"You're really becoming an Exterminator?"
"Yes."
"Your call."
In a cozy, larger-than-normal room with yellow walls, a boy wearing a white beanie sat on the sofa, his eyes fixed on a TV connected to a console controller he held in his hand.
A little to the side of a TV, in front of an open wooden door, stood another boy. A little taller, a slight smile on his face, even though he didn't look his brother in the eye.
"Well... I guess I'm going now," he said. "Take care of everyone else for me."
He turned his back, but Jonas interrupted his farewell. "Hey, wait a minute. What's the minimum age to apply for recruitment?"
"Minimum age? Hm, 19 if I'm not mistaken."
"19..." Suddenly, Jonas flashed a wide grin at his brother, waving his right hand. "Then I'll see you there in 3 years!"
The two exchanged big smiles. Warm smiles, from brother to brother.
"Hey, Jonas."
"Yes?"
"May I ask you something?"
"Sure!"
"Do you like the name HeraCrox?"
"...Eh—"
Jonas lifted his head, only to notice that he was in a hospital, lying on a white and extremely uncomfortable bed. The first thing that came into his view was the beautiful landscape of a flock of birds flying above the sun and the blue sky, a stark contrast to the dark and cold night that had previously enveloped him.
His natural instinct was to lift his left arm from under the covers and appreciate it. Seeing its existence clearly.
"What the—"
"Good morning, sunshine."
Before he could even process the return of his member, he was interrupted by a voice coming from in front of him. The presence of that voice only confused him even more.
"Teco?"
The man with the shirt on backwards was right in front of him. With his arms and legs crossed, it was impossible to tell if he was happy or sad, but definitely calm.
"It's me, indeed. How do you feel?" he asked. His voice was calm, without any danger.
"I'm fine, I guess..." Jonas gave a huge sigh, but still he couldn't relax. "Hey, um—"
"Fine? Man, you slept for an entire week."
Jonas instantly shouted, "A WEEK?! YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?!"
Teco moved his face from side to side repeatedly. "Well, maybe that's the consequence of becoming a walking crater."
Jonas's breathing became heavier. Worry surfaced in his mind; how were his parents? His little sister? He had a world waiting for him.
That's what he instantly asked.
"W-Wait, what about my family?! My father, my mother, my sister—"
"You will never see them again."
Teco's voice was cold and insensitive without demonstrating any kind of empathy or compassion.
"We told them you were killed in the exam. The whole world thinks so, actually."
"... " Jonas thought he heard it wrong. "W-What did you just say?"
Teco changed the subject, throwing a PVC card at Jonas's chest, which quickly bounced into his lap.
"Congratulations. Now you are officially an Exterminator!"
Jonas took a while to check. But when he turned the card over, there was the following information:
Member of the Portuguese Exterminators Association
Name: Jonas Solberg
Date of birth: 14/08/1983
Sex: Male
Entry Date: 19/02/2002
Validity: 19/02/2006
A big photo of himself. Even if unconscious and his face was completely smashed.
Individual's signature: ___
Signature of the President of the Portuguese Exterminators Association: Tobias Marques
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"W-Wait, I'm in?" Jonas questioned himself. "How? I thought I completely failed."
"Thank me. I pushed hard to make this happen. And you're lucky who's currently occupying the presidency."
Jonas swallowed hard. "Thank you very much... But why would you do such a thing—"
"Hey, let me show you something." Once again, Teco wouldn't let him finish a single sentence. "Say 'SYSTEM.'"
Jonas didn't think much. "SYSTEM."
In front of him, floating in the air, a rectangle quickly materialized. It was blue, but somewhat transparent and opaque; Jonas could see Teco's body through it.
And more importantly, various pieces of information were written in black and neon blue, statuses that Jonas had always dreamed of seeing.
"Amazing..." he murmured, while his eyes delighted in the sight.
"Since you're officially an Exterminator, and you got your EC, you can access it. Hey, go check your status. There's something for you."
So Jonas clicked on a space that said "My Status," and a huge list appeared:
Name: Jonas Solberg
HP: 90/100
Stamina: 24/25
Mana: 25/25
Level: 1
Overall: 29
Points remaining: 24
Rank: F
Class: On Hold
Strength: 6
Agility: 7
Vitality: 5
Perception: 6
Wisdom: 5
"This is so cool..." Jonas took a good look at each attribute, each status, each point. And in the end, two things came to his mind.
"Teco, could you tell me why my Class is On Hold?"
"Isn't it obvious? Because you didn't choose one yet. Simply click it."
So Jonas did as he was told. Soon, some flaps appeared, begging for his touch:
Tank.
DPS.
Wizard.
Healer.
Jonas didn't need to think twice. The answer was right on the tip of his tongue.
"Of course I'm going to be a DPS!!"
So he clicked on it.
Instantly, he received a pop-up:
UPDATED STATUS:
Name: Jonas Solberg
HP: 90/100
Stamina: 29/30
Mana: 30/30
Level: 2
Overall: 34
Points remaining: 24
Rank: F
Class: DPS
Strength: 7
Agility: 9
Vitality: 5
Perception: 7
Wisdom: 6
"Wow..." Jonas was really impressed. He even tried checking his biceps to see if he noticed any difference. "I just want to ask about something else."
"Sure, go ahead," Teco replied.
"Why does it say I got 24 Points remaining? Where does it come from?"
Teco's response was everything Jonas didn't want to hear: "Each civilian, a level 0, is worth a total of 0.5 points after you eliminate one of them. A total of 48 people died, so that translates to 24 points."
Jonas's mind was flooded with memories, memories he had tried to suppress until then. People being killed, necks being cut, heads flying through the air, blood, blood, blood, and lots of blood.
And only two feelings prevailed over this flood: Disgust and Guilt.
"M-My God..." He stammered to himself. His whole body trembled, even his now small pupils individually. "I-I did that? I... I killed—"
"It was not you. It was I."
That voice came out of Jonas's mouth. Yet, it was not his voice, not close.
"W-What the—" Jonas almost jumped in fright but quickly recovered. "Wait a minute, you bastard... Y-You're the one who did all this! Y-You... It was you!"
"Yes. It was I."
Same thing as before. It scared Jonas once more.
Teco opened his mouth with a perceptive smirk. "You think you're all that, but in the end, you were just ready to die. Actually, you should be thanking me."
"Eh? Me doing what? Who do you think I am?" The voice said. "Just so you know, I won. So don’t you dare say those kind of things to me."
But, very deep inside the voice, Jonas could feel something. A question. A question that he was sure not only he had, but HeraCrox as well.
"Teco... Why, why after he did... Why am I still alive?"
Teco's answer was instant. "Because you may turn into one of the greatest Exterminators of all time." Jonas's eyes shone. "It would be a waste to kill you. You have a 300-million-year-old demon inside you. I believe that if it regains its full power, it could be the strongest being in history. And thus, make the Portuguese Exterminators Association the strongest in the world. You just need to tame it."
"HEHEHEH!" Jonas's body started laughing uncontrollably. Even though it wasn't him.
"Who the hell do you think you are?! Tame me? This guy taming me!? Who do you think I am!?"
Even though his mouth laughed euphorically, Jonas's eyes seemed devoid of hope. "Teco... But he's dangerous... I don't know how to do this, he's a danger. What if he decides to kill everyone? Innocent people like he already did? I don't know how to control him, I don't even know how this stuff works, damn it..."
"I doubt he can just take control of the body whenever he wants." Jonas's body stopped laughing. "I believe you need to consent, be in a really dangerous situation or something like that, like last time. He can't just do it whenever he wants, am I right?"
This question, although directed at Jonas, was not actually directed at Jonas.
"A-Ah... N-No, that's not how it works—"
"But Teco." Jonas interrupted himself, "Why does having this thing inside me translate into power?"
"Having it inside you probably means that over time you will learn to copy some of its strength and abilities. You don't necessarily need to tame it."
"B-But..." Jonas couldn't look Teco in the eye. He was extremely downcast. "What if, it doesn't matter how, this thing just manages to take over my body, and then destroy everything, and kill everyone? I don’t want that. I guess I... I actually want to give up—"
When Jonas noticed it, there was a caring hand on his shoulder.
"Don't underestimate the Exterminators."
Jonas couldn't say a word. That was truly a man who screamed arrogance. Jonas remembered why Teco wanted him to stay alive, why he wanted him to become a great Exterminator: it wasn't to protect the weak, it wasn't to save people or defeat monsters, just for Portugal to become a more advanced country in the ranking of the Exterminators Associations. Is this the kind of man you should follow and idolize? Just a perhaps nationalist?
For Jonas, yes.
"Well, I'm on my way." Teco picked up a small suitcase that he had previously stored there and waved goodbye. "Rest well."
"Wait!!!..." Jonas's cry was futile; Teco was no longer there.
"I wanted to ask about who he is... damn it."
Jonas laid back down on the bed and breathed deeply and slowly. It was too much information to take in all at once. Especially for such a young boy. Would he never see his family again because he might be a danger to them? Where would he even live now? Would he earn any money to support himself at least?
These and other thoughts raced through Jonas's mind all at the same time, creating a very tightly knotted and confusing mist.
So, for then, he decided that the best thing to do was simply sleep and pass the time.
"Hey, dummy." The voice called. "Aren’t you forgetting something?"
"Oh, yes!" Jonas sat down instantly. "The points! SYSTEM!"
The blue screen opened right where it had left off, the screen showing his status.
He took a last look: 29 Points remaining.
"Hm... I was always ready for this, actually."
UPDATED STATUS:
Name: Jonas Solberg
HP: 180/200
Stamina: 59/60
Mana: 45/45
Level: 4
Overall: 58
Points remaining: 0
Rank: F
Class: DPS
Strength: 13
Agility: 15
Vitality: 10
Perception: 11
Wisdom: 9
His eyes moved to the side, to a list labeled "Valid Dungeons."
He clicked on it. A huge list appeared before him. Dungeons of levels he wasn't even near, all the way to some quite accessible ones. In the lower right corner, the player limit appeared; some were 3/4, 0/1, etc.
"Hm, I guess I would prefer to do one alone... Ahh, I'll leave that for later."
But before he clicked "Exit", he noticed something very peculiar.
He had 1 message.
In the right top corner, there was a small box that looked like a letter. And more importantly, there was a red "1". He quickly identified it as one notification. Jonas clicked it, and there was one lonely mail dated from a week ago, saying:
POINTS TRANSFER!
48 POINTS TRANSFER RECEIVED FROM USER TECO BRAGAN?A!
DON'T FORGET TO SAY THANK YOU!
Jonas's mind almost froze for a second. Until he realized: HeraCrox did not kill 48 people; it was 'only' 27. If anything, who received those points was HeraCrox, not him. And also, Teco never said he received the points directly from the system.
With only more disturbance infecting his brain, once more, his body fell like a hard stone onto the bed.
But soon, his head was spinning like lightning.
"Wait a minute! HeraCrox!" He yelled. "Why the hell did you want me to allocate my points? How does that benefit you in any way?"
"It's an insult for a former Exterminator to see someone forgetting something so crucial."
Jonas froze for a second. But before he could ask anything, HeraCrox talked first.
"Hey puppet, I have access to your memories and this is interesting. Why do you want that Sabrina Carpenter to sit on your face—"
"Shut up."
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
"Hey, do you know about the new patient?"
Inside the same hospital where Jonas resided, in the main room at the entrance, two nurses were talking to each other. Their faces were calm and gentle, typical nurses' gossip.
"Oh, that boy that weird man brought on his shoulder a week ago?"
The other nodded.
"Jeez, it is so weird... And why the Head Doc told us we shouldn't snoop?"
"Ah, you know. Probably some government official or something."
"That young boy? I doubt it."
"Whatever they say..."
But, while the two were talking, trying to be discreet, a man with his shirt on backwards walked by in the hallway.
"Hey, girls, thank you so much for taking care of him! Go check on him, please."
They waved back, trying to appear as friendly as possible. But as soon as he disappeared, they went back to whispering in each other's ears.
"That guy is really weird."
"Yeah. Why on earth does he dress like that?"
But with a shrug, they both decided to do what Teco asked.
They took slow steps down the corridor, without a care in the world.
They were looking for the patient in room "1F". Until they finally found it.
"H-Hey, wait a second."
"Where the heck is he!?"
When the two opened the door, they saw only an unmade and empty bed, close to an open window, and some hospital clothes on the ground.
Meanwhile, Jonas roamed the streets of Porto alone. Well, maybe not alone. But in fact, extremely determined, his fists so clenched they almost bled.
"I don't have time to waste, or to sit around crying... I don't need that bastard for anything. I'm going to prove that I can become the best Exterminator in the world on my own!"
