“PUH!”

Blood gushed out of Vice’s mouth as a spider leg broke through the barrier cast by Anne and his shield. The leg was pierced into Vice’s stomach and he was slowly lifted up into the air until he reached the Jorogumo’s face.

“Isabelle?” Vice mumbled once he was able to get a closer look at the face of his attacker. The blue eyes of Isabelle glared back, and it seemed as if she didn’t recognize him. Saliva dripped from her mouth as she opened it wide enough to be able to fit Vice into it whole.

Vice struggled with all of his strength to push himself off the leg, however, his strength was being sapped away by the second, until he was only able to simply stare at the gaping mouth that was about to end him.

‘So I’ll die with such a rotten stench as my last memory? What did I ever do to deserve such treatment,’ Vice thought. His vision blurred until everything was dark. No sounds. No feeling in his body. Nothing.

A calm feeling washed over Vice, and he felt himself swimming underwater. His mind was eased off all of the painful memories and bad thoughts he held. He didn’t think anymore, he just went with the water and waves, moving his hands instinctively as he swam.

“Hate to break your beauty sleep, but can you wake up already?” Favian shouted. For the first time Vice was able to see what his teacher looked like. The first striking feature he noticed was that the man was tall. Very tall, almost twice his own size. His eyes glinted like purple gems, and his silky hair was similarly purple and fell all the way to his lower back. Favian’s jawline was extremely chiseled yet his eyelashes were more suited to a woman.

“What’s going on? Where am I?” Vice asked as he looked around. All that his eyes could see was the dark blue ocean he was submerged in, however, he was able to breathe like normal despite being underwater.

“We’re deep inside your unconscious mind right now. You should come visit me here more often, it’s a pretty interesting place,” Favian said as he gave a warm smile, displaying all of his pearly white teeth.

“I can… Come here? How?” Vice asked as he rubbed his horns

“Actually let me rephrase, I can let you in here whenever I want to. Time works a little bit differently here as well, but you don’t need to really understand that properly yet. Now give me your hand, we need to get you out of here already, you’ve been sleeping for far too long,” Favian replied.

“Sleeping? Wasn’t I just fighting the widow maker?” Vice asked. Before his question could be answered Favian had grabbed his hand and pressed down hard onto it. Vice shot up out of the water and was propelled high up into the sky.

“WOAH!” Vice screamed as his body lurched forward, waking him up from his slumber.

“Steady there, you’re fine, Vice,” Paul said. He rested his hand on Vice’s shoulder briefly, before saying, “The danger is gone.”

“What happened?” Vice questioned in a low voice as he began to look around the room. The words came out with difficulty and he immediately clutched his stomach as it began to sting.

“Just stay down and rest a bit, Vice. You’re so lucky that you called me when you did. If you’d been even a couple of seconds later then we wouldn’t have been able to save you from that monstrosity. Anyways, long story short we killed it,” Paul said as he tapped his shirt. Vice noticed that Paul wasn’t wearing his formal police uniform. Only a t-shirt and boxers. “That thing bled all over my uniform, I should have you pay for getting it cleaned,” he joked before laughing.

“Where’s Anne? Is she okay?” Vice blurted out.

“She’s fine. You should be worrying more about yourself since you took all of the damage, my friend. Anyways, just stay here for a couple of days until you’re feeling better. We could definitely use your help, the worst of it isn’t over yet…” Paul said before walking out of the room.

The room Vice was in was relatively small, however, he knew that he was currently in one of Restok’s many hospitals due to the high concentration of light arcana particles in the air around him. These particles were slowly but steadily healing him, and he could feel the vitality come back to him. Of the different arcana particles, they were the best at healing and looked yellow to the trained eye of a cultivator. There were many different arcana particles, including those of darkness, wind, fire, and even chaos, which had been a big surprise to Vice because he’d never actually seen a chaos arcana particle in his life. He only knew they existed due to Favian teaching him chaos magic.

As he looked around the room, Vice noticed a sweet lavender smell from a teacup on a table only an arm’s reach away from him. ‘Thank the gods that you aren’t further away,’ he thought to himself. As he took a sip from the beverage, he moaned in pleasure. The tea was exquisite and went down smoothly with its herby flavor. The liquid was imbued with healing properties, which Vice was instantly able to notice and the stinging sensation from his stomach was lessening in intensity.

….

Vice spent the next few days recuperating in his hospital bed. He had felt like he was ready to leave after the first day, but both Anne and Paul were adamant that he rest for longer. As such, he didn’t fight against the only two people he knew thought of him as a friend.

“Mom, it’s fine, I’ll be back home in a couple of days. Just stay safe. Okay and keep taking your pills, I’ll be back before you even know it,” Vice said into his golden card. He could see the worry in his mother’s eyes after which he cut the call.

“Phew, I think I’m more than ready to leave now,” he said as he took a deep breath which was followed by a long sigh. Vice stretched out his arms and legs before getting off the bed for the first time in what felt like years. His legs were initially stiff as they touched the ground, however, after wiggling them around he got the hang of them again.

‘Ahh, that feels good. I’m finally more than just a sitting duck,’ he thought with a smile.

‘Duck… What a fitting name for my beyond stupid student. Not only did you almost die because of your blunder, but you haven’t even bothered to use the system hidden inside that bracelet of yours. What did I ever do to deserve this student? This is the greatest punishment of my life, and let me tell you I’ve lived many lifetimes already,’ Favian said.

‘Oh right, I completely forgot about that,’ Vice thought and rubbed his head sheepishly. ‘Virtue, what’s my status?’

[DING! The host has completed the quest ‘Widow Maker’. An experience reward of 1000 has been given to Vice, along with a random reward. Please choose from letter’s A, B, or C for this random reward.] Virtue buzzed in his mind.

‘Uhh, let’s go with option B.’

[DING! The host has received the reward ‘Second Sense’. This will allow the host’s intuition to reach above and beyond the limits capable for a human… For a demi-human such as yourself.]

‘Demi-human? I’m not surprised I mean look at these horns,’ Vice thought as he rubbed them slowly. ‘Virtue can you give me all of the possible ways to spend these experience points?’

[DING! The host can increase their stats, however, the amount of experience required to increase a stat increases with each point put into it. The host can also choose from a variety of quality of life improvements.]

Vice stared blankly out of the window of his hospital room as he conversed with Virtue. Towering buildings filled his vision, the hospital being situated in one of the more advanced areas of the city. ‘What are these quality of life improvements you speak of?’ he asked.

[DING! With 1000 experience the host can buy one quality of life change. Due to the low experience amount the host has, you will only be able to gain a random quality of life change, such as a permanent virtual mini-map that will display any and all hostiles in a radius around the host.]

‘Damn, just that alone is tempting me to gamble here. What should I do?’ he asked himself. Vice deliberated for a couple of minutes as he paced about the room until finally reaching an answer. ‘Increase all of my stats by one point if possible.’

[DING! All stats have been increased by one point. Health points and Mana points have increased as a result of this.

Vice’s stats currently read as follows: Health points: 1500, Mana points: 7000, Intelligence: 4, Strength: 3.5, Agility: 4, Constitution: 6.

The host has no experience left as each Strength, Agility and Constitution stat increase required 100 experience whilst a 200 experience cost came for the previously upgraded intelligence stat, and a 250 experience cost came for increasing the host’s Health Points and Mana Points.]

Vice’s body shook viciously as a large amount of arcana was released from the bracelet on his wrist. The energy enveloped him, and an uncomfortable pricking sensation went throughout his body, from his toes to his brain. He could feel his muscles being forced to expand and grow whilst the same thing happened to his brain. Every fiber of his being wanted to clutch onto his head to ease the throbbing pain, however, his limbs weren’t responsive because they were also being put through an excruciating time.

“AHH!” he screamed. After a couple of seconds, the pain finally subsided and he was able to take in large gulps of air. “Holy shit, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,” he mumbled with a frown.