Shelly started to pack as soon as her mother left. The sooner she finished packing, the sooner she would be able to move in.
And the sooner she finished packing, the sooner she would be able to move in with Rin. Once she was done packing, she picked up her most important bags, loaded them into her car and drove to school.
She was not supposed to drive at her age, but no one stopped her. She lived in a neighborhood where everyone knew her and her mother. Her mother had a lot of influence, and no one wanted to cross her.
So even when they saw Shelly constantly breaking rules and skipping school, no one questioned her.
The first thing Shelly did once she arrived was tell the school that she was taking a long vacation. She did not even wait for approval before leaving
But the second she reached her car, the world turned red, and static filled the air.
"What is this? Some cheap experiment Mother is running? Is Rin seeing this as well?"
Shelly questioned, but she had a feeling that this was different. She took out her phone to check if Rin was okay, but it had no signal. She threw it into the car in frustration and cursed.
"Ugh, I want to go to Rin. Should I head out right now?"
[Welcome to the apocalypse, user. Congratulations! You are one of the first ones who have awakened in this new world.]
[Please check your stats and your first task. I hope the user will be able to survive.]
The static slowly turned into a screen, and these words appeared on a blue interface.
"Is this some kind of practical joke? This looks like those fantasy novels Rin made me read. Am I suddenly in one?"
Shelly tried to touch the screen, and her fingers made contact with the blue screen in front of her. It felt solid under her touch.
She clicked on the profile and saw a new page open.
[Hunter Name: Shelly (lvl 1)
Hunter Rank: ?? (Rankings are not open yet)
Strength: 40
Stamina: 30
Intelligence: 40
MP: 35
HP: 500/500
Special Skills: Sword Mastery, Super Stamina, Anything Can Be a Sword
Special Traits: Obsession (can double the user's stats if the object of their obsession shows affection to the user)]
[First task of the apocalypse: Survive until tomorrow morning.]
something resembling people's movement around her. People—no, something resembling people—rushed toward her. and grab her. But Shelly easily dodged them.
She could have run away and found a weapon, but she did not want to leave her luggage behind. It held her precious treasures.
'Should I stay here and fight?'
[New inventory function has opened up. Users can now store 50 unique items in their inventory.]
"Oh, I can? Then can I put my luggage in here?"
As soon as she asked, the luggage disappeared, and Shelly was free to run away. Surprisingly, she wasn't startled by what happened, nor did she struggle to adapt.
The other students were running out, shivering. Some were even crying as they tried to come to terms with what was happening.
But Shelly did not feel the same way. The only thing that worried her was Rin's safety. She needed to get to him and keep him safe.
"Tsk, I need to clear these monsters. Is there anything I can use—"
She looked around, and her eyes fell on a branch. She grabbed it and swung it to test its durability..
[Your ability 'Anything Can Be a Sword' is active. Your ability 'Sword Mastery' is active.]
Shelly's body felt lighter, and her movements became smoother. She easily fought the monsters and reached her car. Unfortunately, she was not able to reach Rin's city because all the bridges leading there were broken.
"Darn it—! I will have to find my way around."
__________
[User, are you ready to show off your skills and knowledge? Your first task has arrived.]
[Task 1: Please survive to see the next day. The system will be heartbroken if the user dies before the story has even begun.]
"Stop speaking to me like that."
The system was too distracting and loud. It was nothing like the system Rin had been expecting to see. This was a scam.
'Should I ask for another system?'
[User, this will be the last time I will warn you not to be rude to the system. If you break my heart anymore, the system will have no choice but to start deducting stats for your actions. A status ailment might even be applied if you don't improve your mental health.]
Now this was pure blackmail. Unfortunately, the system held the upper hand in this negotiation.
'Can I really trust this system to keep me alive? It doesn't look very trustworthy…'
[That is a rude thing to say. But the system understands the user's concerns. After talking with the upper management, the system is delighted to inform the user that he has been given a special gift. Please check the inventory.]
Rin opened the inventory and noticed a box in there. He clicked the box to check its details.
[Special Skill Box. User can choose a special title from the box below and gain corresponding skills.]
[Weapon Master, Skill Expert, Perfect Craftsman, Medical Expert…]
There were too many options, but the first three seemed to be the most alluring. His first choice was Weapon Master to ensure his survival. However, he knew himself well.
No matter how skilled he became, he was not under any illusions that he would be able to become No. 1.
Moreover, being skilled meant that he would put him on the front lines too often and fight difficult battles. These weren't appealing thoughts for him.
So he decided to take a safer approach, which would make him too valuable for any faction to discard.
[New Title Acquired: Perfect Craftsman (lvl 1). You will gain advanced knowledge of how to forge weapons and enhance your power. You can increase your grade to unlock more materials to work with and create new weapons.]
Rin already had the resources at his disposal, and now he had the means to craft with them as well.
He checked the details of his current level and saw that he could only make minor modifications to his weapons. But at the start of the apocalypse, even that advantage felt significant.
__________
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