Berserker: A LitRPG Urban Fantasy Adventure (Apocosmos Book 1)

by Dimitrios Gkirgkiris

  Name: Best friends key

  Type: Quest Item

  Durability : 1/1

  Rarity: B Grade

  Weight: 6st.

  Description : A key that opens the way to a realm of friendship and greater understanding.

  “This looks beautiful,” I said between Louie’s excited barks, honestly describing the craftsmanship, though I kept the fact that I thought nice things were redundant to myself. “What is it though?”

  “Open the scroll,” he replied with a smile and petted Louie so he would quieten down.

  As soon as I removed the ribbon and unfurled the scroll, a new text box appeared in front of me.

  Quest Name: Man’s Best Friend I

  Availability: Single

  Rarity: B Grade

  Description : Dogs are man’s best friend. Dogs and people shouldn’t be limited in their communication. There is so much more love to be shared if they could understand one another.

  Success: Use the Best friends key and reach the center of the forest.

  Failure: No failure conditions applicable

  Status: 0/1

  Time Left: Unlimited

  Reward: ???

  Do you accept the quest?YesNo

  “It’s giving me a quest that will help me understand Louie better,” I said, turning my head to face Leo.

  “Well, accept it already!” he said, almost frustrated at my hesitation.

  I mentally reached out to the word “Yes” and the outline of the text window flashed before disappearing.

  “Okay, I just did,” I said. “What now?”

  “Well you’ve got a key, don’t you?”

  “A key, yeah. But no idea where the door is.”

  “Which is why I told you about planes being created by items.”

  “I can use this key in any door?”

  “On any surface,” he added, “though I wouldn’t advise on using it on the floor. You know, physics can be… a bit confusing.”

  I stood up, key in hand, and moved toward the closest wall. I touched the tip of the key on the red and gold wallpaper and initially nothing happened. Once I pressed it a bit, the key was submerged into the wall with a flash and as soon as I turned it, flashing lights formed the outline of a door. I pushed it open and the key remained in my hand.

  Beyond the door were lush green fields. The sun was setting over a thick forest on the horizon. Not giving me much time to take in the beauty before us, Louie sprinted off through the door to make the best of the landscape.

  “Louie!” I shouted and ran after him. Leo followed right behind me.

  As soon as I crossed the threshold, my worry for Louie faded away. I was suddenly standing in the open, the warm rays of the sun on my skin, and a gentle wind brushing my freshly shaven head. Louie was having a blast as well, running up a gentle slope and rolling over on the grass, only to run back up and do it again.

  “This is… Wow,” was the only thing I could say as I looked at the fantastic scenery before me.

  “The Apocosmos is a very dangerous place, but it can also be beautiful beyond any imagination,” Leo said as he moved next to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Why don’t we take a walk?”

  “Let’s head toward the forest,” I said and pointed toward it. “That’s where my quest needs me to go.”

  Once we had taken a few steps away from the door that seemed to be standing in the middle of the open field, it disappeared as swiftly as it had appeared.

  “I don’t suppose that’s going to be a problem?” I asked, hoping he knew what we were doing here.

  “You can use the key on any surface to return, so no worries.”

  We continued walking for more than thirty minutes before reaching the forest, but the sun hadn’t moved at all. I didn’t ask Leo, but could tell that this was a place of everlasting sunset. A world of danger and beauty indeed.

  Leo had somehow managed to completely derail me from my original plan. All I had wanted was to get his consent so I could return home and use the free crafting system and perhaps figure out my strategy for the working week so that I could maximize my profits while still crunching at the office for the upcoming update.

  Yet here I was, running into the sunset with him and Louie as if I had no cares in the world. I had to admit that I did enjoy seeing Louie having fun, but I couldn’t help but feel anxious about not actively working toward paying off my debt. The realist in me acknowledged, however, that I had no choice since I was already here and decided to play around with Louie.

  He was running as fast as he could and I couldn’t even remember the last time I saw him run so far away from me. New York wasn’t a place I felt comfortable having him roam around, not even in big parks. There would always be an entitled gadget-nerd with their e-scooter or, worse yet, a Casey Neistat clone riding their boosted board and holding a camera in front of their face. And God forbid if a dog ran in front of them. The trials for emotional trauma would last for ages.

  In this place though, there were no assholes were running around. No cars. No dangers. It was perfect.

  Suddenly Louie yelped loudly and ran even faster back toward us, the grass behind him shifting as if something we couldn’t see was following him. I ran toward him and cursed the moment that I thought this place was without any dangers.

  I took Louie in my arms and examined him. He had no injuries, so it was probably just a scare that had made him yelp. I put him down behind me and prepared myself for what was coming our way. The grasses stopped moving a couple of feet away from us and then I could see the monster that had scared Louie.

  Name: Young King Cobra

  Type: Beast

  Level: 3

  Disposition : Aggressive

  HP : 58/58

  Physical Attack: 9

  Magic Attack: 9

  Speed: 100

  Attack Range: Melee

  XP : 106

  Description : An intelligent predator. This beast is not to be confused with the king cobras of the Cosmos. Its only similarities are in appearance, as this monster uses tactics to isolate and poison its prey.

  The snake wasn’t as big as the ones I was used to seeing in MMORPGs but was still much larger and more fearsome-looking than any I had ever seen in real life. For starters, this was a king cobra, which meant its bite would be venomous, and in its standing position it was almost as tall as me. Coupled with the fact that I had nothing to hit it with, well… I was fucked.

  I took a step back and found Leo’s hand holding me fast in my position.

  “Never turn your back on one of these,” he said. “This is no ordinary snake. It’s intelligent and obviously hungry. If you turn your back, it will attack.”

  “What am I supposed to do then?”

  “You’re supposed to fight it.”

  “With what?” I snapped at him as I saw the snake slowly move its body menacingly left to right. “I’m no fucking baby Hercules and this is no fucking baby snake.”

  “So, are you saying… you’re tired of these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane?”

  Under normal circumstances, I would have burst out into laughter. This was the funniest pun I had ever heard him make. But considering the fact that a venomous king cobra was about to attack us, I couldn’t help but feel the timing of his delivery wasn’t great. “Dude, seriously, what do we do?”

  “It’s dangerous to go alone. Take this,” he said and I could almost hear the gears in my head grinding until a metal surface in front of me reflected the setting sun’s rays on the side of my face.

  Name: Short Sword

  Type: One-Handed Sword

  Rarity: E Grade

  Physical Attack: 8

  Magic Attack: 6

  Special Ability: -

  Attack Speed: Fast

  Durability : 43/60

  Weight: 1600

  Description : A smaller version of the most commonly used sword. It ha
s a very basic design but is able to deal damage fast.

  I took the sword in my hand and swung it a couple of times to get used to its weight also hoping that the apparently intelligent snake would think again about attacking us and retreat.

  Instead of retreating, the king cobra launched itself toward me and sunk its teeth into my forearm. I slashed at it but was unable to cut it in half. Instead, I managed to leave a huge gash in its body. The snake looked like it had sustained quite some damage but, judging by the red health bar I could see above it, it would take at least three of these attacks to bring it down. My HP bar, however, was just over two-thirds full and was slowly falling, no doubt as a result of the burning sensation the snake’s venom was spreading through my arm.

  I realized this was a losing battle and started to consider how far I could run with Louie in my arms before the snake sunk its teeth into my back. In the end, it didn’t matter. I had no other choice.

  6

  Fee Ra Huri

  Before I managed to turn my back and grab Louie, a yellow light enveloped me from above as if someone had thrown a bucket of it over me. The familiar warmth of Leo’s healing spell completely replenished my HP bar, and it changed my mind. With renewed vigor, I attacked the king cobra. Again, I tried to dodge its bite, but it was simply too fast for me to avoid. This time, it bit me on my shoulder but instead of just hacking at it with my sword, I reached out my hand to where I imagined its neck was and grabbed it.

  Once I was sure I had a good grip on it, I slashed it with my sword, driving another deep wound into its scaly body. The large snake released my shoulder and tried to launch itself backward, but I held its head tightly. I continued hacking its torso with my sword, each hit sounding even more disgusting as metal cut into flesh and hit bone.

  The snake quickly changed its tactics and, instead of pushing on the ground to try and pull its head free, it put all of its weight on my hand, swing its body to try to whip and trip me. I was about to land my last hit on it when its tail, having wrapped around my feet, tugged me and brought me down.

  Instinctively, I unclenched my fist to break my fall. This was enough for it to escape my hold. The soft grass of the field meant that hitting the ground wasn’t painful at all, but it also meant I wasn’t able to see the snake once I was down. It didn’t turn out to matter much, since I could tell it was moving toward the forest by the fact that it was dragging me along behind it.

  I tried to deliver one final blow on its body as it pulled me but this only made things worse things. One of my failed strikes resulted in my sword hitting a large rock. The impact sent a reverberating wave of agony back to my elbow, forcing me to open my palm and drop my weapon as I was dragged further away.

  Behind me, I heard Louie bark as he chased us and Leo was shouting my name, but the sounds were becoming more distant by the second. Without a moment of warning, I felt the snake’s body disentangle itself from my legs and I quickly picked myself up. We hadn’t yet entered the forest, but rather had traveled around its edge—enough for me to be hidden from my companions by a thick fence of trees. I thought about shouting out to them but swiftly reconsidered.

  The snake hadn’t just decided to leave me. It had brought me here to finish me off. And if this was actually an intelligent predator, I could only hope that it didn’t hunt in packs. I bent my knees slightly, ready to lunge into action at the slightest movement of the grass around me, and waited. I knew it was watching me. I could almost feel its blood lust.

  The attack came from below, and the snake’s thick body yanked my feet out from underneath me again. In the brief instant my face turned toward the forever-orange sky above, as I fell on my back, I saw the gaping mouth of the cobra coming at my face. My HP was just high enough to last another hit. That was, if the poison didn’t knock me out first.

  I brought my hands up in front of my nose, palms facing outward. The predator bit the top of my hands, pushing them further together.

  My HP bar was almost completely depleted and my whole vision took on a reddish hue. I wasn’t sure if this was a sign from the Apocosmos that I was in mortal danger, but with this red filter on my sight, I suddenly wasn’t afraid anymore. I clenched my fists, enveloping the snake’s head in my hands, and tried to pull them open. The cobra, realizing the danger it was in, attempted to draw its fangs back but was unable to do so since they were still lodged deep inside my palms and I was holding on tightly.

  I screamed in pain— no, not pain. I wasn’t feeling any pain. I roared in anger and opened my hands, a sickening crack sounding the end of my aggressor as I broke its jaw and split its head open. I shook my hand until the snake’s carcass fell to the ground. But my HP bar was nearing its end and I had no way of healing myself. I had to find Leo.

  I only managed two steps forward before I saw the familiar rustling of the high grass a dozen feet in front of me. And another one next to it. No, another two of them.

  “Leo!” I shouted. Staying silent wouldn’t help me anymore.

  As if responding to my call, the three predators perked their heads up and looked at me, their glistening black and yellow bodies writhing menacingly. I took a step back and almost tripped on the body of their dead kin. The cobra closest to me saw this as a chance to score an easy hit and darted toward me.

  As it did, a circular hurricane flashed into existence on the snake and blasted it into smithereens in midair. Chunks of flesh, bone, and a whole lot of blood were blown away while the hurricane still had some force left in it. By the time I realized what had happened, another spell—this time a bolt of ice—flew from the trees and impaled another cobra, leaving it dead on the spot. Leo was now emerging from between the trees, his hands already forming another small hurricane.

  The third snake was already making its escape. Leo, however, didn’t seem to think the battle was over as he launched his Gale Blast on the beast, painting the earth around that spot red. I tried to raise my hand in thanks to him but suddenly felt dizzy as the redness in my sight started to disappear.

  Leo ran toward me, casting a different spell. A green aura enveloped me and the burning sensation in my wounds seized.

  “I cast Cure Poison on you,” he said once he’d reached me, “but we need to heal you and I’m almost out of mana. Can you walk?”

  I nodded. With his help, and with Louie’s emotional support, I staggered away from the opening of the forest and we sat on a low hill.

  “That was a close one,” I said and started petting Louie, who wasn’t concerned with running around anymore.

  “I didn’t really expect the snake to drag you away,” Leo confessed. “This was supposed to be something like a tutorial. My father was right. I’m not fit to teach you anything. You should meet with him. My family… they’re all great warriors.”

  “Wow,” I said, shaking my head in denial. “I don’t want anyone to teach me anything. I thought this was just you giving me my birthday present…”

  “It is, but your level is so low. I doubt you can finish the quest without any skills.”

  “What do you mean by skills? I need to have skills to enter the forest?”

  “You don’t need to, but I think there are stronger enemies in there than the cobras. Hold up, I’ve got enough mana to heal you now.”

  With that, he stood up and started casting his healing spell. I stood up as well as the familiar warm glow rushed over me.

  “Why did you stand?” he asked with a smile.

  “I don’t know. It seemed like the right thing to do.”

  “I only stood so that I could perform the somatic components of the spell,” he explained. “But your HP and MP Regeneration Rate is higher if you’re sitting.”

  “Well my HP is full now, and I don’t need MP, so I might as well stay alert.”

  “Suit yourself,” he said and sat back down. “I prefer sitting to restore my mana.”

  I looked at him with the intention of scanning his stats.

  Name: Leonardo DiFiore
/>
  Race: Elf/Human

  Class: Mystic

  Level: 19

  HP : 379/379

  MP: 62/273

  I could see his MP increasing by the second.

  64/273

  67/273

  69/273

  “Are you going to keep staring?” he asked.

  “Sorry. I was looking at your MP total,” I confessed. “I can see your HP and MP now too.”

  “Yes, well, there’s no reason to hide them from you,” he said. “Man, I’m so sorry I let this get out of hand. Maybe we can leave this until my father talks to you about skills.”

  “No, no,” I replied, dreading the thought of even more forced socializing. “It’s fine. I wasn’t paying attention. After all, I’m okay now. Just tell me what I need to know.” I sat down on the soft grass next to Louie, who was licking his paws, and smiled at Leo, prompting him to continue.

  “Alright. Well, there are two kinds of skills you can earn,” he said. “Active and passive. I think those are pretty self-explanatory.”

  “Passive ones provide bonuses as soon as I get them, while active ones need to be used?”

  “Exactly,” he replied. “Many of the active skills can be used as soon as you level up, and the passive ones take immediate effect.”

  “But how is that possible?” I asked, honestly puzzled. “Are they downloaded into my brain à la Matrix?”

  “Something of the sort. Dark Energy reacts to your class. You need to remember that all of the knowledge is already in the Dark Energy so once you gain a level, it reveals the knowledge of the skill to you. Unless, of course, you need the appropriate skill book or training to be deemed worthy, but that’s a lesson for another time.”