Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Change

"Come on! Come on!" I yelled, mashing the buttons of my controller.

"Almost..! NO!" 

"Game Over!" I stared at the screen, the words etched in my brain.

"Gah! This is stupid." I stood up, dropping my controller.

In my entire life, I've played over 200 games. Still, I somehow couldn't manage to beat this one. I think I know the reason behind that.

Ding, ding.

The store's door swung open.

One of the game's most important aspects was based on luck. Unfortunately, I didn't have much of that.

"Thank you for your purchase!" Said the cashier.

I grabbed my soda and walked across the street, to one of the city's parks. Sitting down on one of the benches, I popped the soda open.

'Get your life together!' My mom's voice repeated in my mind.

It had been years since she said that, and still, I couldn't find it in me to forgive her, but maybe she wasn't the one needing forgiveness. Perhaps it was me, the one who wasted away in an old apartment playing games all day.

"Haa.." I sipped some soda.

Perhaps it was. However, I didn't want to think about that now. It was far too late.

'You need to change!' Her voice repeated again.

'Change, huh?'

"Ahhhh!!!" A woman's voice echoed throughout the park.

I swung my head behind me, looking at where the scream came from.

"HELP! Please! Aaaaahhhhh!"

"Gahhh! Noooo! Stay awaaaay!"

Dozens- no hundreds of screams followed, each one sounding more horrified than the last.

'What in the world is going on!?'

I stood up, wondering whether to head toward the or away from the sound. In the end, my curiosity got the best of me.

I cautiously headed towards the panicked screams, each step making me regret my decision.

"NO!"

"What i-is that!?"

The closer I got, the more horrified the voices sounded, many of them asking for help. My legs trembled at the thought of what could make so many people panic. I was sure it wasn't a fire since smoke wasn't in the air, but that only made it worse.

"Ahhh! Help me!"

I stopped in my tracks. In front of me was a sight I couldn't believe.

"I-Impossible.."

Thousands of small green beings were chasing everyone around.

"T-this must be a trick! A-a prank!" My lips trembled as I spoke.

I stepped back. Two unfamiliar sounds echoed from behind.

"Keeee, kree, kuhhh."

"Huuuu, kekee."

"Huh?"

I turned around. Two of the green beings were standing right behind me. Seeing them up close was far different from seeing the from afar. My legs wouldn't move as they gradually became weaker.

"Ugh!" I fell to the ground.

"Kheeke."

"Krrr."

They held small swords and daggers. However what horrified me the most was their long, sharp, and inhuman teeth, which they bared at me.

"Krahh!"

They smiled, readying to pounce.

"P-p-please! Don't!" I closed my eyes, bracing for the pain. When a voice echoed,

[Wave 1: Cleared]

"Huh?"

I opened my eyes, it seemed all the green beings were gone. Everyone looked just as surprised as me.

"It was probably just a p-prank, right?" Said a man.

I guess most shared my thoughts.

"Y-yeah probably." Said another.

I cautiously got up, legs still trembling. Maybe it was just a prank.

'Then again...'

I looked back at those who were either injured or dead.

"Ugh." I couldn't help but feel sick.

I averted my gaze from those who were dead or injured. However, my eyes landed on something else or rather someone else.

"What..."

A man holding a bloodied knife and a picnic blanket. His eyebrows were scrunched and he looked like he was about to cry.

[Conditions for clearing level 1:
- Survive wave one until the end of the timer.
- Kill the boss.

Time until next wave: 5 minutes.]

"What?" I stared, perplexed.

This floating hologram-like window said 'level', a word commonly used in video games.

'Come to think of it...'

The green beings also seemed familiar.

'Goblins!'

With green goblins, levels, and even floating windows. It was like I came into a video game, or rather, a video game came into reality. Whatever it was, it was real. Upon realizing this, my eyes widened. Rather than feeling despair or concerted, I felt something else.

'Excitement.'

I've been playing games ever since I was young. This was going to be a piece of cake.

In every game, there was always a menu of some kind. Since there were monsters like goblins, I'm sure leveling up was possible. However,

'Where is it?'

I didn't know how to unlock the menu. In games, it was usually a button on the side, but what about in real life?

"Aha!"

After doing a bunch of crazy hand signs, randomly pressing the air, and saying word combinations, I finally did it.

"Menu." As the word escaped my lips, a window appeared.

[Player: Hari Kaos]

[Health: 101/101]

[Title: None]

[Level: 0]

[Attribute/s: None]

[Skills: None]

[Items: None]

[Fear (×2)]

"Woah, what is this?" I tapped the window.

"Are these my stats?"

Just then, another window appeared.

[Strength: -1]

[Defense: -1]

[Agility: 1]

You are reading story Amidst The Fog at novel35.com

[Health: 1]

[Luck: -5]

[Stamina: -1]

[Mana: -1]

"Ha?" I stood, perplexed at what I saw.

Could my stats be any worse? Sure, my agility and health were good, but what about everything else?

Maybe there was still a chance. What if negative stats were normal? What if a single stat point was really rare? What if the others had stats in the negetive tens?"

'No matter how I look at it...'

There was no chance this could be good. However, hoping never hurt, so I stood up and walked toward the other people. Everyone seemed just as perplexed as I did. However, now was different. I had an idea of what to do.

"Hey, everyone."

"Hm?" The man holding a knife and a picnic blanket looked at me.

"Did you manage to figure it out yet?" I looked around, waiting to see who would respond.

"Yes." The picnic man replied.

Out of everyone, the one who answered was him. Even though he was covered in blood, I was sure they weren't his as he lacked any visible wounds. Of course, that only made it worse.

"What the fuck are you on about?" A different man said.

"I meant the menu." I replied as I looked at him.

"Have you gone fucking mad?" He snarked.

'There's no hope for him.' The moment he spoke, I knew hope for him didn't exist.

"Have you played games before?" I asked the picnic man.

Though he was the last person I'd talk to, I had no choice. Perhaps the blood he was covered in belonged to the goblins.

"Yes."

"Then, you know what to do?"

"Yes."

Judging from his responses, the man clearly didn't want to talk anymore. Thus, I stopped pestering.

[Wave 2: Begin!]

The voice echoed again.

"Groar!" A massive goblin, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, roared.

"Khaaa! Grrrr!"

My excitement immediately faded upon hearing that unholy roar. Fear overcame me and I trembled to the ground. I regretted thinking we ever had a chance.

'S-shit! Move goddamn it!'

Plop

A tear landed on my hand.

"Huh?"

'N-no way... A-am I crying?'

It's been so long since I cried, I don't even remember the last time I did.

"Groar!"

The goblin started to move, slowly heading toward my direction.

'What to do... what to do?'

My eyes darted across the window, looking for something to help me.

"Roar!"

Plop, plop.

More tears fell down. It was then that my eyes landed on the bottom of the first window.

'Fear (×3)'

'Is that why?'

It seemed to get multiplied every time the goblin roared.

"Aggghhh!"

"Groar!"

I looked up. The picnic man was fighting the giant goblin. He ran up the goblin and wrapped the picnic blanket around its head. While it was distracted, he then used the knife to injure it. Thinking of it, he probably did the same to those goblins.

'Agility: 1' I recalled my stats

He seemed to be at least dozens of times faster than me; I started wondering what his stats looked like. Although he was strong, he didn't seem to have an overwhelming lead.

If this was anything like a game, leveling up meant getting stronger, and getting stronger meant a bigger chance at surviving. To level up was easy, I just had to kill some monsters. Of course, I immediately realized that that was easier said than done.

Although I struggled, I stood up. I watched as the picnic man fought the massive goblin. I picked up a stick behind me and walked towards the boss, albeit very slowly. Fortunately, it was too busy dealing with the picnic man to notice me. Thus, I raised the stick and stabbed it into its stomach. I pulled the stick down, forming a gash in its stomach.

Blam!

The picnic man flew across the park and into a building. Seeing a sight like that, I panicked and quickly tried to pull the stick out, however, it was stuck.

"Groar!" It looked down, its big beady eyes staring into mine.

It raised its hand, getting ready to crush me with it.

'N-no... Don't!' I winced as I closed my eyes.

However, just as its hand was about to land on me, I somehow managed to pull the stick out. I fell to the ground, only a few feet away from it.

"GRAHH!"

Blood poured out of its stomach. It grabbed its stomach, trying to stop the bleeding, but it was just too much.

"Kreeee...!"

It squirmed trying to escape its death, before falling down and perishing.

[Level up!]

[Wave 2: Completed]

[Please wait for your first attribute.]

'Attribute?'

I got up, the goblin's blood dripping from my clothes.

"Ughh.. Good job..." the man from earlier patted my shoulder. He was limping and grabbing his stomach; his hair was in a mess and his clothes were all torn. He, too, was bloody. Although the reason was different from mine. It was a miracle he was still alive.

"Um... "

"Blake. Call me blake."

"Uh, blake... I was wondering. How were you able to do that?"

"The menu."

"Y-yeah. I know, but how were you able to move that fast?"

"It's my attribute."

"Ah, okay."

He seemed like he didn't want to reveal any more so I stopped pestering.

[Your attribute will be chosen soon, please be patient.]

"Ah, my attribute!"

"Hm? Oh, are you receiving yours?"

"Yes..."

"It seems you get one every time you level up."

"Yeah, maybe."

[Your attribute will now be chosen.]

"Oh!"

[Your attribute is...]

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