SHIT... THIS WILL HURT
(Midday after the storm occurred)
Amid the forest, Robert walked slowly while curiously observing everything around him. The sun had risen on the horizon a couple of hours ago, illuminating the entire landscape. He had been walking northward, nearly twenty kilometers, aiming to reach the border with North Korea to cross it.
But why would he make such an irrational decision?
While he knew he had arrived in a modern and relatively normal world, specifically South Korea, he wasn't sure if staying in this place was the best option he had. Yes, he had managed to learn the language within seconds, a highly unusual event to say the least; however, that wasn't enough to want to settle down hassle-free in this country as he was at a clear disadvantage.
Although his current face had some Asian features, it was evident he wasn't entirely of Korean descent, as his mixed features gave him away. Even the height and build of his new body were characteristics that an average Korean would hardly possess, thus he would inevitably stand out.
And without papers or identity to justify his presence if stopped by local authorities, things would get ugly. Yes, he could obtain forged documents, but this was a new country for him, one where he had never conducted any missions in his previous life, hence it would take time to acquire them.
Furthermore, from what he could overhear from both tourists whose belongings he stole and different villagers he shadowed from a distance in each town he passed, he had learned about something that had turned the whole country upside down.
An inexplicable phenomenon, something never seen before in any city in this world, a storm that had shaken the entire Korean peninsula early yesterday morning! Could this strange phenomenon be related to his arrival? It was a plausible assumption.
With more reason, he needed to get out of this country because one thing he was sure of was that the military and high-ranking officials of the country would be searching for the person responsible for such a disaster.
He planned to cross the northern border at some point and trek through the central Korean mountains, the Rangrim mountains, to eventually reach Primorye, one of the eastern regions of Russia. While he had never set foot in South Korea in his previous life, he had infiltrated North Korea several times, whether for training purposes or to carry out assassination missions.
And while attempting to cross two heavily guarded borders was madness for anyone else, for Robert, it was just part of the job, even in his current situation.
If all went well, he could reach the Russian Federation, a land he knew like the back of his hand, where he would have more advantage in acquiring papers and identity, even securing a good job like in his old life.
Although risky, Robert thought it was what that old man who had sent him to this world wanted to see him go through great troubles.
However, our protagonist was mistaken in this last part.
Ding, ding, ding
"Huh?!"
Just as Robert quietly walked through the forest, an alarm sound resonated in his mind, causing him to crouch down and quickly try to hide. However, he stopped halfway as, before his eyes, a strange thing had appeared.
In the air, one meter in front of him, a blue holographic screen had appeared.
Robert said nothing and quickly began to look around, trying to see if this phenomenon was an enemy attack. However, wherever he looked, that blue screen moved.
'What is this thing?'
Seeing that he couldn't shake off this phenomenon, he decided to inspect it. First, he crouched down and picked up a stone, which he threw at the screen, but it passed through it as if it were air.
Seeing this, he picked up a tree branch and tried to hit the screen, but the tip of the branch also passed through it.
Somewhat resigned, somewhat anxious, but very curious, Robert threw the branch aside and slowly reached out his hand to touch the blue screen.
click
Suddenly, his fingers felt the touch of the screen, not passing through it like the stone or branch.
At that moment, the screen flashed faintly, and a message appeared on it.
[Congratulations, you have fulfilled all the conditions of the secret mission: surviving the arrival.]
"Secret mission? All the conditions?" - Robert muttered, not understanding what he was reading - "What the hell is all this?"
But, as if ignoring his thoughts, the text on the screen changed again.
[You have gained the right to become Transcendent. Do you accept?]
[Yes/No]
"Gaining the right? Transcendent? Accept?... this smells like a trick... it's obvious this crap is the doing of that damn old man."
Robert sighed, realizing that this, which was not a hallucination, was most likely the work of the being who had sent him to this world.
"No, this is the work of that old man, he surely wants to tell me something... the question is, why the hell doesn't he communicate with me directly? Is this some kind of video game?"
Robert knew many things from his previous life, and one of them was about various types of video games that had been released. From generic shooter games to elaborate and sometimes boring role-playing games.
He hadn't played them all; he only needed to know the basics of each game as information for his various missions. That's why this seemed very familiar to him.
Was he sent into the world of some video game?
Robert didn't dwell on the matter anymore; he pressed 'Yes' and waited to see what would happen. He had decided to play this game by the given rules and see the outcome.
Ding, ding, ding
[Congratulations, well done for choosing the correct option, you have five additional points.]
[Congratulations! You have gained the passive ability: Traveler Between Worlds.]
[Congratulations! You have gained the active ability: Body Resistance.]
[You have a welcome message.]
An alarm resonated in his mind at that moment, and new information appeared on the blue screen.
[Status]
>Basic Information:
Name: Robert (Jovanovich) Lee.
Age: 19 years. Race:
Human (99%) / Transcendent (1%)
HP: 10 MP: 10
Strength: 15 Agility: 10 Vitality: 30 (100) Intelligence: 10 Perception: 10 Fatigue: 5
Average human value: 10
Additional Points: 5
>Passive Skills:
(Unknown): maximum level.
Traveler Between Worlds: level 1
Vitality Absorption: blocked.
>Active Skills:
Body Resistance: level 1
"Yeah, this old man is treating this like it's a video game"
Robert muttered as he read the contents of the blue screen. This display of information was similar to the online role-playing games he had seen in his past life.
Suddenly, he frowned as he realized a few things.
The first was that, in addition to retaining his first and last name from his previous life, an Asian surname had been added. While he had noticed that his new body was that of a mixed-race person, what the screen showed confirmed his suspicions.
The second was his age. Although he looked young, there was no way he thought he was nineteen years old, not with the body and size he had. Yes, he was all skin and bones, but his build was not that of a young man at all.
The third thing that caught his attention was that, upon analyzing all the statistics, he realized that, aside from his enormous vitality, all his parameters were as normal as those of an average human.
"Am I really this weak right now?"
While in his past life he hadn't reached the level of science fiction, he did possess strength and skills that could be considered superhuman, able to kill several people with his bare hands.
Even when he regained consciousness in this world, he felt that everything around him was at his disposal, capable of ending the lives of all living beings by consuming their vitality.
He then raised his hands and extended them towards a nearby tree, as if trying to do something. However, nothing happened.
After that, he looked back at the screen and clicked on the 'vitality absorption' skill.
[Vitality Absorption: passive skill (blocked) that allows replenishing one's vitality at the cost of life and fluids from surrounding living beings to rebuild your own body. Only activates in critical moments.]
"I guess this was to be expected" - Robert sighed - "As some gamers would say, this is an overly broken skill."
He didn't know how he had arrived in this world, but from what little he remembered, it was not pleasant at all. That's why he wasn't surprised that he needed a skill like that to rebuild this body he had.
As he could see, although his strength was only slightly above average, the fact that he didn't feel very tired after walking without rest was due to his abundant vitality, which seemed to be draining rapidly.
After this, Robert began touching all the icons of the other abilities he had.
[Unknown Ability - no information available]
"Well, off to a bad start, huh" - Robert smirked ironically upon seeing that there was no information about the only ability he had at maximum level.
[Traveler Between Worlds - Level 1: a passive ability that allows you to travel between different realities only in a one-way trip. It can be used once a month. To make a round trip, you need to level up to level two.]
As he read this, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. While it was truly surprising to know he could go to another reality, if he did it right now, he wouldn't be able to return.
It was necessary to level up, but how? No idea.
[Body Resistance - Active Skill: Walking without rest has earned you good body resistance. When activated, this ability reduces fatigue by one point for every point of mana used.]
"So that's the use I can give to the Mana ability... I thought it was something like the magic in video games" - Robert muttered as he read the information on the screen.
Just then, an icon located in the upper right corner of the blue screen, similar to a notification symbol, caught his attention, and without delay, he pressed it.
[Welcome Message]
[Hey there, kid, hope you didn't arrive in the middle of a city, or else all hell would have broken loose. Well, to the point. Now you're in a good world, a very good one, I'd say. A place where various Manhwas converge and where you can grow and achieve all your goals if you make the right decisions. I've taken the liberty to rewrite reality a bit to give you a background with which you can live relatively peacefully in the country you arrived at, even though it belongs to another reality. With nothing more to tell you, I hope you can fully enjoy your new life because in the future you'll encounter a lot of trouble]
[P.S.: The system you have is garbage, only use it as an interface to see information. It will be useful only in certain circumstances, good luck haha]
[Assimilate background information? Yes / No]
Robert stood still, saying nothing or showing any reaction to the message he had just read.
However, there was only one question in his mind.
What did all this mean?! A place where various Manhwas converge?
"Damn... this is worse than I thought."
In his past life, he had performed several jobs against various targets, some with different types of tastes and hobbies.
Among them all, there was one time he had to eliminate the son of a French arms smuggler, who could enjoy the good life thanks to his father's money.
To be able to end his target, he had studied his entire itinerary, all his tastes and hobbies.
The peculiar thing about this kid was that he had a great fondness for comics from Asia. Japanese manga and anime, Korean manhwas, and Chinese manhuas were the main sources of entertainment for this boy.
Robert did know about this because sometimes one or another of those cartoons came on television, but he didn't know anything else from there.
For the job in question, he had to glance at everything the target reviewed on the internet, learning from several of these things in the process. However, after finishing his work, he did not touch anything related to it again.
"And now, this damn old man has sent me to one of those worlds... What the hell was he thinking?"
Robert didn't know how to take this information. Now he understood why he had come to South Korea, as this country was the cradle of manhwas.
However, he did not know this type of history, only that most of them either were basic pornography without a story or were about killing monsters and skills gained from an interface called a system.
"Well, now I know why I have this blue screen in front of me... a system, how cliché" - Robert shook his head at this fact - "And, as if that weren't enough, it's a garbage system."
The next moment, he pressed 'Yes.'
Suddenly, a large amount of information about his 'identity' began to flow through his mind, giving him a slight headache.
Information about his supposed parents and family, vivid images of the places where he grew up and lived, the schools he attended, as well as the different places he supposedly traveled to... everything was so solid as if it was his former life.
"Damn, that did hurt a bit" - Robert complained as he rubbed his forehead - "I hope this is true, otherwise, I'll have to get out of this place as soon as possible"
While until recently he was thinking of heading north, right now he had to reassess his plans and change everything completely.
He had been assigned an identity, very convoluted, to be honest, with which he could, in theory, have a chance in this country. However, he had to make an effort to make the idea credible that he had come from an alternative South Korea, from another reality.
Now he had to go and meet with the authorities of this country to tell them such shit.
Would they believe him?
In a normal situation, the answer would be a resounding no, but with what had happened, any fantastic thing could be taken as truth. Besides, now he was in a world where perhaps fantastic things could happen, so he had nothing to lose by trying.
"Well, if that's the case, I must prepare myself for any inconvenience"
Looking at the status screen, Robert noticed he had something else to do.
[Additional Points: 5. You can distribute them among the rest of your statistics, do it wisely]
He looked at this data carefully. Until now, he hadn't paid attention to it because all his thoughts were focused on assimilating his new situation, but now he could look at it calmly.
Had he earned these points because it was his first time using the system or was there a way to earn them constantly?
As if the system could hear Robert's thoughts, it displayed additional text.
[Additional points are awarded by completing daily missions, as well as secondary and special missions. The amount of points depends on the missions]
"Wow, it seems you're not a garbage system like the old man says" - Robert murmured - "So, can skills also be gained by doing missions?"
[Passive and active skills can be gained not only by completing assigned missions but also by performing hidden missions that can generate them] - in response to his question, an alternative text appeared on the floating screen.
Robert only mentally nodded at this response, and began to think about what to do with his additional points.
Apart from HP and MP, there were five different options to which he could allocate his additional points. He could assign all five at once to a single option, or distribute one point among the five.
[Strength], [Vitality], and [Agility] understood the meaning behind those attributes quite easily given they were qualities of any assassin. However, the abilities of [Intelligence] and [Perception] were equally required.
Which option was more convenient?
[Vitality] was out of the question since he had an abnormal reserve. [Strength] was only slightly above average, leaving him with three options.
"Let's put one point in Intelligence one in Perception, and the remaining three in Agility," Robert exclaimed. "If I get more points in the future, I'll balance them better."
In response, the data displayed on the blue screen changed.
[Status]
>Basic information:
Name: Robert Jovanovich Lee.
Age: 19 years old.
Race: Human (99%) / Transcendent (1%)
HP: 10 MP: 10
Strength: 15 Agility: 13 Vitality: 30 (100) Intelligence: 11 Perception: 11 Fatigue: 2
Average human value: 10 Additional
points: 0
>Passive skills:
(Unknown): maximum level.
Traveler Between Worlds: Level 1
Vitality Absorption: blocked.
>Active skills:
Body Resistance: Level 1
"Hmm? Is that it? I don't think I'm smarter than I was a few seconds ago... I think I'll need more points to figure that out. However, let's try something."
Suddenly, the young man began to throw a series of punches into the air, as if he were boxing. His movements were fast as if he had great fighting technique.
"Hmm, this doesn't feel very different, but I can tell my movements are smoother... I think the point allocation worked" - Robert opened and closed his fist as he spoke - "Well, with this, I think I'm ready. It's time for espionage. I need to have the attitude of an ordinary boy so they might believe me, let's go!"
Slapping himself on the face, our protagonist began to walk westward, towards the next town, where he would try to contact someone to take him to the city.
...........
"What the hell happened here?"
Robert exclaimed as he reached the outskirts of a village located a few kilometers from the northern border.
Unlike other villages where he could see several people walking randomly, this place was unusually calm.
This caught the boy's attention immediately. His instincts told him something had happened—something possibly not good.
And as soon as he set foot inside the village, his suspicions were confirmed, as what he saw was something that could turn anyone's stomach.
At intervals, traces of blood and scattered guts were everywhere, along with various human body parts! Men, elderly, women, children... All were once the villagers of this place.
This bloody spectacle in broad daylight was horrifying!
This had a certain impact on our protagonist because, despite being forged under the cloak of death, this was not his style of work. It seemed more like something done by a deranged psychopath.
Ding, ding, ding
[Hidden Mission: Horrific Massacre] [Find out what caused this massacre – Reward: 3 additional points]
"Yeah... no, this is messed up"
Robert began to walk slowly, with a calm gaze, trying to observe every detail, no matter how minute, of this horrific scene.
His attitude had completely changed. While he had a mild impression upon first seeing the dismembered bodies, it was only fleeting.
Gradually, his new body acquired the cautious aura that had always accompanied him in his former life.
Carefully inspecting the bodies, he realized they seemed to have been chewed and torn apart by extremely sharp things, as if a cutting weapon with teeth, like a giant sickle, had been used.
Did a person do this? Was it a group of people? It was unlikely.
The disordered terrain, the remnants of broken things as if something heavy had crushed them, and most importantly, some animal tracks suggested that this was done by a large, very large feline.
Perhaps a tiger?
Though likely, a tiger would have killed one person and injured others, not massacred the entire village. Also, seeing some shotguns lying on the ground, Robert could assume that these villagers tried to defend themselves.
If it had been a feline, using weapons would most likely have scared off the animal, but it seems that this was not the case here.
"Damn... and I thought I had arrived in a completely normal world"
Gradually, he began to enter the houses to find out what the hell had happened, but all he found was a chaotic mess, just like things were outside. It seemed that whatever had killed the villagers had entered every home and dragged them out to kill them outside, as he found no bodies inside the houses.
Lastly, he nudged open one of the slightly open doors of one of the less affected houses with his elbow. Inside, things were more or less in place, where a small television was on.
[Among other news, KMA spokesperson Jin Ha-Kyung announced that the terrifying lightning storm that occurred the previous night, which has caused various damages to the infrastructure of several points in the country and abroad, is most likely an isolated strange event as there are no indications that such a thing could happen again, however, it is recommended to take precautions...]
The beautiful presenter on the television screen was announcing information about the event that occurred in the early hours, an event that affected not only the country but all neighboring regions.
"Well, so that storm wasn't an isolated event"
Robert murmured as he watched everything being transmitted on the small television. While he had heard some things while traveling, seeing the magnitude and extent of such a natural phenomenon was another matter.
That was something that wouldn't happen normally, not by a long shot. Rather, it seemed like something out of science fiction.
"For my sake, I hope the authorities buy the bullshit excuse that old man has prepared for me... If not, what awaits me will be a cold metal table, many needles, and several cuts on my body"
Wuuu! Ahuuu!
At that precise moment when Robert was being sarcastic, sounds resembling howls were heard from outside!
He reacted quickly and crouched. Carefully, he approached a wall and tried to glance out the window, finding a bad, very bad scene before him.
"While the dismembered bodies might cause a slight annoyance, what is in front of me now made my body tense up completely"
'Damn... is this a joke, right?'
About fifty meters away, a group of five animals were sniffing around some corpses while moving some pieces back and forth, as if playing with them.
However, this was the least of Robert's concerns, who began to sweat as he saw what those animals were like.
They are huge animals similar to gray wolves, over two meters tall, which were sitting on their hind legs while using what looked like hands to manipulate the parts of several bodies!
'Those things... are responsible for the massacre...'
Ding, ding, ding
[Completed the hidden mission: Horrific Massacre! You have 3 additional points]
Woooo!
Just as his system notified him that he had completed the mission to find out the cause of the massacre, those beasts raised their heads and directed their gaze in his direction, as if they had noticed his presence!
"Damn... this is going to hurt."