Insomniac Player

The pair of neighbours found themselves encircled by goblins and night-blood wolves, deep within the shadowed forest, where twisted trees blocked the moonlight and the air was thick with the scent of damp earth and fear.

The battle erupted without any dramatic signal or inspiring speech.

Damien thought the system would play heroic music in the background, but it didn’t. The System tended to announce most things visually, projecting floating text and shimmering screens in front of their eyes.

Still, Damien had wondered if it might be generous with sound effects too. Apparently not.

One moment, the monsters were surrounding them. And next, everything became chaotic.

Goblins shrieked as they charged from all directions.

Night Blood Wolves followed close behind, moving through the smaller monsters like predators moving through a herd.

John huffed before he swung his mace. The nearest goblin ceased being a goblin.

The unfortunate creature transformed into a lesson in physics.

It flew through the air, collided with two of its friends, and introduced all three to a tree.

John moved forward, and another swing was attempted, and another goblin disappeared.

The giant man fought like a medieval wrecking ball.

No technique or elegance, just overwhelming force.

Damien was beginning to suspect that if John hit a mountain hard enough, the mountain would crumble.

Meanwhile, Damien had his own problems.

One goblin broke through the melee and rushed directly toward him.

The creature raised its stone blade. Its yellow eyes gleamed with murderous intent.

Damien panicked. "Stop!"

The goblin ignored him. Damien begged him. "Please stop!"

The goblin continued its charge. Damien thrust the dagger forward in desperation.

The goblin collided with the dagger; the fang-shaped blade pierced its chest as its momentum drove it onto the weapon.

The creature foamed. Its expression changed from confidence to bewilderment before it collapsed.

Damien stared. The goblin stared back for three seconds. Then it stopped staring permanently.

"Oh no." Damien dropped to his knees. "Oh no, no, no."

The goblin wasn’t moving. That appeared medically concerning.

Damien immediately pressed both hands against the creature’s chest.

"Come on." Nothing happened.

Damien pressed hard on the goblin’s chest in an attempt at chest compressions. The goblin remained motionless. Nearby, John smashed another wolf into the ground before glancing over at Damien.

The giant man paused. "What are you doing?"

Damien looked up. "I think I killed him."

John nodded. "That’s good, congrats, Damien."

Damien snapped, "I didn’t mean to!"

John reminded him. "Pretty sure he meant to kill you."

Damien kept pressing on the goblin’s chest. "That’s not the point!"

John watched for several seconds. Then nodded contemplatively. "I think you’re missing a step."

Damien looked hopeful. "What step?"

"Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation," John answered.

Damien stared with irritation.

John somehow maintained a perfectly straight face.

Several seconds passed. Damien looked down at the goblin.

Purple blood had formed a puddle beneath it.

One eye was hanging at an angle that eyes generally preferred not to hang from.

The creature looked thoroughly dead.

Damien slowly looked back up. "You’re making fun of me."

"Not at all, Damien."

The goblin remained deceased as Damien sighed.

His first kill had been considerably less heroic than expected.

A notification suddenly appeared before John.

Beep.

The giant man blinked, then looked surprised.

"Oh! Damien, look."

Another notification followed.

➤[Level Up!]

➤[Player Level Increased.]

John’s eyes widened. "I leveled up."

"Congratulations." Damien retorted; he was in an unpleasant mood.

"I’m not joking, Damien." John pointed at the empty air. "I leveled up."

The older man focused for a moment. A translucent screen appeared before him.

Apparently, the System now responds to thoughts. Dangerous.

Damien was already visualizing accidental purchases.

John examined the screen, then read aloud.

➤[Player Profile]

Name: John Jones

Alias: N/A

Level: 2

Class: N/A

Titles: N/A

Strength: 20

Endurance: 18

Intelligence: 14

Stamina: 13

Agility: 10

Speed: 10

Dexterity: 14

Mana: 10

Available Stat Points: 03

John whistled. "Huh."

He looked pleased, then curious. "I wonder how many monsters I killed."

"Seventeen goblins and three Night Blood Wolves." Damien gave him the numbers.

John immediately turned toward Damien. "You counted, Damien?"

Damien nodded. "Of course."

The answer sounded perfectly reasonable to him. John stared.

The surrounding battlefield seemed to stop. Even the goblins looked slightly confused.

"You counted all of them?"

"Yes."

"When?"

Damien frowned. "What do you mean, when?"

"You were busy running for your life," John said as he raised his brows.

"I can count while running."

John continued staring; Damien looked again at the dead goblin, questioning his status as pacifist.

Eventually the older man sighed. "You know, most people don’t do that."

"Oh." A pause before he continued. "Is that why everyone struggles with math?"

John laughed so hard his mustache started shaking.

A nearby goblin took advantage of the distraction.

The creature charged. John casually swung his mace without looking.

The goblin exploded into the nearest bush.

Conversation resumed. Damien glanced at John’s profile again.

The numbers were interesting. Strength twenty. Endurance eighteen.

No wonder the man swung a mace like it weighed nothing.

That strength stat alone was double what Damien expected a normal human to possess.

A thought entered his mind. What about his own profile?

The System instantly responded.

A new window appeared.

--

➤[Player Profile]

Name: Damien

Alias: N/A

Level: 1

Class: N/A

Titles: N/A

Strength: 10

Endurance: 10

Intelligence: 20

Stamina: 8

Agility: 10

Speed: 10

Dexterity: 10

Mana: 10

Available Points: 00

--

Damien stared at the numbers and narrowed his eyes

Then compared them to John’s. One comparison immediately stood out.

John had twice his Strength. Nearly twice his Endurance.

Better Stamina and enough muscle to qualify as construction equipment.

Meanwhile, Damien’s only exceptional stat was Intelligence. Maybe that meant the System expected him to solve problems, plan ahead, or spot things others would miss; he tried to take encouragement from the idea.

Still, he eyed his Stamina with unease. If low Stamina meant getting tired quickly or struggling to keep up, things could get difficult once the real dangers began.

Twenty. Everything else sat at ten or lower.

His gaze slowly drifted toward the Stamina stat.

8.

Damien felt personally attacked.

The System had looked at his lifelong insomnia and decided to make it a numerical insult.

Somewhere deep inside his soul, a new grudge was born.

Against mathematics.