***Taylor***
[Would you like to play a game?]
'No…'
[Would you like to play a game?]
'No…'
[Would you like to play a game?]
'No…'
[Would you like to play a game?]
'No…'
[Would you like to play a game?]
'No…'
[Would you like to play a game?]
'No…'
[Would you like to play a game?]
'No…'
[Would you like-]
'I said freaking NO!!!'
She felt tired, so freaking tired. Tired of Emma's torture, her best friend turned worst enemy. Tired of her Dad, a man who's barely living after mom's death. Tired of this godforsaken city filled with Nazis, Asian gangsters and druggies.
Everything is just so fucked up in her life.
And now here she is, stuck in her own goddamn mind because something happened to her. All she remembered is walking to her locker after the Christmas break, dreading what Emma and her group had come up to torture her for the new semester.
She remembers the smell. Oh God the smell was coming from her locker. Then Emma and her group grabbed her and…
Blank…
She doesn't remember…
Was it trauma?
Did she go insane and just withdraw to her mind…
[Would you like to play a game?]
Then there's little shit who wants to play a game with her. She doesn't know what it is or where it comes from. It's no cape power for sure as she knows she's no cape so no powers. If she even had one, she would know and would never be bullied to begin with.
So this thing is something different.
She doesn't know why but she felt an unknown trepidation at the text in front of her. Let it be known to all that the first fear mankind discovered is the fear of the unknown.
This is an unknown and she doesn't know what will happen if she accepts.
This could be a Master power, a trick to put her under their control except why would someone try to control her pathetic self.
In her opinion, she's not worth it. She may be tall but she's too skinny. No real strength under her frame when Sophia, Emma's new best friend and muscle, could manhandle her easily. If she's being mastered for her body then they need glasses more than her. She's freaking ugly as Emma says. The too wide mouth, glasses, and garish clothing didn't help either.
If it's the latter, she would chuck her glasses to the creep.
But despite knowing the risk, she doesn't know how long she will be trapped in this limbo of hers. Could it be hours, days or years? She doesn't know and she doesn't want to just miss her life. She prefers living than being trapped.
She also doesn't know what will happen if she stays here for long. Gray boy, villain with Time loop powers, is known to torture people by trapping them in unending time loops. Said people are speculated to be still aware of their situation, forced to go back again and again with no end, damning them in a prison of their own mind.
She doesn't want that to happen to her. So with great reluctance, she answered.
[Would you like to play a game?]
[Y/N]
Yes…
[Congratulations, you are now a Gamer!]
[Choose your starting Job]
'What?'
Gamer. A game… a freaking game? Is she being trolled by Uber and Leet, those wackjob gaming villains? Those assholes that beat up prostitutes on the street on Livestream for fun?
Could be worse.
For now, she will play along.
Looking at her choices, they're quite barebones in description and no idea what is what.
[Warrior] [Rogue] [Healer] [Mage] [Ranger] [Brawler] [Artists] [Jobless]
She has no idea what she is looking at. She's no gamer after all, being more interested in books by her late mom's influence. After her death and Emma's sudden turnaround as her enemy, she's far more a stranger to games.
So she went by her guts and picked the Warrior.
Who wouldn't? Almost every girl in her age dreamed of becoming someone like Alexandria, one of the Triumvirate and the most famous heroine in the world. A flying brick house that can't be hurt by anyone, not even the Endbringers if it was true.
[You picked Warrior as your starting Job]
[Calculating stats]
*****
Lv. (1) Taylor Hebert (Depressed)
Hp: 17 (20)
Str: 4
Agi: 3
Int: 2
Passive/s: N/A
Skills: (Slash) (Bulk Up)
(Slash): Deals 100% (str) dmg (requires blade weapon)
(Bulk Up): Buffs one attack with (.25 Str mutplier)
*****
Oh cool, she got a worn out sword with it too. Pretty heavy too, needing both hands just to lift it. Looking at the sword, its tip is broken off, chips and cracks at its edges but it's still usable. Just roughed up.
As for the stats, she's kinda offended. 2 in int which she speculated to be intelligence is downright criminal. Is this thing calling her dumb? And what's wrong with her Hp? It says 20 in max but it's currently 17. Is it the status next to her name? Depressed? She definitely is with how her life is going about but does it really have to translate into whatever messed up game Uber and Leet is subjecting her with?
Moving on…
[Are you ready to enter the Eternal Dungeon? Y/N]
Not an ominous name at all. Eternal? They're really hamming it up. Are they on a DnD theme today? She had heard of that genre of games on passing, mostly from the recluse and tight knit groups in Winslow, her school. No use mulling over it, better move on.
She pressed Y
[Entering…]
[Welcome to the Eternal Dungeon]
*****
Floor 1
Plains
Next thing she knew, she was covering her eyes as the sunlight came bearing down on her. Adjusting at the sudden brightness and change of environment, she saw that she had found herself in a massive open plain. Just a massive sea of green grass, open skies and light breeze.
Honestly, it's like she's in the countryside. Not like she had traveled to one before but she had read and saw similar sights in her books and news.
So what now?
*****
Wandering in the area, she found out there's nothing else but just open fields of tall grass stretching all over the horizon. No people, no civilization or any sign of anyone except herself in this place.
Great, she's escaped limbo only to fall into another endless trap. At least this one is somewhat relaxing with the breeze and comfy environment.
But after a half an hour of searching, she finally found something.
Lv. (1) Rabbit Bandit
Hp: 19
Str: 2
Agi: 2
Int: 1
Passive/s: (Quick Shiv)
Skill/s: (Stab) (Bandage)
Is that a rabbit standing upright? A rabbit standing on its hind legs? A rabbit standing on its hind legs and holding two little knives? It had brown fur and looked cute with its tiny little vest it's wearing.
But why does it have knives?
[Encountered Rabbit Bandit]
[Rabbit Bandit's Quick Shiv activated, initiative attack]
The answer came immediately when a flash of brown fur blitzed past her face and she instinctively clutched her throat where it stung.
Her hand turned up covered in red, her blood.
"What the fuck!?" She doesn't normally curse out loud, manners and all, but this moment is an exception. A rabbit just slit her throat.
[Hp: 15 (-2)]
Looking at her Hp, it went down by two points but I didn't care much of it. She had a cut in her throat that's probably drowning her on her own bloooooo- ok something doesn't feel right.
One, the pain is already away like a dull ache.
Two, she's not drowning in blood. The bleeding had stopped immediately but she still had a cut on her throat.
Three, none of what she just noted is normal.
She's kinda distracted by the sudden discovery of the weirdness of her wound that she forgot about the rabbit. It reminded her again of its presence by jumping on her back and stabbing her back with its small knives twice.
"Ah!" She yelped, more than surprise than pain as the latter felt duller for some reason, before reaching on her back and grabbing the small animal. Finding purchase on its body, she pulled it off her body and slammed the animal down on the ground and kicked it away like a football.
[Hp: 11 (-4)]
She's down to 11. She has no idea what will happen if it hits zero but she doesn't want to find herself back in that dark limbo. This silent but relaxing purgatory is preferred minus the rabbit cosplaying as Chuckie.
Speaking of said killer rabbit, it's currently racing back towards her.
[Rabbit Bandit
[Hp: 11 (-8)]
It's also down to 11 like her. Acting quickly, she swung leg backwards before kicking at the incoming brown blur. She missed of course and hissed as her leg got a scratch from the rabbit's knife.
[Hp: 9 (-2)]
The rabbit repositioned, preparing to jump on her after scratching her leg. It's fast and very agile despite only using its hind legs to move. When it leapt in the air, aiming to land on her face, she finally remembered she had a dinky old sword with her.
She swung. (Slash)
[Rabbit Bandit]
[Hp: 4 (-8)(CRIT hit)]
The poor animal went flying when her sword bit into its side, digging deep before finding resistance at its spine before sending it flying. It landed roughly not far away from her as she panted in panic and stress.
She's actually fighting a freaking murder bunny.
The thing is not even dead after what she did. Pretty sure bunnies aren't supposed to be that sturdy. Being smashed to the ground and kicked off should've killed it by now, not mentioning how she almost cut it in half.
Might need a new sword though.
*****
After finishing off the rabbit, one slash on its head splits its cute head in two, she of course puked on the side. What? It's the very first time she saw much blood, her slit throat doesn't count, and the first time she ever committed murder.
Does this count as murder? The rabbit is probably sentient with the way it's dressed and it's capable of using tools aka knives. That's a sure sign of intelligence and sapience. Probably? Not like she would know.
Uber and Leet really went all out in this one though. So where's the camera?
*****
Ok, she doesn't know what the gamer themed duo are doing to her but whatever it is, it's doing weird things to her body.
Like her body is functioning weird.
After killing that killer bunny, she encountered one more bunny, this one being Ranger Rabbit wielding a bow and arrow. It was pretty cute, being all ghillied up in a suit made of grass and shrubbery, having multiple twigs on its long ears.
It stopped being cute when it started shooting arrows at her and using hit and run tactics while hiding in the tall grass. Being faster than her even though her Agi stat is higher, she was hopeless in catching it. She only got lucky in killing it when it got cocky when she's very low in Hp, allowing her to catch it and simply started slamming it to the ground like a petulant kid repeatedly.
She made a very large mess made of a pool of blood, and a very broken and unrecognizable rabbit.
That's when she noticed her body acting weird. The rabbit had shot her multiple times, the arrows all landing in various non-fatal and fatal areas yet she didn't die. Not to mention, she could only recognize them as a dull pain, like it was there but unnoticeable.
Looking at her Hp, she was low.
Together with her throat being slit and now being turned into a pincushion, safe to say her body had turned weird.
That's when she encountered the Wizard rabbit and got killed by a fireball, her Hp finally hitting 0.
She thought it was the end, the game finally ending for her and the moment Uber and Leet released her in their little game.
It was not.
Instead, she found herself back in the starting point of the Plains. Again.
She's trapped.
*****
Moving on, scared and very much angry, Taylor made sure to get the facts all clear.
She's in a game.
Her body doesn't recognize pain but she can still feel the shock of being injured.
Her body also doesn't recognize fatal injuries unless her Hp literally hits 0.
And she's also now level 2.
*****
Lv.(2) Taylor Hebert (Depressed)
Hp: 36 (42)
Str: 9
Agi: 6
Int: 5
*****
Pretty huge jump in stats in her opinion but it's a welcome one. With just one level up, she could now two shot most of the rabbits due to them being Lv.1.
Then finally, she encountered someone.
A lady riding a camel ladened with various packs over its back. What's a dessert animal doing in this place? It looks so out of place but she didn't question it, she's just happy to see another person other than the murder rabbits.
"Hey-Bang-Eek!" She immediately dropped and covered her head at the loud bang of a pistol.
What the hell? She's armed?!
Wait… She's also armed but it's a broken sword
"Odin's bullock, don't surprise me like that girl." Taylor heard the lady say, making her look up from her prone position on the ground.
She's beautiful, like a model-like beauty. Her dark skin made her more exotic. Her figure is mostly hidden in a white poncho, only revealing the front of her green button up shirt and baggy pants. Despite the choice of clothing, it kinda fits her and made her stand out. Especially the huge white hat on top of her head. She looked like a pretty cowgirl except she was riding a camel.
"Traveler I presume?" The lady asks her, stowing her pistol in her holster.
"No…" Taylor responded, testing the waters as she stood up now that the pistol was away. "Just someone lost. Can you tell me where the exit of this place is?" She asks, hoping this lady is one of Uber and Leet's victims like her.
"Exit? Sorry to tell you this girl but there's no exit in this dungeon." The dark skinned lady chuckles.
'Oh great, she's an NPC of this place.' Taylor grumbled in her head, her hope flipping into disappointment.
"But I may help you. I'm a merchant afterall and you seem to be under equipped to be wandering in this place." The lady said as she began to rummage around her camel's packs. Taylor could only watch in mild interest as the woman produced a fresh new sword out of said packs. Her eyes bugged out, looking at the packs.
They looked like they couldn't fit a sword inside. How? Tinker storage? Oh wait this is a game made by Uber and Leet. Game storage.
"Here, a good replacement for that old thing you have. I just need a few coins for this one." The woman said, showing off the sword. Nothing special about it, it just looked fresh and well-kept, a perfect replacement for her damaged one.
But there is a problem.
"I don't have coins on me." She looked down in embarrassment.
The merchant woman herself blinked before realizing her mistake. There in the Plains, the first part of the dungeon. Of course there's no coin to be found in the area nor important items to be traded. The only reason the dark skinned woman is here is to get some rabbit hide.
"That's understandable." She said to Taylor before an idea came to mind, "Tell you what, I'll give you this sword for free but in exchange, I'll ask a simple favor." Taylor perked up at the idea.
"Okay, sounds good…Just nothing illegal." She replied to the merchant.
"Nah, I'm legit." The woman waved off her worries, "All I ask is that when you arrive in the ruined castle, try to collect as much discarded armor in the area. I'll collect the items when we meet again. Deal?"
"Ruined castle?" Taylor parrots, tilting her head in question.
"You'll know when you get there. So is it a deal?" The merchant dismisses her question, insisting on the deal.
Taylor can't really reject the trade. For one, she can't see any cons to said deal. She'll get a nice sword to replace her broken one and all she needs to do is scavenge on an abandoned castle. It's no brainer for her.
"Okay, it's a deal."
"Sweet! The name is Alyssa by the way." the woman introduced herself, offering a hand.
"Taylor." Taylor shook hers.
"Pleasure doing business with you then, Taylor." Alyssa smiled before handing the sword. Taylor carefully took it before inspecting it herself, not like it would do anything, she's no sword expert.
"See you later then, Taylor and I'll be expecting those armors." Alyssa said, making her camel move once more. The woman waved at her goodbye which she reciprocated.
Then by a flash of light, they were gone.
"I forgot to ask for directions."
Damn.
*****
She found two encounters with murder rabbits again. The first encounter being against a rabbit cosplaying as a knight, complete with a small armor, sword and shield. After the fight and a reminder of her lack skill in swordplay, she leveled up to Lv.3 and with it, another jump in stats.
The second encounter is with another Rabbit Bandit except it was an ambush and against three of them. Oh boy was she so glad for that level up. With all three attacking her, she can do nothing but tank all the hits they're dishing out. By the end of it with three very dead rabbits, her Hp is very low. The problem is she doesn't have any reliable way of healing said Hp back to full and the only method she had is by leveling up.
Yeah, she heals back to full Hp after a Level up.
Maybe she could find something in the area?
*****
[Found treasure chest]
[Opening…]
[You got a random skill!]
[Learn Bandage]
(Bandage) - Heal by 70% Agi (requires cloth or alternatives)
Not bad but it needs cloth. She had her clothes, which are baggy and kinda torn by the fights she went through in this game but if she does use them she would be left with rags so no dice. Looks like she would need to experiment a bit for this one.
*****
[Boss encounter]
Lv. (5) Rabbit Knight
Hp: 105
Str: 10
Agi: 7
Int: 7
Passive/s: N/A
Skill/s: (Slash) (Double slash) (Charge) (Recover)
That's one level above her. By raw stats, she got upper hand in damage but in skills and utility, she's out of luck.
Lv. (3) Taylor Hebert (Depressed)
Hp: 52 (62)
Str: 13
Agi: 9
Int: 7
Passive/s: N/A
Skills: (Slash) (Bulk up) (Bandage)
[Boss fight start]
The fight began with the little shit using its charge skill. What it actually does is increase its damage with some kind of multiplier that she doesn't know. Of course, she didn't waste an opening like that.
Taylor uses (Slash) (-13)
Rabbit Knight Hp: 92 (-13)
Good hit and the first blood on her. The slash tore the rabbit's concentration in the skill and sent it flying in a spray of blood. It's still alive though, it's Hp still higher than hers. Then the cheeky little thing recovered mid air and literally healed itself with the recovery skill back to full health!
Rabbit Knight uses (Recover)
Hp: 92 = 102 (+10)
Well that's a huge setback. If it could heal about 10 Hp back per use, then she is only doing 3 damage per hit. She can kill it but annoyingly slow. Not to mention, it could also hit back like right now.
Rabbit Knight uses (Double Slash) (-11)
Taylor Hebert
Hp: 41 (-11)
The double slash tore through her midsection, she was too slow to react or block the damn attack, causing a dull ache in her stomach that is now sporting two opposite wounds. Her sword swung to strike back but the rabbit knight's sword blocked it, parrying the blade and sending the animal away from her in a safe distance from her reach.
Annoying.
Taylor chases after it, slashing downwards to strike its head only for the rabbit to raise its sword. Her sword struck the smaller sword but the rabbit expertly deflected the downward strike harmlessly into the ground. What it didn't see is the follow-up kick that sent it flying.
Rabbit Knight
Hp: 92 (-10)
This time, her next follow up strike struck true. Her sword stabbed into the animal's chest, reducing its Hp further.
Rabbit Knight
Hp: 79 (-13)
It then swung its sword, striking Taylor's and tearing the sword lodged on its chest in a spray of blood. The animal backed off to disengage but Taylor's relentless. Her confidence rises after seeing the animal's Hp go lower after each strike.
Both human and animal swung, swords striking each other and creating sparks. Taylor's aggressiveness had put the little rabbit on retreat yet the girl couldn't touch it. The Rabbit's expertise in swordplay is far greater, allowing it to parry and deflect the girl's blows harmlessly.
One will make a mistake eventually.
It was Taylor who made it. She didn't notice but the animal had used its (Charge) skill while defending from her attack. As such, she wasn't prepared at the sudden counterattack that hit her.
Rabbit knight used (Slash) (-23) Critical hit!
Taylor
Hp: 18 (-23)
It was a sudden strike. A perfect counter while she was raising her sword to strike its head. With one slash, she was sent away rolling on the ground and bleeding heavily at the huge gash on her torso. She's now very on Hp and her healing skill only heals for about 6 Hp.
She's in trouble.
But opportunity always comes and goes in a heartbeat. As she lay on her pool of blood, the rabbit leaped into the air to deliver a plunging attack to her head. Unfortunately to said animal, a human's reach is far greater than a rabbit's. Taylor's sword struck first, impaling the animal mid-air and with a scream of frustration and battle mania, Taylor slammed it to the ground, dislodging the animal from her sword with heavy injuries.
Rabbit knight
Hp: 43 (-36)
The animal rolled before recovering on its feet. With a leap, stab through the air aimed at her face. Taylor thankfully dodged by a hairsbreadth and caught the animal mid-air before slamming it into the ground.
She's really getting into the habit of slamming these furballs on the ground. She hopes it won't develop into something crazy.
Rabbit knight
Hp: 23 (-10)
As she plunged her sword down at the downed rabbit, it swung its own sword, parrying her blade away from it and stabbing it to the ground. It then rolled away before Taylor could act, making her grumble at how close she was as she pulled out her sword off the ground.
The battle is about to hit its climax.
Rabbit knight uses (Recover)
Hp: 33 (+10)
Taylor cursed as it healed, rushing to stop it from doing more. That was her fuck up.
Rabbit knight uses (Double Slash)
Taylor
Hp: 5 (-13)
Two slashes once hit home on her unguarded torso, sending her on her back. Taylor gasps, seeing her Hp at an extremely low point. As the rabbit came close to her, foot lashed out and caught it lacking. Its healed Hp went back to its initial 23.
Scrambling up to her feet, her sword swung in an arc to lob its head off. The animal raised its sword to guard but Taylor's sword broke through the defense and bit to its neck. It felt resistances of course as the animal's Hp is still above 0.
Rabbit knight
Hp: 10 (-13)
With the animal caught on her sword's edge, Taylor spun on her feet and sent the animal flying above. Gravity reasserted itself as the helpless animal fell to the girl's waiting sword.
With a wet squelch, the poor rabbit knight found itself impaled on the girl's sword.
[Rabbit Knight Slain!]
Never once Taylor ever felt so good until today. Pulling off that last final fancy move did wonders to her confidence and morale.
[Job upgrade is available]
[Choose your upgrade]
[Knight]
(Heavy Armor) - 20% dmg reduction
(Recover) - 10% maxHp Regen
(Slash) (Shield Bash)
[Barbarian]
(Strong) - 10% Str boost
(Bulk up) (Cross Axes)
[Soldier]
(Battle Stance) - 10% chance counterattack when hit
(Gun) (Bomb)
[Lancer]
(Battle Stance) - 10% chance counterattack when hit
(Thrust) (Vorpal Thrust)
[Samurai]
(Battojutsu) - 10% Str boost, first hit will always do 150% dmg.
(Focus) (Katana Slash) (Blitz Blade)
Now what to choose?
*****
Chapter End.
Vote in the comments what job to pick.