As soon as Frank heard the last message, two screens appeared in front of him.
He stared at them dazed until his curiosity got the better of him.
[Host: Frank Gunn
Level: 1
EXP: 0/100
Race: Human
HP: 20/20
MP: 15/15
Strength (STR): 7
Constitution (CON): 10
Agility (AGI): 3
Intelligence (INT): 5
Charisma (CHA): 5
Luck (LUC): 0
Free Points: 0]
"Okay, that's... interesting," Frank muttered "Either I'm drunk, hallucinating, or dead. Really hope I'm not dead..."
While he wasn't a gamer, just a guy who occasionally dabbled in fantasy while Ana was asleep, even he could recognize a stat screen when he saw one. It was absurd to see one in real life. Still, it was depressingly accurate.
Specifically his Luck stat, which earned a bitter laugh from him.
Zero.
What else should he expect? His luck had always been the absolute worst. If he had a nickel for every time fate screwed him, he'd probably earn a million nickels, then somehow end up losing them all in the wash...
'As if I needed a reminder,' he thought, glaring at the screen. 'Way to rub it in.'
He swiped to the next page, not wanting to see his luck anymore.
[Skills
Oathkeeper SPEX: While fulfilling a promise, all stats are enhanced 200% except HP. Breaking a promise will result in the death of the user when promise becomes irreparable.
Regeneration lvl 1: Health will slowly regenerate over time. Current rate: 1 HP/30 seconds.]
Frank stared at his first skill, dumbfounded. A stat boost for keeping promises?
'What kind of twisted self-help bullshit is this? What does it mean "irreparable"? Am I being threatened by my own "Skill"? How do you even balance something like this?' Frank complained inwardly
'As if my life wasn't complicated enough. Now I have to worry about breaking promises like I'm Pinocchio or something. "Hey Frank, remember that time you promised to take out the trash? Well now you're dead!"' He thought sarcastically.
The second skill, at least, made sense. Regeneration. He could work with that.
Assuming, of course, this wasn't all some stress-induced fever dream.
Giving him no time to digest this new information, a new screen popped up, glowing red.
[EMERGENCY QUEST
Quest: Formidable Foe
Clear condition: Escape with Ana Gunn
Clear rewards: Immediate level up
Failure penalty: Immediate death of Frank and Ana Gunn
Quest cannot be denied
Time to accept before immediate failure: 2 minutes and 37 seconds]
Frank nearly choked.
Escape with Ana? From what? The screen didn't give any details, just orders and a threat.
"Alright," he muttered as he scratched his head. "This is a REALLY lucid dream, maybe I should see if my insurance would pay for therapy."
The timer continued to tick down, not caring whether it was believed or not.
[1:23]
Doubt started to form in his mind. Frank had always been a skeptic, and he was fairly certain some people had been institutionalized for less than he was experiencing now.
[:37]
Even still, the countdown of the timer made him uneasy. Even if he was almost positive this was a dream; he couldn't be 100%. If this were real, could he just accept the quest and stay home? It's not like he saw this "Threat"
[:10]
[:09]
[:08]
That aside, the quest was clear, if he didn't accept, he and Ana would die. Even in a dream, that was NOT something he could let happen.
"ALRIGHT ALREADY, I ACCEPT YOUR STUPID QUEST!" Frank shouted, pressing the accept button with his middle finger before pointing it toward the sky. "Happy now?"
[Quest accepted!
Please evacuate to safe area.
Threat inbound in:]
[:03]
[:02]
[:01]
The timer hit zero, and for a moment, Frank felt relief. Nothing was happening, maybe this was just a prank by some of his coworkers.
Then he heard it.
A loud crack, followed by the sound of shattering porcelain.
'That... can't be good.' Frank gulped.
He paused for a moment before ultimately deciding to see what caused the noise. Even if he didn't like what he saw, he doubted ignoring whatever it was would cause it to go away.
Taking a deep breath, he crept toward the bathroom.
'It's just a dream Frank, no need to be scared; a dream can't hurt you,' he reassured himself.
On the off chance this wasn't a dream... well, he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.
When he reached the bathroom, he looked around the side of the door.
The room was a disaster. Shards of toilet were scattered across the floor with water shooting out from the pipes. There, in the center of everything, was the cause.
A spider.
It was a fairly normal brown recluse in every way, if you ignored its size. It stood five feet tall, its body a blend of fuzzy brown and black, and its eight legs each as thick as Frank's forearm. As he watched, its legs were scraping against the tiles with a sound that made him shudder.
The creature's eyes, all eight of them, had a subtle glow. It was really easy to spot since they were currently staring Frank down hungrily.
[WARNING: TARGET'S LEVEL IS SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER THAN THAT OF HOST, COMBAT NOT ADVISED.]
Frank looked at the screen, then back at the spider, blinking twice.
"Oh, you think?" he snapped. "Thanks for the tip, Captain Obvious."
"As if living poor wasn't bad enough, now I'm gonna die because I couldn't afford a damn exterminator?" He screamed at the screen in front of him.
The spider observed his tantrum before it turned to look towards Ana's room. Frank's blood turned to ice.
'Why is it-'
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH" His thoughts were interrupted by a loud scream.
"ANA!" Frank shouted, rushing toward her room. The spider hadn't made its move yet, and Frank wasn't about to give it a head start. He slammed the bathroom door shut, hoping the spider's critical lack of thumbs would buy him time.
Frank darted into Ana's room, finding her curled up beneath her blankets, sobbing. Frank didn't stop to think, grabbing her blankets and all before bolting out the door.
"Hey Ana, it's a bit late, but what do you say to a car ride? Right now, just the two of us." He tried to keep her calm, but his voice cracked, betraying him.
"D-daddy, I'm scared. P-please squish it, please!" Ana sobbed.
Frank's heart tightened. She was just a child; how could she not be terrified? Even he was scared, and he was three times her size.
He managed to buckle her into her car seat and close the door, having hope for a moment that he might actually be able to escape. But then, he heard it.
A crashing sound, too loud to ignore. The spider had made it through the door.
"Shit," Frank whispered, his mind spinning. He was running out of time.
He desperately checked his surroundings to see if there was anyone who could help.
Looking around, all he could see was chaos in the streets. Burning buildings, people screaming, tripping over each other, the whole nine yards.
Cars were crashing into each other as people tried to escape, and he even saw motionless bodies start to get back up before attacking their fellow man.
What he was witnessing made one thing painfully clear: He was on his own. No help was coming.
Not for him, and not for Ana.