Chapter 2: Ruined World (1)

Liu Kai found himself in a vast forest filled with towering trees and a lush green carpet of grass that stretched out as far as he could see. Hearing the birds chirping and feeling the warm wind that blew across his face calmed his mind.

It seemed like forever since he inhaled fresh air. Filling his lungs as if it were the first time he learned how to breathe while basking in the beauty of the woodland heaven that he saw. He looked back at the manhole and saw that it was pretty hidden, covered with dirt and grass.

"So that's why no one noticed or even heard me when I was banging and shouting inside it." He said with a chuckle. All the frustration he felt was gone as soon as he got out.

He covered the manhole cover with more dirt and grass so he could use it as a hiding place. Caution was needed with every move he made since he wasn't familiar with his whereabouts yet.

"If I ever end up in a worst-case situation, I could just go back and hide here." Feeling at ease with the idea of a safe place that he could return to.

****

Liu Kai wandered inside the forest trying to find anything he could recognize about the place but nothing seemed familiar. To be fair, he has never been in a forest before so there's little to no chance that he would even know where he was.

However, he was sure he heard multiple footsteps earlier when he was inside the manhole tunnel.

He kept walking past trees, with every step crunching as piles of dried leaves crumbled under his weight or twigs snapping in half.

Suddenly, he heard rustling in the distance. Someone was moving at an incredible speed.

"Is anybody there!?" Liu Kai shouted.

He ran towards the direction of the noise, curious to see who it was. Trying his best to catch up to this mysterious thing or person, he picked up his pace. Running faster than he ever could before the accident happened. Unfortunately, he still had no chance of gaining on it until it suddenly stopped moving. Eventually, he caught up.

As he closed in on the mysterious thing, he quickly hid inside a bush and quietly peeked out to see what it was.

"I-is that a giant c-cockroach!?" He yelled out, exclaiming from shock.

Liu Kai trembled at the sight of the large insect but he quickly tried to calm himself.

'So this was the thing that was making all those noises outside the tunnel' He thought as he took a few steps back, hoping it didn't notice him, but it was too late.

"Kiiieeeeck!!" The giant cockroach screeched as it swayed its body in his direction.

He froze at the terrifying sight of its large eyes.

Slowly taking a couple more steps back then bolted away as fast and as far as possible.

*****

"AAAAAAAAH!! What's up with this forest!? Cockroaches shouldn't be this big!" Liu Kai screamed at the top of his lungs still being chased down by an eight-foot giant cockroach.

He ran through the forest like an Olympic sprinter and eventually led to an open field and outside the cover of the trees.

"It will definitely eat me alive if it catches me." He said as the giant cockroach started flapping its disgusting insect wings and took flight.

The cockroach hovered over Liu kai and pinned him down to the ground as it landed.

"Here it comes." He braced himself as the cockroach opened its humungous mouth revealing two mandibles with jagged razor-like teeth, oozing with slime as it growled.

It bit down on the right side of his torso and lifted him, It wiggled him in the air then threw him across the field.

He was thrown fifteen meters across with great speed and hits a tree, spewing blood from his mouth due to the impact. Blinding pain was felt throughout his entire body as he landed back on the ground.

'That bite should've cut me in half and that throw should've killed me instantly. So why am I not even losing consciousness right now?' He thought as he was still bleeding on the ground, gripping his side that was bitten by the giant insect.

'Something changed for sure. I don't know what but it seems I can move faster and my body became sturdier.' His thoughts becoming clearer as the huge insect faced his direction.

The gigantic cockroach came at him with great speed and tried to pin him down once more, but he quickly rolled over to get out of the way of its grip. He stood up and ran beneath the cockroach's body, where it couldn't see him.

Moving to where the insect faced each time, blocking its own field of vision. Liu Kai then ran to the forest the moment the cockroach was distracted.

"Idiot! What was I thinking? Running to an open field like that?" The cover of the trees should prevent the cockroach from flying.

He was injured, but for some reason, he felt stronger compared to when the insect attacked him.  The cockroach had difficulty following him deep in the forest where there were a lot of trees.

Liu Kai could tell that the giant cockroach lost his trail based on the sounds he heard. Somehow, his senses were also heightened.

'Not only my speed and my body but also my senses are stronger?' He thought as he kept up his pace, making sure to put distance between him and the huge insect.

"Hey! What's the rush—Whoa!"

Liu Kai, who was lost in thought while running, didn't notice the man who suddenly appeared in front of him and collided. The man was knocked back a few feet from the impact of the collision while Liu kai landed on his backside.

"What the heck man? What's your problem? Popping out of nowhere like that?!" Liu Kai said as he got up and brushed off the dust on his clothes.

The mysterious man seemed to be in his early 20's with a good looking face, a well-trained body, and was wearing a medieval-type armor.

"Sorry about that. I had no idea that someone was going to run right at me. I didn't see you 'til it was too late. I'm Jin Chow by the way." The man said as he also got up and took a good look at Liu Kai.

"Oh! Are you okay? You're injured pretty badly."

"The name's Liu Kai. Yeah... Uuh… it's nothing, I got caught up with this giant cockroach inside the forest and it tried to eat me." Liu Kai explained, pointing at the direction he last saw the insect.

"Are you serious?! BWAHAHAHAHA!!" Jin Chow burst out laughing.

"What's so funny!?"

"You are! HAHAHAHAHA"

"What is wrong with you!? Are you making fun of me?!" Liu Kai shouted as he grabbed Jin Chow's breastplate and pulled him closer to his face.

"Woah there! A guy that got injured this much by a mere cockroach is trying to pick a fight with me? Now that... is funny." Jin Chow grabbed Liu Kai's hand that was holding his breastplate and squeezed it. He gripped so hard that Liu Kai fell to his knees from the sudden pain and couldn't even react.

Liu Kai tried to free his hand from Jin Chow's grip but couldn't. He tried slamming Jin Chow's arm to hurt him but he didn't budge. Then Liu Kai suddenly heard a voice in his head again but it was a different one.

[Health is reduced under 50%]

[Hidden Skill Berserk will now be: Activated]

A deep man's voice kept ringing inside Liu Kai's head saying things that he didn't understand.

Veins started bulging in his arm as he felt power surging inside his body.

"What's happening to me?" Liu Kai asked.

-Berserk (Passive)

-Skill will activate when the User's health reaches below 50%, overall stats will rise by 5 for every percentage reduced from this point.

The voice rang in his head as if to answer his question.

"Is this your skill?" Jin Chow asked him as Liu Kai tried to free his hand once more because of his newfound power.

However, Jin Chow didn't lose his grip and even squeezed Liu Kai's wrist tighter to show his dominance.

"AAGHHCK!" Liu Kai growled from the pain.

[Health is reduced to 40%]

[50 total points are now added to all stats.]

Liu Kai heard the messages in his head again. And after a few seconds, he didn't feel pain from Jin Chow's grip anymore. He looked up at him with blood-curdling eyes and instead of trying to remove his hand from his clutches, he slowly stood up to be at eye level. He then grabbed Jin Chow's wrist and squeezed with his herculean strength boosted by a skill the messages told him in his head.

Jin Chow seeing all this happen in front of him with widened eyes instantly felt the pain from his now squeezed hand.

"AAAAAAAAGGGHHHCCKK!! STOP!! LET GO!!" His voice staggering as he begged for Liu Kai to stop.

"Oh, how the tables have turned my new friend. I wish I could enjoy this moment longer but I'm in quite a hurry."

"I just want you to answer my questions honestly and I'll let this go. Is that clear?" Liu Kai lifted his hand to show him his wrist being squeezed and applied more pressure for an answer.

"AAGHH! Okay! Okay! What is it!?" He asked quickly, wanting an early release.

His knees started to buckle as immense pain was felt from his hand and now to his whole arm. It's as if a hydraulic press was slowly crushing his wrist.

"That's more like it. Now, where are we?" Liu Kai asked with a grin as he placed his free hand on Jin Chow's shoulder. This caused Jin Chow to cave and fall to his knees.

"SEVENTH DOMAIN! Okay, now let me go!" Jin Chow answered quickly.

"Be more specific. Where in the Seventh domain!?" Liu Kai continued his questions.

"I don't know!"

"What do you mean you don't know!?" Liu Kai asked and applied more pressure on his wrists.

"Ow! What!? You don't know? After The Great Catastrophe, all of the countries in Seventh Domain converged together. That's why no one really knows where anywhere is." Jin Chow explained in one breath.

Upon hearing the explanation, he released his grip from shock and couldn't believe it.

"After The Great Catastrophe, all the countries merged into one. There's no distinction between each country anymore. Nobody cares about that right now..."

"...after a lot of people died in that catastrophe. Everyone was focused on surviving, be it individually or in small groups." Jin Chow continued his explanation after seeing Liu Kai's puzzled expression.

"You really don't know about this? Where've you been? You loo—"

"Then what happened to the other six domains?" Liu Kai cut him off, wanting to know more of what happened.

"Well… That would be a long sto—"

"KIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEECCCK!!" The gigantic cockroach screeched as soon as it appeared. Surprising both of them from their conversation.

Liu Kai snapped out of his state of confusion and decided to deal with the vermin that appeared in front of him. But unlike before, he was still in his powered-up state.

He hasn't felt this kind of power before, unlike in their previous encounter.

Confident with his newfound skill, he walked right up to that foul, nasty insect and instinctively thought to himself.

[View all skills]

A hologram-like-screen suddenly popped out in front of him.

[SKILLSET OVERVIEW]

-Berserk (Passive)

-Alter (Passive)

-Probability (Active)

Liu Kai had no idea how he knew what to do, but he can feel that it wasn't the first time he checked the [Skillset]. He just can't seem to remember when he did it.

[Check Alter]

-Alter (Passive)

If a de-buff effect is cast on the user the skill will then alter the effects and change it to a buff.

[Check Probability]

-Probability (Active)

This skill can be cast on anything. Based on the result of the die (dice) it will then multiply or divide the effect.

After reviewing his Skillset, the only one he could activate was Probability.

[Activate Probability]

[Probability is activated]

[The Die (Dice) indicates the number 4]

[Power will be multiplied by 4]

Liu Kai felt a surge of power welling up inside him and directed it to his right arm as he poised himself.

He uppercuts the cockroach and blasted it 30 meters above the ground from the impact.

[You defeated a Giant Cockroach]