After exiting the portal, we instinctively rushed to the kitchen and, turning on the faucet, poured cool water down our throats, mug after mug. I didn't stop until I'd had three large mugs in a row, and the disgusting taste in my mouth finally disappeared—the one left after I'd torn at a blanket with my teeth.
My parched throat and lack of saliva hadn't helped the process, and I still had nasty fibers irritating my mouth. Anyone who tried to eat a fluffy white dandelion as a child would understand the feeling of that pasty dryness.
"Fuck!" the girl cursed, the first time I'd ever heard her swear. "What a start to the new year. Okay, Max, where's your first-aid kit?"
"It's over there, in the top-left cabinet," I said, gesturing with my hand and pouring myself another mug of water.
The girl walked over to the kitchen counter and stretched up on her tiptoes to open the cabinet door. We hadn't wasted time getting dressed after the portal, and now I could enjoy the wonderful view of her graceful body. Her surprisingly clean feet and lack of any dirt on her body reminded me that the other place had been very clean. I looked at myself and only saw bloodstains, also without any traces of the dirt and dust that should have appeared from rolling around on the floor.
"Anya, I'm going to take a shower and wash the blood off."
"Okay," she replied, absorbed in rummaging through the first-aid kit. "Wash up quickly; we'll treat the wounds afterward."
I tossed the torn blanket onto the bathroom floor, stepped into the tub, and turned on the water. The cool stream from the shower washed away all the tension that had been building since we fell into this strange situation. It was only in the shower that the full realization of what had happened finally hit me: the portal, stats, levels, and monsters.
Speaking of levels... I pulled up my status and looked at the proud number two, with an experience count of ninety-nine out of two hundred thirty-four.
"Interesting," I said aloud.
I closed the window, deciding to come back to it later, and reached for the shampoo. Missing it by a little, I stared at my palm in astonishment. It was completely whole. The bite that had been slightly bothering me throughout the journey was gone. I frantically checked the rest of my body and couldn't find a single scratch. Was it a collective hallucination? Had something been slipped into our cocktails at the club, giving us a powerful drug trip?
But these thoughts were quickly shattered by the bloody, torn-up blanket still lying on the floor. Was the blood also a hallucination?
I got out of the shower, wrapped myself in a towel, and called out to the girl. "Anya... something's weird. All the wounds are gone. Look." I showed her my completely intact hand.
Standing with hydrogen peroxide and bandages, she looked at me with disbelief. She yanked the towel off me to see for herself.
"Hmm... this is really some kind of devilry," she said. "To hell with all this! I'm taking a shower, too." With that, she headed into the place where girls can disappear for hours.
Figuring I had at least an hour or an hour and a half while she got ready, I decided to make breakfast and returned to the kitchen. My gaze fell on the weapon I'd left on the table before getting water, but I decided to leave that for later, too.
I opened the fridge, took out eggs, bread, and sausage, and decided to make toast for a late breakfast. Remembering the girl had just gone into the shower, I set them aside and decided to grind some coffee first. As it was grinding, a call came in, and I accepted it, leaving only the audio on.
"Hey, little bro! How was New Year's? What about that blonde you were telling me about?"
"Damn, Dimka, your timing is terrible, to be honest. Everything's fine, but I'll tell you later." I tried to dodge the conversation.
"Oh! So my little brother finally has a girlfriend? When are you introducing her? Is she with you now? Is she pretty?" he peppered me with questions.
"Hold on, stop. All of that later, she's about to get out of the shower." And with that, I cowardly hung up, passing the problem on to my future self.
Phew... Family matters are such that you have to give them some information about your personal life, even if it's dosed out. After all, they're not strangers; he's my older brother, and my parents are genuinely worried about their aimless son who moved across the country from his family in pursuit of self-realization.
"Anya!" I yelled, approaching the bathroom door. "I'm starting to make food; can you be ready in about fifteen minutes?"
"Food? Oh, God, I'm so hungry. I'll be ten minutes," her cheerful voice answered.
Okay, I have ten minutes; I need to speed up significantly. While the pan was heating up, I sliced the bread, cut square holes in it, and put the slices in the pan. I cracked the eggs and poured them into the holes. The hot oil sizzled, and the eggs immediately formed a crust. Carefully lifting them with a spatula, I flipped them without letting the eggs run out. I sliced the sausage and threw it in with the toast to warm up. Meanwhile, the coffee machine had already brewed a full pot of hot coffee, and I finished even faster, managing to set the table before she came out.
"Phew..." I sighed in admiration when I saw her emerge from the shower, wrapped in a short towel. We'd had a wonderful night, and then I'd even seen her naked during our adventure, and yet, it was as if I was seeing her for the first time. The male psyche is a pretty interesting thing, and often, a small amount of clothing on a girl is far more arousing than a complete lack of it.
The girl looked at me playfully, also wrapped in a towel, came closer, and slowly ran her finger across my chest.
"You know," she said thoughtfully, "after this kind of stress, the feeling of life gets so sharp. Colors become incredibly bright, the taste of food is deep, and I have to check how things are with the other senses." The towel slid from her chest and fell to the floor. She stepped over it, and we left breakfast to get cold on the table.
It was only an hour later that we finally got to the food, hungry as wolves. Anya sat across from me, her leg crossed over the other, briefly revealing the velvety skin of her inner thigh, and stared at me expectantly.
"Well? Go on, feed your hungry, tired girl." She paused. "And by the way, I have to say, this is the most unforgettable date of my life. Nobody else could ever pull something like this off."
"I have to say, it's the same for me. This wasn't some boring date at a cafe with talk about ourselves and our hobbies; it was a hardcore journey into the unknown. By the way, do you think anyone else from our group of ten ended up in the same situation?"
The girl became serious and answered, "Yeah, I was thinking about that. I guess the new bracelets are to blame for all of this?" We both looked at our devices in unison. "This is some insane level of technology, and to be honest, I doubt it was a glitch. It was clearly an intentional feature, but developed for what purpose, I have no idea."
Our mood soured slightly with the understanding that we'd gotten ourselves into something smelly. We finished eating in silence, and Anya began to get ready to go home.
"Max, thank you for your help. I probably would've died of fright in there without you."
"Oh, it was nothing," I said, feeling embarrassed.
"Okay, my taxi's already arriving. I'm leaving. I'm going to lie down and sleep for about thirty hours, no less." The girl came up to me, hugged me, and gave me a long, hot kiss. "Okay, see you tomorrow. I'm expecting an invitation from you for a normal date at a cafe with a steak and a salad, not another adventure with mass animal slaughter."
After seeing her off, I went back into the room and sat down in the armchair, thinking about what had happened. It was time to start figuring out what had been piled onto my poor head.
"Status," I commanded the voice assistant.
[Level: 2]
[Experience Points: 99/234]
[Stats:]
[Strength: 6]
[Dexterity: 5]
[Constitution: 5]
[Intelligence: 8]
[Wisdom: 7]
[Free Stat Points: 4]
[Skills: None]
[Free Skill Points: 2]
Okay, first let's deal with the level. For the first twenty-eight mice I killed, I got fifty-six experience points, and judging by the system messages, another fifty-three mice were killed by me in the final room, adding a hundred six experience points to the piggy bank. The final two hundred points were obtained for completing the location and clearing out all the monsters.
A total of three hundred sixty-two experience points were gained, and exactly one hundred were needed to reach the first level. Let's do the math: one hundred points for the first level, plus the ninety-nine I have now, and we get that it took me one hundred sixty-three experience points to go from the first to the second level, and I need two hundred thirty-four for the third.
My brain was starting to boil from the weird logic used to calculate the required experience points per level. Of course, I could sit and think about it, write a simple algorithm to find the pattern, but there was still too little data to study. I'll come back to this question when I'm around level ten.
I caught myself calmly accepting that I'd be getting levels and already planning my future development.
Now, let's move on to the stat points.
Standard Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, and Wisdom, which I've seen in hundreds of RPGs. In principle, their names are enough to understand what each one does, but I think it's better to clarify.
"Rhythm, display information for each stat in text mode."
[Strength: Not just physical strength, characterized by muscle power and the ability to handle heavy physical loads, but also the inner strength of a person's character, their determination, and their ability to overcome difficulties.]
[Dexterity: Primarily physical agility, which is responsible for flexibility and the muscle contraction time when neurotransmitters are active. Secondly, this stat is responsible for quick-wittedness, ease of learning, and reaction speed to changes.]
[Constitution: A stat responsible for several related factors: a person's body structure, overall physical health, endurance, and muscle structure.]
[Intelligence: Responsible for cognitive abilities and analytical skills. High Intelligence affects the speed of thought.]
[Wisdom: An important stat that is responsible for the ability to make intuitively correct decisions in various situations.]
The descriptions are slightly different from classic games. There's this vague "inner strength of character" and Dexterity that affects learning speed. Though, perhaps it means the speed of learning other skills, like juggling, that require motor skills rather than knowledge.
The most understandable stat is Constitution; it's just the normal physical condition of the body. But Intelligence is more interesting. Does developing it even improve the speed of thought? That would be a very useful function to have at work.
And finally, the most confusing one is Wisdom. What does it mean by "intuitively correct decisions"? Usually, intuition is the ability to understand or perceive something without the need for explicit analysis or explanation. And often, it's the result of experience, thought, emotional perception, or even unconscious knowledge that has accumulated in a person's mind. And while in normal life it can be right or wrong, here the description clearly indicates that it will only be correct?
"Well..." Again, there's too little data for a full analysis, but I have to make do with what I have now.
I have a total of six free stat points that I can add to any of the main ones. Hmm... by the way, how do I do that?
"Rhythm, how do I add a point to my stats?"
[Using the development interface. It is summoned by the corresponding voice command or by selection in the stats menu.]
Summoning a previously unnoticed menu item, I admired my three-dimensional model, which looked very similar to the bio-analyzer I'd used before, but with my stats, which I could increase.
After thinking for a bit, I decided to increase my Strength by a couple of points, because if all this was real, I should definitely notice a thirty-three percent increase in physical power. I tapped the plus sign next to Strength, and a note about strengthening the muscle frame appeared next to the six. I tapped it again and received a warning.
[Until the body is rebuilt in accordance with the selected stat, the next upgrade is not allowed. The estimated time to completion is six hours. Enhanced nutrition is recommended.]
"This software's interface is not friendly at all," I said aloud to the voice assistant. "You should warn a person about this in advance." But Rhythm, not having received a direct command, simply remained silent, leaving my complaint hanging in the air.
I listened to myself for a bit but didn't feel any changes. Okay, I'll repeat this in six hours and compare the results.
And now, most importantly, skills.
My mind immediately pictured myself casting fire arrows, tornadoes, and lightning bolts on hordes of mice with a wave of my hand. I chuckled internally, opened the skills menu, and stared at the solitary icon all alone in the menu.
[Inventory]
As the saying goes, if there's no choice and only one option, that's your choice. I selected the Inventory skill and, after spending a skill point, froze, listening to my body's sensations again. Again, there were no changes that I could feel.
"Rhythm! How do I use a skill?"
[After selecting a skill, the process of its formation begins. The waiting time is twelve hours.]
What kind of ridiculous functionality is this? I have to wait for stats, I have to wait for skills. In games, you click the mouse, get everything instantly, and run off to slaughter monsters, but here, not only is there no choice, but you also have to wait twelve hours for who knows what.
I remembered the dagger I got for completing the level and rushed to the kitchen for it. This was definitely a magical artifact that would prove to me that I hadn't dreamed it all up and wasn't under the influence of drugs.
I placed the weapon in front of me and examined it closely. It was double-edged, with a blade length of about thirty centimeters. A small groove ran down one side of the blade. The handle was comfortable and ergonomic with a leather wrap. It was a beautiful item.
I took it in my hand and swung it dramatically, imagining myself slicing up gray rodents. I noticed a button at the base and pressed it without a second thought. Nothing happened, and I shrugged. It would be strange to expect some magic to occur. Though, deep down, I'd hoped that when I pressed the button, the dagger would light up or fire a magical beam. Just in case, I held the button down and swung the weapon again.
The sound of a tearing sheet echoed, and the mirror portal reappeared in the air. The voice assistant came to life and commented:
[Portal to a Level 2 location. Sewer Collector.]
Now I was truly taken aback. If my brain hadn't fully accepted what was happening before, the dagger opening a portal completely blew my mind, and I simply accepted that my life had changed.
And again, I remembered the voice assistant's words that the portal would take three days to recharge, but here, a new one had opened in less than a few hours. This meant that it was most likely a property of the dagger, and I'd have to figure out later how often it could do this.
I walked around the portal to the other side, not letting go of the dagger, and poked the portal with the weapon. On the other side, it was impenetrable and slightly caved in, springing back a little and not letting the tip through. I didn't know how strong it was, but I had no desire to poke at it with all my might.
I rushed to the closet and pulled out a stack of clothes from the far corner. Yes! It wasn't for nothing that I had brought a full set of gear from home. We often went on hikes, and I had a durable and comfortable mountaineering assault suit, popularly known as a 'Gorka'. It also came with tactical boots with metal inserts in the toes. If I'd had them before, those gray minions of hell would have known the full range of humiliation before their annihilation.
I ran to the fridge and began to fill my backpack with food. Okay, water, bread, sausage, cheese. I remembered the scratches from the mouse claws and threw in a first-aid kit with bandages and antiseptics as well. After filling it with everything that could come in handy in the new battle with the mouse kingdom, I finally returned to the room and sighed with relief. The portal was still hanging in the air and showed no signs of disappearing anytime soon.
I paused for a second to consider the logic of my actions but came to the conclusion that there shouldn't be any danger. I had a weapon and good gear that the rodents couldn't bite through, and the only vulnerable spots were my eyes and head. Right! I opened the closet and took out ski goggles and a helmet. I looked a bit bizarre in the mirror, of course, but now I definitely didn't have to fear the small mammals.
Taking a few deep breaths, I finally made up my mind and stepped into the mirrored surface, tightly clutching the dagger in one hand and the club in the other.
I was standing in water, and the liquid was slowly seeping into my tactical waterproof boots. The problem was that the water was up to my shins, and there was nothing to stop it from getting inside and soaking my feet from the top. If I had known, I would have worn rubber boots.
This time, I'd been dropped into a classic city sewer. The lighting was provided by ordinary fluorescent lamps on the ceiling. Apparently, my theory about the torches was wrong. A slow stream of dirty water flowed by, with occasional floating waste products, and I think I just saw a used pad float past. I felt a little sick for a second, but I fought the feeling and tried to distract myself. Behind me, the entire sewer was blocked by a thick, mesh metal grate that not even a child could squeeze through.
The stench in the air continued to make me feel sick, and unable to bear it, I took off my backpack, placed it on a concrete ledge meant for maintenance personnel, took out the first-aid kit, and fashioned a respirator out of a bandage and gauze. I took off the useless ski goggles, which in the dim lighting made everything even darker, attached them to my backpack, and put on the breathing protection, which made me feel a little better. Then, carefully stepping forward with my squishing boots through the water, I continued on.
After a couple of minutes, I got scared of just walking, feeling out every step in front of me, so I tried to climb onto the narrow ledge on the side, but walking on it with wet boots was even worse than walking in the water. The boots slipped, and after I almost fell into the water several times, I got back down and continued through the water.
Ahead, I heard a light splash and tensed up, imagining an alligator swimming toward me against the current. I remembered the urban legends about baby crocodiles flushed down toilets that then grew into huge predators in the sewers on a diet of rats. Just in case, I climbed back onto the ledge and moved under a lamp to get a better look at the approaching threat.
"Phew!" I exhaled when I saw a green, jelly-like mass, about knee-high, slowly crawling against the current, almost blending in with the color of the water. "Well, it's not a crocodile, which makes things easier." I shared my conclusions with the world around me. The crawling slime didn't pay attention to my words and continued to move toward me just as slowly.
I got back into the water and readied the dagger. I didn't want to get too close to the slime, and I needed to study the enemy first—its habits and abilities.
Fortunately, its slow movement allowed for a lot of maneuvering. I carefully approached it and poked the monster with the dagger. The point easily pierced the jelly-like flesh, but the Slime, showing no reaction, continued to move in my direction. I stepped back a couple of meters and thought about it. The animated jelly moved in slow, fluid motions against the current, covering a maximum of one meter per minute.
I looked closer, hoping to see some kind of central core that I could hit to kill it, but my attempt was unsuccessful. I crept closer again and slashed with the dagger several times, trying to cut it into smaller pieces, but the attack was also unsuccessful. The cuts simply sealed back up, and the slime again ignored the damage.
Becoming too engrossed in my experiments, I let it get too close. The jelly-like body of the slime first contracted, then rippled, and it suddenly leaped at me. In a panic, I landed on my butt, getting completely soaked, and waved the dagger at the flying green projectile. The Slime split into two parts, flew past me with a splash, and fell into the water.
I jumped up, looked around, and retreated to the wall, cautiously looking to see if there were any other enemies nearby. A splash from where the largest part of the slime had fallen made me look over. The slime, slightly reduced in size but retaining its shape, drifted downstream and quickly caught up to its smaller part, absorbing it in a split second and returning to its original size, after which it again began its slow movement against the current toward me.
Well, that's that. We've established that slimes can jump, are immune to physical damage, and can swim quickly downstream. No brain was found either; maybe they have a network of nerve cells scattered throughout their bodies, like jellyfish, instead of a central brain. This was supported by the fact that despite the lack of visible sensory organs, the slime could navigate and sense where the part of it that had been cut off was.
The situation was quickly deteriorating; I was standing there wet, with a useless dagger in my hands, facing a living blob of slime. Last time, I could at least squash the mice with anything, but here, I couldn't even imagine what to do. There was only one option left for me.
I turned around and rushed in the opposite direction, leaving the invulnerable monster behind. I soon reached the metal grate and listened. The silence that had fallen was music to my ears, and the disgusting sound of splashing water, which was created when the slime moved against the current, had disappeared.