1 An Unforeseen Massacre
On a bright sunny day where humans enjoyed the festivities of life, a phenomenal event occurred before their eyes.
It was something that came unexpectedly when what is now known as an "Entrance" opened before them, and from within were a variety of monsters of different levels that swarmed their planet Earth.
What kind you say? You name it! Of the few monsters that appeared were Dark-Elf's, Kobolds, Goblins, Imps, Gargoyles, Banshees, and Jackalopes.
And whatever that was in their path was only left as a blood trail. Countless innocent humans were massacred during this "Invasion." Screams could be heard as their carcasses were left severed. Weeping and wailing as they ran for shelter hoping to maneuver the worst. It's a disgrace to say that modern-day weapons and technology were no match for these magical beasts.
During this chaos The Dark-Elf's raged, the Kobolds slaughtered, the Goblins raped, the Imps haunted, the Gargoyles ate, the Banshees screamed while the Jackalopes feast. Every monster played a role in destroying humanity solely because the Earth's newly evolved resources were needed for them to level up.
However, unbeknownst to the monsters, this changed benefited humanity when the humans awakened what they now dubbed the "Status Window." The humans who awoken to this power were given the title "Dwellers" by the windows.
And as the name suggested, the humans were able to check their status.
[Intelligence]
[Speed]
[Agility]
[Strength]
[Defense]
[Stamina]
[Awareness]
[Elusiveness]
[Luck]
With these stats and powers, the humans were able to defend themselves against the monsters and as they did they soon discovered that they too level up but in a particular way.
Title: Mortal Dweller
Level: 0-100
Title: Earth Dweller
Level: 101-200
Title: Ascendant Dweller
Level: 201-300
Title: Horizon Dweller
Level: 301-400
Title: Sky-Dweller
Level: 401-500
Once the human's level lies between either of these numbers the window automatically gave them their respective title.
Still, just because humanity's population gained powers didn't mean that everyone had an easy life. What's the point if there was always someone stronger than you? What's the point, if someone's judgment is clouded by greed, strives to harbor all the valuable items and recourse for one to make the minimum comfort in life.
The daily adversaries of being the weakest in this world were what weighed over a young boy named Aimer Belafonte otherwise known as humanity's "Useless Trash."
.....
Somewhere in Sumdam, Central City, an Entrance has opened and precisely fourteen dwellers sent by the Dwellers Association could be seen standing just before it.
Amongst the crew was a lanky young boy with messy black hair and dark red eyes. Though he was tall his physique was that of a walking stick. He looked as if he barely making ends meet. That boy was Amir Belafonte.
"Hey. What grade did they say this Entrance was again?" A bulky man who stared at the white ginormous door-like Entrance suddenly asked as he turned towards the group.
"If I remember correctly, they said it should be Earth graded," a young boy with dark green hair and hazel eyes replied to the man's question.
"Haha! That's it! Well, I guess we don't have to worry, all of us here have gained the title Earth Dwellers," the man chuckled as he stroke his beard while holding his chin high.
"Umm...sir? I think you're mistaken?" A young man waved his hands cowardly to grab the bulky man's attention.
The man soon stopped laughing and turned towards the young man before inquiring, "Huh? What do you mean by that."
Without responding the young man pointed towards a boy who stood in the back of the group. This grabbed everyone's attention as they all simultaneously looked back to realize that the man was pointing towards the "Useless Trash."
"Oh, I almost forgot about him. Doesn't matter, let him tag along. We don't need to take up the hassle of babysitting someone who's still a Mortal Dweller," the bulky man waved his hands with a slight chuckle before turning back towards the Entrance.
....
Name: Aimer Belafonte
Age: 18
Title: Mortal Dweller
Level: 49
[Intelligence] - 88
[Speed] - 29
[Agility] - 20
[Strength] - 34
[Defense] - 40
[Stamina] - 76
[Awareness] - 32
[Elusiveness] - 18
[Luck] - 3
Skills: None
Items: None
These stats signified the sole reason why everyone deemed him as a humanities "Useless Trash." Aimer has been stuck at this level for the past 2 years.
Why? During that time he had difficulty in receiving resources to help him raise his level. Every time an Entrance opened and the "Lair" that was revealed beyond the Entrance was cleared, the stronger humans harbored all the rewards.
.....
[Drop Item] - a unique item possessed by the monsters to boosts their stats depending on the level of that item. These are dropped by the monsters once their defeated and can be obtained by the humans.
[Monster Cores] - a core that helped humanity raised their level once it was reformed within their body's magical powers.
[Drop Skill] - a small percentage of monster drops their skill once they're defeated. This rate can drastically change depending on both the luck and level of the person who defeated the monster. If their luck/ level were high enough they were guaranteed to gain a drop skill that they can then use to boost their arsenal.
.....
As for Aimer, the last time he has ever touched any resource that could help his leveling up was when his mother spent the last of her penny in supporting him, leaving them somewhat homeless you could say.
And since then, he's always been looked down upon.
"The weakest of the weakest" "Trash" "What are you doing with your life?" "You'll never make it out there just give up!" "You Garbage!" "Your Useless!"
Nicknames and questions buzzed in his ear every day. They were as annoying as nails on a chalkboard.
But what could he do? Nothing? Exactly the point! He was just a mere insect in the vast land endeavoring to avoid being squashed by a passerby who was disgusted from his sight.
The one thing that tied him to this earth was his single family member who has always been supportive to him through thick and thin no matter what: His mother.
....
"What are we waiting for guys! Let's get a move on!" The bulky man yelled as he proceeds to lead his group behind him while Amir paced a safe distance behind them.
Upon entering, the group was met with a slightly luminous caved-in lair that was occupied with a ghost-like silence. The walls to the lair accommodated sharp ridged surfaces with tiny stones that glowed; which was what gave the lair that radiant light.
"Hmmm...It seems far too quiet already for a lair," the bulky man stated as he surveyed his surrounding area.
"Maybe the monsters got scared," a pale slender girl said with a chuckle as she slightly covered her lips.
"Are stupid? There's no such thing as monsters getting scared," the green-haired boy promptly said to the girl.
"Hmph! Okay, Mr. KnowItAll!" the girl replied as she shook her head into the position direction of the boy.
"Simmer down you two! Whatever lies ahead we don't want to wake right now," the bulky mad said after looking back at the two.
And so the group progressed slowly deeper within the lair. Roughly, 10-minutes had passed since the group entered the lair still, no signs of any lifeforms.
That was until they reached a dead end with a group of stairs before them.
"Was there anything like this before in any of the previous lairs," the bulky man said while observing the alarming stairs.
"No, not that we know of," the young man spoke up as he too examined the stairs.
"Well, we won't find out what's up there if we keep standing here," the bulky man stated as he first approached the stairs.
During this time, it was as if Aimer's existence was disregarded. And though his footsteps made a loud enough sound that can be heard it seemed that to the group it was undetected.
Soon enough they all climbed the flight of stairs before approaching a second floor to the lair. The scenery was a replica of the first floor. But there was something different. This time trembling could be heard from above and before them, portable stones started falling from the roof.
"What the heck is that to cause such a tremendous ruckus!?" the bulky man said just before he crushed a kettle while glaring above him.
"Hey! Look ahead!" the green hair boy yelled as he pointed directly ahead of the group.
Everyone immediately recollected themselves from the tremble before looking ahead of them to see an enormous group of Jackalopes running towards them.
"Get ready guys!" the bulky man yelled as he drew forth an item; it was a hammer.
But he was the only one who had an attacking item, everyone else all had a stat boost item or a defensive item. Which of course they got from the previous monsters they were able to defeat.
To the group's surprise, the Jackalopes maneuvers around them and galloped directly towards Aimer. Aimer snapping out of a daze as he looked up to see the massive group of Jackalopes heading towards.
'What the? Why are they charging towards me!' Aimer thought just before the swarm of Jackalopes tumbled atop him leaving no room for a scream to be heard.
"Hahaha! What the f*** was that all about! It seems our deadweight will finally be dead! You get it! Hahaha," the green-haired boy chuckled devilishly, and soon after his group all started smiling in content.
As the swarm of Jackalopes dealt with Aimer the group turned around to search deeper within the lair leaving the helpless Aimer behind.
Minutes have passed when the group breached yet another set of stairs but without question, they proceeded to advance to at they assume was the next floor.
*BOOM*
*SWAT*
A ginormous hand decapitated the bulky man who was ahead of the group the moment they all set foot onto the third floor.
Blood splattered on the few dweller's countenance who stood behind him with a now horrified expression and wide-open eyes.
W-what just happened? Did he die from one hit! No! No way this is all nightmare! The rest of the group were in complete shock as they tried to process what the f*** just happened while looking at the bulky man's headless corpse that had fallen to the ground.
As much as they wanted to deny it an Earth Dweller was just killed by the swat of a hand and before they could seem to think of anything else two more dwellers from the group died.
*ARGHH!!*
*HAYUKK!*
Their screams soon became muffled as they were lifted by the heads before being squashed like the bugs they are. Those two were the green-haired boy and the young man who followed closely behind the bulky man.
"A-a-an Horizon Dweller type monster. What is such a monster doing in an Earth graded Entrance!?" a group member stuttered in fright as he felt his knees became like noodles.
The beasts that they looked upon as a Gnoll with ferocious warlike instincts. It had a lanky body that stood to be 7-foot 6-inches with long ginormous arms at its side. Killing such a monster would be of massive benefit because this monster was quipped with an attack, defense, and boost items and not to mention its rare skills.
But such a thought never once crossed their minds. They only hoped to make it out of this lair alive.
...
At the same time, Aimer who was on the first floor was alive. It seems he hadn't given up and with his minimum strength, he was able to attack the Jackalopes with his bare hands.
Well, these monster's stats weren't that different from his seeing that they were all around the same level. The only thing was that there were too many to handle.
'Dammit! It seems they only targeted me because I was at the lowest level of the bunch! And to think that group that I trusted would turn a blind eye to my struggling.'
'Never again. Never again. Never again! I'll trust anyone if I make it out of here alive. There will only ever be one exception and that is my mother!'
Amir thought as he struggled to stand upright to face the remaining Jackalopes. He was at his last breath after killing so many Jackalopes. If he kept counting the amount he amassed would've been around two-hundred and seventeen.
And before he could do anything else a notification appeared on his status window.
*DING*
[New Skill Attained!]
[Adapt] - In any given environment, place, or situation the user can adapt to meet the minimum requirements for survival.
Aimers eyes showed a glint of hope as he saw he gained his first-ever skill and though it wasn't much to him he felt as if the world as lifted pressure off of him.
'It seems I was able to gain this skill from these monsters. But how? Won't my luck way too low for that? Unless it can also depend on the numbers of the same monster one killed'
Aimer thought before instinctively, he activated the skill without question hoping that it will be able to help him survive the remaining hundred Jackalopes.
.....
Meanwhile,
"RUNNNNN!!"
A dweller member yelled causing the whole group to come back to reality before turning back towards the second floor.
But just after that dweller yelled and pickaxe as stuffed directly into the right side of his neck from behind. Another Gnoll had appeared.
"Don't look back everyone just keep running!"
"I-I-I'm scareddddd!"
"SHUT UP! DON'T YOU THINK EVERYONE IS!"
"F***! WHY DID WE DECIDE TO TAKE UP THIS OFFER FROM THE ASSOCIATION!"
"I-I-I thought THIS WAS JUST AN ORDINARY ENTRANCE WE COULD'VE HANDLED!"
Screams plead, and regrets filled the dwellers who ran for their lives and as they thought were going to escaped to go back to the second floor, their exit was sealed off by a Gnoll.
"SHIT! We're dead! We're dead! WERE ALL DE...!" The dweller who supposedly yelling was shut the f*** up by one of the Gnolls.
As for the rest, leave it to your imagination, they all were slaughtered at the sealed exit cast by the Gnolls.
.....
Meanwhile, Aimer strived as he dodged and evaded the Jackalopes and grabbed them one by one snapping their necks ultimately sending them to an early death.
'This skill isn't that bad. I'm able to use all my stats to their fullest which I didn't believe could be operated in such a way' Aimer thought with a calm look plastered on his face.
But something occurred that made all the Jackalopes scurried into hiding and left Aimer perplexed for a millisecond.
Before a thought could surface within his mind two tall ginormous figures could be seen coming from the direction of the third floor within the lair.
At that moment, Aimer froze stiff as a statue. This overbearing pressure he had recognized it.
'An Horizon...no two Horizon level monsters! Then what happened to the group?' Aimer thought with a spine-chilling feeling cruising alongside his back.
'What do I do! What do I do! What do I do! Calm down! Calm down! Breath in.....breath out.....breathe....in....breath...out'
'Now move. Move. Why won't my body move! I said move! Please! I don't want to die! I don't want to die! Please! I have a mother to take care of! Just pleasee listen to me...Moveeee!' Aimer screamed and cried in is his mind as he wholeheartedly begged his body which was frozen stiff to move.
Aimer struggled to open his eyes that were closed as he lifted his head to witness the hideous monsters that stood only a few inches from him.
Death flashed before his eyes. Aimer reminisced his past moments and struggles just to make it here. His mother did everything in her power to support him. The harsh cruelty of the world that tried to have him commit suicide.
For a second Aimer had a forceful smile with tears drenching his cheeks.
'Today is the day I die. Hopefully, I will be reborn in a new and better world' Amir thought as he clenched his teeth and awaited his faith.
Just as the Gnolls both raised their pickaxes a new window flashed before Aimers eyes.
"I come to you with one question because you also have been abandoned,"
"Do you wish to live?"
*YES* *NO*
In that second before the Gnolls pickaxes were I inch away from Aimers neck, he spoke the words
"YES!"
*ZWOOP*
*BOOM*
Aimer had disappeared from his spot leaving the Gnolls clueless as to both their pickaxes made contact with nothing but the air and the canvas on which Aimer once stood.
....
Miles away, on a neighboring planet in the Fishbowl System Aimer was transported. The planet was known as Gnayolia, ranked fifth within the spatial system which was higher than Aimer's home planet.
However, to be more specific of Aimer's location he was at the top floor of the sed Entrance his group entered. That was the gateway that led from planet Gnayolia to theirs.
He was laid out flat on the floor before he sprung in an upright position then proceeding to stand properly. Above his head were two windows. The usual one that every human awaken but a second mysterious window was afloat next to it.
*DING*
"You have one duty,"
[TRAIN]
"And stop the invasion."
As the second window above his head sent this notification a hoard of a variety of monsters could be seen charging towards Aimer. And their target was the gateway of the Entrace that lead to planet Earth.
