Chapter 6: Bluffing

'Something isn't right here… Maybe I can try to use the system to help me, because, right now… It feels like a trap of some sort.' Alex said to himself as he looked around once more, He walked up against the wall so he would at least have his back protected.

'System, unmute' Alex said as he waited for the prompt to show up.

[System unmuted]

Alex then remembered that he had to go through a tutorial to navigate the system, but this situation didn't seem like the time to be worried about going through a tutorial. Alex shook his head and went with what he thought was right. He knew that he could do nothing. If it was someone willing to attack him, they would do it anyway, him waiting and doing the tutorial would just waste time.

There was also another thought in Alex's mind, 'Hana said that they would check If I was a criminal or not… It might even be a test. That would make more sense… If it is a test, then I should do what I think is right!' Alex looked towards the body on the ground.

Alex took a deep breath and walked towards the figure. He could only hope that this wasn't a trap, but a simple test.

He knew that he could only trust his own guts here and do what he thought was right. There was no other way.

As he got closer, Alex began to see a lot more details of the figure. He could see that the figure was a woman, her hair black, and her skin pale.

But Alex could also see that the woman was breathing by the movements of her chest. Her fingers also seemed to twitch.

'She's alive!' Alex said as he rushed towards the woman. He didn't care if it was a trap or not. For now, he just wanted to know if the woman was okay or not.

"Miss, Are you okay?!" Alex asked as he crouched next to the woman, his shoes already drenched in blood. "She's lost too much blood. I'll need to check her pulse." Alex said as he slowly moved his hand to the woman's neck. As he did so, he got to see her face close by. She looked like a teenager.

Alex could feel some pulse from her neck and felt a bit relieved. He looked around him and saw that there was no one. But he still felt like he was being watched.

Right now, he turned to the door and thought to yell outside, but another thought came up in his mind. 'Bluff!'

Alex was great at acting. He used to act very confident in every job interview and bluff his way into some jobs. You could call it his innate skill.

He stood up confidently and looked around him. He slowly moved towards the center of the light source so his face and body were clearly visible. Alex then smiled and laughed.

"I already know that you are watching me. This woman is still alive and but her pulse is light. She is close to dying, I understand what's happening but I don't care about that. I'd rather get this one to the hospital to get checked. We can continue this later. How about that?" Alex's face was filled with confidence. He was bluffing, but his words were genuine. From childhood, he couldn't help but help people, if he didn't it would have mentally affected him until he did.

So some words of his were a huge bluff, but the rest were all true. The thing he wanted the most was to let that teen girl get help and heal from her injuries.

[EXP gained]

'What? Did I do something special?' Alex was baffled, he didn't defeat any enemy, all he did was bluff. Why did that just give him exp?

Alex waited for a while, nothing.

A minute passed, still nothing.

Another minute passed. It was still pinned drop silence.

'Was… Was my assumption wrong? That means that what I just did… if someone saw that out of context… They would think that I was crazy…' Alex laughed to himself.

He had no reply to his act. He now didn't know what to do once again. 'I don't have any medical practice so I'm of no use for her. I should quickly do the tutorial and find a way to save her by the System It's the best choice that I have at this moment.' Alex said to himself as he looked towards the girl.

'System Begin Tutorial' Alex said as he stood under the light. He wanted to quickly finish the tutorial.

[Ui tutorial begins]

[For commands, Player needs to always say System in the beginning.]

[There are many commands, but we will begin with the most basic things.]

[Player has levels. Higher the level, the more power and health the player obtains. There is also a special power source, Mana. As the player wins battles, and performs certain actions, he will gain EXP and abilities.]

[Abilities are special moves that can be used by player to perform a certain task. All Abilities require Mana, stronger abilities require more mana, and vice versa ]

[The player can also gain skill points. The skill points help in increasing certain skills.]

[If a player wants to examine his statistics, please say: System Stats.]

[If the player wants to check or assign skill points, say: System Skills]

[If the player wants to check any rewards, he got from the previous battle, Say System inventory]

[This is the end of the basic UI tutorial. For a more in-depth tutorial, Say: System In depth UI tutorial]

Alex looked around and was sad to see that there was truly no one around him. It was just him and the injured girl. He thought for a second. Just before he could use the commands, a voice entered his head.

[IN COMBAT]

Alex felt horrified by the words. He didn't know what was happening. It was peaceful. But all of a sudden the system tells him that he is in combat.

Alex looked around and said in a deep voice, "I know you're out there. I can feel that you want to hurt me."

He knew that he had to act tough to intimidate his opponent. He needed to get over the edge by freaking out his opponent.

"Hmm? You have some sharp senses. But can you fight?!" A deep, demonic voice rumbled from behind him, freaking out Alex even more.

'This guy sounds like he even eats children for breakfast. I don't think mind games will work on him… I just need to wish that I come across some lucky encounter. I don't have outburst anymore but… Maybe another skill?! I need to take as much time as I can so I can check all my skills. System Inventory, Skills!' Alex said to himself as he calmly turned towards the source of the sound.

"I could have felt you for a mile away, what do you even mean? You over estimate yourself, don't you? I mean, hiding in the corner, not even facing me properly!" Alex turned his voice deeper. He knew that he had to at least try to intimidate the man. If not, his life would be on the line.

[Inventory… 1 skill found, Reapers's cut. This is a basic attack, used with a dagger.]

Alex's heart sank when he heard dagger but a sudden thought came into his mind right after, 'System, Inventory, Weapons!'

[Weapons… 1 weapon found, Reaper's Dagger]

'Yes!' Alex felt a bit of happiness when he saw the same icon of a dagger in front of him.

Alex also saw a small prompt in front of him, [Equip]

Alex quickly tried to tough it with his hands and to his surprise, it worked.

'It seems like the system also works with no thoughts or verbal words. It can also be used by hand. This feels more and more like a game ui' Alex said to himself as he looked towards his hand.

He was holding a dagger, the same one that he took from the reaper that the system helped him kill.

"Well, are you going to fight me or not?" Alex still kept his confident face up. He didn't know his enemy's power, so bluffing was the only way to make the enemy appear in front of him.

"HMMM, YOU ALREADY LOOK READY! AND THAT DAGGER, IT CAME OUT OF NO WHERE… YOU MUST BE A PHYSICAL CASTER. SOMEONE WHO USES MAGIC TO CONJURE UP WEAPONS AND USE THEM IN BATTLE. GOOD MAGICAL AND PHYSICAL ABILITIES!" The man's voice seemed to get louder and deeper.

It also sounded like he was coming closer to Alex.

Alex looked towards his prompts and activated his skill. It would put him in a stance, ready to attack at any moment.

As Alex waited for the man to appear in front of him a few prompts also came up in front of him.

[Player Alex]

[Level:5]

[Health: 30]

[Mana: 30]

[Skill Points remaining: 5]

'Hmm, these must be my stats… The health is very low compared to when I was in outburst. The mana also seems to be very low. I don't like this. I just hope he isn't that difficult to deal with. Let him be a level 1. I need to protect myself as well as this woman here.' Alex said as he looked towards the girl behind him. He could see that she was still deathly pale and was close to dying.