The goblin dog opened its jaws wide as it leapt towards my face. I hastily brought up the katana, but the blade bounced harmlessly off its head, before crashing into me. It was heavier than expected and strong enough that it tackled me to the ground and pinned me there. The dog then growled before lunging for my throat. In a panic, I shoved the sword into its mouth and held on to either end like a stick.

The dog, too aggressive for its good, bit down on it and tried to force its way through. Luckily, the metal didn’t look like it was going to break but it wasn’t exactly hurting the dog either. As soon as it figured out that all it needed to do was open its mouth and temporarily retreat, I was done for.

We wrestled over the sword, but with the dog’s superior strength, it felt like it was winning. I was too weak to push it away.

This was insane. Five minutes ago, I was sleeping and now I’m expected to fight a monster dog with whatever I’ve got lying around the house. Why couldn’t I have gotten magic powers like a fireball? It’s a considered a classic for a reason.

The dog pressed one of its paws onto my stomach, and three retractable claws gouged me. I cried out, but with the pain also came anger. I would not allow this thing to kill me. Taking one hand off the sword, I started punching it in the head. The attack had little effect except to hurt my hand, so instead I switched to a weak point by jabbing my fingers into its eyes. The goblin dog screeched and immediately let go to run away to the living room.

I scrambled to my feet and nearly slipped on the kitchen floor. There was blood everywhere. My blood.

The wound on my stomach was more serious than I thought. If I didn’t finish it soon, this injury might get me before the dog does. I grabbed a kitchen knife off the counter since it was probably sharpest blade that I owned. With the katana in one hand and the knife in the other, I was as ready as I’ll ever be.

*Item Identified* [Kitchen Knife, Common: F-Grade] – It came with the apartment and has been mostly used to open packages and cut sandwiches but there is the faint hope that you may grow up and eventually use it to chop a vegetable or two. Until that day comes, it’s a passable weapon for this floor (Current state: Average)

The dog shook its head a couple of times to recover before coming at me again. It jumped up at me but instead of going for my face; it chose a closer target and clamped its jaws down on my arm. I screamed and started stabbing it in the side frantically with the kitchen knife.

“Die!” I roared.

The dog whined as I kept plunging the knife in and out, but it refused to let go of my arm. Blood gushed out of the beast and onto me, which seemed to give me a new sense of energy and focus. One which I used it to try to find a vital area like where I thought its heart should be. On the next stab, I hit that spot and the dog finally became still.

Carefully, I peeled the dead dog’s jaw off of my arm and sat on the floor holding the knife and katana with my hands shaking. Expecting at any moment for the dog to suddenly regain life and attack me.

After a few minutes of nothing happening, I cried. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Me in my underwear, covered in blood and injuries with tears rolling down my cheeks. I couldn’t bring myself to care.

But thinking about my injuries reminded me of the moment when the pain had dulled. I looked down and sure enough, the wound on my stomach was gone. Maybe killing the dog had healed the wound? The System had given me the Blood Reaver class, and maybe that was a part of it. But that didn’t explain why the wound on my arm hadn’t healed. Its teeth had sunk in deep and blood was still slowly oozing out. I needed to wrap it in something soon to slow the bleeding and then maybe look at taking out another monster to heal it.

I shuddered at the thought.

That dog had almost finished me and it was only level one. If I was ever going to survive here, then I need better weapons and more of a plan.

*DING!* You have slain [Goblin Hunting Dog (common)] Level 1 – Experience Points Acquired

*DING!* [Knife Work Skill] Increased to level 2

*DING!* [Sword Work Skill] Increased to level 2

*DING!* Quest Completed – Congratulations! You managed to kill one of the weakest enemies in the tower. Here, have a common loot box to display my full gratitude.

*Item Acquired!* [Common Loot Box F-Grade] – These containers are gifted to those who managed to complete quests or slay difficult foes. The item inside is randomized. Maybe you’ll get a key that will take you straight to the ground floor so that you can escape this nightmare? More likely it’ll be junk, but considering what you’re currently working with, I’d say junk would be a massive improvement.

It didn’t take more than five minutes for me to have already gotten sick of the System’s tone. I mentally thought about the word menu and two words appeared in front of me. Stats and inventory. I selected the inventory first and saw that there was nothing except a small image of a plywood box. Imagining myself pressing it caused the real, larger box to suddenly appear in front of me.

I examined it and discovered the thing was sealed shut, but there was a shiny red button on the top of the box, which I pressed. Suddenly a drum roll started playing in my mind and I could see multi-colored flashing lights over the box, before the thing sprang open and shot confetti everywhere.

At first, it felt too risky to curse at this entity’s poor idea of a joke, but then I saw what was inside the box and I couldn’t help it.

“Oh, go fuck yourself.”

My loot box reward was an anime body pillow.

*Item Identified!* [A Dakimakura of Enya (rare)] – I know, don’t rush to thank me but judging by your past viewing habits, this is one of your favorite characters. Plus, everyone knows human relationships are overrated. Now you can play pretend and sleep with a fictional character every night!

*New Quest Unlocked!* [Time to leave the nest and make something of yourself] - Explore the current level to gain more experience, better weapons, and supplies. On the flip side, if you prefer to continue soiling yourself, nearly dying, and crying in your underwear, then don’t change a thing.

“I never soiled myself!” I shouted to empty room.

This was annoying. I had to stop letting the messages get under my skin. Its tone of voice is unlikely to be random. If I ever find one of those coins, I’ll use the payphone to ask about it. The more information I gather about the System and how it all works, the better prepared I’ll be.

Which reminded me, I had to see to my wound and get rid of a goblin dog corpse before it started decomposing in my apartment. But that meant leaving the apartment. The apartment which possesses a front door that’s currently wide open to any and all dangerous creatures that might still be lurking on this floor.

I reluctantly picked up the katana and the knife. The Japanese sword was a piece of shit that I’d bought from a stall at the flea market named Larry’s Kung-Fu Emporium. It had however shown a surprising amount of durability and it had better range than the knife, so it stayed with me.

My heart raced as I slowly moved towards the front door. Aside from my breathing and footsteps, there was total silence. I waited for a few seconds at the doorway and when no pack of goblin dogs suddenly materialized, I kept going.

I was on the top floor of an apartment building that contained one hundred floors. It was the tallest residential building in the city and had likely made it an ideal target for the System to modify. My apartment was a luxurious space with a large living room, a kitchen with an island and a bathroom with a shower stall and a bathtub. If it didn’t currently look like a scene from a horror movie set, I’d tell you that I almost never wanted to leave it. And before you ask, I’d gotten the apartment and some money as part of an inheritance, otherwise I never would have been able to afford such a place.

I inched my way out into the hallway and became surprised. The hallway looked the same as it had yesterday with its red carpet and cream-colored walls. There was no sign of anybody else. But if the Officiator was right, then at the very least, the elevators had been altered.

I stopped exploring when I realized my throbbing arm was leaving a blood trail on the carpet. I went back inside and picked up the goblin dog corpse to dispose of it before I looked for some kind of bandage. As soon as I’d lifted the body up, the pain in my arm vanished. I looked and saw that some of the dog’s blood had spilled onto the wound. What was it the class description had said? ‘Blood is now your power.’ I guess they meant that literally.

*DING!* Class: [Blood Reaver] has reached level 2 – Experience Acquired. 

That reminded me of another thing I needed to check. I brought up the menu and selected my stat page.

Stats

Name: Lucas Hudson

Race: Human (Class F)

Class: Blood Reaver Level 2

Strength: 6

Vitality: 5

Intelligence: 9

Constitution: 6

Dexterity: 5

Perception: 10

Willpower: 7

Free points remaining: 5

The stats all appeared pretty self-explanatory, and I’d played enough games to know that I’d be handicapping myself if I didn’t lean into what the Blood Reaver specialized in. ‘Stealth, agility, and ferocity,’ it had said. The other factor to consider was that my weapons were terrible. Would increasing my strength make my katana suck less by swinging it with more force? Intelligence was surprisingly high already, but that’s usually used for magic, and perception looked good enough for the moment. In the end, I decided that making myself more agile would be best if there were more dogs to fight and I dumped all five points into dexterity.

*DING!* You have gained [Basic Acrobatics] Ability – Your ability to dodge and maneuver has improved. You are now also capable of performing simple flips, tumbles, parkour movements, and have improved climbing ability.