An undead man haunted the city streets.
His extremely messy hair looked like it had wrestled with the cemetery dirt he came out of, and his slumped shoulders seemed ready to hit the pavement.
His clothes, tattered and dirty with soil, made him look like someone who got into a brawl with vandals in the middle of the street and lost badly.
At least his face resembled someone... not dead?
Well, that was Luke's current situation. Poor and screwed, like 90% of the world. His legs dragged along the sidewalk, and not even the crowded bus ride pulled him out of his daze after such a brutal training session.
Vivian wasn't a normal person, couldn't possibly be.
Beyond the dogs, they had to do a bunch of other nonsensical things, like a super intense training regimen with weights attached to their bodies.
Luke twisted his ankle three times, but UNFORTUNATELY, there was a staff member with healing powers, and every time he got hurt, that employee would heal him, only for Luke to be kicked right back into it.
One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
Now, all he wanted was to go home and rest, too exhausted to care about anything else, simply replaying the events in his mind.
After the intense training, there was a study session. It was meant to reinforce and integrate new knowledge into Nataly, while Luke acted as a tutor for the lesson.
He silently grabbed all the answers from Google, and that moment was more intense than any cheat sheet he'd ever used before.
His Intellect attribute thanked him for the sweet experience, while his mind wanted to kill him.
Chosen Attribute: Intellect
You've finally gained common sense. Congratulations!
Due to your current intellect level, the forging mechanic has been unlocked...
Player already possesses a forge, generating alternate reward.
1 SP obtained!
"Thanks for the reward, system…"
That point was immediately invested in another level of the Golden Pinky perk, increasing the chance of items appearing by another 10x.
Luke's eyes were red from the pain. He just wanted to get home and sleep, but on the way, he saw what looked like a performance being set up in one of the plazas.
A decent crowd had gathered around the stage, even some sound equipment had been installed nearby.
Appearing onstage was a woman with long red hair and an outfit similar to that of a witch. Luke took a moment to get a proper look at her face, but he wouldn't have recognized her from it alone.
What truly felt familiar were her clothes and her height, because without a doubt, she made all the other men nearby look like dwarves!
"Good evening," the woman said, flashing a lovely smile. "I want to thank everyone here for your cooperation. Without you, the D-rank gate wouldn't have been closed so quickly."
That immediately caught Luke's attention. Thanks to the crib notes and conversations, he'd become more informed about the real world, and now had a better grasp on the raider profession.
Since portals connected two different spaces, a creature could come through at any time and wreak havoc on the surrounding area.
That's why, whenever a portal was detected, authorities would respond quickly and analyze a series of data using drones and robots.
The data collected from the machines' recordings helped assign a classification to the portal, allowing humans to avoid risking their lives just to gather information.
In other words, if a portal was marked as rank D, it had a number of factors contributing to that classification by the specialist on-site, but the main one was simple: something had destroyed the robots sent in.
One of those machine models stood behind the stage: a metallic beast two meters tall, armed to the teeth with the latest tech.
Its skin was a beautiful polished gray metal, with a red visor and even a set of hidden tools inside its arms.
"I wouldn't kill that thing, not even in a million years!"
It was honestly terrifying to realize how easily those things could rip an average human apart.
"Well then, I want to invite all the staff to have a drink! Tonight, it's on me!"
The woman raised her fist into the air, receiving an enthusiastic response from the other raiders below, who cheered in excitement.
Luke crossed his arms while analyzing the scene. The boss of that group of raiders was the same woman who had saved him at the beginning, her name was Bianca, and she had the power to control fire.
How did he come by that information? Simple, it was plastered all over the Scarlet Witch Bazaar website, which just so happened to be on the card he received a few days ago!
After a while, they dismantled the stage. That was probably used as an operations base to close a portal, especially since right behind it, police officers were removing the yellow tape that marked off the area.
Your knowledge is already showing great progress—you are now aware of your surroundings…
'System, shut up.'
The floating screen mocking him was getting on his nerves, but what it said was true. Studying was important — who would've thought? — and it gave him a much better understanding than before.
When he only cared about killing goblins, he never stopped to really pay attention to the avenues or the people around, but now he noticed that everyone had some kind of special ability.
Some could fly, others had insane strength or speed, and there were even people who bent the laws of physics by walking up instead of down.
It wasn't too absurd — except for the guy who literally fell upwards — and it made more sense now why his mom and brother treated him the way they did.
'I don't have powers, technically.'
When someone was born and raised in that society, their ability was registered under a simple name. For example, Bianca's could be called pyrokinesis, or someone else's might be flight.
On Luke' ID card, however, that space was blank — something that only happened to people born with no ability whatsoever.
It was tragic. Imagine living in a world full of people talented in at least something, and then there's you, completely useless? Pretty sad.
Luke shrugged, watching all the people around him disperse. They had cool equipment, some used swords made from the bones of powerful monsters, others wore cloaks made from special plants from another dimension… it was really cool.
He guessed the material those items were made from, but honestly, there was no real way to know unless the owner told him.
He shrugged again and continued on his way home. Before going inside, he fixed his face a little so his mom wouldn't get suspicious.
"Luuuukeeee!"
Christine welcomed him with a spine-crushing hug. Her son's entire back cracked in the process, nearly killing him.
"H-Hi, Mom…"
"You're home late, huh? I should break the rest of your spine to find out why you ditched your job!"
"W-Wait, how did you find out?!"
"Mr. Armando knows me. He called me the moment it happened. And it looks like you didn't even look at your phone with how many times I called, right?"
A terrifying aura surrounded her, easily capable of destroying the mortal realm. Luke was terrified, if this were a game, his mom would definitely be the secret final boss!
"There's a reason, I swear! Let me go and I'll explain!"
Christine huffed, finally releasing Luke and revealing a face full of murderous intent, her hair even writhing around like Medusa heads ready to strike.
Luke first prayed to the Guy Upstairs to spare his life, then knelt before the almighty goddess of the household in full submission.
"I found a job that pays better! That's why! It pays more, way more!"
"Oh yeah?! You're gonna see what I— Wait, hold on. You found a better job?"
"Uh-huh. I did. I'm helping this lady with… some stuff."
"My son, my precious son, did you manage to get in with a rich old lady?"
"No, I swear!"
His mother kept a hard expression, trying to extract the truth from his face. Unfortunately, she couldn't, truth eventually reveals itself through some involuntary action.
But all she saw now was a trembling boy before the supreme authority of the household.
With a sigh, Christine decided to let it go and gently patted Luke's head, surprising him.
"Alright, I'll believe you. Go clean up, you stink. I'm putting dinner on the table soon."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Luke narrowly dodged a bullet by sheer dumb luck. He even thought about throwing himself straight into bed when he got home, but after catching a whiff of his clothes, he realized — yeah, he really did need a shower.
After a good shower to get rid of the stink, he sat down on his bed. A small screen popped up in front of him.
Advanced Mission Complete
Would you like to claim your rewards?
Luke nodded, and a supplement vial was spat out of the window right into his lap. Along with it came a small wooden hammer, comically oversized at the head compared to the handle.
"What's this even for?"
The user's Intellect has increased significantly due to recent studies.
You have finally learned the basics and unlocked two essential mechanics!
The player can now, through breaking and gathering materials, build whatever they want.
This function only works in the mirrored dimension. An upgraded builder's hammer is required to construct outside of the system's projected space.
Builder's Hammer
Rarity: Common
An item that allows the construction of simple objects made of wood or stone.
"Ah, so now it's Minecraft..."
It was an interesting idea, working on building bases and forts, but it didn't make much sense when all he really wanted was to level up and hunt monsters.
The second notification, on the other hand, looked way more interesting.
Basic Item Crafting Unlocked.
The player can now combine materials to create other items.
Available Item List:
Medicine
Club
Wooden Spear
Crap Fishing Rod
Stone Axe
Stone Knife
Stone Shovel
Small Bag
Goblin Diaper
His eyes widened, there was so much new stuff to test out that he felt a bit overwhelmed. It even gave him some anxiety, despite not having a clue where to start!
"Now this is the kind of Minecraft I like."
A smile appeared on his face, lasting through dinner and even as he stepped back into the mirrored dimension. The world there was still the same, lit only by the streetlamps.
Instead of heading straight out looking for goblins, Luke first grabbed the Builder's Hammer. The moment he touched the tool, his vision shifted into a kind of "build mode."
Blue gridlines appeared everywhere, while a window offered various things he could construct. One of them was a wall. When selected, it took shape in front of him, but in red.
The color meant he didn't have the required materials.
Shoddy Wooden Wall
3x wooden planks
The thing was full of holes, definitely wouldn't withstand a punch, but it made a good first impression.
The question now was: how to get the materials?
Luke turned his head and spotted an old wooden bench in the corner of the street, the kind with dried-up paint that had been redone so many times it had a crust on top of the wood.
He walked up to it and touched it. Nothing happened. He looked left and right, as if checking for witnesses.
'Oh right, I'm alone, dummy.'
Since no one would know he committed vandalism, he pulled out his katana and beautifully chopped the bench into pieces.
Just like with monsters, the bench broke down into data, leaving behind a pile of materials.
2x wooden planks
1x iron
1x paint crust
He collected the materials and stuffed them into his bag. If gathering stuff was this easy, then all he had to do was combine both tasks: kill and vandalize everything in sight!