Aurum, who was lying down the street, drew attention from the people who passed by him. He looked pretty beat up with his swelling face and bloody clothes. People called the ambulance right away to help Aurum. When they put him at the stretcher, the medical team looked relieved that he was still alive. They couldn't help but think that he was a unfortunate boy who was beaten up by a lot of people. Of course, if they knew what really happened, they would probably look at him as if he was a monster.
30 minutes has passed and he was brought to the emergency room. The doctors who examined him saw that he suffered a lot of fractured bones. The doctors pitied him for they thought that he was ganged and abused at his school. They tried align his dislocated bones and placed casts on the broken ones. They were even surprised that he even didn't scream in pain nor flinched when they did that without anesthesia.
After the doctors finished wrapping the casts, he was brought into a room. There was nobody in the room except for him, which Aurum really liked because he wants to learn more about his system, for now. He closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep so that the nurses and doctors won't bother him.
"System, show me my stats right now." Aurum demanded.
[Name: Aurum Est
Age: 18
HP: 10/60
MP: 1/1
LVL: 5
Rank: D-
Exp: 300/1000
Str: 50
End: 50
Int: 25
Wis: 20
Agi: 49
Luck: 10
CP: 204
Skills: Ultra Instinct (In cool down: 1 week), Time Stop, Appraisal
Abilities: Rampage, ???, ???, ???
Bloodline: NONE]
"System, I have always wondered this from the start. Doesn't the Int and Wis attributes increase my mana? How come I only have one right now? It doesn't make any sense!" Aurum pondered.
[DING! Due to the world's mana density, all living creature will always have 1 mana, and it can't increase because of the restriction set up by ancient gods.]
"Wait, wait, wait... Restriction by the ancient gods? What's that all about?"
[DING! When magic was still available here at Earth, many humans practiced different kinds of magic. Gods didn't care about it until the time where the whole humanity dared to bare their fangs against the gods. Both sides suffered massive losses. The human population was at trillions at that time, however at the end of the war they only numbered in billions. Human lands were split into 7 continents that we currently have right now. Gods, on the other hand, was either killed, severely injured, or sealed up by human beings. Thus, the remaining gods combined their powers and put forth a restriction. The mana of humans won't increase and they made different languages so that humans wouldn't be able to communicate with each other easily.]
"Okay, I kind of got the gist right now, but do the gods still exist?"
[DING! Gods still exist in this world but does not interfere that much anymore. Most gods right now are sealed while the other gods who were severely injured needed humanity to revere them to recover their powers.]
"I see... So that's how it is!" Aurum felt very enlightened right now.
"System, I have another question. What does this CP mean and what does it do?"
[DING! CP stands for Combat Points, which is only gathered when you engage into combat with people. You will receive greater CP depending on the level of who you fought and you will get twice the amount of CP when you kill them. You can also earn CP when you receive and complete a quest. CP can be used to access the system shop and buy skills, bloodline, abilities, or even weaponry.]
"Good ,good. Very good! System, show me the shop!" Aurum was filled with excitement right now.
[Due to the Host's low level, the system will now display available options.
Skill Shop:
Fire resistance - 50 CP
Water resistance - 50 CP
Mental resistance - 100 CP
Mind-control - 300 CP
Ability Shop:
Underwater breathing - 25 CP
Bounty hunter - 50 CP
Mana regeneration - 100 CP
Auto-regeneration - 125 CP
Herculean Strength - 150 CP
2x Experience boost - 200 CP
Bloodline Shop:
God's bloodline - 1000 CP
Demonic bloodline - 2500 CP
Titan's bloodline 5000 CP
Dragon's bloodline - 10000 CP]
"What the hell?! All of them are so expensive! This is a scam. How the f*ck am I supposed to earn that much CP?!" Aurum felt that he was being cheated by the system.
Aurum kept on cursing and complaining at the system, but the it just ignored him. Thus while pouting, he decided to buy Auto-regeneration, Underwater breathing, and Bounty hunter.
[DING! Host gained a new skill: Auto-regeneration. Regenerates 1 HP every 30 minutes. Doubles the regeneration if the Host takes a rest.
Host gained a new ability: Underwater breathing. The Host is able to breathe underwater.
Host gained a new ability: Bounty hunter. Increases CP gained by twice the amount.]
"I knew it! Bounty hunter is really a good choice though having auto regeneration is much better. I just hope my underwater breathing ability is useful for me at the future..." Aurum thought while gradually falling asleep.
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After ten hours of sleep, Aurum had already fully recovered. Everyone in the hospital who knew about his condition were shocked at this miracle. They examined him multiple times and still found out that he was clear to go. Before that, he was asked to leave some blood sample to see if there is anything different in him from the rest.
"I can't believe this Mr. Est, but you have made a full recovery in just a day. Just to be sure, avoid any fights so that you don't overwork your body like last time." His doctor advised.
"Thank you for the advice doctor, ummm..." Aurum isn't an ungrateful bastard who just leaves after someone did something good to him.
"Mundo. Mundo Sanders is my name." Dr. Mundo said while smiling.
"I'll stop by if there's anything wrong with my body." Aurum said this to appease the doctor.
"Mhm. I recommend you do that ,Mr. Est. We are not still sure what or why is this happening to your body, so we think that this might be a miracle!" Dr. Mundo said with excitement.
Aurum just waved goodbye to Dr. Mundo while walking away. Aurum thought that Dr. Mundo is a really good doctor with passion. But little did he know that the doctor, whom he thought was good person, already has ulterior motive towards him.
While he was walking, he was communicating with the system to let it explain to him the effects of Time stop.
[DING! Time stop has the ability to stop time based on user's mana. Consumes 10 mana per second.]
"F*ck! Isn't this useless skill?" Aurum hoped that he was able to use Time stop without mana consumption. So when he heard about this, he couldn't help but feel a little bit down.
He was just walking around the neighborhood when he heard a notification.
[DING! New quest: Eliminate all people who is tailing the host.
Reward: Danger sense ability and 100 (+100) CP
Accept quest? YES/NO]
"Huh? Someone's tailing me? Weird..." Aurum grumbled while accepting the quest.
"System, do you have a map function available for me? And if there is, color them by red, green, and yellow. Red for enemies, yellow for neutral, and green for allies."
[DING! Displaying map in 3 seconds...
Complete!
Displaying other people's location within a 2 mile radius...
Complete!]
"Hmmm.... Ten people are really tailing me huh." Aurum pondered while being amused.
He was walking around till he found a narrow alley without any people near it.
===========================================================
"Boss, I think this kid already noticed our presence." One of the scouts reported.
"Did you think I wouldn't notice that?" The boss snarled back at him.
The scout who reported to him trembled with fear, for he knew that if he made their boss angry, he wouldn't hesitate to chop his heads off. He lowered his head not daring to answer back at him nor even try to make any eye contact with him.
"I thought that this mission is an overkill. Turns out it's not. Hehe, I hope he does put up a bit of a fight..." The leader thought.
"Boss, he's just standing alone at the alley way and nobody else is on-site. Should we go ahead and reveal ourselves?" Another scout reported.
"Hah! This arrogant punk must be seeking his own demise. Go ahead and play with him, but don't kill him just yet. Our client specifically said to bring the kid back to him alive." The leader of the group reminded them and sent his men off.
===============================================================
Aurum was patiently standing and was waiting for them to come out . A minute later, he can hear some footsteps going to his direction. He turned around and saw nine men dressed casually, with some ski masks covering their faces. He could hear them snigger and see them wearing a smirk.
"Hey kid! If you still cherish your life, just come with us obediently and we guarantee that you will come out unharmed." One of them said.
"Who are you all? And what do you want?" Aurum asked while scanning them.
"Who we are? Haha, we might as well give you the our name. We are known as the Vektan mercenary group. Someone gave us a job to take you back, that's all." The first mercenary said.
When Aurum heard what they said, the system already sent him their info. Their levels are all 9 something in which he thinks he can kill them if they underestimate him.
"Mercenaries? Um, I don't understand what you're saying at all mister." Aurum asked innocently.
"Haha! Poor kid, you will understand if you come with us. Don't worry, as long as you don't do anything stupid nobody will harm you." Says the third mercenary.
"Um, I just want to go home right now. I-I just g-got out of the h-h-hospital and the d-doctor said that I s-shouldn't do a-anything that s-stresses my body out..." Aurum replied.
Aurum's acting skill was totally bought! All mercenaries were just laughing at him while thinking that it was all just a coincidence that he stopped here. Everybody was closing in on him step-by-step, wary that they might scare him, causing him to run away. When they were close enough to grab him, Aurum was about to run but he was subdued right away.
"Didn't I told you that if you come with us quietly, then you wouldn't be harmed?" The third mercenary reminded him.
"Let go of me! You're gonna regret this as soon as you take me!" Aurum meant those words from the bottom of his heart.
The Vektan mercenaries didn't get threatened at all. They did some background check on him and saw that Aurum was just an ordinary delinquent and doesn't have any powerful nor charismatic people backing him. They treated his threats as a joke.
"Yeah, yeah, we regret it. We're really gonna regret it. We regret that we can't kill you!" The fifth mercenary said.
"Kids these days, they just don't know what's good for them and what's not!" The eighth mercenary said as he punched Aurum straight to the gut.
'Damnit! I will make sure these b*tches are gonna regret this later. They will watch their companions die one by one when I gathered them all!' Aurum swore to his heart.
A few minutes later, they dragged Aurum to meet the leader of Vektan mercenaries. The leader was looking at him nonchalantly on the outside, but on the inside he was actually sighing continuously.
"Ah, for a moment I thought that he was waiting for us. Turns out it's just me overthinking things after all. What a letdown..." the leader sighed.
"W-where are you gonna t-take me?" Aurum frighteningly asked.
"Shut up!" The second mercenary forcefully shut his mouth by punching his jaw.
"Boy, stop struggling or this is gonna be over right away. We were told to take you alive, and I know that both me and my client doesn't want to kill you." the leader threatened him.
"Kill me? Hahahaha! Do you have the capability to do so?" Aurum's demeanor completely changed.
As soon as those words left his mouth, the eyes of the every mercenary present focused to him, and all of them suddenly felt a chill at their back.
"W-what the hell?! Is this the same kid that was powerless from earlier? Why does he have the look of an apex predator?" All of them thought of this.
The leader, who was initially shocked from Aurum's complete transformation of behavior, at the moment is getting his hopes up.
"Hoh? It seems that you realize that I was missing earlier, and that's why you pretended to be a weak ass bastard. Turns out you're smart. I like that look in your eyes, kid! It just proves that you have killed someone before." The leader finally realized what's going on and honestly complimented him.
"Even though I like you kid, what makes you think that we can't kill you? We've been to hell before, and we came back in one piece. So what makes you think that we can't kill a fresh kid like you, HUH?" The leader added while giving him a mocking gaze.
However, instead of being frightened, Aurum was about to roll on the floor from laughing. The mercenaries found this strange and thought that the boy they caught has a mental problem.
"You think you've been to hell before? Hahahaha, stop making me laugh! You've only seen the surface of hell. Now I'm going to show you what's at the bottom," As soon as Aurum said this, he launched a quick draw using his sword that appeared right where he needed it.
The leader of the mercenaries tried to dodge, but the length of the sword was too long. He cried out in pain as his stomach was sliced open. The other mercenaries were horrified at this scene. They saw their leader screaming in pain while his insides was spilling out. Even though they have been at the battlefield countless times, they have never seen this type of gore before.
[DING! Host received 200 Exp and 90 (+90) CP for killing a squad leader.]
Aurum took the opportunity to kill all of them while they are stunned at this scene. In a flash, Aurum killed two mercenaries in one slash. The sword passed through their bodies just like how a hot knife slices through butter. With their leader and their two comrades deed, the mercenaries' morale went straight down. They tried to run but their body won't listen to their command.
[DING! Host gained 300 Exp and 100 (+100) CP for killing two mercenaries.]
"Hee hee~ Are you regretting it now? Didn't I tell you that y'all are going to regret when you guys were gonna take me," Aurum was filled with delight right now.
When he reminded them about earlier, they felt so stupid for not listening to him. They really regretted the fact that they were treating him like a trash earlier.
"Hmph... How boring... I thought you guys would put up a bit more of a fight. Welp, there's no helping it. Let me end your misery!" Aurum swung his sword to finish the job.
[DING! Host has gained 1050 Exp and 350 (+350) CP for killing 7 mercenaries.
Quest complete! Host has received Danger sense ability and 100 (+100) CP.
Congratulations! Host has leveled up to 6.]