[[[ YOU HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED THE FOLLOWING CLASS : ROGUE ]]]
Upon reading the notification, Kei could not hold a disappointed pout.
It was no mystery to him that in most fantasy games, rogues are far from the most powerful class.
Be it when raiding a dungeon or just during everyday farming, parties would rally damage dealers, tanks and healers before even thinking about hiring a sneaky, shady guy in a hood.
Tragically, rogues usually play very situational roles while having almost no way of progressing by themselves.
They need parties to develop but parties rarely need them.
Although the game that was becoming the world that night could have been different, Kei had not much hope.
'Now that I think about it, the class distribution followed another notification… It said something like "behavior analysis," I can't remember exactly.'
'As it appears, we get a different class depending on our reaction to the Armageddon. And well, given I could only flee before a small monster and get hurt in the process, it kind of makes sense to give me the most mobile and least warlike class.'
[[[ YOU HAVE GAINED THE SKILL : Lightstep I ]]]
[[[ YOU HAVE RECEIVED : Rogue's Essentials Satchel ]]]
And with that new notification, Kei was introduced to the inventory system.
It did open up by itself at first, however he quickly figured that opening and closing interfaces was as simple as thinking about it.
Conveniently enough, interface windows were displaying on the side of his field of view, thus not obstructing his vision.
His inventory was naturally empty, apart from the bag he just received, which revealed to be a container with several items inside.
As he skimmed through each of them, they successively materialized in his hand.
[[[ Iron Dagger ]]]
[[[ Hooded Leather Cloak ]]]
[[[ Iron Throwing Knife ]]] x 3
[[[ Blackpowder Bomb ]]] x 3
[[[ Smoke Bomb ]]] x 5
[[[ Basic Health Potion ]]] x 3
[[[ Basic Stamina Potion ]]] x 3
'So that dagger deals 3 points of slash damage while those throwing knives deal 2 of puncture… Doesn't seem like a lot, but I wish I could try and compare them to get an idea on their efficiency.'
By fiddling around with his mind, he was also able to open his characteristics tab and some sort of empty quest journal.
'So there are five abilities : strength, intelligence, agility, endurance and perception… and no charisma. As a rogue, my specialized stat is agility, and the Lightstep skill increases my base movement speed by 10% and stealth by 50%.'
'As for the cloak, it offers literally no protection, but slightly increases agility.'
'At first glance, all of this seems pretty generic for a fantasy game. But that's good news, that means my limited knowledge and experience might give me a chance at surviving without too many unpleasant surprises.'
'All I have to do is take advantage of the– Hey, what's that ?! Did I lose almost a third of my health points already ??'
His hands shaking, Kei emptied one of his health potions in one gulp and watched his health go back to full in an instant. There was no telling what would happen if his health bar depleted completely, but Kei was not willing to find out.
'This damn raptor got me good… Its bite was not that serious but it caused bleeding and I have been losing HP ever since ! Luckily the potion cured that too.'
He took a deep breath and calmed down, feeling much better.
'There's also my experience points here. I did not earn any yet, which means it is probably still alive even after I launched it from the bridge.'
'Come to think of it, the feathered raptor is actually not that common in games, especially as an early game enemy. I'm rather lucky that I got to recognize it. Where did I first see one again… ?'
But as Kei was trying to remember, his train of thoughts got abruptly interrupted by a subtle yet distinct rattling sound near him.
'Shit, is that the raptors again ? Or another, bigger enemy maybe ? Doesn't matter, I don't have time to think. I'll just stand up slowly and–'
The poor man had barely had time to form his thoughts before a feathered predator charged at him from a blind spot and sank its sharp teeth deep into his left shoulder.
Unable to hold back a scream of pain, Kei once more took advantage of a sudden rush of adrenaline to materialize his iron dagger in his right hand and vigorously plunge it in the creature's chest.
The raptor whimpered pathetically before letting go of Kei, who striked another time without wasting any time.
The monster then tried to bite again, but with a swiftness that surprised him, Kei barely dodged the attack and seized the opportunity to hit it in the back, sending it lying on the ground, lifeless.
Panting, his hand on his shoulder, the young man took a minute to process his victory.
'Fuck, is it finally dead ?! It must have followed the smell of my blood…'
'It took only three hits to kill it, with nothing but an iron dagger at that… This raptor really was a weak monster. I am concerned by the way it put me twice in such a difficult situation… At least the Lightstep skill proved useful here.'
'As I feared, I guess I can't survive alone as a rogue. I need to reach back to the city and find other survivors as soon as I can.'
'Shit, no way I'm bleeding again… What the hell are the status chances on these mobs ??'
He materialized a red potion in his hand but before he could even raise it to his lips, he froze in fear at a loud roar resonating behind a treeline, followed by heavy thumps that he could feel in the ground.
When the mother of the feathered raptor he killed showed up, menacingly growling in front of him, Kei had already started walking away.
The monster however, as large as a fully grown pony, did not seem eager to let him go. It looked absolutely enraged, barely more than the four of its young behind it.
It was raising its chicken-like wings to appear more menacing and grinding its sickle-sized claws in the dirt, visibly ready to attack.
Disfigured by an expression of terror, his heart beating at full speed, unable to think straight, Kei listened only to his most primal instinct and just darted in the opposite direction, not even looking where he was stepping.
Even though the wind was beating in his ears, he could still hear the monstrous screams behind him, seemingly getting closer and closer.
He was making the best use possible of his increased movement speed, running in a straight line, never losing momentum.
But it apparently was not enough, since as his depleting stamina reached critical level, he began drastically losing speed.
Lucky in his misfortune, the first monster to reach him was one of the younger raptor. It then tried to slow him by firmly grasping his ankle between its jaws, but was met with an unexpected movement of the young man's leg that violently smashed it on a nearby tree.
Instinctively, the mother raptor stopped briefly to tend to its child, which quickly got back up, a little unswayed.
This halt offered Kei a split second of respite, during which he had only time to drink one potion.
His health was nearly halved and he was still bleeding, but he judged that his stamina was his most vital characteristic at the moment, so he gulped the green liquid and went back to running.
But as the older raptor managed to jump forward and scratch him in the back, Kei changed his escape strategy.
He abruptly veered off to the right and headed right into the dark forest, slaloming between the trees in hope that it would slow the monsters more than him.
Judging only by the screams of the mother slowly fading behind him, his decision seemed to be effective ; it did not take long however for the young, nimble ones to tailgate him.
They were dodging every tree with ease, instinctively controlling their speed and balance to perfection like every predator animal.
'Even though they're weak individually, I don't stand a chance against the four of them. I've lost too many HP and I can't possibly dodge all their attacks. But how long will I be able to keep the pace ?'
Soon enough, Kei's stamina depleted again and his speed decreased as he began to lose his breath.
The monsters on the other hand did not seem to feel any fatigue and reached his level without difficulty.
But instead of attacking him directly, they preferred to surround him from all sides. 'They are definitely about to launch a coordinated assault ! I need to focus and dodge every attack the best I can !!'
Unfortunately, after continuously delaying the inevitable, Kei's stamina reached its last percent and his legs began to abandon him, hardly responding to his brain.
Just as if they had been waiting for this the whole time, the raptors armed their legs for a jump, teeth and claws out.
Kei desperately tried to sidestep the attack but his legs ended up failing him completely and he tripped on his own foot, sending him falling forward towards a spiky bush under an old tree.
He tried to hold himself to a branch but his hands only met air. As he was witnessing the monsters leaping towards him, his vision cut to black and he never really stopped falling until he passed out.
If not for his level 1 rogue skill and an incredible amount of luck, Kei Jirin would have surely died that night, savagely mauled by a family of feathered raptors.
Instead, he woke up a moment later lying on the cold floor of a strange, well lit square white room, only disturbed by the sound of a running fountain.