[ Chapter X (10): "03/20/2025— MISSION & INVENTORY FEATURES, SLEEP AT LAST, ORCS VS. GOBLINS" ]
[ MISSION COMPLETE ]
After some time, Elias finally finished cleaning his room, as he then sat on the now cleaned floor. Exhausted by the work, he then glanced across the room, at Arthur who's writing something on his small notebook or some sorts.
Perhaps noticing his gaze, this injured Citizen of his waved back at him with a smile. Which he responded with a thumb ups, as he smiles at him, before then going back to tinkering with his System that has new features in it.
Not caring about the curious looks he is receiving from his Citizen, Elias then continues tinkering with the System that he is sure of something that only he could see, as he tries to ignore the weird looks being subtly given to him. [ "Mission." ]
[ MISSION/S ]
[ MISSION: CLEAN THE ROOM ] (COMPLETE)
[ DESCRIPTION: THE PLACE HAS BEEN RAVAGED BY THE PLAYER EVEN BEFORE THE APOCALYPSE, PLEASE CLEAN IT, YOU HAVE A GUEST AFTER ALL ]
[ REWARD: +10 CIVILIAN'S TRUST, +100 SYSTEM CREDITS ]
He read the text and noticed nothing much changed, except for the "complete" being written besides the title of the mission. In which he became proud of in seeing, as he then glanced at his room that is now being bathe by the sunlight from outside.
The garbage dump that was once called his room, now looking like a place someone would actively live in. As all the trashes are now in the black stuffed plastic bag on the corner of the room, out of mind, out of sight for Elias as he then continues.
Clicking the text, he in doing so claimed it. And the reward that was promised to him the 100 Credits which is great to him, the more the merrier. But what he is really curious about is the Civilian Trust that the System is talking about, as he doesn't know what exactly that feature is about.
[ 1,238 SYSTEM CREDITS ]
But to his disappointment, other than seeing his wallet increase in quantity, nothing else happened. No description about this Civilian Trust thing, or anything like that, no nothing.
As Elias was left there to sight to himself, as he then reluctantly moved on to the next System's feature. [ "Inventory." ] He mumbles to himself the word, with a transparent-like digitalized Inventory akin to that of RPG games flickering into existence in front of him in doing so.
[ INVENTORY: ]
[ ... ] [ ... ] [ ... ] [ ... ] [ ... ]
[ ... ] [ ... ] [ ... ] [ ... ] [ ... ]
[ ... ] [ ... ] [ ... ] [ ... ] [ ... ]
[ ... ] [ ... ] [ ... ] [ ... ] [ ... ]
He could see 20 empty slots, 5 for each rows. Curious about how exactly this works, Elias stood up, as he then grabbed the empty plastic of Papsi besides him; throwing it lightly to the direction of his Inventory. [ "Woah, what the hell?!" ]
To his surprise, and also to the shock of Arthur which exclaimed out loud. The said plastic bottle disappeared to thin air, for the non-System user like Arthur that is the case. But to Elias who wields the System and could actively see the Inventory, to him the plastic bottle is there, but in image form.
[ "Don't worry about it, it's my powers at work." ] In image form on slot 13 of his Inventory to be precise. As he then looks at it. Glancing at the side, on the 2 pretty chunky plastic bags on the corner, he then had an idea. As he then grabbed them, before then throwing it into his Inventory.
The said bag of garbages being reduced as nothing, but image on slot 6 and 7 respectively on Elias' Inventory. Which caused him to even be more excited at the prospect of using this new feature of his— as he then imagines pocketing a whole 50 floored building into one of the slots.
Sure the thought alone is absurd, but in not being given a clear define limit on his Inventory, can't he dream of doing the impossible then? Even though the thought of that is bordering on weird to impossible.
He sat back on the corner, as he could now breathe comfortably in knowing that the stench coming from his trash, used clothing, and unclean plates disappeared in him throwing them inside his Inventory.
About to get some shut-eye, he stopped himself, as he first makes sure that no chaos outside would be able to disrupt his sleep... He was of course wrong, as the said big bird outside is still fighting the group of Goblins, mutilating them actually. [ CAW ]
[ MULTIPLE HEADED RAVEN LVL. 10 ]
Though injured, the said bird doesn't seem to be stopping it's onslaught on the group of Goblins. About 2/3rd of the group already having gone at this point, as they tried to fight back to the best of their abilities. Seeing this first-hand made even Elias wonder, who is the true villain here?
In his eyes, both actually. As both are foreign invasive monsters, both terrorizes the citizens of this world, and both are apex predators that hunts humanity— which is their prey, in their eyes. So Elias couldn't really petty the either of them, as he hopes that both groups kill one another in this fight; [ "Elias, w-what's going on outside?" ]
Hearing that, he began to tell exactly what's happening outside to his Arthur. It finally culminating in the said big bird killing most of the Goblins, with the latter fleeing the scene with as much accessories they could find to any and all directions.
As they then hid inside the houses that are seemingly abandoned, places that the bird couldn't fit in no matter how hard it tries. In the meantime, Elias drank one of the softdrinks nearby and sat by the wall, as he then tries to get some proper sleep as best as he could. [ "Hey, rest too if I we're you." ]
He isn't worried much about getting back stabbed by the other person in the room, as his Charm ability does it's work after all. And also because he is just that tired, his sleeping schedule having been messed up by the threat of monsters outside.
But now in having the ability to shield himself indefinitely against them, and in having someone to protect himself... He isn't that worried about dying, as he then after some moment finally gets some sleep; then snoring uncontrollably without him even noticing the fact.
In response to this, Arthur the Citizen couldn't help but snicker slightly. His brows furrowing as he looks at the sitting sleeping figure of his benefactor... As he then reluctantly follows suit, closing his diary, muttering protest to himself. [ "Huh... how do I even sleep in this scenario?" ]
...
Towering grey skin monsters with little to no clothing except for those that cover their privates could be seen rampaging. Holding primitive weapons that is the same size as an human adult— these monsters are formally known as Orcs, and at the moment they are raiding a Goblin outpost.
[ "Orcs!" ] In the middle of that are the human hostages, about a dozen of them, ranging from young to old, all malnourished and sharing the fact that they are captives of the Goblins that are either gonna play with them to death, or eat them.
In the rudimentary wooden cage built by the Goblins is Isaac, a malnourished 8-year-old kid that is looking at the chaos far away with an opportunistic glint in his eyes. All while the others are cowering hiding in the corner, fear in their eyes. [ "Damn it!" ]
Isaac tries to shake off the walls of their cage, taking the chaos as an chance for him and the others to get out of hell. The other Survivors in seeing this silently glanced at one other, as some of them after some contemplation helped the little kid wedge the wood apart. After some effort, they we're able to create an escape.
[ "We need to ma-make it bigger!" ] The only problem is that, it is too small for a certain someone to fit out of it. Even to Isaac who's the smallest in the group, so kicking the walls apart, he was able to make it a little bit bigger. [ "Kekeee!" ]
[ "Kid watch out!" ] About to make it even bigger for the others to fit through, Isaac was stopped by a Goblin poking it's spear through the gaps in the walls. As thanks to the hands of someone pulling him back, he was saved, if not then he would have already been hurt, or even skewered by that said poking action of the monster.
[ "K-kid, you alright?" ] Sweating, he carefully watches as the impish monster that is the same height as him look through a part of the wooden wall... The thing's red veiny eyes staring straight at Isaac, seemingly threatening and warning the young boy at the same time.
After some time, the said Goblin pulled back it's spear, as it then redirected it's attention to the raiding Orcs that is fighting it's kin. Leaving Isaac— the kid traumatized, but not broken as he felt angry, wanting to poke that Goblin's eyes until it went blind.
[ "Damn maniac...!" ] Flipping off the hole where the monster watched them, Isaac backed away as he tries to steady his breathing. Beads of tears silently falling the side of his cheeks in doing so, [ "Shh, Isaac don't do bad finger. That's bad." ]
Being warned by the eldest of the group, a grandmother with greying hair, Isaac reluctantly did so. As he tries to eye the escape that they impromptly did; seeing that it is still there, not fixed, and in hearing the screams of monsters outside, he began to continue his idea of escaping.
[ "W-we need to escape this place now. If not, then we wouldn't have any other chance of escaping." ] Isaac tries to encourage them, but seeing their eyes divert from him. He slowly lost strength, but not to the point that he would give up— as he then continues moving, kicking the gap to accumudate his height, [ "Fine then." ]
[ "Kid..." ] He tries to make the said gap even bigger, wanting to escape with everyone else... In finally seeing the chance of that, it was then pulled under him as he noticed the heavy door of the place opened up. Expecting Goblins, he was wrong.
[ "O-oh no..." ] As grim as it was, seeing a 3ft tall cannibal greenskin is better than the sight they we're all presented with. Greyish skinned Orcs, tusk showing as they bloodied by black goo towers over the door of the dark cage; needing to peek inside to see.
And in doing so, caused Isaac and the other Survivors to lose hope. [ "Everybody, get away from the han- AHH!" ] As the said freak tries to grab a human inside the cage, grabbing an middle-aged man before then pulling him out of the cage.
Isaac and the others could only watch as the screamings of their friend, the one that always cheered them and because the unofficial leader of their group, slowly dies down followed by a big crunch. [ "H-he..." ] As in front of the cage they noticed red blood spraying the ground.
Looking at this, the group panicked. As they then looked at one another, and at the only escape that they could find... that would be the small gap that Isaac made, even though small, after some improvement it would be able to fit some of them eventually.
[ "Q-quick make the hole bigger!" ] Isaac seeing his friends see the opportunity became happy, as he points at the hole that would lead them to salvation... or at the very least an escape from this...
But to his surprise, instead of that, he instead gets a pat on the shoulder by the mother of the group— smiling warmly at him as she assures him, [ "Don't worry about us Isaac, we'll follow suite, so go." ]
Hearing this, he glanced at the others. Receiving affirmative looks and encouragement as they then shield him and the gap from the hands of the Orc that is trying to grab anyone that it could. [ "Kid, you need to go. Now!" ]
Being rushed by them, Isaac became reluctantly, but after some convincing and assurance from them. He ultimately did so, as he crawled out the cage through the gap; glancing around, he wasn't able to find any roaming Goblins other than those that are already dead, or running away.
He glanced around and could see some towering Orcs about 10-13ft tall massacring the remaining monsters that they could find along the way... Seeing that they are on the clear, Isaac tries to scream and alert the people still caged. [ "H-hey guys, let's go!" ]
As he then makes the gap in the wall bigger, but to his surprise and dismay... the gap is just that small, not enough for someone like an adult to fit into no matter how hard they try— perhaps in some sense, all the Survivors know about this and had already gave up in escaping.
[ "G-guys?!" ] Peeking inside the cage through the small gap, the same one that the Goblin earlier used. Isaac was met with a grim sight; as the previous 8 people inside the cage was reduced to nothing but 4, without Isaac even hearing any screams of anguish from anyone.
Perhaps noticing his gaze, one of the Survivors inside the cage screamed at him. As he too tries to fight the impending hand of the Orc that had already grabbed him, [ "D-don't worry about us, Kid! J-just go, survive, run away. Get out of her-!" ]
[ "Get out of here, boy!" ] His breathing panicked, he glanced at the remaining people inside the room. All telling him to get out, as they then tries their best to not get catch by the said hand... Delaying the inevitable in some sense.
So with tears in his eyes and a heavy heart, he reluctantly did what he was told, as he then ran barefoot on the empty road— away from the cage that held him captive for days, avoiding smaller and weaker monsters on the way.
As then tears in his eyes falls on the ground, gritting his teeth he then cursed the monsters inside his head, hoping to some day kill them with his own hands; as painfully as he could. [ "I-I swear...!" ]
[ ——— ] [ ——— ] [ ——— ] [ ——— ]
[ 06/18/2025 ]
[ 06/19/2025 ]