Chapter 1 - Great Depression

The lifeless night sky glared back at Magina as he rested on the dusty streets of Dai’s Field. Nasty-smelling air moved in and out of his lungs. The soil had been stained with blood from the Caterans.

He had killed like a million of them but not a single medium emerald dropped. Wicked, because he desperately needed one.

Still dwelling on his misfortune, he suddenly sensed a swift piercing pain through the back of his shoulders which hurt like hell literally. Although in agony, he quickly clutched his Cold Blood Daggers with composure and turned to face his attacker.

A wizard came into sight. The red Fire Dragon Set he wore was polished like glass, perhaps upgraded to +4 or +5. The flighty pair of White Flow Swords on his back was ready to tear and burn flesh.

“Paparouch,” Magina identified his foe, a Lv.53 fire wizard.

“Let’s play.” Paparouch mumbled. With that he raised his arm to strike the assassin with inferno.

. . .

Mykee squirmed in his seat while he watched a fellow wizard destroy a group of ugly monsters. The snow was becoming thick, and the cold climate made breathing even more difficult than training itself. The other wiz cast a Tide Spout that ruthlessly annihilated the enemies. Boom! Boom! Boom!

“Hey Ash I love that!” Mykee cheered for his friend.

“Lazy son-of-a-bitch. So you’re gonna sit there forever and watch me do all the dirty work?” Ash complained.

“I’m trying to recover HP and Mana, duh? I’ll get back to work later.” Mykee alt-tabbed and checked his Facebook account.

Ash went on with his leveling. Screw that bastard Mykee, he thought. To Ash, power is everything. He had only two goals in life: one is to dominate. The other one is to bully. And he loved doing both. Soon he’s going to level up which meant another step closer to greatness.

Unfortunately, he forgot he was mobbing too much. Ash was overwhelmed by mobs and got knocked out dead even before he could scream: “Puuuutah!”

. . .

“Damn. How long was I out?” Magina woke up. He scouted the area and saw no more signs of Paparouch. Perhaps he just came to kick his ass then scurried away. That guy was two levels above him after all. And his items were far more, let’s say powerful. Magina once again inspected his weapon. He’s already 51 and yet still carrying those crappy Cold Bloods. Like all other Sins, he wanted a nice pair of blue Soul Recall Daggers too. This was all thanks to the BMB he had received as a reward when he was 48. It FAILED.

He then noticed the injuries he had sustained from earlier. There was a hole at the back of the head, his left rib cage was shattered, his back was torn open and oh shit! An eyebrow was missing.

The massive loss of blood caused Magina to drop face down to the ground. He tried to make out the things he was seeing but he couldn’t. Maybe his eyes were failing. Just then he thought he saw a figure of what seemed to be an angel. She had a long, silky red hair that streamed down gracefully from a radiant oval face. Her eyes had the shade of blue like that of the deep ocean. Between them was a tiny but straight slender nose that divided her face into two pretty half-moons. Those tender, slightly parted lips were rosy and looked as though they had a lot to tell.

To Magina, here was a creature he could only meet in his dreams. But at least he’s still reasonable enough to admit that he’s not dreaming. Everything he’s experiencing now was a part of a near-death delusion. And in a matter of seconds he’s going to die.

“What happened to you?” He heard the creature speak to him. The voice was soft and heavenly, almost like music to his ears.

“Am I dead? You’re here to take me to heaven, I suppose?” he asked the creature.

“Of course you’re not dead, dimwit. If you have a jackstraw, I believe now is the best time to use it. After you respawn back at the town, come back here and we’ll talk.” The creature’s words were a bit rough, but whatever.

Magina searched for the jackstraw in his backpack. Within a second he found himself in Star Town, once again in good shape and ready to rock and roll. And take note, no exp loss! The words returned to him. Come back here and we’ll talk.

She’s no angel after all. Nevertheless, he felt a great desire to at least learn the name of his savior. So he mounted his Moon Bear and headed out of the town, to the place where the creature was expecting him.