Ray ended up running, literally, into a house.

He’d been for at least a few minutes in semi-darkness. The dirt path had ended a while back, and he wasn’t sure where he was exactly anymore.

To make matters worse, his phone battery had just died out.

His only choice was to go into the house. Ray couldn’t quite tell what kind of house it was, but he was sure the people inside could offer some assistance. It was unlikely that they’d be worse than the goblins chasing after him.

Ray circled to the front of the house, then rang the doorbell twice. He looked behind him and all around, the one streetlight near this house not illuminating enough for him to feel secure in his position.

There was no response. He leaned towards the door, hoping to hear some footsteps. Ray rang the doorbell some more. This was his only chance, there were probably no houses for quite some distance around this area.

A full minute later, Ray could hear the goblins. They had caught up to him.

“Is anyone there!? I need help!” Ray yelled. He was at his wit’s end. There was no way he could keep running without his phone light, it was only a matter of time before something happened to him.

Hearing no response, Ray tried opening the door.

To his surprise, he was let in. The door gave way to allow him entry into his new sanctuary.

Alright, what do I tell them? Ray wondered as he closed the door. The house was a bit musky smelling, but he felt safer now that there was a physical barrier between the goblins and him. How do I explain this situation . . .

First things first he would need to see what kind of family would live in the middle of nowhere like this. There weren’t any cars out front, but that didn’t mean anything. The garage was probably built into the hill. That information didn’t help him too much, though.

As Ray turned around to fumble for the light switch, he felt his hand touch something odd. It was a sticky, wet sensation.

He ended up finding the light switch. The moment the light turned on, Ray noticed three things.

First, the walls had blood on them. He had been touching the blood with his hand earlier, and it also explained why he sensed that the house had a different odor to it.

Second, he was in a long narrow hallway with several entrances to the sides to other rooms. There was also a staircase leading up towards the second floor.

Third, there was a dead body in the middle of the hallway.

Normally, he would freeze in fear but the night had been weird enough.

Ray felt that he should investigate further. There was something strange about this house. He wiped his hand on his torn pant leg and walked closer to examine the body.

As he got closer, he realized that the dead guy on the ground was of Asian descent. He seemed middle-aged, but with Asians, it was hard to tell. There was blood on the walls and a clear wound on his dress shirt, clearly a sign of struggle.

Ray had watched enough forensic shows to know how the victim died. The perpetrator had stabbed him and left him to die alone on the wooden floor. He wasn’t squeamish about all the blood. Though he did leave the body a wide bearing as he walked past it nonchalantly. This new situation didn’t concern him.

Until he heard the sound of creaking.

Someone was upstairs.

Ray froze, barely breathing. His mind ran through the possibilities. The murderer was upstairs. This changed his entire view of the situation.

“Status,” Ray whispered, keeping his voice extremely low. There was a new threat upstairs. His status popped up in front of his eyes once more.

Against a sharp weapon, it’s probably better to upgrade agility to dodge better right? Ray analyzed his situation. I can’t afford to get stabbed here.

He quickly inputted his stat points into his desired trait.

Name: Ray Delano

Stats

Value

Level: 6

STR

20

HP: 181/460

AGI

25

Total EXP/Percentage to Next Level: 1200 / [3%]

INT

10

Stat Point Available: 0

A tug on his pant leg interrupted his planning.

Ray looked down in horror. The man was conscious, barely clinging on to life.

“Save yourself, young man. It’s too strong,” the Asian man said weakly. “Even early Foundation Establishment wasn’t enough . . .”

The man trailed off. He was weak with blood loss and on his last legs.

Ray bent down to assess the man’s wounds, warily taking a closer look at the wound. He realized the knife wound wasn’t that deep.

“Hey, you’ll be okay,” Ray whispered, looking at the man. “I think the thing is still upstairs. Can I move you?”

He knew that moving an injured person was dangerous but it also wasn’t safe for the man to be laying there. Ray was hesitating between running away and staying to fight the monster. And besides, the man was outright delirious.

What did he mean by Foundation Establishment?

“No, let me recuperate down here. I feigned weakness to allow Lulu to hunt it down,” the man replied, albeit still quite softly. “I’ll be okay in a few hours. Lulu will lead it away.”

Wait . . . he’s going to be alright? He looks like he’s about to die!

“Are you sure you’re fine?” Ray asked again. There was no way this man was fine. “I can try to find first aid if you tell me where it is.”

The man ignored his question. He was paying attention to the staircase as if trying to listen in on what was happening upstairs.

Ray was confused. There was a bloody trail scattered across the hallway leading towards the man on the floor. Also, other than that one creak that came from upstairs, there seemed to be no more sound.

It was all so mysterious.

Ray waited with the man for a few more seconds in silence before speaking once more.

“Do you know what’s going on? Also, what should I call you?” Ray questioned. There was a lot he needed to know, and he felt that this man could potentially give him some answers. Maybe this man had gotten injured from a fight with a goblin with a knife?

“You can call me Mr. Xue,” clarified Mr. Xue. It sounded like he said ‘shoe-way’ but faster. “I don’t know what’s going on, but a monster attacked me in my home just now.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Ray,” Ray introduced himself after. He suddenly felt very relieved to find another human being he could talk to. Things could have been so much worse.

“Ray. A good name,” Mr. Xue repeated, nodding a few times. The man then shifted his gaze to him from the staircase. “Ray, I need a favor from you.”

“Can you go upstairs?”