Vivian was anything but ordinary, as she had been tasked with training the problem child named Nataly, a danger to society possibly greater than the portals themselves.
She was the daughter of the President of the Raiders Association, Baltazar Monteiro, and since the man created the definition of strong and badass, his offspring inherited many traits — she could have inherited the "badass" factor too, but everything has its limit.
Anyway, Baltazar's special power consisted in transforming into a dragon, something his daughter carried from birth.
She could also shapeshift, though not entirely, just parts. For example, she could turn her arm into a huge reptilian limb or grow little sharp teeth.
Unfortunately, because of Baltazar's and his super doting dad nature, the girl barely developed properly over the years and was now playing catch-up.
That's why Vivian got a deal with him, pushing his daughter's limits in order to better train her powers.
"One more lap, move it, I don't want any whining!"
A sulking Nataly trudged past her, full of immense hatred toward the gray brick path circling the local.
It was a common reaction, her sedentary lifestyle had bred hatred toward physical exercise. A sigh escaped Vivian's lungs.
'Lord, please let this girl find at least one decent person in the future who can put up with her…'
Instead of a square, they were at a mansion modeled after traditional Japanese aesthetics, with a beautiful flower garden, wooden floors, and a long path forming a rectangle around the property.
Vivian loved that kind of place, and even more so, she loved the culture, enough to wear a yukata and a pair of getas on her feet. Maybe it was cringe-worthy, but in her own home, her supreme domain, she wore whatever she wanted.
She could even walk around naked. Screw the world.
"More energy! You're practically dying!"
Nataly was basically undead at that point. She faceplanted on the bricks and stayed there, then rolled onto her back, belly up.
"Sigh… Why do I have to train my body? This is such a huge waste of time!"
"Girl, don't be stupid."
Vivian came closer just to bop Nataly's forehead with a fan, then stepped back and waved it in front of her own face, giving off that aura of mystery and wisdom behind her words.
"If you ever find yourself in a situation where you can't use your power, all you'll have left is your body. And what if you had to escape from inside a cave?"
"I'd just breathe fire inside and kill everyone. I can do that."
"And you'd burn your boyfriend, crush, or hookup if they were standing in front of you?"
Nataly looked away, blushing a little, trying to dodge the question as much as possible.
"N-N-N-No…"
"Ooh, what a weird reaction, huh? Hiding something from me, your bestie, your beloved Vivian?"
"I already told you it's nothing!"
In a burst of stress, Nataly opened her mouth, her human teeth quickly sharpened, and her neck shimmered with golden scales before she breathed fire straight into the sky.
Vivian took a step back and didn't get caught in the blaze, but she loved the fireworks show when the flames faded into the air.
Instead of congratulating her on a successful transformation, she kicked the top of her head with one of her getas, creating a glorious bump on her scalp.
"Try to catch me off guard like that again and you won't ever see that secret boyfriend of yours again!"
Suddenly, Nataly froze up, obedient like a puppy. Vivian took a deep breath, fanned herself, and grabbed the girl by the collar.
"Alright, come on. Let's go back to our history sessions."
"Why history? History's boring and it's just full of dead people."
"Because I don't want you embarrassing yourself in front of other raiders by saying you support some extremely awful social group like those morons in podcasts who never stop talking crap. Your dad doesn't want that either, so zip it and obey."
Vivian tossed the girl's lazy body into the center of the room and sat on the opposite side with the grace of a true Japanese lady — she had practiced the pose for hours, months ago.
She clapped her hands, and several servants entered the room carrying books, while one brought tablets and laptops. Coming from a wealthy family, the mentor didn't care about the cost.
A small hand-drawn mind map was displayed on one of the tablets, while a laptop would serve as a guide to explain the history.
"Alright, here we go. Easy question. How many years have the portals existed?"
"Uhh... a hundred?"
"Correct. And powers?"
"A hundred too?"
"Obviously not, idiot!" Vivian pinched her eyelids. That was one of the most basic questions on her quiz. "It's assumed that powers emerged before the portals, through myths, legends, and even religion. They only became more common today due to a possible genetic unlock caused by new environmental conditions: the portals."
She continued teaching about the subject, which is supposed to be essential for living in society, but Nataly was completely ignorant. It's a miracle she even got into college.
Anyway, powers were like a gift from God, Buddha, Yahmew, Allah, Brahma, or some badass dude up above as a way to repel monsters.
The exact reasons were unknown, with studies beginning since the portals opened around the end of the World War. Unfortunately, to this day, there was no definitive answer.
What most people know was that these supernatural abilities came from beyond, and could either be inherited from one's parents or appear spontaneously and differently.
In fact, many marriages ended because of that second possibility.
"Do you understand now? It's important for you to know these things!"
"I still don't get how this is important."
Vivian rolled her eyes, feeling a deep internal pain. She could only hope to run into Luke the next day and beg him to help inspire Nataly and get her out of that hell.
******
A chill ran up Luke's shoulders.
"I felt like someone was calling me..."
He shook his head hard to clear his thoughts. In front of him, new city blocks unfolded between tall buildings.
Honestly, it was nothing different from what he'd seen before. He knew his way here and there from walking through the area, but he hated the obligation of being constantly on guard.
The system had alerted him of increased danger, and with that came something crucial: more EXP.
What Luke wanted most were those sweet, juicy levels. With them, he could unlock a lot of good stuff.
The perks he had his eye on were:
I've Got Talent! 0/5
Choose one attribute. It gains 20% more experience from training.
Golden Pinky 0/3
Increases loot drop rate from monsters by 10x.
Random Gift from the Wizard 0/5
You gain one random level 1 spell.
There wasn't much to say about the first one.
Sooner or later, his training would stall, preventing further progress, and to move past that, he'd need to do what every shounen character does: train more and pull power out of their asses.
"The other two would also be useful, especially the last one."
A random spell. That could be anything — a fireball, a healing spell, a stat buff, or even something basic like levitation.
Even a levitation spell would be useful. He could, for example, climb buildings, activate levitation, grab a goblin, and drop it to certain death from the top.
"That's disturbing. I'm not sure killing these things all the time is doing me any good."
The issue lay in upgrade order. He wasn't very interested in the other perks at the moment, he needed immediate power or something with long-term value.
Another factor to consider was that Luke couldn't see what perks came next in the tree without unlocking the previous ones.
For example, below "I've Got Talent!" was a sequence of blacked-out boxes with no description. The same went for all other trees.
The temptation speaked to start investing all his SP into a single perk box, but that gave him a headache. Sooner or later, he'd need something specific.
If he ended up fighting a creature like a slime, what good would it be to have 5 points in "I've Got Talent!" if he couldn't deal proper damage to a jelly with fists or weapons?
For that and other reasons, Luke hated thinking up builds on his own.
A quick Google search and a glance at a wiki would normally be enough to find a good path to follow, but with this system, there were no shortcuts.
That more complex decision would have to wait, since on the way he came across a group of goblins.
They were ugly as hell, so ugly even their mothers would cry looking at them.
The biggest difference was their color: instead of sidewalk-weed green, they were sewage-water brown.
There were three of them, each carrying a club. Luke waited a moment, afraid another goblin might appear.
He'd noticed a pattern, sometimes a smartass with a bow would show up.
Those with bows were the most annoying, because they always managed to land at least one arrow. Luckily, he always wore a makeshift armor made of pillows under his clothes, which softened the impact.
Of course, if it were a real bow and a normal person shooting, Luke would've been sliced up countless times by now.
But he faced countless goblins with a crappy bow and dull arrow.
For that and other reasons, he got used to it and gained some confidence in his victories. Luke leaned against the wall, strike first meant asking to die.
Waiting for the first one to show its face was the best choice, he wasn't dumb enough to go against all three at once.
Against the tutorial goblins — aka Zone 0 — he could take them out without breaking a sweat, but these were supposed to be a bit stronger at least.
When the ugly demon peeked out, Luke didn't hesitate. Like pulling a lever, he pressed the katana down, slitting its throat clean without getting stuck.
The creature got X's for eyes and vanished into data in the wind.
Its two companions widened their eyes in shock while Luke rushed in. He swung his katana at the closest one, who tried to block with the club.
That didn't help much. The blade sliced through the club like butter, slowing slightly from the impact, and chopped the goblin's arm clean off.
It bled like crazy and even let out a high-pitched squeal, but a swift kick to the chest knocked the air out of it and sent it flying.
Luke turned to the last one, realizing it flanking with the intent to strike. He blocked the attack by clashing his sword with the club, resulting in a burst of force between them.
Neither weapon received damage, but Luke wasn't about to wait even a second to give that bastard a chance to respond.
The blade danced through the air, whistling, and in the blink of an eye shattered the club, then sliced through the goblin's chest.
The cut didn't split the creature in half, but it was deep enough to make it disappear. That just left the other one, clutching its bleeding hand.
Luke looked at it and, with no pity, decided to end its suffering quickly.
Without warning, he drove the sword through the monster's chest, killing it after a few seconds and turning it into a pile of data.
He took a deep breath, noticing a bit of blood on the blade. He'd have to clean it later whether he wanted to or not. If only there were a self-cleaning feature.
"This was easier than I expected…"
He thought the goblins would put up more of a fight, or maybe be stronger.
Well, they actually were — none of them got sliced in half like the little green guys in the tutorial — but still, it was kind of a letdown.
Even more disappointing was the floating screen next to him, tossing virtual confetti in the air.
Congratulations, you've obtained an item!
Goblin Loincloth
Rarity: None
A filthy goblin underwear. Super stinky. Its special odor repels any female creature from you.