Chapter 4: Civilization

The afternoon was clear and the sky hadn't a single cloud in it. The birds chirped and the cicadas buzzed. Zaki walked for hours upon hours, there was little to no animal life in this world, he got lucky when he found those boars, from now on it’s going to be a lot harder to level up.

“I wish it was raining, it’s so damn hot and humid here. I wonder where exactly I am in this world like there's probably a desert, rainforest, and Savana right?”

The trees in the forest got fewer and further between, this gave Zaki enough vision to see ahead of him and allow him to see the forest was ending up ahead.

“By the gods, something that's not trees!”

Zaki ran the rest of the way to the edge of the forest, a cliff overlooked a tiny village down below, the best part was that he could see people walking the streets, no one was dying, just people living their lives.

Quickly Zaki found a path down the mountain and made his way to the front of the village, there were two guards at the gates making sure the people coming up were regulars. Zaki neared the gate and one of the guards got up.

“Hey! Who are you and what do you think you’re doing.”

The other guard sat still and watched. The man talking to Zaki was a huge bald barbarian with purple eyes, defiantly not the color of eyes a human would have. He held a giant metal battle-ax in his hand without even feeling the weight of it.

“Uhh, hey, I’m new here, I just woke up a few days ago actually. I was murdered before I got to know anything so I must have spawned near here.”

The man lowered his guard before beginning to explain why they were so uptight.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that most regulars of this world will purposely die that way they can spawn near small villages or towns and rape and pillage everyone there. You keep your level thing -I still don’t understand much about leveling, I never played many games before I died- so with their high ass level’s they just come in and kill everyone.”

It was a bleak world, after all, the strongest prayed on the weakest, it was good that anyone could be powerful given enough time to level up, which meant if anyone was terrorizing the world, someone would eventually be able to stop them.

Zaki quickly noticed that the guards both have very modern clothing. The fact that they had clothing, in general, meant they had a tailor living among them.

“Hey, I doubt you notice, but I’m naked and I’m wondering if I can meet the person who made your clothes.”

The guard looked up and down at Zaki who only wore a towel, shoes, and a satchel. He cleared his throat before asking questions to Zaki.

“What’s your name kid, where are you from, and how exactly did you die?”

Zaki could either lie to conceal his identity or tell the truth, he felt the need, to tell the truth since the village was so small and the community was so close together that no one would care or expose him.

Hesitantly, Zaki answered.

“My name is Zaki Lee, I’m from America, and I died on a study abroad trip to Japan, a terrorist blew up our bust and killed every single person on it.”

Zaki looked down at the ground and kicked up some dirt to pass time, he hasn’t said how he died out loud yet so telling someone felt really weird.

“You know, you’re weirdly not the first person to tell us that, we had another kid around your age come through, I think his name was Haru something.”

Zaki’s jaw dropped, his friend had been in this area without him knowing. Zaki quickly asked where he went before remembering one of the basic things God had told him.

“Well, I have no clue where he is, it’s been around three years since he’s been around here, said he was gonna look for some old friends. I’m guessing you knew him?”

Zaki explained his situation on Earth when he came to that new school and how Haru was the first friend he had there. The man felt ready to talk about his past, and what really happened to him.

“My name is Paul Winter, I was from Canada, and how I died. Well, to keep it short, I was robbing a bank and shot three people before leaving, I almost got away with it but I was shot in the back of the head by one of my partners. Turns out he was a cup that whole time and wanted me dead from the start. God told me I was either going to hell or here, he said that if I spent a few hundred years fixing my life that maybe he’d allow me to go to Heaven someday.”

Zaki was amazed at how much Paul changed, he damn well looked like he robbed banks but then again no one looks like they did in the original world, for all he knew, Paul could have been four foot one and obese, he’d never know.

“Here, I’ll allow you past the town, make your way to the tailor, he’ll know exactly what you’ll look good in.”

Zaki thanked Paul before making his way into the village, he noticed as he walked through the village that people would go into the nearest building to them and close their windows and lock their doors. Zaki knew people weren’t going to trust him, he just needed clothes, once he got them he’d be able to head out of the village and back onto his journey.

The streets were quiet and small, Zaki could see the other side of the village was less than fifty feet away. He looked at signs to see if there was a tailor and luckily he found one, he walked up to the door and knocked on it. A lengthy man with green skin and sharp teeth walked out of the door.

“What de hell do ya want man?”

With a Jamaican accent and with green skin and tattoos he's really starting to look like the stereotypical troll.

“My name is Zaki Lee, I don’t have much time to help but I was wondering if you could help make me some clothes before I go off.”

The man took a deep breath and opened the door for Zaki. The shop was dusty like it wasn’t used for months, clothes-lined clothing racks and a tailoring machine were at the back of the room. The man sat down and rubbed his eyes, he looked back at Zaki waiting to tell him something before he found what he had on his mind.

“Do ye got de moneh to pay for this?”

Zaki looked down and the man knew exactly what he meant.

“No moneh, no clothes!’

Just then a bell has rung in the village.

“ATTACK, REPEAT, A GROUP OF LEVEL FIVE BANDITS ARE ATTACKING!”

A shallow voice came over a small speaker outside, Zaki rushed out of the building to see three, level five bandits standing in the streets. Two of them had clubs while the main one in the center had a sword, he must have been the strongest out of everyone there. The three men looked up at Zaki and started laughing.

“Oh, are we supposed to be scared of you? APPRAISAL! … AHAHA! Does a level three elf think he can stop us? I’d like to see you try!”

Zaki walked down the steps of the shop while shouting back at the men.

“Oh, you really don’t think I can take a couple of punks like you guys on? How about you give me some money to help pay off some clothes I need.”

The three men continued their laughing spree, Zaki looked up and smiled at them causing them to stop laughing and get angry.

“Listen here you little shit! Just for that, you’re dead, Poku go kick his ass!”

The man walked up to Zaki expecting an easy fight, he swung his club at Zaki but wasn’t fast enough, Zaki easily used his super dodging speed to maneuver around the guy and smash him in the back of the head with the Club as hard as he could. Brain matter lined the ground as the guy fell, the man was still alive but barely, Zaki watched as a man through a red potion at the guy making him drink it. The man got on his hands and knees and began vomiting, he whispered thanks before getting up and walking over to the sideline to sit down and pass out.

“Alright, who’s next! I can do this all day!”

The men looked a little more nervous before the next goon replied by screaming.

“YOU’RE INSANE, HOW COULD YOU TAKE JOY IN THIS!”

Zaki laughed at him explaining to them why he was so eager to win.

“You guys don’t understand, I have to meet up with my class, I don’t have time for idiots like you, now either give me the money I needed or get your asses kicked!”

This time both of them rushed him, they knew that by themselves they wouldn’t win so if they rushed him together they had a better chance. One man rushed behind Zaki while the other rushed in front, Zaki used his speed upgrade and quick reflexes to grab the club of the man behind him, flip him over, and use him as a shield as his friend attacked. The world felt like it was moving in slow motion for Zaki as he was easily able to counter their attacks. The man with the sword cut deep into his friend’s chest causing blood to splash against his face.

“AH, I’M SO SORRY! DAMMIT, YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS YOU LITTLE BASTARD!”

The man help up a small wood carving and shouted a weird incantation of words.

“BY THE DEPTHS OF HELL AND SKY OF HEAVEN SUMMON THY SERVANT!”

As he finished his sentence a giant tentacle arm came out of the ground, slowly coming out was a Cthulhu-looking creature with tentacles on its mouth and arms.

“HOLY SHIT DUDE, THAT LOOKS BADASS AND TERRIFYING AT THE SAME TIME!”

Zaki looked impressed at how overpowered one person could get with a single piece of wood. As the creature fully emerged from the depths of wherever it came from, it slashed at Zaki but using his super-speed dodge he was able to dodge it, sadly it used up most of his stamina so he had to now rely fully on running away instead of dodging. The creature slashed again but this time the man tried rushing too, it gave Zaki enough time to run behind the guy and kick him into the attack. One attack was all it took to rip the poor man in half, Zaki’s stomach dropped as he realized he sent that man to his death, he knew he didn’t kill him but still felt bad for kicking him into the attack.

-Sorry God, you didn’t see that

Zaki grabbed the sword from the ground and rushed the creature, it threw weird black goo at Zaki but he was able to run around it, he rushed the creature and cut one of its arms off. The monster screeched in pain and it began slashing around it, it started to rip up the building so Zaki knew he needed to kill it fast. He stood still for just long enough so he could use his special dodge, the monster ran over and threw an attack, just as it came within inches of Zaki’s face, he dodged. He was behind the monster and using the slow-motion that he’d been feeling, he slashed what felt like dozens of times on the creature’s back and ended it with a stab directly in the back.

“THERE WE GO! Got ya!”

The creature made gurgling noises before stumbling forward and dropping to the ground.

“Damn, I actually worked up a sweat with that one, let’s check my stats.”

CONGRATULATIONS, LEVEL 5 ARCHIVED!

1 SKILL POINT ADDED

ALL STATS INCREASE DOUBLE DUE TO LEVELING UP TWICE, EVERYTHING GOES UP BY 6 FOR AN AVERAGE STAT LEVEL OF 14

DODGE SUPER SPEED IS NOW LEVEL 3

DISCOMBOBULATE IS NOW LEVEL 3

NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: TENTACLE, SUMMON A TENTACLE FROM THE SKY TO TRAP WHOEVER IS IN YOUR PATH, IN PLACE!

“Hell yea! A stat point, higher-level skills, and a whole new skill together! I’m only level five but I feel like a straight badass!”

Zaki looked over and picked the sword up, it was shiny but had a little bit of dried blood on it. Zaki decided to replace his blunt object with a more bloody approach.

Gushing over his new weapon, Zaki was startled by a touch on his shoulder. He was startled and jumped in the air a bit, it was the troll tailor he had seen before.

“Thank you for protecting the village, I know it seems very video game-ie to do this but as a reward, I’ll make those clothes for free, don’t expect it to be done next time for protecting us though, I do need money.”

Zaki thank the man and went to a local tavern to wait for his clothes, he was told four hours should be a good amount of time, Zaki decided that he would stay there in the village for the night since it was going to start getting dark soon anyway. The bartender was a hot succubus lady, she stared down at Zaki.

“Looky who we have here, a hero in my restaurant, you look like such a cute little snack.”

Zaki looked away embarrassed.

“E-eh yea I guess I am a hero, it was no problem though, those guys seemed pretty new to everything, they must have just gotten lucky while looting is all!”

The bartender put a finger in her mouth and sucked on it before taking it out and shoving it in Zaki’s mouth.

-It tastes weird, like candy almost!

She laughed at Zaki before looking him up and down. He was still pretty much naked after all, Zaki knew where this was going and he decided to shut her down before she had any thoughts.

“I know it’s a buzzkill but I have someone else I’d like to be with, I cannot go with you, though you are temping!”

Zaki looked away from her expecting a mad response but instead, he was given a nice and caring response.

“Ah, a youngin, you see, since you were an elf you could have been any human age in the book, as a succubus I have the same problem, but our difference is I was probably a little older when I died, which happened to be in my thirties if you wanted to know.”

Zaki didn’t want to know anymore, he wanted the day to go by fast so he could hit the road again, leveling and finding his friends was his only need, he didn’t want someone telling them their stories.

“Zaki, your clothes are finished, I hope you like em.”

The tailor came in and gestured to Zaki to come with him, Zaki thanked the bartender and left with the troll. They made their way back into the tailor and Zaki finally got to see what he’d be wearing.

“WOW, THAT’S BADASS!”

A medium-length black jacket with the red inside of it, black pants, and finally some red shoes to pop the color out of the jacket.

“I was really into clothes making in the old world yea, so I made a business in this tiny village in hopes to recreate my life in the old world mun. It just so happens I got turned into this ugly ass troll, now people won’t come near me. I won’t make you pay this time, but make sure you tell ya friends!”

The man was a true master of the craft, without any modern resources, in only a few hours he created more modern clothes than most people had in the old world.

“I will, don’t you worry about that, give it a few years, this place will be huge!”

Zaki waved on his way out, he was no longer naked and afraid, it was night by the point so he decided his best choice of the plan was to sleep in the inn. He walked down the street before noticing the succubus bartender go down a dark alley.

“What the hell is she getting herself into, well I better go check it out.”

Zaki hid behind the corner while looking into the alleyway, with elf blood in his veins he was given a sort of night vision which allowed him to see dimly down the extremely dark alleyway. He notices weird sounds and muffles, curious he walked down the alleyway before he walked in on a disturbing scene.

Blood, blood all over the walls, and a man. The man couldn’t see Zaki in the dark but he was in a hurry, he watched as the man gutted the succubus's body and placed them in a trashcan. Zaki almost vomited at the gruesome sight, he stepped back to get away from the murder scene, unlucky for him though, he kicked a bottle while stepping back, the man heard and ran off before he could even fake a noise.

Zaki walked over to the scene, he used his fire magic to make a small light for him, he noticed something even more disturbing than the blood. Bones, guts, eyes, all of it was out of the skin. The skin was nothing but a thin group of cells holding each other together. Zaki filled with terror vomited even more. He quickly grabbed his sword and stabbed himself in the foot to cause a sort of adrenaline effect to keep him from continuing his vomit spree.

“I can’t- I can’t- I can’t even believe that someone would do this! This isn’t a game dammit, it’s real life, I don’t care if people can come back to life, dying doesn’t feel good and from this shit, I can tell she die slow!”

Zaki extinguished the fire before decided to keep quiet on the situation, he knew that the man wasn’t going to leave town, it’d be too suspicious, no longer was Zaki’s goal to leave, but now to find and capture the man.

Tired, bloodied up, and ready for bed, Zaki ordered a room and jumped straight into bed. The world was against him it seemed, maybe he’d get a nice weapon from this.

“Oh yea, before I go to bed let me see how much extra damage that sword gives.”

STRENGTH 14 + 20 (34)

SWORD SPECIAL SKILL: MURDER, HAS A 10% CHANCE TO CAUSE INTERNAL MELTING!

“AUHGH, one shot from this puppy and I would have been toast, that’s it. I’m done. I’m going to bed, goodnight!”

Zaki closed his eyes, wishing that today's scene was nothing but tired illusions, he hoped that when he woke, he would find the alleyway to be clean and blood-free. As the dream world took over, Zaki finally got some sleep.