Dungeon Sniper

It started raining. No cloud or anything, but just plain-old rain pouring straight down from the dark, high ceiling. I wanted to criticize the World Company for the lazy work on the details if only I could contact them.

I tried for hours to get in touch with GOD lady but to no avail. I came back to the abandoned house of the raided village with three rabbits and an owl in my hands. I did not bring myself flints with me because I had never intended to camp outside, at least not within the next few days. I did not go to college to pursue my passion of gaming, but, contrary to what my high school counselor told me or everyone else, I was not stupid. The rabbits had fangs, and they were huge. What was next, a boar with eight legs and breathing off venomous gas? Sure, camping was fun, in parks and beaches, maybe.

I started the fire on the stove and went outside to fill a pot with rainwater. The rain poured hard, and soon I was ready to make stew. To call myself a cook would be a stretch. I cooked ramens before, lots and lots of cup noodles of all the flavors in the world. So, yes, I was a ramen chef, and, yes, I was being ridiculous here.

But now, for some reason, I felt like I knew what I was doing. I skinned the rabbits, left the owl for now, found some spice in the dank drawers in the kitchen, and soon the creepy house began to smell almost like a happy home. Almost.

While the stew was boiling, I sat down on the only undamaged stool and began to contemplate as I stared into the fire and relaxed for the first time that day. My mind naturally drifted back to what had happened out in the woods.

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As soon as I learned GOD would not respond and give me a more detailed tutorial on the perks and skills, I had no choice but to test things on my own.

After hunting three more rabbits, I gained the following perk and a skill.

- Perk

Hyper Hind Legs - Level C

- Skill

Horizontal Hopper - Level C

After three tries, I kind of got a sense of how my so-called Innate Skill 'Critical Siphon' worked. I shot the first rabbit in the head, leading to an instant death, and gained a Skill: Echolocation. As for the second rabbit, I shot it through the heart, also leading to an instant kill, and gained a Perk: Hyper Hind Legs. The third one, I shot it near the tail, forcing me to fire a second shot to kill it. The poor bunny died a slow, painful death. The result: no gain of Perk or Skill. And the last one I hit it on the head, and boom, a Skill: Horizontal Hopper.

My conclusion was that only 'critical hits' granted me either Perks or Skills, and the area of a strike would determine which bonus I gained. Hearts for Perks and brains for Skills, apparently. My guts were telling me that not every creature in the Dungeon had a heart and/or brain, but for now, the rule made sense and I would try to gain as many Perks and Skills I could get my hands on.

On my return to the abandoned house, I encountered a brown owl sleeping on a branch. The rain shower had not started yet. It was daylight—although there was no sun, it was bright enough to call it a day—and the nocturnal bird was resting peacefully, oblivious to a curious beta tester eyeing it with greedy interest. I knew from experience that birds that were not named chicken or turkey barely had any meat in them to be good food. But I had plenty of meat in my hands in the forms of four dead fanged rabbits.

I dropped the rabbits on the grass as silently as possible. I took out my bow and nocked the arrow carefully. That was when the owl opened its eyes and stared directly down at me. I knew owls had ears as good as their eyes, but, come on. Frustrated and panicked, I cursed and fired the arrow prem.a.t.u.r.ely, missing the owl by a wide margin. The owl spread its wings and flew into the deeper woods.

I was not ready to give up, so I ran. And I ran well. It felt as if I had springs in my legs, and I was able to leap across at least ten feet each time jumped over blocking stumps on my way. Even in the midst of the chase, I noticed that many of the trees in the area had been 'cut' deliberately, presumably by axes. Was it the Human settlers back at the raided village who lumbered all the trees, or would I have to worry about other hostile races populating the area? But I put the thought aside and decided to concentrate on catching the owl.

I ran towards the direction where the owl had taken off, but it was hard to spot it in the middle of the dense foliage. I tried to control my breath—that was the fiercest, longest spring I had run in my entire life (or lives, I had a second one now), and I had a feeling I would be running like this a lot more in the future—as I looked around wildly for any sign of the owl.

Something not completely unrelated: sight was something I prided myself as a professional gamer. I could catch the slightest movement of an opponent and spot a moving object from a far distance, at least inside a monitor screen. And I now had a fit, near-superhuman body, as a consolation gift for being stuck in a foreign world.

But despite all the improvements in my 'new' body, I still could see nothing. This was nothing like moving the mouse over to a jumping opponent and landing a head shot by firing at the spot that I knew the programmed jump would land and end. Despite the 'game-like' elements of Perks and Skills, everything around me felt very real: the humidity of the forest, the smell of the soil, and a sense of danger as if I were being watched. The last part could have been just me being paranoid out in the open. At least, I hoped it was.

I had just gained a sense of how Perks and Skills functioned, and differently: Perks were 'passively' activated while Skills had to be 'willfully' activated (with an exception to Critical Siphon, which was something like the default skill to my understanding). I had used the Inner Compass and Survival Guts without my knowing all along. Perhaps I even used the newly gained Hyper Hind Legs as I ran all the way up here. Did I use the Horizontal Hopper Skill? I was not sure, but there were some impressive hops here and there during the chase so, maybe.

What I was sure, however, was that I would definitely use a Skill on purpose this time. I closed my eyes and concentrated hard on my ears, so much that I could swear they even jiggled in forward and back, wriggling to get more coverage of the area. In turn, some kind of image formed in my mind, and for every rustle of bushes I saw bugs sitting and fluttering about them, and through peaceful chirping of small, colorful birds I sensed a network of birds communicating each other from miles apart, possibly sharing information about a certain threat with a Rusted Bow. A bit of imagination was needed for the last part, admittedly.

It was then I heard a hoot, and a ruffling of feathers. It was the owl, and I could sense it was nearby, perched high on a branch, looking down at me condescendingly. Again, the last part could have been all imagined by me, but those eyes, I wanted them closed, for good.

I did not want to break my focus. So without opening my eyes, I aimed where I felt certain the owl hid its body amidst the thick leaves of the tree. My eyes were still closed, and I pulled the arrow far back, and let go.

As long as the target stayed in its place, I was confident that I could hit it. It was my talent, not one of the bonuses GOD mentioned she had given me. I had always been a shooter, way before this new beta testing life. Darts, three-pointers in basketball, bows, rifles, anything. I just happened to have zero athleticism to be really great in any sport, but I was good enough to shoot people in video games and make a living out of it. I would have made a great soldier, a real sniper in action, only were I able to do even ten push-ups without resting. By the way, personal record was five, and it happened just once.

But now I felt great. My body felt great. My talent had finally met the physique it deserved. Gone were the days of sickly hours glued in front of the computer, watching the fit, jacked avatar sprinting everywhere and dominating the field. Gone were the days that I would look away from the dark screen of the monitor during the loading screens and shutting off the computer, away from the pale, unhealthy face of a nerd, an introvert, a wimp.

The arrow flew and hit the owl right between the eyes. The owl must have not expected me to make the shot. Perhaps it was thinking that I was dancing some weird moves with my eyes closed. I would have looked awkward for anything I did before this life. But this time, it was a choreography of death. In your face owl.

The owl clearly underestimated me. I underestimated me in my past life. But not anymore.

The owl fell from the tree just as the voice rang in my head to announce the new Skill acquisitions.

[Skill gained: Night Eye]

[Secret Skill gained: Blind Shot]

I had an idea where the 'Secret Skill' came from.

I picked up the owl and trotted back to where I had left my rabbits. I would be lying if I was not 'hopping' my way back to the abandoned house.

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The stew smelled nice, and tasted nice. I ate all four rabbits worth of meat (they were not too big once the skin and guts were removed, but they were enough for one serving) and I almost cried at how delicious they were. As a skinny, indoor professional gamer, I had eaten food just to stay alive. I could not waste even a single minute away from the computer, so instant foods and delivery fast foods were my staples. A microwave corn dog for breakfast, pizza for lunch, and whatever was left in the fridge for dinner. It was a life I had chosen for me, but still, some parts of that life s.u.c.k.e.d at some points, and eating was one of those parts for me.

But this meal that I earned from scratch and worked hard for, it was a cuisine I never would have expected to have in my life, let alone deserve.

My sentiments of pride and accomplishment were still tasting sweet in my mouth when all of my other senses alerted me—of something. My ears picked up a sound. I smelled an alien scent, mixed with a familiar odor. The familiar smell was blood, of Humans, of what faintly remained in all of the corpse-less houses of the raided village.

The rain had stopped outside for some time, but the extended downpour had filled the puddles in the road. I heard footsteps, and hushed whispers... and clanking of steels.

I kicked a bucket filled with water towards the stove. The fire went out with fizz, and everything was dark again. The moonless Dungeon would make sure that the outside was just as dark. Only that it was not.

I peeked outside the window to see a group of humanoid creatures carrying torches. I activated the Night Eye Skill, as well as the Echolocation.

"I saw him going this way. Male, tall," said a raspy voice.

"Big enough to feed for a week," said another raspy voice, followed by crass cackles.

"Male meats are rough. Maybe we mate him with the females, eat babies after," said another raspy voice, but this particular voice had disgustingly evident menace in it.

They came closer, and my Night Eye could spot them fairly clearly now. They were small, red-skinned, and armed.

That was my first encounter with the Goblins.