Yami opened his eyes and saw that he was laying on a straw mat. He frowned due to the bright light that pierced his eyes and felt dizzy as if he was going through a high-altitude flight.
"Where am I?" Yami muttered while rubbing his eyes. He noticed that his voice became thinner than his usual deep sound. Yami cleared his throat and tried saying random words, but his voice was still the same.
Yami examined his surroundings and saw the old broken-down house he was currently in. The furniture and other objects inside are smashed to pieces, but Yami was amazed that those looked vivid. He would have believed those were real if it wasn't for the menu button at the corner of his vision.
Yami stood up and checked his body in the broken mirror attached to the wall to find out what he looked like.
"This character looks tiny."
Yami touched his silver hair and felt the softness of the strands. His eyes had a red hue mixed with black, and standing at 5'0 ft in height made him looked like a child.
"Oh, I wasn't able to choose a character before entering the game," Yami exclaimed and reached out the menu button, which unfolded to a series of several icons. He wanted to check his profile to see if he could still change his player's character.
[STATUS]
NAME: YIN YING
LEVEL: 1
HP: 100/100
MP: 50
STRENGTH: 10
INTELLIGENCE: 10
VITALITY: 10
DEXTERITY: 10
WISDOM: 10
LUCK: 0
SOUL: NONE
ROLE: NONE
ELEMENT: NONE
LEVEL: NONE
SKILL: NONE
Yami was displeased after seeing his current status. He never expected that all levels would be poor.
"I need to level up faster."
Yami sighed and scanned the other icons and noticed that there was no 'Save' or 'Exit' button available, which made him agitated.
"Calm yourself Yami; worry about that later."
Yami composed himself before closing the icons and going out of the door. He saw multiple ransacked houses lined up everywhere, and they all looked horrible except for the gigantic building in the middle of the deserted area.
"What a towering infrastructure."
Yami was still admiring the building when a screen appeared in front of his vision.
[!QUEST]
[SOUL RING]
[DESCRIPTION: DEFEAT ONE SOUL BEAST.]
[REWARD: A GIFT FROM THE PLAYER'S WORLD.]
[FAILURE: QUEST CANCELLED.]
"Interesting," Yami muttered while smirking. He opened his inventory and saw a single item inside.
Yami pressed the item and, on his hand, formed a dagger. "Now, I'll just have to wait."
The horns attached to the poles started alarming in a threatening tone. A small black orb appeared in front of Yami and started expanding until it was 10x the original size. There was a gleam of light before a black-colored beast came out.
'A medium-sized quadruped worm-like beast with tough skin that made a decent body armor,' Yami described the beast upon his observation.
"What an ugly creature?"
Yami spoke in disgust and glanced at the screen that appeared next to the beast, but he was amazed at the realistic graphics and movements that the beast executed.
[SOUL BEAST: NIVI]
[TYPE: CAPTURE]
[ABILITY: MANA EXTRACTION]
[LVL: 1]
[HP: 100/100]
"Just a low-level beast."
Yami confidently prepared himself for an attack, but since Yami's status was low, he was careful not to get hit or stepped on by the soul beast.
Yami cracked his neck before sprinting towards the soul beast's foot and struck the skin when a black fume came out. He evaded the stench from touching his skin and proceeded to slice the back portion of the soul beast.
Nivi roared loudly and opened its mouth to attack, but Yami didn't let it happen. He climbed on the soul beast's back and pierced its head, then sliced it through the front.
Nivi stopped moving before it collapsed on the ground, creating a loud thud.
[SOUL RING: HAS BEEN COMPLETED. YOUR REWARD CAN BE FOUND IN THE INVENTORY.]
"Too easy," Yami said with delight in his voice. He was about to checked the reward's inventory when another black orb appeared at the side, four meters away from him.
The same soul beast appeared, but it was way more significant than the last soul beast Yami defeated.
The ground quivered every time the soul beast stepped forward, followed by a loud roar, yet Yami didn't feel any sense of danger. He was somewhat confused since he had already finished the quest, yet, there was still one left for him to defeat.
[SOUL BEAST: NIVI]
[TYPE: CAPTURE]
[ABILITY: MANA EXTRACTION]
[LVL: 10]
[HP: 10,000/10,000]
'It's too strong for me,' Yami thought as he held the dagger tightly when it shattered to pieces before he could carry out his move.
What had happened made Yami lose focus and didn't realize that the soul beast was approaching him. He immediately opened his inventory to look for weapons when someone pushed him aside. Yami landed on the broken fence and scratched his palm caused by the impact.
Nivi's mouth opened, and inside was a single white sphere that radiated light before firing an energy blast along the path, right to where Yami was standing.
"Soul On."
An unknown man jumped from behind with a blade in hand and dashed towards the beast. His movements were so fast that his body blended with the shadows, and the next thing that happened was Nivi, dropped to the ground, and the sphere lost its glow, indicating that the soul beast was dead.
Yami was flabbergasted at what happened. His mouth agape while looking at the man standing atop the dead beast.
The man flicked his blade and glanced at Yami's clothes.
"You shouldn't be late for school."
Yami frowned and looked down to check his attire, which was a school uniform. He lifted himself and dusted his pants when Yami felt pain on his palm; there was a cut, and it was bleeding.
"Is this real?"
Yami whispered in disbelief while staring at the cut with wide eyes. He clenched his hand, and more blood ran down his skin and dropped to the ground, indicating that it was reality.
'I can feel pain.' Yami thought while wiping the blood away but was interrupted when a screen appeared before him.