Awakening

The first thing I saw when I woke up was the sky. It was dark. Blacker than I had ever seen it before.

I got off the ground and stumbled on my feet a little. I felt a bit dizzy. I glanced around my surroundings and discovered I was standing in the middle of some kind of forest. There were trees, rocks, and boulders. Other than that, I couldn’t make out much else as the darkness made it pretty hard to see.

The moonlight pouring down from above provided some illumination, but it was only restricted to my immediate environment.

I was standing at the center of a clearing, and I had no idea how I got there. Not only that, but I couldn’t remember anything either. Not even what I was supposed to be doing. Heck, I couldn’t even remember my own name.

As I stood there unsure what to do next, a sharp pain suddenly exploded from within the lower back of my head. I gritted my teeth in pain and then placed my left hand over the back of my neck.

“Cranial integration complete,” came a robotic feminine voice from within the insides of my skull.

“What?” I asked, confused. “Who said that?”

“Analyzing host and starting up system settings. Please stand by.”

“What the…”

I frantically searched my surroundings despite knowing full well that the voice was coming from within my head.

“Who’s there? Show yourself!” I demanded, but there was nobody else around.

“Analysis complete,” the computerized voice continued. Suddenly, a blue menu screen appeared in front of my face, obstructing most of my vision. I almost tripped on a rock because of it.

“What the hell…” I muttered, trailing off as I took notice of the information displayed on the menu screen.

__________

Basic Info:

Name: Hunter

Age: 22

Height: 7’2

Weight: 360 pounds

Class: Monster Slayer, Weapon Summoner

Level: 1

I was a bit confused by what I was looking at, but I continued reading.

Skills:

Combat Level: 5%

Weapon Summoning: Level 1

Available Weapons and Items:

Bow

Arrows

Sword

Dagger

Special Abilities:

Weapon Summoning by Voice: Available

AI Companion: Active

AI Capabilities: 5%

__________

It was only when I finished reading that I somewhat understood what I had been staring at.

“Are these my stats?” I whispered, mainly just talking to myself.

“Affirmative,” the voice in my head responded almost immediately. “Host seems to have not suffered any immediate complications from cranial integration,” she continued. “However, current biosigns indicate slight dehydration and minimal starvation. You must be hungry. And thirsty.” The AI said this last part with a cheer in her voice, as if we were longtime friends who knew each other.

“Who are you?” I asked plainly, without a hint of amusement in my tone.

“Oh, where are my manners? Hi! I am RACHEL, your personal surveillance and combat-assisted AI companion, reporting for duty.”

“How are you in my head?” I asked, cutting the pleasantries and eagerly looking for answers.

“Via the chip which was inserted at the base of your skull,” she replied.

Hearing that, I lifted my hand to feel around the back of my neck. What felt like USB ports—two of them—were located exactly where Rachel had specified. The base of my skull.

One of them already had something inside it. The chip housing the AI, I guessed. The other one though, was empty. What the hell was happening? Was I even human?

I tried blinking a few times to clear the menu screen that was still obstructing my vision, but it didn’t work.

“Would you like me to close out the window for you?” Rachel asked.

“Yes,” I replied.

The blue menu screen carrying my info disappeared a second later and I once again had a clear view of the trees around me. But I still had no idea where I was, or what I was meant to be doing.

“Rachel.”

“Yes.”

“Where am I?”

“One moment please,” the AI replied as she went about gathering information on my whereabouts. There was a slight pause before she resumed talking again.

“Scans indicate that you are somewhere within the southern region of Dumaria,” she said. “In the Slayer’s Forest.”

I couldn’t tell how, but I immediately recognized the address. The Slayer’s Forest was notorious for harboring some of the most frightening and dangerous monsters on the continent. But why was I here? Only professionals were allowed to venture into the forest, and even then, they didn’t go in alone. Although I was carrying a few weapons in my inventory, I didn’t have any armor on. I only had on a pair of jean shorts and no shoes. I didn’t even have on a shirt.

I was ill-prepared to be standing where I was at that moment, so before I could try to figure out anything else, I needed to get out of there. However, just as I was about to ask Rachel for directions back to town, something happened.

“Warning,” Rachel’s voice boomed from inside my head. “Hostile creatures inbound.”

A chill ran down my spine, triggering my fight-or-flight senses. I glanced around my surroundings, but I couldn’t find anything. Neither was I able to hear footsteps or scuttling moving through the forest brush toward me.

“Where are they?” I asked Rachel, my eyes locked on the trees as I searched for the approaching danger. I don’t know why, but in that moment I felt like I was doing what I was meant to be doing.

“ETA is 40 seconds,” Rachel said.

I didn’t have much to work with, but I needed to be ready. “Bring up menu screen,” I asked Rachel. I lacked any sort of armor, so I needed to pick out a weapon that would serve as both an offensive and defensive tool. A blue screen suddenly appeared in front of my face, and my eyes immediately drifted over to the available weapons and items section.

_____

Available Weapons and Items:

Bow

Arrows

Sword

Dagger

_____

“ETA is now 28 seconds,” Rachel warned, her voice starting to sound worried.

“How do I pick out a weapon?” I asked calmly, my eyes hovering over the bow and arrow. With it, I had the option to switch between a defensive and offensive strategy while keeping my distance. With the sword and dagger, they both required me to engage in close combat. And since I didn’t have any armor on, I couldn’t consider choosing them. Then Rachel answered my question.

“Just say the name of an item you want from your inventory,” she said.

I scrolled a little down my menu screen to the Special Abilities section.

_____

Weapon Summoning by Voice: Available

_____

So that’s what that does.

“ETA is now 15 seconds,” Rachel warned again, sounding even more panicked than before.

I took a step back and then held out my left hand. “Bow,” I said, and suddenly a bright light engulfed my arm before quickly dissipating, leaving something behind. I was now holding a black bow in my left hand.

“Arrows,” I said again. This time, the same bright light engulfed my back and quickly dissipated as it did before. I now had a quiver strapped to my back with a bunch of arrows stuffed inside.

Looking at the weapons I was now holding, I smiled. I didn’t even know why. It just felt right.

“ETA is now 3, 2, 1.”

Suddenly, there was a loud screeching as several creatures flew out of the shadows and came to a halt in front of me. They were several feet off the ground and were flapping their wings to keep them suspended in midair. There were three of them, each one sporting the same horrific characteristics as the others: glowing red eyes, a giant head that resembled the head of a bat, blood-red wings that possessed razor-sharp claws at the tips, and a tiny body.

Blood bats.

That’s what they were called.

A window carrying the necessary information about their modes of attack appeared in a corner of my vision.

_____

Blood Bats

Attack Modes:

Acidic Fireball Spit

Single Diving Slash

Double Diving Slash

Aggressive Swarm

Battering Ram

_____

“Close window,” I said to Rachel after I had finished reading up on the blood bats’ attack modes. The blue menu screen disappeared a second later, and I readied myself for battle.

I took an arrow from the quiver resting on my back and nocked it on my bow. I lifted the bow and arrow as I drew back on the string. Squinting, I took aim at one of the creatures flapping their wings in front of me. Flames and smoke were starting to billow up from its mouth, and I figured it was the one most ready to shoot acid fire at me. It drew its head back as if it was about to spit, and I saw my opening. I released my grip, and the arrow shot forth and punched right through the creature’s throat, spraying blood.

“Nice shot!” Rachel cheered in my head, and I watched as the creature fell toward the ground. However, I didn’t have time to relax as two of the creatures remained.

I nocked another arrow from my quiver and readied myself to shoot another one down. But I wasn’t fast enough. A ball of acid fire rushed down toward me, and I barely rolled out of the way at the last second.

“That was close,” Rachel said.

I turned to snag a quick glance at where I had just stood a second ago, and I saw the splash from the acid fire had already started to eat through the ground. That could have been me. I turned my attention back toward the remaining creatures and lifted my bow and arrow to shoot another one down. I fired, and the one on the left dropped toward the ground.

“Only one left,” Rachel said, starting to sound excited.

I nocked another arrow and aimed it at the last creature. I waited for it to expose its throat. Then I fired.

Blood and acid sprayed out as the arrow zipped through the air and struck the creature in its neck. It plummeted toward the ground.

“And that’s the last of them,” my AI companion said, delighted. “You should take a look at this.” She brought up my stats, which then proceeded to take up my entire field of vision. Everything was as it was before, except with the addition of two new variables and two value changes.

_____

Level: 2

EXP: 3

Silver Coins: 6

Combat Level: 8%

_____

So I had gone up a level and acquired experience and combat points. “That’s cool,” I said. Also, by slaying the three blood bats I had gained three silver coins as well. Although it wasn’t super impressive, it was still quite the sum.

“Close window,” I said to Rachel, and the blue menu screen disappeared a second later. I still had the black bow I had summoned in my hands, and after a quick glance over my shoulder I discovered I had nine arrows left. Despite surviving my first encounter without so much as a scratch, I still needed to get out of there as soon as I could. Not all of my fights were going to be as easy as the one I just had, and I wasn’t about to test my luck.

I was about to ask my AI companion for directions out of the forest when something else happened.

“Warning,” Rachel’s voice boomed in my head once more. “Multiple hostiles inbound for this location. More blood bats. They are coming.”

“Shit,” I said, reaching for another arrow and nocking it.

“How many are there?” I asked Rachel, lifting my bow and arrow and pointing it to the night sky.

“There are six of them this time,” Rachel replied. “With one really big one.”

“Then they are seven,” I said to Rachel, squinting and lowering my aim in the direction of the tree line where the last three blood bats had emerged from.

“Well, wise guy,” Rachel said, a hint of sarcasm in her tone. “They are coming from behind you. Not the front. And ETA is 3, 2, 1…”