Chapter 6: Test Run

Beep! Beep!

Troy who had just walked out of the forest was jolted out of the game by the beeping of the timer he had set. "What already?" He said to himself. He had set a timer for two hours since he had to wake up early tomorrow for work. Although it was night in reality it was around 3 pm in the game. Troy didn't get why the time difference existed though. Because of the time difference he had never seen how night looked like in the game before but he heard it was a splendid sight. It would be around 2 am here when it was night in the game and Troy, as the working man he was, wasn't staying up that late for nothing.

He removed the VR helmet from his head and placed it on the table, massaging his forehead as he walked out of the gaming room. Today had been a rough one for him. It would take him a little more just to process whatever he was told. What surprised was how quickly he had believed Daron. It was as if he knew what he was saying was true from the very beginning. 'Things are just moving too fast.' He thought as he prepared to go to sleep. A slight chill went down his spine. He was actually beginning to feel cold. In bed, no matter how many blankets he threw on he still felt cold. After struggling to sleep for a while, he basically carried all his blankets to the fire place and lain them on the ground. Finally, he got a bit warmer.

It was still early June so he didn't get why he was so cold. "Could it be because of what Daron said' he thought remembering what Daron had told him about his powers manifesting outside. After all he was a phoenix. A creature literally born out of fire. That still felt weird to him. He still thought a dragon would have been cooler. A chill run down his spine again. This time it wasn't because he felt cold. What would happen if he accidently hurt someone he cared about? He hoped that will never happen. Eventually, Troy fell asleep by the fire place of his lonely apartment.

The next day, after work, Troy headed straight to the house. His boss had yelled at him today so he wasn't in a particularly good mood.

When he got to the house, he had a quick meal of some microwaved lasagna and went to his gaming room. Games were the only spice of his life and for now Troy ignored any other game apart from Terra. He placed the helmet on and logged in. He was automatically transferred to where he left of yesterday. He was standing in front of the forest facing the farm.

There was some commotion from where the farm was. It seemed some people were causing trouble over there. Troy smirked and cracked his knuckles. "Now, I can properly test out my strength." He said as he broke into a sprint. Within a few seconds he had arrived at where some boys seemed to be troubling the farmers.

"Oi, you devils!" Troy shouted to intentionally provoke them. They turned around to face Troy. They were five in total. Troy analyzed their strengths with his high perception stat. They weren't bad in general. There was one who was even a bit close to Troy. Just a bit though. What do you want, you bastard?" The one who was strongest among them said.

"You shut up for now, will you?" He said to the guy. He made sure he released as much of an aura as necessary. The guy flinched visibly. "G-get him." He said to the others who were obviously his minions. His eyes had only the whites visible and there was a giant phantasmal eyeball floating over his head.

The others who seemed not to have realized the overwhelming difference in strength rushed at Troy with blood thirsty expressions. Troy looked at them approaching and chose his first victim. He rushed towards the unlucky fellow and grasped his neck and took him to a place a little distance from where the others were. Making sure he didn't use so much power as to make him die immediately, he pinned the boy to the ground.

Initially, Troy had planned not to use any skills but since he wanted to test them out he decided this was the perfect opportunity. "Hmm, what skill should I try first?" He said scratching his chin. The boy who was still dumbfounded tried his best to free himself from his grip all to no avail.

"Aha, absolute zero." When Troy said this, the hair of the boy which was originally black immediately turned white. His fingertips became severely frost bitten and his veins which were bulging out turned blue. After a few seconds his eyes rolled up and he died.

*You have killed a player.

*Achievement has been added to your list

The female system voice said as the body of the guy crumpled into fine dust. "Interesting." Troy said getting up. He giggled a little and run to where the others were. Now normally, he wasn't this heartless but he felt these brats needed to learn a lesson.

The other miscreants who were still wondering what happened were surprised at the sudden appearance of Troy who had appeared before one of them. "Next, pure flame." Troy grasped the head of the one he appeared in front of and his body was immediately engulfed in flames.

'Wow, phoenix is actually not bad.'

*You have slain a player.

*Achievement will be added to your list.

*The path you are walking on is 'villainy'.

Troy stopped and frowned. He hadn't expected that. Two of the boy who were scared to death dropped their weapons and run away screaming. The only one left now was the leader of the group. The one who had the eye floating over his head. The eye disappeared and his eyes reverted back to normal. "Those cowards." Although he said this, the fear in his eyes was evident. Troy decided he was going to end this with just a punch. He run towards the guy and just when he was about to land a hit he evaded it or rather Troy missed. Troy furrowed his brows and retreated a bit. The guy's blue eyes were glowing. "Is that a skill?" He asked him puzzled. "Just know that you can't land a finger on me." The boy said causing Troy to smile.

"How about this, then." Troy said. A yellowish fog was produced from Troy's body and it formed a barrier around him and the boy. The boy's eyes shook visibly. He seemed to contemplate something and fell to his knees and kowtowed. "Please forgive me, I made a mistake." The boy said in a shaky voice. Troy was baffled. 'This guy is even more of a coward than the others.' Troy thought withdrawing the fog. It was his higher poisoning skill. "What is your name?" Troy asked moving closer to the boy. "T-t-Terrance." The boy said still kowtowing.

Troy reached out for a handshake. "Let's be friends, Terrance." He said as the boy slowly lifted up his head.