In a dimly lit room, sat a young man with his gaze unhealthily close to a bright screen that reflected a game window with different skills, abilities, and "+" and "-" icons next to them.
"This new Idle Game is pretty good" Buford said, clicking a couple more times on some of the "+" marks and some of the "-" marks, before deciding he was satisfied with his set up. He turned his attention back towards the other game he was playing, this one being a more active game rather than an Idle Game.
As he was running dungeons for gear, he found himself hallucinating numbers starting to swirl around him, and decided to ignore it, thinking nothing to be unusual, he kept focusing on his game.
But the numbers kept increasing, and began to be accompanied by gusts of wind, sending papers flying and getting strong enough to start shaking his monitor.
Buford looked down and noticed his hands beginning to dematerialize into more numbers that joined the others swirling around him, panicking inwardly, his last thoughts before his consciousness left him were, "No... My save files..."
---
'Where the fuck am I?" I thought, taking in my surroundings. The last thing I remembered was the halluci- Well, actually no, I don't think that was a hallucination anymore.
To my left and my right both stood worn down buildings, garbage littering the sides of them, but three things stood out the most to me. The first being that I found myself to be 10 years younger, looking exactly as I did when I was 15, a stark contrast to the 25 year old man I was before what whirlwind of numbers took me here. The second, and arguably much more important thing, was the wild dog staring me down with hungry eyes.
It seemed to have initially been content with rummaging through the garbage, but I suppose a live meal suddenly appearing in front of it changed it's mind on what it'd have for dinner. In it's defense if I was eating something cheap and gross and I suddenly found a platter of sushi materializing in front of me, I think I'd make the same choice, but I digress.
The third I decided to ignore for now, whatever that status screen-like thing is can wait until my life is no longer in danger, I reach for a nearby metal bar, and feel panic start to set in a little before my mind settles on fight instead of flight.
"Hey, buddy, let's not be rash here, alright? I'm certainly not the best meal you can find around here." I say, wanting to end this peacefully if possible, though I doubt the wild animal could understand my words, as it readied itself quickly and pounced at me swiftly.
It's speed was much quicker than I expected, but I managed to just barely dodge to the side, my body's instincts taking over as I used the momentum of my dodge to spin around and bring the metal bar down on the animal's head with all the force I could muster.
A sickening cracking noise resounded, the force of my blow probably fracturing a part of it's skull, but it's desperation for survival was clear in it's eyes as it turned around and faced me again.
"You started this, buddy, and it's you or me now, I'm choosing me." I say, more for myself than for it, confident that it'll be out of it's misery soon. The adrenaline coursing through me managed to override the guilt of snuffing out the animal's life, and I charge back towards it, letting it's next bite land on the center of the metal rod, spinning it horizontally with force to knock the animal off-balance.
I wrenched the rod from it's mouth and slammed it down toward the creature's head once more, then again, and again, and again, until the creature let out one last whimper, it's breathing stopping and the light in it's eyes finally fading.
Huffing, I collapse next to the wolf against the walls of the alleyway, looking around to see if our fight drew any attention, which it thankfully didn't. looking over at the animal's corpse, the adrenaline began dying down, guilt replacing it in full.
I tore my eyes away from the gruesome sight and tried to numb my feelings once again, reminding myself that my life was in danger and I did what I had to, but the guilt never really faded, it just became muted, as I sat there in complete silence, save for the sound of my ragged breathing.
*Ding!*
Suddenly, I heard a noise, and my mind latched onto the noise, hoping to distract itself from what had just transpired. Looking around, I found that there was some kind of game-like interface in the air in front of me.
*You have killed a Level 1 Gate Wolf*
*Congratulations, Host, on killing your first monster!*
'Gate Wolf? Monster?' I thought, confusion mixing with the muted guilt, before it struck me, and relief hit. What I killed wasn't a dog or a wild animal or anything, it was a monster. The status-screen like thing from earlier should have been an indicator of the type of setting I was in, it was a System window like in the transmigration novels I'd read.
[Welcome to the Idle Game System, Host. This system will have various functions that will assist you in your journey in the new world you find yourself in. Please explore it's functionalities and make use of it's abilities to the fullest.]