Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I woke up after some good sleep. Maybe 10 hours.

"Jack! what are you doing here! You're late for work!"

"Oh yeah, I'll leave now."

Before I left I checked the cuts on my arms. It looked like it was gonna leave a scar, but I didn't mind. I liked the idea of having battle scars as long as it didn't affect my health.

Also, it was then I noticed that I still had that disgusting goblin's spit on my face. So I washed that.

I also washed my body of its dirt and dried blood, and put on clean clothes. My other clothes had cuts and blood and sand all over it.

And so I headed out to work. Is what I told my mom. In reality, I walked the usual route until I was sure no one could see me from my house, then I went to the park.

The park was empty and I sat on a bench by a statue. Everyone was either at work or school. Only unemployed losers like me were out here.

And that's when I saw her. I had seen her a few times before. Maria. She was a duke's daughter I think. Beautiful blonde hair and bangs, and always sophisticated.

She was surrounded by guards. I couldn't stop looking at her.

Then I looked away and felt like shit. I thought: I could never get a woman like that, a loser like me.

When I looked up, I made eye contact with her and she smiled at me. It shocked me to my core. Then she and her guards went away.

"Open, Piid."

I blinked and was in the white room again.

Choose between Archery or Swordfighting

A screen appeared in front of me and said.

"Archery!" I said. I really didn't want to fight up close like last time.

"Wait, are you responding to my feelings towards yesterday's fight?"

I blinked, and the world had changed again. I was in a desert and it was hot and sunny.

In front of me on a wooden table was a wooden bow and a quilt full of arrows with a strap to wear on my back.

I could then see that there were these two long wooden pillars guiding 5 see through slimes slowly towards me.

"At least there won't be any blood like last time," I said and equipped myself.

I had never done archery before, but the equipment fit me perfectly. Even the size of the strap and the bow size.

I already have pretty long arms and am tall, though on the skinny side but not without muscle. So the bow fit my body pretty well. And I had strengthened my back from working at the warehouse.

I shot an arrow and missed the slimes coming towards me, though I got pretty close.

I had about 20 shots.

The next shot I corrected and tried focusing on my form more. I missed again.

The slimes were still slowly headed towards me. I didn't have to worry about showing up home with injuries.

For the next shot, I tried to really pull the string as far as I could, and close one of my eyes, and then release.

I did the release well, and I hit one of the slimes dead center.

"Yeah!"

It stopped moving.

I shot again and missed. And shot again and missed. Shot again and hit one of the slimes. Now there were 3 left. They had come about 20 meters close to me. But I could always move back so distance didn't matter. Though I had heard some slimes would spray acid, so I had to watch out for that. Though I didn't think this see through slime type had any acid.

After a lot of missing, I slayed them all. I learned that it was important to release the string as smoothly as possible, since even the smallest movement would affect the arrow's trajectory. Also practised a little prediction and correction. And adjusted for the slimes' movement, even though they were slow.

I thought to myself that I would have a real hard time against stronger monsters.

Congratulations. You have defeated 5 E-Ranked Monsters.

I blinked and I was in the park again. I had this weird feeling of power surging in my body. I should get my level checked but I had no money for that. It's about 2000 relis to get an appraisal at the church. And all my wages went to my father.

But I could guess I was about level 6 or 7 now at least. I heard something about how at the start it was very easy to gain levels but the further up you went, the harder.

"Ah!" I had been in a daze, but I finally snapped out of automatic mode and it occured to me.

"What the hell was that ball! And Piid?"

I started thinking about the implications of Piid. How it could help me become very strong. It was also then I noticed.

"Huh?"

I still had my bow in my hands and my quiver on my back. It had about 5 arrows in it.

"So, it's a real world, not my fantasy. But I don't get it at all."

I just sat in silence confused. Then it dawned on me how screwed I was still. That even though I had had this amazing thing happen to me, I still had to worry about money. And my parents. And getting a job.

I wasn't sure if that Piid thing would get mad, but I sold the bow and arrows and quiver. I got about 15.000 relis for it, which wasn't bad. Though I did feel guilty. And hoped Piid wouldn't punish me for it.

"I have nothing to do, huh?" I didn't really have any friends to speak off, never was the social type. All my elder siblings had long left the nest and this city unlike me. So I had no siblings to hang out with.

"Wait, is there a limit to how much I can go? Open, Piid."

I was in the white room again.

A screen popped up in front of me with two buttons on it.

[Archery. (Not available without equipment)]

[Swordfighting]

I'm not sure, but it kind of felt like Piid was showing its annoyance. I guessed then that I would need to have archery equipment on me to press that button. And that I would be given a sword if I pressed the other. And since it was the only option, I pressed. Though I still wondered why I was being shown these screens instead of hearing a voice.

I blinked and I was in the same place as the first room. In front of me was an identical wooden table, but this time with a sword and a hip sheathe on it. And ten meters away was another sand ring with an unarmed goblin in it. Though it wasn't the exact same goblin, they looked similar.

I equipped the sword on my hip.

Before I entered the circle of sand, I unsheathed my sword. The goblin didn't seem to react until after I entered the circle like last time, so I took time to think.

"I'm not about to get injured again. I will finish this in one blow. As soon as I enter, I'm using Flash on him and then chopping of its head," I thought to myself.

I then entered. Plans go perfectly but reality doesn't.

The goblin leaped at me. While it leaped I closed my eyes and flashed. The goblin tripped and hit into me which knocked me down.

Now we were both confused and on the ground.

I jumped up and got distance between us so I could use the 1 meter long double edged sword. I did an awkard jab in its face but it evaded just last minute. But it evaded awkwardly and was now off balance.

I took a weird swing at it, not even aiming, and the sword got stuck in its right arm.

It did a hideous scream. I really hated its sounds while fighting it.

I tried yanking out the sword, but then the goblin striked at me and in reflex I let go and jumped back to avoid injury.

I was outside the sand circle, but the goblin was still responding. So I guessed I just needed to enter the circle to start the fight, and that that was it.

The goblin was bleeding a lot and couldn't really move. It looked really sad, but I told myself to be ruthless and reminded myslef that it is trying to kill me and that goblins rape and kidnap and murder villages.

I kicked it in the face and it fell down. It was a pretty good kick, since now I at least had some real experience with kicking.

The hard sole on my shoe broke its nose and it was down in the sand now.

I kicked it in the ear with the tip of my worker boots really hard. And that knocked it unconscious. It felt really disgusting doing so. I hated violence.

I yanked my sword out of its arm. It was covered in blood.

I then swung down in an attempt to decapacitate it. I only got halfway through its neck though. It was disgusting.

Congratulations. You have defeated a D-Ranked Monster.

I blinked and was back in the park. Luckily no people were around, because it owuld have been weird explaining the sword in my hand with blood on it. I quickly cleaned it on the bush behind me and using my spit, and then sheathed it. I would clean it properly whenI got home. This sword I would not sell, ever. I was scared of pissing off Piid, and I also liked it and it was my first weapon. Probably worth 50 thousand relis, sheathe and all.

"I wonder what happens if I leave the equipment? Does Piid store it? Also, it doesn't seem like any time has passed? I need a watch to tell if the time I spend in Piid lasts the same time outside. Also, does my body remain here? wait no, can't be. That's a real world and I got real injuries. So many questions. Also what happens to those rooms when I leave? for example those two goblin corpses and five slime corpses? And where did it even come from? And can't Piid just create a new bow if it can create entire worlds? Yeah I think it can, but I'm sure that not available thing was just Piid showing its annoyance and saying don't sell. Wait, how does it know that I sold it? Yeah, is Piid inside me? Is it that black ball I ate?"

I had money now, and time, so I figured I'd go to the church and get an appraisal.

Jack Stardia

Level: 10

Skills: Flash (innate), Piid (innate)

"I've never seen that one before?" the priest said.

"Well, didn't ask you to look," I snatched the paper from his hand. Maybe it was a little dumb getting an appraisal. I didn't want word to come out. Maybe this was why Piid really disliked me selling that bow?

Anyway I now had new information, and 13500 relis.

So, Piid was a part of me and showed up as a skill. An innate one also, which means it must have merged with me, which sounded a little creepy.

As always, I was still supposed to be at work so I couldn't go home, but I also had nothing to do. Automatically I started walking towards the park where I saw Maria Albert.

"We shouldn't be skipping class. What is it you wanted to see here?"

"Oh nothing, just felt like a walk in the park, I guess…"

There were Maria and her attendent hanging in the park. There weren't all those guards like last time.

We made eye contact. She then gave me a big smile and then walked over to me with an air of femininity. Her attendent followed her confused.

"Oh, hello again, my name is Maria, what's yours?"

"Ehhh, I'm Jack."

I remembered how long it had been since I had talked to a pretty girl. Of course I had crushes in school and would sometimes talk to those crushes when I got lucky, but that was about it in my experience with the opposite sex.

"Nice weather," I said. She giggled.

"Why aren't you at school?" she asked me.

"Oh, I don't go to school. Also I quit my job so I have nothing to do."

"So that's why you're hanging around the park when everyone is busy with their lives, hehe."

"Yeah. Why are you here?"

"Oh, you know, just felt like seeing the park."

"Maria, we should go back to the Hero's Academy now…" her attendent said.

"Oh okay, well, was nice meeting you, Jack," she said and reached her hand out to me. I was really confused. When I shook her hand, it was so soft and warm and smooth. I felt my heart beating rapidly and myself sweating.

When she left, I looked down at my clothes and saw I was covered in sand and there was a little blood on my hands.

"Oh shit, now she probably thinks I'm some madman."

I then started really wanting her to be my girlfriend. But then the facts of how far away from each other we were in the social hierarchy hit in. I was a baronet, the lowest noble rank, and she was a duke, the next highest rank to the king.

"Open, Piid."

Blink.

I was back in the white room. A screen popped up.

Welcome back. Choose [Swordfighting] or [Hand-to-Hand combat]

That was a new option. But I didn't know what to expect with the second one. Would I still be fighting a goblin?

So I chose Swordfighting.

And then I was back in the exact same forest with the goblin in the circle of sand.

"Let's make this one quick!"

I unsheathed my sword and ran towards the goblin. I thought that since it wouldn't react until after I entered the ring, I could use the momentum I got from before so.

I stepped into the ring while running. As soon as both legs were in, the goblin started reacting and made eye contact.

And just as I swung from my right shoulder down for its head, I tripped on the sand.

When I looked up, I saw that I had cut off its left hand and it was screaming in pain and confusion.

It tried clawing at me with its claws while I was still in the sand, but I did an awkward motion and barely evaded it.

I then did awkward stabs with my one handed sword to make it take a step back so I could get up.

I put my both hands on the sword, and swung again.

The goblin jumped back and out of the sand circle.

I then chased it while it ran away.

But mid run, it turned around and clawed at me and I got three big slashes across my chest and it ripped my teeshirt.

"AAAAHHHHH!" I yelled at the goblin.

In reaction to the slash, instead of taking a long time to swing my sword as usual, I did a quick jab into its face.

The sword passed through in between its eyes.

Congratulations. You have finally defeated the D-rank monster.

I felt a hint of annoyance when it said that.

As if it was telling me I was pathetic for being so shit at combat against a goblin.

Personalized Shadow Trainer Unlocked. Entering now.

I heard that voice I hadn't heard in a long time. And before I could talk to it, I blinked.

I was in the white room again. But this time it was different. In front of me was a shadow person of me, with a shadow sword like mine.

"Huh?" It had the same stance as me.

A screen showed up in the left side of my field of vision.

Parry: 0/10

Evade: 0/10

The shadow then swung at me. It looked a lot like when I would swing the sword. It had both hands on the handle, and it first did an upward motion across the back of its right shoulder, then it swung down. There were a lot of telegraphs in its movements, and I easily stepped back from it.

Parry: 0/10

Evade: 1/10

So that's how it worked. While I was looking at the screen, I felt a cold sensation of pain in my stomach.

I looked and saw that the shadow trainer had stuck its shadow sword into my stomach.

"AAAAAHHH!"

It hurt like hell. I jumped back from the pain. That jab probably was easy to avoid, but I wasn't focused. I didn't even think it could hurt me.

In anger, I jabbed back at the shadow.

"Huh?"

My sword just passed through, and the shadow was unaffected.

I also noticed that this shadow trainer was an exact replica of me, and had my exact skill level. Though I had a feeling that it didn't have the ability to learn and get better during the fight. So I could only defeat it by getting slightly better than I was when the replica of me was made. Pretty cool system.

While my sword was passed through the shadow, it swung at me.

I quickly and awkwardly blocked the sword with my sword.

Cling!

I heard a hard metal on metal sound. For some reason my sword didn't pass through.

Parry: 1/10

Evade: 1/10

I had been caught in the fight, but for a moment I noticed the pain in my chest and saw that all the three slashes across my chest had dried. And that there was no wound in my stomach where I was stabbed, but only the pain had been produced.

I wished I couldn't receive pain or injuries in Piid. I didn't even understand why I should.

The fight continued. I had learned from my mistakes and didn't let the shadow hit me. I kept evading and parrying.

Parry: 10/10

Evade: 10/10

When I got both to ten, the shadow stopped. Then it disappeared.

Shadow training finished.

I blinked, and I was back on the bench.

I was so winded and tired. Real combat really drained my energy.

I looked at my chest and sighed.

"How am I gonna explain this? also, this was my good shirt."

I went to a food stand and got some noodles. Cost me 1000 relis so I was down to 12500 relis.

"I wish Piid would give me items to sell. Wasn't it supposed to be a dungeon? to me it feels more like some training ground."

Tsch.

I thought I heard a tongue click somewhere. I turned around to look at the passerbys. It must have been my imagination.

I got some weird stares from my cuts, so I went to a store and got another shirt for 2000 relis and wore it on top. I now had 10500 relis.

Also, the cuts on my arms still hadn't healed.

I spent the rest of the day just lazing around. Then when it was time, I went home and ate dinner with my mother. My father was still at work so I avoided him. Then I cleaned myself, hid the bloody teeshirt, and slept.