by Pegaz
The only thing on his body was a pair of leather boots.
Chapter 4
The System’s a Thief!
When I first woke up, I was flat on my back. And when I laid down by the stream, the water was moving too fast to catch my reflection.
John’s thoughts raced as he stood before the adventurers, feeling exposed. It’s been one thing after another, and I haven’t had the time to even dust off my clothes. I’ve been running for my life, scaling mountains and… not ONCE did I think to check if I was wearing clothing! Isn’t that the first thing any sane person would have noticed?!
Under his breath, he muttered to himself. “I’ve lost my mind.”
At this statement, although it was as quiet as John could manage, the adventurer with a sword took a few steps back, grasp tightening around the hilt. He lowered his stance, getting ready to strike at a moment’s notice. John took note of this and tried to defuse the tension with a smile.
“I’ve no idea why I’m naked,” he explained in an even tone. “Nor do I remember much. It seems I’ve got am—”
Before he could finish, he was cut off by the abrupt chortles of the other two adventurers.
“Amnesia, right?” one of them laughed. “What a classic excuse from you Siders.”
“Siders?” John quirked an eyebrow, almost as curious as he was insulted. “What’s a Sider? And wait a minute, how do you know I’m not telling the truth? I really don’t remember how I got here!”
The man with the sword who, John assumed, was the leader of this party held up his hand, putting an end to the laughter. He turned back to John and calmly explained.
“The term ‘Sider’ is an abbreviation that the people have come up with for people like you. Am I correct in assuming that you’ve come here from Earth?”
John stared up at the leader, eyes wide. He nodded, and the man continued.
“Nine out of ten times, a Sider will use the amnesia excuse when first meeting people here.” As if sensing John’s rising tension, the leader spoke in a reassuring voice. “There’s no need to panic. Although it is rare for a Sider to arrive here, your kind are well-known here. There are various records in public libraries about the world you’ve come from, and even more stories of the many adventures that other Siders have partaken in. There are amazing tales documenting right up until their deaths, or even up until they have achieved immortality.”
In the heavy silence, John tried to process as much of this as he could. His heart skipped a beat at this explanation, and although he was somewhat overwhelmed, something deep inside of him sparked with utter excitement.
“Well, thank god SOMEONE has all the answers,” the words came streaming out of John’s mouth, shattering the silence. His voice was surprisingly steady, although his hands were shaking. Was it nervousness? Excitement? Both? “I still have no clue where I am or how I got here. I don’t even know what I look like, and I… wait—immortality? Did you say immortality? There are real life immortals in this world?”
One of the other two adventurers standing further away became visibly impatient and began to shout.
“Forget all that now! Why haven’t you covered up?! Did you forget that you’re still buck-nude?!” With a growl, the adventurer made his absolute annoyance known. He turned to the leader and continued.
“This isn’t the time nor the place to discuss this! Have you forgotten why we were running in the first place?”
John stepped to the side, hiding behind the rabbit. He honestly didn’t really see the importance of covering up, since they’d already seen everything at this point. Plus, they were all guys, right? Seeing his naked body for a few extra seconds wasn’t going to harm anyone. Of course, it would have been a completely different story if he had known beforehand that he wasn’t wearing clothing. But John took the situation at face value. Getting information was his current priority—that, and staying alive. He eyed the leader’s longsword, which had been pointed at him not too long ago.
At the words of his party member, the leader turned back to John to speak, a sense of urgency in his voice.
“We’re running from a Continuous Bear. Our party is no match for it in a head-on fight, so we’re leading it to the slope of the mountain. We’re going to try to attack it from below, but what we need...” The leader trailed off and his gaze penetrated deep into John’s eyes. “What we need for this plan to work is live bait.”
John swallowed. He knew exactly where this was going.
“You do realize,” the leader continued, holding his gaze, “with no weapons or experience and being in the nude as you are, that bear is going to target you. He’s going to chase you whether you help us out or not.”
“What are you proposing?” John spoke carefully, even though he already knew the answer.
“Be our bait,” the leader finished. “And at least with us, you’ll have a chance of making it out alive.”
As the words left his mouth, a loud roar shook the surrounding air. Their attention was drawn back to the trees, and there in the distance was what John assumed to be the so-called Continuous Bear.
Without a moment of hesitation, the three adventurers broke into a sprint toward the slope that John had just descended from. Taking a moment to get a good look of the creature in question, John noted the similarities between it and the bears of Earth. As it hurled through the forest with a vicious stature, he could make out the black fur, sleek albeit a bit weathered. John guessed the creature to be about seven feet tall while on all fours. God knows how big it would be standing.
And John wasn’t going to be there to find out.
With a jolt of adrenaline, the naked man turned and sprinted after the group of adventurers. With no heavy equipment to weigh him down, he easily overtook the three and reached the slope. He immediately started scaling the mountain once more, moving with more speed and precision than he’d ever moved in his last lifetime. So preoccupied was he with climbing, he failed to notice the adventurers getting into the right position for their plan. They hid behind the nearest tree, about fifteen feet away from the slope itself.
As the leader predicted, the bear ignored the adventurers and went straight for John. No troublesome clothing to tear away, no armour or weapons to put up a fight—he truly was the perfect target.
About forty feet into his climb, John glanced down and saw that the bear was having a little trouble getting its footing. The rocks were smaller than the bear’s paws, and the creature's girth made it even more difficult for it to find its balance. With every step, the bear slid further and further down, weighed down by its sheer mass. It was making about half the progress that John was making.
From his vantage point, John could see the three adventurers each loading their crossbows. They stealthily approached the bear from behind, flanking it from both the right and left sides.
When they were about ten feet away from their target, they aimed at the underbelly of the beast. Exchanging a nod among each other, each of the party members crouched down low for a better shot.
The leader held up his fingers as a silent countdown.
Three.
Two.
One.
The team sprang into action, arrows tearing through the air and biting into the soft flesh of the bear. Caught completely by surprise by the piercing arrows, the monster threw its head back and let loose a chilling shriek of alarm and rage that shook the very air. In a fit of retaliation, the bear surged to its feet, standing a full twelve feet tall! As it did this, however, the ledge that it stood on wobbled under the creature’s weight and mass, threatening to give way.
The bear lost its balance.
Down it tumbled, like a vicious monument. John watched with eyes wide as it tried to catch itself by shifting its weight, but failed. Its limbs lashed about in a wild desperation as the goliath rolled down the slope. With a large CRACK sound, the bear’s skull met the bottom of the slope.
John stared in absolute disbelief. His grasp tightened as
the side of the slope shook with the impact of the bear. A few loose rocks followed the bear’s downward path, trailing after in a less impressive fashion.
After collecting himself, John hurried back down the slope to rejoin the three adventurers.
“What kind of crossbow bolts are those?” John’s eagerness truly showed as his first words escaped his mouth.
“Hollow point bolts,” one of the adventurers answered. “You unscrew them and place a poison inside. When the bolt hits the target, the tip breaks off and the poison is released. The poison we used just now is a weaker one known as Balance Breaker.”
John’s interest must have been written all over his face, because the adventurer took one look at him and continued his explanation.
“After just a few seconds, this poison can travel through the circulatory system of any living creature. It makes its way into the brain, leaving the other organs alone. The poison only affects your sense of balance, and nothing more. It’s not deadly on its own, but it can be if used properly.”
“Imagine this,” he went on, “You’re trying to fight an ordinary guy who has nothing but a Normal dagger. Then suddenly, you lose your balance! You can’t swing your sword properly, you feel nauseous and dizzy to boot. You can hardly stand! So how can you even expect to defend yourself?”
“So…” John surmised. “The bear fell because of the poison?”
“That’s part of the reason,” the other adventurer chimed in, lips curled into a smug grin. “We’ve got the loose rocks to thank for the rest. At any rate, it might just be stunned right now. The poison acts fast, but on a creature that big I doubt it’ll last too long.”
“We’ve got about 5 minutes,” the leader spoke up. “Let’s finish it off.”
And so, the four men strolled downhill to where the bear had fallen against the ruptured ground. In its last moments of consciousness, it seemed like the bear had dragged itself about ten feet away. It now lay limp in a clearing, eyes squeezed shut and chest heaving weakly. Its left front leg was bent in an unnatural way—broken, as far as John could tell.
“Since you were the bait, you can finish it off.”
The leader held his longsword out for John to use. With a curt nod, John grasped the hilt of the sword.
It was heavy and slightly warm in his hand. Readjusting his grip, John slowly carried the sword toward the bear. He stood away from the claws and teeth, wondering where he should strike. He finally decided to go for the neck.
“Its fur and skin act like a natural armour.” As if sensing his uncertainty, the leader called out to him. “That blade is only a Normal sword, so you won’t be able to kill it from there. You need to target the underbelly where the soft flesh is. That’s why we lured it up to the hill in the first place.”
Taking in the information, John nodded back to the leader. He adjusted his position and tightened his grip. With a heave, he lifted the blade and paused a moment to look down at the monstrous creature. In this world, he mused, it is kill or be killed.
With a ferocious lunge, John drove the heavy steel into the underbelly of the bear.
Congratulations for killing your first Rank H monster with the system in place! We have given you the reward of 1 Skill Point to place in the category of your choice.
Congratulations for killing a monster that the system can use! The system has taken the Continuous Bear’s monster core and from it has extracted a trait. It has been modified and added for your use.
Chapter 5
The New Skill
Taken aback by the sudden assault of notifications, John’s session with the system was interrupted by the adventurers’ approach. As the trio stepped forward to investigate the bear’s corpse, John was able to focus on their facial features for the first time.
The leader was a blond man with a slightly hooked nose, stubble lightly coating his chin and giving him the guise of a weathered veteran. His brown eyes were stern and authoritative, complimenting his broad shoulders and noble posture. Standing around six feet tall, the man wore hard leather-like armour of a brownish hue. Around his waist, the man sheathed his blade on his left side. John caught a glimpse of the crossbow that sat behind his back.
Just like Ga***t from The Wi***er game series, he couldn’t help but think.
John recognised the man who had made a big deal about him covering up earlier. Getting a better look, he was shorter than the leader. He had a mop of red hair, a pair of brown eyes, and a fleshy nose. He was somewhat slimmer than the leader too, but he wore the same brown armour. The weapons he carried were similar to that of the leader’s.
And finally, John turned his head to the last of the adventurers. The final guy was half a foot taller than the other two and had the broad shoulders to support his muscular frame. There was nothing remarkable about his brown hair or blue eyes, but his nose had a bumpy texture that almost contrasted too much with the stubble that coated his jaw. From the look of his heavy metal armour and the big shield upon his back, this guy was definitely the tank of the party.
All three men looked to be in their early twenties. John mused over their ages with slight concern, wondering what sort of society was in place in this world. The men noticed John’s stares.
John smiled and broke the silence. “So… do any of you know how to make clothing from the animal skin? Maybe this bear or the rabbit from earlier? If it’s still intact, I mean.”
The three adventurers exchanged glances among each other before shaking their heads. A little disappointed, John suggested they fashion something like a loincloth at the very least. Everyone agreed with no hesitation.
While the leader and the redhead dissected the bear, John accompanied the big guy in retrieving the rabbit corpse. The group decided to set up camp close to where the bear had fallen, which was ways away from where they were headed. Approaching the clearing where they first encountered one another, John and the tank found that, miraculously, the rabbit remained untouched. The two of them lugged the flesh onto the adventurer’s shoulders and made their way back to camp.
“My name’s Peter,” the larger man introduced himself as they made their way. “The party leader’s name is Alan. He’s the one with the blond hair and a look sharp enough to give you a run for your money. Oh, and the other guy’s just Cyril. It’s nice ta meetcha!”
“Nice to meet you too! Though, I wish it were under better circumstances.” John felt relieved at Peter’s welcoming attitude. He was finally having a normal conversation with someone—though the fact that he had to cover his crotch as he walked was a little annoying. “Can you tell me more about that bear? Why was it after you in the first place?”
“That creature is called a Continuous Bear. It’s a Rank H monster and sits around the top of the food chain in this low-level area. As for its name-sake,” Peter glanced over at John with a snicker, “once it sees its prey, it continues to chase it down no matter where they go or how long it takes. When it saw you with us, it recognised you as part of our group. That’s why it went after you. Well, that and the fact that you look like the easiest prey between the four of us.”
Peter chuckled a bit at that part, and John shifted uncomfortably under his brutally honest judgement.
“We were quite lucky with this one, though. It only chased us for about fifteen minutes before we ran into you. Having some live bait really gave us our lucky break,” Peter smiled at the shorter man, a genuine smile, not a sarcastic or mocking one. “It’s good that we took care of it. When it comes to a Continuous Bear, it’s kill or be killed.”
John found some comfort in Peter’s sincerity, though there still remained the question of what the system had done to the monster’s ‘core’. Even though knowledge of ‘Siders’ seemed to be pretty common, John figured that knowledge of the system was a different story.
“So,” John couldn’t resist asking, “are Siders well-known?”
“They’re well-known, but what Alan said about them being rare is no understatement. The last k
nown Sider in this area died about four years ago from old age in his seventies. He was here for about sixty years, too.” Peter paused for a moment to let John process the information. “He wrote and published his own biography, to boot. You can pick up a copy to read in most libraries, if you wanted to give it a look. Oh, but the Sider before him is still alive and kicking. Or, at least, there’s no record of his death. He ventured toward the Immortal Sects, so it’s possible he’s still alive. That was nearly a hundred years ago, though.”
Before John could open his mouth to ask, Peter cut right back in.
“People in this world live on average about fifty years, give or take. It’s actually quite high! That’s not including the deaths from adventurers, of course. Most of us don’t make it past our twenties.”
There was a bleak patch of silence as John recalled his unspoken concern about the ages of the three men.
“That also doesn’t include Immortals,” Peter added in a low voice, as if speaking to himself. “It wouldn’t even be a number if we counted those…”
John was stunned by all the knowledge that Peter had to offer. Initially, he’d written him off as one of those brain-dead-all-brawn types.
“How do you know so much?” he unabashedly asked.
“That’s where your kind comes in,” Peter once again bore a smile. “Ever since Siders started coming here, life for the common people has improved so much. One of the first Siders to come here wound up becoming the founder of the kingdom of the east. As king, he brought us schools, hospitals, laws, food, and a bunch of technology using monster cores as power. He shared it all with the world under the condition that Siders were to be treated as equals and not abused for any wicked motives.”
