"Hahaha!" I couldn't help but burst into slightly maniacal laughter after reading the description of the shiny cube in my hand. Without a second thought, I immediately activated the cube by willing it into my mind. The cube that shone with a soft glow began to float above my hand and rotate slowly. Watching the display was a truly magical experience. The cube spun faster and faster, and within moments it became a silver blur. Before I could guess what the object was going to do next, the sound of tearing rang out, sounding like someone opening a Velcro wallet. With a sharp intake of breath, I watched as the silver blur literally tore into the very fabric of reality, looking eerily similar to the sight I had witnessed on T.V. the day before. Where the Swarm tore an opening into our world, the tear before me now, however, was a lot smaller.
Looking through the tear, all I could see was a cloud-covered darkness, as if I was trying to look at something with fogged-up glasses. The silver blur then liquefied and infiltrated the tear, smoothing out like rubber. I watched in awe as the silver extended into the space for what must have been a meter before halting and spreading out to every side. Within moments, a silver, meter-square box appeared before my eyes, floating at my eye level. For several seconds, I simply stared at what appeared to be a floating locker. Tentatively, I took out my knife and poked at the opening to the floating box with the blade. Slowly inserting the blade further and further into the hole, I watch with bated breath for any changes. With all my focus on the blade and the floating box, I almost screamed in surprise when a notification popped up in front of my eyes.
[Would you like to place {Trench Knife} in your inventory?]
In my fright at the sudden message, I had retracted my knife from the floating box and the notification disappeared. After patting my chest to calm my heart, I placed the blade into the opening again until half was inside. The same message appeared in my vision again, and this time, instead of jumping in fright, I mentally said yes. The Trench knife disappeared from my hand then reappeared inside the floating silver box. It hovered in midair near the back of the space. Now that I had figured out how to place things in my inventory, I had to figure out how to retrieve them. Holding my hand in empty air, I mentally commanded it to appear. After several seconds of waiting with nothing happening, I was disappointed. Being able to just will a weapon in hand would have been a great tactic to surprise an enemy, but it looked like that wasn't possible.
Gazing into the floating box, I went through several mental commands that didn't work. Besides figuring out that I could conjure a written list of what is stored in my inventory. I also figured out how to close and open the suspended space, happily seeing that I could open it in any spot within a foot of myself; however, I still couldn't figure out how to retrieve an item. Instinctively, I felt like I needed to perform some physical action, even though I knew it wasn't as simple as just reaching in to grab the item. Not to mention that the space was already a meter deep and could become larger in the future, there was simply no way my arm would be able to even touch the back of the silver-coated space.
Checking the timer and seeing that I only had three minutes left, I decided to try the only thing I hadn't done. Lifting my right hand tentatively, I inched it towards the floating space as sweat began to leak down my forehead. As far as I was aware, going off all forms of science fiction and fantasy media, sticking one's appendages into a rend in space never ended well, but at that moment and with my time ticking by I was becoming slightly desperate. 'You just had to use your only weapon to test it out, you moron!' While berating myself, my fingers had just touched the rim of the space and with grueling slowness I placed one tip inside before pausing. Seeing nothing happening after several seconds, and with a forehead covered in sweat, I let out a deep sigh with even my tense shoulder slumping a little.
Pushing in further, I still maintained the same slow pace until my entire right hand was inside the floating space. It was at that moment that a new notification popped up that brought a smile to my lips.
[Would you like to retrieve an object from your inventory?]
Mentally commanded to retrieve my trench knife, I felt the smooth, ringed handle of my knife fall into my hands. Oddly enough, I noticed a certain pull on the knife as I retrieved it. It wasn't hard enough to stop me from retracting the knife, but it was solid enough that it took a full two seconds before the knife was completely out of the suspended box and into the open. For the next minute, I repeated the action of placing my few possessions in and out of the suspended space. Within that small time, I roughly gauged a couple of the apparent parameters of the inventory space. One was that small and light objects took less time to retrieve from the space, with a test of a single cracker taking only a moment to take out to confirm it.
"Damn. There goes willing an entire armour set onto myself within seconds. It would have looked badass." After muttering discontentedly at my superhero-based fantasies. I bent over and pulled out an item I had tucked into my sock. Looking at the odd card in my hand, I couldn't help but whisper with a smirk on my dirty face, "I suppose I should call this my trump card. At least I know I have somewhere safer to keep it than under my foot." Placing the card into the floating box, I then retrieved a small pouch from my other shoe and shoved it into my inventory along with my crackers and water bottle, and the uncommon quality roll of zombie skin. I kept one of the common quality zombie skins in my hand.
With my knife, I cut a few of the wires dangling from various parts of the crumpled truck, along with a couple of thin pieces of twisted metal. "Here's hoping it works like I think it does." With a sort of see how it goes attitude, I cut the rolled-up piece of zombie leather. Making it a size so that when wrapped around my forearm both sides met in the middle. Then, I wrapped the wires around the leather on my forearm and pulled it tight, so it didn't move around. And just to make sure it would stay together, with some effort I stabbed a couple of holes on either end of the roll of skin then hooked a piece of metal through one before clamping them together. After completing two of the ugly-looking metal staples, a soft glow encapsulated the skin for several seconds before disappearing.
After the glow receded, I was happy to see that a leather vambrace that was an exact copy of the one on my left forearm had appeared where the piece of skin and wires were. "Looks like Sid's guess was right. Smart kid." Back in the truck, when telling my story to the brother and sister pair, I explained how I had received my leatherworker profession after making the armguard. They were both surprised as they had assumed my zombified vambrace was a loot drop, as it looked nothing like a roll of zombie leather. Sid had guessed after hearing the details that the system must do the final polishing, that one must have to craft the major components of the object and the system, for some unknown reason, would put the final touches on it.
Taking my zombified vambrace, for example, the finished product looked like something made by an experienced leather worker. Even the underside of the guard was hard string interlace instead of the twisted metal clamps I had made. It was like a completely different piece of armour but also similar. Regardless of why the system lent a helping hand in the crafting process and how that would impact when dealing with more intricate products or higher quality materials, the fact that it did was nothing but a bonus when looking at it from any angle. Especially my own, as I could potentially make an entire outfit of hardened leather armour. As long as I got the general outline of the piece I wanted right, I could make myself some pants, leg guards, gloves, shoes, even a hat or helmet.
As I was thinking over how many pieces of zombified leather, I would need to complete the outfit and whether to use the uncommon quality brute skin to make a shirt or a pair of pants, the sound of a gong rang inside my head. Instinctively knowing what the sound signified, as I had been keeping a careful eye on the timer, I didn't panic. Taking a deep breath, I retrieved my knife from its sheath. I replaced it because grabbing it beats fumbling through my inventory during an emergency. Taking an active stance, with knees slightly bent and arms in front of my face in a boxer's stance with the knife held in a reverse grip, I readied myself while watching the timer in the corner of my vision tick down.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
The moment the timer hit zero, my entire vision went white, and I felt my body become as light as air. Like I was suddenly in a space with no gravity. The sensation was similar to when I was in freefall inside the flower truck with the zombie brute. I wasn't sure how long I was in that weird purgatory state. I could still think, but I had no control of my body; it felt as if I didn't even have a body.
Before I could make up or down, the white glow that had become my world receded like a tide. My weightless body regained its heavy weight again, and before I could do anything about it though, I found myself standing in the exact position I had been when inside the truck but in an entirely different place. Well, thinking about it, I was not in an entirely different world. Gone were the close to modern concrete streets and electrified powered skyscrapers and motors of industry. Instead, it looked like I had been sent to a medieval city of old.
I was currently standing in the middle of a cobblestone street, and although it looked fairly well-made, its age had clearly worn it down. Night also fell here, with, to my shock, two full moons illuminating the surrounding area. Gazing around warily, I did a small circle, doing my best to keep any noise to a minimum as I strained my ears to listen for any potential threat. Worn-down stone houses with tiled roofs stood on either side of me. Most were in a complete state of disrepair, with missing windows, doors, and caved-in roofs. Some of the houses looked as if some kind of fiery explosion had exploded out of them with the front wall blown out and large chunks of wall scattered around them.
Although the architecture spoke of a time when people primarily crafted things by hand, none of it appeared to be of actual poor quality. If you take away the aged and destroyed parts, most of the buildings hold a polished, rich Gothic style, speaking to their craftsmanship. Seeing no movement around me, I decided to check the inside of the building closest to me on the left. Peeking through the remnants of a colorful glazed window, I saw what must have been a dining room, filled with dust-covered broken furniture and what looked like ripped rags. Just going by the decay of the furniture, I guessed that this building and the surrounding ones had been vacated a long, long time ago.
After checking a couple of similar houses and believing that something had transported me to some kind of residential area, I decided that the first thing I needed to do was find somewhere I could see above the surrounding buildings so that I could plan. Regarding the pathway mission given by the system, I believe the first thing I should do is find a suitable location for my base and then go from there. I began to make my way down the silent streets, doing my best to stick to the shadows of the buildings. I had decided to head to what looked like a slightly larger building, that's roof looked fairly stable compared to the others, which was about a hundred or so meters away.
On the way, I thought over the description the system had given me of my current location. The capital city of Bravdi, was called Cortez, and much like the hellhole I just left, it was also overrun with the undead. 'Wait, did the system have us fighting undead in the tutorial zone, so we would have a better chance at fighting the undead here?' The thought made me pause for only a second, but ultimately further thought on the scheming system and its designs for myself and my fellow humans was pointless, so I chucked it to the back of my mind with a shrug. Considering I was now on a system-integrated planet, and they had collective societies such as kingdoms, I assumed that the planet of Aeos was populated with sentient beings. Which intrigued me immensely as I was curious whether they were going to be human or maybe something more fantastical like elves or dwarves. The child inside me screamed with delight at the thought.
After daydreaming about chatting to half-dragon people with scales and tails for several seconds, I soon found that I was already at the two-story house. Having checked the surroundings and confirmed its momentary safety, I turned back to the building and mused. Ultimately, I decided not to enter the home, even though it looked as if there was a busted window leading to a balcony that could offer me a view of the area. I still decided it was best to get on top of the roof. A million things could go wrong if I entered the dark home. Even though the night was well lit by the presence of the two full moons, the insides of the dusty homes still held unknown dangers.
Not wanting to take an unnecessary chance at that moment, I instead went to the side of the house and looked up at the edge of the house next door's roof. The one I wanted was out of reach, even with my enhanced capabilities, so I opted to first climb the house next door. In an almost effortless leap, I grabbed the edge of the tiled roof and pulled myself up with a grunt. Standing up gently on the roof, I felt the old tiles shift and give slightly under my weight which caused me to worry for a few seconds but much to my relief, at least for the moment the roof held and I didn't go crashing through it. That would have made all my recent stealthy moves utterly useless. Glancing at the second-story roof opposite me, I noted its superior condition compared to mine and felt confident my next move wouldn't lead to disaster.
"Okay, here we go, one, two, three." After counting myself down, I took a small run to the edge of the roof and then leapt off. In mid-air my smiling face, at seeing I was easily going to make it to the second-floor roof, soon dropped. As I obviously still hadn't quite got used to my new strength. I originally intended to once again grab the edge of the taller building's roof and pull myself up; however, I had leapt straight over the edge and slammed shoulder-first into the tiled roof with a bang that sent multiple tiles sliding down and off the roof to hit the ground in a very loud clatter. Bracing myself against the tiled roof, so I wouldn't slip down, I couldn't help but flinch every time a tile hit the cobblestone ground beneath. The sound was like someone smacking a drum cymbal in the dead of the night.
After several seconds of cringing into myself, the last of the tiles I knocked out of place and off the roof had fallen, and the surrounding area had finally returned to its sleepy silence. With eyes squeezed tight, I listened intently for over a minute before letting out all the air I had in my lungs. As carefully as I could, I got up in a crouched position and looked around the surrounding area. Seeing no movement, I relaxed a little and made my way up the slanted roof and to the front of the building. At the peak of the roof stood a broken-down brick chimney, which gave me a good spot to hold for support as I stood up to look at my surroundings.
The sight revealed from my elevated position truly took my breath away. As far as medieval-style cities go, the one I had found myself in was simply enormous. It looked the same size as one of the sectors back home. And each sector are areas filled with millions of people, much like its very own city within a city. So, one could imagine the true size of the city I had found myself in, and that's only what I could see with my naked eye. Who knows how large this place truly is.
Checking out the surrounding area I was currently in, I saw rows upon rows of similar houses, ranging from single to max two stories but all roughly similar in length and width. I appeared to be near the edge of this suburb and what I would guess was closer to the center of the city. Behind me were just more houses before there was a large tract of open field that went on for a while before coming up against a crumbling but very high wall. The wall also looked similar to the once that ringed the sectors back, appearing not only tall but thick as well, with even taller towers at several intervals.
Ignoring the area behind me, I looked further into the city, past what I now knew to be a residential district and into a more commercial-looking area. Going by the large warehouse-looking buildings, spotted with several oddly shaped building with some being really long or at least four stories tall, decorated in faded but still garish colours. There even appeared to be what looked like a church with its murky but still colorful glassed large windows and tall steeples. With the distance being a factor, I couldn't make out what the symbols and imagery adorning the church like building was of but what I did notice was that dotted around the city was several church like buildings that looked identical to the one closest to me. "Maybe one of those might be a good idea for a base."
Almost directly in what I gauged to be the middle of this old-timey-looking city was what I could only describe as a fortress. A castle wouldn't do the building rising high into the sky justice. However, even though the little boy in my heart cried out that it wanted a castle as its base, just looking at the almost obsidian walls of the stone behemoth made my heart race and my palms sweat. I shook my head and averted my gaze from the fortress that seemed to consume even the moonlight, an ominous goliath standing sentinel over the city of the damned. "Yep, screw that. That's the main villain's hideout for sure. I'll wait until I'm level 100 before going in there."
After several seconds of looking around the area further into the city but closer to my side, and tossing and turning over the possible places I could try to use for my base, I finally decided on what looked like a semi walled mansion that was sitting right between the residential area I was currently in and more commercial looking area further into the city. Although the church-like building with its sturdy walls also looked like a good idea, it was ultimately a little too far for me at this point. Taking my own safety as a top priority, I decided that I couldn't take the risk of travelling that far into the unknown city right now. Who knows what I might encounter just traveling along the roads, let alone once I get inside. And, if going by video game logic, I imagined that the closer I got towards the center of the city, the tougher the enemies I will face will be.
"Alright then. It's time to grow up and get myself a house." Bolstering my somewhat flagging courage, I leapt to the roof below me that I had originally jumped off of to get to the one I was currently on. This time it appeared my roof jumping luck had run out as the moment I landed I felt the tiles give out beneath me, they cracked under my feet like they were made of dust and before I could do anything about it I was crashing through the roof and slamming into the dusty home underneath. Along with a strangled gasp of pain, as my back slammed through a half-rooted table, I kicked up a massive cloud of dust that sent me coughing, along with a shower of tile and wood.
Rising with a groan and dusting myself off, I stretched my back and checked my body; though sore with scrapes and bruises, I had no real injuries. Which spoke volumes about my current fortitude. Just as I was speculating on how much damage my body could actually take right now, the sound of several familiar but heart-clenching wet gurgling roars rang out around me. Hearing the noises that accompanied my now familiar enemy, I couldn't help but curse, "Shit on me. Just when I had a moment of peace."