The portal behind me closed. The blood on my body dried. I was far too tired to face another battle.
The group of people fought courageously against the goblin hoard. I witnessed the whole battle, waiting to help them out in case if things got worse, but they managed to defeat the horde with ease. After the goblin horde died, I realised I was no longer necessary. I closed my eyes, and I dropped to the floor.
I woke up in a hospital, surrounded by 12 people in total. I recognised a few of them to be the ones that were fighting against the horde. I was almost stuck to the bed due to the amount of bandages and stitches across my body. The doctor walked into the room.
The male doctor was half-bald and of his hair, what was left, was white. The doctor had a stethoscope around his neck and wore a blue shirt with blue paints.
"15 stitches, 23 bruises and 12 broken bones. What in the world were you doing?", asked the doctor.
I replied in a weak, deep voice, "Hahaha....If I told you, you probably wouldn't believe me."
The doctor spoke, "I wouldn't believe you? Today, I've seen patients talk about monsters and other worldly beings attacking them. Other than that, I've dealt with wounds that were inexplicable by modern biology. I haven't been out much due to the work, but with the number of patients that came pouring, I've been busy since days."
"Days?! What day is it today?"
The doctor replied, "It's 4th April, 2020."
"Oh God..."
Three days had passed since that day. Within those three days, I imagine the world must've gone to hell by now. While I was busy thinking about the condition outside, a beautiful young girl with straight black hair, about 5 feet tall, spoke,
"You don't have to worry about anything now. We dealt with the monsters outside."
I looked at the girl as she spoke. She wore a pink fluffy jacket and jeans covered in patches of dried blood. She wore black headphones over her head which matched her eyes.
Logically, the system was bound to elect a few people as heroes. I assumed this batch of people to possess the system. Nonetheless, I was relived to hear those words. For mankind to face the brunt of those monsters alone...
I was glad to know that someone was capable to take my place. I got up from the bed and used a healing spell on myself.
The doctor spoke, "Wait! Don't get up yet! You need rest!"
I began removing the bandages after the spell was complete.
I replied, "Doctor, what is currently going on, won't just require medical attention. It would require you to change your beliefs. I'm not a fan of words, but I will say this; Get ready for the worst."
I paused for a moment and looked around. "Where's my stuff?"
My black shirt was removed, and my belt was nowhere to be found.
The doctor replied, "It's downstairs."
I walked to the lobby of the hospital and enquired the receptionist for my stuff. The group of 12 people followed me till there, but I continually ignored them. The nurse handed over a plastic container that contained my shirt.
"Where's the rest of it?"
Confused, the nurse asked, "The rest of what?"
"The rest of my items."
Amongst the group of 12 people, an old man spoke, "When we found you lying on the floor, you wore nothing except for a black shirt and a black pant."
Hearing this, I realised what had happened. I spoke, "System open."
The system back on the beta realm, had multiple functions. It could be used to store items and register your status. Other than this, it had the ability to function separately as an AI. Certain phrases were commonly used to make the system function. Status open, showed a list of your stats. System open however, enabled the system to function properly as an AI.
A blue screen popped up.
[Welcome Back, Level 0 Hero.]
"Show me the list of items."
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Item List:
1. Gold Adamantium Belt - Rank B
2. Goblin King's Crown - Rank D
3. Gold Coins x33 - Rank F
4. Pouch - Rank F
--------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, everyone that stood there, looked at me as if I was mentally unstable. I ignored their steady gazes and wore my shirt. I faced the crowd of people afterwards, and questioned, "And what do you want?"
The young girl from before replied, "We just wanted to thank you oppa."
Oppa? Why in the world would she call me oppa? I'm over 30 years old and I have a beard to support that. I blushed as I heard her words.
After a while, I shrugged the idea out of my mind and focused on the situation at hand.
I spoke back. "You don't need to thank me."
"But why not oppa?"
WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT WORD AGAIN?!! STOP!
My mind was overrun with thoughts a 36 year old man shouldn't be having. Nonetheless, you can't blame a middle aged man who spent half his life fighting monsters, if his thoughts ran haywire once in a while. Just as before, I overcame the situation.
"Instead, allow me to teach you a bit about being a hero."
I paused for a second and continued, "Up till now, you must have gained a basic understanding of the situation. Based on how you fought against the horde, decides your skill set. Most heroes are divided into 3 classes; Warriors, Mages and He-"
As I was speaking, a young boy, around 4 feet tall, interrupted me. "Oh! Oh! I know! It's healer!"
The boy had a mushroom cut and an innocent-looking face. His eyes were dark brown and his hair was black. He wore a orange long sleeved shirt, black pyjamas and red laced shoes.
Instead of talking brashly with the child, with a straight face, I replied, "And how did you know this?"
"Oh! That's because I healed you old man!"
CHILD STOP! YOU'RE RUINING THIS OLD MAN'S CHANCES!!!
"Urghm." I cleared my throat.
"And how exactly did you heal me?"
"While Uncle was saving people, I went swoosh with my hand and transferred my powers."
The moment the word Uncle uttered out of the child's mouth, I lost all hope. I was back to zero.