Broken Anomaly

Quest: Clear the building. Objective: Eliminate all monsters within the building. Reward(s): Temporary safe zone.

Alex and Eric finished reading the windows that had appeared before them, then looked at each other, both having come to a similar conclusion. Before either of them could speak, a familiar notification sound could be heard, accompanied by various other rings from those around them.

As Eric reached for his phone, Alex did the same and attempted to make a call. Eric looked at his phone screen, noticing that he had no signal. He turned to look at Alex, who had also noticed that he had no signal.

“Worth a shot. Who knows what’s going on with this,” Eric said, shaking his phone. Letting out a small sigh, he continued. “We should go see Stella and Marcus.”

Alex glanced at the administration building before turning back and nodding. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

Both of them headed towards the stairs on the left side of the room. As they climbed the stairs, Eric broke the silence.

“So, why are they on the second floor?” he asked, pressing his hand against the wall for support, ignoring the railing entirely.

“When everyone came downstairs because of the earthquake,” Alex began, holding the railing firmly. “Marcus ran upstairs to get a better view.” He gestured upward. “Said he wanted to get a video.”

“Sounds dumb,” Eric said, accompanied by a brief headshake. “Makes sense for Marcus, though. But,” he paused, “does that even count as an earthquake?”

“The earth quaked, didn’t it?” Alex asked sarcastically, putting his hand horizontal and shaking it lightly.

As they left the stairs, they came into a long hallway with four rooms on the right. The first two rooms had large windows that started about a meter off the ground and stopped shortly before hitting the ceiling. The other two rooms had small rectangular windows near the ceiling.

On the left was a wall with openings leading outside. The first thing they saw was both Marcus and Stella sitting on the ground, their backs against the first room’s wall.

“What are you—” Alex’s attempt to ask a question was cut off, as Stella turned her head sharply in their direction and pressed her left index finger against her lips, motioning with her right hand for them to get down.

They did as she asked and crouched, advancing awkwardly toward the pair. When they got close enough, Stella started speaking.

“Are you guys idiots?” she began in a lecturing tone. “The quest said to clear the building. What if the second floor was full of enemies?” She turned to face Eric, her gaze sharper and pointed at him. “I expected more from you.”

“The fuck?” Eric muttered in a low voice, feeling attacked. He narrowed his eyes at Stella before turning to look at Marcus, about to say something to him, when he noticed a wound on his left arm. Examining it a bit, he could tell that the wound was only long, but not particularly deep. Looks more like a graze, he thought.

As Eric finished visually examining Marcus’s wound, Marcus threw himself toward him. It seemed like he was also about to scream, only to stop when Stella hit him in the back of the head.

“Don’t.” she said sternly, holding one of his arms down. “We still don’t know if it can leave the room, or even if it’s the only one here,” she added, gesturing with her thumb toward the room behind her.

“Sorry. Had to try it,” Marcus said, not sounding sorry at all and appearing unfazed by the wound.

Marcus was a thin but slightly athletic, blue-eyed young man who was slightly shorter than Eric at 174 cm. He had curly “disheveled” hair that, in reality, Stella styled every morning. The lack of attention Marcus paid to his wound did not surprise Eric; this was normal for him

From what Eric knew of Marcus, he had always had little regard for his personal safety. His parents had done all they could to make sure that he preferred to be inside rather than outside, in an attempt to reduce the number of times he came home with a broken or dislocated bone without telling them about it.

Stella once told a story she heard from Marcus’s mother about them getting ready to go out to eat, only for Marcus to be unable to put his shoe on due to the swelling on his foot.

Stella herself was about the same height as Marcus, 173 cm. She had clear brown eyes and dark brown hair that reached her shoulders. She and Eric were best friends ever since they were kids. Their parents both worked together and were also neighbors. Because of this, they had a similar upbringing, both having a slightly athletic build.

Stella was incredibly outgoing and had always been an active member of anything she was a part of, blending her outgoing nature seamlessly with her active involvement in various activities. The synergy between these two aspects of herself was amazing.

During high school, she volunteered at a local hospital, and Marcus was a frequent visitor. One day, she appeared and introduced both Anna and Eric to her boyfriend, who at the time had a cast on his arm. After they started dating, his injuries lessened drastically because he wanted to look good for her, and any type of cast would not help with that.

“What happened?” Alex asked, trying to peek into the room through its large window.

“I think,” Stella began as she grabbed Alex by the shirt, yanking him back down, “it’s a goblin,” she finished.

“A goblin?” Eric asked, excitement building up within him.

“Also,” Marcus said, cutting in, “it has something like a, like a knife made of bone, maybe a tooth. It was whitish,” he added, adjusting his glasses.

“A knife?” Alex asked.

“Can we kill it?” Eric asked, almost blurting it out. “I mean, I feel like I can do it. But I’m not sure if that’s just me or if the System is making it seem easier than it is,” he added with some doubt in his voice. “It could also just be the adrenaline that’s making it difficult to think properly.” His words were rushed, the excitement escaping him.

“Do you want to test if we can?” Stella said, with a wry smile.

“What’s with that smile?” Eric asked, taking a step back.

“What about Anna?” Marcus asked, ignoring Eric and Stella as he wiped his arm against the wall. “Is she okay? Wasn’t the uh,” he paused, searching his memory.

“The tour?” Stella added, completing his question.

“Yeah, that. Wasn't that today?” Marcus asked, finishing his question.

“Admin, according to Alex,” Eric answered, his answer brief. “But she’ll be fine,” he said dismissively, complete confidence in Anna’s abilities to adapt to whatever situation she found herself in. “It’s us I’m worried about.”

“That’s true,” Marcus agreed. The other two only nodded in agreement.

“That reminds me, have you guys checked your status windows?” Eric asked, changing the topic. “If I’m not mistaken, you” he pointed at Marcus, “should have something like high vitality. It’s the only explanation for the life you’ve led, my guy.” He shifted his gaze to Alex. “You should have both high constitution and high strength or at least higher than us.” Lastly, shifting to Stella. “And you should have high intelligence, or am I wrong?”

“No, but I also have high dexterity,” Stella replied with a smirk. “Are you going by video game logic or was there an explanation?” she asked with a frown.

“Video game logic,” Eric answered. “Status,” he said, a window appearing before him.

Eric Aguilar

Rank F

Level 1

Experience 0/100

Stats

Vitality 6

Endurance 11

Strength 5

Dexterity 6

Constitution 5

Agility 4

Perception 6

Charisma 5

Intelligence 6

Wisdom 3

Skills -

Concepts -

Titles -

Magic -

He focused on each of the stats, trying to see if he got another window, and he did. When the new window appeared, he guided the others to do the same.

Vitality: Life energy (Regeneration)

Endurance: Stamina (Physical energy)

Strength: Physical force

Dexterity: Physical capabilities

Constitution: Resistance to damage

Agility: Physical speed

Perception: Awareness of environment

Charisma: Confidence and Persuasion

Intelligence: Mental capabilities

Wisdom: Ability to comprehend (World)

“Hmm, I think I understand them all,” Alex began, still examining the windows before him. “But… constitution is a little vague. Is it to all damage or just physical?” he asked, glancing at the others and hoping for an answer.

Stella, Marcus, and Eric exchanged brief looks before all shaking their heads, equally clueless.

“No idea,” Marcus muttered, fidgeting with his window.

“We’ll find out sooner or later,” Eric said with a shrug, dismissing the topic.

“Well,” Alex said with some resignation, “other than that small thing, it’s easy to understand,” he finished, putting his windows away.

“What about wisdom?” Marcus asked, seeing his own opportunity to ask a question.

Without missing a beat, Stella responded, the answer being obvious to her. “It’s probably understanding what you know.” Noticing that Marcus made a small frown, she continued. “Like the difference between knowing the multiplication tables by memory and actually knowing how to multiply.”

“Oh.” Marcus muttered softly, understanding it immediately.

Suddenly, a memory assaulted Eric. “Oh! just remembered, I got an extra endurance point just by running beyond my limit,” he said, finding the information relevant.

They all turned to look at Eric and nodded, understanding what he wanted to say: that it was possible to raise stats without leveling up.

“First things first,” Stella began, her tone more serious, “we need to clear the building, and fast. The screams are dwindling, so they’ll start going into buildings soon.” She rummaged through Marcus’s backpack, taking out a pair of scissors and handing them to Eric. “Got this?”

As if was a usual question, Eric casually grabbed the scissors. “Yup.” There was no playfulness when he grabbed the scissors. He simply gripped them with a practiced ease.

This prompted Alex and Marcus to look at each other for a brief moment. Eric interrupted them as he spoke to Alex.

“Go down and tell them to barricade the door and maybe arm themselves with the gym equipment. They’ll listen to you.” He paused, then continued. “And see if you can bring back something useful.”

The reason that Eric had asked Alex was quite simple. Alex was very well-liked by everyone. Sure, everyone knew Eric’s friend group, but that was a different topic; Alex was the most approachable among them.

Stella always appeared to be busy with something. Marcus was always on his phone, unless he was with his friends. Eric was unpredictable, a total coin toss, and Anna was simply intimidating to most people.

That made Alex the best choice to motivate others into action. His charisma stat could be just as high as his strength and constitution, if not higher.

Alex left, and the rest of them just waited for him to return. Eric checked his phone only to realize that only about thirty minutes had passed since Marcus first called him during class—thirty-three minutes to be exact, at least according to the call log. Eric took the chance to ask a question that popped into his head as he saw the call log.

“Where were you when you called me?”

“In a conference room,” Marcus answered.

“That checks out,” Eric said. They’d already gotten in trouble before for using whatever room they found empty as their personal game room whenever they were bored.

A short while later, Alex returned, holding a weight in one hand and a barbell in the other. He gave the weight to Stella, who didn’t appear to struggle with it, and kept the barbell. Marcus was holding his belt with both hands, wrapping it slightly around his palms.

Eric took a quick glance at the others, then at his hand holding the scissors. This better work, he thought. As they got up, they turned to the room, looking through the window and saw that it was empty.

“Didn’t you say there was a monster inside?” Alex asked, looking at both Stella and Marcus questioningly.

“Think I’m lying?” Marcus answered, shaking his wounded arm a little.

“So where—” Alex was interrupted by Eric, who lifted his index finger, indicating to them to wait.

Eric crouched and cautiously approached the window of the next room. As his head rose and his eyes finally reached the window, he could see what was inside. Within the room, he saw five little green monsters, maybe a meter tall, maybe meter and a half. Eric was bad at visually gauging sizes.

Two of the green monsters, that Eric and everyone in his group assumed to be goblins, were investigating a chair that was near the windows on the other side of the room. Two were looking at a metal cabinet locker that was near the door. The last of them was looking at the wall between the two rooms, pressing its hand against it, as if looking for something. Everyone else had followed Eric and peeked into the room.

“So?” Eric asked once they all returned to the front of the first room.

“Did you see the one with the knife near the wall?” Alex asked.

“It had a knife?” Eric asked, not having noticed himself.

“It did,” Stella confirmed. “But what was it doing against the wall?” she asked, looking into the room.

Marcus furrowed his brow. “I’m pretty sure that wall was open when I was attacked,” he said, pointing at the wall.

Everyone turned to look at the wall and noticed that it was segmented. If they focused on the floor, the edge of something metallic could be seen, same for the ceiling.

“Oh! Oh! I remember now,” Alex exclaimed, forgetting to not make noise. “These room, they can become one,” he explained. “Anna noticed it one day as we were heading to taekwondo. It’s for bigger dance groups.”

“Okay.” Eric said, accepting the new information. “If we go through the door, we have to fight two, but if we go through the wall, we only have to fight one,” he said, simplifying the situation.

“With a knife,” Stella said, reminding him.

“Details,” Eric said, waving the problem away. “Ready?” he asked as he reached for the door.

Once inside the room, they all looked at the wall, trying to see how it opened. Eric, who was in the lead, stopped right about where he saw the goblin fidgeting with the wall. The others followed suit and stopped behind him.

Eric examined the segment of the wall before him. He pressed his hand against both sides of the segment, with little luck. When he looked down, he saw that at the bottom of each segment was a small latch. Probably to stop them from opening and closing easily, he thought.

They crouched down and undid three latches so that they could open up two of the segments. When they got back up, Alex replaced Eric in the center of their makeshift formation. Eric now stood to Alex’s left, Stella behind him, and Marcus to his right. Alex put his hands on the edges of the two segments and pushed inward.

As the wall segments swung open, the goblin that was fidgeting with them was pushed back. Eric, not missing the chance, lunged at the goblin with the scissors, aiming for the eye but hitting its shoulder.

He quickly pulled the scissors back and, as the goblin recoiled from the initial strike, stabbed it through the eye. Before the goblin could even scream, Stella, having gone ahead of the others, swung the circular weight and struck the goblin’s head, causing it to fall and drop its knife.

Having finally noticed what had just occurred, the other goblins rushed toward the group. Alex moved to the left and swung the barbell, hitting the first goblin that approached and scaring the other.

Eric grabbed the knife that the first goblin had dropped and rushed at the goblin that had been hit by Alex. With both hands grasping the knife, Eric pierced the goblin’s neck. Eric whipped his head toward the scared goblin and saw it step backwards, clutching its abdomen. He rushed at the goblin and stabbed it in the side, allowing Alex to jab it with all his strength.

After Stella struck the goblin’s head, she saw the goblins that were near the window approaching them. When they were close enough, she threw the weight at them. Hitting neither of the goblins, but making them dodge backwards, which gave her enough time to grab the scissors that were still in the barely living goblin’s eye.

When she turned to look at the goblins, one was already close enough to strike her with its claws, only to be stopped by Marcus, who wrapped his belt around the goblin’s neck, allowing Stella to stab it.

Marcus recoiled lightly as he felt the remaining goblin’s claws on his back. He instinctively let the goblin he was holding go, as he turned around and awkwardly kicked the goblin. Stella, noticing what had happened, stopped what she was doing and lunged at the goblin, stabbing its leg. Marcus picked the weight up from the floor and swung it at the goblin, missing the first time but not the second.

Goblin +10 experience.

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As the three survivors entered the great tree husk, they now saw how empty and devoid of anything but sand it was within. Their resolve wavered a bit, but they continued forward with a firm belief—no, certainty—that there was something for them within the great husk.

After a few minutes of walking towards the center, they eventually arrived and saw a giant skeletal body. This was once the great Krisk, protecting the greatest gift even in death.

Under the Krisk’s ribs was a wooden box. The survivor in the front took out a ring, put it on his finger, and pressed it towards an engraving that resembled the shape of the ring.

Nothing happened.

Planet Tasar does not meet system requirements.

Preparing adjustments.

Please hold.