Matt saw a metal bat swinging straight at his face. It had really caught him off guard since that’s the last thing you expect when you walk out your front door. As fast as he saw it, he quickly ducked, making the bat miss his head by an inch.

‘Wtf?’

He looked around to see what was going on and saw several people gathered around his apartment door. There had to be at least 6 of them. Some of them laughed and looked at him with cruel expressions, while others remained passive and blank-faced.

He wasn’t sure why they were there and after he dodged the bat, they seemed to stop attacking him. Matt looked up toward the person who had swung the bat and saw a familiar face.

“How have you been, kid? It took me way too long to find you.”

Matt let out a sigh of relief. He thought he was being attacked by beta testers, but it was just a man he had defeated before. Ned.

He seemed to be the leader of this group of criminals, at least as far as Matt could tell. He had a big smirk on his face like he had won life.

Matt stood up and brushed some dirt off his shirt that had fallen off the bat earlier. He looked around the group and noticed how some had knives, machetes, and other melee weapons. The ones he was concerned about though were the ones holding guns. He counted 3.

Now that he got a good look at them, he realized there were 9 people in total, including Ned.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Ned?”

Ned’s face froze. He looked like he had been delivered a bad sandwich.

“How do you know my name!?”

Matt had read his name in the quest when he fought him before, but obviously, Ned didn’t know systems existed, so it really startled him. Matt didn’t answer him but just gave a warning.

“If you all go now, I won’t hurt you,” Matt sighed.

Ned and the others just looked at each other and then back to Matt. They all started laughing.

“Are you trying to be intimidating or something?!”

Ned had a good belly laugh and then his face slowly switched back to a confident grin. He and the others closed in. He spoke as he played with the bat in his hands.

“Here’s how it’s gonna work. We beat the shit out of you, and our reputation stays solid. Now, we aren’t killers, so we’ll only leave you in a coma.”

He said this with a tone that made it sound like they were giving him a gift. Ned didn’t mention the fact that he had almost tried to kill Matt a few days ago.

‘Well, I guess there’s only one way to go then.’

Surprisingly Matt didn’t really like fighting. In games, it was fun, sure, but in real life, hitting someone felt… offputting. He didn’t like hurting people, but he knew that they would hurt him instead.

It was probably also due to the years of him getting bullied that he developed this sort of preference. He knew how bad it hurt to be beaten to a pulp. He never wanted anyone else to feel that pain. So, Matt sighed.

“Let’s get it over with.”

He put his arms out in a ‘come at me’ pose, waiting for Ned’s move. He felt like it was a bit overdramatic, but he was having fun while he could.

The faces of the thugs changed to annoyance as they saw his confidence and how he was basically challenging them. Ned didn’t look too happy either, he had already gotten a scolding from his leader and Matt had caused him a lot of trouble.

So, Ned’s face became serious and he held his bat high.

“Get the bastard.”

At that moment they started to charge him, Ned with a bat in hand, and the few melee members that were present. The gunmen aimed their weapons and waited for Ned to direct them.

Matt saw the people now running at him and besides the feeling of not wanting to hurt people. He felt a strange new excitement. He wanted to see how strong he had become. It was like when you leveled your character and then went back to an earlier zone with easy enemies.

He had experienced something like this in games, but never to this extent. Never in real life where the world was a lot more meaningful.

He saw them running toward him as if they were in slow motion. He assumed that his intelligence stat was helping his reaction speed, but it felt surreal.

The beta testers that had attacked him earlier were much faster, probably because they had decently high agility stats. So he never had gotten to test his new reaction time.

With one swift motion, Matt swept up toward the closest thug, who was wielding a knife. Utilizing his martial arts skills, he carefully used his palm to push the knife to the side, and then hit then grabbed his wrist.

Time seemed to suddenly catch up, and he twisted the man’s wrist, causing him to yell and drop the knife in his hand. It hit the ground, making a loud clanging sound.

Everyone stopped at that point, seemingly stunned by what had occurred. Matt had moved at speeds that were not normal and perfectly disarmed one of them. But he gave them no time to think.

A second after the knife hit the ground, he slammed his palm into the man’s jaw, causing him to fly upward by his head. Not a second later Matt was already speeding toward the next criminal, casually pulling the golf club he had out of their hand. Matt’s strength made it as easy as taking candy from a baby.

He chucked the golf club off away and then swept his leg under the man, causing him to lose balance and fall dramatically to the ground.

‘7 more.’

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[System Message]

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||Stats||

Name: Matt Peterson

Age: 18

LVL: 4 [XP 64/172]

HP | 40/40

MP | 0/0

Status Effects: +10% Speed, +10% Defense, +10% Physical Combat Skill Damage

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||Attributes||

[Stat Points]: 0

[Str] - 3o

[Con] - 19

[Agi] - 24

[Dex] - 14

[Int] - 20

[Luk] - 13

[Cha] - 10

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||Skills||

[Skill Points]: 1

Inspect [LV.2], Map [LV.2], Help [LV.2], Storage [LV.1], Mind Palace [LV.1] (Cooldown: 20 Hours), Self Defense [LV.2], Boxing [LV.2], Karate [LV.2], Kung Fu (Unspecialized) [LV.2], Wrestling [LV.1], Judo [LV.1], Kickboxing [LV.1], Interpersonal Communication [LV.1], Basic Survival [LV.1], Running [LV.2], Freerunning [LV.2], Message [LV.1], Crafting [LV. 1]

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||Quests||

-General-

Reach LVL 5 [4/5] [Reward: +10 Unassigned Stat Points, +1 Artifact]

Compete in an event and win [Reward: +1 All Stats, +75xp]

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-Daily-

*Daily quests not available in beta*

 

||Equipped||

Feet: Sports Shoes of Bursting Speed (Ability: Speed Burst)

 

||Storage||

-Items [4/25]-

Used Bullet [1], Gun [1], Knife [1], Smart Phone [1]

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