A Warlock's Ascent

Dave woke up, confused as well as paranoid from the darkness that surrounded him. It was then he remembered what happened last night. He then slowly calmed down, then started searching for the lantern he found last night. Before extinguishing it, he kept it close to him, so he found it pretty easily.

After liting the lantern up, he looked at the destroyed room where he spent the night, now it was filled with an unpleasant smell, probably because of all those dead bodies outside. He got up slowly, the pain in his leg has gotten worse. But he still endured it and limped his way out of the room.

This fine morning, the tower didn't seem as dark and eerie, as it was last night. But the smell of the rotting flesh in the tower had definitely gotten worse. Eventually, he had to wrap a cloth around his nose to lessen the burden of smell.

He started this morning by scavenging anything that could help him in his journey. He took some clothes, and candles, and found a pouch full of coins and many more useful things in the tower. After scavenging any useful stuff, he came to the armory. He didn't know how to use a bow and arrow or weapon that was there.

Yet still, he took the weapons that were in great condition. He figured he might be able to sell them later. Or he could try to use some of them. A bow and arrow is a good weapon and could help him eliminate his target from some distance. While he could throw spears at big monsters.

As far as armor was concerned, he didn't take it. All the armor had the insignia of Raven on them. And he didn't want to be associated with Ravenshade in any way to avoid suspicion.

After he had gathered anything and everything that could be remotely useful in his journey, he made a makeshift crutch for himself and started moving again. He felt bad for leaving the mutilated bodies of the soldiers just like that, but there was nothing that he could do for them. His leg was hurting like crazy, he was in no condition to bury those bodies. So he left as they were…

After making some distance from the tower, he stopped, sat down under the shade of a tree, and had some breakfast. He ate the beef jerky that he found yesterday. He actually wanted to eat the fish that he found, but as he didn't know how to start a fire, he had to use beef jerky for sustenance for now.

As he was eating his breakfast peacefully a number of blue color messages started popping up in front of him….

............

INVITATION

FROM- The Destroyer of Worlds

DESCRIPTION- The grand master of death; protector of weak beings, has shown interest in you. The Destroyer of the Worlds would formally like to invite you to join his Familia.

RULES- A Player of the Familia had to adhere to the following rules…

→They cannot kill other fellow familia members.

→They cannot kill familia members of allied gods.

→All the players must respect the hierarchy of the Familia members.

→It is up to The Destroyer of the World to appoint or give a particular rank to any Familia member. Other than him no one has the authority to do so. The rank of the Familia members would be….

Soldier<Captain<Squad Leader<General

→In case of banishment or because of some punishment, the Destroyer of World could lock the skills and power of the player permanently.

REWARDS- Upon accepting the invitation the player would be awarded Captain rank

Will you accept the invitation?

Y/N

............

INVITATION

FROM- The Fat Fighting King

DESCRIPTION- The harbinger of storms and thunder; one of the mightiest Gods of the universe had shown interest in you. The Fat Fighting King would formally like to invite you to join his Familia.

RULES- A Player of the Familia had to adhere to the following rules…

→They cannot kill other fellow familia members.

→They cannot kill familia members of allied gods.

→All the players must respect the hierarchy of the Familia members.

→The hierarchy of the players would be decided on basis of the strength that an individual has. The rank of the Familia members would be….

Soldier<General

→In case of banishment or because of some punishment, the Fat Fighting King could kill the player or lock some of their powers.

REWARDS- The player would be automatic will be provided with a Soldier rank. While it would be up to the player if he wants to ascend to a higher rank.

Will you accept the invitation?

Y/N

...............

INVITATION

FROM- The Falcon head

DESCRIPTION- The ruler of the skies; destroyer of evil; the magnanimous king of one of the greatest cities that was ever built, had shown interest in you. The Falcon head would formally like to invite you to join his Familia.

RULES- A Player of the Familia had to adhere to the following rules…

→They cannot kill other fellow familia members.

→They cannot kill familia members of allied gods.

→All the players must respect the hierarchy of the Familia members.

→It is up to The Falcon Head to appoint or give a particular rank to any Familia member. Other than him no one has the authority to do so. The rank of the Familia members would be….

Soldier<Captain<Squad Leader<General

→In case of banishment or because of some punishment, the Falcon Head could kill the player or lock some of his powers.

REWARDS- Upon accepting the invitation the player would be awarded Captain rank.

Will you accept the invitation?

Y/N

...............…..

INVITATION

FROM- The Jackal Face

DESCRIPTION- The one that commands the death; the protector and gatekeeper of the great beyond, had shown interest in you. The Jackal head would formally like to invite you to join his Familia.

RULES- A Player of the Familia had to adhere to the following rules…

→They cannot kill other fellow familia members.

→They cannot kill familia members of allied gods.

→All the players must respect the hierarchy of the Familia members.

→It is up to The Jackal Head to appoint or give a particular rank to any Familia member. Other than him no one has the authority to do so. The rank of the Familia members would be….

Soldier<Captain<Squad Leader<General

→In case of banishment or because of some punishment, the Jackal Head could kill the player or lock some of his powers.

REWARDS- Upon accepting the invitation the player would be awarded Captain rank.

Will you accept the invitation?

Y/N

...............…

He was quite surprised by all these invitations. These were like contracts, with weird and shady restrictions, and he was not a fan of them. From what he had experienced in this world so far, he wouldn't trust the gods even if they gave him the powers of Superman. After seeing these invitations, he started to understand what was happening there…

The Gods were simply playing a game. It wasn't good enough for them that they had sent a bunch of normal humans to this world to get killed or to kill. But now they wanted to make them their pawns? This was simply unforgivable. He started boiling with anger when he realized what these gods were trying to do. But alas, he cannot do anything to them for now.

He then just dismissed all the invitations and concentrated on eating his breakfast. He didn't reply to any of those invitations. He just simply dismissed them and started moving on…

He didn't know for long he had walked. But still, he wasn't able to reach any river or the abyss. From the long walk, he understood, that maybe he underestimated the sheer size of this world. Tired of walking in the open grasslands, he started cursing his luck. The only good thing about his situation was that his leg had stopped hurting, it had gone numb. Other than that his situation is as shitty as it could be.

But when all the hope was lost, it was then he spotted it. Out in some distance, he could see smoke rising in the air. He figured that it may have been caused by the mayhem from the last night. But there was also a chance that this could be man-made.

Thus Dave started moving toward the smoke. He didn't know what he would find there, but figured it wouldn't hurt to check the place out….

As he closed in some distance from the smoke, he started coming across huge farms. Most of the crops in these fields were crushed and destroyed. The beast tide from yesterday hit this town hard.

As he came to the town, he saw that most of the houses and building of the town was destroyed. Some part of the town was burned while some part was still burning. The dead silence and the smell of blood in the air was giving him a very creepy feeling from this place.

"Is anyone there!" he shouted. No reply came. Thus he then started roaming around the town shouting and looking for someone alive. But he wasn't able to find anyone.

While shouting he eventually roamed around the whole town. There was truly nothing left there in this town. But it was then he heard it…

ARRGGHHH!!!

Hearing this cry he immediately remembered the green midget that was killed by the Kobold. When it was getting chased by that monster, the midget was also making a similar noise. He then immediately armed himself.

He then took out the bow and arrow that he got from the tower. He then started limping toward where the sound came from. Eventually, he was able to come across what looked like a battlefield…

By the edge of the town, a bunch of people were fighting a big group of those green midgets. He didn't dare to show himself because the number of midgets was too big in number. And he didn't have any shred of confidence that he would be able to help these people in any way. So he decided to just observe the fight from the distance.

From what he saw from afar, the group of people belonged to trained professionals, they all were in formation, and were holding off pretty well against those midgets. These people were standing in a circular formation. In the middle were these two archers who constantly fired the green midgets. While surrounding the archers were four swordsmen, who used their great shields and sword to keep the midgets at bay.

It was only after observing them for some time, he understood, that these people were stuck. And they were not handling the situation skillfully. The midgets had surrounded them, those little bastards were throwing rocks at them, they had understood that going near them meant getting stabbed by the sword. And now the swordsmen were having a tough time fighting off these midgets.

As he observed the situation of these people for a while, he himself got stuck in a moral dilemma. He didn't know what was he supposed to do. He didn't have the power nor the courage to fight off the midgets.

AAAHHHH!

It was then he heard a scream. The scream belonged to little a girl. After observing the group more carefully, he understood, he got it wrong. The formation that they had made was not meant to fight with a bunch of enemies in the first place. But it was meant to protect the people that were in the center of the formation.

As he came to understand that there is a kid in the middle of the formation, Dave made a decision. He had to do something. But before getting to the action, he immediately opened his stat menu to allocate some stat points…

......…..

Stats

Exp-50/100

Strength- 10 [+]

Dexterity- 3 [+]

Agility- 2 [+]

Arcane- 2 [+]

Intellect- 3 [+]

Stats point available- 10

.........

After thinking for a while, Dave then made his decision. As he had 10 stats points, he decided that he would use it in such a way that everything gets upgraded simultaneously…

...........

Stats

Exp-50/100

Strength- 11 [+]

Dexterity- 6 [+]

Agility- 5 [+]

Arcane- 2 [+]

Intellect- 6 [+]

Stats point available- 0

.......

In the end, he decided that he would give one stat point to strength. Because he could not deny the usefulness of strength. Also, he decided that he would give 3 stat points to Dexterity, Agility, and Intellect. While he didn't know what kind of effect the arcane would have on his body, he just ignored it for now.

After he was ready, he stood up. He had confidence in his face and bloodlust in his eyes. He took his bow and took out an arrow from the quiver on his back.

He knocked the arrow on the bow, brought the string back, and took aim. At that moment, he felt like he could do anything in this world. And he could hit his target from this distance.

With the newfound strength that he had gained after upgrading his stats, he pulled the string of the arrow as far as he could and released it…

Because of not positioning, the arrowhead with his finger, the arrow got knocked out on the ground as soon as he let go of the string. Also to aim, he had leaned in a lot towards the bow. Because of this after releasing the arrow, the string got caught in his ear and almost cut in half…

"SON OF A BITCH!" he yelled in pain. But it is only after yelling he realized where he was. And his yell had attracted the attention of both the monsters and humans alike.