[attr="class","notdonescroll"]
When he awoke, he was tired.
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Not unexpected. He rolled to the side of his mattress and looked at the blank screen of his phone light up the dark room with the time.
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He wanted to sleep more, but then he would be late for work. Same crap, different day. This month he’d been able to finally have enough to rent out a studio in a crappy building. It had been the first time he’d slept a week straight in the same place in a very long time. He sat up, feeling low to the ground since the mattress was on the floor. He hadn’t been able to afford furniture, he probably never would at the rate his current job was paying. Hourly delivery at a rate of less than average pay.
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It was a job that he’d been able to keep for more than a week. He couldn’t complain. He shouldn’t have. He looked at the window with the blinds drawn closed. Little bits of blue-colored morning light were peaking through the cracks.
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As he got up, he headed to the bathroom slowly, raising his head only when he looked up at the mirror, sleep still in his eyes. He splashed some cold water in his fam, then wiped it away with a towel.
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But then, he saw something in the reflection of the mirror.
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It was letters, blue and holographic, like some HUD message in a video game. Adam squinted, blinking a few times, wondering if he was still asleep or dreaming. The message flashed too fast for him to properly get a reading, but then another message popped up from it.
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And when he read the words, anger rose in his chest.
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What?
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But before he could react, the world around him suddenly dissipated, a swirling mist of pixels and digital 1s and 0s surrounded him. His apartment was gone. Instead, replaced by a pair of glass doors in front of him.
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“Uh.” He sounded, only to realize that he wasn’t alone in this strange new place. It was a building of modern design, rather large, or from what he could tell of a piece of blueprints on the wall. He could only assume that this was the building he was currently in. There was a decent size group of people surrounding him, and some were already trying to budge open the glass doors only to find them sealed shut.
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Adam didn’t try the same, already gleaning that they were somehow trapped here. Great, being trapped in a building with a growingly panicked mob of people…
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But then another holographic message popped up in front of him, similiar to the first….
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It really was like a video game. [break][break]

Not that Adam had been able to spend much time playing them in his life due to being poor and rarely having the free time to waste it on leisurely things. But he had seen at least a few movies or anime like this, right? Where the hero had been transported into a brand new world and had to learn about a whole system of things that pertained to it. The holographic messages were like playtips, the tutorial.
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If this was the first mission, it couldn’t have been that hard.
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Adam looked around, seeing the different members of the crowd react to the very same message. Some shouted about a monster, others immediately breaking down at the reading of it.
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Grimacing, Adam was near certain that there wasn’t anyone here he could rely on.
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So he turned around and left the people to their crisis. He had some monsters to find. If that was the only way to get out of here, then he knew what he had to do.

[attr="class","notdonescroll"]

"You really think it's a good idea to come in alone, unprepared?"

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As he left, he should have suspected that at least one person in the group would have noticed.
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“I don’t play well with others.” Was Adam’s short quip back. He looked at the silver-haired pretty boy beside him, suit and tie, sleek outfit, probably never actually worked a day in his life. Since Adam had just been taken while getting ready for the morning, all he wore was a generic white t-shirt, some sweatpants, and sandals.
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Guess all sorts of people from all walks of life were trapped in this building, and it just so happened that the most spoiled-looking wealthy aristocrat was the one who decided to follow after him. He didn’t care to protest. After all, if the guy was smart enough to leave the mob to their panic, then Adam was slightly okay with that.
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Maybe pretty boy had some tricks up his sleeve or something.
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Their search started pretty uneventfully. Dark hallways didn’t seem to lead anywhere in particular until suddenly, red lights appeared in front of them. Not lights, pairs of eyes.
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Adam slowed to stop, carefully keeping track of what pretty boy was doing, and it seemed the guy was smart enough to slow down as well. That was until one of the beasts came into better light. Was it a rat? At least it looked like a rat, but it was larger than any regular rat should have been, with teeth about long as a man’s forearm. It looked like it would be a nasty bite, and Adam didn’t want to find out how nasty.
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Looks like he wasn’t going to find out first since one of the rats immediately took a plunge at silver hair. And the guy had the guts to fight back, kick back, rather than panic or run. He hit pretty hard, too, as Adam saw him fling the giant rat thing against a wall. Immediately, Adam wondered… was the guy just that strong? It didn’t seem like regular human strength or reaction. Was the man just at the top of his game somehow? Should Adam have been relying on him all along?
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Whatever, there were still more rats to deal with, and Adam had nothing to fight with exist his fists, so fists it was.
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But then, as he rose hands to a fighting position, something happened. Holographic text appeared in front of him,
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“Huh?” Suddenly, he found himself with a mask on, a simple white half mask that covered the upper half of his face. In his hand, too, was out of nowhere, a briefcase?
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He didn’t have much time to think about it as suddenly a rat came forward for him. Using the briefcase as a shield, Adam blocked the rat from chomping down on one of his limbs and pushed it back, sliding down across the floor.
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Then, suddenly, the briefcase burst open, and falling out of it a can of paint, a vial that held a strange glowing blue liquid, and then… a stick of dynamite(?) hit the ground.
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And then, following suit after its fellows, one of the two remaining rats lunged again for Adam. This time the youth was ready and kicked outward, meeting the rat with his foot and slamming into it. With a cold whimper and screech, it went limp…

---

Core Activated - Rolled for Small AoE explosive [e rank] (dynamite stick), Diluted health potion [f rank] (only works on Adam), spray paint for an insignia

[attr="class","notdonescroll"]
He didn’t really have time to think or react.
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Because the next think he knew, it was so fucking bright.
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Bright like suddenly going outside after having his eyes dilated, bright like opening the blinds in the middle of the afternoon in his dark and dreary apartment, bright like the sun in the goddamn Sahara desert.
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Why did he hearing choir music?
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And it hurt, it burned like slamming his whole body down on a hot iron and then, he was thrown hard into the air like a child throwing their doll, his body hit the ceiling and sure enough cracks formed from the impact, dust and debris fell down as fell back down, hitting down on his back hard
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He’d never, never felt this much pain in his life. What in the hell. Was he on fire? He had to be on fire, that was the only way to explain it, but he didn’t remember seeing a spark or a blaze or a flame, just the light and the light had come from…
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… pretty boy?
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“TURN IT OFF!” He yelled, rolling over to his side, desperately trying to make the burn go away. He didn’t care about the monsters, he didn’t care about the stupid mission, he just needed the light to go away, the ringing in his ears to stop, and to be not on fucking fire.
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And yet, despite it all, the instinct to live still yet grappled onto him somehow. There were monsters?
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Well, he had a stick of dynamite.
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There was a light?
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There was one way to put it out. [break][break]

He grabbed out, his hand searching for the stick that had been thrown on the floor, and miraculously, he found it. It had been thrown in his direction as he too had been flung. He grabbed it and only barely was able to think about setting it alight when he threw it in the last direction he recalled there being stupid rat things, where the light was coming from…
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He closed his eyes and covered his ears.
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He hated choir music.

[attr="class","notdonescroll"]
It stopped. Thank god it stopped. Whatever it was, was now gone, and it was quiet. Adam tried picking himself off the ground, tired, exhausted, and slightly charred. At least he was not on fire anymore.
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He hugged his side, feeling like he had cracked a rib or two but somehow was still standing despite the immense pain. He should have been dead but somehow wasn’t.
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Was that another factor of this ‘game?’ This tutorial?
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Could you die even in a tutorial?
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That hardly could have been the point unless this was some kind of sick step to weed out the weak, to see who could even make past the supposedly easy first mission. Would that mean there would be more missions?
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Adam clenched his fist, looking down at what else the briefcase contents were left behind. There was a vial with a strange, almost neon green liquid… green usually means good, right? Like health…
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He was already near death, and he didn’t have much else to lose. So he popped off the top and took a large swig. He immediately felt a little relieved, he could stand up straighter now, at least, not entirely refreshed, but it felt as if he had somehow fast-tracked a few hours or even a day’s worth of rest into a few seconds.
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Looking around for the silver-haired stranger, Adam also found him on the ground. And without really thinking too hard about it, he offered the man a hand to get up.
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“My name’s Adam.” He said, “Best know it now, so at least someone will remember me if I die.” He added, ignoring the apology.
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Waiting another moment, Adam awkwardly looked around at the destruction he had caused. It hadn’t exactly been his intention, but it had been the only way he thought of stopping the rats and whatever light the man had caused. “Whatever this is, it looks like we can do things that normal people shouldn’t be able.” He concluded, it included being stronger than average, more durable, and not to mention the ‘magic tricks’ they were now producing. He lifted a hand, touching the mask that covered his face, it was of a simple white design with some black accents near the eye holes. “And whatever you do, hurts, so yeah, don’t do that again.”
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“Sorry for uh, throwing a stick of dynamite at you.” Adam added, before waving off the apology, not wanting to address it. The best course of action now was to stick together and work together because if they were going to go up at least two more floors, then this was their best chance of survival.
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“We can rest up a bit if you want,” Adam suggested before wondering about how much time they had left. Suddenly, a holographic message popped up before him.
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Eleven more hours….

[attr="class","landimgbg2"]

[attr="class","landbod2"]

"It'll take some time to get used to." He groaned. Vincent took hold of the brunette's hand and helped himself up. Still pretty beat up from the explosion from earlier, the silver haired man took his time to stretch and rest his flesh. "Don't worry about it." He replied, dismissing his apology just as he did; making sure to convey that there were no ill feelings, at least not too much. "And the name's Vincent." He added, exchanging names. Just then, a notification showed itself before his face.

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— THE RAT KING IS MOST DISPLEASED —

[break][break]Great, he thought, just what they needed. However, it was good to know what type of boss they had to conquer to complete their mission. Just as he closed the pop-up from before, another came without seconds to spare.

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[break][break]Given three options between stats, ability, and a mystery choice; Vincent chose the latter. "Gondal?" He said out loud in confusion as the randomized reward spat out what seemed to be an average moth worm, it was utterly useless aside from the fact it was oddly cute. In the meantime, he kept Gondal inside his inventory, just to be safe. Regardless of his choice, seven stat points were given to him upon attaining the aforementioned achievement. It took him a moment to figure it out but he was able to eventually distribute his stat points just as he intended. "Did you level up too?" He turned to Adam.

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[break][break]Another pop-up appeared. Was there no end to it? Nevertheless, he opened the shop just as he was notified. As stated, every item option were indeed of insignificant quality. But a weapon's a weapon, he thought to himself, and it beats fighting with only his fists. Vincent bought a standard spear with whatever currency he gained from those giant rodents, expecting nothing much. Just as he confirmed his purchase, on his hand, a 7 foot long spear materialized itself into existence.

[break][break]"I think I'm good to go." He said as he leaned against his newfound spear to support his weight. "We could head up when you are." They had eleven hours, plenty of time. However, if what the system stated before were to be kept in mind, clearing this tutorial swiftly would most likely net them a valuable bonus to their rewards.

[attr="class","landtag2"]adam fujiwara

[attr="class","landimgbg2"]

[attr="class","landbod2"]

"Bought it. I think it was free for being the fist person to use the shop." He replied, wondering if it was indeed the case. He raised his spear and observed its make, it had a nice chrome finish, allowing him to see his own reflection albeit warped. Vincent followed suit as Adam went on and made his way towards the second floor. He had his spear at up, ready to fend for his life.

[break][break]They roamed along dark corridors, taking every turn with every bit of caution. It was unnaturally quiet, by now, he expected to already have an entire hoard on their tail. The bell Adam had seemed to be quite useful indeed. With his call, Vincent turned to face the glowing red eyes of their pesky pests. Only four? He wondered. Perhaps people from the first floor were also busy fending for their lives.

[break][break]One of them rushed out of the dark and came speeding towards Vincent. With his spear, the white haired man simply pointed straight towards the rodent, intercepting its path. Like pig on a spit roast, the giant rat had been skewered through its mouth. Grateful for his purchase, Vincent sighed in relief. However, the rodent was now stuck on his spear. "I need a bit of time." He turned to Adam as he started to kick down on the skewered rodent, hoping to push it off of his spear. Then, something appeared before his face, covering most of his vision.

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[break][break]Now? Of all the times he could've gotten a pop-up? "Stats! Stats!" He hurriedly yelled, hoping to close the pop-up as soon as possible. He kept on kicking yet the rodent remained on his spear, seemingly stuck. "All on Power." With one frustrated kick, and his newfound strength, he was finally able to dislodge the giant rat off of his glorified poking stick, ready to kill some more.

[attr="class","landtag2"]adam fujiwara

[attr="class","landimgbg2"]

[attr="class","landbod2"]

"Jesus-" He jolted. "Thought I caught you on fire again..." Relieved it wasn't him, Vincent sighed. With their current showing, the silver haired man was now confident with their ability to fight. For the first time, he decided to stop being too defensive and head for the offensive. "We can definitely do this."

[break][break]With the rest of their enemies toasted, two more rodents came scampering in. They had blood on their fur, particularly near their gaping mouths. If he had to infer, they were probably from the first floor driven up by whatever ruckus Adam and Vincent were doing. He winced. He didn't like the idea of people suffering helplessly downstairs, but they've already gone too far. The only way he could help them now was to finish the boss presumably upstairs, and fast.

[break][break]He rushed forward this time with the intent to strike, to kill one of the rodents before they could even react. As he lunged forward with his spear, Vincent thrusted forward with all his might. An unbroken eye to eye contact was maintained with the giant rat as he struck. The rat whimpered and froze the second his spear were inches before its stomach. It pierced through albeit with much resistance, yet still, the rat kept on living. Following up, Vincent raised his spear overhead and slammed the rodent down against the ground whilst it was still impaled. At the same time, it effectively dislodged the spear off of the rodent's corpse.

[break][break]"Here, catch." With the last remaining rodent backed up to a corner, Vincent passed his spear towards Adam, allowing him to temporarily borrow it to help him slay the last remaining enemy of the floor. He was a team player first and foremost; as much as possible, he wished to evenly distribute whatever points the monsters dropped between the two of them.

[attr="class","landtag2"]adam fujiwara