My New Comrade

The buff grey-skinned man held the massive freezer atop his head. The freezer looked heavier than a fridge, and it was most likely filled with food, yet he somehow was able to hold it like it was merely a pale of water that he had carried back from the river.

"How the hell are you doing that?" I barked.

"Simple, I'm a half-ogre wizard."

"A half-ogre… Wizard… But aren't those mutually exclusive?"

"Maybe, but when the class and race evaluation quest took place, I had just finished writing a passage in my fantasy novel that told the life of a half-ogre wizard from a first-person perspective."

Jutting his jaw forward, he continued speaking.

"When it finished the writing was still fresh in my mind, and voila, now I'm an ogre wizard."

"Amazing," I said.

"Indeed, but not half as amazing as what you're capable of."

I looked to the ground and muttered, "Yeah, about that—"

The ogre man dropped the freezer on the grass beside him, resting his hand atop it.

"There you go, one big ass tub full of food and water. Just as the nice lady ordered."

I smirked and commented, "I thought you gave the orders."

"Well, I couldn't just turn the pretty girl down. She's taken a liking to ya'. Not sure why, though. It could've been that regenerating tongue of yours… Or maybe it's because she fed food to ya' like a baby bird—"

"Yeah, no, I doubt it."

He gave a blatantly fake smile, saying, "Who knows?"

"You're jealous, aren't you?"

"No, me? Never."

We looked deep into each other's eyes, giving each other stone-cold stares, but we couldn't hold back the wave of laughter for very long.

Resting a hand on my shoulder, he said, "Guy, I like you. What's your name?"

"Henry. Yours?"

"Adam."

Sitting down on the curb beside me, Adam patted me on the back with enough force to leave a person bruised.

He felt oddly familiar yet still so intimidating to be around like someone with the brain of a four-eyes nerd but the physique of Frankenstein's monster. In a way, that's exactly what he was.

Opening up the freezer, he retrieved and tossed me a can of beer.

"You know how I turned into an ogre, so now you tell me how you turned into whatever the hell you are."

Cracking open the beer and slurping down its contents, I retold the events that led to where I was now, leaving out the part with the girl.

He looked at me and laughed.

"So, you think that you became a spiteful loser because that was how you thought of yourself, and you became a juggernaut because you desperately needed it to survive. That's rough."

"Yeah, pretty much. Though that is just an educated guess, I don't actually know. Also, I didn't actually become a juggernaut till my race evolved or something like that."

"So that's a thing that can happen? Huh, sounds pretty cliché."

"Amen to that, brother."

We laughed and sipped our beers.

Looking over to me, he proposed an idea.

"Since XP is practically useless for you, then why don't I supply you with as much food as you need, and in return, you supply the encampment with XP crystals."

"What are you even talking about?!"

He gave me a look of surprise and questioned, "You mean you didn't know?"

"No, of course not. I was unconscious during the tutorial, remember?"

"That's true, I guess."

He took another swig and continued, "Essentially, XP in this game world is ingested by mouth rather than by the action of killing. It comes in the form of a crystal located where the monster's heart would be. For all intents and purposes, it may as well be considered their heart."

Pouring the rest of the beer out onto the grass, he stood up and brushed the back of his jeans off.

"The benefit of this system is that someone who doesn't get the kill can get still get the reward, but it comes at the cost of not being very squeamish accessible to acquire if you catch my drift."

Adam crushed the empty beer can and tossed it to the street.

"Of course, you can still use the crystals on yourself if you want, but I can't afford to do food supply runs just for your sake if we aren't getting anything back in return."

Had he even fought a monster yet? I still hadn't seen one apart from the colossal flying ones off in the horizon.

Adam waved his hand and began walking away, saying, "Stick around here and put all that food into your Narnia pocket or whatever. The girl is going to be comin' over here to talk you up."

"Alright, thanks, man," I hollered back.

After a few seconds, he stopped in place and turned back.

"Oh, I almost forgot to give you something."

Producing a pistol from his pocket, he held it out for me to grab.

"I'm sure you won't need it, but just in case, here it is. It's fully loaded, and don't forget safety is on."

Grabbing it from his hand, I replied, "Thanks."

He gave me a smile and walked away.

"A half-ogre, huh. Shit, could've fooled me."

There was definitely some resemblance what with the slightly upturned nose, but Adam still looked relatively human.

"I guess that is the other half."

Setting the pistol on the curb, I stepped up to the freezer to examine its contents. Inside were various foods ranging from candy to vegetables.

I'd assume that I could eat as much as I want, and my stomach would then regulate the output of nutrients depending on what my body required in that moment.

"Well, let's get to it."

***

Wrappers and inedible bits of food were strewn out all across the grass. Piled up empty plastic water bottles sitting in the center of the street.

It was the afternoon, and I had yet to see whoever this mystery lady was show up. It wasn't much of a mystery since I already had an idea of who it was.

"Damn, I went through that whole freezer like it was nothing."

Since I had now eaten more than enough to go into a yearlong hibernation, I felt a burgeoning urge to continue exercising.

"It wouldn't hurt to do a bit more exercising.

Dropping to my hands, I commenced with pushups.

"One. Two. Three. Four. Five…"

***

"Nine hundred ninety-nine. One thousand"

Before I had even realized it, I had already done a thousand pushups. The weirdest part was how I felt rejuvenated, like I could do it all again if I needed to.

"Alright, now one hundred laps around the block at full speed."

I immediately bolted down the road as fast as I could.

***

Bending over, I took a few seconds to catch my breath. Then standing back up I once again felt totally refreshed.

"Uncanny Regeneration is too OP."

Open stats.

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[User: Henry Miller]

[Race: Juggernaut]

[Class: Spiteful Loser]

[Lv: 0]

[Xp: 0/100]

[Body: 10]

[Mental: 11]

[Senses: 10]

[Magic: 0]

[Skills: Racial ability (Uncanny Regeneration), Racial ability (Stomach Pocket-Dimension), Class ability (Fearless Resolve)]

[Traits: Racial trait (Starting attributes are unaffected by this race), Class trait (Attributes don't increase by leveling up), Class trait (Starting attributes are unaffected by this class)]

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