Elias woke up on a flat bed.
'Is this another vision?' Elias wondered. 'Maybe this time it'll be a flashback. I wouldn't mind that one bit.'
Laying there for a few seconds, Elias relished in the comfort of the bed and its false promise of a simpler time. Then he opened his eyes to Markus staring at him.
"You're nobody important," Elias groaned before covering his eyes with his right arm. "I'm not in the mood to talk to backstabbing cowards. And don't act like you're anything else either."
Lowering his arm back to his side, Elias turned away from the jackass kid and stared at the wall. It was plain, white, and boring.
After a few seconds Markus said, "I'm not here to explain myself. Truthfully, I don't care if you die. I don't care if Dereshi or Fisch die."
Markus's breath hitched in his throat for just a second before he continued, "I don't even care if I die. As long as we kill every single one of these bastards who prey on innocent people back home, I'm golden."
"I thought you said you weren't explaining yourself." Elias muttered.
He wasn't going to fall for any of the gaslighting shit anyway. Of course the kid was going to lie and act like the betrayal was some noble sacrifice. That's what any person with half a brain would do.
And the kid was young, not stupid.
"I'm not explaining myself. I'm simply saying how it is in my group." Markus said before walking away.
Once he reached the door he paused to say, "I do whatever it takes to complete my mission. If you hate me for it, cool. Hopefully you'll survive this and find a better crew. Either way, we're heading further in town tomorrow, to the Dark Citadel. Once we're there we'll fight the alpha."
"And I'm going to bait once again, of course."
Elias's accusation cut through the cold night air, plunging deep into the young leader's chest.
Markus stood there for a few moments, completely still and silent. Then with a heavy breath he muttered, "The truth is, we're all bait."
...
Elias lie there, staring at the ceiling as he rubbed his coin. Hundreds of thoughts raced through his mind, each one more treacherous than the last.
'We're all bait.' Elias shook his head before sitting up.
Even though the reaper wasn't there, he could feel his presence and the weight of his promise. Someone from this crew was going to die protecting him.
Elias knew that couldn't be anymore than a wishful lie. It just didn't make sense that somebody would die for anyone else. And especially not for a stranger like him.
But then again, nothing made sense.
A kid who couldn't be more than twelve was their brutal, realistic leader who was ready to treat everyone as little more than a pawn. This world he had never been a part of held some godlike woman in a dark throne room who seemed to rever him. Even this world was an impossibility.
None of it made sense.
None of it.
'But that's kinda normal, isn't it,' Elias thought. 'Since when has my life been normal. When I tried to hide mom and dad's death? What part of hugging your sister tight and telling her they went on a business trip while their bloody corpse were in the next room could be called normal?'
Elias squeezed his eyes shut as his body shook from the cold hard facts.
He never had a chance for a normal life.
In fact, this was the closest he ever got to taking back control of his destiny. Even if he didn't understand the world, he now had the tools to grow stronger and carve his own path.
For the first time in five years he even had a chance to save his sister. All he had to do was grow stronger.
'So I need to train,' Elias slid the coin in his pocket as resolve took hold of him.
Then he closed his mind and imagined entering the training room.
Within a few seconds the comfort of his bed turned into the cold hard tiles of the training room floor. The nice and warm temperature suddenly grew ice cold, as if the room itself rejected heat.
Elias didn't mind the sudden and extreme change, though. With how much work he planned on doing his body would be more than hot enough.
'Let's start with the dailies,' Elias thought as he brought up the system screen.
It would be a rigorous workout but he needed to see what kind of rewards the daily quest gave. And regardless, if he was going to become some type of hunter in this supernatural world he would need to be fit.
Therefore, Elias took a single shuddering breath before bracing himself for hell.
...
[Ding! Daily Quest Finished!!]
After 40 minutes the system's chime reverberated through his mind, it's resplendent tone resembling that of a church choir.
'Thank god,' Elias thought with a grin as he rested his hands on his knees.
Sweat poured from his brow with such force that it threatened to turn the room into an ocean. Every muscle fiber in his body convulsed and twitched, threatening to burst if strained for even a second more.
However, Elias couldn't help but laugh.
All the pain was evidence of training, of him becoming that much stronger.
"C-cmon..." Elias panted. "Show me the good stuff."
[Rewards]
* 5 Upgrade Points
* 2% Absorption Progress
* Bronze chest
'Bronze chest?' Elias thought with wonder, as he hadn't expected that. Although he wanted to open it up immediately, Elias decided to apply his Upgrade Points first.
''Strength, Intelligence, Charisma, Agility, Stamina, and Perception... those are the stats I can upgrade," Elias murmured.
'Charisma is the lowest, followed by strength and stamina. Maybe I should just upgrade my lowest stats so that I won't have any weakness.'
'But then again, I wouldn't have anything I'm really good at either. If I focus everything into my best stats it would give me a strong base to practice and strategize around.'
Elias studied the stats as he fought between the two strategies. Both of them had their own merits but he could only choose one path.
If he tried to meet them in the middle by splitting his upgrades between his highest and lowest stats, Elias knew that would be fatal. His lowest stats wouldn't be high enough to be useful, and his highest stats would be too low to carry him.
No, it was an all or nothing situation.
He had to either be good at everything or the best at a specific thing.
Sighing, Elias grumbled, "This would be so much easier if I was just a god at everything. All this min maxing is tedious."
Shaking his head, Elias recalled his fight against the vampires. Even though he had been able to sense them well before they attacked, he wasn't nearly strong or agile enough to defend against their attacks.
As of right now, perception and intelligence were his highest stats. If he increased them even more, Elias wondered if that would be enough to overcome his lack of strength and agility.
In his fight against the vampires, one of them were able to strike him from behind, and that was what ultimately lead to the beasts surrounding him.
'If I upgrade Perception, would it be enough so that wouldn't happen? Maybe if I develop some sort of skill similar to precognition...'
Elias pondered the idea for a second before shaking his head. That path was too risky and assumed too many things. Namely, that he would still be able to survive their attacks if even one slipped through his defense.
Rubbing his arms, Elias couldn't help but grimace at the memory of his torn ligaments dangling from his elbow. Of course, Fisch had fixed him up good.
But he couldn't rely on other people.
Therefore, Elias upgraded Strength to 8 and Stamina to 7. With his next upgrade, he planned on upgrading Strength, Agility, and Stamina.
After all, the intelligence stat being 2 had to be a cruel joke from the system.
Shaking his head at the absurdity, Elias moved on to his next task: opening the Bronze Chest.
It was an idea he knew from many webnovels. It probably held some kind of gear or currency or title. Nothing too crazy, but definitely an upgrade nonetheless.
'Show me what you got,' Elias thought as he commanded the system to open the chest.
[Ding!!]
[Accessing Bronze Chest!]
Within seconds the contents of the chest appeared on the screen, causing Elias's eyes to widen.