"One Cola-Cola, please."
I took my can and slid a two-denar coin across the library canteen’s counter. When I first saw the label, I thought it was a cheap knockoff. But it was the real deal. In this world, the company steered clear of the nickname Coke to protect their brand image. Honestly, I couldn’t blame them, not after the coke epidemic.
It had been a week since I woke up on this parallel Earth as my alternate self. Overnight, I went from an ordinary IT guy to Archivist Crispin Chase. The transition was abrupt, but I adapted quickly, absorbing the memories and skills of my parallel counterpart.
"Just a cola for lunch, again?" remarked a fragile-looking young blonde with pale skin and dark circles under her eyes, paying for her meaty footlong and a cola.
She was Avery Aims, my nosy colleague—a fellow archivist and an aspiring author. Despite grinding through twelve-hour shifts at the library, she burned the midnight oil writing novels no publisher dared to touch. It wasn’t because her work lacked talent, her stories were just far too gritty for the current times.
We shared the same title and salary, despite the fact that my alternate self was a PhD while she was only a graduate. Even so, he got along remarkably well with her, united by their shared love of novels.
"I heard a D-rank monster gate appeared in your neighbourhood," she added, eyes gleaming with dark curiosity. "Property rates must have hit the ceiling."
"Yep, my landlord already raised the rent," I said as we settled at our usual table by the window, looking out at the busy street. "She gave me a choice: pay up or get out. If I don’t comply, she’ll make my life a living nightmare."
I still remembered the day the gate arrived. Sirens blared while terrified residents rushed to their designated shelter, not daring to step outside until officials confirmed it was only a D-rank threat and handled, exactly as they’d been drilled since kindergarten. The moment word came through, the neighbourhood’s collective panic dissolved into street-level celebration.
In this world, monster gates were a common occurrence, deeply ingrained in the global economy. So were hunters, humans with supernatural abilities who raided them for valuable resources. A low-level gate in a residential area meant the local economy and real estate market would bloom overnight. A massive boon for locals, but a total bane for city transplants like me.
I had exactly one week to sort out new living arrangements as I couldn’t afford the spiked rent. I could have stood my ground against my greedy landlord, but I preferred to stay out of trouble. The plan was simple: claw back my security deposit, demand three months’ rent as compensation to clear the lease early, and move somewhere cheaper. Even in this life, poverty clung to me like a second skin.
"You could always move to my neighbourhood," Avery offered. "Fully furnished two-bedroom, a third of what you pay for your studio, and only a fifteen-minute walk from here."
I frowned. It sounded too good to be true. It wasn’t, but there was a catch. I’d heard of the area. It was notorious for housing the Island’s third A-rank monster gate. Sensible people had long since cleared out, fearing for their lives.
No matter how broke a person was, they rarely dared to live in that part of town, even with the heavy military presence and local guild guards on duty 24/7, unless they were A-rank or above hunters.
Monsters occasionally wandered out of the gates, spawning anywhere in the vicinity. If a boss monster spawned, a catastrophic wave was virtually guaranteed. A mere C-rank wave would turn the city into a battlefield while a B-rank wave would level an unprepared city and any higher, one dares not imagine.
The actual odds of something like that were low, so bargain-hunters like Avery didn’t mind living on the edge, basically gambling their lives to save a few bucks. There was also a persistent rumour that living in a mana-rich environment could help awaken a person. With no proven study, many believed it was a rumor started by landlords.
"There are plenty of empty flats in my building. We could be neighbours. What do you think?" Avery asked, licking a stray drop of sauce off her wrist before it reached her sleeve.
Not only was she a massive penny-pincher, she was also kind of gross. It was probably the only reason my alternate self, despite being a Lv 27 virgin, had managed to work alongside her in a cramped archive for months without ever catching feelings.
Looking away to hide my disgust, I nodded. "Sure, if I can’t find anything better."
The fact that the cheap rent and talk of awakening still couldn’t fill that neighbourhood should tell you everything about how dangerous it really was. And yet here I was, seriously considering it because many people from my old block would be moving out, finding an affordable place close to work in time seemed unlikely. I had to keep my options open, though part of me felt that moving into my car and getting a gym membership was still the better alternative.
"Great, let’s go check it out after work," Avery said, her tone bright. "You could take the apartment right next to mine. It has a great view of our complex’s lake."
I couldn’t help but take a second glance at her. Knowing she had zero romantic interest in me, there was only one logical explanation: she was getting a bodyguard under the guise of helping a trusted colleague. It wasn’t surprising. For a lone woman living in an almost deserted part of town, trouble was bound to find her eventually.
Normally, she would be far too preoccupied brainstorming plots for her novels to hold a proper conversation. That was exactly why my alternate self and I preferred sitting with her, which beats getting set up on horrendous blind dates by well-meaning colleagues twice our age.
"Is something troubling you?" I asked, skipping the preamble. I didn’t want to be dragged into her mess. We pay insane 40 percent tax, she should go to the cops.
Avery reluctantly shifted her attention from the remnants of her footlong. But before she could answer, something caught the corner of my eye. I snapped to my feet and stared out the first floor window.
Little furry creatures with hyena-like heads rode wolves the size of motorbikes, running down pedestrians on the street below. It was a gruesome sight. Kobold riders, hunting people in broad daylight. And yet my first thought wasn’t horror, but the emergency siren. The one that should have been blaring across the city but didn’t.
I immediately spun around, slammed my hand on the nearby emergency alarm, and shouted at the top of my lungs, "Everyone, move! Get to the underground shelter. Now!"
I didn’t wait to answer the others. Avery and I sprinted toward the staff elevators before the panic could fully spread.
Unfortunately, the chaos from the lower floors had already reached us. The monsters were inside the library.
By the time we reached the staff elevators, a crowd had already gathered, desperately trying to squeeze inside. Using her small frame to her advantage, Avery slipped through the mass of bodies and pushed deeper into the carriage. Meanwhile, I pressed myself against the crowd like a gecko clinging to a wall, sucking in my stomach and pulling my shoulders tight so the doors could close with me still inside.
Lucky for me, the staff elevators were built to haul tonnes of archived material. The doors stuttered, snagged on something. I grabbed the flowing skirt of the woman next to me and yanked it clear just before they met.
To our horror, the elevator stopped on the ground floor instead of taking us directly to the underground, where the shelter was. When the doors parted, there was no one waiting outside, only blood and mangled remains.
Everyone inside silently prayed that whatever was roaming the floor wouldn’t notice the elevator. Fingers jabbed repeatedly at the close-door button. Especially me, since I was standing right at the edge.
Then a kobold stepped into view from the side of the doorway.
It looked at us, grinned, and casually flipped its large bone dragger into a reverse grip. Then it charged straight at the packed elevator.
Just then, I felt a burly hand clamp down on my shoulder. Before I could react, a powerful shove sent me stumbling. I crashed hard onto the floor outside the elevator, in the blood and mangled remains.
As I looked around to see who had pushed me, the elevator doors slid shut. The last thing I saw was horrified expressions through the narrowing doors. Then the elevator was gone.
The snarls and rapid footsteps of the approaching kobold snapped me out of my daze. I scrambled to my feet and rushed toward the stairwell.
A trail of blood and bodies, both human and monsters, led downward. After a brief glance, I chose to head up instead. Clearly, the monsters had followed the people rushing toward the shelter below.
For a brief moment, I felt relieved. The crowd heading underground had likely drawn most of the monsters away from the upper floors. But the feeling quickly soured when I thought about what that meant for the people who had gone down there.
I pushed the thought aside and sprinted up the stairs without looking back. Right now, I had enough problems of my own and no time to worry about others.
My destination was the archive room. It had been built like a small vault to protect the sensitive records, documents, and rare books entrusted to us for restoration and preservation. Thick walls, a reinforced door, and no windows.
If there was any place in the library where I could hide and survive, it was there.
Once the kobold chasing me cleared the stairwell, it sheathed its dagger, dropped onto all fours, and charged after me. Like a rabid dog, its tongue lolled and saliva dripped onto the floor. It felt much faster than it ever had on the Discovery Channel.
The archive room was only a few corridors away, yet the sound of claws scraping against the floor behind me grew louder with every step.
Then a sudden sense of dread washed over me. Knowing the kobolds’ hunting patterns, I reacted on instinct and immediately ducked. A blur shot over my head.
Whoosh!
The kobold that had pounced at me sailed through the air and slammed headfirst into the wall ahead with a sickening thud. Cracks spread across the drywall as it bounced off and collapsed onto the floor in a daze.
For a split second, I considered running. But I quickly dismissed the idea. If I couldn’t outrun it in an open hallway, there was no chance I’d make it to the archive room. Even if I reached the door, I’d still have to get through the security checks before it opened.
The moment I turned my back, it would be on me. Steeling my heart, I lunged toward the wall and yanked a fire extinguisher from its mount.
The kobold was still shaking its head when I brought the metal cylinder down with both hands.
Bang!
The first blow smashed into its skull.
Bang!
The second left it sprawled on the floor.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
I kept swinging until my arms burned and my lungs felt ready to burst. Blood splattered across the floor and the nearby wall, yet I didn’t stop until the kobold’s head was little more than a mangled mess and its body had gone completely still.
Only then did I stagger back, clutching the blood-slick fire extinguisher and gasping for breath.
I didn’t waste time catching my breath. Tossing aside the bloodied fire extinguisher, I crouched beside the kobold’s corpse and pulled the bone dragger from the cloth tied around its waist. It was actually a large fang turned into a makeshift blade. The weapon was crude but sharp enough, and it felt far more reassuring in my hand than a fire extinguisher.
Keeping my guard up, I prepared to make my way to the archive room. Just then, a strange glow appeared before my eyes. I nearly swung the dragger at it out of reflex.
A white translucent screen overlapped my field of vision. It didn’t block my sight in the slightest, allowing me to see the corridor beyond as clearly as before. The rectangular panel was framed by ornate golden borders decorated with archaic patterns, while a warm radiance, like condensed sunlight, flowed across its surface.
It looked less like a piece of technology and more like a page torn from a divine manuscript. Several lines of elegant text slowly materialized upon it.
[You have killed an E-Rank Kobold and gained +1Pp.]
[Congratulations, you awakened your Innate Skill: Novel Raider (Unique)]
[ — Hunter Stats —
Name: Crispin Chase
Race: Human (♂)
Class: None
Title: None
Health: (27/95)yrs, Healthy
Mana: (250/250)units
Physical Power (Pp): 8
Spiritual power (Sp): 10
Skills: Novel Raider (Unique)
Spells & Arts: None ]