[ Chapter II (2): "03/20/2025 — AS THE ULTIMATE DWELLER" ]

[ Chapter II (2): "03/20/2025 — AS THE ULTIMATE DWELLER" ]

[ "Was all of that... real?" ] Or is he finally going insane from paranoia, lack of socialization, and due to constant fear of being killed and feasted on by the Goblins, or by other monsters.

Feeling a headache sip into him, he then sat on his dishelved bed, as he held onto his head using both of his hands. Trying clearly to remember what he thinks he experienced seconds back, which seems to be unreal to say the least. [ "Huh...?" ]

About to close his eyes and get some shut-eye, Elias was interrupted when he noticed a certain anomaly shining bright in the dark room of his... Which should be impossible, causing him to snicker. [ "Yeah, hah... I'm definitely going crazy." ]

[ WELCOME PLAYER, CONGRATULATIONS ON ACQUIRING THE ULTIMATE DWELLER CARD ]

Because what stands in front of Elias, actually, float is the more appropriate term, is a red lighted, black text that he is keenly familiar of... One that he experienced just seconds ago, in that black void, one that he didn't thought of much in thinking he is just dreaming, or having vivid hallucinations.

He is... Wrong. In fact, as proven by what he is seeing in front of him, by the light it emits which brightens up the dark room he is in with dark blood light, he is certain, that yes... This is in fact a real thing, and holy is the right word. [ "..." ]

[ "I'm... I'm not in the right mood to deal with this at the moment." ] He mouths to himself, as he then lays his head on his bed behind him. About to close his eyes, it was then disturbed by red lights being shined to his face, so he stopped mid-way, noticing very quickly the anomaly of a text flickering in and out, then finally in existence.

[ ULTIMATE DWELLER'S DOMAIN LVL. 1 ]

[ DESCRIPTION: THE SPECIALIZED ABILITY OF THE ULTIMATE DWELLER TO FORM A BASE OF EXACTLY 20x20x20 WHEREIN NO LIFE OTHER THAN THE ONES GIVEN PERMISSION COULD ENTER, OR MOVE-IN ]

[ "..." ] Silently, he sights to himself, as he then reads the text in front of him. His eyes darting back and forth, as to confirm that what he is reading, is what it says it is. After some time, he finally have the brief gist of the uses of the said thing.

That, or he manipulated himself into thinking that. He believes he did the latter, about 70% of his self does, but the other 40% believes he did the former. The percentage in this doesn't match because his brain feels like mush, so that's that.

So somewhat angry in feeling his body sore, reasons not known to him yet. He also felt relieved, because he has received a superpower similar to that of games he played, using that said powers, he could hope to at least not die on his original destined death date without powers.

Clawed, mauled, or probably slashes by a Goblin, which predominantly hunt and claimed ownership on the area wherein Elias lives in. Aside from the other monsters which are, a) abnormally big bats, or b) ants... But 1,000x the size... with the occasional big boar and wolves that roams the once traffic heavy streets...

That plus the fact that other monsters exist, some known and unknown to him, on the known spectrum are the Zombies, then the Golems which he sometimes sees on the distance, on the other cities, but beings who never to enter the city of his due to reasons not yet known... Probably territory.

Elias could say, that yes, this is a wonderful life. One that he so-so loves dearly, that he even celebrated it by tying a makeshift noose on his ceiling... Ready to enjoy it by hanging in the air. Moving on.

Elias amidst the headache of his, he tries to test out his supposed powers by using the limited gaming RPG terms he knew about. The floating text, which would be the System in this case, it did call him Player after all, and the way it presents itself, almost akin to that of a guide in RPG games.

[ "Inventory." ] Of course yelling it in the air, as he doesn't know any other way to do-so. That first one, the almighty Inventory, one that fits all stuff into a subspace wherein only accessible to the Player... That he seemingly doesn't have, so moving on.

[ "Status window." ] He spoke, and in response, the System showed him multiple texts. This one containing his basic stats like in a game, his name, skill, and even title and trait which he doesn't have any as of yet.

[ STATUS ]

[ NAME: ELIAS HARVEY S. ELLIOT ]

[ TITLE: N/A ]

[ CLASS: ULTIMATE DWELLER (3 STARS) ]

[ ULTIMATE DWELLER'S DOMAIN LVL. 1 ]

[ LVL. 1 ] [ TRAIT: N/A ]

[ HP: 100 ] [ MP: 10 ] [ FATIGUE: 13 ]

[ STR: 4 ] [ PER: 6 ] [ END: 4 ] [ CHA: 3 ] [ INT: 4 ] [ AGI: 7 ] [ LUC: 8 ]

[ "Mission quest." ] Moving on, another text then appeared in front of him, as the previous text— the Status Window flicker out of existence, changing instead to show the Mission Tab... Which is empty.

[ MISSION/S ]

Thinking about other gaming terminology, or functions that the System could have... He could think of nothing, as this is the main 3 of RPG; Inventory, Status Window and Mission Tab. Other than those 3, the System doesn't usually give other benefits.

He could yell out experience! or even, level-up! but that would be useless, as these aren't different from what was already shown to him in his Status Window... Yet, he still tried... It wouldn't hurt.

After some time, after yelling about all the gaming terms he could find, some even not relating to gaming and just every day life. Like, "LOL", "Valorant", "Monsters", and such, yet nothing came out. So he stopped, and instead touched the floating text in front of him. [ "Woah." ]

Quickly noticing that his hands passing through the said text, as if the thing is an hologram, or it doesn't even exist physically like Elias does, or other materials like wood. But, no matter how he slices and dices it, to him and the surroundings, the text does physically exist, especially with it illuminating red light around his apartment.

This caused Elias to really see how messy his apartment has been since the Apocalypse, 7 days ago, with it littered about with ramen and boxes, empty soft drinks, and uncleaned dishes with flies hovering above them.

Ignoring that for the moment, Elias could he seen amazed again by what he is seeing in front of him— a System. A TRUE System alike the ones he sees in comics, read about in books, and even fantasies about, [ "This is... kinda awesome." ]

It may not be seen on his face or physique, but in reality, Elias is bewildered, his mind having blown as he thinks of other supernatural things that may exist. Multiple other worlds is up there... But before he could be swooped in his fantasies, he stopped it, as he gets a move on.

[ "Status Window." ] As he then checks his sole ability again, and how to use it... Dragging his fingers above his skill, he wants to see and read again the description. But surprisingly enough, after he did so, a red light enveloped him, so does the room that he is in, blindingly

Instinctively closing his eyes in response, Elias then opened it up after some time. In doing so he noticed nothing, except for the Status Window floating in front. But he turned to his right and noticed a standing tall barrier of red light having formed.

This split the room he is in, into about 4/5th if he isn't wrong, with the doorway of his and some part of the restroom being inside the said barrier. Or perhaps it is the other way around, but he knows that couldn't be.

Turning to his left, he then noticed another barrier— this immiting red light as same as the one on his right, but this one is outside the window, encompassing even some parts of the sky. [ "Okay, so that's how that works." ]

He isn't into construction, he is after all nothing but a store clerk. But in dealing with furniture, he knows a little bit of some things that should be random. You see, he had some guesses but by seeing this, it became confirmed, the 20x20x20 on the description earlier is unit of measurements.

To be more precise, square feet, the 20 on first is the length, the 20 on second is the width. In construction that means 400 square feet in total, as 20x20 results in 400. The 20 on third is the height, it is optional in some cases, but it is good to know there is one for this case.

[ "But... is my apartment a 20x20x20?" ] It is not, which prompts the ability of his, the domain to look weird. As it doesn't base his powers on the room he is in, but where he used his skill. So does give the reason why his apartment isn't fully covered or inside the red barrier, and why the barrier is even encompassing outside.

If he looks out a little bit, then yes, his question would be answered. [ "..." ] He looks out the window, cautiously so, as he noticed some red lines stopping in the air some feet below him, somewhat including also the 2nd and 3rd floor, not fully on the first one's case.

If Elias was to guess based on the evidences given to him. Then he would say that yes, his apartment isn't a 20x20x20. [ "Oh shit..." ] Quickly ducking away, he noticed the gaze of monsters, primarily Goblins and some insects staring up at his apartment. To be more precise, at the weird red lines forming a box, which is stuck to the apartment. In truth, it is the opposite.

But to the monsters, which is staring up and have little to no intelligence at all, that doesn't seem to be the case. As the Goblins then roared in confusion, some in anger, as they then pulled out their spears and bows.

[ GOBLIN LVL. 4 ]

[ GOBLIN LVL. 3 ]

[ GOBLIN LVL. 5 ]

[ GOBLIN LVL. 3 ]

[ WORM BUG LVL. 1 ]

[ ... ]

[ "This is... bad." ] Elias glanced at the monsters and could notice floating text above their heads, the names and levels of theirs appearing. Mostly being written in red texts, in the case of the Goblins, but green for the gigantic wriggling 3ft tall Work Bug on the side.

He has some guesses why this may be, but at the moment, he stayed as far-away as he could from the apartment window of his, or even from the wall. As he knows how deadly those bows and spears could be, having seen first-hand how they pierced the skull and body of fleeing survivors days back.

Who would have thought, who would have guessed that some mysterious bright lights that suddenly appeared on the dead of night wouldn't alert some hunting Goblins... Who would have thinks of that, Elias would have probably not tested his powers if he had known that this would have happened.

As it did in fact alerted the Goblins to his location, so does the future hostiles... That's a bad thing, why? Because Elias is supposed to be hiding, and now his spot is compromised. Sure, he could find somewhere else to hide... But where? The 1st floor below is sometimes being occupied by Goblins, or other monsters, he doesn't have any chance on running away at all.

So, seeing that he is about to be killed, now or later. He kneeled, hiding behind his usual spot and started to recite the prayer he commonly recite in class. One that he mostly ignored before the Apocalypse, but now frequently uses, [ "Our Father, who art in heaven,..." ] his hands clasp in a prayer motion, interlocked, silently crying as he watches in horror and wait for his impending doom; hoping to at the very least lessen his sins.

[ ——— ] [ ——— ] [ ——— ] [ ——— ]

[ 06/08/2025 ]

[ 06/09/2025 ]