A Faction of my Own

When I entered the new world all I could think about was how I wanted to have a more interesting life.

I died a boring death, cancer hit me at the ripe age of 19. My family was lower middle-class and instead of making our finances any worse than it already was I decided to say fuck chemotherapy. I managed to graduate high-school at least... That was my best achievement.

I was welcomed into a town at the western edge of human territory, aged down to sixteen. With a backpack filled with camping gear, an ax and a buckler shield I was sent off into the new world.

It's been about three days since and I've registered with the local mercenary's guild. While I can't say that I'm an athlete or anything like that, I can at least say that I was relatively fit compared to my peers. With an axe in-hand I could kill the occasional goblin or two, they plague these forests and about four or five heads is enough to buy me food for the day. I've been living in a tent, as much as I want to afford an inn my sights are set on something a bit different. I'm aiming for a crossbow, something to make hunting just a bit easier.

You see, I'm not alone in transferring over to this world. If anything it's quite common to be a transferee here, which is why technology, aside from weaponry is at a serviceable level for a modern person. Others that are in a similar situation to me have decided to group up and share profit, which makes a lot of sense since surviving as a group is easier than alone. They can also take on more monsters should they decided to, which rakes in a lot more money.

At the moment my goal is one of three things, the first being to gain a crossbow and the second is to awaken my path. A path can change a person's life drastically, gaining special abilities called skills in the process. One can relate paths to a profession in a game, a path relating to swordsmanship could be considered a Swordsman class in a game right?

Paths awaken randomly or when a person survives a near death encounter, it's a one-way ticket into getting into the main cities. Most paths lead to a combat related ability but others are more related to the arts like the Painter and the Builder paths.

And lastly the second ticket out of this dump, gaining access to internal energy. The fuel of martial arts and what separates a veteran from a newbie, it takes years to even manifest it let alone be proficient with it. Which is why it is not in my main list of things to achieve.

Thankfully I only need to save up for a few more days before getting the weapon that I want. I just need to hide my money in the meantime.

Other survivors are a bit cruel, especially since only a few guards patrol the town. Humans are humans and well let's just say that I've seen them take advantage of a few of the others who just arrived.

I can admit when I'm outgunned and at this point I know that I'm not a hero either. So I decided that self-preservation was key and that what's more important right now is saving up for that crossbow.

---

Fwishhh. Tink.

The bolt from the crossbow hit its mark right through the eyes of another goblin.

It's been three weeks since I got to this world. I think that I've been adapting rather well. I've been getting good at climbing trees and sneaking around is easy seeing as I'm only 5 foot 6, I've gotten a lot thinner due to how expensive food can be.

I'm also staying at a safer place, though the daily fees is eating away at whatever I can save. I need to either join a party or some sort of organization that can house me.

But who would take a weak looking teen in their party, that's just the thing. I haven't moved on from the beginning hunting grounds at all, moving on to the harder areas requires a party or as a solo I'll need internal energy. I need to get a lot better at fighting if I want to enter those areas alone, it's not like everyone can just learn magic either, that's related to paths and is not an option for most survivors.

I guess I'll have to save up for some better equipment, if I have to do everything alone then I can just focus on improving my gear.

---

Smoke was coming from the town as I returned from another hunt. I climbed onto a tree to see what's going on.

"HELP! HELP!"

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!"

The town of Gurleshi was in chaos. We were under attack, they were being swarmed by red-skinned monsters. They had horns resembling that of a goat. "Demons."

If an orc was something that's above a regular fighter's pay-grade, then a demon is leagues above even the more elite among us. I had two options, I could either stay and die like the rest of them or tuck my tail and run. "I'm not a hero."

And so I left, diving into the forest. I've been doing this for close to seven months now, if anything I feel safer within the trees.

"The town of Rikport is two weeks away if I go through the forest. But it's this or dying to demons if I go back to the main path."

I don't know if the town fell, if a hero somehow arrived and saved everyone or if everyone just died. All that matters is that I'm alive and not in immediate danger.

---

I reached Rikport, what welcomed me was a town that was burnt to the ground. The area was still teeming with monsters and demons.

"Has the world just ended? No... maybe the major cities. If anyone has strong soldiers then it should be them." I tried to convince myself.

But as I began to sneak back into the trees I heard a howl come from behind me. A dog-like creature led the demons to me. I only had 5 bolts left for my crossbow. My axe is rusty and I haven't had the chance to replace it. This was not an optimal fight.

I shot at the hellhound's head and readied my hatchet. The bolt hit its eye causing it to rear back, I jumped from the tree and my hatchet met his neck.

His friends were coming and I did not want to stick around. I ran for the forest once more, but this time I had close to a dozen of them running after me.

I shot the bolts as fast as I could, weaving through branches as they chased me down. All this until I felt a sharp pain on me left thigh. I bashed the hellhound's snout with the axe and was forced to hold my ground.

I threw the crossbow down and put up my shield.

"I'm not going to die without a fight."

The past seven months taught me a lot, being a hunter was an experience that I never thought I'd do in my life but there it was. Standing as my last memories before the hellhounds would get me.

The fight would only last for less than twenty minutes, in those twenty minutes I killed ten of them sustaining bite wounds all over my body and a half eaten left arm.

Using a tree to support myself, I stood up with all of the energy I had left.

"I like cats more than dogs anyway."