Chapter 1 A Whole New World

"Hey look, it's that loser!"

The crowd of boys laughed at me as I walked past them to reach my locker. It was a hot summer afternoon and the sun had been glaring down at me for the past twenty minutes as I walked to school. The school building wasn't much of a consolation however, as it wasn't much cooler inside as it was outside. My clothes were a hot, stinky mess from all of my sweat, I just wanted to relax and get away from everything.

As I went to touch the handle of my dirty, vandalised locker, I was greeted by the sensation of a viscous, honey-like liquid covering my hands. As I pulled open my locker, I was met by the sight of ink all over all of my belongings.

Suddenly, I heard the 'bully', Louis, behind me burst out laughing.

"Haha! Look at that, your shit's a bit wrecked isn't it?"

A dribble of deep black ink came out of the bottom of my locker.

"How are you going to class now? Idiot."

I closed up my locker again. There was nothing I could do about that now, I guess I would just go to class without my things.

Suddenly, I felt a pain in my back, then I fell down to the ground.

"Haha"

Louis was looking down at me with a despicable grin on his face. His cronies, Molly and Jack, were standing beside him, also laughing at me.

"Look at this bitch!"

"Let's pour some water on him."

"Nah, that'd cool him down, he's already covered in sweat!"

They continued joking and bullying me as I lay on the ground. There was nothing I could do. No one liked me. No one would help me. Even the teachers would ignore me.

Or so they thought.

I would get my revenge soon enough.

Ah, human behaviour isn't always goal-oriented.

?

Suddenly, everything went white. I couldn't see anything. What was going on?

[You are now being transported to The Apocalypse]

~~~

Suddenly, I felt the sensation of dirt on my hands. I looked around and all I could see were thick pine trees and numerous bushes. The area was quite dark from all the light being blocked by the trees. It was also quite cold, very cold; the sudden change in temperature was quite confronting for my senses.

My head was a little dizzy but slowly, I pulled myself up off the ground and looked around.

I'm in a forest?

What just happened?

Where was everyone?

I could hear nothing except the distant clatter of insects and the scarce call of some birds in the sky. I was covered in dirt and mud which had stuck to the sweat on my clothes. I tried to wipe as much of it as I could off my body.

[You have been given the ???-Rank System, Minion Controller]

[You have received 1x Woodcutter Minion and 1x Warrior Minion]

[You can buy more minions in the shop]

What was this?

Suddenly, two small humanoid-shaped, robotic creatures appeared beside me. They were dressed in bland grey clothing and were very geometric in shape. One was holding an axe and the other was holding a short sword.

Huh?

Suddenly, a menu appeared in front of me.

-

<Current Minions>

[1x] Woodcutter Minion - STANDING BY

[1x] Warrior Minion - STANDING BY

-

Beside each other the minions, I saw a few choices.

-

< [Level 1] Woodcutter Minion [1]>

Experience: 1/10

[Health] 100%

[Stamina] 100%

Actions:

- [Scout]

- [Chop Wood]

- [Fight]

~

There was interesting information.

I still wasn't sure what was going on, however. I decided to begin walking around the shrubbery of the forest. The two minions followed behind me like dogs, following no matter where I went. I looked around for a little while and noticed that there wasn't anyone nearby and the forest was practically empty.

What the hell?

I opened up the Minion menu once again and looked at the actions for the Woodcutter Minion.

-

Actions:

- [Scout]

- [Chop Wood]

- [Fight]

~

I decided to just assign him to [Chop Wood] although I still wasn't sure what this place was and what I was doing here. Immediately, at my command, the Woodcutter Minion walked away from me, into the forest and began doing its task.

It had walked out of sight so I couldn't see what it was doing anymore.

The Warrior Minion was still standing behind me holding its short sword.

I decided to explore the area a little bit more to see what I was doing. Pushing aside some leaves and branches which blocked the way, I managed to make my way to a pretty large open grassy area.

In the middle, there was a very large sundial.

I made my way towards it and looked down to observe it. I noticed that it was split into two portions, the first portion was just a normal sundial with the time. However, the other portion had some message carved into it.

'Zombies will spawn.'

What?

Zombies?

Surely not...

I quickly glanced around the area as I heard the crackling of some plants. In the distance, I saw my Woodcutter Minion returning to me. As it reached me, I was shown another system message.

[Your Woodcutter Minion has collected: [12x] wood, [1x] apple, [25x] leaves]

[Your Woodcutter Minion has gained [9] experience since its last expedition]

[It is now slightly tired]

Suddenly, I was shown another screen.

-

<Inventory> 38/100

[12x] wood

[1x] apple

[25x] leaves

-

I was now given the option to send it on another expedition. I chose [Chop Wood] once again and it made its way back into the forest.

Judging by the sundial, there were approximately two hours before sunset. It said something about zombies which worried me, however, I still had hardly any information. My best bet was to find some way to make it through the night.

I had no food or water or shelter, I was going to be needing that if I wanted to stay alive here.

I noticed that beside the Minion menu, there was another menu called 'Shop'.

-

<Shop> (Refreshes every day)

[Woodcutter Minion Recipe] - 10 Tokens

[Spear Minion Recipe] - 7 Tokens

[Minion Speed Boost Potion] - 1 Token

-

Recipe?

So it looked like if I wanted more minions, I would have to first buy their recipe from the shop and then craft them. My main question was, how was I meant to get these 'Tokens'?

I scrolled down further and noticed that there was more—there was also a specific 'sell' section.

I looked at the price of the items in my inventory.

-

<Sell>

[1x] Wood = 0.01 Tokens

[1x] Leaf = 0.0001 Tokens

[1x] Apple = 0.02 Tokens

-

Yikes, I would have to gather one hundred wood before was able to even get a single token.

If I was going to survive out here, I was going to need to be efficient with my time.

A/N: The first volume was more of a test. In the second volume, everything will be described in a lot more detail and there will be much more precise management and resources and such. I have been learning from the plethora of advice and criticism I have gotten so be sure to stick along!