Derek lay there staring at ceiling while contemplating his life choices.
'I wish I could get into the military, I did so much prep to get in, I really wanted to be in spec ops.'
'I wish I didn't kill that guy too but hey at least I didn't die from an overdose or something dumb, whatever this place is, I'm glad I came here. If only I could fight some more.'
Almost as if in response to his wish, a strange noise came from his side. He looked over to the dead body to find it decomposing at an alarming rate, almost like he was watching a time lapse video. Everything it was wearing besides its equipment was disintegrating, except in the center of its chest was a little bottle.
Derek watched as the body disintegrated around the bottle leaving only it and the swords behind.
'Huh maybe that's why I never spotted bodies when I got lost and circled the same spaces, I wonder what that bottle of red liquid does? In video games wouldn't that be a health potion? Can I live if I drink it? Well I'm dead anyways so I guess I'll give it a shot.'
Derek struggled to reach over, crawling with his weak arms. He popped the cap off and started chugging the whole thing, some of it going down the wrong pipe. Derek felt like coughing but he repressed that feeling as he realized the liquid in his lungs was quickly disappearing anyways and his breathing slowly stabilized.
Checking his wounds, he realized it was still bleeding a little but he could feel the progress that was made with one small bottle, at least he wouldn't die as long as he didn't bleed out.
Wrapping his wounds tightly Derek was glad to be alive.
'This is like a game so maybe they will respawn? Or there might be more portals to explore.'
Derek then noticed a chest at the very back of the room, before he was too focused on his enemy so he didn't notice it but now it intrigued him.
'So monsters drop stuff and there is chests too? I wonder if it's more potions or maybe some equipment?'
Carefully opening the chest Derek found an orb and a book. In the dim lighting he couldn't really make it out and at this point he had been in here for about a day so he was starving and exhausted. Deciding to investigate them later he picked up his shield and sword and left the place.
This time he walked through the entire cave and checked where the corpses should have been to see if they dropped anything. Shining on the floor was a bunch of tiny little orbs which he shoved in his pocket, unsure of their purpose.
He handled the few stragglers and left by sticking his hand into the same portal he came from. This time he wasn't as dizzy as before but he did fall to his knees and puke in the alley.
Looking behind him the portal warped a bit before disappearing.
'Damn I was hoping it would respawn the enemies.'
Derek stashed his things behind a dumpster and snuck to his nearby car to change his clothes.
Derek then went for some food as he was starving.
'Weird… not many people on the streets today.'
A lot of places were closed for some reason but Derek was so tired at this point he didn't focus much on it, he just needed food and sleep then he could think all he wants. Stopping at a nearby place that still looked open he ordered a bunch of food, then ate and slept in his car after transferring and hiding his loot there.
*Knock knock knock*
Derek shot up wielding his trusty dagger. At his window was a cop with his flashlight tapping on the car window. There was another person behind him with a badge hung around his neck.
The cop saw the dagger and pulled his gun.
"Sir put the knife down right now!"
Derek felt the satisfying feeling of death when looking down the barrel.
"Sorry sorry, what can I do for you officer?"
"Step out the car for me."
"Huh? What did I do? I'm sorry for the knife but I was asleep and thought I was getting robbed, you can't blame me for defending myself!"
"Just get out of the car!"
"Fine fine."
Derek got out the car and let the officer pat him down, the cop put his gun away finally.
"Are you sleeping here? Did you not here the news?"
"Huh? What news?"
"Strange portals have appeared everywhere, martial law has been issued. No one is allowed on the streets."
"More Portals? And where are the hobos gunna go?"
"We mostly need people away from the portals, otherwise just don't cause trouble."
"Does that mean there is a portal nearby?"
"… look behind you."
Turning around from the officer Derek saw a red portal about the size of a human nearly touching his car. Around the portal were a few people setting a barrier and some with devices, waiting on him to move so they could get better access to the portal.
"Red?"
"Yeah most of them are red, some orange and yellow too if you find one report it to us immediately especially if they are a different color or look somehow different."
"I'll let you know if I see one, I'll move my car then just clear a path for me."
"No! We will move it, we don't want it to hit the portal and it is very close."
"Fine fine just don't touch my stuff it's all I got."
While Derek waited for them to slowly move his car the man with the badge kept him company, of course he seemed friendly at first but Derek knew what he was doing, Investigating him. Derek didn't know why but he wasn't gunna give any info just in case.
Detective Rodriguez POV:
"That man is suspicious, when you searched him what was his Id?"
"Derek Aprilstorm."
"Hm I feel like I know that name from somewhere. You can handle this, I'll investigate him."
"You think he is a criminal?"
"Probably not, he wasn't nervous when he saw you but he also didn't flinch when you had your gun on him. Most importantly he said 'more portals' implying he knew about them but not the martial order. So he saw one and it wasn't red since he was surprised about it."
"Hmm but why would he hide it?"
"Maybe he actually is a criminal or anti government, he is probably homeless after all and some of them are like that. I'll investigate since I'm waiting anyways, it'll just take a second to look him up."
After his car was moved Derek hid in a parking garage and sorted out his stuff from yesterday.
There was the swords which looked alright, a lot of weird orbs from the dead monsters but one was different. Then the chest loot which was a book and another bigger orb.
He was Inspecting the different orb and suddenly an interface popped up in his mind.
[Would you like to integrate with this identify orb?]
"Uuuuuh? Yes?"
[Integrating…]
[Integration finished please check your stats.]
Name: Derek
Strength: 1 0/50
Dexterity: 1 0/50
Magic: 1 0/50
Stamina: 1 0/50
Defense: 1 0/50
Note: These are modifiers, people are still stronger if they work out or practice combat.
Skills:
Identify
tier: 2
Note: identify orbs have a 1 in 1000 drop rate regardless of the portal.
Tier 2 note: Higher tier identify gives more info and hints, you can read the stats of someone if you have two tiers higher than them.
Achievements:
[First Kill]
Reward: [Select]
- Next kill will drop a low quality item
- Increase chance of drops by 1%
- Increase number of enemies by 10%
- Increase strength of enemies by 10%
[First Boss Kill]
Reward: [Select]
- Next boss kill will drop a perfect quality item
- Increase chance of drops from bosses by 1%
- Increase odds of bosses by 10%
- Increase strength of bosses by 10%
[First Dungeon Clear]
Reward: higher tier chest loot of first dungeon and a guaranteed drop of identify orb
[First Violet Rarity Dungeon Clear]
Reward: Upgrade a violet portal to tier 2 (1 use left)
"Wow ok, I got a couple first kills? Hm there has to be other achievements. I wonder what will happen if I get first clears of other rarity dungeons. Well for the options of rewards I'm definitely picking either quality or quantity mobs… I'd rather fight quality for sure so I'll do that for both."
Now that he had integrated with the identify orb he could see his own info apparently, looking at the different stats gave him some more descriptions. Strength modified how hard he hit, dexterity is speed, magic is how much mana you can control, stamina is for both physical and magical stamina, and defense is how tough your body is.
He could also now see the info of the swords and orbs.
[High Quality Sword] x2
Note: Basic sword that is of high quality and will last a long time if maintained
[Mid Quality Shield]
Note: Basic shield
[Mid Quality Sword]
Note: Basic sword
[Mid Quality Dagger] x2
Note: Basic dagger
[High Quality Strength Core] x12
Note: Use to increase strength. Gives 3 points.
Would you like to use core?
[Unique Quality Strength Core] x3
Note: Use to increase strength. Gives 5 points.
Would you like to use core?
Each of the orbs were one of these cores, there was other types as well for each one of his stats; dex, stamina, magic, defense.
Most were high quality but there was some unique quality as well for each. Derek used all the cores and his stats were now:
Strength: 2 1/100
Dexterity: 2 4/100
Magic: 1 46/50
Stamina: 1 35/50
Defense: 1 34/50
Authors note: I rolled dice for all core drops and will continue to do so(I roll 15d6 for enemies in dungeon so avg. is 52.5 and each stat gets 3 dice to represent it, Some special dungeons will be different).
After upgrading his strength and dexterity Derek didn't feel any difference in his body which was surprising. As an athlete he had a lot of self awareness about his body so if there was a change he should have felt it. Testing his strength he discovered the reason.
It felt like his strength was the same but there was something helping him whenever he exerted his strength. It's like running with the wind at your back, almost as if the world is helping you out. It felt very unusual and took a bit to get used to, the increase wasn't much but stacked onto his already athletic body and with future improvements he could become strong enough to lift trucks with one hand.
There was two more things he hadn't checked yet, the book and big orb from the chest.