Frank had no idea how long it was before he regained consciousness.
When he did, the first thing he noticed was flickering lights, followed by the smell of antiseptic. Squinting his eyes from the brightness, he struggled to sit up.
As he sat there, he recalled the fight; the adrenaline, the chaos, even his near-death experience, before throwing up.
'Was it all real?' he questioned, until realization hit him: 'I fought a monster...'
With a groan, he pushed himself upright. This actually was easier than he expected, which he was grateful for. It took a moment for him to get his bearings, but when he did, he saw a screen in front of him, glowing softly.
[QUEST COMPLETED!
BONUS REWARDS UNLOCKED:
Exceptional XP for defeating an "Unbeatable" enemy: +1000 EXP
Immediate Level Up: Level 6 Achieved]
Frank's heart raced as he processed the information.
'I defeated the spider?' He really managed to put that monster down?
He thought back to the fight; his sledgehammer, the urge to protect Ana, the pain of the spider's attacks. It had nearly cost him his life. He paled a bit as he remembered being impaled and nearly dismembered.
Pushing those thoughts aside with a shudder, he began to scroll through his stats.
[Host: Frank Gunn Level: 6 EXP: 0/750 Race: Human
HP: 50/50 MP: 15/15
Strength (STR): 22+ Constitution (CON): 25+ Agility (AGI): 8+ Intelligence (INT): 5+ Charisma (CHA): 5+
Luck (LUC): 0
Stat Points: 10]
'It looks like regeneration did its job, but I never expected it to be so effective.' Not only was his body completely unharmed, but it was considerably more defined than before.
This was a welcome sight to Frank. After all that pain and suffering, it looked like the system was at least kind enough to reward him fairly.
'Still...'
He eyed the luck stat and scowled.
'Of course that's the ONE stat I can't improve with skill points.' He grimaced, wishing he could at least put a single point into the stat. 'What a cruel joke.'
'And why are the gains so uneven?'
It was easy to see his HP, strength, and constitution had skyrocketed, while his agility only went up five points. The rest remained unchanged.
Unable to come to a conclusion, he moved on to his skills.
[Skills:
Oathkeeper (SPEX)
Regeneration (Lvl 1) -> (Lvl 2): 1HP/30sec -> 3HP/30sec
Persisting Strength (Lvl 2) New: User can exert their maximum strength longer without fatigue. Duration increases with skill level.]
As he read over the abilities, a realization struck him.
'Does this mean I'm going to keep getting stronger?' For a moment, he felt a sense of pride. But that feeling quickly disappeared, replaced by guilt.
'It's not like I have ambitions of being a hero to anyone except Ana; I'm no altruist.'
He sat with that feeling until suddenly remembering something.
'Wait, where is Ana? Is she safe?' He swung his legs over the bed and stood up, looking around frantically.
"Ana!" he called, his voice urgent.
"Daddy?" a small voice replied from outside the room.
Relief washed over him as he opened the door to find Ana sitting in a chair, holding her favorite stuffed rabbit.
"Ana!" he ran over and embraced her tightly, tears in his eyes. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
She shook her head, clearly relieved to see her father moving.
"It was scary, but you promised you'd beat up the monsters, and you did!" she was clearly pumped up by his heroics, until a confused look took over her face. "They said you were hurt?"
"Me? Hurt? It takes more than a spider to hurt me!" he assured her, quickly looking over her for any signs of injury. "But do you know where we are, sweetheart? Who are "they"? The people you mentioned earlier?"
Ana looked up at him, her eyes watering. "Daddy, are you really okay? You were... you were really hurt. I thought..." Her voice trailed off as she hugged her rabbit tighter.
'Of course she saw all of that,' he lamented. She must have been terrified seeing her father like that while being tied up by a giant monster.
"I know it was scary, sweetheart. But I promised to protect you, and I meant it. No matter what happens, I'll never let anyone or anything hurt you."
Ana nodded, but her eyes were doubtful. "What about the monsters? What if they come back?"
Frank hesitated, unsure what to do. But he realized he already knew what to say; he'd been saying it for years: "I thought I told you before, I'll beat them up! But first, I think we should get out of here. You ready, sweet pea?"
She looked around for a moment, clearly concerned about something, but ultimately she agreed, "Okay, Daddy."
Suddenly, a new notification flashed on the screen in front of him, interrupting their exit:
[Unexpected clear condition met!
Please select one of the following skills:
Sixth Sense (Innate): Allows user to always know when they are in danger.
Spider's Agility (Innate): +5 to AGI stat, allows user to freely move on any surface.
Spider's Web (Innate): Allows the user to create a spider's web. The strength of the web and the amount that can be stored increase with the user's level. Webs slowly restore over time.]
"Choose wisely," the system prompted. This was another chance to gain strength, but as he considered his options, he made a decision.
'I don't have time to worry about this right now. We need to go,' he thought as he grabbed Ana's hand, deciding he'd have more than enough time to decide later.
Just then, the door swung open. A man dressed in a sharp suit and two officers walked in. Their badges caught the light, creating an imposing atmosphere.
"Mr. Gunn," the man said, his voice steady.
Frank eyed him up and down skeptically. "You have me at a disadvantage, sir. I can't say I know who you are," Frank replied.
"Your actions were commendable," the man continued, ignoring his statement, "But we need to fully understand what happened. We've seen many creatures like the one you encountered, and our squads have struggled against them. Meanwhile, you won alone. Fair to say you hold valuable information."
There was a long silence. Seeing that Frank wasn't answering until he got answers of his own, the man sighed.
"I am Commander Arlo," he surrendered, "leader of the local branch of the national guard. As for how I know your name, we checked your ID when we saved you and your daughter. After we confirmed you weren't turning of course."
"After that, we ran a background check. It seems you'd been working with our local government prior to all of this," he continued, and Frank got a sick feeling.
It was obvious where he was going with this, and he didn't like it. The thought of being involved with the military made his skin crawl.
"Given the body of the spider we saw near your daughter and yourself, we figure continued cooperation might be mutually beneficial, albeit with a change of sector," Lt. Arlo concluded.
Frank's resolve hardened.
'No way am I bringing Ana into a situation like,' that he determined.
"I appreciate your praise, Mr. Arlo, but I'm not working for you," he stated firmly. "Before all this, I just worked in construction. I may have fought that spider, but that's only because I promised Ana I would protect her. I'm not a soldier, nor do I want to be."
The man paused, his expression shifting from a calm expression to a look of annoyance, "That's COMMANDER Arlo, I earned that title honestly, and you don't seem to grasp the scale of this, Mr. Gunn. People are already dying by the hundreds of thousands, if not millions."
Frank's voice picked up, not appreciating being talked down to, "I'm fully aware of what's at stake COMMANDER Arlo, but Ana and I barely made it out of that fight alive! I know the world needs capable fighters right now, but I'm not one of them, and I will not put my daughter at risk by throwing myself at these things."
Lt. Arlo's aggravation grew until it looked like he was about to boil over. But then, he seemed to collect himself, taking a deep breath before continuing.
"Mr. Gunn, I misspoke a little earlier, so allow me to remedy this," he paused, clearly struggling with the next words. "I said earlier that full squads have struggled against spiders like the one you faced. The fact of the matter is we haven't been able to subdue a single one, nor have we had any survivors return after such an encounter."
A silence filled the air as Frank processed the man's words.
'Nobody? Not a single one?' If that were the case, the situation outside was even worse than he expected. Still...
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid even if I wanted to help, I can't. After all, I'm fairly certain if I took on another one of those things, I would die," he admitted.
The silence that followed was intense; Frank's words sinking in for the commander.
Arlo's hopes were shaken.
The only person who had been able to take down one of these spider either couldn't do it again, or didn't want to help.