The antiquity store

Returning back to place he had fled from, Jack only caught sight of what seems to be the left over of his classmate corpse, bones and few pieces of flesh was all that was left.

Strangely enough, although he found it disgusting and unbearable, he felt no sympathy for the unlucky fellow neither did he show any signs of throwing up. Unknown to him, his trait ' Ruthless ' was already affecting his way of thinking.

Since the goblin was nowhere to be found, he will have to search around for other goblins. Although Jack wanted to get stronger, he wasn't blinded by greed, he knew full well that the reason behind his earlier victory against the goblin was because he caught it unaware.

In a one on one battle, he might not be a match for a goblin. Walking in between the edge of the road and forest, Jack intend on heading back to an antiquity store the students had visited earlier on the way and search it in hope of finding anything to use in place of a weapon.

Wrecked cars filled the road and screams of agony made by people could be heard every now and then coming from the middle of the road causing Jack body to shudder in fear but the forest on the other hand was very quiet.

Because its a regular route used by people with intentions of traveling, there was no shortage of corpses for goblins to feed on due to the numerous accidents cause by the earthquake earlier. The road had turned into a feeding ground for monsters and Jack on the other hand had no intention of being on the menu.

Even with all the that, Jack didn't dare to harbour the thought of moving through the forest. Because unlike the noisy monsters infested road, the forest was quiet, maybe a little too quiet for his liking.

Although he kept shuffling at the edge of the forest, Jack couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine each time he stares at the interior of it. The forest felt alive, it felt like a desolate beast waiting to eat him up and spit nothing out.

Even though such a thing sounded impossible, Jack faintly believed that the changes he was experiencing wasn't limited to humans alone but to all creatures on planet earth. Hence, as long as his believe remained unchanged, the forest was absolutely of limits.

Each time Jack comes across the presence of a goblin, he will circle around it while in the case of large groups, flee from them and because of that, it took him over an hour to cross a distance of half a kilometre. After 3 full hours of a cat and mouse game, Jack finally arrived at the antiquity store.

The once majestic building with 5 floors that Jack had seen earlier was no more, damaged doors, broken Windows and blood stained floor was all that greeted him by the time he arrived. " what the hell happened here? " Jack couldn't help but ask out loud while steeping into the building.

Damaged showcases and missing antiques was all that left in the once glamorous hall. While making his way through the hall, Jack figure kept roaming around in search for any salvageable thing to use in place of a weapon and each time he finds something, he will observe it for a while because placing it back in disappointment.

Fortunately it didn't take long for his search to finally bear fruit, after picking up a fire service axe, Jack swung it a couple of times, testing its weight and balance before falling into a dilemma on if to use it or not.

His eyes which were staring at the fire service axe became wide open in shock when he once again heard a similar feminine voice in his head followed by the appearance of a new type of holographic interface.

[ Congratulations! you have acquired a new skill ' Appraisal ' ]

[ Fire Service Axe ]

Type: Weapon

Grade: Common

Rating: E-

Description: An inferior product of iron and lead ore combination.

Jack was a little taken back by the description he saw on the interface, but decided to ignore it as he focused more on the ' Grade ' and ' Rating '. After giving it a little thought, he concluded that ' Grade ' signifies quality while ' Rating ' signifies rank in a particular quality range.

With that in mind, Jack place back the fire service axe feeling that its ' Rating ' was too low coupled with the fact that it's stamina consumption was too high. And thanks to his new skill, it will become easier to search.

Although he was a bit interested on how such a convenient system came about, he knew that even the greatest minds on earth wouldn't be able to explain it, so much more him. Losing he interest at the spot, he once again resumed his search around the hall, only that, this time he could now view the details about most objects as long as he focuses on them for more than 5 seconds.

[ Broken baseball bat ]

[ Wooden Spear ]

[ Rusted dagger ]

Jack came across multiple objects to use as a weapon but having acquired the appraisal skill which allows him to appraise things, he was no more contented with finding anything to use a weapon but rather was now searching for a weapon of his choice.

Finally, he caught sight of his desired weapon the very moment he arrived at the 3rd floor of the antiquity store but unfortunately for Jack, it was in the hands of a dead security guard and besides him were two goblins feeding on his corpse.

" Fuck, what rotten luck " Jack cursed out inwardly the very moment his eyes landed on the feeding goblins, immediately he knew the odds were against him but he still decided to give it a go, after all, which hot blooded youth can say no to the lure of a Japanese katana.