Soo-ah's expression was written in awe and fear, what she saw was a giant horned beast. It looked like a goat with opposable thumbs, its body was entirely covered in gray fur. The beast was asleep in the cave, snoring and sleeping like a baby.
[ Monster encountered: Minotauran Ibex..
Grade:???
Class:???
Error error!!! Please level up to get more information...]
She stared at the screen speechless, but nervous, she decides to go back the way she came from, albeit slowly and stealthily. Her eyes was full of fright and her limbs was shaking, she was trying her best to walk as quietly as possible.
However, she stumbled upon a blueminescence fungus and made a loud step thud. She froze her movement immediately, not moving a single strand of hair but lucky for her, the Minotauran Ibex was still asleep, her step was not enough to raise its alarm.
"Phew! That scared me". She whispered.
She continued to make her way out of the deep cave, however, she had a thought
' how about I take one of these light mushrooms as souvenir '.
She plucked one of the blueminescence that was right at the entrance, then she took her leave. Unknown to her, the Minotauran Ibex opened it rectangular bar eyes.
Sometimes later, she got out of the cave altogether to the base of the snowy mountain. Steam ooze out of her nostrils as she breathes out hot air.
"Time to continue my journey, oh, less I forget, open inventory". She said.
A screen with ten slots of space showed up in her front. " Input this shiny light mushroom.
The first slot in the displayed screen suddenly showed the blueminescence. Looking at her hand, she surely couldn't see the mushroom anymore, it worked like magic, she was astounded.
" This works just like fiction, I have a lot of questions to ask, what is this world's backstory, what is it settings ". Soo-ah said as she began to walk.
[ Ding! About 25 years ago, meteors of astounding numbers crashed into different parts of the planet, creating disasters at their wake. However, these meteors were far from ordinary, they were filled with mystic radiations...
Unknown to man, they tried studying the meteors, however, things didn't go as planned. Soon, some plants, animals and man himself starts to mutate. The plants and animals morphed into unidentified lifeforms, some were gigantic, others were small but all possess powers.
Strangely, man's physical characteristics did not change, rather, only a few were gifted with abilities which they call The Awakens. The mutated plants and animals became terror to mankind, so it became the jobs of the awakened to eliminate and reduce the havoc caused by them.
Occasionally, gates would open from alternate realms, it is also the job of the awakened to stop it from causing destruction...]
[... Humans have roughly divided themselves into 2 groups The Ordinary and The Awakened. The former are people with no abilities whatsoever, so, they are normal citizens that do meager jobs, they are the most populous taking up to 80% of the entire human population.
The awakened on the other hand are humans with abilities, they take on the responsibility of protecting the Ordinaries, the awakened are just 20% of the population, making them highly valuable and sort after...].
[ You see, after the cataclysm, most nations and sovereign states had to give up most of their territories to the monsters, now, humans live in heavily fortified fortresses, where they and a few beast that choose to live among them reside. These fortresses serve as citadels and protect the humans from any stray attacks of the outside...]
"Then, why couldn't you put me in one of those fortresses, it's dangerous out here...". Soo-ah was saying but then, she was distracted by a noise.
*Buzzzzzz!!!
She looked around to see what gave such sound, only to be stared at by two large beetles, looking at her with lifeless colored compound eyes.
[ Monster encountered: Juvenile frost beetle...]
The beasts in her front were smaller than the one she encountered at the mountain slope, they have a height that reached her hips, but none the less, scary to behold face to face.
She screamed and attempts to run, however, she was caught by one of them and fell on her. The beetle opened it mandible, trying to bite her head off. She was in a state of panick, she couldn't think straight, her life was in imminent danger.
However, in the turmoil, she suddenly remembered having a blueminescence fungus in her inventory, if her memory serves her right, the system told her it was delicious to eat but poisonous to the body.
With no hesitation, she opened her inventory using her thought and brought out the blueminescence. As the beetle attempts to nib her head off, she shoved the mushroom into its mouth.
The beetle munched on the mushroom, probably due to it lack of experience as a juvenile, it had no idea what the mushroom could do. It happily ate it, even still, it wasn't satisfied, it still attempts to disembowel Soo-ah.
Suddenly, the beetle made a loud shriek, it toppled away for her and began to convulse rapidly, its mouth was foaming blue, soon, it died.
Soo-ah's heart rate was very fast, and her breath was uneven, still, she was glad to survive, but, the trouble is yet to be over, there's a second beetle who was staring right at her. Soo-ah was out of options, she does not know what to do, her stash of blueminescence has finished.
She only picked one, if she runs and turn her back, the beetle would fly and catch her, there is no way out of this. It shrieks at her, attempting to strike fear into her heart.
Unexpectedly, out of nowhere, a large axe flew from somewhere and disembowel the front torso of the beetle in an instant. Stunned and confused, she stood up and watched as the other half of the beetle laid lifeless.
She looked at the axe that became stuck to a rock with the front half of the beetle, she wondered who threw it. She looked around and suddenly, she could see a giant furry horned monster with large steam oozing out of its nostrils, walking towards her. It was the Minotauran Ibex she saw deep in the cave.
She screamed and her tongue joined her, with no second thought, she got on her feet and made a serious run for it. She ran so fast she covered a large span of area within seconds.
The Ibex watched her puzzled. " Was that an human?". It said in an hoarse voice.
Soo-ah kept running and running, soon she stopped when she got tired and noticed that the Minotauran Ibex was not chasing after her, she gave a sigh of relief. Unexpectedly, an alarm sounded in her head.
[ Congratulations, mission accomplished... Find human civilization...
Mission summary: encountered a giant blue beetle..
Encountered a frost beetle
Escaped from a frost beetle
Discovered the Blueminescence fungus
Encountered a Minotauran Ibex
Encountered two juvenile frost beetles
Killed a juvenile frost beetle
Escaped (sorta) from the Minotauran Ibex...
Calculating rewards... Congratulations you are now in level 2...
Calculating supplementary rewards... Congratulations you are now in level 5... Passive ability aquired... Fearless...]
[ Status: name: Soo-ah Kim... Age: 19... Gender: F... Energy 88/120... Health: 98/120... Level: 5, needs 300xp to level up, powers: yet to choose... Profession... Yet to choose... Choose your ability.]
Soo-ah stared at the screen surprised, she completed the mission, but where is the settlement, she looked around, and then she saw a very deep trench and a heavily fortified wall that was covered in snow, camouflaged with the surroundings.
She was elated, she looked at the screen, she could see that the system interface change, it became a list of powers, offered to her to choose. She smiled, she was happy like never before.
"Alright, I made it, time to make this second life count".