he would help the people at the barn after his health was restored would be based entirely on what he found there.

He was not going to go charging in again, no matter what happened. So far he had been unable to determine the level of a monster when he was actually fighting it. He only had that chance prior to the battle.

“Daisy! You know Daisy? Is she, OK?” babbled the girl rapidly.

“Never met her, but time is short. I’ll explain later, but we need to go in a few minutes. We do not want to be out here too long.” said Scott.

“Right!” said the girl with a bit more pluck than she had shown before. "Why wait a few minutes, though?" she asked with wide and innocent eyes.

"Need to get my hit points back up." said Scott lightly. It would be nice to share that sort of humor with someone.

She stared at him strangely for a moment then blinked. "Oh, you need to rest a minute." A short little laugh erupted in the air. "Hit points. That's funny." Scott's eyebrow rose up, but he said nothing. Her answer seemed a little off to him, but he shrugged it off for the moment.

Instead of asking her questions directly, he opted to try and see her status for himself. The girl blushed a little and turned her head to the side once she could no longer withstand the intensity of his gaze. "What...What is it?"

Anna Rhoades

Level: 0

Species: Human(NPC)

Scott rubbed his eyes then shook his head. She was considered an NPC. What did that mean?

Once Scott had rested long enough he told her to get ready to go. The girl grabbed a few items, including the inhaler, and joined Scott outside the car. She looked to him and then looked around with wide, frightened, eyes. He had killed so many of the things with so little effort. It was no wonder that she had thought that he might be a monster.

"What... Who are you?"

Scott glanced at her then decided to be a little silly since he had not had anyone to talk to in a while. He stretched out his hand and she took in delicately in her own. "Mr. Badass."

Anna blinked once then laughed a little. Of all the things she had expected to hear, that was not one of them. "Well, thank you for saving me, Mr. Badass."

Scott started to say something, but he was cut off by the sudden ding of a system notification. After reading it, he could not help but laugh a little as well.

You have received a title: Mr. Badass

This title was granted by a local girl who had good reason to believe in your overall badassery.

Titles do no increase stats or provide extra experience. However, they can cause non-local system generated NPCs to respond to you with greater respect or derision.

"Well, damn." said Scott. That was certainly unexpected.