Chapter 3: Why Him?

While Zarian was ignoring his bloody problems and feeling hyped over his golden advancement, his former high school peer was doing all he could not to piss himself. The former peer’s name was Jack Masters.

He was the one who’d called mall authorities on Zarian prior to the shooting, chaos, and portal madness.

Jack had warned them of a ‘dangerous, deranged, and likely armed’ man sitting on a bench across from the koi pond. Jack had reported as many details as possible to urge the police to move in quicker.

He had tried his best to be equally tolerant of everyone. But past issues didn’t make Jack tolerant of the mentally ill. They were likely to be violent and do horrible things, in Jack’s experience.

He remembered how Zarian would mutter to himself during class back in high school. He remembered how Zarian attacked other people like a raving maniac – though there were rumors saying that Zarian had only attacked his bullies in self-defense.

He bit off a guy’s ear like a Mike Tyson wannabe. That’s the actions of a crazy man, not someone rational defending themselves.

Jack had stayed as far away from Zarian as possible. He’d started doing that ever since he first heard Zarian whisper to his dead little sister that nobody else could see.

What was her name?

“Ariana, come out and see this!” Zarian yelled, sounding as deranged as usual.

Hearing him like that made Jack flinch where he lay belly down, arms covering his head.

A few droplets of piss leaked out and stained his expensive pants.

This is my favorite brand, Jack realized before pushing that thought aside.

He was still grasping at straws, trying to make sense of the unbelievable things he’d seen.

Zarian had shot out a dark tentacle from his hand back at the mall. Gunfire had ensued, which had Jack pinned in the corner close to the elevator behind the koi pond. Then a powerful suction had snatched Jack off the floor and dropped him into a dark, cave-like room.

From there, he’d watched Zarian shoot more dark beams like he was a villain straight out of a fantasy novel or movie. As a concept, it should’ve been comical or silly. Jack had never seen something so horrifying in his life.

That couldn’t be actual magic. There was no way. Because why would Zarian of all people have those powers?

Yet, the dark beams had sent grown men off their feet. Zarian had defeated them without weapons, only magic.

Not without injury, though.

It was dark here, with only a few light sources. Despite the lack of clear vision, Jack was sure that Zarian had been shot. Possibly in multiple places. If only someone could land a final hit on the mad man.

If only I weren’t hallucinating about blue notifications and a profile, Jack thought.

What the heck was this madness? He was Level 1, apparently. And he had an ... alpha skill?

It even came with a description:

Jack looked up shakily at Zarian. The mad man was sitting down, not moving, doing God knows what.

Quickly, Jack resummoned his profile with a thought. He examined his ‘stats’ – which he could hardly believe were real – and noticed that his Wonder stat was higher than the others.

Why was that?

What was Wonder?

He waited for answers from the so-called System. But he received no explanations.

Was 9 points in Wonder enough to do anything to Zarian?

“Ariana, if you don’t come out, I’m going to choose my class without you!” Zarian shouted hoarsely before letting loose some wet coughs and a groan. “Then you’ll regret it!”

He sounded weak even while shouting. Even with all of his magic power.

If Zarian could use magic, couldn’t Jack do the same now? Why should someone as crazy and dangerous as Zarian be the only one to use his powers?

Jack trusted himself to have magic if it existed. Someone had to stop Zarian before he did even worse damage.

Removing his hands from over his head, Jack initiated his plan. He calmed his shaking body with a few deep breaths, in and out, in and out. He pushed his hand forward toward Zarian’s seated body.

The distance wasn’t too far. Only about forty feet. Jack had a good eye for hitting at range ever since he’d played little league baseball.

He was not good enough for D1, but he was good enough for chucking a decent fast ball accurately. Or in this case, shoot actual magic to kill a dangerous man.

You need to go down! Jack gritted his teeth and willed for the magic, Star Bolt, to work.

To his ever-growing surprise, the alpha skill answered his request. He felt a click inside of him, like the press of a mystical button.

He saw weird alien symbols flash through his mind, overworking his brain, making it throb. He didn’t get why he was hurting when it was a Level 1 skill.Explore new novels on novelbin(.)com

Was that because he lacked enough energy or whatever?

The throbbing headache stopped mattering when a literal spark of starlight formed in Jack’s palm. The light pushed back the darkness despite its small size.

The growing Star Bolt shone with hope, faith, and Wonder.

Jack was amazed. He was a true believer now.

And he was about to die when a pony-size creature thrashed across the ground in his direction. He noticed its moving bulk from the corner of his vision and turned to see a gaping maw filled with teeth aiming for his flesh.

Jack jerked his star-lit palm around.

He fired his shot. And missed.

His one skill streaked across the cavernous room and over a pool of dark ichor that was filled with more of the large monsters. The Star Bolt blasted the far wall with a solid burst, spraying sparks and rock chips like a grenade going off.

It was amazing. It would’ve beaten the monster back if it had landed on flesh instead of stone. It would’ve been nice to charge another one if Jack had the time and energy.

I’m dead, Jack thought.

Zarian was the perfect example, which Jack realized with horror and disgust.

Sergeant Washington was picking off the monster-turned koi fish with ease. Zarian was a reliable weapon, shooting pointy dark beams whenever his recruiter squeezed his biceps.

She pushed the shooting pace to a five-shot volley with a pause in between. She and Zarian blasted the koi monsters into gory bits before the giant fish could reach the downed policemen.

It was a terrifying display of power.

Zarian wasn’t even paying that much attention. He was letting someone else aim and signal when to fire. Sergeant Washington handled that like a pro.

“How are you doing that? How are you so brave?” asked the rum promoter girl, which was the same question Jack was wondering.

“I’m cheating. I got this alpha skill called Tranquil Thoughts, Level 2. It calms me down and makes me think clearly. Or I’ll lose my shit like the rest of you,” Sergeant Washington explained. “Is that what’s happening now? We’re in a video game? All because of this impulsive boy? God, you annoy me so much, Darkrun.”

“My bad, Sergeant.” Zarian let out a bloody chuckle that made the others shiver. “I might’ve screwed up a lot. But I got good news. I know what I’m picking for my class.”

“Does this look like high school to you?” Sergeant Washington snapped at him, while still shooting at the monsters.

Jack couldn’t believe the gall of this woman during an absolute massacre. Yet, Zarian kept chuckling, not bothered at all.

“Video game term, Sergeant. It means I’m picking a magical battle role to beat the monsters better.”

“Sorcerer?” asked the retailer worker guy.

“Oh, I get it. This is a role play. This is all make-believe. It’s like the VR stuff and brain chips, right?” asked the rum promoter girl.

Jack was having a hard time with the tonal whiplash. There was death, macabre, and screaming monsters ahead. Yet the surrounding discussion was more suitable at a convention for nerds.

“Not sorcerer. And this is not make believe,” Zarian said. “Here, I’ll show you. You can stop shooting now, Sergeant.”

The recruiter hesitated for a second before backing off of Zarian’s arm. She strode to the pile of pistols, picked one, then emptied the rest of their magazines and cleared the bullets. She shoved the mags into the thin waistline of her jeans.

She probably needed the gun and bullets more than Jack. He’d never shot a gun before. He was still sad she took control of one and hogged all the ammunition.

Meanwhile, Zarian staggered to his feet like a drunk.

Wait, he is drunk, isn’t he? He’d taken a bottle from the rum promoter girl when all of this madness started.

Jack couldn’t believe he was standing behind this guy now.

Zarian lurch toward the remaining monsters. There were far fewer now. Sergeant Washington had done a good job wiping out half of them with Zarian’s power.

Jack glared.

Why wasn’t Zarian affected by overuse?

“Yeah, no, I’m not going to,” Sergeant Washington muttered to no one in particular.

“Not going to what?” Jack asked.

The military recruiter looked grimly at the back of Zarian’s bleeding head. Her hand gripped the pistol firmly while it pointed at the floor, finger off the trigger.

Jack understood what she meant now. He disliked the woman even further.

She had a golden opportunity, and she was squandering it. Yes, she could wait for Zarian to finish the koi monsters then take advantage. But how could she call herself a Marine and not aim to take down a dangerous disgrace?

It has to be me, Jack thought. Zarian has to have a limit. He can’t shoot all of that magic forever. He’s barely able to stay standing.

“Ariana, I’m worried about you. You’re not responding or showing up anywhere. If you really were a figment of my imagination, that’s going to hurt,” Zarian said aloud. “You know how many people wrote me off as crazy. I’m not crazy. Don’t make me look crazy.”

Jack looked dead in the recruiter’s eye. Aren’t you seeing how insane that is?

Sergeant Washington ignored Jack’s glare with a stony expression. She was not a good woman, that was for sure, or she wouldn’t have gotten Zarian into the Marines somehow.

“When do we go home?” asked the rum promoter girl.

“We’re in an isekai,” said the retail worker guy. “I don’t think we get to go home. I’m Wally, by the way.”

“Hannah,” said the meek-looking, middle-aged woman still clinging to her shopping bags. She was all the way in the back.

“Bianca,” said the rum promoter girl. She was a natural blond beauty and should be far away from these horrors.

Jack muttered his name while Sergeant Washington grunted out “Naomi.” They fell into an uncomfortable silence as Zarian faced off against the remaining koi monsters.

One of the koi monsters stood bigger than the rest with a greater amount of bulk. It looked like a serpentine dragon rising out of the eerie muck that was covering all the monsters.

Maybe the creature might be strong enough to kill Zarian.

Wait, no, if that happens, who would kill it? Jack wanted to shout in frustration.

He also wanted a new pair of pants. It felt uncomfortably wet, distracting him even with death and horror happening in front of him.

Then things became weird when a large, chain-wrapped book phased out of Zarian’s torso and floated in the air beside him. The chains rattled so hauntingly they drove the fear of evil into Jack’s soul.

The chain bindings on the big black book pulled away from its thick face. The covers swung open. Ghastly black lights shone from the rapidly flipping pages.

What the fuck was that? What class did he choose? Jack checked his profile and saw he didn’t have the option to choose a class.

Was it because he was Level 1?

What level was Zarian?

And seriously, why him?