Ep. 3 — Chapter 12: Survival in the Wild (3)

Leon stared at me in utter disbelief, his jaw hanging wide open as I placed the entire fist-sized [Experience Orb] in my mouth. In a few moments, I swallowed the orb.

My body emitted light in accordance to the colour of the orb that I consumed.

[You have consumed a rare 'Experience Orb'.]

I took another one of the yellow ones and placed jt in my mouth again. I did this several times, leaving Leon more in shock each time.

[You have consumed 4 rare 'Experience Orbs'.]

[Your level has increased!]

[Your have levelled up! Level 10 ≫ Level 15! Your stats has been updated to match your overall level!]

"I'll save the rest for later." I said, collecting the remaining eight orbs. Leon finally closed his mouth and turned to his 12 orbs with a hestitant face.

"What's wrong? Go on." I told him with a little mischief in my tone.

"I won't choke, right?"

"Did I choke? I didn't so you'll be fine. You have a bigger throat than me anyway."

Leon picked up on orb with hesitation, looking at me every few seconds or so. There was distrust in his eyes, and he finally picked it up, staring at the orbs. They were like luminescent marbles.

Leon tapped the surface again, feeling its hard texture. Like solid glass. He turned to me, confused. "How can I even…"

"I did it, didn't I?"

"Well, you may be…different…"

"What?" I was baffled. "What do you—"

"No offense, of course. If you're like that, I don't judge, Sir Rayes…"

"Wait, what are you saying…?"

Leon placed it on his mouth but didn't open it. He turned it around, trying to find something about it. "Does it taste good?"

"It doesn't have a taste. Just eat it."

I watched as he struggled to eat it. But eventually, he managed to place on inside his mouth. The [Experience Orb] dissolved the moment it entered his mouth and surged throughout his entire body.

His body glowed orange like the orb that he consumed and disappeared. A smile was seen on his face. "It really did level me up…"

I got up, brushing my pants and picking up my coat from the ground. I flapped the coat to get rid of the dusts and put it on. As I started to wear my shoes, Leon came walking to me, saving a number of orbs as well, most likely mimicking me.

"Are you headed somewhere?" He asked, going to a water tank nearby and grabbing his bag.

"We're going out," I said, putting my arms into the sleeves of the coat. I heard a light gasp from Leon and glanced over my shoulder. "It won't be safe if we stay here anyway."

"Not safe? Isn't it more dangerous outside?"

Leon took some things out of his bag and tossed one at me. I caught what seemed to be a self-made sword. This guy…

He picked up a 'spear' and held it in his hand. It looked like it was a part of a metal gate. The ones with sharp tips. Leon puts on his bag and got ready as well, despite his continuous questioning. "The creatures are outside. If we leave, then it'll be harder to stay safe."

"The beings outside will only get more and more abundant and powerful. Soon enough, they'll all come craahung down here and we won't have a chance to escape before we're torn to pieces."

"…But how would being outside prevent that from happening either?"

I glanced over at him as I used my belt to keep the sword in place. "It was a tactic I used when I played the game before."

"Tactic?"

"Yeah. I didn't play much, but I still played the game." I said. I searched around the place and started pulling down a chain from one of the machines.

"And how do you know it's a guaranteed success? You didn't play much, you said."

As soon as I pulled the chain off, the machine collapsed and I quickly jumped around and escape the falling debris. Dust rose, but it was too dark to tell. The sounds of the metal clanging was deafening, especially in the hollow interior of the factory.

Even Leon was covering his ears.

I held the chain in my hands, spinning them around for a bit. Exactly as I thought. I used a lot of chain-like weapons when I played the game before. I had expected my 'Chain Mastery' to not be loaded along with the rest of my saves, but it did.

Leon watched as I wrapped the chains around me my belt. I turned to him with a smirk, "Well, it worked every time I did it."

I walked up to Leon, and looked up at the taller man. "Check your 'Character Profile' and tell me everything you have. From your overall levels to your Skills and Abilities."

Without hesitation, Leon had started to tell me everything about him.

In the meantime, I decided I should check my own personal profile.

"Personal Profile."

—

Rayes Kim ≪Level 15≫ [#100]

Race: Human

Class: [Undecided]

Rank: D-

Title: [None]

Attribute: [Lucky Number 100! (Lv. 1)], [Lives More Precious than the Rest (Lv. 2)]

Stats: [Strength (Lv. 9)], [Agility (Lv. 10)], [Durability (Lv. 9)], [Mentality (Lv. 8)], [Magic (Lv. 5)]

Skills: [Basic Martial Arts (Lv. 8)], [Lightweight (Lv.6)], [Chain Mastery (Lv. 5)], [Inhuman Interpretation (Lv. 2)]

Abilities: [None]

—

'Lucky Number 100'. I had that, didn't I? I suppose it was from me managing to get my hands on the 100th copy of the game, but I don't see the importance of having it as an Attribute. I turned to Leon who was reading his list.

"Are you done?" I asked, walking near a machine and started to climb it. He looked at me from below.

"Yeah, here are my Skills…"

.

.

.

We were both making our way to the top of the factory. There was a small part of the roof that had been broken off, the moonlight shining through it. That was where we were headed, though it was still somewhat of a distancd away.

However, we were too far up to head back down. I looked under my legs to see the long drop. If either of us fall, it's a certain death.

Well, not for this guy, maybe.

I didn't know whether factories were normally this big or whether it was something the Game added in itself. It wasn't as if I've been in factories.

"What did you do, Sir Rayes? Before all of this." Leon asked abruptly.

We continued walking some steps before coming to a broken part of the stairs. I climbed on the railings and jumped to another connected section, catching myself. I climbed onto it and turned around as Leon did the same.

I crouched down and helped him up. He brushed his shirt and pants. "If that isn't too personal of a question, that is."

We walked some more, passing by the shelves to the side, as tall as the factory itself. Large boxes that could fit at least 30 Leons in it were lined up along the shelves.

"No, it isn't." I replied as I continued to walk forward. "I worked at a bookstore."

"Ah, you did tell me something like that at the bridge. The one in front of my university, yeah?"

"Right."

"It is a famous bookstore."

"I doubt it."

"No, no, I'm being honest. Everyone goes there. Was rated the best bookstore in the city, especially since it's so big. And clean too."

I raised an eyebrow. "You've been in there?"

"Yes, I have." Leon spoke in a friendly voice. Like always. "That's where I get all my books. It's very convenient when I live directly across the place."

"You must be rich, living in the city. Especially in that area."

"It isn't like that at all."

But it is. I've looked for a place near there as well, and they all costed my entire lifetime's worth of money. Hell, maybe double that. I wouldn't be surprised if it was triple.

"I live in the dorms." Leon finally clarified. "Well, they were still expensive for dorms, but they're nowhere near the cost of houses there."

"Ah, is that so?"

"Well, was that all? In the bookstore and nothing else?"

"Why are you asking?" I asked, sounding a bit on guard. Though I really wasn't.

"I have a feeling we'd be spending a lot of time together. So, it isn't such a bad idea to make acquaintances now, yeah?"

"You're a very optimistic person, aren't you, Leon?"

I heard a light laugh coming from Leon. Once again, I climbed a railing and jumped down to a different section of the walkway. It rattled hard and I held onto the railings. "Thought it was going to fall…"

Leon followed after, this time, causing it to shake even more because of his body size. I eyed the younger man with a curious look. I've seen it a lot by now, but he definitely has a good body. "Young people these days are something else, huh?"

"What are you saying? You aren't that old."

"I am almost thirty."

"…I forgot. Still, that isn't too old…"

I wouldn't blame him either. Sometimes it's hard to believe that I was going to turn 30 in a few month. I still feel like I'm in my early 20's. How I wish that was the case.

"I was a writer as well." I told Leon as we got closer to the hole in the roof. He sounded surprised by my words. "Not a well-known one, of course."

"Did you go by your real name, or a pen name?"

"A pseudonym. I didn't publish actual books. I was a web novel author."

"Ah. I can see that."

"What?"

Leon raised both of his hands up to show that he didn't mean anything by that. "It just seems like something you would do. Rather than publishing books the traditional way."

"It wasn't really that big of a deal, really. Average reads were around 10 people." I said, looking around to find our next move. "I stopped trying to get readers and just decided to write and complete it."

Leon was quiet and just listened to me speak. "As long as I completed the work, I'm content. It annoys me if I have unfinished projects."

"Very like you, Sir Rayes."

Without warning, I jumped forward and swung on a chain hanging down from the top to reach the other side. Leon had a shocked look but recovered as I reached the other side, on the top of one of the tall shelves.

I threw the chain back at him. He caught it with ease and stepped back to gain momentum. He ran forward and swung speedily and flipped in the air, landing with a pose. Seriously, this guy was something else.

"Enough about me." I said, patting the man's shoulder for him to crouch down. "Tell me about yourself."

Leon crouched down and I climbed on his back. He stood up and I held onto the roof, climbing out. The edges were sharp but I kept going. Leon looked at me from below.

"I'm a university student. That's all there is to it, I guess."

I got up to the roof and started dropping my chains down. "Climb."

I felt the chains getting heavy to I planted my feet on the ground, holding it so Leon could climb up. After a minute or so, he managed to get out of the factory and stood up on the roof.

He walked next to me, staring off into the distance. From here, we could practically see the entire city and the purple fumes that enveloped it.

"What kind of a student were you, then?" I asked, dragging the conversation. Leon thought about it for a moment.

"Well, I wasn't really the brightest one there."

"I doubt that."

"I meant academically."

"…That's believable."

Leon let out a laugh and I couldn't help but smile a bit as well. The autumn wind blew against us, my coat fluttering around. I started walking towards the edge of the roof, looking down.

"That's a lot of them." Leon muttered as he saw the sight below us.

Several creatures broke the windows to the factory and climbed in. I turned to Leon, "I told you. They'd be in there soon."

"Then, what do we do now? We can't wait up here forever." Leon said, taking out his metal spear. I glanced over at him and looked up at the moon, looking around the horizon.

"It'd take some time before they get up here."

"…Uh-huh?"

"Now we wait. We won't be able to move anywhere with the purple clouds still present."

Leon didn't question further and remained silent. As long as the purple smokes were there, the creatures would continue to grow in number. I didn't expect the first Main Quest to be an 'Outbreak'.

But then that means that we'll be fine. After all, it was their job to deal with these things, not mine.