His surroundings were engulfed in darkness, rendering him unable to see or feel anything. The vast expanse of darkness seemed impenetrable, with no glimmer of light to show the way out.
'Did I die?'
It's unknown to him.
For some time, drowned in the darkness, bit by bit he regains his consciousness.
When he opens his eyes, the world greets him with its light.
A wooden floor frame and a brick wall in his surroundings, shield him from the harsh cold winter. The dryness of the wind made it difficult to breathe. As he tries to stabilize his own body, a fog can be seen coming from his mouth.
With both of his hands, he's hugging himself. Tighten his worn-out robe, trying to endure the chilly atmosphere inside the abandoned building.
"...where am I?" Said him.
As he walks, he's pondering where he is. He walks aimlessly until he stumbles upon a freezing puddle on the side of the room. Slowly as he walks closer, a reflection can be seen on its surface—the face of someone else with brown hair.
"Huh?"
He's crouching, his hands tremble at the reflection that he sees.
"This can't be."
"Erik?"
Upon realization, he realizes who the person is. Erik, a playable character from a game called Fantasy World. The worst of the worst character with zero starting point. A hardcore playable character that even a famous player won't even consider to play even as a second character.
"....are you serious?"
"I-is this a dream?"
"It's sure a dream! It can't be true!"
Slowly he walks backward, his head dizzy as the cold sweat pours. His hands cover the face in disbelief, as he walks backwards slowly, he stumbles on his own feet.
"Ouch!"
".....it hurts....?"
"Is this reality...?"
He breathed faster, even when his lungs were stinging because of the cold. His pupils constricted, sweat pouring uncontrollably and his hands began to grasp his chest.
When he calmed down, while hugging his knees, he regained his composure.
"Shit..."
"I can't just stay silent...."
"I need to do something..."
He brought his face up, looking his surroundings and began assessing the situation.
"If this is what I think it is, then...."
Suddenly he shouts, "Open status!"
But nothing happens, there's nothing like a status window of something that can be seen. Only deafening sounds of wind can be heard.
"What the hell....."
The reason why Erik's character is the worst is because his starting stats are horrible, with only 1 star of each status, the character play style is limited in the first playthrough. The worst thing about this character is not the status, but the innate debuff that the character has. With the [Hated by The World] debuff, this character's mana won't improve even if the player all-in his stats towards intelligence. Knowing this, he began searching his body. Searching for something that can be used.
"If this is really inside the game then this is chapter zero, the beginning of the story..."
Each character has a different starting chapter, and Erik as the worst of all began on top of the mountain. Trying to search for a way to descend. Erik's stories began when he was on his escape from his village that had been burned down, as the sole survivor he tried running to escape the predicament while introducing his ability as a character. But the problem is, that Erik's character only has two abilities that he can use. Magic engineering and sixth sense.
"Damn it...."
With time as his opponent, he laid out the thing that he brought. In his pouch, there are two daggers, a rope, two potions, and a fountain pen. With haste, he tears his coat and scribbles it with the pen. Somehow for some reason, he knew the formula he was supposed to draw on the rag and attached it to his daggers.
With that, he got himself two blink daggers.
Blink dagger was a starting equipment exclusive to Erik that could be crafted at level 1, using this fact he crafted two of them. In the game, it was a consumable item but thinking this is reality he tried to throw one to the corner of the building.
He tried to concentrate and then in the blink of an eye, he teleported to the dagger that he threw.
"I made it...."
With his eyes, he scanned the area, searching for the dagger that he had thrown before and picked it up.
"So it's not gone after using it...."
He looks outside the window and says, "I need to run, I want to create as much distance as I can....."
With haste, he runs. Leaving the abandoned building behind. After a while, the sounds of hounds can be heard from behind. The enemies in Erik's prologue are two hounds and nine mercenaries trying to hunt him down. As the sole survivor of the burned village, they're not gonna let him escape. The identity of the mercenaries was just regular ruffians with skill.
Their equipment was enchanted, and skilled enough to pillage a regular village down.
With that in mind, Erik tried to run early, creating as much distance as possible for him to handle the hounds.
Without batting an eye, he tore his robe again and pricked his hand with a dagger to create a blood-soaked piece of rag.
He threw the blood-soaked rag away to confuse the hounds while he was running. With nimble movement, he used the dagger to overcome the obstacle that was supposed to be the tutorial obstacle. When it was near the end of the tutorial, he stopped. In front of him, there's a cliff with a distance of more or less 150 meters. With his range of 10 meters at best, he can't throw the dagger too far.
As he pondered, from afar there was a barking sound from the hounds. He knew he didn't have much time to contemplate. With resolute he threw his first dagger and ended up missed.
"Shit!"
In the distance, the sound of grown-ups reverberates.
"KILL HIM!"
"DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE!"
Erik started sweating again., his nape drenched with cold sweat. In this situation, he didn't have a choice but to fight.
In the tutorial stage, the player can't even damage the pursuer but, when this is a reality, the outcome may be different. The fact that he could stall time with a makeshift decoy from a rag to gain time was the turning point.
"....let's fight..." says him with a low voice.
His heart raced as he kept a watchful eye on the encroaching hounds. This seasoned player had spent over 5 years mastering the game and had experimented with numerous characters before discovering his favourite, Erik. The challenge of using Erik, along with the unique combinations of moves at his disposal, solidified Erik's position as his primary character.
"I've already tested it and I've been using this character for years...."
"I can do this...."
Declaring his resolution, he took a stance to throw the dagger. When one of the hounds is already within his reach, he quickly throws it. Before the dagger meets the target, he activates the blink and then grabs the dagger before he pummels it into the hound's head.
With its momentum, he successfully pummeled the dagger into the hound's skull and made the other one catch off guard. Without any hesitation, he threw it to another hound and repeated the movement.
Leaving the carcass behind, he runs into the woods. Calculating the remaining time he has and makes a suspension trap in that sort of time with his rope. When he already made three of it, he ran to the previous path and waited for the mercenaries to notice him.
"IT'S HIM!"
After one of them saw him, Erik began running back into the woods. Waiting to ambush the mercenaries one by one.
As predicted, the mercenaries follow him to the woods.
"Damn it, we lost him."
"The hounds got killed, boss."
"What should we do?"
The leader is silent for a while and says, "Let's search it, he won't be that far running in this snow,"
The mercenaries with it's leader command began sweeping the area, they're searching in scarce. Underestimating Erik just because he is a single civilian.
When one of them reaches on certain point, the trap is triggered. That one mercenary got impaled by the sharp woods Erik crafted before on the abdomen. Leaving a grunt sound that can't be heard by others. Looking at that situation, Erik jumped from the top and finished the mercenary.
Intended to catch the other off guard, Erik throw his dagger. Using the same technique as he killed the hounds. With that surprise attack, the other mercenary can be taken down.
One by one, the mercenaries got taken down. Leaving behind a mage and the leader.
"Use your magic! Burns down the tree!"
With a long staff in his hands, he began to recite the spell and burn the surrounding trees on fire. With nowhere to hide, Erik slowly emerged from behind a tree.
Blood covered his face and his attire in red.
The remaining mercenary took a stance, and with his hands on the sword he said, "I thought we were dealing with normal civilians,..."
"But it seems not, ...."
Erik and the remaining mercenary stood still, their eyes staring at each other to keep the opponent in check.
Suddenly the mage begins to recite a spell, and with that as a cue, Erik runs ahead towards the mercenary. Knowing that, the mercenary keeps his stance, intended to protect the mage.
As Erik threw his dagger, the mercenary deflected it with ease to the side. The impact of the clash made the dagger thrown to the side, stuck to the snow beside him.
But Erik didn't stop his charge, he kept his eyes on the opponent and charged forward.
"Crazy bastard,"
The mercenary mumbled.
He didn't know the reason why he charged forward recklessly.
But in an instant, when his sword gonna reach Erik's neck. In the blink of an eye, the figures of the young man disappear.
He has already been a mercenary for many years. He gained experience as he tried to survive the battlefield before in the end he became a ruffian who was blinded by worldly desire. At first, he thought the one that he chased was a mere civilian with no skill. But when one by one his companions fell on that boy's hands made him think that his opponent was a magic warrior like him.
As the boy's figure vanished into thin air, it dawned on him that the one he had been chasing was in fact a mage. The guerilla tactics that the boy uses perfectly conceal the fact that he can use magic.
In that spur of the moment, when the mercenary looking at his back to check the mage. A dagger already impaled the mage's neck.
Catching off guard, the mercenary also lost his life at the hands of the person that supposed to be his target.