The world is ending, through a mix of bad luck and angering the wrong deities humanity has brought themselves to a point where death is inevitable.
If not for a powerful goddess who really loved them, they would all be dead by now.
She saved everyone by sending them to different planes of existence, to give them enough time to at least fight for their own survival.
Monsters flooded their world.
With a 1 year time limit they must learn ways to fight back against the oncoming hordes of demons and monsters.
With access to the system, along with a set of starting equipment. Humans were now all on their own.
A scrawny teen, standing at a respectable height of 5 foot 8. He is currently praying after realizing that a God actually existed.
"Thank you Mother Gaia" he stated as he finished a prayer.
This boy is Matthew. A 17-year-old high school student who was on his way home from school before the world ending event began.
Just like everyone else he was given the system and the information was simply blasted into his mind.
"So the commands were Status, Skill List and Inventory. If I remember correctly. All right, let's go for Status first"
A blue screen appeared in front of him.
Name: Matthew Khan
Title: N/A
Profession: Puppeteer
Mana: 600/600 [No Magic Circle]
Ki: 100/100 [Untrained]
Unique Ability: (Locked)
Skills: [Puppeteering] [Mana Threads]
He read through explanations for each, but as an avid rpg game enjoyer from before. It was a straight forward process.
While he would have preferred a summoner or necromancer class, beggars cant be choosers. To him it made sense that he would be a puppeteer. He has a high apm in most of the games that he plays, he is someone that prides himself in his in-game mechanics.
"Skill list"
Puppeteering - You are capable of wielding a puppet as your weapon. Puppets come in all shapes and sizes. Current Limit: 1
Mana Threads - Used only in desperate situations, controlling a puppet requires mana but once a string snaps its value is halved. Use your own mana to replace these damaged strings.
"Inventory"
The inventory was less spacious than he thought, there were only 10 slots. One of which had his puppet while another had the camping gear.
[Pawn - Puppet]
The prototype of the Pawn in Geppeto's Chess set of puppets. A puppet suited for beginners, The mana orb in the middle serves as a conduit to help the novice puppeteer in managing their mana.
The right hand wields a wooden club, while the left hand wields a buckler shield.
The puppet stood at exactly 5 feet in height. The head appears to have a circular almost helmet-like shape. In the middle of the puppet's body, by the chest is a blue orb.
The moment he took it out of his inventory, the strings immediately clasped onto his fingertips. Each finger dealt with either a joint or a full limb. He messed around for a bit testing his control over it before feeling a lot of energy leave his body.
He decided it to leave it there for now as he checked the camping gear. He had the essentials, a Tent, a waterskin, 7 days worth of rations, a tinderbox along with 4 unlit torches.
He decided to keep them all in his inventory for now while carrying the puppet on his back.
It was his only weapon after all.
He soon found a path, he picked a direction and proceeded.
In only 45 minutes, he reached a town.
He shoved the puppet onto his inventory before say8ng hello to the two guards.
"Welcome to the Town of Pablosini, please enjoy your stay traveller!"
He waved at the guard and said his thanks.
The town was rather large, there were all sorts of districts like the market district and a district for government owned establishments. Seeing as he can read the signs, he chose to register at the local mercenary's den. No establishment had the word's "Adventurer's Guild" or any of the other associations that he expected. So this was his best bet at getting some money.
Mercenaries are far more common here so he chose to go for it.
He walked up to the gruff looking middle-aged man by the counter.
"Hello there, I'd like to register"
"Well ya don't look like a mercenary kid, what can ya do exactly?"
He took out the puppet from his inventory and promptly made it move.
"Ahhh a puppeteer are you? Should've just said so lad, there's a few subjugation requests for some Gnolls by the forest. Bring me some heads and I'll give you some coin. How about it?"
"Sure"
"All right, just write your name here and let me etch that onto a card."
The old man then handed him a black metallic card with his name etched on it.
"Drop by before sun down now, or not. I don't really care hahahah Good luck boy!"
With no money on hand, he had to finish the take out some monsters for this boon. He headed out of the southern exit of the town before journeying to the forest.
"From what I know in games, Gnolls should have the head of a hyena and the body of a humanoid creature. I don't know if we can handle them yet, but we have no choice but to try. Right pawny?"
The puppet did not respond, because it is an unmoving object that needs him to pull the strings.
He carried the puppet on his back, journeying to the forest is a bit of a drag but the puppet was light enough so he had no complaints.
He soon heard rustles from a nearby bush as a small green figure slashed his left arm. He responded by dropping the puppet he carried and kicking the monster to the side.
Green-skinned, small, with an ugly face. A large nose, big pointy ears, the creature carried a knife made out of stone, it only wore a loin cloth.
A goblin.
"Eekkeekk eek" the goblin shrieked, seeming in pain from the kick.
He didn't even try to use his puppet, he just ran up to the goblin and stomped on it.
"You little bitch, you think you have the right to scream in pain while I " a kick to the stomach.
"Was slashed on the arm" multiple kicks to the body and head, he didn't let up.
Puppet be damned, this arrogant little runt attacked him and had the gall to shriek in pain when he retaliated.
Matthew might be scrawny, but it didn't mean that he was a wuss. If anything anyone that tried to make fun of him got an aggressive kick to the face.
The unbreathing battered body of the goblin was soon shoved onto his inventory.
He tore some cloth from his shirt and tied it into the wound. Closing it to stop the bleeding.
"I'll use you next time pawny, shit just came over me you know? In another world and dickheads still react like that."
He chose to control the puppet from there, anticipating more powerful foes in the vicinity. He was of course correct in this assumption. The goblins who were watching the sight he displayed simply chose to retreat, because to them humans were dangerous creatures. It is smarter to leave them alone and get out of their way.
They took his brutality as a sign, that even if they attack and win. He is going to take a lot more than just 1 goblin with him. It would do them more harm than good if they attacked him. 20 minutes of walking later and he finally found one.
Standing at almost 2 meters tall, with the head of a hyena and a furred humanoid body. The monster that he saw, eating and tearing through the flesh of a boar is undoubtedly the Gnoll.