3 [Welcome to Haven]

"Heuk!"

Leon quickly gasped for air as he quickly lurched forward.

'Is this what death feels like?' thought Leon.

'All those stories of pleasant death experience were a scam! This feels like absolute shit!'

Leon got up, his body covered from head to toe in a layer of sweat. All he could feel was the uncomfortable, sticky sensation of his clothes rubbing against his skin.

In addition to this uncomfortable feeling, a terrible headache could be felt ringing in his mind.

With all this, Leon tried his best to ignore his uncomfortable state and slowly began opening his eyes.

The only problem was that what he saw wasn't something that he had been expecting from the afterlife!

'Where… where am I?' Thought Leon in alarm.

Leon was really confused.

One moment he was being brutally cut in half and in the next moment he found himself in a completely different location!

And surprisingly enough, Leon wasn't the only one with these thoughts as merely seconds after Leon thought this, similar cries could be heard from all around him.

"Where the fuck am I?!?" asked one man in confusion

"God damn it!" screamed another

"I was just about to get laid! Who did this?!! I want your head!"

With just a quick scan, Leon realised that the people here seemed to be gathered at random all from different ages.

After a few seconds amongst the chaos, Leon didn't even have to think before he recognised this scene.

A slightly dilapidated temple.

People screaming and panicking.

Even if he was killed one thousand times over, it still wouldn't be enough for him to forget!

The day of the Fall.

The day humanity was brought into its Haven!

Leon could still remember that even when he was a child, the years before the fall were extremely strange.

There had been a record number of random missing persons . But instead of decreasing over the years, the number of disappearances just got worse and worse-over time.

This, of course, caused a great panic amongst the people, causing the governments to all start a joint investigation

But when the Worlds governments still failed to come to a conclusion, they soon used various tactics and methods to divert the attention away from the people and gradually the world slowly forgot about it until it became just a natural occurrence of the world .

It was simply human nature.

As long as things don't directly affect our lives, we simply forget about it.

Worrying about missing people is not going to put food on the table. People still had lives to live.

Well, that was until the year Leon turned 19.

The year the rest of humanity was brought to the world of <Haven>

The new world was so tragic that people could only describe their situation as falling into hell!

Soon, the term caught on and eventually became what people used to describe the day all of humanity was brought here.

The fall.

This was one of the most tragic periods of time in human history.

A time of struggle and strife and now it seemed like Leon had been brought back to the time

Leon didn't know how or why this had happened to him, but he knew one thing:

And that was that he refused to live a life like he did before!

His life before was truly pathetic.

A life of constant struggle, barely keeping his head above the line of mediocrity.

Leon simply refused to live like that again.

And now, with his previous combat experience and future knowledge, the possibilities for him seemed endless!

But before Leon had a chance to start brainstorming some ideas, he was interrupted by a familiar hated sound.

[Ding!]

As the deafening sound rang out, as a familiar white sphere appeared in front of the hundred or so people gathered here.

[Welcome humans to the world of Haven]

"Damn! Was it you who brought us here?" Screamed a man as he walked up to the orb.

"Send me back right away!"

The white orb ignored the screams of the surrounding people as it continued speaking.

[In this world, humanity has been welcomed into the blessing that is Haven]

That's right.

From another perspective, this whole ordeal could be seen as a blessing.

The whole of humanity had been allowed to step on the path of evolution, becoming warriors with abilities only imaginable in myths and legends.

And the benefits of Haven didn't just end there. Those who were sick and crippled before the fall were all given perfectly healthy bodies when they came into <haven> bringing about healing far beyond that of human technology.

But in a sick twist of fate, it was also these people that had struggled the most with the burden of adjusting to newly granted limbs.

And the fact that the system wasn't an ally to anyone was made even clearer when it was also this very same system that put humanity at such a disadvantage compared to other races…

But Before Leon could begin to think more about the twisted world of Haven, the system sounded out again

[If you look at your left wrist, you will find a Grey stone lodged in there.]

[By tapping on it, you should be able to see your status.]

At those words, everyone began touching their wrists to see what their stats could possibly be

[Leon El'Jonson]

-Rank: Grey Stone

-Race: Human

-Innate Trait: Incorruptible Soul

-Class: None

-Profession: None

-Title: None

- Status

Strength: 9

Constitution: 8

Agility: 8

Perception: 15

As soon as Leon saw his stats, he couldn't help but wince.

Looking at such a pathetic status screen, Leon knew for certain he had returned to the past.

Years of hard work. All gone, just like that.

As Leon was thinking all this, he heard the system speak again.

[In this world, the primary way of gaining strength is through objects known as <Crystals>]

[Upon the death of a creature, a crystal will be dropped and these crystals can be absorbed by placing them on the grey stone embedded in your wrist.]

[However, what type of crystal comes out will always be random, so do bear that in mind!]

[Please protect the temple from the attacking monsters. Rewards will be granted based on your contributions.]

[Good luck warriors!]

Hearing these words, Leon quickly got out of his stupor and sprung into action.

In his past life, he had been like these people and looked around in panic, which led to him barely even surviving the first wave of attacks.

As the first to arrive on the weapon rack, Leon had the privilege of choosing anything he wanted and after a brief scan, Leon picked a glowing spear off the wall.

As he picked the spear, he saw a message pop out in front of him.

Name: Headhunting spear

Rank: Grey Stone

Quality: uncommon

Classification: Polearm

Durability: 500/500

Effect: strength +1 with a bonus of strength +2 when aiming for the head.

Note: The proud work of a mortal artisan, this weapon was crafted to reward the user's skill and accuracy.

Soon after picking a weapon, a piece of leather armour floated down in front of him.

Name: Stitched leather chestpiece

Rank: Grey stone

Quality: poor

Classification: Armour

Durability 100/100

Effect: None

Note: Plain old stitched leather armour

Leon didn't waste any time and expertly donned the dusty leather armour

Seeing Leon suiting up, some keen eyed people also ran towards the weapon stands to choose a suitable weapon as well

But not long after people had chosen a weapon, a shrill cry could be heard coming from behind them

"Argh!"

Suddenly a man fell to the ground clutching his stomach

A tiny green monster with a deformed face could be seen crawling from the man's body.

Goblins.

Despite being only half the size of normal humans, their viciousness and cruel nature still made them a challenge for the new humans to fight.

And as if to make matters worse, many more similar green creatures could be seen rushing towards them.

Faced with this daunting sight, the people outside the temple froze.

All but Leon.

Seeing this, Leon took a deep breath.

This was it.

His second chance.

His chance to join the truly strong people of this world.

It all started here!

With the new chance he was granted, Leon would never allow his life to end the same way it did before.

And if he was to do that, he had to make full use of any chance he had, starting right from the tutorial.

The amount of legendary figures that were built solely off of the rewards they received in the tutorial stages was staggering.

So, if anything, this initial time period was the most important part of Leon's plan to become a true powerhouse.

Whilst all the other people were watching on in horror, Leon moved towards the oncoming goblins.

Although Leon had found himself much weaker than he was used to, it didn't mean he had lost almost all of his combat ability.

His years of combat experience hadn't suddenly disappeared because he died, so Leon was still confident in his ability to handle this.

With a cold expression on his face, Leon stared down at the approaching hoard and began his charge.

Leon took a heavy step causing his body to fly forward, approaching the goblins at reckless speeds but instead of slowing down, Leon continued on charging forward completely skewering the first two goblins that approached him!

Without changing his expression, Leon swiftly flung the dead, skewered corpses off of his spear and slaughtered his way deeper into the horde.

Any goblin that came too close would quickly receive a vicious kick to the shin before Leon's spear would brutally pierce the head of the now downed enemy!

Leon continued fighting in this fashion and, with a quick glance, it would be easy to dismiss Leon's movements and combat style.

In the layman's eyes, Leon's fighting could even be seen as quite foolish.

His movements were far from elegant and refined, and some would even go as far as to call it barbaric.

But It was only after a closer inspection that one would come to appreciate Leon's style of combat.

Cold, calculated and efficient. That was the way Leon fought.

On multiple occasions, Leon had traded a graze or cut on his body for the head of an attacking goblin.

This bloody 'wound for kill' way of fighting had been something he had learnt in his time in the 'Last legion'.

You see, on multiple occasions had the battles of the last legion lasted for days.

Learning the most efficient way to kill had quickly become an essential skill for those types of situations or you'd find yourself burning out on the battlefield and dying to exhaustion.

Those who failed to learn or were too careless in the injuries they received were already long dead.

But it was not like Leon could talk much, didn't he still end up dying in the end?

But even with that, Leon didn't seem to care and continued mercilessly killing his way through the group of goblins. It's just that the same couldn't be said for the people watching him.

From the outside, Leon's movements didn't seem too special.

They had no flare, simple thrusts and swings slicing the necks of the goblins while injury after injury seemingly piled up on Leon's body.

This strange sight boosted the courage of the people around, causing one person to speak up.

"Fuck! We've got to join in. If that kid dies, then we're all next!"

It seemed like the people had seen Leon's light injuries and taken them much more seriously than they actually were.

In their heads, Leon would never last long.

Although people were panicking, it seemed like some still had their brains together.

Gradually, more and more people rushed towards the goblins.

But although some people were strong enough to actually help and defeat some goblins, not everyone was so fortunate.

"Wait, time out! I said stop!"

"Shit! Someone help me!"

Screams of panic and fear erupted as the unfortunate ones among them started getting overwhelmed and falling to the goblin onslaught.

Despite goblins being half the size of an adult human, it was obvious that some people were going to struggle.

These people were still just regular people, not many had the experience nor the cruelty needed to fight a creature to the death, no matter how weak the enemy was.

But even in hindsight, it wasn't like the people had gone towards their deaths.

These guys would still have had to fight the goblins regardless of their decision to join or not because, although Leon was holding off the goblins for a while before, it wouldn't wouldn't have been long before they broke away.

Their brains may be small, but the goblins weren't completely stupid.

Instead of staying with Leon who was mercilessly culling them, they would instead choose to attack the other weaker members of the group.

This was the true nature of <Haven>

No matter where you hide, no matter what you do, eventually the weak will be weeded out.

Leon just took one last look at the surrounding chaos before lightly shaking his head.

He didn't have time to worry about others.

He had to focus on himself.

….

Around 20 mins later,

Leon could be seen wading through the pile of goblin corpses.

Some distance away, exhausted people could be seen slouched on the ground, with the ones with a weaker will constantly sobbing at their new situation.

Leon paid little attention to this and was instead working hard to retrieve his crystals from the goblin corpses.

He had kept a close count on the amount of goblins he had killed even during the battle and made sure that he received every single Crystal he earned.

Besides, nobody was brave enough to try and steal from the clearly murderous madman.

As soon as Leon had received all his crystals, he saw a familiar white orb pop in front of the temple.

[Ding!]

[Congratulations warriors on defending the temple from its vicious enemies]

[Contribution Rewards]

1. Leon El'Jonson (76%) - lesser mana potion, lesser potion of resistance, Uncommon leather armour (Grey stone)

2. Andrew Wakefield (8%)- lesser potion of healing, Common sword & shield (Grey Stone)

3. Jessica Bishop (4%)-common short bow (Grey Stone)

4. Dominic Easton (2%) - common leather armour (Grey stone)

5. Jacob Ennis (2%) - common spear (Grey Stone)