A booming sound bellowed through the empty chasm, due to the obvious lack of upright stalls, clearly angered in nature. Diverting my attention from the possibilities before me, I looked up my gaze lingering on the person Infront. A medium-built man with curled ginger hair, a stomach so far out causing the belt bellow to buckle and twist. A frown so obvious but with the body making it almost hysterical.
"How dare you run away, do you know how many died because of you"
Ignoring the man's obvious attempt to anger me I realized who it was. This man, no this coward was the first to run when the goblins came calling, with a louder squeal than the girls. This realization, added to the comical appearance of a red torn suit made me snigger in response.
"Don't you dare laugh all this is on you! You better apologize before…"
My eyebrow quirked in response, cutting him off with the same eagerness one would have to talk to a wall.
"Apologize for what? Hmm, I at least stood and fought most of them suckers but you, no you ran faster than Uthen Bolt that must have been a new record"
My snazzy remark mixed with dry humor caused the man appear to go braindead.. The man probably expecting me to rage on how I tried to defend them or to deny the allegations clearly felt wronged. My numerous read through of novels allowed me to understand one thing. Frankly, no one cared what you said, and anyone to pin the blame on was the obvious solution. Not willing to make the same mistakes my hero's had I continued.
"Listen here buddy, it's sad that so many people died. It really is and I feel terrible about it, however, I don't give a rat's ass about you and all these other people. I prefer my own life far more than any of yours"
"Keep pushing my buttons, and trust me you'll feel the same as those goblin did"
"Very, very..."
Before I could conclude my final statement I was interrupted by another man. Oh no, it couldn't be a pretty female trying to reconcile the obvious divide, but a man. A rather good looking man if I'm honest, making me slightly envious. This one had short blonde hair kept messy and upright, deep blue eyes surfaced behind a pair of glasses. The fact that the eyes were so obvious leads me to wonder whether the glasses were needed or a fashion statement. He had a rather good build, standing slightly taller than myself at 6'1 with wide shoulders. An overly large hoodie covered the frame, an obvious choice for this current weather. A deeply stained bat with red dripping its surfaces was held casually in one hand. This guy was the obvious cause for one of the two goblins' unfortunate circumstances.
"Hey guys no need to fight, we're all on the same side right. I mean humans unlike whatever those are. Let's take some time and chill yes no need for animosity"
The man spoke like one would plicate a child. Looking similar to my age such action could be considered childish, however, the obvious tone nostalgic.
"Hey, let's start over again. My name is Jorden. Jorden smith. What about you friend."
That's when I realized who this was. I used to go Highschool with this guy. Being blonde and pretty damn good looking his obvious intimacy with girls was expected, and the physique helped with all sports activities making him obviously popular with the guy. A reliable person to be in any team for games.
I for one preferred to stay out of the limelight, keeping my contacts with others brief being the clear reason for why he couldn't recognize me. Don't get me wrong-a person such as me going to libraries and hanging out with the more nerdy groups was bound to get bullied. However, I preferred approaching the bullies after school, to teach them not to judge a book by its cover allowing me to live a pretty decent highs school life. I didn't dislike such a character as Jordan but the obvious limelight this man commanded was slight jarring as he was seen as a popular member of society.
"Names Raza mate nice to meet ya"
"Well Raza how about we take on how to get out of here, what do you say?"
"How about we do this, yeah, you take this fellow with you and go make a cozy group and ill stay here by myself"
Not wanting to be to friendly I cut him off. The obvious signs of infatuation shown from the surrounding group towards Jordan clearly showed that if I was to join the group, I would not have the commanding rights, and although this man seemed nice. Could I really trust someone who so casually killed a goblin and continued to talk with such inattentiveness to the death around. Don't get me wrong I wasn't exactly acting how a normal person would, but at least my voice had a pinch of sorrow and this guy had none.
"Hmm suit yourself mate well always welcome you if you change your mind. What about you mate"
He turned his attention towards the ginger man getting a brief nod and walking back to the group at large. I however noticed the small smirk and glance he gave me as he strowed back to the welcoming group.
Turning around I diverted my attention back to the current affairs. The fact that no individual glanced towards the floating screen or asked about it confirmed that in fact, it was only visible to me. As great as it was I wondered whether I was the only person with such a screen, but the fact that Jordan smirked with an upwards glance made me think maybe I wasn't so special. It was possible that only those who killed a monster became "Player" but more evidence was needed. The fact that the group did not discuss this made me double down on my previous notion.
Once more opening my status screen I stared at the "Random Reward Wheel". Clicking on the icon I was prompted with a new response.
{Congratulations player you have received a reward. This "Random Reward Wheel" will grant you a random reward from items through to skills click spin to activate the Wheel}
Under the prompt was a wordless Wheel image full of a myriad of colours from white, green, blue, pink, and red. A subtle prompt faded into and out of exitance bellow feeling majestic. Clicking the spin icon the wheel flared to life seeming to fire on all cylinders as it spun too fast for my eyes to keep up. The wheel landed just short of an unfathomably deep red on a subtle pink in Infront of a white. This propagated another message.
{Congratulation user you were intelligent enough to click the spin icon many falter before your intelligence. You have been given an epic rank reward click for further detail}
{Epic rank trait received. Trait: Dimensional storage – E (Epic grade, this pocket in space and time allows you to store items within unaffected by weight up to the allocated size. Due to the epic rank you have been granted 1m cube area available to you) Bind Yes/No}
Looking at the description my gaze lingered on the icons before being assaulted by another message.
{Warning, binding a trait will lead it to be permanently fused with the organism allowing for no Etherions being used when activated. When bound the trait can not be unbound in the future. Proceed with caution.}
The choice was obvious. The epic grade mixed with the versatility of such an ability left it to be desired even if there was a cost.
Clicking Yes my status page had a small change.
{Player status
Name: Raza
Age: 20
Nickname: Number 2
Class: -
Level: 1
Trait: Dimensional storage - E - 0% - +10%
Titles: First Player (U/E)
SP: 5
Ether Particles: 170 +20
Stats:[
Strength:14 +2
Stamina:13 +2
Agility:12 +2
Dexterity:12 +2
Endurance:15 +2
Wisdom:14 +2
Intelligence:17 +2]
Active skills: -
Passive skills:-
Click for further information}
Clicking on the trait option, I was rewarded with a torrent of words.
{Trait: Dimensional storage - E - 0% - +10% (Epic grade, this pocket in space and time allows you to store items within, unaffected by weight up to the allocated size) 2m³ available}
The euphoria of the possibilities left me in wonderland once more. Wanting to test out different ways to use this new power, I dashed towards a dark space within the building storeroom excited for the future.