Author's Note: I'm sorry for the delay. I thought I could make a 5,000 words chapter a day. I am now writing Chapter 3 which would be in Dianne's POV...

Please comment your suggestions and don't hesitate to be a grammar nazi. I will try to improve my grammar. I actually decided to write so I can improve my grammar. Help me my readers! Thanks and enjoy a 5,000 word chapter!

Chapter 2: A Night at the Restaurant

“I’ll take the one on the left, you take the right.” I said to Eric and he nodded.

I rushed towards the goblin on the left and swing my club to it. I tried to aim for its head but before my club hit, the goblin dashed to the right and I missed.

The swing I made left me open and the goblin took the opportunity and slashed its dagger. The dagger slashed me on my right arm as I desperately tried to block it.

-12 HP

The moment I took the damage, I saw a red number floating upwards and fade after a few seconds. Shit. These little bartards were pretty fast. I checked my arm and I was bleeding badly.

Debuff: Bleeding

-2 HP

I backed up a little creating a space between me and the goblin. I got to fight smart if I wanted to survive.

-2 HP

The goblin rushed towards me and closed off the distance. It lunged forward with its dagger aiming for my torso. I quickly dodged to my right and its attack missed leaving him open for a counter attack. Instead of aiming for its head or torso, I swung my club aiming for its weapon arm.

-2 HP

I did it! The goblin dropped its dagger as soon as I hit its arm.

-10 HP

The goblin hissed at me as I kicked the dagger far away from him. I remembered that I learned an active skill and this was a good opportunity to try it.

-2 HP

I rushed towards the goblin with my club overhead. I did it as a feint. The goblin thinking that I would do the same attack, dodged to its left. It worked! I swung my club horizontally aiming for its head.

“BASH!” As I shouted the skill name, my makeshift club glowed with ominous yellow light.

-31 HP

Target Stunned!

The goblin flew to its right and landed on its face on the ground. I continued hit its head twice but the goblin died on the first blow.

-15 HP

Target Died

I rested for a moment to catch my breath. I turned my focus on Eric who about to finish off his goblin. He swung his club to its head and killed the goblin. The goblin’s blood splashed to his face as he continued to hit the goblin. As soon as he realized that his opponent died, he stopped as he panted and he sat on the ground.

I approached Eric to see if he’s alright.

“You okay, buddy?”

“Yeah…” He looked up and nodded. He looked unscathed. The blood on his shirt wasn’t his and it looks like they didn’t noticed that I used my skill [Bash].

-2 HP

Shit. I totally forgot. I was still bleeding. I sat on the ground and leaned on the wall. I was breathing heavily and my chest was pounding. Seeing that the fight was over, the girls rushed towards our side.

“Miguel! You’re bleeding!” Claire said.

“Oh god! Miguel!” Dianne was starting to panic.

“I’m fine…”

Clearly, I wasn’t. I only said that so they wouldn’t panic. There were probably more monsters out there and I didn’t want them to grab their attention.

I grabbed my handkerchief and tied the cloth around my arm to stop the bleeding. I waited for a few seconds and the red numbers stopped. I let out a deep sigh in relief.

“Just… Let me rest for a bit…” I said to them. “Lock all the doors and cover the windows and do not make a sound. The monsters are still out there. Eric, make sure there are no more of those things inside this place.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Eric asked.

“Yes…”

“Alright… Let’s do it.” The four of them crouched but Eric stopped Dianne. “Dianne, stay with Miguel. Okay?”

Dianne nodded and she stayed.

Eric, Claire and the waitress did exactly what I said. Claire locked the entrance door and barricaded it with tables while the waitress closed the curtains. Eric, on the other hand, roamed the restaurant carrying his makeshift club.

It was dark since they covered the windows and the lights weren’t working. The waitress took a candle from the counter and lit it. There were screams outside, monsters and victims alike. I told them to ignore it.

“Are you going to be okay?” Dianne asked as she held my hand. Her teary eyes looked at me filled with worries.

Sweet… If she did this a long time ago, I would have jumped in joy. Alas, I felt nothing. They said that the opposite of love is hate. They are wrong. Love and hate are the same. If you love someone, then you think about that person and care for them. In hate, it is the same but with a different intention. I learned that the opposite of love is apathy.

I no longer care about Dianne. I was angry from earlier but I didn’t really hate her. I was thinking that if it happens that she dies later on, what would I feel? I was trying hard to imagine it but in the end, nothing. I felt nothing. My world won’t feel any less.

What did she do to deserve my apathy? It’s too painful just to remember it and no, it wasn’t when she rejected me or asked me for an advice about Eric. It’s another story and I wasn’t in the mood to tell.

“I’m fine…” I said as I retracted my hand off her. “Don’t worry about it…”

Dianne frowned and wiped off her tears. She sat beside me leaning on the wall.

“It’s all clear.” Eric said to me as he crouched.

“We’re done…” Claire said.

“Did you see what’s happening outside?” I asked.

“It was… a mess. There are a lot of monsters outside and they… killed everyone.” Claire’s voice cracked as if she’s about to cry. “What do we do now?”

“I have no idea…” I said to them. “We should stay here for a while and think of a plan. I don’t want to go outside and we should avoid monsters as much as possible if we are to survive.”

“I agree…” Eric said. They all nodded in agreement.

“Uhmm… Eric… Thank you for saving me…” The waitress said. “I’m Melissa, by the way…”

Oh come on! I killed the goblin that chased you and Eric’s getting the credit? I even killed two goblins and got wounded for it! I knew it. I should’ve never took the hero role and let her get killed. Not that I did it for attention or anything but she should’ve been grateful to me. Fuck!

Melissa turned her looks to me.

“Thanks to you too…” Melissa said but she didn’t look me in the eye.

“You’re welcome…”

*Sigh* Girl, if you’re pretending to be a grateful cunt, at least learn how to say thanks with sincerity.

As I leaned on the wall, I observed her from a distance. Melissa was pretty but not as pretty as Claire. She looked like a woman in her mid-twenties and she was as tall as me. Her skin was light brown and it was smooth. Her straight hair was long and black. Her body was well shaped like an hour glass.

Eric introduced us to Melissa. He told her our names one by one while she shook hands. When it was my turn, she shown a bit of hesitation but we still shook hands.

I was envious of Eric. Goddamn it. Even after the world has ended, he could still collect girls like pokémons. It seems that my only chance of getting laid is when I find a girl broken enough to let me into her pants or if I pay a hefty sum. Either way, I don’t like it and I’m not that desperate.

We were silent and faint screams can be heard outside and all of us were staring at the candle in front of us. My adrenaline rush from fighting goblins started to wear off and I wanted to sleep.

“I’m going to sleep for a bit. Wake me up when something happens.” I said as I looked at my watch. It’s still working because it’s an automatic watch. It’s already 6:14 p.m.

“Me too…” Eric said as laid down on the ground.

“I’ll take the watch.” Melissa said.

I closed my eyes and felt my consciousness slowly drifting. Even after what happened, I fell asleep.

It was warm. My face felt warm. The smell was… fragrant. I concentrated on the smell and it smelled like a roses. I opened my eyes and it met with Dianne’s. I realized that I was sleeping with my head on her lap. I blushed. I quickly got up and pretended that it didn’t happen. Why did I blush? I have no idea.

“Good evening…” Dianne greeted me. Her cheeks were a bit red as well.

I didn’t greet her back and just nodded. “Anything happened?”

Dianne shook her head.

It was quiet so I peeked outside opening the curtains slightly. I saw a lot of dead bodies but there were no monsters nearby. I breathed out a deep sigh.

Eric was already up. I looked at my watch and it was already 6:35 p.m. Claire, Eric, and Melissa were doing something on the corner so I approached them. Dianne also followed me like my own personal nurse.

“Where did you get these?” I asked.

There were three daggers, cloth, coins, three glowing stones and a rock about the size of a fist on the ground.

“Oh, you’re already up. Just in time…” Eric said. “We looted these from the goblin we killed.”

Eric held the dagger and handed it to me. “Check this out…”

It was a simple dagger made of ordinary steel. Nothing’s unusual but it was a bit dull and rusty.

“Try to say: Observe.” He said.

“Observe…”

*DING*

Rusted Iron Dagger

Attack Damage [Physical]: 4-5

Durability: 6/10

Requirements: None

Whoa! I didn’t know I have that skill. As soon as I activated the skill, another blue screen flashed with a Ding sound.

*DING*

Skill level of [Observe] Increased by 1.

“May I see another one?” I asked.

“Can I try?” Dianne said.

“Sure…” I handed her the dagger and did the same thing. Eric handed me another dagger.

*DING*

Rusted Iron Dagger

Attack Damage [Physical]: 4-5

Durability: 7/10

Requirements: None

A simple rusted dagger made of iron.

He handed me another dagger and it was the same as the first one but with a durability of 5/10. As soon as I used the [Observe] Skill on the third dagger, the skill levelled up once more.

*DING*

Skill level of [Observe] Increased by 1.

Dianne and I used [Observe] on the remaining items.

*DING*

Copper Coin X 32

Silver Coin X 3

Small Mana Stone X 3

Dirty Loin Cloth X 3

Fucking Rock X 1

*DING*

Skill level of [Observe] Increased by 1.

“How did you get all of these?”

“I just said: Loot while touching the goblin’s corpse and the corpse disappeared and left these.” Eric explained. “It’s exactly like what it said on the help menu.”

“Help menu?”

“Yeah, remember the messages? The last message gave us a tip. Try to say: Open Help Menu”

“Open Help Menu”

*DING*

Command List:

Say ‘Open’ then followed by:

Character Screen- Shows the player’s status, titles, perks, attributes and others facts about the player.

Tip: To distribute points, say ‘Add (x) Points to (Attribute)’. Be warned that it is permanent and there’s no reset.

Skills Screen – Shows the player’s list of skills and other skill related info.

Inventory Screen- Shows the player’s inventory. It can be used to store items and money.

Tip: To place items, put the item to be stored in front of the Inventory Screen and the item will disappear like magic and the item will be stored. To withdraw the item, click on the item cell and select withdraw and the item will appear (again like magic) outside the screen. Money does not consume weight and a maximum amount of 9,999 Gold, 99 Silver and 99 Copper Coins can be stored.

Party Screen – Shows general information about the party members: Name, Level, HP, SP, MP and Status.

Tip: To create a party, say ‘Create Party: (Party Name)’. Upon creation of the party, the creator is automatically appointed as leader. To invite other players to the party, the leader must say ‘Invite Party: (Player Name)’. To leave, say ‘Leave Party’. To transfer/appoint leadership, one of the members must say ‘I nominate (Player) as the leader of this party.’ and the members must agree by saying ‘Aye!’ or disagree by saying ‘Nay!’. Only upon a majority vote, the player is appointed.

Other Useful Tips:

• Do not try to offend God as He can read all minds in this world. All unintentional evil and ugly thoughts about Him are tolerated (There would be no players left if I didn’t). However, all fuckheads who did so will be smitten.

• Please use proper capitalization when you refer to Him. Ex.: God, He, Him, His, and etc.

• You can swear using the Lord’s name as long as it wasn’t intentional and/or directed to Him. Ex.: Your dick was bitten by a Chimera and said: Goddamn it! (Sinestra’s Ass, Eriton’s Dick, Jesus Christ, Holy Shit and other godly swear are fine whether intentional or not)

• To see details about an item/object: Say ‘Observe’ while looking at the item. I have given all of you this skill so you wouldn’t blow yourselves up with a Fucking Rock.

• Try to look for The Shop. They are numerous and scattered throughout the world and it may have the necessary items for your adventure and/or survival. You can also permanently spawn The Shop in a location. Say ‘Spawn: The Shop’ and The Shop will spawn and the 2,000 Gold Coins are automatically deducted from inventory.

• No one can see your ‘Blue Screen’ other than you except world notifications which everyone can see.

• To loot a corpse, say ‘Loot’ while touching it. You can loot all kinds of corpses as long as they are ‘dead’. Obviously, you don’t say ‘Loot’ if you’re trying to carve it.

• To learn a skill, touch a Skill Book and say ‘Learn Skill’. However, Skill Books can only be used once and will disappear after use. Skill Books can be acquired through The Shop or dropped by monsters. Skills can also be taught by a player with a Skill on Expert or Master Level.

• Besides [Observe], I have also given you one Skill that matches your initial attribute. Ex.: You will get [Power Attack] if your STR is high.

• Skills that consume Mana Points (MP) are called Spells. A Spell’s effect depends on how much Mana you spend. The more Mana you spend, the more powerful a Spell is and the higher the WIS attribute, the higher the Mana Control is. Mana Control greatly improves efficiency of MP consumption.

• To use an [Active] Skill, think of the name of the skill and aim it to your target. You don’t have to say it out loud. Skills have certain criteria/requirements to activate/use. Obviously, you cannot use [Dive] in a concrete road, can you?

• Party members can share Exp equally or if all of the members agreed, to share Exp on a ratio. There’s no limit for the number of party members.

• Party members can communicate with each other telepathically. The radius of communication is up to 2 km.

• You can also increase your Attributes by doing real life activities. Ex.: Lifting weights can increase STR. Go figure.

• If you didn’t understand the terminologies used in the SYSTEM, say ‘Info: (Term)’ and the meaning of the term will be explained like a dictionary.

P.S.: If I missed anything then get the fuck out and find it out yourselves.

P.P.S.: No Respawn so don’t die…

I carefully read the tips and the commands.I already expected most of it because I used to read LMS. I think I need to check my skills to see what kind of skill I got. I read again the tips and I giggled.

Wait a minute…

“Observe!” I said as I looked at the strange rock included in the loot.

*DING*

Fucking Rock X 1

It’s a Fucking Rock! Not an ordinary rock but a Fucking Rock!

“Did any of you touch this Fucking Rock?” I asked. They all looked confused.

“I did but there’s no need for swearing, Miguel.” Eric replied.

“No, I told you it’s a Fucking Rock! Use your Observe and you’ll see it’s a Fucking Rock!”

“Observe…” Eric stared at the rock. “Yeah, it is. It is a Fucking Rock. So what?”

“Get that Fucking Rock out of here.” I said with a serious tone.

“To where? But Why?”

“Anywhere but here! And for the love of god, be careful!”

Eric took the Fucking Rock and went somewhere. I didn’t know where he took it and I didn’t care.

“What’s with the rock?” Melissa asked.

“Yeah, what’s with that Fucking Rock?” Eric came back and sat on the floor.

I told them to read the tips again particularly the part where it says: So you wouldn’t blow yourselves up with a Fucking Rock.

“Oh shit! We almost died?!” Eric said in a loud voice.

“Shhh! Yes, that Fucking Rock almost killed us.”

We all sighed in relief.

“Alright guys, listen up...” I said to them. “Tonight, we’re going to study the rules and how this game works. We need to know everything we can so we can plan better.”

They nodded in agreement.

“So what do we do?” Melissa asked.

“Just do what I do and we’ll see.” I said.

“Open Inventory Screen” A blue screen appeared.

I grabbed the dagger and place it in front of the screen. The moment I put it on the screen, the dagger disintegrated like pixels and there’s a word Rusty Iron Dagger on one of the cells. I grabbed another dagger and stored it but it seemed that ‘equipable’ items don’t stack.

I clicked on the icon and clicked the withdraw button and the dagger appeared on my hand like magic. I stored the rest of the items and I confirmed that coins and the magical coins can stack. The loin cloths didn’t stack either.

“Wow!” said Dianne. “It disappeared!”

“Can you see my inventory screen?” I asked.

They shook their heads. Maybe to them, I looked like a magician doing disappearing trick. I withdraw all the items I stored and placed them back to the ground.

The others tried to do the same as I did. Claire had fun pulling the dagger in and out of the thin air. From my point of view, it was really amazing. Her tits too were amazing.

“Open Skill Screen”

*DING*

Unique Skill(s):Quick Learner Lvl. 1 Max (100%)Active Skill(s):Observe Lvl. 2 Beginner (65.93%)Heal Lvl. 1 Beginner (0.00%)Bash Lvl. 1 Beginner (25.23%)Passive Skill(s):Blunt Weapon Mastery Lvl. 1 Beginner (56.16%)

I examined the list of Skills and I was expecting an offensive type of spell like a fireball or lightning bolt but what I got is [Heal]. It was fine since we also need a healer in our party.

I asked the others about what skill they got:

Eric got [Power Attack] which is self-explanatory. It can be used with any melee weapons.

Claire got [Charm] which is a crowd control spell. It charms the target rendering it harmless. Hell, if someone flashed their boobs right in front of me, I'd be harmless too. Anyway, this would be very useful.

Melissa got [Aimed Shot] which is an offensive long range skill. However, it needs long range weapon to use which we didn’t have for the moment.

Finally, Dianne got [Sneak] which hides her presence from the enemy and if she attacks during [Sneak], given that she wasn’t detected, she will deal 4x damage.

I was wondering why we got the skills. The tip said that we get a Skill based on our initial attributes. I wonder what my attributes are.

“Open Character Screen”

*DING*

Name:Miguel ArevaloRace:HumanLevel:2HP:120/120MP:325/325SP:70/70EXP:81.30%STR:13WIS:21AGI:7INT:22VIT:12LUK:9DEX:8CHA:7Satiety:FineStatusRested +10% ExpUndistributed Attribute Points:5Title(s):N/APerk(s):N/A

Hmmm…It looked normal for a regular MMO. I clicked each of the stat to see the description.

*DING*

Strength (STR) increases physical damage and physical strength. Increases inventory cell by 1 for every 30 points.

Agility (AGI) increases movement and draw speed. Increases SP by 10 and SP regeneration.

Vitality (VIT) increases HP by 10 and HP regeneration.

Dexterity (DEX) increases hand and eye coordination thus improves chance of hitting a target. It also increases awareness and perception.

Wisdom (WIS) increases common sense and mana control. Increases MP by 5 and MP regeneration.

Intelligence (INT) increases memory retention, memory recall and mana sensitivity. Increases MP by 10 and MP regeneration.

Luck (LUK) increases chance of finding better loot. It also improves chance of more favorable encounters.

Charisma (CHA) increases social skills and influences chance of getting negotiations into your favor.

I was curious of how HP, SP and MP regeneration worked as it was not included in Character Screen. My HP was full at 120/120 so I checked my wounded arm. It’s already healed. I tried to pinch the skin where I was cut but it didn’t hurt anymore. Amazing!

I turned my focus on my attributes and I have 5 undistributed points from levelling up earlier. I didn’t know if this was the average or above average. I should ask Eric.

“Eric, what are your stats?”

“Uhmm… 22 STR, 17 AGI, 16 VIT, 14 DEX, 8 WIS, 10 INT, 12 LUK and 17 CHA.” Eric said. “How about yours?”

Holy shit! My character’s a trash… Fuck! Even after the world changed, he was still better than me. At least I got higher INT and WIS. Not to mention that I got a unique skill!

I asked everyone about their stat. I got the highest INT and WIS while Eric got the highest STR and VIT. Claire got the highest CHA and Melissa got the highest DEX. Dianne, on the other hand, had the highest AGI but she also got a LUK of 4.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Eric grinned.

I nodded. Eric and I played a lot of MMOs. From all MMOs we played, he always picked warrior or any other melee class while I picked support or mage type class. Who would’ve thought that our experience in online games would be put to use in real life?

With our stats, we got a pretty decent party member set up. Eric will be in the frontline as melee fighter, Melissa in the rear as long range damage dealer, preferably a bow since her DEX was high, Claire will be a support and she will be our crowd controller since she got [Charm]. I don’t know if there are Bard skills that can give buffs to other members by singing or dancing. CHA is usually tied to this kind of gameplay.

Since I got the highest INT and WIS, I could be the mage and the healer but currently, I didn’t have any offensive magic. I had an idea on how to get one through my unique skill. I will do it later.

And lastly, Dianne could be our thief, assassin or scout but I think it’s a bad idea because she’s too clumsy to be sneaking around and killing monsters in the dark. In my theory, her LUK could affect our encounters and loot drop since she would be in our party. She can be bait and lure monsters to us. Unfortunately, I plan to avoid fighting monsters as much as possible but she can lure monsters away from us. I don’t think she’d be willing to do that. To summarize, Dianne was a dead weight.

As much as I wanted to kick Dianne out of our merry band for being useless, I couldn’t do it. Not that I cared about her but I need Eric and the others to stay with me. That is until I find a better party.

Yeah, I know. I’m such an asshole. I admit that I care more about my own survival than my ‘friends’. I’m selfish, bitter, hypocrite, pervert and ugly. Adding asshole in my resume will make me a good ol’ villain.

I explained to the group of what I’ve found and I also explained to them their roles when we face monsters. Eric and I explained the party formation. Eric will be in the frontline and Melissa will support Eric in melee since she didn’t have a bow. Claire would be in the rear and she will use [Charm] to control the monster crowd. I didn’t have an offensive spell for the moment so I’ll be supporting Eric and Melissa in the front lines. I’ll also fight in melee if I had to.

Dianne’s role would be scouting. Since I plan to avoid monsters as much as possible, she will have to scout ahead and inform us. When I told Dianne her role, she looked eager to do it. I also told her the importance of her role to encourage her. Her eyes sparkled in joy. I didn’t know why she’s so eager to do it. No… I don’t think she can read minds. Was I too obvious?

“Leave it to me!” Dianne puffed her chest while giving me a thumbs up.

Well, I guess it’s too early to judge Dianne. I’ll give her a chance to prove herself useful.

Two hours have already passed since I woke up. We forgot to eat dinner since we were too engrossed with testing the system.

Melissa went to the kitchen to get us something to eat. Fortunately, the stove was still working. She cooked spaghetti with tomato sauce. It was delicious. I also learned from Melissa that her family owned the restaurant and it was only been open for a week. Normally, her father would be the cook and she would be the waitress but her parents went to the province to visit her grandparents. The second floor of the restaurant was where they lived.

After we ate dinner, I told them to rest for tonight and we will formulate a plan.

Eric and I took the watch for the night.

I hope we survive the night...