The system pinged with a notification as soon as he finished saying those words. It filled his vision once more.

  Quest -

  Kill your first Monster!

  Target -

  [Corrupted Guardsman (E-)]

  Reward -

  Medallion of the First Blood

  2 Earthly Realm Rune Shard [1] (75)

  1 [Skill Shard (F+)]

  William frowned as he stared at the quest he had been given. Not considering he had no clue what the hell a [Medallion of the First Blood] was supposed to be or the difficulty that would be figuring out what it did. Rather, he had been debating whether he wanted to go down that path again and face the Corrupted Guardsman. It was a few major ranks stronger than he was and the other direction of the hall was empty for as far as he could see until the bend.

  Yet, he wasn’t naive.

  He knew better than to make an attempt at dodging a difficult situation and pain, but no one liked to suffer. Even if he knew that he would wake back up in the cell after every death as though nothing had happened a moment before that. Constant looping back and forth. William would be fine physically, but his mental health would be a different question entirely.

  How the hell am I supposed to defeat something that the system considered too overwhelming for me to face directly?

  William shook his head. There was no way he would allow himself to discard this opportunity that he had been provided? He couldn’t and most definitely would not allow that to happen if he had a choice in the matter. Regardless of the pain. He had escaped a life of abject nothingness and dull colors. He couldn’t return after what he had experienced even if it was so little.

  This was a pivotal moment considering what he suspected was going to happen with the whole ‘Save Humanity’ bit that kept repeating. William would not find success unless he defeated his fears and demons to push past this hurdle. If he failed a dozen times, then maybe he could go in the other direction. Yet, that was only after doing this task to the best of his current strength. Failure was not giving up. Not attempting it at all because he was afraid of the pain and consequences was.

  “No pain, no gain!” William said. He slapped his face for extra motivation. “I needed to figure this out eventually anyway. Just much earlier than I expected.”

  William stood up. A tremor shook his legs that remained for a few long seconds that he had to fight. He waited until they stopped clacking into each other before he searched around the room for the stack of items where the shield and sword had been in the corner. They were missing from their spot. He looked into his inventory with haste. Not a chance that he could kill the thing without some type of weapon. He let out a relieved breath as he found both items and the [Skill Shard]s he received before his death, sitting there without any changes.

  Having them back in the pile and in his inventory would have broken the system. Endless [Skill Shard]s and weapons he could sell for a cheat money multiplier that was limited only by the size of his inventory, but that was a bit too much to ask for it seemed. The system was only good at making everything harder.

  Both items fell to the ground as he pulled them out of the system. He took a moment to smack his thighs a few times as hard as he possibly could. All in the hopes to wake them up. He took a deep breath to prepare himself for what was coming. It felt like his heart was making an attempt to hammer its way out of his chest all the while thumping in his ears relentlessly. He couldn't help his body’s natural reaction as he fought against them.

  Lock in, William! There’s no time for games and weakness!

  William knew he had to buy into the whole thing as an opportunity that he could not let escape. Yet the hope had still been for a gradual development in a tutorial simulation when he had seen those words for the very first time, not fighting something that had torn his throat out only a few moments ago during that harrowing incident. There should have been starting monsters he would practice on; bunnies, wolves, goblins, anything that was a (F-) creature, not something two ranks above him. He wasn't even sure if he had to go through every minor rank as well in the development of his levels making the gap even bigger. Or if there were jumps in the process.

  William shook his head and pushed himself to walk towards the rusted bars of the cell. He peeked out just slightly and looked toward the corpse. The first thing he noticed was a glowing orb of golden runes spinning lethargically where he had died. He assumed those were his currently missing runes from his status page. All three of them.

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  He took a deep breath as he stepped out and tiptoed his way towards the corpse. He hoped that whatever made it wake up after his arrival would not have changed, but he was not going to risk it. William needed to be more careful. Enough with the recklessness and more planning. As soon as he came in within five feet of the glowing orb, he was prompted by the system with a loud dinging sound. He couldn’t help but wince at it.

  The Corrupted Guardsman remained as still as a corpse.

  Code BLACK (Loop) System -

  Do you wish to collect your Runes Remains?

  Yes -

  No -

  William was quick to select yes. The glowing orb shattered like glass and washed the area with a cold fog. William cringed again as he stared at the Corrupted Guardsman in case it moved or reacted in any way. Again, it did not as it acted dead the entire time.

  He decided to risk it. Something triggered its movements and it wasn't anything from this side of the hall. He tapped it a few times to prove his working theory and received the same reaction he had gotten during his first loop. Clearly it wasn't sound either because it would have been charging him the moment he woke up or during the first attempt to analyze. William had screamed his lungs out both times. It wasn't proximity either because he had poked it a few times already without any reactions. He took a moment to consider what had happened and why he had woken it up the first time. .

  It was only after a few moments that it hit him. It was one of two things, one of which was a lot worse than the other. It was either hardwired to ambush him rather than fight head on, making it more of a specialty monster that he was struggling with or something or someone was supposed to come from that direction of the hallway. Meaning it was not guarding the area towards his cell. Coded to wake up and specifically fight whatever was in that direction.

  He wasn't sure how to feel about that. Was it designed to fight other people that were thrown into this tutorial world or was there another force it was fighting due to some vague piece of lore? Regardless of what it was, the situation did not bode well for him considering his [Class] was only a (F-). He did not want to interact with strangers without some strength to defend himself. He knew well enough, from his experience in the supermarket, that some people lived to torment anyone weaker than them to boost their own fragile egos. Yet, it also meant progress and moving in the right direction if he wanted to escape this Ruined City and finish his Ultimate Quest to receive the rewards.

  Though he wasn’t ready yet.

  William doubted he would find anything weak enough for him to casually farm when the most basic mob was categorized as overwhelming to him. Guardsmen were not supposed to be elite bosses or roaming powerful mobs. They were on the lower end at best in most games.

  He wanted to look at it in the most positive light he could possibly entertain without causing himself more problems. This might be an opportunity. If there were less monsters to deal with on the other side of the hall, maybe he could find resources and tools, weapons and armor that would give him a better chance at surviving whatever came from the other direction.

  Plus the fact that he recognized that not killing it would sit with him forever.

  I need to get this weapon out the way. I don't want it to be stabbed again.

  His plan was simple. Disarm it of anything it could use to kill him easily, such as the sharp sword and shield, and then bash its skull in before it could wake up. Easy as stealing cake from a baby. The sword was in its hand on its other side. Right around where he had been ambushed. He didn't want to fight the thing only for it to get a chance to stab him with its sword while he was distracted trying to pummel it. The shield was a much easier thing to deal with, it wasn't strapped to its arm or held tightly on its grip. It was on the floor and a few inches away from its fingers.

  The thought of kicking said shield away did cross his mind, but it seemed quite pointless.

  He reached around its body with his sword and poked at the grip that was around the Corrupt Guardsman's pummel. He poked at it a few times while keeping his eye on it to make sure it did not wake up. After a few moments of no reaction, he applied his entire focus on getting this done while doing his best to loosen its grip, but it was too tight. The thing wouldn't let go.

  William cursed to himself. He sent his sword and shield back into the inventory for more maneuverability. He leaned over and reached for the cold dead finger, stretching as far as he could without letting the majority of his figure get too far as he began to pry the sword out of his hand. Prying finger by finger, though they returned to their spots if he did not keep holding them open. It was a strange, unbalanced, and precarious position to be in.

  He never noticed the glowing red eyes activating, nor did he notice it silently raising its free hand up towards him.

  God damn this shit. It's really strong. Can't believe I'm struggling this much to keep three fingers open. I still need to get the thumb loose and that’s probably be enough to slide the sword out of its—

  The corpse jerked its cold fingers violently and seized William by his throat. It rose up to its feet quicker than he had time to react. It picked his entire body up. Squeezing tightly around his throat. Digging deep into soft flesh with sharp bones.

  His system dinged in the background. Again failing to notice the shift in the Corrupted Guardsman quick enough for him to react.

  William scrambled to break free. His hands fought against the fingers as they continued to dig deeper into his throat. Choking him. His mind began to grow foggy as he had been in the midst of breathing out. The Corrupted Guardsman had timed its attack perfectly. William groaned as he hurried to pull out the sword from his inventory. Blood rushed to his brain. He swiped and cut with all the force he could generate, though the longer it took the more it waned.

  His strikes were too weak.

  Its glowing flames for eyes stared deep into his soul. Letting out a shrill, eardrum popping sound that vibrated through its arm.

  William struck again, cracking the bones in its arms. It had no armor there. There was hope. He struck again and again as his mind grew more hazy. William learned he could not generate enough force being held up off the ground and lacking oxygen to his body and brain to break the offending arm quick enough. He was losing strength the longer it took. He began to panic. Kicking and swinging his blade with less coordination.

  It held him higher and pulled its sword arm back.

  William shouted as he tried to parry.

  It struck, brushing past his weak attempt, at his throat and slammed through the base of his mouth, up into his brain and out of his skull.

  He was dead instantly.

  System Code BLACK (Loop) Error…

  Removed Corrupted Files…