Raven has given up all hope. She was absolutely terrified. But she didn’t cry. It wouldn’t make much of a difference anyway.

Her school mates had abandoned her. She shouldn’t have agreed to scout in the first place. She was hurt, lonely, and scared beyond belief. She curled up on the under a large tree, putting dead leafs and dirt on herself as a form of camouflage. She knows it was futile effort, since her school uniform was standing out too much. "Why does it have to be white she thought, not only it is a pain to wash, but now it’s going to cost me my life" Raven lanmented at her disfortune.

"Ahhh!" she cried. Raven could feel something touhing her back. She was scared to turn he head around, nothing good ever happen to people who look back in horror movie anyway. Raven did the most logical thing then, she looked around anyway. "If I am going to die I should at least know what caused haha"

A long shape was extending from above, it's shape and the location, this could only be a snake.. Raven was about to scream, but she stops herself quickly. Upon careful investigation, it wasn’t a snake. Oh my god, it’s a rope. Raven then looked up, only to find a handsome face smiling back at her.

Kip was in a dilemma now. He didn’t know the girl below, part of him wanted to ignore her and leave the girl survival on her own. Ever since his mother passing, aside from his father and Chloe, Kip passed his life without taking a look at anyone else beside him. It was better that way he thought, I can’t bear the thought of losing people I love anymore. Cowardice, Cunning, Evil? He doesn’t care about labels like that.

But he knows he couldn’t let the girl under him die when he could save her, Kip knows he has no time to waste, so he quickly formulated a plan to get the girl up to safety.

When Raven fearful gaze met his, Kip smiled to reassure her he means to help. Strand of hairs sticked on her immaculate cheek due to a large amount of tears.

“I’ll help you get up here, but you need to tie the rope around your waist for me to do that. This might hurt a bit. But do it quickly, the monsters are almost here” He gently instructed her from above. Raven gave a him a nod, and quickly followed his instruction. Kip admired her for that. Watching from above, he can tell that Raven was a strong willed girl.

She did not cry, scream and cursed when her friends ran away without her. She even camouflages herself, albeit a little crude, but her intention was as clear as day. Her desire to live overpowered her fear. Girls who could do that was obviously extraordinary. Kip putted a finger to his lip, signalling her to be quite as he pulled her up. "This isn't going to be easy" he told himself. Securing the rope tightly, he exerts all his strength to pull the girl back up. The girl was quite light he thought. The speed was slow, but he thought he might be able to pull her all the way with his strength alone. Alas, his endurance didn't allow him to do so.

"Is my stamina bar running low or something" Kip wondered. He shake his head and whispered under ragged breath “Plan B then” . Looking at the long hair girl who seemed to to be enduring pain as rope dig deeper to her waist, he told her “I can’t pull you up like this, change of plan, when you get up near the branch after this, secure yourself”.

Before Raven could say anything, the boy leapt down, using his weight the branch as the level, she was quickly pulled up and came to an abrupt stop. Once she arrived all the way up, it only took her a bit of time struggling to lie set herself lying on top of the sturdy section of the tree, seemingly more of a rectangle platform than that of a tree branch. She breathed a sign of relief, but was quickly shaken by ratchet bull roars sounding extremly close.

She was very worried for the boy that save her; since in other to get her up, he voluntarily let himself down to the ground. Only until Raven was secrue herself up on the branches did Kip climbs up to the tree again. His speed astounds Raven; she didn’t expect him to pull such a risky move like this. Looking back at the friends whose left her, she thought she couldn’t rely on anyone anymore.

The boy arrived to the same branch that she was on now. Since it was quite narrow, his body press up against her body. The warm temperature and his scent made Raven flush. She has never been in contact with any boys beside from her father before. But she did not make a sound, knowing the situation right now, she’s not so sensitive that she would lose her head over something small like this.

She glanced at the boys beside her again, he didn’t seem to notice his body touching her. She was a bit upset she thought, “why doesn’t he care, doesn’t he sees me as a girl?”, but quickly rejected that thought. Why would he, we don’t know each other, get yourself together she thought. The bulls were getting closer now. She dreads those creatures. They attacked her party of 10 people because some people screamed over some bugs, attracting those human eating monster from around the camp they set up.

The bulls looked identical to each other Kip observed. They were all covered in greasy looking black fur, with veined popping out of their seemingly endless supply of body muscles.

The bull's face wasn’t any better. The lower jaw of the bull extends twice the distance compare to its top, filled with eerily giant human looking teeth. They spot a pair of crazy looking eyes, and a deadly horn on its forehead. Raven knows what those horn is capable off, and would rather commit suicide than dying as food by one of them.

Kip could feel slight trembles coming from the girl next to him. After pulling the rope back up, he told her to quiet down. Judging by the side of those creatures, if they spot him, the trees although big couldn’t withstand the attack of 4 of those monsters combined. Ignoring the one bulls that were happily chewing the dead boy corspe, the remaing pack looked toward his direction and ran.

Kip heart skipped a beat, he thought they had spotted him and the girl, he was prepared to tie the rope somewhere and prepared for an escape. Fortunately, the bull ran passes them, toward the students that escape a little while ago. Kip gave a relief sign, and faced the girl. Now that the disaster was over, he could look at the girl more carefully.

She was pale, with a sort of gothic look about her. Long straight black hair, little make up but still beautiful nonetheless. She was gorgeous in a different way compare to Chloe. Being so close to each other, Kip smelled a pleasant scent ot mint coming from Raven. Seemingly notice him starting at her, the girl face seemed to flush a bit. But she holds it down, and says “Thank you for saving me, my name is Raven, what’s your name?’ Kip was surprised she would start the conversation first; he didn’t notice she was feeling a bit shy since they are so close together.

“The name is Kip, class 11-E. We can talk more about this later Raven. We need to quickly leave first. The bulls might comeback this way, and it’s getting darker, I don’t want to stay up here in the dark.” he bleakly commented

“Do you know where to go”

“Yes, I do have a base not far from here. But you must follow my instruction. You have seen what your friends did to you before. I promise I will not treat you like that, now that I’ve saved you, I’m responsible for you. Just follow my lead and we will be fine” Kip smiled at her.

Althrough the danger was over, Raven didn't relieve her tension until she heard that one sentence from him. She smiled back at him. She was quite pretty when she smiled he thought. It took a while but both of them manage to get down from the tree. Raven was leaning onto Kip for support on the way back since she twisted her angle. It wasn’t anything major but it would be bad if she uses that injured leg again while it was healing Kip thought.

On their way back, Kip make sure to covered the track around the area, as well set up some temporary barricade hidden the entrance to the cave. The girl was surprised to find Kip has settled himself in a place like this. This disaster happens only this morning, how did he found a base so quick, much less a wonderful one such as this

“Raven, do you mind telling me what happed to your everyone after the three buses stops?” The girl seemed to ponder for a bit, and asked Kip “you weren’t there when the countdown end?”

“I was prepared for something bad to happen, call it intuition, anyway, that’s how I found this cave.” Raven was surprised, that was some really calm thinking, to formulate a plan and act while everyone else was being confused and relying on numbers to feel protected. She thought the boys in front of her was a lot more mature compare to others his age. She narrated the event to Kip:

When Raven wake up, she was suffering from a mild headache. She could hear others people waking up afterward. Rubbing her temple a bit, she groggily looked around, and what she saw baffled her. The three buses are still there, and so being the students, teachers as well as bus drivers. But there was no ‘road’ anymore. The concrete road had dissapread into thin air, revealing a layer of moist soild under their feet.

If that was the only change, Raven definetly would not have panicked. The pine forest that surrounded the area was now replaced with a massive jungle seemingly originate from a tropical place. "How was this possible Raven" thought? The buses were going in a straight line. Where did the path disappear too? Why is there an amazon looking forest here, wasn’t this area filled with pine trees a while ago? Raven head hurt, she rubbed her eyes to confirmed she wasn’t seeing thing; but everything in front of her say otherwise.

Most of the students had regained their conciousness now. Like Raven, they were just as freak out seeing the changes, maybe a little more, since they unconsiouly moved closer to their friend for support. A light tap on her shoulder made Raven turned her around. “Hey Raven, wanna go explore? A boy with blond shoulder-length hair asked her with a grin, behind him was three more people she recognise. This was Jack and her group of friend. Raven was closer to Jack than the rest, since the parent knows each other and they hang out with the group quite often.

Other students called her group the emo kids, that wasn’t true. She, like every other girl teenager like to dress themselves up that’s all. Can’t help the way people look at her she supposed; people are judgmental that way. “Jack, what is going on, what do you mean by explore?” “The boys looked around, he then turned at her with sort of a maniacal look “Don’t you get it, the message, the changes. This is a game. A new world!!! Don’t you see, this is just like those light novels I told you about. I can’t believe this is true right now” Jack waved his hand around, not caring if he hit others who are standing around.

Raven frowned, she knows something big is going on. That is obvious. But to call this a game. Despite all this, the idea of walkig to the unknown wasn't all that bad. Seeing is believing after all. “Alright, are we going right now? Should we bring out bag with us?”

“Nah, no point, we are just taking a quick look after all. Bringing your bag in front of these students might be more trouble than it is worth” Jack told her. He then walked slowly to the edge and gesture the group to follow him.

“Where are you guys going?” A voice sounded out from the back. Raven looked around. A gorgeous eyes seem to be staring back at her. There was no meanness or something in those eyes, just genuine concern. Raven know this was Miss Chloe the substitute teacher. Jack walked back, and just like every other boy, trying to gain favour of this beautiful teacher “Miss, we are just going scouting. It might be dangerous staying here. So we just want to make sure the surrounding is safe first. Don’t worry, Mr. Harrison will come with us”

Mr. Harrison, a math teacher, has the hot for Miss Chloe since the first day he saw her. It wasn’t a secret, everyone knows that. But they thought he has no chance with her, after all, he is almost 40 now. “Yes, Come Jack, I’ll make sure everything is safe. Just wait here for me to come back. Every, rest on the bus, some of you, come with me to scout” Mr. Harrison eagerly says, his voice seems to be higher than usual.

Jack couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. Everything was going to his plan Raven guess. A teacher and 9 students volunteer to scout the area around. They were going quite deep in the jungle as time passed. Raven was amazed. She has never seen anything like this before. There were giant trees of many different species, the air was crisp and a little moist. It was eerily quiet. Half an hour later, seeing nothing dangerous, they decided to turn back to the group. It was then that everything turns to hell.

A girl in the back screamed, startling everybody. It seemed that an orange caterpillar dropped onto her arm. The boys were laughing while this was all going on, even Mr. Harrison let out a slight chuckle. The only one who didn’t find this funny was Raven. Grabbing a stick, she pushed the caterpillar away and gave the crying girls tissue to clean her arm off. There was a disgusting red rash on the girl arm now. Raven hope it was only allergy and nothing more.

She looked at the caterpillar again, but it seemed to burrow into the ground in front of her. That was weird she thought, but before she could say anything; a rumbling of hoofs was getting incredibly louder at each passing moment. Nobody was laughing now. “Argh” A loud scream full of pain was echoed. Everybody faced where the sound was coming from, and a scene straight from hell engrave itself deeply into every one of them who were present. Mr. Harrison was pinned to a tree by a strange looking creatures. Its horn pierced right though his side and straight into the tree trunk.

Mr. Harrison showed a terrified expression, he was coughing out blood continuously, and his face turned deathly white. He was dead right in front of them. Before anybody else could make a sound. Some students leg lost their strength and felt on their back, crawling as far away as possible from that horrible scene. “Run” Raven shouted, she was scared out of her mind. But ground was still trembling, she knows the bulls wasn't alone. Hearing Raven voice, Jack seemed to regain his wit, tripped a few times, before sprinting away from the sound.

Raven panic for a bit, she held the other girl hand but she seemed to have lost all hope. She has no choice now, she followed quickly after Jack and two other boys, only to be abandoned by one she thought was a friend.

Kip was quiet, he was digesting everything Raven has told him just then. So Chloe might still be safe. The bus seemed to sort of changed to a starting area for human.

“You have been through a lot. Take a rest now. I need to go and confirm something” Kip gently told her. Raven was glad to hear someone says that. She has been through so much to day. She wasn’t a weak willed girl or anything like that, but witnessing death can do some change to people, no matter how big or small the deaths are.

“Where are you going?” she curiouslly asked

"I need to confirm something from what you say. It’s not that I don’t believe you or anything. But I needed for information about those monster if we are going to survive” He smiled. Raven blushed a little, she didn’t know why. “Ah, before that, is Raven your real name?” Raven was pulled out of her train of thought, no one has says that to her before. It was a unique name for sure, but not that strange compare to others out there. Noticing her confused expression, Kip thought to himself “So she doesn’t know about this some of this world changes, people probably wouldn’t think this is similar to a game, aside from him and few others that is”

Kip sat back down again, and explained to her everything from naming, character stat to skills and tittles. Raven seemed to be more calm than he thought, she was surprised when the panel pop up again, but was surprising adapting to the changes he told her about. No wonder she managed to get away from the bulls, she is quite quick on her feet. Raven was chosen as her name in this world, she didn’t think about it much from what Kip can observe. Not everyone else is as cautious as he is after all. Raven stat appear as follow

Name

Raven

Race

Human

Title

None

Party

None

Health

19/22

Level

1

Mana

16/16

Experience

0

Stamina

4/13

Sex

Female

Affliction

None

Buff

None

Strength

6

Speed

7

Dexterity

6

Intellect

6

Vitality

4

Wisdom

5

Luck

3

Unallocated point

0

Active skill

None

Passive skill

None

After Kip told Raven the existence of skills, she eagerly nodded her head, seemingly interested on what this world has to offer. “Invite Raven to party” Kip thought, Raven was surprised to see another panel pop up.

Invitation to form a party

From: Silver Slime

Yes/No

Kip nodded in confirmation that the invitation was from him. Raven stared at him blankly for a bit, then a cute chuckle could be heard, turning into a full laughter.

“You choose your name as a slime?” She couldn’t hold back her tears from laughter anymore. Kip was getting quite embarrassed, but he thought that Raven laugh was delightful. He hasn’t heard anyone who laugh their heart out like that before, unrestrained. Kip thought it wouldn’t be bad to make her laugh more often. “Wait, what is he thinking. The one he loves is Chloe. Get yourself together Kip.” After Raven calm down, he gave an embarrass laugh, and says “It’s something I wanted to test. Just call me Kip from now on please. And get yourself some rest, there are some crackers and chocolates near my bag. If you have some time. Try and see if you can acquire some skills like me. It will really help with our survival”.

Remembering what Kip said before about his observance skill, Raven composed herself. She couldn’t move her leg of course, but that doesn’t mean she can’t come up with anything. Also, Raven seemed happy that Kip mentioned 'their' survival. She liked that, but didn’t know why yet. Kip grabbed the bundle of rope, and checked his stat once more time. He heard a few buzz when trying to rescue Raven from before, maybe because he was concentrating, the panels didn’t seem to pop for some reason

Stat gained

Due to you pushing your self to your limit

Strenghth +1

Speed +1

You have gained a level

Unallocated stat point: 2

Party formed

You have formed a party, party members will get a rough estimate where their friend are

Range:30 metre

Kip seemed to be satisfied with all the new pop up panels, he didn’t know how he gained experience. It must be from using his passive skill observance or something like that. It reached level 3 now after all

Name

Silver Slime

Race

Human?

Title

The one who guess

Party

Raven

Health

27/27

Level

2

Mana

14/14

Experience

20%

Stamina

17/17

Sex

Male

Affliction

None

Buff

None

Strength

11

Speed

11

Dexterity

5

Intellect

4

Vitality

6

Wisdom

7

Luck

0

Unallocated point

2

Active skill

Foreshadow

Passive skill

Observance

Kip decided to left his unallocated point for now. No point wondering about it since it might help him with his build later on. His health, mana and stamina stat seemed to increase slightly.

Saying goodbye to Raven, he moved out from the tree trunk entrance. He wanted to see if the students were carrying anything useful that he might use. He didn’t think of himself as a scavenger of course, but since they pass away there might be some clue he can use to improve his survival chance. He also wanted to check on the slime at night. Maybe look for food on the way.

Why did he bring the bundle of rope? Well, it seemed to be his lucky charm, since he was able to save a beautiful girl like Raven with it. Kip did have a use for it. "Katniss Everdeen used rope to secure herself on the tree, and she did fine in Hunger Game" he thought. It was a quite dark at night, the moon was still the same as it is yesterday. He didn’t spot any bull on the way, or any other animals, He thought it was quite strange. Aren’t there night crawlers and animals, like owls or wolfs. He didn’t delve on it for long, the less scary animal the less chance of him getting eaten of course. Kip wondered how his dad was doing, he hoped nothing bad will happen to him. He can’t bear the thought of it happening. Just when he was thinking that, there was moment on his right.