Bone-Crushing Experience
As Amos stood at the front door of the rather strange house, he noticed that the door was ajar and he prepared himself for a battle.
The door also had strange writings on it — Strange writings Amos could not have read. Perhaps they were ancient runes with strong meaning behinds, or perhaps a spell.
The Words were; Lattumn tu dii to Lato thumn dee Entrii, Sanii Chu! --
He clenched his fists and took a few deep breaths, "Here goes nothing!"
He amped up for the battle and ran straight through the wooden door screaming, "Aghhh!"
There was nothing in the house.
"What a buzzkill, " He said as he relaxed his tensed muscles in somewhat a relief.
He knew that there would be a Witch in the house for certain, but what he didn't know was that after stepping into the house, a spell was activated — Those words on the front door had their treacherous meanings after all.
Bam! Amos got startled as the entrance and only way out slammed shut.
"Looks like I'm having a sleepover with Madam Suzy in here, " He looked around, "I'll have to find her first if I really do want a pillow fight."
The room was vacant, there was nothing but bones and skeletons, a lot of skeletons. The room also had mossy stone walls, just like the exterior and there were lanterns with green fire as the only light source in the darkroom.
Amos explored. After looking around for a while, he saw something inside of a skeleton. It was a lever.
"How did that get in there?" He asked as he tried putting his hands through the skeletons' ribs.
His hands could not have fit, only his small fingers, so he decided to put his hand through the skeleton's widely opened mouth.
"Ahh, just a little further, come on," said Amos as his entire arm pushed further into the skeleton's body.
As he moved his hands around, in effort to reach the lever in the skeleton, his fingers accidentally flipped the switch. It was no normal lever, it was a magical lever. The lever opened a secret door to another room.
Snap! The skeleton bit Amos' upper arm!
"Aghh!" shouted Amos, as he pulled his hand from its draws and fell.
The Skeleton was alive!
Paranoid, Amos looked at the Skeleton while crawling backward in fear, "That thing is alive!"
He then hit into something, as he turned around, he saw yet another skeleton getting up.
All the skeletons in the room were alive!
And they guarded the door to the other room.
"Shit!" Amos got up and looked around in circles.
It was at that moment, he knew that the lever had magically brought them all to life. Even though the skeletons did not attack yet, Amos found them very intimidating. They all approached him.
"Come on guys, we can talk this one out, " he kept spinning around, keeping his eyes on each skeleton, "I didn't mean to put my arm into his body, I just wanted the lever. Besides, Boney Boy Bill already Bit me Back."
There was no reasoning with them. They then attacked Amos and made him regret not bringing a sword with him. The skeletons didn't use magic, so there was no Mana for Amos to absorb and use against them. In other words, Amos didn't have a weapon, because his Magical Ability could not have helped him in his situation.
He was not prepared for such an unexpected scenario. He had to use his naive fighting skills to fend off the aggressive skeletons.
The skeletons all co-operated to grab him for the only skeleton with a metal sword to strike while he was seized.
"For no brainers, these things pack some brain juice, " Amos couldn't move.
Two skeletons had his arms while one restrained him by his lower torso. The skeleton with the blade then raised his sword and was about to strike.
Amos smiled, "You forgot, " at the exact moment when the sword was merely a finger away from Amos' face, he finished his sentence, " to restrain my legs!" and kicked the skeleton with the sword. It was his most powerful kick yet.
Instead of getting the head, the skeleton still ended up cutting Amos on his abdomen. This was because of how close the blade was to Amos' body when he has kicked the skeleton.
The injury was mild but the pain was there. The sword fell as the skeleton went crashing into a wall behind it. Amos then, with all his body weight, leaned backwards and fell atop the skeletons behind him [the two restraining his arms and the one holding torso].
There was a loud "Clatter!" as the dry weak bones of the skeletons' broke.
Amos then quickly got up and grasped the sword. Next, He turned around to face the four skeletons behind him. There were seven skeletons in the room, four protected the door.
But he disregarded the fact that there were two more behind him. He stood firmly holding the metal sword by the wooden handle. He was panting heavily, with his diaphragm raising and dropping constantly, the fight had just begun but he was already weary.
His mouth was wide opened as he let out air of anger. He was panting as if he had just run a marathon, but he was not done there. A skeleton snuck up from the behind, but Amos heard every movement of each of the skeletons in the room.
He didn't know how, but he knew that it was very helpful, especially in times of defensive combat.
He then turned around and slashed the skeleton that snuck up to him. Ensuingly, the skeleton was cut in half and it fell to the floor.
He then turned back around and focussed his utter attention back to the other four in front of him. He then ran up to the tallest of the four skeletons and slashed his sword twice. The first hit failed to terminate his target, but the second one crushed the skeleton's fragile skull.
Then suddenly a message appeared,
(You are in a Wirlborl)
(You are in close combat)
[Message:]
[You have eliminated a Level one Skeleton! +20 Exp]
Current Exp : (20 / 200)
Current Level: (0 / 10,000)
[Eliminate 5 more Level one Skeleton.]
Reward: 100 EXP (20 Per Kill)
Progression: ( 0/5 )
* Do you wish to see your current stats?
Amos was confused, "What the hell is this? Is this supposed to be some kinda video game? I thought Archeria's tech was less advanced!"
It was not a game. In a Wirborl, while possessing a Magical Training System, a user's experience could be very similar to what Amos would call a video game, except that it wasn't running by technology — It was running by only magic and it was not a game either — It was real.
Thus, If a person died in a Wirborl, there was no coming back.
With the help of magic, a user's game-like stats in a Magical Training System turns into real stats, enhancing the user. The sole purpose of a Magical Training System and Wirborls were to make its user stronger.
Amos was distracted by the floating words in his face.
"How do I close this freaking screen?!"
A new message appeared,
[Screen Closed --]
The message disappeared.
Amos then regained his focus and attacked another Skeleton. He kicked it and when it fell, he thrust his sword through its dry head.
[You have eliminated a Level one Skeleton! + 20 exp.]
Current Exp: ( 40 / 100 )
Progression: ( 1 / 5 )
*Accomplishment Message will appear shorter after this one (for this mission in specific).
He was thinking about the witch.
If I use up all of my energy now, how can I possibly get to Suzy? What is this thing anyway? No time to waste!
Another Skeleton came up to him. He then dodged its punch and aggressively destroyed its skull with his sword.
[ +20 EXP for the elimination of Level One Skeleton.]
Current Exp: ( 60 / 100 )
Progression: ( 2 / 5 )
The skeleton that was cut in half then grabbed Amos by his leg. It was crawling. Amos then raised his leg as high as possible and crushed its skull with his foot.
Then, he awaited the arrival of the other two skeletons to his planned position.
When they came close enough, he started continuously spinning with the sword, destroying the weak dry bones of the priorly perished gaunt figures.
When their bodies were crushed, Amos then crushed their skulls.
[ You have completed your task! ]
[ You just advanced to level 1! ]
[ You received 5 upgrade points! ]
Current Level: ( 1 / 10,000 )
Upgrade Points: ( 5 / 100 )
* Click here to upgrade your stats [ here ] -- Your finger will be traced by magic.
Amos sighed and clicked the button to upgrade his statistics. A new screen then appeared, though it was not a physical screen.
[Available U.P ( Upgrade Points) = 5 ]
Total Spent in the last 3 months : 0
[ Statistics ]
Strength: 12 [ Common ]
Defence: 4 [ Feeble ]
Speed: 4 [ Poor ]
Power ( Magical Ability ): 1 [ Poor ]
Mana: Infinite [ Rare ]
Skill : [ Coming soon! ]
< [USER GUIDE:] Please Say "Atterunumn" to activate your personal training assistant>
He realised that his strength was increased by two and his speed by one before he had entered the swamp. Despite failing his tasks, those criteria were increased by the exercises he had done in order to complete his daily tasks.
He then said, " Atterunumn!" And his Magical Training Assistant appeared.
The assistant emerged from Amos' watch,
"Hello Amos, the weakest of them all, I thought you were never going to summon me — I mean, you are stupid."
"Shut your blue hole! I only summoned you to ask about my stats!"
"You mean your noob stats?"
"Why you!"
"Why get angry so easily by my words?"
To Amos, His assistant was the most annoying person he's ever met — Even his callous tone of voice infuriated Amos.
"What do I do with these 'UP' ?"
"You use them to advance your statistics, you can only use it once on any of your stats. Once applied to specific criterion, you can never re-withdraw them."
"How does this thing even work? Am I in a game or something? Is Archeria a game?"
"This certainly isn't a game, it is reality — It is magic. The most powerful thing coming after positivity — Even more valuable than money! When you spend your UP on any of those strengths, that vigour will be magically enhanced and you get stronger in that area."
"So it's artificial strength?"
"It is not radically artificial strength, think of it as something achieved for doing specific tasks — These will make the user stronger."
"Yeah exactly, it's artificial strength, I don't really like it but-
He thought about it.
I must do it at least for now — So that I can become stronger!
" I'll do it," He said, as he focussed his attention back to the screen.
He carefully thought about his decision on what he would decide to upgrade.
He thought about it.
My strength is common. But my speed — It's something that holds me back, I'm very low in that area.
He then spent his five upgrade points on speed.
[ Statistics ]
Strength: 12 [ Common ]
Defence: 4 [ Feeble ]
Speed: 9 [ Normal ]
Power ( Magical Ability ): 1 [ Poor ]
Mana: Infinite [ Rare ]
Skill : [ Coming soon! ]
< Your Personal Training Assistant is currently activated >
A stream of magical energy then went into Amos' arms and legs. His arms and legs glowed white radiantly and for Amos, he already felt quicker somehow.
When his legs stopped glowing, he jogged around the room.
"Ohh wow! I feel much faster now!"
He then stopped, "Time to enter the other room."
As he entered the other room, skeletons with blue bones and swords at hand magically appeared.
The door to the previous room was now locked.
There were five of them.
Amos was surprised, "God damn'it! They all have swords!"